The Simple Secret To Getting More Done In Less Time

Have you ever had the experience where you’re about to leave town on vacation or some other trip… and all of a sudden you get a lot done right before you leave?

I have found this to be true numerous times and I’m guessing you have, too.

For us, we like to take trips in our motorhome. When we see those trips coming up on the calendar, I know that I have certain things that I need to do in my business before we leave. Things like:

• Pre-writing a few issues of The Edge so I don’t have to do it while I’m gone.
• Perhaps preparing a marketing campaign to run on automatic while I am traveling.
• Perhaps finishing a course or other training I’m working on.

I see that deadline coming up there on the calendar. I have no desire to move it around. So I simply must get these things done before I leave!

And so what happens?

I get them done.

Furthermore, I don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about it, trying to seek perfection, or questioning things. That deadline is coming whether I like it or not and I just quit screwin’ around and I take action.

When I have a lot less time to work with, I get a lot done. And one of the things about it that I find is that I tend to focus on just the core things that HAVE to get done to keep the business operating. I concentrate on minimum viable product and I just do only what needs to be done in order to make it DONE.

It might be easy to think that things suffer because I’m pumping out something of lower quality, or less thought out. But, no. Here’s an example…

Many times when I take a trip like that, I like to set up a marketing campaign to run on automatic while I’m gone. That campaign will make an offer and pull in a nice little hit of revenue into the business. It is a little game I play sometimes because, to be honest, it’s fun being on vacation and having money come in on automatic.

But, with that trip start date coming up, I don’t have the time to sit there and think up some fancy product launch. I don’t have time to make fancy videos or any of that. So, I concentrate on minimum viable product.

I write some emails rather quickly. I come up with an offer really quickly. My products already exist, so it isn’t as if I have to make something first. And, I just get it done.

One time I did this before I went on a cruise with my wife. I generated a little over $12,000 in sales that week while I was out on the Caribbean barely paying any attention to the business other than a couple short check-ins over the ship wifi.

Now, without fail, every time I go into one of these hyper-productive pre-trip fits, I have that thought…

Wow, I’m so productive. What if I could do this every day?

Wouldn’t that be something! Perhaps there is a way…

How Can We Make Every Day As Productive As Right Before A Vacation?

So, how can we apply this normally? How can we keep that same level of efficiency going all the time even when we don’t have a vacation or trip coming up?

Well, give ourselves less time to work with!

This quote has been attributed to, of all people, Lucille Ball. But, it’s fantastic. She says:

“If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do.”

So, here are some simple ways to get more done and do it habitually:

1. Set deadlines. Don’t give yourself infinite time to get something done. Set a deadline. Put it on your calendar. If you need to make that deadline less flexible to you, then schedule something else immediately after that so that you have no choice but to get it done. On a day to day basis, try using a timer to set deadlines within your day for single tasks.
2. Stop thinking. I know, sounds stupid, right? But, many of us spend way more time thinking about what we have to do than actually doing it. If that’s you, be aware of it and try to knock it off. Stop thinking and just do it.
3. Set a new pattern. I believe this is a compounding thing. The faster we’re used to going, the faster everything goes. It is why a person who lives in New York City might move to Kansas and be utterly bored because they’re used to a faster pace! So, in your life, just try to set a pattern of doing things quickly. Set the pace. Set the rhythm for how you want things to go.
4. Do more things. Don’t shed projects because you “don’t have time.” Do the reverse of what might make sense to you. Do more things. Change your viewpoint. What is overwhelming to one person is child’s play to another and the only difference is the habit they have set for themselves and their own viewpoint. So, take on more projects. Do more things. And get used to it.

Much of that advice might seem quite counter-intuitive. The way to get more productive is to take on more things to do? Is Dave crazy?!

Possibly. But, I believe it. I can’t say that I’m always perfect at doing this, mind you. But, I know that it works.

I’m also not advocating that you live a life in constant production. I think play is important. I think having down time is important. But, I’m an advocate of “work hard and play hard”. I enjoy downtime and vacations as much as anybody, but when I’m not in that mode I should be working my tail off. If anything, I’ll get way more done by scheduling more vacations.

So, that’s just my little piece of advice for you today.