12. Start your day by asking 'Where is the money?' | Inspired by 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' by Stephen Covey

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Transcript*:
I'm going to say it. Time Management isn't everything. I probably haev offended some time management die-hard fans, but hear me out. When you're just managing time, sure you're being efficient at doing A, B, and C. But stop for a second, do all A, B, and C even matter?

What's probably more important to ask yourself is first what matters to you most.... then go about your merry way of time-managing. An idea I picked up from Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly effective people.

What do I do?

First and foremost, I don't ask what tasks will give me the most value to my customers. I think that's a little wanky and not to the point. I get straight to it and instead ask 'Where is the money?'

Ask yourself that question now and pause. Powerful right?

My current job has nothing to do with money, but this powerful question I got from my old boss recently has stopped me from creating 5 perfect PowerPoint slides with the risk that it might not be what the customer wants anyway. I instead just created one and tested it with a real customer. Got my feedback and ensured 5 perfect slides My time is not wasted. I'm breathing easier. And I have time for other things like hanging out with my son and practicing the Ukelele.

A lot of people have said WFH has been busier for them. I can honestly say, try asking yourself 'where is the money?' at the start of your day and work from there.

Disclaimer:
*This podcast episode is intended to be a very short summary of mentioned books and an analysis of my personal experience with their thought content- not a replacement for the original work. If you like this episode, please consider purchasing the original book to get the full experience as the original author intended it to be. If you are the original author of any book mentioned on this podcast and want us to remove any podcast episodes, please reach out to me directly.