7 Critical Things The Most Incredibly Successful People Do Every Day

Over the last 20 years, Kevin Kruse has started and sold several multi-million dollar companies which have won awards for both fast growth (Inc 500) as well as employee engagement; he’s also one of the most read Leadership columnists on Forbes.
He recently interviewed over 200 ultra-successful people, including: 7 billionaires, 13 Olympians and a host of accomplished entrepreneurs. One of Kevin’s most revealing sources of information came from their answers to a simple open-ended question, which was:

“ What’s your number one secret to productivity? ”

In analysing their responses, Kruse coded the answers to yield some fascinating suggestions.

Below are a few highlights from Kevin’s findings, some of which might surprise you.

7 Critical Things The Most Incredibly Successful People Do Every Day

1. They focus on minutes, not hours…

Most people default to hour and half-hour blocks on their calendar; highly successful people know there are 1,440 minutes in every day and that there’s nothing more valuable than time.
Money can be lost and made again, but time spent can never be reclaimed.
As legendary Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller said,

“To this day, I keep a schedule that is almost minute by minute.”

You must master your minutes to master your life.

2. They focus on only one thing…

Ultra-productive people know what their “Most Important Task” is and work on it for one to two hours each morning, without interruptions.
What task will have the biggest impact on reaching your goals?
What accomplishment will get you promoted at work?
That’s what you should dedicate your mornings to every day.

3. They don’t use To-Do lists…

Throw away your to-do list; instead schedule everything on your calendar.
It turns out that only 41% of items on to-do lists ever get done.
All those undone items lead to stress and insomnia because of the Zeigarnik effect, which, in essence, means that uncompleted tasks will stay on your mind until you finish them.
Highly productive people put everything on their calendar and then work and live by that calendar; do it or delegate it or delete it!

4. They beat procrastination with time travel…

Your future self can’t be trusted. That’s because we are time inconsistent…
We buy vegetables today because we think we’ll eat healthy salads all week; then we throw out green rotting mush in the future.
Successful people figure out what they can do now to make certain their future selves will do the right thing.
Anticipate how you will self-sabotage in the future, and come up with a solution today to defeat your future self.

5. They process e-mails only a few times a day…

Ultra-productive people don’t “check” their e-mail throughout the day.
They don’t respond to each ding to see who has intruded into their inbox.
Instead, like everything else, they schedule time to process their e-mails quickly and efficiently.
For some, that’s only once a day; for others, it’s morning, noon, and night.

6. They use a notebook…

Richard Branson has said on more than one occasion that he wouldn’t have been able to build Virgin without a simple notebook, which he takes with him wherever he goes.
In one interview, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis said,

“Always carry a notebook.”
“Write everything down.”
“That’s a million-dollar lesson they don’t teach you in business school!”

Ultra-productive people free their minds by writing everything down as the thoughts come to them.

7. They make it home for dinner…

Kevin first learned this one from Intel’s Andy Grove, who said,

“There is always more to be done…”

“More that should be done…”

“Always more than can be done.”

Highly successful people know what they value in life. Yes, work, but also what else they value.
There is no right answer, but for many, these other values include family time, exercise, and giving back.
They consciously allocate their 1,440 minutes a day to each area they value (i.e., they put them on their calendar), and then they stick to that schedule.

I hope you manage to enjoy your dinner at home with your nearest & dearest this evening.

Best

Simon

Simon Mackfall
FOUNDING DIRECTOR
Younion Consulting

(That was Part 1 of 2 – you can read Part 2 by clicking here.)

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If you’d like to discuss how Younion and I may help you and your business achieve even more,
(and help you get home for dinner more often…) please get in touch. simon.mackfall@younion.co.uk

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Here are some recent successes our clients have achieved through working with Younion.
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You might also wish to review some testimonials from clients whom we’ve helped.
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(acknowledgement and thanks to Dr Travis Bradberry & Kevin Kruse for their help with this article.)

7 Critical Things The Most Incredibly Successful People Do Every Day – Part 1 of 2