The top five ways to be effective are all synergistic to each other. Meaning you can’t achieve one without the other. If you lack in one area, there is a good chance the rest of the deck will crumble.
Key Summary
- Time Management
- Social Butterfly
- Simplicity
- Resource Management
- Sharpening the Saw
Top Five Ways to be Effective
Calm, open debate, and logical thought drive strength to its maximum effectiveness.
Billy Corgan
Time Management
Let’s face it. Time is the most important thing in the world, right along with our health and money. Managing time doesn’t mean freeing up time to be used for leisure. Time management means investing your time in quality areas of your life. For example, if you invest time to study a little bit of nutrition, that will help health. If you invest time in understanding money, you can be better off financially.
Even better, you can invest any time that you’ve got to yourself to research and adopt more ways to manage even MORE time. Now is that a winning loop or what?!?! Also, since time is the ultimate point here, keep in mind that this is one habit you have to continuously sharpen. If all else fails, this habit is one of the most important.
Social Butterfly
Get into the habit of talking to everyone. Strike up a conversation with the lady at Starbucks or the guy in Walmart. It’s good to be comfortable speaking to other people. You’ll notice that your relationships with others will passively become a lot better and more enjoyable. You’ll also notice that you suddenly feel happier and have more friends. Initiating conversations with strangers can give you an idea of just how humble even the most miserable people seem. Try it, it may humble you!
Don’t forget all the opportunities that can come your way from knowing all types of people. You may learn more about other cultures, you may find a new job, a new employee or even a new mate!
Simplicity
Simplicity is a big one. The biggest time wasters in peoples lives are unimportant clutter. Sometimes we check Facebook out of habit or talk to a friend on the phone while neglecting responsibility. Simplicity is all about hacking away at the unessential. A rule of thumb if you have a problem is to go with the solution that is the simplest. Being simple means removing all the extra steps from your life. Refine tasks, which in turn, will save you time!
Refining your exercise technique to less days, figuring out your car’s true maintenance potential so you can spend less time maintaining it. You can even arrange your home for simplicity. Pack your stuff (clothing, food, etc) based on your routine around the house, so you can save yourself time and energy!
Resource Management
I don’t only mean money, but money is a big part of resource management. Money is in control of most of our resources. Keep your eye on what you’re spending your money on. Don’t be cheap. Never save money by putting yourself in unnecessary inconvenience. For example, you don’t have to save $4.00 by taking a 45 min detour in order to avoid the toll. That’s not worth it. Manage food as well. Make sure you have enough food in your house at all times. If you end up not having enough of an important resource, it will take time away from other important matters to obtain.
Make sure you cook in bulk and prepare your clothing for the next day, the night before. Making sure the laundry is done, the dishes are washed, etc. These are all specific resources that should never be neglected. Monitor all your resources and keep track of availability. Never allow scarcity in your life!
Sharpening the Saw
When it comes to being effective, there’s no one way. There is a number of techniques. This skill is an important one. This skill is the one that sharpens all the other skills. Imagine having the best cell phone in the world. What good will it be if you don’t have the charger for it? Eventually, it will be useless, right? That’s what sharpening the saw means. It means sharpening your other techniques involved in being effective.
You want to constantly pause and reflect on those areas in your life. See if you lack social versatility or you’re having trouble managing your resources. Don’t let yourself slip. If you slip, it will be twice as hard to get the ball rolling in the right direction!
Leave a Reply