The Overachiever vs. The Superachiever (4 of 4)
WARNING: There is kryptonite all around you!
There are great traps you will have to overcome to execute
and stick to your five-point plan each day. These are three great warnings to
look out for.
WARNING No. 1—“Yes”
You will have to become a master at saying “no.” This is one
of the greatest distinguishing features of superachievers—not what they do, but
more important what they don’t do. Their ability to keep the main thing, in
fact, the main thing and not get mired in weeds of minor tasks is their
genius. They major in the major issues and don’t major in minors, as many of
the rest of us tend to do.
As Brian Tracy said, you need to develop “Won’t Power.” The
power to declare and stick to all the things you won’t do, in order for you to
stay focused on the things that matter the most to the accomplishment of your
BIG hairy audacious goals.
WARNING No. 2—Being reactive instead of creative
Monitor and calculate your time between being reactive
(reacting to communications, inquiries, requests and needs of others) and being
proactive or creative—the time you are spending being productive and on target
with your key priorities, not the priorities of others.
Think about it: email, texts, the phone… you are mostly
reacting when you are on these devices. Don’t let them yank you around all day
as if you were on the end of a string where someone else is your puppet master.
Instead, be sure the lion’s share of your time is spent being creative and
focused on YOUR few and high-value priorities.
WARNING No. 3—Immediate gratification
Lastly, you have to keep your addictions at bay. Trust me, I
know. I am a card-carrying achievement addict myself. This might be seeing
checkmarks on a to-do list. The sense of achievement you get by checking a lot
of tasks off—tasks that you probably shouldn’t have allowed to get your time
and focus in the first place.
And our human addiction to novelty—what’s new, what’s next.
The next email, the new text, the Tweet update, the Facebook responses, the
latest news alert, etc. We love to know what’s new and we love to know we are
loved. Many times a new email, text, blog, Facebook or Twitter comment is like
getting a small shot of love dopamine pumped through our veins through the IVs
that are our electronic devices. “Oh, a new email, a new comment; oh boy,
someone loves me!” This can become a very unhealthy addiction, mostly because
it continually and relentlessly distracts you from your creative and high-value
productivity.
DON’T MISTAKE:
Movement for Achievement
Activity for Productivity
Rushing for Results
Movement for Achievement
Activity for Productivity
Rushing for Results
If all you did from this point forward was use the Superachiever
Daily Productivity Planning and stick to executing on it each
day, I can nearly guarantee you would multiply your productive output several
times over. Your ability to achieve once seemingly impossible goals will become
a reality.
It will look to others as you if you are “faster than a
speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings
in a single bound!”
Share the results you have seen incorporating these
ideas into your daily productivity… and any other ideas you have in the
comments below.
