I wrote a book (and training package) in 4-5 days by being more focused and focusing on my one high-impact task each day (writing). I’ve launched courses, run programs, run retreats and workshops, and more — all by being more focused and more impactful than I used to be. I believe the best performing people in the world do the same, for the most part.
So how does this work? It’s fairly simple:
- Zero in on the most impactful tasks. This is nothing new — I wrote about it more than a decade ago in the Power of Less, Tim Ferriss wrote about it in 4 Hour Work Week, and recently I read about it again in a book called the One Thing. It’s also often called the Pareto Principle: 20% of your tasks get 80% of the results (not exact figures – it’s more of a principle). So zoom in on those 20% high-impact tasks — and then do 20% of those, and 20% of those, until you’re down to just 1-3 tasks. Do that as soon as you’re done reading this post — what are the 1-3 most impactful tasks on your task list?
- Only focus on the single most impactful task. Even if you have 3 Most Important Tasks … only focus on the One Task. The one thing that will get you the most results today, have the biggest impact on your career, long-term goals, etc. Let the other important tasks go for now, and let this One Task be your entire universe. Be absolutely focused on this, blocking out everything else in your world. Especially the internet and your phone.
- Block off time for this, and block off time for the other things you need to get done. If the One Task is important enough to give your focus to, then it’s important enough to block off in your day. In your calendar, or simply on a sheet of paper, block off the hours of your day — and devote 3-4 hours to your One Task. Block off an hour for your other 2 Most Important Tasks. Then block off time for the other things you need to get done today, including administrative stuff like responding to email and messages.
If you can get more focused like this, and focus on the higher-impact tasks, you don’t need to work as much. You’ll have more than enough time for the things that are important.
Some of the less important stuff will pile up. That’s a part of it. You’re not going to get everything done. You’re going to get the things that matter done.
If you work like this, the idea of too little time to do too much gets turned on its head. You have enough time. You’re just going to use it more effectively, working with priority.