One of the reasons we created Executive Rockstar ‘big plan’ was that most of these ‘tactics’ just don’t work in isolation. It’s easy to ‘try’ to become productive, but why bother? You can take creativity training until it comes out the yazoo… but how does that help? Or you can go on visioning off-site workshops and come back with just a well written piece of paper to show for your effort… no changes.

I found out this the hard way, and this is the reason for ‘Rockstar’ coming into existance. The people who make this stuff work, and I mean REALLY work make the entire process work, not just small parts of it.

So it’s not the tactic but the context that’s different with your online business… it’s not this component of the ‘Executive Rockstar’ process that’s at fault.

Alex,

Glad to have refreshed your memory about an old story, and shown you the real ‘Ivy Lee’ … I must admit to thinking that he was a woman too before researching this piece ;o)

Best wishes guys,

I think it’s time for the next article!

JB>

I thought “Ivy Lee” was a lady though!

Litman calls this “The Success Six”

All The Best

Alex

Now, can anyone tell me why I have no problem prioritising jobs in my day-to-day job, for which I’m paid an hourly rate. But when it comes to setting up an online business for myself, it never works?

1. yes, someone with a clear purpose, a good prioritization and persistence in implementation could make a real difference in a team, group, …
2. anyway the difference he/she brings is definitely different in size, intensity and deepness if this individual has to “fight” with the environment to make it happen. On top of that the spent energy for the result is very different and could lead to some exhaustibility on a long run.
Regards, Thierry

Another good question. As I mentioned in the previous comment, the complexity for this tip is hidden in the phrase ‘the most important task’. The obvious question is ‘To whom?’

I don’t pretend to hold all of the answers, but in my experience, two things are true :

1) The best results come when there is alignment in priorities for you, your team, your division, your organization, your market, etc. How you achieve that (and indeed whether it is possible) is a whole different series of posts.. but obviously if your ‘most important’ is vastly different from your boss’s ‘most important’ you probably need to have a conversation ;o)

2) One person can make a difference. In a world of fuzzy priorities, someone with a plausible and well thought out vision and prioritization can make a real difference! I’ve seen it happen. I did some work for a large financial services organization where one individual had such certainty of purpose and prioritization that she became the focal point for virtually the whole company.

What do you think? what’s been your experience with holding your own direction in a team or company which pulls on your time in many different directions?

We posted this tactic first on purpose: because It seems obvious, it should be easy, but it isn’t!
Why?… because to know what’s most important to both you and the business you work in requires a whole lot of upfront thinking, and some potentially risky decisions to be taken.

…combine that with the discomfort often associated with ‘important tasks’, and unless you have the motivation to accomplish something that has a real emotional pull for you, it becomes all too easy to slip off the wagon and get back to cherry picking the most comfortable tasks.

We’ll definitely be getting into the problem of interruptions at a later date, together with a view of the whole ecosystem of vision, prioritization, productivity, creativity, etc. it’s a tangled web that too many people try to tackle one piece at a time rather than connecting everything together… which is really why ‘productivity’ systems fail for so many people!

Very interesting and powerful tip but do you think it’s sustainable if you are using it in isolation within a team, a group, an organization?
Regards,

Thierry

This one little exercise surfaces a whole series of questions that really kick off the whole career strategy process!

You’ve touched on a couple of the questions that tend to come up… ‘How do I really know what’s important?’, ‘Why is it so hard to do?’. Before long you’ll get onto ‘why would I want to make my work day harder anyway?’

… and that’s before we even get anywhere near the really cool questions ;o)

Thanks for commenting. Stick around, we’ve got some great stuff coming!

Regards,

JB>

Thank you for being my friend too.