What won’t you do today?

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Just because someone called doesn’t mean you have to call them back. You could have someone call them for you, you could send them a letter or email, or you could ignore them.

The choice is yours.

Just because people want to talk to you, meet with you, or have you look at something doesn’t mean you have to do it. You could say no.

Warren Buffett once said, “the difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.”

What will you say no to today?

What meeting won’t you attend? What tasks won’t you do?

If you say “no” to almost everything, you’ll have more time, won’t you, to do the few things that matter most? You’ll be able to work on projects that advance you towards your most important goals, instead of simply getting things done.

Go through your lists of tasks and projects and ideas and choose a few that allow you to use your skills and create value for your clients. That’s what you should be doing, and that means saying no to just about everything else.

If you’re like most people, saying no to most things might free up several hours a day. What important projects could you complete if you had even an extra hour per day?

To be more productive and more successful you must first know your priorities. If you have 100 things on a list only a few will make the cut. What are those few? What are your top priorities?

Once you know, the next step is to prioritize your priorities. Every day ask yourself, “What are the two or three most important tasks to do today?” Do them, ideally early in the day, before you do anything else.

If you finish early, you can choose another important task and do that, you could do a few less important tasks, or you can go home.

Yes, go home.

If you do your most important tasks today, your day will be successful. Even if you don’t do anything else.

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