You may be a good time manager, but you’ll never be as high a performer or as productive a leader as when you are focused. Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, has shared his views on being single-minded on a few overriding priorities. He keeps things focused. And the speech he gives every day is: ‘This is what we do. Is what we are doing consistent with that, and can it change the world?’

Focus on the most important thing, and you will find that the other small things take care of themselves. Having a focus is a byproduct of purpose. The clearer your purpose in life – the more focused you will be on the areas that are really important. And once you’re focused, you’ll know which areas to delegate; which to completely throw out the window, and which areas to dedicate your best resources. If you’re not focused, your efforts will just become diffused over many different endeavors.

Be a disciplined worker. Figure out which parts of the day are the really creative hours for you. For example, early in the morning is my coauthor Dr. Nido Qubein’s most creative time. That’s when he does his best writing and thinking. He books all his meetings for the afternoon because that time of day has historically been less productive for him. While on the other hand, Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur, wakes up at 5 am to work out, which he believes boosts his productivity significantly later in the day. He shares that he can definitely achieve twice as much by keeping fit, for it keeps his brain functioning at its peak.

Focus is also a high priority for successful service providers, especially those who are entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have no bosses to watch over them to make sure they get their tasks completed. They have to be their own bosses and supervise their own behaviour.