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.
You focus on the most important thing, and you 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 in your life. Once you’re focused, you’ll know which areas to delegate, which areas to throw completely out the window, and which areas to give your best resources. If you’re not focused, your efforts will be 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 writing and thinking. He has all his meetings in the afternoon because it’s less productive for him. While Richard Branson, the billionaire entrepreneur wakes up at 5 am to work out, which he believes boosts his productivity significantly. He shares he definitely can achieve twice as much by keeping fit, for it keeps his brain functioning well.
Discipline is a big point for service providers, especially for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have no bosses to watch over them or make sure that they are getting their jobs done. They have to be their own bosses. They have to supervise their own behaviour and remain focused.