Unplanned time produces an unproductive life. The truth still remains…if you fail to plan you might as well plan to fail. I coach many people that have lost their edge because they are coasting rather than creating. They are a victim to procrastination, therefore they experience disorientation when it comes to their time. They have so much to do that they are simply overwhelmed and get nothing done. In fact, the more we have to do the more we must plan how we are going to do it. For every hour you spend planning you save hours in execution. It is like the old story of the lumberjack who spent much of his time sharpening his ax, therefore he was able to cut down more trees than the lumberjack exerting more energy to cut down his own trees because his blade had become dull. The lumberjack who spent time sharpening his ax doubled his production rate.

Most people spend too much time getting things done because they haven’t planned well. The better you plan the faster you can produce. However, the less we plan the longer it takes to get things done. The key is to effectively plan your schedule and process to save time and energy. Just the other day I was working on a project trying to figure out the exact order I should do things in. As I was planning the process out I found a way to shave off a good half-hour to an hour because of one little tweak in my plan. I needed to create a product that involved graphics, press printing, packaging, labeling, duplicating, and packaging. By planning out the process step by step and moving around the order of things so I could multi-task the steps I saved time to work on other things. If I would have just gone into the process without thinking through the best way to do it I would have added much work and missed an opportunity to be more efficient. And saving an hour here and there each day can add up to an extra 5-8 hours of the workweek. That is almost a full days worth added because of better process planning. The point is to make sure you plan your processes out with exact detail for efficiency. Here are some tips to get more done…

1. Think Through Every Step

Map out your project step by step that way you know what you are dealing with. The more you can plan out the easier it is to be prepared for unforeseen obstacles you may face. This also helps with realizing what you can and can’t do until you do certain steps in the process. You don’t want to be half way into a project then realize you can’t move forward until you do other tasks that could have been done prior to starting. The more you can line up your steps the easier it is to see a bird’s eye view of how you can best accomplish the tasks.

2. Always Choose The Easiest Route

When choosing the best way to do something always choose the one that will be most efficient. Working harder does is not always the best route to take. Working smarter saves you time and energy to focus on other things. Never lose quality in the process of simplifying but make sure you are taking the simplest route. Albert Einstein said “Make things as simple as possible, but not any simpler.”

3. Plan When You Are Going To Accomplish The Tasks

Give yourself deadlines! If you don’t have a plan for when you are going to accomplish certain steps in your process you will be at the mercy of your emotions. Emotions come and go you can’t wait for them to control you, you must control them. You do this by scheduling when you will get things done so your emotions will follow suit. You don’t work on things when you feel like it, you work on things so you will feel like it. Make sure you set out a plan of action with specific time frames to keep you on track. Plan out your week in advance so you can lay out the process of when you will work on things. When I was writing my book FAITHOLOGY I followed this process with deadlines so that I knew exactly what it was going to take in order for me to finish the project on time…and it worked because I had a plan of action.

So here is the power statement for today…

Make sure you PLAN if you want to PRODUCE