how to be more productive

The Difference Between Being Busy And Being Productive

January 8, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

Just because someone is busy does not mean that person is being productive. Being busy and being productive are two things that many people get mixed up. You can be busy but unproductive. You could also be busy and productive at the same time.

Being busy means being occupied with a task. The task may be to look through your email, respond to clients’ emails, or writing a blog post. However, not all tasks are productive. In order to identify which tasks are productive, you need to ask yourself what your main goals are. After you ask yourself what your main goals are, ask yourself how the task at hand lines up with your main goals.

Checking your inbox most likely has nothing to do with recording a video for YouTube. Checking the inbox makes you busy but unproductive. Writing a blog post related to a book you are writing is productive towards accomplishing the main goal. Therefore, writing the blog post allows you to be both busy and productive at the same time.

Always being busy does not necessarily mean you will get better results. It is how you spend your time when you are busy that decides the kinds of results you will see in the long run. If you are busy and productive at the same time, your results are going to look really good.

Focus On What You Are Good At

January 8, 2014 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

Niche Specialization When it comes to time management, one of the tips is to reduce the amount of time spent procrastinating. Reducing the amount of time you spend procrastinating will allow you to accomplish your goals, but you should not focus on the negative aspect of time management.

While spending less time procrastinating is good, you should spend more time focusing on what you are good at. By focusing on what you are good at, you will give yourself more self-esteem and get more done in a shorter amount of time.

In order to get really good time management, you need to do something that you are good at and that you enjoy doing. The successful people enjoy what they do, but they are also good at what they do.

The mindset has the ability to affect everything that you do…good or bad. Instead of looking at the glass as half empty, look at the glass as half full. Instead of focusing on eliminating the procrastinators, focus on the positive: the things you are good at. By focusing on what you are good at, you will want to spend more time doing what you are good at. The procrastinators will get reduced on their own, but only if you focus on what you are good at and passionate about.

What We Need To Learn From The Fox And Hedgehog Story

January 7, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

I was watching a video by Gideon Shalwick, a video marketer, and in that video, he talked about the story of the fox and the hedgehog. The hedgehog only has one form of protection: its needles. The hedgehog only focuses on the needles. It does not need to run faster or have stronger hands because the hedgehog already has what it needs.

The fox is trying to eat the hedgehog, but the fox uses different tactics to get to the hedgehog. The fox tries charging at the hedgehog, coming from behind, and coming from the side. The hedgehog only knows one trick, but that one trick neutralizes all of the fox’s attempts at eating the hedgehog.

You may have many great ideas, but in order to get the best results, you need to give the most attention to an individual idea. One idea should get 90% of your attention. It is okay to only use one social network and have a big following versus using many social networks and having small followings on all of those social networks.

We need to focus on implementing less big ideas so we can optimize the ideas that we choose to implement. It is okay to stick with only one idea versus sticking with many ideas. The hedgehog is still here today because he stuck with one idea. The fox still can’t get to the hedgehog because he is trying different tactics but not optimizing on one of those tactics.

Make Your Plan Simple

January 6, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

The most common reason why plans don’t work is because the planner over-thinks the situation. The plans that do not get executed often took days and weeks to come up with. These plans often have too many priorities and goals.

The purpose of a plan is to be implemented. A plan that does not get implemented does not fulfill its purpose. The solution is not to exclude a plan from your strategy. The solution is to make your plan simple.

A simple plan should consist of 5 priorities at most with stepping stones that will allow you to accomplish those priorities within a certain amount of time. The simpler your plan, the better. If you do not need 5 stepping stones to get the priority accomplished, do not use 5 stepping stones to get there. The less work you give yourself to accomplish a priority, the better.

Plans don’t have to backfire. Plans can lead to successful businesses and products that get incredible results. The only way to have a successful plan is by making it simple. By making your plan simple, you will know exactly what you need to implement and when you need to implement parts of your plan.

The Problem With Waiting For Something To Happen

January 2, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

goal

Some people who think of a great idea wait for everything to come in place. The problem with waiting for everything to align is that waiting does not result in the alignment. In order to get the alignment, you need to take action.

Goals don’t come to the people who don’t go after them. In order to accomplish your goals, you can’t wait for them to happen to you; you have to happen to them. You are the one who controls your own success. The more work you put in towards accomplishing your goal, the more successful you are going to become.

If you keep on waiting, the time will never be just right. The right time to start is now. There is no reason to wait for something to happen. Waiting does not result in progress. Work results in progress.

After enough waiting, it may eventually be too late to implement a goal–someone thought of it already, what you are thinking of wouldn’t be as popular now as it would have been, or something else. In order to implement your goal before its too late, you need to do the work that will allow you to accomplish your goal.

Don’t wait for a goal to happen. Happen to it.

7 Ways To Kickstart The New Year

December 30, 2013 by Marc Guberti 1 Comment

At the end of every year, we are given a new sense of motivation. The New Year gives us a clean slate. We can start over and accomplish those resolutions. However, 80% of people lose that motivation by February and don’t accomplish their goals. In order to accomplish your resolutions, you need to stick with them. By getting a strong start, you will be able to stick with your resolutions. Here are 10 ways to kickstart the New Year so you can keep that motivation intact.

Have a vision. Imagine what you want to become. This will give you the motivation to implement tactics that will allow you to reach your vision.
Use Must-Do Lists, not To-Do Lists. A To-Do List sounds optional. A Must-Do List will strengthen your commitment towards getting a task done.
Prioritize. What needs to be done first?
Write down all of the things that inspire you. These can be motivational quotes, short stories, or another form of writing. If you want to use pictures or anything else, use them. This will motivate you to accomplish more goals.
Use a day by day plan. Implementing a day by day plan will allow you to identify all of the tasks you need to accomplish. By planning weeks ahead, you will get the best results.
Don’t think of the year as 365 days. Think of a year as 12 weeks. By thinking of a year as 12 weeks, you will be able to get more accomplished in a shorter amount of time.
Reward yourself for accomplishing goals. Each time you accomplish a goal, kick back and relax. You deserve it. Make sure you don’t lose too much time though.

The New Year is the time when motivation reaches its peak. In order to keep your motivation at its peak, you need to kickstart the New Year and stay motivated from the New Year to the last day of December.