The world's greatest get rich bible

Chapter 59: First things first: Achieving effective self-management 1
Volume Three Chapter 3 First Things First: Achieving Effective Self-Management 1
First things first, don't let chores lead you by the nose

If you want to focus on the most urgent tasks, you have to get rid of the entanglement of secondary things. At this time, you need to have the courage to say "no".

-- "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"

Suppose there are three water basins of the same size on the table in front of you. One of the basins is filled with more than half of the basin of sand, and the second basin is filled with a pile of stones of different sizes and shapes. Half of the capacity of the water basin is filled, and the third basin is empty.Now you have to put all the sand and stones into the empty basin, the requirement is that the sand and stones should be below the upper surface of the basin.

what will you doDo you put the rocks in the pot first, or do you put the sand in first?
This is a classic game of time management.In previous experiments, observers found that most of the people who accepted the challenge would first pour the sand into the basin, and then they could not put all the stones into the basin with all their strength, which did not violate the rules of the game.Only when this method does not work, they will change their thinking, first put the stones into the empty basin, then pour the fine sand, and after shaking the basin, the task is easily completed.

Explained from the perspective of time management, the empty basin represents the limited time everyone has, the stones represent the most important and valuable things in life, and the sand represents those trivial things that seem to never be dealt with.The different methods adopted by the players also symbolize the methods people adopt when dealing with problems: the former is busy with trivial matters first, but the result is counterproductive, and cannot achieve the ultimate goal; task.

Embedded in this game is the principle of “putting first things first,” a work method that almost all highly effective people use.In life, many people are busy with all kinds of trivial matters every day, and are even led by the nose by these innocuous troubles.People who are in the midst of trivial matters are like surfing. When a wave hits, people are knocked into the water, and as soon as they get up, a new wave comes again.

The so-called "important matters" do not simply refer to urgent matters.Many people often regard urgent matters as the first object to be solved. This is actually a misunderstanding, because although urgent matters should not be avoided, they do not necessarily have a stake in them, such as uninvited guests who hardly meet each other, and unavoidable meetings. If you are too shy to refuse a guest who pays you admiringly, if you don’t have the courage to turn down a worthless meeting, and if you don’t have the heart to interrupt the other party’s extravagant chat, then you will always be in such a hurry But unimportant little things get in the way, waste energy and time, and can't improve the efficiency of work and life.

The really important things are not necessarily urgent, but they are related to goals, they are beneficial to the achievement of personal goals, they deserve more attention, and they are placed at the top of the agenda.And for those trivial and worthless things, the time spent on them should be appropriately reduced.

One of the most valuable skills of high-efficiency people is the ability to properly handle the relationship between important and trivial matters. For example, when they contact people, they can often achieve the greatest efficiency in the shortest time. In this regard, "financial king" Morgan can be called role model.

Morgan enters the office on time at 9:30 a.m. every day and returns home at 5 p.m.Some people calculated Morgan's capital and thought he was earning $20 a minute, but Morgan said it was much more than that.

In order to achieve efficient work, except for discussions with people who have a special relationship with the business, Morgan's conversations with people generally do not exceed 5 minutes.

Normally, Morgan would not work alone in a luxuriously decorated office like the bosses of many large companies, but would work with many employees.He will direct his staff at any time to act according to his plan.He welcomes employees to take the initiative to communicate with him, but if you don't have anything important or can't make a short and powerful statement, he will not welcome you.

Morgan could tell exactly what a person was approaching.When talking to him, all oblique methods will be ineffective, and he can immediately judge the other party's true intentions.This excellent judgment and decisive and capable way of working has saved Morgan a lot of precious time, so that he can focus more on more important things.

If you want to improve work efficiency, you must be like Morgan. In addition to having the ability to grasp key points, you must also have sufficient control and decisiveness. Freed from trivial matters.

(End of this chapter)