December Challenge Lesson #1 - Stop Thinking Hours, Start Thinking Results

Written by Dave Navarro on November 28, 2007

This is the first post in Dave’s December Challenge series - if you haven’t heard about it yet, read the intro here.

If you’ve been wishing for more hours in the day, it’s not going to happen. Ever. (And that’s actually okay.)

You see, all those times you’ve wished you had more time, you didn’t really mean it. It wasn’t extra hours you craved … it was extra results. You just thought that you needed more hours to achieve them. But it’s this limiting belief that’s been giving you ulcers and keeping you up at night.

Wishing for more time is like wishing for superpowers … it’s simply not something you can make happen. It’s out of your control. And because it’s something you just can’t have, you bolster that victim mentality that keeps you trapped in the land of I-wish-I-could. You feel helpless, which doesn’t help you get your butt in gear. The victim mentality sucks the power out of your life, and you can’t allow that.

The first step to freedom is to acknowledge that you’re not after more time. You’re after more results.

It’s Like Saving Yourself A Thousand Dollars
Think about it like this: If you had $1,000 to invest at 10% interest, you’d make $100 after 12 months. But what if you wanted to make $200? You’d have to come up with another $1,000 to invest. Or would you?

What if you simply found an investment that would make 20%? You’d be able to double your profits without doubling the resources you’re investing. You just saved yourself the effort of finding another $1,000. Financially, it’s a no-brainer. You just have to look for more efficient, more creative solutions. But most of us don’t tend to do this with our time.

When was the last time you wanted to do something, but you told yourself you “didn’t have the time?” Maybe it was something like going through a sales course you bought, and you know it would take about 20 hours to read and absorb. But you’ve been telling yourself you can’t get to it until you “have some free time.”

You could keep thinking like a victim … or you could get smart about it and leverage your time the way you’d leverage that $1,000 investment. You could ask yourself questions like:

• What’s the real result I’m after? Is there a faster strategy I can use to get it?
• How I can get myself to be more productive when working on this task?
• Can I delegate any part of this task to someone else?
• Can I defer part of this task (perhaps indefinitely)?
• And so on …

The point is, you focus on coming up with a creative solution to free up time by getting things done faster (or by someone else).

It All Comes Down To Results
When it’s all said and done, what matters is how much return on investment you get with your time. If you have a 40-hour workweek and you can get creative/disciplined enough to push your effectiveness up 10% (which is completely realistic) you’ll have freed up 4 hours a week to take on that sales course. 5 weeks and you’re done, rather than 5 weeks and you’re still wishing you would get to it.

And that’s your first lesson for the December Challenge:

Lesson #1:
Assume there’s a faster & more effective strategy for getting the result you’re after, and then find it.

Remember, when you look for a faster strategy, your brain will shift up to a more productive state of mind. You’ll get more done. You’ll get it done faster. And you’ll have more free time to do other things you’ve been “meaning to get to.”

How To Make This Lesson Work (Starting Today)
Let’s make this stick. Here’s your homework.

1. Right now, commit to looking for one task that you’re going to find a way to get done faster / more efficiently. Keep in mind that faster doesn’t mean sloppier … it means finding a smarter strategy.
2. Leave a note in the comments below about the smart/creative way you’ve decided you’re going to get results in less time.
3. Make this a daily habit - to find and improve on one thing. If you commit to finding one thing every day, it will quickly become a habit. If you dabble, it won’t. The choice is yours.

Get crackin’, and I’ll see you in the comments thread.

- Dave