How to Kill the Vampires That Suck Your Productivity

Do you know the main differentiator between people who are successful and people who are not? It’s not resources. It’s not talent. It’s not which coast you live (or don’t live) on. It’s not what you know. It’s not even WHO you know (although, this is a close second). The difference between winners and losers lies in focus. Winners know how to focus. Losers do not. Winners know what their $1,000- and $10,000-per-hour tasks are. Losers are stuck doing $1- and $10-per-hour tasks. Successful people know their will-power reservoir is finite; there is only so much you can get done in a day. Because of this, they wisely plan out their day and make the main thing the main thing. Everything else either gets delegated or discarded. Unsuccessful people believe they can operate at optimal levels all throughout the day. They believe ducking in and out of their inbox, social media feeds and mobile devices have no effect on their will power to get meaningful stuff done. I found myself in the latter category recently. Specifically when it came to checking and responding to email. My inbox was getting well outside of my control. I wasn’t good at managing it or responding to people. I was taking too long to find the answers I needed when responding to people. I got stuck in the details. This bogged my whole workday down and mercilessly drained my will-power reservoir. I was tired of letting my inbox win, so I made a choice. A choice centered on protecting my precious daily allotment of will power. Now I have a team member who focuses on my inbox for me. She’s masterful at weeding out the wheat from the chaff. She decides what stays, what goes, what she can respond to and what I need to respond to. It’s not perfect, but it protects the will power. It’s a habit that, when followed mercilessly, will lead to success. Our team will win because this system is now in place. Doing this exercise has shown me there are literally dozens of areas in my daily work routine just like it. My guess is the same holds true for you. There are hundreds of will-power vampires waiting to drain our precious daily allotment of creative energy. Our daily challenge is to find them and drive a wooden stake right through the heart of those bad boys. Your success depends on it.