if I could accomplish one thing today, what would it be?

This is the question I ask myself every morning to help me focus my time. Time is my most valuable resource. I have two under 5's, a wife who I dig hanging around with, and 5 businesses in 2 different countries to manage. Things can get busy.

In the past I used to waste my precious time answering dozens of emails which weren’t important and spending far too much time surfing the internet wondering what useless consumer products that I needed to buy next. Don’t get me wrong. My work capacity and output were great. I had reasonable systems for managing my health and my business. How come I was still busier than a beaver, but not really getting the time to develop my businesses and live the life I wanted? This was hurting my business and my home life.

Here’s the thing I came to realise – being efficient and being effective are two very different things. Being efficient is working economically (whether the task is important or not). Being effective is doing things that get you closer to your goals. Just because you’re doing something that takes a lot of time doesn’t make it important. Doing something well that isn’t important still doesn’t make it important. I needed to become effective and then work efficiently towards my goals. My time was at a premium, and I was investing my time and getting little return on investment (ROI).

Since I have started my morning routine asking myself “If I could accomplish one thing today, what would it be?” my effectiveness has sky rocketed. Try this simple technique and see if you can boost your effectiveness.

Dave Liow