Tag: Motivation

Filipe Castro Matos is a Portuguese entrepreneur, and co-founder of O MEU COPO (“MY GLASS”).

Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself — at the university’s 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005.

The most successful people all have certain habits in their daily routines.

They help contribute to their success and can be considered good habits to form. It could be something simple like, setting a goal to, “Do good each day,” like Benjamin Franklin did.

It could also be something more elaborate such as spending most of your morning in bed like Winston Churchill. Churchill would wake up at 7:30am daily, eat breakfast, read his mail and newspaper until 11am.

1. PLAN YOUR DAY THE NIGHT BEFORE

Every minute spent in planning saves 10 minutes in execution. Sit down with a piece of paper and write down everything that you need to do the coming day. If for any reason you don’t do this, it should be the first thing you do every morning. When you write down a list you have a track to run on.

Writing down a list clarifies your thinking and goals…

Writing down a list forces you to think at a higher level…

If you start working from a list you increase you output 25% each day.

One of the habits of millionaires is that they start their day working from a list.

2. SET PRIORITIES ON YOUR LIST BEFORE YOU START THE DAY

Work from the 80/20 rule. If you have 10 items on your list of things to do, two will be the more important than all of the other items put together.

Go down your list and answer the question, “If I were to be called out of town for a month, what are the most important tasks that I must accomplish?”

Last fall I was out of the country traveling across 15 countries in 36 days. When I looked at my list of things to do before I left, I had to get my most important tasks done.

Once you identify these most important tasks, it brings us to the final step in starting your day.

3. COMPLETE THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK FIRST

Begin immediately on your most important task and focus on it and only it until completion.

All success in life comes from project completion and living a life of good habits will help you complete more projects.

A project with multiple tasks is called a “multi-task job”. This means that there are several smaller jobs to complete within the larger job. Organize your jobs by sequence in a checklist and start on you most important project. Complete the smaller jobs in you project, until the entire project is complete. This process is called “single handling” and it’s one of the most powerful things that you can use in managing your time. You can increase your productivity by 50% by planning, starting and completing your most important tasks every single day.

CONCLUSION

If you can develop these habits of successful people and do those three things, plan your day the night before, organize your tasks in order of importance, and complete your most important task first thing during your day. You will increase your productivity overnight.

What successful habits do you practice when you start your day? Leave a comment below.

Minister Faust is a life-long story-teller. The author of several internationally-acclaimed novels, Minister Faust has published scores of articles in newspapers and magazines, hosted and associate-produced a national lifestyle magazine television show, been a celebrity judge on two seasons of The 3-Day Novel Contest, hosted and produced his own news and music radio shows for over 20 years, and spoken to audiences in the tens of thousands. Even after decades of interviewing people, Minister Faust is more passionate than ever about engaging people’s natural story-telling wishes and powers, using carefully-crafted questions to hear their most remarkable tales and revelations. He’s looking forward to the release of his new novel “The Alchemists of Kush” and his book “The Cure for Death by Small-Talk” later this summer.

Former Denver Broncos running back Reggie Rivers discusses how focusing on your goals is the one sure way NOT to achieve them. With humor and insight he goes on to explain how focusing on your behaviors is how you achieve goals.

What can you learn from an ultra marathon runner you might ask? Croix tells the story of his run across America and how he was able to push through the pain and challenges of running a marathon.

Most 12-year-olds love playing videogames — but Thomas Suarez taught himself how to create them. After developing iPhone apps like “Bustin Jeiber,” a whack-a-mole game, he is now using his skills to help other kids become developers.

Karina Hollekim, the first female athlete to complete a ski base, overcame a terrible accident and returned as a winner. She will share a story about those moments which can change our lives forever, about willpower and passion.

What do you do when you’re told you cannot walk anymore? In August 2006, she suffered a near-fatal accident after her parachute failed to open during a routine jump.

Did she give up or did she fight for her passion? She’s a real TEDster — Karina defied faith. After 20 surgeries, doctors didn’t believe she would walk again. Helped by intense rehabilitation, she succeeded in putting back her skis in 2009 and, as a result of her struggle, she shot a biographical movie, “20 Seconds of Joy”, to show the process she got through.

In the last few years, she has been travelling the world sharing her story and inspiring people to seek determination and passion in pursuing their dreams: an example of will, determination and hope.

Ingrid Vanderveldt (iV) is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Dell, CEO of Green Girl Energy, Founding Organizer of the GLASS Forum (Global Leadership & Sustainable Success), seasoned entrepreneur, business television personality and a passionate advocate for WOMEN + GREEN sustainability initiatives. Ingrid has designed and executed corporate, entrepreneurial and philanthropic programs to advance the economic success of women-owned and green-focused businesses and has worked with companies including Microsoft, Dell, Humana and SAIC. Ingrid created CNBC’s first original primetime series, “American Made” reaching over 1 M viewers around the globe and has hosted the Web shows ‘On the Road with iV’ and the ‘Road to SXSW 2010’.

Ten years of research and 500 face-to-face-interviews led Richard St. John to a collection of eight common traits in successful leaders around the world.