Smarter, Not Harder: How to Succeed at Work

Here’s one method to help you choose what to focus on and how to use your time:

• Change how you think about your day. Working longer hours zaps you of your time and energy. Almost all consistently successful people make sleep a priority.
• Write a list of all the goals you have. Writing them down not only frees up your mind from keeping track of them but also gives you a visual representation of just how many things you want to do.
• Circle your top three goals.
• Eliminate everything else.

Focus directs your energy toward your goals. The more focused you are, the more energy goes toward what you’re working on. The more energy that goes toward your goals, the better your results.

Eliminating things that you care about is hard. You have to make tradeoffs. If you can’t make those tradeoffs, you’re not going to get far. The cost of not being focused is high.