There are 24 hours and a total of 1,440 minutes in every day. Successful people just seem to get a lot more done in a day than unsuccessful people. The main reason is successful people keep the main thing the main thing. Success is not an accident.

First, you must be honest about your strengths and your weaknesses. Spend your time in what you are strong at and delegate what you are not. A sales person reading this article may immediately think they don’t have anyone to delegate to. This is limited thinking. Find someone who is good at what you are not and make an alliance with them. Either pay them for their services, or offer them your services in exchange. If you go through your client list, you will come up with many people who can assist you in getting what you want. Keep this order: Be, Do, Have. The type of person you want to be, should determine what you want to do and have.

Before you begin to do anything, ask yourself these three questions:

1. What do I want to do?

2. Why do I want to do it?

3. How can I do it?

When the “why” gets strong, the “how” gets easy. A good exercise before you start a task is the Payoff Matrix Exercise. Draw four quadrants – The bottom left quadrant is titled “Quick Win,” The bottom right quadrant is titled “Waste of Time,” the top left quadrant is “Business Opportunity,” the top right quadrant is “Special Effort.” To the left of the quadrants put the word “Payoff.” At the bottom of the quadrants put the word “Effort.” When considering a task, measure the amount of effort you think it will take and then go from left to right until you think you have reached the correct measurement of effort and stop. Next, think of the amount of payoff you could expect from the task and measure it going upwards. When you stop, you will have an axis of measurement that will land in one of the four quadrants. This will tell you what the estimated bang for buck is for the task.

Successful people simply get tasks done that reward them greater. When something comes your way use the 4Ds of time management: Do it, Delegate it, Dump it, or Defer it. Make quick but educated decisions on what is the correct action based upon the reward potential.

Unsuccessful people think backwards. They get caught up in the “When-Then” Syndrome. “When I get to here, then I will do that.” The problem is they never get there. Always start with the end in mind. Everything else is a mind game. Unsuccessful people work for wages to pay bills. Successful people work for profits and opportunities.

Successful people educate and motivate by reading, learning and practicing personal development; unsuccessful people watch TV. Successful people think big and live large; unsuccessful people think small and live little. Unsuccessful people hate change; successful people embrace change and create it.

Successful people play to win; unsuccessful people play not to lose. The root of scarcity is scared, success and money does not follow scared. Unsuccessful people believe in luck and lotteries; successful people make their luck and lottery everyday.

Unsuccessful people wish for success; successful people create it. Unsuccessful people quit easy; successful people never quit. Unsuccessful people fear failure; successful people know it’s a part of the process. Unsuccessful people talk about things and people; successful people talk about ideas and possibilities. Unsuccessful people think about today; successful people think about the future and live today.

Success or failure, it’s your choice. If you would like the Payoff Matrix, e-mail me at info@tewart.com and put “Payoff Matrix” in the subject line.

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