How You Should Start Every Day For The Rest Of Your Life!

I’m a great believer of how you start your day will shape the rest of your day.

Start you day well…on a good positive, healthy note..and chances are…you will have a great day.

You will feel strong, fit and all ready to take on the world.

I’m very much influenced by the morning ritual of the late copywriting legend, Gary Halbert.

He wrote it in his newsletter, which you can find here:
http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/Newsletters/aslk_start_every_day.htm

Well…the morning routine obviously does a world of a good for him, seeing how successful he is.

I got the gist down here, as well as his rationale for his routine. I don’t follow his routine exactly…but it’s close. And I try to keep at it as much as I can on a daily basis.

Here’s the way he advocates on how to start your day (take it away, Gary!):

1. Set your alarm clock to go off 10 minutes earlier than usual.

2. The first thing, after you get up, is to immediately remake your bed.

3. Go to the kitchen, pour yourself a glass of water and drink it all.

Quotable Quotes Series

One thing you might not know about me is that I’m a voracious reader and also a seeker of knowledge (hey I take action too…not just read!).

Along the way, I’ve came across countless valuable quotes…little nuggets of wisdoms that have made significant impact on me.

So today while looking through some quotes I’ve compiled…an idea hit upon me. Why not have a “quotable quotes” series here?

It’s fast for me to write. And fast for you to read. Win-win!

In the process…I hope to add value to you as well as provide something for you to ponder on.

Well…I’m anxious to get the party started…so here it is…the inaugural “quotable quote”…

“You Don’t Have Time To Do Everything…But You Have Time To Do The Most Valuable Things”

Take Home Message:

Let’s face it.

Time is a finite resource. We only have 24 hours a day. That’s it. Nothing more.

What we do…and NOT do…in that 24 hours will determine the results we achieve.

As you will know by now…work is never ending. There’s always something to do everyday. Always!

Just Do It!

There’s a saying…

If you love what you do…then you don’t have to work for life.

Quite true isn’t it?

Because everyday, work will be a joy to undertake. You put yourself in a position to excel.

Shouldn’t that be the right attitude to take towards life and work?

You know…I love business.

But more specifically…I love the sales and marketing side of business (hate the tedious time consuming administrative tasks though).

Everyday I wake up, I feel so privileged and happy to be doing what I’m doing.

This is what I love. And I can serve others and add value all round while at it. What a win-win.

Of course, I’ve to admit…work isn’t always a bed of roses. If you want that…go to the garden.

The truth is – if you want to reach success – you got to quit thinking so much…and just start doing it.

A wise man once said, "Everything in life worth doing is worth doing wrong – until you learn to do it right!"

Boost Your Productivity – Quit Being A Slave To Emails

Editor Note: I originally wrote this piece as a guest article to share with the readers from esteemed copywriter, John Forde’s Copywriter Roundtable’s newsletter.

I’m re-producing it here for your reading pleasure. I hope you enjoy reading it like I’ve writing it.

Here’s a question to think about.

How many of you read the email as virtually the first
thing you do when you turn on the computer?

Recent studies show that a whopping 65.3% of us do so.

For the longest time, that includes me as well.

And here’s the thing…

Don’t you find that once you are deep in your
reading and replying of emails,
you can be buried there for hours?

And you will soon find yourself wasting so much time that
you did not get much done?

If you are nodding your head in agreement, then
this is something you might want to address.

But first, just why are we often addicted to emails?

There’s a psychological reason for this.

And that’s our subconscious craving for attention.

Rescue Time – Skyrocket Your Personal Productivity Through Accountability

Want to be instantly more productive?

Here’s a simple way:

Be transparent about your work objectives to the important people around you, and then be accountable to them.

Let me go through why.

1. If you are keeping all your objectives to yourself…you may tend to cheat. No one will know your true progress. Sometimes…not even yourself.

If you miss your deadline, you may think it’s okay, because no one else is watching. You tell yourself you will make it up another time.

Is this process optimal? Not really.

But if you publicly declare your work objectives in clear specific terms to others, you are much more likely to fulfill them.

Because this time round, you feel the pressure to deliver what you say you will do. This is good pressure that will motivate you.

2. You want to be transparent to important people that matters. Get a peer who understands your work as your accountability partner.

If you are not doing your job, he will know. And he has to put you back in line.

Procrastination Is Good

Say what? Procrastination? Good?
Isn’t procrastination supposed to be THE big evil?

Didn’t all the gurus proclaimed that the key to success is speed of implementation?

So why procrastinate?

Here’s why…

If you remember, I used to talk about the Pareto’s rule.

And that is 80% of what you do will give you only 20% of your results.

While the other 20% will lead to 80% of your results.

So…procrastinating is good…if you do that to 80% of the stuff that gives you little results.

In another words, procrastinate on low value stuff.

Work fast, hard and smart on high value activities.

Make sense?

Love to hear your thoughts.

Jag Foo