Through our constant connectivity to each other, when have become increasingly reactive to what comes to us rather than being proactive about what matters the most. We are trying to stay afloat by responding and reacting to the latest email, message, tweet, post, call, and so on.
Being informed and connected has become a disadvantage as it interrupts your flow of thinking then acting.
Tip 1: Proactive work first, Reactive work second
Achieving any great task, like selling a house or hitting your targets takes time, thought, craft and persistence. However, on any day this effort will never seem as urgent as those emails from Client X or Colleague Y asking for something that couple wait a couple hours.
At the beginning of the day we start with an overflowing inbox, 20 voice messages and a list of steps from the last meeting. It’s tempting to “clear the decks” before starting your work and to tell yourself once you’re up-to-date it will be easier to focus.
The trouble with this is it means spending the best part of the day on other people’s priorities. By the time you settle down to your important jobs it could be mid-afternoon after your energy dips and your brain slows. There is always tomorrow, however with tomorrow another pile of emails, messages and to-do lists appear.
If you carry on you will spend most of your day doing reactive work instead of proactively working to achieve anything truly worthwhile.