1. Clear your desk of all papers except those relating to the immediate problem at hand. We all have ‘paperless’ offices these days so this principle is irrelevant right? Not by a long shot. (I’m sneaking to my desk now to do what I should have done 2 months ago – get rid of the paper). Doesn’t it feel good when you have a clear desk. This principle also applies to our Desktop on our computers. How many unnecessary windows are open right now? Do you have Email notification popping up (ping, ping)? Shut it off. Instant messenger, fine, just not when you are on ‘block time’ and committing to finishing that project. Facebook on your smartphone notifying you about your friends kids funny outfit from the weekend? Put it out of site for now.
2. Do things in the order of their importance. Most everyone writes a to-do list, but that’s not exactly what Mr. Carnegie is referring to. Write down, before you leave the office, the top 7 things, the most important, you need to do tommorrow. Order them in order of their importance. When you walk in tomorrow morning, start on number 1 and finish it. Or do all you possibly can do. Next, do number 2 until it is finished. See what happens to your productivity when you get this done.
3. When you face a problem, solve it then and there if you have the facts necessary to make a decision. Why delay except that we are just pushing some inevitable discomfort farther into the future. There will be discomfort in the future anyway, why compound it?
4. Learn to organize, deputize, and supervise. Take each one of those and perfect it. Organizing takes a bit of time, but pays big in time gained. Deputizing, or delegating on steroids, is how you can take home less work, free your mind, and build a great co-worker at the same time. Deputizing our kids to do household chores makes for great citizens. Supervise and don’t expect everything will work according to the plan. It won’t. Supervise, correct, coach, handle mistakes well, and you’ll have smoother results.
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