One of my best clients was a high-potential manager who tended to overwhelm himself. It was (and still is) important to him to give his best to whatever he did. The problem was everything was important. 

But everything couldn’t be accomplished all the time. He would go through regular cycles of doing everything for a while, and then he’d completely crash and do nothing. 

He had been tapped as a potential successor for a retiring leader. However, there were concerns about his tendency to crash and disappear. So, we worked on that. 

Within a year, he assumed control of the company, got married, had a baby, and grew the company by about $10M. All without crashing. 

He still, clearly, is ambitious. But he’s dramatically changed how he relates to and pursues these ambitions. And he’s getting real-world results. (Weird, I feel like I wrote something about this once….)  

Success is more related to focus than effort. The problem for most of my readers isn’t laziness or lack of effort. It’s a lack of focus. This is a dynamic that only very high achievers understand. The good news is that anyone can learn it. 

Most leaders struggle with ‘getting it all done.’

It’s the norm that my clients feel overwhelmed. They have more on their plate than they can carry. That’s their starting point. But it isn’t their ending point. 

Each one has a unique situation. But they share a common need to identify their focus – to create their priority. This doesn’t feel easy when so much genuinely does need to get done. 

Here are three principles that I find to be enormously helpful

The principle of The One Thing

I learned this from Gary Keller. He’s the Keller of Keller Williams Real Estate – one of the world’s largest real estate companies. It’s the principle he used to build his companies. He uses the answer to this question to determine what his priority needs to be: What One Thing that, by so doing, makes everything else easier or unnecessary? 

This question can generate startling clarity about priorities. Think of the big goal or challenge that you are facing. Now, ask yourself the One Thing question. 

What should your One Thing be? 

The Level 10 principle

Being effective with priorities isn’t just about identifying them. It’s also about creating a match between the value of the priority and the level of effort we give it. 

My friend Craig Ballantyne has a great saying, “Only put Level 10 effort into Level 10 problems.” The problem is we often put Level 10 effort into Level 1 issues. Or we only put left-over, worn-out Level 1 effort into our Level 10 concerns.

What are your Level 10 problems (or opportunities?) What would it mean for you to put Level 10 effort into those? What would giving Level 10 effort to your One Thing look like? 

Magic Time

Part of focusing on Level 10 effort is accepting that we only have so much good energy or effort on any given day¹. Craig recently developed an illustration that I think is very helpful for identifying when in your day you have Level 10 energy to give Level 10 effort to Level 10 issues. 

The concept is simple: He’s mapped out the times during the day when he is the most and the least productive. 

‘Green zone’ hours: Any hour worked during this time frame will be 5x more productive than any other time. 

‘Blue zone’ hours: Any hours worked during the ‘blue zone’ are 3x more productive. 

‘Yellow zone’ hours: Any hours worked during this time frame are an equal trade. 

‘Red zone’ hours: These time frames are not productive for him. 

My ‘Magic Time’ is similar, but I start later. My most productive time frame is between seven and eleven. Then my energy drops into ‘the blue zone until around two. After two, I’m usually in the yellow. 

So, I plan my Level 10 work in the mornings. I protect those times. I schedule meetings in the afternoons because I find that the energy and momentum of those meetings help me stay focused and productive. 

When is your Magic Time? How can you better use that to give Level 10 effort to your One Thing? 

Summary

We all have the same 24 hours in each day. But we don’t all accomplish the same amount. 

If you want to be dramatically more productive (without as much effort):

• Identify your One Thing. 
• Identify your Level 10 work towards the One Thing.
• Do your Level 10 work during your Magic Time. 

Take good care,

Christian

P.S. If you found this article helpful, wait until you read my new book, Train to Lead, which is due to be released this spring. (Stay tuned!) 

1 The book The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz was enormously helpful in my understanding of this. I’d encourage you to read it. Don’t worry – I get nothing from the plug.