Read To Succeed

In a world where many people only read one or two odd fiction books per year it is not difficult beat the average. If you spend thirty minutes to an hour daily you can read one book a week, turning into fifty book per year. If you decide to read fifty books per year in your chosen field you can become an expert, one of the best educated, in a year and even a world expert in ten. Knowledge is superseded by new information at such a fast rate, continuous learning is key to maintaining that competitive edge.

How To Come Home On Time

First pick a time when you want to go home for the day. Then build your schedule from there. Deduct one and a half hour for lunch and breaks. Add another hour for e-mail and communication. Estimate the time it will take to complete your major tasks. If there is a risk that you will be interrupted you have to double the time it takes. This means you have approximately three hours effective working time available during a normal office day. If you attempt to do more than that chances are your departure will be delayed.

Put On A Happy Face

In business and in interpersonal relationships the ability to quickly create rapport with people is key. You do that by presenting a happy face and through the use of open body language among other things. The Danish born comedian and pianist Victor Borge said: "A smile is the shortest distance between two people." Be aware that most people merely respond to what you present them with, so keep smiling!

Organize Around Important Themes

Organize your day around important topics and bunch similar activities together and make use of the learning curve, the fact that you will get faster as you do similar things the second and third time around. Prioritize them based on the highest value tasks and the now-or-never urgent, i.e. things that have to get done immediately. Pick a task and concentrate wholeheartedly on it. Concentration is your ability to stay with a task until it is completely done.

It Is Not What You Know

Most challenges in life are not intellectually difficult to understand. We know what we should do most of the time. It is not what you know, it is what you know and do that make you successful. It is good to be a continuous learner but even better to be a continuous doer. It is the continued application of good habits (doing the right things) that render great results over time. It is not what you know but what you do!

Schedule Your Time For Results

When we grow up and go to school we get used to working after a schedule. If you are ever unsure about what you are supposed to do at any given moment, just check the schedule. This is a good habit to develop and keep even as we graduate from school. For example, if you are in sales, your key activity is to contact customers, so schedule your day around the times when you best can reach your customers and discipline yourself to stick to the schedule.

Learn To Speak Well

People will judge on your ability to speak well. There are two major aspects upon which they judge; what you say, the content of your communication, the clarity of thought and your ability to convey them and how you say it, the way you get your message across. Speaking well includes good articulation, speaking clearly without mumbling and loud enough to get heard, avoiding jargon, abbreviations or group identifiers. Secondly language and grammar comprehension, with use of sufficient vocabulary, yet keeping it as simple as possible.