The Power of Persistence

By Z. Hereford

I tend to write articles on concepts I want to understand better myself, so when the quality of persistence came to mind, I saw it as an opportunity to enhance my insights on the subject.

I begin with the ubiquitous quote by Calvin Coolidge which aptly sums up the quality of persistence:

"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

The conventional definition of persistence is: "Refusing to give up or let go; persevering obstinately; firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition."

Is it any wonder then, that persistence is the fundamental difference between a successful outcome and a failed outcome? In that case, it behooves us to develop the vital quality of persistence.

Here are some tips on developing persistence or perseverance:

Tips on How to Develop Persistence

➢ Decide what you want to accomplish and set goals. We all know how important setting goals is for achieving success in any endeavor, so take some time to figure out what it is you want. Do you want to lose ten pounds, graduate from college, run a marathon or be a business success? In a study done in New York several years ago researchers surprisingly found that people who set clear, concise goals succeeded in achieving them 95% of the time! Interestingly, the one caveat or stipulation was that they only achieved their goals if they refused to quit and continued to bounce back from difficulties along the way.

Indeed, no significant feat has ever been accomplished without the trials and tribulations that go along with it. In his wonderful poem Don't Quit Edgar Albert Guest gives us plenty of inspiration and encouragement to forge ahead, particularly when the going gets tough. (Have a look at the poem: Don't Quit).

➢ Prepare for Obstacles and Setbacks. Know and accept that there will be obstacles and setbacks; then prepare for them. Nothing important was every accomplished without adversity, setbacks and difficulties to contend with along the way. Henry Ford went bankrupt three times before he managed to design his first automobile. As we all know and are grateful for, he subsequently succeeded to become one of the richest men in the world. He said: "Failure is merely an opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” Thomas Edison is said to have tried 10,000 times to create the light bulb before he succeeded. His attitude was: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work." Persistence is definitely the difference between a successful outcome and a failed one due to giving up.

One of the ways you can prepare for setbacks and obstacles is to anticipate potential problems and have a contingency plan. For example, if you're trying to lose weight, you must know that there will be occasions when it's not possible to stick to your weight loss regimen. In such cases, you will need to prepare alternative meals ahead of time or be mentally prepared to deviate from your regimen. Unfortunately, instead of allowing for and being prepared in such situations, many people give up entirely declaring it impossible to stick any diet. In doing so, they often sabotage all healthy eating and give up in despair.

Another example would be endeavoring to become a marathon runner and you fail on your first attempt at finishing a marathon. Should you give up and never try again? No, not at all! You would have to figure out where you may have miscalculated your fitness level, the type of food you ate and your training patterns. After doing some research to find out how improve, you would then give it another whirl!

Also keep in mind that when we are overwhelmed with a problem or difficulty, we don't have time then to develop the persistence necessary to deal with the particular obstacle or set back. However, if we plan in advance for life's inevitable ups and downs, we will be psychologically ready when they come upon us.

➢ Take the first step. You cannot persevere; much less succeed, if you never try to accomplish something. So many of us procrastinate, fear failure or are too frozen in our tracks to take the first step towards achievement. You will not fail if you don’t try something, however, you will never succeed either. As the popular saying goes, "The only real failure in life is the failure to try."

➢ Review, reevaluate and revise. If things do not work out the way you hoped then review the steps you took and the process you followed. Reevaluate by examining what went wrong and where. What didn't work? What could you have done better? Did you have all the necessary skills and tools? Your findings will be most illuminating, and in turn, allow you to set up a better, more comprehensive approach. You will revise and improve the current strategy.

➢ Garner support and encouragement. Stay away from naysayers; instead seek advice from those experienced in your field of endeavor and those who want you to succeed. They can assist you by making suggestions and recommendations based on their experience and expertise. You will still have to do the hard work, but there is nothing more encouraging than having positive reinforcement.

➢ Maintain focus. One of the obstacles to attaining success is losingmotivation and focus. A good way to maintain focus is to visualize yourself accomplishing your goal no matter what it takes. Vividly see yourself accomplishing your goal – keep your eye on the prize. Likewise, avoid getting caught up in negative or unproductive thinking such as, "This will never work." "I can't do this." Instead, keep inspiring slogans handy, pictures of those who have persevered in life, and whatever else will motivate and boost your drive.

➢ Enjoy! The greatest feelings of accomplishment derive from knowing you've overcome obstacles and conquered adversities to achieve your goals. Your ultimate success will be exponentially more satisfying and fulfilling when you know what it took to get there.

People who have persisted in spite of disabilities and obstacles:

• Ludwig van Beethoven (composer, pianist) became deaf at the age of 30 and composed most of his beloved works after he lost his hearing.
• Helen Keller (author) was deaf and blind from the age of 19 months. She wrote 12 books, various articles and was the first blind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree.
• Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder (musicians) both of whom are blind have achieved much in their genres of music.
• James Earl Jones (actor) known for his booming resonant voice was once a stutterer.
• Marlee Matlin (academy award-winning actress) is deaf.
• Itzhak Perlman (virtuoso concert violinist) has legs paralyzed from polio.
• Terry Fox (runner) was an amputee from cancer.

As you can see from the wonderful examples above, obstacles and adversity need not stop you from accomplishing great things. If anything, courageous persistence is the one quality more than any other that can guarantee success.
http://www.essentiallifeskills.net/persistence-perseverance.html

3 Mind Hacks To Boost Your Motivation

• Motivtion

by Chris Delaney - 

Image Credit | willis

The question I am always asked by the unmotivated is “how do others become motivated?” Motivation is created by both internal and external stimulus.

When motivated your energy levels increase, your interest in the task amplifies and your commitment to work towards your goals peaks. So, how can two people doing the same task have different motivational levels?

The reward for finishing a task is highly motivational, but this alone is not enough, as many people set goals with the reward in mind but never take action. The secret to motivation is knowing how to overcome personal procrastination to proactively take positive action.

Here are the 3 Mind Hacks To Boost Your Motivation:

Mind Hack #1: Trick the mind

The brain is a complex muscle that solves complex mathematical problems, creates innovative ideas that have put humans on the moon, invented the internet which changed the way we live and the mind gave us the intelligence to cure serious diseases saving countless lives.  But the mind can be tricked

Read this statement out loud; “I Love London In The The Summer Time”

Did you notice the double use of word “the?” Most who read this didn’t. This same psychology can be used to trick the mind into Motivation: 

• Think of a task that you need to complete but procrastination has stopped you in your tracks

• When thinking about this goal, do you imagine how hard this task is, the amount of steps you have to take, and do you second guess how you will fail?

With a focus on the problems and pain of the goal, your mind magically deletes the positives, the potential fun and your optimistic outcome:

• Picture again, the negative images that stop you from taking action

• Push this image away from your mind’s eye so you can imagine seeing it in front of you

• Turn the image into a black and white picture (if your image plays like a movie pause the movie)

• Move the black and white further and future away from you so it becomes smaller and smaller, until it becomes a dot on the horizon

• Replace this image by imagining a large, coloured film. This film is you at your best, enjoying each step towards your goal and the film ends with you seeing you achieving your goal and the positive effect it has on your life

Mind Hack – Focusing on the positives deletes procrastination

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

Mind Hack #2: Mind the steps

Over thinking the required steps to any goal creates stress. Research has shown that when you are stressed the brain actually shrinks in size. Keep the steps required to your goal simple and small as this becomes manageable and creates motivation. Over thinkers make an easy task complicated by predicting too many problems;

Goal – Get a haircut “first I need to decide which stylist I should attend. I could go to ‘Anne’s Hair’ but there is no parking nearby, which means I will need to walk, if it rains I will get wet and I haven’t got an umbrella, I could buy one but I have no cash, so I will have to drive to a cash machine. My car is running on empty so I need to fill up first, hmmm that takes me away for the stylist, but I can get cash out at the petrol station, even though the card machine at that petrol station swallowed my card last time I used it, which would mean ringing up the bank, I hate that, they keep you on the phone for an age, asking you loads of security questions that I can never remember the answer to……..”

Even reading this gives me a headache and she hasn’t even considered the other two stylists yet! Keep the steps to your goal to a minimum by stacking small task under one heading:

• Goal – Get a Haircut; Choose a stylist within walking distance of my house

• Book appointment

• Attend appointment on date

Mind Hack – Manageable tasks create motivation

Mind Hack #3: The innovative mind

When working towards a goal you can easily become stuck due to a mental block. The problem or barrier your goal requires you to overcome is de-motivating when you can’t find the solution.

Once inspired to achieve your goal you can easily fall into the trap of overthinking the barriers you come across:

• Problem that needs solving

• You ask “What’s the answer? What should I do? I should know this!”

This common action creates a mental block because your focus kills your creativity:

1. Re-ask the question from different perspectives as this will access your brains creativity
2. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and relax. In this state your subconscious will find the answer and you will have an “ah-ha” moment
3. Day dream as this allows your mind to focus on the motivation of your goal and will give you the solution, often in a metaphor form to your barrier

Mind Hack – Creativity solves the problem

http://addicted2success.com/motivation/3-mind-hacks-to-boost-your-motivation/

5 Easy Steps to Reach Your Full Potentia

20 May 2015

Gregory Henderson

by

Do you ever feel like you could be doing more with your life?

But perhaps you continually find yourself stuck because life just feels like it hasn’t turned out the way you thought it would.

Your heart yearns to be somewhere else, do something else, and be someone else.

You should listen because it knows what you must acquire to achieve your full potential in life.

You have a power deep down within you that can intuitively tell you how to overcome the hurdles in life, which you face each and every day.

Something that when triggered will give you the answers to your most pressing questions.

Are you interested in finding such a power if it were to truly exist?

You Have The Power To Reach Your Full Potential Inside You…

Every living thing on this planet has a guidance system, somewhat like the Global Positioning System (GPS) you find in your automobile.

But it’s better defined as an Automatic Success Processor (ASP) which helps in finding solutions to necessary objectives to successful living.

In simpler forms of life like insects, reptiles, and animals, their success goal is twofold:

• Physical survival, which is limited to finding food and shelter, and escaping or subduing enemies and threats.
• Reproduction for the survival of the species.

Humans have the same two survival instincts embedded in our DNA. This is where the fight, flight, or freeze response comes from when we perceive a harmful event, attack, or threat.

However, humans have a brain far more developed and complicated, which gives our guidance system the ability to act on even more areas of our lives than our animal friends.

Producing a meticulous plan for escaping financial debt or creating a blueprint to build self-esteem and confidence are just two amazing examples of tasks your ASP is capable of performing.

Which means we (you) have the ability to create the life you want, and that’s exactly what you’re doing right now.

Believe it or not, the life you live today has been created and reinforced by your ASP.  

But before we go into more detail on your ASP’s capabilities, let’s briefly discuss the reaction to instinct.

Instinct: The Inevitable Driving Force Of Nature

Instinct is by definition an inborn pattern of activity or tendency to action common to a given biological species.

With this definition, that means every creature has an inborn system (instinct) already set in place with the sole purpose being to help achieve success (survival):

• Baby sea turtles hatch on a beach; without hesitation, they head to the ocean for safety.
• Honeybees communicate by dancing in the direction of a food source without instruction.
• Squirrels in the forest know to gather during the fall and store nuts for the winter.
• Birds have no nest building instructions, but instinctively they know how.

Nature is full of such examples, which really have no explanation other than they have internal instincts, a guiding force that helps them in their natural environment.

But the one thing you have over all other creatures is you can reason, make choices, and create realities in your world with your imagination.

Imagination: The Key To Creating Reality In Your Life

Everything on this planet that has been made by man was just a thought in the beginning, and with imagination, that thought became a reality.

Think back to a time when you thought of someone but couldn’t remember their name no matter how hard you tried.

Your brain sent imaginary pictures to your mind of the person; in some cases you even received an image of the situation in which you met them, but you still couldn’t recall the name.

Then several hours later, while you were doing something else, the name popped into your head.

This was your ASP; it continued scanning all information stored in your brain to find your answer, even though you weren’t conscious of the search at the time.

When you learned to drive a car or ride a bicycle, your brain continuously sent signals to your body to readjust until you succeeded.

Imagining yourself riding around, without the drudgery of having to walk everywhere, created such intense positive emotional thoughts of success that yourASP was stimulated to its highest degree.

So when these emotions were processed, your ASP jumped into overdrive, influencing your muscles to perform appropriately to the task at hand.

Even though riding a bicycle isn’t a natural instinct, but rather a created one by yourASP, imagination along with stimulation was the integral factor in sending strong performance signals to the muscles.

The more imaging your ASP received, the more precise your results.

Now, you perform these task without the slightest thought of how.

Mainly due to that intense focus on images of your results your imagination created in the beginning.

Your Brain is The Ultimate Source of Potential

Your ASP is more powerful than anything known to man, using your brain and nervous system that consists of over 100 billion cells, 100,000 miles of blood vessels, firing information at over 270 mph to make 20-million billion calculations per second to create the life you live.

The truth is, your ASP is a super-calculating mechanism within your brain and nervous system, which finds answers to problems concerning finances, relationships, health, and virtually anything else.

Its capabilities are boundless.

But it’s crucial that you accept the amazing ability of your ASP as real for you to reap the full benefits it offers because one area of your brain is capable of sabotaging your outcome.

Your Conscious Mind Keeps You From Reaching Your Full Potential

Your conscious mind has the amazing ability to reason and make choices, which is fundamentally a great benefit.

The problem is, it can’t distinguish information coming in as real or unreal, and that’s terrible for your internal ASP because it is there to help you succeed in life.

In fact, the conscious mind has all but destroyed it.

Your ASP is locked up in your brain as if it were a convict on death row waiting to be executed for crimes against the world.

But this happens because your mind has been overloaded with negative informational input over the years.

Your ASP worked fine as a child, but whether intentionally or not, society programmed you not to use this powerful solution-seeking system.

Google Your Brain for Faster Success Solutions

Need an answer? All you have to do is send your brain in search for it.

It’s a lot like a Google search.

Input the information (think – meditate on it), trigger your brain to start the search mode, and wait for the results.

Let’s take a look at the 5 steps to initiate your Automatic Success Processor.

1. Target.

Pick a goal, write it down on a note, and place it somewhere you’ll see it often.

2. Believe.

Imagine yourself having reached the end-result, and believe it can happen.

3. Calm.

Relaxing is part of the game; ASP will achieve the goal from negative feedback and automatically correct mistakes, so let it take its course.

4. Learn.

Reminding yourself constantly of your target, mentally correct your aim until you hit your target imaginatively

5. Action.

Your ASP goes into operation as you act, and you place demands on it by your actions. Trusting that your ASP will work as you act is the key that unlocks the door to success.

By letting it work on its own schedule, your brain will process billions of bits of information to find the specific answer you seek.

Belief is crucial; your ASP operates at levels below your consciousness. It’s impossible to know what’s going on at these levels.

Remember, it works spontaneously according to your present need. It goes into operation as you act and place demands on it by your actions.

Don’t wait for proof. Act as if it’s already there, and it will come through for you.

Repetition furthers the learning process until negatives are removed from your ASPand skills are cemented in a solid, positive foundation.

Devote just 15 minutes three times a day for 21 days, focusing on these five steps. You’ll be amazed at how your ASP can change your life.

You’re Worthy of the Success You Are Capable of Creating

You are a unique one-of-a-kind individual. No human on the face of this planet has your fingerprints, brainwave patterns, or DNA.

Your Automatic Success Processor already makes 95% of your choices each day without you knowing it.

Take control, and decide to create the life of your dreams, today.

Don´t worry about potential consequences; everything is better than what you have now. You deserve the life you desire.

Awaken the sleeping giant locked up in your soul, and become the champion in life you were meant to be.

It’s time to get Fired Up! About living and loving life to the fullest on your own terms.

You can do this!

http://www.finerminds.com/mind-power/5-easy-steps-to-reach-your-full-potential/

5 Lessons to Learn from General Julius Ceasar

5 Lessons Every Entrepreneur Needs to Learn From Julius Caesar To Dominate

Image credit | nationalfilmboard

If you’re really pumped up on success, you probably call the company you’re building (or planning to build)“Your Empire.” But do you really know what it takes to build an empire? Do you know how to dominate your world and climb to the top rank of entrepreneurship?

If there ever was a man who knew, it was Julius Caesar. The Julius Caesar: the man who built ancient Rome into the seat of the great Roman Empire practically single-handedly. And although times have changed quite a bit since Julius Caesar was around, there are still five important lessons on building your brand to imperial status and achieving true success that every modern entrepreneur should learn from the man who built Rome.

1. Don’t simply claim your value. Prove it.

When Caesar was a young man (and still a nobody), he was captured by pirates. Twice. When his second captors said they would ask 25 talents as ransom, Caesar laughed in their face. That was the price his first captors had asked and it was time to up the ante. As crazy as it sounds, Caesar convinced the pirates to ask for 50 talents for his release! Which today would be equivalent to the price of 3,550 pounds of silver. Not a small sum by any means.

But Caesar proved he was worth his salt. After mobilizing all his connections to contribute money for his ransom, Caesar built a small fleet and attacked the pirates, taking back every single penny his friends had paid to the pirates. Not only that, he also killed the pirates, and did the whole of Rome a favor by eliminated a real danger from the seas. If you think about it, that’s a steal for just 50 (refunded) talents!

Hopefully, you won’t have to kill any pirates to prove your entrepreneurial worth. But the question of value comes up just as often today as it did in the ancient world. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that their value depends on how much clients are willing to pay them for their products or services.

But the truth is that you’re responsible for showing the world where your real value stands. And the trick to that? Is having the confidence to over-deliver on your promises. Don’t just claim you’re worth 50 talents (or 50 million dollars). And don’t just throw a price on your website hoping, praying, and wishing, people will take the bait and believe you. Go out there and kill it.

Show everybody that those 50 talents they’re paying for you? They’re really a steal for someone of your talent and skills.

2. Don’t wait for permission. Get it done.

When Caesar was still studying law—and keeping out of politics—Mithridates of Pontus attacked the Roman frontier in Asia Minor. This frontier was quite a way from Rome, but young Julius Caesar understood the impending threat.

Instead of turning a blind eye and pretending that it wasn’t his problem, he raised a private army and marched to the defense of the attacked towns. By the time the official Roman army got to the scene, the enemy had practically been defeated and Caesar was hailed as a war hero in Rome.

Now, you may not have to fight any real wars, but if you’re ambitious entrepreneur with a dream to conquer the world, you will inevitably come up against some tough situations. And the same two choices that faced Caesar still face you: You can either shrug it off and say it’s not your job, or you can stop waiting for permission and go do it now.

Success doesn’t come from permission. Success comes when you take action and show the world what you’re capable of.

 

3. Manage your time (and everybody else’s)

Back in Caesar’s time, the yearly calendar was all out of whack. With only 355 days in the year, the months kept falling out of pace with the seasons and no one knew what festival they were supposed to be celebrating. (Imagine having New Year’s fall on Halloween. Total chaos.)

Everybody in Rome complained about the calendar, but no one really did anything to fix it. No one but Caesar, that is. Seeing that the Egyptians had a solar calendar that worked much better than the Roman lunar calendar, Caesar changed the entire time system in Rome, creating the Julian calendar of 365 days (plus a leap day every fourth February) that we still use all over the world today. Radical, no?

Time is the most precious thing we have in life, and what we do with our time defines who we ultimately become in life. Don’t let time slip out of your hands without taking full advantage of it. You may not be able to manage everybody’s schedules (and you probably don’t want to, anyway), but you can manage your time for maximum efficiency. Instead of complaining about how busy you are, develop a time management system that works for you.

Chunk out your day, eliminate distractions, stay on track with your to-do list and you’re good to conquer the world.

4. No way across? Build a bridge. And make it sturdy.

While conquering Gaul (modern-day France), Caesar had to deal with some Germanic tribes across the river Rhine that were harassing his army. The problem? Caesar didn’t have boats to cross the river. The solution? Build a bridge. And not just any ol’, made-to-last-two-days bridge. Caesar built two bridges (in two different years of the war) that not only proved strategically successful, but that are still considered masterpieces of military engineering today.

You may not have to cross the Rhine any day soon, but if you’re doing innovative work, sooner or later you’ll have to push the envelope to places it has never been before. And in those moments you have to remember that exceptional success requires exceptional steps.

No solution in sight? Take it as your opportunity to shine and build something new. Existing solution doesn’t match up to your standards? Build something better. Forge a new path. And not just for yourself, but for everyone who’ll come after you, too.

 

5. Blog about your experiences and what you’ve learned.

Would you believe me if I told you that Caesar used to blog? Not on the internet of course. But Caesar used to keep a traditional “log” of all his expeditions, written with a feather pen on papyrus. (Weren’t those the days!) While fighting the Gallic and the Civil Wars, Caesar wrote about his army, his strategy, his tactics, his decisions, his successes and setbacks, and generally everything he faced every day.

And he didn’t just write in a “dear diary” format. He wrote some of the best prose any Roman author ever did and published his work in Rome so people could follow his expeditions and stay informed on his progress.

And if Caesar could write while fighting wars on the frontiers, then you have no reason not to be blogging about your entrepreneurial trials and successes from the comfort of your couch. Regular contact and communication with a supportive audience is important for success, especially in today’s ultra-connected online world. You can’t just stay hidden from the world behind your screen until you find success. You’ll never find it.

You have to get out there and put your story out into the world now, as it happens. Because if you don’t share, no one will care. So don’t sit around debating whether a blog is a good idea, get out there and start writing about your adventures and see how true success will come find you along the way.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re fighting pirates or your inner demons, whether you’re managing the world’s calendar or managing your daily schedule, or whether you’re blogging from the campfire or from the coffee shop around the corner.

The essential steps for finding true success remain the same, even if their form has changed. So take a cue (or five) from Caesar’s playbook and go out there to conquer the world today!

http://addicted2success.com/motivation/5-lessons-every-entrepreneur-needs-to-learn-from-julius-caesar-to-dominate/

DAILY HABITS OF SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE: IT’S ALL ABOUT ROUTINE

The most successful people all have certain habits in their daily routines.

They help contribute to their success and can be considered good habits to form. It could be something simple like, setting a goal to, “Do good each day,” like Benjamin Franklin did.

It could also be something more elaborate such as spending most of your morning in bed like Winston Churchill. Churchill would wake up at 7:30am daily, eat breakfast, read his mail and newspaper until 11am.

MY FAVORITE HABITS OF MILLIONAIRES

Habits of Millionaires vary, but I am going to share one of my favorite daily habits of successful people with you. It is something that I use every day and has contributed greatly to my success.

It is the habit of making a list before the day begins.

Let me tell you below why it is so important…

Here are the 3 steps to planning and making your daily list.

1. PLAN YOUR DAY THE NIGHT BEFORE

Every minute spent in planning saves 10 minutes in execution. Sit down with a piece of paper and write down everything that you need to do the coming day. If for any reason you don’t do this, it should be the first thing you do every morning. When you write a list you have a track to run on.

Writing a list clarifies your thinking and goals…

Writing down a list forces you to think at a higher level…

If you start working from a list you increase you output 25% each day.

One of the habits of millionaires is that they start their day working from a list.

2. SET PRIORITIES ON YOUR LIST BEFORE YOU START THE DAY

Work from the 80/20 rule. If you have 10 items on your list of things to do, two will be the more important than all of the other items put together.

Go down your list and answer the question, “If I were to be called out of town for a month, what are the most important tasks that I must accomplish?”

Last fall I was out of the country traveling across 15 countries in 36 days. When I looked at my list of things to do before I left, I had to get my most important tasks done.

Once you identify these most important tasks, it brings us to the final step in starting your day.

3. COMPLETE THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK FIRST

Begin immediately on your most important task and focus on it and only it until completion.

All success in life comes from project completion and living a life of good habits will help you complete more projects.

A project with multiple tasks is called a “multi-task job”. This means that there are several smaller jobs to complete the larger job. Organize your jobs by sequence in a checklist and start on you most important project.

Complete the smaller jobs in you project, until the entire project is complete. This process is called “single handling” and it’s one of the most powerful things that you can use in managing your time. You can increase your productivity by 50% by planning, starting and completing your most important tasks every single day.

CONCLUSION

If you can develop these habits of successful people and do those three things, plan your day the night before, organize your tasks in order of importance, and complete your most important task first thing during your day. You will increase your productivity overnight
http://www.briantracy.com/blog/time-management/daily-habits-of-successful-people-its-all-about-routine/