No Excuses! - The Power of Self-Discipline Part 11

Calculate Your Hourly Rate.

Another way for you to double your income is for you to use the "hourly rate" method of calculating your personal value and your time allocation. First, determine the amount that you earn each hour. You do this by dividing your annual income by the number 2,000 (which is the roughly the number of hours that an entrepreneur or executive works each year in our society: 40 hours a week 50 weeks a year).

For example, if you earn $50,000 a year, divided by 2,000, your hourly rate would be $25. If you earn $100,000 per year, divided by 2,000, your hourly rate would be $50.

Whatever it is, from that moment onward, resolve to do only those things that pay you your hourly rate or better. Refuse to do those things that someone else can do at a lower hourly rate than you. Do not waste your time doing things of low value or no value while your other important tasks are building up.

Get on the Same Page About What Work Is Most Important.

Once you have made a list of all the results you feel you have been hired to accomplish and you have determined the three most important things you do to justify your hourly rate, take your list of key activities to your boss and have your boss organize your job based on his or her priorities. You need to do this because you must be sure.

Benjamin Tregoe, cofounder of the Kepner-Tregoe consulting firm and author of The Rational Manager, once said, "The very worst use of time is to do very well what need not be done at all."

Yet it is amazing how many people are working hard on tasks that are of little or no value to their bosses. No matter how well you do an unimportant task, it does not help you. Even worse, working on low-value tasks keeps you from working on the most important things you could be doing. Hard work on the wrong job can actually sabotage your career.

The happiest days you will have at work will be when you are working on those tasks that your boss considers to be most important. The unhappiest days at work will be when you and your boss are at cross-purposes and not getting along primarily because you are not completing the jobs that are most important to him and to his career.

Your goal is to be paid more and promoted faster. Your goal is to become one of the most valuable and highest paid people in your field. Your job is first, to make yourself valuable, and then to make yourself indispensable to your company. This requires first and foremost that you are always working on those tasks your boss considers most important.

Work All the Time You Work.

The key to doubling your productivity and output-and eventually your income-is to really work all the time you are at work. Simply put, when you work, work. Don't waste time. Don't delay. Don't chat with coworkers or sit around drinking coffee. Don't read the newspaper or surf the Internet. When you come into work in the morning, put your head down, and then work all day long.

The biggest time wasters in the world of work are other people who want to talk with you, distract you, delay you, and take up the time that you should be spending on high-value tasks. When a time waster approaches you and says, "Do you have a minute to talk?" you reply by saying, "Yes, but not now. Why don't we talk at lunchtime, or after work? In the meantime, I have to get this job finished. I have to get back to work."

When you tell people that you are under the gun, that you have to get a task finished for your boss, they will usually leave you alone. If you do this often enough, they will develop the habit of leaving you alone and, instead, find someone else with whom to waste time.

Keep yourself motivated and focused by talking to yourself in a positive way. Your mantra from now on should be, "Back to work! Back to work! Back to work!"

Whenever you find yourself slowing down on a major task, begin repeating to yourself those magic words, "Back to work!"

Who Works Hardest? The Secret Survey.

Imagine that an outside company is going to do a study of all the people who work in your organization. They are going to give each person a list of all the employees and ask him to rate his fellow employees in terms of who works the hardest, the second hardest, and so on.

They are then going to give this list of people, organized from the hardest worker down to the laziest, to your superiors. This list is going to be used to determine who gets paid more and promoted faster than others.

Now, imagine that this survey is already being taken, but in secret. The fact is, in any organization, everyone knows who works harder than anyone else. Everyone knows who works less and who does not pull his weight. Everyone knows-it's not a secret at all.

Resolve today that, if a survey like this were to be taken, one year from today, you would "win" the contest. Resolve today that you are going to develop the reputation for being the hardest-working person in your business. This will do more to help you than almost anything else.

When you are surrounded by time-wasting people and situations, it takes tremendous self-discipline to work all the time you are at work. You must constantly fight against distractions and interruptions so you can get back to work.

THE SUCCESS FORMULA.

When I began my career working for a large company, I was the low man on the totem pole. Everyone had been there longer than me and was ahead of me in the company pecking order. Even though I was in my early thirties, I still had no idea how to play the game or what to do to get ahead in the cutthroat, corporate compet.i.tion that existed.

Somewhat by accident, I stumbled onto the formula that made me successful. It was simple. Whenever my boss gave me something to do, I did it immediately. Like a dog chasing after a thrown stick, I would immediately throw myself at the task, complete it, and hurry back to my boss with the finished job.

Initially, he would smile and say something like, "I didn't really need it that quickly, but thank you for getting it done."

ASK FOR MORE RESPONSIBILITY.

When I was caught up with my work, instead of relaxing, I would go to my boss and say, "I'm all caught up. I want more work to do. I want more responsibility." These words became my mantra: "I want more responsibility."

Again my boss, who was preoccupied with an enormous number of projects, would say something like, "Okay, leave it with me; I'll think about what else I can give you to do."

Every day, like a broken record, I would go to my boss at the end of the day and say, "I'm all caught up; I would like more responsibility."

Bit by bit, he began to toss me "sticks." He would give me a little task to do to keep me busy. Whatever it was, I would go out immediately, complete the task, and bring him the results. I would then say, "I'm all caught up. I want more responsibility."

Within six months, he began to see me as the "go-to guy." Whenever he had something he needed done quickly, he pa.s.sed by everyone else and gave it to me. He knew that whatever he asked me to do, I would do it quickly.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE.

Once, my boss asked me to fly to Reno to begin development work on a property that the company was purchasing. He told me I could go sometime in the next couple of weeks. Instead, I left the next morning. I went straight to the lawyer who was handling the transaction and then to the engineer who was in charge of the development work. I immediately sensed that something was seriously wrong with this land purchase. I didn't know what it was, but I went from person to person, asking questions and gathering information.

By the end of the day, just a few hours before this $2 million transaction was set to close and the money would change hands forever, I found that we were about to be sold a piece of land that had no water and was therefore undevelopable. Because of complex laws and limited riparian rights (i.e., water rights), the property was a worthless piece of ground that could not be developed within the next hundred years. If we had proceeded with the purchase, we would have lost $2 million!

I immediately stopped the transaction, demanded that the lawyer cut me a certified check for the $250,000 deposit that was in his trust account, and flew home to my boss to tell him the story. As you can imagine, my boss was very happy with what I had done.

THE BIG PAYOFF.

From that day forward, I received more and more responsibilities. Within another year, I was running three divisions of the company and had a staff of forty-two people in three cities. I later learned that my boss paid me more money than anyone else who had ever worked for him, and he did so all on the basis of results and profitability.

This is why whenever people ask me how to succeed in business by really trying, I give them the same advice: Whatever your boss gives you to do, do it quickly and well. Then, go and ask for more responsibility. And when you get it, do the job quickly and well until you get a reputation for being the person who does things fast. This will help you advance in your career more than any other reputation you could develop.

Pay the Price.

Here is a simple three-part formula for success at work: Come in a little earlier, work a little harder, and stay a little later. This will move you so far ahead of your compet.i.tors that they will never catch up.

Come into work one hour earlier, before anyone else arrives. Use that time to plan and organize your day and get started on your most important tasks. Make sure that whatever time your boss comes to work, you are always there working before he arrives.

Second, work a little harder. Don't waste time. Don't chat with coworkers. Work through lunchtime so that you can get on top-and stay on top-of your main tasks and responsibilities.

Third, work one hour later than your coworkers. If they leave at five o'clock, you leave at six. Use that extra time to complete your important tasks and get yourself organized for the following day.

When you come in one hour earlier, work through lunch, and work one hour later, you add three full productive hours to your day. Because there are no interruptions when you work during these time periods, you will actually accomplish two or three times as much as you would during your other work hours, when you are constantly interrupted by other people and telephone calls.

In fact, you can double or even triple your productivity, performance, and output by simply adding these three hours to your workday. The best news is that by coming in earlier and leaving later, you don't lose anything. You merely avoid the traffic tie-ups and slow-downs that most people suffer through on their ways to and from work.

The Forty Plus Formula.

To succeed faster at work, use the "Forty Plus Formula." This formula says that you can tell where you are going to be five years from now by looking at the number of hours that you put in today in excess of forty hours each week.

If all you do is put in the regular forty hours that everyone else puts in, all you will do is survive. Your annual increases will be 3 or 4 percent. You will have a "job," but your income increases will go up at the same rate as everyone else.

It is when you put in more than forty hours that you give yourself an advantage over most of the other people in your company-and your business. Make it a habit to do more than what you are paid for. Discipline yourself to put in more than you take out. Every hour that you work over forty hours a week is an investment in your future success.

The highest paid people in America, in every field, work fifty to sixty hours per week. The average self-made millionaire works fifty-nine hours per week. This is equal to five twelve-hour days or six ten-hour days. Most successful people, at the beginning of their careers, worked six days a week-sometimes seven. Moreover, they worked all the time they were at work. They didn't waste time. They realized that in order to reap a great harvest later in their career, they had to sow a lot of seeds in the springtime of their career.

Look the Part: Dress for Success.

Finally, you need to discipline yourself to look the part. Remember, "birds of a feather flock together." When it comes to presentation, this means that people like to promote others who look like them. Your bosses are very sensitive to the appearance of their staff. They like to promote people who they are proud to introduce to their friends and colleagues. Be sure that you dress and groom in such a way that your boss would be proud to take you out for lunch and introduce you to others as a representative of his or her company.

Each morning before you go to work, look in the mirror and ask yourself, "Do I look like one of the top people in my field?" If you don't, go back and change-and keep changing until you look like one of the top people in your business.

Learn how to dress for success. Read books and articles, or ask others for advice. Look at the most successful people in your business and dress the way they do. Dress for the job two levels above your current job. Remember that fully 95 percent of the first impression you make on other people will be determined by your dress and grooming. Make sure that first impression-and then the second and third impressions-are consistent with the message you want to send.

Many people work their entire lives without realizing that by putting forward a little extra effort, working a little harder, and focusing on higher-value tasks, they could become one of the most valuable people in their organizations. When you discipline yourself to continually increase the value of your contribution to your company, you will put your career on the fast track and virtually guarantee yourself a wonderful future.

In the next chapter, you will learn that your work behaviors naturally determine your ascension to leadership, and you will see how self-discipline is essential to fulfilling your potential as a leader.

Action Exercises:.

1. Make a decision today that you are going to become one of the top 20 percent of people in your company-and your industry. What should you or could you do differently?

2. Make a list of everything you do in your job and then identify the three tasks that contribute the greatest value to your work and company.

3. Set a new work schedule for yourself and begin to start earlier, work harder, and stay later until it becomes a habit.

4. Identify the most important results you are expected to achieve in your job, and then work on those results all day long.

5. Determine the person who is the best dressed and groomed in your company, and then resolve to use him/her as a role model for your own appearance.

6. Decide today that, from now on, you are going to actually work all the time you are at work and that you are going to develop the reputation for being the hardest working person in your company.

7. Develop a sense of urgency. Resolve to move fast when you are given a job or opportunity. This can change your life.

Chapter 9.

Self-Discipline and Leadership.

"Nothing is more harmful to the service than the neglect of discipline; for it is discipline more than numbers that gives one army superiority over another."

-GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Leadership and self-discipline go hand in hand. It is not possible to imagine an effective leader who lacks self-discipline, willpower, self-control, and self-mastery. The overarching characteristic of a leader is that he is in complete control of himself and of every situation.

There has seldom been a time in history when leaders were so needed and so much in demand as today. We need leaders at every level of society, both in the profit and nonprofit sectors. We need leaders in our families, businesses, places of worship, community organizations, and, especially, politics. We need men and women who take their responsibilities seriously and are willing to step forward to take command of the situation.

Fortunately, leadership is learnable. Leaders are developed-usually self-developed-over time through hard work, experience, and training. As Peter Drucker once said, "There may be natural-born leaders, but there are so few of them, that they make no difference in the great scheme of things."

Four Stages of Development.

In your career in business, you progress through four levels of activity and attainment. First, you start off as an employee, with limited knowledge and experience. Then, as you grow, learn, and develop the ability to get results, you evolve upward and become a supervisor, with responsibility for the performance and results of other people.

As you continue to move up the scale of supervision, improving your ability to get things done through others from directly overseeing the work of employees, you become a manager, someone who a.s.signs work to people with demonstrated competence in certain areas. Managers have a larger view, and this comes with greater responsibilities.