I'm not advocating sitting on you butt and day dreaming, what I am advocating is spending the appropriate amount of time thinking, planning and researching what and how you are going to do the next days tasks.

It astounds me how large, huge companies can just plough ahead day after day, month after month with virtually no actual plan as to where they are going and how they are going to get there. I deal with them all the time, the meeting goes something like this.

They walk in and say they were talking to so and so and they were really happy with the work we did with them and the results we got for them. That is why they are here to day. Their problem is a lack of profits, spending too much money and not getting any return at all, and most importantly, they are spending a fortune on labor and are not seeing any results. I tell them I have heard this lament many times before and the solution is a simple one. All they have to do is spend less time working and more time thinking. You would be amazed at how angry some people can get when you tell them all they have to do is actually think and their problems will be almost over.

One of the central themes in the PPM is that for all of us to accomplish more, we have to think more about what we are going to do, before we actually do it. The actual reality of this concept sinks home in this situation, one we all find ourselves in.

In the middle of an impossibly busy week, a week where we find ourselves hopelessly behind, deadlines upon us, short staffed, work piling up faster than we can keep up, you have to invest some of your time to prepare properly for the next day, week and months ahead. Yes, you have to take production time, time where you actually can do some real work, take this time, that is admittedly in zero supply and spend it on organizing, planning and Prioritizing future tasks.

The short answer is this, most people can not do it, most people can not self manage themselves sufficiently to do what must be done to get the most value out of their time. In this situation, they just plough ahead and get themselves mired deeper and deeper into chaos, ignoring the things that would, could get themselves out of this mess.

This is just a short example of what is discussed in more detail in the PPM as well as the Power Time System. I will leave you with just one more thought on this topic. The real secret to accomplishing more is not just getting the volume up, but getting the volume up, in the same amount of time.