5 Ways to Get More Done in Less Time

1. Master your PC. Using a modern PC with the latest software can double, triple, or even quadruple your output.

2. Don’t be a perfectionist. That doesn’t mean you deliberately make errors or give less than your best. It means you stop polishing and fiddling with the job when it looks good to you. Create it, check it, then let it go.

3. Free yourself from the pressure to be an innovator. Don’t worry about whether what you are doing is different or better than what others have done before you. Just do the best you can. That will be enough.

4. Protect and value your time. Productive people guard their time more heavily than the gold in Fort Knox . They don’t waste time. They get right to the point. They choose who they spend time on and with. They make decisions. They say what needs to be said, do what needs to be done – and then move on.

5. Stay focused. Successful people apply themselves to the task at hand. They work until the work gets done. They concentrate on one or two things at a time. They don’t go in a hundred different directions.

(Ed. Note: Bob Bly is a popular Early to Rise columnist, self-made multi-millionaire, and the author of more than 60 books, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Direct Marketing and The Copywriter’s Handbook He is also the editor of ETR’s Direct Marketing University: The Masters Edition – a program to help you start your own successful direct-mail business.)