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Hi, there, this is Max.
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Welcome to The Leadership
Tip Of The Week.
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This is the third and final episode
of our series about self-discipline.
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So far, we've seen that self-discipline
is about consistently making
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the choices that are aligned with your
goals so that you can get things done.
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I've shared with you the first
two secrets that will help
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you develop the self-discipline that
you need to achieve your objectives.
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Number one, emotionally
engage with your life purpose
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and your most important goals
every morning. Because it is emotion
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that allows us to mark things
as good, bad or indifferent
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and make us decide to go
in one direction or another.
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Number two,
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breakdown your objectives into small
tasks and schedule them in blocks of time
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using the Pomodoro technique.
You need to be disciplined
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to implement the
Pomodoro technique,
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and in turn, the structure it offers
will reinforce your self-discipline.
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Today, I share with you the third secret
of self-discipline that is to say no
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to distractions and opportunities
that takes you away from your goal.
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One of my managers early in my
career, used to say all the time,
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“Max, you can do anything,
but you cannot do everything.”
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I was keen to impress him
and the other senior executives
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in the organisation, and I used to find
myself working on too many projects
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at the same time and not performing
as well as I could on many of them.
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I eventually took on my manager's advice
and started to commit to fewer projects.
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My performance on each one
of them increased significantly,
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and so did my profile
within the organization.
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Saying no is not
always easy.
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Yet it is one of the most important
skills that we must develop.
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It is only by saying no to things
that are really meaningful
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that we have this space and energy
to concentrate on the things that are.
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When saying no to
a task or activity,
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you must always decline
firmly and politely,
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especially if you are saying no at work
to someone who is more senior than you.
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Your “NO” could be “not now”,
“not me” or “not at all.”
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You will say “not now” to a request
that is to aligned with your objectives,
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but it's not the priority
at this particular moment.
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So you capture it and you schedule
it at a different block of time.
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“Not me” would be when someone else
can perform that particular activity.
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It is important that you leverage
other people's time whenever possible.
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Most people in an organisation
don't consider the opportunity
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cost associated with them trying
to do everything by themselves.
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Think about how much it will
cost you or your organisation
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to pay somebody else to
perform a particular task
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so that you can attend another activity
that would create higher value.
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And finally, you will say
“not at all” to requests
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that are not meaningful and represent
fewer distractions from your priority.
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Time spent on social media and the
number of the emails you receive
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every day are among the activities
that you might simply say no to.
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This is your leadership
tip for this week:
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Because as Dean Graziosi puts it,
saying YES, got you out of Egypt.
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But it is by saying NO that you
will get to the Promised Land.
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With that, I wish
you a very good day.
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I'll see you again next week
for another leadership tip.
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Make sure to subscribe below
now and be first to receive it.
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Until then, take responsibility for
everything that happens to you
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and be committed
to serving others.
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That's how you become the leader
everybody trusts and respects.
