For example, I have a very successful and revered colleague who claims that a linchpin of his success is that he “says ‘yes’ to everything, but only actually performs the tasks that only he can do best.” Everything else, he delegates.ĭelegating is not as easy as it sounds. Want to give it a try? Here are three tips for making the 10-minute rule work for you.īy far, the most effective means of finding additional time in your day is to outsource the things on your to-do list that someone else can easily do in 10 minutes or less. (The answer to both of these questions, by the way, is “yes!”) Questions like, “That’s crazy-can I really build this big Excel model in 10-minute increments?” and “Are you telling me that you do this in your home life too, taking 10-minute showers and doing 10-minute workouts?” abound. When I first challenge my teams to put the 10-minute rule into action, I am typically met with skepticism. The level of speed and focus that this brings to your day is nothing short of astounding. The key to this rule is in enforcing it, which means setting the timer on your phone to go off at the 10-minute mark. If it takes longer than 10 minutes, then you should have broken it down into smaller tasks or delegated it to someone else. My “10-minute rule” is pretty straightforward: Every task on your to-do list should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. My favorite tool for getting things done? The 10-minute timer on my phone.
Between a demanding job and an even more demanding home life, I’ve spent a lot of time trying various productivity hacks to squeeze as much as I can out of each day. But with erratic schedules and tight deadlines, getting six or more hours of sleep per night is no easy task for a consultant-just ask any of my diet soda and coffee-addicted colleagues. Call me crazy, but I’ve always preferred sleep to caffeine.