How to stay productive during COVID with ways that big CEOs use to get big wins.

I remember a time when I was sitting in a meeting with three other guys in suits in a room with grey concrete walls. The meeting was going on and on and everyone was starting to get fidgety. The door opened and in came the top dog’s secretary, who said that so and so was there to meet him. Five minutes later, she came back in to give him another note. Seven minutes go by, and again she came with yet another thing, this time waving her hand and pointing at her watch while looking at him urgently.

After the meeting wrapped, I asked this CEO, who started and grew a billion dollar company from scratch but still has his marriage intact, his kids away from drugs, and his employees raving about him, “You seemed busy. How do you do it all?”

He looked up at me and without missing a beat he said, “It’s simple. Focus on the small things”.

Wait. What do you mean?

There has GOT to be more to it!

He saw the disbelief in my face. And quickly added, “I know. Seems too easy. But simple things are actually harder to do. Because it requires that you rewrite things other people have made you believe.”

He’s right.

After years working with people and businesses of all kinds, I realized that masterpieces have one thing in common: They’re not about the grandiose actions.

 

They’re about creating a big difference with small, yet meaningful steps.

 

• Think of your favorite song. It’s probably not complicated or very long at all.
• Think of your favorite food. I’m willing to bet that it’s not a micro scallop served on an oversized plate with paprika sprinkled all over. And,
• Think of your favorite person. It’s likely someone you know and love, who makes you smile, laugh, cry, or even inspired. That’s all!

And yet, we’re taught that to be successful, everything needs to be giant, huge, and this big pie in the sky.

Why else is everyone in the world obsessed with follower counts?

You know how many followers most millionaires and billionaires that I personally know have on their social media accounts?

Around 100.

Yep.

What they’ve known all along, is that the small things matter ... BIG time!

• They know that a small knife can kill a big cow.
• They also realize that the sun, though powerful, is still a small speck in the big, dark space.
• Yet they know that this ‘small’ sun, can still wipe out darkness in a matter of seconds.

 

When light meets darkness, light always wins.

 

So how do you swim in the big ocean if you’re a small fish?

The secret, of course, is to find small, yet powerful things that can give you massive wins.

Here are some of my favorite “small” yet big levers:

• Use the Rule of 3, NOT 13. Find the top 1-3 things that you see have given you massive progress, and make that your top priorities every day. Most of us have 10-20 things that we never finish each day that just makes us feel defeated at the end of the day. I talked about all things productivity, goals, and systemizing lists on this week’s podcast. 

 

• Double down on the few things that work, THEN delegate. If you find that exercising really gives you a boost at work, don’t skip it. If you learned that a 1-hour Netflix binge is all that you need to unwind, make that a priority. Yes, I said it! And THEN, apply the same principle with your work. Did you do something that make your buyers and clients happy? Do more of that.

 

• Focus on ways to repeat wins, NOT redo. Life is a long So is your happiness and meaning. You don’t want to find yourself still grinding away in misery like it’s your first year doing this—five years from now. As you grow, be