Take Action, but Act Effectively

Success occurs when you become effective (doing the right things) rather than efficient (doing things right). You can become very busy doing the wrong things right, and that will lead you away from your goals. Remember, action is not the same as accomplishment. Like the revving engine of a car stuck in traffic, you can be busy working without moving ahead.

Stop worrying about time management and think in terms of time utilization. Proponents of time management would have you allocate two hours one day to make telephone calls to arrange media appearances. But with wrong numbers and voice mail, you could call for two hours and never talk to one human being.

On the other hand, a philosophy of time utilization would have you continue calling within a reasonable period until you arranged meetings with a specific number of television producers or corporate buyers. Here, the emphasis is on results rather than on the activity of making calls. So, instead of blocking off chunks of time to conduct certain tasks, make a list of what you want to accomplish in that same time period. Then perform the work that will accomplish your goals.