Dear Friend,

I showed this video at Strategic Forum, as an example of how to create simple videos using the video function on your digital camera.

The thing everyone wants to know about is my envelope system…so I’ll share it here.

I’m very distractable.

I discovered for me to be able to get something done, I need to focus on ONE thing at a time…and when I focus on one thing at a time, I get more done.

The thing that takes up the most time is indecision, and deciding what to work on — so I set up a system to make the decision process automatic.

Here’s my process.

First, I get everything out of my head and on to paper.

I take a yellow-pad and make an exhaustive list of everything I need to do, want to do, have to do…and is taking up space in my mind.

I spend about an hour on this, and make a pretty exhaustive list. I try to get at least 50 things on that list.

I make a distinction between personal stuff and business stuff…and work on one list at a time.

The two things I noticed about this list the first time I tried it, was how long some of these ideas had been floating around in my head, and how I immediately felt more focused after completing it.

Next, I group the ideas into projects…and label a BIG envelope for each project.

At the time I made that video…”Strategic Forum” was a PROJECT for me.

The big envelope is going to hold everything to do with that project. All my notes, my papers, articles, samples — anything that is going to be useful to have on hand when I’m working on it.

You might have envelopes for:

Before – MyPhoneLeads

During – Pre-Listing Package

During – Intial Consultation

After – Birthday System

…something like that.

Now, once I get the projects defined, the next thing I do is create what I call FOCUS TICKETS. Those are the index cards you see in the video, and I use those to outline work I can get done in 1 to 2 hour chunks of uninterupted, intentional time.

I like to have 10 or 12 of those defined and prioritized by what would be the most valuable thing I could do…in sequential order.

This takes a little thinking…but as soon as I realized I could only DO one thing at a time, I became much more productive…in LESS time.

What I do next is place the FOCUS TICKETS up on my cork-board, in the order I’m going to work on them.

Now, all I have to do is SCHEDULE my focus times by blocking them out on my calendar, and when I arrive…I already know EXACTLY what I’m going to work on, and I give that one thing my entire focus…knowing that all the other stuff is still going to be there waiting for me.

I don’t have to waste time figuring out WHAT I’m going to do, or messing around trying to get a little of everything done…the decisions are thought out in advance so, when it’s time, I can focus on the ONE thing.

This system works perfectly for ME.

Try it out and see if it works for YOU.