Better to be a winner
than a whiner

"People that would never think of committing suicide or ending their life would think nothing of dribbling their life away in useless minutes and hours every day."

-- Thomas Carlisle

What separates winners from the whiners? We all have the same 24 hours in a day, so why do some people seem to always accomplish more with the same amount of time?

Winners leverage every minute of every day in the most effective way possible. They make every minute count. They don't waste one minute on other people's urgencies or on the unimportant.

In order to create time, you must shift your focus from days and hours to the results generated. Your need to leverage the hours that you have and focus on only the actions that will yield exponential results.

For example, the average person by eliminating coffee breaks or combining coffee breaks with meetings can create two full workweeks in a year. Those 80 hours can be used to generate more income, spend more time with family or enhance your health with three hours of aerobic activity a week for half a year.

Here's how: Let's assume the average person takes two 20-minute breaks a day. Over the course of a year, that is 166 hours -- figuring on two weeks of vacation. That's more than four 40-hour work weeks added to your year. You have just created an additional 166 hours of time in your year.

Does this mean that you never take time for yourself? Of course not. This is your time that you create. Who is benefiting from all that extra time you have gained? You are, in terms of increased income, enhanced relationships or an extended lifespan due to better health. Recognize that winners make decisions that create the future they desire while whiners make decisions that create the present they desire. Make the shift from a short-term focus to the long term and you'll find you can create time in many areas where there appeared to be none.

Coach's Tip: One way to succeed in improving your time management skills is to find someone whom you admire and would like to emulate. Ask to interview them and find out how they schedule their days. Discover how they use their free time and then do what they do. Seek out the top people in your field and ask them, "What books do you read? What advice would you give me?" You'll be surprised at how happy top performers are to help you.

Poor performers hang around the people that are going nowhere. David McClellan of Harvard found that if you associate with people who are not success-oriented, that one choice alone can stop any possibility of you being successful.

Your choice of whom you associate with (socially or in business) is one of the most important choices you'll ever make in your life. Choose the people you surround yourself with carefully. And remember, whiners never win, and winners never whine!