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iQuestions Faculty, Ron Price 
 
 
Question: 
 
How can I double my effectiveness at work without killing myself? 
 
Answer: 
 
A lot of people are interested in how they can become more productive 
or more effective in what they do, but they want to do it at the same 
time that they’re reducing the number of hours that they have to 
work.  Unfortunately, a lot of us who feel responsible end up working 
more hours than we really ought to. So let’s work on seven steps that 
will help you to double your effectiveness in less time. In other words, 
working smarter, not just harder. 
 
You begin by identifying your unique talents or strengths and how you 
can leverage those. As we develop a greater self-awareness we 
identify ways to leverage the time we spend so we get greater results 
with less effort.  
 
Next, you have to understand the important focus of your role. What 
are the key results that reflect superior performance in the role that 
you’ve been given?  
 
The more clearly you have these defined, the more you can focus on 
what the priorities ought to be. Then you develop a personal strategy. 
Now, when I’m talking about developing a personal strategy, I’m 
referring to developing your own vision, your own value statements. 
What is it that really matters most for you, and what should your 
priorities be— matching your talent with the role that you’re trying to 
fulfill? 
 
 
Once you’ve developed a clear picture of your talents and you 
understand the role that you contribute and you’ve developed your 
personal strategy, now it’s time to create a learning-path for doubling 
your effectiveness.  
 
A great question to ask in identifying what this learning-path should 
look like is this question: what one thing, if I did it extremely well, 
would make the greatest difference in the results I that produce? 
 
When you’ve identified this learning-path, then the next step is to 
develop a system of accountability. How am I going to make sure I 
keep moving in the right direction?  
 
It’s sort of like launching a rocket: when you first launch it, you spend 
80% of the energy getting it to orbit. Once you’re into orbit, it’s easy 
to stay there.  
 
So you need this system of accountability to make sure that you’re 
using all of the force necessary to develop this new pattern.  
 
The next step after that is to develop a series of periodic check-ups, to 
make sure you’re still on course. Most people are surprised to find out 
that rockets are usually off-course or off-target over 99% of the time. 
But they’ve planned on it being that way and they’ve built a navigation 
system of periodic check-ups, so that they can keep getting back on 
course.  
 
And finally, number seven. Develop a way to measure your results. 
This is important for two reasons. First of all, it helps you to identify 
other gaps or other opportunities that you can use to continue to 
increase your effectiveness. And maybe most importantly, measuring 
your results gives you an opportunity to celebrate what you’ve 
achieved.  
 
Price -2- 
 
 
It won’t take any time at all when you follow these seven steps. You 
will see your effectiveness improving— maybe even doubling— without 
having to work any harder. 
Price -3- 
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