Thibaut Meurisse - Strategic Mindset : A 7-Day Plan to Identify What Matters and Create a Strategy that Works (Productivity Series Book 4)

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Boost your productivity now with The Productivity Series

This book is the second book in the Productivity Series. You can check out the other books in the series by clicking the link below:

Click here to discover the Productivity Series

In todays society, everyone is obsessed with doing more. Being busy has become a badge of honor. We want to show the people around us how productive we are. We want our neighbors to see how much busier we are than everyone else.

However, many of us misunderstand productivity. While we may be busy on the surface, we often accomplish very little. Adding more things to our never-ending to-do list doesnt necessarily make us more productive. In some cases, it has the opposite effect. Using the latest productivity app doesnt help much either. While technologies such as the internet are a wonderful source of information, or a way to learn new skills, to be effective, they must be used tactically.

People like Benjamin Franklin or Leonardo Da Vinci didnt have all the productivity tools we now have, yet they were far more productive than most people today. What does this say about productivity as we see it these days?

In this book, well define productivity and see how you can achieve more in less time. The goal is to turn you into a strategic producer in just seven days. To help you reach this goal, every day youll be asked to answer questions and complete simple exercises.

More specifically, in Strategic Mindset, youll discover how to:

• Use the power of long-term thinking to achieve more than you can imagine,
• Learn the right skills and develop your talents the correct way,
• Plan your year for maximum effectiveness,
• Stop being efficient and become effective instead (and why it matters),
• Think smartly to make every action you take impactful, and
• Find the right information and learn faster and better than everybody around you.

If any of the above piques your interest, read on.

Throughout this book, Ill use the terms strategic productivity and strategic producer. Before we start, lets define them briefly.

Strategic productivity means using your time in a way that enables you to achieve maximum results with minimum effort. It means making sure that whatever youre working on at any point in time is connected to your overall vision. There is nothing more wasteful than spending time on a task that didnt need to be done in the first place. As such, to become a strategic producer you must (among other things):

• Develop clarity regarding your long-term vision,
• Identify the best strategy to achieve your goals as quickly and effectively as possible,
• Develop the ability to ask yourself the right questions,
• Cultivate the ability to focus and avoid jumping from one thing to the next, and
• Learn to approach any task the most effective way possible.

In this book, well cover the following:

In Part I. Planning Effectively, well see how to plan effectively and how to identify the key tasks you must focus on to boost your productivity. On Day 1, youll learn to plan your year for maximum effectiveness. On Day 2, youll work on identifying your most impactful actions. And on Day 3, youll flesh out your next 90 days.

In Part II. Effectiveness vs. Efficiency, well discover how to become truly effective each day. Youll be introduced to a powerful 7-Step Process that will ensure you approach each task the correct way and achieve tangible results (Day 4).

In Part III. Thinking Smart, youll learn how to improve your thinking to enhance your focus and get the most out of each action you take. As you practice thinking more strategically, youll improve your overall results significantly (Day 5).

In Part IV. Learning Effectively, youll discover how to find the right information and absorb it as quickly and effectively as possible. Youll also discover common learning mistakes and how to avoid them (Day 6).

Finally, in Part V. Managing Your Energy, well discuss how to make the most of the energy you have available each day. Well see how to leverage your peak energy to achieve more and how to segment your day for optimal results (Day 7).

Are you ready?

You cannot hit a target you dont set. Strategic productivity is impossible without a certain level of clarity regarding your needs and goals, and without a plan to achieve them. Yet how many people lack a clear vision? How many people forget what theyre actually trying to achieve, hustling every day without questioning the path theyre travelling?

The management consultant, Peter Drucker, once said that efficiency is doing things right while effectiveness is doing the right things. There is no point doing things right if those things dont move you closer to your goals.

In this section, were going to discuss the importance of planning strategically to ensure that you work on the right things each day. Strategic productivity is not about doing more, its about doing less of the things that bring little results.

Note that, in this book, well focus mostly on one major goal. Once you understand the process, you will be able to apply the same method for any other future goal.