Last Updated on May 30, 2025 by Dave Schoenbeck
I recently had the opportunity to attend a speech by Brian Tracy, a legendary thought leader and writer in the business world. He is a renowned speaker and is recognized as one of the world’s top personal success authorities today.
Mr. Tracy had a wealth of valuable tips to share about improving productivity at work, as well as recommendations that any business owner would find helpful to keep in mind.
Here are my takeaways from Brian Tracy’s speech and how you can put them to work for your business starting today.
Zero-Based Thinking
Ask yourself, “Is there anything I am doing today that, if I could do it all over, I would never have started to do?” It’s easy to fall into a rut of doing counterproductive tasks just because you’ve already been doing them for a long time.
If your current situation is stressing you, consider this idea as a starting point. Tasks that were once a good idea may no longer be necessary now that you have more experience. How do I drop the tasks that no longer serve my business? Be courageous and move fast.
Keep Your Momentum
Adopt a productivity mentality. You must have the drive to get results. As the great Jerry Seinfeld once said, “Don’t break the chain.” Every day you complete your most important task, cross that day off on the calendar. If you maintain the momentum, you’ll eventually have a chain of consecutive days on the schedule to showcase your progress.
Avoid Distractions
The average person wastes 50% of their workday. Don’t spend your time on low-value, low-return tasks. Ask yourself: Is what I am doing now moving towards my biggest goal, or is it just a distraction?
Remember that it takes an average of 17 minutes to return to task after being distracted. Improve your productivity by blocking social media and text messages that you’ll be tempted to check, putting your phone on silent, and getting your most important tasks done before you take a break.
Manage Your Email Time
Email is one of the most notorious distractions business people face. To combat this, make it a point to check your email only three times a day. Open it at 11 am, 2 pm, and then again at 5 pm (or at whatever times work best for you). Rule number one is don’t open your email first thing in the morning. Use that time to work on your most important goal of the day.
Please inform your associates of your new schedule and let them know that replies should be sent during your designated email times. You may need to establish a system for emergencies, but even urgent messages can sometimes wait a few hours for a response. You’ll notice that this change alone can work wonders to improve your productivity.
Start Working Immediately in the Morning
Plan out your day the evening before. Allow 90 minutes of uninterrupted time first thing in the morning to complete your most important task of the day. Work straight through until you’ve finished the task at hand.
Mr. Tracy wrote a book on this subject called Eat That Frog. The premise is that by immediately tackling your most significant challenge of the day, you’ll improve your productivity and have the motivation to address the rest of your to-do list.
Practice the Law of 3
If you could do only one activity on your long list of to-dos, which one is the highest value? Then ask yourself, what would they be if you could do two things? Three? Once you have a list of your three highest-priority tasks for the day, stop there.
Don’t try to do everything simultaneously; focus on finishing these three tasks. The most value is always in the top 3 priorities.
We all want to significantly improve our productivity at work. Please fill out my contact form to schedule a complimentary coaching session and discuss how to take your productivity to the next level.
Coach Dave
