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​The Keys to Unlocking Success

More than 200 highly accomplished people, including billionaires and Olympians, share their secrets for incredible performance, from prioritizing to increasing their energy to get things done.

  • Focus on moments.

With a whopping 1,440 minutes in every day, it makes sense to schedule your time in increments smaller than hour-long or half-hour-long blocks. In an Entrepreneur.com article, Olympian gymnast Shannon Miller said she keeps a nearly minute-by-minute schedule to master her life.

  • Toss the to-do list.

Instead, schedule everything on your calendar. Entrepreneur.com says only 41 percent of items on to-do lists ever get done, which can lead to stress, insomnia, and uncompleted tasks occupying your mind until completed.

  • Prioritize effectively.

Using the Pareto Principle, in which roughly 80 percent of results come from merely 20 percent of activities, identify your most important task and work on it for a given period of time every morning without interruption.

  • Schedule and stick to it.

Even with all those minutes in a day there is always more to be done. When prioritizing your entire day, allocate time – and schedule it – for the things most important to you. This could include family or friend time (or both), as well as exercise, charity work, and much more.

  • Energize yourself.

Most highly successful people interviewed reported that they view food as fuel, sleep as recovery, and breaks as opportunities to recharge. If you think skipping meals, sleeping less, or avoiding downtime will help you accomplish more, try adopting this thinking.

For more tips, see “14 Things Ridiculously Successful People Do Every Day” on Entrepreneur.com.

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