Who decides what happens in your day? If you're a sales professional, the answer should be "me,” but each day you face a blizzard of activities that compete for your time and you're bombarded by distractions. As a result, you bounce from urgency to urgency, from phone calls to emails and one interruption after another. When asked what your biggest challenge is you usually say "lack of time.” With all the time-saving tools available today, how could this be? The answer is reality.

> There are only 24 hours in every day > You can do almost anything in your day but not everything

Anything vs. Everything Trying to cover all the bases is wrong and will lead to frustration, and adding hours to your workday is fatiguing. My advice is to change your choices and not your hours. Admit you can't do everything but realize that not everything needs to be done. "There is no done!” The solution lies in knowing how to make the best choices and forget the rest.

The Best Choices If your broker offered you two identical investments, but one paid 2% more than the other, which one would you choose? Now consider your day. It holds a hundred or more choices for you to make every day. Which ones do you give attention to, and which do you ignore?

Here is simple recipe to help you recognize and act on your best choices. 1. Destination: Know where you're headed. What are you trying to achieve in the next week, month or year? 2. Planning: Have a plan to get there? What does your plan sa

y you need to do today? To make every day count toward reaching your destination, you need to choose wisely every day. A daily planning habit will help you identify the best choices and tune out the static of distractions. 3. Execution: Glasses help you see; a car gets you to work; what will help you to navigate your day?

> "Out of sight out of mind.” Keep a prioritized list of your best choices in front of you. Make this list your major distraction each day. > "The palest ink is better than the strongest memory.” Record commitments, transactions and other details during your day in a journal. > "What's mine is mine.” Be wary of time robbers. You have to say "no” or "later” to choices others want you to make. You owe your immediate attention to the choices most important to you.

As the moral of an oft told story goes, "If you try to please everyone else, you'll lose your ___.”

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