How to Get Things Done Faster

In my earlier article, How to Get Exactly What You Want, I mentioned the importance of holding firm to the expectation that you can accelerate the process of getting to your objective. This is an important strategy for success, but oddly enough, it’s one that a lot of people overlook.

Why is it so important to have an “expectation” that you can accelerate your progress? The answer is that when you expect something, your brain works harder to see where it’s going to turn up. It tosses out the idea that you might find a solution and instead becomes determined that you will find it.

And this serves you very well in the realm of getting things done faster. With your expectation firmly set, you are bound to be surprised at all the answers that seem to magically appear. The key is to regularly ask yourself a few important questions in a very specific manner.

When I say “specific,” I’m talking about carefully phrasing your questions. I don’t want you to ask “How can I …” questions, because that leaves open the possibility that your answer will be “Um … I don’t know.” Instead, I strongly suggest you phrase your questions in a way that assumes the answer is there (and fairly easy to see) already, so that your focus will be tuned to picking the best answer rather than wondering if one exists at all.

The first question deals with looking at things from an outsider’s perspective, which I’ve always found helpful because it takes the personal baggage out of the equation.

Question One: If someone were to tell me how to change one thing about the way I’m currently tackling a project that would double my rate of progress, what would it be?

No matter what you’re working on, chances are there’s a bottleneck that you either haven’t consciously noticed or simply chosen not to work on because you’ve been too busy doing things. By asking the question this way, you’re focused on something big – doubling your progress – rather than just a little tweak.

Asking the question this way can also strengthen your resolve to take action. If you think “Gee, I should really do this,” you might feel a certain level of hesitation to take action. But if you’ve imagined someone else pointing out this area you need to change, you may feel a subtle but valuable pressure to take action, because you’ve imagined someone becoming aware of a problem area in your approach (and that’s never fun).

Perhaps the answer here revolves around cutting back on inefficiency or time wasting. Maybe it’s going to be around coming up with a better way of doing something. Whatever it is, though, assuming the answer exists and is in plain sight in the first place is a powerful strategy.

A second question deals with looking at things from a different angle:

Question Two: If someone were to tell me about an additional way to make faster progress on this goal, what would it be?

Again, we’re harnessing two pieces of leverage: First, we’re assuming the answer exists, which keeps our brain focused on the solution. Second, we’re imagining an outside perspective coming up with the answer, which makes it easier to step outside our personal perspective and to think “outside the box.”

This question is a really good way to create what I call “Multiple Streams of Productivity.” You’ve probably heard of the concept of “Multiple Streams of Income,” so you can bridge the two together here. Basically, you’re out to find ways you can make progress on your goal in parallel.

A prime example of this is delegation. Any time you have someone doing a part of a project for you, that frees you up to work on another chunk of that project. Often we don’t delegate enough. Take advantage of this form of leverage.

When you ask this question with expectation, you’ll begin to tap into new ways to make progress faster than you have in the past. Just be sure that when you ask it, you don’t give up without a good answer that will work for you.

Finally, there’s one additional question that can really make your rate of progress advance rapidly:

Question Three: If someone were to tell me a way to accomplish my goal with a whole lot less work, what would it be?

This is my favorite question, because it gets you to truly think outside of the box. Perhaps your current project isn’t the best way to get to your goal after all. There’s probably some “aha” idea you haven’t considered before that could vault you to your intended result much more rapidly.

Maybe your goal is to sell 100,000 copies of a book so you can make a tremendous amount of money. Perhaps your current strategy is to write a compelling book and find massively effective ways to publicize it. Maybe all the gears are spinning in your head about how you can grab media attention and ride the wave to bestseller status as you convince 100,000 people to buy your book.

But maybe that’s not the most effective route. I was on the phone with my brother a few weeks ago and he told me about a man he had interviewed recently for a magazine article. This guy had a different approach to selling 100,000 copies of his book. He simply found a very large company who was willing to buy 100,000 copies of his book to hand out to all its employees.

Maybe finding 1 perfect customer is a lot easier than finding 100,000 good ones. This is just an example, but you see where I’m going with this.

Start asking these questions now.
Working from a mindset of expectation is generally a big adjustment for most people, since we’re conditioned to hope for things to work out rather than to expect them. But if you put these three questions into practice, and you do it consistently, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results. I know I have been. So get to it now – you’ll thank yourself for it.