By now you understand that in order to work less and make more, you’ll have to delegate. Your job is to focus the majority of your time on the high-payoff activities that best use your talents and feed your passion. What about all the other stuff that needs to get done? Those things can be delegated to motivated, trustworthy people who’ll do them better than you anyway.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re just at the beginning of your Work Less, Make More journey, and you’re budget won’t allow for extra support. How are you supposed to delegate if you can’t afford to?

Don’t worry. It’s a common problem, and there is a solution. Take one of my clients, Janet.

Janet owns a regional magazine, and she was about to give it up when she came to me. She had been in business for almost two years, and cash flow was extremely tight. While she had already done the hard part of defining where she should concentrate her efforts and where she needed help, she simply couldn’t afford that help. I was her last resort. Was there a way for her to save her business without bringing others on board?

My answer was a simple “no.” Unless Janet found a way to focus on the big stuff—which meant finding others to do the little stuff—her business would not succeed.

While Janet was looking a little dejected at this point, the next thing I told her perked her up a bit. It’s possible to delegate without spending a dime. You don’t need tons of money. As a matter of fact, you don’t need any money at all. All you need is a little creativity.

Here’s the basic idea: If it’s difficult for you to hire someone to handle important tasks, why not trade them out instead?

That’s right. Forming partnerships and sharing strengths is key to creative delegating. In Janet’s case, she traded advertising in her magazine for services that she needed—things like home and office cleaning, computer support, and administrative tasks. It worked extremely well. Janet got to do what she wanted to do, but the other stuff got done too.

Take my word for it. If you need something done, there’s a way to get it done. And you don’t need to break the bank. All you need to do is break open your creativity.

                                       

If you’ve been following the Work Less, Make More program, you’ve learned how to prioritize your tasks and focus on the projects that really matter. These are the high-payoff activities. These are the things that stir passion in your soul, make life worth living, and put you on the road to success.

After you’ve eliminated and delegated, it’s time to automate. This means letting the wonderful world of technology take over and do the work for you. There is software on the market now for just about every task—from accounting to handling customer communication. If your computer can handle these things for you, why wouldn’t you let it? Automation can free up your time for the important stuff.

                                        

Prioritizing is a big part of working more and making less. Most people are bombarded with things to do every day. They find themselves moving quickly from one task to the next, from that task to another, all day long. When you’re in that kind of cycle, it’s hard to really get going on any one thing. Your mind is jumping from one thing to the next.

You have to tackle the meaningful things first. Prioritize your tasks by ranking them in terms of importance. I know all tasks seem important. But all tasks are not important. Important tasks are those that impact your goals. If not doing the task causes little or no impact, it’s not important. Knowing the difference is key to working less and making more.

                                       

We all do things we don’t like to do. Things that clutter up our days. And there are many reasons why these things stay on our schedules. You might spend as much as half your time at work doing things you hate doing—and aren’t good at to boot—just because they need to be done. Or maybe you spend a few hours a week of your free time volunteering at the local animal shelter. You don’t really like the work, but you think it’s the right thing to do.

The fact is, our calendars are full of things that we don’t really need to do. You’re probably spending a good portion of your time doing things that could be eliminated. Like empty calories, these things aren’t doing you any good.

It’s time to clean these things off your plate.

Cleaning off your plate means taking certain things off your schedule, and replacing them with high-payoff activities. It means finding the time to do the things you want—and need—to do. Cleaning off your plate means finally having time to do things you enjoy. Cleaning off your plate means creating new habits, taking better care of yourself, and redesigning your life. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

So why don’t more people do it?

Well, I never said cleaning off your plate was easy. There are few words more respected by people than “I’m busy.” Having a full plate makes us feel responsible, and gives us more self-worth. We suffer under the illusion that the more we can cram into our days, the more we accomplish.

It reminds me of my friend, Tracey. “When I look at what I do during a typical day, I realize that by 9 a.m. I’ve done what most people have done in three days!” she recently said. “So why do I feel so terrible?”

Doing more in less time isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, is it? Our plates may be full, but it’s not with the fulfillment and satisfaction that we’re seeking. As a matter of fact, it often feels like the more we get done, the worse we feel.

That’s because when we jam too many things into a day, we lose focus on the things that matter most. And some of them don’t get done, or if they do get done, don’t get done in the best way.

If you want to achieve more, you have to do less. It’s that simple.  

                     

It’s hard to imagine life before the BlackBerry. Though it was introduced just nine years ago, 13 million people now use this device to stay connected in the Information Age. The fact is, many people are too connected, literally keeping their BlackBerrys with them 24/7.

For many of my coaching clients, over-dependence on technology is an ongoing topic in our coaching sessions. Here are a few of the comments they’ve made:

 “As soon as the plane hits the runway, I reach to turn it on.”

“I’m not sleeping well, because I’m always on alert.”

“My wife got upset last night, because after we were done making love, I turned on the light, grabbed my BlackBerry, and starting reading my email.”

“When I’m at dinner with clients, I regularly excuse myself, and then go to the restroom to check my emails.”

“I’m addicted, and I don’t know how to stop.”

While technology is designed to make life easier, it’s certainly not having that effect. It’s adding to the stress, overwhelm, and busyness of everyday life. No wonder people jokingly refer to them as “CrackBerrys.”

"American workers have a love-hate relationship with technology,” said Mary Madden. “Along with the benefits of increased connectivity comes a host of new issues into workers’ lives.” Ms. Madden is co-author of a report published Wednesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Although survey participants cite the benefits of increased connectivity and flexibility that technology affords them, many also say these tools have added stress and new demands to their lives. For example, 50% of email users say they check their work-related email on the weekends. Fully 22% say that they check their work email accounts "often" during weekend hours, compared with 16% who reported the same in 2002. 34% of email users say they will at least occasionally check their email while on vacation; 11% say they do so "often."

Blackberry and PDA owners are more than twice as likely to report that their employer expects that they will stay tuned in to email outside of the office. Fully 48% say they are required to read and respond to email when they are away from work.

What is the impact of this increased connectivity? 49% say these technologies increase the level of stress in their job. 49% say these technologies make it harder for them to disconnect from their work when they are at home and on the weekends. And 46% say these tools increase demands that they work more hours.

Here’s the advice I give my clients: Create boundaries. It’s the only way to prevent technology from completely taking over our lives.

Turn it off, and leave it in your briefcase. It will be there in the morning. You’ll awake more rested, and better equipped to start your day. You won’t wake up with stress, and you’ll be more focused through the day.

And, most importantly, establishing boundaries will communicate to your spouse and children that they are more important than your CrackBerry. Because they are wondering about that.

To read the entire report, visit the Pew Internet & American Life Project website.

Last weekend, my daughter Carly and I enjoyed a “magic moment” together.

“What’s a magic moment?” you ask? For me, it’s a special experience with someone close to me that I will remember for the rest of my life.

A magic moment can be big, like our family vacation last summer in Europe. We visited Germany, Austria, and France. It was a truly special time for our family.

But it doesn’t have to be big. My oldest daughter Abby and I once enjoyed a snack together in our living room at 2:00 in the morning. Abby’s eyes light up every time she tells the story of how I woke her up that night for our special time together.

In case you don’t know this about me already, I am a big college football fan. And I’m an even bigger fan of University of Michigan Wolverines. Last Saturday, Carly and I traveled to South Bend, Indiana for the Michigan-Notre Dame game.

If you follow college football, you know that Notre Dame won the game. If you follow closely, you may know that Carly and I sat in the pouring rain for much of the second half. We couldn’t have gotten more wet had we jumped into a swimming pool with our clothes on!

And yet, the experience was grand. Carly and I will never forget the rainy drive to and from South Bend. We’ll remember stopping at Applebee’s for lunch, and eating licorice and Sour Patches in the rain at the game.

Oh sure, we’ll remember the disappointing loss, too. But I’m much better today about not allowing the outcome of the game to determine whether or not I have fun. Carly didn’t really care about the game, anyway.

For her, the day was about creating a magic moment with her Daddy. And for me, it was about creating a magic moment with my daughter.

Moral: Create and enjoy magic moments with the important people in your life.

                   

One of the keys to Working Less, Making More is focus. Today, I want you to focus on your three highest value activities. For now, forget the other stuff.