10 things you should be doing every day

1) Set a goal for the day, early on

Ask yourself, what’s one (or two or three) things that I can do today where I can say to myself it’s a productive day if I get these done. If you can, do these things first. After that, you’ll feel on top of the world and will get so much more accomplished because of the momentum.

2) Talk to an existing customer

Like I mentioned in my blog post on checking in with your customers, this could be the best ten minutes that you spend every day. Whether it’s to check in to see how things are going, to see if they’re happy with your company or just to even thank them for their business. Every day that you spend not checking in with a customer is a dangerous one.

3) Tell an employee that you appreciate them

Most people think that their employees know that they appreciate them. After all, if you haven’t fired them, you must like them. The reality is, you need to tell them. You don’t have to give them an award every time that they send an email, but they do need to hear that they’re doing good work. Every day, you should be telling at least one employee that they’re doing a good job on one thing or another. And make sure it’s genuine — people can spot BS.

4) Use social media

Think tweeting is all about taking pictures of your food? Wrong. Social media has so many uses for you as a business person: lead generation, customer service, but also for learning from leaders in your industry. So do something to increase your social media profile.

5) Do one thing to make your day tomorrow easier

You need to think about the future you. Think of one thing, big or small, that will make tomorrow easier. Whether that’s planning, organizing or whatever else. Do something that is going to make your day tomorrow easier and therefore more productive.

6) Work on something you’ve been putting off, at least a little bit

We all have things that we put off. These things usually don’t go away just because we don’t do them; they linger and too often get far worse. Chipping away at these things every day will help you get them done for good.

7) Take a break — a serious one

Working hard is great — any very much needed. But you also need to take a break. And by a break, I don’t mean that you should eat a granola bar while responding to emails. I mean you should take a real break. For at least twenty minutes every day (ideally a little longer) you should do something that lets you take a break. A break with no emails, no calls and nothing work related. It will rejuvenate you for the rest of the day — trust me.

8) Learn

If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse. Every single day you should make an effort to learn something that you didn’t know the day before. You can do this by reading, by listening, by asking questions, by doing. It doesn’t matter how, just make sure you’re learning.

9) Do one thing truly distraction free

We’re always doing multiple things at once. Not only does it let us not truly focus on one thing (which leads to compromises) but it also makes us not appreciate things. Try to do one thing every day without letting your mind wander or getting distracted by anything else. It’s a surprisingly peaceful experience.

10) Get rejected

Getting rejected does two amazing things. The first is that it makes you stop being afraid to ask for things. When you aren’t afraid to ask for things, you’re going to take more chances and get a lot more opportunities. The second thing that is that it will surprise you what you can actually get if you only ask. There are so many things that are right in our grasp if we’d only ask for them. By risking being rejected and going for it, you’ll be surprised what you can obtain.