The Daily Edge: Simple Strategies to Increase Efficiency and Make an Impact Every Day

by David Horsager

Overview

Wall Street Journal bestselling author David Horsager frequently hears executives lament that their hands are more than full trying to balance the barrage of tasks they face on a daily basis. While he never set out to be a productivity expert, Horsager realized that over the years he has developed and adopted dozens of extraordinarily practical time- and energy-saving techniques that could help today’s leader. The key objective is to become so effective in the little things that you have enough time for more meaningful interactions.

In The Daily Edge, you’ll learn strategies such as identifying the key Difference-Making Actions on which to focus your efforts. Perhaps it is time to set a personal or even company-wide “power hour,” during which you do not attend meetings, answer the phone, or reply to emails, creating the time and space to really focus and get things done. The thirty-five high-impact ideas Horsager introduces in succinct, quick-read chapters are easily implemented and powerful on their own. Taken together, they form a solid wave of efficacy that enables you to get more done, keep your energy up, and make sure that you’re able to honor all your relationships, both personal and professional.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626565951
Publisher:	Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication date:	10/05/2015
Pages:	168
Sales rank:	1,097,999
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

David Horsager, MA, CSP, CEO of Horsager Leadership, Inc., is a business strategist, keynote speaker, and author of the national bestseller The Trust Edge. He has spoken and consulted across the United States and on five continents. His clients range from Wells Fargo, Toyota, and the New York Yankees to the US Coast Guard Academy, John Deere, and the US Department of Homeland Security. He and his wife, Lisa, have four children and live in Minnesota. You can read more at DavidHorsager.com.

Read an Excerpt

Tip 1
90-Day Quick Plan
Eighteen years ago a man challenged me to not complain for 90 days straight. I couldn’t complain about anything, not food, not the weather, nothing. That changed my life. Some people say you can change a habit in 21 days. I question whether that is long enough. While 21 days may be too short, an entire year is too long. Think about it, most people can’t keep their New Year’s resolutions for even two weeks. People often think, “I have all year to get going on that.” 90 days is a sweet spot. It is a short enough time frame to stay absolutely focused, and yet it is long enough to get more done than most people get done in a whole year. When I lost my weight, the first 90 days were the most important. In those three months, I lost thirty-three pounds, but more importantly, my thinking about food, exercise, and how I spent my time was transformed. Everything changed in 90 days.

Most strategic planning is done at an off-site retreat, yet provides little momentum toward action. Instead of an annual planning session, try making a 90-Day Quick Plan. Every 90 days we encourage everyone on our team to create a 90-Day Quick Plan. It gives leaders and teams an actionable framework that provides clarity and leads to tangible results both personally and professionally.

Here’s how to make it work. Pick an area of your business or life that you’d like to address, and then ask six questions. The plan should take less than 30 minutes to create.

Question 1: Where am I? If you do not know where you are today, you cannot know where you would like to be in the future. (If you are doing a 90-Day Quick Plan as a team, ask, “Where are we?” and use “we” in the following questions as well.) Ask this question and you will be able to quickly identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. For example, where am I in my relationship with my kids? Where am I in my health? Where am I in comparison to expected sales? Where are we as far as the number of people we are reaching with our message or product?

Question 2: Where am I going in 90 days? Remember, it is not one year or five years like many strategic plans. Thinking about your answer in question 1, where would you like to be in 90 days? Write a clear, quantifiable (numerical if possible) goal. You will likely accomplish more than you thought in just 90 days!

Question 3: Why am I going? If the “why” is strong enough, the plan does not need to be perfect. If a building is burning and my kids are in it, I don’t need to know every detail—I’m going in because my “why” is so strong. When your team is motivated and unified, they’ll do the little things differently. They’ll stay passionate and focused, and they’ll finish.

Question 4: How are we going to get there? How? Keep asking how? until your team commits to taking specific actions.

Question 5: How are we going to get there? I press people to ask how? until they have come up with a specific action they will take starting today or tomorrow at the latest.

Question 6: How are we going to get there? I have found people must ask how? at least three times before they are clear enough. It may take asking how? seven times in order to get enough clarity. The point is don’t stop asking how until you or your team has decided on a specific action that will be taken starting today or tomorrow.

Making It Happen
I remember when I really got this idea of asking “how?” three times. I was training and consulting with one of the biggest heath care organizations in North America. They needed change! They were losing funding and patients. We were toward the end of our Trust Edge Experience. One hundred fifty top people including the CEO and senior leadership team were all seated at round tables. Each table had defined a specific challenge they were going to tackle. I remember asking one table full of top leaders about what they needed to take action on in order to grow and be more trusted. The table leader said, “We need to be clearer.”

I said, “How will you be clearer?”

After brainstorming with his group, the table leader said, “We are going to communicate more.”

I said, “How?”

After more brainstorming, he said, “We are going to hold each other accountable.”

I said, “How?”

The table, seated with bright minds and fine leaders, had to be pushed three times in order to realize they needed a more specific action plan. They worked together to create a plan for communicating more often and more clearly. An important piece of their plan was how they were going to hold each other accountable to this effort. They were able to start following their plan the very next day.

On a personal level, when I decided to lose weight, I kept asking “how?” until I went from “eat less and exercise more” to defining fifteen specific actionable ideas I could implement on a daily basis.

With greater clarity around your 90-day plan, you will gain the trust of your team and bottom-line results will follow.

Table of Contents

Tip 1. 90-Day Quick Plan
Tip 2. DMA’s: Difference-Making Actions
Tip 3. Power Hour
Tip 4. Focus
Tip 5. Decide Now
Tip 6. SEEDS First
Tip 7. Manage Your Energy
Tip 8. Log It
Tip 9. Excellence, Not Perfection
Tip 10. Plan Tomorrow Today
Tip 11. Energize
Tip 12. Go Ready
Tip 13. Efficient E-mail
Tip 14. Phone Habits
Tip 15. Maximize Meetings
Tip 16. Flight Plan
Tip 17. Wake Up
Tip 18. Clear Desk
Tip 19. Automate
Tip 20. To-Do List ABCs
Tip 21. Master Faster
Tip 22. Mind Mapping
Tip 23. Back Up
Tip 24. Go Paperless
Tip 25. Shortcuts
Tip 26. Don’t Go Gadget
Tip 27. Don’t Get Hooked
Tip 28. Optimize
Tip 29. Bundle
Tip 30. Get Unstuck
Tip 31. Stock Up
Tip 32. Say No
Tip 33. Reflect
Tip 34. Habit Change
Tip 35. People First

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Daily Edge

“David hit it out of the park with The Daily Edge! We all need the coaching he offers in these quick, clear strategies to stay focused on winning every single day.”
—Dave Winfield, member, Baseball Hall of Fame, and ESPN analyst

“Actionable and powerful, The Daily Edge is full of strategies that will bring real results to positively impact organizational culture and outcomes!”
—Dr. Chad Coauette, Executive Director and CEO, National Joint Powers Alliance

“I’ve been speaking and writing on productivity topics for twenty-five years, and The Daily Edge still gave me new insights and ideas I was able to apply immediately!”
—Laura Stack, author of What to Do When There’s Too Much to Do

“David Horsager is spot on—changing yourself and your impact can’t be done overnight. It takes work and discipline. But there are smart ways to go about it, and he nails it in this book!”
—Harvey Mackay, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive

“Finally, a productivity book that I can use without running over relationships.”
—Anthony F. Diekemper, CEO, Skyline Technology Solutions

“Organizational culture transformation starts with individuals choosing to change. The Daily Edge offers practical and tactical choices for better habits!”
—Dave Sparkman, Senior Vice President, Culture, UnitedHealth Group

“David’s take on leadership is personal, not prescriptive. He brings a fresh and energizing approach with simple steps to navigate today’s complex and highly disruptive work environment.”
—Gayle Fuguitt, President and CEO, Advertising Research Foundation

“The Daily Edge is not only fun to read but also full of tips you can use to make every day worthwhile.”
—Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The New One Minute Manager® and Fit at Last

From the Publisher