by MaryEllen Tribby,  Entrepreneur and CEO, Centerpointe Research Institute

Today I share how you can start getting more accomplished in your business and spend more time with your family, by doing less.

On any given day, most of us dedicate time to our business, children, spouses, careers, friends, charities, parents, siblings, clients and so on.

So why is it that only a select few of us can make it look easy… while so many look like they have been run over by a tractor trailer?

The answer is simple:

Most people don't evaluate the project or the task at hand before they begin.

This holds true whether they are working on their business lives or on their personal or family lives.

Instead of taking a hard look at the task or project, they simply try to get it done. They do whatever it takes.

But unfortunately, the price they pay is very high.

They sacrifice profits and their business and special moments and milestones with their kids. They risk losing the closeness and tenderness of their spouses. They even jeopardize their own health.

And, to add insult to injury, in the end, they often miss their deadlines, fail to properly complete the project.

Why do they do this to themselves?

Because all of their lives they have been told they have to multitask.

They have heard the old mantra, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself" about a million times. And they don't want to appear inferior.

If this sounds remotely familiar, I need for you to make yourself and me a significant promise. 

You need to vow here and now that you are ready to read this issue in its entirety and  apply my Five D Formula to your life starting today.

This strategy is so powerful that you will have an immediate sense of accomplishment and fulfilment.

When done correctly, it will allow you to have more free time and make more money in your business.

Your friends and family will notice immediately that you are not stressed and moody. But most importantly your "happiness meter" will be heading in the right direction: Up.

And here's the really beautiful part: it’s so simple! Allow me to introduce my NEW Five D Formula:

Determine, Ditch, Delegate, Duplicate, and Dominate

When you start to evaluate every project or task that you THINK has to be done and done by you every day, you will soon find that the task should follow this process.

Step #1. Determine

Very often we just "do" instead of methodically thinking about the task at hand. That is why the first step is to "determine". Determine if this is something that has to be done at all, done by you or done by someone else.

Move to step #2 . . .

Step #2. Ditch

Many people have the hardest time with simply saying "no." Most are unable or unwilling to say that a task is not important enough for their time or anyone else's.

Look: We all have the same 24 hours in a day...no more, no less.

So why is it that we sometimes feel that we should accomplish 28 hours' worth of tasks in a single day?

In order to turn down a task, just ask yourself the following question:

"What will the result be if nothing is done about this project?"

This makes your decision very easy. And when you are completely honest with yourself, you will find that 20% to 30% of the things you spend time on don't need to be done at all!

Move to step #3 . . .

Step # 3. Delegate

You have determined that there are tasks that you can ditch and of course others that must get done.

But so many do not have to be done by you. The art of delegating relies on finding the right person whose strengths are YOUR weaknesses.

You need to do what you do best and not spend time and energy on tasks that you are not particularly good at or that don't excite you.

Your time and energy should be spent on your natural gifts, things that are innate and that you love doing.

You should apply this rule at home and at the office. For example, I'm not particularly good at building websites; this is something I delegate to team members.

At home, I don't enjoy cleaning my house. This is a task I delegate to a cleaning woman who comes to my home and - believe it or not - loves to clean.

Because I do not spend my time on tasks like these,  I get to devote that time to tasks that play to my strengths.

At the office, my strengths are marketing and content creation.

At home, one of my strengths is helping my kids with their homework.

These are things that I am very good at and I love doing.

Move to step #4...

Step # 4. Duplicate. 

Now you are doing great. You have determined what really needs to get done. You have ditched tasks. You have delegated tasks. 

But now you know something has to get done and you know it needs to be done by someone like you but you still have that pesky time crunch.

So what do you do?

Well have you ever wished you had a clone? I sure used to! Now I have several. 

Being able to make more money and have more free time comes down to doubling, tripling, and quadrupling your output without YOU doing the actual work.

The reason so many people don't duplicate is because they don't understand the correct way to do so.

Most people think, "I will never find anyone as good as I am." Here is the beautiful part: you don't have to.

You see, you must simply find different people who can do specific tasks as well as you can. So perhaps you need to find three or four people.

These people need to share some of your qualities. You need to check your ego at the door and strive to find people who have the ability to be as good as and even better than you are.

Here's an example from a marketing business: if you write all of your promotional copy, make all the affiliate deals, and develop all your products, you need to find three duplicates:

1. One person to write the copy better than you do now while maintaining your voice and style. 
2. One person to cultivate new affiliate deals. This person should have your vivacious personality and be extremely outgoing (if these are your personality traits). 
3. And one person to develop products...someone who has even bigger ideas and the ability to get the products completed faster.

Move to step #5

Step #5. Dominate. 

This is where you come in. Because of the prior four steps, you are left with fewer tasks to handle yourself. This means you can move the quality line from good to great.

You now have the time, energy and focus to dominate any tasks that you handle!

These are five simple things that you can implement TODAY.

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