Now let me clarify, this to another level. Most people complain about "Well if I had more time, then I could really plan my days!" Yet this approach will never allow you to have that time, therefore no planning as well. Only one of these is in our control, and time is out of hands, yet we can take hold of it only when we know what we want to do with it.

When I was in school, more hours of classes I took and more jobs I worked more I was able to do in less and less time. I made better grades as well. Everyone has same 168 hours a week, however, how we use those hours can mean difference between you getting next promotion or one of your colleagues instead.

So since planning is under your control then this is where you must start. I heard an interview with Mark McCormack best selling author of "What They Still Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School" and he mentioned that one of things that made him such a success was that he plans his day, everyday! He spends one hour everyday planning next 23 hours. And that one hour a day is smartest investment anyone can make for themselves.

Spend a few hours to design a system for yourself, any system, and stick to it. And as you continue to use it, notice where and when it works and where and when it doesn't, and change it appropriately. Most people get stuck in "ready, aim, fire" mentality, and unfortunately these same people never get passed getting ready and taking aim. So taking a "ready, fire, aim" approach may be more useful, as long as you are paying attention to know where and when to make changes.

Leaders do nothing more important than get results. But you can't get results by yourself. You need others to help you do it. And best way to have other people get results is not by ordering them but motivating them. Yet many leaders fail to motivate people to achieve results because those leaders misconstrue concept and applications of motivation.

To understand motivation and apply it daily, let's understand its three critical factors. Know these factors and put them into action to greatly enhance your abilities to lead for results. 1. MOTIVATION IS PHYSICAL ACTION. "Motivation" has common roots with "motor," "momentum," "motion," "mobile," etc. — all words that denote movement, physical action. An essential feature of motivation is physical action. Motivation isn't about what people think or feel but what they physically do. When motivating people to get results, challenge them to take those actions that will realize those results.

I counsel leaders who must motivate individuals and teams to get results not to deliver presentations but "leadership talks." Presentations communicate information.. But when you want to motivate people, you must do more than simply communicate information. You must have them believe in you and take action to follow you. A key outcome of every leadership talk must be physical action, physical action that leads to results.

For instance, I worked with newly-appointed director of a large marketing department who wanted department to achieve sizable increases in results. However, employees were a demoralized bunch who had been clocking tons of overtime under her predecessor and were feeling angry that their efforts were not being recognized by senior management.

She could have tried to order them to get increased results. Many leaders do that. But order-leadership founders in today's highly competitive, rapidly changing markets. Organizations are far more competitive when their employees instead of being ordered to go from point A to point B want to go from point A to point B. So I suggested that she take a first step in getting employees to increase results by motivating those employees to want to increase results. They would "want to" when they began to believe in her leadership. And first step in enlisting that belief was for her to give a number of leadership talks to employees.

One of her first talks that she planned was to department employees in company's auditorium.

She told me, "I want them to know that I appreciate work they are doing and that I believe that they can get results I'm asking of them. I want them to feel good about themselves."

"Believing is not enough," I said. "Feeling good is not enough. Motivation must take place. Physical action must take place. Don't give talk until you know what precise action you are going to have happen."