Is it Done Yet?

People often neglect to make progress because they simply do not take action. The simple question of “Is it done yet?” is one of the many Secrets to Wealth and can make a significant improvement to your financial situation.

From 2003 – 2005 I worked for a property development company in the Johannesburg CBD who converted commercial buildings into residential loft apartments. The Director had great foresight and vision and is a fearless operator. During the time I spent with the company he taught me a lot about life. In our compulsory morning meetings we had to present progress reports. Initially we all got to report on the progress of assigned tasks. However, the meetings started to take up more and more time as colleagues who had not completed their tasks explained at length why they hadn’t reached their target. This wasted time and hampered progress. One morning – in a very measured voice – our director posed the question that changed our work ethic. Instead of patiently listening to explanations and excuses he asked: “Is it done or is it not?” No excuses, no explanation. We measure results. If you hadn’t achieved something within two days the simple question “Is it done yet?” answered with a “No” immediately proved that person’s inability to take action.

If you feel that there’s an area in your life that isn’t progressing discover what action needs to be taken to change this and then continue to ask yourself, “Is it done yet?” Completing the initial action allows you to take another action and then a following action.

Taking action brings personal progress to all aspects of your life.

Your ability to take regular and consistent action will soon become an integrated part of your character. It is important to note that people want to work with people who get things done, who take action and produce results. When I started working for the technology training company in Seattle in 1998, I didn’t know much about Windows 2000 and jumped at the opportunity to take some courses. I attended classes and studied day and night for over six weeks to get my head around the new concepts. I asked questions, made notes and read as many additional books as I could find. My only option was to take regular and consistent action.

The first course I offered as a technology trainer was to members of the Boeing Corporation. Because I had spent time learning more than was required, my knowledge of the subject soon exceeded expectation and people started to request me by name to train on future courses. This soon caught the attention of management who now saw me as a valuable resource making money for the organization, and my first increase was a whopping 50%. For the following four years I continued to improve my knowledge within the technological field and more than tripled my salary in three years.

Results, not concepts attract attention, get noticed and lead to promotion.

If you’re working for yourself, friends, family or a company, co-workers, customers and suppliers continually notice whether you get things done. If you do, they pay attention. Attention brings more business. More business means more money.

If you are in a relationship and get things done, this characteristic gets noticed and your relationship strengthens. Who would you rather be dating: Someone who sits on the couch all day or someone who is consistently doing something productive in or around the house?

Relationships strengthen when you take any kind of action.

Your first action (of any type) is the most important one because it puts the process of what needs to be done in motion. The more things you do the more things you will want to do. Your car is no good to you if it cannot take you somewhere. It has to be in motion to be of benefit. Once it is in motion it can accelerate even more rapidly. The same is true for action: You can only become wealthy if you consistently take action. Anthony Robbins calls it ‘Massive Action’ – the greater the action – the better the result. Doing something – anything – is better than taking no action at all. Below you will find specific actions that you can take to improve your productivity immediately and they will help you to create immediate results in your life.

If you are new to creating wealth, here is what you can do to achieve results:

• Make a list of the things you want to get done.
• Do them.

For the more advanced learner, here is what you can do:

• Make a list – daily. If you have identified what you need to do it is easier to do them.
• Prioritize the list – daily. Stephen Covey has an amazing system which shows you how to prioritize your list based on what is urgent vs. what is important. Once you have correctly organized your tasks you can see which items require immediate attention vs. which are the time wasters.
• Take action, starting with the toughest items. Brian Tracy has a book called “Eat the frog first.” He highlights how the toughest tasks are often left till last. However, the toughest task often has the biggest impact on your progress.
• Ask: “Is it done yet?” The best plan is worthless unless executed. If your answer to this question becomes yes, yes and yes on a regular basis, you will see your life improve on a daily basis.