Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 Whether it’s Richard Branson or your best friend, we all wonder how our idols achieve great things despite life’s challenges. Here are three things successful people have down to a tee. Great time management Most of us are guilty of taking on far too much, neglecting to prioritise what’s worthwhile and dump or delegate what’s not. Here are a few ways to claw back some of your precious time. Saying no: Do you find yourself saying ‘yes’ to things way outside the scope of your role in order to avoid disappointing people? It’s important to build strong relationships, but not at the price of hours of your time. Delegating: Whether you’re afraid of overloading others, or just think you can do a better job, it’s time to get comfortable with empowering others to do things you’d normally keep to yourself. Planning and prioritising: Is your approach a little slapdash? You’re doing yourself no favours by haphazardly attempting to do everything at once. Turn your to-do list into a plan made up of SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) objectives that align with your goals… and stick to it. Not wasting time: Stop answering emails every two minutes, stop attending meetings you don’t need to be in, and cancel needless travel plans. Instead, plan time where you can get your head down with no interruptions, and only meet with people where it will be truly valuable. Getting better all the time: Stop to consider whether you’re working as efficiently as you could be. With technology creating ever-simpler ways to do things, could you cut out unnecessary steps, or even revamp whole processes? While you’re at it, think about your own skillset; would getting a bit better at something you do regularly speed you up? Professional confidence While it’s important to manage your time well, even the most efficient people can be held back by a lack of confidence. Addressing low self-esteem: If you suffer from low self-esteem or ‘impostor syndrome’ that affects you professionally, assess whether your perceptions of your own ability are really accurate. Perhaps you could even ask other people who know you well for validation. Negative self-perceptions fester and turn nasty when you don’t address them, so seek help if you can’t shake debilitating self-doubt. Setting realistic goals: Unrealistic goals mean setting yourself up for failure. It’s important to be objective about your expectations of yourself, not piling more on your own to-do list than you would expect to see on someone else’s. High levels of resilience Success is not all plain sailing, so you need reliable strategies for navigating rough waters. Knowing your threshold: Most of us could do with being more resilient when it comes to stress. It’s all about our perceived ability to cope, and pressure only turns to stress when we feel like it’s all too much. Up to a certain point, pressure can increase performance, but we all have our breaking points. So, while you can take action to raise your stress threshold, it’s also important to know how much you can handle, so you don’t bite off more than you can chew. Raising your threshold: Becoming more resilient in the face of professional pressures partly relies on the confidence-building strategies we looked at above. But it also comes down to simple things like taking good care of yourself. No one can counter real pressure on four hours sleep and a bag of crisps for breakfast. Building helpful relationships: We don’t function at our best in isolation. While pressure at work might feel incredibly lonely, consider all the opportunities for building supportive networks. Use colleagues, managers, friends and family to share the load, resolve problems, form strategies, gain perspective and, importantly, to relax and have fun. Leadership expert Nigel Girling will explore the personal qualities of successful people, and strategies for removing your personal barriers to success, in his next webinar. Find out more and sign up here. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article was written for Business 2 Community by Alan Draper.Learn how to publish your content on B2C Join our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage Author: Alan Draper Based in the United Kingdom, Business 2 Community editor Alan is part of the team that’s responsible for ensuring all the content on our site is accurate, relevant and up-to-date. In addition to editing, he is also a writer and an expert on the stock market. Alan has previously written … View full profile ›More by this author:Get Free Bitcoin and Earn Interest on Crypto with ZenGo5 Best Cryptos to Buy on the Dip in the May Crypto CrashEuroswap EDEX: Last TokenSale phase before listing – team announces the list of exchanges