According to Brian Tracy, the law of forced efficiency says that, "There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing."

Have you ever noticed that right before a vacation, you tend to be super-productive? Items that you've been rolling over on your Today page for months suddenly get resolved. You address any burning issues in the most expedient manner possible. Not to mention, you are not at all shy about asking others to pick up a project that must be done while you are away.

This time right before a vacation is a prime example of the Law of Forced Efficiency in action. At some point, you have to be honest with yourself about what is realistic and what isn't. Generally, this occurs right before you have a hard deadline. Why not move the decision point up to when you either accept or reject a project?

In today's business environment, everyone is running at 120-130% of their full capacity. When this happens, people experience more stress and make more mistakes than if they were operating at a more comfortable pace. This hectic work schedule brings the 1-10-100 rule into play.

1-10-100 RULE = If you do something right the first time, that's all the time necessary. If you do it wrong the first time, it will take 10 times as long to correct the errors. If you get the correction wrong, it will take 100 times as long to correct the errors.

So, part of the over-capacity that people are experiencing is caused by the time pressure to get things done quickly. If you will make a conscious decision to say "no" up front, you will start to see the law of forced efficiency working for you rather than against you.

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