The path of mastering something is the combination of not only doing the best you can do at it, but also doing it the best it can be done. - Gary W. Keller

So, if you want to get the most out of your day, do your most important work — your ONE Thing — early, before your willpower is drawn down.

Being needed is incredibly satisfying, and helping others can be deeply fulfilling. Focusing on our own goals to the exclusion of others, especially the causes and the people we value the most, can feel downright selfish and self-centered. But it doesn’t have to. Master marketer Seth Godin says, “You can say no with respect, you can say no promptly, and you can say no with a lead to someone who might say yes. But just saying yes because you can’t bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the work.” Godin gets it. You can keep your yes and say no in a way that works for you and for others.

To-do lists inherently lack the intent of success. In fact, most to-do lists are actually just survival lists — getting you through your day and your life, but not making each day a stepping-stone for the next so that you sequentially build a successful life.