There are some aspects of your job that you should approach this way: Think hard about how to do them most effectively and efficiently once, and then don’t think about them again for a long time. When you think hard about the best way to do something, the outcome of that thinking is often a system. Creating effective systems for regular tasks is one of your key secrets.

The dictionary definition of the word system that comes closest to our application is this: A regular, orderly way of doing something.

Good systems bring you two powerful time management benefits. First, systems reduce the amount of time you spend on a task. That’s efficient. Second, they allow you to wring the greatest value from that task. That’s effective.

As an example, let’s ...

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