Long day. Tough deal I am working on, combined with the usual huge volume. SYNNEX released results today. I think they will be viewed as positive. I have presentations to do to my people on these and the company survey.

To be effective, I need to often get through difficult things (or difficult things for me)

One tip that has punched me through more difficult problems than I can remember. I read somewhere, if you swallow a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of the day has to look pretty good by comparison.

First thing each day, I do the most difficult task. Usually I set a time limit. I work on it for only 15 minutes. My belief is that I can do anything for 15 minutes. Frequently this 15 minutes breaks me through a logjam and so I continue and finish the task. Sometimes, it does not and I give myself permission to set it aside knowing I have moved it 15 minutes further ahead.

First thing in the morning for me is also a high energy time so I tend to be at my best creative problem solving time.

I have extended this rule to include first thing back in the office. First thing after lunch. First thing after dinner. So I can get an hour or more per day on the difficult issues.