You’ve probably heard of the power of leverage, but do you know what it means?
Using leverage is a way to achieve more by doing less. And who doesn’t want that?
You may know about leverage in business or real estate leverage, but did you know you can also leverage yourself?
This allows you to work smarter, not harder, and get better results.
Today, I’ll share 13 proven strategies to help you leverage yourself.
Let’s dive right in.
What Does It Mean to Leverage Yourself?
According to Tony Robbins, leverage is a concept that can help you succeed in every area of your life, from greater success in business and making more money to improving your health and relationships.
Leverage in business can help you reach new levels of business success. It can also enhance your personal life by improving your confidence and releasing limiting beliefs.
Leveraging yourself means acknowledging your strengths and using them. It also means learning from your past mistakes and knowing when to ask for help or delegate.
Leveraging yourself also means using all of your knowledge and skills to your best advantage by applying them to all situations.
For example, you may take lessons learned from playing high school football and use them to build a successful business.
Or, you might leverage income to make more money from it.
These are just a few examples of the power of leverage. Truly, the only limit to using leverage is your imagination.
If you’re ready to leverage yourself in all areas of your life, read on for my 13 proven strategies.
Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail
It’s a cliché, but it’s true. You really won’t get far in life unless you know where you are going — you need to have a plan.
Goals are what keep you motivated when faced with obstacles. Having a plan is the roadmap that leads you to those goals.
If you want to use the power of leverage in business or any other area of your life, you must start with a plan.
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new business venture or idea, but for that vision to become a reality, you will need to take coherent action one day at a time.
If you are naturally disorganized, this may be challenging at first, but you will soon see its impact on your results.
Eliminate Distractions
If you’re serious about leveraging yourself, you will need to learn to reduce distractions and stop procrastinating.
Our hyper-connected world has made our brains hyper-responsive to our plethora of blinking screens and flashing notification lights.
Our devices have changed the way our brains work, reducing concentration times and making us easily distracted.
Fortunately, there are some things you can do to improve your concentration and increase your productivity.
One of them is to eliminate distractions. This means putting your phone on airplane mode (or, if you’re like me, in another room) and only checking email or social media at certain times of the day.
It may also mean finding or creating a quiet place to work and asking your co-inhabitants not to disturb you when you’re working.
If you’re a parent, you may need to find an arrangement that allows you to focus while someone looks after your child.
Identify your primary sources of distraction and eliminate them. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes.
Manage Your Time
The power of leverage can be applied to your time, too. It’s far more productive to do two hours of focused work than to stare blankly at a screen for 6 hours, then wonder what you´ve been doing all that time.
Instead, you need to manage your time as carefully as you would any other resource — like your money.
If you have multiple projects, block out time for each, and work on it only for the allotted time.
You should also consider using time management techniques, many of which are now available in the form of apps.
One of the most effective time management tools I have found is the Pomodoro technique. You set a timer for 25 minutes and give your full concentration to the task at hand during that time.
When the buzzer goes, you can take a short break before starting again.
The reason this technique is so effective is that it takes advantage of your brain’s natural capacity to concentrate for roughly 25 minutes at a time before getting tired or distracted.
The easiest way to use the Pomodoro technique is to use an online time like this one.
Single Tasking Is the New Multitasking
How many browser tabs do you have open right now?
If you’re anything like me, the answer may be: too many to count!
But multitasking is the enemy of quality and the killer of productivity. If you want to leverage your time and abilities, the best way to do this is to focus on one task at a time.
Think about it: it’s better to do one thing thoroughly and well than to do several things at once, with mediocre results.
We humans have a monkey mind, which tends to jump very quickly between seemingly unrelated topics.
Whether you’re a business owner or a new mum (or both!), you’re likely to be juggling a lot of tasks and have a to-do list that seems to keep getting longer instead of shorter.
If you find yourself getting distracted from the task at hand by thoughts about other things you have to do, simply make a note of them for later and return your focus to what you were doing.
Leverage Failure
We’ve talked about how to leverage your time through planning, management, and focus.
Now, let’s see how you can leverage your failures.
Failure is an inevitable step on the path to success. Without failing, you don’t learn anything.
Think about it: was there ever an occasion where you tried something for the first time and were naturally good at it? Let’s say it was standing on your hands.
What did you learn from that experience? Did you learn the anatomy of a handstand, which muscles to engage, or the correct technique to perform it?
Of course not.
Now imagine the person who tries to stand on their hands and fails. Imagine they continue to try and fail, day after day.
Over time, they gain new knowledge and information — both theoretical and physical — that gets them closer to their goal.
Until, one day, they succeed. At this point, this person has learned so much from their failure that they could sell an online masterclass on handstands.
They can leverage their failure.
You, however, can only stand on your hands.
So, don’t be afraid of failure. Embrace it because each and every failure gets you a step closer to your goals.
Master Your Keyboard
This might sound strange, but hear me out.
According to LifeHack, you may be losing up to 21 days per year to slow typing — enough time to take a nice vacation somewhere.
Since we all spend so much time at our keyboards these days, it’s worth your while learning to type faster. And, while you’re at it, try learning a few keyboard shortcuts too.
Even just learning that CTRL+C is Copy and CTRL+V is Paste will save you loads of time, but there are lots more of them.
Mastering your keyboard is a crucial skill that you can leverage to save you time and make more money.
Communicate Effectively
We’ve become so used to email, text, chats, and instant messaging that sometimes it seems like we’ve forgotten how to communicate effectively.
Have you ever been part of one of those long email chains at work where loads of people are CC’d, but only a handful of them are active in the exchange?
Usually, they reach a conclusion that would have been resolved in under two minutes if those people had just had a conversation, instead of wasting their time and everyone else’s.
Sometimes, a one-minute call or a quick chat over coffee is a better way to leverage your communication skills — and your time.
Learn a New Skill
Speaking of skills, if you really want to leverage yourself, you should be learning new ones all the time.
If you’re not constantly growing and learning, you’re stagnating, which means you are not leveraging everything you have to reach your full potential.
Think of yourself as a lifelong learner. But don’t worry — this doesn’t mean you have to go back to university.
Quite the opposite: the more diverse set of skills you possess, the more you have to leverage.
You could find that something you learn in pottery class teaches you something about how to be a better spouse or parent.
Or something you learn on the yoga mat could be the secret to unlocking your business success.
You just never know. So follow your passions with a curious mind, and let the power of leverage work for you.
Delegate
You’ll know you’ve succeeded at leveraging yourself in business when you’re able to focus only on the tasks you enjoy and are good at by delegating the rest to others.
We all have strengths and weaknesses, and knowing yours is key to using the power of leverage in your life.
Perhaps you’re a brilliant creative mind but have no head for administrative tasks.
Hiring an accountant to crunch the numbers and an assistant to organize your diary will save you the hassle — and give you more time to focus on the areas in which you shine.
Think of delegation as a way to leverage the talents of others for greater financial return.
Look After Your Most Important Resource
No, it’s not your money or your time.
Your most important resource is you.
You’re no good to anyone if you run yourself into the ground, so prioritizing self-care is a must if you want to leverage yourself.
The basic tenets of self-care that everyone should aim for are:
- Getting enough sleep
- Eating a healthy diet
- Exercising regularly
- Spending time with friends and family
- Limiting alcohol and tobacco
But self-care goes way beyond that. If you want to leverage your most important resource, you should consider investing in it.
Think of this as another way to leverage your money.
For example, you might want to hire a personal trainer, life coach, nutritionist, or financial advisor, depending on your needs.
This is an investment that will give you greater leverage in that area of your life.
Be Flexible
At some point, you will face setbacks and obstacles that will force you to change your plans.
We can’t know the future, and we certainly can’t plan for everything.
So, while it’s important to have a plan, it’s equally important to know when to stick to it and when to be flexible.
The power of leverage only works for you when you have the capacity to adapt. Remember, you can leverage any aspect of your life — and that includes your challenges.
Within every challenge lies an opportunity — but you must be flexible to take advantage of it.
If you dig your heels in trying to stick to the original plan, you will fail to see the opportunity.
If you are open to changing your plans in the face of changing circumstances, you will be able to leverage them to your advantage.
Leverage Your Network
Whether you’re looking for an investor or a life partner, the old saying rings true — it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
With a maximum of six degrees of separation between every human on the planet, chances are you know someone who knows someone who has exactly what you need.
So how do you find them? You ask! This is what it means to leverage your network.
It could be that friend of a friend you once met at a party, or it could be an old friend or colleague who you’ve lost touch with.
Leveraging your network can be particularly effective in business since people who already know you are much more likely to say yes than cold prospects.
Know Your Why
At some point, you will lose the motivation to keep working towards your goals. You will face setbacks, things may not turn out as planned, or it might take longer than you expected.
Knowing your why is the best way to keep going when times get tough. Having an unwavering vision of where you’re heading will give you the strength to carry on.
Perhaps you want to break out of the nine to five grind, or maybe you want to spend more time with your kids.
Maybe you want to get fit so you can keep up with your grandchildren.
Write down your vision for the life you want to create. Be as specific and detailed as possible.
This vision is your why.
Keep it in a safe place and read it any time you need a motivation boost.
How Can Leverage Make You Rich?
The power of leverage can make you rich in many different ways — it just depends on how you use it!
It may be through leveraging real estate or leveraging your money through investments that lead to greater financial returns.
This short video explains how real estate investors use the power of leverage to increase their wealth.
What Does Leverage Mean in Business?
In business, leverage often means using other people’s money, time, skills, experience, and ideas to create financial gains.
It means creating systems that are automated and scalable, so the business can grow by itself without requiring additional effort on your part.
You will know you have leveraged your business when you’re able to go on vacation and still continue to make money without having to lift a finger.
How Do You Use Leverage in Life?
You can use leverage in pretty much any area of your life to achieve your goals and maximize your results.
The most common ways of using leverage are in financial management and leveraging real estate, but once you understand the concept, you can apply it to anything.
For example, you could leverage your knowledge and experience from a past relationship that went wrong to have a better and more fulfilling relationship with your current partner.
Or you might leverage your network to raise money for your child’s school.
The possibilities for using leverage are endless, and once you start to look for them, you will see them everywhere.
So, now you know how to use the power of leverage to get the most out of your life, health, finances, business, and relationships.
Would you add any other strategies that worked for you?
Share them with me in the comments!
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