The more books you read, the more likely you are to find the information you seek. The more people you know, the more likely you are to develop valuable relationships. The more marketing strategies you try, the more likely you are to find the one that works best for you.

All true. Unless they aren’t.

Because there’s a lot that can get in the way.

Reading a lot of books is a waste of time if they’re not the right books. The more people you engage with, the more opportunities there are for arguments and bad decisions. The more marketing strategies you use, the more opportunities there are to become distracted or spend time or money best spent on something else.

So, it depends.

Successful people get a lot done because they don’t try to do everything.

They reject most projects. Avoid most tasks. Take on fewer commitments.

Fewer projects started means less time spent on research, less money spent on failed ventures, and fewer projects abandoned. Fewer unfinished projects leads to more clarity and better results.

Fewer books read means fewer hours wasted reading things you already know or don’t need, and fewer opportunities to follow bad advice.

Fewer marketing strategies means less time spent learning and doing and supervising, and less time wasted trying to improve things that provide too little return.

The lesson?

Be selective, not exhaustive. Focus on high-value activities and high-potential projects. Take on fewer relationships, read fewer books, do fewer activities that don’t align with your most important values and goals.

Do less so you can accomplish more.

If you find yourself trying to do too much, working too hard and making too little progress, don’t increase your workload, reduce it.

Take a page from the most successful people in the world and regularly ask yourself, “What can I stop doing?” and “What or who can I avoid?”

Develop the habit of saying no to most things.

Because when you use the right strategies, cultivate the right relationships, and do the right things with your time and money, the results you achieve can be so much more.

Leverage is the key to bigger and better results.