Lessons from Bill Gates

Bill Gates, in Business @ the Speed of Thought, shares four lesson worth considering:

1. Take two "retreats" every year by leaving the office. On retreat you can recalibrate to your personal mission and values, evaluate your role fulfillment, align yourself to your goals, etc. While an extended retreat in an exotic location would be nice, there are many creative and inexpensive ways to "leave the office" (even for a short time).

2. Read books on topics that don't pertain to your business or industry. It's a great way to maintain a broad and healthy perspective.

3. Identify problems early by tracking "exceptions" to the norm. So often, we simply work under the premise of "business as usual" without clearly evaluating the state of business. It's worth taking the time to look.

4. Stop at the end of each day to analyze how well you used the time that day. So much of the day can be wasted by the "tyranny of the urgent" instead of that which is truly important and urgent.