Guy Kawasaki has started a new venture, AllTop.com It consolidates the content of numerous top sites for numerous categories including: LifeHacks, Personal Finance, Sports, and World News. I’m happy to say Success Making Machine is in the career section.
I think it’s a great way to keep up with your favorite topic.
Check it out.
Opening days marks the beginning of a new baseball season. There’s something special about opening day. You’ll want to make everyday opening day.
Fresh start
In a new season everyone has a fresh start. The bad teams can show that they’re better. The bench players can show they’ve improved and the rookies can show they belong. Unfortunately real life doesn’t offer us the opportunities to start fresh without dramatic change (switch jobs). The answer is to do something different. Launch something new. Give people the opportunity to show something new. Look at an old situation in a new way. Start a new tradition like going out to lunch with a coworker.
Don’t Drop The Ball
In baseball one of the fundamentals is that you don’t drop the ball. Most of the time you don’t have to do anything remarkable, as long as you do what your supposed. Part of what made Cal Ripken Jr. special is he showed up every day- ready to play. That’s 2,632 straight games without sitting. Today too many people are trying to do too much and don’t get the fundementals done. Keep track of your outstanding tasks and get them done and you’ll be ahead of most people.
Practice, Practice, Practice There’s an old joke of a man lost in New York City he asks a women “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?”. The reply was “Practice, practice, practice”. In order to do anything well we must practice, practice, practice. Players who have been playing baseball for their whole lives spend six weeks practicing before the season start. Then they practice all season. In the real world we need to constantly learn, to refine our skills. This may
Make this your opening day. Give yourself a fresh start to improve. Give your coworkers, subordinates, family member and friends a chance to surprise you. Forget the bad from the past. Even my favorite team can put the memory of a historic collapse behind them and start a new.
I found a dated podcast of David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done (GTD), with Merlin Mann of 43folders.com. I highly recommend the book, it’s a cornerstone to being productive. In the podcast, Allen admits that there’s a very low adoptation rate of people who start with GTD and end up using it. They include:
Not easy to get started- Try to put yourself in an environment where the GTD language is spoken.
Getting more dimensions– Keep learning. Keep rereading. One answer he gives is GTD connect.
High level issues (20,000 & 30,000 & 40,000- feet)- if you don’t address your high level goals “your system will become flat”.
You’ll notice these are exactly the issues that I discussed earlier with Don’t Get Things Done. I’ll keep bring more solutions to these and other problems with GTD.
Randy Pausch, a beloved college professor, is terminally ill with Pancreatic cancer. He wrote his “Last Lecture” entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. Over six million people have viewed the lecture online. He went on Opera and delivered a shorter version. Pausch is really inspiring. Interestingly he’s more proud of his lecture Time Management. He even posted the power point slides. If anyone needs to manage time well he does.
He mentions lots of ideas that you’ve seen on these pages: start with a dream, make plans and turn it into to do items. Break your to dos down (next actions) and do the “ugliest” thing first (the hardest). Use Covey’s 4 quadrants: Do the “important, not due soon”. Keep an empty inbox. File everything away. Use 2 monitors.
He also has some not so obvious tips:
And lots more. Watch the video: Time Management.
Many people find doing exercise is boring and annoying. I know I do. The key is to find activities that you enjoy that will give you exercise. Unfortunately that isn’t always possible.
That’s where having a routine comes in. Sometimes we do things just because we are conditioned to. That’s why habits are so important: Do you really feel like taking a stick with bristles and putting it over your teeth. Of course not. We brush our teeth because it’s a simple habit and the consequences of not doing it is a visit to the dreaded dentist’s office.
Similarly try to create a habit to exercise. Try to make it as fun as possible. But there will still be days you just don’t want to do it. That’s perfect, we can take advantage of this. Here’s how I did it.
Each morning my alarm goes on at 6:00am and it’s time to exercise. One morning I didn’t feel like running. But part of my morning ritual is to get up early and I had running time. So instead I procrastinated and decided to reorganize the garage. I got the exercise i needed and felt really good after it was done- all the boxes that were cluttering the den (we’re in middle of a move) are now gone. The garage with it’s haphazard organization (e.g big mess) now has a system to it.
Exercise is about getting yourself moving. You should try to get some satisfaction out of it- even if it’s a clean garage. Look for other strenuous tasks you need to do, put it on your to do list and the next time you don’t feel like exercising, just procrastinate.
Elections are just around the corner and whether your republican, democrat, independent, conservative, liberal or anything else the choice is clear- vote for my proposal: Stop Being Productive, Start Being Successful. Just click the vote link on that page.
I mentioned previously, I submitted a proposal to ChangeThis. If my proposal gets the most votes then they will distribute my manifesto (long article). Which means that you’ll get a quality(i hope) information on making yourself more successful. Here’s the text of my proposal:
Are you working harder and harder and becoming more “productive” yet you still feel like there’s much more to do with no end in sight? The problem is that productivity (doing something well) is only one of the three pillars of success. I will explain the other two pillars and show you how you can use a few easy steps to significantly increase your ability to succeed.
Voting ends on Sunday so vote now.
How often does your boss come to you with a very specific question/request? If you’re like most good employees you’ll try to work on it quickly and answer his specific question (bad employees will not even take the time to understand the request). I’m here to tell you that’s not a good idea!
Many times your boss is just trying to simplify the problem for you and he glosses over important details. Or worse, he doesn’t know exactly what he wants but comes to your with confidence asking for the wrong thing. What you need to do is to find out what he really wants not what he says he wants.
How can you do this? Simple, ask questions to ensure you understand what he really wants to accomplish.
I had this relationship with one of my bosses. I kept asking questions so that he stopped just giving me a quick command. Instead, he spent a minute or two explaining the background. Sometimes I had some good suggestions, other times it really was a simple request. Through all my questions an interesting thing happened- my knowledge of what was happening around the company increased. I gained a better understanding of projects my department was working on. I was able to take on more complex projects because I knew the background that gave me a foundation. In short, I became a more valuable employee because I knew more and I solved problems.
Did you ever give your boss what he asked for only to do it over again once you found out what he really wanted? Stop and ask. Comment below on how your situation turned out.
As you know I think it’s very important to “think“. Thinking can lead to ideas which can help your business succeed, lead to harmony at home or even change the world (E=MC2).
Once I came into my manager’s office and started my thoughts “I thought of a new project”. He cut me off and said “If you have time to think of new projects you don’t have enough work.” The last thing you want is for your boss to think you don’t have enough work. He’ll start doubting the validity of your effort and will overload you with more tasks. But I was undeterred.
I went on to explain “I thought of a new project for the intern.” I explained the project. It used the intern’s skills, required minimal training, would save a lot of time from a more senior member of the team and was strategic in nature. Basically, it was the perfect project for an intern, with a huge upside for our company. My boss agreed and the project worked out well.
The conversation left an impression on me and gave me a few lessons for my future:
Would people come into your office with ideas? Do you allow your spouse or kids to give you ideas? Do you let people finish their thoughts? Do you take time to think?
Being more productive has many advantages including getting more done and feeling empowered. But productivity on its own, can cause your belt to become less productive. You see there is no need for a belt when your stomach gets so big it can hold your pants without assistance. In fact, the more productive you become the more likely it is that you are getting fatter. Here’s five ways productivity can make you get fat and what you can do about it.
Being productive can make you too efficient at getting the wrong things done. For example your to do list will work perfectly when you’re shopping- even when this means adding a “family size” bag of chips to go with the super-sized chocolate bar. You end up buying all the wrong things because you’re used to it and you’re good at it.
Solution: Take the bad foods off your list. Replace it with healthy (or at least healthier) alternatives. Avoid being in a position to see the “bad” items.
A strange phenomenon happens to productive people, they get more responsibility. More responsibility equals more work. Long sedentary hours especially when coupled with the lack of time to exercise leads to more weight.
Solution: Schedule breaks. Delegate: see if others can do some of your tasks(especially the ones you did before you got increased responsibility). Train others to do what you do- it’s worth the investment. Studies have shown that long hours lead to decreased mental function, so limit your work time. Use the extra time to do something fun and active.
Productive people don’t want to waste a second. You are always looking to use every minute of their time. So if you have an extra minute that may mean an downing an extra snack or treating yourself to a double moca latte.
Solution: Allow yourself time to soak in your surroundings and think. Thinking can lead to creative solutions. Let yourself unwind, being stressed can make you less productive.
Productive people look to save time – this includes doing two tasks at once aka multitasking. Sometimes people will combine food with another task- thinking they’re saving time. The problem is that they’re so busy doing the other task, like watching TV, they don’t realize they’re eating. Before they know it they have scarfed down a huge meal and they don’t even know what they ate.
Solution: Multitasking has been proven not to work, doing two tasks at once means one or both won’t get done well. Don’t multitask! You can combine tasks if you want though. Combining a task means that you’ll spend the right amount of time on each one- you are just doing them together. For example, you can schedule a meal with a friend- you’ll get your networking/socializing opportunity yet you wont be scarfing down the food. You’ll be eating at a reasonable pace and interacting- the best of both worlds.
Productive people like to finish everything they start. That means that super-sized meal will be finished in no time even if it isn’t needed.
Solution: Stop yourself, realize food is not a task. Even simpler, take smaller portions.
Of course there’s more you can do to become leaner and healthier but frankly changing your approach is easier than dieting or exercising. Keep your eyes open and see where your habits are bringing you into bad situations. Then use your productivity skills to productively wipe it out.
Photo credit: Melting Mama
The Getting Things Done Yahoo Group is having an interesting discussion about Control mechanisms.
Without control mechanisms of some type in place, doesn’t that pretty much leave you in the lap of the gods so to speak?
In my response I outlined 8 steps to being productive. I try to instill control, yet give the flexibility to be creative and maximize your day. It all starts with thinking first.
At the end of each day you should plan your next day. This may be an outgrowth of your weekly review- or as it should be called “The Weekly Preview”. Depending on your type of job think this is impossible, but it’s not. For example, if you are in constant crisis mode most of your plan may be thrown out each morning but your plan should be to get the bottom of the crisis so you can move past it.
First you’ll need to determine the most important tasks (MITs) that need to be done the next day. Don’t count daily maintenance tasks like following up and checking email as part of this. If there are 20 things you need to get done then you’re just setting yourself up for failure (unless they aren’t big and you can batch a bunch together and count it as one of your MITs).
Don’t try to fill your full day with MITs- these are just the choices to get you started. Just pick the 1-5 items that you want to get done the next day (keep it 3 or less ideally). Start with items that MUST get done (e.g. deadlines) – that if you don’t do it you’ll need to stay late. Also check your calendar of how much time you’ll have. The more scheduled time you have the less MITs you should plan. Then if you still have open slots, pick tasks that will be best for you for the long term while balancing for project size: smaller projects go first. A better idea is to use layering to cut your most strategic projects into small attainable parts so they don’t get pushed off and are the smaller projects that you end up doing.
At the end of this process you’ll have you a few MITs and a bunch of other tasks. Dont worry these other tasks will still get done.
Here’s how to schedule your productive day:
Start with your first MIT first thing when you get in, before you check email or process your other in boxes. Much has been written about the advantages of starting the day early. Getting in early to do a MIT can set your day in the right track. Even if you cant get in early get to your first MIT as soon as possible.
When you start processing your in boxes do the quick tasks on the spot. GTD has a two minute rule that in itself can trim items off your to do list before they get there. I would expand this to a 5 minute rule (or even 10) for the following scenarios:
Your to do lists are long enough, if you keep having to add 5-10 minute tasks to it and cycle through 5-10 minute tasks every time you want to pick a task you’re just wasting time and energy. Further if you know someone will spend 5 minutes following up on these tasks then it wastes more time. Get it done. Once it’s done it’s no longer on your list and out of your mind. This is part of the reason you didn’t over schedule yourself, so you can properly react to your incoming tasks. If you have a lot of these tasks then you may decide to schedule a MIT for the next day to get rid of the 10 minute tasks.
Sometimes if you take care of a task quickly you can create good will. This can be used with prospects, customers and bosses.
If you receive information about a task that doesn’t have an immediate deadline don’t just file it away, look at it first. Jot down a quick outline of your thoughts. You may create a few Next Actions right away. Pay special attention to missing information, you’ll want to email people quickly so they have maximum time to do proper research. Seek to get project scope/deadline early on- this will save you lots of rushing at the deadline.
Give yourself time to be creative by figuring what needs to be done and let your mind work in the background. Again an outline helps here. Then let your brain work in the background. You can even schedule a reminder for your self in a few days to jot down a few more notes.
These are the small daily tasks you need to do like ticklers/follow ups. Be sure that you go through your follow up list.
Spend uninterrupted time on your next MIT. Set your environment so you can get in the zone.
Breaks are good for you- just don’t take it to an extreme. Two to five minutes every hour gives you time to rejuvenate. After a break you can switch gears to the next MIT or processing time.
You should schedule processing time at key intervals of your day. Different jobs have different requirements. I would recommend once in the morning, once before and after lunch and one last time before you leave.
You can only do certain tasks in certain places. In your Preplanning, you may have scheduled yourself to be in a place to do one of your MITS (e.g. a meeting). Be sure that you think through where you’ll be so you can have a productive time during the transitions e.g. as you wait. Trace your steps through transitions. If you find yourself in your car be sure to have your cell phone or something appropriate to listen to.
After you’re done with your MITs for the day, you pick your next task by gaugin the time available/energy available. If you’re ambitious you can find another MIT, otherwise just slice and dice and get your task list down.
Before you leave for the day preplan (see the first section) the next day to get it going on the right foot.
As you see this schedule is rigid but allows flexibility. You may be going along one day doing your tasks and realize that the current task can be ATEd (automated, eliminated or delegated). If you spend some extra time now you’ll receive greater benefits in the future. You can then decide to schedule it for the next day or push off your next MIT to the next day and do the automation on the spot.
I used this flexibility to write this blog post. I started the base of this blog post as a reply to the conversation but as I kept writing I realized it was getting lengthy as there were some concepts I wanted to explain. Some may have quit and said there’s too much to write and not enough time allocated. Instead I took the extra time and it became the foundation for the blog post that I wrote later.
Have a productive day!
Photo credit: Maik Radke