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How to Increase Productivity With These Four Decision Categories

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How to Increase Productivity With These Four Decision Categories

 

Scott begins most of his work days the exact same way. He just starts. He sits down at his desk, opens up his email and lets the day take him where it goes.

Yet Scott’s biggest complaint is he doesn’t feel like he gets anything done. He’s also frustrated because he feels like he does “everything” but doesn’t know another way.

Planning is one of those activities we know we should do but when it comes down to it few people really do it.

I would compare planning to eating vegetables. Everyone knows they should eat them but when it comes right down to eating them, it often doesn’t happen.

Scott represents most busy professionals but a few minutes of planning would dramatically change the course and the results of his day.

Time management simply comes down to choice management. How we choose to use our time is ultimately how our lives turn out.

Planning your day is bigger than what appointments, meetings, or conference calls you have within your day.

Part of planning is learning what to do and what not to do within your day. It’s making decisions ahead of time on each element that comes your way. How?

I came across a book called The Secret to Peak Productivity by Tamara Myles. It was “chucked full” (technical term) of practical advice specifically on personal organization. She deserves credit for the four concepts below.

Secret to Peak Productivity Cover

There are four decision categories when planning our day:

1. CHOOSE – Identify What is Important and Essential For You to Do

You get to choose by looking at your day or week ahead where you should spend your time.

What may feel like a waste of a few minutes to sit down and plan, ultimately saves you time in the long run and allows you to get the right things done at the end of the day.

You should know what is the most important. But if you don’t taking the time to plan even for a few minutes will allow you to know and determine what is important.

Choose is pro-active when many spend their day reacting. This requires intention and thought which happens ahead of time. Take control of your day by choosing.

You could apply “choosing” with every email. Should I look through every junk email? This alone could save you time within your day.

You get to choose what is important and essential for you every single day. It could be in as short as five minutes. Read THIS.

2. REMOVE – You Can Take Things Off Your List by Saying “NO.”

You can decide not to do some things. Crazy, right?

Do you realize you don’t have to do absolutely everything that comes your way?

And do you realize most people apply this principle very easily TO YOU consciously or unconsciously all of the time?

There are some emails, meetings, conference calls that are simply not the best use of your time. In fact they take away from your time.

Having good boundaries within your day is critical to being productive and successful. And this is done by saying no and removing unnecessary items within your day.

It’s difficult at first to say no and set boundaries but so freeing when applied. And it’s amazing how much time can be freed up when you remove the unneeded within your day.

3. WAIT – You Can Push Back Doing Tasks or Activities Until the Next Day, Week, or Month

You’ve heard the phrase in life, “timing is everything” and this can be applied in planning as well.

Something may be important but needs time to either develop or just not important right now.

You can choose to wait and come back to it when the timing is right. Just make sure you know how to find it when you need to do it otherwise you’re wasting valuable time just looking for it.

One of the best ways to work through what can wait and be able to track it later is with the Master List. Read about it HERE.

Determine what really needs to be done right now. Everything else can wait.

4. DELEGATE – You Can Give It to Someone Else Better Suited for the Task

Do you want to know something freeing? There is someone out there who actually enjoys doing what you don’t like or even detest doing? Crazy! I know, right?!

Depending upon your level of responsibility or role in a team or organization, part of your planning needs to be delegating “something to someone” else.

If you’re self-employed, this could mean outsourcing. There are certain tasks that are important, just not important for YOU TO DO.

It would be worth the small amount of money to give to someone else to you can choose to invest your time in things only you can do and produce greater long term results.

Delegating is saying the task is important, just not for you to do it. This takes discernment and possible follow-up but worth it in the long run.

Closing Challenge…

These four decision categories are not brand new ideas, just not often applied.

Take 5-10 minutes to Choose / Remove / Wait / Delegate your action list today.

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Could you just imagine how differently your day could look at the end?

Motivated, busy professionals need to apply these ideas to become more productive and ultimately more effective. Try applying this concept today and see what happens.

Closing Question…

What is at least one of  these four decision categories you could implement today?

How To Triple Your Weekly Productivity With One Master List

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How To Triple Your Weekly Productivity With One Master List

10 Steps to Creating and Implementing the Master List Method

 

My mind seems to go a million miles an hour and rarely shuts down. There is a lot of good in this, don’t get me wrong.

But there is also a lot of bad that comes as a result and it’s the gift that keeps on giving!

I have thoughts, ideas, and to-dos that I need to get out of my head and on to something in order to execute on or simply not lose them. Minor detail, right?!

I’m Bryan and I’m a productivity junkie. No secrets here. Since time is my most valued resource, I do everything I can to maximize this gift which once lost, can never be returned.

So this sent me on a quest to solve this elusive challenge to track the details of life that were critical to my success.

Do you struggle in this area? Have you ever had an idea or written something down and simply cannot find it? Insert frustration story here.

I stumbled upon a book at Barnes-N-Noble while on business (love losing an hour looking for new books) called Organizing for Success by Kenneth Ziegler: Get Two More Hours Out of Each Work Day! (great sub-title – I want that!)

Organizing for Success Cover

This book has a ton of great content which I’ll write about in future posts, but one concept was worth the price of the book and would be the answer to my consistent daily struggle with details.

The concept is called A Master List.

Huh? Please define.

A Master List is one central location where you will keep all the possible activities, notes, action items and so on from one week.

It’s a combination of a daily list (for that day only) and a traditional to do list (scratch sheet with ongoing things to accomplish).

The ultimate purpose is to get everything “out of your head” and into one central location.

Let’s start with getting a “visual of the suspect”:

Master Task List Productivity Tool

Here’s How to Create and Use a Master List:

1. Create a Master List of Your Own – you can get the rights to the list by purchasing the Organizing for Success book which gives the web address for the original template (highly suggested) or create your own based off of the above image to get started immediately

2. The Master List is Only Re-written Once a Week – this is a better glimpse of your productivity for any given week and you can look back at the entire week holistically (like a complete game, not just a quarter)

3. Make sure the first word of each note you write tells you what the activity is – email Ben, call Rod, research prospect, etc.

4. List the Batch Type – Email = E / Phone call = C / Web Activity = W

5. List the Due Date – W24 (W = Wednesday / # = actual date)

6. List when the task is completed in the DONE category

7. Use the notes section to add color to any of the required tasks – This sheet is not designed to be pretty but effective.

8. Don’t prioritize the Master List – this is a working document that is more time-based than priority-based. You will choose Your Most Important Task and Your Top Three tasks for the day from the Master List.

9. Batch Similar Tasks Together – let’s say you have 30 minutes and you choose to take all of your E tasks (emails) to knock out as many emails as you can in 30 minutes. You simply look for all those similar activities and do them at one time. They’re easy to find because they’re on the list.

10. Create a WORK Master List and PERSONAL Master List – the author and I disagree here. Let me tell you why. I tried it but found myself SO tempted to see a personal item when at work and justifying “it will just take a minute” and lose myself in the personal action items. I created two identical lists one marked WORK in the top left corner and one marked PERSONAL on a separate sheet. I color-coded that box so I can know instantly which list is what at a quick glance.

Bonus Suggestions: (at no additional charge)

  • At the end of the week, staple all of the sheets from the week together, put it in a file labeled for that week and use it as a reference in the future. I’ve found I need to go back to find details rather often and organizing by the week makes it SO much easier to find.
  • Skip lines between each entry to allow room for notes and added details. 
  • If you send an email or voice mail but haven’t received a response, put a check mark in DONE but it’s not compete until you get a response in which you can put a circle around the check mark to signify the task is officially complete. This will help you know what needs follow-up.
  • I put my two Master Lists on a clear clipboard on the corner of my desk and refer to them ALL of the time. Most of all, it allows me to get “stuff out of my head” and in one centralized location to know the following:

WHAT exactly I did with my time

WHEN I did it and

WHERE I left off!

  • This also makes is simple to close your day which I call CASH OUT. You simply look at your Master List and can easily plan ahead to move action items to tomorrow’s must do
  • Lastly, accept the reality you’re not going to complete EVERYTHING on the Master List. This was freeing to me because I want to accomplish any and everything I write down. It’s a GAME PLAN only in a centralized location.

Closing Challenge…

You may have a working system for your right now. Kudos. You may be in need of some overdue assistance. You may be curious and always looking to improve your productivity. Or you may desperately need a solution and right now!

This works for me and my wiring. I tried it, tweaked it, and now couldn’t live without it.

You must find a successful method to track your action items that becomes an effective system.

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I challenge you to purchase the book, download the worksheet, make it your own, and give it a solid attempt for a minimum of two weeks.  Implement something as a result of this post.

Closing Question…

How could you benefit from implementing the Master List Method?

 

What Is The ONE THING You Must Do To Make Today Successful?

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Be PROFESSIONALLY BETTER – Planning

What Is The ONE THING You Must Do To Make Today Successful?

Three Steps to Find and Implement the One Thing

 

If I were to ask you what your plan is to plan your day, what would you say?

Most, I’ve found, have a few ideas rolling around in their head like loose rocks. (size of rocks is not the issue right now;)

Some may even scratch a couple things down on a scratch sheet of paper for the game plan for the day.

Yet ironically, a high majority of people cannot tell me the answer to this very important question.

What is the ONE THING I Must Accomplish For Today To Be A Success?

It’s amazing what could happen if you focused on one main thing that you not only hope to accomplish but plan and make happen that will make your day a success!

How can this become a reality? 

Here are Three Steps to Find and Implement the One Thing

Step 1 – THINK AHEAD

You should know before you begin your day, what your ONE THING is for the day ahead.

Ultimately, you want to make this decision the day before to maximize your results but at a minimum, you should know before you begin the first thing in your work day.

You may be excited about your ONE THING and cannot wait to start it.

Your ONE THING may not be the thing you necessarily even want to do but may need to do.

And your ONE THING may not even be something that you will complete today but is critical you begin today.

The point is you pre-decide what is going to make you feel like today was a success.

One way to Think Ahead is to implement Think Space. Read Here.

Step 2 – SCHEDULE IT

Once you’ve decided and are convinced of your ONE THING, now it’s time to schedule it within your day ahead.

It will not magically appear just because you had this epiphany or great idea. It must be scheduled.

Michael Hyatt is often quoted, “What gets scheduled, gets done.” I live by that quote whether I try to or not.

Absolutely nothing will be gained if you try to squeeze the most important thing you need to do into the cracks of your day.

You must schedule when you will knock out your ONE THING then how long you think it will take to accomplish it or make enough headway for you to feel today was productive and successful.

If you don’t schedule enough time, you’re further ahead than when you started but may not be able to say “today was a success” with the amount of your ONE THING you completed.

Make a point after you decide what your ONE THING is to put it on your calendar.

Step 3 – PRIORITIZE IT

Not everyone has the ability to control “what you do when” within your day. But many of us do.

What if you scheduled your ONE THING the first possible chance you have within your day? Why?

You’re the freshest and most determined in the morning. And this is key if you’re working on a task that doesn’t bring you energy and something you don’t enjoy doing.

Another reason is the sooner you begin, the more of your day you will have to complete your ONE THING. It it’s not started until after lunch, you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself to complete it.

It also gives you time to circle back on the ONE THING if an unavoidable distraction comes up and takes you off course.

Sometimes your schedule doesn’t always cooperate but make that the exception not the rule and prioritize your ONE THING for the day.

If it truly is the ONE THING, then you want to make it a top priority within your day and let everything else drop in priority.

Personal Example

This is how it plays out for me. I schedule my ONE THING the day before. Why? I almost always know what it is by the end of the workday.

So, I get organized the day before with my ONE THING so I can hit the ground running the next morning. I think ahead of what I’ll need, write some notes, and set myself up for success the moment I begin my ONE THING.

Next, I schedule my first time block (dedicated period of time) to work on my ONE THING for the day. I’ll work for a solid 90 minutes then take a break. If that surprises you, read THIS.

If my ONE THING takes more than my first time block, I resume my ONE THING after my break. I’m usually feeling revived from my break and often have fresh eyes to dive back into my ONE THING.

If I’m unable to resume my ONE THING due to another commitment, I schedule when I can get back to my ONE THING so the day doesn’t get away from me.

I’m notorious for thinking any given task will be completed sooner than it actually does so I must repeat the cycle and Think Ahead of when I Schedule IT for another time within my day that is a PRIORITY so I can monitor it to end in a productive, successful day.

This is completely doable Oh Productive Fans!

Closing Challenge…

Motivated, busy professionals are often highly productive. But what if we could be more productive and effective by making small changes to the way we approach our day?

This is the whole reason behind implementing the ONE THING into your day.

I challenge you to try it for one week working through this method of…

Think Ahead

Schedule It

Prioritize It

I believe you will see tangible and powerful results when (not if) you implement the ONE THING into your work day.

Closing Question…

What do you need to do to implement the ONE THING tomorrow?

How to Avoid Sacrificing Your Evening Due to Work

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How to Avoid Sacrificing Your Evening Due to Work

Three Steps to Plan to Unplug

 

I was talking with a couple of guys while traveling and we were discussing our routine when we get home from work.

The first guy mentioned how difficult it was for him to unplug when he came home from work. He knew he should but was struggling in this area.

The second guy had a completely different situation. He works from home and never really stopped working.

Both ultimately had the same ending problem: the inability to unplug from work and be truly home. Their situations were different but in the end, the same conclusion.

 

Motivated, busy professionals have many benefits to their wiring. But they also have some drawbacks and one of those is the inability to shut work off.

But does it have to be this way? Could you actually plan to unplug? What if there was an actual plan that allowed you to be fully present for your family?

Here Are Three Steps to Help You Plan to Unplug:

Step 1 – Decide What Would It Take To Officially Unplug

Each of us are completely different and as a result, our unwind will look differently.

But the question is simply:

[tweetthis]What do you need to do to allow you to be fully present with others when you get home?[/tweetthis]

Here are some ideas that others are using that may give you inspiration:
Working Out
Reading
Watching the News or a Short Show
Doing a Hobby
Talking With Your Spouse

One suggestion if you commute is to use the drive time as your time to unwind. Have a purpose in the drive time to unplug not just waste time to get home.

 

Step 2 – Determine How Long It Will Take To Unplug

Once you determine what it will take to unplug, you’ll have a better idea of how long it will take.

The key is balance. You need enough time to get unplugged but yet not too long where you miss time with your family.

This may take some practice.

Let’s say you choose reading the paper or watching the news. Five minutes might not be enough but 30 minutes may feel selfish and MORE than enough for you to unplug.

Be conscious of how recharged you are after your “unplug activity” then adjust accordingly.

 

Step 3 – Develop How You’re Going to Implement Unplugging

Once you know what you’re going to do to unplug and how long it’s going to take, now it’s time to implement it.

Here are a few suggestions:

Let others know your plan – when you do this, they will respect it and hopefully support it knowing you’re ultimately doing it so you’ll be more engaged with them

Prepare for it – if you plan ahead, you can maximize this time. If you choose 20 minutes, don’t waste half of that time getting ready to unwind then add on another 20 minutes to pay for your lack of planning. Others will NOT appreciate this if you agreed to the 20 minutes.

Set Boundaries – I work from home when I’m not traveling and it’s SO tempting to let the work day and my family time bleed into each other if I’m not careful. It’s SO easy to compromise and “just take a moment to return this email or…” You know where THAT leads. This needs to be a conscious choice.

If you work in an office, choose NOT to bring work home with you.

Do what it takes because it’s that important to unplug.

Evaluate It – after a few weeks, how is it working? Is it meeting the objective? How could you make it better?

Did you choose too much time or you simply need a little more time?

For example, you may find not checking your work email or phone after a certain time is needed. Or may you just simply need to move your computer or phone into ANOTHER ROOM so you have to take the temptation away from you.

The Ultimate Goal

Is being present and available for others for the remainder of the evening and letting work be in the past not the present and your unplug MUST be this ultimate purpose.

And if you listen, they’ll let you know if you’re holding up to your commitment to unplug.

 

Closing Challenge…

In the end, there are two major prices for not unplugging:

The family pays for it – if you choose to come home and never truly turn work off, your family knows and pays the price of a dis-engaged parent and / or spouse. The consequences are not immediate but long term and difficult to undo.

Remember, you’ve been engaged at work all day. They need and deserve your time AND your attention.

You never really rest – you may get the quick win in the short term by continually working but your quality of work definitely suffers with quantity.

Your mind NEEDS to shut and down and rest for you to ultimately be at your highest productivity level.

 

Closing Questions…

What are you going to do to unplug?
How long will your unplug activity take?
How are you going to implement it?

 

 

Four Must Ask Productivity Words

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Four Must Ask Productivity Words

Any given day we could move from moment to moment and be completely unaware of any adjustments we could change to make the day more productive.

We just keep plowing forward and then wonder why we weren’t more productive (if we even dare to ask ourselves that question?)

Why though?

Because it’s just SO easy to just Do Life. Every minute, hour, day, week, and month just blend into each other. And we find ourselves asking “Where did the time go?”

This is avoidable. And even correctable. But it doesn’t happen by chance.

There are four words I continually ask myself for nutrition: Make the Healthiest Choice. And they have made a HUGE difference on every meal and snack that I eat now.

But there are also four words I ask myself for productivity. When these four words are asked, I have the opportunity to make instant changes on the direction of my productivity.

Who knew just four words could make such a difference.

Here are the four words:

Return on this Moment

These four words have the power to stop your day in an instant from going down an unproductive path. 

What “Return on this Moment” means is asking is this moment the best use of my time right now.

Here’s a Pre-requisite: AWARENESS!

So many times a change could be made but lacks one major detail: we’re simply not aware in the moment.

In order for these four words to be truly effective, we must learn to be aware. For me, I had these words on a post it note until they’ve become second nature to me.

These four words mean nothing unless I can bring them to mind.

Here are Three Ways to Implement “Return On This Moment”

1. ASK THE QUESTION

Throughout your day you need to train yourself to simply ask the question: What is the Return on This Moment?

This is not natural. Remember, we typically just plow through our day.

To stop and ask this question will be out of habit so you need to put it front and center.

I suggest putting it on your desk in a visible place. Mine is on the left corner of my computer so I’m forced to see if often and train myself to ask the Return On This Moment question.

ROTM Post It Image

Asking “is this the best use of my time right now?” has been huge for me.

It’s possible I could be productive in my current task yet it’s not the best use of my time.

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2. EVALUATE YOUR ANSWER

Only you know the answer so be honest.

Many times my answer is: “what are you doing right now? Or “how did you lose THIS much time on something that should’ve been done awhile ago?”

The goal of the question is to stop you in your tracks and force you to be accountable for your time.

Once you’ve asked the question, you have the opportunity to look at what you’re currently doing and and evaluate if this is the best use of your time right now.

What needs to change to get a return on this moment?

But I must honestly evaluate the answer of what I’m actually doing right now.

3. ADJUST YOUR ACTIONS

You could ask yourself the question.

You could even evaluate your answer.

But unless you adjust your actions immediately, the question will be of absolutely no value to you.

Let me give you an example.

You’re at your desk working on a project. You remember you needed to return an email so you do.

Then you see a certain tempting web browser open and you look for “just a minute”.

The next thing you know, you see the new Post It Note you had written that simply has the four words “Return On This Moment…”

You ask the question of “what am I doing right now? Is this productive?”

Then if you were to answer honestly, “nowhere close. In fact, I’m so far away from what I was doing, I don’t even remember what I was doing in the first place!”

So, you realize you were working on your project and you refocus and get back to what really needs to get done and get at it.

This is adjusting your actions.

Closing Challenge…

Changing our behavior at any given moment sounds so simplistic. And it truly is simple. But actually doing it is not at all and must become a habit.

In order to be productive at the highest level, you must constantly ask, evaluate, and adjust your actions to be the best Return On This Moment.

Lastly, sometimes you have may a few free moments and asking ROTM should come to mind. How could you use this gift of this time to be productive.

It’s learning to capture each moment with the mindset of the biggest return of your time.

A motivated, busy professional will learn to add these four words into their routine. As a result, productivity will hit a whole new level.

Closing Question…

How can you implement today asking What is the Return on This Moment? (ROTM)