Inboxication

11Mar

Time Abusers

Issues, Peak Performance No Comments

They are people who:

Timing is everything

1. Do things that other people want them to do and this diminishes their uniqueness. This gets them out of their strength zone and their comfort zone. Karl Sanberg “Time is the most valuable coin in your life, You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent, be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you”. Question “If I get offered this job, what do I have to do, that no one else can do, except me?” So do I have to do it or do I have to make sure that it gets done.

“The people with nothing to do usually want to spend their time with you”

“The question is not is your calendar full, it’s who will fill your calendar” If you do, you can lead, if they do at best you are reactive.

2. Do things that are not important and this keeps them from being effective. Thorough “It is not enough to be busy, the question is, what are we busy about”. To ensure you are effectively busy do the following: Rate the activity in order of importance and urgency.

3. Do things that can be done better by others, this makes them average. Nothing is changed by mediocre performance. Jack Welsh “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete”. Questions about your competition:

a. Is somebody else doing what I am doing?

b. Are they doing it well?

c. Are they doing it better than me?

d. If I become better or don’t, what is the result?

4. Do things without good coaching or training and this reduces their potential. Zig Ziglar “The only thing worse than training employees and losing them, is not training them and keeping them”.

Studies have shown that a 10% increase in spending on training staff leads to an 8.5% increase in productivity versus a 10% increase in capital expenditure which only leads to an increase in productivity of 3.5%. Jake Conger adds “It’s what the person has to do not what he or she is exposed to that generates crucial learning”

5. Do things without thinking, this causes wasted time and energy. James Allen “You are today where your thoughts have brought you, you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you”. How to think better and more often:

a. Find a place to think your thoughts, a thought chair or room.

b. Find a place to shape your thoughts, a notebook

c. Find a place to stretch your thoughts, think tank

d. Find a place to fly your thoughts, expose them to others. Some thoughts need more time to get up, give them room to take off.

e. Find a place to land your thoughts

6. Do things with the wrong motives and this increases conflict with yourself and others. One of the most time consuming things to have is an enemy.

If you are preparing you are focusing on today, but if you are repairing you have focused on yesterday. If you are preparing it increases efficiency, whereas if you are repairing it consumes time. If you are preparing it increase confidence, whereas if your repairing it creates discouragement. If you are preparing it save money, but if your repairing it increases cost. If you are preparing it pays now for tomorrow, but if you are repairing it pays now for yesterday. If you are preparing it takes you to a higher level but if your repairing its becomes an obstacle for growth.

“People who abuse time will not run out of excuses but they will run out of time”

Basic facts about time management:

1. We all waste time

2. We cannot change time

3. We must accept time as the most important source for mankind

4. We cannot increase the quantity of time

5. We cannot do everything

6. We can only control time

7. Accept the facts that we are all procrastinators

Leonardo Davinci “A day well spent brings happy sleep”

Tags: Time Abusers

04Mar

Why are good time users different?

Peak Performance, Research findings, Solutions No Comments

Timing is everything

Some insights about good time users versus abusers of time:

You cannot kill time without injuring eternity

Time is an equal opportunity employer

Lack of time is not the problem it’s the lack of direction.

Time is more valuable than money because it is irreplaceable. You can replace money, you can’t replace time.

Peter Drukker “Nothing else distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time”

Good time users:

1. Are People who do things that advance their overall purpose in life and this helps them grow. “One was not born in the world to do everything but to do something”. There are 2 great days in our life, the day you were born and the day you discovered WHY. Finding our purpose is empowering. In finding our purpose, answer the following 2 questions:

1. What have you achieved? Or what are you competent in?

2. What do you care deeply about? That’s your passion.

For example my purpose in life is very simple, it’s to Add Value.

Harold Kushner, a Rabi once said “I believe that it’s not dying that we are afraid of, something else, something more unsettling and tragic unsettles us, we’re afraid of never having lived, of coming to the end of our days with a sense that we were never really alive, that we never figured out what life was for, our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will be at least a little bit different for our having passed through it”.

We cannot have peak performance without a peak purpose. Peak performance and peak purpose go hand in hand, if we are going to be all that we can it has to be because we are doing that which we are passionate about.

2. Do things that underscore their values which brings them fulfillment. Vision is the organisation’s head, mission is the organisations heart, values are the organisations soul. If money has good values attached to it then it is the root of opportunity, not evil.

3. Do things that maximize their strengths this makes them effective. They spend their time in their strength zone. “Almost every man/woman wastes time and attempts to display qualities that he does not possess”. Staying with your strengths makes you productive and effective. Decide to stay in your strength zone and stick with it. I only have 4, mine are leading, creating, communicating, networking and that’s all I do!

“Discover your uniqueness and discipline yourself to develop it” that’s so key to success.

4. Do things that increases their happiness, this gives them health. Happiness is now a hot research topic for many social psychologists today, research shows: health, realistic goals, optimism, strong relationships, faith that results in purpose and hope, fulfilling friendships, high self esteem, outgoing nature, balance between rewarding work and productive leisure all lead to more happiness.

“Success is getting what you want, happiness is liking what you get”

“Happiness is an inside job” Other people can’t make you happy, some people have destination disease, they think if I could just live there, be there or do that, I will be happy.

“The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything they just make the best of everything”

“We have no right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it” George Bernard Shaw

5. Do things that equip others in your team, this compounds their productivity. When hiring valuable team members apply the 5 A’s: Assessment, Assets on hand, Ability, Attitude, Accomplishments. The best predictor that someone will do something good tomorrow is that they have done something good yesterday. Qualities of an inner circle member: Influence, character, positive attitude, excellent people skills, proven track record, evident gifts or abilities, team player, loyalty, compliments your gifts. You don’t want team members to compete with, you want members that complete you.

6. Do things that add value to others, this increases their influence. “ A man with time to burn never gave the world any light”. Questions that help assess how you can add value:

1. What do I have?

2. What do people need? Is there a match?

3. Can I give what they need?

4. Will I give them what they need?

5. How often will I give them what they need?

Examples of what I have: Encouragement (the oxygen of the soul), Confidence, Humor, Security, Recognition (say something positive within 30sec of meeting them), Respect (high value of people) I deposit these things daily in people’s lives. Every morning decide “Who am I going to add value to today and how am I going to do it?” At the end of the day ask “Did I add value?”

So decide what to do or what not to do and spend your time there. Part 2 will cover time abusers.

Tags: Time management

04Oct

Clearing my Data Smog

Issues, Solutions No Comments

Data Smog

Yesterday I decided to have a tech free day and go for a drive to the beach to help eradicate the feeling of Data Smog and boy do I feel better for it. In that time away I had the chance to reflect on the continuing pressure on my attention for all things important and some not so. Lately I have found that not only is it a challenge to keep up with my emails and my smart phone but now there’s a new drain, social networking obligations, especially when you have more than one Twitter handle, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles to manage and an urge to keep up to date with new trends and news.

Data smog is a term coined by David Shenk to refer to the information overload that many of us have experienced recently. The internet allows us to have access to entire libraries of information. The sheer volume of information which many of us are exposed to every day may actually impair our performance and add stress to our lives.

Larry Rosen and Michelle Weil see data smog as a subset of what they call “TechnoStress”, and they have written a book by that title. Rosen has written widely on these issues.

Rosen quotes studies which show that employees of Fortune 1000 companies send and receive an average of 178 messages every day by telephone, fax, email, pager, and voice mail. 84% reported that their work is interrupted by messages at least three times per hour. Shenk, in his book Data Smog, states that the average American encountered 560 daily advertising messages in 1971. By 1997 that number had increased to over 3,000 per day.

Are there things we can do to avoid Internet data smog as we surf? Here are some ideas taken from Shenk, Rosen, and others.

Turn off the television for at least an hour or two every evening.
Spend some time each week without your pager or cell phone.
Resist advertising - never buy a product based on unsolicited email (spam).
Go on periodic “data fasts.” A weekend in the country away from the telephone can rejuvenate a smogged-in brain.
Write clearly and succinctly. Verbose writing is wasteful and difficult to read.
Skim newsletters and magazines and rip out a copy of an article or two that you really want to read and digest.
Filter your email. Many email programs allow you to set “filters” which send unwanted email directly to the trash. It is worth taking the time to do this.
Allow others to filter the data for you. About.com’s Guides are human information filters. Use the sites here to point you to just the information you want, while eliminating unwanted information.
Do not forward chain letters, urban legends, urgent messages about email viruses, or claims that Bill Gates will send everyone thousands of dollars. These things clog up everybody’s inbox with worthless stuff.
Organize your Web bookmarks or favorites. Keeping these in meaningful folders will go a long way toward helping you really find that site you are looking for.
Consider your starting point. If you are looking for information on a broad topic a site like About.com (or even Yahoo) is better choice than a search engine. For a specific topic or individual a search engine may work better. Mental Health Search lists scores of mental health search engines. Use MEDLINE or PsychInfo (fee-based) to search the academic literature.

So now that I feel Zen like since returning from the beach I can get back to filling my day with more Data Smog

Tags: Data Smog

07Sep

Inbox Zero, could this be nirvana?

Peak Performance, Solutions 14 Comments

According to Merlin Mann of 43 folders fame and an avid proponent of David Allen’s GTD, Inbox Zero IS the solution. Basically all you need to have is 4 folders: Defer, Delegate, Do and Dump/Archive. Your Email Inbox should only be treated as a processing point for you to either delete or move emails into these folders. Anything that can be actioned within 2 minutes gets DONE. Anything that can be better answered by someone else gets forwarded to them and put into DELEGATE for future follow up. Anything that cannot be actioned in less than 2 minutes or involves multiple tasks gets put into DEFER and scheduled into a calendar if it has a deadline. All other email gets Archived into ONE folder for ease of searching and filing. I have been running this system for some time now and cannot sing its praises enough, the sight of an empty inbox truly is Nirvana to the Inboxicated Knowledge Worker. Oh and try to only check your Inbox at the top of the hour for up to 10mins. Let me know how you go.
www.43folders.com

19Jul

Making the technology work for you

Effective Technology, Solutions 1 Comment

One person’s heaven is another person’s hell. This is how I feel about some of the email notifications in Microsoft Outlook 2003/07. While many people adore the perpetual stream of translucent desktop alerts that appear in the lower right-hand corner, I don’t. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a need for important email alerts. Rather than turning on desktop alerts for all incoming email, I create an email rule for specific conditions. This allows me to define which emails should get my immediate attention even if I’m not in Outlook.

In the default configuration for Outlook 2003 and 07, desktop alerts are turned on for all email. The program doesn’t make a distinction between items I should act on compared with ones that can wait. Everything blends and becomes a distraction. Part of my dissatisfaction is few people give enough detail in the first part of the email for me to decide if the email is important. The minute the little translucent box showed, my focus shifted from whatever I was doing which affected my flow and my stress levels as per the all too common scenario illustrated here.

Although the time it took to glance at the alert was minimal, my attention changed. However, there are times when I want to know right away that an email has arrived. Instead of keeping desktop alerts going all the time, I write email rules for specific items or conditions. One example is when I’m notified about an email from engineering support. You hope you don’t get these emails, but you want to act quickly when they arrive.

The first part of this solution is to turn off the desktop alerts.

How to turn off Outlook’s Desktop Alerts

1. From the Tools menu, select Options

2. On the Options dialog click the Preferences tab.

3. Click the E-mail Options button.

4. Click the Advanced E-mail Options button

5. In the Advanced Email Option dialog, uncheck Display a New Mail Desktop Alert (default inbox only) from here you can also deselect other alert options such as Play a sound.

6. Click OK three times.

The next step is to determine which emails need your attention. You could decide to add rules based on your situation such as a VIP client, eBay auction bids and so on. This selection process requires some input from you.

How to Create a Conditional Desktop Alert

1. Open an email that meets your alert conditions. This might be based on sender, specific text and so on.

2. From the Actions menu, select Create Rule

3. In the Create Rule dialog, select the trigger(s) that would apply. Outlook will pre-fill the From, Subject and Sent to information.

4. If you would also like an audible alert, check Play a selected sound.

5. Click the Advanced options button

6. The Rules Wizard dialog will appear with your options from the previous step. You may add conditions.

7. Click the Next button.

8. Scroll to the bottom of the action list and check display a Desktop Alert.

9. A warning message will appear saying you can’t edit this rule in previous versions of Outlook. Click Yes.

10. Click Next.

11. Check any exceptions you might have and click Next.

12. Edit the rule name if needed.

13. If you based the alert on an existing email, you can test the alert by checking the box for Run this rule now.

14. Click the Finish button.

So long as Outlook is picking up email in the background, you will get a desktop alert when an email matches your triggers regardless of what application you’re using. One important exception is if you’re running a PowerPoint 2003 slide show. In a similar fashion, you might want to temporarily disable the rule if you’re giving an online presentation using some other services such as WebEx.

When the alert arrives, you can decide the next action. One nice feature to desktop alerts is you can have easy access to the mail functions from the alert. This is nice considering that it’s often difficult to tell the full impact of the email from the snippet you see.

This certainly reduced my interruptions from email by at least 50% whilst in the office, by then using the Inbox Zero method to process my inbox I can ensure that Im on top of my game, hope this helps you too.

26May

Making it all work

Peak Performance, Solutions No Comments

Author David Allen’s follow-up to his best-selling productivity bible Getting Things Done is called Making It All Work. Recently released, it’s all about how to become a better self-manager.

In a series of excerpts published by tech site BNET, Allen discusses the two axes of self-management—control and perspective—and asks you to place yourself in the matrix. (Of course any personal productivity book is nothing without at least one matrix.) Are you a visionary/crazy-maker? Victim/responder? Micromanager/implementer? If things are going well, you’ve got the right mix of control and perspective, which puts you in the Captain and Commander seat.

Allen writes:

Control and perspective are closely intertwined dynamics, but achieving each one involves different approaches, whether the matter at hand is your teenager doing homework, your soccer team’s practice, your next vacation, or your product launch. If your kitchen is a mess, for example, cleaning it up and placing all the tools and equipment where they belong will be a very different exercise from deciding what to cook and how to present it. But the two activities remain very connected, in that without an organized kitchen, it will be very challenging to stay focused on the dinner itself; likewise, an insufficient focus on the recipes, the various components of the dinner event itself, and the plan for deploying them will allow the situation to quickly get out of control again.

As usual, Allen’s approach appears to be a combination of business-speak and Zen enlightenment (with a sprinkling of sports metaphors about “winning your game”). The concept of self-management alone connotes the idea that you’d manage your monkey mind they way you would an unruly underling at the office. But once he’s beyond the boardroom matrix, Allen dishes out his “mind like water” ideas, about paying attention to what’s tugging at our subconscious selves and focusing on the big picture. While the executive or high-level manager approach might alienate creatives and cubicle workers, and the woo-woo spiritual stuff might put off business types, if Allen’s able to temper it all with real-world scenarios the way he did in Getting Things Done, he may have something here. Then again, if Making It All Work is just a rehash of GTD ideas seven years later, new readers would be better off just buying the first book.

Here’s the full list of excerpts (I particularly like the last one on attention):

Are you a GTD disciple ready to pick up Making It All Work the moment it’s available? Or is GTD just so 2004? Take a look at the book excerpts and let us know what you think.

Tags: Productivity

29Apr

How ideas can overcome an economic crisis

Research findings, Solutions No Comments

Alex Tabarrok speaks on TED, my favourite ideas site, about Trumping an Economic Crisis and covers some interesting ground:

How 1 apple can feed a man but 1 idea can feed the world
How globalization has opened cooperation, spread wealth and reduced global war
Why we must first enrich a country then educate it to improve global wealth and health
How growth washed away the Great Depression… in hindsight

As Thomas Jefferson once said ” He who receives an idea from me receives instruction himself without lessening mine, as he who lights his candle at me, receives light without darkening me.” 1813.

Tags: Ideas

08Apr

Do you have constant partial attention? …. What was that? … Huh?

Issues, Peak Performance, Solutions No Comments

If your standard response to the question “How was your day?” is “Busy, really busy!” it’s time to ask yourself: what did I actually achieve today? If you find that you jump from one unfinished task to the next, that your attention is constantly divided, and that every day feels busy but not really productive - then you’re probably suffering Constant Partial Attention (CPA), a term coined by Linda Stone, a former executive at both Microsoft and Apple.

Operating with Constant Partial Attention on a daily basis impacts significantly on productivity. Consider the following:

The average worker is interrupted every seven minutes (60 to 70 interruptions a day).
A University of California study found that 11 minutes is the maximum amount of continuous, uninterrupted time during the average working day.
After an interruption, it takes about 25 minutes to get back into the original task.
The average office worker spends 2.5 hours a day dealing with distractions.
Email and interruptions consume almost 50% of the average workday.

CPA describes how many of us operate today but it should not be confused with multi-tasking. When we multi-task, we do things that are automatic and require very little thought in an effort to be more efficient – filing, copying, phone calls and eating lunch.

Conversely, Continuous Partial Attention is driven by a desire to be connected and to not miss anything. In this mode we create an artificial sense of constant crisis.

Is Constant Partial Attention good or bad?

In small doses, CPA can be useful. However, in large doses it contributes to stress and compromises our ability to reflect, make decisions and think creatively. Constant Partial Attention contributes to a feeling of being overwhelmed, over-stimulated and unfulfilled.

Breaking those Constant Partial Attention habits

Now for some solutions - there are ways out of the 24/7 CPA mode.

1. Chunking

Focus on completing one task at a time and chunk similar tasks together.

2. Work with your energy platforms

If you are a morning person, block out uninterrupted time before lunch for thinking work and high-end or detailed tasks. For those who blossom later in the day, use the morning to sort out your email and other low-end thinking tasks.

3. Forced isolation

Work without any distraction for at least half the day. Switch your mobile to silent, get rid of the email alert and be disciplined - avoid continually checking for messages. If possible, work in a closed, quiet space to avoid interruptions.

4. Fleeting meetings

In meetings, turn off all electronic communication devices. This will make meetings shorter and more to the point.

5. Prioritising

Spend 10 to 15 minutes at the start of the working day getting clarity on the most important tasks. Then control your time as much as possible and focus on that action list.

6. Email school

Get rid of the email alert – only check emails two or three times a day.
Avoid email tennis – if the task is still unclear after two emails, resort to that old fashioned mode of communication and talk!
Keep emails brief and to the point.
Only send emails to relevant people - avoid the email butt covering trail.
Delete - get rid of the junk.
Only respond to what’s important – you don’t need to reply to everything.

Final comment

Some people will have to re-engineer the way they work to follow the guidelines in this article. That can be a challenge, but I guarantee that if you apply most of them, you’ll be amazed at how much control you can achieve over your working day.

Tags: CPA, Peak Performance

12Feb

No wonder we’re inboxicated.

Issues 1 Comment

I recently had this video sent to me and I think it does a wonderful job of capturing the hectic pace and rate of change in the world today. So if you have 5 minutes I highly recommend sitting back, taking a deep breath and closing your eyes think relaaaaaax and click on this link, Inboxicated.

07Feb

Innovation during a downturn

Peak Performance, Solutions, Uncategorized No Comments

Capturing Innovation

Well its full steam ahead now and 2009 is well on its way. As I check my calendar to remind myself what day it is I notice that it’s already the 27th of January. For most people they have already gotten back into the swing of things but for others, they are just getting back from a long overdue break. But if you are anything like me the first thing you dread when you logged on this morning was, that’s right, you’re INBOX. You see having had some time off doesn’t mean the world stood still also, as you grimace at the sight of your email server beginning to deliver those emails you watch in awe as the number of unread messages builds and over runs your screen with big black bold type faced subject headings, signifying a big fat welcome back to work.

But just before I get depressed I suddenly remember that I’m a changed man, during the later part of ’08 I innovated how I operate, I now use InboxZero to cut through this deluge of new email and so I begin to run through the processing step. Within only 45 minutes I’m on top of my game again and am organized once more, oh yeah and my Inbox is down to zero again as I leave the office after my first day back, not bad! But what does this have to do with the title?

Recently, Boston consulting recommended the following recession readiness activities such as aggressive cash management to ensure that short term liquidity isn’t compromised, identify and focus on external indicators which reflect changes in competition and the specific market landscape, maintain sensible investment and sensible R&D with possible acquisitions as the opportunities arise. All the big guns including the Harvard Business Review are all saying that in these uncertain times it becomes even more imperative that we look at not only innovation at a business level but at an individual level as well. Being innovative with our time and energy expenditure is critical to not only success but motivation, especially in this negative climate. Empirical studies have shown that companies and individuals who invested in Innovation during the Great Depression emerged stronger and reaped the benefits for many years thereafter and in most cases even changed that company’s landscape to become global leaders.

This climate is certainly dictating that business and individuals need to do more with less as headcounts are reduced and Executive committee’s mandate more effective and measureable productivity. For me however, I have found at least an extra 20% effectiveness in my work and life by the use of InboxZero. I’m interested on how you fared during your first day back in ’09 and how you plan to innovate this year?

If you want to know more about Inbox Zero just check out my Archive and feel free to ask any questions. Happy New Year!

Tags: Innovation