Time Management Tip: Reduce Multitasking

I'm guessing by now you've heard at least one thumbs-down message about multitasking. It slows you down. It increases your error rate. It makes you stupid. It causes you to drive like your blood alcohol level is .08 when you're stone-cold sober.

So then why is it that:

• The phrase blackberry jam was recently coined to describe the sidewalk congestion caused by people walking while tapping on their phones?

• 3,300 iPhone users and counting have rated "Email 'n Walk," an application that overlays your email window with a view from your camera so you can watch where you're going when you type?

• The New York Times is publishing the "Driven to Distraction" series to enumerate on the dangers of double dipping during commutes?

• I feel compelled to put links throughout this newsletter, promoting you to multitask!?!

This excerpt from yesterday's NYT article helps to answer:

"Scrambling to protect his company...he grabbed his cell phone...cradling it between his left ear and shoulder, and with his right hand e-mailed instructions...from his laptop...all while driving his rental car in a construction zone on a two-lane highway. 'I thought I was doing a great job because I was being productive...It's an adrenaline rush. It's the buzz we all get of trying to do everything you can in business.'"

We would all be less stressed (& safer!) if we spent fewer moments multitasking, but don't take my word for it. Play this three-minute game to see for yourself.

Links to: blackberry jam, email 'n walk, driven to distraction, office work is high risk

Assertiveness Tip: Broken Record

When I reached out to a fellow productivity trainer, Casey Moore, to ask about her favorite assertiveness training book, she referred me to the seminal piece When I Say No, I Feel Guilty by Manuel Smith.

Mr. Smith offers six systematic assertiveness skills you can start using today to harness a more assertive posture. This is the first in a series to showcase descriptions and dialogue examples taken from the book. (The 1970s references should give you a chuckle.)

BROKEN RECORD

"One of the most important aspects of being verbally assertive is to be persistent and to keep saying what you want over and over again without getting angry, irritated, or loud. In using broken record...don't give up after you hear your first 'no'...[and don't be] deterred by anything the other person may say...keep saying in a calm, repetitive voice what you want to say until the other person accedes to your request or agrees to a compromise.

"SALESMAN: You do want your children to learn faster, don't you?

CARLO: I understand, but I'm not interested in buying.

SALESMAN: Your wife would want her children to have them.

CARLO: I understand, but I am not interested.

SALESMAN: It's awful hot out here, do you mind if I come in for a drink of water? 

CARLO: I understand, but I am not interested.

SALESMAN: You don't understand or you would want to buy these for your children.

CARLO: I understand how you feel, but I'm not interested. 

"[With] stereotyped dialogues like this one...[you can learn to] change this compulsive habit of answering any question or responding to any statement... This habit is based upon our belief that when someone talks to us, we 'should' have an answer and 'should' respond specifically to whatever the other person says."

What situations have you encountered of late where refraining from response and using the broken record technique might have delivered a better outcome? Who can you test using this method?

Time Management Tip: Efficient Internet Searches

When you’re experiencing time pressure, you should ask yourself two questions: 1) Should I really be doing this activity? 2) If so, how can I do it more efficiently?

 

Let’s see how this might play out when applied to the activity of conducting searches on the Internet.

 

First off: should I really be doing this activity? We all know the Internet can consume time at a staggering rate. Many of us default to searching the Internet & checking email messages because it provides a delightful distraction from the work we may not want to complete. For the purposes of this exercise, however, let’s assume the search activity is not only necessary, but planned with a start & finish time on the calendar.

 

Okay, so now how do we make searching more efficient? You probably have learned to include more terms to yield better results, but there’s so much more you can do. Let’s review a few of the advanced search tips Google provides to see how to take your searching skills to a higher level.

USE OPERATORS

Operators are symbols representing set processes to be performed. You likely already use the operator “ ” when you’re looking for an exact phrase. Did you know there are over 30 more operators Google recognizes? Following are a few:

Operator	Process to be performed	Example
[word] site:[url]	Search within only one website	wine glasses site:www.apartmenttherapy.com (Search ApartmentTherapy site for wine glass references)
[word] date:[#]	Search only a range of months (3, 6 or 12)	“lasalle bank” chicago date:3 (Find references with both the phrase LaSalle Bank & Chicago)
[#] % of [#]	Calculates percentage of number	45% of 39 (Calculate 45% of 39)
filetype:[ext]	Search for only particular file types (pdf, xls, ppt, doc, etc.)	2007 west virginia football schedule filetype:pdf (Find PDF of 2007 WV football schedule)
[Shipping Code]	Report activity on package shipped via UPS/USPS/FedEx	“999999999999” (Report latest info on FedEx package)
[word] -[word]	Search for results with first word, but don’t return results if second word is present	chicago baseball -cubs -sox (Find results for Chicago Baseball but not results that have the word Sox or Cubs in them)

 

DOWNLOAD A GOOGLE CHEAT SHEET

Until you commit these search efficiency techniques to memory, download this cheat sheet covering some of the tips in this newsletter plus many more. (Isn’t Google just the best?!)

MORE SEARCH TIPS

Thanks to Jeri Dansky, an organizer & blogger extraordinaire, who directed us to her seven internet research recommendations in response to this post. What techniques do you use?

 

 

Time Management Tip: Personality Mismatches

 

Although more difficult to align than physical complements, matching personality and responsibility can increase your chances of success for creating order in your organizations and in your life.

Personality assessment tools like DiSC and Myers Briggs measure varying dimensions, plotting the analyzed within a defined spectrum. People often conclude one end of the spectrum is “better” than the other. While this may be true for a specific task, it is not a universal truth. As Getting Organized author, Chris Crouch, put it, “Certain personality traits may have a significant influence on your ability to become more focused, organized and productive. It is not a matter of any particular trait being good or bad, it is more a matter of whether or not the traits are a good match or a bad match for what you are trying to do.”

While the incongruities may not surface immediately, they will eventually emerge in decreased work functioning indirectly (personal matters impede) or directly.

Self awareness breeds change, so it’s important to be aware of your prominent personality traits and of how the characteristics of the folks on your team may impact you. When you notice you need to complete something that requires going against the grain of your personality, see if you can delegate the task. If not, take frequent breaks or ask someone to support you through the task.

Are you matched well in your job?

Time Management Tip: Boundaries Set You Free

 

A common behavior among those who live an organized life is having a set of evolving boundaries. You know from experience without proper boundaries, work can take over your life. You also know kept boundaries, strangely, manifest freedom.

Over the next week, determine what boundaries you need to establish in order to maintain a healthy blend of family, work and rest. When you notice your energy running low or you feel resentful, you likely need to erect a new boundary—or to respect an existing one.

Following are the steps to inventing these freeing restrictions: 

• Identify. Spend time being more aware of your circumstances and emotions. When you feel frustrated, stop to determine if instituting an outward or inward boundary would prevent this situation from happening again.
• Create. Here’s where you have to draw a line. You don’t have to get it right the first time, but you need to define the limit in measurable terms and specify the consequences for adhering/disregarding the boundary.
• Inform. Alert all involved parties of the new boundary and the associated consequences. Clarity is key. If you’re setting a private boundary, make a plan to track your implementation of the new rule.
• Enforce. Enforcing is the difference between having boundaries and not. One or two uncomfortable public conversations enforcing the negative consequences of ignoring a new boundary typically ignites the social pressure system which takes over as boundary keeper from then on.
• Enjoy. Once you and others have embraced the boundary, there is much to enjoy. Create whatever you want on top of this steady foundation you have secured.
• Adapt. Evaluate boundaries from time to time. Stretch some. Change the ones no longer aligned with your life goals. As the anonymous quote says, “Your current safe boundaries were once unknown frontiers.”

Boundaries are an essential key separating the joyfully productive from the regretfully overloaded. Have fun with creating and honoring your own network of liberating limitations.

What defined boundaries do you reliably respect...or want to begin honoring?

Effective Meetings: Going Topless

 

Mercury News, a San Jose paper, reported a growing number of companies are mandating “topless” meetings…as in no laptops, CrackBerrys, iPhones and the like. The impetus behind the movement:

“...distracted workers so plugged in that they tune out in the middle of business meetings…” “...people have discovered a handy diversion, making more eye contact these days with their screens than one another.”

In Death by Meeting, author Patrick Lencioni offers advice for creating meetings so immersed in human connectivity, laptop temptations could vanish. Consider these recommendations he claims result in faster & better decisions, higher morale & greater bottom-line results:

Add drama to the boardroom & never get bored
Lencioni refreshingly suggests a gathering of intelligent people naturally & productively reveals different points of view. To suppress these disagreements, he explains, leads to boring meetings. He proposes in strategic meetings the meeting leader regularly seek out & uncover opposing viewpoints (“mining for conflict”) & the contributors embrace the clash, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Assign different contextual rules & watch effectiveness climb
With worthy motive, Lenvioni recommends more, not fewer, meetings. He describes the tendency of most companies to throw every type of issue into the same meeting. He proposes adopting the following multiple structures to manage different meeting content & participant expectations:

• Daily Check-Ins; 5 minutes; share daily schedule & activities; don’t sit (huddle); keep administrative; don’t cancel
• Weekly Tacticals; 45-90 minutes; review weekly activities, metrics & resolve tactical obstacles; set agenda in real time after round-the-table 60-second reporting; review 4-5 key metrics; postpone strategic discussions
• Monthly/Ad Hoc Strategics; 2-4 hours; discuss, analyze, brainstorm critical issues affecting long-term success; limit to 1-2 topics; prepare & do research; engage in good conflict
• Quarterly Off-Site Reviews; 1-2 days; review strategy, industry trends, competitive landscape, team development; get out of office; limit social activities; don’t overstructure or overburden schedule

If you want to initiate a meeting cultural shift, start by calculating how proposed change alters roles. Inform others of the change by outlining the rule, reason, & consequences (a must!). Expect challenges, and be ready to call it when you see it. Done right, social pressure will soon preside.

Who knows? Instead of people feeling naked when they show up for a meeting without their laptop, they’ll decide to attend deliberately topless.

Personal Productivity Tales: Engineer in Chicago

I'm working with an engineer in Chicago to help with an overflowing email inbox. Following are a few of the brave decisions he made to streamline and declutter:

• Subscribe to a one-folder archive system instead of organizing into email folders (I'll post more on this conceptin the coming weeks)
• Install X1 to find anything in the "dump" within seconds (I'll post more on X1 in the coming weeks)
  
• Check email fewer times per day--moving from 15-20 to roughly 5--so he can increase his email processing time and decrease interruptions
  
• This was made easier by turning off Outlook's email notifications...you know when the mouse changes, the ding sounds & the box appears to tantilize you to stop your progress & move directly to your inbox
• We thought we could make this easier by changing Outlook's sweep for new email from 5 minutes to 15 or 20, but he has to work with his IT department to gain authority to make this change
• Reduce the number of emails in his inbox--from a couple thousand to roughly 50 (or to only those from the last rolling seven days)
• He went through steps on his own similar to the ones posted here and got his number under a thousand with great determination, but relatively little time
• We'll work together to get him closer to his goal by establishing a task tracking system he can use to defer work & delegated tasks; he's considering paper planners as a possible solution
  
• Reduce the number of years of information sitting in Outlook by archiving a .pst file.
• Customize Outlook to perform routine tasks to his liking
• He changed Outlook's default calendar reminder setting from 15 minutes to 5

What kinds of things are you doing to streamline email?

Time Management Skill: Find Chicago Parking

One critical time management skill is to find ways to do things faster. This can encompass a variety of techniques. Delegation. Deletion! Learning new ways of doing things. (Like the speed reading class I'm taking in March.) Making use of tools which help you complete things faster.

Nowadays it seems there's at least one technology tool to meet and/or exceed your imagination. Last week when I wanted to minimize my travel time to see the Addams Family before it left the Chicago theatre district, I thought surely there's a web tool for that.

Allow me to introduce you to: chicago.bestparking.com, a dynamite site for reducing time spent looking for parking.

What tools do you use to manage your time better?

How to Prioritize: Eat Frogs for Breakfast

 

We all struggle with prioritization from time to time. But if we're honest with ourselves, we already know what's more important and what needs to get finished today. We know what we need to do in order to meet our deadlines. And when we're engaged in reaching our goals, we know what needs to be done next to push them along. We're just not slowing down enough to listen.

If you want to consistently spend time in a committed and purposeful manner, consider adopting this new daily habit:

At the end of each day, review your tasks to make a plan for the next working day. Pick three-a frog, a dream and a wild card.

Start by identifying the biggest, most important task you need to complete-the frog. (There's an old adage, if you have to eat a frog, don't spend a lot of time looking at it first. And if you have to eat two of them, start with the ugliest.) Maybe it's strategic work that requires focused think time, or perhaps it's something you have a burning desire to procrastinate for untold emotional reasons. No matter, eating your largest, ugliest frog first will give you the boost to help the rest of the day seem lighter.

Next, pick a dream. The daily grind is rich with externally-driven tasks and rarely prompts you to insert assignments related to your personal, inwardly-driven goals. To move yourself toward your ambitions, consciously include taking one step toward your dreams. You'll see, over time they will develop into reality.

Lastly, select one critical task of your choice-the wild card.

Put the three items you picked on top of your to do list. Will you accomplish more than three things the following day? Maybe, but no matter what else happens, you'll focus on the three most important things first. (And you'll sleep easier knowing what's ahead of you the next day.)

It's going to be tough, but stick to the plan you outlined. Eat the frog. Reach for the dream. But do not initiate other tasks before completing the three you selected. One easy way to make this practice a reality: don't check your email until you've eaten the frog, legs and all.

Live Deliberately: The Good Life Chicago Workshop

Someone I know and trust, Diane Testa, is co-hosting a Chicago workshop in January. I want to highlight her message...

"It's time to acknowledge this past year's accomplishments and chart your course for 2010.  Are you thriving in your life or in need of a change and new inspiration? In this results-focused workshop, you'll learn how to live deliberately and create a more fulfilling life rather than have the outside world shape it for you.  With the help of a licensed psychologist, a corporate executive and feedback from peers, you'll be able to shift your consciousness to a mindful and peaceful place, and walk away with a roadmap to your Good Life. Take advantage of this creative but practical approach to self-awareness, assessing your life inventory, living with intention and overcoming barriers to establishing your own personal definition of success."

Register or find out more at Finding My Good Life.

Assertiveness Tip: Workable Compromise

The assertiveness tip for today is the second in a series of tips from author Manuel Smith, creator of the 1970s seminal piece When I Say No, I Feel Guilty. Following is a helpful passage from the book to help those looking to obtain a more assertive posture. Enjoy!

WORKABLE COMPROMISE

"Many people learning to be assertive, often for the first time in their adult lives, do not understand why verbal skills like BROKEN RECORD are used. They ask: 'What do I do when the other person doesn't give in or is assertive to me also?' The answer to the question is that our true sense of self-respect has a priority over everything else. Consequently, if you keep your self-respect through exercising your assertive rights with skills like BROKEN RECORD, you will feel good even if you do not achieve your goal immediately...It is practical, whenever you feel that you self-respect is not in question, to offer a workable compromise to the other person."

What Smith tells us here is simple. As long as you don't loose your self-respect or dignity, remember that you have been assertive and are using healthy compromise skills.

In what situations can you see yourself employing a workable compromise?