Life Contained's Personal Productivity Blog

4 Mantras to Suspend Perfectionism

  

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If perfectionism vexes you and prevents you from starting or finishing tasks, what words or phrases can you use to suspend the dysfunctional behavior so you can get unstuck? Following are four I find useful:

1 Experiment

For a recovering perfectionist like me, using the word experiment is liberating. When I want to try something new, I approach it as an experiment rather than a cold, hard fact of life. Things instantly get lighter and become approachable. Experiments aren’t perfect, they’re fun!

2 Doing things right versus doing the right things

This was one of the time management jewels from Randy Pausch's body of work highlighting the failures of focusing on the wrong right.

3 Done is better than perfect

A fellow personal productivity coach taught me the power of this phrase. For instance, having this post published today in its current state is better than having it posted in a few weeks with a few more nuggets of gold. You might need the advice to make your weekend better!

4 Satisfice

One of Life Contained's time management seminar participants touted the fourth mantra: satifice, a blending of satisfy and suffice.

The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy defines it as "an outcome that is good enough. Satisficing action can be contrasted with maximizing action, which seeks the biggest, or with optimizing action, which seeks the best...it is often rational to seek to satisfice i.e. to get a good result that is good enough although not necessarily the best."

What language do you use to set your inner stickler free?

P.S. Feel free to point out typos and grammatical errors, as my non-perfectionist geek flag is flying freely.

"Getting More Done" Free for Kindle Users

  

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Through midnight PST Tuesday, January 31 Amazon is offering a free Kindle copy of Getting More Done, the latest book by one of my long-time thought leaders, Chris Crouch.

This very short book outlines 10 simple steps you can implement over a 10-day period to become more focused, organized, and productive:

1. Slow Down, Pause, and Reset

2. Establishing and Maintaining an Always Follow-Up Reputation

3. Finding Things Quickly When You Need Them

4. Absolutely Ruthless E-mail Management

5. Managing Meeting Mania

6. Goldilocks Planning

7. The Art and Science of Persuading

8. Leveraging Your Time Through Networking

9. Busy Tapes

10. Following Through

Chris' personal productivity philosophy is built on simplicity, so his ideas may seem frustratingly obvious at first. If you give them time to simmer, you'll experience their depth. And if you release the notion that getting organized has to be complicated, then you will have landed exactly where he wants you to live.

If you’ve already abandoned your resolve to do things differently this year, download a free copy today, or pay $15.95 for the hard copy form.

Inbox Zero = Inbox Hero

  

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To those who consider me their organizing coach, I am grateful and carry the title* with honor. To those within that group who've earned the inbox zero nerd patch, you are my hero.

Following are three inbox zero screen shots from a few of my heroes. Some send them as touting evidence to receive their reward. Others send them throughout the weeks and months to celebrate sustained change.

Though they all look virtually the same, I never tire from what they represent--freedom and control. Ahhhh...

*Though my depth of knowledge on all thing personal productivity is deep and my credentialing on time management systems wide, my certifications in official "coaching" is not.

3 Reasons to Join me for CLUTTER @ Greenhouse in Chicago

  

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Recently I attended A Bright New Boise at the Greenhouse Theatre in Chicago with a fellow corporate trainer. I'm planning to return there for a new production, and I want to share three reasons you should consider joining me:

1. We all need our personal productivity tanks refueled regularly, and live theatre fills them ever so entertainingly

2. The topic, the true story of the hoarding Collyer brothers is a serious, relatable one told through comedy
   

3. I'm sharing a $10-off-2-tickets discount the theater is offering through Chicago professional organizers
   

“Shamelessly entertaining…richly comic…brilliant!” The Los Angeles Times

Written by Multi Emmy Award-winning playwright Mark Saltzman, CLUTTER makes its highly anticipated Midwest Premiere at The Greenhouse Theater Center from Jan. 19 through March 11. CLUTTER is based on the compelling true story of the wealthy, reclusive Collyer brothers, who became hoarders in their Fifth Avenue mansion in 1920s Harlem. When one brother goes missing and the other ends up dead, the police investigate the bizarre case in this poignant, witty and profound exploration of human behavior. For $10 off the purchase of 2 tickets, call the Greenhouse Theater Box Office at 773.404.7336, or visit www.greenhousetheater.org and mention code HERON.

This offer is valid for performances from January 21 through February 10. Excludes Feb. 2.  Limit 4 tickets per customer. 

Subject to availability. Not valid on previously purchased tickets and cannot be combined with any other discount.

3 Methods to Help You Achieve Your New Year's Resolutions

  

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I've written before about resolving to get organized. Today I'm going to reveal three of the tricks I use to change the contents of your brain to help manifest the change you want. Whether helping my work/life balance-seeking clients achieve new habits, or reaching toward my own declarations, I find these methods powerful.

Movie Making

Playing out the change we want to see like a movie is a simple tool for creating new habits. A few reasons why this works because making the movie:

• Allows our vision to take full shape

• I envision myself looking & feeling healthier because I'm eating healthier

• I see convenient healthy choices in the fridge every time I open it
  

• Puts a spotlight on unrealistic expectations

• I want to change the way I eat for every meal, but that's not realistic; I'm going to start with eating healthier snacks
  

• Calls for specificity

• I see my husband buying more vegetables at the grocery store

• I see me cutting up bell peppers and carrots on Sunday mornings before church

If-Then Planning

This Heidi Grant Halvorson article in Psychology Today outlines If-Then Planning, a technique first articulated by NYU psychologist Peter Gollwitzer.

"If X happens, then I will do Y.

"X can be a time and place, like Monday at 9 a.m., or it can be an event, like the arrival of the dessert menu at a restaurant. Y is the specific action you will take whenever X occurs. ...'Eat less,' becomes something like 'When the dessert menu comes, I will ignore it and order coffee.'

"Amazingly, you are two to three times more likely to succeed if you use an if-then plan than if you don't.

"These plans work...because they speak the language of...contingencies. ... Deciding exactly when and where you will act on your goal creates a link in your brain between the situation...and the behavior. ... Below your awareness, your brain starts scanning the environment, searching for...the "if". Once the "if" happens,...the "then" part...follows [almost] automatically."

Drawback Dwelling

Though it might seem pessimistic to dwell on the drawbacks of a new habit, I think it's an important part of change. (I first say this concept articulated in Julie Morgenstern's Shred book. Thanks, Julie!)

Let's say, for instance, you want to exercise more. Follow a sequence similar to the following to allow for a little dwelling time on the drawbacks of such a change:

1. Describe the specific change you want make: exercise for :30 three times weekly

2. List the reasons you want to make the change: betting-looking body in a bathing suit; improved health; sharper reputation; enhanced self image

3. List the drawbacks of making the change/the things you'll lose to this new habit: couch time watching your favorite television show; sleeping in time with your spouse

4. Rationally reconcile the pluses and minuses: I can record my favorite show and watch it at another time; I could even watch my show while walking on the treadmill if I set it up properly; I don't really sleep in after 6:30...I just stall getting out of bed
   

5. Draw a conclusion on whether or not you can rationally support the behavioral change: I will have to give up the luxury of laying in the bed doing nothing some mornings to exercise more, but having better health and a good-looking bikini body is totally worth it
   

What techniques do you find useful in following through on new habits?

Email Inbox: Going from 5K to 30 in :30

  

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As a Chicago professional organizer specializing in helping business professionals get organized at work, I've seen inboxes approaching six figures. Recently I helped one gal go painlessly and without kicking from 29K to fewer than five emails in one productivity session. You can produce impressive numbers similar to this by following one simple rule:

Separate Action Emails from Reference Ones

Using the following image as a guide. Begin to think of your email area in two parts:

• ACTION: the inbox, where emails requiring action are stationed including
  

• New emails you need to open & process

• Opened emails acting as reminders for action (I don't always promote using the inbox as a to-do list, but for the purposes of going from 5K to 30 in :30, allowing action in the inbox is a wise intermediate step)

• REFERENCE: the personal folders, where reference emails no longer requiring action are stationed

With this rule, I bet you can go from roughly 5K to 30 in about a half an hour...without too much suffering. Here's how:

1. Realize you have a jumbled mixture of emails, not at all organized, sitting in your inbox.

2. Understand all I want you to do is to move that jumbled mixture across the line that divides your inbox from your personal folder area.

3. Get a grip. Reassure yourself crossing this line means nothing. You can continue to sort that mixture according to From, Subject or Received when you need to find something.
   

4. Create a "1 General Reference" folder in your personal folder tree.

5. Select everything in your inbox three weeks or older & move them all to the 1 General Reference folder. (Feel free to adjust the timing to two weeks, but don't adjust in the other direction. Do not organize those emails by filing them into other folders. It's not worth it!!!! You're currently getting along without that organization living out of your inbox, so why apply the organization when you know you can live without it?!!)

6. Go through remaining emails, filing things not requiring action into the 1 General Reference folder and leaving all those requiring action in your inbox.

7. Celebrate and rejoice in knowing you can see all the things that require your attention.

If you'd like a little more personal attention to make this happen, give us a call @ 630.803.6650. We'd be thrilled to help you see inbox white space.

3 Powerful Catalysts for On-Time Meetings

  

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Why is it so difficult to start a meeting on time? Following are three tools to make it easier.

Tardy Slips

Before I landed in the Chicago professional organizer world, I had an advertising agency career. My first boss, Dasher Lowe, enforced on-time meetings by invoking a "tardy slip" for latecomers. It was an all-meetings-start-late culture, so he decided to create anti-cultural social pressures. He would give out verbal and/or written tardy slips when someone showed up late for a meeting. This cut down on the overall meeting time, as we didn’t waste time waiting or repeating information. Having a "tardy token" (think gas station key ring) or tardy sound maker (think obnoxious clown horn) stationed in every conference room would make this practice official and fun.

SOTX4

A fellow corporate trainer, Michelle Waltmire, told me about this one. At the top of most meetings and/or if the meeting were derailed (be it people showing up late, the meeting running over, people looking at screens instead of each other, etc.), someone would write SOTX4 on the white board. This symbolized to everyone the ground rules they agreed to as a company:

•    Start On Time

•    Shut Off Technology

•    Stay On Topic

•    Stop On Time

:50 :10

Travel time is often considered when you have to get on a bus or in a car to get somewhere, but how often do you consider travel time when it comes to getting from one meeting to the next within your office? Instead of considering :60 the norm for meetings, why not make :50 the default--allowing for :10 of transition and travel?

What tactics have you found successful for more effective meetings?

10 Email Etiquette Rules to Consider

  

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The following message is delivered in the 4-minute video above.

In the last two decades much of our business communication migrated to email. Most companies, however, do not train employees on email etiquette. Consequently, many professionals are making up the rules as they go along…or worse yet, they don't give email etiquette a thought and send out note after unprofessional note.

May you find the following email suggestions a valuable place to start an email conversation with those you communicate with most.

1. Use a strong subject line

2. Put your action at the top of the note

3. Embed links when you can

4. Use upper- and lower-case letters

5. Use salutation and closings…unless you’re in a conversation or you’re mirroring a style

6. Use a signature…go horizontal to save on space

7. Create templates to automate frequently-sent messages

8. Use shorthand to communicate common phrases

9. Send fewer...many times by considering other forms of communication
   

10. Establish rules of engagement in email policy and training

What email etiquette lessons do you find beneficial to your professional reputation? What techniques do you use to save time and frustration in email construction?

Stop Organizing, Start Producing Book Review

  

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Serving as a Chicago personal productivity coach, I'm constantly reading books about how to be more productive. Recently a refreshing title written by a fellow time management trainer came across my desk: Stop Organizing, Start Producing by Casey Moore.

"Stop Organizing, Start Producing: Leverage the 12 Factors that Make or Break the Busy Professional" is divided into three sections. Part 1, The Productivity Chain, introduces and explains the premise of the book—there are twelve interwoven factors determining each person’s productivity level which she calls the Productivity Chain. The section establishes another core concept of the book—how the Productivity Chain, a model for producing results, can be used to apply and keep personal power.

Part 2, The Twelve Links, which is nearly half the book, describes each link’s features and effects on productivity as well as delves into stories, concrete strategies for improvement, and examples of how each link interacts with the others. Covered in alphabetical order for easy reference, the links are: boundary-setting, communication/relationships, decision-making, delegation, drive, goal-setting/prioritization, health, organization of objects/data, planning, reinvention, resources, and task/project management.

Part 3, Productivity Myths, describes common myths and the harm they do, outlines specific-productivity-enhancing strategies for letting go, and has a real-world example for each. The section explains the “Productivity Chain only works if you let go of less empowering problem/solution perspectives…lurk[ing] below your conscious awareness, influencing your behavior even though your rational mind recognizes their inaccuracies.” Providing a simple, yet powerful model for change, she tackles such myths as, “I need more time,” “I should be able to handle everything myself,” and “I can’t play until my work is done.”

Whether you reference the link and myth chapters on demand when you feel stuck, or read everything cover to cover, this book is packed with valuable lessons covering the nuances of productivity work not written in any of the other books out there. Having a framework to force a bigger-picture view of the inter-related aspects behind productivity will help to identify strengths and weaknesses—and therefore to know where to focus time and energy.

Well done, Casey. I'm proud to know you.

How Hedgehogs and Wilco Can Make You More Productive

  

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Following is an edited passage from The Elegance of the Hedgehog, a book I recently finished thanks to my photographer friend.

If you're itching to reach a special stratum this afternoon...to check something important off your list, see if this NPR Tiny Desk Concert featuring Wilco can ignite your productivity engine. Enjoy!

BTW, to find the passage I shared, I did not thumb through my book. I searched "the elegance of the hedgehog music" in Google Books and the first result contained what I wanted. That's right, Google has loads of books scanned and at the ready for you to preview and/or download in PDF form. The also have reference pages, links to buy the book, or borrow one from a library. When I tested the "Find in a library" feature, it delivered several nearby Chicago outlets--the first in Naperville where my office is located.

BTW2, thanks to TowProgram for the Wilco tip.