Tag Archives | strategy
Plan C

Simple Planning Process = Successful Outcome

By on October 5, 2011 in Success
Plan C

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When I made the decision recently to do a complete re-design of my own website, I quickly realized that I would get better results if I could throttle back on my impulse to dive right in and instead stop to make a plan first. I needed to be clear on exactly what I wanted to accomplish, why I wanted or needed to achieve this goal and how much time and energy I could or should expend. The results while always a work in progress were astonishingly close to the picture I held in my head and I finished within my self-imposed deadline.

As always, I am eager to share my methods (though they may sometimes resemble madness) in the hopes that it will help you be successful in making changes in your life or business, whatever they may be.

Total view – Take a step back (or twenty) and get the overview.

How does this project, goal or outcome fit in with the total picture of your business or your life?

What do you want the final project to look like? (Can you picture it in your head or put it on paper?)

How much time can you or are you willing to devote to achieving your outcome, goal or changes?

Now is the time to think about the project scope, design, impact and end result. It is also the time to question your available resources (usually time and money) and whether it is worth tackling at all.

Detail view – Now, we get down to the nuts and bolts.

What will it take to get this project or achieve this goal from start to finish?

List all of the steps, actions or decisions necessary to get your result.

Will you need help with any steps? Either through delegation, hiring outside help or simply asking others to assist you?

Do you need more information about any aspects of your project?

Do you have a deadline or timeline in place? If not, make one.

Determine the order if any of your steps.

Action Plan – Decide what action you will take first.

Then choose what either logically or logistically comes next. Repeat.

Revision – Once you start making progress, don’t be afraid to change direction or shift course. If something doesn’t look right, doesn’t feel right or simply doesn’t work, try something different.

Good luck with your creative endeavors and please let me know what you’re working on!

Question everything, move forward, enjoy the journey.

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P question

What’s Your Intention – Be More Successful

By on September 30, 2011 in Questions, Success
P question

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Question

What is your intention?

That may be the most important question you ask yourself every day. In every aspect of your life, work, home, relationships, actions or choices, knowing your intention gives you the proper focus and direction.

If you don’t know what your intention is then you are floundering about like a tiny rowboat in the ocean. You will get tossed back and forth at the whims of the moment. But if you know what your intention is, if you know what you really want to get out of every day, interaction, relationship, task, and activity, then you are more likely to get it.

That does not mean that every single action we take must have a complex intention. It might be as simple as my intention is to be to be curious, observant, kind and open to new possibilities. That is broad enough and yet clear enough to set your course.

Question everything, move forward, enjoy the journey.

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What Do You Need to Do First?

By on September 26, 2011 in Productivity, Simple Steps, Success
Content: A picture of a green check mark. PNG ...

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Simple Steps

Put first things first each day!

What is your most important task today?

Not your most urgent - unless of course it is a matter of life or death, or imminent job loss – but your most important. What will have the most impact on your business, home, relationships or whatever your focus is at the moment? What one thing will make you feel as if you have accomplished something concrete today?

Now, whatever it is do it first!

If you make this a habit; you will see a tremendous boost in productivity.

Question everything, move forward, enjoy the journey.

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Review: “The Art of Accomplishment” by Nicholas Townsend Smith

By on September 8, 2011 in Good Reads

I was thrilled to be asked to review this book! I love reading…well…anything really, but I especially love reading something I can share with my readers that is 1. useful and 2. affordable. 

Art of Accomplishment“The Art of Accomplishment” by Nicholas Townsend Smith is both. From the book:

I know if you apply my methods, your life will change, as it has for me and so many others. If you follow these methods, you will become one of those people who reaches his or her goals.

Let me ask you this: what do you think it means to accomplish?

I”ll tell you what I think it means. If I could give you one take away from this book and nothing else, it would be this: to accomplish something is simply to complete it. If you start finishing what you start, amazing things happen.

However, I will warn you that accomplishing anything requires effort. If you picked up this book thinking it would be a get-successful-easy methodology, you picked up the wrong book.

Put it down before you actually EARN something!

Nicholas delivers his insightful information with analogies we can relate to and useful strategies we can all apply.

Read an excerpt from one of my favorite chapters:

REDEFINE PERFECTION

How many times have you thought to yourself that if you did not do something perfectly the first time, then you wouldn’t do it? If you looked like some kind of an idiot, you wouldn’t even try?

The word perfect originated from the Latin word perficere; per meaning ‘complete’ and facere meaning ‘to do’.

To do something perfectly never meant to do things flawlessly or without defect; we redefined it to mean that. The original meaning of the word perfect was to do something and to finish it.

As you now know from the Certainty Cycle it is really hard to know if something does or does not work if you never finish it. It is in finishing things that we discover the results. If you finish what you start, then you are performing perfectly even when the results are not flawless. Perfection is what allows you to make adjustments and continue on to flawlessness.

As a little bonus, I want to share with you the process of perfection. This is a five step process and will help you accomplish every goal you set:

  • 1- Intention – What is it you are stretching toward? What is the goal you would like to reach? Establish your target and determine the high probability path for reaching it.
  • 2- Trigger – Establish a trigger that gets the process started. You could have an intricate goal and system put together, much like a Rube Goldberg machine, but nothing to trigger the next action, so it really doesn‟t matter. The trigger is the item or action that gets you moving toward your goal.
  • 3- Perform – Now that you have the goal, the system, and the trigger, the next step is to do your system; to act.
  • 4- Complete – Finish what you start. Perform to completion because this is the only way you will know if your system works or not.
  • 5- Adjust – Make adjustments to your system and actions until you are getting the results you want.

The process of perfection is a simple tool that will assist you in reaching your goals every time. Do you want to perform perfectly? Do what you say you will do and finish it! That my friend, is perfection.

 

Nicholas Townsend Smith is quickly becoming the most powerful performance trainer in America. His transformational style and commitment to individuals has generated lasting change in business owners, organizational leaders, executives, employees and individuals across America and into Canada. His clients’ results have been astonishing; from establishing high paying contracts to increasing health, each person has used concepts from Nick’s seminars, webinars, teleseminars and group and individual coaching to accomplish his or her desires. More information on Nick and his work can be found at http://clearpathtraining.com.

 

 

 

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Energy graphic

Use Your Energy Cycle to be More Productive, Successful and Happy?

By on August 31, 2011 in Sanity Savers, Simple Steps, Tools

Each of us has our own individual energy and focus “pattern” that cycles throughout the day. These cycles actually occur weekly, seasonally and yearly, but for now let’s concentrate on the daily “cycle.” Our energy follows a kind of ebb and flow pattern with a consistency that is startling.

The key here is to:

Understand that each person is different.

Be aware of what your pattern is.

Accept that this is not something that can be easily changed.

Learn to use your energy cycle as a tool to increase your productivity and enjoyment both at work and at home.

It’s a very simple shift actually. Zero cost, minimal time to implement and very effective. The best kind of solution.

First, can you answer the following questions?

  • What time of day are you most focused?
  • When do you have the highest energy?
  • When do you struggle to concentrate on the words in front of you or the person who is talking to you?
  • Does your mind wander at certain times of the day?
  • Are there certain periods in the day when you feel more social and others when you would prefer to be left alone?

You probably already know the answer to these questions, but if not simply observe your workflow and how you feel for a day or two and it will be very clear.

Next, whenever possible schedule work, tasks, meetings or family activities when they are the best fit. Try to shift current habits or commitments to fit into better time periods as well. Sometimes you have no choice due to employer constraints, family schedules or plain logistics. But wherever you can implement this strategy you will see an immediate increase in productivity and a decrease in stress.

I’ll use myself as an example. I love to be the “guinea pig” to try out new solutions.

When I started working for myself full-time, I was thrilled that I would get to set my own schedule and complete work when I wanted to. I got out a blank weekly calendar and created the “perfect” time map for how I was going to spend my work and family time. I scheduled time to write every day, blocks for calls, email, social media, project days, etc. (Yes, it’s a bit overboard, but I’m a planning addict, I can’t help myself.)

After the first few weeks I started wondering why I didn’t seem to be getting much done and I was stressed much of the time. I had done everything right. I planned my week. I used time blocks. I had my tasks and project lists. I eliminated distractions (if you don’t count the snoring dogs.) I even took breaks!

I was meeting my deadlines and getting work done, but it seemed like a struggle much of the time. I didn’t feel as though I was using my time and effort effectively and I was constantly frustrated.  I’m supposed to be an expert in this productivity game. If I can’t be highly productive and happy, then how can I teach others to live this way?

It’s those darn rules again. They keep getting in the way; hurting when they’re supposed to be helping. I’m going to sound like a broken record here. Forget the rules, especially the self-imposed ones.

Who says you have to write first thing every morning? What if I wake up with too much on my mind and I am more creative after lunch?

Who says you have to read to your kids every night before bed?  What if my son and I are falling asleep at bed time and we prefer to read each morning before school?

I have discovered a few other personal energy and focus preferences:

I have found that in-person meetings are more productive for me late morning.

Phone calls are easier mid-morning.

Projects and writing that require calm and intense focus go more smoothly in the afternoon.

I can more easily absorb information either first thing in the morning or after dinner, so that is a good time for research, learning and reading.

I enjoy physical household chores or exercising at the beginning of my work day or at the end, but not when I first wake up, at lunch or in the evening.

If you were to draw my energy/focus pattern out it would resemble the following graphic:

 

Energy graphic

My Energy and Focus Cycle

Since I learned to use the cycles of my energy and focus to my advantage, my productivity has increased dramatically. I get more work done in a shorter period of time and more importantly, the work is of a higher quality. The same is true of my personal time and activities.

I invite you to use this simple strategy and see how much your productivity increases, your effectiveness improves, your goals seem more attainable and your work becomes more enjoyable.

I think you’ll find that you are happier as well, because you are learning to work with your energy, instead of against it.

*Bonus – You might need less coffee as well, because you won’t need to artificially boost your energy when you don’t have it.

If you need help, you know where to find me…

 

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How to Do More with Less – Economy of Activity

By on August 12, 2011 in Productivity

Guest post contributed by Bob Watson.

Sometimes, we all go a little overboard.  For myself, this happened when I was first learning how to touch type, a skill that intrigued me greatly around 1994, when I was first discovering the wonders of the personal computer.

I was thirteen at the time, and thanks in no small part to my addictive personality; I went far overboard in my quest to learn this skill.  By “far overboard,” I mean to say that I had gone to the library and returned with no fewer than eleven books which all promised to teach me how to type faster than your average secretary, and three pieces of computer software with which to practice.  Thankfully for me, my library was pretty good about letting me borrow far too many items, and when I brought them home, I fixed myself on them, banging away at the keyboard until my fingers ached.  When I took breaks, I poured over techniques and studied diagrams, and I even hand crafted a device that covered the keyboard, blocking me from seeing the keys as I went.  I simply holed myself up in my room and practiced, intent on figuring it out, for reasons that I can no longer remember.

This went on for a period of two or three days, until finally I was able to score 75 words per minute on a touch typing test, at which point I returned the books and software to the library and promptly began bragging to all of my friends as to how smart and crafty I was that I had already learned how to touch type before even making it into high school.  It was hard work, and I firmly believe that anytime you do something as awesome as this in so short a time period, you should take the time to commend yourself.

I never practiced all that much throughout the following few semesters, since I had little desire to write my research papers using my computer unless absolutely necessary.  Just two years later, when I finally took a touch typing course in high school, as part of graduation requirements, I started out very haughty, knowing full well that I had already mastered this skill.  But then I came back with a benchmark score of 38 words per minute, much to my astonishment.

I had mastered this skill long ago, and thirty eight words per minute is nothing to be proud of, or at least, it wasn’t to me, even as a starting point.  Working and working on it, I managed to finish the course with a much more respectable 70 words per minute score on the final exam, which was a fine score, near the top of the class if not the number one score in the class, and yet throughout the whole time of working on it, I was never able to outscore my initial 75 from years previous.

Aside from reminding myself what an outrageously nerdy kid I was back in high school, this story always strikes me as being something very important for me to remember.  Buried within the story are some of the most important life lessons I can impart to anyone who, like me, is very interested in personal productivity and self-improvement.

What I learned most from this story was not that practice makes perfect – I had learned that lesson long ago – but rather, that it is so much better to do more with less, and to make certain to learn things over time.  When I first started to learn touch typing, the eleven books I read all basically said the same thing.  The three software programs I brought home each taught the same set of lessons in more or less the same order, the primary difference being whether Mario would break blocks and assault Bowser’s Castle, or whether Michael Jordan would make a basket with each successful keystroke.  Had I brought home just one book, or one software program, would I have done any better for myself?

Looking back on it now, knowing what I know, I think that I would have been much better off.  Instead of spending every waking moment reading about it, doing it, or fashioning elaborate (and quite useless) props to help me learn better, I took my time going through the course in high school, following a single book and using a single piece of software, which was, in fact, the updated version of one I had borrowed years previously from my local library.  I also, of course, had duties in my other classes, and at the time, I was working my very first job three nights a week after school.  I was, therefore, pressed into learning touch typing not in a crazy-hermit-in-his-bedroom style, but rather as a regular, non-obsessive youngster trying to pick up a skill.

To this day, I still fall into many of the same habits as I used to so long ago.  When I want to learn something or work on some skill that I wish to have, I still labor home from the library under the burden of numerous books by various authors, all of whom seem to promise the exact same thing (although nowadays my library is much less willing to allow me to borrow so many books from the same section).  I still invest in redundant software programs, audio CDs, or books of my own, or enroll in courses that only touch upon whatever subject I initially want to learn.  It is during this time that I sometimes have to sit back and remind myself of my debacle with touch typing.

The end of the story, at least so far as it stands today, is as follows.  After having taken this slow and steady approach to touch typing through high school, I noticed something marvelous.  Despite the fact that it was almost fifteen years since I first started that touch typing course, and I haven’t practiced all that much since, I can still do it.  An online typing test actually showed me typing at 80 words per minute now, with a 94% accuracy.

So for all of you personal development junkies like me out there, remember: sometimes less is more.  Take your time, and get through things at your own pace.  It would do you a world of good to approach self-help topics just like you do college classes, that is, five at a time over the course of months instead of one at a time over the course of weeks.

My new mantra is this: one book would suffice.  One piece of software would suffice.  Space out your learning over time, and you’ll actually learn a whole lot more than you will by reading ten books, cramming it all in over the course of a weekend, and slipping and sliding your way through everything you’d like to know.

Bob Watson is currently a mathematics and history teacher, working at a hospital with students with Emotional Disabilities.  He was, and remains wholly committed to self-improvement, particularly personal productivity, and created an online speed reading test to try to encourage interest in this with his students.

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Avoiding Common Productivity Traps

By on August 10, 2011 in Productivity

We are working really hard, pushing ourselves to achieve more and yet we just can’t seem to get it together. Maybe it’s not that we’re not working hard enough as the voice in our head might claim.  In reality it’s just that we fall victim to the myriad of productivity pitfalls that plague our days.

Perhaps the simplest way to increase our productivity is to avoid some of the most common productivity traps:

Social media – Social media is a wonderful avenue for promotion, branding, information gathering and developing relationships, but any tool used to excess can turn into an albatross. Go ahead, use social media if it provides clear value for you, but keep in mind its value relative to other activities on your schedule. For example, try limiting your Facebook or Twitter time to a few short sessions (5 to 15 minutes) several times per day.

Interruptions – It seems that whenever you get in the middle of some really juicy, productive work that is when the phone rings, the co-workers come knocking or the new message notifications starts flashing. Interruptions no matter the form pose a serious hazard to productivity. Your your focus is broken, your mind has to shift gears and momentum is lost. It’s difficult to recover from interruptions after they happen, so the most effective strategy is to prevent them through good planning and even better boundaries. Close your door, turn off your phone, shut down email and make it clear to all that you are in “focus mode.”

Over-scheduling – Nearly everyone in our modern society falls prey to over-commitment and over scheduling of our time and resources. We seem to think that the more we pack into our days, the more valuable we are. All it really does is cause us to be stressed, ineffective rushing through our days without really paying attention. There are actually two strategies we can explore to minimize this trap. Say no…a lot. Gently but firmly decline commitments or requests that aren’t of the highest value to you. The other is to have realistic expectations about how much can be done in any given period of time. We generally underestimate the effort required for a task.

Low value tasks – Assess how valuable each of your activities are. Ask if you really need to be doing everything that you are currently spending your time on. Try to eliminate or delegate those activities that don’t really add much or that can easily be done by someone else. Maximize the time you have by working on those tasks that you excel at and that add the most value to your work or meaning to your life.

Email black-hole – Don’t get me wrong, email is one of the best technology inventions in my opinion. I would be lost without it. The issue is not email technology itself, but our obsession with never wanting to miss any piece of information or be out of the loop. We have this fear that if we don’t respond immediately, we will be seen as incompetent or uncaring. If it’s important it’ll still be there when you get back. It does not need to be answered right this minute. Turn off your email notifications if you can and check your email at pre-determined times each day.

Low energy – Energy is the invisible currency of productivity. You can get more done if you have ample energy and endurance. Protect your energy by taking regular breaks, getting enough sleep, making healthier eating choices and staying hydrated. Stepping away from your desk to stretch your legs and drink some water can do considerably more for your energy levels than another cup of liquid caffeine.

Multitasking – We have been laboring under the false assumption that we can pay attention to more than one thing at a time and thereby accomplish twice as much. Wrong! Our brains are just not wired that way. What we like to call multi-tasking is really “switch-tasking.” We are asking our brains to rapidly switch gears back and forth between competing focuses. It just doesn’t work. In reality we are far more likely to do high quality work and get far more satisfaction out of it as well if we focus on a single activity at a time. Give it a try.

Lack of clarity – This is not always considered in productivity planning, but it is critical. We need to be very clear about what precisely we have to do, what the desired outcome is, the rules or standards surrounding it, potential obstacles, specific deadlines and if we are collaborating, what our individual responsibility is.

Consider incorporating at least one of these suggestions, maybe several and see what happens to your daily productivity. You have nothing to lose and much to gain.

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A female acrobat next to a potter

Why Flexibility Might be Your Most Valuable Strategy

By on August 8, 2011 in Personal Growth
A female acrobat next to a potter's turntable....

Image via Wikipedia

Be flexible.

Once I get something in my mind, a plan, a decision, a thought, I can be like a dog with a bone. It can be tricky to let go of it and go with the flow. I was taught, and to certain degree it’s true, that success and responsibility require perseverance and adherence to the plan.

At the same time however inflexibility creates an enormous amount of inner stress and is often insensitive to other people and their needs. You’ll find that if you adopt the goal of becoming more flexible, some wonderful things will begin to happen. You’ll feel more relaxed, yet you won’t sacrifice any productivity. You may even become more productive because you won’t need to expend so much energy being upset and anxious.

I’ve learned to trust that I can meet my deadlines, achieve most of my goals and get what needs to be done completed without stressing about sticking to the plan. And quite honestly, it’s a lot more fun!

Give it a try! What have you got to lose? Except some Stress…

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Vacation Wrap-Up: Key Productivity Strategy

By on July 8, 2011 in Life Balance

Why is it that we seem to get so much done the day before we leave for vacation?

There is something about the anticipation of free-time that feels like a reward for a job well done. When that is paired with the good feeling that comes from completion and the anxiety that results from leaving unfinished tasks hanging over your head, you have an unbeatable combination of incentives.

So, how exactly can we use this vacation wrap-up strategy every day or at the very least every week? First we need to look at the steps involved in the process and see how they can be adapted for regular everyday productivity.

  • Set a firm deadline – The very nature of a vacation implies that you must leave your office or home at a certain time or at least a specific day. There is very little wiggle room due to external constraints (flights, reservations, angry spouses.) This leaves no room for procrastination.
  • Establish a compelling incentive – The prospect of relaxation, travel, family time or even extra sleep can be pretty strong motivators.  What is your pay-off for completion? Money, company standing, relationship harmony, a promotion, integrity (the value of keeping your word can not be over-valued.) If you don’t know what your incentive is then you need to question why you are doing it in the first place.
  • Clarify what an acceptable outcome is – There is no place for perfection in vacation wrap-up mode. There just isn’t the time for that type of mindset. What is the ideal end result? What is the absolute minimum? Is there a result somewhere in between both extremes that would be acceptable and reasonable?
  • Determine what actions are absolutely critical for completion – This is a bare bones working plan that includes only the essential tasks. There is no room for busy work, ineffective procedures and wasting time. Eliminate anything non-essential and streamline the most effective actions.
  • Sharpen your focus – do not allow distractions and interruptions. This is not the time for gossiping at the water cooler or cubicle, playing games on the internet or talking to your friends on Facebook. Concentrate fully on the task or project at hand. You’d be surprised by how much time is wasted during a traditional work day. In fact, according to Salary.com, 36% of people waste 2 or more hours per day. That’s 520 hours every year – it’s like getting 65 additional work days! Just think how much you could get done in that amount of time…

Some other factors to consider that are not really tangible steps but non-the-less have a significant impact are attitude, energy and satisfaction. Usually we are in a very positive upbeat frame of mind prior to vacation. We generally seem to have these unusual reserves of energy most likely caused by anticipation and excitement. We also are much happier with our job and less stressed because we know we are getting a break very soon.  While these intangibles are difficult to measure they are in many ways just as critical to the process as the actual steps.

Try using this process each morning (or each Friday if that is all you can manage.) Pretend you are going away or perhaps plan a small reward each evening as incentive. How much more enjoyable work could be if every day was the last day before vacation!

 

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Overwhelmed? Stuck? Stressed? Try This Simple Strategy

By on June 17, 2011 in Sanity Savers

We all feel overwhelmed occasionally…some of us more than others. And by us…I mean me, though it probably applies to many of my readers as well.

It’s the new way of life on the 21st century isn’t it?

I’m not going to tell you that I can cure the insidious attacks of overwhelm and manic busyness that we so often fall victim to. I would however like to share a very simple strategy that has worked for me…at least it works when I remember to use it.

You can use this strategy any time you feel stuck, stressed or unable to focus, have thoughts swirling round and round in your head or just can’t figure where to start or what to do next.

Trust me. It works. And it’s very easy.

I call it one of my Sanity Savers!

STOP

Step 1: Stop!  - Stop whatever you are doing; a few minutes won’t kill you. This stops the spiral.

Step 2: Take a breath – Just take one minute to take a few deep breaths. You can count to 10 if you wish (or use affirmations or mantras if that works for you.) I just breathe slowly in, hold it for a few seconds and breathe out. Repeat a few times. Simple. This lowers your stress and calms the mind. You think and act better with a calmer mind.

Step 3: Order – Briefly use just a few minutes to bring order to your “zone.” Only your immediate zone and only a few minutes. This is not the time to organize your whole house or office or even the entire room. Just look at what’s right around you and tidy it up. Do not sort through all of your piles, or scrub your kitchen sink. Just put away what you don’t need and straighten what’s left; this may be the top of your desk, your kitchen counter, your bed, your work table or even your car if you’re driving. Clearing your space focuses your mind.

 

Step 4: Pick – Choose one thing to do next. Just one. It can be a phone call, an email, a chore at home, a project you’re working on. It really doesn’t matter what you choose. Now that you’ve regrouped, calmed your mind and cleared your space it’s easier to move forward. One step at a time.

It’s that simple, though it’s not always easy.

Remember…Life moves ahead one thought, one breath and one action at a time.

Do you have other techniques to share? What works for you?

 

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