Be A Time Management God.

Over the past few weeks, I've been aggregating many time management tips I share with my clients to get more done in the limited amount of time they have.

It's a mix of managing your time more effectively and dealing with that old devil — procrastination. By the way, if you feel you're the worst offender in the world, get in line. We ALL suffer from these ailments:

• Time management is really prioritizing your tasks. If you really want to get something done, block time for each task in your calendar (yes, keeping an accurate calendar is critical). Ensure you add buffer time (prep work, travel time, etc.) or your calendar will fail miserably.

• You will always find an excuse to procrastinate. Procrastination has its own in-built solution, usually involving panic and adrenaline (read this).

• Take frequent, short breaks. Falling back to regroup can help many people recharge and regain focus when things start getting fuzzy or monotonous. Go for a walk, stretch, get a coffee — move away for a few minutes and then come back to it.

• "Perfect is the enemy of good." I develop a good balance of quality and time — I schedule a strict deadline and work to it. The result won't be perfect, but it will be close to perfect every time. My articles take 60 minutes to write — they’re not Shakespeare, but thousands of people read them and let me know how many of my crazy ideas have changed their lives.

• Work for 50 minutes out of every hour. The Pomodoro technique works pretty well for me and many of my clients.

• Learn what your productivity kryptonite is. For some it's surfing, coworkers, surfing, clients, phone calls, surfing — download an app if you don’t have the willpower. There are a bunch of plugins/apps you can download to block yourself from distracting websites: StayFocusd (Chrome plugin) or SelfControl (Mac program).

• Always have a notepad handy. Write down anything/everything you may think you will forget in short form. You can then transfer it to your calendar.

• Plan out each tasks into smaller, more achievable steps. Keep your to-do lists short — meaning nothing more than 2 or 3 steps. I've found that if I follow this, there's a better chance of completing them and less chance of becoming overwhelmed and giving up.

• Go to a public place where we feel we might be judged if we are not doing work. It might be the public library, Starbucks, central conference room or the company cafeteria.

• Make a schedule of what you will do in one day and stick to it. At first, it will be difficult to accurately estimate a solid workday — but you’ll get better at it with time. Reward yourself for achieving your goals that day — you deserve it.

• Buy this book by David Allen. I read it years ago and I felt more relaxed in the first week — it really helps you to focus on the things that really need to be done.

• Find out which hours you are at your BEST. For example, I’m a morning person so I try to do critical tasks early in the morning. Many problems arise when we try to do the hard stuff when we’re not mentally/physically ready for it.

• Eliminate elements which tend to eat your time like unnecessarily long phone calls, useless chats with people, etc. Figure out what they are and cut down doing them.

• Don't play the victim. If I get distracted by something, it isn't the fault of what/who distracted me, my cluttered-brain, whatever's making me sad, or some ADHD affliction — it's my fault. I did that. Own it and move on.

• Start each day with the proper mindset. I think the song ‘Don't Stop Believin’ by Journey describes the mindset I aim for. I listen to motivating music, podcasts, or books EVERY DAY.

• Buy AirPods. They’re a giant productivity boost for me — they allow me to focus on getting important things done and they discourage wacky interlopers.

And finally, my favorite:

I construct each weekday in such a way where the only work that needs to be accomplished is incredibly important to me — like coaching my clients. Try to put yourself in a position where what you do is what you love.

You Can Be The Best You Can Be.

I came up with a simple and powerful tool the other day. I was standing in my office in front of a large Post-It notepad sheet with a red sharpie in my hand (red delivers intention!) — and the ideas just flowed. What did I come up with to help you be the best? To be the best you can be, there are four stages to success — Find Me, Want Me, Sell Them, Close Them. This works for the corporate executive, to the aspiring entrepreneur, all the way to the person in transition. It's simple, it's direct, and it works. Let me explain each one:

STAGE ONE: FIND ME

We go through our lives partially hidden to key influential people and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. We either sit at our desk toiling away, make cold calls to people who don't want our services, or hide at home and send out electronic résumés to closed positions. And we wonder why we aren't moving up, getting the best clients, or landing that dream job. It's frustrating.

The best businesses are easy to find - a big sign, the best location — the ability to stand out and be a billboard so millions of people can see you:

• Executive: When was the last time you introduced yourself to the leaders in you organization? Do they know you?

• Business Owner: New signage, new website, new branding — getting out and touching lots of people?

• Transitional: Keywords on LinkedIn, writing articles, hitting industry meetings, hitting the library?

STAGE TWO: WANT ME

Okay — now we are being seen by the powers that be. What do we do now? We want them to WANT US. How do we do that?

You need to develop your own personal brand that will engage your audience and get them to see your ability, your product, and your talents:

• Executive: What can you do to really help your company? If you've done it, do you brag about it? Be bold.

• Business Owner: What one thing do you do that can change people's lives or fill a hole in their life? Spotlight your brand.

• Transitional: Polish your image and brand - hit the gym, change your fashions, and show them what you can do for them. No begging.

STAGE THREE: SELL THEM

They've seen us and they want us. It's time to sell them and show them we are the best choice (this is where most fail).

You need to develop an iron-clad delivery that will make them better understand what you can do for them and that you're the only person on this earth who can do it. Find the BURNING issue that keeps them awake at night and show them how you will solve it.

• Executive: Think big - what are the real issues your company/industry are facing right now? Figure out some powerful solutions.

• Business Owner: Who are your biggest/best customers? What aren't you doing for them that will change their life?

• Transitional: It's not what you did - it's what you can do for them RIGHT NOW. Pinpoint what that is and deliver it.

STAGE FOUR: CLOSE THEM

Everyone forgets this one. They market, produce the itch, and make the sale — then they forget to close or leave them hanging.

Once you've sold them — get them to sign on the dotted line. Don't feel that it's their job to jump into the boat after you've hooked them — take them off your line and place them nicely in your cooler.

• Executive: Once they are interested in you — try to offer yourself to help them with a major initiative or pitch. You have the time.

• Business Owner: Once they are sold — make the closing process simple, easy, transparent, and fluid. It should be pleasurable for the customer.

• Transitional: Ask for the job. Get them to commit. Show them that you can leave for a better opportunity. Sign on the dotted line.

If you stick to this method and produce key deliverables for each stage — I promise you — you will be THE BEST YOU CAN BE.

The Perfect Message On Time Management (from a Google Manager).

I was wondering around the web the other day and ran into this article/email on Medium (one of my favorite sites). I ran into a profound message from a Google manager who wrote a simple email to his staff on Time Management. (By Jeremiah Dillon, Head of Product Marketing, Google Apps for Work)

It was so well received, he was asked to broadcast it to a larger audience, and history was made.

Here it is in it's entirety (even with some inside Google jokes). Enjoy!

---

To: Friend

Subject: If you don’t have time to read this…read it twice.

Stop. Breathe. Now, think about how you’re managing your time. Speaking for myself, I have some room for improvement.

It’s been said there are two paradigms to scheduling — the manager and the maker.

The manager’s day is cut into 30 minute intervals, and they change what they’re are doing every half hour. Sorta like Tetris — shifting blocks around and filling spaces.

The maker’s day is different. They need to make, to create, to build. But, before that, they need to think. The most effective way for them to use time is in half-day or full-day blocks. Even a single 30 minute meeting in the middle of “Make Time” can be disruptive.

We all need to be makers.

Ok. Great idea. I’ll do that… you know… later… I’m late for a meeting.

No. It doesn’t work that way. The only way to make this successful is to be purposeful. Establish an implementation intention. You need to define precisely when and where you’ll reserve Make Time for your projects. Let me tell you a story about a study on this effect:

• The control group was asked to exercise once in the next week. 29% of them exercised.
• Experiment group 1 was given the same ask, along with detailed information about why exercise is important to health (i.e. “you’ll die if you don’t”.) 39% of them exercised.
• Experiment group 2 was asked to commit to exercising at a specific place, on a specific day at a specific time of their choosing. 91% of them exercised.

Commit to protecting Make Time on your calendar including the time and place where you’ll be making, and ideally detail on what you’ll be making. That way, you know, it’ll actually happen.

So, I can just do this like… last thing on Friday, right… after all of my meetings are over?

Actually, no. Many of our meetings could be shorter or include fewer people, and some don’t need to happen at all. Take back those hours for your Make Time instead. But, don’t put it off till the end of the day on Friday — the time you choose really matters. Your energy levels run the course of a wave throughout the week, so try to plan accordingly:

Aim to do the following:

• Monday: Energy ramps out of the weekend — schedule low demand tasks like setting goals, organizing and planning.
• Tuesday, Wednesday: Peak of energy — tackle the most difficult problems, write, brainstorm, schedule your Make Time.
• Thursday: Energy begins to ebb — schedule meetings, especially when consensus is needed.
• Friday: Lowest energy level — do open-ended work, long-term planning and relationship building.

Always bias your Make Time towards the morning, before you hit a cycle of afternoon decision fatigue. Hold the late afternoon for more mechanical tasks.

My new challenge to you: create and protect your Make Time and before you “steal someone’s chair,” consider whether it’ll be disruptive to their Make Time.

P.S. I have Make Time on my calendar. Please don’t schedule over it, and I promise to do my best not to schedule over yours.

How Do Busy Leaders Make More Time?

One of my clients sent me their daily schedule. I was so blown away by it's simplicity and it's ability to fit many professional and personal things in — I just had to publish it for my audience. In their own words: "I want to put myself on a schedule.  I need a schedule where I meditate 2x per day, exercise, have ample time for self-education and time to relax."

• 5:00 AM - Get Up.
• 5:00 to 6:00 AM — Meditate for 20 minutes, Walk for 30 minutes, Lift weights for 10 minutes.
• 6:00 to 6:30 AM — Eat Breakfast, Coffee.
• 6:30 to 7:30 AM — Self-Education.
• 7:30 to 8:30 AM — Get Ready for work.
• 8:30 to 9:00 AM — Drive to work, Listen to Audiobooks/Podcasts.
• 9:00 to 5:00 PM — Work.
• 5:00 to 5:30 PM — Drive home, Listen to Audiobooks/Podcasts.
• 5:30 to 6:00 PM — Meditate.
• 6:00 to 7:00 PM — Cook & Eat Dinner.
• 7:00 to 8:30 PM — Self-Education.
• 8:30 to 9:00 PM — Ready for Bed.
• 9:00 to 10:00 PM — Relax, Read, Watch TV.
• 10:00 PM — Go To Bed.

My client is a successful senior executive at a prestigious company who has accomplished a lot and has been gainfully employed and promoted regularly. They're not a slacker.

As you can see, they get it all done in a relaxed schedule, allocating adequate time for all of their activities. Of course there might be subtle deviations due to travel, emergencies, and unplanned activities, but for the most part, they stick to this plan.

So for all the people out there who say they "don't have the time" — Yes, You DO. 

8 Things I Wish I Learned In College.

I loved going to college. I learned a lot and grew a lot while I was there. In addition to all the facts and figures, I also learned many intangibles - how to communicate with very intelligent people, how to do real research, and how to solve difficult problems (to name just a few). But there were a few things I either missed or was never exposed to in my four years. During my 20 years in corporate management and 10+ years coaching, I found many different themes bubbling up to the surface time and time again. When it finally cut through my thick irish/polish/russian head, I made it a point of learning the best way to do them and then built each one in as a daily behavior. Here are my Top 8 (not 10, 16 or 20 - the best 8):

1. Change your game often.

Most people get stuck in rut — doing the same things day in and day out. Successful people in business are constantly assessing and changing what they do.

Read this: How To Successfully Change Your Game

2. Staying focused: the Pareto Rule.

If you are not reviewing your daily/weekly/monthly activities, you'll never get a good handle on streamlining your tasks and focusing on the important stuff.

Read this: How To Be Successful Every Day Extra credit: How To Be More Effective On The Job

3. Effective time management.

If you don't have control of your time, the days will fly by and you'll be wondering where all the time went. Just a few minutes a day will change the way you work.

Read this: Control Your Time By Designing Your Schedule

4. Communicating with difficult people.

It's a fact of life at work — you are going to run into people who are difficult to work with. They can be disagreeable, they can cause problems, or they can be your arch-enemy.

Read this: How To Deal With Very Difficult People

5. Recharging my enthusiasm daily.

No one likes to spend time with a negative person. Let's be honest, we don't like to spend time with neutral personalities either. Who do we love to spend time with? People who energize us — people with enthusiasm.

Read this: If You Aren’t Fired With Enthusiasm, You’ll Be Fired With Enthusiasm

6. Being proactive (not the face-cleanser).

Don't procrastinate and take charge of your career — what needs to be done and what can you do right now to ensure everything flows smoothly?

Read this: No Time? Focus on the Important

7. Keep people happy — under-promise & over-deliver.

This is a really hard one to overcome because we are trained at an early age to please other people for acceptance.

Read this: How To Make Your Boss & Clients Happy All The Time

8: Don't be so hard on yourself.

We drive ourselves hard and frequently pick on our actions - "That was stupid!" or "I can believe I did that!". As I tell my clients, there's a level where internal 'pushing' is good and then there's a level where it becomes a negative force in your life. If you make a mistake the first time, treat it as a learning experience. Hold off the self-recrimination for the 2nd or 3rd time you do it.

Read this: How To Never Make A Mistake At Work

How to Be an Effective CEO.

It's quite simple - unfortunately, there are many critics, books, and know-it-all's out there trying to 'complexify' (my word) the basic responsibilities of a CEO or C-Level executive. It really comes down to three skills:

1. Motivate Your Team This is the most important skill - everyone goes to work, but it's how you manage their expectations, keep them focused, and acknowledge them for their efforts that win the game. This is not a one management-style fits all - you need to directly motivate each direct report on your team AND teach them how they can directly motivate the direct reports on their team. By doing this, motivation will be viral and very successful.

Find out what energizes them - HOW? - Ask them. What do they like to work on? What areas challenge them? What areas do they hate working on? - Help them streamline, delegate, and retire those areas.

2. Communicate & Inform This is the day-to-day stuff and candidly, most executives fail at this skill. Many either forget to communicate/inform or they actually manage by not delivering information - it sounds a little comical - but it's true. It's call management by holding back information.

All you have to do is communicate clearly and ensure that the person or team that you're communicating to not only listens, but they understand your vision, goals, direction or tactics. In addition, you need to inform on a regular basis - keep the team up to date on what's happening and tell them immediately, not after the fact.

More information and increased communication delivers a happy and healthy team.

3. Help Them Get Rid Of Obstacles Finally, your job is to help your people recognize, understand, and bypass regular obstacles that get in their way.

But here's the kicker - you don't do it for them - have them come with possible solutions to the problem, you both discuss it, and they walk away with a strategy to solve their own problems. That is the only way they grow as an executive and you get back much needed time to focus on more important matters.

That's it. If you keep to these three rules, you will find that your life as a C-Level executive will be ever so much easier and more fulfilling. Try it!

Are You Late All The Time? Stop It Right Now.

It's not your clients. It's not the recession. It's not the marketplace. It's you. I've seen a dramatic, broad increase in lateness, cancellations, and just plain not showing up.

It's unprofessional. It's clearly states that you really do not value the other person's time. And as many of my corporate colleagues used to say, it might be a 'power' play, but I find it rude.

I fully understand if you are late due to extenuating circumstances (traffic, sickness, late client, etc.), or if you let the person know way ahead of time that you will be late. This allows the person to make the decision to keep the appointment, reschedule, or cancel it. That's good business.

But when I get last minute calls to cancel (multiple times) or when I'm sitting in a restaurant and the person I'm meeting never shows up - it's frustrating.

My dentist just had all his patients sign a form to communicate a late policy — if you call to reschedule your appointment (or miss your appointment) within a 24-hour window, they will be charging $50 fee on your credit card. Ouch. But jolly-good for him!

So during this spring season, try focusing more on your time. Not only will it pay dividends, it will deliver an increased appreciation of your talents from all the people you meet. In addition, you turn the stress level way down.

Here are some techniques I use to be on time:

• I leave early. Way early. So when I get to my destination early, I get to do a little work. Like writing this blog post.
• I buffer adequate amounts of travel time between appointments. This allows me to easily make it to my next appointment without worry.
• If a client or colleague runs late, I immediately state at the start of the meeting that I have a hard stop at the top of the hour. It's polite and let's them know that my time is important without insulting them.
• I use my time effectively. If time is short, I work with the person I'm meeting to quickly hit all the salient points we need to cover. No dilly-dallying.
• I plan my day. And I stick to it. Most people I know don't do this. Do it.
• I check email and voicemail at certain times of the day, not all the time. Unless I arrived early, then if I have time to kill prior to a meeting or call, I'll check it.

Are you late often? Do you cancel appointments at the last minute? Do you expect other colleagues to understand when you reschedule at the last minute?

Three Secrets Presentation Pros Keep To Themselves.

To be honest, there are times when I'm scared. Not the 'horror movie, the zombie is coming after me scared' — more like the 'I've been pushed WAY out of my comfort zone' scared. A few weeks ago, I was asked by a Fortune 50 organization to speak to a group of their employees — a small group, say 50-100 people. No problem — I've done it before. As the date moved ever closer, the attendance figures rose to 200, 300 until I walked into the building and found out we were looking at 750-800 attendees (for the auditorium and streamed via webinar). Oh my.

The main reason why there was a dramatic attendance jump was directly attributable to the title and topic of my talk: "Bulletproof Your Career". To say the least, I had to pull every bit of speaker experience out of my being and ensure my time on stage wow'ed the audience. During this entire process, I used three 'secrets' to allow me to knock it out of the park (afterward, I was told my evaluation score was 98% — one of the best they've ever seen).

So here they are:

1. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

I couldn't have walked on stage in front of all those people without being 100% sure of my presentation and the logistics behind the presentation. First off, I spend a lot of time constructing the presentation. I have a rare form of presentation ADD, so when I build every slide deck, I tend to instantly edit, modify, and move things around because I get bored easily. I then run through the slides standing up, looking at my screen with my remote — to see how each slide runs into the next and I instantly feel the flow. Honestly, I do it a number of times until I get it right.

I also show up to the venue at least two hours ahead of time. I ensure I'm at the location (so I'm not late), I meet with the AV crew and connect my presentation to their machinery and I get a feel for the stage — I walk around, test the mic, see if there are any obstacles that might trip me up. Everything has to be PERFECT — and we have more than enough time to make it all happen. These little things all build my confidence and banish all the worries we all have prior to a presentation.

I also ask many questions prior to the event to get a better feel for my audience. Who will be there? What information do they need? Where are their heads at right now? All of these activities ensure I will deliver my best for all of my clients.

2. Simple, Clear, Concise

This is the hardest secret for presenters to stick to — keeping their message simple, clear and concise. They tend to over-complexify their presentation with a million slides, too much info on each slide, too many bullets (I hate bullets), etc. It almost becomes a treasure hunt for the audience where the presenter has buried the treasure and the audience has to find (decipher) it.

My slides always have one of two things: an image which dominates the slide or words which make up a simple phrase. That's it. Too many times, I see presenters go WAY overboard by adding too much information to the slide. They're not only hurting themselves (the audience checks out at a certain point) but their are obfuscating their message.

LESS IS MORE. Use your slides as illustrations to your verbal speaking points. You want your audience to spend the majority of their time looking at you, glancing at the slide, and then back to you. You don't want them READING each point — then they don't need you AND you lose the power and presence of a presenter instantly.

3. Pick It Up, Power It Down

Modulate your presentation — most speakers don't do this — they stay at the same volume, the same tonality, and the same rhythm during the entire presentation.

Mix it up! Jump on stage and greet your audience — unless you're a star and your reputation precedes you, every speaker needs to transfer their excitement and energy to the audience. The easiest way to do that is to greet everyone with a huge "Good Morning". First impressions impact your entire presentation.

Start out strong and let them know what they're in for — give them a brief overview of what your're going to cover. Tell them a story — get them excited about true instances which bring your points to life.

Power it down to make a point — get them to focus — but then bring it back up by asking a question or make a self-depreciating comment to make them laugh. Whatever you choose, keep the rhythm moving,  unexpected, go up and down in tonality. This is not a world affairs forum and you are not expounding on the economics of third-world countries — you are informing, entertaining and engaging your audience. Make it a celebration!

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Hitting A Wall In Your Career? You Need A Breakthrough.

It's tough today. It’s difficult when everything is coming at you. Hard to think. Hard to act. Hard to react. As they always say — the first step is always the hardest.

It’s hard when everything is coming at you. Hard to think. Hard to act. Hard to react.

You’re constantly focused on getting the work done — satisfying your boss, your clients . . . just keeping your job!

It’s now time for you to step back and look at the long view:

Where you’ve been

Where you are

Where you want to go

This isn’t time consuming, but it isn’t easy. The only thing I ask is that you don’t give into the “Executive ADD” that creeps in when we try something that is new and difficult.

“Oh, this won’t work” or “Let me just put this down for a second and I’ll get back to it tomorrow.”

Stop doing that. Now.

Like the title to this page says: “Take the first step and let the tide take you.” But do

You’re constantly focused on getting the work done — satisfying your boss, your clients . . . just keeping your career going!

It’s now time for you to step back and look at the long view:

Where you’ve been... Where you are... Where you want to go...

This isn’t time consuming, but it ain't easy. I only ask is that you don’t capitulate to “Career ADD” which creeps in when we try something new and difficult.

“Oh, this won’t work” or “Let me just put this down for a second and I’ll get back to it tomorrow.” Or even the "I've done this before and it never worked."

Stop doing that. Now.

Take the first step and let the momentum take you. But don’t stop.

I have something to help you — I've used it with thousands of clients. And guess what? IT WORKS.

The BEST part? It's FREE. Download Breakthrough right now. It's a life-changing solution.

You're welcome.

How Successful Leaders Stay Successful.

It's simple. This prescription is easy to understand and execute — but for some reason, for most people, it's really difficult and complex. So here it is — 

Launch. Declare Victory. Move On. 

Work is made up of a bunch of tasks, activities, projects, initiatives, and deliverables. We work and manage them day in and day out. Unfortunately, we sometimes forget that many of these things we do have a critical half-life. We need to complete them and get them out the door ASAP.

But we don't do that. We keep working on them, we can make them better. We can push them to do a little bit more. In addition, we are sometimes afraid of releasing our deliverables out into the world for fear of failure. So we procrastinate.

So here's my prescription for success (taught to me years ago by a valued boss):

Launch.

Get it out. Set a deadline and stick to it. Put plans in place to make sure nothing can stand in the way of launching, releasing, or completing your deliverable. It could be as big as a new product or as small as a simple presentation. Your job is to get it out and DONE.

Declare Victory.

This one is critical. Build into your plan the ability to put a positive spin on everything you accomplish. Why? Because the typical human being tends to do the exact opposite — they criticize, condemn, and complain about what they deliver. How it's not ready, how you could've done better, how you missed the delivery date by a few seconds.

We all do it. So to be successful, do the exact opposite. Declare victory — let everyone know it's out, it's a success, build up enthusiasm, get people excited. Let them know about all the great things it will do and how it will change their lives.

Move On.

This is the most important part — once you declare victory, move on to something else. Don't rest on your laurels — your last deliverable will start to smell after awhile. So many people launch something or complete a huge project and for the next 3-6 months, bask in the glory and slowly move from delivery to on-going maintenance.

Once you declare victory, move on to something new ASAP. Too many people fall into the trap of sticking around too long at the party and they suddenly become the 'guest that wouldn't leave'. So move on as soon as you can (if you have a hard time doing this, elect someone to push you out the door, hand you your car keys, and drive home).

Why is this a prescription for success? Because it clearly positions you to deliver quickly, market your success, and move on to another great project. Too many times we let nostalgia, inertia, and pure laziness to keep us back when we need to move forward.

How To Survive In A High Performance Workplace.

Been there, done that. Because of the economy and marketplace, many seemingly normal environments are slowly turning into ‘high-performance’ workplaces (HPW). In addition, if you are working at a startup or within a certain industry (PR, Advertising, Tech, etc.), you might encounter this situation all the time. Here are some tips to help you understand, cope, and succeed in your career:

Compare You vs. Them. Do you fit in this environment? This is usually the first question I ask when clients are not fitting in at their place of work. I first get a good idea about who they are and what a typical day involves and then compare/contrast it with the demands/expectations of their organization. If the two don’t fit, we see how big the chasm is and then decide on next steps. Sometimes, you need to leave.

You are not going to know everything. This is one of the biggest issues many executives run into. In HPW, things/people/projects are moving at light-speed. Decisions need to be made in one-tenth the time and sometimes you’re put on the spot by your boss or peers. You are going to catch yourself saying, “I know that.” or “I’ll handle that”, while deep in the recesses of your head you know you have no idea what they are talking about. This is huge with new employees and young workers. Be honest. Say, “I don’t know,” or “I don’t know, but I can find out.” rather than lying. I find it’s usually worse if you say you do know it and you screw it up. Again, tell the truth.

Streamline everything you do. This is huge — your job is to streamline everything you do to allow you to take on more responsibility and projects. Constantly look at all the elements and see which ones can go away or can be reduced in size, time, or resources. If you do this consistently, you will be regarded as invaluable to the organization and fit in perfectly.

Make things happen NOW. Don’t wait until tomorrow — what can you do right now to move your project, task, or activity along? Who do you need to call? This leads into:

Sit on people to get their part done. This is hard for many people. When working with your peers and team members, it might be difficult to move them faster than their highest gear. Guess what? It’s their job. We tend to forget this — many positions within an organization cater to internal customers, like you. Be demanding, listen to their excuse, but then PUSH. Ask for a due date and hold them to it. Check in before the deadline to see their progress. If they become an obstacle, go around them. I do this ALL the time.

Practice excellent time management. You also need to keep your act in order. If you are sloppy time-wise, you’ll never get anything done on time and that is a death-warrant in a HPW. Figure out some behavior change — Franklin Planner, Pomodoro, Getting Things Done, etc. (just Google: Time Management)— stick to it and use it faithfully. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself falling farther and farther away from the pack and you begin to forget/drop important tasks.

How do you cope in your high performance workplace?

Image provided by SuperFantastic at Flickr.

How To Better Control Your Time.

Time is the one thing you can never get back. So you need to be careful with it, don't waste it, don't hurry through it, and use it effectively. You need to CONTROL your time.

How do you do that? It's easy and it's hard — here are some tips:

Clear Your Desk.

I know . . . it's hard. But once it's done, it is so easy to focus without any distractions to instantly pull you away from the task at hand. Also there is the visual aspect of a clean desk. You FEEL better about yourself and your surroundings. It's easier to find things and important papers don't get lost.

So here's my strategy — Pile, View, Attack/File/Toss/LCB:

1. Pile - Take everything off your desk and make a single pile of paper.
2. View - Pick up and look at each piece of paper. You must make four piles:
3. Attack - work on it immediately - something you can complete within a short amount of time.
4. File - File it away for future access.
5. Toss - Throw it away. I know it's hard - but most of your pile can go this route.
6. LCB: Last Chance Bin - get a box and place it under your desk. If you are unsure of tossing something, put it into this bin. If you need it later, it's there. If not (after 3-6 months), toss it out. This bin works wonders.

Plan Your Day.

This is the hardest and surprisingly the easiest way to get a better handle on your time. Why?

If you go somewhere or if you're on a trip, you have a destination and a route to get there. That's called a plan.

Why is it when you get to work you don't architect the same thinking for your activities, meetings, and tasks? What needs to be done — what is it's priority — and when will you complete it?

Randy Pausch developed a very simple, yet effective template to help anyone plan their day. It's made up of four quadrants:

• Due Soon and Not Due Soon
• Important and Not Important

When you look at your "Attack" pile of work for the day, you usually work through it based on time in and time out. But importance flies out the window — most people aren't working on the most important and critical tasks. This tool helps them do it.

Which ones to work on first? Upper left! Which ones to work on last? Lower right! Here's a PDF template you can use.

Work On One Thing At A Time.

This is where we all fall down. We think we can 'multi-task' our work and guess what? We never get anything done or even worse, we do things in a haphazard fashion.

Take your Attack pile and your Activity List and make your way down each item. Once it's complete, check it off. Set aside time to work on your attack pile — don't answer the phone — don't let anyone bother you — don't let anything take your focus away from the task at hand until you are DONE. You can always return that phone call 15-30 minutes later or go see the person who wanted to see you.

Also — turn your email reminders OFF. You can get back to checking email when you're DONE.

At first it will be difficult. But when you start to see a clean desk, a planned out day, and REAL progress on your work. These basic behaviors will begin to kick in. Try it!

How You Easily Deceive Yourself.

Scenario 1: "Let's meet at 2 PM Friday — I have a lunch meeting at Noon and I can run from there to your office to meet. I know it will be tight, but I will only allow myself one hour to eat." Scenario 2: "My day is full of back to back meetings, in different buildings, but I can make it without being late."

Scenario 3: "We can get your final approval in, print up your order, and have it out by the end of the day."

Which one is your scenario? Okay — let's get serious. We know these scenarios work some of the time, but most of the time, you're either late or you miss your deadline.

With the myriad of things we do in our career, time management, or the appearance of time management is our kryptonite. The more we try to do, the more we juggle, the less time we have for mistakes, traffic, and plain-old scheduling.

When it comes to time, where do you deceive yourself?

• Do you get up late and have to rush around getting dressed and ready for the day?
• Do you leave at the wrong time every day so you hit a higher level of traffic commuting?
• Is daily planning in the morning a chore (so you don't do it)?
• Do you over-promise and under-deliver?

Here are a few great time management posts to help you:

How To Survive In A High Performance Workplace

5 Ways To Kill Email

The Best Time Management Tool I Recommend To My Clients

Time Management Stinks. Here Are 10 Tips That Work for Me.

Stupid Things People Do At The Office - You're Always Late.

I know you're busy. We all are. Does it seem that you never get ahead of the curve? That you are always late for almost every meeting, appointment and even getting to work?

Let's look at why it happens in the first place:

1. You think you're special. You're not. You are just like everyone else. Start treating people with respect.
2. You're on a long-term ego trip. Even CEO's show up on time to meetings with the lowest employees on the corporate totem pole.
3. You want to look important. It doesn't make you look like "executive material" (i.e., no time for the peons). It makes you look like an ass.
4. You forget about the time. Sorry, that's not an option. You are an adult — start acting like one.

Get it through your head — you hate it when people are late for  you — don't do it to them. Being on time or early shows respect. AND - it allows the meeting to possibly end early.

Here are some quick tips to stop that from happening:

1. Set all clocks that you monitor 5-10 minutes ahead. I know that it's stupid - but it works.
2. Buffer time around meetings. If you bump one up against another, you won't have time to get to it. And you will then have time to hit the bathroom.
3. If you're too busy, try to cut out some lower priority meetings. See this post.
4. Get up earlier if you are always late to work. You miss the later traffic AND you get more work done before normal work hours begin.

Being late isn't a personality defect, most of the time, you just don't care. Start caring.

Stupid Things People Do At The Office – Take Work Home Over The Weekend.

Friday just flew by. And now you packed up your briefcase with folders and ran out the door at 7 PM. You're planning to do some work this weekend to catch up before Monday rolls around and you're behind the eight ball. First — Do you really need to bring the work home? Or do you need to be 'superhumanly' productive to succeed at work? Do you find that you ALWAYS bring work home? Make the hard choice - what would happen if you left those folders at work? Try it - you'll like it. Bottom line - you don't HAVE to bring them home EVERY weekend.

Second — Can you attack the work first thing Saturday morning? Get up at 6 AM and work until 9 AM - a three full hours. Then you have the rest of the weekend to relax and enjoy yourself. If you are like most people, you bring the work home and let it sit until Sunday evening and worry about it all weekend. Don't do that - attack it first thing and then have fun.

Third — Can you streamline your work down to a manageable hour? Instead of just diving into your work and watching the hours tick by - what is the most important thing that needs to be done and can it be finished within one hour? When we have an unspecified amount of time to work, we tend to meander and waste a lot of time. Give yourself a set amount of time (1-2 hours) and see how much you really can get done under a strict deadline.

How To Be Successful Every Day.

  Time to hit work after a wonderful weekend . . . check your email . . . get ready for all those wonderful meetings . . . and make sure you schedule for all the work coming down the pike this week.

Whoops! Forgot to tell you something . . . Most executives tend to forget that their job isn't supposed to crank out work (okay - that's part of your job - but just follow my thinking for a bit).

You are also expected to IMPROVE. CONSTANTLY.

Of course you work. But to be successful in your position, you need to be a machine. A machine that constantly strives to:

1. Do better.
2. Take on additional responsibilities.
3. Never wear out (keep on running and have a bright smile every day).

But how do you do that? Your schedule is ALWAYS full. You come in early, you stay late, and you bring work home. How are you going to IMPROVE CONSTANTLY?

There are three little letters that will help you do that EVERY DAY:    S   D   R

S = STREAMLINE Regularly look at your workload and apply the 80/20 rule to it. Why? Candidly, if you work day-to-day, you tend to get into little ruts in your work habits, your responsibilities, and your inter-personal connections. Not major ruts - small ones. What eventually happens is that they take over your schedule, eking out more and more time, until you find yourself working 60-70 hours a week and 10-20 hours at home.

These ruts steal precious time from those high-value, high-impact tasks that move you forward quickly. So on a monthly basis, stand back and look at your litany of responsibilities, and make highly critical assessments of each one. See how you can eliminate steps in accomplishing each task. Instead of a report, will an email suffice? Instead of an email, would a quick 2 minute phone call be in line? Instead of a phone call, how about a personal drive-by their office? Cut your email in half by using some quick tips (call me - 203.500.2421).

When you regularly cut small steps out of your responsibilities and accelerate your interpersonal communications, they go faster and get done quicker.

D = DELEGATE Take a close look at your responsibilities and see what ones can be delegated to your staff. Or delegated to technology.

That is your job as a manager - to constantly motivate your team and get them to take on more complex and harder tasks. So give them a taste of what you do. Here's the hint - don't give them the fun stuff - give them the tasks that  you HATE to do. They will feel empowered that they are working on management-level responsibilities and you will have more time for more important things.

Or figure out how technology can come to the rescue. Review reports online rather than printing them out.

You'll find that your day gets more fun and you get to work on the stuff that really matters to your business and your success.

R = RETIRE Which tasks take up a lot of time but don't really deliver the impact that merits their priority?

Begin to prioritize all of your responsibilities and pick off one or two - stop doing them - see what happens. It might be a regular meeting that you have, a report that you do, a task that no one really appreciates. Try it - you might realize that no one notices that it's gone.

Candidly - this one is the hardest one to do - but when you get good at it - you'll find that this step delivers the biggest bang for your buck. Try it!

Reorganize Yourself.

Okay — Thanksgiving is over and you probably are lucky enough to have the day off. Take part of today and devote two hours to reorganizing yourself. Take a fresh look at how you are organized and look for opportunities to improve. You will probably discover several areas where you can eliminate some personal time wasters simply by becoming a little better organized. 1. Throw things away! Yes, even those ticket stubs from your last concert. Ask yourself, "What is the worst thing that could happen if I throw this away?" Most of the time, you can live with your answer, so start filling that wastebasket!

2. If you get heartburn from throwing stuff away, create a "bin of last resort" under your desk. I usually use a Rubbermaid bin to collect the pile. When it fills up, I take the bottom third of the pile and throw it away since I haven't touched any of the papers in 3-6 months. In addition, if you toss something important in there, it's easy to find, because it's in there chronologically.

Happy Tossing!

Made The WSJ Again!

Sue Shellenbarger from the Wall Street Journal called me a few weeks ago. She asked me about what key Time Management tools that I might know of. Over a number of phone calls we discussed the basic philosophy of time management, some key tools that my clients use (GTD, Pomodoro, FranklinCovey), and even introduced her to an incredible coach that wrote a book on time management — Keith Rosen.

In the end, Sue hit another one out of the park with this piece. Check it out!

Keeping Unscheduled Time.

I love the The Practice of Leadership blog - and George Ambler hits it out of the park with this topic on buffering time:

“Every leader should routinely keep a substantial portion of his or her time—I would say as much as 50 percent—unscheduled. … Only when you have substantial ’slop’ in your schedule—unscheduled time—will you have the space to reflect on what you are doing, learn from experience, and recover from your inevitable mistakes. Leaders without such free time end up tackling issues only when there is an immediate or visible problem. Managers’ typical response to my argument about free time is, ‘That’s all well and good, but there are things I have to do.’ Yet we waste so much time in unproductive activity—it takes an enormous effort on the part of the leader to keep free time for the truly important things.” – Dov Frohman

Making time to reflect and think is a critical leadership practice. In its simplest form, reflecting is just thinking about what happened. It’s the process of thinking about and examining what we’ve experienced, how we reacted and what changes we need to make to become more effective.

There are few people who make a conscious effort to learn from their experiences and fewer still learn from their mistakes. This is because reflection is not an automatic process for most people. Most of use make our way through life simply reacting to circumstances. To be effective leaders must make reflection a regular practice.

“Leaders like everyone else, are the sum of all their experiences, but, unlike others, they amount to more than the sum, because they make more of their experiences.” – Warren Bennis, Why Leaders Can’t Lead

A simple way to start the practice of reflection is by asking questions, questions about how we feel, about the results we are getting in our life, and what we can do differently to get different results. For example, find a quite place where you are not going to be disturbed then, take an issue that’s important to you, and ask yourself the following questions:

What happened? What was I trying to achieve? What went well and why? What didn’t go so well and why? How did it affect me? How did it affect others? What were the consequences (positive or negative) for myself and others? What could be done differently next time? Would this change improve the consequences?

“Reflection is asking the questions that provoke self-awareness” – Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader

As leaders much of our success is dependent on the way we think. Given this, it’s important that we schedule regular time-out to reflect on how we are behaving, how we are thinking about a situation and what adjustments we might need to make to improve our effectiveness. When was the last time you spent reflecting on an issue that is important to you?

Convince Your Boss to Let You Become a 'Workshifter'.

Over the course of the life of this blog, other authors will approach this different ways. I convinced my supervisor at a wireless telecom company (this was in 2005) to let me become a workshifter for three out of five days a week. It wasn't easy, but I found several keys that got me the freedom to work out of a coffeeshop, and the flexibility to do more with the two hours a day that shift brought me. By Chris Brogan at Workshifting.com

Get On the Boss's Side of the Fence If you're going to convince your supervisor to let you workshift, it's not going to be because they really want you to enjoy an extra cup or two of coffee in the morning. Start the process by identifying what's in it for the boss. In my case, my commute was over an hour each way, so I told him that giving me a few days to work remotely would add two hours of productivity per day. Showing him the benefit up front gave him a chance to wiggle his eyebrows on what six hours (2 hours x 3 days) would give him each week: practically another working day!

Get Accountability Figured Out Right Away The biggest shift I encountered in workshifting was that my boss (like many supervisors) was still considering me productive as measured by "hours spent with butt in chair." Yes, sadly, with all the world has brought us in technological advances, it's human nature to equate physical presence with productivity.

The truth of the matter was, because of my position, people often sought me out at my desk to discuss technology changes and work-related issues. I pointed out to the boss that we had some fairly tangible deliverables to my work, and that if wasn't turning things in promptly, it would show pretty quickly, and he could reassess whether I should be a workshifter. He bought this reasoning, and I endeavored to deliver ahead of time as often as I could.

Touch: the Art of Presence Management When you're out of the office, silence on your part is always met with frustration and concern. It's again a matter of human nature. The cure? Connect with your supervisor often through electronic means. Send a brief email every hour or so with some work-related piece of information. If your company is cool enough to use something like Socialcast or Yammer, that would be the very best tool for the "touch" job.

Another point on this: brief emails with very succinct needs listed are better for you (and your boss) than longer emails that bundle things together. It would seem that bundling things is better, but most times, this serves two purposes: it allows you to properly thread pertinent conversations, and it keeps your supervisor abreast of situations. Is this the best? No. Does it ease tensions? Yes, indeedy.

Be Very Available and Flexible Early on in my workshifting efforts, I found myself suddenly saddled with lots of local chores. Because I was down the street at the local coffeeshop (I prefer to work out of the house, because if I stay home, I play with the kids too much), I'd be tasked with things like picking up prescriptions or all the other various family-related things. This was okay, but it meant that I had to stay very available.

Simple things like answering the phone as often as you can when the boss calls go a long way towards easing relationship tensions and management concerns around workshifting.

Sometimes, the boss might need you to come in on your "away" day. As long as this doesn't become a habit, I've taken the stance that it's still a job and that onsite is still the primary way of doing business. As a concession, you might ask for a different day that week. That said, be attentive to whether or not your supervisor might be potentially abusing your agreed-upon experience. Tread gently here, but be firm. It may be a sign that things aren't working out.

Chris Brogan is President of New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency, as well as the home of the Inbound Marketing Summit conferences and Inbound Marketing Bootcamp educational events. He works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications like marketing and PR through the use of social software, community platforms, and other emerging web and mobile technologies.