focus

Productivity Coaching, Time Management Consulting and Leadership Coaching for business and nonprofits - get your most important work done. Collaborating with leaders and their teams to become more strategic, focused and productive. Leadership and Board Coaching, Strategic Planning Facilitation, Productivity Coaching and Time Management Consulting, Professional Speaker.

Productivity Coach, Productivity Consultant, Leadership Coach, Time Management Coach, Business Consulting, personal productivity, time management, nonprofit, board coach, collaboration, strategic planning, facilitation, change management, leading productive teams, project planning, board development, volunteer engagement, association management, workplace productivity, executive director.

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22 Oct Prioritize Your Tasks With The 4 D’s: Delegate, Delay, Delete, or Do

Posted at 10:08h in Change, Focus and Prioritize, Productivity, Time Management 0 Comments

Have you heard of the 4 D’s? It’s a principle that has been circulating in my professional circles for years but has gained even more relevance in today’s workplace. Given the workload my clients face, there must be solutions beyond simply working harder and longer. Lately, I’ve been emphasizing the importance of the 4 D’s as a filtering tool to help prioritize tasks on their to-do lists.

Here’s what you need to know to help you use the 4 D’s to filter your tasks. Look at your task list and for every single item on it ask yourself:

Can I delegate this?
Is this time-sensitive or can it wait?
What would be the consequences if I don’t do it?
Is this a priority in the coming week?

Delegate It

My favorite delegation quote is by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay. He says that “five times 80% is much larger than 100% of me.”

Delegating is hard:

It takes time
It takes effort and planning
It takes patience
You have to follow up
Team members probably won’t do it as well as you at the beginning

But Delegating is Worth It:

If you’re doing someone else’s work, you aren’t doing your own work.
It improves the effectiveness of the entire team.
It provides opportunities for growth and drives engagement.
Best of all, delegating gets it off your plate.

My delegation process involves:

Defining what to delegate.
Identifying the right person for the task.
Providing clear instructions.
Maintaining open communication.
Supporting the delegate while empowering them.
Following up on delegated tasks.

If you can, delegate the task

Delay It

Not all tasks are of equal importance. To determine what can be delayed, consider:

The impact of postponing the task.
Who might be affected by the delay.
Whether approval is needed to delay the task.
If discussing the delay with someone is necessary.

Time is limited, so prioritizing tasks based on their impact and importance is helpful. If the task isn’t time-sensitive, consider delaying it.

Delete It

Ask yourself, “What would happen if I didn’t do this task?” Some tasks lose their importance over time or may no longer align with your goals or current situation. If a task is deemed non-essential, remove it from your list.

Do It

If doing something serves you, your goals, your business, or someone important to you and it is high impact then that’s a good reason to do it now. Other reasons are the ones I suggest you use to help you prioritize your tasks – if you don’t do it in the next few days

You will miss a deadline
It will cost you money
You will let someone down
You will be embarrassed
You will let yourself down

Productivity is about intentional action, so if a task is significant and time-sensitive, tackle it promptly to maintain efficiency. With intention, doing it now makes sense. And that is what productivity is all about.

Unlock your potential with the upcoming audio version of Productivity for How You’re Wired on Audible! If you enjoy my blog, you’ll love the insights in my book, available now in print and as an ebook on Amazon. Don’t miss out—I’m excited to share these transformative strategies with you!

01 Oct How To Stop Reinventing the Wheel

Posted at 15:04h in Productivity, Tips for Easier Living 0 Comments

Some people love systems, while others resist them. Have you ever asked yourself why you have a system in place? We utilize them so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel every single day.

Most people strive for efficiency. This helps clear time for the tasks that need to be done, while still leaving room for the things we want to do. A useful tool for increasing our efficiency is a well-designed system.

What do you have a system for?

Getting ready for bed
Getting dressed in the morning
Paying bills
Establishing children’s bedtimes

These everyday tasks involve numerous steps, yet we perform them so frequently that they become routine. Initially, we need to think through the process, but after repeating it enough times, it becomes automatic. This is the process of learning and integrating new systems and methods.

What systems would be beneficial for you to develop, practice, and execute often enough to become second nature? Here are a few of my favorites:

Planning Today’s Work

I review my calendar, check my emails for anything new, and look at my task list for high-priority items. Then, I assess how much time I have available for work.
Based on this, I determine my tasks for the day. Sometimes I jot them down on a sticky note; other times, I work directly from my task list. It’s perfectly fine if it varies from day to day.
What helps me the most is having a curated list of priorities to focus on each day. I strive to include only the work I can realistically complete. On days when I do this, I am often amazed by how much I accomplish.

New Client Onboarding

I open my master Getting Started document and customize it with the specific needs of the client. I then save the document with the client’s name.
Next, I open an email and use a pre-written template saved in my signature. I update the email with the client’s name, start dates, and materials needed, and add a personalized greeting. I attach the Getting Started document.
I enter the client’s email address, hit send, and I’m done! This entire process takes just five minutes. I’m a bit embarrassed to share how quickly I can do this—I want my clients to feel special. Most of the time, the effort lies in the personalization.

Weekly Meal Planning

I keep a running grocery list. Whenever I use an item up or get close to finishing it, I add it to the list.
Before heading to the store (or ordering groceries), I plan what I’ll cook or eat for the week.
1. My breakfasts tend to be repetitive. As long as I have eggs, fruit, and the ingredients for oatmeal and granola, I’m set.
2. For lunch, I prefer leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. I also keep tuna fish packets, salad ingredients, and sliced turkey breast on hand—this is usually all I need.
3. I enjoy cooking dinner a few nights a week as it helps me make healthier choices and serves as a great creative outlet. First, I look at my calendar to determine how many nights I can realistically cook. Then, I select recipes accordingly—usually around three. I try not to overdo it to avoid wasting food. I browse my collection of recipes (which I often change) saved in a three-ring binder or flagged in a favorite cookbook and write down the necessary ingredients on my grocery list. If an item isn’t available, I can figure out a substitute on the spot.
I cook! Knowing I have ingredients for a few different meals gives me the flexibility to whip up whatever I’m in the mood for. However, I make it a priority to prepare fresh fish the same day I buy it.

From these examples, you can see that developing a system can apply to nearly anything. I bet you have numerous systems in your life that you don’t even realize.

Stop Reinventing the Wheel Consider applying this approach to the areas that challenge you. Can you identify one task that frustrates you and that you struggle to complete? Do you have a system for it? Probably not. Can you create one? Likely. If you’re having difficulty, please comment below, and I’ll be happy to share some ideas to help you get started.

Coming Soon to Audible: Productivity for How You’re Wired, print, ebook, and soon as an audio book, available on Amazon.

11 Apr Five Fabulous Time Hacks Beyond the To-Do List

Posted at 15:28h in Productivity, Productivity for How You're Wired, Tech & Digital Clutter, Time Management, Tips for Easier Living 2 Comments

Sometimes a good task list just isn’t enough. Which of these hacks can you use to move from to–do to done.

Plan Today’s Work

The simplest technique is to take a sticky note and write down the top three tasks you want to accomplish for the day. Place it where you’ll see it, such as on the lower edge of your monitor or on your cleared-off desk.

When it’s time to work, look at the note and move into action. You’ll stop wasting time on inconsequential tasks and get to your important work without hesitation.

Why a post-it and not an app? Every time you pick up your phone it’s an opportunity to get distracted and lose productive work time. The sticky note on your monitor takes NO TIME to glance at.

Batch Tasks

Task batching is the act of grouping related tasks together to create an economy of scale. Large operations do it all the time – think production lines or accounting systems.

You probably do it often without thinking. Do you put one dish in the dishwasher at a time? Do you run one errand at a time? Do you do laundry every day? For most people, it’s more efficient to do tasks like these all at once. Batching work-related tasks is equally efficient.

When we spend our time thinking about what we have to do, remembering where we were in the project, and then building up momentum to get results, we are ramping up. Nothing is more frustrating than going through the ramp up process to get to the meat of a project and then having to stop.

By batching tasks, you only have to ramp up once. You gather information, assess the situation, make a plan, and move into action once.

Multitasking vs. Task Switching

Multitasking isn’t a thing. It doesn’t exist. The brain can only process one thought at a time. What have you been doing? You’ve been task–switching, moving from one mentally demanding activity to another mentally demanding activity.

You may be a fast “task–switcher,” which means you can quickly move from task to task. But you are simply shifting your focus from one activity to the next and back. In the long run, this takes longer to complete each task. Because, as we’ve just discussed, it takes time to ramp up, remember where we were, and move into productive action.

Sticking with a task through completion is the only way to get it done.

Note: There is a difference between multi-tasking and low cognitive load white-noise activity. Some people need to doodle, color, play phone games, etc. to stay engaged and focused. That is not multi-tasking or task-switching. The white-noise activities don’t challenge your brain, so you are able to focus on the task at hand. This is why you can listen to a book on tape while you are taking a walk. Walking is rote — you do it without thinking. But cross a busy intersection safely and you will have to go back and listen to the part of the book you missed while your brain was keeping you from getting hit by a car.

Do It Now

Sometimes, during planning, it takes less time to do a task than to plan to do a task. Additionally, if you have an open time slot that wouldn’t be useful for Focus Work, use that time and get those 5-, 10-, or 15-minute tasks done.

If something has been on your task list for weeks and you still haven’t done it, think about how much mental and emotional energy you’ve put into worrying or thinking about the task. Think about how much time you’ve wasted NOT doing the task. Sometimes it’s best just to do it and get it off your list and off your mind.

And sometimes it feels fabulous to spend a few hours clearing out all the little annoying few-minute tasks, getting them off your plate. Clearing out makes room for more important things.

Create Follow-Up Cues

The brain is not wired to arbitrarily remember new things. Neuroscientists say our working memory can hold between five to nine pieces of new information at a time. To remember everything that needs to be done, we need to create cues to help ourselves move into action.

Have you ever put something in front of the door to take with you? As in – you can’t open the door unless you pick up the bag in front of it? If you have something you absolutely MUST NOT forget to bring with you the next day, have you ever put it in the car the night before? These are examples of creating a cue to remember.

The more we create cues the less we have to remember. We are setting ourselves up for success and freeing up our valuable working memory for more important things.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 11 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Many templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

19 Mar The Right Way To Use Notifications

Posted at 21:22h in Planning Tools, Productivity for How You're Wired, Tech & Digital Clutter, Time Management 0 Comments

Pings are everywhere. They permeate our workdays and our time off. Interruptions are meant to be disruptive, yet people can’t seem to remember to turn off their audible beeps before going on national television or walking into an important meeting.

Each time you get a ping, you are also getting a dopamine infusion to your brain. You are addicting yourself to interruptions. Those pings however, are undermining your productivity. That ping is costing you time. Research indicates when you are interrupted, it can take up to 20 minutes for your brain to get back up to speed for the task you were originally working on. In addition to the time cost, that notification could also be affecting your health. In a fascinating study from UC-Irvine, research showed that frequent workplace interruptions cause greater levels of stress and frustration.

I frequently observe clients simply ignoring their dings, pings, and pop-ups. Instead of improving productivity, they are reducing it by giving the user a false sense of security.

If notifications cost time and cause stress, and if we set them to cue us to move into action and then ignore them, resulting in missing an important action or deadline, those pings really are doing more harm than good.

Are notifications useless? Absolutely not. The question we should be asking is how do we use them to support us?

Use Notifications Prudently and Intentionally

Prudently

Start by turning ALL your notifications OFF. All of them. On your phone, your computer, your watch, your laptop, your tablet, everywhere. (Think zero-based budgeting!)
Then ask yourself — which top three sounds really matter? Go back and turn those three on. Turning everything off and then selectively turning some back on will yield excellent results.
If you have a Smart Watch, take it a step further and always keep your phone on silent. You can set your watch to vibrate for important notifications.

Intentionally

Used intentionally, timers and pings can help. Too many pings and you just ignore them. When they occur infrequently, they catch our attention and can support us.
Pings can:
- Cue us to move into action such as check for an important email response, switch tasks, prep for a meeting, start finishing up a project.
- Cue us to leave or get ready to leave.
- Cue us to take a break as a motivator to continue working on a hard project.
- Cue us an ending time is coming.
- Cue us to be aware of how much time is passing.

Turning off automatic notifications and instead setting intentional reminders is much more efficient. Experiment with the following timer techniques:

Voice-activated personal assistants like Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google Assistant are easy. “Hey Siri, 10-minute timer” and you’re cued.
Browser – type “10–minute timer” into your browser search bar and you’ll get a ping in 10 minutes.
Smart Watch and Smart Phone Timer – Whether via an app, voice activated, or by “complications” on your watch, timers are quickly set.
Time Timer® – An analog clock shows the passage of time through a patented red disk. As time elapses, the red disk disappears, helping create awareness around the passing of time. This is helpful for phone calls, meetings, and Focus Work. It is marketed to the ADHD community; however, I have seen it help busy people without ADHD equally well.
Any timer that doesn’t automatically turn off – When it really matters, set a timer that requires you to get up out of your chair and walk across the room to turn it off. If you have a strong need to “just finish this one thing,” find a timer that doesn’t automatically turn off. If you work from home, try your stove timer. If you are in the office, try an old-fashioned alarm clock and place it across the room.
The Pomodoro Technique is based on using timers to help sequence your work. Think interval training for your work. Coined “Pomodoro” by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s, the technique uses a timer to designate work and break times. (It’s called Pomodoro, Italian for tomato, since Cirillo used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer to cue himself into action).
- The original Pomodoro Technique suggests you work 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break, and repeat 4 times. After the 5th 25-minute work interval you take a 25-minute break.
- Many of my clients, however, don’t find the 5-minute break long enough. This is another great opportunity to experiment.
  - Do you want a 10-minute break? Try 50 minutes on and 10 minutes off.
  - Do you prefer working to a logical stopping point? What if you’re in flow and don’t want to stop at all? Try setting the timer anyway. It can be motivating to know a break is coming even if you don’t take it.
- There are numerous apps available for you to try the Pomodoro Technique. Experiment to help you determine your best work time and break time combination.

Timers and notifications can boost your productivity if you use them prudently and intentionally. Experiment with these suggestions and watch how much more you get done.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 11 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Many templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

24 Jan Don’t Strive for Work-Life Balance

Posted at 19:44h in Envision Possibilities, Focus and Prioritize, Productivity, Time Management 2 Comments

Work-life balance isn’t really a thing. Betty Friedan has been quoted as saying “you can have it all, just not all at the same time.” Balance implies evenness, sameness, a destination. It isn’t.

No one is ever in balance for more than a moment. Perhaps what we are striving for is harmony. In classical music, sometimes the percussion is louder, sometimes the strings are louder, sometimes the brass is louder. There are forte sections where everything is blaring at once and there are pianissimo sections where sound is barely audible. And there are rests, quiet spaces when no sounds are made at all. Just like life! In life, different parts are louder than others at different times, but as a whole, it can be harmonic and beautiful.

When on a deadline or project, work is loud. During times of celebration or sadness, family is loud. While training for a 5K or other personal endeavor, self-care is loud, and when on vacation there are times of quiet and silence. Framing life like a symphony and striving for harmony seems so much more reasonable.

If one were to divide a “life pie” into four balanced parts — work, family, self-care, other interests — you would be spending an equal amount of time on each portion. That’s not how life is. And we know no day, week, or month is ever the same. To think it would be is not realistic. Additionally, imagine how boring life would be if every day and every week were the same.

What would be possible if you gave yourself permission to live in harmony and not strive for perfect balance all the time?

Harmony at Work

The same concept of harmony applies to work as well. If you are only doing unrewarding tasks and projects, it’s hard to stay engaged. Therefore, when creating your task list, consider the importance of putting meaningful things on your list. If all you do are things to please others, you won’t be very motivated to do your best, most productive work.

Traditionally, around Thanksgiving, I write a blog post about our lives being too full, like a Thanksgiving plate. If we fill our Thanksgiving plate with foods to please everyone else, we won’t have room to eat the foods we love. This results in us leaving the Thanksgiving table unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Then later, we eat more pie than we should. If you want to be satisfied, it is important to make room for the sweet potatoes and stuffing, or whatever your favorite Thanksgiving food of choice is.

In life and work, it’s important to make room for the things that matter too. Is it time to pull your passion projects off the back burner? Is it time to stop spending precious time making unimportant things perfect? Is it time to have more fun? With variety, NOT BALANCE, you’re much more likely to be productive.

This is compiled from Chapter 5 of my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Worksheets and online templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.

20 Dec Out With Smart Goals. In With Smart Intentions.

Posted at 14:54h in Envision Possibilities, Focus and Prioritize, Productivity, Time Management 0 Comments

This is not your typical business school goal setting post! It’s about getting clear about what’s important to you. Because when you know what is important, it is easier to say yes to the things that matter.

Intentions and Not Just Goals?

Goals are useful in some cases. They just aren’t applicable for everything. Considering intentions (how you want to live) expands your possibilities.

Goals have specific outcomes

Make profits over six figures this year.
Complete the team on-boarding program by June.
Lose four pounds a month each month this year.

Intentions clarify how you wish to live

I work smart and provide a great service.
I live a healthy, happy life.
I give my best self to my family.
I continue to learn so I can help other leaders grow.

Goals AND Intentions

Most people have both goals and intentions. To focus on one and not the other is addressing just a portion of what is important.

My clients tell me they need help figuring out how to get all their work done. In reality, work is only part of the challenge. Many say they would like to take time off without worry, spend more quality time with their families, and even have a bit of time for themselves. As you work through identifying your own goals and intentions, you may want to consider more than work. Remember, a key reason to improve productivity is to have a full and better life.

Use the Planning Map Snapshot format below to plan a better 2023

Step 1: Identify Focus Areas — The life areas you choose to prioritize.

Focus Areas are the spaces in which you want to spend your time. In a financial budget, you’d have areas such as home expenses, utilities, clothing, food, and entertainment.
Your life’s Focus Areas may include business, work, professional growth, personal growth, self-care, family, spirituality, friends, volunteerism, service, activism, or advocacy.
Only Four Areas! Challenge yourself to limit your number of Focus Areas to four. When you spread yourself too thin, you end up accomplishing less. When you force yourself to narrow your focus, you do better work and are more productive.

Step 2: Determine Goals and Intentions — The ultimate outcome you are striving for.

A few people can state their goals or intentions off the top of their heads. Most can’t.
If the answers don’t come easily to you, start by developing your priorities (step 3). Then use your priorities to back into your goals and intentions. While it goes against every rigid business planner’s process, completing your priorities first can help you see exactly what matters.
Ask yourself “what is the reason these priorities are important? What is my purpose in accomplishing them?” The answer will bring the goal or intention into focus.

Step 3: Set Priorities — The overarching projects and tasks you need to complete to achieve your goal or live your intention.

The next step is to figure out the three most important things you want to accomplish in each Focus Area. Your priorities should be actionable within the established time frame of your plan.
The priority should identify what you will do.
- Start with an action word such as plan, complete, strategize, or implement.
- Be concise — provide enough detail for you to understand what you want to do, but not so much you can’t easily grasp the action at a glance.
When identifying your priorities, it often helps to prime the pump by asking yourself questions such as these:
- What project, task, or action is critical to my success or my organization’s success?
- What do I want to accomplish?
- What would I be disappointed with if I didn’t achieve?
- What do I need to do to be who I want to be?
Was it hard to identify three priorities for each life area? Having too many priorities is more often the problem. Remember, it’s better to do a few things fully and well than attempt many things that never reach completion.
While you may only have three priorities per goal or intention, when you consider your four Focus Areas, you will have twelve priorities for the entire year. Completing twelve priorities is a challenging, yet generally attainable target.

My wish for you for 2023 is that you take a bit of time to get clear about what’s important for 2023. I suspect that if you do, you will actually have a happy New Year.

This is compiled from Chapter 7 my new book Productivity for How You’re Wired available on Amazon. Worksheets and online templates are included via the time tools link discussed in the book.