How Effective Are You?

How Effective Are You?
In the realm of time management, the word effective is used quite often.  In fact, there is usually a comparison made between effective vs. efficient and of course, both are needed for professional success.

As a reminder, a common definition of effective is doing the right things at the right time to get the best results. However, in this post, I’d like to expand our thinking around the concept of being effective.

I believe increasing our “effectiveness” is more important than ever in creating and maintaining value to our organizations. It’s a must have and do career strategy.

An Expanded View
Consider effectiveness to not only be getting the right things done at the right time, but additionally identifying and  addressing needs, identifying potential solutions, and getting high-impact results.  In essence, effectiveness is beyond just executing tasks.

If this expanded view of being effective is to be realized, then what’s needed in order for this new version to occur?

Consider the following:
1.    Broader knowledge of the players involved in key situations, their roles, their strengths and weaknesses.
2.    A clear understanding of the core needs of the company.
3.    Identification and laser focus on the core needs of internal and external customers and how your role (and that of your team or department) addresses and impacts those core needs.
4.    How does the specifics of your job description contribute to the above.

Compiling the information to the above will craft a bigger picture from which to work to develop and increase your effectiveness. In fact, you may need to volunteer to tweak your job description.  There are a lot of job descriptions out there that are not “value based” job descriptions (meaning they are more about being busy than get high-impact results).

From this big picture access how you go about your work week, what you do with your time and how the tangible results of the day impact this big picture.  If you’re a manager, do the same with your team.

Then ask yourself this question, “Am I getting things done or am I getting things done that also impact the bigger picture.”   Getting things done that impact the greater picture are high impact results.

The irony of productivity is we can go a full work week, get things done and yet have little to no activity that significantly address the big picture.

Coaching Tip: Plan and work with the big picture in mind. Make sure to track and language your performance with this in mind. This is a beneficial strategy in performance reviews.  You can communicate and show how you’ve demonstrated results with more value.

Career Management Bonus Tip: This is also a great strategy for how to communicate your experience in a job interview.

Time Management Tip – #3

Here’s a great time management tip or time management activity that can really save you time!

Overwhelmed by a large project? Having a hard time getting motivated? Finding yourself procrastinating?

Ever heard the expression or question, “how do you eat an elephant? “ The answer? – one bite at a time.  Well that same principle applies when you’re feeling overwhelmed by a project, procrastinating, or having a hard time getting motivated.  You’ve got to break it down into small manageable action steps.

Usually looking at, focusing on one step and one step only allows emotional space for you to become motivated and see the light of getting something done. Once you write out actionable, reasonable steps your emotions become diffused and your brain begins saying…”hey, I can do that.”

In fact something additionally I employ is something called, “the one minute challenge.”  I challenge myself to work on one little thing, task, etc. for only one minute.  I even use a kitchen timer.

The result?…I get focused on the “thing” enough to generate motivation to keep going.  If it’s not enough, I say, “ok…just one more minute.”  It’s like tricking yourself into gaining motivation in a fun way!

Coaching Tip: Break it down, focus on the first small step and give yourself the one minute challenge!

If you need a time management seminar or training brought to your organization – learn more here

Or …ever considered “time management coaching” – to learn more about coaching, click here.

A Simple Strategy To Improve Your Productivity

I wrote this article a while back and now that I’m working on new projects thought it would be worth revisiting.

This is great habit-practice to increase your results significantly. What’s the habit?… the “morning mindest”….read on..

The Magic Moment – The Power of the Morning Mindset and Taking Five
Category: Personal Productivity
Wc: 346

I woke up this morning after being up rather late and knew that it was a crunch day. Within the next 24 hours I’d need to hop on a plane and be out of the office for the next few days.

In those few moments I felt slightly pressured and overwhelmed which lead to a bit of emotional and mental confusion, (by the way, I call this “brain fog”). What should I work on first?….what could wait until Monday?

I could have just barreled in, but time was precious I needed to work on what was most crucial. I realized I couldn’t let the pressure “pressure” me into the wrong decision. So, I decided to take a 5 minute mind clearing break.

I gave myself permission to step away from my desk, move into a physical space where I could clear my mind. Ah….a break through! Just giving myself permission to “take 5” and step away helped my mind to calm down and my emotions to come to neutral.

In the clarity of that moment, I was able to get a better view of what was crucial and what was not.

Honestly, I have days where I didn’t do that first thing in the morning and ended up working on the wrong things at the wrong time. In those cases, a few critical things fell through the cracks; it wasn’t pretty.

What I’m describing is the power of a moment…a moment you take in the morning to gain clarity on the day that could make all the difference. I’m calling it the Morning Mindset.

You know it’s just harder to work in a fog; it takes more energy and the quality of your work may suffer.

So let me recommend creating the practice of “The Morning Mindset.”

Additionally, this principle of “taking five” is not reserved for the morning. Anytime, you’re feeling confused for what ever the reason, give yourself permission to take five…that practice could make all the difference!

TIME MANAGEMENT MIND-SET- #2

It’s All about Execution…with as little stress as possible

In all the many time management seminars and how to get more organized workshops I’ve conducted over the years, one of the key points I’ve made is this… “I not a fan of being organized or using a time management principle just for the sake of it.  If you have something that’s working for you, keep doing it! Additionally, look at the real reason or outcome you want on a deeper level.”

The ultimate goal of the use of these principles and how-tos is to operate in your life with as little stress as possible and to get things done when you need to.  It’s just that simple.

For example: you my want to clean out your closet not necessarily for the sake of it, but because it will help you save time when you are getting dressed in the morning. The deeper result and benefit – a calmer morning!

You may want to use a certain time management tool because it matches the way you think – again reduced stress when trying to achieve an outcome.

So when I share a tip or principle it’s in the spirit of execution and execution is about getting things done when they need to get done with as little negative stress as possible.

Why is this an important distinction? I’ve seen, related to these topics, an almost enslavement or “end all” attitude that really is not useful.  It’s where instead of the principle serving them, they serve the principle and ironically, that adds stress!

So, think of using a time management tip, organizational strategies, prioritizing techniques all in the spirit of getting the right things done at the right time with as little negative stress as possible.  The result?…a happier, calmer, more competent you!

TIME MANAGEMENT MIND-SET- #1

Time is Your Life

You know, we toss around the phrase time management a lot these days. And you can certainly find plenty of information on how to do it better. It seems just like one more thing to deal with in our professional and even personal lives.

With that said, I want to suggest a couple of new ways to view the subject of time management.

First, I think we would take this concept more seriously if we reframed the phrase and called it Life management. This is an essential time management tip! Time management IS life management! Personal time management IS personal life management. This just has a whole different ring to it.

In reality, time is life. One minute is a segment of our lives. You know…that’s a BIG DEAL. Five minutes go by – it can’t be captured again. It’s gone forever. Think about that. If we take that truth to heart I will venture to say we’ll manage our lives much differently.

How?… perhaps say no to the trivial more, not waste time thinking about things or situations we can’t change, assert our choice in how we spend our time at home.

Embracing this critical truth can impact so many meaningful areas.

Please do – the truth….time is your life.

Do You Plan Too Much? A time management issue worth considering…

If you’re reading this post at all it’s probably because you have the personality type that is a natural planner…which of course is all well and good.  Hey but too much of a strength can be done in excess and planners can sometimes plan too much.  They want to figure it all out before they get started. 

The purpose of this post is to suggest that in some cases planning too much can be counterproductive and actually cause the very stress and time wasting that is trying to be avoided.

Consider the following possibilities:

Planning too much…

–doesn’t leave an opening for the unexpected because we think we’ve considered all the options

–subtly suggests that we can’t be flexible – that we have to do exactly as planned…after all, we spent all that time making the plan!  Inflexibility can cause stress.

–may not allow us to be open to other possibilities for getting to the same goal and in a team environment, we become less collaborative.

In reality, planning too much can be a subtle deception to think we are in control, feeding our need to be in control and perhaps our need to not want to make a mistake.

If this describes you in anyway, the first tip is to recognize it!

Secondly, decide to only plan the first few steps and allow taking those steps to reveal to you the appropriate next steps in real time.  Hey a bit of the unknown my service, but consider it an adventure!  Decide to live life on the edge…whew!!  (Alright, that’s probably a bit too much, but you know what I mean.)

In truth, most planning gets tweaked as you move forward.  Action brings clarity and that’s why over planning many times is really A WASTE of time.  Oh the irony!

Time Management is Energy Management

Did you realize that you have certain times of the day when you have more energy than at other time?  When it comes to time management you can actually save time by doing certain tasks when you have more energy.  That time period is called your PPP – peak productivity period.

 

For example: consider doing things that are important but not necessarily pleasurable during your high energy period or “ppp.” Consider doing creative thinking or decision making during those periods as well.  Those activities require not only your best, but more energy.  It’s an interesting thing – when you have more energy, you may be more willing to do something that is not so pleasurable and you’ll make fewer mistakes, which saves time and reduces stress.

 

What to do during your low energy times? …filing, returning phone calls, opening mailing, talking a chat break with a colleague or checking B or C priority email.  This strategy will prove to increase your productivity and will also reduce your mistakes, which also in turn saves time.

 

So look through the times of the day and determine what time period would be your peak or peaks.  Look at when you have the most natural energy, then plan your work accordingly.