Tip Thursday - Productivity

Often our biggest challenge in getting things done is finding the time. However, we often engage in
activities over and over using only our familiarity with the task to shorten the time it takes. Instead, think of everything you do as a potential 'process', one that can be documented, repeated and potentially outsourced.

By doing this you put yourself in the position of creating systems for completing your work that eliminate duplicative processes. Thinking of this potential before you engage in a new activity opens you to the streamlining process, allowing you to create the processes as you go. That way you only expense the full time a task takes the first time, freeing up all future expenditures.

Tip Thursday - Time Management

When everything on our To-Do list is important and we are facing too many priorities we often have to regain focus to avoid a feeling of overwhelm.

It is interesting to note that the word 'priority' was first introduced into the English language in the 1400's as a singular. It meant 'the very first thing'.  It remained singular for the next 500 years and only became pluralized in the 1900's, where we determined that we had multiple priorities.

When everything on your desk seems important and you are unable to define clearly what your true priority may be, try implementing a restricted time frame. Ask yourself... 'If I only had 2 hours left in my work day, what would need to get done?' When time is short we often are much better at cutting through to what really matters. If you're not under a time crunch (yet) then arbitrarily create one to help you establish the clarity you need.

Eliminating 'Overwhelm'

We have all experienced a time in our lives when we felt that there were so many things requiring our focus, when there was so much on our plates, that we were unsure how (or even if) we were ever going to be able to get through it.  For many of us these moments of overwhelm tend to arise relatively infrequently.  For others, it almost feels like a constant state.

Regardless of the frequency with which we have to face this feeling though, we know how paralyzing and crippling the feeling of overwhelm can be.  Enough so that we may find ourselves shutting down, refusing and unable to move forward. With so many priorities and so many things screaming for our attention we can quickly become so overwhelmed that we are unable to determine what actions to take next.

Think of all the mental noise that our constant thoughts of items on our to-do lists and things we need to remember create. If we envision all of those thoughts that enter our brains flowing like water into a glass we see how quickly our glass (and brains) become full and overflowing. We become overwhelmed when we feel that we can no longer contain and hold onto all of those thoughts, we become fearful of forgetting, of overlooking a priority, of falling short.

One of the easiest ways to manage this feeling is to create a Dumping Ground List. Get out a pad of paper and begin dumping all of the thoughts that are in your head onto the paper. Think of this as one massive list of all of your thoughts, your priorities, your to-dos, your 'cannot forgets'.  As you purge those thoughts from your mind, capturing them on paper, begin noticing how much lighter you feel. The stress of potentially forgetting something floating in your head lessens as a concrete journal of all those 'somethings' takes shape.

Don't qualify any of your thoughts thinking it's not important enough or that you won't forget it. Anything that you are trying to remember in your head needs to be recorded on the list.  Don't take up unnecessary brain-space.  Clear the clutter in your head by committing it to the Dumping Ground.

Once your list is complete take highlighters in 3 different colours. Designate one colour for your 'Immediate' priorities. These are the items on your list that must be completed within the next two days. Using a second colour highlight those items that need to be completed within the next 5-7 and a third colour for those that must be completed within 7-14 days.

You likely have items on the list that have not been highlighted. These are either items you have been carrying around that you feel you 'should' take care of, but that really aren't that important or urgent, in which case let 'em go, and those that may be important but whose time frame is long enough that you need not worry about them today.  These items you can revisit in 3-5 days and build into your action list.

Actively focus and work on the few items you have highlighted that need completion within the next 2 days. Don't worry about the rest - you'll get to them.  Just know that they are recorded there for you to reference when you have the available brain space to focus on them.

If you are someone that suffers from a sense of overwhelm often, you may find that maintaining this running Dumping Ground List becomes your best tool.  Cross off items as you complete them and continue adding to it as more things arise. Maintaining the list means you always have a concrete record of items to refer to, freeing up your brain space and power to focus and hone in on those priorities that are important 'now'.

Dedicate a small lined book to your Dumping Ground and develop the habit of taking it into meetings with you, adding to it as items get assigned or you are extending promises.  Using the book to extend and direct your brain's focus may be one of the best productivity and success tools you activate. Certainly it's a great way for you to eliminate the feeling of being overwhelmed by everything on your plate and get down to the business of managing them instead.

Goldilocks Success Principles

Although Goldilocks may not be the model of 'Success' that would first come to mind, she had one clear insight that we could all benefit from. She was a strong proponent of the value of recognising when things were 'just right'. For those of us striving to achieve a given level of success in our careers and lives, the concept of 'just right' is an important one to integrate into our existing strategies. Often we mistake being successful with requiring who we are and what we do being the 'best', with 'best' being a euphemism for 'perfect'.

However, it is often the bid to be perfect that creates a vision of an unobtainable goal, limiting our success. Focusing instead on being more successful allows for even small achievements to count, each of which, when combined with other small gains, may serve to move us forward exponentially.

Making a conscious effort to be perfect at everything we do can serve to delay, if not deter, us from achieving. The ideal of perfect is a near impossible standard to meet, considering we will almost always believe that we could have given or done more, if allotted more time, money, support, resources, education, etc. Who wouldn't agree that they couldn't have done 1% more?

That 1% is enough to keep you from earning the Perfect title! It's enough to label your accomplishments 'less than perfect', if only to yourself. Many will find that they hesitate to take action if they believe their first efforts will likely fall short of that perfect mark. Thus they have lost before they start. Not trying prevents them from learning and developing new skills, from moving forward through achieving even small wins and successes.

How many times have you seen someone receive accolades for a project that you felt fell short of your standards? Not perfect by your definition but good enough to gain them credit and recognition. It essence it was 'just right'. Take a moment to think about what 'just right' brought them...

• Likely the same recognition, rewards and reputation boost that you received from your last 'perfect' project
• Less time spent on the completion of the assignment that they were then able to spend on completing other projects, or to focus on themselves, their family, their friends
• Less stress, given they were not agonizing over the need to be perfect or to having to hand in something they felt was less than perfect
• They felt good about what they accomplished and were able to celebrate its 'successful' completion rather than stressing over the elements they couldn't get to due to budget or time constraints

In essence, letting go of the need for perfect frees you mentally, physically and emotionally, enabling you to accomplish more, to be and feel more successful. Consider the following tips to help you with your next project.

• Take a look at the goals and milestones you have established and define levels of performance. If you have perfectionist tendencies you likely have already identified the 'ideal' for each milestone.  Now add to it defined performance levels that aren't perfect but that are sufficient to meet the needs and expectations of others.  In essence, create a vision of the 'just rights', the 'good enoughs'.  Establishing this level up front gives you a clear and okay fallback position for when life intervenes and prevents 'perfect' from happening.  Setting those levels upfront gives you the permission to use them. Creating them after the fact will always leave you feeling like you failed.
• Try using someone else's yardstick instead of your own to help you gain perspective on what measures others establish. The insights from others may help you to establish your just right/good enough mark.If you find you are uncomfortable with a 'just right' goal that someone else establishes then use it as a minimum level of achievement and set levels of performance in staged levels of achievement beyond this point.  These additional levels then become your 'just right plus 10%', your 'just right plus 20%'.  You might then discover that you can feel pretty good at letting go of a project at 'just right plus 15%', giving you a lot more flexibility than always having to achieve  50% more than everyone else.  What could you do with the gift of time that extra 35% represents?

This isn't settling, it's called being strategic. If putting an additional 35% of effort into something will not net you at least 35% more in gains you are wasting your effort. Your time and effort are not limitless commodities. Learning to assign your efforts and time appropriately is what effective time management and, ultimately, your success is dependent upon.  

Goldilocks knew more than simple break and enter techniques! She knew that recognising when something was 'just right' was a form of perfectionism all its own!

Mondays Got You Down?

Ahhh... the weekend!  Many spend their week in anticipation of their upcoming weekend, their time

away from the grind of their workweek, only to find themselves spending half their weekend - Sunday - counting down the minutes until Monday once again arrives.  Research has indicated that people legitimately suffer from the Sunday Blues, anxiety that is brought on by thoughts of having to head to work the following day.  

The largest reason cited is that Mondays are typically the most stressful day of the week. Anticipating and worrying about how 'bad' heading back in to the office will likely be creates negative emotions that often lead us to be less productive on Monday, adding to our negative view of the day itself.

Psychology shows us that our current emotional state not only has a huge impact on our performance and productivity but that it also influences and impacts those around us.  So, our negative emotions don't just bring us down, but they drag down those around us!

Alexander Kjerulf, an international author and speaker on Happiness at Work (yes, it's possible!) says that the Monday Blues are so prevalent that they have become a cultural phenomenon that describe feelings of depression, tiredness and a sense that work is unpleasant and unavoidable. However, there are definitely ways that we can help to start our work week on a more positive note.  The following are 6 top suggestions from Happiness experts.

1.  Prepare Ahead.  Prepare for a positive Monday on Friday.  Leave yourself as few dreaded tasks, carried over from Friday, as possible. This not only helps your transition into the new workweek go much smoother but it also allows you to relax more fully over the weekend, which also de-stresses you.  Use Sunday night to prep ahead to, getting yourself organized to avoid the last minute rush that tends to spike those feelings of stress and anxiety.

2.  Focus on Positives.  Often we are focused solely on all of the difficult and tough tasks in store for us that week, failing to balance them with all of the activities we are excited about.  Start off the week by listing all of the things you are looking forward to that week to keep your energy up.

3.  Dress for Success.  Give yourself the boost or lift you need on Mondays by reserving your favourite or new outfits for those days.  Use the boost they give you to kick-start the week and snag a few compliments along the way.

4.  Schedule Light.  Knowing that Mondays can be hectic and stressful, don't add to them by over-booking your day.  Deliberately leave it a little lighter to give you room to manoeuvre.

5.  Plan Your Weekend.  Give yourself something to look forward to by having something positive lined up for the weekend.  If your weekend tends to serve only as a holding pattern in between work weeks then you are not allowing yourself time to decompress, to recharge, to experience some fun. If you can't build some fun into your workweek (which is also highly recommended) then make sure you give yourself something fun to look forward to over the course of the week.

6.  No TV on Sunday Night.  Although Neilson research shows that people watch the most television on Sunday nights, typically watching a lot of drama, it is not likely to be the best way to de-stress. Enjoy a relaxing dinner, go for a walk, read a book...  engage in activities that don't get your brain focusing on the tension and drama that may be in store for you in the workplace.  The better you are able to forestall worrying, the lower your anxiety likely will be.

Think of each work week as a new beginning, with Monday signalling your fresh start.  This opens up new positive avenues for you to let go of anything you've been beating yourself up over and to engage in more positive action.  Reframing Monday so that it represents beginnings and opportunities may be just what you need to stop hitting the snooze button and to jump into your week smiling.

The Lure of the Urgent

There is much written about how to manage your time effectively, about how to get things done.

However, regardless of how much volume you manage to work your way through each day you may still find yourself struggling at the end of the year to get your key objectives met. Your lament, of course, was that it just wasn't possible, there wasn't enough time.

When you are constantly busy, are actively putting out fires, haven't a minute to call your own... the challenge is not that you aren't moving tasks forward and getting things done, but that you might not be getting enough of the 'right' things done. This is the dance between the Urgent and the Important.

The Urgent are the loud tasks, the pushy tasks. These often seem important at the time but, in retrospect, rarely did anything to move your objectives and goals further. In fact, urgent tasks are typically driven by someone else.  These are activities that they have left to the last minute, failed to plan for, or simply overlooked.  They are now 'urgent' because they weren't dealt with sooner. Rarely are they important tasks, their apparent importance driven only by the lack of time remaining to get them done.

Certainly there is the occasional true crisis, something that couldn't have been planned for or foreseen, but the daily urgent activities you face are rarely these. Most urgent activities have only become so due to someone's lack of planning or preparation. 

In contrast though, Important tasks are those that contribute the most to our objectives and that therefore have the greatest long term impact. They are worth our attention because these are the activities that move us forward, whether personally or professionally.  The challenge though is that the Important tasks seldom need to get done today. As a result, they lose ground to the urgent demands placed upon us each day.  We then get caught up in busy work but not in meaningful work or in working on tasks that add value to the organization, our growth and our future.

Keeping busy dealing with urgent items can feel 'important' at the time, but leave us coming up short at year end. This is the biggest source of frustration for people during annual performance reviews. They feel their 'shortfall' was not due to a lack of input but a lack of time. They felt overloaded and, because they feel that they were constantly 'contributing', that they are deserving of reward - the bonus, the recognition, the promotion and are disheartened when these rewards don't arrive.  

The challenge always rests in recognising the difference between 'getting things done' and 'getting the right things done'.  One keeps you busy while the other moves you ahead.

Take a look at your To-do lists for the past week.  As you review each day highlight the tasks you had planned that directly contributed to your key objectives and goals for the year.  Odds are... you had very few, if any.  You spent the week putting out fires, moving 'work' off your desk - but not engaged in work that contributed significantly to moving ahead.  You dealt with the urgent, not the important.

US President Dwight D. Eisenhower had a simple system to ensure that he was being effective as well as efficient.  He did this by managing his Important and Urgent activities.  For this, take a look at your current To-Do list and Categorize each item listed according to the following...

1. Important and Urgent.  These are your true MUST do items for the day.  However, the fact that they are both important and urgent generally means that you have left these items for the last minute.  Planning ahead a little better, fitting Important items in sooner, avoiding procrastination all could help avoid creating 'urgency' where possible.
2. Important not Urgent.  Doing these items helps to decrease the number of activities you have in the category above.  Ensuring that you are not avoiding the Important for the Urgent means that you are constantly moving those important projects forward.  Every to-do list should contain a number of these items. The more your day is made up of these items the more effective and efficient you're being and likely the more successful.
3. Not Important, but Urgent.  These are the items that will tend to consume your time and prevent you from reaching your goals. The more you get caught up in these activities the 'busier' you will be but the less effective in the long run.  A common source of these types of activities are other people, especially those that haven't managed their time effectively and now have deadlines looming, creating a false sense of urgency.  Don't allow their urgency to become your own.  Do what you can, help where you can, but create a deliverable that works for you.
4. Not Important, not Urgent.  Why are you doing these?  These are activities that are simply distractions.  Minimize, eliminate, ignore or cancel.  The less of these you do the more time you will have for what really matters.

It can be challenging at first to move out of 'firefighting' mode because it can be gratifying - in the short term.  You feel necessary and needed.  It is important not to lose sight of your longer term objectives and goals.  Keeping these items constantly in mind helps you to build plans, schedule activities and take the action steps needed to move them forward.  Start by ensuring that every day contains at least one key action item that contributes substantively to a key objective.  Then make it two, then three.  Soon you will be spending more of your time on getting the right things done, which is the hallmark of successful people.  

We can all be busy.  Successful people are those that make the choices necessary to be busy doing things that count in the long term.

Tip Thursday - Focus

Consider that the need to Focus in on one thing is not dependent upon your simply saying YES to that responsibility. To successfully focus on one opportunity requires you to say NO to all of the other opportunities and ideas that cross your plate.

Dividing your focus is likely to divide your results. Put your energies and attention where they are best able to give you the results you desire most, putting the rest on 'hold' until then.

Tip Thursday - Productivity

Set time limits for all of your scheduled tasks. This ensures that you haven`t listed more than can possibly get done in a day (forcing you to leave at the end of the day feeling like you have failed to accomplish what you set out to do!) and let`s you `add in` tasks that will `fit`.

Have 10 unexpected minutes available?  Add in a 5-8 minute task.  Most activities expand to fill the time available. If you haven`t set boundaries you are likely to find your 10 minute task taking you the full 30 minutes you have open before your meeting.

Scheduling time limits for your tasks not only ensure that you are not OVER scheduling your day, but it also helps you keep on track for the tasks you do take on.  You'll likely find that you accomplish more in a day simply by keeping loose track of how long you are spending on each task.

Learning to Leave at 5 (Without Guilt)

There are many reasons for us to try and end our work day comfortably at 5pm; we have children and families to care for, we want to fit regular work outs into our schedules, we are working on perfecting our skills at outside activities, the need for relaxation.  Although there are studies that highlight the benefits of not continuously working overtime and of leaving work each day on time, the struggle for most of us rests in trying to make it happen.

We may want to leave at 5, we may promise to leave on time but the day often gets away from us, preventing our wishes from materializing.  It seems that merely setting the intention to leave at 5 is not enough.  We need to consciously develop systems that help us make it happen. The good news though is that these 'systems' can become habits over time, helping us to work unconsciously toward ending our work day at a reasonable hour.

The following tips are all designed to help you manage your work and your day to allow you to leave work at 5pm guilt-free.  Sure, we may duck out at 5 now, but we are often walking out the door carrying the stress of the work left behind on our desks.  The trick is to not just set an alarm and race out the door at a set time at the end of the day, but to leave feeling in control of our workload and good about what we accomplished that day.

Tip #1      Start with the End in Mind.  You must start each day with the clear expectation of when you intend to finish that day.  This isn't a wish, hope or prayer, it is a clear fact.  It is absolute. Creating this expectation before you start your day establishes the target that you are working toward. It will influence you unconsciously, even in small ways, throughout your day. You won`t make choices that might negatively impact its possibility, you will focus better and waste far less time... often without even knowing or realizing it.

Tip #2     Know Your Why.  Why is it important to you to leave at 5?  Family?  Fitness? Education? Fun?  Whatever your reason, the stronger your reasons and the more they align with your personal values, the more likely it is to happen.  If it is really critical to you to get ahead and advance your career and your organizational culture is such that leaving at 5pm will make you appear less committed... know you are never going to be leaving at 5pm.  You may create all kinds of reasons 'why' you just can't make it out the door on time but know that it is simply because leaving on time conflicts with your top 'why' - of building your career.  Your needs and values shift over time though. What your valued last year may not be what you value today. Become clear about what is important to you now - and why.  This is the key to walking out the door at 5 guilt-free.

Tip #3     Important Stuff First.   Always start your day getting the most important things done first. This is how the most successful folks start their day.  If the rest of the day goes sideways, odds are you have already achieved what you really needed to get done, eliminating the need for you to stay late to finish things off.  Whatever is on your list that is a 'must get done today item' should be the first thing you tackle.

Tip #4     Have a Plan.   As a corollary to the tip above, you need to have a plan for what needs to get done each day.  An Action list, a To-do list... it doesn't matter what you call it, but it is important that you are clear about how you are looking to spend the day.  Separate the must-get-done items from the if-there-is-time items.  Knowing the difference between the two is what helps you leave without guilt. If all of the to-do items are jumbled together, anything undone at the end of the day weighs on your mind.  However, separating the two means that as long as the must-get-dones are crossed off you're good to go at the end of day, feeling good about any of the items on the if-there-is-time list you managed to also accomplish!

Tip #5     Set the Expectation.   One of the biggest challenges that people working from home often face is the need to 'train' those around them to understand and respect the parameters of their work day. However, those working within corporations also need to 'train' their coworkers.  Your behaviour drives their expectations.  If they always seem to come to you with issues at 5 minutes to 5pm, and you always stay to resolve them, then you are training them to believe that your time is flexible. Letting people know you have a hard stop to your day, and then leaving on time, establishes your boundaries. Others will start to adjust their behaviour around the expectation of your availabilty.

Tip #6     Schedule Transition Time.  Always allow for 15 to 20 minutes at the end of your day to transition your departure.  You might set at alarm on your computer at 30 minutes before leaving to remind you to begin to transition your exit.  This allows you time to wrap up what you are working on, to record and schedule activities for the following day, to send any final messages and reminders. This means that you don't schedule meetings that would end after 4:30, you don't place a final call at 10 minutes to, you don't take a 'quick' question with 5 minutes left to your day.  You want to engage in behaviours that help you reach your target, not work against them.

Continuously working overtime is one of the most common complaints of workers today and one of the biggest sources of frustration and stress.  However, there is often more that we can do to alleviate some of that stress than we may believe.

As much as I have used 5pm as a target, note that your target may be 6 or perhaps 7pm.  Think about when you are typically calling it quits each day and whether there is a personal advantage to you (a 'why') to leave sooner.  Set that target.  If managing it each work day seems impossible then start with one or two days a week.  Whatever the case, make it an absolute for those days.

Using the tips above you may just find that it isn't as impossible as it once seemed.  As you reap the benefits of reclaiming some time for yourself and other activities, you just might begin to see an increase in your productivity while at work!  At the end of the (work) day, it's not about the hours you put in, but what you put into the hours.

You Have More Free Time than you Think!

Perhaps one of the biggest complaints I hear from clients is that they 'have no time' and that it is this decided 'lack of time' that is preventing them from exercising, eating right, taking on new projects, moving up, moving out, moving on. The ready excuse for being unable to take on anything else is that they simply don't have the time to get it done.

However, according to Sociologist John Robinson, a professor at the University of Maryland and Director of the Americans' Use of Time Project, most people have around 40 hours of free time per week.  40 hours.  It tends to beg the question - How are you using yours?

It seems that the Centre for Time Use Research, at the University of Oxford in the UK, has collected the largest and most detailed time studies, covering over 50 years, 850,000 people and 30 countries. The data they have mined from this is helping to gain perspective on the widespread perception that life today is far more hectic and busy than it has ever been.  However, the time diaries tell a different story, highlighting that 'actual' hours of work have not changed substantially from the 1980's.

Why then do we all feel so time-pressed?  It seems that there are a couple of consistent reasons, most notably...

• That we are all heavily influenced by the current sociological impact of the perceived need to be seen as 'being busy', that our busy-ness is an indicator of our Success.
• That time studies show that what we think we are doing and what we are actually doing are two very different things and, as a result, most people tend to over-estimate their work hours by 5-10% (in the US).  Therefore we 'feel' like we are working more hours, and thereby have less available free time, than we actually do.
• That watching television is taking up more than 50% of people's free time but we tend to significantly under-estimate viewing time due to its perceived 'unproductive' nature.
• That we are sleeping more than we used to.  It is found that the average American sleeps 8.75 hours per day.  However, people tend to admit to sleeping less than they do because it says that they are 'busy' to others.  

It has been found that there are, in fact, two groups of individuals that are working harder than ever...

• Single working parents
• Well educated professionals with young children

Interestingly, it is this second group, the time-squeezed professionals, that are having the largest impact on the perception that we are all time-starved.  This group contains the academics who study time and the journalists who write about it!  They therefore give greater voice to the issue than it actually merits, simply due to its relevance to their personal challenges.

If you are looking to utilize your free time more strategically, or at least to free up some time to devote to a new activity or hobby, there are some key steps you can take to reclaim some of yours.

1. Undergo your own Time Study.  In order to `find` time you need to understand where your time is currently spent and, in particular, where it is wasted.  Keeping a time diary or activity log will help you to gain some perspective on how much time you are currently investing in various activities and allow you to make deliberate and strategic decisions on where to redirect it.  Knowing that we tend to over-estimate the time spent on work and under-estimate time spent on leisure, it is important to gain some accurate perspective on where your time goes. You can use a free online tool (perhaps Toggl), set up your own Excel spreadsheet or simply create a chart and record what activity you are engaged in every 15 minutes.  Most experts agree that you should complete this for an entire week and then view the results.  
2. Gain clarity about how you would like to spend your leisure.  What are the activities you would like to engage in?  What do you want more free time to do?  Establishing some priorities will help you to make better decisions about what leisure activities to reduce to provide time to direct toward new ones. You will find that it will come down to wanting to do something 'more' than the thing you are currently doing.  Establish those priorities before viewing the time study results so that you can better challenge your existing free time usage.
3. Address your Time Confetti.  We all have these short little blocks of free time over the course of our day and week that don't seem very productive.  On their own they aren't nearly long enough to get anything of substance accomplished and they are therefore wasted.  This is like those small blocks of space on your computer that prevent it from operating optimally.  You need to defrag your PC periodically to free up that space.  In essence you are doing the same thing, identifying those small chunks of time and becoming more deliberate about how they can be used.  I always have a file of reading with me that allows me to get 'caught up' on background research I'm conducting during any of my time-confetti moments.
4. Consolidate/Chunk your activities.  Activities like 'errands' should be chunked together so that they get done all at once.  This takes less time overall and eliminates some of those 'confetti' holes that might exist in your schedule otherwise.
5. Reduce your TV time.  Most people conducting time-studies discover that a significant portion of their leisure time is taken up by watching television.  Reducing your time spent here can free up a significant amount of time that you could devote to other activities, but it needs to become a conscious choice.  Much time watching television is simply 'filler', surfing around or watching something by default.  Know what you want to watch and watch that, without the need to watch the shows occurring before or after.  Consider also that there may be activities you want to include into your schedule that you could do while catching up on your favourite shows, thus applying the same time to two activities rather than just the one. 

Our time is one of our most precious resources.  How you choose to spend yours (and it is always a choice!) will have a significant impact on what you experience within and get out of your life. 

Tip Thursday - Success

Successful people do things in the order of their importance. Therefore, they tend to plan their day in
advance. Every night take 5 minutes and write down the 6 things you MUST do the next day, in order of their importance. The following day - do them IN ORDER - so that you never fail to complete the most important items by spending your day completing less important things.

Charles Schwab and Mary Kay Ash both are reported to have used this technique - and both made hundreds of millions of dollars.  A coincidence? I think not!

Give it a 3 day Challenge and see what impact it has on your productivity!

Tip Thursday - Presentations

In business meetings we are often called upon unexpectedly, requiring us to 'think on our feet' and organize our thoughts quickly.  We want to sound articulate, knowledgeable and confident. The best way to handle Impromptu Presentations is to gather our thoughts using a Model of 3.  Here's a couple to give you a framework of what I mean...

1. Past, Present, Future  (In the past we...  While right now we...  In the future we... )
2. Cause, Impact, Solution  (What's causing X is...  The impact of X is...  The answer is... )
3. Pros, Cons, Position  (What are the pros of the situation, what are the cons, what is your position?)
4. Problem, Action, Results  (What was the problem, what were the actions taken, what were the results achieved?)

Each of these models offers you a unique way to organize your statements, helping you to sound on top of everything you're sharing!

Tip Thursday - Public Speaking

Consider the power contained within the Rule of 3 for your next speech, article or even song.  The Rule of 3 is based on the fact that ideas presented in threes are more interesting, more enjoyable and more memorable.  Three is the smallest number of items you need to create a pattern or a collection. With groupings of 3 we find a sense of completeness and satisfaction.  Enough so that you find trios, triplets and triads throughout western culture, from: the Three Musketeers, to Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, to Location Location Location, to Sex Drugs and Rock 'n Roll.  Examples of the Rule of 3 abound.  Martin Luther King Junior's speech - I Have a Dream - would not be the same without it.  Consider upping the memorability of your next speech by putting this rule to work for you!

Punctuality: The High Cost of Being Late

I hate being late.  For anything.  For meetings, engagements, appointments, reservations.  Truly, it causes me undue stress and distress to not arrive at least 10 minutes before the 'start' of anything.  For me arriving 10 minutes ahead of the start of something isn't 'early', it's on time. Meetings should start at the designated time which means you must arrive prior to ensure that happens.

As much as I hate being late I hate it even more when others are. I get that we are all busy, but it only makes it that much more important for you to not waste others' time.  Although I have long recognised that I am in the minority when it comes to my views on punctuality, organizations are coming to realize that there is a cost associated with 'tardiness' and are no longer willing to continue to foot the bill.

We all know that meetings have a high 'waste' factor associated with them. Starting a meeting late is just one of them, but it is a consistent and common element.  I have one client that expects (and accepts) that a meeting scheduled for 9:00 am will not get started until roughly 9:10.  Most internal attendees don't even saunter into the meeting room until 10 minutes past the hour, which does nothing to endear them to any external attendees.

Beyond the obvious dollar cost of having people get paid to sit around and 'wait' for a meeting to begin, there are additional costs that many fail to recognise.  Being consistently late can impact your:

Credibility.  It is difficult to convince someone to give you the opportunity to oversee a large project if you are chronically late.  Your inability to arrive on time for meetings is likely to lead others questioning your ability to get a project done on time or in budget.

Opportunities.  For the reason above, you may find that your future opportunities become seriously limited.  If you can't manage to get yourself where you need to be, when you need to be there, it is an easy assumption that you are not 'ready' or 'capable' of taking on a new responsibility.

Level of Respect.  Let's face it, arriving late to your meetings and appointments with others is just plain disrespectful.  It indicates to them that you do not value them, their time, or their importance. However, respect is a two way street.  It is difficult, if not impossible, for you to gain the respect of others if you don't also demonstrate respect. Being late is inconsiderate and indicates you don't care. If you don't... why should they?

Perception of Organization.  Being late looks disorganized.  Being consistently late confirms it.  If you are looking to climb further within an organization then you must appear to be capable of taking on more responsibilities.  However, arriving late appears as though you are barely managing your current workload and will therefore call into question your ability to take on more.

Reputation.  If you are late to everything then you quickly become someone that others can't count on. That becomes 'who' you are and 'what' you are known for.  This becomes a key part of your reputation.  Consider now if this is a reputation that you can build a career on.  Odds are it is more of a limiting factor than an exclusionary one.

Too many people in today`s business environment are somehow feeling that it is okay to be late, that a quick text message indicating that you are running 10 minutes behind is enough to alleviate any hard feelings about having kept others waiting.  Your explanation of how `busy` you are will justify letting others sit around until you arrive.

I recently was booking a two-hour consultation with a new client.  I indicated that my preferred start time for the location she requested was 9:00 am, however she preferred a 9:30 start to allow her sufficient time to deal with all of her `family`issues in the morning.  I agreed but indicated that we would then have a hard stop after 2 hours to allow me sufficient time to make it to my next appointment. At 9:30 I received a message indicating that she was running 15 minutes late but was on her way.  She arrived 20 minutes late and then requested an opportunity to grab a coffee prior to the start of our session so she could `decompress`.  We therefore started a half hour late.  I, however, kept to our agreed upon end time of 11:30.  She wanted more time with me to make up for her `missing`a half hour of our session. She was not pleased to discover that she was being charged the full 2 hours.  Somehow she thought her `message` that she was running late and her `need` for a coffee excused her tardiness and that my billable time adjusted accordingly.  Not so.

There is a cost to being late and that client soon learned it.  Both to her pocketbook and also to my feedback and recommendations.  She appeared disorganized and disrespectful and incapable of assuming any greater level of responsibility.  Difficult for me to then recommend her for the promotion she was being considered for.

Consider how often you are running behind and the messages it is giving to others about who you are and what you are capable of. Do these messages help build a brand that will carry you forward or will they limit your growth?  Five minutes may not seem like much but they may carry a bigger cost to your future than you may be thinking.  Getting to meetings and appointments early, or even just on time, can reap huge benefits.  Rather than allowing your lateness to become a habit with a negative impact to your career, develop your ability to arrive on time building a reputation as someone that others can count on.  Demonstrate your efficiency and reliability. Build your credibility and reputation... see what you've been missing out on.  

6 Tips to Recharge your Batteries

When it comes to productivity, time (and the lack thereof) is rarely the issue we think that it is. We seemingly have little difficulty in finding the time for the things that we truly 'want' to do, rather than those we feel that we need or must do.  Just think about how up-to-date most people are with what's happening in their favourite television shows.

It is therefore less a question of what we have time for and more about what we have the energy for. When our energy is high we are far more likely to tackle the difficult tasks than we are when our energy is flagging.  Therefore, the better we become at managing our energy, the better able we will be able to effectively manage our growing workload and produce the desired results.

The challenge we actually face then is that few of us are truly effective in managing our energy.  We typically don't consciously know how to recharge our personal batteries and we do not go out of our way to build and schedule energy recovery and renewal systems.  Most of us are therefore attempting to get critical work accomplished when our batteries are depleted.  We can't possibly do our best work in these moments, yet we have somehow developed the belief that we need to push through these moments rather than taking a break and gifting ourselves with some recovery time.

Science tells us quite clearly that our brains and our bodies require breaks, short periods of recovery, in order to function optimally.  Without these moments to recharge our batteries we are not capable of the same clarity of thought and productivity as when we are attacking a problem when fully charged.

In a recent Gallup poll, it was determined that only 13% of employees reported feeling engaged while at work and a further study of 10,000 people found that only 11% reported having a great deal of energy throughout the day.  These are not unrelated findings.  There is a strong correlation between our energy levels and our engagement.  The more we learn to manage and control the former, the more we will find ourselves able to experience deeper and more sustained levels of the latter.

Just how can we begin managing our Energy more effectively?  Consider any of the following tips to help you to become more adept in recharging your batteries and managing your energy...

Sleep

Most tend to focus on the quantity of sleep required for renewal.  Athletes tend to average 8.5 hours of sleep a night in order to ensure their performance, whereas most of us regular folk tend to be averaging roughly 6 hours.  Hardly enough time to get those batteries fully charged.  What is perhaps even more important to consider is the quality of sleep that we are engaging in, for however many hours we manage.  Few of us are enjoying restful sleep periods.  To help with this consider changing out your mattress (upgrades are needed periodically), a better pillow, fresh air, earplugs or noise cancelling devices.  Getting more and better sleep is seen by most experts to be the number one most important thing that we could and should be doing to enhance our focus, maximize our energy and optimize our performance.

Connect

Engaging with others can also help us to recharge our batteries.  Certainly avoid the energy vampires, but spending time with others can be a welcome distraction that can revitalize you.

Exercise

Engaging in exercise can provide you with a positive mood boost.  Research indicates that the mood boost can last upward of 12 hours following a period of exercise which is one reason why many recommend exercising first thing in the morning.  In addition to the positive health and fitness benefits of exercise, it is also important for enhancing the overall functioning of our minds and bodies, allowing us more sustained productivity.

Unique Abilities

We get recharged when we engage in activities that utilize our unique talents and strengths. We can take advantage of this by deliberately scheduling activities we enjoy directly following those that we don't, in an effort to provide a boost to our flagging energy.

Breaks

The top 10% of performers will typically work for an average of 52 minutes at a time and then take a break of about 15 minutes.  This on/off rotation is key to ensuring your sustained energy and focus over the course of a full day.  The timing of your on/off cycle may vary from this, but it is important to build in short periods of recovery throughout your day.  You typically know what activities and people cost you energy, enabling you to plan your day around these events.  You want to go into these situations as fully charged as possible and to allow time to recharge immediately following.  Even quick five minute breaks can make a world of difference in your focus and energy levels.

  

Tip Thursday - Revamping the To-Do List

I know that we typically create our daily To-Do lists, listing only those items that we want (and hope) to accomplish that day. However, we often have more than just those items that are still occupying our brain-space and that continue to occupy our attention.  Consider maintaining a daily journal into which you 'dump' each morning everything that is on your mind.  All those things that you are holding onto because you are afraid you will miss or overlook them.  Put onto your To-Do list those items that you formally want to address that day.  If you have extra time (does this ever happen?) then go back to your journal to pull something else out.  You can start each fresh day by reviewing the list from the previous to refresh your mind about outstanding items, then repeat the process.  Having a physical record of the items is proven to reduce worry and stress caused by thinking we'll forget, and heightening focus on the items you do need to move forward.

How to Get More Stuff Done

We all have our own systems in place for helping keep us on track, our personal methods for structuring and organizing our days.  This is as it should be.  Different people, different personalities and even different roles require varying degrees and types of structure.  The issue is not 'how' you organize your day but that you do.

Regardless of 'what' we do for a living we are all required to get stuff done over the course of the day. If we also add in all of the chores waiting for us on our personal to-do lists the 'stuff' waiting for our time and attention becomes overwhelmingly huge.  It is likely safe to say that with everything that is pressing upon us for our time and attention we could all benefit from becoming just a little bit better in managing our day.  No one, but the heart surgeon, is likely telling you to slow down and to do less!

The question most of us struggle with though is How?  How do I get more done when I already feel as though I am stretched to the limit?  How do I possibly get more done when I have 'inherited' work from downsized colleagues and am now carrying the workload of one and half (if not more) people?  How do I manage to get 'more' done and feel that I am not just surviving, but thriving?

The challenge in dealing with the issue of Personal Productivity is that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution.  There is no one method that you can pick up and apply that will work equally well for you and your 12 closest colleagues.  Pieces of it will work, but they need to be blended with other aspects of other systems to create a collage of elements that work for you.  However, building the perfect system, one that helps you to work optimally, is not a haphazard affair.  It takes great insight into how you truly like to work, what you are good at (and what you`re not), and when and how you are most effective.

The bottom line is that becoming more efficient in your use of time takes... time.  An investment of your time to assess your current systems, determine what`s working and what isn`t and to source out elements to trial and add to the mix.  The following are top tips to try and perhaps adopt. Each will, in different ways, help you to get more done.  Since the implementation of any new idea will take some time and focus to make familiar and comfortable enough to become habit, I suggest highlighting your favourites and pick one to start.  Once it has become integrated into the way you manage your day, pick another.

Plan to your Focus.  We all have a specific rhythm to our focus.  Some of us are more energized and focused in the morning, some in the afternoon and some don't kick into high gear until later in the evening.  Understanding when we are at our best is important to how we schedule our day.  Plan your most difficult tasks for these moments.  We want to work on our more more mindful (not mindless) tasks during our personal peak times.  If you are at your best first thing in the morning then you start your day by working on some of your most challenging tasks, not in checking your inbox.

Understand your Time Wasters.  We all have the same amount of time available to us each day, however some people just seem to be able to get more out of their day than others.  Generally, if you examine their day, you will find less time being spent on meaningless activities; those activities that create a sense of 'busyness' but that do not move critical projects and goals forward.  However, understanding how much time we are losing each day, and week, to merely being busy is difficult unless we do a time study.  Over the course of one business week, record the activities you are engaged in.  This is easily done by creating a checklist of activities and simply checking off what you were doing every 15 minutes.  Taking a look at this, over the course of a week, will give you key insights into how you are spending your time and, more importantly, where you are losing it.

Powering through Procrastination.  Typically, the biggest hurdle to breaking through the procrastination we experience on many tasks is getting started.  We feel stuck, for some reason, and engage instead in avoidance behaviours, rather than taking action.  To break through this barrier try the following.  Gather up the tasks that you are currently procrastinating on and block off a period of time in which you devote 10 minutes to each task.  If you have 3 tasks you are procrastinating on, set aside 35 minutes.  Set  a time for 10 minutes and work, full out, on the first task for 10 minutes.  You are not looking to finish the task, merely to get a satisfying amount of work accomplished.  When the timer goes off... stop!  Take a break for 2 minutes, then work on the second task for 10 minutes, full out, then break again.  Don`t skip the breaks.  You will find that working for 10 minutes on the task is not as intimidating or overwhelming as when confronted with the thought of having to work on it for hours. Often, this quick 10 minutes is enough to break through the barrier to your ability to focus on the project for longer.

Pace Yourself.  We cannot maintain full-out concentration indefinitely.  At the very least we require a break roughly every 90 to 120 minutes, which coincides with our natural Ultradian rhythms.  The more physically and mentally taxing the activity the sooner we require a break, whereas less taxing activities will allow us to go longer before needing one.  Regardless of the timing do need recovery breaks at some point, breaks that help to renew our energy, not deplete it further.  Therefore, simply shifting to a different task is not going to work.  This break period needs to be customized to you and is based on activities that help you to restore and build your energy.  For some it could be a physical break, for others a quick musical interlude.  Building in breaks to your day may sound like you are going to be devoting less time to your tasks and may appear to be in conflict with your goals.  However, the goal is to get more stuff done, not to spend more time doing it.  Taking breaks that renew energy allows you to bring more energy and focus to the tasks you engage in, allowing you to complete them in less time. Strategic breaks therefore increase productivity, moreso than trying to power through task after task with little focus or mind power.

Create a Habit List.  Putting a habit you are trying to build onto your to-do list is not particularly effective because it doesn`t give you feedback on how you are doing at developing that skill.  It`s the consistency of the action that builds the habit.  Consider the habit you are looking to build (walk 10,000 steps a day, no caffeine, quit smoking, break for lunch).  Rather than merely creating a reminder onto our daily to-do list, we need to highlight the habit differently.  For this tip we are `borrowing`an idea from the comedian Jerry Seinfeld who felt that the best way to becoming a better comic was to write better jokes.  To do that it meant having to write jokes - EVERY day.  This is his biggest tip for new comedians and one he utilized throughout his career.  He starts with a large, wall-mounted full year calendar. Every day that he writes he marks off with a big red X. The idea is to keep the chain of X`s going. Your only job then becomes - Don`t break the chain. Do the same for the new habit you are looking to develop.  You need to be able to `see` at a glance how you are doing... not breaking the chain is a great way to get that quick and visible feedback!

Manage your Zeigarnik Effect.  You may not know what it is, or that it had a name, but you definitely fall prey to the effect.  The Zeigarnik Effect is the mental reminder system that is built-into your brains that nags you about all of your unfinished tasks.  It is the little voice that keeps interrupting your focus on one task to remind you about 3 other things not to forget.  Often we then start jotting all of these attention-seeking thoughts onto our to-do lists - despite the fact that we have no intention of actually getting to them that day.  At the end of the day they remain on the list and are interpreted by our brains as `not done`.  We have difficulty feeling good about what we have accomplished that day if we have too many 'undone' activities.  Instead, keep your to-list only for those tasks that you need and intend to do that day.  Maintain a reminder list for all of the other 'stuff' that is occupying head-space. Creating a physical dumping ground for it relaxes the brain and frees it up to devote more focus and attention to the task at hand.

If you have read to the end of this blog (thank you!) then you have invested some of your time in learning something new.  To get the most value for that time you need to take action.  Which of the ideas above would have the greatest positive impact on your life and work - right now?  How might you implement it?  What's the first step?  Taking action on one of these ideas is an investment in time that is likely to not only increase your productivity, but free up some of your time, allowing you the opportunity to re-invest it elsewhere.

Colouring: Not Just for Pre-Schoolers!

Colour Psychology can tell us a lot about what colour to paint the office, depending upon what emotions and behaviours we want to drive. Savvy retail spaces use colour as a strategic design element to enhance the customer experience.  Most of us know a little about this and likely have intuitively used some colour psychology when selecting the paint colours for the walls in our home.  Granted, we may have consciously simply selected the colour we 'liked', but we know that our subconscious choice was based more upon how the colour made us feel than simply on how it looked.

However, few of us strategically use colour in our day-to-day business processes... but we should!  If you
are anything like other business leaders, you likely find yourself in numerous meetings each week, if not each day.  In order to keep ourselves on track we typically will take notes during each meeting, to ensure we have a record and reference of what information was shared, what actions were agreed upon etc.   Unfortunately though, we rarely go back and read through our notes and, when we do, we are overwhelmed by the volume of information and give up on making sense of it.

Research into mind-mapping though is now also indicating that we should be using colour to 'code' the notes we are taking.  It seems that not only does using colour improve our recall time but it can also save us reviewing time and serve to form some connections between ideas we might have missed otherwise.

Here's the basic premise...

• If you are using mind-mapping techniques as your preferred note-taking style, then using different colours to separate the various 'branches' of your map will help stimulate the creative side of your brain, which helps to create a stronger visual recall of the contents.  
• Using colour with any form of note-taking helps you to stay focused on more boring topics - longer. Adding that dash of colour serves to liven notes up, instantly making them more memorable and interesting.  Easier to find and review later.
• Many who use colour during note-taking assign specific meanings to various colours.  For instance, Black for general information, Blue for client's comments, Red for immediate action items and Green for new ideas.
• Lawyers have used colour-coding for their notes forever, learning the technique early-on in law school.  Rather than writing with different coloured pens, they will use highlighting to capture key information: Red for holdings of a case, Green for general law, Yellow for Facts, and so on.  This allows them to see the ways that their cases are structured and significantly enhances their recall of the case information.  Note though that you must be selective in your highlighting... colouring everything fails to offer any kind of distinction or time saving.  

I have long used colours when creating my mind maps and also use different coloured pens in my Desk-Journal - a book that I keep on my desk to jot down all of the bits and pieces of information that cross my desk (and my mind) each day.  Quotes I resonate with, small clips of information, book recommendations, fun facts, key insights, questions I want to address later... all get recorded in the journal, which I flip through periodically. All the thoughts are located in one place, avoiding them getting lost (which used to happen when I always wrote them on sticky notes!) and the journal itself serves as a great reference and motivational tool. The picture on this blog is a photo taken of one of my journal pages.

Regardless of how you intend to use them, you might want to consider adding a little colour to your life and to your notes!  Another skill learned in Kindergarten that serves you well in business.

 

Bullet Journalling

Still looking for a way to keep those New Year's goals and plans in check?  Find that your desire to use that

App to keep yourself organized, or that hot new 'system' that's out has fallen by the wayside and is now collecting dust in the corner with your exercise ball?  Don't despair, web designer Ryder Carroll may have the simplest solution for you yet!

After over a decade of development, trial and error, Carroll has introduced to the public his method for planning, tracking and note taking - all in one simple little notebook.  The Bullet Journal Notebook uses any blank paper notebook, providing an Analog system for the Digital Age.  The ease and the simplicity of the system are likely its strongest benefits.  No steep learning curve here.

Track the Past, Organise the Present, and Plan for the Future

 Check out this video for a quick overview and demonstration...



I have long kept a blank book on my desk, always in easy reach, within which I keep an ongoing record of quotes, facts and information crossing my desk that I don't want to lose.  Someone mentions a great book and I jot it down.  I read a quote that resonates within me, I jot it down.  I come across a fact or statistic that I know I will want to use in a program or future article, I jot it down.  Rather than writing them onto sticky-notes that end up getting lost or stuck to something that got filed elsewhere, I always know where to find those 'missing' pieces of information.  A quick flip through past entries will always spark an idea, action or new thought, helping to shift me out of any state of inertia that may have overcome me.

Carroll's use of his journal is inspired.  It doesn't require any fancy Apps or programs, no complicated systems to learn or perfect.  Simple systems are often the most powerful - because we do them.  Nothing works if you don't use or do it.  If you've been struggling with keeping yourself organized or on-track, or have found that your systems for keeping up with your life seem to be sucking up more time than you're spending on doing the things on your list - maybe it's time to grab a blank journal and give it a try.  You can pick up a little more information on Carroll's system by visiting his website at www.bulletjournal.com.

In the end, all that matters is that you have a way of getting things done.  Finding a way to keep yourself on track can help you not just get more done, but helps you to stay busy doing the right things.  Any system that helps you do this is the 'right' system... for you.  If you haven't found yours yet, give this one a go.  The simplicity of the system may be just what you have been looking for!

Time Famine: the New Workplace Reality

We've all felt the starvation pangs of too little time, and it seems to be getting worse.  We are adding more
and more each day to our to-do lists but we are not gifted with any more time within which to accomplish them.  The Boston Globe called Time Famine the New American Epidemic.  We are all starved for more of this precious resource we call time.

In order to combat this, many of us focus our efforts on becoming more productive.  The thought being that if we learn to do more in less time we will have time 'left over' to devote to other things.  The thinking is sound but the problem is that there is always 'more' on the list to do.  We may get more done within our day, than do others, but we still feel starved for more time within which to get yet 'more' done.

Clearly there is an adjustment that needs to be made to the way that we are approaching the concept of time itself.  We all get 24 hours a day.  This is a finite figure and one which we are unable to impact.  What then needs to happen for us to become more Time Affluent?  We can't hoard our time away, earning interest on the unused portions, so we need to become more discretionary in its use.

If we truly begin to view our time as the precious resource it is, then we begin to become a little more conscious of the need to dole it out more cautiously.  The following are some of my key tips for beginning to manage your use of time differently and, hopefully, better...

1. Assess the people in your life.  This may not be a typical topic in 'time management' texts but people tend to be the biggest drain of and on our time.  If we view our time as the limited resource that it is, then you need to become more conscious of where you want to spend yours.  Take a look at the people in your life and rate them either a plus, minus or zero, according to the positive value that they bring and add to your life.  This gives you an idea of where your time is netting you a return. Reallocate your time accordingly.  
2. Do 'IT' each day.  We all have seemingly endless to-do lists.  We start each day knowing there is no possibility of completing everything.  However, it is never truly about crossing the most off of our list, but rather about crossing the right things off the list.  Don't mistake completing quantity as synonymous with quality.  Start your day by highlighting the one thing on your list that adds you the most value, that moves you ahead, that makes a difference to you... and do 'IT".  Do 'IT' first.  Don't compromise on this element for it's the one that does the most for you.  There will be no shortage of people clamouring for your time and attention over the course of the day, but doing 'IT' each day (whatever it happens to be!) will ensure that you spend time every day devoted to moving you forward, to making a difference to your life. 
3. Stop Waiting.  We are conditioned to stand in lines, waiting patiently for other people's time.  We do it in grocery stores, in banks, at the doctor's office, on the phone waiting for the 'next' customer service rep to become available. This represents down time for you.  Your time is as valuable as theirs so ensure that you plan for these delays.  Save tasks on your to-do lists for these moments.  Anticipate and plan the wait into your day so you aren't frustrated by it but grateful for it.
4. Their Crisis vs. Yours.  Don't allow a crisis on someone else's part to become a crisis on yours.  Know your schedule, know your needs and know where the person fits on your list from Point One above.  Just because someone is mis-managing their time/day/life doesn't mean that they automatically have the right to manage yours.  I understand that they want your help, they may even be at a point where they truly need it, but it isn't an automatic 'thing'.  Be judicious with your 'yeses'.  They are not a given nor are they an absolute.  Your day, your time, your schedule.  If tomorrow is better for you... say so and, if never is better, say that too.  Other people's mismanagement does not need to become your problem or issue... unless you let it.   
5. Book 45 minute meetings.  Everyone seems to schedule their meetings in 60 minute intervals.  Even if they begin and end on time it will become impossible to remain on schedule.  Additionally, it does not leave you time to mentally shift gears in between, to 'travel' from one meeting room to the next, to handle that 'one' issue that's pressing.  There is nothing you accomplish in 60 minutes that can't be done in 45.  
6. Take a Break.  You're not going to get everything done if you don't take a break, but you will likely get more done if you do!  Taking a break (go for a walk, go work out) helps to recharge your batteries, giving you more energy to apply to your tasks when you return.  Also, let's face it, inspiration rarely strikes anyone at their desk!  Getting out and moving will help to light that spark of creativity needed for the problem you left behind.  Plus... you need to build in time for you, keeping you happy and healthy.  Sitting at your desk all day, every day robs you of your health, focus and energy.  Build in 'you' time each day, during the day to replenish, restore and revitalize your body, mind and spirit.