Notes

ProductivityRx - Ask Four Questions to create Your Work Easier
We need a better way! An easier way to deal with all the stuff; the stuff coming at us all day long; the stuff we must do - today, tomorrow and the times that follow.

What we need is really a simple, clear way to process everything that's already in and coming into our day. A simple solution to identify what each thing is, where it requires to go, and, whether it's a thing that needs doing, who'll do it and when that's going to occur. Oops, it seems I've given it away, but read on if you need to learn how this four-corner approach could work for you.

These Amazing Times - The Miracle and its own Price We reside in amazing times, but so did the generations before us for quite a while back. So what's so amazing about this period? Affordable instantaneous global communication. That's my response. The wiring of the world over the last twenty years has created the ability for just about any person on earth to reach out and engage with just about any other person within an affordable and nearly instantaneous manner. That is our contribution to the myriad human accomplishments over the eons.

Of course, with the good comes the bad. Joining this new ability has been mobile technology by means of laptops, smartphones and wireless networks. get more info can literally communicate to from anywhere. And we do, on a regular basis! Consequently, the amount of inputs we each process daily - calls, emails, texts, etc. - has grown in orders of magnitude (which is a lot!).

Unfortunately, the price can be an expensive two-fold whammy. First, check here have to process all the new stuff. Second, the expected response times have shrunk to nanoseconds. website is that we constantly feel behind the curve and can quickly become mired in the sheer volume of it all.

In short, we are able to do so a lot more but we feel so much worse about any of it!

The Rx - An Updated Solution to Process All That Stuff

I'm an ops guy, operations that is. Good or bad, it's what I do best - make things are better, faster, cheaper. I've always wished to be better at more interesting things, like marketing or sales, but I'm stuck with this particular talent, so I've made the most of it.

Fortunately, this skill - referred to as Productivity in the professional development world - has timely application with all this overwhelming number of inputs we each cope with daily. My work with clients has focused primarily on how to quickly identify and process all this stuff, then make contact with focused efforts on things that need doing today. The foundation of this work centers around the productivity method I created and customizing it to each group's or individual's needs.

To spread the love a bit further than just to my clients, I'll lay out the basis for the method in this article and demonstrate how it solves the problem of feeling overwhelmed and out of control with your workload.

Ask and you also Shall Receive

Great email address details are often found when we ask simple questions. If you are trying to power through the various things you will need to process at any time throughout the day, try these questions and their corresponding answers to see should they help you better and effective:

1. What Is It?

In the world of Stuff, this is usually a multiple choice question with ONLY four answers - Trash, Archive, Reference or Work. Trash is self-explanatory - something you don't ever need again. Archive is something you may need again but not frequently, if ever - such as a contract or a letter that relates to a particular project. Reference is stuff you utilize (make reference to) to do your work - just like a phone book. Work is anything that has to be done.

In fact, if you are not sure what a particular item is, consider this yes/no question: Does anything further ought to be done with this? If the solution is Yes, then it really is necessarily Work. If the solution is No, then it is necessarily one of the other three - Trash, Archive or Reference.

Phew, that is the hard part. If you're struggling with this first question, create a sticky note listing all four forms of stuff and put it some place you will see it regularly. Practice used to quickly assessing what each thing you touch is. Once the list is ingrained in your psyche, you'll become adept at slicing and dicing the onslaught of stuff coming at you.

(Note, also, that I am achieving this for six years and those will be the only four categories of stuff I've ever had the opportunity to recognize. Everything easily fits into among those four. If you think of a fifth, email me and we are able to discuss why it isn't among the four.)

2. Where Does It Go?

Now that we realize what each particular thing is, we must put it in the right place. Things get easier now:

Trash = Throw it away (or delete it if it's electronic)
Archive = File it away in your long term storage system (file cabinets, hard drives, etc.)
Reference = Put it away near your work area in a way that it's easily accessed
Work = We can't move on with Work until we determine what Type of Work it is:
Action Item: These are things you must do or you must have someone else do (delegate); the ball's in your court.
Awaiting Response: These are things you are looking forward to someone else to obtain back to you on; the ball's within their court.
Pending: These are items that aren't ripe yet, items that need another event to occur or perhaps a date to pass before they become "ready" for you to do or someone else to accomplish; the ball's in no one's court... yet.
Reading: That is professional reading, things you read to remain abreast in your field; ball's in your court.
3. Who Will Do It?

We've neatly and quickly dispensed with three of the four Categories of stuff in our lives leaving only the Work items left open. This next question - Who Will Do It? - is really a sub-question of Work and the most clarity with respect to anything you're going to delegate to others.

If you are coping with an Action Item, it's effective to ask whether it's something You should do of whether it's something it is possible to Delegate to another. Needless to say, once delegated, the Action Item becomes an Awaiting Response, right? Observe how this works? Thus, this mini-question serves a focused, but highly useful, purpose in getting things in to the right funnel for completion.

4. When Does It Next Need Attention?

Notice that I've totally side-stepped the deadline question. Associated with that I believe "When is it due?" is a trap for the unwary. There are two known reasons for this. First, most Work gets handled out with payment dates like "ASAP" or "Urgent" or "Immediately." The initial two are unclear - my ASAP may be different than your ASAP and "Urgent" can be relative. Immediately rarely means immediately, except possibly in an emergency room. These kinds of deadlines are further symptoms of the problems we experience with this always-on world.

Off the diatribe and back to the point, the specific deadline is less meaningful inside our analysis compared to the question of when do we must consider it again to make sure it gets done "in time." A project which will take two days to complete is best thought of several days out from that beginning date to maximize our flexibility in triaging all the remaining inputs that constantly come at us, while also bringing the project in on time. Using some type of flexible reminder or tickler system is the easiest way to manage these deadlines to be able to adjust each day's puzzle pieces in such a way as to move through your stuff in the most efficient and effective way. This gets you back to the producing efforts quickly and with a sense of command and control over the work.

That's right Virginia, I Didn't Give EVERYTHING Away

The framework laid out above is the fundamental workflow model I developed to help my clients quickly undertake the near-overwhelming inputs that come at them each day. It's a short process to go through several times a day or hour and leaves you feeling in command over your workflow.

Of course, I haven't given the complete baby away, but there's plenty of there for you yourself to face every day with the tools it is advisable to stay static in front of the curve and feel more lucrative in your career.

Paul enjoys a national reputation being an expert in solving the productivity challenges faced by people working in today's frenetic environment. As the creator of the QuietSpacing(tm) productivity method, he is a frequent speaker and recognized author on productivity-related topics. Paul works together with individuals, groups and organizations to generate more productive working environments and drive individual success via high-content keynote addresses, interactive training seminars, and one-on-one coaching sessions. It is possible to learn more about Paul and his practice at
Homepage: https://www.pinterest.com/batchelorlohse3/