Notes

ProductivityRx - Ask Four Questions to create Your Work Easier
We require a better way! An easier way to deal with all the stuff; the stuff coming at people day long; the stuff we need to 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 getting into our day. A straightforward solution to identify what each thing is, where it needs to go, and, if it's something that needs doing, who'll do it and when that will occur. Oops, it seems I've trained with away, but read on if you want to find out how this four-corner approach could work for you.

These Amazing Times - The Miracle and Its Price We live in amazing times, but so did the generations before us for some time back. So what's so amazing about these times? Affordable instantaneous global communication. That's my response. The wiring of the world over the last 20 years has created the power for virtually every person on earth to attain out and build relationships virtually every other person in an affordable and nearly instantaneous manner. That is our contribution to the myriad human accomplishments over the eons.

Of course, with the nice comes the bad. Joining check here has been mobile technology by means of laptops, smartphones and wireless networks. We can literally communicate to anywhere from anywhere. And we do, at all times! Consequently, the number of inputs we each process daily - phone calls, emails, texts, etc. - has grown in orders of magnitude (that is a lot!).

Unfortunately, the price is an expensive two-fold whammy. First, we need to process all the new stuff. Second, the expected response times have shrunk to nanoseconds. The effect is that we constantly feel behind the curve and may swiftly 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 Way to Process All That Stuff

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

Fortunately, this skill - known as Productivity in the professional development world - has timely application given this overwhelming number of inputs we each cope with daily. Might work with clients has focused primarily on how to quickly identify and process all this stuff, then get back to focused efforts on the things that need doing today. The building blocks 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 little further than just to my clients, I'll lay out the basis for the method in this post and demonstrate how it solves the problem of feeling overwhelmed and uncontrollable with your workload.

Ask and You Shall Receive

Great email address details are often found when we ask simple questions. If you are attempting to power through the various things you need to process anytime 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 wonderful world of Stuff, this is a multiple choice question with ONLY four answers - Trash, Archive, Reference or Work. Trash is self-explanatory - something you do not ever need again. Archive is something you might need again but not very often, if ever - like a contract or a letter that pertains to a particular project. Reference is stuff you use (refer to) to do your work - such as a phone book. Work is whatever must be done.

In fact, if you're not sure what a particular item is, ask yourself this yes/no question: Does anything further should be finished with this? If the solution is Yes, then it is necessarily Work. If the answer is No, then it is necessarily among the other three - Trash, Archive or Reference.

Phew, that is the hard part. If you're struggling with this first question, develop a sticky note listing all 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 been able to identify. Everything easily fits into among those four. If you come up with a fifth, email me and we can discuss why it isn't one of the four.)

2. Where Does It Go?

Now that we realize what each particular thing is, we need to put it in the proper place. Things get much easier now:

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

We have neatly and quickly dispensed with three of the four Types of stuff in our lives leaving only the Work items left open. This next question - Who Will Do It? - is often a sub-question of Work and provides the most clarity regarding anything you are going to delegate to others.

If you are dealing with an Action Item, it's often effective to ask if it's something You should do of whether it's something you can Delegate to another. Of course, once delegated, the Action Item becomes an Awaiting Response, right? See how this works? Thus, this mini-question serves a focused, but highly useful, purpose in getting things into 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 due dates like "ASAP" or "Urgent" or "Immediately." The initial two are unclear - my ASAP may be different than your ASAP and "Urgent" is also relative. Immediately rarely means immediately, except possibly in get more info . These types of deadlines are further symptoms of the issues we experience with this always-on world.

Off the diatribe and back again to the point, the actual deadline is less meaningful in our analysis than 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 from that beginning date to maximize our flexibility in triaging all of the rest of the 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 simplest way to manage these deadlines so that you could adjust each day's puzzle pieces in such a way as to undertake your stuff in probably the most efficient and effective way. get more info gets you back to the producing efforts quickly and with a feeling of command and control on the work.

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

The framework organized above is the fundamental workflow model I developed to help my clients quickly move through the near-overwhelming inputs that come at them every day. It is a short process to move 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 more than enough 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 employed in today's frenetic environment. Because the creator of the QuietSpacing(tm) productivity method, he could be a frequent speaker and recognized author on productivity-related topics. Paul works 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 find out about Paul and his practice at http://www.quietspacing.com.
Homepage: https://www.pearltrees.com/aagesenlundberg94/item513291108