Want More Free Time?… 4 Key Strategies To Implement

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In our 24/7 world where time is a precious commodity, here are a few suggestions on how to get more free time.

  • Step back and assess how you really spend your time?  Are you really doing busy work or something that truly matters.
  • What can you delegate?  This can be very hard when you want to control the outcome, but its imperative that we give work to those who are more skilled in an area that we are not, and most of all don’t like to do.  What tasks can be outsourced or delegated to an employee.
  • What would be your ideal schedule?  I was challenged by my colleagues to look at my weekly schedule and determine what I would consider ideal.  Like how much time I spent on client matters, on family, and on my nonprofit service.  It doesn’t always work in balance, but at least you visualize what it looks like to drive towards that goal.
  • Most of all make time for yourself.  A study by GFK Roper & Real Simple showed that 65% of their participants were “happy” had made time for themselves.  Its important to have our own “thinking time” to come up with the creative solutions to issues that we face in our business and personal life. Add it to you calendar just like it was a meeting with a client.

Implement these 4 strategies and find yourself with more time to do the “right” work to propel you to the next level!

Mike

Time Management: Are You Focused?

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I have often heard how well someone can multi-task to get things done.  However, in my experience the person is not so much multi-tasking but rather is switch-tasking and they are not as productive first observed.

Studies have indicated that it can take between 10 minutes to 30 minutes to get back on track with a task that was interrupted by a phone call or email.  In a 2009 study by Stanford researcher, Clifford Nass, he experimented with college students on switching among tasks.  What he found was chronic multi-taskers for terrible at filtering irrelevant information and working memory.

For me the art of getting things done is to stay focused. I start each day with my top 3 priorities that will move the needle for me and my business. I stick with the first priority and finish it before moving on to the next one. It is similar to the acronym FOCUS… Finish, One, Course of action, Until, Complete.

Here’s to you staying focused on the one thing that will move you forward!

Mike

Stress Management: 5 Practical Tactics

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We all live busy professional lives.  Stress can seem to come from any where these days.  It’s a 24/7 culture with nonstop ways to communicate…email, text, Instagram, snap chat, and more.  Here are some things to consider making life more enjoyable and maybe slow it down some too.

Exercise more.   A 7-minute workout might be just enough.  Recent articles have been written about how a 7-minute workout can be just as beneficial as an hour.  Whether you believe in the short burst workouts or not, a great stress reliever is exercise and the time you spend for yourself.

Sleep more.  This is underrated in our “go get’em” American bravado to getting it done.   Sleep helps the body recover and repair itself.  Sleep deprived people more often fail to recall pleasant memories and instead recall more gloomy ones.  Think happier thoughts…get more sleep.

Spend time with family and friends.  A study done recently indicated one of the top 5 regrets of those dying was not spending enough time with family and friends.  We are here for such a moment; enjoy with those you love.

Help others.  This can enrich our lives and our well being.  Studies seem to point that 100 hours a year helping others can give us the “feel good” deposit that can add happiness and fulfillment.

Practice gratitude.  Even for the small things crossing our paths like a good hot cup of tea and the sunset.  Gratitude can be practiced in many different ways such as journaling what you are grateful for or simply writing a note of thanks to a friend or colleague.  An “attitude of gratitude” can go a long way to increasing life satisfaction.

Here’s to implementing your tactics for better stress management!

Mike

Great Leaders Block Their Time

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In today’s busy business environment, we so often hear how pressed for time leaders find themselves.  We are connected – 24/7 these days.  Time is a valuable and finite resource.  You can’t create more than 24 hours in a day.  It comes down to time management and not getting distracted by bright, shiny objects.

I can find myself getting distracted with incoming email and text messages.  Here are some tips on how to create more space to visualize, think, and read.  Without these ingredients in your routine running of your business, you are likely unable to be intentional on where you want to drive your business.

  • Jim Collins, author of Built to Last breaks his time up into blocks: 50% creative time, 30% teaching/business, 20% other.  During his 50% creative time he unplugs all electronics.  This is time to read, write, and think.
  • I respond to email generally only 2 times daily- at noon and at 5pm.  This catches the morning emails that I can address at midday and then catches the afternoon emails so responses are ready for the recipient first things in the morning.
  • Hold office hours.  You designate a time where your door is open for any discussion with your team members.  The non-office hours allow you to focus only on the highest best use of your time to work on your goals.
  • Take breaks to restore energy and creativity.  This could be a walk around your office building or taking a walk-in a nearby park.  (I have also heard of people taking conference calls while walking around to keep movement in their day and their mind alert on the conversation.)
  • Know when to say “no” to a meeting.  If meetings take up too much of your time, then you can’t strike a balance to find the space to focus on your top priority.

Here’s to creating the space that you need to drive the health of your business to new heights!

Mike

Time: The Ultimate Finite Resource

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I remember reading a book titled “Death by Meeting” by Patrick Lencioni.  The focus was on silos, politics, and turf wars in a business.  I recently ran across an article suggesting that meetings should not last any longer than 30 minutes.  I am sure some who are reading this can relate to being in a meeting that went on and on and on with no clear action and nothing done after the meeting.

Maybe implement compressed time for business meetings will remove this poor habit.  As Parkinson’s law indicates work expands to fill the time available, so if you don’t set a limit to the meeting, it can drone on way too long.

Why 30 minutes?  There is no scientific study, however, for me personally I see a higher level of intensity by participants because they know 30 minutes is the limit.  Its seems people listen more intently when things move faster keeping us engaged.  People tend to come prepared and ready to go.  And if not, they will the next time.

Give it a try.  Implement these three tactics to make the 30-minute meeting more powerful.

  1. Tell everyone to read any materials before the meeting.  Ask an important question: “what outcome do we want?”
  2. Decide on the one thing to focus on in the meeting that will make a difference and stay on it for the 30 minutes.
  3. It’s what happens after the meeting that will tell you if the meeting was good or not.  Act with a summary and clarity on the action steps and accountability.

How are your meetings?

Here’s to having better meetings!

Mike

Leadership: Time Management for Decisions

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Studies have been conducted on when its best to make important decisions.  In general, it’s best not to make critical decisions late in the day.  Typically, morning is best.  Our mental resources are put to the test during the day, and as the day wears on, we are getting fatigued.  Sustained engagement commonly leads to cognitive fatigue over the course of the day.  It seems reasonable and yet we still can find ourselves making critical decisions late in the day.

Scientists Shai Daziger and Liora Avnaim-Pesso studied 1,112 bench rulings in parole court and plotted the results throughout the course of the day.  They found judges more likely to deny a request and accept status quo vs a new ruling.  Favorable rulings started high in the early part of a day by fell off precipitously later in the day.

Cognitive fatigue has also been documented with clinical decisions.  Prescriptions increased as the day wore on for physicians.  A study done on Danish student standardized test scores the students performed worse later in the day.  More breaks in the afternoon helped improve performance.

As we tackle our “to do list” we should attend to those items that need focused decision making to be earlier in the day.  And make sure to take breaks through out your day to keep your performance up.

Here’s to making great decisions!

Mike

Productivity Hacks

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It’s been said that if we can make a 1% improvement per month in areas that we want to make a difference, then by the end of the year we have improved our productivity by 12%.  Over three years, that’s an impressive 36% gain!  Much like compound interest, it’s the cumulative impact that can make a big difference.

Here are some tips to achieve a 1% gain:

1.      Use a schedule

 Take 15 minutes each day to plan your day ahead


2.      Take breaks

 Using the Pomodoro technique, take a break every 60 to 90 minutes for 15 minutes.  Take a walk,              meditate, or stretch


3.      Stop using technology 1 hour before bed

Set a timer that goes off to tell you to shut it off, and get a good night’s sleep


4.      Organize your files

Use the OHIO approach (Only Handle It Once): Throw it out, file it, email it, call about it, but don’t               leave it hanging!


5.      Eliminate 1 daily annoyance from your list

Turn off you email notification and answer email only once or twice a day


6.      Time blocking

Experiment with different blocks of time to do focused work.  Like the Pomodoro technique                         mentioned above and further definition on the web:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique


7.      Exercise regularly

Even 20 minutes of walking a day can make a big difference not just physically but also mentally

8.      Make a MIT list…Most Important Task list

Dedicate a specific time that you work best and focus only on the MIT activity you want to accomplish

These are just a few ideas on gaining productivity.  There are many others, but the main take-away is to begin with action and do a 1% change each month that will lead to tremendous gain in the long term.  

Just remember:  Business, like life, is a marathon, not a sprint.  Stay in it to win it.

Here’s to your newly found productivity!

Mike

Is It Time To Spring-Clean Your Schedule?

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I recently read an article in the Harvard Business Review that talked about having an “untouchable day.”  I was intrigued by what they meant and how it applied in today’s world of 24/7 accessibility. 

The concept of the “untouchable day” is to mark your calendar with one day every week or month (whichever feels right for you) when you will be 100% unreachable.  This day is when you can do the “deep” work that is necessary to take your business, or life, to the next level.   It could be for the book you always wanted to write, or the podcast you always wanted to launch. 

Here are some ideas for your untouchable day:

  • Switch off the phone or put it to airplane mode.It gives you a break from email, social media and all the other “noise” so you can focus and stay on track.
  • Try moving while thinking. Hemingway once said “I would walk along the quais when I finished work or when I was trying to think something out.It was easier to think if I was walking and doing something.”
  • Go to a different location to minimize distractions. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, when he was growing his company, scheduled “think days / weeks” where he went off away from the city and would think about the issues facing his company.
  • If emergencies come up, you may have to deal with them.In that case simply move your “untouchable day” to a different day (but do not delete it from your calendar!)However, I bet in some circumstances what seemed to be an “emergency” was really someone else’s lack of planning, and often they can actually handle the situation just fine without you.

The idea is that once you get into the habit of scheduling “untouchable days” to energize your creative and strategic thinking, then your brain will begin to generate that feeling to get you into that flow state quickly.  Great things can happen when we shake up our busy everyday routines and schedule focused time to work toward our goals.     

Cheers to your “untouchable day!”

Mike

It’s Decision Time

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The average adult makes about 35,000 decisions a day. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?

According to Psychology Today it’s not. And if you think about it, it makes sense: people make many decisions without thinking of them as decisions. (Which pen do I take out of the pen holder? Do I have time to review the report before the meeting?) With all of these opportunities to change the course of our day, our career, our life, it’s a good idea to explore ways to improve decision-making.

The results of a study published in the journal Cognition indicate that not all times of day are created equal when it comes to making decisions. The study tracked 184 chess players who made about 40 “complex human thinking decisions” during a 3- to 15-minute chess game. The results are interesting.

To summarize, study subjects made the decisions most favorable to their game when they were playing between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. After 1 p.m., players made decisions more quickly (presumably they were in a post-lunch slump or tiring as the day was progressing), and their decisions were less favorable to their game.

Bottom line: make important decisions in the morning. Sort of. When you sleep and when you get up matters too. If you are a morning person—you know, the early to bed, early to rise type—then your best decision-making time is the morning. But if you’re a night person, then your “morning” is during the five hours after you rise for the day. So, relax: if you don’t get out of bed until 9 or 10 a.m. , then you haven’t missed your prime decision-making hours.

A lifehacker.com article by Adam Dachis also supports the morning person/night owl concept, recommending that people identify when they’re most able to make good decisions and then resolve to make important decisions during that span only. Creativity coach Mark McGuinness advises people not to worry too much about little decisions, because they generally don’t have a long-term impact on your life.  For example, what clothes you wear on a particular day or what you eat for dinner doesn’t change the direction of your life. (Although, should you wear neon orange cowboy boots with your suit and purple fedora to the office, the boss may question your judgment.)

McGuinness also recommends weighing the pros and cons before making big decisions. And don’t ignore your gut. He says it’s best to take more time (if possible) to land on a decision when your logical side disagrees with your instincts. In other words, intuition matters.

Should you follow this advice? Determine the best time, and then think it over. It’s your decision.

Don’t Waste Time in Bad Meetings!

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Everyone has them, but boy can they be painful.  No, I’m not talking about your annual physical (a worthwhile use of time!).  I’m talking about meetings.

According to Harvard Business Review, the average executive spends 23 hours per week in meetings. 23 HOURS A WEEK! That is just nuts. It’s not that meetings are a complete waste of time; ideas are conceived and problems are solved in meetings. But most meetings are not run efficiently. They waste a substantial amount of time. And we all know time is finite, and time is money.

Short, productive meetings aren’t a pipe dream. Here are a few basic steps to making the most of every minute:

  1. Each meeting should have a clear objective. The meeting leader must state the objective at the beginning of the meeting.
  2. The only people who should be at a meeting are the ones who are needed there.  You don’t need anyone to “observe” as a “stakeholder.”  Each person present should be integral to reaching the goal of the meeting.
  3. Require an agenda – even if it’s rough – in advance of the meeting.  Familiarize yourself with material that is pertinent to the meeting and ask others to do the same.
  4. Begin the meeting by discussing the most important issue.  If nothing else is accomplished, this will be it. List each item in order, and include the time allotted for each.  Post the agenda somewhere for all to see during the meeting.
  5. Start on time and wait for no one.  Latecomers will get the picture, and everyone else will be appreciative. People will show up (on time) to your meetings in the future, because they know exactly what to expect.
  6. Ban technology. No, you aren’t the parent, but it’s your meeting. Multi-tasking doesn’t work. Most people won’t like it, but you can bet they won’t be distracted.
  7. Stay focused and on track.  Chasing squirrels, as a friend of mine likes to say, is a big time-waster. Do not allow people to veer off on other topics, no matter how important they are, or how “quickly” they can be covered.
  8. Be sure that all attendees understand the plan and know exactly what action they need to take post-meeting.
  9. End on time.  This is crucial.  People will show up to future meetings because they know precisely when it begins and ends. The ideal meeting length is 30 minutes, but no meeting should surpass 60 minutes. After that, you lose people.  If they don’t find a physical way out then they are planning what to have for dinner. A meeting lasting longer than 60 minutes must have breaks, typically 10 to 15 minutes.
  10. Ensure that a follow-up email is sent within 24 hours.  Include all important decisions that were made.  Reiterate the tasks assigned to each person.  Even when all objectives are met in record time, the whole thing is pointless if there’s no follow-through.

The next three suggestions are unconventional ideas (inspired during an unproductive meeting, perhaps?) from Scoro. Different is good; it wakes people up and adds energy to the room.

  • Meet outside the office—a picnic bench, park, coffee shop, wherever. A change of scenery wakes people up and seems to improve moods.
  • Have a stand up meeting. Seriously. Watch the extraneous talking come to an abrupt halt, and the ideas flow.
  • Be creative. Food manufacturer Plum Organics has a creative/brainstorming meeting during which they color in coloring books. According to the company’s innovation director, Jen Brush, “It’s proven that coloring during a meeting helps promote active listening, and is more beneficial than multitasking on something like email.”

It’s time to wrap up this post — any more will be a waste of time.

Good luck with your next meeting!