Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Improve your productivity: Establish your operating principles

Last week, I posted about some excellent analysis by Tim Ferriss ("You wouldn't like me when I'm unproductive...") comparing the "fighting styles" of various productivity gurus. If you aren't familiar with Tim's work, he is the author of "The 4 Hour Work Week," which is chock full of ideas to change you life. It certainly changed my mental models in a significant way.

Anyway, browsing around Tim's blog, I stumbled across his Flickr photostream where I saw the photo at right. It depicts a set of operating guidelines he developed while working with a department in a Fortune 500 company.

I really like this concept, and my colleague Matt and I are just beginning to experiment with our own variations of this approach. If you break down what's on the board, it has an excellent set of guidance embedded in it:

  • Throttle back on email. Don't check it constantly, and don't do work email away from work.
  • Focus on a few specific, high value activities per day.
  • Record your results - and if you're on a team, let the team know what you're doing (I love that they are using a Wiki for that).
  • Minimize unproductive chatting.
  • Focus on one thing at a time and avoid the overhead of multitasking. (My buddy Gene and I use the analogy that even though an air traffic controller has lots of planes queuing up, each one should only land one plane at a time.)
  • Get out on time. I think this has a good psychological effect for driving better focus, and helps prevent tasks from expanding to consume all the available time.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes with our experiment. I don't know if I can go quite as "purist" as what's on this board. For example, given how my work is structured, it's unlikely that I'll totally eliminate all after-hours email in the near future, but I can certainly do less of it.

Even so, I definitely think establishing some operating guidelines like these will help me and the others on my team.

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Total Workday Control

In my continuing quest for methods and tools to make me more productive, I've been reading and applying Michael Linenberger's latest techniques from the 2nd edition of his book, Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook. As I've chronicled here in the past (see "My GTD Odyssey"), I have been a follower of Michael's methods for a long time.


One of the reasons I liked them is that they were more prescriptive than -- but still philosophically compatible with -- David Allen's "Getting Things Done" (GTD) methodology. I found Linenberger's instructions to be more actionable and specific, and they helped me sustain my productivity better than GTD alone. As I mention in my GTD Odyssey posts, with GTD I missed the "go to the list; get next task" feel that I remember from my old Franklin/Covey days - and Linenberger's method feels more comfortable in this regard.


"Manage Your Now"


In this second edition, Linenberger has raised the bar again and introduces more techniques, workflows, and Outlook tweaks to help make things easier. He's even moved beyond "Total Workday Control" to establish a methodology he refers to as "Managing Your Now" or "MYN" for short (I suppose everybody's gotta have a 3-letter acronym, or TLA, these days).


The book walks you through a step-by-step sequence for setting up Outlook for better email, task, and calendar management through the use of customized views to help you filter the information you must deal with to get your work done (the book's example of the Task view is at right).


MYN involves managing to a "Now Horizon" and segmenting your tasks. Basically, you are able to create several tiers of priority:



  • Critical-Now: the 1-3 tasks that must be done today
  • Target-Now: high priority items that you would like to do today but are not urgently due
  • Opportunity-Now: medium priority items that need to be done soon, and could be done today if the right opportunity presents itself
  • Over-the-Horizon: items that are on your lists, but you've consciously pushed them out for future consideration

This filtering and sorting method has made it much easier for me to become more methodical about working through the tasks on my lists, and the views described in the book provide a sort of "at a glance" cockpit to help you pilot your day. Find out more in the sample chapter available on the book web site.

The right tool for the job


You can go through the book and manually set up the views, but I recommend using a tool described in the book instead: The MYN special edition of ClearContext IMS. This not only automatically configures all of the special MYN views, it offers a ton of very easy-to-use shortcuts to help you become more productive with Outlook. The features are numerous, efficient, and sooo useful. I've been a loyal ClearContext customer for at least a couple of years now and couldn't live wthout it.


By the way - even if you choose not to adopt Linenberger's methodology, I highly recommend ClearContext. You can get the regular, non-MYN version at the ClearContext web site, and they even offer a 30-day trial so you can find out if it's a fit for you.


Some examples: I love being able to file a whole topic thread automatically, schedule follow-up tasks automatically, and use ClearContext's "Unsubscribe" button to make irrelevant email threads disappear

Commit - don't dabble

As I mentioned above, this book is much more prescriptive than the first edition. One of the asepcts of that is that it really requires a commitment for a few weeks to really develop new habits so you can get the benefits of Linenberger's methods. I think it's absolutely worth the commitment - I don't have exact metrics, but I think the books claims that you can increase your efficiency by 25% to 45% are in line with actual results.

And I also recommend taking a 'baby steps' approach to adoption, and focusing on the front half of the book to become proficient in the basics of task, calendar and email management before moving on to the more advanced topics later in the book (like project management and Goal/Project/Task management).

Summary

Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook can truly help you "Manage Your Now" whether you're an accomplished GTD user or someone just getting started on the path to gain control of your workday. Just make sure you stick with it for a few weeks (21 days is a good rule of thumb) to ensure you get the benefits.



"You wouldn't like me when I'm unproductive..."

I read an awesome post by Tim Ferriss (author of The 4-Hour Workweek), on Time Management Guru-itis: Mark Hurst vs. David Allen and Tim Ferriss. It's quite an interesting analysis, and I think it is pretty accurate and insightful.

One of the interesting differences in Tim's dealio is that it's very much about how you feel as you live your life - not just how productive you are. As Tim puts it:

"Is responding to all inquiries on a moment's notice really success? I would argue it is a reactive mode that precludes life, at least the type of life I want to have."

I must admit, this is one of the things I often struggle with. Getting my balance slider bar set to the right setting is tricky. Why? Well, the optimum setting for balance can vary depending on the demands (or lack thereof) stemming from work, personal life, etc. There is the flip side, as well, in which you "impose" a balance setting on your life, then make your activities fit that setting.

Ferriss and David Allen (of GTD fame) both offer methods to impose your own balance setting, but they have completely different approaches for how to get there. I've learned tips, techniques, and philosophies from both of them, and I think they have both impacted my thinking far more than I ever expected.

Check out Tim's analysis and join the conversation (and thanks to Matt for pointing the article out today).

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The Parking Lot Rules

I've just finished reading a book I wish I'd had when my first child was born. It's Tom Sturges' book, Parking Lot Rules & 75 Other Ideas for Raising Amazing Children. This book is a set of pragmatic "rules" to help provide a safe, nurturing environment for kids as they grow up. Some of these techniques would have saved me some stress if I'd known about them 15 years ago when I first became a father!

To get a flavor for the excellent advice in this book, check out the rule the book was named for, Parking Lot Rules:

"In a world inhabited by cars the size of small houses, the parking lot can be an incredibly dangerous place. The drivers of these SUV's are in another world: watching their own children, talking on their cell phones, listening to the radio. The last they they are looking for is your brood. Teach your children that they need to be right next to you whenever you are in a parking lot. There is to be no trailing behind and no racing ahead. The moment you near a parking lot, call out "Parking lot rules," and your children will know that they absolutely must be by your side. This rule can also apply to any time you perceive a danger that your children have missed: perhaps raised voices or the sound of broken glass or a stranger acting erratically. It beats yelling, "Look out for the crazy guy!"

And this is only one example - just about every rule hit the mark for me, and they're very practical (I love the Bon Jovi Rule, the Truth Reduces Punishment by 90% rule, and The Power of Forgiveness).

This book is ideal for parents of young children, but most of the rules still apply for older kids and teens. I think Parking Lot Rules will become one of my default gifts for new dads. It's a beautiful collection of advice.

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Executive Stamina

In another example of a book that comes into my life at an opportune time, I have been reading a book designed to help you systematically achieve higher productivity and better "balance" in life. The book is "Executive Stamina: How to Optimize Time, Energy, and Productivity to Achieve Peak Performance," by Marty Seldman, PhD and Joshua Seldman and I am hooked.

This book is similar to another book I've read and liked (but never reviewed) called "Find Your Focus Zone." However, I find Executive Stamina to be more "prescriptive" -- and its focus and style resonated better with me.

One of the authors of Executive Stamina is a clinical psychologist who's done corporate coaching, and the other is a respected cycling and fitness coach. They combine their respective disciplines in an interesting way, producing a guide that is designed to help people manage the natural peaks and valleys of mental and physical energy.

Stop the Thrash

This book is more than just an energy management guide - it also presents some very powerful exercises to help you improve the results you get in life.

Essentially, Executive Stamina seeks to keep you from "topping out" in your career - reaching that point where you hit a performance / interest plateau from which you cannot recover. As shown in the diagram at right, from the book's introduction, the key is to avoid reaching the point of diminishing returns in your work - avoiding what I like to refer to as "thrash."

The book is divided into 5 major sections, each focusing on models and assignments to deal with a specific aspect of your life - resulting in a combined set of skills to keep you out of the Danger Zone shown on the chart. Here is a brief rundown of what you can expect in each section:

  • Work / Life Alignment
    • This section focuses on introspection and answering hard questions about your priorities, values, etc. with the goal of helping you reach your career sweet spot.
    • This was by far the most difficult section for me, since it prompted me to revisit past situations in which my choices probably weren't well-aligned with my values. For the same reason, this was also one of the more impactful sections of the book.
    • My favorite tool in this section was the "Minimums and Shifts/Drifts" model, which is a tremendous focusing tool to drive specific action towards goals, and identify shortfalls quickly while you can still do something about them.
  • Building Your Stamina
    • This is a very prescriptive section, primarily dealing with stress management, exercise, nutrition, and other aspects of physical health & stamina.
    • I had a lot of favorite tools in this section:
      • the Lifelong Fitness Plan
      • the instructions on Meditation and Breathing Exercises
      • the comprehensive guide for "Workday Yoga" which includes yoga exercises designed to be performed at work.
  • Optimizing Job Performance and Results
    • This section focuses on getting better at finding and focusing on high-payoff activities - increasing your win rate, and raising the value of your output.
    • The tools in this section are very simple, and very much aligned with many of the productivity/time management frameworks I know and love. I particularly liked the portions on "Dealing with Toxic People" and the tips and techniques for overcoming procrastination.
  • Career Management
    • In this section, the authors focus on the fact that there is a big difference between high productivity and reaching your peak potential. With that in mind, they arm you to tell the difference between the two.
    • This section is still about personal elements of your performance, and provides a lot of guidance on preventing career mis-steps. However, it goes further and pulls in tools to help you look outward to figure out when other people are discounting your achievements, so you can prevent them from hampering your progress.
    • My favorite tool in this section is the one on Organizational Savvy, which includes the "Org Savvy Chart" to assess your strengths and weaknesses in this area.
  • Personal Relationships
    • The final section of the book emphasizes that personal relationships are a thread that winds through all of the previous chapters - personal relationships play a significant factor in reaching your peak potential.
    • Interestingly, this section describes how you can apply the tools from previous sections to systematically set goals and improve your relationships by focusing on high-payoff aspects of those relationships. Very cool.

Hopefully this gives you a taste for this book. It's smart, actionable, and well written, and I think it is a must-have for any executive (or anyone who aspires to be "master of their destiny").

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