The Productivity Pro® Blog by Laura Stack - Time Management, Getting Things Done, How to Be More Productive

Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best. — John C. Maxwell (author, speaker, and pastor).

In Oklahoma!, the befuddled Ado Annie Carnes sings,

I’m just a girl who cain’t say no,
I’m in a terrible fix
I always say “come on, let’s go!”
Jist when I orta say nix…

Ever find yourself in Annie’s situation? Are you a people pleaser? Do you have trouble turning down new tasks, even when you’re drowning in work? Does everyone turn to helpful ol’ you when they need something done? Is your schedule packed until the turn of the century?

Sounds like you need to learn to say no graciously—and make it stick.

Many of us have been conditioned by society to say “yes” to any reasonable request. It’s as if the word “no” is a four-letter word, even when you’ve got all you can handle on your plate. Well, get over it. That kind of thinking leads to nothing but confusion, overwork, irritability, and breakdown.

What Part of No Don’t You Understand?
Think quickly: what’s your scarcest, most important resource?

Flog yourself with a wet noodle if you didn’t immediately answer Time. Office supplies, equipment, money, and even coffee can be restocked with relative ease. Not so with time. We all get the same 1,440 minutes in our day, and once it’s used up, there’s no going back to restock it.

So until we figure out a way to drastically lengthen our lives, we’d better get as much done as we can in the time we have. Which means that in order to actually enjoy life instead of simply enduring (and to maintain your sanity), you absolutely must learn to say “no” when necessary.

You don’t have to be rude about it; you just have to make it clear and make it stick. Depending on the personality of the person you’re dealing with, a gracious “no” accompanied with an explanation of what you’re already saying “yes” to may be fine.
Otherwise, just be simple and direct, and don’t feel obligated to explain if you don’t want to. Try one these statements:

• “Sorry, my schedule is full.”
• “Not right now.”
• “Let me see if I can find someone who can help you.”
• “I don’t like to take on anything I can’t fully commit to.”
• “I’m not comfortable with that.”
• “I’m not qualified.”
• “I’m sure you’ll do a wonderful job on your own!”

Unfortunately, in some cases, a more firm rejection may be necessary. If, for example, someone refuses to take no for an answer, you may very well need to be rude. I don’t recommend it if you can avoid it, though.

Meeting Others Halfway
I realize that it may not always be possible to say no, especially in the workplace. Fortunately, there are ways of saying turning someone down without actually saying “no.” Try a mix of these:

Negotiate. Don’t assume a deadline. When someone asks you to do something, ask them if they need it now, or if you can get it to them later.

Communicate. Instead of trying to juggle a dozen tasks all due immediately, ask your boss or coworkers to prioritize them so you’ll know which is of utmost importance.

Reduce Quality. Often, good enough is good enough. Whoever’s asking for the task may not expect an exceptional level of quality; they may just want it done. So find out exactly what they want.

Streamline. If they want something huge, ask if they really need it that big. They may be just as happy with a slimmed-down version.

Eliminate. Rebuild your personal and departmental boundaries so that certain tasks are no longer your ambit. Then look at every task remaining and ask yourself if anyone would notice it if you stopped doing it. If not, stop!

Get Creative. Take stock of your situation, look closely at your systems and processes, and redesign what you can to make yourself more productive.

Partial Delivery. If you just can’t do it all but have to turn in something, ask if you can turn it in piecemeal.

All these are effective ways of keeping yourself from being overwhelmed, even when the fat’s in the fire and you’ve got no choice but to accept work you don’t really need. Put them in play, see how they work for you, and refine them as you go.

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* The critical components of an effective time management system.
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I recently surveyed my readers on the eternal question of productivity: Why is it that some things on your to-do list never get done?  Some great responses rolled in, ranging from the classic (too many interruptions) to the matter-of-fact (I don’t feel like doing it). 

But as diverse as the responses were, it didn’t take long to see certain themes emerge.  Below are the top ten issues at the heart of the problem and some guidance on how to deal with them.

1. You haven’t made the necessary decisions.  Your to-do list should be full of clear, actionable ideas—in other words, things you can actually do.  If you have a vague goal, like “Have a sale,” you’ve still got a lot of thinking to do before you can hit the ground running and make real progress.  Take a minute to figure out exactly what you need to accomplish: What kind of sale?  When will it take place?  What will it promote?  Once the task is more fleshed out, you’ll be more likely to make progress on it.

2. You haven’t talked to the people involved.  Are you worried that you don’t have the necessary support to make your idea happen?  If you need buy-in, go get buy-in.  Chances are that your first step should be to pick up the phone or schedule a meeting.  Even if you don’t get the answers you want, at least you’ll know where you stand.  From there, you can move forward, adjust your strategy, or simply move on.  Wherever the idea ends up, at least it isn’t festering on your list.

3. You haven’t done your homework.  Perhaps you know you need to schedule a teleseminar series, but haven’t gotten around to researching which platforms are available.  Figuring out the mundane logistics is now keeping you from making an important decision.  Carve out some time to do the legwork, or better yet, delegate that part of the task to someone else.  Once you have a better idea of your options, you can focus on the real issue at hand.

4. You’re ignoring your internal clock.  We spend so much time focused on schedules and deadlines that we often forget to pay attention to our body’s natural rhythms.  Yes, your Outlook calendar might say that a block of work will fit perfectly on Wednesday afternoon, but if that places your big task in the middle of a low-energy period of your day, you don’t stand a chance.  Keep your daily energy levels in mind as you plan your day.  Start high-energy projects early if that’s when your concentration is at its best.

5. The task is unpleasant.  The first step is admitting it!  If you’re being honest with yourself, you probably have an item on your list that hasn’t been done simply because the task is unpleasant and you’d rather not do it.  If that’s the case, it’s time to get tough.  Make a decision right now to either do the task, delegate the task, or forget about it altogether.  If you need to do it, stop thinking about it and just get it done.  If it can be delegated effectively, go ahead and make arrangements with someone else.  And if you’re going to eliminate it completely, cross it off your list and for goodness’ sakes move on already!

6. The task is overwhelming.  You don’t know where to start.  Is there an item on your to-do list along the lines of Complete Huge Multifaceted Project XYZ?  No wonder you aren’t making progress!  The task it too big.  Large or complicated projects need to be broken down into manageable chunks or else they’ll always take a back seat to the smaller, more manageable things on your list.  After all, would you rather spend the afternoon completing five smaller items on your list or barely making a dent in one?  By identifying a few key steps, such as “Gather Project documents” and “Outline project scope,” you’ll know exactly what needs to be done next and be less likely to hesitate as you take action.

7. You are plagued with distractions and interruptions.  Seemingly innocent interruptions like checking e-mail, answering the phone, or chatting with coworkers will eat your productivity alive.  And although many of these interruptions aren’t necessarily your fault, managing them is your responsibility.  Identify your time wasters and take immediate steps to correct the problem.  You might need to set regular times each day to check e-mail or close your door to let coworkers know you’re temporarily unavailable.  Not sure where your time is going?  Keep a detailed log for a few days and find out once and for all.

8. You are constantly putting out fires.  Does it seem impossible to achieve any real long-term focus as you jump from one urgent, immediate priority to the next?  Good leaders understand how important it is to make time for true high-value activities, even if they don’t present themselves as urgent, deadline-driven issues.  If you spend every day jumping from one issue to the next, you might help avert disasters, but you won’t ever accomplish anything substantive.  Instead, focus on the cause of all those urgent interruptions.  Do they come from lack of planning, procrastination, or a team that isn’t empowered to handle simple issues on their own?  Once you address the underlying problems, you’ll be able to focus your time and energy where it belongs.

9. The task requires a lot of work for little reward or recognition.  Recognition is nice, but don’t live and die by it.  If the task is worth doing, it is worth doing regardless of whether you will be recognized for the contribution.  If it’s not worth doing (but you have to do it anyway), just get the darn thing done and move on to something more fulfilling.  In the meantime, your paycheck is your reward.

10. You day is overscheduled before you even sit down in the morning.  You schedule time and bend over backwards for everyone else…why don’t you do the same for yourself?  Make appointments with yourself and treat them with the same level of importance as you would a meeting with a client or coworker.  If you know you need three hours to get something done, schedule three hours to get it done.  And I mean really schedule it.  Put it on your calendar, eliminate distractions, and treat the task with the same respect you would a one-on-one meeting with a live person.

So there you have it: ten huge productivity bandits—decide which ones best apply to you.  Be relentless as you kick them to the curb and get those tasks checked off your list!

Make it a productive day! ™

(C) Copyright 2009 Laura Stack.  All rights reserved.

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Like it or not, social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are here to stay – and it isn’t just kid stuff anymore.  In fact, businesses and individuals worldwide keep finding interesting ways to use social networks and other interactive online media to do some pretty amazing things – from building their brands to getting to know their customers. How do you keep it from sabotaging your productivity?

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Tune in on Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 7:00 AM EST to QVC and watch Laura Stack LIVE as she sells her Productivity Pro(R) Day-Timer(R)!  Or if you miss the show, go to www.QVC.com and watch it on-line.

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Importance of Productivity during Down Times

In the summer of 1900…

• The average life expectancy in the United States was 47.
• A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11, which was an incredible sum because the average American made .22 cents an hour, or about $400 per year.
• Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
• Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.
• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores.
• There were about 230 reported murders in the US annually.

Amazing what a century will change. Amazing what a few months will change. Growth ends, recession sets in, the stock market stops booming, and companies go bust. The recession is impacting our clients in various ways: we’re hearing of layoffs, hiring freezes, reduced budgets, not rehiring for positions as people leave, go on maternity, etc.

Tough economic times are packing a one-two punch in the workplace.

First, everyone is forced to do more with less (POW!).

Second, you have to do it all while dealing with the nagging anxieties that come with an uncertain economy—threats of downsizing, bankruptcies, cost containment, you name it (POW, again!).

So how do we cope—as leaders and as productive employees?

To succeed and keep their doors open, companies must make more money but spend less money and create greater results with fewer resources. You could attempt to cut salaries, benefits, staff, costs, or the quality of your products—all poor options. A better choice? Increase employee productivity. If you have 10 people, and you can get them to improve their productivity by 10%, you just effectively added another staff person without increasing salary expense—a much more attractive response. To do this, your employees need your help.

First of all, get a grip on your personal negative feelings that result from your lack of control. You DO have control over your friends, your love relationships, and your career. You decide for yourself what’s right and what’s wrong, whether you should stay in this weekend or go out, whether to vote Democrat or Republican. You decide who to see, what to wear, what to eat.

However, you have VERY LITTLE control over the government, economic policy, the rise and fall of the stock market, Mother Nature, international events, and even your company direction. Changes can often disrupt your life and force you to change your plans. Often there is little you can do and yet you are overwhelmingly affected by it. Accepting what is means realizing you can’t control certain things and to stop trying. You can sit around and wonder, “Oh, my gosh, how is this going to affect me? What if I’m next to go? How will I pay the bills? I’m going to be a bag lady!” You stew and worry and literally make yourself sick.

These things will happen. They just will. You will get no warning, and nobody will prepare you. And that’s frustrating. Because people will tell you to “reach for the stars—you can achieve whatever you want!” But they don’t mention you might get hit by a comet in the process.

It’s time to accept the things that you cannot change and focus on the things you can. What can you do?

Give yourself a break. Try to stay positive, despite the doom and gloom. Overdosing on pessimistic, overly dramatic news coverage is just going to weigh you down with bad thoughts—not good for those looking to clear their heads and get things done! It’s important to be informed about what is happening in the world, but you definitely don’t want to overdo it.

For months now, we’ve been bombarded with bad economic news every time we turn on the television or pick up a newspaper. No wonder everybody seems to be in a rut. Follow the daily news as much as you need to so that you feel in the loop and understand the issues that affect your industry. Other than that, it might be time to shut off the TV and catch up on some fun reading or spend some more time with family.

Know your job. Seems like this one should be a no-brainer, but you’d be amazed at how often our responsibilities can change and evolve without our even knowing it. Small incremental changes in how employees or departments do business can add up over time, leaving groups of people that work hard, but aren’t contributing to business objectives as effectively as they once did.

For example, in an effort to provide an exceptional level of service, you might find yourself doing work that is below your pay grade. Maybe you end up doing a large portion of the administrative work associated with a project that needs your input. Consider the value of your time!

Make sure that the things that occupy your time are worthy of your talent and expertise and hold your staff to the same standard. With any project, you should be able to look at the time spent, multiply by the pay rate of the ones doing the work, and still feel that your resources were well spent.

If you’ve got a $40,000/year employee stuffing a bunch of envelopes (even just that one time) or a six-figure manager assembling an important presentation page-by-page, then that work becomes awfully expensive!

These examples might seem outrageous to you, but believe me, it happens all the time. Never make the mistake of treating your time like it’s free. Time and other resources are limited, and we need to treat them that way.

As your company and your department are undoubtedly being asked to do more with less, now is the time to step back and take stock of the type of work you’re doing. Many times roles and responsibilities change, but job descriptions do not. As a result, we end up drifting away from core priorities and towards dong work that, while challenging, doesn’t really meet the organization’s immediate needs.

Now might be a good time to step back and ask that all important question: “Why am I (or we) doing this?” If you can’t answer that, or the answer doesn’t make sense, it’s time to purposefully make a change.

Break habits, build systems. Every office that has been around for any length of time has certain unwritten policies and procedures that exist simply because “we’ve always done it that way.” Now is a great opportunity to analyze your existing business practices and find opportunities to break the bad habits that may be bogging your operation down. Take you entire department for example. Do you and your people have a clear idea of your area’s specific responsibilities? Do you have the confidence and determination to say “no” when someone is asking you to do work that is outside your scope of responsibility?

Perhaps over the years your group took on the responsibility of coordinating quarterly meetings with senior managers. It might have made sense for you to be doing the legwork then, but now that the work has become routine, is it really the best use of your talent and resources?

That’s just one specific example, but there are many more out there. Usually, these are the kinds of tasks and responsibilities that make employees want to ask the all-important “Why am I doing this?” question. Rather than spend another day mindlessly plowing though projects that may or may not be a good use of your time, force yourself to take a hard look at what you are doing and why you are doing it.

If you had to pick three tasks or responsibilities that should be the top priorities for your department, what would they be? Once you know, evaluate how much time and energy is dedicated to those things. You might be surprised at how much time we can spend doing things that aren’t even close to the top of that priorities list.

It isn’t always easy to say “no,” but fortunately, that’s where your systems can come in. As you work to create smooth, efficient systems to do work within your department, you can give yourself some ammunition to fend off others in the company that might be inclined to slide work onto your plate where it doesn’t belong. If you don’t have firm policies and procedures in place to identify who should be doing what, it is much more difficult to make the case for “no.”

Analyze your relationships with other departments. Have trouble turning down work coming from other areas of the company? Now is a perfect time to start fresh and rebuild your department’s boundaries. In a frank and honest way, simply explain to others that in light of the current economic situation, your group has taken a critical look at its daily operations and needs to decline certain types of requests in order to build efficiency.

Perhaps you need to apply a little systems thinking and rethink the flow of information. Is there a procedure in place for other business units to request your assistance or input? If there’s not, you’re probably being hit from all angles with requests that may or may not be the best use of your time. Diagram how work moves through your department. Where does it come in from and go out to other departments? Interview your internal customers and find out how you can provide value through reduced services. Can you provide a report monthly instead of quarterly? Can you cancel the weekly project meeting and get everyone to email updates instead? Question travel requests if you feel a conference call will do. One of the best ways to take stock of the situation is to survey your group, ask them what gets in the way of productivity, and to genuinely ask how they would redesign things if they could.

Find the bottom line. Right now, businesses everywhere are taking stock of their must-haves versus their nice-to-haves. From an organizational perspective, which are you?

Economic necessity can force budget cuts and cost containment that might otherwise be unnecessary. One way to prepare yourself for this reality is to make sure you have a good understanding of how you and your people contribute to the company’s bottom line.

Sometimes, it’s easy. If you work in sales, for example, the correlation between what you do every day and the company’s financial success might be very straightforward—my group sells our most profitable product, which makes the company money.

Sometimes that correlation is not so obvious. If you operate in a support role, like Human Resources, you may want to start looking at your various responsibilities and deciding which among them have the greatest influence on the company’s bottom line—either by somehow driving revenue or by controlling expenses. Perhaps you help contribute to developing talent within the company, which clearly has an impact on the overall success of the organization. Employee development always seems to be one of the first things to go during down economic times, but this is not the time to reduce training if you’d like to get more work from fewer people. Or maybe you’re managing clerical or administrative functions that would be expensive to secure elsewhere.
If you can’t draw a line from what you do each day to the financial well-being of the company, then it might be time to do some hard thinking. Your other contributions might be valuable, but in difficult economic times, corporate leadership often becomes must more focused on dollars and cents, for better or for worse.

Where am I going with this? If it isn’t obvious how your contributions benefit the company, be prepared to explain how they do. If you CAN’T explain why certain aspects of what you do are valuable, then it’s time to stop doing them.

At the end of the day, productivity is about more than getting things done. It’s about getting the RIGHT things done and getting them done efficiently.

Make it a productive day! (TM)

(C) Copyright 2008 Laura Stack. All rights reserved.  www.TheProductivityPro.com

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Social networking is all the rage today.  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace – the list goes on.  It seems like everyone has one or more of these services, but how many people are thinking about how it can affect them professionally?  And how does it affect your productivity?

In terms of your professional image, there have been many news stories and articles about people getting fired or not getting hired for jobs because of the things they post on their profiles.  In one of my time management seminars, a participant told me she didn’t hire an applicant because she researched his social sites and saw that he “wanted to do as little as possible for as much money as possible.”  If you want to keep your social networking just "between friends," pay close attention to the privacy settings on sites like Facebook and MySpace.  The safest bet is to assume that anything on the internet can be fair game; however, you can minimize your risk by making your profiles private or "friends only."  Be careful what you write and post, even when making comments on others’ pages.  Think about whether you want what you’re about to say in the virtual public record for all time. 

That said, social networking can be a useful tool in developing relationships and marketing yourself.  I’m using LinkedIn to build relationships and network for new business.  I already have over 250 connections and many recommendations.  However, keeping up with your networks can becoming all-consuming and almost addictive.  I know several people who admit to being Twitterholics or check their pages on different sites continually throughout the day, which has far-reaching productivity implications.  If all day you sift through information on websites, read your blog postings, keep up with all your social networks, and wade around in your email in-box, when are you actually going to get your WORK done?  I check my social sites once each day and only after all my key priorities for the day are completed (generally in the afternoon).  I suggest you set some appropriate boundaries around your usage of social networking and then apply some good old-fashioned discipline to make yourself stick to them.

© 2008 Laura Stack.  All rights reserved.

www.TheProductivityPro.com

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I found this article at BNET.com very interesting.  Separating hours on the job from results has been a boost to productivity in many situations.  Outside of the service based or retail environments, should our productivity be based on hours spend on the job, or on what is accomplished?  Some companies, like Best Buy, have implemented the Results-Only Work Environment or “ROWE,” and finding success.  When I chat with audience members after giving a keynote speech, they tell me about coworkers who spend 10-12 hours a day in the office and get nothing done.  That’s because being physically in the office has little to do with productivity.  Some people can be there ten hours a day and get virtually nothing done, while others can accomplish great amounts of work in just a few hours.   Part of the trick to getting a ROWE culture to work is figuring out how to measure results.  Some business results are easier to measure than others, such as number of orders processed, or increase in revenue.  In a 2006 article in Business Week, Best Buy reported a 13%-18% increase in orders processed by people who worked out of the office most often.  Businesses moving towards the ROWE culture are not only reporting increased productivity, but are also reporting lower employee turnover.  As companies work to adjust to the “Gen Why” workers and their styles, it will be interesting to see how many companies move towards this.  (C) 2008 Laura Stack. www.TheProductivityPro.com

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Stop Trying to Be on Time!

Victor Borge, the Danish humorist and musician, was well into a performance when a woman came in late, fighting her way through the rows to her seat near the front. Borge stopped playing and as she proceeded—trampling over people, rustling, and disturbing her way to her seat—he said (much to her chagrin, as all eyes focused on her ill-timed arrival), “Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me.” After she sat down, he walked over near where she was sitting and said, “Where are you from, Ma’am?” “Fifty-Seventh Street,” she said. “Well, Lady, I’m from Denmark, and I was here on time.”

While Borge might have been trying to get a laugh from his audience, his obvious annoyance speaks to the principle of Preparation in Mark Sanborn’s newest book, The Encore Effect: How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do, which I’ll discuss in this brief article.  In the 16 years I’ve been speaking professionally on the concepts of personal productivity, one of the biggest complaints I hear from leaders who bring me in to speak to their employees on performance is something around “the inability to meet deadlines, always being late, constantly running behind, or being forgetful”—a performance that is hardly remarkable.

People are much more irritated by lateness than you can know or they will admit; it can dampen everything from promotions and raises to friendships.  Late people crowd you, physically and mentally.  When people show up late, it undoes your schedule and disrupts your day.  Showing up late or sending something in late—no matter how well done—still means a black mark against you. 

I consider myself blessed to be close friends with Mark and his wife, Darla.  Since we only live a few miles apart, our families frequently enjoy spending time together.  At a recent 4th of July barbeque at our home, Mark joked with me about the already-cut-up plates of tomatoes, onions, pickles, and lettuce, wrapped in plastic, and waiting in the refrigerator.  I joked back, “Why, I’m just following the principle of Preparation from your book!”  Does a simple act of slicing burger fixings in advance make for a better barbeque?  I think so.  Being unprepared would have meant trying to cut everything up while the burgers got cold.  I still would have been “on time,” but I’d be half listening to them and missing pieces of conversation while focusing on my task. 

This is the source of many people’s lateness, I believe: they are trying to be on time.  On page 17 of The Encore Effect, Mark defines average performance as, “the best of the worst and the worst of the best.”  He says further, “These performers are the best of the mediocre middle, neither hot nor cold but lukewarm.  The problem is that average performance doesn’t get you noticed.”  Simply being on time doesn’t get you noticed, because it’s fairly typical.  It just doesn’t stand out.  It’s okay…it’s just expected…yawn. Don’t be simply “average”!  So don’t be on time: be EARLY. 

Mark’s principle of Preparation—planning in reverse—speaks to this concept. I had to chuckle at his story of the fishermen on page 61.  It reminded me of cutting up tomatoes before the barbeque.  Being prepared means you do things EARLY.  Not on time.  Early.  Done in advance.  Proactive.  Forward looking.  With a long-term focus.  We’re not talking ridiculously early here, in a way that inconveniences your host when you arrive for a party.  It’s a way of thinking, a way of being, a way you frame your behavior.

The process of finding and seizing “The Crucial 5 Percent” (page 64), applies Preparation to people in this way:

1. “Late” people are perpetually behind on everything.
2. “On time” people arrive or finish a minute or two ahead or behind the goal.
3. “Early” people are remarkable and are prepared for everything.

Imagine how life would be if you were always so prepared that you arrived early everywhere, for everything.  You would:

• Get the first choice of many things,
• Gain admiration and respect,
• Are able to relax and not sweat,
• Get good press and publicity, and
• Have a bit time to relax, read, or return a call.

My point is that you can never really be on time…just barely on one side or the other…so you’re never totally trusted, no matter how skilled you are.  Being early makes you look remarkable and demonstrates to others you can be depended upon.  Being late, however, makes people wonder if you’ll be on time next time. 

Mark distinguishes between “routine” and “remarkable” on page 18.  I couldn’t agree more and would frame it in this manner:
• Routine “on time” people communicate through their actions, “I might not make the next deadline.”  “I’m barely in control.”  “I’m not looking beyond the moment.”
• Remarkable “early” people communicate through their actions, “I don’t need deadlines.”  “I’m in complete control.”  “I look ahead.”

(We won’t discuss late people, since that belabors the obvious.)  In trying to be early, don’t go out and simply set your watch five minutes fast to try to fool yourself, because psychologically, you know it is five minutes fast, and make up for it anyway.  Keep your clocks on the correct time.  Preparation is all about planning.  Instead of thinking, “I have to be there at 9:00 AM,” think, “I will plan on arriving at 8:45.”  Then work backward.  How long should it take you to get there?  Add a buffer in case there’s traffic.  What time would that require you to drop off the kids at daycare?  What time would you have to get them up in order to make that happen?  What time do you have to get up to make that happen?  And what will you do if you arrive even earlier than 8:45?  Be prepared to pay bills, make calls, read a report, or write thank-you notes.

Before you close shop for the day, ask yourself, “What’s coming up next week?”  “What can I get out of the way now?”  Before you retire for the night, go over the next day.  Know exactly where you need to be, what you need to have with you, and have everything laid out.  Have clothes selected, school papers signed, lunches made, briefcase packed, and schedule outlined.  As Mark says on page 58, “The future we experience depends on the preparations we make today.”

By preparing in this way, you enable yourself to be early.  Soon, you won’t have “deadlines,” because they will be unnecessary.  Deadlines eliminate all the job of accomplishment as you work for the deadline, not the completion of a project or task.  Deadlines were made for people who would not get things done without one.  You, on the other hand, are prepared, a remarkable performer, deserving of an Encore performance.

Stop being on time!
© 2008 Laura Stack.  Laura Stack is a personal productivity expert, author, and professional speaker who helps busy workers Leave the Office Earlier® with Maximum Results in Minimum Time®.  She is the president of The Productivity Pro®, Inc., a time management training firm specializing in productivity improvement in high-stress organizations.  Since 1992, Laura has presented keynotes and seminars on improving output, lowering stress, and saving time in today’s workplaces.  She is the bestselling author of three works published by Broadway Books: The Exhaustion Cure (2008), Find More Time (2006) and Leave the Office Earlier (2004). Subscribe to her free productivity newsletter at www.TheProductivityPro.com.

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Do productive people always have their dream jobs?  No.  Are you more productive when you enjoy what you’re doing and are happy in your work?  Yes. 

So do you find your work fulfilling?  Or are you just going through the motions to pay the bills?  What if you’re in a job that is a springboard to the next one?  That’s fine.  There’s a difference between everyday annoyances and unsettling, deep malcontent.  Life’s too short to keep a job that makes your stomach hurt.  As they say, do what you love, and the money will follow. 

How do you know if you’re in your dream job?
• Make a list of your dreams.  You may have only one; you may have several.  Some may be really big.  Some may be small.  “I want to make jewelry and sell it online.”  “I want to be a meteorologist.”  “I want to start my own pension consulting business.”
• Make a list of your passions.  What do you love?  Singing?  Playing guitar?  Photography?  Is there a dream job in there somewhere?
• Make a list of your core values.  Is it important to you to have ample time to enjoy life?  Is it important to you to be helping others through your work, no matter how many hours of the week it takes??
• Make a list of what you’re naturally good at and love to do.  Teaching people how to play tennis?  Working with animals?  De-cluttering homes and offices?  Cooking French cuisine?  Is there a dream job in there somewhere? 

Now why don’t you do it?  Perhaps you’re afraid you won’t make any money.  Perhaps you’re afraid to leave a high-paying job in search of a more fulfilling one.  Perhaps you’re afraid you’ll fail.  Whatever the reason, fear is a really energy drain.  It will paralyze you, lock you up, and keep you in the status quo.  If you are to find your purpose and experience the flow, you will have to muster the courage to fight it off.

Happiness is not all about money.  You could have a BMW, a home with 4 bathrooms, your kids attend the best schools that money can buy, and your wife looks like a supermodel.  But perhaps you’re still unhappy, and you can’t figure out why.

As Stuart Goldsmith says in his book The Seven Secrets of Success, “Becoming wealthy has little to do with buying a bunch of silly toys.  You have to be a very sad individual if this is the limit of your imagination.  How much champagne can you drink?  How many Rolexes do you need?  How big a wardrobe of clothes will satisfy you? This is all junk.  They are toys—harmless baubles to amuse us for five minutes.  Attaining these toys is not the purpose of a noble life.” He adds, “. . . Happiness comes from leading a worthwhile life and producing something of quality and value.  Sitting around in a mansion and staring at your Porsche will not make you happy.” 

It’s quite normal and understandable for people to want a lot of money.  Having a lot of money, especially in a capitalistic society, is equivalent to having plenty.  This is an instinctive, evolutionary drive.  Of course you don’t want to have to walk 20 miles with your Neanderthal club in hand to find a food source.  But in a capitalistic society such as ours that’s brimming with shiny things, this perfectly reasonable drive morphs into greed.  And before you know it, we equate money and things with happiness.     

But it’s not money in and of itself that makes us happy.  It’s the freedom that money provides that opens a big, wide door to the land of happiness.  In other words, if we’re not living hand to mouth, we have the time to pursue what we truly love—whether that’s writing a novel, volunteering full-time for a homeless shelter, or having time to watch the sun set every single evening. 

How much did you spend on your most recently acquired boast-worthy possession?  What if you were to that same amount of money and donate it to a charity that feeds the hungry?  Can you picture the poverty-stricken child whose face lights up when she receives a week’s worth of hot meals?  Which brings you more happiness, the possession, or the child with a full stomach? 

How do you like to make the world a better place?  Helping people overcome illness?  Working with the mentally handicapped?  Teaching people how to exercise? 

If I looked at the way you spend your time, would I be able to tell what’s important in your life?  The majority of people spend far too much time working and not enough time with their loved ones.  Then they arrive home and have no energy left to devote to their spouse or children.  They take the day’s problems out on the people they love—the entire reason they’re working in the first place.  You say your family is important to you.  Can people tell you value them by the way you spend your time?  You say your significant other is the most important thing in the world.  How much time have you spent spending time with them versus spending time working?  You say your spirituality is important, but how much time do you spend praying, reading, meditating, attending services, volunteering, or whatever reflects your beliefs?  Is it merely an outside facade?  Say and do the same thing.  Be congruent.  Or just stop saying it and be yourself.  To be in alignment with your values, what you say and what you do should be the same.

Bottom line: Adjust your career and your life balance so your time reflects what matters to you most.  Put some metrics on your priorities.  Companies measure their results, and you should measure yours.  Spending time with my family is my greatest pleasure in life.  Work is just my hobby.  I only want to be out of town five nights per month.  I want to eat dinner at home 25 days per month.  I want to take six weeks of vacation each year.  I work no more than 45 hours per week, although I could easily work 100.  Keeping track of my behavior each month makes me accountable; I know immediately whether my schedule is meshing with my priorities and my values.  These figures are in front of me as a constant reminder of what I’m trying to accomplish with my life. 

Assess how you’re spending your time.  What are you doing with it?  Watching TV?  Flipping through magazines?  What would you rather be doing?  What are your metrics going to be?  What do you want your epitaph to say?  “He had a well-mowed lawn.”  “There wasn’t one speck of dust in her house.”  “His Porsche was really shiny.” 

Do.  Don’t dream.
© 2008 Laura Stack.  Laura Stack is a personal productivity expert, author, and professional speaker who helps busy workers Leave the Office Earlier® with Maximum Results in Minimum Time®.  She is the president of The Productivity Pro®, Inc., a time management training firm specializing in productivity improvement in high-stress organizations.  Since 1992, Laura has presented keynotes and seminars on improving output, lowering stress, and saving time in today’s workplaces.  She is the bestselling author of three works published by Broadway Books: The Exhaustion Cure (2008), Find More Time (2006) and Leave the Office Earlier (2004).  Laura is a spokesperson for Microsoft, 3M, and Day-Timers®, Inc and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, CNN, and the New York Times. Her clients include Cisco Systems, Sunoco, KPMG, Nationwide, and 3M.  To have Laura speak at your next event, call 303-471-7401.  Visit www.TheProductivityPro.com to sign up for her free monthly productivity newsletter.

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