Category: Decision Making

How Specific Is Your Next Action?

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Do you have a project that has sat on your plate for a while?  Perhaps a home repair that never seems to get completed or the office redesign that is caught in perpetual limbo.  Odds are the reason this project lacks momentum is because the time has not been taken to carefully consider the next physical action needed to move it forward.

action-arrowPhysical actions are visible to other people such as calling someone on the phone, typing an email, drafting a memo, or talking to a colleague.  A common trap is to believe that “thinking” about an item is a next action.  Thinking could be part of a next action if that process is accompanied by a physical movement to capture the ideas, such as drawing a mind map.

Last week I met Andy Aichele, the new Organizational Learning and Development Manager for the Columbus Metropolitan Library and a certified GTD trainer.  He shared an effective way to think about how to create effective next actions.  The approach is to imagine delegating the action to someone else. Would they be able to understand and complete the action based on how you described it?

To practice this approach, the next time you develop a next action consider how you would describe it to another person.  If you could delegate it effectively to others, then you should be able to compete it yourself.  Projects only move forward through physical actions so be careful to effectively and clearly draft your next step.

Essentialism

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Do you ever feel like you are being pulled in many different directions, chasing multiple, ill-defined goals?  This modern age of attention we live in is designed to draw people towards the latest, flashiest item or trend.  It makes our work lives seem hectic and unfulfilled, much like walking on a treadmill, where we take lots of steps but never get anywhere.  Is there a path out of this trap?

I recently read aessentialism book that provides an answer to this dilemma.  In Essentialism: The Discipline Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown outlines a lifestyle that emphasizes finding the most important things to do and only focusing energy on those priorities.  On his web site, he describes Essentialism in this way:

“The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s not about getting less done. It’s about getting only the right things done. It’s about challenging the core assumption of ‘we can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time’. It’s about regaining control of our own choices about where to spend our time and energies instead of giving others implicit permission to choose for us.”

To learn more about the Way of the Essentialist, visit Greg’s web site or check out the book from your local library.

The Digital Productivity Pyramid

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The 21st Century has seen the rise of the modern knowledge worker.  While a recognition of knowledge work was expressed by Peter Drucker as early as 1959, the creation of the Internet, mobile computing, and cloud-based technologies has moved knowledge work into a brand new frontier.  The challenge is how does a knowledge worker succeed in this new space?

Tiago Forte has deeply examined this problem.  In a recent blog post, Tiago introduces the Digital Productivity Pyramid that maps out the five skill stages that a successful knowledge worker needs to master.  He writes:

forte“Imagine if we had a learning curriculum for modern knowledge work.

“This curriculum would reliably produce elite performers, training them in the fundamental skills required to thrive in the digital age. It would impart concrete skills that could be generalized to any kind of knowledge work, not just one discipline or career path. …

“The Pyramid shows how higher-order productivity skills build upon and extend lower-order skills. It shows how each skill can be leveraged using a particular kind of digital technology,”

To learn more about these five stages, visit this post at Fortelabs.

What to be More Productive? Take a Break!

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One of the misunderstandings about getting things done is that the person who works the hardest and longest is the most productive.  In fact, the opposite is more likely the case.  GTD author David Allen has confessed on numerous occasions to being “probably the laziest guy you’ve ever met.”  In fact, if you want to get more done, the science advises to take more breaks.

IDanielpink2n his recent book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, author Daniel Pink discusses why breaks help make people more productive.  He outlines five different types of breaks to take throughout the day to recharge your battery and refocus on the task at hand.  The types of breaks are:

  • Micro Breaks (One Minute or Less)
  • Moving Breaks (Standing Up and Walking Around)
  • Nature Breaks (Going Outside for Fresh Air)
  • Social Breaks (Chat with a Friend)
  • Mental Gear Shifting Breaks (Meditation or Deep Breathing)

Pink’s book offers other great insights, including when to change your job, when to schedule meetings, and the importance of beginnings, middles, and ends.  So the time is now to pick up a copy from your local library.

Deciding Between Priorities

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There is a common question I encounter in my Efficient Librarian presentations that can be best synthesized as this: How do I decided between different priorities?

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The default resolution that many people fall to is an attempt to decide which item is most important.  While this can be helpful, adjudicating importance can be too subjective and imprecise.  A better guide to resolving this question was recently presented on the Getting Things Done blog.  In the post, senior coach Kelly Forrister framed a few different factors to consider.

1/ Context is first since it will always be required to do what you want to do. For example, if your computer is required to write an email, but you don’t have it with you, then you can’t take that action. If being @Home is required to mow your lawn, but you’re not home, you can’t take that action.

2/ Time available is also a limitation in that if you don’t have the time to take an action, it won’t matter if it’s high priority or not. If you only have ten minutes, but you need an hour to take an action, that will eliminate some choices.

Read the rest of the factors listed in the post on the Getting Things Done blog.

A Formula for Success

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Is there a formula for success?  If so, it would have to be a simple approach that can be used by anyone in any situation.  Tim and Brian Kight, the founders of Focus3, believe there is a formula that if used with discipline will lead to any desired result.  In fact, they recently highlighted it on their blog:

E+R=O (Event + Response = Outcome) is cause and effect. Desired outcomes require deserving responses. The cause must meet the requirement to create the effect. What does this mean for you?

It means use a moment each week to clarify the cause and effect of E+R=O in your life. Are you responding in a way deserving of the things you want? Decide on your objectives, lock your focus on their importance, and make every action reflect your real desires. When you do this, success is with you in every response, even before your true objective is a reached.

Read the rest of this entry on the Focus3 blog.

timandbriankight

 

Fixed vs. Growth Mindsets

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mindsetsImagine a room of students who are working on a very tough math problem.  Some of them give up quickly and say it can’t be solved while others preserve and work at it until they final succeed.  What is different about these students?   Believe it or not, IQ is not a factor.  According to research, it is mindset.

In her groundbreaking book, Mindset, author Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. explored the reasons why some people have greater success than others.  She determined that it came down to whether a person had a fixed or growth mindset.  As explained on her website:

“In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.

“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.”

Read more about this fascinating idea at mindsetonline.com

Overcoming Procrastination

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Do you want to know how to overcome procrastination?  I’ll tell you in the next blog post.

Just kidding!  When I present the Efficient Librarian workshop, I’m often asked the question, “How do I overcome procrastination?”  While it seems challenging the solution is easier than you may think.  In a recent blog post on the Getting Things Done web site, GTD expert Meg Edwards wrote about her own experience with procrastination and the simple way she overcomes it:

megedwardsI realized that the two things I did that caused me to procrastinate were:
1) I had a negative definition of the outcome
2) I focused on the complexity involved … which overwhelmed me so I did nothing.

What I did that got it moving was:
1) I changed the negative definition of the outcome to a positive definition that motivated me
2) I clarified and defined the next action which simplified what I needed to do so I could relax about the complexity around it.

Read the full blog post on the Getting Things Done web site.

Beware of Sunk Costs

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Imagine you paid twenty dollars for a ticket to a local amateur play.  The day of the show, a friend surprises you with a free ticket to an exclusive concert featuring your favorite musician.  Do you choose to go to the play or the concert?  When behavioral economists run this type of experiment, they find most people will stick to the less attractive option (the play) because they paid for the ticket.  This is an example of the sunk cost fallacy in action.

Our minds are easily trapped by sunk costs.  According to Investopedia, a sunk cost is a cost that has already been incurred and thus cannot be recovered.  While this concept is often discussed around investments of money, sunk costs also include time and resources.  Think of how often an organization will add patches to clunky system instead of ditching it to build a new one.  People will stubbornly remain committed to a project that is going nowhere because of all the work put into it, even if results remain elusive.

dollarsandsenseRemember, a sunk cost is not recoverable, which gives rise to the famous expression, “Chasing good money after bad.”  The trick is to evaluate the current status of a project, investment, or commitment in light of where it stands now and ignore past contributions.  This way, it is possible to stay nimble and take advantage of better opportunities when they arise.

More information on sunk costs, especially around money, can be found in the book, Dollars and Sense: How we Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter, by Dan Ariely and Jeff Kresisler.