Productivity with Purpose
Posts tagged commitments
Absolute Minimums are a Must to Improve Productivity
Jul 23rd
If you consistently accomplish your absolute minimum in each of your critical core concentration areas each day you will make significant progress toward you goals over time.
Remember, slow and steady wins the race. You can always do more than the minimum and I hope you will, but even small amounts of advancement add up. Too often we get caught up in the mental trap of believing that if we can’t commit a substantial amount of time and energy then we might as well not bother to take action at all. That is a myth.
Take a look at what you have identified as your current critical areas of focus and determine what your absolute minimums are.
What is the least amount of time, effort or action you need to take to see progress?
Each person will have different answers and only you as an individual can reasonably define what they are. It is also helpful to note which focus area they address. To get you started, here is an example based on my current focus list, of the absolute minimums that I must do with consistency; both to achieve progress towards my goals and also to feel satisfied with my life and work:
- Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes daily – physical health
- Write one hour – career
- Email my husband daily summary & encouragement – family
- Work a minimum of 6 hours each day during the summer – career
- Social media (10 Twitter posts and 1 Facebook post daily, update LinkedIn status weekly) – career
- Connect with at least one child each day (one on one time, phone call or email/text communication) – family
- Take 30 minutes of alone time (crucial to my sanity) – mental health
- Check in with my Facebook community (especially group for spouses of deployed military members) – friends
Your list may be very different and it should be since your life situation is dissimilar to mine. This list will then become a structure for new habits you want to implement. The amount and complexity is up to you, but remember to keep it reasonable or you won’t be able to maintain your momentum.
Critical Core Concentrations
Jul 20th
You must concentrate your focus on the critical core components of your life in order to increase your overall effectiveness.
This is a crucial strategy in your quest for improved productivity, efficiency and success. The first and arguably the most important step is to determine what your critical core concentrations are, or rather what you want them to be. Take a look at your goals or think about your long term plans in each area of your life. To give you a frame of reference; think about what you’d really like to accomplish or what’s important in the next three months. I recommend re-evaluating quarterly as plans and priorities change. Consider all the relevant areas of your life and work:
- Self – mental, emotional & physical health – includes personal growth and creativity
- Relationships – marriage, children, family, friends
- Spirituality – in whatever definition that means to you
- Community – local or global, contribution
- Home – purchase and/or care
- Career – job, business, education
- Finances – income, investments, debt, retirement, etc.
To illustrate this, I am willing to share my personal and professional second quarter core list as an example:
Mental & physical health – Focus on increasing endurance and strength, eat to maximize energy and health, and take time alone every day to decompress.
Family – Focus on maintaining communications and reinforcing my relationship with my husband during military deployment and support and deepen the connection with my children.
Career – Focus on building my business, writing productivity and deployment books and building my reputation.
Finances – Focus on planning and conducting my savings and investment plans in a more disciplined fashion.
Friends – Focus on strengthening my network of support and companionship, both in-person and virtual.
Keep in mind that everyone’s list will be different and will vary depending on the life and work situation that you are currently in. My list will be different in 6 months and was certainly different last year. Also, many business owners create a separate list for their business as an entity in addition to their personal list.
Once you have this list save it, print it or write it on an index card, tape it to your desk, hang it on the wall, whatever you need to have a constant reminder. You will then use this list as the basis for setting goals, determining weekly and daily priorities and selecting which projects and activities make the cut.
Don’t Overestimate Your Capacity
Jul 15th
Do you have too many projects? Who doesn’t? Sure, I do too, but for some reason it never occurred to me that I could do something about it in a way that could help me to be more successful. Who in their right mind would throw away a perfectly good project? Apparently some very smart, productive people; people and businesses that by the way are more successful than I am and probably less stressed too.
I was introduced to this concept by Anne Messenger, a colleague of mine of Messenger Associates Inc., after she returned from a WPO conference this spring. One of the speakers, Dr. Rebecca Henderson, of the Harvard Business School had given an address on overloading your capacity. She called this concept “Kill Project #26.
It is really a very basic philosophy when you stop and think about it.
Most people, especially entrepreneurs and small business owners consistently overestimate their capacity.
So, take a few minutes to examine all of your projects and possible commitments with a critical and realistic eye; whether they are ongoing, in the planning phase or tabled for a later date.
- Do you have any projects that have been hanging around for quite a while?
- Projects that have been started, but are just dragging on and don’t seem to get completed?
- How about projects that everybody is in favor of, but nobody has the time to tackle?
- The toughest are the projects that you are just so attached to and desperately want to get off the ground, but you don’t have quite enough time to get to today, or this week or this month.
Hint: If you find yourself saying, “I’ll get to that tomorrow,” “maybe I’ll schedule some time for that next week,” “after the busy season is done,” it is a tip off that it is a doomed project.
These projects are wonderful, worthwhile and possibly valuable undertakings. The problem is that there just aren’t enough resources to devote to them. The kicker being that even if you did clear the decks and power through the aforementioned project; it would turn into a “time-suck,” draining resources and time away from the rest of your business or your life.
What do you do then? I like Dr. Henderson’s advice, but “kill” seems so unkind and 26 seems so overwhelming to me. I would be overcapacity way before # 26. I prefer, “Terminate project 10.” Why? Simple, because “terminate” brings to mind having to let go of an employee that everyone loves and has such a great personality, but just can’t do the job. It’s similar to terminating a friendship or relationship that you have been clinging to, but has just turned into a toxic drain. I chose 10, because that seems like such a nice, round, even number. It would seem to your mind that you should be able to do 10 projects at once; it sounds reasonable, but it isn’t.
It won’t be easy. In fact it may be painful if you are emotionally attached to a certain endeavor, but for your own sanity and the health of your company you must say farewell. Do you want to retain your competitive advantage or not?
Your task, should you choose to accept it: Get out the ax and terminate project 10!
Then toast “Bon Voyage” and let it go.
