Monthly Archives: October 2014

(niche topic) Use Microsoft® Outlook®? Use Search Folders

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When it comes to making the best little bit better, it is so important that you understand how to use all the tools at your disposal. One of the things that we look at together during our best just got better coaching program is how you can get from seeing something, to doing something, to achieving something.

And, the achieving, always means achieving more.

So, I have created for you a great tutorial on what we call the Outlook dashboard.

Now, the most important thing you can do is sign up for the free online course called Microsoft® Outlook® Dashboard. Just visit the website: www.OutlookDashboard.com <— click to visit

There are several aspects of that tutorial program that you will learn from, however one of the most popular ones of them all is what we call search folders. Imagine saving all the time you spend reorganizing, reviewing, and scrolling through the emails in your email inbox.

I am talking up to 60 minutes every day.

Ok, here is a “ProductivityTouchpoint Postcard” all about the Microsoft® Outlook® Dashboard.

If you happen to use an email reading and organizing system, and would like any help at all, join get momentum for a month or a year (click here). We could use one of your sessions to dial in your use and maximization of email as a tool. In addition, there is an entire month long module in the archive, that you can use to gain insight into not only using email, but an entire suite of technological and productivity tools.

Productivity Tips (While you’re out on the road…)

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Since 1997, I’ve looked to learn by getting away from it all…So I can come back to more.

Where Do You Do What You Do?

When asked, “Why are you on the road so much?” I reply, “I go to learn, I go to experience, I go to see new things.” I can work on an American Airlines flight over the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, set up a “temporary office” at a Starwood hotel, or review client notes at a locally-owned, community-focused coffee shop. In fact, I wrote the book Your Best Just Got Better while I was traveling across 4 different countries, visiting more than 15 cities, working wit more than 20 clients…

Pause for a moment…Before you read the 5 tips below, ask yourself WHERE you work, and where you get your BEST work done. Over the next 5 days, position yourself where and when you can get the right things done.

So, what are some of the productivity tips I count on to get things done, move forward on my biggest priorities, and enjoy life to the fullest? Here, I’ll share a few with you. My only ask, will YOU share one of YOUR tips in the comment area below? Each week for the next month I’ll review and comment on your comments - and one lucky writer will win a signed copy of my book!

Productivity Tips

Let’s do this in a Question and Answer format. Ready?

1. How do I streamline my work and my effort?

There are two tactics I use every day that I need to be engaged and productive. (Full Transparency: That’s most days. I can’t really tell the difference between being on stage working with a client group, racing a triathlon, or writing a chapter for an upcoming book…)

Tactic #1: I choose a maximum of THREE Most Important Things for each day. MITs are topics - or areas of focus - that I commit to working on throughout the day. They’re bigger than tasks, and smaller than year-long objectives. Generally, I set the MITs for the week on Sunday or Monday. I use these as “Guideposts” during the week. Generally, SOMEthing will come in to test my resolve as to whether I’ll stay true to the plan. Then, at the end of the week I have something to measure my progress against. Namely, the question: “Did I do what I said I would do?”

Tactic: 2: The “Ideal Day Process” that I write about in chapter one of Your Best Just Got Better. (Download the chapter for free right here.) Here’s what I do: I choose a pretty big day sometime in the near future. A work day. A triathlon competition day. A writing day. A travel day. A day off with Jodi… It doesn’t matter what KIND of day; it only matters that it’s an important one and it’s about a week or a month out in the future.

Next, I take out a piece of paper and on top of that paper I write, “If this day were a great day…” and then I write about 8 to 10 paragraphs. I call this my Ideal Day Process; it’s a time when I give myself the gift of my own attention and focus on what the day would be like if everything went well. Often, I’ll surprise myself the more I write. After I finish writing it, I’ll ask myself the question, “Now, is there anything I can do ahead of time that will increase the likelihood that what I wrote can happen?”

I always add a few things to my To Do list.

2. What is my everyday struggle?

The hardest thing we have to do as knowledge workers is decide what opportunity to turn down. Just recently, a local organization came to Jodi and I and asked if we’d want to head up a leadership development program for high school students in our local community. There was ample support from different community-based civic and business organizations, and the timing of the roll-out was far enough away that we “could have possibly” managed it.

It took Jodi and I two long walks, and three dinners of discussion before we came to our final answer. “No.” It was difficult, but looking out over the next 24 months we have so many things coming toward us, and our attention is so much dedicated to growing a part of our business that I had to put my foot down and say that we couldn’t do it. Is there remorse? Or retreat? That’s the hardest thing about being productive. When I do say “No” to something, I will always wonder: “Should I have done it?” The answer - when and if it comes - is always delayed…Sometimes coming much, much later.

3. What are my favorite productivity “tools?”

I must say my favorite productivity tools are varied. It’s going to help to understand what I even mean when I use the word productive. So, here’s my definition:

“I am productive when I do what I say I was going to do in the time that I promised.”

Now, that being said, I’ll use almost ANYthing to help me be productive. But, my FAVORITE tools would have to be:

  • A pen
  • A notebook
  • A whiteboard
  • A camera
  • A digital list manager
  • A digital (online/shareable) calendar
  • A telephone

As I think about the work I do and the clients I do it for, those would have to be the “tools of choice” that I turn to time and time again.

4. How do I clear the roadblocks?

I have a philosophy here: Once I notice a roadblock, it’s too late. When I’m not motivated is the worst time to try to pump myself up. When I don’t feel like working out, that’s the wrong time to hit the open road or run along the trails. So, I have milestones in place. Each Thursday I ask myself the Weekly Decompress questions that we devised (see www.getmomentum.com/decompresslite). These four questions cause me to focus on what it is I’ve done over the past few days, and also put me in a mindset to avoid the roadblocks that I intuit are coming around the corner.

When it comes to getting the right things done, half the battle is knowing that I don’t know all the moving pieces. At some point, something is going to come my way and knock me off balance. The real trick is to have as grounded a position as possible BEFORE the knock…

5. Do I use mobile devices (phones, phablets, tablets, laptops) to get things done?

Ok, so I’ve got them all:

  • iPhone
  • Nexus
  • iPad
  • MacBook Pro

Each one has specific uses, and I tend to NOT blend them. That is, my Nexus 5 is a GREAT digital “consumption” device where my MacBook is a great “creation” tool. My iPad is good for raw text entry (first draft of this blog post for example) while my iPhone is perfect for taking pictures of notes I take in meetings on a whiteboard or in a notebook.

The most important - and productive thing - I help people do is decide HOW to use each of their productivity tools to the best of their ability…

 

As you think about the week ahead, you’ll see how you can be as productive as ever, just about anywhere you find yourself. At the office, at the kitchen counter, in the living room, on an airplane, at an airport, in a hotel room…Getting things done is about ending a work session and feeling like you made something better. That’s the arbiter of a good day at work (or in life).

How are you training yourself?

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Get Momentum members are studying the psycho-social-environmental factors that impact our ability to

Make Better Choices

Click here to find out more…

When it comes to identifying and creating the habits and routines that go in to us performing at our very best, we need to condition ourselves to make those practices stick. So, for a few moments, consider how are you training the people around you to do the behaviors you actually what them to do?

Even more importantly, how are you training yourself to take on new behaviors?

We found this video about a week after the last Ojai Leadership Retreat. As you watch it, you’ll see how the puppy is actually training the human to give it a piece of kibble. As you watch, ask yourself what you do to reward the behaviors you want to see more of, and also consider the importance of the timing of the reward…

(Note: you don’t have to watch all 4 minutes of this video to get the point. But notice how much faster the dog is at the end of the video! Learning is happening.)

STEP 1: Ring the Bell!

The trainer is teaching her 10-week old dachshund to ring a bell to say when it’s time to go outside. This is just the first step in many.

Note: it’s not about ringing the bell or about the food! It’s about training in baby-steps for the desired response (ie notifying a person in a method the person understands that the dog needs to go outside to relieve herself).

STEP 2: Receive the reward!

The dog receives the reward - a small piece of food - almost as she reaches for the bell. What we know about this kind of behavior-based training is that the TIMING of the reward is the absolute MOST important thing. More important than the goal, the reward, the experience…the behavior being shaped (ie the person) must know immediately that they are “on course” to do the thing we set out to get them to do.

We experimented with this training method at the Ojai Leadership Retreat in September. We used positive operant behavioral training (ie  The Training Game, as we learned about it from Karen Pryor).

One person in the pair trained the other to do a simple task like sit in a chair, put their hand in the pool, ring a bell. (One person trained the other to make her an espresso, impressive!) Sounds easy right? Well, imagine you’re not allowed to talk, point or use any other kind of language, just a CLICK to denote when someone is “one course.”

This month’s Momentum Theme is all about building in new habits based on your MIT’s (Most Important Things). Click here for a preview of that theme.

And, no matter what, identify the behavior you want to incorporate in to your work/life, and create steps along the way that you can know that you’re on course. (And, change course before it’s too late!)

 

The Value in Hanging On to Bad Habits (Spoiler Alert: It’s High!)

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I made ONE more video for you while I was in the Grand Canyon.

Three Questions:

  1. Do you have any bad habits?
  2. Have you thought about replacing them with better habits?
  3. Need some help in creating new and better habits?

Before you read the rest of this email, watch that third VIDEO I made for you while walking through the Grand Canyon last Friday.

(Yup…It’s true; I hiked 52 miles in 37 hours!)

NOTE: I had been hiking for almost 45 miles by this time, and I’m a little short of breath I was up around 7,500 feet / 2,500 meters altitude…

Ok, big news:

This month’s THEME at Get Momentum launched today! I’d love for you to be a part of this, so click here to join, ok? Look, each month, Get Momentum members around the world study one Leadership Skill…

…this month, you could be learning how to answer these questions.

  • What are good habits?
  • How do you make new habits?
  • How to you turn habits into routines?

All of this will be answered during the month of Leadership Development Training at getmomentum.com

See you there!

By the way, when you join as a member of Get Momentum, not only will it get you access to this month’s theme, but it will also give you the momentum you desperately need to achieve more in life and at work.

  • You get FULL access to the entire archive of more than 15 other Leadership Themes.
  • You are invited to join a Private, online discussion group of fellowMomentum Members.
  • You get me as your coach, holding you accountable to your goals – personal OR professional.
  • You get a three-month membership to getAbstract.com book summaries.
  • You could get 5 extra copies of my best-selling book, Your Best Just Got Better.
  • And more…join today