In the Thinking Lab, I offer a self-study course called, "Evolving a Scheduling Infrastructure."1 The goal of the course is to help you get a basic system in place to keep you productive. The basic system consists of only three things: 1. A daily planning session (15...
In recent years, I've incorporated ideas from The Twelve Week Year (by Brian Moran) into my routines, and found them very helpful. My top takeaway from this book is the idea of setting quarterly goals rather than annual or monthly goals. When you set goals you intend...
In a one-on-one coaching call a few months ago, Roger (not his real name) reported that he was being pulled off course into doing unimportant work. I asked him if he was taking a few minutes to plan the day in the morning. We had previously discussed how to plan the...
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." The importance of taking small steps is well known. It's the most likely advice you'll get if you're bogging down on something. "Try taking a small step." And yet, I have often found this advice unhelpful. I'm...
Many time-management books recommend you do a detailed "time log" to find out how you really use your time. They recommend you keep a record of every activity, with 15-minute precision. These have always struck me as a little compulsive, without much obvious benefit....
A nice little article on the top 5 time management mistakes from Fast Company: http://www.fastcompany.com/3048828/hit-the-ground-running/the-top-5-time-management-mistakes-youre-making
Marcia Yudkin is a veritable sage who has taught me many things about marketing and writing. She’s given me permission to share this article from her “Marketing Minute” which concretizes the need to align strategic decisions with your long-term priorities. Mr. South...
When you are on a program of continuous improvement, you are often adding some new activity to your weekly schedule, or improving the existing one. But by continually raising the bar you create a hazard: the increased potential for failure! Here are a few things that...
When you have a complicated project, it's sometimes hard to figure out what to work on first. Like any prioritization task, the first step is to get an overview. You can't judge priorities without an overview. Once you get an overview, you can often identify the order...
To keep on track with a workload, you need to review your progress daily. I generally recommend taking 15 minutes in the morning to see what you got done, and what you need to do. However, there is a good case to be made to spend a little more time to review in the...
When you have a big question to think about, don't wait until you have 2 or 3 hours free to tackle it. There just aren't enough big blocks of time available to make that a practical strategy. Instead, learn how to Velcro together smaller blocks of time--say 25...
But they're all important! When everything seems like it's off-the-charts important to do today, a thought experiment can help you figure out your actual top priority. Here's how to do it: Look at your short list of tasks to do, and pick one. Now imagine this was the...
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