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“You can do two things at once, but you can't focus effectively on two things at once” – Gary Keller
Let’s face it, we suck at multitasking. Yet, we have so much to do we trick ourselves into believing we’re more productive if we multitask. We think we’re able to perform multiple tasks at the same time but in fact we’re not as our brain is just switching tasks. All we end up doing is achieving less, making more mistakes and feeling exhausted.
“A successful product may not be scalable, a successful process always is” - Faisal Khosa
As part of my job I get to see how people go about their work. Not surprisingly, the extremes range from very good through to very bad. While a number of factors come into play in determining whether an approach is good or bad, a good place to start is to ask: “Is it scalable and sustainable?”
“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” - Tom Landry
In my line of work, I get to meet and support many workers who either have the right intent but struggle to make progress, who would like to do better or who are feeling overwhelmed. While 65% of executives say the overwhelmed employee is an urgent problem (Source: Deloitte Human Capital Trends report), a far greater percentage aren’t maximising their potential. How can you achieve more of the important outcomes?
“Information overload is a symptom of our desire to not focus on what's important. It is a choice.” - Brian Solis
Ray Tomlinson originally invented email way back in 1971. While email didn’t become a standard until many years later, it’s ludicrous how email is such an issue for too many workers in 2018. Have you solved the email conundrum?
“Time is money” – Benjamin Franklin
Unfortunately, becoming more productive is easier said than done. There are no magic tricks to success - it’s a matter of combining knowledge with action each day to form habits. It can be easy to get bogged down at work due to the constant stream of deadlines, challenging targets and urgent demands for our attention. However, many workers unknowingly impede their own progress.
“Failing to plan is planning to fail” - Alan Lakein
How’s the New Year kicked off? Are you making progress or are you falling behind already? Why is it that 10 workers can have the same intent but only 6 of them achieve what they set out to do? There’s a multitude of reasons but the answer frequently comes down to a simple decision of scheduling when to take action. It may seem too simple to be true, but the positive impact from working from a carefully thought out calendar is profound.
“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself” - Andy Warhol
The Future of Work will dramatically change how we work. We’re already transitioning into this world that presents a level of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA). As the year draws to a close, how will this impact us in the short term
“The majority of meetings should be discussions that lead to decisions” - Patrick Lencioni
The Number 1 complaint I get from busy workers is they waste too much time in meetings. It doesn’t matter whether they’re face to face meetings or virtual meetings, workers don't have enough time to actually do their job. Does this happen to you?
“The true measure of the value of any business leader and manager is performance” - Brian Tracy
Depending on when you read this, there’s only 14 work days or less until Xmas. That’s great news if you’re on schedule or if you’ve already reached your targets – you can enjoy this time of the year and even look at making some inroads into getting ahead of next years’ goals. But it’s a completely different situation if you’re behind schedule.
“IQ gets you hired, EQ gets you promoted” – Source Unknown
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) matters. Ninety percent of top performers have a high EQ (Source: Doctor Travis Bradberry). In the Future of Work there will be increased levels of artificial intelligence, robots and automation. However, machines have no empathy. It’s those with a high EQ who’ll stand out as the leaders and potential leaders.
“Each minute is a little thing, and yet, with respect to our personal productivity, to manage the minute is the secret of success” - Joseph Wirthlin
I often get asked the question “will productivity help me?” If you’ve heard me talk before you’ll realise I’m an advocate of productivity. However, let me step you through 4 scenarios.
"A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work” - John Lubbock
Xmas for many workers is the start of the holiday period. Are you looking forward to the break or is your head mired in all the work that needs to be completed before Xmas? Besides work, there might be gifts to buy, functions to attend, a holiday to organise and so on. That sinking feeling of having too much to do could be a case of Déjà vu. But you soldier on convinced you’ll be more organised next year. The reality is you won’t unless you take specific action to break the cycle.
"You are not your resume, you are your work" – Seth Godin
The difference between effective and ineffective workers is like night and day. If 2 workers in identical roles both have positive attitudes, how is it that 1 can drive outcomes and exceed targets, whereas the other frequently fails to reach expected outcomes or targets? The answer is work methods.
“The trick to success is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline to establish it” –Gary Keller
In the book The ONE Thing, authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan talk about it’s always the ONE Thing that delivers extraordinary results: “What's the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?” Workers usually have ONE Thing that constrains productivity to the extent they would be more effective if they were able to do this ONE Thing better.
“Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential” – Stephen Covey
Not all workers are effective. The reality is some lose sight of focusing on the key aspects of their role that are important to success. Instead, they get caught up wasting time and effort on lesser important tasks. What can be done to break the cycle for ineffective workers?
"You begin to fly when you let go of self-limiting beliefs and allow your mind and aspirations to rise to greater heights" - Brian Tracy
We don’t reach our potential if we’re unable or unwilling to let go of our limiting beliefs. This is often the difference between the people who continue to learn and evolve versus those who don’t. Mindset can be just as important as ability.
Good values are like a magnet. They attract good people – John Wooden
There’s a difference between delaying or postponing something that should be done today (procrastination) versus committing to do something but not intending to do it (values). In either case letting ourselves or others down should never be tolerated as acceptable behaviour. Upholding values is central to the culture of high performing teams.
“We were all born with a certain degree of power. The key to success is discovering this innate power and using it daily to deal with whatever challenges come our way” – Les Brown
Workers are unique due to their respective strengths, weaknesses and preferences. For instance, someone who’s organised and busy doesn’t necessarily translate into a productive person. It could be that they’re tidy but focused on the wrong priorities. Whereas a worker who just makes deadlines could be quite productive due to the high workload they take on and deliver. How we interact with our work influences the level of output. Are productive people born or made? The answer isn’t straightforward but I think it’s a combination of both.
“Great acts are made up of small deeds” – Lao Tzu
Recently I caught up with an ex-colleague who lives by the adage of making every effort to do what he said he’ll do. It’s not surprising he’s a highly successful senior manager in his chosen field. It got me thinking how much I prefer to be around achievers more so than the people who overpromise and underdeliver.
“A place for everything, and everything in its place” – Mrs Beeton
Recently a friend frustratingly said to me “you’ve got to write a blog on organisation because I’m sick of wasting time looking for things.” Although it’s not always recognised, disorganisation is often the Achilles heel hampering progress for many at home and at work.
