Posts filed under 'Time Management'
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of productivity, organization tools, life-hacks…those things really tickle me deep down. I get a kick out of hearing about a new tip or trick to make my life easier.
This one I stumbled on by accident, and it’s my favorite so far - one of the simplest too.
The idea? Put you important to-dos and memos where you’ll see them when it counts most; first-thing when you wake up and last-thing before bed.
Where? Your bathroom mirror.
How? Dry-erase markers! (a buck, or less)
Yep, you read that right. Write on your bathroom mirror with a dry-erase marker. It’s likely the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing you see before bed.
Did you tell a co-worker you would bring a them book? Write it on the mirror before bed and you won’t forget in the morning. Were you supposed to pickup something on your way to work? Write it on the mirror and you won’t have to worry about remembering.
It helps you have - like David Allen advocates - “a mind like water.”
There are two caveats to be aware of with this tip - so take note:
1) Writing all over the bathroom mirror has a low WAF (wife acceptance factor). Some will yell; most will look at you like you’ve gone insane, roll their eyes, sigh heavily, and tell you to “clean that up.” It helps if you have your own bathroom.
2) The marker wipes off with a little bath tissue, but doing so will leave some streaks. You’ll have to clean your mirror more often than you otherwise would (I believe this contributes to the low WAF), but it’s worth it.
I have a nearly foolproof method to overcome the low WAF problem. Before you start note-taking, go into the bathroom, stand where they would, and look in the mirror. Now draw a big heart framing your head and shoulders and write something suitably sweet underneath (”I ‘wuv’ you” works well).
Most importantly, don’t say anything about it. Don’t say, “Honey come check this out!”. Leave it alone and let them find it. They will by the end of the day, and you’ll get major brownie points for being such a big sweetie. Now you can start to make notes out to the edge of the mirror and work your way to the middle. After that, your imagination is the limit.
I use an Expo marker. They don’t have fumes that make you feel stoned, and in a small bathroom that’s a good thing. You can probably liberate a spare marker from your office, I have 10 different colors in the tray of my white board - I’ve only ever used red, black, and blue. One bit of advice: get a black marker; the dark color will show up a lot better on the mirror.
So there’s my $1.00 idea. It makes me happy inside every time I erase a to-do I’ve added to my mirror, and I’ve been able to stop worrying about those loose tasks that need attention, but that I don’t always stop to add to a paper list!
December 14th, 2007
Have you heard about Sandy? She’s a virtual assistant over at iwantsandy.com. When I first heard about “her” I thought, “What a great idea!” and signed up for a beta account.
After a fairly long wait - so long I had honestly forgotten about Sandy - I received a very polite email from her welcoming me as a member, and giving me some suggestions on how to start working with “her.”
I’ve “asked” her to remember a few things for me - nothing critical. But I have yet to really discover how to really take advantage of Sandy. The idea is such a good one - and it’s really well implemented, but I have been struggling to figure out how to work her into my regular productivity toolkit.
So I’m reaching out to see how my readers have been using Sandy. If you’re an IWantSandy.com user, please leave a comment letting me know how you use her, and what you think of the service.
If you’re not an IWantSandy.com user - go check out the service. It’s free for now (though I can’t imagine it will always be free) and the concept behind the service is excellent.
Maybe I just have too many productivity tools I’m trying to cram into my life, but I’m a sucker for a slick technology implementation.
September 27th, 2007
If you’re like me, sometimes the best thoughts strike at the worst times…like, say, when you’re driving.
Oh sure, I’ve been known to try to scribble a note to myself - holding the wheel with my knee, trying to pay attention to oncoming traffic. I’m sure it’s not the safest way to take a note on-the-go, but when inspiration hits you’ve got to be ready.
I knew there had to be a better way to capture my thoughts while I was in the car or in a place where writing a note was just impracticable. I thought that getting a voice recorder might be just the thing I was looking for. So I did a little research online and settled on an Olympus VN-2100 digital voice recorder. It was small, cheap, and held about 6 hours of recordings in “high” quality mode. It also was stylish in a sleek-white-iPodesque kind of way.
I was happy with my new toy…er, tool…and over the next few weeks proceeded to record a ton of ideas, thoughts, next actions, and musings.
After using it for about a month I discovered that there is usually a downside for every upside.
The good:
- Easy to collect your thoughts at the end of the day on the drive home
- Easy to record next actions & follow up items
- Great for not killing yourself while driving
The not so good:
- Get strange looks from the uninitiated when you record a “note to self…”
- You have to play back the notes, one by one, and process them into your capture system
- You have to actually have the thing with you when you want to record a note, or process your thoughts
The biggest problem I had was keeping the thing with me. It’s just big enough that slipping it into a pocket - while doable - is a bit uncomfortable. I looked like I was carrying an oddly shaped lump everywhere I went. I also had a hard time developing the habit of bringing it in from the car and then back out from my desk as I came and went. It was very easy to forget it in the console of my car, and it’s tough to process your thoughts when you don’t have the recorder!
Or I would remember to take it in to my desk, I would play all of my recordings and process them, then I would promptly forget the recorder on my desk when I headed back out to the car.
I also didn’t like the fact that capturing my recoded thoughts into my workflow was a real-time process. If I recorded 15 minutes of notes, it would take at least 15 minutes to replay them and organize them on my action lists or calendar.
I loved the idea of recording my thoughts while I was out and about, but the method wasn’t really working for me.
And then I found a very cool tool called Jott (http://www.jott.com/). I would say it’s a web-based tool, but that’s not entirely correct. It’s a piece of technology that makes capturing your thoughts and ideas very easy, and takes a lot of the work out of adding the items to your action lists, calendars, etc.
For me the biggest benefit is in “Jotting” myself. I signed up and listed my cell phone as my primary “Jott” device. When I call the main number (877-568-8486) it recognizes me by my cell phone’s caller ID. It asks “Who do you want to Jott?” and I respond by saying “Me” or “Myself.” Then it beeps and I can record my thoughts, when finished I hang up.
After you’ve hung up, serious voodoo magic happens. Jott’s servers transcribe your message and email it to you. A few minutes later I get an email with a transcription of my message. I can push it right into my GTD system with minimal effort, and I don’t have to replay the message and transcribe it myself.
After using the system for a while, I’ve been very impressed at how well it works with my notes. I would say the overall transcription accuracy is 80% to 85%. The times it’s not right, I’m usually using some slang or tech jargon or I’m calling from a pretty noisy environment. The nice thing is that when it can’t understand you it will say so in the message, and you can click the little speaker icon to hear the original.
Every morning I get an overview message of all the “Jotts” I left myself from the day before.
It also lets me setup individual contacts, and group them into lists. So I can record a note and have it emailed to a co-worker, or I can record a note and have it emailed to my entire department. If I think of something in the middle of the night that my teams to tackle the next morning; I roll over, grab my cellphone and when Jott asks me who I want to send the note to I say, “team.” How slick and simple is that?
What I don’t understand though (and have had a couple of converts ask me too) is how is this free? I can’t imagine this will stay free forever -and that makes me sad because it’s such a great tool. I think if they charge for it, a lot of people will be turned off of it and not try it out. For now though, there is no fee, and the only ads I’ve seen are in the daily overview I get each morning.
Jott also works much better for me than the digital recorder because while I had a hard time keeping the Olympus with me when I needed it, I always seem to have my RAZR in it’s trusty belt pouch. So it’s not been an issue at all to call and make the note (I keep Jott’s phone number on speed-dial #9 - to call I just hold the key for 2 seconds).
When I get back to my desk, I just copy and paste my transcribed notes into Tracks for my projects and next actions, or into 30Boxes for my calendar items. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
If you already use some type of voice capture while you’re driving or away from pen and paper you know how powerful the technique can be, I encourage you to check out Jott to take the power to the next level.
If you’re not doing any voice capture you’re really missing out. When you know that you can capture your thoughts and ideas (no matter how silly they later turn out to be) they just seem to flow out. Go and get a small voice recorder or sign up for Jott. You won’t regret either decision.
And for my standard disclaimer; I’m not affiliated with Jott in any way other than being a user who stumbled across the site out on the great big “Interweb”. They simply have a wicked cool tool, that really shows how amazing technology and a good idea can produce a killer online/offline application. I’ve not been given any consideration for this review of their service. I’m just trying to find great tools for myself, and share what I find with you.
June 28th, 2007
I’ve written about the process of practice before, but I don’t think the importance of planning and practice can be stressed enough.
When you practice a couple of things happen (as if by magic). You can quickly identify where you’re weaknesses are, you can uncovered general logistics problems (timing, flow, effort needed), and most importantly you can screw up in private!
There is no excuse for not practicing. I frequently hear (and sometimes even tell myself) there just isn’t enough time for adequate practice. That’s a pretty poor excuse - there is often plenty of time for practice if you manage your time well.
But now you’re going to say, “I don’t always get to set my own schedule! Sometimes there isn’t time in the schedule I’m given to practice!”
If this is true - and I’ve known some managers and bosses that would hand out impossible deadlines - you have a bigger problem than not practicing. You have a problem with general time management and the expectation of time management by your superiors. And frankly, is that a relationship you want to be in?
There was a reality television show on the Discovery Channel called American Hot Rod which featured Boyd Coddington’s shop of the same name. I’ve watched the show a few times and one thing that never seemed to change was the near impossible deadlines that the crew would be put under to deliver a finished car. All of the pressure created stress which sure made for good television, but it was typically artificial pressure. It looked like Boyd Coddington couldn’t turn down a client’s request OR manage his team’s time to make sure they weren’t always in a crunch.
Quite a few people left the company during the handful of times I saw the show. And every time a “key person” left it was in the middle of a tight deadline - all of the deadlines were tight. Boyd Coddington always told the same story, “I just don’t understand why they left…”
So if you’re in a situation where your time is not your own to control, and it’s being managed unrealistically, you first have to fix your situation before you can worry about practicing.
But assuming you do have control over your time and/or your managers are able to budget time-lines correctly, what’s keeping you from practicing?
There are several reasons; it’s not glamorous, it’s tedious, it seems like a lot of effort for the results.
And it’s precisely because of those reasons that you should make time to practice. Your competition likely won’t - practice is hard and often dull - and that’s a huge advantage for you.
Let me give you a real-world example of where practice makes a huge difference. Our company recently held it’s annual meeting. It’s a mandatory, all-hands affair with a goal of showcasing excellent performance from the past year and talking about where the company is headed in the coming twelve months.
At this meeting each core department head gives a brief speech - usually less than ten minutes - about the state of their department. This year we had eight departments presenting.
You could tell who had practiced just by listening to the speakers. We have a few who are fairly “natural” speakers, but even handicapping them for extra ability they might have and really listening showed who was rehearsed, poised, ready…practiced - who was winging it - and who was just reading directly from their notes.
The reaction from the audience was visible when a practiced speaker was in front of the crowd. Those speakers held their focus and attention much better than the unpracticed speakers.
So how much practice is enough? The reality is there is never enough practice. You can continue to refine yourself - always striving for perfection - and you’ll spend more than one life time and still never practice “too much”.
Consider those who’s lively hood relies on practice; athletes, magicians, musicians, or professional speakers. When we see them it’s after hours and years of practice.
Magicians don’t walk out on stage and make a car disappear - they practice and plan and practice some more. At the beginning of the season, athletes don’t show up at the ballpark or the golf course and just start playing. They’ve spend the off-season practicing, improving their skills, and working with trainers. Musicians don’t pick up a page with the lyrics to a new song as they’re headed out on stage.
So why are we so hesitant to practice as much?
I can give you a good example using myself. Photography is a passion of mine - I love creating images and I spend a lot of time behind a lens. About two years ago I was asked if I was interested in photographing a wedding for some close friends. The wedding was months away, but I spent those months with as much time behind the lens as I could squeeze in. When I wasn’t shooting images or testing my lighting systems, I had my nose buried in books and magazines about weddings and wedding photography.
When the big day finally arrived I think I was as nervous or maybe even more nervous than the bride and groom! But my months of preparation and work helped me immensely and when the bride started down the isle I was at ease because my practice kicked in. All day long people who knew I wasn’t a full-time photographer commented on how professional and polished I seemed.
Did I do a good job? Yes, I think so and so do the bride and groom. Do I still see hundreds of ways each image I shot could be improved? I sure do - ever time I look at them or show them to other people. However I’ve shot other weddings since that first wedding and each time I am able to practice and improve, and each time I find a few fewer flaws with the finished result.
Practice is never ending.
I’m sure that I’ve got a lot more practice that I should be doing in all areas of my life. I’m willing to wager you do too. We should take a page from the playbooks of athletes and musicians - there is a reason why they spend so much of their “free” time practicing - we should too!
May 23rd, 2006
I’ve been experimenting with power naps for 100 days now and as such I’ve found I’ve settled into a bit of a pattern. I don’t necessarily need one every day, and I’ve found a good barometer is that the more I feel like I don’t have the time to take a power nap, the more I really need one.
The only real problems I’ve encountered have been external; the idea of napping isn’t widely accepted once you’re older than 5. People look at you like you’re slacking off and not being productive, and woe to anyone who isn’t always 100% “on” and “productive.”
So there is quite a lot of social stigma surrounding napping. Those that “get it” are far outnumbered by those that don’t. And being a napper almost feels - at times - like being a drug user. Sometimes you have to sneak off to get a power nap in. There seems to be a correlation between how much you need to take a break and how much you feel you have to sneak off to squeeze it in.
The major benefits I’ve found include:
- Increased energy
- Increased productivity
- Dramatically increased problem-solving - I have many more breakthrough and “ah ha!” moments after napping.
- Increased level of wellness (I’ve not been sick since I started power napping on a semi-regular basis).
I’ve also found that for me twenty minutes is just about perfect. Often my eyes pop open about 30 seconds before the timer goes off. If I try to power nap for less time I never seem to get the same benefit and if I go much longer than 20 minutes I get increasingly sleepier and groggier and I feel terrible when I finally do rouse myself.
Overall I’m completely sold on power napping. Several times in the last three months it’s been an invaluable tool to finding solutions to vexing problems. It’s made me generally feel better and it’s increased my energy and productivity levels.
If you can get over the social stigma or you’re fortunate enough to work in a nap-friendly workplace then it really can’t be beat.
I encourage you to go and try out power napping for yourself!
May 16th, 2006
Which of these two words is more descriptive of your life: proactive or reactive? It seems that for me the best description of my life lately has been “reactive.” I’m reacting to the circumstances around me more often than I’m keeping my eyes scanning the horizon and proactively handling situations as they arise.
My favorite definition of “proactive” comes from a paper I read years ago. I no longer know the original author, but the quote is wholly appropriate.
“In a nutshell, being proactive is the same thing as being reactive. The only difference is that you do the reacting ahead of time.”
Another person I know likes to say that he’s to busy “putting out Little Johnny’s fires” to “take away his matches” to describe why he’s often in a reactive mode rather than a proactive mode.
And let me tell you something, always being in a reactive mode will really take the starch out of your collar after a while. When I’ve let myself be at the whim of my circumstances rather than become the master of my circumstances, I’m usually exhausted at the end of the day. I stay up too late trying to get caught up, sleep poorly and then am tired the next day as I try to get caught up again while handling the fires that “Little Johnny” keeps setting.
Being reactive is no fun at all!
So how do you break out of a reactionary mode? That’s the tricky part. Usually once you’ve realized that your life is swinging from one emergency to another, you’re so deeply into a reactionary mindset that it’s very difficult to break free.
For me, when I’m finding myself this way, by the time the day is done and I’m asleep I’ve only tackled things for other people and not for myself. That’s a key - when you’re in a highly reactionary mode you’re probably largely driven by other people - external forces. When you’re in a highly proactive mode you’re likely driven by yourself and your own internal forces.
The word “no” is an amazingly powerful tool to help you break out of a reactive mode. If other people are causing you to be reactive, then you have to limit their access to your time, talent and resources. Nancy Regan had it right when she told people to, “Just say No!”
It’s difficult to tell someone you can’t help them - it’s more difficult to tell them you won’t help them. The trick is to tell them why you’re telling them “no.” People generally want to help each other out - so often explaining why you’re saying “no” will be understood by others. Be firm, stand your ground, and just say, “no.”
You have to triage your time, and learning the art of “no” is the first step to taking your time back. Once you have your time back, you have to figure out what is coming at you so you can begin to move from a reactive mode to a proactive mode - so you can do your reacting ahead of time.
You have to try to see the “big picture” and understand what is happening around you. It’s easy to know what is happening to you, but if you don’t have a context of things around you, you can’t become proactive because you’ll never know what’s coming next.
Start by outlining your major projects, get clear and get it written down. Make sure you can see it in a context that makes sense to you.
Then start adding names of everyone who will have input to your project. These are the people you have to connect with to find out what else is coming. Remember that they’re having an input on your projects, but someone else is having an input on their projects. It’s possible the people who input on their projects will cause crises for you, so get to know what’s happening with those around you.
I once worked with a manager who liked to talk about “socializing” his projects. I always thought it was silly “management-speak” but really what he was doing was keeping his projects visible to those he was counting on, and keeping an eye the projects of those he was counting on at the same time.
If you don’t know a storm is coming you can’t prepare for it. Once you know a storm is coming you can prepare and be proactive.
You should also know that you will fail at this from time to time. It takes energy to keep yourself “in the loop” with all of the contributors of your projects. It takes energy to cope with the emergencies and burning fires on your plate while you begin to make changes to be more proactive.
It serves no purpose to beat yourself up when you do notice you’re working in a reactive manner. You should realize that your reactivity is a symptom that you need to deal with, not a failure you should feel bad about.
You should instead praise yourself for catching the slip into reactionary mode and use it as an indicator that you need to put the breaks on, evaluate your projects and take corrective action to stop reacting to your circumstances.
Remember, you should be the master of your circumstances. Take a break, just say no, “socialize” your projects and get back in control!
March 2nd, 2006
I slept very badly last night. I don’t understand why, I even went to bed earlier than usual, but when the alarm clock rang I was dead to the world. And as a result I drug through most of the day.
I wasn’t planning on stopping to fit a power nap into my schedule because my time today was rather pressed with some issues I needed to resolve on projects that are almost finished. So I decided early today I would put off my power nap today in favor of trying to wrap up some lose ends.
This afternoon I hit a wall like I haven’t hit in a long time. I was pooped and could barely keep my eyes open. Not only did I have the afternoon in front of me, I also had a 3.5 hour long night class with which to contend when the “working” day was done!
After struggling this afternoon with some problems I couldn’t find the solution to, a pending night class and running into the wall and being unable to keep my eyes open, I opted to take my power nap after all.
During my nap, I found that I almost immediately started dreaming. I must have been seriously tired to actually fall all the way asleep - that hasn’t happened before. In the dream I remember sitting down and writing on a piece of paper. I was watching from behind myself - so I didn’t see what I was writing. It was an odd perspective - to watch myself write as I tried to look over my own shoulder.
After some time passed - I don’t have any idea how long but only likely a few minutes - I got up and walked away. Once “I” was gone, I zoomed in to try to get a look at the paper. The words and drawing on the page swam and changed as I tried to look at what it said, but I noticed what appeared to be a few key words that remained steady.
Almost with a jolt I awoke. I looked at my PC and the timer said I officially had 2 minutes and 3 seconds left on my nap. What I remembered though were the key words from my dream. They gave me an idea about one of the problems I had been trying to solve before my nap - so I started fresh trying to solve my problem and within 10 minutes I had taken a new approach that I was so very close to before my nap and I had solved the issue.
I think if I hadn’t taken the time to squeeze my nap in I would still be fighting with that problem and I would be having a hard time keeping my eyes open to boot. It also provided the added benefit of allowing my brain the time it needed to digest the problems I’d been facing and provide me with a solution. Hooray for power napping!
March 1st, 2006
About a week ago Brad Issac had an article up on his web site titled How to Take A Caffeine Nap - and the timing was a bit uncanny with my own experiments with napping and power napping.
So today I tried combining my power nap with a shot of caffeine.
To put things in perspective, I’m not a big consumer of caffeine. I drink the occasional diet soft drink or iced tea, and very little coffee. My drink of choice is ice-cold water.
So today when I sat down for my power nap, I preceded it with a “Biggie” diet Coke from Wendy’s, and tried to get restful and relaxed.
One thing that really struck me was how vivid the images in my mind were - even more than usual. I never felt like I was completely asleep - I teetered right on that edge between sleep and wakefulness - but the images were very vivid and “real” and the thoughts just seemed to flow and swirl around in my head.
I had a bit of grogginess when I first roused myself, but it’s been about 15 minutes since my nap and I feel completely alert and fully rested. I’m not ready to attribute the experience fully to the caffeine after just one experience, but today’s nap was certainly a different experience than my previous naps.
I think some more experimentation with caffeine and napping is required, but after just one go at it I feel like there is something to the idea. If you’re into napping, you might want to give a caffeine nap a try yourself!
February 17th, 2006
Yesterday I had the opportunity to lie down in a comfortable place while taking my nap. Let me forewarn you that unless you have immensely strong will power, this might not be the best idea.
I got comfortable, set a timer for 20 minutes and stretched out, ready to relax. Within minutes I was sound asleep and instead of power napping for 20 minutes, I slept for an hour and twenty minutes! I didn’t hear the timer I set, and finally was awake enough to look at my wrist watch and realize how long I had been out. I felt groggy and “thick headed” because it was too long of a nap.
So a word of caution if you’re power napping; don’t get to comfortable and fall completely asleep. If you’re not careful you’ll end up oversleeping and groggy at the end.
Today was much better - again I didn’t use any music of other aids to take power nap. I’ve found that after a day or two of it taking me longer to get settled down and relaxed, I so far feel like I get a deeper nap when I don’t use any music of the Pzizz software. Today I even noticed some hypnagogic images float through my mind. You can experience hypnagogic images and sounds when you’re right on the edge between being awake and being asleep. They’re sort of a dream you have while you’re awake.
I don’t really recall any specific details, but I realized that I wasn’t asleep and I was dreaming. It was a very surreal experience, not unlike a lucid dream.
I feel much more refreshed this afternoon.
So far power napping is getting two big thumbs up from me. I don’t feel like I’m quite as cranky and crabby in the afternoons because I’m more relaxed. Taking a 20 minute break in the middle of the day for “me time” has also a great stress reliever as well.
February 16th, 2006
I’m starting my second week of taking power naps during the day. For the last two days I’ve been napping without using any music or the Pzizz software I had been using last week. I want to have a control to see if I find a certain method works better for me.
I have noticed that when I “go it alone” I have been having a much more difficult time getting settled down and actually relaxing. My office is on a busy hallway and there is a lot of foot traffic and noise outside my door all day long - it’s very noticeable even when the door is closed (apparently because my door is made of balsa wood!). Couple that with the general noise of our warehouse (it’s on the other side of my back wall) and you end up with a pretty noisy environment in which to be resting and relaxing.
But I’ve been doing my best and while I find it’s taken me long to get relaxed without headphones and Pzizz playing, I can do it. I’ve also noticed that once I do get relaxed I feel like it’s at a deeper level. By the end of my nap I’m almost completely asleep and after stretching and “waking up” I find that I have more energy.
I think it’s possible because there isn’t anything other than normal office noise that my brain is concentrating on (and it’s learned to tune that out for the most part). When I used Pzizz last week I felt like I was able to get settled down much more quickly, but when I don’t use anything I feel like my naps have been deeper and more restful.
My plan is to finish out this week with no music or Pzizz while I nap. Next week I’ll use some soothing and relaxing music from a CD I own which doesn’t promise any specific restful results. My quest is to find out the best and most restful way to power nap. After doing it for the last week, I’m confident as I start on my second week of power napping that it’s a very valuable tool. I feel much more relaxed and energetic during the day, and I feel like my stress level is lower too. I highly recommend you give it a try if you’ve been reading these articles, but haven’t yet tried it for yourself.
February 15th, 2006
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