Archive for efficiency
20) Don’t organize
Posted by: | Comments- You shoes- do you really need 10 or 20 or 80 pair of shoes
- Your books – see my previous blog post
- Your DVD’s or CD’s (guilty here) major sign of procrastination
- Your stamp collection unless you’re Hercule Poirot
- Anything that doesn’t lead to an increase in productivity or a simplification of life
In all seriousness it’s OK to organize some of these things but you must stop and ask yourself the following questions:
- Is this really procrastination?
- How will this lead to me saving time or adding measurable productivity to my life or work.
- Even if this needs to be organized is it a priority to do it right now?
If you’re stuck, then sometimes action of any kind will help you get moving and achieve little successes. In that case pull out the books and clean out the pantry. Take the dog for a walk or mow the grass. Lift some boxes and sweat a little, then quickly get back to the things that matter today.
I am terrible at this and that’s exactly why I’m writing it.
6) Organize your notes
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This is a two part answer and the answer is never the same for two totally different people. I spent many years thinking of perfect solutions, when there are no perfect solutions. Even though I believe in principles which can work for everyone, the means or method may not. Want to watch a cool video that explains this in unique way.
I used to be a big time list maker, note taker, write on a calendar and planner kind of guy. About a year ago, I completely went digital with all my lists and to do’s and everything else. Before that I read David Allen’s GTD book, and I decided to try it with paper and folders. The system worked, but so many of my projects didn’t work that way. I was using Basecamp to work on my biggest current project, and I had found Backpack to be so useful in managing just about everything else. Well I love 37 signals aforementioned products and use them more than any other applications except Google. I don’t plan on stopping my use of them, but actually probably increasing it. What I did realize a few months back was notebooks and small pocket notepads are still the best way for me to capture a quick list, idea or thought. It is still the best way for me to draw out a mindmap or brainstorm a project to determine next actions. I was inspired yet again by a very digital guy, who still says the pen and pad trump typing in a web based application. If it takes me 5 minutes to locate my laptop, open it, wait a second to refresh my wireless connection, open up backpack, find the appropriate page and then type out my thought, it will always lose to grabbing my moleskin notepad out of my back pocket or my notebook and getting the thought out of my head. Earl Nightingale was famous for saying that ideas are like wet slippery fish. I have found that to be true. The only substitute for the Moleskin back pocket notepad for me, has been using the digital recorder on my cell phone. The only problem I encountered was that when I did a weekly review, which was about as often as I would check my little digital notes to self, I would have to replay the message and type it out into backpack. I didn’t like the extra step. It wasn’t my typing skills either. I type over 45 WPM, which isn’t ground breaking but it’s not slow either.
I have decided to use Backpack more for reference, personal projects, sharing pages with customers (works great to develop a word press site- although I’m experimenting with Basecamp for that right now) and someday maybe categories. I use my large moleskin notebook to record video ideas, blog architecture, mindmaps of my marketing plan and many other things. I use my small notepad to list my next actions for the day and to make quick notes throughout the day. I take both of these and review them as collection buckets during my weekly review session (for GTD’ers). I am trying to use Tim Ferris note taking system linked above, but I haven’t mastered the techniques or organization just yet. I use a new page for each day in my small notebook.
GTD suggests that you limit your amount of collection buckets. This is hard to do in a digital world but right now I’m trying to work within these parameters.
- Gmail- Incoming messages, outgoing messages, waiting for, read/reviews, and next actions
- Google Reader- I read my feeds with this tool and use share and star as my filtering mechanism
- Delicious- it helps to have some broad tags like toreview, toread, toblog more on this in a future post
- Backpack- helps me stay on top of personal projects, customer projects and someday maybes
- Physical inbox- I still get mail, papers, business cards and other non-digital items that must be reviewed
- Large Moleskin- project notes, ideas, creative development, mind maps
- Small Moleskin- daily notes, reference, passwords to be indexed, phone numbers to be indexed
- Whiteboard- I have one behind my desk to record ideas when I’m working at my computer
A case could be made for Stumble Upon, if you really want the community to work as it should. I’m not there yet.
Also I like to review my reference folders using a File Map. If any name on the list prompts me with an open loop, I’ll take it through the GTD process.
Hope this helps. Maybe it’s not for you, but maybe it is for you.
Does your business have systems to make it flow properly?
Posted by: | CommentsI don’t like to eat fast food, even though my lack of will power leads me there a little more often than I would like. When I am on the road or in a different area of town, I usually opt for McDonalds. Why McDonalds? Why not Burger King, Arby’s, A&W, Hardees, Rally’s, or a million other restaurants? Well the reason I choose McDonalds is because their franchise model seems to me to be the most duplicatable and therefore the most predictable. If I go into a McDonalds in Louisville or stop at one off of I-65 on the way to Atlanta; the service, the cleanliness and the food is very similar and very predictable. Sure there are exceptions, but I find that is not the case with the more loosely organized franchise restaurants. When too much autonomy happens in the restaurant business, you see a line wrapped all the way around a restaurant even though they are not nearly as busy as McDonalds during lunch. You get a burger on a stale piece of bread with wilted lettuce. You get home and your food is not in the bag. You get a flat coke. You get a pain in the neck. I have never sent a plate back at a restaurant, so I am not hard to please when it comes to food. When systems are documented and tested, the franchise owner doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. He just follows the system. Sure McDonalds has changed the systems that Ray Kroc put in place some years ago, but the point is that they have a system, they teach a system and they follow a system. When a problem arises they fix the system. How does this apply to your small business, practice, non profit or home business? Are your services predictable? I know mine need some work from time to time.
Organization is futile without developing the proper habits
Posted by: | CommentsOrganization is futile without developing the proper habits and mindset. Call it a new philosophy about stuff, or a call it whatever you like. The fact remains- if you organize your home, your email, your systems, your finances, your garage, your files, your office, your iphone, your computer, your calendar or your life; they will probably become disorganized very quickly if you don’t work hard to develop new habits and a new mindset.
Here are the most important tips I can summarize to get you moving with small daily improvements in your organization quotient.
- Eliminate- the more you eliminate off your calendar, next actions list, projects list- the more you eliminate from your office, home, finances, and life in general the simpler you will make it to keep organized.
- Seek simplicity- if there is a complicated way to o something and a simple way, choose the simple way. Go for the big picture. Sometimes simple may cost a little more on the surface but after you look at the hidden costs ( opportunity cost, cost of time, cost of gas, cost of diffusion, cost of distraction) you’ll come out ahead by choosing a simpler more focused option.
- Organize your stuff. After step 1 and 2 you shouldn’t have that much stuff left to organize. The proper process to organize just about anything (hat tip to all professional organizers like myself, NAPO and where I first learned this system- Julie Morgenstern) is as follows. Sort by putting like items together by association, then Purge by tossing, selling, giving away or recycling, then Assign the remaining items a home, then Containerize the items in their home, then continually Assess your system.
- Put your stuff back in it’s home right now. Form the habit of picking up your stuff and putting it back after you use it. We teach our kids this right? Put you toys up before we go to bed. Put your books in your locker before you leave school. Put the dishes in the sink. Put those toys up before you get more out. So, my theory is that if we teach it to our kids you better do it yourself or you’re a hypocrite and kids are the best hypocrite detectors. Not to mention the fact that your life will be less stressful when you know where things are.
- Implement David Allen’s GTD system to handle the rest of your productivity concerns. This system will help you organize your thoughts and close the open loops in your mind. It will teach you to collect your information with various tools, to process this information and then how to act on it. You’ll create next actions lists, tickler file systems, project plans and lots of other helpful systems for increased personal productivity.
A lesson in delegation from Agatha Christie’s famous Hercule Poirot
Posted by: | CommentsI have blogged about one of my favorite characters in TV/literature on my personal blog at bryceraley.com. Over the next few weeks I’m pointing out some of the effective habits of the famous sleuth Hercule Poirot. If you have never seen Poirot or read anything from Agatha Christie you may want to read my past post here.
As I was watching an episode this week (I have the entire A&E series on DVD), I noticed how Hercule Poirot was a masterful delegator. Whether he is dictating a letter to Mrs. Lemon (his secretary) or sending Captain Hastings on a fact finding mission, Poirot exhibits the following traits.
- First he is precise. He gets on topic fast.
- Second he is direct. He doesn’t add extraneous details.
- Third he is decisive. He makes his mind up and then communicates with confidence.
- Fourth he clarifies. He makes sure the task is understood. He listens to input but is the ultimate decider.
- He does all this politely. He says thanks and earns the respect of his assistants.
I haven’t mastered delegation yet. I haven’t even delegated much to this point, but I know that I have to start learning this artform.
Hopefully, the famous Belgian detectives M.O. can help you delegate your work more effectively. We all need to spend time as efficiently and effectively as possible in this time-strapped day and age.
