productive magazine #2
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Second issue of our Productive Magazine and we’ve got great things in this one: * Exclusive interview with Guy Kawasaki - bestselling author, serial Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist and ex-Apple fellow. In the magazine you’ll also find 10 Great articles from top productivity bloggers about: New Year’s Resolutions, The art of s aying No, How to optimize your life and claim a couple of hours a week back, Setting SMART goals, Mind- mapping, Working in groups… and more!TRANSCRIPT
4 Setting SMART Goals for 2009
4 New Year’s Resolutions
4 Motivation and how not to lose it
4 Practical Brainstorming with Mind Maps
4 Productivity Steps for everyone
Guyabout Entrepreneurship, Technology, Internet and Getting Things Done
• Guy Kawasaki • Dustin Wax • Leo Babauta • Michael Hyatt • James Mallinson • Kris Rowlands •• Andrew Mason • Michael Deutch • Andrew Yang • Michael Sliwinski and more...
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KawasaKi
10great articles about:
Exclusive Interview with
Sponsored by
#2 (April 2009)www.ProductiveMagazine.com
and
Changing the way the world of productivity works
I’m on the airplane 36,000 feet
above Greenland heading towards
San Francisco for the GTD Summit
organized by the David Allen
Company. It’s been almost a year since
we’ve met with David Allen for the first
time and I’m very excited to be able
to participate in his event and in the first
worldwide gathering of GTD (Getting
Things Done) advocates and enthusiasts.
I’m going to meet David again, but
not only him. I’ll have a chance to talk
to most of the Davidco crew and to many
many friends I’ve come to know online
while promoting my GTD web application
– Nozbe. Finally we’ll be able to connect
in person. I think this part is the most
exciting of all. Can’t wait to exchange
laughs, talks and ideas with them.
I’ll make sure to share all these experiences
from the GTD summit in issue #3 of the
magazine.
This issue of the Productive Magazine
took significantly more time to get ready
but it’s here on your screen, so it means
that after the very successful issue #1
we’ve managed to get #2 out of the door
eventually and we’re looking forward
to have #3 ready sooner than later.
As a tradition, for the cover of the
magazine and the key interview I’m
constantly looking for people who are not
only famous, but most of all inspire me
to be and do better. After David Allen, the
father of GTD in #1, I was honored to be
able to interview the legend of Silicon
Valley and my personal entrepreneurship
From the Editor
By Michael Sliwinski, Editor
guru – Guy Kawasaki. When I told Guy
about the #1 of the magazine, he loved
the idea and rushed to help me promote it
and spread the word. When I later asked
him for an interview possibility, he didn’t
hesitate a second. During the GTD Summit
we’ll meet in person for the very first time.
Can’t wait.
As we’re developing the concept of the
Productive Magazine, we’ll be looking
for patterns and “themes” for each and
every issue. The first issue didn’t have
such a theme. It was about different
aspects of productivity. After all, it was
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our starting point. This one is still not
totally themed, but we’ve tried to focus
more on resolutions and on what inspires
us to move forward and be better. I’ve
also added the intro to the 10-step Simply
Get Things Done Course at the end of the
magazine. It’s a course many of my Nozbe
users found useful when starting with GTD.
I’m still not sure whether we should be
reviewing different productivity solutions
or applications... but we definitely will be
taking different productivity techniques for
a spin. This is why, in this issue, you’ll learn
more about Mind-mapping – something
I’m using all the time for my “strategic”
thinking. If you follow our Productive
Magazine blog carefully, you know I’m
planning each issue of the magazine in
a mind map.
Our “Productive Magazine Family” is
also growing. I’ve received great support
from Lori Anderson, Sarah Lauser, Joe
Pirola and Dustin Wax to help me edit this
issue and prepare foundations for the next
one. We are accepting articles from more
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and more bloggers as they come to us with
great content and enthusiasm. The future
is wide open and I can’t wait to give you
PM #3 with my impressions from the GTD
Summit.
Meanwhile let me invite you to check
out our second issue of the Productive
Magazine and hope you’ll find it a great
read.
Michael Sliwinski
Editor, Productive Magazine
Founder, Nozbe – Simply Get Things
Done! web (and iPhone) application
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05 Michael Sliwinskiwith Guy KawasakiThe Art of Changing the World
08 Dustin M. WaxHow to Set Goals That Lead to Success
10 Leo BabautaThe Single Secret to Making 2009 Your Best Year Ever
12 Michael HyattHow to Shave Ten Hours Off Your Work Week
14 James MallinsonWhy You Shouldn’t Do New Year’s Resolutions
15 Kris RowlandsSay “No” to make “Yes” sound better 18 Michael Deutch
Making it all work – GTD with Mindmapping 22 Michael Sliwinski
Simply Get Things Done Course – from 0 to Productivity in 10 simple steps
Table of contents
16 Andrew MasonWhat’s Wrong With New Year’s Resolutions? 20 Andrew Yang
Productivity For Groups – Because You’re Not Really In Control
Productive!Magazinewww.ProductiveMagazine.com
Sponsor:www.Nozbe.com
Chief Editor:Michael [email protected] Editor:Maciej [email protected]
Editorial Team:Lori Anderson, Dustin Wax, Sarah Lauser, Joe Pirola
Your Online tool for Getting Things Done – available in your computer browser, mobile phone and on your iPhone.
Tribute:Marc Orchant (1957-2007)The Productive!Magazine is dedicated to the memory of a productivity guru, great blogger and a very close friend, Marc Orchant who passed away on 9th December 2007.
All articles are copyright © by their respective authors. Productive!Magazine is copyright © by Michael Sliwinski. Getting Things Done® and GTD® are the registered trademarks of the David Allen Company.
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Michael Sliwinski: I can’t conduct an
interview with you without talking
about the „Apple time” in your life. How
did it happen that, from a „jewelry salesman”, you
transformed into hi-tech Mac-evangelist?
Guy Kawasaki: In one word, the answer is
„nepotism.” My college roommate hired me into
the Macintosh Division to work for him. Steve Jobs
must have been out of the office that day because
on paper I had neither the work nor educational
background for the job.
This experience illustrates an important
point about productivity and hiring: sometimes
one should look beyond the lack of a perfect
background. What’s as important as work and
education is whether the person „gets it” and
„loves it.” I got and loved Macintosh from the first
moment I saw it in 1983.
The flip side is also true: people with the perfect
backgrounds who don’t get it and don ‘t love it can
fail. Ideally, you’d like the right background and
a love of the product, but most companies focus
on only the former. My ranking of importance
is: get it/love it, work experience, and then
educational background. Ý
Reality CheckThe Art of Changing the World
Interview with Guy Kawasaki
by Michael Sliwinski
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MS: You said that back in the ‘80s you were
changing the world with the Mac. Looking
at the current Apple products, do you still
believe they are changing the world?
GK: Macintosh made computers
accessible to “the rest of us” because of its
user interface. It enabled people who didn’t
use computers to now do so, and it enabled
people who were using computers to use
them better. That’s not as true with iPod
and iPhone because they didn’t open up
entirely new markets to the same degree as
personal computers. Still, they do kick butt.
MS: If you believed so much in Apple, why
did you leave in 1997? Just when Steve
Jobs was coming back? Didn’t you want
to change the world with him?
GK: It’s a long story: an entrepreneurial
opportunity presented itself that I couldn’t
resist, and Apple with Steve Jobs didn’t
need little old me to succeed--as history
has clearly shown!
MS: Taking the step as an entrepreneur,
weren’t you afraid of all the potential
risks? Giving up the great job with Apple,
the company you believed in so much,
and starting on your own? Many people
fear this kind of leap.
GK: You have to understand Silicon
Valley. Here, people wonder why you
don’t start a company, not why you left
an existing one. The mentality is very
different from most places--and one of the
keys to the success of Silicon Valley. I don’t
know of a place on earth where failure is
more tolerated than Silicon Valley.
MS: During your career as an entrepreneur,
can you list the biggest mistake that you’ve
made? What did you learn from it?
GK: During the dot-com boom times,
I over-expanded Garage.com. I had
to layoff quite a few people when the
bubble burst. I learned that “trees do not
grow to the sky”--more tactically, I learned
not to expand in anticipation of success.
To this day, this is a very common
mistake for entrepreneurs. Most of them
spout off about how their “conservative”
forecast is that they will achieve
$100 million in sales in year three, so
they need to build an infrastructure
immediately. Suffice it to say, the revenues
don’t come but the overhead is in place.
As a rule of thumb, I divide their
conservative forecasts by 100 and add
a year to the shipping date. That’s proven
to be about right.
MS: Right now the dark clouds of crisis are
approaching and the whole planet seems
to be affected. No job is secure now and we
learn each day of many companies falling. Any
tips for entrepreneurs, as well as employed
professionals, on how to survive the crisis?
GK: I wish I had the definitive answer
to this question. Right after Christmas,
I was at the Stanford Shopping Center.
There were three kinds of stores: (a) 50-70%
off sales; (b) no sales but no customers; (c)
no sales with customers. The only store in
the third category was Apple.
It’s easy for me to say, but there’s
a lesson there: create stuff that’s
compelling and unique. That’s the key
in hard times. We’re in the middle of
a drought right now, so maybe you can’t
do anything right away, but you can
prepare for the end of the drought by
keeping this concept in mind.
Also, you have to believe that “this too
shall pass.” Business is cyclical, and business
is also deceptive because things are never
as good or as bad as they seem. This is one
of those times that you just have to gut it
out. There’s no magical solution.
MS: It really inspired me when you said
“entrepreneurs shouldn’t be focused on
making money, but on making meaning”.
I’m reminded about it each time I get an
email from a user of my Nozbe app saying
how it improved their life and how much
they can get done thanks to it. Are there
still many startups coming to you focused
only on making money?
GK: Don’t get me wrong: approaching
a venture capitalist with a pitch that starts
off, “We don’t care about making money...”
isn’t going to succeed. My issue is the
order of priorities: If you change the world,
you’ll probably make money. But if you set
out to only make money, you’ll probably
attract the wrong kind of employees and
strive to achieve the wrong metrics.
Obviously, a balance is needed because
you can’t change the world if you don’t
have revenue--unless you are a not-for-
profit, though even these organizations
do need donations and that is revenue of
a sort. However, when all is said and done,
the companies that changed the world, like
Apple, eBay, Google and Cisco, also make
a ton of money..
Returning to the venture capitalist pitch,
the right approach is “This is how we want
to change the world.... When we do it, this
is how we’ll make money...”
MS: Speaking of apps, I know your killer
app is Twitter. I even heard you say you
could easily give up your mobile phone but
you wouldn’t give up Twitter. Why do you
prefer Twitter to your beautiful iPhone?
GK: I can easily give up my iPhone or any
other cell phone. I don’t talk much on my
iPhone, and I use it mostly as a portable
email and Twitter machine. I’m just not
a phone person--when I need a phone,
I can use a landline as a substitute or grab
someone else’s phone for a quick call.
By contrast, I know of no substitute
for Twitter. How else can I reach 144,000
people instantly and for free? Twitter is the
best marketing tool since television, and
unlike television, you don’t need to spend
millions of dollars to buy exposure.
MS: Isn’t constant Twittering distracting
you from daily activities and daily work?
I often shut down my Skype, IM, and
other tools to make sure I can get stuff
done. With you being constantly on
Twitter, how do you get stuff done?
GK: Maybe this is rationalization, but
Twitter is not a social diversion for me. It
is core to my business. I am in the business
My issue is the order of priorities: If you change the world, you’ll probably make money.
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of, for example, promoting Alltop right
now. Twitter enables me to do that, and
the more people who follow me on Twitter,
the better I can promote Alltop.
For many people, Twitter is a way to make
friends, entertain oneself, and have fun. For
me, Twitter is a weapon. In this sense, Tiger
Woods approaches golf differently than the
weekend duffer. For him, it’s a business—
he probably enjoys golf, but it is a business.
I enjoy Twitter, but it’s a business.
MS: Speaking of getting things done, did
you read the GTD book by David Allen?
Do you apply any of the GTD principles in
your life? Or do you have your own way of
getting things done?
GK: I haven’t! I need to get it because I need
to get more done. The secret to my success is
that I am willing--I even enjoy--grinding it out.
I used to think that the key to success was the
brilliance of the idea and implementation was
easy. Now I think that ideas are easy, and the
key to success is implementation.
MS: Your new book is out: Reality Check.
The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting,
Outmanaging and Outmarketing Your
Competition. How is it different from The
Art of the Start? What’s the main purpose
of the book? What’s the main message?
GK: The purpose of Reality Check is
to provide a reference book for starting
and operating a business. It is the superset
of all my writing, blogging, and speaking.
There isn’t a single message in the sense of
most business books--think of it as more
a Chicago Manual of Style for business.
MS: I must say this new book is quite thick.
I’ve heard you say it’s twice as much value
as The Art of the Start. Did you want it to be
your ultimate piece-of-advice book?
GK: Yes, to use another book analogy, it is
to me what Management was to Peter Drucker-
-not that I’m saying I’m a Peter Drucker! Many
business books are one idea stretched to 200
Twitter is the best marketing tool since television, and unlike television, you don’t need to spend millions of dollars to buy exposure.
About Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology
Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, and a columnist for
Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at
Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of nine books including
Reality Check and The Art of the Start. He’s also an Internet
celebrity with close to 60K followers in Twitter where he’s
promoting Alltop – an “online magazine rack” of popular topics. Both Guy Kawasaki
and Michael Sliwinski will meet in person for the first time this March, where they have
been invited by David Allen to be panelists at the first GTD Summit in San Francisco.
Visit Guy Kawasaki’s home page www.guykawasaki.com
Visit Guy’s Blog “How to Change the World”
Buy Guy’s newest book Reality Check on Amazon
pages. Reality Check is 200 ideas stretched
to two pages. People shouldn’t read it once,
put it down, and never come back to it. It’s
a reference that you come back to over and
over as you encounter new challenges.
For example, there’s a chapter that explains
how to look good on a panel if you’re ever on
a panel. You might not need this information
right away, but someday you may be on
a panel at a conference. Similarly, you may
not be pitching venture capitalists right now,
but someday if you do, you need to read the
10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint that’s in the book.
MS: I’ve read rave reviews about the
book. Seth Godin tells us to buy two
(or even more) copies of it. But there
have also been critics saying the advice
you’re giving is “too obvious”. I actually
believe very much in re-discovering the
obvious, that’s what Productive Magazine
is all about--to re-discover the obvious
productivity principles and give you
a kick to apply these. What’s your take
on that?
GK: Ten books a year would be published
if not for “re-discovery.” Actually, that’s an
exaggeration--it would be five. If my advice
is “too obvious,” why are many companies
doing so many silly things? As your magazine
shows, there’s knowing the obvious and
doing the obvious. The two are different.
MS: OK, your new book is out. You’re
a bestselling author, a successful
entrepreneur, a family man with four
kids, and an Apple legend. So what’s on
your schedule now? What inspires you
to continue and grow, or as we GTD people
would ask: “What’s your Next Action?”
GK: My next action is to make Alltop,
my “digital magazine rack,” successful.
The goal is worldwide domination of RSS.
The meaning I want to make with Alltop
is to enable people to find more relevant
information in an easier way than using
a search engine.
GTD fans love Alltop because it is such
a timesaver. We take 450 topics and
aggregate display the five most recent
stories from the best sites and blogs. For
example, we have http://gtd.alltop.com/
and http://lifehacks.alltop.com/when you
can read the best selection of GTD and
lifehacks content in a glance. Talk about
getting things done!
As your magazine shows, there’s knowing the obvious and doing the obvious. The two are different.
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How to Set Goals That Lead to SuccessOne of the most important things we can do in pursuit of success is set clear, explicit goals about what we want to accomplish. Most of us have a bunch of vague goals, like “lose weight” or “write a novel”. We want “someday” to do x, y, and z, but without clear goals, we don’t seem to make any progress. We chug along, picking at our big life projects now and again, rarely coming any closer to finishing, and we feel horrible about ourselves. If you don’t set strong goals, you won’t achieve them.
Dustin M. Wax
There are a lot of reasons people
don’t set clear goals. Most of them
boil down to a fear of commitment
– and of letting yourself down when
you fail to live up to that commitment. Saying
“I’m going to write a novel” sets you up for
possible failure. What if you don’t have any
ideas? What if some life crisis happens and you
can’t finish? What if a better idea comes along?
And on and on. We have a million ways
of talking ourselves out of committing
to achievement. So we avoid the
commitment. We keep our options open.
We dally.
As anyone who’s ever been in a romantic
relationship without commitment knows,
this is a recipe for disaster. In fact, it’s
a pretty good analogy, because your
relationship with your goals is a lot like your
relationship with your significant other. You
have to work at it every day, and nurture it,
and accept its quirks and even failures. And
if you lack real commitment, sooner or later,
one or the other of you will flake out.
SMART goals are easier to achieve than dumb ones
One reason goal-setting is so daunting
is because we don’t know how to set
good goals. We set vague, unspecified,
open-ended goals – goals we hope to get
around to “someday”, “eventually”, “when
inspiration strikes”, “when I have more
time”. These words and phrases need to be
banished from your goal-setting vocabulary.
What you need are crisp, clear, specific goals.
SMART goals.The idea of the SMART goal was conceived
by a business psychologist named George
Doran. SMART is an acronym, standing for
goals that are:
• Specific,
•Measurable,
•Achievable,
•Relevant, and
•Time-bound.
Let’s look at these elements one by one.
S – Specific – Set goals with specific
outcomes. Avoid loose language. Ex: “Lose
10 pounds.”
M – Measurable – Set concrete goals
that you can keep track of – and keep track
of them!
A – Achievable – Set realistic goals
that you’re prepared to pursue. Losing
20 pounds this year is reasonable. 50
pounds is pushing it. 200 pounds in a year
is almost impossible – and when you fail
to meet it, you’ll feel bad about yourself.
R – Relevant – Set goals that matter
to you, that will have a positive effect in
your life.
T – Time-bound – Give yourself a deadline
to create a sense of urgency and keep you
focused on the task at hand. Ex: “Follow
my doctor’s diet and exercise three times
a week to lose 10 pounds by March 31st.”
A bad goal – but the kind we are most
comfortable committing to – is something
like “Spend more time with family.”
That’s a dumb goal – more time than
what? How will you know if you’re
spending more time with your family?
How much more? When should you
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world, then doing the legwork becomes
incredibly relevant.
Make sure you have some way of
keeping track of your goals. For recurring
goals like “write 1000 words a day” or
“exercise 15 minutes every morning”, I like
the idea of keeping a white board handy
and recording daily accomplishments as
you finish. But a notebook, diary, computer
file, or anything else will work fine. Maybe
you can start a “goal diary” – a nice-
looking notebook that you can write goals
in, one per page, and track progress in as
needed.
Whatever you decide to use to track
your goals, make sure you keep on top of
it. Accountability, even just to yourself,
is key – both so you can feel good about
your project (especially in the middle of
a big project that seems like it will never
end) and so you can identify hangups and
other problems that are keeping you from
accomplishing your goals.
If you’re like me, you have big things in
mind for 2009. Set out on the right foot by
making SMART goals that put you on track
for success from the beginning!
spend more time with your family
– tomorrow? next week? someday? What
should you be doing with them, and how
often?
A SMART goal would be. “Get involved
with Jimmy’s soccer team and attend two
practices every week from now until the
end of the season” or “Spend an hour
every day reading to the kids” or just
“Take my partner out this Friday night
for some alone time.” You know when
to start – “now” – and you can easily track
your progress – just write it down in your
calendar and do it, or put a mark on the
calendar every time you read to the kids.
Here’s another dumb goal: “write
a novel”. It’s too big, too unspecific – it
doesn’t suggest any action. Every day,
you’ll say to yourself, “Oh, right. I really
oughtta write that novel!” and then go
back to surfing the Internet, watching TV,
or playing Wii.
Instead, set a series of SMART goals:
•Write an outline by February 1st.
•Write 1000 words every weekday until
finished.
•Complete first three chapters by April
15th.
That might not be granular enough
– maybe you’re not prepared to even write
the outline (it’s not achievable). Maybe you
need to:
•Check out 3 books on how to write
a novel and read them by February 10th.
• Brainstorm character names by February
28th.
• Join a writing group and attend every
month.
Of course, I’ve taken for granted
that spending time with your family or
writing a novel are relevant to you, and
if you've chosen them as goals, they
probably are. But you always have to think
about whether a goal is relevant, and
how it’s relevant, or you won’t have the
necessary motivation to complete the goal.
It’s boring researching competitor’s books
in order to write a book proposal – but
if you’re burning to tell your story to the
About Dustin Wax
Dustin M. Wax is
a freelance writer
based in Las Vegas,
NV. He is the editor
of Stepcase Lifehack
(Lifehack.org) and
contributes to
several other websites. When he’s not
writing, he teaches anthropology and
gender studies to university students. He
is the author of “Don’t Be Stupid: A Guide
to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at
College.”
Visit Stepcase Lifehack
Visit The Writer’s Technology Companion
Buy “Don’t Be Stupid”
Whatever you decide to use to track your goals, make sure you keep on top of it.
© V
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Vas
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The Single Secret to Making 2009 Your Best Year EverI realized that there’s just one tip that’s needed to make 2009 your best year ever. And it’s not a tip you’ll read in most personal development, productivity or self-help blogs or books. That’s because if you implemented this one tip, you wouldn’t really need any others. It would put all of us out of business. So, because I enjoy writing personal development posts and books for you guys, I’m counting on you to NOT actually implement this, and to keep needing other tips I give you in the future.
Leo Babauta
Kidding of course! Go ahead,
put me and all the rest of ‘em
out of business. I’d rather have
you happy and successful, and
look for another job, knowing that I did
something good.
So what’s that single secret, the one thing
that will not only make 2009 your best
year ever, but put personal development
and self-help bloggers and authors out of
business? Are you sure you’re ready to hear
it? OK, you’re ready.:) Here goes:
Stop waiting for happiness. Happiness is right here, right now.Sounds too simple, but if you haven’t
realized this, and put it into action, it can
have an amazing effect on your life. Today.
Right now.
My Life of WaitingWhen I was young, I couldn’t wait
to become an adult. Oh, the freedom!
Becoming an adult would bring me
happiness. I couldn’t wait.
When I became an adult, I couldn’t wait
to get a good job. That would surely bring
happiness. I couldn’t wait. When I got
a good job, I couldn’t wait to get a raise.
When I got a raise, I couldn’t wait to get
married. When I got married, I couldn’t
wait to buy a nicer car. Got the car, then
I couldn’t wait to buy a house.
When I bought the house, I couldn’t wait
to … get out of debt. I could go on for
quite awhile, but you get the point. None
of my desires ever produced happiness,
because I was stuck in the mindset of
wanting more. When I got what I wanted,
I wanted something else. My happiness
was always on hold, because I was waiting
to reach a goal. Waiting for happiness.
On Goals and DesiresIt’s good to have goals. I have them – it’s
a part of living and working. But how much
are you investing in your goals? How much
of your happiness is based on your goals?
It’s also natural to have desires, but if
your life is a series of desires, one after the
other, and everything in you is in pursuit of
those desires, you will always be striving
for happiness, waiting for it. Instead,
remember: Stop waiting for happiness.
Happiness is right here, right now.
Feel free to pursue goals, and desires …
but don’t make your happiness dependent
on them. Don’t think of happiness as
something you’ll have once X happens
(whatever X is right now for you).
Life is a Journey – Enjoy It!So how do you go for goals and still
have happiness right here, right now? By
remembering that the important thing isn’t
the destination… it’s the journey!
Remember that, always: the journey is
the most important thing. Not the goal.
Not the ending point.
Think about it: if you are only happy
once you reach a goal, what about all the
time you spend getting to the goal? That’s
much more of your life than actually being
at the goal. If you’re only happy when
you’re at the destination, you’ll be unhappy
most of the time.
What’s more, if you are stuck in that
mindset, when you reach your destination,
you won’t actually be happy – you’ll be
looking toward your next destination.
Instead, remember: Stop waiting for
happiness. Happiness is right here, right now.
How do you enjoy the journey?
By appreciating life in its fullness, its
wonderfulness. By not looking so much
toward the future, but focusing on the present
moment, right here, right now. By looking
around you, and realizing that everything you
need for happiness is already here!
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projects, one after the other? Well, that’s
good, but realize that your to-do list will
never ever be completed, nor will your
project list. They’re never ending, and in
fact they’re supposed to be that way. So
you’ll never reach a destination here – all
you have is the journey! Learn to enjoy
your work – every minute of it – and
productivity will come naturally.
• Learning a new skill. Whether you want
to learn French, or to play the trombone,
or to master Jeet Kune Do, will you only
be happy once you’ve learned the skill?
No! Learn to love the learning process!
It’s an exploration not only of new
territory, but of yourself. It’s wonderful.
• Simplifying. Do you want to get rid of
clutter? Will you be happy only when
you’ve gotten rid of all excess things? No!
Enjoy the process of decluttering – it’s
one of my favorite pasttimes!:) Imagine
that I’m there next to you, enjoining you
to “TOSS IT!” with a wildly cheerful voice.
•Writing a book. Do you want to write
the Great American Novel? Don’t wait
until you’re done to enjoy the book…
love each moment you can spend
writing. It’s a miracle.
What are you waiting for before you
become happy? Can you find happiness
right now, in this moment?
Everything You Need for HappinessWhat do you need to be happy? Do you
need a fancy car and a mansion and
millions of dollars? If you could have every
single desire granted to you right now,
would you be happy then?
Or can you be happy now, with what you
have?
Can you look at the gorgeous sky, and
realize what a miracle it is? Can you look
at a sunset, a forest, a flower, a child, and
realize the miracle of each of these things?
You probably can, if you take the time
to look at them fully.
And then you might realize that your eyes
are a miracle, and that they allow you to see
each of these other miracles. If you have your
eyes, you have all you need for happiness.
What if you are blind? Can you taste
chocolate, or strawberries, or cinnamon, or
tears, and realize what a miracle those things
are? Can you hear Mozart, or John Lennon, or
Jack Johnson, and have your soul fill up with
happiness? Then you already have all you
need for happiness.
All you need is the present moment: spend
time with a loved one, talk with a friend,
watch a funny movie, go swimming in
refreshing water, smell fresh baked bread, go
for a walk or a run, curl up with a good book,
cuddle on a rainy day, give and receive a hug.
It’s true – this is the only thing you
need to know: Stop waiting for happiness.
Happiness is right here, right now.
But… What About My Goals?Should you give up your goals for 2009,
now that you’ve decided to be happy now?
Nah. Go ahead and pursue those goals, but
remember to enjoy the journey. Consider:
• Losing weight. Will you only be happy
after you’ve lost weight and are slim
and trim? When you have the perfect
body? Screw that! Make it an enjoyable
journey – exercise can be a lot of fun!
Eating clean, healthy food can also be
incredible, once you learn to enjoy it!
Enjoy the journey to health and the
great body will only be a side benefit.
•Getting productive. Do you have a desire
to crank through your to-do list, stop
procrastinating, and knock down your
About Leo Babauta
Leo Babauta lives in
Guam and is married
with six kids. He’s a
writer and a runner
and a vegetarian and
he loves writing Zen
Habits - his blog that
in a short year became one of the top
blogs on the Internet with 60K+ readers
subscribed and counting. He’s recently
a published author of a bestselling book
„Power of Less”
Visit Leo’s Blog „Zen Habits”
Buy Leo’s book „Power of Less” from
Amazon
When I got what I wanted, I wanted something else. My happiness was always on hold, because I was waiting to reach a goal.
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atia
na -
Foto
lia.c
om
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How to Shave Ten Hours Off Your Work WeekAlmost everyone I know is working more time than they would like. That’s why a book like The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss has been such a big bestseller. This is a great book, but the promise is a little over the top. I don’t know of anyone, including Tim Ferriss, who really only works four hours.
Michael Hyatt
But what if you could shave ten
hours off your work week? In
my opinion, that is much more
do-able. Virtually anyone, with
a little thought and effort can do it. Here’s
how:
Limit the time you spend online.In my experience, the Web is most
people’s #1 time suck. Yes, I know it
is a wonderful tool for research, blah,
blah, blah. But I often catch myself and
my family members mindlessly surfing
from one page to another with no clear
objective in mind. Before you know it, you
can eat up several hours a day. The key is
to put a fence around this activity and limit
your time online. Set a timer for yourself if
you have to.
This is true for Web surfing and it is
also true for email. Unless you are in
a customer service position where you
have to be “always-on,” you should check
email no more than two or three times
a day.
Touch email messages once and only once.Okay, let’s be honest. How many times
do you read the same email message
over and over again? Guess what? The
information hasn’t changed. That’s right.
You are procrastinating.
I have a personal rule: I will only
read each message once then take the
appropriate action: do, delegate, defer, file
or delete it.
Follow the two-minute rule.My to-do list is very short. It never gets
longer than about thirty items. This is
because I do everything I can immediately.
If I need to make a phone call, rather than
entering it on my to-do list, I just make
the call.
If I can complete the action in less than
two minutes, I just go ahead and do it.
Why wait? You will be amazed at how
much this “bias toward action” will reduce
your workload.
Conversely, when you don’t do it
promptly, you end up generating even
more work for yourself and others. The
longer a project sits, the longer it takes
to overcome inertia and get it moving
again. The key is to define the very next
action and do it. You don’t have to complete
the whole project, just the next action.
Stop attending low-impact meetings.If there’s one thing we can probably all
agree on, it’s that we go to too many
meetings. Either the meeting organizer
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secret: most books are not worth finishing.
Most books could be cut in half and you
wouldn’t miss a thing. The key is to read as
long as you are interested and then stop.
There are too many great books to read
without getting bogged down in the
merely good ones.
Engage in a weekly review and preview.Part of the reason our lives get out of
control is because we don’t plan. Once
a week, you have to come up for air. Or –
to change the metaphor – you have to take
the plane up to 30,000 feet, so you can see
the big picture.
I generally do this on Sunday evening.
I review my notes from the previous week
and look ahead to my calendar.
You may not be able to reduce your
workweek to four hours—and honestly,
who would want to?—but you can
certainly scale it down to a manageable
level by cutting out the wasted motion and
developing a few good habits.
isn’t prepared, the meeting objective
isn’t defined, or you can’t really affect the
outcome one way or the other.
Every meeting should have a written
objective and a written agenda. If you
don’t have these two minimal items, how
do you know when the meeting is over?
Could this also explain why meetings seem
to drag on and on until everyone is worn
out?
If the content of the meeting is
irrelevant to you and your job or if you
don’t feel that you really add that much
to the discussion, ask to be excused.
Schedule time to get your work done.This is crucial. As the saying goes,
“nature abhors a vacuum.” If you don’t
take control of your calendar, someone
else will. You can’t spend all your time
in meetings and still get your work
done.
Instead, you need to make appointments
with yourself. Yes, go ahead and actually
put them on your calendar. Then, when
someone asks for a meeting, you can
legitimately say, “No, I’m sorry, that won’t
work. I already have a commitment.” And
you do—to yourself!
Cultivate the habit of non-finishing.Not every project you start is worth
finishing. Sometimes we get into it and
realize, “This is a waste of time.” Fine, then
give yourself permission to quit.
I do this all the time with reading. It’s
why I am able to read so many articles
and books. Here’s publishing’s dirty little
About Michael Hyatt
Michael Hyatt is
the President and
CEO of Thomas
Nelson, the
largest Christian
publishing company
in the world and the seventh largest
trade book publishing company in the
U.S. Michael has written four books, one
of which landed on the New York Times
bestseller list. Hyatt serves as Chairman
of the Evangelical Christian Publishers
Association (ECPA). He has been married
to his wife, Gail, for twenty-eight years.
They have five daughters and two grand
daughters and live outside of Nashville,
Tennessee.
Visit Michael’s Blog MichaelHyatt.com
Visit Thomas Nelson web site
If I can complete the action in less than two minutes, I just go ahead and do it. Why wait?
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the next twelve months, but using it as the
moment to start attempting radical habit
building with the wishy washy New Year’s
Resolution approach is not wise.
James Mallinson
Why You Shouldn’t Do New Year’s Resolutions
Much of the tips offered are
generalized and recycled
junk that end up offering
nothing practical for the
readers. Instead they build up the clean
sheet nature of a new year and leave
people with a naive optimism about what
they can achieve. The result? Badly thought
out and totally unrealistic resolutions that
are destined to fail. Remember the rule of
starting small.
Another major problem I have with
New Year’s Resolutions is that too many
people seem to have this view that a new
year is the only time to think about ways
of improving their lives. Because they
also tend to have minimal knowledge
about the process of habit breaking and
building, it’s not unusual for all their
efforts to fall apart within the first month.
That leaves another eleven months before
they decide to start the process all over
again. It’s hardly constructive, especially
if you have quite a large selection of
resolutions, which is often another
element of the typical new year’s list. How
do you focus your time on a handful (or
more) of habits? I can guarantee you that
as soon as you slip up on one of them,
it will be like a domino effect and bring
down the progress on every other habit.
You need to keep the list small and keep
it compact.
However, perhaps the biggest problem
with New Year’s Resolutions is that they
are such a big deal, partly because of the
way they are built up in the press, partly
because they cover an entire year and
partly because the new year is regarded as
a fresh start for everyone. This is actually
all really bad as it hypes the process up in
your head to the point where one slip-up
typically brings the whole process down.
“It’s such a big deal, what will I do if I fall
off the wagon one day? That’s my progress
for the rest of the year ruined!” It breaks
one of the other basic rules of working on
your habits. You should use a suitably short
timescale, such as a week or even a day
and certainly not think about your progress
yearly.
So you decide not to do New Year’s
Resolutions for 2009, but what do you
do instead? A new year is definitely a great
chance to review your progress and determine
what sort of direction you want to go in over
It’s something of a tradition at this time of year that everyone writes advice about New Year’sResolutions. Whether it be on TV, in magazines or on blogs (ahem…), they all seem happy to dish out ill thought advice left, right and center. However I am going to buck this trend and provide a damning indictment of the New Year’s Resolution.
About James Mallinson
James Mallinson comes from the UK and
is an aspiring author. He started Organize
IT nearly two years ago after he began
dabbling in productivity, and wanted to
share his tips and experience.
Visit James’s blog – Organize-IT
Badly thought out and totally unrealistic resolutions that are destined to fail.
“It’s such a big deal, what will I do if I fall off the wagon one day? That’s my progress for the rest of the year ruined!”
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People don’t like to hear the word „no”,
but when coupled with the explanation
of why you are saying „no”, you can
inform them that you would not be able
to invest the time it would take to see the
task to fruition and be able to do it with
quality.
But when you do say „yes” to a task
or project, people will realize that
they will get your best quality work
that you can offer, and that it is indeed
an exception point that you have said
„yes” to their request. When you learn
to say „no”, people will begin to value
what you do for them and value when
you say „yes”.
Say “No” to make “Yes” sound better
I’m quite sure that there is more than
one person reading this that can
answer „yes” to that question. But
I have a question back at you:
How do you ever Get Things Done?Saying “yes” is an affliction that the even
the best of us have. A good deal of the
time, it’s a great deal easier to say “yes”
when we are asked for something rather
than to say “no”. But how can you be
personally productive if you are always
doing for others? The simple answer is that
you can’t.
In order to keep your own life on
track, you must have time to be able
to complete the tasks and goals that you
have set out for yourself. Not only for the
obvious reason of being organized, but
for the unobvious reason: you cannot feel
productive and organized if you aren’t
doing so.
Setting our own goals and being
organized enough to accomplish them
is a very important part to the humans’
psyche. The psyche is geared to feeling
good about itself when you are able
to accomplish tasks for yourself. Now
you might be thinking “How the heck am
I going to get anything done for myself?
I have so many things to do for other
people…..”. There is a way….and it may
take you some time to learn it, but learn it
you must. You have to say
NO.Saying no is a key component of being able
to be organized and Get Things Done. You
have to be able to use this word in order
to fulfill your own agenda and also in order
to be able to feel good about yourself. When
you say “no” to people, and you have the
time, list for them a few reasons why you are
saying „no”. Such as, “I would love to be able
to take care of that for you, but due to tasks
A, B, and C, I would not be able to do this
for you in a timely and efficient manner. My
other commitments have my plate full at
the moment. Might I suggest that you speak
with X in order to complete your task?”
Are you a “pleaser”? Do you habitually give in to other people because you just can’t stand the thought of upsetting them? Do you put your needs to one side because you get a buzz from someone else’s happiness, only to find that he or she is not a bit grateful? If so, you are a classic „people pleaser,” and you are, in all probability, not getting what you want out of life. It’s time to shift the focus from others to yourself, and stop being a martyr.
A good deal of the time, it’s a great deal easier to say “yes” when we are asked for something rather than to say “no”.
Saying „no” is a key component of being able to be organized and Get Things Done.
AboutKris Rowlands
Kris, being the
child of a hoarder,
has grown up her
entire life organizing
things around her: it
is as natural to her
as breathing. With
over twenty-five years experience, she is
honored to offer you her services, in this
time of need for busy professionals and
entrepreneurs. She’s running a productivity
blog „Fresh Focus”.
Visit Kris’s blog „Fresh Focus”
Kris Rowlands
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task, usually involving a major change
in the way your life is run. I still love the
losing weight quote from Billy Connolly,
which is to “Eat less and move more”!
Any major goal in your life is going
to need the support of your family and
friends. Personally, I think that most
people are ridiculed with their New Year’s
resolutions, because virtually nobody
keeps them. When you set and break these
resolutions, people lose faith in what you
are saying and do not offer you the support
you need. I can not think of a worse time
of the year to announce to the world
that you will shed 70 lbs., or run a half
marathon. Expect to get a tongue in cheek
reaction from the people you tell.
In summary, if you want to change your
life, don’t wait. Make a decision, and act
now. After all, there is no time like the
present!
Andrew Mason
What’s Wrong With New Year’s Resolutions?
Most of these people will
have at some time set
a New Year’s resolution.
I know that for years I did.
Most of the time, the resolutions were
pretty much the same every year, and it
seemed like the correct thing to do, to let
people know that you were going to make
an effort in the New Year.
I live and breathe goals, next actions,
and projects, yet I have not set a New
Year’s resolution for years! Keep reading
to find out why. I kind of disagree with the
idea behind New Year’s resolutions, and
would like to share my thoughts into why
I think they are flawed, and how they can
be improved.
January the 1st occurs once each year,
and this is normally brought with a swollen
head from too much alcohol and the first
line from Rabbie Burns’ Auld Lang Syne.
How many of us have made New Year’s
resolutions?
Let’s take a snippet from Wikipedia
to see what a New Years Resolution is
defined as..
A New Year’s Resolution is
a commitment that an individual makes
to a project or a habit, often a lifestyle
change that is generally interpreted as
advantageous. The name comes from the
fact that these commitments normally go
into effect on New Year’s Day and remain
until the set goal has been achieved,
although many resolutions go unachieved
and are often broken fairly shortly after
they are set.
Hmm, even the Wikipedia entry points
out that “many resolutions go unachieved
and are often broken fairly shortly after
they are set“.
So, what is the problem with New Year’s
resolutions?
Well, I am a goal setter and avid
fan of the Getting Things Done
methodology from David Allen. As well
as this, I subscribe to the good stuff from
motivational speakers like Zig Ziglar and
Tony Robbins. I strongly believe in the
power of decisions.
When I make a decision, I follow this
up by action! Too many of us do not
understand the importance of making
a decision. A New Year’s resolution is
a perfect example of procrastination,
that disease that we all suffer from time
to time, and some, a lot more than others.
What we are saying with
a New Year’s’ resolution is that you want
to do something, but you will postpone
it a few weeks until New Year’s Day. For
example, if your resolution was the timeless
classic “I want to lose weight”, you would
gorge yourself over the festive period,
happy in the knowledge that it is OK as you
are going to lose weight in the New Year. If
you want to lose weight, make a decision,
take action, and lose the weight. Don’t put
it off for a few weeks due to some time
constraints. Setting out on any major goal
planning such as this is destined to fail, and
probably why so many do.
I firmly believe in what I call All Year
Resolutions, also known as goals.
It is very true that you cannot hit
a target that you do not have. However,
action must be taken in order to realize
your goals. Losing weight is a mammoth
The timeless classics for the New Year’s resolution is to lose weight or improve your appearance. This is normally an automatic next action after a festive season of over indulgence! Eight pounds is the average weight gain in the UK over the festive period, and I can talk first hand of people who love nothing more than to drink and be merry over Christmas and the New Year.
About Andrew Mason
Andrew set up DidIGetThingsDone.com
in January 2007 as a way for him to share
what he knows about the ever changing
topics of productivity, motivation, and self
development. He started the blog at the
same time as he started with the Getting
Things Done book from David Allen.
A lot of his early posts are based upon his
interpretation of the book and how he
implemented his own version of the GTD
Methodology.
Visit Andrew’s blog „Did I Get Things
Done”
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Simply Get it Done on the Move!
I was working on, both personally and
professionally. I used MindManager
to perform a ‘mind-sweep’, which is
a process of capturing everything I’d been
thinking about – all my unfinished projects,
unanswered emails, unfulfilled dreams. It
was a great relief to get everything out of
my head and into one place that I could
refer back to. Next, I experimented with
Michael Deutch
Before my introduction to GTD,
I thought I had most things in
my life under control. What
I didn’t realize was just how
much energy I was using to keep my
unfinished commitments top of mind.
I was suffering from ‘Information Overload’
and apparently, I wasn’t alone. The
research firm Basex estimates that this
problem costs the U.S. economy over $900
billion per year. And the problem doesn’t
appear to be going away anytime soon.
I was being bombarded with information
from all directions at an ever increasing
pace… e-mail, junk mail, text messages,
phone calls, RSS feeds and meetings.
Sound familiar? Don’t worry, it doesn’t
have to be that way. Determined to combat
this issue and increase my productivity,
comprehension, concentration, innovation,
and maybe most importantly peace of
mind, I incorporated GTD principles into
my workflow to regain control of my life.
The results? Fantastic. Here are some tips
and tricks that I picked up as I started
to fine-tune and apply MindManager and
GTD to my work and life.
Capture:To be in control of my life, I needed
a trusted system to capture everything
going on within it. I started to use
a combination of MindManager and
Outlook to capture everything, big and
small, so I wouldn’t have to remember
anything. Ultimately, this freed up my mind
so I could be more present with everything
Gain Control. Are you looking for better ways to ‘Get Things Done’ (GTD)? Bestselling author and MindManager user David Allen explores this topic in his new book, Making It All Work.
Making it all work – GTD with Mindmapping
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MindManager add-ins like Gyro-Q which
allowed me to quickly add ideas & tasks
into a map, even when MindManager was
closed. This minimized the impact of the
constant interruptions in my life. With
everything now in one place, I started
to clarify what everything that I captured
really means to me.
Clarify:I was amazed at how much information
I was retaining in my mind, trying to ‘hold’
everything together. Deadlines, promises,
deliverables. I was involved in a lot of
different activities at work and it was hard
to keep track of everything consistently or
know at any point in time what I needed
to do to move all my projects forward.
Now, I’m still engaged in a wide variety
of activities, but I also know what needs
to happen to move items from an inbox
to my desired outcome. That’s a huge
change in how I process everything.
I keep the following trigger questions
in a map that helps me quickly process
the constant flow of information that
surrounds me.
Is this actionable? What do I hope
to achieve? What do I need to do next?
When items were not actionable,
I started to delete them (this was tough
for me as I’m a bit of a digital packrat),
file them as reference material or create
tasks that I categorized as something that
I might like to tackle in the future. By
defining the required actions and expected
outcomes for all my tasks, I was able to be
more strategic about how to use my time
and energy.
Organize:Organization is both fun and dangerous
for me. I love to be organized but need
to be careful not to spend more time
organizing than doing actual work.
I began to use Microsoft Outlook as the
single place where I managed all tasks.
If I’ve captured a task or something I’m
waiting for in a meeting map, I added it
to Outlook. Emails with actions for me
quickly became tasks by either dragging
them into the task section or using the
GTD Outlook add-in. Task categorization
was essential to simplify and streamline
the processing of tasks. I reviewed my task
list by category and worked through the
list based on my location, my access to the
Internet, how much time and energy I had.
And, by priority. For instance, I leveraged
my commute for items that didn’t require
internet access, like phone calls or
reviewing emails and research. This let
me leave work and be more focused, with
fewer interruptions. Organizing by context
allowed me to pick the activity that best
suited my present circumstances.
Reflect:Here’s an area that I’m still working on,
my daily and weekly reviews. I use another
MindManager map to guide me through
my review process. Reviews help ensure
my system is updated and complete. As
a result, I have the ‘big picture’ perspective
that guides me when I’m deciding which
tasks to tackle from moment to moment.
Engage:Here’s where the ‘rubber hits the road’ and
where MindManager really shines. GTD
has been a great and flexible methodology
that helped me process and decide what
tasks to do. MindManager improved
how I thought through and completed
each task. They’re perfect complements.
Whether I’m planning a project, running
a meeting, managing information, or
brainstorming ideas for new products
or strategies, I use MindManager maps
to capture and organize all my thoughts,
ideas and information into coherent
strategies and plans. I see the big
picture, uncover hidden relationships and
accomplish more, with less effort.
About Michael Deutch
Michael Deutch
is Mindmanager’s
Chief Evangelist,
writer and a faithful
follower of Getting
Things Done. He
regularly writes on
the official Mindmanager’s blog.
Download all of the mindmaps from this
article by visiting this post online.
Visit Mindjet’s web site to learn more
about Mindmanager.
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don’t match. For example, parents in
a playgroup may want the kids to just
focus on socializing while others may want
religious-based instruction. Better to air
out these differences early than find out
later. Be careful of trying to be all things
to all people. Many goals take a significant
amount of commitment and resources and
to try to make everybody happy often ends
up making nobody happy. Understand your
fellow members’ goals and collectively
agree on a good set of clear, specific goals.
Put together a planOnce the goals are established, put
together a plan to accomplish the
goal. Brainstorm with the group
to find the right projects and activities
to undertake. The best ideas rarely come
from one individual. Solicit opinions from
Andrew Yang
There are a great many books
written on leadership and teams
but most of these excellent
works are focused on corporate
teams. However, many groups operate
outside of work such as sports teams,
hobby groups, political action groups, faith
groups, playgroups, support groups, even
families. Different than corporate teams,
these groups don’t have an authoritative
boss structure and many groups have no
say in who joins. Despite these limitations,
these teams can be highly productive.
Understand the motivationsDon’t assume you know what everyone
wants. Why are members participating
and what do they hope to get out of
it. Good alignment with your members
improves motivation and participation. For
example, you may have some players on
a sports team who want to win the league
championship and others who just want
to learn or play for fun. While everyone
is playing the same sport, they may have
wildly differing goals, and expectations.
The best thing to do is to spend time with
each member (or as many as practically
possible), ask open-ended questions and
LISTEN.
Craft, communicate and agree on a good
set of goals – once you understand what
people individually want, set up goals that
the group can largely agree on. You may be
surprised on how difficult this can be. Hard
but good choices have to be made.
You may need to do a reset for
some members whose individual goals
Quick quiz. If you take a group of people who are individually productive, do you automatically have a productive group? Some strategies and tactics for improving personal productivity can be applied to groups. However, when you add multiple people to the mix you are guaranteed to have unpredictability and possibly terrible dysfunction.
Productivity For Groups – Because You’re Not Really In Control
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other similar groups. Some savvy searching
on the Web should uncover plenty of best
practices and ideas that you can borrow for
your group.
Break long-term projects into
manageable chunks. Make each chunk have
an owner and a deliverable and monitor
their progress. Ask often for status and
whether there is anything that might block
progress. Putting together a good plan
and schedule of activities will help make
the group excited and engaged. Monitor
frequently.
Establish rules of engagementSome people are naturally process-heavy
and others completely lack process. Find
a happy medium. Create your own “rules
of engagement”
•How do people interact with each
other? How should disagreements be
dealt with? How do you move forward
after a divisive decision was made?
•How are meetings
conducted? Whole books have been
written about how to conduct effective
meetings. Preparation, meeting goals,
a few ground rules and rigorous “next
steps” can go a long way to making
meetings more productive.
•How are decisions made? Some groups
decide by majority rule. While others
have a designated decision-maker.
Determining your decision-making
process will reduce conflict down the
road and also prevent the dreaded
“analysis paralysis.”
Devote time in establishing how your
group engages with each other and makes
decisions. Then lead by example. Repeat.
Social engineering for resultsThe great thing about groups is that they
can be much greater than the sum of its
parts. Mixing personalities, experience, skills
and operating styles unleash creativity and
efficiency. Of course monitor these groups
closely. Sometimes there’s not enough
common ground to make the group operate
effectively. When creating subteams, think
about the right mix of individuals. A team of
stars may not be better than a balanced team
whose members complement each other well.
Delegate, delegate, delegate.Nothing makes members feel more
involved in the group than when they take
ownership. When leaders delegate, they
not only reduce their workload, but also
get much needed “buy-in” from people who
are involved in the process. Let the “critic”
own the problem – often their passion will
get the best results. Where possible, get
volunteers and let them take responsibility
for important things that make a difference.
Keep everyone on the same page
– groups can quickly dissolve from lack
of activity and communication. When
it comes to people’s increasingly busy
schedules, group activities can take a back
seat to that urgent thing that regularly
pops up. Setting up a group web page
and group email is a great way to help
provide indirect cohesion across time and
space. Communicate early and often. Set
up a central website, shared calendar,
automated reminders and group email
to help provide needed communication
infrastructure for the group for direct and
indirect communication. Complement
the real-life interactions with virtual
interactions.
Putting it all together.Putting together a group of people
always makes things interesting. While
a group is composed of a collection
of individuals with specific goals,
motivations and skills, the collective
can have its own goals, motivations and
skills too. With a little proper guidance,
a well functioning group can be a thing
of beauty that can accomplish things that
no individual can.
About Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang is COO at Qlubb, a leading
provider of social collaboration solutions
for real-life groups. Andrew has served in
various executive roles at several Silicon
Valley firms and was a management
consultant in previous life. Andrew has
been an active participant, leader and
provider of solutions for many non-work
groups and corporate teams.
Visit Qlubb’s blog
Visit Qlubb’s web site
Many goals take a significant amount of commitment and resources and to try to make everybody happy often ends up making nobody happy.
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This course is about learning to get
things done and it’s not about Nozbe
– my Getting Things Done web-based
application. While I will sometimes refer
to Nozbe throughout this course – you can
use the ideas from this course by mixing
other applications, paper notes, 3x5 cards,
etc... whatever works for you.
The ideas presented in this course
are ideas that work for me... and I’ve
implemented them all in Nozbe... so
to show what I mean – to illustrate what
I’m getting at, I will be referring to Nozbe.
It’s just easier like this. I don’t believe
in theory, I believe in practice. Thus
I will show you how I put all of the GTD
(„Getting Things Done”) concepts into
practice using Nozbe. You can later choose
if you wish to use Nozbe to help you get
things done. Whatever works for you is
always a good choice.
To master your productivity – you should
still read THE book.
If you put the ideas from this course
into practice – you will get things done
and you will be more productive than
ever. Guaranteed. If you want to study
your productivity even more I strongly
encourage you to read David Allen’s book
Michael Sliwinski
Step 0 – Introduction: Who is this
course for?
This course is for anyone
who wants to live a more productive and
happier life. Anyone. You can be a student,
an employee at a small or big company,
a junior or senior manager, an executive...
anyone who just wants to get more done.
And most of all – you don’t have to know
the „Getting Things Done” principles or
what „GTD” (abbreviation for Getting
Things Done) actually is.
If you want to get more done and be
more productive – this course is for you.
Period.
Before we start getting things done...
Let me introduce myself. My name is
Michael Sliwinski and I was born a very
disorganized person. I actually don’t know
if I was born like this or if I just picked up
bad habits... but even though I’ve always
managed to be fairly successful in whatever
I was doing, my lack of self-organization and
structure was killing me and was seriously
holding me back from a greater success.
I decided to approach this problem
from a scientific perspective and learn
to be more productive. I studied many
different books, tried out many to-
do lists and other various approaches
to personal productivity and got so-
so results... until I stumbled upon the
great book by David Allen: „Getting
Things Done – The Art of Stress-Free
Productivity”.
The book changed my life forever.
David Allen’s concept of ‘Getting Things
Done’ seemed just so easy to actually put
into practice and yet made perfect sense...
so I decided to give the system a try. As
I was basically spending most of my day
by the computer, I decided to start coding
a simple program that would help me
implement the GTD (Getting Things Done)
system.
Right from the start I decided this
would be a web-based program. This
created room for future collaboration
between other members of my company;
and provided the opportunity to learn
‘Getting Things Done’ from one another
while working on various projects.
I actually was thinking big from the start –
it wasn’t about just me anymore – I wanted
my entire company to achieve ‘Getting
Things Done’.
A guide to a more productive, focused and accomplished life... or how to make it through the day with a smile on your face and an empty to-do list.
Simply Get Things Done Course – from 0 to Productivity in 10 simple steps
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– “Getting Things Done – The Art of
Stress-Free Productivity”. You can get your
copy at Amazon or probably your local
bookstore.
I will publish next lessons of the
course in future issues of the Productive
Magazine. However you can click on the
links now to get to know each step on the
Nozbe web site (with a video version).
The course is divided into 3 major parts
and 10 steps.
Part I – Next Action – the basics of Getting Things DoneThe idea is to start improving your
productivity as soon as possible, so after
Part I of the course you should already be
getting more done and using the Getting
Things Done principles in your daily
practice. It’s all about how to clear your
head, set up your projects and decide what
your “next actions” are.
Step 1. Clear your head
Step 2. Get organized with Projects
Step 3. What is the Next Action?
Part II – Organize and Process – next level of ‘Getting Things Done’ masteryMore advanced steps and another
productivity boost – working in contexts,
gathering reference material and most
of all – using the system on a daily basis.
Anywhere, Anytime, Anyhow.
Step 4. Work in Contexts
Step 5. Manage your reference material
Step 6. Be productive everywhere – on
the move, online/offline
Part III – Zero problems – black belt level of ‘Getting Things Done’You’re on your way to becoming a master
in productivity when you learn to delegate,
work in teams, review your system on
a regular basis and improve constantly until it
all comes naturally, until you find your flow.
Step 7. Share and Delegate – Synergize
Step 8. Review your stuff regularly
Step 9 and 10. Seek guidance and keep
improving your system and get things done
now – final tips and tricks
Good luck with ‘Getting Things Done’ in
the 2009!
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