Improve My Business

I’ve been culling my email while home sick with a head cold (don’t want to be around folks and get them sick, and periodically lose my voice/cough my head off).  One of the things I’m noticing is that I’m reticent to put some ‘gems/jewels’ into the archive pile without noting things down.

I also  noted that I needed to get some blog posts up.

Voila!  It’s two, two, two tasks in one! (reference to an old Certs commercial… about 1:30 in)

Get Organized

Some of my favorite links:  to Charles Gilkey of Productive Flourishing (original post by Michael Bungay Stanier) for his downloadable planners and calendars; they will help you to remember the things you need to be doing, and also provide a record of what you got done for a given month.

Get Productive

Michael Bungay Stanier for his “one two punch” - he says, ” At the start of each day, I pick the one key thing that I must accomplish, and then two additional things I’d love to accomplish.”

[Try this simple technique for focusing your workday, and you'll be amazed at how much more you can accomplish every day!]

Don’t let e-mail rule you

Instead of culling through my emails, Fred Wilson suggests email bankruptcy:  I’m not quite there yet (and I LIKE some of the old stuff I’ve got, per these posts - Fred’s post was from 2007, for Pete’s sake and I still have it!) but I do see the allure of it all…

and for those of you who email me regularly, you know that you may get an autoresponder if I’ve got a ‘no face time’ week, saying something like “I’m out of the office on business and do not have access to email and voice mail during the day.  I will return from my trip on [date] and will try and answer all emails by [date +2] but if you need something urgent, please resend with ‘urgent’ in the title.”  This allows folks to reset their expectations of when they can reasonably expect an answer back from me if needed.

Sure, there are techniques galore for handling email - have someone else sort through your email, set up folders automatically, etc.  but my favorite technique remains - click on ‘unsubscribe’ for valid emails I no longer wish to read on a regular basis.  Why deal with it if I can just stop getting them instead?!

One of the things we spend time on here at McDonald Consulting when we first engage with a client is to help them get organized, so we can work more efficiently together.  For some clients this is more of a challenge than others.. 

Although these tips and tricks are for businesses, they can work equally well for your home life also.

1. Determine what you need to keep, and put it away.
2. Determine what you can get rid of, and do it - now.
3. Don’t let things build up once you get it organized.

Let’s look at them one at a time:

1.  Determine what you need to keep, and put it away. Is your desk a pile of papers, files, books, receipts, post-it notes, etc?   Do you shuffle through things to find what you need, knowing it might be ‘1/2 way down that pile on the right’?  Instead, as you touch a piece of paper, TAF it - Toss it, take Action on it, or File it away.  You shouldn’t be touching a piece of paper more than once (toss) or twice (action and file).

2.  Determine what you can get rid of, and do it - now. If getting rid of things all at once is too overwhelming, do it in small doses.  For example, the thought of cleaning out my supply closet may be overwhelming as a huge task, but if I identify something I no longer need (downlevel versions of software, an older style keyboard, etc.) I can easily get rid of those things now.  I use freecycle (freecycle.org) to let someone else use these things that are working but no longer needed (and got rid of several things that were broken - someone scooped ‘em up for spare parts) which is an environmental alternative to throwing them in the trash.  That way, I can do it at my pace, and not be overwhelmed.  However, if you DO decide to do this method, schedule yourself to identify x things per week, or clear off y shelves per week, to ensure it gets done.  If you don’t have freecycle in your local area, get a box, put these things in them as you identify them, then when the box is full, donate the box.

Another thing you can easily do is recycle old magazines and trade journals.  I used to have a stack of magazines that I was going to cull ’some day’; now, every time I’m on hold on the phone, or my computer is frozen, I’ll flip through the magazine and rip it apart - articles that I want to file or read I put in one file folder, and articles and ads I have no interest in go in the recycling bin.  I carry the folder around with me when I know I might have time to read the articles; and then when I’m flying, or in a waiting room, I can read and annotate articles without having to carry around the bulk of the magazine.

3.  Don’t let things build up once you get it organized. OK, now that you may be a bit more organized, you can see the top of your desk, your supply cabinet or storage cabinet (or junk drawer, or closet) is getting pared down to what you need vs. what you had — you gotta keep it up.  It does little good to have a clean-out, a tidy-up, etc. only to get back in the junk habit right away.   So set aside a few minutes at the end of the day (or at least the end of the week) and go through the TAF exercise again - toss, action, or file.  and again.  and again, until you do this by habit.  Once you have that down, take a few extra seconds to TAF it as you do it - toss right away, or take action and set aside for filing as you go.  You’ll be amazed at how quickly you become organized, without ever being overwhelmed!

When looking at how to make your business (or your life) better, look at whether you’re really doing your best, trying your hardest, or… whether you’re “phoning it in” - saying you’re trying when you’re not (not really, anyway) or doing things that sabotage your efforts because ‘it’s too much bother’ to do it right or ‘too difficult/no benefit’ to doing it better.

I’ve noticed this in my business lately.  I’m working to ensure that my business continues to grow in the coming year, and was surprised to see that I’ve been slacking off in some areas - doing the very things I preach to others not to do:

• I’ve disappeared down a few rabbit holes courtesy of Twitter or Facebook - I click on one interesting link, then another, and presto change-o!  I’ve lost 45 mins of my day.
• I make excuses for people - before I’ve even called them.  “They’re probably too busy.”  “It’s too late/too early/lunchtime and they probably won’t be there”.  Etc., etc., etc.  Shame on me.
• I spend time culling e-mails - too much time.  I want to get my inbox below 200, so I’ll read things that really could wait, just to hit an arbitrary number so I can ‘reach my goal’.  What goal?  It’s not real… and cost me some time that should have been spent (on calling up contacts?)

This goes to personal time as well.  I was in a mastermind group where we were just meeting each other, and had to list two business and one personal goal - I  kidded that “Business goal #2 is to reach level 68 in FarmVille…” - how much time do you spend on Facebook, or watching TV, or doing other ‘mindless’ stuff?  Once you get past the initial 30-60 mins of relaxing/zoning, how much more time do you really need to spend on it?

I recently delivered my updated Time Management class to a branch of the Federal (US) government.  During this time, I always review the course materials and see if there’s anything that needs to be refreshed or updated.  One of the things I talked about briefly, and probably will expand upon during the next go-round, is setting priorities.

Sure, we talked about it some; how everyone writes a “to-do” list instead of a “results needed” or “things to accomplish” list; and some attendees even said that they were going to switch from writing down tasks to writing down what needed to get done, and then how they would accomplish it.  That’s a great start.

What are the best ways to set priorities?  It turns out, it depends on who you ask:

Covey - Quadrant Method

Pareto - 80/20 rule

For many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Business management thinker Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; he developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. It is a common rule of thumb in business; e.g., “80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients.”

Pairwise comparison

Determine what you need to do, and then ‘vote’ which you do given the list.  Let’s say our list states

1) get food for dinner

2) clean pool

3) work on proposal

You say which you’d prefer to do by voting:

1 vs 2 - 1

1 vs 3 - 3

2 vs 3 - 3

so your prioritized list is #3, then #1, then #2.

There are literally dozens of methods for setting priorities.  A quick scan into any search engine will show you these in detail.  Which one should you choose?  The one that works for you.  That’s why I present multiple tools in class - I ask students to find a tool that makes sense to them (logical for them, not onerous to use) - and then to start using it!

Technorati Tags: Time Management

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that we’ve had tons of changes lately at McDonald Consulting Group.  Our staff has moved on to more ‘fun’ things (crushing grapes in the Pacific Northwest; starting a family and winning the grand prize - an adorable little baby girl; starting college in a state far, far away), leaving me here to build a different team.  I’m back to using contract help to meet my client demands, and that takes a bit more time than working with employees.  Contract help isn’t here every day, and therefore doesn’t know my ’shorthand’ - when I say “I’m going to go to Buffalo NY”, Barret would know to set up flights, hotel, airfare, etc.  My virtual assistant (VA) may intuit that also, but may not know which hotel chain, airline, or car rental company I prefer (all things being equal).

The same goes for contract consultants - I have to spend more time explaining who this client is, what we can do for them, what we should expect from them, and how to interact with them.  It’s in my best interest, from a customer service perspective, to do so; but dang! It’s time consuming!

During this time intensive phase, I’ve had to let some things slide.  One of them?  This blog.  So although we were really good about having posts written in advance that would launch when they were supposed to, we used up our ‘cushion’ and ran out of materials.  And when I did have some free time, it was usually late in the evening, and I selfishly/wisely decided to spend it with my family (which is why I still HAVE a family)…

OK, so now, for the first time in months, my head is slightly above water - no meetings today, proposals are off my desk and in the hands of future prospective clients, and I can see my desktop again.  [Yes, verified that it is a brown desk...]

As soon as I post this, I think I’ll lay out some future blogs - may even follow some of Chris Brogan’s blogging tips (and if you’re in business and NOT reading Chris every day, you’re missing out…)

So, what should you do when you find yourself in a similar situation?  Despite your best efforts, and best intentions, you’re behind on a project.  It may not be mission critical; but still may be something you feel badly about allowing to languish…

When you find yourself derailed, the best thing to do is to get back on track.  Don’t moan about all the lost time; don’t complain about the fact that it will take some discipline to get back on a schedule; and don’t delay out of embarrassment or a feeling of overwhelm.  Just start doing it.  Now.  Like I am.