Productivity Archives - Page 15 of 20

Turning on the Lights to See

July 20, 2007 by Liz

about clutter.

I’ve read papers on psychology that said an extrovert who is put in a position to act as an introvert may interpret his or her feelings as depression. The feeling leads to less interaction and one reinforces the other.

That thought is only somewhat related. . . .

I’m a seer. I need to see the vision I’m going for. When I see it, I can flush out all of the details. I can make path to it’s door. I can walk there, drive there, fly there. I can make every bit happen, because I can see the way from here to there. It’s the 30,000 foot view that gives me the power to make decisions. From there I can go dig through a data set with confidence. From there, I can tackle a task with efficiency.

Until . . .

My life begins to clutter. When I live with clutter, after a time, I begin to interpret it as darkness, chaos. an inability to see.

Things start to collect. It’s note here, a pen there. I set out a document that I’ve received. My husband puts the mail next to my desk, but I’ve no time to get to it. Three comments and two IMs come in at the same time as two emails. A phone call begins. Twitter.

Each of these events tugs my brain to the ground into the clutter. Chaos.

Details without the 30,000 foot view are flying in the dark. They are information with no context — they’re road names minus a roadmap. They are a computer needing to be defragged. When my desk begins to clutter, that clutter finds it’s way into my head. It’s night inside the clutter.

I’m cleaning off my desk this morning. With every thing I dealt with, dumped, or delegated, I felt lighter. I can see my desk again.

Even better, I can see where I’m going — nothing cluttering my vision.

25 Ways to be Jazzed about Productivity

May 10, 2007 by Liz

Jazzed Yeah!

Ben started a writing project on productivity. I had to get productive to even particpate in it. I might have had too much on my desk. I think I might have missed it. Kim asked me to tell about productivity. She even said that sometimes she got mean about it — no, no, not really, well, at least it didn’t seem so. She’s the Kim who is desparately escaping adulthood with Jason.

Still, I can’t let the concept of productivity sit there. So here are 25 ways to get Jazzed about productivity.

Get up early when no one’s around. Nothing’s more fun than working without interruption.

Look out the window to greet the day with a few minutes for yoursef before you begin. Then you’ll be ready to dig in.

Clean off your desk before you start working. If you haven’t done for a while, clean your computer screen too.

Make sure that the tools you use often through the day are close to you.

Make to do list. Divide according to what you can move most quickly to get someone else working too.

Review your calendar for deadlines you have meet. Determine what has be done and how much time you have to do it. Plan for when and how and include breaks.

If the work takes longer than the time you have, find the work that anyone can do and let anyone do it. Don’t ask for help — delegate. Find a partner, a pal, or an apprentice who wants to learn what you do. Barter their services.

Don’t multitask. Research shows it’s not productive.

Choose a task and a move it forward one small step. Then decide if you’ll move it two.

Choose appointed times during the day to answer email. Every two hours might do.

When an email or other tpiece of paper bearing a task comes your way. Assign it to a pile — Do it. Delegate it. OR Dump it. If you set it aside, you’ll only have to pick up and go through thinking about it again. That last pile is the waste basket.

When you are interrupted, learn to say, “Do you mind if I take a minute to finish this?” Then do. Having to start up again will steal the time that it take for you to find your place again.

Before you make call, know what the outcome is that you want and know how much time you allot yourself. Then at the beginning of the call share the time limit with the person on the other end.

Know the job and routine of the person or persons you are working with. Understand how your work and decisions impact theirs. That will avoid making work for them, which would, inevitably, make work for you.

Take a break for 3 or 4 minutes every hour to walk around, giving yourself a change of view.

Ask a child to solve a problem for you. Better yet have 10 year old organize your supplies.

Start in the middle of a hard task. Usually we know what the middle of anything we want to do will be. It’s the beginning and end that confuse us.

Organize a large document by laying all of the pieces of it on the floor and literally looking at it while standing above it with a top-down view.

Quit thinking poor. Buy the tools you need. Get the best quality you can afford. For those tools you use every day calculate how many pennies per day it will cost you. Then calculate how much time you will save by using the new tool.

Pick one hour a day that you will not take any outside interruptions — no email, IM, or telephone calls. The hour after lunch is good. Clean your desk before the hour begins and place a task that requires focus on it. Ready for when the hour begins.

Have a routine for writing that suits the time of day that you write well and get the least interruptions.

As you begin each task, allot a time to it — how long it will take you to do it. If you find yourself falling far behind at the half-way mark, stop to re-evaluate your understanding of the task.

Do a sample for every new job and every new task to ensure that what you heard is what folks really want.

Learn to say “no,’ when you don’t have time. If you can’t say “no,” at least schedule requests for a time when your schedule will allow them.

Leave one task at the end of the day about 20 minutes from finished. That way when you begin the next day, you’ll be able to accomplish something quickly and start on a roll.

Whew! 25 ways to get jazzed about productivity. Some a little and some are much larger. Every one of them will have its own impact in your life. Choose the ones that work for you. Leave the rest on the proverbial table. A proverbial person just might come along. That proverbial person might find that those you left are exactly the right fit for a problem he or she has been staring at for months.

What gets you jazzed about productivity. . . Ilker, Daniel, Jason, Singhania, Katiebird?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

New Year’s Resolutions, No! How to Make Positive Changes that Have Meaning and Stick

December 30, 2006 by Liz

Never Made One Yet

The first time I encountered the term, New Year’s Resolution, was in the comic strip, Peanuts, by Charles M. Shultz. I was 8, maybe 9, years old, and Peanuts was the top comic in the Chicago Tribune. As I went through the comic strips that day, making resolutions was a recurring theme in them.

I found the idea of New Year’s Resolutions curious, and I wondered why I’d never heard of them. I sought out the only available expert I knew. I asked my mom.

My mom answered, “Because most folks make resolutions and forget them the very next day. That’s just not how most people change.”

I can still tap into the relief I felt when she said that. My imagination had made this ferocious picture of what a resolution was. I had seen myself climbing into a splintery, wooden shipping crate labeled “FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH NO HOPE OF EVER GETTING OUT.”

Thanks to that conversation about New Year’s Resolutions, I’ve never made made one yet.

New Year’s Resolutions a New Approach

On Open Comment Night December 5th, the subject of New Year’s Resolutions came up. We agreed that they don’t work as a list. Christine Kane explained her approach was to choose a word. Ben took that idea back as the Absolute Best Way and described it on his Instigator Blog.

Boy, I sure like their ideas a lot!

But I need more than that to execute — if I want to make a positive change that will stay with me. So if Ben and Christine don’t mind, I’m going to expand on the spirit of their ideas, knowing they already “get” it.

How to Make Positive Changes that Have Meaning and Stick

Changing habits is hard to do. The hard part is getting the new ones to stick. It’s easier when we approach our habits the way we approach our tasks and our skills — knowing our goal, not taking on too much, and making use of the “do over” rule when we need it.

Here’s how to make your positive changes stick.

Choose one thing to change. One thing done is always better than 12 things started. If you’re working on gratitude, you might narrow it to saying thank you and meaning it. If you’re working on snacking you might replace one snack food with a healthful one or one time that you snack with another activity.

Write your choice down and define it as an objective. I will say thank you out loud and give a brief reason for my gratitude when folks do things simple for me, such as listen to my ideas, and I’ll note their response. Now you know it is that you’re going for and you’ve got a clear objective.

Make it measurable and make a measurement goal that increases. The measure can be simple. It might be how many smiles a day you get. Without a measure though, a goal is easy to lose track of or forget. How will you know if you’re getting better without a measurement?

Check in at the end of the day to see how you did. Record your measurement and compare it to yesterday. Plan for tomorrow, but don’t think about next year — that’s a lifetime away.

Forgive yourself when you slip or have a bad day. Everyone does that. Don’t give up — with that response no one ever would learn to bicycle, skate, or be a leader in any sense. Pick up where you left off, knowing the practice you already have will make the forward momentum that much easier.

Celebrate your successes when you have a great day. When you live up to the change you are going for, let yourself know that by doing something really cool with a friend, taking in a great movie, CD, or book, or whatever else feels like a reward.

When the change is fully a part of you, go on back to choose another positive to add to what you do.

Changing habits is like taking on new skills. We need to make room to learn, see progress, dust off our mistakes, and celebrate our successes. We’ve been doing that since we went to school. It’s what learning is.

Take a word from Christine and Ben, don’t make a resolution. Make a change that is meaningful.

When you make a positive change that sticks, other positive things will happen too. You’ll also be changing the world just a bit.

New Year’s Resolutions. Positive changes in the world. Have you thought about this? The quickest way to change other folks’ behavior is to change our own?

Thank you for that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Working in the Wrong Order OR How to Stop Building a Writer’s Block

October 17, 2006 by Liz

Melissa’s Story

Her name is Melissa. Her resume came in a stack of 150 resumes. She was my only interview. She had it on paper — an top-notch education in Instructional Design — and proved it in person — intelligence, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn. Melissa was a perfect match for the entry-level editor’s job I had to offer. She lived up to it ever day and became a dynamite writer and editor.

While Melissa was training, she and I would meet weekly. When we got to month three, she came in with a problem. “I just can’t get my writing done.” she said. “I get myself and my workspace ready, and then I’m stuck with nothing.”

I asked her to tell me about her day.

Her description wasn’t surprising.

Melissa was working in the wrong order.

Very often without realizing, we send the muse packing. We build our own writer’s block instead — simply by how we order our day.

After a short conversation, Melissa solved her problem. She made one change and never had an issue with getting stuck again.

[Read more…]

No Worries

October 13, 2006 by Liz

When I was traveling to other countries, what I was most likely to bring home were a tiny change in my accent and a word or phrase that became mine forever. I also bought lots of books and an occasional other thing, but who knows where they went?

Considering my love of words, I think I ended up with a nice collection of souveniers.

One word I got from the Brits was Brilliant! It’s a lovely word for describing something wonderful and magical.

From the Italians, I carried home a pair Prego, Grazie. How much more musical could welcome and thank you sound? I want a life filled with the two of them.

In OZ, the land of the Australians, I couldn’t leave without No Worries. They’ve become my weekend words.

“No Worries.”

I worked out a while back that worrying about things I can’t change doesn’t make stuff any better and doesn’t make me feel good either. In fact, worrying makes me cranky. I get to feeling sorry for myself.

Talk about a way to blow weekend — being cranky ranks right up there.

So I subscribe to “No Worries” weekends.

(I have my meltdowns on Thursdays, if I really need one.)

Liz's Signature

Help! I Need an Editor — Too Many Choices and Only One Manuscript

September 26, 2006 by Liz

What Do Editors Do Anyway?

When I got my first job as an editor, I had no idea the kinds of things I would be doing. Nor did I have a clue how hard it would be to answer this question.

What is it that editors do? And what’s a proofreader?
When I’m asked in passing, my answer is usually not too helpful.

I tell my mother-in-law I write mystery novels and that the proofreader checks that the solution really works.

Then I quickly change the subject. Explaining what editors do is like trying to tell a nonblogger about blogging.

The secret is that editors edit about 35% of the time. They also write, rewrite, check changes, go to meetings, discuss with authors, writers, and other editors, problem solve, and work with illustrators, photographers, and designers, among a variety of other things, such as keeping track of the incredible paper trail a single volume can create.

On top of that not every editor does the same kind of editing. Quite frankly it’s a bit of a wonder that other editors can explain exactly what it is we all do.

Still, if you’re looking to publish a work with your name on it, you’ll want a professional editor to look the piece over for you. It’s a matter of credibility — for you and your brand.

So maybe knowing a little more about editors —

More than just the fact that editors were good at term papers in high school.

— isn’t such a bad idea.

[Read more…]