What is the first thing you do at work? Where do you spend the majority of your time? How do you determine if something is a priority? It is my observation that most of us take on more than we can finish. This happens because we accept work pushed on to us by others or because of self-inflicted busyness. We get an idea, take action, and shortly become overwhelmed at the number of projects we have taken on. And what is important receives little attention. We don't take the time to clarify our thinking. We don't run our ideas through any filtration process. As a time management speaker, I too have struggled with this and fallen victim to the little voice saying, "You can do more. You need to do more." What ends up happening is we move fifteen projects an inch rather than three projects a mile. And our results are average because we have abandoned 80/20 thinking and prioritizing. So, the next time you find yourself excited about something and eager to start, first ask yourself and your team some qualifying questions. You want to find out if this a priority or ...

[caption id="attachment_1825" align="alignright" width="287"] You can't make me[/caption] "I don't feel like it." Have you ever had this thought in the morning when the alarm clock goes off? It's natural to want to hit the snooze button and explain away all the reasons why you shouldn’t. The "Feel like it" mindset can be a real obstacle to increasing our productivity or performance. When we let our feelings or emotional state determine our actions, results can suffer. The behavior of a “feel like it” mindset looks like this: Keeping busy, perhaps even wasting time, when not on a deadline Constant complaining — everyone always knows the mood you are in Finishing tasks at the last minute with little concern for quality One way to combat this mindset is to tackle whichever task is most challenging first, and set a timer on it. Setting a timer on each task is a great way to stay focused and helps eliminate self-inflicted distractions. This technique is based on Parkinson's Law, which holds that work will expand to fill the time available for its completion. For example - work ...

I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving and that you were able to spend quality time with people you love as well as some time in reflection on your year. It is hard to believe that we only have one month left of 2018. One of the most popular concepts I introduce to my clients is something I call Positive Reflection Process. I give the audience three to five minutes and ask them to look back on their year, then write down anything positive that stands out to them. Those stand outs can be professional or personal items. Some people list their accomplishments and others write down the things they are grateful for. After they have their list, I put them in groups of three and ask them to share what they have written. It is exciting to see what takes place in the room. At first, most people struggle to reflect on their year and see the value of the exercise. But once they complete the exercise and share with the group, their boost in confidence is almost visible. The Positive Reflection Process: Gives us perspective on the progress we have made Provides us with a boost of ener ...

“Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” by Dr. Seuss is a book often given to kindergartners and college graduates because those are the milestones we consider to be the bookends of education. But speaking to a group of emerging leaders in California recently made me think: Education never really stops. These were a group of individuals hungry to progress and ready to succeed. What they wanted from me were tools and strategies to help achieve their goals. I left my time with them inspired by how far it is possible to go when you want to learn. I’ve spoken before on the need for humility to achieve growth, but you also need courage. An ever-changing work environment necessitates learning new skills or developing our existing skills. Not only does it require humility to see the gaps in our competencies, but courage to do something to fill them. Courage to take the first steps; courage to find the time in an already packed schedule; courage to conquer the fear of failure. And here it is easy to become overwhelmed. Our fixation on the desired outcome can leave us feeling inadequate, discourage ...

It is incredible how many good managers get consumed by firefighting or day-to-day activities that distract them from achieving their primary objectives. The solution for most managers is to work harder and longer at their job, picking up the slack from their team and delaying conversations around employee performance. In a poorly-managed team, an environment of "Abdication of Accountability" develops. Here performing employees are punished with more work and less time and underperforming employees are rewarded with less work and more time. As a result, morale and communication suffer. Managing promises is the process of developing and leading a self-managing team. A self-managing team allows the manager to focus on what's most important like strategic planning, coaching, and growth. Here are three strategies for developing a self-managing team Values vs. skills Focus on values first and then skills to solve foundational problems. Consider the value of responsibility versus time management skills. You can spend money investing in training for your team to teach them a ...

[caption id="attachment_1725" align="alignright" width="248"] Priorities, priorities[/caption] Have you ever heard this statement at work? "We need to do a better job of prioritizing." Maybe you have been talking to a friend outside of work. They discuss how life is coming at them so fast they are unsure of what to do and mention something about prioritization. Change is happening at an accelerated pace. Workload and competition are increasing. We can easily get lost in competing priorities. It feels as though everything is fighting for our attention from advertisers to work to relationships. Much of workplace burn out and mental exhaustion is due to lack of prioritization. Holding onto the belief that "I can get it all done" and squeezing in "just one more thing" keeps us in a cycle where we are running too fast to spot the vital few activities. We end up putting too much on our plate and lose sight of our priorities. Determining which projects are a priority can be a constant struggle in a world where everything is a priority, and everyone is feeling the pressure of time. Al ...