Tips & Insights for Top Performance

In their new book, “Now, Discover Your Strengths,” authors Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton suggest that we tend to focus on what needs to be “fixed” with ourselves. Then, they demonstrate how fluid and successful life is when we set aside our shortcomings and truly leverage our own strengths. The book illustrates how knowing your personal strengths, and recognizing the strengths of those around you, can help you build a dynamic and successful organization, network, or team.

An even bigger BONUS is that you get a personal code for an online survey that identifies YOUR “top- five inborn talents”! This benefit is worth every penny you spend on the book! Identifying your top 5 strengths will change the way you look at life. This assessment is unique from the many other assessments out there (i.e. Myers-Briggs, DISC, etc.). With the “strengths” information in hand, you will be able to apply the theories presented in the book on a day-to-day basis.

I HIGHLY recommend this book: it is a refreshing concept that moves you forward by focusing on the positive and teaching you how to maximize your full potential!

2. Define New Habits.

• What needs to change? (chaotically running from thing to thing)
• What would help me do better? (prioritizing, doing important things 1st, 1 hour of focus time with no distractions)
• List 3 things you what you want to start (from 8-9 don’t answer phone, 10 min. daily clean sweep, prioritizing my to do list)
• Consider having 10 daily habits. These are little actions that you take every day that do not take a lot of time, but in the long run save time. For example, each AM spend 10 min. and do a clean sweep of your desk or house. You will be amazed with how you can cut down on clutter and time spent doing paperwork when you take just 10 min. a day. Write these things somewhere you will see & do them daily!

3. Implement and stick to it! It takes 30 days of consistent implementation to solidify a new habit.

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES

1. Attitude. What is your perspective on time? We each have 24 hours; the question is how will you spend yours? When we think we don’t have enough time – we rarely get things done, we just spend time complaining. When we are optimistic, prepared and focused – we often are surprised at what can be accomplished in a short period of time (power hours). Take control of your life. We like to blame other things, when really there is a lot we can do.

2. Self-discipline.

• Review and refine your plan; stay in action (10 minutes to plan your day, ½ hour to plan for the week, 1 hour to plan for the month).
• Keep your plan in front of you. Three times each week, set a timer for 10 minutes to review what is working and not. What do you need to change? Are you allocating time correctly? Do you have a margin of flexibility for the unexpected? Make adjustments to your plan and step into action.
• Keep moving. Whatever you do, DO SOMETHING and keep moving! Paralysis of analysis is a deadly time eater. Assess your plan to the best of your ability and move into action. The picture will be clearer the closer you get.
• Say No. There are many things that will pop up to grab your time and attention. Saying “no” is important. How? Be honest, tell people why (not excuses), provide other options/solutions; determine what you can do based on your priorities.

“The more you do of what you are doing, the more you’ll get of what you’ve got” -Unknown

Get excited about what you can do, grab your plan and get going! Do not put off tomorrow what can be done today!

It is very easy to get into the REACTIONARY circle of life! We deal with what comes up and are hard pressed to make progress on our to-do lists! Here are a few strategies on how to maximize your time, energy and effort through good planning, habits and personal perspective!

 PLANNING

1. Plan ahead.

•      Take:  10 minutes to plan your day
•                 ½ hour to plan for the week
•                 1 hour to plan for the month

  2.   Do the most important things first (with-in the first ½ of your day take 10 minutes to plan for the day)

• What do I need to do?
• How long it will take?
• What is most important? (prioritize)

Do the top 3 important things FIRST! You have heard the Rock story… if you fill your jar with pebbles, sand, gravel, water, and dirt first (distractions, routines, crisis’s, tasks), there is often not any room left for the big rocks (important priorities that often get cheated, ignored, procrastinated, and left undone because there is just not time).

  3.  Evaluate. We often spend 80% of our day doing things that are 20% effective and 20% of our day on things that are 80% effective. Look at what you are doing with your time. What are the essential things that make the biggest impact? Look to stream-line or eliminate the things that are least effective and spend more time on those things that are most productive.

 DEVELOP STRONG HABITS. Habits are a silent contributor to how we work. Often we do not see these as part of the equation because they are so natural to us. One way to increase your efficiency is to identify old habits that are not working and replace them with good habits that support what we want.

 1.    Identify Old Habits. Evaluate:

• What am I doing & why? (procrastinating, distracting myself, fire fighting, etc.)
• What is not working? (running from one thing to the next, getting frustrated, etc.) List 3 things you want to stop (reacting, procrastinating by cleaning, making excuses, etc). It is good to create a structure for what you will do if you catch yourself doing something you want to stop.
• What is working great? (AM to do list, listening to holiday music, writing my goal daily, etc.)

1) Know your work style and use the tools that match. If you work well with technology, use your computer and PALM for scheduling and organization. If you are a visual person, consider using a paper calendar and written to-do list. If you are a people person, develop a team around you to compliment your strengths. If you work alone, find time to focus and remain distraction free. If you are a morning person, attack the most important tasks early in the day.

2) Use ONE calendar. Sometimes people will have several calendars. One for family and one for work; one electronic and one paper. Keep ONE calendar for everything. Use different colors or type styles to differentiate categories.

3) Make a to-do list at the end of each day. Your mind naturally begins to work on the list as you sleep. When you awake, you are ready to work, are very productive and organized. Estimate how much time each thing will take you and only put on your next day’s to do list what is reasonable to get done.

4) “Eat That Frog” first. This is a Brian Tracy concept to do the hardest thing you have to do all day, first, before you do anything else. Doing this will provide you with the feeling of success in having a ‘burden’ off your back and give you momentum to accomplish the remaining tasks.

5) Have a clear goal and read it daily. When you have a goal you know what to focus on and work toward. If you do not have this at the front of your mind, it is easy to get caught up with the urgent things of the day or trapped in reacting to e-mail, phone calls, interruptions and other people’s emergencies.

6) Have a “power hour”. Designate one hour each day to close the door, shut down e-mail, turn off the ringer on the phone and guard yourself from interruptions. Have a pre-picked project that you will work on during this time only. Make sure to go to the bathroom, get a drink, and do whatever else you need to in order to ensure you do not leave once this hour starts. Give yourself 30 minutes after this hour to return calls, e-mails and care for people with whom you need to follow-up that you missed during the POWER HOUR.

7) Touch it once.  Sort through, e-mail, mail, papers, etc. and make a decision. File it, toss it or put it in a place for action. Sorting bins are helpful for this. Label your bins, folders, e-mails, etc. with things like: read, file, do this week, urgent, bills, etc. Paper, soft copy (computer), and e-mail folders should all have matching labels.

Have daily habits. After you develop a routine of things that are simple but important, your body will naturally do them. This is important because we can get distracted by our regular routines and use them as vices to interrupt, procrastinate and prolong important things that really need to get done. If you start your day right, you will be ready to do those urgent and important tasks, increasing your everyday productivity.

9) Prep. Have you ever been amazed on cooking shows how they make a complicated dish in 10 minutes? OK, part is edited TV time, but they also have everything preped for quick assembly. Why not do the same? Prepare your information packets and new client folders, turn common documents into templates, set up e-mail distribution lists for teams, etc.

10) Maximize car systems. Listen to a book on CD/tape to maximize your windshield time and learn. Have a bin to put important things in rather than having them all over the car. Have a trash bag to catch the liter. Always have a bottle of water in the car with you; dehydration causes fatigue, memory loss and low concentration. Make sure your contacts are portable (palm, planner, business card file book, etc.) so you keep people and numbers at your fingertips (call if running late or caught in traffic, if you remember something while out and a quick call can take care of it). Enjoy relaxing, breathing and taking in the day while driving (rather than cleaning, talking on the phone, etc.)

Be the master of your domain. When you implement a few simple productivity strategies and develop them as time saving habits, you will quickly enjoy the benefit of more time and energy and overall increased productivity.

An independent business owner (IBO) often thinks he has to “do it all.” For example he may say, ”I am my business, who else can help with this?” But you can outsource just about anything, for a price. Many IBO’s may be willing to outsource for technical things such as web development, printing, etc., but try to fight through other everyday aspects of their business like marketing, selling, development, administration and accounting, etc.

You cannot be good at everything! Even if you work in a specialized field, there are probably things you are not so good at and that cause you to waste a lot of time. Consider how you can partner with people around you to create win-win situations.

For example, the networking organization BNI (www.bni.com) is structured as a sales team for each member of the group. You sell for the other people and they sell for you. It is a great way to expand your sales efforts up to 40 fold, in just a few hours a week.

Action:

Consider what is on your plate.

Rate on a scale from 1-5 what you are great at vs. what you don’t like and takes you a lot of time.

Brainstorm on how you could collaborate with someone else to get this done. This is thinking outside of “buying” assistance, so consider how to create win-win partnerships.

N = Network

When you use the four P.L.A.N. steps (PREPARE, LIST, ADJUST, and NETWORK) to outline your goals, you are setting yourself up for success. It is challenging to change behavior and that is what New Year’s resolutions usually are about.¹ But, when you are thorough and diligent about planning on the front end, you can almost guarantee results on the back end. Now, the only thing left to do is implement the PLAN! You can do it. Charge into 2010 and keep working on your PLAN.

1 COMMON RESOLUTIONS: Spend more time with family & friends; exercise more, lose weight or eat better; quit smoking; enjoy life more & have fun; quit drinking; get out of debt, stick to a budget, save or earn more money; learn something new; find a better job; help others; become a better person; be more patient at work and/or with others; get organized.