FIVE WAYS TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE

Did you know most people waste six weeks out of every year's worth of labor looking for things? Add that to the chat sessions at the water-cooler and the extra ten minutes you take at lunch, and you're looking at a significant amount of time lost annually. I’m not going to even touch your lunch “hour,” I’m here to reduce your stress at work by giving you back those lost six weeks.

STRESS
You have stress when your expectations and reality falls short creating disappointments. For example, let’s say you drove to work today and after work, you expect to find your car where you left it this morning. Let’s imagine your car is stolen. Will you experience stress? Absolutely! That's because your expectation and reality are out of sync. Let’s say, however, you find your car where you left it. There is no stress because expectation and reality match up.

The cause of most of our daily stresses are not by big disappointments but rather by all the little disappointments, things like work piling up and not getting to the things you want to do.

Well, you don't have to chain yourself to your desk to be more productive. Instead, try implementing some or all of these five strategies:

1. Plan in your action steps when you make up your daily to do list, to address the little things and bring your reality more in line with your expectations. You will get more done and reduce your stress level.

2. Get a better filing system. You file to retrieve, not to store. So create your system so that you can effortlessly retrieve what you file. Take moment to think about how YOU think about these subjects and file them in a way that is easy for YOU to find. Alphabetical may work for Alan, and by subject may work for Zoe. What works for you? Make sure you can effortlessly file your things away, and that you can also effortlessly retrieve them. Remember: if it isn’t easy to use, you won't use it. The point is to reduce the clutter on your desk and in your email, while simultaneously reducing the time that you spend looking for things.

Bonus Tip: Set up your folders (paper and electronic) as soon as you have decided on a system that you think will work for you. Then begin filing all the new stuff as it comes in your email and across your desk. Then do the catch up filing of all the old stuff later on, in batches. This will convert you to your new system much more quickly and efficiently. You will work out the “bugs” as you go. That way, that mountain of old stuff can be tackled much more effectively. As you go through stuff, you may find a bunch that can just be shredded or recycled.

3. Take breaks. That's right. A ten-minute break for coffee or a snack is in order every three hours. These set distractions will make you more productive when you are at your desk. The important part is to take only a ten-minute break, and to leave your desk when you do it.

4. Leave your desk for lunch. Studies have shown that employees, who leave the office for lunch, even if only for a walk around the block, are more productive than those who cram down a quick lunch at their desk. You'll return to your desk mentally refreshed and ready to tackle the most difficult of projects.

5. Work with your nature. Do you ever feel completely unwilling to tackle a project? Then don't attempt to do it just then. Do it when you're more in the mood for it. Your body is best at different things at different times of the day. If you're energized in the morning, work on your most important tasks then. If you're a bit sluggish after lunch, use that time to return emails and telephone calls, or to do any clerical work that has amassed (see Bonus Tip above). Don’t fight with yourself by working against your nature. If you are slow to get started in the morning, do your emails and phone calls then. Then when you get your energy spurt in the afternoon, tackle that big project then.

Increased productivity is just a day away. Notice two of the tips are all about taking a break from work. When you truly take a break from work, you will come back refreshed and will work more effectively. Planning in the action steps just is better planning. Plan the work and work the plan, as the saying goes.

Most people use filing to store information. These are the same people who have lots of piles on their desk. Because they file-to-store, they can’t find what they need. So, they keep all that stuff “handy.” Is this you? File-to-retrieve will be a revelation for you. You’ll be so much neater and things won’t get lost in the piles. Keep a section in the file cabinet near your desk of current projects. When the project is “done,” then file it in your system.

By using these tips and minimizing the time you spend looking for the things you need, you will add significantly more productivity to your workday. You might even get a promotion out of it.

This Week’s Coaching
Add one of these tips to your workday each day this week. Stay with them for a couple of weeks. Give them a chance. Which ones make you more productive? What will your filing system look like? Is it an improvement? If you can’t afford to lunch out, take a walk during your lunch break. It will clear your head just as well, maybe better.

A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

All things are possible,
Elisabeth

Elisabeth Adler-Lund
Executive and Life Coaching
Telephone: 916 • 803•1494
E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

Today I am revisiting a blog entry from December 27, 2009. That article was all about setting (or not) New Year’s resolutions. Here is part of what I said.

“I am going to focus on all the things that I am good at now and improve them. I spent a lot of time trying to improve my weaknesses in 2009. I think now, that I just wasted my time.”

One of the things I didn’t confess to in that article is … procrastination. Yep! Me too. I know, you are shocked. Not ;-)

This weekend, I finally did my 2009 taxes. Technically, I still have four more days to get them done. Spoken like a true procrastinator. I wasn’t as organized as I want to be, and part of doing the taxes is also getting the organizing part done. Therefore, it isn’t just one job, but two. I dragged and dragged my feet. This is the final weekend to get the giant project of two jobs done. I did it. And, as so often happens, it wasn’t so bad a job. I also added about 1% of my time to getting 2010 organized and set up. Thus, I will only have one job to do next year. Yeah!

Several things made my job easier. First, I didn’t waste time judging myself and my previous lack of organization. Instead, as I was doing the organization of receipts and old bills, it allowed my mind to create an organizational system for next year. It was smooth and flowed organically. Almost painless.

“Why work on something I am not good at or is not in my character to do, when I could accomplish so much more by focusing on a strength? I think that by reinforcing my strengths, I will correct some of weaknesses as part of the process.”

This proved to be so true. The lack of blaming freed up my mind just to get on with organizing 2010, as I was organizing 2009. I had set aside both days of the weekend for these projects. Instead, I exceeded my expectations and got a year and a quarter’s worth of bills, receipts, statements and debris cleaned up and organized, plus actually doing the taxes, all in five hours. The only hangover, is the all the shredding I need to do.

We cause so much of our own suffering. Wasting time on blaming myself for past acts does nothing to solve today’s problems. It just preoccupies the mind with errors, omissions, and problems. Letting go of my “bad self,” letting go of judgment, and just working with my “present self,” let me shift from being part of the problem, towards finding and being part of the solution.

“This is not just semantics. It is really a shift in how you see the world and yourself in that world. It is shifting from attacking yourself to accepting yourself. It is shifting from being part of the problem to being the solution. It is shifting away from fear and towards love.”

This shift is huge. The satisfaction of projects well done and tasks fully accomplished is very gratifying. It reinforces my self-respect and self-esteem.

The thing is, if I was coaching a client, I would be demonstrating compassion and tolerance for their foibles. I would tell them to ease up on themselves. Doing this for myself was so much harder. Back in December, I realized I loved others more than I did myself. This shift towards demonstrating loving kindness towards myself, did not promote narcissism or selfishness. It just easily allowed solutions to surface. I was much more efficient and productive. A better human being.

Which leads me back to the title, Resistance is futile. Buddhism believes that our external situation is created by our internal minds. You know you have to do something (2009 taxes in my case). Stalling does not make the job easier. You do it more times in your mind, by procrastinating. That makes the job bigger in your mind, than the reality of doing it. Just get it over with and do it. My reality of doing it was so much easier (and less painful) than my internal procrastination.

“I invite you to think positively too. Instead of trying to change who you are, go with your strengths. Improve the best parts of you and the rest will take care of itself. ”

Whatever you are, be a good one. ~Abraham Lincoln

This week’s coaching questions:

Ponder the three quotes I used at the end of this article.

1.       What is your external situation? How do you create your reality?

2.      List five of your strengths. How can you improve them, so the “rest will take care of itself”?

1)      ________________

2)     ________________

3)     ________________

4)     ________________

5)     ________________

3.      Acknowledge how you are good by putting it in comments below or sending me an email. You would not hesitate to tell someone you love how they are good. Do yourself the same favor.

A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

All things are possible,

Elisabeth

Elisabeth Adler-Lund

Executive and Life Coaching

Telephone: 916 • 803•1494

E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

ARE YOU PRODUCTIVE ENOUGH?

If you are working, you are probably doing the work that previously occupied several people. The sad reality for many employees, just because the company downsized, doesn’t mean the work went away. Your success on the job or in the job hunt is not determined by the size of your To Do List, but by your accomplishments. 

Let me ask you some questions. 

• Are you working smarter, not harder? 
• Are you multitasking? 
• Are you working with yourself or against yourself? 

WITH YOURSELF 

Part of working “smarter” is recognizing your personal work rhythms and using them to your advantage. Most people are most productive and creative in the first part of the day. If this is you, are you capitalizing on this and tackling your difficult and important assignments first thing? Or, do you open up your email? 

TIME SINK 

Nothing can eat away at your time like email. It is full of to do’s large and small. It has all this information, most of dubious value. If you are able, don’t open your email until later in the morning. After you’ve completed a step or large chunk of your most important project, THEN open up and answer the email. If your boss or corporate climate requires an immediate response first thing, by all means, open up the email. However – only answer those urgent items that you must. Then begin work on your project. 

If you can, spread the word that your first one or two hours of the day are your project times. Perhaps add a line to your email signature, “I check and respond to email at 10:30 am and 4:00 pm each day. If this is an urgent matter, please reach me by telephone.” Since everyone else is doing their email, you may have fewer distractions and more uninterrupted time. You’ll make more headway in that hour, than two hours in the afternoon. 

TASKING 

Do you multitask or unitask? Multitasking is really just a myth. The brain cannot work on two projects at the same time. What the best so-called multitaskers do is alternate very quickly back and forth. That actually slows you down. It takes more time and energy to do two tasks together versus sequentially. Concentrate on one thing at a time. Get it done (to the stopping point or completely) and move on to the next thing. You’ll be done in less total time and have a higher quality product. Multitasking is also very stressful to your system. Voilá, more productive and less stress! 

Another technique is to batch up your tasks. Put another way, do tasks in blocks of time. Two hours of project time, an hour of phone calls, an hour of email, and so forth. You’ll get a rhythm going as you accomplish several similar tasks in a row. 

IN THE HUNT 

If you are in the job hunt, set specific hours for your job search. Allocate certain times every workday to making the calls, for visiting companies, networking and searching the internet for job postings or research. 

A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream. 

All things are possible, 

Elisabeth 

Elisabeth Adler-Lund 

Executive and Life Coaching 

Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 

E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com