Don't search... find!

Here's a quick tip: The Daily Telegraph have put together a quick list of the 101 most useful web sites for UK internet users. This ought to pretty much cover most of your needs for everything from social networks to entertainment, travel and technology. If it means that you can cut out some web surfing and instead go straight to the content you need then it will have worked.

Click here to see the list.

Sphere: Related Content

New productivity store

Today I've started creating a store on Amazon.co.uk, where you can find great books, software and training CDs/DVDs about how to increase your productivity; become a better project manager; lead a fuller and happier life; and obtain a better work-life balance. It will be an on-going project to extend this store to its full potential. If you know of any products which you think should be included then please drop me a line.

Click here to go to The Productivity Store

Sphere: Related Content

Does technology kill meeting productivity?

I just read an article at EffectiveMeetings.com about how technology can often limit (or even kill) meeting productivity as we spend all of our time playing around with our PDAs, cell phones and PowerPoint. I guess you've all tried sitting in one of the meetings where everybody turns completely apathetic and stare blankly at one slide after another as they're crammed with data and the presenter just isn't capable of rising above the noise that he or she has created through their presentation...

Personally, though, I really do believe that mobile phones are the real bane of meetings. Some years ago I did quite a bit of consultancy work in Greece and the meetings were always the biggest waste of time imaginable. A meeting that ought to last about 60 minutes to do a status update, discuss key issues and make decisions could easily extend to four, five or even SIX(!) hours. This was due to the fact that the managers never arrived on time - sometimes showing up 1 1/2 hours after the meeting was due to begin and they would then invariable answer any incoming phone calls and step outside. This happened even when what we were discussing was the direct responsibility of the person taking the call. He would just ask his no. 2 to run things while he was away. He would then return and the no. 2 would get a call and stepped outside to take it. However, they just wanted to continue the discussions so by the time the no. 2 came back in the room neither he nor his boss had a full picture of anything and were therefore completely paralysed when it came to making the decisions - or, even worse, they would make them based on incomplete information!

Have a look at the article and think about how you use technology in meetings next time.

Sphere: Related Content

“The Ultimate Guide to Productivity”

Over on his Instigator Blog, Ben Yoskovitz last year started a very interesting Group Writing Project Meme called “The Ultimate Guide to Productivity”.

So far, people from all over the world have contributed their own top tips on productivity and Ben has been busy collating all of the top tips into a useful guide for all of us.

Among the best tips that I’ve seen so far are:

Clarity – Monk at Work (Adam Kayce) suggested this little gem and states that clarity comes from having a message: “Your Message is the sum of who you are, what your passions are, what your values are, and what comes to you naturally to give, share, and contribute to your world.”

Just do something, already – Lorna Doone at Something Good. Don’t let yourself feel “too down” by looking at your mile long to do list. Just start taking the first step and the next will follow.

The childlike secret to productivity – Kim and Jason at Escape Adulthood have got some very good and simple ideas about how you can plan as long as you remember your passions.

So without further ado, I’d like to add my own suggestion to this. It all comes down to the general principles of the "oldie but goodie" Time Manager® planning tool.

Plan using Key Areas

Pretty much everything you do in life can be organised under some major headings – whether it’s at work or in your private life. If you divide all of your tasks and activities into 7 – 9 major key areas then you can also plan how to spend your time more effectively. I.e. if it doesn’t relate to any of your key areas it is very unlikely that it is important enough to require your immediate attention.

An example of how my key areas as a company CEO look are as follows:

1. Finance & Administration
2. Sales & Marketing
3. HR
4. Product Development
5. Organisational Development
6. Personal Development
7. Private

For each of these key areas you are likely to have some goals and it will require you to undertake a number of tasks in order to achieve that goal. Some tasks will be a lot bigger than others and you will therefore have to break the tasks down in a number of activities.

Let’s take a closer look at one area: Personal Development. I have a wide range of things that I would like to improve in my professional and personal life. My goals can be described as the following:

• Be able to conduct a business negotiation in French by the end of 2009
• Improve my ratings on public speaking engagements by 10% by the end of 2008
• Speak at 5 major conferences

Therefore my tasks under Personal Development look like follows:

6. Personal Development

6.1. Improve my French

6.2. Improve my public speaking skills

6.3. Secure speaking engagements

If we proceed to break one of these down further, then what exactly would it take for me to learn enough French to conduct a full scale business negotiation? Looking at the level that I’m at now I know that it would require a lot of work and there are a lot of activities that I would need to undertake. As with any big goal in life you need to break it down into manageable portions (sometimes referred to as the Elephant Technique):

6.1.1. Learn 5 French business terms per day

6.1.2. Attend French classes weekly for 2 hours

6.1.3. Book extended stay in Paris with personal tutor – 4 hours per day

6.1.4. Spend Summer holiday in France to improve conversation

6.1.5. Sign up to and read French newsletters

6.1.6. Subscribe to Le Monde newspaper

6.1.7. Sign up for events at French chamber of commerce

Based on the activities that I have listed above I can then start to plan my time knowing that I will need to find the time for:

Learning 5 French business terms per day – 10 minutes per day

Attend French classes – 2 hours per week

Extended stay in Paris – 2 months

Summer holiday in France – 2 weeks

Read French newsletters – 30 minutes per week

Read Le Monde – 20 minutes per day

Attend events at French chamber of commerce – 2 hours per month

Based on this information I now know that I can plan my time around the following:

Daily activities: 30 minutes per day

Weekly activities: 2 hours

Monthly activities: 2 hours

One-off activities: 2 weeks of holiday and 2 months of leave

In reality this means that I will be able to get my French from zero to a very good standard with a daily expenditure of 30 minutes, attending one monthly meeting of 2 hours (instead of spending the time at the pub or watching a movie on the couch at home), fitting half an hour in weekly to read the newsletters, spending 2 weeks of my holiday and taking only a 2 month leave. Suddenly the project doesn’t seem completely insane and I will still manage to keep up my day job – even while I’m in Paris. It just means that 4 hours of my day are blocked off for learning French and that I will spend my spare time talking in French with French people. Hey presto!

This combination of using key areas and the elephant technique means that you can actually make a start on doing something and it also helps you keep clarity as I know that I:

• WANT to learn French
• And breaking it down into manageable portions I actually don’t fear the task and keep on putting it off – rather I now know what I have to do in order to achieve it

It might mean reprioritising some of the other things in your life, but then again it would probably be better to spend the 30 minutes a day spent focusing on learning French rather than surfing aimlessly round the net or however you spend the last 30 minutes before you go home.

Sphere: Related Content

Six tips for getting the most out of your commute

I was recently inspired by reading a post on the Danish blog of my good friend Christian Ørsted. He was interviewed on Danish television about how you can utilise the otherwise dead time of a commute and came up with five good tips for increasing your productivity – or just getting some mental space, which is just as necessary.

After having read his post and seen the video clip I decided I wanted to share these tips with a wider audience as I believe there is some real value to be found in these simple tips, but I’ve also added a sixth tip, which, I’m sure many of you will agree, is something that is also a very good use of your time and can free up your time in the office and when you’re with friends and family so you can focus on other things.

I’ll let Christian start you off in his own words:
“Those who look forward to their commute make a choice: A choice about utilising their commuting time in the best possible way. They wave goodbye to the autopilot and instead think about how they use the time – and the energy it gives them.”

The people who spend their commutes – and all of their other travelling time whether it’s to or from a meeting, on the way to the airport, sitting around waiting for you gate to open etc. – working consciously on any of the following things are in both Christian’s and my experiences both a lot less stressed and generally happier. This time allows them to get ahead and get a lot of things done and allowing them to achieve a better work/life balance. So without further ado here are Christian’s five tips on getting the most out of your commute coupled with my own tip:

6. Prioritise and plan
”Spend your time deciding what you want to do; what you need to achieve so you can focus on what’s important when you arrive rather than spend the time thinking about all of the other things you have to do.”

5. Inspiring miscellany
“Fill your bag with inspiring, interesting and modular miscellany which you can deal with while on your way. Instead of buying meaningless magazines you can bring along good newspaper clippings you otherwise wouldn’t have the time to read; read email newsletters that are deep and insightful. Miscellany you otherwise don’t have the time for, but which can fill your waiting and transport time. Remember that they are miscellany! Send a ”I love you” text message, but save the deep and meaningful telephone conversation until you get home or you’re somewhere quiet and undisturbed... Do something you can do 100% without interruptions.”

4. Development and learning
”Learn something new. Buy an iPod, subscribe to podcasts, download spoken word books. If you find yourself aboard a train then watch a movie, read a book or learn a language from CD. Do the things that you’ve always wanted to become better at and learn more about.”

3. Empty your head
“Do absolutely nothing! Learn to meditate (on the train or the plane). If travelling by car then find a scenic spot of natural beauty, get out and breathe deeply. Enjoy the view. Relax completely and embrace the calm…”

2. Recharge your batteries
“You don’t have to listen to the radio – unless it puts you in a good mood! The music we listen to in the mornings can influence our disposition for the rest of the day. Think about what you need to do in order to arrive with the best possible energy for what you are about to do. Switch off your mobile phone. Take a break, take a deep breath. Do the James Bond trick (hint: he doesn’t walk through a door while on his phone and thereafter launching into a tirade about how awful it has been to have been shot at all day. Instead he pulls himself together in order to ensure a good start to the conversation – something you can do as well, both when you greet your colleagues in the morning and when you arrive home to the people you love.”

And finally, my own little tip which follows on from the previously written post about setting time aside to answer emails:

1. Read and write emails*
If you’ve got a long commute – or even just 20 minutes where you can sit down in peace and quiet and read the emails that you’ve received; prioritise your responses; and fire off some emails of your own you will have saved a lot of time where you would otherwise be doing this at the office. I find this to be particularly useful when sitting around airports and the flight safe mode of the Blackberry just makes it a breeze to also get something out of the flight. It also saves you from having to try and open up your huge laptop with limited battery life and balance it on the coaster which they airlines call a tray.
* Don’t do this while driving! ;-)

But at the end of the day – and at the end of the post, Christian puts it eloquently when he says:
“Think about what you can do with all of your heart. What you’ve got time for. What gives you energy. And choose to do it brilliantly – in your time and without stress and rush. You’ll still only get there when you get there. The only question is how!”

If you want to read the full post in Danish and watch Christian's interview on Danish national television head on over to his blog.

Sphere: Related Content

Improving communication to allow for better decision-making

You probably know the feeling… Mr. Jones in the production department asks you whether or not you have read his email. In order to cover your bases you answer in the affirmative and are then floored by the follow-up question: “So what should we do?”

Chances are that you feel like this because the email read more like the abridged works of William Shakespeare than something on which you could (or could be bothered to) act. More likely than not, this is because Jones decided to commit one or more of the “Deadly Sins of Email” – at least they were deadly sins if he ever hoped to get a reply from you…

More likely than not the email:

• Didn’t have an immediately clear and concise “Subject” heading
• Long winded - full of extraneous information of no relevance to the key question(s) to which an answer was needed
• Didn’t specify the question(s) he needed one or more answers to
• Didn’t clarify the importance to his personal goals and to the corporate goals
• Didn’t tell you when he needed an answer by
• Included several subjects
  

How do you avoid this happening? First off, it is great if there is a company or departmental rule regarding issues that need to be answered and even if there isn’t you can improve the overall communication flow of the company by making it clear to people who rely on YOU for decision-making what you require in order to be able to help them.

Personally, I’ve always had, and have communicated the following 8 rules for decision-making to my peers and subordinates:

1. Put the issue in the “Subject” heading
2. Only include ONE ISSUE per email when a decision is required
   
3. Make it clear in the opening two lines of your email that you need an answer to it – and when you need it by
4. Keep it short – no longer than two pages if I were to print it out (if it’s longer you need to summarise it in less than two pages and then attach the rest of the information in a document)
5. Tell me how it relates to your job and our company goals
6. Outline the issue/problem
7. Describe the different scenarios/solutions
8. Recommend the route that you believe is best – and TELL ME WHY

Armed with this information, I can very quickly give people the answer they need from me. If the issue is so complex that it cannot be dealt with in this manner – then get the person to send an email outlining the issue AND requesting a meeting (within a specified time slot) and get them to be very specific, i.e. “I need 10 minutes of your time to discuss this a bit further”. If you have the background information and understand the general gist of the issue you’re not likely to turn down the request for a meeting that will last 10 minutes and will lead to a decision where all parties can move on to implementing the solution(s).

Sphere: Related Content

How to set personal goals to achieve a richer life

Most people are either completely goal-less or goal-obsessed. People without goals tend to drift through life without being completely happy – and not knowing why. Goal-obsessed people are the ones who tend to be stressed out at all times and they may (or may not) achieve material success, but are seldom happy. It is important to find a happy medium to achieve a sense of both happiness and balance in life.

Some people feel happy by just having a certain “direction” in their lives, but this can often lead to impulsive and reactionary behaviour in the (often vain) hope that it will someday lead to a greater sense of satisfaction. However, what often happens is that these people will wake up one day late in their lives and feel that they’ve missed out on all of the good things.

If you just focus on the goals alone, you will probably find that you’re the type of person who always find a new goal that has to drive you on and without a goal you feel restless and without a sense of purpose. No matter how many goals you achieve they will not make you any happier because “the grass is always greener” and you have to achieve the next milestone because you BELIEVE that will make you even happier. But you need to stop up and ask yourself: “When will I be TRULY HAPPY?” If you recognise this, then you’ll probably also be the type of person who never enjoys the journey or even celebrates a success by enjoying the here and now. This is what happens to goal-obsessed people.

Goal setting is about not just setting a general direction for your life, but about giving you some milestones of achievement that will give you satisfaction both on the journey AND once you reach them!

If we learn to set goals and work towards achieving them – whether they are material or immaterial – early in life, our lives will be more rewarding and substantial… but it is NEVER too late to begin!

Before setting your goals you need to understand what a goal really is.

A goal describes a situation (or state) that you would like to find yourself in. It is where YOU WANT TO BE after you have completed a number of tasks and activities.

In general management theory about goal setting it is commonly acknowledged that goals must be “SMART”, of which there are a number of variations:

S - specific, significant, stretching

M - measurable, meaningful, motivational

A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented

R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented

T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable

But you can also distil it into four main criteria:

1. The goal must be CLEARLY DEFINED
The goal must describe a desired state or situation as clearly as possible. Wanting to “learn a language” is not a goal, whereas “be able to conduct a business meeting in French” is.

2. The goal must be REALISTIC
You have to be able to achieve your goal without drawing upon resources to which you not have access, i.e. you cannot do something that you know will take you 3 years of full-time dedication and application in 2 years while holding down a full-time job and raising a family.

3. The goal must be CHALLENGING
If it is something you can easily do with little dedication or application it is NOT a goal. You must see this as a challenge to which you must dedicate time and effort in order to overcome. Start by setting a goal that might seem slightly beyond what you believe you are capable of. It is important to ensure that there is a balance between the realism and the challenge, but you’ll find that if you put your mind to it you can DO MORE than you think.

4. The goal must be MEANINGFUL
It has to give you a sense of achievement to reach the goal and you must make the achieving of the goal a high priority.

What goals should I set?

It is important to understand that you can set goals both small and large. If you only set large goals you will likely find yourself becoming disillusioned along the way – and even big goals can often get broken down into smaller segments. To take the example of learning to conduct a negotiation in French you could break that down into several components: learning a vocabulary of X number of business terms and words; learning the cultural background of doing business in France and so on.

You can also set goals for different periods of time, e.g. a day; a week; a month; a year or; perhaps even, your life. This is what a lot of people do at the start of the New Year, but they lack the understanding of what is required to then break down that goal into its achievable components (something that will be covered in later articles).

You might think that this isn’t relevant to you because of your age, your current situation or some other explanation, but this is where you must realise that your age and experience play a very important role in terms of your life goals. Therefore, you should ensure that you re-align your life goals at least once a year.

Types of goals

We all have different types of goals, but in general they can be organised into the following categories:

• Health and well-being
• Education and skills
• Work and career
• Economy and material wealth
• Relationships
• Attitudes and values
• Use of your time

Helping you achieve your goals

There are some very simple rules that you can follow in order to help you attain your goals. These rules will dramatically increase the likelihood of you achieving the goals that you have set:

1. Record your goals (on your computer or on paper)
   
2. Determine the tasks and activities that you need to complete in order to achieve them
3. Set deadlines for the tasks and activities
4. Expend your time AND your energy on the tasks and activities that you have defined

I hope that this has given you a bit of inspiration to start setting some goals and below you can find some links to more information about goal setting.

LINKS TO OTHER ARTICLES ON GOAL SETTING

• SMART goals on Project SMART
• Setting Goals Effectively on Mindtools
• Links to articles on goal setting and achievement on Top Achievement
• Goal Setting Guide's SMART goals

Sphere: Related Content

Top tips on using email

I've decided to compile my top tips on handling emails in a short 4 slide PowerPoint presentation. There are tips in 3 main sections:

• Reading and responding to emails
• Sending emails
• Archiving emails

I'm sure that you will find these tips helpful and if they can just give you a 10 minute productivity increase a day you will gain an extra working week per year to spend on the things that are most important in relation to achieving your personal and business goals.

If you've got any tips you think would be useful additions to this list, please send them to me or add a comment.

Download the presentation here.

Sphere: Related Content

Will sitting at your desk decrease productivity?

Research undertaken in the UK by HB Maynard concluded that getting people out of their chairs and away from their desks in order to communicate with colleagues can lift morale and boost flagging productivity.

This seems to be an issue in the highly technology enabled world where workers are generally unhealthier and more injury prone. 80% of respondents felt that they could improve productivity by being allowed to be more mobile (whether or not people, in reality, would move around more and improve their health is another matter entirely).

There also seems to be an issue about the generation gap with younger workers wanting (more) technology that is better suited to their working practices whereas older workers are complaining about having to work longer hours.

Head on over to Computer Weekly to read more about the survey.

Sphere: Related Content

Handling emails

You would think that something seemingly simple like answering emails would not be a great source for increasing your productivity, but just think about the following:

• How many times a day is your attention diverted away from what you’re doing because an email arrives?
• How much time do you spend every day sorting and deleting junk emails?
• How much time do you spend reading and answering emails every day?
• Do you prioritise emails by importance or do you just try to get everything answered as quickly as possible?
• How large a percentage of the emails you receive from colleagues, clients or business partners are relevant to your company’s, your personal objectives and/or job tasks?

Chances are that you will quickly realise that you are easily wasting away 2 – 3 hours every single day doing things that are completely irrelevant in terms of reaching your goals and aspirations. Does this mean that you’re only doing a 5 – 6 hour working day or does it mean that you end up spending 2 – 3 hours extra in the office in order to do your job? Does this, in turn, mean that you’re one of those stressed out individuals who never has time for his/her friends and family and are always tired because you’re working a 12 hour day? Why not start by dealing with the biggest time waster of all in your daily life… your email?

Over the next few months you will see a number of articles on how better to handle your emails in order to improve productivity, but here are a few quick tips to get you started:

1. Allocate two or three short periods a day (e.g. 15 – 20 minutes each) to read and respond to email – and DON’T let it interrupt you for the rest of the day. Personally, I read my emails at the start of the working day, just after lunch and again as the last thing I do before leaving the office, which leads me onto rule no. 2.
2. Always clear your inbox at the end of the day. A cluttered inbox is like a cluttered desk. It stresses you out and means that you feel behind before even leaving the office. This is a vicious circle that is to be avoided.
3. Use “Folders” to organise your emails
4. Set up rules for handling newsletters so that they automatically go into folders where you can then allocate time to read them on a daily or weekly basis.
5. When scanning your emails quickly determine the IMPORTANCE and URGENCY of each email. If it’s important AND urgent, make sure you respond to it right away.

Sphere: Related Content