October 24 is Take Back Your Time Day. Take Back Your Time Day is a movement toward social change. The sponsors offer ideas so passionate and ground-breakting  that it made even me take a step back and second look. That’s a good thing. Sometime we have to step way out of our comfort zone to actually move to even a slightly new perspective. Take a look at some of their posters to shake up your thinking about time, free time, and non-work time.

What will you be doing with your time this weekend?

This initiative is promoted by The Simplicity Forum.

Please be aware that when you are busy and on the go, go, go that you’re not necessarily being productive. You are being active.

If you are getting the right things done and building the relationships that you value then you are being productive. So, when you’re feeling overwhelmed and behind, please, stop, breathe, and access the value of what you’re doing. Then, decide what you’re going to spend your time doing weighing that against your values.

Value your family? Be sure you’ve got things involving them scheduled – don’t wait for something to pop onto the calendar.

Value your health? Be sure you’re investing time in eating right, exercising, and getting rest. If you don’t have good guidelines for those for yourself, start with learning about those keys to health.

Value your career? Be sure you’re getting mentored by someone who has climbed the ladder before you.

What do you value?

Consider posting somewhere you’ll see it often:

Productivity ≠ Activity

You might find the shortcuts in Outlook handy. These all relate to entering dates in appointments and tasks. Try them – comment with your experience. Comment with your own hidden treasures.

When you’re entering the date of an appointment or a task, here are quick ways to enter dates:

• Now = today
• Today = today
• A number= that day of the current month. Example: type 3 in April and 4/3/1x is populated. Type 28 and 4/28/1x is populated (x being the current year).
• 2 weeks = the day 2 weeks from the moment this is typed
• Christmas = upcoming Christmas (or other holiday – Independence Day worked in my test)
• mon tues wed or thur inputs the date of the next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc

I’ve used Outlook for years, am a Microsoft Outlook Certified Specialist, have referred to the 1072-page Outlook 2007 InsideOut book dozens of times, and just found these. I’m like a kid with a new toy. And, I’ll happily type 1 or 2 digits rather than input numbers on the keyboard.  Have fun with this new set of shortcuts!

While getting organized and productive you will have to start saying, “I’d love to but cannot. . . ”

Complete the sentence with

• Work on the committee
• Chair the efforts of the fund raiser
• Take on one more responsibility
• Be at the game
• Do my kid’s project for school… I mean assist my child in doing her school project

When the guilty feelings start creeping in your psyche counterbalance them with your own mental affirmations that highlight why saying “Sorry, No.” is a good thing. Here is a short list to get you started on your own (do write your own list. . . it’s hard to think of these things under pressure):

• I’m giving the things I value most my time
• It’s obvious there isn’t enough time to do everything so I’m going to save and allot  my time for my family
• Taking care of myself will allow me to take care of others better so I have to keep time for the gym and a run
• Leaving the office and staying ‘signed off’ will all me to really refresh and work at an optimal pace tomorrow

Keep Highest Priorities in Mond

Do you believe it when the automated call router says, “Please listen carefully as our menu has changed,” in their friendly operator voice? I find myself drifting into a low attention state. And that is not productive.

Those of you recording those bland messages, try a more productive greeting. Here are some ideas:

1. Get right to the menu… “For customer service, press 1. . .”
2. Initiate with listener benefit.. “Listen carefully so you get the right assistance as quickly as possible… For technical support, press 1″

Please step back from your standard operating procedure for answering the phone and be sure it is up-to-date and relevant to your callers.

What is “The Bling Thing”?  Simply this – “bling” refers to that little sound that most e-mail programs make when a new message is received.  And “the bling thing” is the almost comical and highly predictable response many professionals have when they hear that “little bling sound” – they immediately drop what they are doing, give up their focus, and check their new e-mail message.

A recent study found that 25% of office professionals are checking their e-mail 20 or more times per day. That frequency can be one of the biggest productivity destroyers for a business professional.

A recent study at the University of London’s Institute of Psychiatry found those constantly checking e-mail were suffering tangible 10-point hits to their short-term I.Q.!  That’s like missing an entire night’s sleep. (Source:  Yoga Journal, ABC News)  If you feel like you are in a fog and are having a hard time focusing, perhaps it is because you are checking your e-mail too much.

I recommend you turn off sound notifications for new e-mails received.  Second, if that little Microsoft Virtual Assistant figure pops up to let you know a new message came in, right click on that little guy and select, “Do not notify me in this situation.”  Third, go into your e-mail’s Options tab, go into Mail Setup, and click on Send/Receive.  Then, change your “Auto Send/Receive” settings to something more than 5 or 10 minutes (try 90 minutes for a huge productivity gain) –

Try it for a while and comment here with how it goes.  Good luck taming that “Bling Thing”!

Guest post by: Randy Dean a popular speaker and trainer on time and e-mail management. http://www.randalldean.com

Drake was a little irritated with my suggestions to help him claim some time for personal activities. He resisted my ideas by justifying why he does what he does – even though what he does wastes a meaningful amount of time. “I’m a smart guy,” he says.
My reply, “All of my clients are smart – and in many cases brilliant. And, they’re not experts at productivity and neither are you.” This was a little like an athlete expecting to be world-class at golf, billiards, and hockey. Impossible.
You or Drake being great at one thing doesn’t mean you will be great at another. Since you’re reading this blog on productivity I will project that you’re not advice adverse. Nonetheless I want to urge you to stop for a few minutes and examine what tips & suggestions you’ve tossed out or read right over because it doesn’t fit you. Take a second look. Try one thing before you write it off. Try another. Be open.

Some of the folks that backtrack and reconsider suggestions previous rejected have said things like
• Wow, that was easy.
• I waited long enough to try this. It’s so useful I’m glad I didn’t wait longer.
• Hey, I’m getting good at this. I’m going after your job soon!
For you smart people out there – leverage productivity coaching and implement then practice. You’ll soon have another hour per day for yourself!

Continual Improvement is one of the hallmarks of the Toyota Way because the mindset and efforts never go away, continual is forever. In my quest to offer the broadest range of solutions to today’s economic requirement that we do even more with the same or fewer resources I am regularly attending education courses and reading material that help me help my clients. The Toyota Way by Jeff Liker offers extensive insight into the practices that propelled Toyota to be one of the best made and most frequently purchased automobiles. These practices are also ensuring that the company continues to be healthy while the American counterparts are getting economic aid and facing bankruptcy.

The Toyota Way is my 3rd or 4th read on Lean – the Toyota systems of production also called TPS (Toyota Production System). This books offers the great measure of Lean Basics generally called the 5 Ss and 7 Wastes. It also covers the mindsets and culture in eye-opening detail. One of the most long-last thoughts that I learned is that Toyota does not think of shareholder return as its #1 mission. It’s #1 mission is to create a company that employs the right people for very long (and often their whole career) and is thereby profitable for generations.

This is a must read & re-read for those interested in continual improvement and/or lean. The thoughts are provoking, the timetable  implement drawn out, and some ‘take now’ action surface for Lean in the Office as well as Lean in the Factory.  Oh, and the results are also continual – continually great!

Studies of the brain show that laughter releases endorphins. In turn endorphins elevate your mood. And finally an elevated mood increases your effectiveness on many levels. For example, you look forward to working with other people because you have an optimistic mindset. You looking forward to working with them impacts their attitude toward working with you and the partnership, team, and even customer/provider relationship goes better. Cooperation is easier when this mindset pervades. Coming to agreements through a shared vision and compromise is easier and more effective when one’s mood is positive.

So, make yourself laugh every day to improve your effectiveness.

Find the humor in situations such as grocery shopping – loft the loaf of bread to your shopping ass’t (whether your kids or sister)… everyone will get a lift. Find humor on the internet as in this 34 second video from YouTube: 

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(Tip: limit yourself to just 1 or 2 YouTube Video- laughter is addictive and soon you won’t be working with anyone if all you’re doing is watching videos!)

Make faces in the mirror with your kids. You’ll build your relationship there, too!

Comment with what you do to laugh so we can all have better and more effective days!

What words represent keeping things fresh while progressing toward a worthwhile goal? You might  embrace all or some of these. They’re  important because the words we use influence who we are and what we accomplish. Here are some of my top-of-mind words… please add a comment that includes one or some that work for you.

• Retool

  - using what you have to come up with something different
  Example: rather than every group in a company having its own supply cabinet, centralizing supplies for more effective ordering, storage, retrieval, and tracking

• Reinvent

  - start over to create great things. Great things are those that make life better.
  Example: After Jeff ended up in a wheel chair as the result of the accident, he became one of the most inspirational physical therapists in the practice

• Reuse

  - when you’re done with something see how you can repeat your success
  Example: You’ve created a prized presentation. Take it to another organization, profit or not-for-profit that could benefit from that work

• Repurpose

  - same thing, different application
  Example: a bookshelf relocated from against the wall to divide a room

• Review

  - literally view something again. You will see different things when you’re in a different place and/or your perspective is from a different point
  Example: read a book or take a training class again.

• Recycle

  - you’re done with it… pass it on!
  Example: pluck 10 books from your shelf and donate them to the company library, a school library, or your public library

Re-words are particularly relevant in this strapped economy because they use resources that exist. One doesn’t need to go out and develop or acquire much more. He looks at what he has, might have help reassessing what resources, experience, and talents he has, and starts down a new path. What words help you?