A colleague of mine, Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D, asked me to put together a list of top 10 productivity tips on how to move from a “Culture of Now” to a “Culture of When.”

A “Culture of Now” says that everything needs to be done right now, it needs to have an immediate response. The “Culture of Now” is terribly unproductive.

People need to move to a “Culture of When” that says, “this is when I’m going to accomplish things.” The Culture of When helps you take control of your schedule, rather than allowing you to be pushed around by the whims of others or the beeps and buzzes of technology.

Here are the top 10 tips to move from a “Culture of Now” to a “Culture of When.”

1. No appointments without a calendar. Don’t ever commit yourself to an appointment with someone else (or with yourself) without scheduling it into your calendar.
2. When delegating a task, give a clear expectation of due date. When you delegate a responsibility to someone else, make sure that you are clear with them when you expect the result.
3. Establish a voicemail expectation. That means that when someone calls you, they should hear a message that lets them know when they should expect to receive a reply back from you.
4. Tell others when you expect to get them a result. If others ask you for something, let them know, “I expect to get back to you within an hour or two hours or five days.”
5. Ask others when they expect you to reply to them. If someone delegates something to you, clarify with them when they would like a response back.
6. Schedule recurring appointments with yourself on repetitive tasks and projects. If you have a repetitive task that you perform,  such as paying bills, then schedule a recurring appointments with yourself in your calendar to take care of that.
7. Establish a schedule to check email. Make sure that you are not constantly checking email or that you are dependent upon email to let you know when it has arrived. Instead, establish a schedule for yourself within your calendar to check email.
8. Establish shop hours for your office. In the same way that retail businesses have hours that they are open for business, you need to have a clearly established set of shop hours for yourself. Let other know when it is appropriate to interrupt you and come into your office.
9. Setup 1:1 Huddles. I talk about these huddles in my book, The Myth of Multitasking. This is a one-on-one meeting that you have regularly with other people to ask them what they need from you and to tell them what you need from them. This eliminates a lot of the quick questions that happen in your day.
10. Set a time boundary for yourself. Most people allow their day to just spill over into however long it takes. By establishing a set boundary (meaning, I’m going to stop my day at five o’clock or six o’clock) you take control of your schedule and you force yourself to be wise in the decisions you make with your timeline.

If you implement these changes you will bring a much greater sense of control and sanity to your workday, and you will be much, much more productive.

Dave Crenshaw has appeared in TIME magazine, SIRIUS XM Radio, Forbes, MSN Money, been interviewed on radio and TV stations across North America and is the President of the National Association of Productivity Coaches. His book, The Myth of Multitasking: How ‘Doing It All’ Gets Nothing Done, has been published in six languages and is a time management best seller. His next book, Invaluable: The Secret to Becoming Irreplaceable, will release in all major bookstores in May 2010. Dave is the foremost expert in helping you increase the value of your time in an ever-changing market and has helped thousands of clients worldwide. For more information, visit www.BeInvaluable.com.

PLEASE COMMENT: What tips would you also suggest would help people move from a Culture of Now to a Culture of When?

Posted in: Management, Meetings, Organization, Productivity, Stress Reduction, Technology, Video Training | Comments (0)

I’ve been so busy this with with my new National Association of Productivity Coaches that I needed to pull a “previously unleased” video from the archives.

So, it’s an oldie-but-a-goodie. (You’ll be able to tell from the fall colors in the background!) I actually recorded this right after a workshop session with the worldwide customer service executives from Novell. They were a very fun and knowledgeable group!

In this quick video you’ll get the answer I gave to them about one of their biggest questions.

P.S. Please comment: what times of the day have YOU established for checking your email? Does this work for you?

Posted in: Multitasking, Productivity, Technology, Video Training | Comments (0)

[This guest article was graciously shared by Christine Comaford.]

In today’s economic climate, it is essential to have a seasoned team, a fast path to revenue, and a staged rollout plan. When it comes to team, there are some absolute necessaries that you need to put in place.

What are the first questions a prospective investor will ask? PEOPLE questions, of course! Here are some of mine: Do you or your team members have massive experience in your field of choice? Do you have an advisory board? (It’s easy to set up an advisory board, which can bring you phenomenal expertise at zero up-front cost, as well as much-needed credibility.)

Without a seasoned team or a long history of experience and income sheets to review, how can anyone possibly trust your revenue and cost projections? As a business owner, you need credibility, and you need it pronto. Follow this “people plan” to help you get off the ground.

1. Lock in well-known and respected advisers who are veterans in their respective industries. Timeline for this? Like, now.

2. Secure contract staff to work with you and those advisors in order to move your biz forward or hit your next Results Now marks.

3. Make sure all tea

m members (employees, founders, contractors, advisers, web developers, strategic alliances, everyone!) sign a confidentiality and proprietary-inventions agreement.

4. Follow standard processes when recruiting.

5. Maintain a backup bench. Always be on the lookout for the next adviser, contractor, or employee. You don’t want to be empty-handed when a key hire quits and you need a speedy replacement.

6. Finally, refine your networking skills. A huge part of your success will be based on the ability to get others to help you.

Here’s to YOUR 7 Figure Success Story.

Christine Comaford, The 7 Figure Business Builder
CEO of Mighty Ventures, Inc.

NY Times Best Selling Author

Christine Comaford believes every entrepreneur has at least one multi-million dollar business inside of them. Her 7 Figure Business Formula has created over 153 multi-million dollar businesses. Learn the 6 proven steps to YOUR 7 Figure Business here: http://bit.ly/7Nf33U

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Last week I was invited by Greg Habstritt to speak in Las Vegas to his VIP clients. He told me they were going on the Zappos tour in the morning, so I made sure I arrived early so I could go with them. Not only was the tour amazing, but Tony Hsieh responded to Greg’s request and spent about 1 hour just responding to our questions.

I filmed a bunch of clips from the Tour so you could get a taste of the experience, then added my own insights at the end.

After the tour ZapposInsights.com approached me for an interview interviewed me for a special piece they’re going to do on The Myth of Multitasking. If you’re a ZapposInsights member, watch for that in a couple of weeks,

This is a bit more of a “fancy” video then the usually fare that I offer. I hope you enjoy!

Everyone is Royalty at Zappos -- Even Dave

P.S.  Discussion question for this week: how can Zappos employees still be productive when they switch desks at random occasionally? I have my theory, but I’d like to hear yours. Please comment on the blog!

Posted in: Productivity, Uncategorized | Comments (6)

“Other people are making me unproductive. Help!”

One of the top questions I’m asked by inherently
organized individuals is how to prevent the
disorganization of OTHERS from making them
productive.

In this special 8 minute video, I answer this question
in great depth.

You’ll learn how to:

• Clearly communicate to others how you can help each other be more productive
• Minimize the sporadic “Quick Questions” that are killing your day
• Be polite, even when telling others you can’t field their interruption at this moment

P.S. After you watch the video I’d like you to share
your experiences. How are your co-workers or employees
making you unproductive? What have you tried that’s
worked so far?

Posted in: Management, Meetings, Multitasking, Stress Reduction, Video Training | Comments (1)

Does your boss expect you to reply immediately?

I found a video in my archives that I had recorded but
hadn’t posted it up yet. I think you’ll enjoy this.

I was speaking on location at beautiful Santa Clara
University, when an audience member from a major
corporation asked me: “I have a boss in Hong Kong who
has this expectation that I always respond immediately
to her requests. What do I do?”

She asked the question because I was preaching the
importance of moving from a Culture of Now (which
perpetuates switchtasking)to a Culture of WHEN.

Do you have a demanding boss like this? (Or are YOU the
demanding boss?) How do you handle the situation?

Watch this video for some quick, invaluable tips.

Switchtask no more!

Dave Crenshaw
Author, The Myth of Multitasking & Invaluable (available May 2010)
President, Invaluable Inc.

P.S. After you watch the video I’d like you to share
your experience. Have you tried the tips I’m
suggesting? Are you too scared to try it? Why?

P.P.S. Expect more videos like this from me this year.
I’m committed in 2010 to just give away a lot more
content. Less selling, more giving. Watch for it.

Posted in: Management, Meetings, Preparation, The Myth of Multitasking, Video Training | Comments (3)

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/23/cashmore.digital.distraction/

Pete Cashmore founder and CEO of Mashable wrote a special article for CNN.com about how we are headed for ever-increasing distraction.

Even more interesting than the article, however, are the comments from the users on the site. One user says:

pleer
the company i work for give you an “allowance” giving you 60mins of time on the internet in 10min sessions. This makes it good to go on these sites whenever you wish, but not when the company suits it. as well as this we have a “chill-out” room that we can browse the whole internet.

phreakincool
What company do you work for? My employer blocks all well known social networking sites, including LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Hulu, etc. So, yay, my productivity is “up”.

Posted in: Productivity, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Article commentary by Dave Crenshaw
Author, The Myth of Multitasking: How ‘Doing It All’ Gets Nothing Done

“To Deal With Obsession, Some Defriend Facebook”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/technology/internet/21facebook.html

Dave’s comment:

Folks, you have the ability to control how much you allows technology into your life.

It will not work to burying your head in the sand and wishing technology will disappear. This won’t work! Social Media is not going away, nor will progress in information and technology.

What you need to learn are survival skills for the 21^st century, the same way that our forbears needed to learn how drive an automobile!

Posted via email from davecrenshaw’s posterous

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When I introduced the term switchtasking in my book, The Myth of Multitasking: How ‘Doing It All’ Gets Nothing Done, in August 2008, a lot of people wanted to know what it was that I meant by term. Increasingly I saw classes in high school and college make assignments to their students to learn about the ills of multitasking.  And occasionally they gave the assignment to find out the difference between switchtasking and multitasking.

I even saw a question posted on a popular question and answer online forum asking what is the difference between switchtasking and multitasking.  The generally accepted answer was incorrect, which was that switchtasking is when you stop and switch your attention back and forth whereas multitasking is when you are trying to do multiple things the same time.  The correct answer is that they are the same—there is no difference. Switchtasking is the word I created to describe what is really taking place when people attempt to multitask.  Switchtasking is a negative thing, in fact in my book I redefined multitasking into two different terms, switchtasking and background tasking. 

Background tasking is when something mindless or mundane occurs in the background such as, starting a load of laundry while you answer E-mail.  Since the laundry doesn’t require your attention and is occurring in the background, this is a background task. Background tasking can be very efficient. But when most people try to multitask what they are really doing is switchtasking, switching back and forth rapidly between two or more tasks. Whenever someone switchtasks, they are piling up large amounts of switching cost.  Switching cost is the transition time of mental effort and energy that it takes to move from one task to the other.

Whenever someone attempts to multitask or, switchtask they are actually being less efficient and getting less done. The point is this, whenever you do one thing at a time or, single task you are going to be more effective than when you try to switchtask or multitask.

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http://www.syracuse.com/kramer/index.ssf/2009/12/jeff_kramers_literary_gift_gui.html

For Tim Green:

It was difficult to find any books for sale that Green hasn’t written himself, but there are a few. I’m recommending “The Myth of Multitasking: How ‘Doing It All’ Gets Nothing Done,” by Dave Crenshaw. It’s perfect for Central New York’s favorite author/sports personality/lawyer/reality show host/philanthropist and all-around Renaissance Dude as he embraces Major Life Goal 4,311: Coaching the Skaneateles High School football team.

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