Want to be better prepared for your next trip? Watch this video:

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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.

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Clay Johnson is a business owner and very successful entrepreneur. Despite his successes, he always felt that he was ultimately limited by his inability to handle interruptions. In this video, learn how he was able to finally control the interruptions to increase his success level.

Pay close attention to the comparison he makes between my Get Time coaching and other coaching programs. How many times have you attended a seminar, read a book, or listened to an audio course only to find the results drop off after a few weeks?

The great majority of our clients say that same thing that Clay says. The results  from my Two Day Productivity Miracle will stick with you in the long run, longer than any other program in the world!

P.S. Sometimes you’ll see a testimonial about some amazing results in a training program, and then at the bottom, in little tiny letters you’ll see the phrase:

“Results not typical.” Huh? Then why tell us about the results?

You’ll NEVER, ever see that disclaimer with my case studies. The results you’ll see from Clay’s video ARE typical.

THESE results are actually very, very USUAL.

P.P.S. In fact it’s very UNUSUAL when someone who completes my Get Time training doesn’t gain tremendous amounts of time, improve focus dramatically, and become more organized than they have been for years!

Its so unusual that I offer a triple guarantee on my Two Day Productivity Miracle.

Learn more about my Two Day Productivity Miracle by CLICKING here.

Posted in: Candid Productivity, Case Study/Testimonial, Preparation, Productivity, Video Training | Comments (0)

Audio-Only Link (MP3): Does Your Schedule Hold Water? by Dave Crenshaw

Text transcript:

Good morning.  I would like to share with you that it does relate to your productivity and it has to do with this: [holds up water] I have got a pitcher of water filled up.

This morning when I went to the sink to wash my hands I needed to use this pitcher of water.  We live in a fairly new community and that means that sometimes development work needs to take place and in this case they had to do some work on the water mains.  They did a great job of preparing us in advance.  There was a big sign outside of our community, big flashing light that said, “This is the date that we are going to be working on the water, you are not going to have any water from 9 am to 9 pm and be prepared.”

My wife of course took note of that, is always very prepared and last night we got together lots of pitchers of water like this, filled them up so that we would have plenty for water for today.

Now, what does that have to do with your schedule?  Think about the things in your calendar that you know are upcoming, that you know are going to be significant and may take a lot of time to work on.  Have you put enough room in your calendar to deal with those things?  Not just the actions that need to take place, but the switches that take place and the transition time that needs to take place.  Do you have enough water in your pitchers for these kinds of events?

I will give you a personal example.  In a few weeks, a very exciting event is going to take place in my entire family’s life, which is we are going to have a daughter and this is very exciting.  My little boy is excited about it, my wife is excited about it, I am excited about it.  But I had to put room in my schedule to be prepared for this. Not that I can predict with a 100% accuracy when she is going to come-because, hey, when the baby wants to come, she is going to come-but  I did leave an entire week in my schedule completely open.  I am refusing to schedule anything for myself during that time that is most likely to for her to be born.  This gives me plenty of buffer space, plenty of water in my pitcher so that I am prepared in advance for that event.

You have events like that that are coming up in a month, in two months, three months, maybe even a year. You can put plenty of water in your pitcher and make sure that you have got lots and lots of space to be prepared for it so that you don’t come up on that time and realize that you have packed your schedule so full that there is no room for air.

You can be in control of your time and this is something that I help my clients do every single day.  Thank you for listening.  It’s an honor to serve you.

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I once overheard a business owner say that he felt more productive
when he took a vacation, though not for the reasons one might expect.
He explained that he worked in a whirlwind just before the vacation to
make sure everything was taken care of before he left. Then, when he
returned, he had to work even harder to catch up with all the things he
missed while he was away! He then jokingly suggested that perhaps he
should take a vacation every week.

Are you prepared to take a vacation? As we enter the holiday season
this is a critical productivity question to consider. While many people
vacation is a nice, relaxing break from routine, for others vacation is
extremely stressful and is more a nightmare than a “dream come true.”

Consider the following action steps to help make your next vacation time a blessing instead of a curse:

1. Block out the dates well in advance and commit to the date.
   I have worked with many executives who either schedule their vacation
   tentatively or, after scheduling the time, allow themselves to ‘bump’
   that time off. Commit to the calendar in writing and commit yourself in
   action that the time you have scheduled is not subject to change.
2. Schedule “power-down” time for just before the vacation.
   Avoid the last-minute rush. Block out a sufficient number of hours a
   day or two before you leave to allow time to “power-down” your work.
   Avoid scheduling appointments the day before you leave. Instead,
   schedule time to process and prepare so you can put everything in order
   before you go.
3. Schedule “power-up” time for just after the vacation.
   Similar to the last principle, do not schedule appointments to occur
   the day after you come back from vacation. Rather, allow yourself
   enough time to get back up to speed, to catch-up on missed email and
   missed voicemail messages. By budgeting this time in your calendar,
   before you leave, you will feel more able to leave work at work while
   you are enjoying your vacation.
4. Find a home to gather your thoughts during vacation.
   While you are on vacation you will likely find yourself thinking of
   solutions to work problems that existed before you left. Be prepared to
   avoid distraction by having a place to gather these thoughts for future
   review. Carry a notebook with you or use a voice-to-email program such
   as ReQall. When a work-related
   thought comes to mind, quickly capture it and then forget about it.
   When you return from your vacation use a portion of the “power-up” time
   you scheduled to go through that list of ideas you gathered during
   vacation.

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I sometimes tell my clients something that raises a few eyebrows: procrastination can actually be a good thing. In fact, I encourage
clients to procrastinate as much as they possibly can.

First, let me explain when procrastination obviously doesn’t work. If
you do not have solid personal systems for calendaring and dealing with
the flow of information into your life, then when you procrastinate you
are depending on your mind to remind you of when it is time to do
things. This is a problem because your mind will remind you of things
at inappropriate times and inappropriate
places. You will miss appointments and miss responsibilities. For those
who do not have solid personal systems, procrastination is a very, very
bad idea.

However, for those who have a solid
calendaring system and the accountability to follow through on that
schedule, procrastination is a very valuable and necessary tool. The
person who doesn’t procrastinate or schedule low priorities into the
distant future ends up running headlong into what we call the Truth of
Time.

The Truth of Time says that there are only 24 hours
in a day. If you do not procrastinate low priority items by scheduling
them into the future, you will always be short on time and find
yourself stressed out at the end of every day wondering if you really
accomplished anything at all.

You must have three things in place in order for procrastination to be your ally:

• A calendar that you have with you at all times
  – Never commit to doing something without scheduling it into your
  calendar. The calendar is your budget for time, and when your time is
  gone, it’s gone. Double scheduling is not an option. You must always
  have your calendar on hand, because it shows you how much time you have
  available. The calendar, in fact, forces appropriate procrastination
  because it helps you be realistic with how much time you really have.
  One final note: always leave spaces between appointments for the
  unexpected.
• A time-based task list that you have with you most of the time
  – If the calendar is rigid, then the task list is fluid. Only put items
  that are brief and not time sensitive in your task list. Task list
  items must be brief, because if they are lengthy to complete, you’ll
  never find the time for them. Task list items also must not be
  time-sensitive, since you are going to be a bit flexible as to when you
  complete them. While tasks that go to the task list should be assigned
  an estimated “do date”, if you don’t do them on the date specified,
  it’s okay. (If it wouldn’t be okay to do it later, then it belongs on
  the Calendar, not the task list!)
• A “Perhaps List” that you review periodically
  - David Allen calls this his “Someday, Maybe” list. Whatever you call
  it, this is the place where the tasks and ideas you haven’t yet
  committed to do should go. To make the Perhaps List work, you must
  schedule an appointment for yourself in your calendar that tells you to
  check the list on a consistent basis. I check mine once a month. I
  quickly scan through the list I’ve created in Microsoft Outlook and
  look for any of the items that I’m ready to pick up and take action on
  at this time. Usually, I pick up very few new tasks, if any. The
  Perhaps List is a great way for me to say no to myself and keep focused
  on the priorities at hand.

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