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!

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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”.

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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!

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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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This is the most pure content I’ve ever poured into a 60-minute webinar. If you haven’t already seen this replay, you owe it to yourself!

In it I gave clear, candid answers to the Top 5 Productivity Questions asked in a survey of over 1000 participants:

#1 "How do I get more focused?"

#2 "How can I stop the interruptions in my workday?"

#3 "How can I help others stop making me less productive?"

#4 "How can I cut down on email?"

#5 "How can I stop procrastinating?"

This repay expires December 24^th, so don’t “procrastinate” watching it!

Click here to get the replay:

http://productivitymiracle.com/replay

Get More Done in 2010

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This was a spur-of-the-moment video I recorded after a brief call with a customer.

I’d love to get your thoughts!

Download now or watch on posterous

VLOG-RefundADHD.mp4 (43040 KB)

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Outsourcing expert Chris Ducker posted a great article about my Myth of Multitasking book on his blog. Check it out here: http://www.chrisducker.com/2009/11/25/entrepreneurial-myth-being-able-to-multitask-helps-you-get-more-done/

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“There’s a movement for people like Rauch. It’s called Slow Media. Kinda like slow food, but without the food. Slowies write letters, and, you know, talk to each other, offline. They like to do one thing at a time.”

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/11/17/pm-slow-media/

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Would you trade places with a 3 foot man in a wheelchair?

Before you say “NO WAY!”you need to watch this video of a man I met at the SANG Conference in Beverly Hills last month:

Click Here for the Sean Stephenson Video

Now trust me – just seeing this man will eliminate any and all self defeating beliefs within you.

I hope this helps you realize that you really can achieve anything.

This is beyond inspiring – it’s a wake up call for all of us:

Click Here for the Sean Stephenson Video

P.S. You should have seen him at SANG! His 20-minute presentation left the audience STUNNED. You’ll know

why when you see him here:

Click Here for the Sean Stephenson Video

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