Success Smack Down - Don't Manage Time, Manage Results

Productivity Grudge Match!

You can spend all your time making money

You can spend all your love making time

EAGLES

If you're looking for time management tips this isn't it. We're talking about how to get the results you need and get job done. Not enough time to do it? The challenge isn't time management it's managing ourselves.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics we work 8.3 hours per day. Wow, we are slamming! But other research shows that we waste about 2 hours of that long day because of distractions and starting over on tasks. Stephen Covey points out that we can't manage time no matter how hard we try. We can use it or waste it but we can't save it. So let's use it well, reduce the stress, increase the productivity and get things done.

Let's Get Real

The vast majority of time management systems, plans and software programs are just excuses for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Spending hours of each day organizing, listing, prioritizing and formatting the things you need to do is, I know you see this coming - wasting your time. Don't confuse activity with productivity.

Manage Results

The goal is to get things done in ways that generate the results you need. It isn't to see who can work the longest and transform a week into a living hell. So let's make it simple and not complicated. The big idea is to be driven by results and not effort.

1. Decide what has to get done - Make it a simple, short list of results you need to generate and when. These are tasks and not steps. A detailed list can bite you in the butt because it can make things look overwhelming. Don't make things harder in the name of organization and management. Not everything needs to be managed it just needs to get done.

2. Focus on results - Decide what you must accomplish every day, break large tasks into small one or two-hour chunks and assign each piece a deadline. It doesn't matter when the "official" deadline is these are your deadlines. These aren't jobs or projects - they are results.

3. Go to work - The best time to start something is "right now." The key, boys and girls, is focus. Get organized, get it done and then move on to the next thing. Don't go back.

• Do the hardest things first.
• Do the things that take the longest time first.
• Do the things you can control first.
• Meet the deadlines and generate the results.
• Relax!

4. Don't multitask - Gasp, doesn't he know this is the computer-driven 21st century? Hey, you may be doing five things at once and you feel like a Project God. What you are really doing is constantly starting over on five things. Every time you shift from one dangling job to the next you waste time. You've lost focus, let deadlines slide and drifted farther away from accomplishing your results for the day. Stay focused on priorities.

Avoiding Distractions

Dang, there's someone - on the phone, at the door, requesting a meeting - and you don't want to be distracted. I know that there are loads of suggestions but here are some that work for me.

Take the name sign off your door. If they can't find you they can't bother you.

Wear a Hazmat suit. This and a "Quarantine" sign are really effective.

Find an empty cubical or office and "squat" there for a day - then move. You can't hit a moving target.

Just in case those don't work for you here are the real ones.

Suggestion #1 - "I'm sorry I'm slamming on a deadline for (add name of clients or top executive). I can't talk right now." This stops most interruptions. If the person tries anyway follow-up with, "I have to get this done right now. Let's talk tomorrow."

Suggestion #2 - When they come into your office or cubical, stand up and hold the conversation next to the door. This gives it a feeling of immediacy. They are just one step away from "good-bye."

Suggestion #3 - When you answer the phone cut to the chase. After you say "hello" ask “What can I do for you?” Now the focus is on the need. If there isn't one see suggestion #1.

That's Why They Call It A Job

As I've said before there is a difference between who you are and what you do. Remember those stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics? We work 8.3 hours per day. We also spend 5.8 hours kicking back. What would happen if you shifted more time from column A into column B? That leisure time is who you are.

The honest purpose of time management is not to enable you to get 3 days of work accomplished in one day. It's to get the work that's necessary accomplished very, very well so you can go home and have a life. So count results and not hours. H. Jackson Brown said it this way;

"Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."

Okay, you've wasted enough time. Go make something happen.

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Please Subscribe! There's a new article every week and we are determined to give you valuable information you can use to be successful and make more money. So, go to the Be The First To Know box and just fill it in.

Andy Johnston is an multi-faceted communication professional with deep experience from strategic planning, to messaging, to marketing, to media, to events, to training, to creative direction … and there are several other ”to’s.” Andy is known for his energy, creativity and his unique ability to discover the key results that must be generated – and then to develop ingenious ways to engage and motivate audiences.

Are You What You Do? - What's The Balance In Your Self-Worth Account?

What Are You Worth?

Hey, don't take it personally its only business. No … it's personal. It's always been personal.

When jobs go well it's an accomplishment. It is a matter or pride, honor and professionalism to please the client. Living the rule of "the customer is always right" requires sacrifice, especially when you know that the customer is wrong. Professionalism requires that you put other peoples wants and needs ahead of your own. So, how do you become a success in business without sacrificing your own values and self-worth? It all begins by realizing that there is a big difference between your business worth and your self-worth.

You Are Not What You Do

I know it's good to say that you are delivering value but remember we don't determine value. The customer or client does. Be realistic with yourself. You are putting a price on your talent, experience and ability. If it sounds like selling yourself - you are. In the most basic terms you are exchanging hours and days of your life for a certain amount of money. That is the worth of the particular service or product you provide. This is not your worth as a person. Don't let what you do define who you are.

Understand What You're Selling

Your worth is determined by your customer's budget, other suppliers providing comparable products and services and how urgently the customer needs you. It's what they are willing to pay based on their expectations.

My Dad was a mechanical engineer and owned the company. He designed massive, complex projects for carpet mills and changed accordingly. However there were many weekends when he would grab his tools to go fix someone's toilet because his plumbers were busy. He billed $15.00 per hour - the same rate as any of his crews. The customer wasn't buying an engineer, just someone to unplug the toilet.

Value Is As Value Does

People don't automatically recognize the value we can provide or agree with our price for it. That's reality. Remember value has to be recognized, proved and appreciated. It's up to you to prove your value. Now one will take your word for it.

Trust Your Gut

There's this little voice in the back of my head that whispers to me. Sometimes it screams. Without fail ever time I've ignored it I've been screwed. If you pay attention, ask questions, really listen and use your common sense then you'll know which jobs will be a good experience and which ones will be a royal pain. Few customers or clients will actually treat you better as the work progresses. If there is friction, misunderstanding and a lack of mutual respect at the beginning it won't get better. Listen to your gut and know what the rules are.

You Knew The Job Was Dangerous When You Took It

Super Chicken was a crazy cartoon character from the 1970's and that was his slogan. Few of us have so much work that we can afford to turn projects down. In close to 30 years I've turned down less than a dozen. There were lots that I should have turned down but life doesn't always give you that luxury. If you understand that the job, project or the client is going to be exceptionally difficult and uncomfortable and you take the job ... then you can't really complain.

Remember Why You Do What You Do

Back in the beginning there was a reason why you set off on this adventure. The path may have meandered and you might be somewhere you never anticipated. No matter where you are the path that led you had to have been rewarding or you would have never made the trip. Remember the rewards. Savor the feelings and satisfaction. Smile as you recall the people you've met and the achievements you've shared. Money pays the bills but it's a rotten companion. Your secret of contentment isn't the pay, that's only how you keep score.

Never Lose The Joy

Take confidence in the realization that you have never been more prepared and experienced. Everything you've ever done is training for the next thing you do.

My Personal Secret

Still, let's be practical. There are some projects and people that stretch the best attitude and philosophy to the breaking point. That's when I step back, take a deep breath and whisper, "A few days from now you'll just be nothing but an invoice."

You'll be amazed how well that works!

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Please Subscribe! There's a new article every week and we are determined to give you valuable information you can use to be successful and make more money. So, go to the Be The First To Know box and just fill it in.

Andy Johnston is an multi-faceted communication professional with deep experience from strategic planning, to messaging, to marketing, to media, to events, to training, to creative direction … and there are several other ”to’s.” Andy is known for his energy, creativity and his unique ability to discover the key results that must be generated – and then to develop ingenious ways to engage and motivate audiences.

Brain Freeze - Can You Handle The Pain Of Choice Overload?

Welcome Key Word Academy! Please read this article before you leave.

Don't Give Customers Too Many Choices

The biggest challenge is not knowing when to shut up - it's knowing HOW to shut up.

You're shoveling ice cream in as fast as you can and it zaps you - brain freeze. Technically it's called sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, which is enough to paralyze your brain all on its own. It seems that shoving too many choices down the throats of customers and clients can have the same brain-numbing effect.

Let's face it, we like the idea of choices. Give me options and I'll take the responsibility of pleasing myself. As businesses and marketers we like to think that our customers will appreciate us if we give them more options. So we end up with 25-page restaurant menus, 1200 shades of house paint and over a dozen variations of blue jeans.

You Can't Handle Options

We like the idea of lots of choices … but hate lots of options. Human beings are creatures of habit. We don't use the vast majority of choices we have. According to Nielsen Research the average U.S. home gets about 118 TV channels. How many do we actually watch? Survey says - 15! We don't even check out more than 5 other channels if we explore at all, which is bad news for the 24-hour chicken wrestling channel.

Too Many Choices

The whole choice question started in 1995 with research by Sheena Lyengar, a psychologist at Columbia University. She set up a display of jams in a gourmet food shop. On the first day she offered samples of six flavors. The next day she offered samples of 30 different flavors. Her findings rattled lots of corporate cages. On each day the majority of customers tasted just two flavors, that's all. And even though more people were attracted by the big assortment of jams - only 3 percent bought one. More people bought from the smaller display!

Here's something that's even more revealing. Of the people who made a purchase the ones who only had six choices actually felt more satisfied with their selections. Over the past 15 years more psychologists and economists studied the issue and came to the same conclusion - an overload of options may actually paralyze decision-making. When faced with too many choices we will actually make bad decisions just to get it over.

If you have ever stood behind someone at McDonalds whose life had come to a grinding halt when faced with the decision between a Big Mac and Quarter Pounder then you know what this means. It shouldn't take five minutes to answer the question, "Do you want fries with that?"

Latest News On Choice Overload

There is breaking news in decision-making. Sheena Lyengar has completed new research into "choice overload." She concludes that the problem isn't too many choices it's not enough relevant choices.

So our goal isn't to just simplify the selling process it's to make our products and services easier to buy. Making a decision isn't the objective. Helping customers make a comfortable, satisfying decision is the #1 goal.

Creating Relevant Choices

Learn before they chose - Let customers and clients focus on what they want and need first. Why attempt to give people a choice before they have any way to understand what value you offer?

Customize choices - If you have lots of options give your customers or clients a way to eliminate the non-relevant ones. We love to have things our way.

Present a path - If you know your customers then you know what they want to happen. Give them a clear, easy-to-follow path to a comfortable, satisfying decision.

Make it easy to buy - Group relevant choices together. This is how customers make decisions. This isn't price or how we want to sell it's reducing the noise and distractions. Too many meaningless choices are distracting.

Value-Based Options

I'm a big believer in the Power of Three. Remember the Sears Strategy? In the old Sears catalog they offered three choices: “Good,” “Better” and “Best.” Each choice was simple, related and relevant. The difference was based on price and benefits. They knew that if you give most people a choice of three price/benefit options approximately two-thirds would choose the middle one. The key was all three were good, meaningful choices. Quality was never an issue.

Mom's Cure For The Brain Freeze

My Mom had a sure-fire remedy for a brain freeze - eat smaller bites. She told us to slow down and not go so fast. "Give yourself time to taste the ice cream." Well it seems that when it comes to choices Sheena Lyengar agrees, "More is less. That is, more choice leads to less satisfaction or fulfillment or happiness.”

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Scroll down - there's much more!

_________________________

Please Subscribe! There's a new article every week and we are determined to give you valuable information you can use to be successful and make more money. So, go to the Be The First To Know box and just fill it in.

Andy Johnston is an multi-faceted communication professional with deep experience from strategic planning, to messaging, to marketing, to media, to events, to training, to creative direction … and there are several other ”to’s.” Andy is known for his energy, creativity and his unique ability to discover the key results that must be generated – and then to develop ingenious ways to engage and motivate audiences.