Getting Organized for Peak Performance

Your bucket list

Why do you want to get more organized?

Most people look at three strategies; work hard, work faster or get organized.

Making a change

Four priorities

1. Connect with people
2. Paperwork – bills, deadlines, taxes, etc.
3. Reading
4. Exercise

A cautionary tale

A story about Riley who worked 11 hours but did not accomplish any of his work.

Using the SPIRIT model

Goals and objectives are the basis for planning.  

Specific – what you want or don’t want to achieve (tangible and measurable)
Prizes – reward yourself at different points in the goal
Individual – the goal is something you want to do
Review – review your progress periodically
Inspiring – the goal should be inspirational
Time-bound – deadline to achieve the goal or split the goal into smaller parts 

Tools to efficiently plan

1. Up-to-date calendar – any tasks that take more than 5 to 10 minutes should be scheduled on your calendar.
2. To-do list – short and long term
3. Action planning worksheets provide a prioritized list of actions on your plate.
4. Other project management tools like GANTT charts

Setting up a routine

Routines simply and clarify.  They create order, symmetry and familiarity in times of chaos and high stress.  As you decide on routines, you may need to simplify.  Include time for the most critical activity – sleep.

Doing it right

Sometimes you need to be BOLD.

Definition: Godzilla Principle
Deal with issues while they’re little before they get too big.

• Balance – between the time you spend on the little things vs. the big things.
• Organize your time – organize incoming items immediately.  If it takes more than 5 minutes, then schedule it on your calendar.  Less than 5 minutes, do it right now.
• Let things go – when you no longer need things, get rid of them.
• Delegate – save your time for things that you are uniquely qualified

Delegate, delegate, delegate

What do you have to do?   What can only you do today?  As an owner of a task you are ultimately responsible for the results that are achieved.  Make sure your communication is clear and that expectations are set.

Effective Delegation Process

1. Explain why the job is important.
2. Describe what results are needed.
3. Give the authority they need.
4. Indicate the deadline and get agreement.
5. Ask for feedback.

Stopping procrastination

Take the ugliest frog of your day (the worst thing on your list) and eat it first!

Procrastinating makes the thing you’re putting off bigger and more daunting.  By procrastination, you use more space in your mind because you have not tackled it yet.  

Getting rid of clutter

However long you think it will take to declutter, double it!   

• Desk surface – should items be on your desk, if not, remove it
• Desk contents – keep tools you regularly use and keep them together
• Paper
  • Am I going to need to refer to this later?  
  • Do I have a digital copy instead of physical copy? 
  • Will someone else have a copy that I can refer to if needed?  
  • Do I need to keep it for legal reasons?

Organizing by file type

• Working – current projects, routine files, 80% of your work
• Reference – for current projects, regularly used but not at arm’s length
• Archive – not regularly referenced, may be required by law or finance
• Disaster – all your vital information in the event of a disaster

File structures for paper files and for computer files should parallel each other.

The batching technique

Task switching explained.  

Batching:
Combine several of the same types of tasks to take care of at once.

Batch email by reserving times in your day to check it.  This prevents distraction from notification alerts and incoming emails.

Start small and see what you can work up to.  Maybe start with 1 hour a day of turning email off.  

Managing email

We live in a society that expects replies to email almost immediately and where we sometimes send way more emails than necessary.  

On an average day…

• How many emails do you receive?
• How many emails do you reply to?
• How many emails do you send? (not including the replies)

On average, reading and responding takes about 1.5 minutes per email.   Add up your three numbers from above and multiply by 1.5 to estimate the minutes spent each day managing email.

Best Practices

• Check your email twice a day.
• Deal with each message right away.   Decide what you want to do with it.  If responding takes 3 minutes or less, reply immediately.   If more time is required, delegate or schedule it.

Deal with it the right way.   Is email the best way to deal with the problem versus a meeting, conversation or phone call?