1. You can’t manage time, you can only manage yourself. There are 24 hours in each day. You can’t change that. As long as you focus on managing time – searching for systems, lists, and tools – you are ignoring the real issue: how to manage yourself. 2. “Too much to do” and “Not enough time” are victim words. Every time you repeat those words, you are letting yourself off the hook for managing yourself. You are blaming circumstances beyond your control and subscribing to victimhood. Of course there is too much to do! Of course there is not enough time! Get used to it! 3. Too many priorities means no priorities. You can not have too many priorities. By definition. Priorities are those top few tasks that deserve attention next. If you have too many, you have none. You have to know your top few priorities at any time.
Here are the nine top reasons why you and your employees can’t finish 40 hours worth of work in 40 hours. 1. Meetings are consuming 30 – 50% of your day and accomplishing far too little. The average employee spends 30% of their time in meetings – that’s 12 hours – a full day and a half. Executives spend upwards of 50% – that’s often 40 hours out of 60 to 80. I’ve never met a meeting that couldn’t be cut in half or better. The missing ingredient is clarity. You don’t need more rules, advice, or formats for running meetings, you need clarity. There are only six outcomes for any meeting and if you don’t know which one you are pursuing at any moment, you are wasting time. If you and your employees know exactly what must be different when the meeting ends, your company would have half as many meetings that last half as long.
I recently worked with 24 leaders and participants of regular virtual meetings. A few weeks later, I asked co-workers of this group for evidence of improvement and I thought I would share the results. My group was seen: Driving toward clearer criteria for making decisions Prioritizing more effectively Communicating more clearly Choosing a variety of approaches to move things forward rather than waiting for the standing meetings Bringing greater value to discussions Proposing better ideas Maintaining perspective relative to the “big picture” One co-worker summed it up as follows: “Their performance has jumped to the next level.”
Are you sick of meetings that suck up time and accomplish little? Join the crowd! But why is no one doing anything about it??? (Besides me!) So here is the solution! This short, powerful presentation will make your meetings short and powerful too. “We’ve Got to Stop Meeting Like This!” provides advice you are not getting anywhere else! These techniques have been proven to cut meetings in half while accomplishing twice as much. You can not afford not to try it!! And, of course, once you experience the joy of really driving an effective meeting, once you receive the accolades and thanks from your peers, don’t forget to recommend “We’ve Got to Stop Meeting Like This!” With your help, we can make people’s lives better and their businesses more productive.
It’s here! The cheat sheet for clarity! The best quick tips for getting better results faster with greater confidence and commitment at your fingertips! Download Ann’s Clarity App from the iTunes store today! It’s loaded with tips you can use and share immediately to improve decisions, meetings, planning, holding others accountable, and more! Imagine the value gained from sharing and using nuggets such as the: only 6 types of outcomes for any meeting 4 steps to better decisions, 3 of which are usually skipped biggest mistakes people make when planning how victim-hood prevents us from managing our time 2 criteria you should use to include others in your decisions 4 words that will make your productivity soar and more, including more to come! Since shared clarity is the most powerful clarity, encourage your colleagues to download Ann’s Clarity App right away as well. Need another incentive to act now? The introductory price can’t be beat! Once you’ve tried the app, I’d love to hear your reaction. And don’t forget, new content is on its way!
New York Magazine announced that the secret to better meetings is to stand up because sit-down meetings last longer and produce no better results. I have news for you. By that logic, you’ll save even more time by cancelling your meetings altogether. Of course standing up shortens meetings. Because it makes people physically uncomfortable. But that certainly doesn’t mean you will accomplish more per minute. If you don’t know how to get results in meetings, you shouldn’t be running meetings at all! But I’ve got more news for you. If you can’t run effective meetings, it has nothing to do with meetings. It has everything to do with a lack of clarity about what you are trying to accomplish, a lack of shared processes for fundamental tasks such as decision-making, planning, problem solving, and strategizing, and a lack of language to quickly get a group on the same page so you can agree on where you are and next steps. Quit blaming meetings for the wandering, confusion, and lack of progress evidenced by your company’s meetings every day! Start creating clarity instead!
We’ve Got to Stop Meeting Like This! – 10 Surprising Reasons for Wasteful Meetings You are invited to a special complimentary teleseminar! August 6, 2013 at 12:00 noon EDT Learn about the 10 obstacles that prevent meetings from being short and powerful. Sign up today and I think you’ll be surprised; these are not the same old tips you’ve heard before. This is the first step toward saving half the hours you spend in meetings, eliminating unnecessary meetings, and accomplishing more in every meeting you attend. Feel free to pass this on to friends and colleagues whom you believe might be interested. Registrants will also receive an MP3 download of the presentation so you can listen to it at your convenience.
Could your meetings be shorter and more powerful? I guarantee it. I have no doubt that 25 – 50% of the time you spend in meetings could be avoided or used to accomplish far more. Unfortunately, few organizations recognize the incredible potential to save time and money while improving productivity and morale by improving meetings. Try totaling the dollars devoted to this month’s meetings. Figure out what percentage of your people are effectively employed just to attend meetings. Imagine your productivity on a day uninterrupted by meetings. The value of better meetings in half the time is enormous! Ironically, those that do recognize the potential for improvement often react by scheduling a series of meetings! They get a bunch of interested people together to develop new rules that they think will solve the problem. Once they’ve all agreed, everyone else is invited to more meetings to learn the new rules. Too bad those rules are just bandaids and do nothing to eliminate the cause of the problem. You can’t solve a problem without eliminating the cause. If you can’t identify the cause of ineffective meetings, give me a call. I’d be happy to save you oodles of time, money, and frustration in the short term, and much more time, money, and frustration once your meetings are short, powerful, and known for getting better results in half the time! Call 800-527-0087 or email info@uncommonclarity.com today!
Do you wish all meetings could be short and powerful? If so, this short and powerful video is for you!