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.
To Do lists are like blackberries, stealth multipliers producing long canes that arc gracefully across your lawn until the tips take root in new soil. One minute you are dreaming of juicy rewards. Next thing you know, you are ensnared in prickly brambles, surrounded by vicious trip wires, and unable to enjoy the fruits of your labor. And just like blackberries, To Do lists require ruthlessness!
The Patriots lost last night for the first time this season. But that is the least of their problems. Gronkowski was carted off the field and he now joins Amendola, Edelman, Lewis, Dobson, Jones – more players than I can list – who are injured. Brady looked crestfallen when Gronk went down. But this morning, what are they saying? “Just wasn’t our night.” In true Patriots fashion, they refuse to contemplate what Gronk’s injury means for the next game or the rest of the season. “It was a very hard loss” and “players gave a tremendous effort” are all that we will hear. Their job is to get it done. One game at a time. No matter what comes at them. Whether they will get it done remains to be seen, but we all know Tom Brady is special because of his uncanny ability to get it done by focusing on that and nothing else. Everyone has problems. Most people spend far more time agonizing, talking, and worrying about those problems than actually doing something about them. Save that energy. Channel Tom Brady. Your job is to get it done. One step at a time. No matter what comes at you.
Agendas are king. This message has been pounded long enough to be well-ingrained, even if not always followed. But have you noticed that despite the proliferation of agendas, everyone is still complaining about meetings? That’s because 95% of agendas are simply recipes for wasting time. 8:00 – 8:15 Waste time on this 8:15 – 8:30 Waste time on that 8:30 – 8:50 Waste more time Before I dive in, why don’t you grab a few agendas so you can see what I am talking about. First off, you need to keep in mind that the purpose of any meeting is to get somewhere. To make something happen. And you won’t get anywhere if you don’t know where you are trying to go. You have to have a destination. You have to know what must be different when the meeting ends. This may seem obvious, but it’s not. People who know I deplore unproductive meetings have been known to tell me about great meetings. When I ask them what made the meeting great, I typically get three reasons: The group was focused. The topic was interesting. Everyone was well-behaved. That’s it! There is no mention of outcomes! Just because you had an interesting discussion does not mean your meeting was productive. Now back to those agendas.
In case you missed my viral posts on Forbes in the past month: 8 Secrets Smart People Know About Time Management 10 Reasons Your Employee Engagement Program Is Hurting Your Company 9 Reasons You And Your Employees Can’t Do 40 Hours Of Work In 40 Hours – And What To Do About It The first one has collected over 45,000 views. Don’t miss it!
Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing another group get excited about the power of clarity! This time it was at the Northeast Lean Conference where I spoke about Transformative Clarity – The Best Thing Since Lean. It was an excellent audience with people coming from San Diego, the Canadian Maritimes, and everywhere in between. As always, I wish we had had much more time! Nonetheless, they left eager to apply some of the specific techniques we discussed to improve productivity, results, and commitment. During my presentation yesterday, I asked the group to identify the top time wasters in their companies. I wasn’t looking for non-work activities like Facebook and surfing. I was looking for legitimate job responsibilities that do not create value for which customers are willing to pay. From there, we looked at how clarity could eliminate or minimize the waste. They came up with a great list, every one of which can be reduced by applying the three pillars of clarity and the techniques I write about regularly in this newsletter, as well as in my Forbes Expert Blog, on my website, and in other publications. Here is their list:
There are 5.4 million job openings in the US right now. The unemployment rate is 5.3%, the lowest it has been since April 2008. That means competition for top talent is extremely high. Meanwhile, the average hiring process has increased by 10 days in the last 5 years. 10 business days! Two weeks! And that’s the average! That means some have gained far more than two weeks. If you are one of the companies with a slower hiring process, you probably “improved” your process by seeking more input, ensuring a consistent experience for all candidates, testing for anything from drugs to knowledge, documenting your decision more carefully. etc. And you may also have reduced the risk of a law suit from very small to tiny. But 10 days! With competition for talent at what’s probably an all time high, you can not afford to be slow! Speed matters! If your hiring process has gotten slower, I guarantee it is just the tip of the iceberg. What else is slower?
Energy is a game-changer. When we are energetic, we are happier. Period. That part is pretty simple. But it goes beyond that. Far beyond. When we are energetic, we are more determined and more able to overcome obstacles. When we fall down, the energetic jump up and try again. Energy fuels our ability to take actions that create more happiness. Furthermore, our energy does not just create happiness for ourselves. When we are energetic, we are also more able and willing to help others. We can be more generous with our time and energy. And we all know that helping others is a source of happiness for others as well as for ourselves.
Friday’s New York Times article, A Sea Change in Treating Heart Attacks, is a great example of dramatically improving results, not because of subject matter expertise, but because of attention to process. Heart attack death rates have dropped 38% in a decade. And that number probably under reports the real success due to changing demographics and increasing numbers of diabetic, obese, and other high risk patients. The improvement is not the result of new medical techniques. Doctors still remove blockages using a catheter, tiny balloon, and stent. What’s different is speed. The longer a blockage remains in place, the more damage is done to the heart and the more likely the patient is to die. Typical times between emergency calls and blockage removal have dropped from as much as two hours to under 60 minutes. At one hospital, that interval was cut from more than 150 minutes to 57. Some hospitals are now under 50 minutes. This is progress easily measured in lives saved. In hindsight, the changes seem simple and obvious. So simple you may think there is nothing your business could learn from them. I challenge that. Here is what you can learn.