Do, Don't Do, Stop Doing

I had a nice media inquiry last week that highlighted an insight beyond the usual to-do list advice:

So many people run their lives via "to do" lists. What are the advantages of creating "to not do" lists for work and home?

Following is my response, which I had a little fun with. Cheers!

Questions for you

• When does it make sense to stop doing something?
  
• Do you keep a not-doing list?
  
• How do you decide when to review things you're explicitly not doing?
  

Not doing, Stop doing

This is a great question. In the rush of our intense workdays, our instinct is to focus on ever-expanding "to do" lists. This is natural - being busy feels like being effective. But fixating on doing takes us away from two important things: Doing what has the biggest impact on the bottom line (ours or our organization's), and re-examining at a higher level what we're doing in the first place.

There are two parts to "not doing" lists. First is identifying projects or efforts that, while interesting and potentially valuable, simply aren't worth doing at this time. Rather than just dropping them, it's essential to keep a list of these. Otherwise your mind will try to track them for you, degrading your intellectual performance. This is hard, though. Because we want it all, it is difficult to give up. For this reason, it helps to treat this "idea file" [1] (AKA the GTD "Someday/Maybe" list) of project's you're not doing as a dynamic thing. You should review it periodically to evaluate whether it's time to re-activate some of them. Or possibly put them in the dust bin permanently!

Second, there's the idea of the "stop doing" list. In his book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, Jim Collins emphasizes actively shutting down projects that don't pass the test of being something you absolutely love to do, your are fantastic at, and have the greatest ability to generate income. This might require major shifts in direction. Another tool for assessing what to stop doing comes from Richard Koch's book, The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less. He argues that the biggest impact in our work comes from a small number of initiatives (the "vital few") instead of most of what gets our attention (the "trivial many").

Daily Habits

How can people identify habits in their daily lives that should or can be eliminated? And then how do they go about doing so?

A few tools come to mind. At the lowest level, consider evaluating your daily activities using the Urgency/Importance matrix [2]. Popularized by Stephen Covey, it's a tool for judging whether you're working proactively or reactively. Some low-hanging fruit are tasks that are not urgent and unimportant. Going on a media diet (cutting out TV and news, for example) is an easy way to eliminate these.

Another method is to perform some micro experiments to track how you're actually spending your day. There are a number of these, including recording time spent (in 15 minute increments, say), interruptions, repeated work, and quality of "incoming" like email, RSS feeds, and paperwork.

Most importantly, an overarching evaluation of how you work may be in order. Adopting an improved self-management system can help optimize the efficiency of time spent working. Systems like David Allen's "Getting things done" or Mark Forster's Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management are a good start. After all, who wants to spend more time than necessary processing email or deciding the next action to tackle?

As you suggest, making these changes stick can be a challenge - these habits were often formed over many years. Hiring a consultant to get started can be helpful, as is getting a co-worker to be your support person (or better yet, implement them with you!)

Time Wasters

What are some common time-wasters?

Controversially, smart phones like the BlackBerry or iPhone can be massive time sinks. Not only is it very hard to take notes do solid project work (the screens and input tools are simply too limiting), they grab our attention away from the more important tasks at hand. There is plenty of research on multitasking [3] that shows the importance of focusing on one project at a time for large chunks, rather than fracturing our thinking.

There are many things you can do to cut out time-wasters. For example:

• Use the right communication tool for the task. You can replace a dozen back-and-forth emails with a two minute phone call, for example.
  
• Adopt good meeting skills. Invite only people essential to the purpose, have an agenda, stick to it, and finish with clear actions and dates.
  
• Reduce interruptions. In addition to tracking interruptions to diagnose patterns (see above), teach people to use your inbox and voicemail, schedule open door time, and turn off "new email" alerts.
  

Additional thoughts on the subject

In a struggling economy like ours, it is important to step back and get a higher-level perspective on your organization's work. For example, has it brought new opportunities, or is it time to re-evaluate your strategy? However, this kind of thinking requires the mental space that's so hard to find during the day. A few approaches can help, including implementing Innovation Time Off. Like Google's 20-percent time (the source of Maps and GMail) and 3M's 15 percent Rule (Post-It Notes), creating chunks in your schedule for thinking time can have large and unexpected pay-offs. (Sidebar: Check out the LinkedIn question Would Google-style 20% innovation time-off for personal projects work at your company?.)

References

• [1] I use a simply-structured text file, but anything will do, such as Evernote or OneNote. If you have a favorite tool, please let me know.
  
• [2] This is a classic productivity 2x2, of course, made popular by Stephen Covey (my friend Kathy describes it here). Interestingly, the origin of the idea is quietly attributed to former U.S. President and general Dwight D. Eisenhower (though I'm sure it goes back much farther). The now-defunct (anyone know why?) Google Answers addressed it in Originator of the urgency/importance matrix. There are a few variations on this, with the most interesting being:

  Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said that only two types of papers ever reached his desk, those marked "urgent" and those marked "important." He spent so much time on urgent matters, he complained, that he never got to what was important.

  .
  
• [3] Related: Think You're Multitasking? Think Again, Shortcuts - Multitasking Can Make You Lose ... Um ... Focus, and The Autumn of the Multitaskers.
  

Micro-Experiments

I love the idea using the power of observation to better myself, and I've found that micro-experiments offer a simple, fast, and non-judgmental way to do so. I've collected and tested a handful of them, which I'll share here.

What I mean by micro-experiments:

• Small: Low overhead in starting up.
• Fast: Get results quickly.
• Crucial: Tell us the most amount of information (i.e., at the frontier of our knowledge) with the least amount of effort.

This approach is informed by our nascent Think, Try, Learn effort, which treats everything in your life as an experiment. With, in this case, the application being intellectual performance. However, unlike other posts like these, I'm not claiming they work. Instead I'm suggesting as your fellow scientist-of-life that they could be useful experiments for personal/productive development. Like anything, take assertions with skepticism.

These are non-judgmental by way of using simple record-keeping not to bludgeon your self with guilt, but to simply provide information. I'm repeatedly surprised by how simply and effectively our minds translate this data into improvements. In this I've no doubt been highly influenced by Robert Maurer's One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way.

Following is a list of some I've thought about, a few you've seen before, and hopefully some new ones. If one of these resonates, let me offer a challenge: Try one for 5 or 10 days and report back, either here as a comment, or directly to me.

Good luck!

Sidebar: Some of this clicked while watching IDEO's Tom Kelley: Young at Heart: How to Be an Innovator for Life. Why did the connections happen watching this lecture? I don't know, and this particular case doesn't matter. However, there's a recipe here that does matter: 1) Adopt personal systems to loosen up/lubricate your mind, 2) watch stuff that makes you think, 3) watch the magic happen, and 4) capture it. Facilitating this is why I teach this work.

A big thanks to Susie deVille Schiffli over at InnovationCompass for the pointer. She's a great marketing resource to have on your side.

Questions for you

• What other micro-experiments have you discovered?
• Which micro-experiments have you tried, and what were the results?
• What efforts don't lend themselves to this approach?
• How would you apply this to an media diet?
• Any surprises after doing these?

Table of Experiments

• Repeated Work
• Inbox Quality
• RSS Information Audit
• Time Log
• Procrastination
• Action Input/Output
• Interruptions
• Five-Minute-Only Actions
• Porta-goals
• 60,000 Thought Test

Repeated Work

Stimulated while reading Cut to the Chase: and 99 Other Rules to Liberate Yourself and Gain Back the Gift of Time (and the rule To speed up, slow down in particular), I thought to keep a "repeated work" log. Save your to-do lists (i.e., GTD's Actions list) for a few weeks, then analyze for anything that looks like a redo that you could automate.

Inbox Quality

Over a week or so record for each incoming (email, paper, vmail) whether it relates directly to one of your life goals/objectives. Use a table with two columns, "+" and "-", and fill it with hash marks during the week. For example, if in one sitting you process 10 messages out of your inbox, and 6 relate to goals, make six marks in the "+" column and four in the "-" one. At the end, analyze both the incoming volume during the week (total "+" and "-") and the number of "-". Then start culling.

RSS Information Audit

In the spirit of my post Information Provenance - The Missing Link Between Attention, RSS Feeds, And Value-based Filtering, here's a simple way to analyze the utility of information you've invited into your life. (This assumes that your RSS chops are up-to-speed - see Afraid To Click? How To Efficiently Process Your RSS Feeds.)

1. Select the feed(s) to track.
2. For an approprite time (e.g., two weeks) scan the feed(s) daily and record those that were "hits," i.e., that passed the "Useful Information" test: Did it change the way you think or behave? (Thanks to Dan Markovitz for the genessis of this measure.) To track it just keep a list of feeds, and use tally marks each time a post was useful. Alternatively, if you have idea capture system then use its search or reporting features to track this. (I use a simply-structured text file, but anything will do, such as Evernote or OneNote. If you have a favorite tool, please let me know.)
3. When done, analyze for value, with the threshold of your choice. Your intuition will tell you, and yes, slimming down will be difficult. Just remember, you'll likely encounter anything important again in the future via different ways. Then again, maybe not!

(Note: I'm using "Information Audit" differently from that of libraries. Do you have a better term? See Conducting an Information Audit for the more traditional definition.)

Time Log

This traditional micro-experiment tracks the class of task you're working on at regular intervals, e.g., every 15 minutes. The overhead of performing this is high (you're interrupting yourself after all, but it can be valuable. Analyzing the result of how you spend your time can lead to insights, with opportunities to eliminate waste and improve discipline. For more check out Tips For Tracking And Analyzing Your Time Use.

Procrastination

The 25 Best Time Management Tools & Techniques: How to Get More Done Without Driving Yourself Crazy describes the value of keeping track of tasks you procrastinate on, which you can examine to discern possible causes (and there are many). The author suggests performing the experiment for one week. Record both the activities you postpone and the thoughts and feelings that accompany them, then look for patterns and causes.

Action Input/Output

For one week or so, count daily how many to-dos/actions you create, and how many you check off. Tracking is simple - just use hashes in your calendar, or keep a daily list. Use The Productivity I/O Sweet Spot to evaluate. How do they balance?

Interruptions

In Take Back Your Time: How to Regain Control of Work, Information, and Technology, Jan Jasper suggests keeping an Interruption Log. Simply record who interrupted you, when it happened, the topic, and how long it lasted. Do it for one week, then study and analyze to find preventable ones. Decrease by using and teaching others better communication tools, or by delegating.

Five-Minute-Only Actions

This is a slightly radical one I dreamed up. If you're really stuck in general (i.e., across all your work), try breaking every task/action into five minute chunks. When starting each one just tell yourself you'll only work for five minutes, and stick with it for at least that long. If you really get into it, keep the fire burning and extend as long as you flow. Try this for a week to see if your motivation or progress change. This is a mind hack to overcome the mind's resistance to apparently threatening tasks. It's also an extreme example of chunking down tasks.

Porta-goals

Here's a very common "success strategy" from decades ago. As described in a Time Tactics of Very Successful People, write your personal and professional goals on a 3x5 card and review them aloud at least twice a day. Make sure they're "SMART" (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely - more here), and treat the exercise with a patient, relaxed, and confident attitude. What do you think? Too woo-woo?

60,000 Thought Test

Finally, another radical one that struck me - keep track of the number of internal (i.e., mental) interruptions you encounter during one day. You've probably heard the common notion that we have 60,000 thoughts/day, but testing that requires a lab, a canvas sack of No-Doze, and 15 circus ponies, but here are two ways to play with this:

Distractions/task: Use tally marks to record every time you're pulled away from the task at hand. Start over for each new task. How many did you come up with? During a one-hour conversation I had well over a dozen, some of which I gave into before I caught myself. (Can anyone say "email?")

Constant brain dump: Similar to above, The Secret Pulse of Time suggests "When an unrelated idea crosses your mind write it down, then return to the original task without wasting any further thought on it. The next time you take a break, you will have time to consider that spur of the moment of thought." The author calls this a kind of self control training that capitalizes on the plasticity of the brain, and enhances executive function.

How to GTD-ify fuzzy emails, plus a subject line hacking primer

(Apologies to the out-going president.)

Here's a GTD FAQ: A client recently asked me how to handle vague emails like this:

Would enjoy catching up. Feel free to call sometime to chat - [phone #]

Here's her summary of the problem:

"feel free to call sometime"... my GTD brain explodes! How do you deal with something so ambiguous?

She's spot-on: What is the next action? In case you've had similar messages, I thought I'd share my thinking.

Questions for you

• What similar kinds of email have you received? Care to share?
  
• What methods have you found that help dispatch these kinds of messages?
  
• Any suggestions for coaching or modeling senders so that future emails are clearer?
  
• What email subject line hacks [1] do you use?
  

Suggestions for handling "like to sometime" emails

I've had messages like these myself, and have experienced confusion in how to respond. The questions is what action do you want to take, in this case whether you really want to talk or not. Let's break this down into three rough categories:

1. Not interested
   
2. Moderately interested in talking
   
3. Definitely want to talk to her
   

First, it's best is to decide right when reading the message whether it's a #1 or #3, and dispatch accordingly. Let's look at those two, then analyze #2.

#1 is easy: Archive the email and be done with it, NRN [1].

#3 can be straightforward or not, depending on how motivated the sender is to talk. If motivated and responsive, schedule a phone call. However, if she can't or won't schedule a time, and, again, you really want to talk, then you have to add a near-term action "Try to catch __ by phone at [phone #]." This is a pain, and is why voicemail exists. So you either play "phone tag" or "lottery" (repeatedly try to reach her at her desk/cell phone). Good times to try are early before work starts, lunch time, and end of day after others in her office have gone home.

Of course #2 is trickiest, but telling. The question is why the fuzzy feeling on your end? For me I'm usually motivated by a lukewarm estimate of potential value, and - if I knew I wouldn't disappoint - I'd probably skip it. I've done both (skipping and making a half-hearted effort to connect), and my thinking now is ... drop it. I.e., make it a #1. You can always change your mind, and if they push you might give in, but you're attention is too precious otherwise.

Thanks for the tasty question!

Her Follow-up Comment

Nice analysis, thanks. I guess what I really want is for other people to recognize that clarity is important for both of us, and putting these kind of vague, noncommittal requests out through email is totally unhelpful :).

I think you're right that most #2's won't lead to much of high interest/value, so it's lower stress to let them go. That also leaves more time to network with people who I can actually meet in person, which always seems more fruitful.

References

• [1] NRN (No Reply Necessary) is an acronym [2] used in email subject lines to minimize impact on you and others. Marilyn Paul, author of the best-selling It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys, in my interview called them "subject-line protocols," and explained that they speed communication.
  
  Best yet is using the subject line for whole message (Twitter-style, I suppose), so recipients don't have to open the email to read a single line. Signal this by ending with EOM (End Of Message) or END. More at How "EOM" Makes Your Email More Efficient.
  
  Following are a few that I know about, pulled from the late Marc Orchant's Work is Broken and an OpenSubject wiki (via Jeremy Wright's Email Tags post). Some are more useful than others.
  
  
  
  • 1QM: One Question Message
    
  • AET: Answer Expected Today/this Week/within a Month
    
  • AR: Action Required
    
  • ATC: Attachment is important
    
  • AYQ: Answering Your question
    
  • END: See EOM
    
  • EOM: End Of Message
    
  • FYA: For your Archive
    
  • FYI: For Your Information (no action required)
    
  • IMP: Important (but not requiring action)
    
  • INT: Internal (generally used for policy or procedure announcements)
    
  • MQM: Multiple Question Message
    
  • NRB: Need response by [date and time] (e.g., "10/30 3:00 pm")
    
  • NRN: No Reply Necessary/Needed
    
  • RAF: Read and Forward (I suggest not routing messages like this. Instead, pick specific, relevant recipients, or put it in a central reading resource.)
    
  • RAL: Read At Leisure
    
  • RR: Reply requested
    
  • RRAL: Reply Requested At Leisure
    
  • RYN: Reply with 'Yes' or 'No'
    
  • TY: Thank you (Part of my suggested "No Thanks" email policy: If your response is simply "Thank you," then don't send it. Heartless? Depends on your culture's expectations.)
    
  • URG: Urgent
    
  • WFR: Waiting for your Reply/Advice/Permission
    
  
  Any favorites of yours?
  
• [2] Do I have a thing for acronyms? Yes, and probably due to early indoctrination at NASA, where the first thing they gave me in orientation was a thick book of them because they became their own language. In fact, I'm told it's grown so big that they're now on-line. (I apologize for the reference-within-a-reference. I couldn't help myself.)
  

Bugs, Tickets, and Projects: Integrating GTD and Specialized Systems

A client at a recent workshop [1] asked in a follow-up email [2]:


> Here are a few questions I've run into the past week:
> 1. How would be implement a ticketing system outside of email? (I saw your tweet)
> 2. How do you integrate GTD with managing a large project? Does the project just become a bunch of smaller ones?


He's referring to a Twitter conversation [3] I had with @dshafik and @gcnovus, who had similar questions

• anyone have any success syncing a #gtd app with their bug-tracker?
  
• I have 2311 unread e-mails across 4 mailboxes right now :/ ... Most of my tasks come in via e-mail ... 90% of them are bug tracker, or support ticket e-mails.
  

Regarding the latter I pointed out that those bug tracker and ticket emails probably shouldn't be coming into email at all - the should be handled directly in their system as part of an integrated workflow. Email's such a huge problem, why fill the inbox unnecessarily?

Being a GTD [4] FAQ, so I thought I'd share what I tell clients. Let me know what you think.

Questions for you

• Do you use a specialized application like this?
  
• Which one(s)?
  
• How do you integrate it with your workflow?
  

How would be implement a ticketing system outside of email?

Because the ticketing system is a specialized tool that wants its own workflow, I'd manage it separately from your regular GTD lists. Overall, when you're in "ticket processing mode," you'll be in that system working the tickets needing action. Like your Actions list, you'll use time, energy, and priority to decide which to take on next. Then you'll happily handle them one by one. Most people block out time during the day for ticket processing.

When you're not in meetings and not in the ticketing system, you'll work you GTD lists as we discussed. Again, you'll use your intuition and the factors above to decide which action to do next.

During the day you'll jump between your ticketing system and your GTD system. I recommend batching working your tickets, but your work demands and style will dictate this. Try it out to find your own rhythm.

Note: This approach means you have essentially a new Inbox: unprocessed tickets. You may also have a new Waiting For, but the back-and-forth with clients is usually built in to the system, including automatic follow-up emails. When doing a brain dump, you'll probably put new ticket/project-related "stuff" directly into the ticketing system. Alternatively, you might prefer creating actions like "Add ticket for __", which will kick you into that system when you get to them.

How do you integrate GTD with managing a large project?

Like the ticketing system, you'll probably be using a specialized project planning tool like Microsoft Project. In this case, you can work it like the ticketing approach, but you'll have to pull out actions based on the project path and whatever time horizon makes sense to you. For example, you might look a week ahead to decide what upcoming actions are related to where you need to be, and make them the next ones to choose from.

If it helps, you can pull them out into your regular GTD system by making one or more of them actions that you pick from among the others that are unrelated to the big project. You could do this too for ticketing method I outlined above, but because it probably moves faster it makes sense to keep not duplicate the tickets in your Actions list. I hope that's not confusing.

Regarding subdividing the big project, that will probably be part of the planning you do for it, i.e., creating separate paths for each sub-project. Again, if you'd like you can pull active sub-projects right into your Projects list, and then decide next action(s) to put on your Actions list.

As always, treat it as an experiment

In both the ticketing and project solutions, pick one approach to try as an experiment [4]. It will likely take a few iterations before you find a comfortable and efficient workflow that integrates everything. As always, keep the questions coming - I'm happy to help tweak them.

References

• [1] See Reboot Your Work Productivity Seminar, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. It went very well. Indulge me in sharing a few comments:
  
  
  
  • Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am stalled in my life because of the various projects that sit undone, not to mention tasks. I look forward to applying these techniques and will report back. One thing that really worked for me was getting up and walking around for exercises. Also, your engagement of the workshop participants was great. I noticed I talked a LOT more than usual.
    
  • Great. I would have been happy if it was an even longer day. What really worked for me was walking through the process several times (in slides, individually, and as a group) to clarify the process and make it stick.
    
  • Very helpful overview of GTD and how to be more efficient. You really helped me understand how GTD works and why each phase is useful. You helped make the wicked complicated concepts seem crystal clear. Overall, a great experience.
    
  
  
• [2] Habit changes like adopting what I teach are hard, but I want them to stick. Right now I give participants a range of options for keeping the work going, from 15 minutes to implementing the entire thing over two full days. Additionally I provide follow-up phone calls and email. I'm very open to your suggestions around improving this.
  
• [3] Yes I'm still experimenting with it; I'm @matthewcornell. Related: my Twitter-related posts.
  
• [4] To be clear, while Allen's book has been a major influence, I have no association with The David Allen Company, and I don't use copyrighted materials in my business. Additionally, all my knowledge has been gained the hard way - reading, studying many competing systems, applying it to different domains, teaching, and collaborating. I continue to modify and extend GTD as I address its limitations, research the method's influences and origins, and encounter other great ideas such as daily planning. That said, GTD ties these together in a tight system that an ex-NASA engineer/technical geek can love. It's one of the best ones I've found.
  
• [5] For more on my developing life-as-experiment philosophy check out my experiment-related posts. In addition I'm excited about the roll-out next week of of the Think, Try, Learn platform: Think, Try, Learn: A scientific method for discovering happiness, and our Twitter account @thinktrylearn. More as it develops!
  

Personal Lessons Learned in 2008 - The Intersection of Past, Present, and Future

Tracking lessons learned has emerged as a crucial element of personal growth, and especially in my life-as-experiment philosophy. It "failure" into "knowledge," and takes the sting out of actions by putting them into perspective. The idea is you made the best choice in the moment (trust yourself here), so how could you know any different? The main point, of course, is to learn from them and improve yourself. This is why I've been tracking them since '05.

With that in mind, let me present my 2008 after action debrief. This is a mix of large and some small, and I thought you might get something my analysis. This is a bit of soul-baring, offered in the spirit of openness and self-improvement. The list is long, so I invite you to scan to see if anything pops out at you.

And no, we're not the only ones tracking these. NASA's Office of the Chief Engineer has a public Lessons Learned database:

NASA's Office of the Chief Engineer and the NASA Engineering Network gives the public access to search the NASA Lessons Learned database system. The NASA Lessons Learned database system is the official, reviewed learned lessons from NASA program and projects. The information provided is a summary of the original driving event, as well as recommendations, which in turn, feed into NASA?s continual improvement via training, best practices, policies and procedures.

Unlike mine, you can search by center, mission, topic, or year. Sweet! (Side note: What industry/field of study does lessons learned come from? Knowledge Management? E.g., Knowledge Management - Learning From Lessons - Ten Steps and Facilitating Knowledge Sharing Through Lessons Learned System.)

As for personal lessons learned reports on the web, I found plenty of general "things you should know" post, but surprisingly few personal ones, including that of Fistful of Talent where he listed people he learned from - nice!

Finally,

What do you call a project that generated lots of lessons learned? "Experience"

Let me say I respect highly the things you tried in 2008 that led to lessons. I believe it's a privilege to be so new at something that you're learning left and right. Comfort means stasis and lower levels of novelty, and discomfort brings opportunities for growth. Here's to you!

Questions for you

• Which lessons did you learn in 2008?
  
• Do you explicitly track your lessons? If so, how?
  
• What process/tools help remind you to apply them?
  
• How do you categorize them? What about positive ones? Looking back, most of mine were of the "I wish I hadn't" variety. Any "I'll be doing *that* again" ones?
  

Personal Lessons From 2008

• When arranging travel, consider first class. As a consultant, it's a way to meet people at appropriate levels - thanks to Jason Womack for the idea.
  
• Bring your lighted pen on vacation! I was bit by this when ideas and feelings were coming hot and heavy one night in a hotel room. Lost!
  
• Don't let your assumptions get in the way of new conversations. In this case I took a call from a software developer who wanted my feedback on his program. My initial reaction, once I figured out his reason for calling, was "This isn't a prospective client, so it's a waste of my time." However, I was able to salvage my thinking by realizing it a) said something positive about my reputation (he found me and valued my opinion), and b) that it might be a very good idea to start reviewing programs, both unpaid here on my blog, and paid for advice during development. (For the latter I especially like the creative "idea capture" category of tools.) A second example: I got a call from someone representing herself as from a magazine. My first reaction was "Crud, a telemarketer." Thankfully, instead of hanging up I asked how could I help her. Good thing; she was a reporter for Men's Health Magazine, which eventually lead to a mention in their November issue :-)
  
• Don't wait - start now! While talking with a well known author about starting Think, Try, Learn platform (coming soon!) she encouraged me to jump in with both feet. I tell you, she had my number. I enjoy collecting information and analyzing it in detail before making a decision, but in this case (like many in work and life) there never will be enough data for the perfect choice. And deciding early has the additional advantage of action, which leads to much useful data early on.
  
• "Why do these things always happen to me?" This comes from Stuart Levine's book Cut to the Chase: and 99 Other Rules to Liberate Yourself and Gain Back the Gift of Time where he compares making mistakes vs. making the same mistake. His technique? He keeps a lessons learned file!
  
• Don't offer to help if you don't mean it! When hearing about a new acquaintance's upcoming household move, I said I'd help. His grateful acceptance led immediately to my realizing 1) I didn't really want to help (I'm being brutally honest here), and 2) I wasn't going to follow through. I let it slide without making something of it (i.e., saying I wasn't going to come). This kind of unclear boundaries made me uncomfortable with how I handled it.
  
• Don't be *too* quick to edit email replies. One thing I do to help speed up others' email processing time is to edit reply text to remove extraneous content. For back-and-forth conversations this usually means deleting most everything older than the very last reply. This takes time, but is a gift of efficiency (as mentioned) and clarity (makes it clear what I'm responding to). However, I went overboard (once) and realized I'd removed all context. No biggie, but I thought it was interesting.
  
• You MUST check your Waiting For list at least every week! I'll admit - I've screwed myself a few times by letting my W/F languish a bit. In this case I got a letter from a gas exploration company re: mineral rights on a teeny parcel of land I'd inherited. The letter was dated, and had asked for a reply within two weeks. It was a complex topic, so I put a call into my cousin who has experience in this, and filed the letter. I made two errors. First, I neglected to note the expiration date of the letter in my calendar. Second, I didn't check W/F frequently enough, having assumed (wrongly) that his reply would re-activate the issue. As a result I received a scary legalese-burdened letter after the two week period announcing my having lost an opportunity to participate. The cost of checking the list: Very low. The stress from not doing so: High.
  
• When you give something, just give. I sent to a prospective client an article I thought would be useful, plus a congratulations on a product release, but then spoiled it by making a small pitch at the end. This showed that I might have been thinking more about myself than him, and that my motives might be suspect. I tell people that giving shouldn't be transactional; those are called "deals." Won't be happening again...
  
• When recommending someone, make sure they know it was you who helped them. I came across an opportunity when I took a call from someone looking for help different from mine. I was pleased she accepted my offer to research appropriate people in my LinkedIn network. I put out a request, found two (one who I new, another new to me), and recommended them to my contact after conversations with them. A few weeks later I spoke to one of them, and when I brought it up said, "So *you're* the one!" I hadn't told him about doing it. This was one of those too-infrequent times when I could help someone (How To Help People) so why not let them know. At the least it gives them a heads-up.
  
• EMPTY YOUR INBOXES DAILY! Like the Waiting For lesson above, this one has bit me hard enough times that I ought to learn. There are times when I let IN build up, and that's dangerous. In this case I looked foolish when I emailed someone about a check we were owed, only to find that very one already in my paper inbox. In another case a client (this is painful) had to email me to ask for something I'd promised. This hurts my reputation and is a waste of time for all involved.
  
• Sometimes it's OK to not be cool. As someone relatively new to consulting, there are times when I feel I should play the part of someone more experienced. For example, I took an international call from a prospective client who wanted to fly me to the British Iles. Without editing I responded surprised, then immediately regretted it. After some introspection I realized I didn't want to look inexperienced, and maybe should have acted unsurprised at the prospect of a long (but lucrative) trip. But what's wrong with being new to something? It's actually a privilege - a time when there's a lot of learning and making mistakes (AKA "experience"), but the fear is that by exposing our inexperience we'll lose work. This partly comes from the "there's always someone else" thinking. What's your take on this? I'd like to know.
  
• Do you need to get out more? As someone who's comfortable in my own head, my personal social needs are low - family, friends, and occasional work-away-from-home outings into town are fine. However, for business almost all of my sales have come from face-to-face meetings (plenty by phone, though.) There are other reasons to foray, including idea sharing, stimulation, creating opportunities to help others, and plain fun!
  
• When talking to a client, know the name of her company's officers. This is the category of due diligence, and there's no excuse for not doing it. Their news, who's in charge, their challenges, etc. Just 10 or 15 minutes of searching can tell you this. In my case I spoke with a prospective client who mentioned a leader, but I didn't know to recognize his name. Later: It was the CEO. If the call catches you unprepared, ask if it's OK to call back in five minutes ("I'd love to chat, just let me wrap up what I'm in the middle of and get right back to you") then get cranking!
  
• Stories and colorful language are sticky. Yes, the Heath brothers had it right (see Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, with a nice summary here): While talking with Matthew Scott (my Men@pause interview with him is here) I was struck by his use of stories and understanding of his people (e.g., "the guy in seat 17C"). I don't have a strong connection to popular culture, so I'm at a disadvantage. Doubly so because my niche hasn't fully emerged yet. Suggestions?
  
• Always call for action. I learned this around leaving voicemail in particular, but it applies to everything - meetings, conversations, problems, etc. Adding a healthy helping of WIIFM (What's In It For Me) helps motivate. And yes, this is David Allen's "What's the next action" writ large.
  
• ASK QUESTIONS! This is probably my #1 lesson, and one that needs steady re-pounding. For prospective clients, this is absolutely essential. My naive initial instinct was to talk about me, how I help, and my process. Wrong order! Get folks talking, and start from there. This is more generally the secret of conversation and helping people to like you. It may require some detective work, but that's *fun*. (Small example: While visiting family over the holidays I had lunch with in-laws I don't particularly connect with, esp. with a particular teenager. I tried valiantly to engage, with poor results. On the ride home I reflected on this to someone who knows the person. She told me this kid is a huge history buff (he only appeared to be interested in sports). I wish I'd discovered that while talking with him!)
  
• When scheduling appointments, specify time zone - always and clearly. I do this now out of habit, even for local meetings, and even then people sometimes miss it. Even better, I sometimes list both their and my zones ("12n ET, 9a PT"). I guess using a time-zone aware scheduling tool would help, but I don't like making general blocks available - not yet.
  
• Carefully re-read important documents before sending. Yes, it's a no-brainer, but I'm usually a bit spent when writing these (e.g., proposals) and I sometimes skimp by skimming instead of a full re-read. Don't. Related: Always double-check numbers. For example, the should add up :-)
  
• Be clear why you're doing something. This is that important connection between lower-level operational activities (e.g., calls, emails, writing, and reading) and being effective. It's not something GTD addressess necessarily well, and it can get lost in the noise, but ultimately we have to look at it. In my case, I have activities that don't make sense, and I had to drop them. This includes some kinds of networking, and writing cards and giving gifts to people who might not lead to consulting work. Oh yes, and Twittering (big topic - see A Late Adopter's Productivity Experiment With Twitter).
  
• Blank faces or no questions during presentations means time to stop. Along with running my own business, learning sales and marketing, professional development, and writing I also created from scratch my productivity workshop and learned to present and facilitate seminars. I like it, I'm good at it, and it's a major area of study. For the latter, I found it's easy to get on a roll and forget to monitor how participants are taking in the work. A major indicator is their not asking questions. This is red flag, and needs dealing with immediately. Time for a break? Or maybe you should pause and probe a bit - it's OK to do a short meta discussion - What's going on?, What doesn't make sense?, etc. This doesn't just apply to workshops. If you're sharing an idea during a meeting, you want people to be engaged and thinking seriously about it. Even if they disagree, you'll learn something. Finally, when I'm on the other side of the table, I'm now much more motivated to make myself ask questions, instead of checking the clock to see how long until it's over. Doing this is a gift both to the presenter (hey, she should know) and you (you'll get more out of it).
  
• ?? Interestingly, I have some events that result in my feeling like there should be a lesson, but not being able to identify one. What do you call these? For example, during a media interview about a specific tool, I provided some higher level context about the role of technology in being productive (basically, it has a role, but simple is best). This might not have been what the interviewer wanted to hear, but I felt the point was important. Lesson? Not sure. Thoughts?
  
• When teaching, "fun" is often more effective than "right." I don't have a pithy way of putting this, but I tend to get into an intense frame of mind when helping someone, mostly people in my family where I'm sadly more likely to be less sensitive than, say, with a client where I'm really on. Unfortunately, being so driven for someone to "get it right" makes the even unpleasant for both of us. Yes there are situations that call for rigor, but not in this case: I was teaching her how to play tennis, and it was frustrating. When I noticed what I was doing and turned it off, wow! I said let's just try to hit the ball back and forth, and we had a great time.
  
• Tell potential clients the initial consultation is free. When talking with someone about improving their productivity, I am always happy to talk for 30 minutes as a freebie. I even say that sometimes I can help right there with a tip or idea. However, I found I needed to say this up front so that they weren't uncomfortable talking. This is in the category of maintaining crisp boundaries, and making them explicit. Not sure which ones to clarify? Put yourself in the other's shoes and think which questions would you have in her situation. In this case it's "Should I be asking if this is free?" (Side note: I never worry about giving away information. If all someone needs is a few minutes talking to me, hooray! This pays off in lots of ways - he's helped, I feel good helping, and if he needs further help, I might have a new client.)
  
• Balance DIY savings with the relief of hiring a professional. I'm a bruxer. It's bad, I don't like it, and has given me a 60 year old's teeth at 45, but hey - that's my draw. To deal with it I wear a night guard - a plastic fitted appliance that distributes the force of grinding. (I also use other methods like relaxation and massage - different story.) The lesson here came up when I decided to use a home kit for taking the "impression" myself and working directly with the lab that makes these, instead of paying the dentist as a middleman. Mistake. The process of spreading the goop, pushing the form into place, timing, and in general not bollixing it up was extremely stressful. It's in the category of "important + only one chance," and it sucks. Lesson: Pay the dentist, get it done once and right, and be happy. (Update: I just got the third one in the mail, and it's been almost a year since I started the process. Ick! However, I went in treating this like an experiment, and this was the result. "Now you know" is guaranteed.) More generally, when considering a DIY project, try to calculate difficulty and frustration vs. savings. It's hard if you're new to it, so talking first with others is suggested. The multitude of forums on the net make this easier than ever. Good luck!
  
• Let sleeping dogs lie. Two cases here. First, in arguments or discussions if a hot topic is not that important to you, consider keeping your trap shut. This is a good one for me, a guy who can be detailed an opinionated. Second, if a problem is minor consider leaving it unaddressed. Case in point: My mountain bike's brake lever was a bit soft (it has hydraulic disk brakes - sweet!) so the ex-engineer perfectionist decided to get them just right. Mistake. It turns out they're finicky to adjust, so I ended up with one little thing problem fixed, another one added (lever modulation), all for a good chunk of change.
  
• In conversations, always take a minute to ask about the person herself. In particular I do this when meeting someone new, even if it's not work related. In this case I was talking to a journalist about my work, and I neglected to ask about his story. This was double unsatisfying because I like learning about people's jobs and lives. It's part of why I love my work so much.
  
• Consider dropping the tickler file. Getting radical here, but I've stopped sharing the tickler file in my workshops. It was confusing to people, took time to explain (less is more), and most people don't need one. Instead use the "calendar + holding file" method - details here in Some Common GTD Questions, With Answers.
  
• The weekly review is important when starting your practice. For every 1:1 desk-side client I follow up for at least a month with weekly phone calls. During these we talk about challenges, answer questions, continuing customizing and tweaking, and generally build momentum. Because this is a vulnerable time where old habits can re-assert, do not omit weekly reviewing. I also check that the meta project ("New productivity system is up-and-running") action of clearing backlogs is making progress. (Chunking is helpful: Process the next 20 emails in the "Backlog" folder, or spend 15 minutes on the next paper backlog stack. Note: When working together I guarantee we'll clear all your inboxes. Depending on the volume this might entail creating "backlog" folders, with their accompanying "clear backlog" project(s))
  
• Practice memorizing names. This is crucial for developing relationships, and I continue to struggle with it: in the heat of the moment I forget to apply the steps that I know work. As Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends & Influence People puts it:

  If you want to win friends, make it a point to remember them. If you remember my name, you pay me a subtle compliment; you indicate that I have made an impression on you. Remember my name and you add to my feeling of importance.

  Here's a nice summary:
  
  
  
  1. Make sure you hear a name clearly and can pronounce it correctly.
     
  2. Ask the person to repeat his or her name if necessary.
     
  3. Get a distinct impression of the person - note physical characteristics, listen to the person's voice, try to "visualize" the personality.
     
  4. Repeat the person's name to yourself several times to get it fixed in your mind.
     
  5. Use the person's name several times during your conversation.
     
  6. Associate the name with a word picture that's colorful, action-oriented, even exaggerated.
     
  
  

Cheers!