The ultimate productivity tip

I've been tagged twice today with the "Ultimate Guide to Productivity" meme; Ian McKenzie (the voice behind Ian’s Messy Desk) and Brett Kelly (host of The Cranking Widgets Blog) came after me. I don't like responding to the "ego" memes (e.g., "five things about myself"), but I'd like to have some fun with this one, in which the Instigator Blog has challenged the initial round of bloggers to "pick your single best productivity tip." My answer:

There is no single best productivity tip

Am I cheating? No.

I've found that everyone needs something different, and - like clichés - a tip that you find less-than-compelling will knock the socks off someone else. For example, I had one client who loved the A-Z filing system. Absolutely the best thing she'd ever heard. The next client? Convinced that the tickler was the thing.

And naturally I'm pleased when a piece (either an organizing tool or a concept, i.e., how to break stuff into actions) helps someone - value is value. But I'm happiest when the entire system clicks for a client. I guess that's the piece that hit me the hardest, and is what separates a buffet approach ("bag of tips/tricks") from a comprehensive and integrated framework.

So maybe the ultimate tip is to figure out what you currently need to make a jump (or leap) in your self management, and adopt it. Then repeat, until you're six feet under. Hey, you might even find a new profession!

Programmers: Get out of your shell and exercise your people muscles - for fun and profit

(Note: I wrote this article for a programming venue a while back, but I didn't end up publishing it. As I've been flat out these last few weeks preparing for summer workshops, I thought I'd share it with you. Regular blogging resumes after I get back from my NASA seminar next week. P.S. I had fun checking out the Constellation Program - what geek can resist new spaceships?)

As programmers, we often have the luxury of focusing on interesting and challenging technical problems, without having to worry too much (depending on your work arrangement) about the external factors that make this kind of sheltered life possible. However, it turns out there are some big pluses to developing our people networking skills and getting out and meeting folks. This is especially true when we move out on our own (or become part of a very small team). These advantages include:

• More business,
  
• Unexpected opportunities,
  
• Great product ideas and directions, and
  
• Improved health and life satisfaction.
  

(There's a longer list here.) Most of these advantages stem from the basic ideas that 1) we humans thrive in a more deeply connected world, and 2) opportunities for new ideas, new projects, and additional work can come from surprising places, once you start putting energy into expanding your network. The down side? You may have to develop some new skills, you have to put in time and energy to meet folks, and you have to stay open to possibly unexpected opportunities (i.e., to be ready to say yes).


So how does one go about growing her network? I began with three books, which jump-started my efforts:

• Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends by Tim Sanders,
  
• Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz, and
  
• How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less by Nicholas Boothman

Why these three? First, Sanders' book is inspirational, and encourages us to freely share our knowledge, our network, and our compassion. This can be hard for us, especially the knowledge bit, because as Susan Jeffers puts it (from Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway):

So much of what we learn in life comes to us with great difficultly. And, for some reason, we have a tendency to want to see others struggle as much as we did. Turn this around and begin giving others as much help as you can possibly give them.

As a programmer, I think of this book as how to look at others as partners in work and life, and how helping them ultimately helps me and my business.


In the second book, Ferrazzi and Raz teach us about the good kind of networking, i.e., the kind involving unselfish giving, not the kind in which I stand at the exhibit hall and pass out 300 business cards. Again, as geeks, this book shows us that networking is very powerful, and demonstrates how to get started.

Finally, Boothman's work gives us some crucial skills on establishing rapport with people in the early seconds of a relationship, which apparently matter quite a bit. It covers mysteries like eye contact, body mirroring, and asking open-ended questions when first meeting someone. As a technical type I found myself thinking "Where the hell was this book when I was in high school!?" Think of it as a social skills user manual.


Great. So given all that, how do we put this into practice? As with anything new, there will be trial and error, and - as with anything social - "error" can feel uncomfortable at first. One strategy I found useful was to start by being conscious of each personal interaction, and looking at these as little opportunities to get to know the other person.

For example, I used to interact with people only when necessary, and only for the minimal time needed to deal with the task at hand. Very much Just the Facts. Say I needed to talk with a user. I'd spent a few seconds in obligatory "How you doing?" mode, then jump right into the fray - "Which version of the JDK are you using?," "Is the server running?," etc. However, I now spend a little time asking about the person either before or after the technical stuff - things like how they like their jobs, where they live, what their passions or issues are, etc. While some folks are all business (can't help that!), most welcome the chance to talk about themselves. And guess what? That connection persists, both in my mind and theirs. (Early on I forgot to do this, so I called the person back, apologized for being so hasty, and asked to hear a bit about her life. She was fine with it.)

The bottom line? Brush up those social muscles, dust off your English (non-programming) language skills, and reboot yourself a bit. You never know what a connection with someone might bring, either to you or (better yet) to them.

Some thoughts from attending Time/Design's trainer certification

I had the privilege of attending Time/Design's certification last month, and I wanted to share some good "take aways."

First, their program is very well organized, and I really enjoyed the training by veteran trainer and entrepreneur Valerie Young (lots of good self-employed and job-change tips from her newsletter - see www.changingcourse.com). As I continue to learn how much work it is to be a good teacher (see The crucible of teaching: Want to learn in a hurry? Teach!), I really appreciate when someone does it well. It goes against my personality to admit it takes time and experience to get good at it...

There was a lot to like, and some things I didn't care for (not surprising given I eat productivity systems for lunch), but a few you might find useful:

Time/Design content

They have a bunch of good ideas, as you can tell from their tips section. The common heritage with Getting Things Done shows (David Allen worked with them for quite a while). Familiar to readers will be the two minute rule, the mind scan, projects vs. actions, etc. What may be new: Time Blocking (though I like Julie Morgenstern's explanation better), "Do On" or "Due By?" (for explaining the calendar), and Pareto Principle.

(Interesting tidbit: The Urgent vs. Important matrix (of Covey fame - see The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) dates back to - at least - Eisenhower!)

The best "chunking" time block - 96 Minutes?

Peter Drucker talks about 90 minutes being the minimum chunk of time to do meaningful "knowledge work," and the training brought out a nice tie-in: The 80/20 rule applied to an eight hour day suggests blocking out 96 minutes for the "heavy lifting." Creating time to work daily on important projects is a common theme:

• Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy:

  19. Create large chunks of time: Organize your days around large blocks of time where you can concentrate for extended periods on your most important tasks.

  (More at Some thoughts on "Eat that frog!" by Brian Tracy.)
• 96 Minutes a Day That Will CHANGE YOUR LIFE
• More on Chunking as an Alternative to Multitasking
• Revolving workflow strategies
• Organized at Last

Time/Design's forms

Time/Design has some great paper planner forms. Their binders are wonderful, but if you already have one, many GTD-ers recommend buying their refill forms directly. I've been trying a number of them for the past month, including the nifty folding "action sheet." However, I think because I use only weekly pages (not daily), the flipping won't work for me. I do love their approach to managing repeating tasks with a paper system. There's detail in their Quick Start Guide, but basically you carry two fold-out annual planning pages (very, very cool) in which you mark all repeating events (use a single letter or color). You also have a "perpetual" calendar for annual events (e.g., birthdays, maintenance). To use them, every new month you insert another month's worth of weekly or daily pages, then copy over events from the current year and perpetual pages. Doh!

I also like their matrix diagram (they have a tip on using it here), which I like esp. because it has 31 rows and 12 columns - a cell for each day! You can get creative with this for tracking exercise, goals, habits, etc. I'm still playing with it...

Highlight completed actions

One of my first clients turned me onto the idea of highlighting completed actions (rather than crossing them out). I wrote about it Four Planner Hacks for Paper-Based Productivity, but Time/Design have apparently been recommending it for years (they call it the "Personal Motivation Device").

I now carry one in my planner, along with...

Use a mechanical pencil for your calendar

Another in the "Doh!" category, using pencil for calendar entries instead of pen makes tremendous sense: I regularly need to erase appointments that get canceled or rescheduled, and I'm now pretty much weaned from my White Out habit. (I guess it's the geek in me, but I used to love mechanical pencils, and I've rediscovered the joy and precision of using one. While there are some gorgeous ones out there, it's very hard to beat the Pentel Forte.)

60 day horizon for actions

Finally, I really like their focus on a maximum of 60 days for actions. If you're not ready to act in two months, put it on the Someday/Maybe, or capture start/end dates in the annual planning pages. This can lead to having a smaller list of next actions, something I appreciate.

I'd love to hear from anyone using the Time/Design planner (or method).

US national priorities are really screwed up

(I apologize for the rant, but I'm disgusted with my country. The problems continue to mount, with no leadership in sight. These issues have come to a head locally and personally, and I want to say something about it. I understand you may disagree. I'll return to the usual productivity writing next week. Note: I care about this country; that's why I'm pissed.)

Mark Forster, in his book Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management, talks about the reactive vs. the rational mind. The reactive is the lower-level animal one with shorter-term priorities. The rational is the thinking part that plans and makes us do what's best, even when it means sacrificing immediate gratification. The trouble is, when we're stressed or afraid, guess which gets priority? This arrangement makes sense in the wild, but it doesn't build civilizations. With apologies to Mark, I think we can use this analogy for countries as well. Sadly, the United States - apparently with the blessing of many of my countrymen - is solidly in the reactive camp, as evidenced by our national priorities. A few examples.

1) Culture of violence. We're a gun-worshipping, violence-glorifying country. Just look at the TV, cable, and films that we produce and watch [1]. Then notice how much more violence we have than civilized countries with gun control laws. The recent shootings should convince anybody operating with a full deck that we have a problem. And no, arming everyone to the teeth ("Welcome to third grade. Here's your class schedule, books, and .38. Enjoy.") is not a solution. And if we limited guns, would these nuts just kill anyway? Sure - I can see the news now: "Maniac kills 38 people using salt shaker." Right. We've prioritized the right to own a gun over the right to be safe.

2) Military vs. schools. Around the country you'll see local school systems in real trouble. Crumbling buildings, teachers being laid off, programs being cut, etc. This results in increasing class sizes and more poorly educated kids. Even where I live - a relatively wealthy community - the schools have been hit hard. Why? Mostly it's because the federal contribution to educating our children has dried up. This while we're spending $10B a month just in Iraq [2]. We've prioritized occupation and military adventures over our future citizens.

3) Health insurance. I recently quit a job that provided great benefits at a really good price. Now that I'm self employed, I've really come to understand how screwed up this country's priorities are. We've got tens of millions of people without insurance (including lots of kids), and the choices for people who work on their own are pathetic. Group insurance is invasive, expensive, and the coverage is fair to poor, in some cases non-existent. On top of that, if you've got any medical concerns whatsoever (and isn't addressing them the whole point?) you're really in trouble. We've prioritized commercialized health insurance over being having access to health care.

4) Energy policy. Guess what - Peak oil is real, and the planet's supply is on the decline. Oil is very special stuff, and we've a) pretty much squandered our terrestrial allotment, and b) we refuse to believe it or work on solving it. Picture James Kunstler's image of a fully-loaded SUV, with one driver, accelerating into the bricked-up dead end road of suburbia. That's us. No trains worth mentioning, and third-world bus options. We've prioritized a car-based, high-consumption culture over a pragmatic preparation for the decline.

5) Environmental policy. Finally, hand-in-hand with our transportation choices, we've really messed up our climate. Even if all the leading scientists are wrong, is it worth taking a chance? We've prioritized sticking our heads in the sand over addressing a real - and difficult - problem.


These priorities are not sane, and are not mine, and they're just a few of the choices we've made as a country. Sadly, in making them we've squandered an amount of wealth that has been unheard of in the ~10,000 years of human civilization. But that's not the worst news. The worst thing is that we're doing nothing to correct these priorities; in fact, we're doing the opposite. If it was just me, I'd be upset. But as a parent whose child's health, education, and overall welfare are all threatened, it really stinks.


References

• [1] Don't believe our culture worships guns? Try this simple check, what I call the "Gun Test" - Go to your neighborhood video store (if you still have one - I'll leave corporate take-overs of small towns for another time) and look at the video covers. Try to find any that have no guns on the front or back. It turns out it's really hard to find any. I use this test when I rent, because I don't want to pollute my head with filmmakers who glamorize violence. There's no question it's unhealthy for adults, and especially children. (We limit our 6 YO to 30 minutes of controlled viewing per day, and no cable.)
  
• [2] See for example Estimated Costs of an Iraq War According to CBO or Iraq War, Inflation and War Finance.
  

Deep thoughts on personal growth from designer Bruce Mau

Ever since reading Daniel Pink's book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future I've been working to appreciate the relevance and impact design has on my life. The book talks about six essential abilities that Pink claims we all need to succeed in the coming world - design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. All of these are important, and I love that Pink has tied them together. It's a stimulating read; recommended.

I'll write more about the book another time (including tips like keeping a design journal, and increasing your "MQ" - metaphor quotient), but I today I just wanted to point you an article by designer Bruce Mau that I came across a while ago: An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. I think it's a terrific list.

1. Allow events to change you.
   
2. Forget about good.
   
3. Process is more important than outcome.
   
4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child).
   
5. Go deep.
   
6. Capture accidents.
   
7. Study.
   
8. Drift.
   
9. Begin anywhere.
   
10. Everyone is a leader.
    
11. Harvest ideas. Edit applications.
    
12. Keep moving.
    
13. Slow down.
    
14. Don't be cool.
    
15. Ask stupid questions.
    
16. Collaborate.
    
17. ____________________.
    
18. Stay up late.
    
19. Work the metaphor.
    
20. Be careful to take risks.
    
21. Repeat yourself.
    
22. Make your own tools.
    
23. Stand on someone's shoulders.
    
24. Avoid software.
    
25. Don't clean your desk.
    
26. Don't enter awards competitions.
    
27. Read only left-hand pages.
    
28. Make new words. Expand the lexicon.
    
29. Think with your mind. Forget technology.
    
30. Organization = Liberty.
    
31. Don't borrow money.
    
32. Listen carefully.
    
33. Take field trips.
    
34. Make mistakes faster.
    
35. Imitate.
    
36. Scat.
    
37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.
    
38. Explore the other edge.
    
39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms.
    
40. Avoid fields. Jump fences.
    
41. Laugh.
    
42. Remember.
    
43. Power to the people.