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Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
 John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach at UCLA, said: “Don’t mistake activity for achievement.” Being busy and being productive are not the same thing. Most of us spend the entire day running from one meeting to another or shifting from one task to another, thinking we’re being productive. Bad news: that’s probably not the case.
Being more productive actually involves less activity than you might think. Being more productive will also mean making a choice. You can choose to stop spending time doing those things that are really marginal when it comes to getting real results, or you can choose to invest those precious minutes in focused activities that move you and your organization forward.
Here are five ways to improve your performance and productivity by 50 percent in the next 30 days
#1 Plan Your Day – Using Your Best Time of the Day
Every day is different but, in certain cases, every day’s the same. Each of us has a unique sort of “time gene.” There are certain times of the day when we’re just simply more productive than other times. For me, early morning and mid-afternoon are my most productive times of the day. For instance, I’m writing this article at 4:30 am. I’ll feel my creative juices flowing until 8:00 am or so, then it’s time for the routine. Around 2:30 or 3:00 pm, I’ll get that second wind and that’s the time to work on those few things that matter most.
What times of the day are you most productive? If you’re not sure, figure it out, because doing what you do best at your most productive times of the day is key to performance and productivity.
#2 Narrow Your Focus – Get Real With Your To-Do List
What three projects, tasks or priorities will most contribute to the accomplishment of your most important priorities? Create an MIA list – Most Important Activities. Try and limit your MIAs to only three – then don’t go to bed tonight until all three are completed. In fact, you can probably knock out all three before noon if you’ll carve out time to focus intently on getting your MIAs done.
Too many To-Dos is a recipe for getting nothing meaningful accomplished. Narrow the focus of your productive time to those few things that allow you to complete important projects.
#3 Take Personal Responsibility – It’s Not About Them – It’s All About You
Gilbert Orland said: “Failure to hit the bull’s-eye is never the fault of the target. If you want to improve your aim, you have to improve yourself.” Don’t be one of those pathetic 95 percent who blame everyone and everything for their lack of success and achievement.
The only thing you can absolutely control is your attitude about your personal level of success. Bad things do happen to good people. Life isn’t fair and there isn’t a tooth fairy. So what? Control what you can control – your attitude. Take responsibility for your personal success and take that responsibility very seriously. Failure to get desired results isn’t “their” fault – it’s yours. Lou Holtz says: “Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.”
#4 Start Your Day With Reading – And I Don’t Mean eMail or Facebook
Just as a healthy breakfast jump-starts your body, reading something motivational or inspirational jump-starts your brain. Begin your day reading something positive. There’ll be plenty of opportunity throughout the day to catch up on all the bad things happening out there.
Start your day being inspired. Study personal productivity. Read how other successful men and women became successful. Take time away from a focus on all you have to do and start your day creating a positive mindset. Achievers are readers. They also guard their hearts and minds by controlling what they feed the brain.
#5 End Your Day Reading and Writing – Not Watching Local News
Use the end of the day wisely. Review what worked and what didn’t. Keep a journal. Once the day has ended, it’s gone forever. It’s history, never to return. Learn from the life lessons of the day. As Jim Rohn used to say: “Let life teach you.” Good judgment comes from bad experiences – so even difficult days have positive lessons.
Do you really need to hear one more story about some poor misguided person doing something incredibly stupid? No. Turn off the TV and let the life lessons of the day sink in. Take what worked and do it again. Take what didn’t work (and didn’t kill you) and figure out ways not to do that again.
Lastly, end the day the same way you started it – reading something inspirational and positive. It will make for a great night’s sleep.
Tags: achievement, change, focus, performance, plan, productive, productivity, reading, time
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
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Thursday, October 7th, 2010
 Getting the right things done is the mark of effective managers. As we’ve discussed on many occasions, it’s not the quantity of work one accomplishes in the course of a day but rather the quality of the work that determines value and real productivity. In order to make sure our focus is on achievement and not activity, we have to understand the pure value of time.
We can obtain quantities of every other resource except time. Time is our most limiting resource, so time management is foundational to getting the right things done. Getting the most important things done in those precious hours and minutes we’ve been given is the key to valued performance and real productivity.
Because our time is so valuable, it only makes sense to maximize the time we have each day. We do so by focusing on those vital few things that make the greatest contribution to the success of the organizations we work for. Getting things done through people is the common definition of the manager’s role. I would argue the primary role of the manager is to make those important few contributions that help move our organizations forward.
Toward that end, it’s critically important to identify what those critical contributions are. Let’s do a little reflective thinking for a moment and try to determine what we need to focus time, attention and resources on – in order to contribute to organizational success and achievement.
1. What am I getting paid to do?
2. What should I be paid to do, if I’m being paid for getting the right things done in my position?
3. Am I doing things I shouldn’t be doing?
It’s question number three I want to focus on right now. Knowing what not to do is at least as important as knowing what to do, if we want to maximize performance and productivity. Creating a “Stop Doing List” is one of the most effective ways we can narrow our focus and zero in on those few things that move our performance and our organization forward.
Create Your Stop Doing List
In an effort to eliminate or reduce those activities that do not contribute to your effectiveness, identify three things you could stop doing – right now – that would enable you to focus on those things that really matter.
Notice I said “…things you could stop doing.” Creating a “Stop Doing List” doesn’t necessarily mean the task or project won’t get done; it just means you won’t be responsible for making it happen. Warning! We often find ourselves doing things – just because we always have – things that really have no meaningful effect on performance, productivity and results. We do them because we’ve always done them. That’s a bad plan!
Set yourself apart from the crowd by clarifying your most important tasks and eliminating those things from your schedule that rob you of your most precious resource – time. Create a “Stop Doing List” and keep it in front of you all the time.
Tags: achievement, done, effective, managers, projects, schedule, time
Posted in 2010, manager's minute | No Comments »
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Monday, June 14th, 2010
I confess I’m not a fan of the local newspaper. There are too many other sources these days for the specific news I choose to follow. Having said that, there’s one publication I do enjoy reading on a regular basis – Investor’s Business Daily.
As you know, I love to focus on fundamentals. I place a high value on doing those few things that give a high return on the investment. Whether it’s time, talent or treasure, doing a few simple things on a regular basis will almost always separate you from the crowd.
My favorite section of the IBD is “Leaders & Success.” In that section of the paper, the focus is on men and women who have attained success and often remarkable achievements through – guess what – clarity, focus and hard work. I know, that last part is a drag, isn’t it?
The Leaders & Success section also presents IBD’s 10 Secrets of Success. The 10 secrets come from years of analyzing leaders and successful people from every walk of life. This extensive study revealed ten traits which, when combined, turned dreams into reality and into fantastic levels of achievement.
This week I’ll share five of the secrets and finish the list in the next edition of “Getting More With Les.” Ready? Here are the first five:
1. How You Think Is Everything:
Always think positive. Think success, not failure. Beware of a negative environment. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10. What can you do to improve?
2. Decide Upon Your True Dreams and Goals.
Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10. What can you do to improve?
3. Take Action:
Goals are nothing without action. Don’t be afraid to get started. Just do it. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10. What can you do to improve?
4. Never Stop Learning:
Go back to school or read books. Get training and acquire skills. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10. What can you do to improve?
5. Be Persistent And Work Hard:
Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Never give up. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10. What can you do to improve?
That’s enough to think about this week. Do yourself a favor though, give these five success secrets some deeper thought. Remember, knowledge itself isn’t power. Knowledge APPLIED is where the real power comes from.
Tags: clarity, failure, focus, goals, hard work, improvement, investment, Investors Business Daily, leaders, learn, negative, news, newspaper, persistence, positive, success, time, training
Posted in 2010 | No Comments »
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Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
 One of the things we all struggle with, seasoned manager or not, is determining how to use our time most effectively. The primary role of the manager is to make sure that the work he or she is doing will contribute to the success of the company.
People think they get the most work done when they’re under the pressure of a deadline. Not so. A deadline will force action, and we will finish a task – because we have to – but the chances are the outcome will not be our best work, or even the most important work we need to do.
Here’s a methodology you might consider using to determine where you focus your time and attention. It involves asking four important questions.
1. What tasks or assignments on my “To Do” list bring the highest value to me or my company?
Take a look at the one or two items which, when finished, bring the greatest rewards. Everything on our list can’t be an “A” priority. If they are – we need to talk.
2. What am I being paid to do?
It’s all too easy to get caught up in trivial matters that really don’t bring value to ourselves – or our company. Create a list of what you believe your three to five highest payoff activities are. Ask your boss to do the same. Then compare the two lists. My bet is the lists might be very different. If so, refocus.
3. What’s the one task on my list that, if done effectively, will have the highest payoff?
Hint: It’s probably something you’ve been putting off for a while. It’s important but it’s not urgent, so it ends up on the back burner. Roll up your sleeves and take on the important task or project. Break it up into small doable pieces and get after it!
4. What the best use of my time, right now?
Focus on the present. Focus on today. Don’t look back at what you should have done. Don’t look ahead at what you could do if… . Just focus on the highest payoff activity you can do today.
Tags: business, deadline, focus, manager's minute, managerial, managers, priority, success, time, value
Posted in 2010, manager's minute | No Comments »
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Saturday, May 1st, 2010
 Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important projects which must be done in order to move our life, our career or our business forward. It’s all too easy to convince ourselves that being busy and being productive are one and the same. Big mistake!
The same holds true for being effective and being efficient. Doing something unimportant well does not make us effective. Requiring a lot of time to finish a project or complete a task doesn’t make the task more important.
Here’s the key question to ask yourself: Am I being productive or am I just being active?
Being Selective Is the Key to Productivity
The two characteristics of high performers are: the ability to separate the urgent from the important, and second, the ability to focus their time and attention on those tasks that will complete important projects or produce the greatest results.
One of the best ways I know of to separate the important from the urgent is to apply the Pareto Principle. Also known as the law of the vital few or the 80/20 Rule, Pareto says the majority of productivity will come from a few select actions or activities.
The stark reality is most of what we do on a daily basis has little impact one way or the other in moving our most important projects forward. Unless we’re very selective in how we structure our day, the important will fall victim to the urgent. We’ll end up majoring on the minors, and what would otherwise be a productive day will be lost.
Being selective and doing less is the path to productivity. Identify those few critical tasks that contribute most to moving your career or your company forward. Schedule time during the day to work on those vital few tasks and don’t allow that time to be affected by trivial things. Hint: most email is trivial and meaningless. So are most phone calls and most office visits.
You have more control of your time than you give yourself credit for. Schedule your priorities. Ask yourself, if I could only accomplish one important thing today, what would it be? Once you make that important decision, schedule time to make it happen. The key to being more productive is doing less.
Tags: business, busy, career, control, effective, efficient, important, order, productivity, results, tasks, time, urgent
Posted in 2010 | No Comments »
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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
It’s estimated that almost everything we do – we do because of habit. That little fact may be hard to swallow but the reality is – life is about choices – and our choices create habits. Most of what we do, personally or professionally, we do because we choose to.
Habits come in two general categories, good and bad. Examples? A good habit would be daily exercise, or doing the most important things first. A bad habit would be procrastination. Since our life today represents a culmination of the choices (habits) we’ve made to this point, why not start making better choices, thus creating habits that will improve the way we live?
Here are a few ways to create positive, productive work habits. Do these for thirty days and you’ll be amazed at the increase in performance, productivity and energy.
1. Plan your work
Set aside 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of each day to plan for important activities. I’m not suggesting a “to do” list. Put together a list of two or three things you can commit to do that will move an important project forward. Then, with the list in front of you, schedule time in your calendar to get those important few things done.
Action Item: Start your day with 10 to 15 minutes of planning time, right after that first cup of coffee and BEFORE you start checking email or checking out your favorite news site.
2. Use time efficiently.
You have more control of your time than you give yourself credit for. Be productive every hour of the day. Don’t just start the day and let whatever happens happen. You have 1440 minutes every day to use or to squander. Hint: surfing the Internet and watching TV is squandering!
Action Item: Keep your plan in front of you and eliminate as many useless tasks as possible. Use time to your advantage. Keep a reading folder with you all the time. When you’re waiting for an appointment, catch up on material you need to read. Keep an audio book in the CD player in your car and listen to that, instead of the same old talk radio show host making the same points he/she made yesterday.
3. Use your most productive hours for your most important tasks.
The important is seldom urgent – that’s why the important doesn’t get done. The two or three items on your “to do” list do not have to be the things you work on first. We all have times during the day when we’re most productive. Determine when your energy and creativity are at their highest and schedule the important tasks for those times.
Action Item: Focus on the quality of the task, not on the number of things you can get done. Spend 90 minutes each day working on those two or three important activities. It doesn’t have to be 90 continuous minutes either – break the 90 minutes into two or three segments. Just choose high energy times.
4. Start now.
Important projects often seem daunting. They’re not usually something you can do in a short period of time, so you’ll have to break the project into “chunks.” Start, for example, by outlining the project. Once that’s complete, put together the list of resources you’ll need to get the project done.
Action Item: Once your outline is complete, commit time to taking that first step, and take the action you need to take to get it done. Take small, manageable steps to complete large tasks and keep moving forward.
Remember, knowledge is NOT power. Knowledge APPLIED is power. If most of what you do is habitual, and you control your behavior, start creating those power habits that will literally transform your life.
Tags: choices, goals, habit, personal, plan, professional, time
Posted in 2010 | No Comments »
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John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach at UCLA, said: “Don’t mistake activity for achievement.” Being busy and being productive are not the same thing. Most of us spend the entire day running from one meeting to another or shifting from one task to another, thinking we’re being productive. Bad news: that’s probably not the case.
