Time management advice

[Roli]

Hi I'm new here and a fresh disciple of fast lane thinking.

I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there who has some advice on time management, I am OK when it comes to dividing my time between my main activities of:

work on my site
tutorials/education
paid work
family time
leisure time

That bit isn't so hard, it basically writes itself after giving myself enough leisure time not to go insane, but my problem comes when I'm at the tasks of working on my site and my online courses.

To break those down they are:

Writing new articles
Editing unpublished articles
Editing published articles
General front end site maintenance.

SEO
Learning and using SEO Profiler tool (SEOP)

Learning and using SEOP backlinks tool
Learning and using SEOP keywords tool
Learning and using SEOP optimizer tool

Twitter interactions/follows/unfollows etc.
Learn and use Instagram
Relevant Forum searches/posts/interactions

Courses

Watching accountancy course and put in to action
Watching app development course and put into action

Okay that's more or less it without boring you to death, like I said I feel there are days sometimes consecutive days when I feel I have maximised my time. But barely a week goes by without me feeling that I could have organised my time better.

So any suggestions are most welcome.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

I'd suggest reading The One Thing by Gary Keller.

 

[ZCP]

Each evening before bed, write down the three things you need to get done the next day...... AND GET THEM DONE!

 

[Roli]

I'd suggest reading The One Thing by Gary Keller.

Thanks Allen, I've ordered it, looking forward it.

 

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[Roli]

Each evening before bed, write down the three things you need to get done the next day...... AND GET THEM DONE!

Good advice and I'll take it up. Though my main problem isn't getting the work done, I guess it's prioritising that's my main issue; though maybe this simple technique will help with that.

Thanks

 

[Concept]

There are some excellent points made here for productivity. Here is a list of how I tackle productivity. Some points are already covered, some aren't:

This is probably what you need to do before taking action:

• Set your long term goal - monthly, yearly, life. How clear on these are you?
• Set your short term goals/milestones - daily, weekly. How do these fit into your long term goals. Is there a clear path of actions you are taking each day/week that bring you closer to achieving those bigger goals. Get clear on the pathways - let me know if you want me to go into detail with how (thats a whole other post)
• Planning your time - In the evening I tend to sit down and plan the following day. I look at my long term goals, and my short term goals and look at what actions will bring me closer to achieving those goals. By the sounds of it making the connection between your long term goals and short term actions seems to be what is missing. Prioritise. What is the number one thing that will make the biggest impact to your main objective? What is the second, third etc.

Other things to do before taking action:

• Dedicating a workspace - I have an office at home. When I'm working I'm in there and I close the door. If I'm not working I'm not in there
• Drink a litre of water - I can't think when I'm dehydrated.
• Anticipate and Eliminate Possible Distractions - I know that there are things that when I'm working I will usually get distracted by. (eg Facebook, people, dogs etc). I eliminate these by removing the issue before I start (Website blockers, letting people know that I'm working, turning off the phone, putting the dogs outside, putting on headphones)
• Getting Yourself in the Right Headspace - I have a short routine that I do before I start work. Mine goes something like food, 10 minute meditation, brew tea/coffee, walk into office and review my action list I wrote last night. Pick one and start.

Sounds like you might do these already, but whilst you’re taking action:

• Set a time limit - I always set a time in which I will work and take breaks. I stick to these. As people mentioend you can do 90minutes on and 30 minutes off. I find after 2 x 90 minute work periods, I go down to 45 minute on, 15 minute off. After 2pm I can't think straight so I usually have a long break, or do simple things like reading.
• Break your short-term objective into chunks. - Get specific, and even set time limits for each. When I break down tasks I always set a limit to what I want to do. Usually estimate a limit them times it by 1.3. Eg if I think it will take an hour I will times it by 1.3 so I actually put aside 1hr 20 minutes. I usually overestimate myself, so that why I times by 1.3, however by setting a time limit it also means I stick to the task at hand and don't get bogged down on minor details that eat up time. It helps me keep focussed on the task at hand.
• Choose a Chunk - pretty self explainetory. Like some others mentioned, usually pick the hardest or the highest payoff activity first. Play with what works for you.
• Take breaks. Ever heard of the axement analogy. Taking breaks helps in the long run.
• Increasing focus - find things that help you focus. I find listening to certain types of music helps, others it's different. Find your focus.

Some other things for after you’ve finished taking action:

• Don’t think about work
• Fulfil your non-work related desires - sitting on Facebook isn't fullfilling and you can other do things rather than watch TV that can be more enjoyable. If you work at home go out and connect with family and friends. If you are stuck inside the wholw day, get outside - I like going for walks in my local national park, or going to martial arts practice.
• Eliminate distracting substances - shitty food, alcohol, smoking, ands drugs can impact general health and wellbeing which in turn affects productivity
• Get away from your dedicated workspace - for me it's closing the door to the office if I'm not working. If I'm still in work mode, I get out of the house entirely.
• Exercise - general health and wellbeing affects productivity also exercise gives you a lot more energy long term.
• Sleep - I cannot stress how important this is.

99% of my clients who are struggling with productivity are missing at least one of these. That should give you a good start. Let me know if you have any specific questions around each.

Nathan

 

[Roli]

There are some excellent points made here for productivity. Here is a list of how I tackle productivity. Some points are already covered, some aren't:

This is probably what you need to do before taking action:

• Set your long term goal - monthly, yearly, life. How clear on these are you?
• Set your short term goals/milestones - daily, weekly. How do these fit into your long term goals. Is there a clear path of actions you are taking each day/week that bring you closer to achieving those bigger goals. Get clear on the pathways - let me know if you want me to go into detail with how (thats a whole other post)
• Planning your time - In the evening I tend to sit down and plan the following day. I look at my long term goals, and my short term goals and look at what actions will bring me closer to achieving those goals. By the sounds of it making the connection between your long term goals and short term actions seems to be what is missing. Prioritise. What is the number one thing that will make the biggest impact to your main objective? What is the second, third etc.

Wow! Thanks for this detailed reply it is exactly what I needed; you hit the nail on the head when you say that linking my long term to my short term goals is what I'm missing. Sometimes I sit down and think to myself; "...what should I be doing right now?" and after several minutes of screen staring or even worse flicking around tasks not giving any of them my full attention.

Also just to give you a bit of background, my situation has recently changed but will shortly go back to this or something resembling this:

Wake up 5 am

Meditate 10 mins

Exercise 10 mins

TASK - usually write or edit article

6:50 - 7:40 Shower, shave, food, family cuddle leave for work

7:45- 18:00 PAID WORK

18:00-20:00 Eat, child duties, speak to spouse.

20:05 - 00:00 TASK - This is usually where I struggle if the work is anything other than article writing/editing. SEO work is extremely unfocussed.

So obviously my weekends look different in that there's no paid work so much more time to concentrate on what's important; however that's when I really lose focus. Even when I do all the things that you suggest like turning off my phone, not checking emails (I've banned Facebook from my life) I still find myself drifting.

Anyway I would love to take you up on your offer to expand on how to connect daily goals to weekly to monthly to long term. I want to touch on other parts of your reply, but I want to wait until you expand as I realise you'll probably answer some of the questions I have in that reply.

Thanks again!

 

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[Kevin Peter]

Use a time tracker tool. It has a ta-da list, with reminder notifications.

 

[Roli]

Use a time tracker tool. It has a ta-da list, with reminder notifications.

Cool, thanks Kevin; do you recommend a particular tool? I've downloaded time logger (so so) and Todoist which seems great and I think I'm going to upgrade to the full version but thought I'd ask you if there was some kickass one you use?

Cheers

 

[Kevin Peter]

Roli, I have used the TOGGL free editio for personal time tracking. But, for my company, we are currently trying to finalize on Replicon TimeAttend, to have a better visibility and transparency, after a month odd long trying out different tools.

 

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[Roli]

Roli, I have used the TOGGL free editio for personal time tracking. But, for my company, we are currently trying to finalize on Replicon TimeAttend, to have a better visibility and transparency, after a month odd long trying out different tools.

Nice one, Todoist seems good, but I'll check out those other tools; cheers much appreciated.

 

[Andy Black]

Time management is a myth. It moves forward at the same pace no matter what we do. We have the same 24 hours a day that Bill Gates and Richard Branson do.

Forget managing time, and think prioritisation instead.

As Allen mentioned, The One Thing is a great book (also great on Audible).

I try to think of the four D's...

A task or project lands on your desk, then consider these in this order:

Dump it (should it even be done?)

Delegate it (should it be done by you?)

Defer it (can it be put in your calendar for a later date? If so, set the date and forget about it)

None of the above?

Do it.

 

[Andy Black]

I forgot to add...

Start a NOT To Do list. Over time it should get bigger than your To Do list.

 

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[Gsuz]

I forgot to add...

Start a NOT To Do list. Over time it should get bigger than your To Do list.

This is HUGE in my opinion. There is this story about Warren Buffett:

To help him with that, Buffett asked Steve to list the 25 most important things he wanted to do in his life.

Then Buffett asked that he review each goal and choose the five most crucial ones.

After considering a moment, he drew circles around five fantastic goals, confirming with Buffett that yes, indeed, they were his highest priorities.

And the rest?

"What about these other 20 things on your list that you didn't circle?" Buffett asked. "What is your plan for completing those?"

Steve knew just what to say.

"Well, the top five are my primary focus, but the other 20 come in at a close second," the pilot said. "They are still important, so I’ll work on those intermittently as I see fit as I'm getting through my top five. They are not as urgent, but I still plan to give them dedicated effort."

Buffett suddenly turned serious.

"You've got it wrong, Steve," he said. "Everything you didn't circle just became your 'avoid at all cost list.' No matter what, these things get no attention from you until you've succeeded with your top five."

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-productivity-trick-2014-9?IR=T

 

[Andy Black]

@Gsuz

Thanks! I actually read that one a while ago, but completely forgot about it. It certainly resonates a lot more with me now. Thanks for reminding us. Rep+


@Roli

Your To Do list looks very big. You'd do well to cross things off, hence Allen's suggestion of reading The One Thing.


...


This article by Richard Koch might help too. I think it's value will depend on whether you have a business running already or not.

www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/articles-by-richard-koch.60708/#post-465116

 

[Roli]

Time management is a myth. It moves forward at the same pace no matter what we do. We have the same 24 hours a day that Bill Gates and Richard Branson do.

Forget managing time, and think prioritisation instead.

Mmm, it's going to take me some convincing that managing your time when you have a bunch of equally important tasks to do has no relevance. For instance we get to the Do it on your D list and I have 9 tasks that are labelled Do It. The point of my post was how do I prioritise between these tasks and manage time so that I use my time efficiently.

So yes, time management is real, it's not a myth ask Richard Branson or Bill Gates if they manage their time efficiently when they have tasks to be done and projects to be completed and I'd be prepared to bet every penny I have that they would give me a "well duh!" kind of look.

 

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[Roli]

This is HUGE in my opinion. There is this story about Warren Buffett:



Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-productivity-trick-2014-9?IR=T

This for me is unsatisfactory as a quote, it seems incomplete to me. If WB had said that to me I would have said yes OK, but how do I manage my time so that I give those 5 important things the time and attention each of them deserve!

 

[Andy Black]

From the book:

"If today your company doesn't know what its ONE Thing is, then the company's ONE Thing is to find out."

That's the point. You should not have 9 things that all need to be done now. Only ONE Thing can be the most important thing to do now.

 

[jackv94]

I really like Ben Settle's podcast on time management which you can find here :

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anti-preneur-ben-settle-show/id812328044

It's episode 40, a lot of the podcast is based of Dan Kennedy's book

 

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[jazb]

You have to begin with the end in mind. this is known as the vision. you have to visualize where you want your business to be.

No point being in the fastlane if you don't know where you're going.

Once you have the end in mind. you need to break it down with numbers. how many sales do i need. what operations do i need to fulfill this. how many employees, what do i need to learn etc. Then break it down into smaller fragments. eventually you will have day to day shit to get done.

always remember E.A.O.D

Eliminate
Automate
Outsource
Delegate

You are managing your business/time extremely well if you spend your time on these things.

 

[Andy Black]

This is turning into a very nice thread. Thanks @Roli


On the subject of whether Time Management is a Myth or not... it doesn't really matter whether that statement is right or not, only whether it helps you move forward.

I prefer to believe it's nothing to do with time, and everything to do with prioritisation.

When someone tells me they don't have time to meet me they are really saying that they have more important things to do - which is just another way of saying meeting me is not important enough for them.

However, we're not going to get far in life explaining we didn't do something by saying "it's not important enough", so instead we say "I didn't have time".

When my wife asks me if I've hung those shelves on the wall I definitely don't say "sorry, it wasn't important enough for me to do". Instead, I say "I didn't have the time to do it (just yet!)."

It's OK using the safer version of "I don't have time" to not hurt other people's feelings (and stay out of the dog house), but it's dangerous to use the "I don't have time" line on yourself.

 

[Roli]

From the book:

"If today your company doesn't know what its ONE Thing is, then the company's ONE Thing is to find out."

That's the point. You should not have 9 things that all need to be done now. Only ONE Thing can be the most important thing to do now.

It's still an oversimplification for me if I'm to extrapolate meaning from that statement then it will look something like this:

ONE thing that company should be doing - Get more hits/subscriptions on the website

- Achieve this through SEO methods

- SEO =

Learning how to use SEO tool
Creating keyword rich content
Editing published material in reaction to keyword research
Researching sites for back links
Researching keywords
Managing social media accounts
Researching and implementing ad campaigns

So there we go, one thing is actually 7 things and you can further subdivide those very broad tasks until you have 20 things and none of these things are trivial, because unless there's a global conspiracy to put out misinformation about how to get website views, I need to do all of these things, some are more important than others, but plenty are of equal importance.

It could be argued that content is the most important thing on the list, but as I've found out in the past if you just concentrate on producing great content without a thought for how to market it, then you end up with a great website that a few hundred people a month will view, if you're lucky.

I realise that the full and detailed answer may be in The One Thing by Gary Keller and also that a lot of this advice is by people way more successful than I am at the moment but for me, practical things like the time management apps recommended by Kevin are what I need. Also the planning advice work's for me as well, even today after downloading Todoist and writing out what I needed to do and the time I should take doing them really helped.

I guess at my core I've always been disorganised and have been fighting that for the last few years and I have the feeling that organised people operate in a way that I want to tap into.

So in conclusion I've eliminated all the guff and ended up with 7 core tasks which can be further subdivided into at least another 5 tasks.

I could even with my limited funds automate the last 2 on the list to some degree - Managing social media accounts and Researching and implementing ad campaigns

Outsourcing takes money, money which I haven't got, so for the time being that's out of the question.

Delegation is outsourcing to people on the payroll and I am the only person on the (non)payroll so that too is out of the question.

So I'm still left with 5 key tasks to deal with, not to mention that my business is not fast lane, though it is capable of passive income. My fast lane business takes some knowledge I don't yet have, hence I need to find time to take the online course taking me to 6 tasks.

Then I need accountancy to help me pull my head out of my arse and gain some control over my present and future finances that takes me to 7.

One thing I will say is regardless of this minor gripe doing all these things feels good and I'm by no means complaining, just trying to do it better.

 

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[Roli]

This is turning into a very nice thread. Thanks @Roli


On the subject of whether Time Management is a Myth or not... it doesn't really matter whether that statement is right or not, only whether it helps you move forward.

I prefer to believe it's nothing to do with time, and everything to do with prioritisation.

When someone tells me they don't have time to meet me they are really saying that they have more important things to do - which is just another way of saying meeting me is not important enough for them.

However, we're not going to get far in life explaining we didn't do something by saying "it's not important enough", so instead we say "I didn't have time".

When my wife asks me if I've hung those shelves on the wall I definitely don't say "sorry, it wasn't important enough for me to do". Instead, I say "I didn't have the time to do it (just yet!)."

It's OK using the safer version of "I don't have time" to not hurt other people's feelings (and stay out of the dog house), but it's dangerous to use the "I don't have time" line on yourself.

I didn't see this before, I definitely have used that with the shelves in the not too distant past

I'm not saying I don't have time, rather I have time but (having wasted criminal amounts of it) I don't want to waste it.

 

[Roli]

You have to begin with the end in mind. this is known as the vision. you have to visualize where you want your business to be.

No point being in the fastlane if you don't know where you're going.

I know where I'm going, but my "problem" is that after reading The Millionaire Fastlane , I realised that the business I thought would make me legendary money was in fact a slow lane business in disguise, or rather I just wasn't aware, at least consciously about the laws of entry and control.

So I'm left with an affiliate site that I still 100% believe in and know that I can generate some good passive income from it, but I have since come up with an idea that is capable of creating a money tree. So in order to that I need to learn to code; I understand the principle of not spreading yourself too thin, but the education has to happen in parallel with the slow lane business and the regular 9-5. At 43 years of age, I quite literally have not got time to waste, why so late? Why such a screw up?

Well that's another story and I'm trying to correct it now and as MJ says the older you are the more of a seismic shift you need to pull you back on course.

Can I afford to concentrate on one thing?

 

[Roli]

I really like Ben Settle's podcast on time management which you can find here :

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anti-preneur-ben-settle-show/id812328044

It's episode 40, a lot of the podcast is based of Dan Kennedy's book

Is there another way to listen to this? I just didn't have the patience to find out why when I clicked on Apple's link to download the 64 bit version of itunes it took me to another page entirely.

I could try again tomorrow when my patience resovoir has been replenished, if there's no other way...

 

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[Concept]

Anyway I would love to take you up on your offer to expand on how to connect daily goals to weekly to monthly to long term. I want to touch on other parts of your reply, but I want to wait until you expand as I realise you'll probably answer some of the questions I have in that reply.

Ok, so I started writing and it turned into a beast. There is a lot here and I tried to keep it short. I’m explaining this so you could use it for even the largest of visions. However, pick and choose what you think would work for you. There are some things that are great for long term life goals, however might be pointless when planning out your daily goals.

Most go about planning something along the lines of:

I’m here right now, and I want to achieve X goal. So what occurs to me now as the best way to achieve X goal is to do A. Ok so I might do A for a week and then I will move onto B, then C, then D, etc

We focus on the present time and the steps we should take moving forward. It all seems locigical and does work in some situations, however in my experience the result is usually we float around trying different things, without a high degree of focus and bam! Our deadline hits and we are nowhere near our goal. The journey there was filled with doubt, frustration, and often times loosing sight of the big picture. We can’t really see the pathway to achieve our goal. Particularly if they are larger loftier goals.

To create that pathway, instead of focusing on what we need to do next and steps we should take we look at it from a different angle.

We looked at it from the future looking back.

But before we do we need to get clear on what it is you want to achieve.

Step 1: Determine desired outcome
Imagine you have achieved your outcome. The outcome is different to your gaol. The outcome could be something more obscure. It could be your vision. It could be a dream you have always wanted to achieve. To do this we need to flesh it out:

• What was you outcome. (at this point it doesn’t have to be measurable)
• What is it like?
• Who’s there with you
• Where are you?
• What are your doing?
• What is your experience of the moment?

The list can go on and on, however the purpose of the outcome is it is empowering context, which right now is inspiring and gives you an opening for action. It’s more of a motivation piece of what you want things to look like, rather than a measurable goal. This is great and essential when planning out how to achieve a long term goal – not essential for shorterm goals (day/week).

Step 2: Brainstorm different ways you could go about achieving this outcome.
This is step is just a brainstorming session. Take the filter off and right out all the bad ideas and all the good ideas. You are not choosing the pathway yet, just thinking up ways you could potentially do it. Get it all out there.

My recommendations is write down potential pathways that are inspiring however scares you and has you be unreasonable with yourself and others. It really pushes you and has you out of your comfort zone. I also like any ideas where you can build a team around – makes shit more enjoyable (in my experience) and often causes results faster.

List these down, then pick one that you think is the best way to go.

Step 3: Creating a measurable outcome
This is a measurable goal that is a good indicator that you have fulfilled on the outcome that you want.
SMART goals are the best way to go about this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria

In short:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time Bound

Eg if you ultimate goal is freedom and excitement and you see the best way to achieve that is to be a travelling entrepreneur then your measurable goal could be 50k a year, avg working time a week = 4hrs and plane tickets for two booked to the Maldives by Jan 1st 2018.

Or if its something smaller….

Before I got to bed at 10pm I am going to have written 1000 words in a blog post on creating post-it note origami for dogs (I’m sure there’s a niche).


Step 4: Milestones
This is where the fun starts.

You will create a list of milestones from the future back till now. These need to be to ensure the fulfillment of the final goal

If you do choose to create a team around your project, make sure one of the milestones closest to now is the creation of the team who will help you achieve the goal.

How many milestone should you have – well that depends on what it is you want to achieve and how far away it is.

If your goal is in a couple of years then have yearly milestones
If your goal is in months, have monthly milestones.
If your goal is in weeks, then have weekly milestones.

You get the idea.

I have a 3 year long goal. I usually have a major milestone every 3 months. For the current major milestone I'm working towards I then have weekly milestones. How far apart you set each milestone is up to you.

So what do I mean by milestones from the future back till now.

Essentially you start from your end destination and create the milestones moving backwards. I personally like to visualize I am there already reveling in the accomplishment.

Then I asked myself, ok what go me here. What got me here? What was vital to have this moment appear? Make sure the milestone is set up like a SMART goal. Bam there you have a milestone.

Next step take a leap back in time closer to the present date.

If you have a milestone every month, then jump back one month before your final destination.

Ok repeat the process. Visualise the moment. Asked yourself, What got me here?.What was vital to have this moment appear? Does this milestone help you get closer to the future milstone? It is SMART. Now you have a new milestone.

Keep doing this until you get to the present day. Now you have a brief outline of what you need to achieve to reach your desired outcome.

A couple of things you will notice.

• There will be a lot of grey areas – that is ok for now. It also highlights things you will need to be aware of.
• We naturally like to add a lot of things. Only include what is vital to fulfill on the goal. Will this milestone actually bring me closer to achieving the goal?
• There are no actions yet, and still a lot of “ok what do I do between milstones?’. That’s ok. We are building the foundation first then we will fill in the gaps.

Step 5: Team Members
Creating a team is entirely optional, however I find working in a team highly rewarding and produces results a lot fast. Don’t get me wrong, a team is hard work and it is not a shortcut, but is does help in the long run.

In this step you need to list down any people you think could be a part of your team. These could be general roles you could fill or specific people. I usually list down anyone I can think of that would be interested in the project or have similar goals in mind who I can help and they can help me in turn.

The number of people I like to have on my team if I have a new project is around 6 people. This is a personal preference. I find it big enough to get a shit ton done, but also small enough so there is not too much team politics.

To be clear, in the role of business these people are not co-founders, staff or anything like that. They are people who have a similar vision, or like your vision enough that they are willing to take part and actively help you in that. That relationship can evolve however and these team members might turn into a cofounder or staff member.

If your aim is to have 6 people on your team then write at least 60 people who could potentially be on your team.

Later down the track when you go to talk to them I recommend doing the following exercise. Answer these questions:

• Do I have any pre conceived opinion about this person? What is there to give up? What is there to forgive? Get all that bullshit out of the way.
• Who are they for you? Why are you choosing these people?
• Who are you for them? What value will you give to them? What can they rely on you for?

Don’t spend more than a minute on this. Its just to clear your head before calling them. If the minute is up and you haven’t complete the exercise, call them/start talking.

The way I approach these conversations (guide only):

• Share what I am up to.
• Hear what they are up to
• What can they see possible in my idea
• What can they hear for themselves in what I am doing
• If you can see it is a good fit, let them know and ask you to join the team.

There are three ways that this can go:

• They are not interested – that’s fine. Thank them and move on.
• They say yes and know how they can contribute – awesome you got a new team member. Rock and roll
• They are not certain how they can fit into your project. If some people have some great ideas that align with what you want to create then that can be their area that they can own. If someone what’s to be a part, but doesn’t know where they fit you can make suggestions.

I find that when I get a team, my role changes to a leadership position where I keep the vision, guide people, and keep everyone on track to make sure you hit the milestones. Yes you will still need to do the grunt work, however you will have a lot of other people helping you.

I’ll leave teams there for now, I could keep going but it would deviate from the subject.

Step 6: Resources
This is essential.

This step involves writing down everything, anything and anyone that you can use, have, or leverage off to have you achieve you desired outcome.

This can be people, mentors, social media groups, forums, upcoming events, programs, other businesses, blogs, websites, newspapers etc

Just write down everything you could potentially use. You don’t have to use them all, just write down every single potential resource you could use to shoot your project forward.

Step 7: Create practices.
Create a practice that would have the vision you have remain alive and keep you excited. Create practies that you do along the way that will have you fulfill on the desired outcome.

For me it is:

• Writing every day.
• Once a week, reflecting on what worked and what didn’t work
• Reading my vision every morning to remind me
• Following up existing customers every day.

Step 8: Creating a display to keep the vision alive.
This is particularly handy for the longer term desired outcomes. It is a must for any visual people out there however I recommend it to anyone. Create something that visually reminds you of your vision. Why you do what you are doing? Something that inspires you. Some people create vision boards, others might have a picture of their family on their phone with 1 or 2 words to remind you. It may seem like a hippy thing to do, but when times get tough (and they will) it can make the difference between succeeding or succumbing to those hopeless thoughts and giving up.

Step 9: Creating the critical actions
Ok so now that we have spent some time on the previous steps, you should have a solid foundation for what needs to be done.

In this section you will need to list

• The requests and promises made (actions to take). These action are created to ensure the results are being produced and the vision is kept present
• The conversations would you have to have? Who will be having those conversations, and to whom?
• Place the actions that you are promising to take and put them in a schedule.

When writing down these actions include:

• The specific action
• The day that you will do them
• Who will do them
• Who they will report to
• The desired result from this action.

I find that I will have lots of actions listed closer to the present time and the further out from the present moment (and closer to my desired outcome) the less actions there are.

That’s ok. You don’t need to have every single actions between now and your desired outcome. Frankly it is impossible to figure them all out. At least have actions every day for the next week or two. And schedule in actions you can see are highly important down the track.

TIP1: Factor in shit going wrong
Things will go wrong. It is the only thing I can guarantee. Make sure to factor this in.

When planning out my week I will put actions for 4 days, and leave the 5th day free. I will plan out 6 hours for an 8 hour day. I will have all the actions/milestones for a three month project scheduled to be completed in 10 weeks, leaving two weeks spare for when shit goes wrong.

Make sure you factor in time for shit going wrong, and interruptions. It will happen.

TIP 2: All plans fail. Review.
Schedule in regular time to check in with progress, look at what is effective and ineffective , and update the plan. Don't wait for things to go wrong.

You don’t know everything, you don’t know everything that will happen. New challenges will arrive that you didn’t’ forsee, things will take longer than expected, things wont work.

When this happens, you wil need to review the plan. Use exactly the same method. Mentioned above:

• Reread your desired outcome.
• Reread your SMART goal that will have that desired outcome fulfilled
• Review different possible pathways to achieve it.
• Review milestones from the future back to the current day to create a pathway that will have it fulfilled.
• Review teams
• Review resources
• Review practices.
• Review display
• Update the critical actions.

If done regularly then there shouldn’t be too many large changes. I usually spend about 30 minutes to an hour a week reviewing, tweaking, and creating new actions for the week.

Notes on the "Crunch time":
When it gets to the final month/week before your desired goal things can get tough. It’s not called the crunch time for no reason. Every action you take will matter so don’t waste it.

Some people cannot handle the pressure in this time, so that move the goal posts. Resist doing this.

Think about any sports game. If the losing team is a point or two down with only 5 minutes to spare, do they tell the umpire, “can we have another 10 minutes?” haha nope, they knuckle down and give it everything they have right up until the whistle blows. At times they come from behind and win the game.

If you are ever in the position where the deadline is coming up, and you look like you are behind, don’t give up. Play 100% right up until the time you said.

Many people assume they have lost well before the timer is up. As a result they give up, and fulfill on their assumption.

I can’t tell you how many times I have achieved the goal at 11:59 pm when the due time was 12am (1 minute later). If you told me the week before that I would have achieved it before the time set, I would have doubted you.

But I never gave up. I put everything in it. I did not accept anything less that my absolute best right up until the buzzer went. I have seen many “miracles” as a result but its all due to getting in and getting my hands dirty.

Yes there have been times when it has hit the time limit and I didn’t achieve the desire outcome. But F*ck, I know I gave it my all and take pride in that. I then sit back, review and then move the time limit to a later date.

Last word
Haha, so what started as a list of dot points turned into a short novel

There is a lot here and I don’t expect you to get it all in one go – it takes practice to see how everything fits together. Either way, I hope I have explained it so you can understand and it helps you in the future. I know I could have gone into A LOT more detail. Let me know if something is unclear.

Cheers

Nathan

 

[Roli]

Thanks Nathan, I really appreciate this. I want to get back to you and properly reply once I've had time to read and digested it; I like novels !

 

[masterneme]

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

http://gettingthingsdone.com/pdfs/tt_workflow_chart.pdf
http://gettingthingsdone.com/pdfs/gtd_workflow_advanced.pdf

 

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[Roli]

Thanks Nathan, I've really studied this and try to apply it, I think the best bits that have helped me are, one, setting time limits - I have downloaded an app which allows me to split work up into chunks of time and breaks, with a little alarm when finished. I'd say that along with the advice has revolutionised my working.

Two things to do after action - This again is kind of tied up with breaks, but it has definitely helped abate the feeling of burnout and also I don't just skip from task to task now, I take a proper break in between and I feel much more energised.

I'm also prioritising a lot better, as you say it was the connection between the short term and long term goals; prioritising means something doesn't get done right now, but it's better than nothing getting done!

So once thank you, you've really helped and whilst I still think I have to be mindful of how I utilise my time; I feel a lot calmer about it all now.

Thanks again
Roli

 

[Kevin Peter]

Everyone writes about pomodoro method. Does it really help? Have you tried it?