maximum human productivity, sample 1

Sample 1

Productivity Tip

Choosing What To Do

Lateral Thinking Puzzle

The Two Golfers

Okay, you have a long list of stuff to do. Congratulations, at least you have a list! But now, how to choose what to do? Many classical time management systems would have you choose based on a priority system (A1, B2, etc.) In reality, however, priority is only one of the

factors affecting which action to choose.

The other factors are: 1.Location (or Context) 2.Time Available 3.Energy 4.Resources Needed Location: Obviously, you can make phone calls without a phone or fix the leaky faucet while at work (unless your work is plumbing), so where you are is a major factor in which action to choose. I organize my lists primarily by location. Time Available: You wouldn’t want to start a long project 15 minutes before a meeting, but perhaps that would be the perfect time to make a few phone calls. Your context lists may provide some clues

on how long a task may take (your phone calls list, for example), but I try to highlight tasks on all my lists that are good candidates for those few minutes of time between meetings or in the car. Energy: Let’s face it, we all have differing amounts of energy day to day, or even in a day and some tasks take a lot more mental energy than others. If we can differentiate those tasks that take little energy from a lot, we can make the proper choice when we are feeling tired or have a lack of mental energy. Resources: Sometime other resources are needed and are not always available at a location. For example, you may share a piece of office equipment. Knowing the resources required can help you decide if you notice a resource is available or not.

Arnold and Jack were professional golfers and very competitive. One day, during a game they had each scored 30 when Jack hit a bad shot. Arnold immediately added 10 to his own score. Then Arnold hit a good shot and won the game. Why?

Answer on Page 3.

Inside this issue:

Productivity Tip 1

Thinking Puzzle 1

Outlook Tip 2

Creativity Corner 3

Thinking Puzzle Answer 3

Book Nook 4

Q & A 2

News 4

Maximum Human Productivity

“Helping You Do What You Do—More Productively”

Fast Fact According to the Radicati Group, in 2009, office workers received over 200 emails per day and spent 41% of their time writing and reading email.

Maximum Human Productivity is published monthly by New Salem Consulting LLC. To subscribe or distribute, visit www.newsalemconsulting.com.

“Almost all men are intelligent.

It is method they lack.”

- F.W. Nichol

Outlook Tip

Using the Processed Mail Folder

Many people use folders to file emails (if they file at all, some just leave them in their Inbox). While this procedure seems to make sense, as it replicates how items are filed in the physical world, many times it just leads to confusion (did I file that email under Budgets or Accounting?). My solution is to create a new folder called Processed Mail and store all mail, both incoming and outgoing in it. The Processed Mail folder contains the following columns in its view: From To Received Sent Subject Category With the advent of the search capabilities in Outlook 2007 and Google Desktop, it is easy to search for specific emails based on content. Additionally, with both incoming and outgoing emails stored in one folder, we can view the folder by “Conversation”, which shows all the email in a thread in date order, indented so that replies to given emails are

easily recognized. If you have previously been using folders to categorize emails and you don’t feel comfortable leaving email uncategorized, use the Outlook Categorize feature. You can add multiple categories to an email, so that email shows up as both “Budget” and “Finance”. For step by step instructions on how to create the Processed Mail folder and use Categories for both Outlook 2003 and 2007, visit www.newsalemconsulting.com, register and go to the resources page.


Q & A

The Difference Between Projects and Actions

Q: What is the difference between a project and an action? Is it crucial I know the difference and treat them differently?

A: A project is defined as any desired outcome that

requires more than one step. An action is each individual step. As David Allen says, “You can’t do a project, you can only do the individual actions in a project.”

This difference between projects and actions is crucial because many times we don’t take action because we don’t have the true next step defined and our sub-conscious knows it. For example, an action of “Call Jane Doe” may be fine, unless you don’t know Jane’s phone number. When your mind sees that next action, it knows it cannot complete it and skips past. However, if we redefined “Call Jane” as a project with the next action as “Get Jane’s phone number from church directory” our psyche would know the true

next action to take. Taking it a step further, the “Call Jane” action may be on our “Calls” action list while the “Get Jane’s number” action may be on our “Home” action list if that is where the directory is located. This is a simple example, but we can see the power of defining projects as multiple actions and then putting those true next actions on the appropriate location or context lists.

Creativity Corner

Brainwriting 6-3-5

Lateral Thinking Puzzle Answer

The Two Golfers

Creativity Corner will present a new thinking tool each month—thinking tools used to generate or choose ideas. This month we explore an expanded form of brainstorming called Brainwriting 6-3-5. Everyone has heard of “brainstorming”, the method of idea generating where a group throws out ideas in rapid-fire fashion, no judgment is allowed, quantity of ideas is a major objective, since quantity leads to quality and ideas should be combined and piggy-backed. Brainwriting is a form where ideas are written down instead of spoken aloud. This allows member of the group who may be shy about speaking up to generate and present ideas. Sometime, participants consider ideas to crazy to say aloud, but will write them down. The name Brainwriting 6-3-5 is derived from the fact that 6 people each produce 3 new ideas in 3 columns in 5 minutes. At the end of 5 minutes, the ideas are passed to the next person in the group and the process is repeated until all 6 members have contributed to each set of ideas. Theoretically this method will produce 108 ideas (6x3x6). It is helpful if Brainwriting 6-3-5 paper is used (below).

Summary of Steps 1.The problem is identified 2.Six people each write down three ideas pertaining to the

problem on a piece of 6-3-5 paper. 3.Participants then pass their paper to the next person. 4.This person piggybacks on the ideas and writes new ideas

in the spaces below the original ideas. 5.The process is repeated until every person has

contributed to each piece of paper. 6.The results are discussed and evaluated.

They were playing tennis! At 30-30, Jack hit a shot out of bounds. Arnold added 10 to his own score to make it 40-30 and then served an ace to win the game.

November 2009

New Salem Consulting is seeking opportunities to speak about productivity, pro bono, for charities and service organizations. If you would like to schedule an event, please contact Craig Paxson at [email protected].

News

Book Nook

Each month, we will present books or resources important to the field of Human Productivity and provide listings of other resources. All books and resources may be purchased through the New Salem website at www.newsalemconsulting.com/store.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity David Allen The book that coined the term “GTD.”

This is a must-have reference for all who are looking to improve their personal productivity, live with less stress and Get Things Done! Topics include the Five Stages of Mastering Workflow, Project Management, Delegating, Collecting and Processing To-Dos and proper Filing and Storage.

From printers to healthcare, small business to non-profits, New Salem Consulting helps entrepreneurs, owners and managers work on their business instead of in their business. At New Salem we analyze, improve and automate the processes your organization and employees use:

• Maximize your employees productivity

• Use technology to enhance productivity

• Ensure tasks and projects get done and don’t “fall through the cracks”

• Reduce stress, go home on time and Get Things Done!

Making It All Work David Allen

Gemba Kaizen Masaaki Imai

Flawless Consulting Peter Block

The 7 Levels of Change Rolf Smith

Craig Paxson New Salem Consulting


615-722-7063 www.newsalemconsulting.com [email protected]

maximum human productivity, sample 1

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