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Productivity

Book Review – The 5 Choices

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The 5 Choices

The 5 Choices Book CoverRating: 4 / 5

Author(s): Kory Kogon / Adam Merrill / Leena Rinne

Form: Hardcover / Abridged Audiobook Cds

Pages: 288

Summary:

The time management experts at FranklinCovey share their five critical techniques for avoiding distractions and paying focused attention to our most important goals and tasks in our daily lives. This is accomplished by understanding and implementing the 5 choices.

 

Structure:

5 Choices Book Structure

The 1st two choices fall under the DECISION Category:

Choice #1: Act on the Important

Choice #2: Go for Extraordinary, Don’t Settle for Ordinary

 

The 2nd two choices fall under the ATTENTION Category:

Choice #3: Schedule the Big Rocks, Don’t Sort Gravel

Choice #4: Rule Your Technology, Don’t Let It Rule You

 

And the last of the 5 choices falls under the ENERGY Category:

Choice #5: Fuel Your Fire, Don’t Burn Out

 

Here is a detailed description of each of the 5 Choices:

This book is based from wealth of knowledge of Franklin Covey’s rock solid concepts. They’ve updated and repacked the content to make it current and relevant for today. *Here’s a summary of each of the 5 Choices:

Choice 1 – Act on the Important, Don’t React to the Urgent

This choice helps you to discern the important from the less and not important, as well as how to increase your ROM (return on the moment) in the midst of fierce distractions. In today’s world, you are drowning in email, overwhelmed with demands, and trying to do more with less.

 

Choice 2 – Go for Extraordinary, Don’t Settle for Ordinary

This choice helps guide your decision making through a framework of what success looks like in your current, most important roles. You want to make a difference, but competing priorities often prevent you from achieving extraordinary results. With Choice 2, you will refine your current roles in terms of extraordinary results to achieve high-priority goals.

4 Quadrants

Choice 3 – Schedule the Big Rocks, Don’t Sort Gravel

This choice provides you with tips and tools to plan weekly and daily to execute with excellence on the most important things. The crushing increase in workday pressures can make you feel helpless and out of control. With Choice 3, you will regain control of your work and life through a cadence of planning and execution that produces extraordinary outcomes. Big Rocks = Priorities / Gravel = the Details.

 

Choice 4 – Rule Your Technology, Don’t Let It Rule You

This choice provides you with tips and tools to make technology work for you, not against you. Turn your technology into a productivity engine. An electronic avalanche of email, texts, and social-media alerts seriously threaten productivity as never before. With choice 4, you will leverage your technology and fend off distractions. This was a big chapter for me since I’m a technology junkie. Good practical tips.

Screen Shot 2015-04-26 at 5.07.16 PM

Choice 5 – Fuel Your Fire, Don’t Burn Out

This choice provides you with simple, yet critical ways to increase energy so you can think clearly, make good decisions, and feel more accomplished at the end of every day. Today’s exhausting, high-pressure work environment can burn you out. By applying the 5 Energy Drivers in Choice 5, you will benefit from the latest in brain science to consistently recharge your mental and physical energy.

*Credit – taken from Franklin Covey website

 

Key Quotes

“The results we achieve in our lives are impacted by our discernment. With practice, we can rewire our brain to become more discerning and less reactive.”

“Technology can accelerate the inflow of gravel into our lives, burying us faster under a mountain of less important things and must be managed properly.”

“Most people do not take the time to clarify what is most important to them and as a result, they do not have a solid sense of satisfaction at the end of each day.”

 

Key Takeaways

To be truly productive, we should minimize the time we spend in Q1 and Q3, eliminate entirely the time we spend in Q4, and maximize the time we invest in Q2.

You can never get ahead by just sorting gravel faster. Decide what is most important and get those activities in the bucket before the week begins.

The three steps for Weekly Q2 Planning are:

  1. Review your Roles and Goals
  2. Schedule the Big Rocks
  3. Organize the Rest

The three steps for Daily Q2 Planning are:

  1. Close Out the Day
  2. Identify the Few “Must Do’s”
  3. Organize the Rest

There are 5 Energy Drivers: Move / Eat / Sleep / Relax / Connect

When you make regular investments in these 5 Energy Drivers, you create a patter of life that fuels your fire and keeps you from burning out.

 

Closing Comments

If you’re driven in improving your productivity, this is a must read. At a minimum, check the book out from your library or pick up the abridged audio book from Amazon.

It’s definitely worth the read. There a ton of nuggets and reinforcements that we often need to keep us headed in the right direction.

Let me know your thoughts on the book if / when you choose to read it.

 

Five Productivity Questions I Ask Every Single Day

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Five Productivity Questions I Ask Every Single Day

 

Is is possible asking key questions at the beginning of each day that will make our day more productive?

What if these key questions removed some stress and at the same time actually gave you more satisfaction at the end of the day because your productivity increased?

Time is one of my most valuable resources. Therefore I must leverage and maximize each precious moment given to me.

I travel a ton for work. I drive a ton every other weekend. It would be easy to use that as an excuse not to be productive.

But the exact opposite is true. I must be that much more vigilant to maximize my time wisely to be productive no matter where I am or what my schedule holds for the day ahead.

There are Five Productivity Questions I Ask Every Single Day:

 

1. What is the ONE THING that must get done today no matter what today?

Anyone who is productive has that one thing that just must be done today. Whether we put something off or it has a deadline, today is that day for completion.

It’s the one thing that will make or break my day with either its completion or quality of work.

When I ask this question, what is the one thing that must get done today no matter what, it forces me to isolate the absolute most important task that must be done and then I schedule it first at all costs.

But yet so often it’s not only a low priority today, it’s put off to the end of the day and two things happen as a result:

I feel rushed and the quality of the work suffers
I’m unable to give it my best effort because so much of the day has taken my best focus

This is completely avoidable by asking this question to begin your day and scheduling it as the 1st major thing you focus your best attention on this morning.

 

2. What is something I need to do but don’t want to do today?

There is ALWAYS something in your day you simply don’t want to do. And if you’re lucky, there may be more than one or potentially your entire day!

Know thyself. If you’re anything like me, you don’t like to do what you don’t want to do. Normally, this is not a big deal. But it is with productivity.

Sometimes the very thing you don’t want to do today is the ONE THING that just needs to get done today no matter what (question #1).

For me, my tendency is to put it off so I pay the price of both not wanting to do it AND having to get it done today (of course, at no additional charge, right?)

In a perfect scheduling day, I will do what absolutely needs to be done as my first time block of the day and if possible, knock it out before doing anything else.

Then secondly, move on to something I need to do but don’t want to do today.

If I can make some progress on this dreaded task (not to be dramatic, right?), it takes the mental edge of completing it because it’s already begun and usually not as bad as I made it out to be. And often, it doesn’t take as long especially if I focus on it for a chunk of time.

The key is knocking it out early so you don’t feel pressure on top of disdain for the task.

 

3. What could I start today that will avoid an emergency tomorrow?

Both of the first two questions can be dramatically influenced and affected to the positive by asking this question.

This is where thinking ahead and planning takes the pressure off of tomorrow. It moves something from Q1 – Urgent and Important to Q2 – Not Urgent and Important.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@brybuckley” remove_url=”true”]We have enough urgency and stress in any given day. If I can avoid any of it by thinking ahead, it’s worth my time and effort today.[/tweetthis]

If I have a major presentation to create or a large project to complete, if I can begin that process ahead of time to avoid an emergency tomorrow, two things ultimately happen:

I don’t feel the overwhelming stress tomorrow of completing it that day
My quality of work increases because I’m not rushed

I prefer to allow thoughts to develop and unfold rather than appear and go with the first idea.

Asking this question will allow that key development and minimize your stress for tomorrow.

4. Where could I potentially lose a large portion of time today?

According to Kenneth Ziegler’s research, we tend to underestimate, on the average, by 20 percent the time a task will take.

Everyday offers a task, meeting, conference call, interruption etc. that could suck the life or any extra margin completely out of your day,

This question forces me to look at my day objectively and see where I may need to pad some time to make sure I don’t get off schedule or at least too far off schedule so that something major isn’t completed.

For example, if I’m working on a big project or presentation, I have a gift of under-estimating how long it will take for it to not only be completed but edited, get feedback, and finalized.

I also have certain calls, meetings, etc. which no matter how long the scheduled time states, ALWAYS goes longer yet I never schedule this overage.

This is a solvable problem by asking this question, where could I lose a large portion of time today?

It’s taking control of YOUR schedule to maximize YOUR productivity. Go into your day with “Eyes Wide Open” of where may lose valuable time and plan ahead for this predictable loss.

 

5. When can I batch common activities together today?

There are a few activities that you do every single day: emails, phone calls, filing, etc.

But when these tasks are done in isolation, they seem to take much longer and knock me off focus far more than is necessary and definitely beneficial.

This is where batching activities is absolutely critical. The concept was introduced to me by Kenneth Ziegler in his highly recommended book, Organizing for Success.

Batching common activities is such a simple concept but so few implement the concept. It’s taking similar activities and doing them at the same time.

For example, let’s say you implement Question #1: What is the One Thing That Must Get Done Today?” before checking email. AFTER and ONLY AFTER you complete your one thing, you took 20 minutes and went after your Inbox.

Since I’ve applied this theory, I get SO many more emails completed because I’m in that mindset and that is my task not bouncing from one thing to another.

The same is true batching phone calls, office busy work such as filing, errands, etc.

But this question must be asked at the beginning of the day to maximize your productivity.

 

In the End…

Productivity begins with intentionality. It’s not a reaction game.

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Learning to ask these or other productivity questions to begin your day will exponentially affect the results of your day.

I challenge you to ask these five questions for the next five work days and measure the results.  Just the simple process of thinking through your day will yield positive results.

Motivated, busy professionals think differently to escape their average. They don’t compare themselves to anyone else but know they can always personally improve.

And this is a perfect way to to excel in an area that only you can control: your productivity.

Closing Question…

Which of the five questions should you ask yourself first that will make the greatest impact on your productivity tomorrow?

The Secret Killer of Productivity

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The Secret Killer of Productivity

Three Convincing Reasons Not to Simply React to Your Day

 

You sit down to work and one of the following happens:

  • You hear your infamous text ding and well, you know what happens next
  • You choose to return this “one pop-up email” while working on something else (because it popped up and seems urgent) only to lose 10 minutes going back and forth
  • Someone interrupts you with “hey, this will only take a second”
  • You’re going to just check this one thing and it leads to another thing which leads to…

It’s like hitting rush hour traffic. Again. And again. You get absolutely no where.

 

I’ve always struggled in this area. I like movement and getting a lot accomplished quickly. But there is always a trade-off and a cost.

Yet reacting gives me a rush because I feel busy. I feel like I’m still accomplishing something at the end of the day.

Sadly, most of the time only God knows what actually was accomplished but it was something, right?!

The book The 5 Choices hits this topic dead on by describing it as URGENT

Q1 – Urgent / Important

If it’s Q1 (quandrant) you’re in crisis and it’s high stress.

Q3 – Urgent / Not Important

If it’s Q3, it just wants your attention and wants it now! But isn’t necessary unless you get a thrill or instant gratification from relieving the urgency of it

Screen Shot 2015-04-12 at 5.22.33 PM

I want and should live in Q2 – Important but not urgent but live in the land of react.

But is there a cost? Could reacting actually be a secret killer of productivity?

 

Here Are Three Convincing Reasons Not to Simply React to Your Day:

1. Loss of Control

When I’m reacting the 1st thing I lose is the control of my day. I find this in two specific areas:

  • Others Requests / Demands
  • Personal Rabbit Trails

I also find someone wants me to respond instantly then they take their sweet time returning the favor.

Sure, I drop everything because it was urgent then it’s no longer that important. (insert bitterness here)

But I do have control to what is truly worth stopping what I’m doing to consciously choose to do something else.

 

2. Loss of Momentum

The 2nd loss is all momentum. How many times have you stopped to react to something and had absolutely no idea what you were originally doing? Yeah, no waste of time there, right?

Or more times than not, I have to re-read my work to see where I left off, and get back in the zone of whatever I was working on before I hi-jacked all momentum.

In the book, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy (highly recommended), the author spends an entire chapter on “The Big Mo” (momentum, for those not following along at home) and the power of it when harnessed.

Yet, when we react, all of the momentum that has been gained is like a freight train slamming on its break. It will not regain its speed quickly it had before the sudden stop.

 

3. Loss of Results

In the end, the highest price for reacting becomes my results.

Sometimes it’s a short-term result because the reaction distracted me to a key thought or idea which I rarely recapture after that “so important” work stoppage.

Other times I lose precious time never to be retrieved again and I live in the land of regret. Been there. The admission is too high and never worth it.

Rarely is my reaction worth the time I took to stop and pay attention to it. But yet I so easily can get pulled in by its shiny attraction.

 

Here Are Two Solutions on How Not to React:

  1. Limit possible distractions

The less I have around me that can distract me, the less my urge to react dramatically decreases and my productivity increases.

Here are my biggest culprates to take me down on reacting to a distraction:

  • Text – the ding owns me – I am a slave to it!
  • Email – cannot resist the email pop-up across the screen
  • Websites – seeing an open icon is like dark chocolate to my wife or a good bottle of vino for yours truly

I will justify “this will only take a second” (lies I tell you!) which it very well could be quick but I sacrifice momentum which is never worth the reaction.

I have a natural gift that I will find myself drawn to most distractions and then I’ve officially lost control. Can I get an Amen?

  1. Discipline

In the end, I must CHOOSE what is more important and have the discipline to determine what is most important and actually do it.

One of the best ways I can measure how disciplined I was for the day was to measure my actual results at the end of the day. I look back and see what was accomplished in comparison to my original plan for the day. (of course, both require planning – see link)

When I take the time to actually look at what was done then when went wrong, this valuable intel lets me know what to adjust for tomorrow.

But the reality is I must resolve that whatever I’m working on deserves my focus and attention more than reacting to the urgent. Then I must actually do it.

This reality takes discipline to delay instant gratification and produce the actual desired results.

 

IN THE END…

If you’re truly serious about productivity, you will do three specific actions:

  1. Determine what is your distraction (or if like me, distractions) immediately
  1. Seek to eliminate them at all costs (even instant gratification)
  1. Evaluate your progress daily

Closing Question…

How are you doing in this area? Do you find this is the secret killer of your productivity?

Defining Be Professionally Better

Defining Be Professionally Better

8 Descriptions of the Average Professional’s Day

Most people feel the strongest area for them is professionally. But here’s a question: are they measuring the right things to make this actually a true statement?

I’ve been the guy who was busy but not productive. I wasted SO much energy reacting to my day and getting everything done for everyone else but not my own work. I was frustrated, drained, and ultimately unproductive. But I was sure was busy.

But then things started to change when I decided to escape my own average and get serious about planning and productivity. And oh have things changed!

The second of the three key areas of Escaping Your Average and Embracing Better is the professional side of your life.

Your Mind = Your Mental World. Not everyone sees it but they do see your results. And often, that’s exactly the difference maker between success and mediocrity. Here is the symbol for Be Professionally Better moving forward:

Clock

Ironically, most people truly believe they are much better in this area than they actually are which is easily proven by their results (or possibly the lack thereof).

But even then, most people prefer the comfort of not changing and getting the same results.

Here are 8 Descriptions of the Average Professional’s Day:

  1. Show up and just begin
  2. React to whatever just appears
  3. Drop everything for anything urgent
  4. Bounce from task to task
  5. Never really finish anything or its completed poorly
  6. Waste time due to overwhelm or lack of engagement
  7. Feel busy all day but not necessarily productive
  8. Feel exhausted and NOT looking forward to tomorrow

 

It doesn’t take long to uncover the lack of planning and productivity in one’s day let alone their life.

But why live this way? Why regret how you spent your time and what little was accomplished? There is another way.

Be Professionally Better consists of two main categories. Each one is directly affected by the other and is the strongest when both are working together. And when done effectively, can provide exponential results. What are the two categories?

  1. Planning
  1. Productivity

Every Wednesday I will be writing on one or the other of these critically important subjects. One Wednesday will be a planning focus. The other Wednesday will be a productivity focus.

Reflective Question…

Are these areas that you feel you need improvement in your life? If you planned more, would you be able to not only accomplish more, but actually the things that are truly important and game changers to your success?

John Pierpont Morgan once said, “The first step in getting somewhere is to decide you are not going to stay where you are.”

Here’s the point: You must make this decision to grow in the professional area of planning and productivity.

And are you busy or productive? I find that is one of the biggest misnomers or lies that need to be exposed. Busy does NOT equal productivity.

Good analogy by Alfred A. Montapert: “Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make progress.

[tweetthis remove_twitter_handles=”true” remove_url=”true” remove_hidden_hashtags=”true”]Don’t confuse busy & motion with productivity & progress. Once this is grasped, growth is right around the corner & there for the taking.[/tweetthis]

Yet I find this is one of the largest poser areas of busy professionals. We want to appear successful and it’s hard for us to truly admit we need to improve in this result-oriented area.

But the motivated professional will learn from anyone and anything to grow especially in planning and productivity.

Once I personally chose this learning mindset, I came across SO much information that offered immediate relief and ultimate improvement.

I hope to shorten your journey in this area by educating, challenging, and motivating you in the professional area of your life. Remember, these are areas that only you can personally change and control.

Your average may be better than most people, but is it good enough for you?

Truly motivated professionals will be honest with that answer and make the necessary changes to grow and excel. Will that be true of you?

KEY ACTION ITEM:

Commit to learning and being willing to change in this area. Read and apply the action items in each post under becoming professionally better.

KEY QUESTION:

Are you busy or productive right now in your life?