Tag Archive for 'Productivity'

Feb52008

Tuesday Top 5: 5 Ways to Boost Your Problem Solving Abilities

In the game of business and in the game of life, you are going to encounter problems - all the time.  The degree of success you have in either game is largely dependent upon your ability to solve problems effectively and efficiently.   

 Today, I want to share the Top 5 ways that I have found work best to continue solving problems at high levels and to keep sailing in smooth waters:

 1.  Get a fresh perspective

 All to often, when you are wrapped up in trying to solve a problem you become too attached to the issue at hand and you cannot objectively look at what you need to do. In this case, give yourself a fresh perspective. This can mean something as simple as taking a break for a few minutes to soliciting outside help to look at the issue (either paid or unpaid).

trees

You might be calling me “Captain Obvious” right about now, but hear me out. What I am advocating is for developing the discipline to recognize when the situations are arising and frustration is creeping up that will keep you from accomplishing your goals. It is one thing to know that you should get a fresh perspective - putting this into action is quite another.

2. Start at the end and work backward

I find that when I am spinning my wheels on a project, that I have lost focus on the end result. As one of my favorite expressions goes, I: “cannot see the forest through the trees.”

finish

To get back to where you need to be, stop everything you are doing (turn away from the computer, step away from the phone) and speak, out loud, what your desired end result of what you are doing is. Saying something out loud carries A LOT more power than simply having a thought or jotting the thought down on paper. Trust me on this one. .

3. Practice thinking

brain

I know that I have you really confused now. But, ask yourself this: why do people practice everything from sports to speaking in public but do not practice thinking?”This might seem like a crazy question, but if you really think about it (full pun intended) you might realize that your cerebrum could use some exercise just like the rest of your body. This begs the question: “what are some brain exercises?” You only need to work on a few things for a few minutes a day and you will be amazed at the improvement in your critical thinking and analytic skills.

Some examples:

  • Sodoku
  • Crossword puzzles
  • Cryptograms
  • Lateral thinking games
  • Word/vocabulary games
  • Trivia games
  • Matching/pattern games
  • Riddles
  • …there are many more 

You will note that most of these things are a hobby or fun for somebody out there. Super nerdy, no doubt and some of them were the probably highlight of people’s Saturday nights before there were nightclubs. I think a few of them are fun, others I prefer not to do.

However, I find that if I spend a few minutes each morning on a lateral thinking game or sudoku puzzle, that I just feel a little better equipped to handle some of the things thrown my way during the day. Stimulate your brain cells and they might just stimulate you right back!

4. Ask better questions

A great college professor once told a class: “if you want to be brilliant, focus on asking better and better questions…solutions will then reveal themselves.” I can tell you that this has rung true in my personal and business life. All to often, we get caught up on “fixing what is wrong” that we lose sight of what is wrong in the first place. Asking better questions will keep you true to the old KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid).

question

Just think of the 5 W’s you learned when you were in grade school:

  • Who
  • What
  • When
  • Where
  • Why
  • *How* (this was always thrown in)

This also reminds me of the expert technicians obsessing over what is wrong with a highly complex computer that appears broken when the janitor walks by, finds the machine unplugged, plugs it in and the machine works to the amazement of the ‘experts.’

5. Laugh

Yes, indeed. Laughter is the best medicine for solving problems. Aside from all of the research that has been done showing that laughter can lengthen your life, cure illnesses and increase productivity, it is just common sense that to laugh is to relieve stress and to If you are ever perplexed, take a cruise over to Youtube and watch a stand-up comic, go to comics.com and have a laugh or just take a look at your favorite Dilbert tear-away poster to boost your mood and your output. relieve stress benefits you in myriad ways.

spoon

Well, there we have our Top 5 for this week. Tune in for the Tuesday Top 5 next week and be on the lookout for a killer “30 Second Thursday” spot this week!

Published
by
Adam Davis
on February 5, 2008
in Inspiration, Motivation, Productivity and Success
. 0 Comments
Jan172008

30 Second Thursdays - Volume 2 - Nix the 80/20 Rule in Your Business

Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule? It is the theory that 80% of your results come from 20% of your time (there are similar applications in other areas of life). I have found that, if you want, you can push the envelope a little bit to get more out of your week.

Without further delay, here is this week’s “30 second Thursday.”

Be sure to tune in next week!

Published
by
Adam Davis
on January 17, 2008
in Productivity
. 0 Comments
Jan12008

Tuesday Top 5: Top 5 Productivity Killers You Need to Neutralize for 2008

Just like weeds that pop up in your driveway or on your sidewalk, productivity killers will creep up on you in your business and professional life.  In my ongoing quest to be come ever more productive, I want to share 5 of the biggest productivity killers that I am going to be on the lookout for in 2008. 

 1. Email Madness

How many email addicts are out there?  I freely admit to being a reformed email addicts.  I went cold turkey a few weeks ago and I am now checking and responding to email only twice daily.  I admit to having an the equivalent to an ‘intervention’ done to me by my wife in this regard.  She basically shoved Tim Ferriss’ book The Four Hour Workweek at me and told me that I absolutely HAD to read it.  Right she was.

email

 I cannot express enough how eliminating email addiction as improved my productivity.  I was constantly checking and re-checking my Outlook for the latest and greatest: questions that I needed to address, people I needed to contact.  I recall doing a time analysis on myself and found that I was spending about 2.5 hours per day in Outlook.  In addition, this constant email checking was interrupting innumerable other tasks that I needed to get done.

The fact of the matter was, for me, that most of the email I got was not truly urgent and thus did not require my immediate attention.  Once you rationalize in your mind that things are not truly urgent, it become easier to put them on the back burner and attend to other tasks without undue stress or paranoia.

2. Telephone madness

 How many of you answer your cell phone within the first ring?  Do you get upset that you have missed calls when you get out of a meeting?  Do you feel a compulsion to check voicemail the first instant you see that blinking light?  If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions (please, be honest with yourself), than you might be suffering from this productivity killer. 

The telephone madness productivity killer goes much along the same lines as email madness.  Most people simply don’t get that many urgent phone calls that require their immediate attention.  Cell phones and other telecommunications have made phone calls as easy as breathing oxygen.  Just ask yourself if the call is really urgent - does it require your immediate attention?  If you are honest with yourself, you may realize that more often than not the answer is ‘no’.

phone

By now,  I hope you are seeing the main theme of this post, which is to try to highlight for you that you must start thinking about structuring your day and your business life so that you aren’t always feeling like you are putting out fires and running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

 3. Administrative Madness (aka the Great Paper Chase)

paper

If you were to analyze your day, minute by minute, how much ow it would you say is spent on matters and tasks that have little or no consequence to your bottom line?  Entrepreneurs are some of the absolute worst offenders when it comes to this productivity killer.  The Great Paper chase takes on many forms, including (but not limited to): payroll and benefits administration, filing and organizing, bookkeeping, bill payment, scheduling, order fulfillment, etc.

It is easy to get caught up in doing these things.  You figure: “I might as well do it because nobody else can do it better,” or “nobody cares enough to get this stuff done correctly and on time.”  If this is the case for you, (it was for me for many years) than I want you to try and experiment.  For just one week, delegate one task.  It could be anything, like preparing a newsletter, updating a website or putting together a brochure.  Before you delegate your chosen task, make a punch list of everything you do when you perform the task.  Choose someone reasonably competent.  You can find great providers on websites like Guru or Elance.  The small delegation of this task should only cost you a few bucks, and it will give you tremendous insights on how you review the work you do versus the work other people do for you, in terms of quality, timing and productivity.  You may think that I am making an overly simplistic experiment, but the best business practice to live by is the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid).

 The only way to focus on what really  matter to your bottom line is to eliminate the time you spend on that which doesn’t.

4. Internet Madness

This productivity killer was one of the most difficult (and still is) for me to manage.  I am an information junkie - especially on topics such as contemporary business, politics and anything involving the Green Bay Packers.  It is hard to resist the urge to read blogs like crazy, cruise Yahoo! Finance for the latest and greatest or head over to Digg to find out what’s going on.  However, I have found that budgeting 45 minutes maximum out of each day for information inhalation is plenty.  If you give yourself a limited time and a deadline, it will prevent you from slipping into the internet abyss.

www

5. Mealtime Madness

As the saying goes: “if I had a nickel for every time…”.  Well, if I had a nickel for every ‘business lunch’ that I have had that turned out to be a waste of time, I would be rich.  Some of you might point a finger at me and suggest that I chose my foodmates with greater care.  But, let’s be honest: we all do it. 

food1

Plain and simple, you should be setting up and going to business meals for two main reasons: to gain or cultivate new clients/customers/key suppliers/financiers or to celebrate business victories.  There simply is no other reason to kill 2.5 hours out of a day.  I can’t count how many business people and professionals that I know that spend about 2o hours a week having meals and coffee with people and not getting much of anything out of it.  Be selective and make sure you eat at places where the food is good in case the company is not!

Take some time to digest the first Top 5 of 2008 with the rest of your New Year’s feast.  Make 2008 the most you can by being as productive as you can.  The one thing that everyone on earth has equally is 24 hours in a day.

Published
by
Adam Davis
on January 1, 2008
in Productivity and time management
. 0 Comments