Laura Stack - The Productivity Pro, Time Management, Getting Things Done, How to Be More Productive

Free Bonuses when you buy my new book THE EXHAUSTION CURE on Amazon today

TODAY'S THE DAY!  Buy my newest book The Exhaustion Cure: Up Your Energy from Low to Go in 21 Days on Amazon.com today, Tuesday, May 13.  Email your receipt to Katie@TheProductivityPro.com, and you will receive a special link to some great, FREE bonuses resources.  Contributing to this promotion are best-selling authors Mark Sanborn, Dianna Booher, Chris Widener, and Roxanne Emmerich.  This book will help you boost your capacity for personal productivity by increasing your energy level, which will help you achieve your goals in less time.

Thank you for your interest and support! 

www.TheProductivityPro.com

Review in Publisher's Weekly of my new book The Exhaustion Cure

The Exhaustion Cure: Up Your Energy From Low to Go in 21 Days
Laura Stack Broadway, $13.95 paper (368p) ISBN 978-0-7679-2751-2

With brisk efficiency, Stack (Leave the Office Earlier) breezes through 21 factors affecting the energy or capacity to perform the myriad duties, obligations, responsibilities and activities of daily schedules. In an appealingly simple format, Stack breaks these factors into three categories: physiological (including diet, nutrition, sleep, exercise and metabolism), practices (attitude, relaxation, time management, etc.) and periphery (environment, relationships and stress level), and guides readers through three weeks of replacing “energy bandits” with corresponding “energy boosters.” Her health advice focuses on maximum results in little time; her cures for major energy drains (cigarettes, caffeine, electronic devices, workaholism, perfectionism and procrastination, for example) are practical, and her perspectives on stressful home and workplace relationships are refreshing. She helps readers distinguish between status quo tasks and more fulfilling ones that move them forward, and makes a strong case for focusing rather than multitasking. While her “just do it” approach may not work for everyone, it just might help many clear a path to realizing their dreams. (May)

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6552502.html?q=Exhaustion+CUre

Catalog Choice Lets You Decide What You Want to Receive

I like a new service by Catalog Choice, in which you decide which catalogs you want to receive.  When you receive a catalog you don't want, you enter it on your account and select "Decline Catalog."  They contact the merchant on your behalf and request that they no longer send you their catalog. Reduce the number of catalogs you receive in the mail!  One-stop-shop method keeps you from having to unsubscribe to each one individually---a real time saver!

It's About Time

Its About Time

Pareto is very busy in the sales world.  You know the 80-20 rule.  In this case, it means that only 20% of salespeople spend 80% of their time on selling activities.  Are you in this group?  See if you recognize yourself.  If not, here’s how you can join the group.      

Put your fingers on it fast.  Laura Stack is a professional speaker and author of Leave the Office Earlier® and Find More Time.  She sees several time wasters that cost salespeople valuable selling time.  One of the biggest time wasters is lacking a system to track client history.  The system should include notes on conversations that took place, with whom, and when they took place.  Stack says, “To be truly organized you should be able to have a prospect call you out of the blue and you should be able to immediately refer back to a conversation that took place years ago.”  Without the system, you can’t be effective. You may even frustrate clients who have to repeat themselves and might have to rely on facts that aren’t correct.   Stack uses ACT! to take notes while talking with clients on the phone.  Many salespeople are unaware that Outlook can be used to track history.  The journal feature allows you to take notes and attach those notes to the contact.  Stack adds that you can use a manual folder system if you prefer. What is essential is to have a system to aggregate and retrieve client history. 

There’s an unexpected time waster—the BlackBerry.  It’s hard to use one for taking notes because you can’t type that fast.  Stack sees salespeople taking notes on scraps of paper, place mats and even their hands. That haphazard system makes them more disorganized.  She suggests, “Understand the features and benefits and decide if it’s for you.”  It’s important once you do take notes to enter them into your system as soon as possible so they don’t pile up.

Get to work fast.  Another time waster is when salespeople lack a plan or poorly plan their daily activities.  It starts by having a system to schedule follow up tasks like telephone calls.  If you tell a customer you will call in two weeks, you must follow through.  Some salespeople think they can remember everything they promise. That’s far too taxing. Instead, a technology supplied or manual system works well to keep your promises.  She says, “People will work with someone who is reliable more than someone they like.”  Some inefficient salespeople begin each day thinking, “Who am I supposed to call today?”  Stack says that when you come to work each day you should already know whom you’re supposed to call and what you’re supposed to do.  If you work in inside sales, your planning can be the last task of the previous day.  If you do a lot of driving, a week out is sufficient and more time is required for air travelers.  In addition, at the beginning of each month Stack recommends reviewing activities for the coming month.

Work on selling.  Stack sees many salespeople wasting time on activities that take them away from selling. One activity is constant email checking which she suggests reducing to once per day. She sees salespeople who take notes on spiral notebooks only to waste time flipping back through the notebooks to locate a particular piece of customer information.  She often hears complaints about completing reports that are time wasters. Yet when she asks, “What have you done about it?” she often gets the response, “Nothing.”  Stack reports, “If leadership knew, they would care as it’s directly impacting the profitability of the sales force.” 

You may think you don’t have time to plan your selling.  You really do.  Stack says, “Organization is an enabler. Once it’s in place, it allows you to make more sales. It’s a launching pad to reach more sales revenue.”  Sounds like it’s time to take the leap and join the 20% that are selling more effectively. 

Maura Schreier-Fleming works with business and sales professionals on skills and strategies so they can sell more and be more productive at work.  She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results which is available at www.BestatSelling.com.  She founded her company Best@Selling in 1997.  You can reach her at 972.380.0200 or info@Bestatsellling.com. 

How to systematically organize and declutter any area

It always amuses me how many people get inspired to get organized come the New Year.  It's as if 1/1 somehow had a magical connotation.  What was wrong with 4/16 or 11/8?  For whatever reason—POOF all of a sudden you're ready.  But, hey, at least it's getting done, so bring it on.

What you don't want to happen, however, is a massive shopping trip to buy bins, baskets, gadgets, etc., if you have no plan on how to use them and implement your system.  Your new organizational tools can now create more piles and even more clutter.  Clutter is not always a problem that can be solved by bins.  That can make it even worse.

Here's how I would systematically declutter an area.  Get five sturdy boxes.  Label them:

1.     Put Away—items that are out of place and should be put away

2.     Give Away—items that are in good repair that you no longer want, need, or use.  Give to charity, sell, or swap items

3.     Store—items that are going to be used again in a reasonable amount of time, but you don’t use on a regular basis

4.     Toss—items that are broken, old, worn, or in bad repair

5.     Belongs here—will go back into the room, drawer, closet, or cabinet you’re organizing

THEN (and only then) determine your storage solutions for item 3.

See my website for hundreds of articles on improving your personal productivity.  Better yet, subscribe to my free monthly newsletter.

Then take one item out at a time and put it into the appropriate box.  If you’re going to organize for 1 hour, set an egg timer for 50 minutes.  When it buzzes, use the last few minutes of your organizing session to put items away, put the charity items in the car, throw out the trash, or put boxes into storage.  The time investment made in getting organized will repay you over and over in reduced stress, decreased frustration, and more time to spend with friends and family.

The New York Times has a great article on this called A Clutter Too Deep for Mere Bins and Shelves, which reports on the health effects of disorganization.

Pre-made shopping list

Ever want to buy healthy food at the supermarket, but you didn't have time to look in your recipe books and can't think of what to buy?  Get tired of writing the same basic items---eggs, bread, milk---on your list again and again?  Keep your kitchen well stocked by hanging a pre-printed shopping list on your fridge.  Print a stack of copies at the Self magazine site.  Stick one to your fridge each week and check off things as you run low on various items.  Then use the list to trigger your thoughts on buying healthy foods for lunches and dinners for the week.

Get out of your meeting---make your cell phone ring

This is hysterical.  Have you ever been sitting in a boring meeting, wishing you had a reason to excuse yourself?  Or on a disasterous blind date, looking for an escape?  Before a potentially draining engagement, visit PopularityDialer.com.  Schedule a free call to your cell phone at a designated time and specify a conversation: boss, cousin in need, friend, etc.  The recording actually pauses for your end of the conversation.  You'll be out of there in no time.

Jot-It: a Nice Alternative for Post-It Notes

I just received a sample product from Cocoa Living called Jot-It, a desktop writing board.  Pretty neat concept.  Takes the place of putting sticky notes all over the place.  If you're the type that writes on scraps of paper, a corner of your desk calendar, or the bottom of the whiteboard hanging on the wall, this could work for you.  It's essentially a whiteboard on an angled desktop frame where you write notes to yourself, things to do, a phone number to call, etc., and then erase them with the built-in Expo marker eraser when you're done.  The clear top lifts up and allows you to put one of several lined templates underneath to keep things neat.  While I wouldn't use it personally, since I capture notes in my DayTimer(R), it would be good for a "scrapper" to keep all notes in the same place.  It's a bit large for my tastes, but if you have a large surface next to your writing hand, it could be really handy.  Good for people who don't have large to-do lists and whose workflow allows them to complete tasks the same day they are received.

Time management joke on tracking time via time sheets

With my thanks for the laugh to Golden Jokes for this great joke on tracking wasted time on a time sheet:

Dear Staff,

In an effort to maximize productivity in our department I will be implementing a tool used in many industries. You will be tracking your time working on certain activities and sending me a time sheet weekly showing me how your time has been spent.

Attached below is a sheet specifying a job code list based on some observations of employee activities. Please begin using this job code list immediately and let me know about any difficulties you encounter.

Thank you.
Your boss.

Code
Number Explanation
5316 Useless Meeting
5317 Obstructing Communications at Meeting
5318 Trying to Sound Knowledgeable While in a Meeting
5319 Waiting for Break
5320 Waiting for Lunch
5321 Waiting for End of Day
5322 Vicious Verbal Attacks Directed at Coworker
5323 Vicious Verbal Attacks Directed at Coworker While Coworker is Not Present
5393 Covering for Incompetence of Coworker Friend
5394 Blaming Incompetence of Coworker Who is Not a Friend
5400 Trying to Explain Concept to Coworker Who is Not Interested in Learning
5401 Trying to Explain Concept to CoworkerWho is Stupid
5402 Trying to Explain Concept to Coworker Who Hates You
5481 Buying Snack
5482 Eating Snack
5500 Filling Out Timesheet
5501 Inventing Timesheet Entries
5502 Waiting for Something to Happen
5503 Scratching Yourself
5504 Sleeping
5510 Feeling Bored
5600 Complaining About Lousy Job
5601 Complaining About Low Pay
5602 Complaining About Long Hours
5603 Complaining About Coworker (See Codes 5322 & 5323)
5604 Complaining About Boss
5605 Complaining About Personal Problems
5640 Miscellaneous Unproductive Complaining
5701 Not Actually Present At Job
5702 Suffering From Eight-Hour Flu
6102 Ordering Out
6103 Waiting for Food Delivery to Arrive
6104 Taking It Easy While Digesting Food
6200 Using Company Resources for Personal Profit
6201 Stealing Company Goods
6202 Making Excuses After Accidentally Destroying Company Files
6203 Using Company Phone to Make Long-Distance Personal Calls
6204 Using Company Phone to Make Long-Distance Personal Calls to Sell Stolen Company Goods
6205 Hiding from Boss
6206 Gossip
6207 Planning a Social Event (e.g. vacation, wedding,etc.)
6210 Feeling Sorry For Yourself
6211 Updating Resume
6212 Faxing Resume to Another Employer/Headhunter
6213 Out of Office on Interview
6221 Pretending to Work While Boss Is Watching
6222 Pretending to Enjoy Your Job
6223 Pretending You Like Coworker
6224 Pretending You Like Important People When in Reality They are Jerks
6238 Miscellaneous Unproductive Fantasizing
6350 Playing Pranks on the New Guy/Girl
6601 Running your own Business on Company Time (See Code 6603)
6602 Complaining
6603 Writing a Book on Company Time
6611 Staring Into Space
6612 Staring At Computer Screen
6615 Transcendental Meditation
7281 Extended Visit to the Bathroom (over 10 minutes)
7400 Talking With Divorce Lawyer on Phone
7401 Talking With Plumber on Phone
7402 Talking With Dentist on Phone
7403 Talking With Doctor on Phone
7404 Talking With Masseuse on Phone
7405 Talking With House Painter on Phone
7406 Talking With Personal Therapist on Phone
7419 Talking With Miscellaneous Paid Professionals on Phone
7931 Asking Coworker to Aid You in an Illicit Activity
8000 Recreational Drug Use
8001 Non-recreational Drug Use
8002 Liquid Lunch
8101 Surfing Vacation Sites on the Internet
8102 Surfing Porn Sites on the Internet
8103 Surfing Humor Sites on the Internet
8200 Reading e-mail
8201 Distributing humorous e-mails

Believe you're among the top performers in your office?

An article in last week's BusinessWeek magazine made me laugh out loud.  In an online study conducted from June 28 to July 5, 2007, BusinessWeek asked 2,000 Americans in middle management and above, 25 years and older, "Are you one of the Top 10% of performers in your company?  The amazing result?  A whopping 90 percent of managers think they are in the top 10 percent of performers at their workplace.  97% of executives, 91% of males, and 89% of females said yes.  Hello?  Can you say "denial"?

Obviously these ostriches have their heads in the sand.  While I laud confidence and a positive attitude, most of these people are statistically wrong.  So how would you KNOW if you were one of the top 10 percent of performers in your company?  What is the value of your contribution?  Leaders---you can't manage what you can't measure.  What are the critical success factors in your organization for each position and for the company as a whole?  What methods are in place to measure your peers on those factors across the company?  A little competition in the workplace between managers, salespeople, etc., can be healthy and will really show who's producing in key areas (not just occupying space and staying "busy").  What are you really contributing to your company?