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My productivity journey pt2

When we last left our intrepid hero. He was overwhelmed, stressed out and looking for a way to check out while making nice precise lines in the yard.

I wasn’t looking for a life change, I was looking to be able to stuff more into my day, to do more things effectively, and ultimately achieve by stealing hours from my evenings and weekends.

Instead, what I found was a promise. David Allen encourages his readers to seek out a “mind like water.” You see, when a stone hits water it causes ripples. But… those ripples quickly fade away and you are left with a calm peaceful exterior once again.

David Allen told me, in his book, that if I followed his system, I could also achieve this state. I could be calm, have a good idea of what I had to do and when I had to do it, and as a result, stop stressing about all the stuff I had to do that that I was forgetting, overlooking etc etc.

I hope that reading this blog post doesn’t give you enough of a summary that you skip reading his book. Besides the Bible, getting things done has had a greater impact on my life than any other book.

That’s not to say that there aren’t other productivity books out there that are helpful… But it is to say that if you haven’t read “Getting Things Done,” you are missing out.

Ok, enough of a lead in, how do you get the mind like water? Well, first of all you realize that your mind isn’t the place to store your lists!!

I remember hearing this part of the book, and thinking to myself (as I was mowing the lawn) hold on here, I can’t adequately process this book as an audiobook. I need to be able to take notes, to think about it, because if he’s right, and the mind is not the correct bin in which to store our lists (if mental notes are in fact not notes at all but a vain attempt to keep information in our mind only to be reminded of them at inopportune times) then I needed to completely rethink my system.

And completely rethink it I did.

So if our mind is not the place to keep our thoughts what is? Allen asserts that we need a capture system. A place where we put everything from figuring out what is wrong with the dryer, to replacing the batteries on the smart lock that is blinking red, to completing the refinance paperwork on my house, to planning my next sales meeting.

He goes on to make the case that we shouldn’t just record the tasks, but should do some thinking about the tasks and as we write them down answer two questions about them. 1) what is the ultimate outcome I want with this task? And 2) what are the next few things I need to do in order to achieve this outcome?

If we take, for example, the four tasks outlined above we can see this in action- please note all of these are actual tasks I need to complete or am in the process of working on.

So the first one. My dryer has recently begun to take three cycles to dry clothes. So I record a task which is figure out how to fix the dryer by googling what could be wrong and or calling the handyman who has done work for me. I put a date on this for the next Saturday I’m free, and then go about the rest of my life.

Then for the second task… the smart lock that is blinking red… It’s telling me it needs new batteries… So I slip off the cover, take note of the batteries it takes and but them on my shopping list for the next time I go to the grocery store.

Then the refinance paperwork. I need to open the email, login, and both my wife and myself need to e-sign the raft of paperwork we received before the 24th.

Finally for the sales meeting. I need to make sure that all the promotional material is completed, build an agenda, research whether or not the state will allow us to meet outside (or if I should do this meeting virtually) and finally I need to look into supplying masks for my sales folks if we end up meeting in person.

I know that you might be thinking that this sort of process is overwhelming and potentially even unnecessary but consider this for a moment. How many blinking red lights do you have in your house, office or hobbies? How many undone or completely ignored tasks do you have? Stuff that nags at you, that wakes you up in the middle of the night?

For me… I had a ton of them. And these tasks were making it impossible for me to have a mind like water. Instead I had a logjam. Filled with the mental notes and scraps of paper where I was writing down what I couldn’t forget.

The problem was that I didn’t have a system that I trusted to hold all those notes. And my subconscious knew that. So, instead of a being able to write something down, and trust that I’d look at it again, I would write something down and then stress out because I knew that I wouldn’t remember to look at it.

When I first read this book, electronic “todo” lists were not yet widely available. I spent several more year trying to find a system like what David Allen outlined that would fit the brave new world of email, text messages, and every other sort of input.

In my next post, I’ll talk about the system I decided to use, and the way that this system helps me effectively triage my todos so I can get the right things done.

For now, I’d like you to think about whether or not you have a system that you trust. Do you have lots and lots of undone tasks that are mounting around you, calling out to you when you open the proverbial junk drawer or look at your physical or electronic inbox?

Does that stress you out?

Realizing that I was completely jammed with tasks that I would never remember to complete was a huge eye opener for me.

I hope this has been helpful for you, and am grateful that you have read this far with me.

Until next time.

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My productivity journey part 1

It all started a couple of years ago when my pastor asked me to teach a class on productivity. Then, gradually, people began to ask me to help them get more productive. Recently, I led a couple of seminars on how to win both at work and at home. It feels strange, teaching people the tactics I used to keep myself organized. One, because I rarely feel organized, and two, because I do this stuff just to deal with the volume of inputs I get in an average day.

But even though it feels a little like I’m an play acting, I also have discovered that I really do love talking about productivity and sharing the things I do (such as they are).

So, if these are topics that interest you as well, I hope you enjoy this post and the ones following. I’d like to write out my journey through productivity, the systems I use, and the why behind them.

To begin with, I want to tell you a little about my history. In high school and college, planning didn’t really enter into my thought process very much. I tried to get things done at the last minute, procrastinate as long as possible, and cram everything into the last second.

Then when I graduated from college and begin to work full time a funny thing happened. I realized that I was good at sales. People had always joked about it, and I knew that I enjoyed talking to people, but I discovered that selling was something that I not only liked to do, but that people would also buy things from me.

I got to be good at it. Like dialed in, rockstar good. I had a great territory, and was blowing my numbers out of the water. I could basically set my own hours and income, and my job was to talk to cool people and help their businesses grow.

Then one day, my boss unexpectedly quit. He was burned out and ready for a new challenge. And before I knew it, his boss had tapped me to move into a manager role.

So I went from being responsible for me, to being responsible for 15 sales folks, all of whom had more experience and longer tenure in their roles than I did. Goodbye 40 hour work week, hello 60 hour hell.

Looking back, I’m unsure how I survived the first few years as I was not a very good leader back then. I am really grateful to those folks who “managed up” to help me cope, and my boss who patiently mentored me.

I’d love to spend some more time in a later post talking about leadership, and things that I’ve learned about managing people, and managers in my career, but for now I want to focus on the most important lesson I learned during that time.

I still remember the seemingly endless stream of phone calls, emails, and meetings that continued to bleed over into every area of my life. It would have been difficult to keep up with if I knew how, but given that I didn’t have any sort of system with which to record what needed to be done, I was completely overwhelmed.

At that stage in the game, email was where the largest portion of my life was spent. I tried so hard to tame the flood of incoming messages, mostly with little to no success. I’d gain some traction, and then get another assignment and lose everything I’d learned. What I mess!

One day I was discussing this with a colleague at another company and he suggested downloading some sort of third party extension for outlook. If I did that, he said, I’d be able to completely change my workflow and be organized!

The problem is, that I’d met this guy in passing at a conference and completely forgot what extension he told me to download!

So, I did what every other procrastinator does, and searched the internet for hours looking for a solution. Finally I found an extension based on “Getting Things Done” a book by David Allen.

I never used the extension… never even downloaded it… Because I figured I should first listen to the book. So one Saturday, after putting the book on my IPod, I plugged in my headphones and started mowing the lawn.

As I’ve reflected on my life, there are moments that I can remember where you can see significant sea changes that forever alter you. Meeting your future spouse, staring into the eyes of your newborn child, finding your calling etc.

As sappy as it sounds this was one of those moments for me. And I’ve never approached work the same way again.

I’m excited to get into the meat of this book in the next post. Until then, I’m honored you read this far and hope you will check back in.

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The faithfulness of the Lord

In the past year, one of the things that has stood out to me when reading scripture is the way those who love Christ are called to remember and relate his faithfulness. I’m reminded of Acts, when Paul and James reunite and Paul relates “one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry” (Acts 21:19). Or the many times in Psalms where David relates the faithfulness of God to his people.

Or how Moses reminds the people over and over again of the way God had rescued them from the Egyptians.

As we see in these examples and many others, recounting the faithfulness of the Lord is a way we can bring him honor, encourage those around us, and remind ourselves of where we have come from, so as to relieve doubt and worry as to where God will lead us in the future.

With these three goals in mind then, I’m grateful to be able to relate my story. The story of how the grace of God led me out of a life of sin and into the salvation of Christ.

We can pick things up in my 9th year (or so). Mormon missionaries came to knock on our door and my mom, brother and I began to attend the local Mormon church.

Fast forward to 12 and I was baptized. Fast forward to 16 and I was going to the temple to get baptized for the dead, involved in Mormon “seminary,” a daily class that all Mormon high school students go to before the school day begins, and regularly going with Mormon missionaries to discuss the Mormon scriptures with anyone who asked.

I also went to Mormon summer camp, was extremely active in the youth group and regularly gave “talks” during the service.

I talked about having a burning in my bosom, was convinced that Joseph Smith was a prophet and argued with anyone who would listen that the Book of Mormon was the truest book in all of scripture.

I believed. I tried hard. I did all I could do. And then I didn’t.

Mormons are clear. You are saved after all you can do. For me, all I could do amounted to sin. Sin still clamping down on me and holding me hostage.

It started as a slow drift away, conflicts with Mormon friends, a close relationship with a young lady who was also a Mormon and a growing realization that no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t kill sin on my own.

Then I began to question. How many gods were there anyway? Why was I worshipping the God of this universe and not his father or maybe his grandfather or even great-grandfather. As an aside, this is what happens when you open up the trinity. You end up saying that there was a time that Christ didn’t exist, that he was created. Furthermore, if God could and did “create” a god, then why is he is the only God… It follows that he was created too, right? And once you open that door, well. I remember looking at the stars one night and wondering just how many gods there really were!

So here I was, 18 and lost. What did I really believe? If there was a God out there somewhere, he couldn’t just be one of millions of other gods, could he? I wanted to find THE GOD. The creator of life. And he wasn’t in the Mormon Church.

That’s when a friend challenged me to reread the Bible. Leave out the Mormon bible, and just read the Bible. I confess I don’t remember much of what I read, but I do remember reading it, hoping it would become real to me.

The climax of the story occurs in a small church that was meeting in a school. At the time, I was working a couple of jobs, preparing to go to college. I decided (at the urging of some friends) to go to a church that wasn’t Mormon.

I slipped in one Sunday and sat in the back. I didn’t want to be noticed. I just wanted to go through the motions and leave. I was tired of trying. Tired of looking and at the end of myself.

This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. This is where I first heard, with supernatural ears given to me by the spirit, about the grace of God.

The grace of God which saved a man named Paul. A man who fought hard against Christianity and was sure of himself. A man who did all he could do. Who was set up to lead the Jews against Christianity.

I thought the sermon was going to be like all the ones I had heard before. Until the pastor arrived at 2nd Corinthians 12:6–10 (ESV):

though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (Emphasis added), 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I remember hearing verse 9 and breaking down. Tears streaming down my face, I got down on my knees in the back of that church and prayed. I wanted that grace. I desired not that my power would save me after all I could do, but that his power would be made perfect in my weakness.

And that began a journey of God’s faithfulness that I’m still on today.

It hasn’t been easy. On the contrary, it has often been quite hard, but God’s grace is sufficient. His power is made perfect in my weakness.

I write all this today in the hopes of encouraging you. There is a God. He loves you. He desires for you to repent of your sins and give your life to him. And when you do, his power is made perfect.

It has nothing to do with all that you have done. It only has to do with all that he has done. His power, not yours, will save you. He is true. He is powerful. This God is the creator of all life, this God sent his son into the world to live the life we couldn’t live, to die the death that we deserved, and to pay fully for all the sins of those who trust in him.

I hope this encourages you. I hope that this story whenever it is told brings God glory. And I hope that it continues to remind me, and my family, that no matter what happens in the world the Lord is on the throne and loves us dearly.

Until next time. Thanks for reading.

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The importance of familiarity while working from home

For over a decade, I’ve managed salespeople out of multiple offices.

That means, that like it or not, I’ve had to figure out how to work out of multiple spaces.

When I started doing this, I thought, if I can just plug my laptop into a cubicle, somewhere in my secondary space, I’d be fine. I’d save the difficult conversations and 1 on 1’s for when I was back in my main office and just catch up on email or do ridealongs whenever I was in a satellite office.

But it never worked out that way. I found that when I visited my office away from my other office, I would always get drawn into other work, need space for a private conversation and if I didn’t have a space that was organized just so, I wouldn’t want to go there.

This started a quest to create the perfect workspace that was the same everywhere I went, so that I would enjoy working and be able to do the same tasks no matter which space I ended up in.

During this time when all of us are working from home, this lesson is even more important.

If you are going to be productive at home it can’t feel like you are working with stripped down equipment. It is imperative that you design your home workspace to be nearly identical to your office setup so that you can get the same sort of work accomplished at home that you expected to get accomplished at work.

One of the biggest mistakes we can make is designing a home office space with just a laptop screen when we are used to working on monitors, or a keyboard that you hate, when your awesome keyboard and mouse combo languish at the office.

For me, this meant spending some money to up fit my space, and when I think about the work I can now accomplish at home, I’m glad I did. So here are a couple of things you should think about if you are going to be working from home for at least another month (or indefinitely).

1. Two monitors. If you use multiple monitors at work, get two for the home office as well. I can’t tell you how many times people tell me that they are waiting till they get back in front of their multiple monitors before the tackle that tough spreadsheet or difficult word document. Don’t fall into this trap. Monitors are really cheap right now, so either make the case to your boss that you need two at home, or see if you can take the monitors from your office in the short term and plug them in at home. Alternatively, check with your IT folks and see if they have some additional ones you can put in your home office in the short term.

2. A familiar keyboard and mouse. I love Logitech stuff. I’ve used their rechargeable Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for years, and I love the way it feels and know the shortcuts, and how to work it to make things happen. I know you have a keyboard and mouse combo you are familiar with. So go get another set for your home office. Familiarity is one of the most important things you can bring to a time like this.

3. A chair. Look, sitting at the kitchen table might be your thing, and if that works great! But for me, I want to sit in a leather swivel chair. I’m comfortable with it, I know how it works, and there is something about pushing back from my desk or sitting back in it that reminds my brain that I’m at work. If you have a favorite chair see if you can bring it home with you (bonus points for bringing the chair mat as well). Another option is to surf facebook marketplace or your favorite supply store. Find a chair that reminds you to work. Your productivity will thank you.

4. Other stuff. For me, I need a table on which I can write, I want something that is wide and study where I can put my iPad, planner etc. A sturdy card table will do, but you need a place that isn’t wedged on top of your computer desk. Also, I need a three month calendar, a clock and a calculator with big buttons. You might need different things, but think about your space, the tools you use at the office, and get some of those essential tools as copies for your home office (or see if you can temporarily borrow the ones from work).

Good solid tools are vital to getting the job done (try using a flat head screwdriver when a Phillips head is called for if you don’t believe me). Getting these tools and replicating your work set up as much as possible will allow you to trick your mind into thinking, oh yeah, these are work tools. I’m working now.

This may seem small, but when dealing with all the distractions of working from home, every edge counts.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

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How to start and finish work.

If you are in thought work, management, etc, chances are that on or around the middle of March you woke up and found yourself working from home. For some of you this may have been routine, and for others this may have been a completely new development.

I get it, I’ve played at working from home for the past few years, grabbing a day here and there, mostly retreating to this space when someone was sick, I was needed at home, or I had a really difficult project that had to be completed with focus.

However, now that all of our kids are at home too (not to mention the cats, neighbors, and our significant others) working from home has changed from novelty to necessity and for those of you who are high achievers it could threaten to blur the lines between home and work life even further.

For me, I’ve found that this is a huge problem. I wake up, and if I’m not careful work can creep into every moment of my day. And by work, I don’t always mean the tasks that we set for ourselves but instead the email we read while rolling out of bed that nags at us while we are eating breakfast, reading God’s word or praying. There have been many many times when I’ve made this mistake and have had my peaceful morning completely upended (note if you manage people don’t send them a strongly worded email late at night or early in the morning… It never has the desired effect).

So, what do we do in order to create distance between work and home especially when work is now at home? We set boundaries.

First, you need to make a conscious decision to not check your phone before you are ready to deal with the inputs. For me this means after I’ve read scripture, prayed, journaled, read the newspaper, eaten breakfast and gotten dressed. Your mileage may vary, but get yourself set up to receive the day. Your company expects your mind to be fully at work when you are ready to work. Ensure that you are ready before you dive in.

Second, you need to come up with a way to convince your mind that you are now in “work” mode. I’ve read about this idea for years but not really done it well until recently. For me, the first thing I do to remind myself that I’m at work is to get my tools ready. I open my day planner and review the appointments I have for the day, I open my task manager and look at the stuff I have scheduled to accomplish during the day and I review in a lightening fast way, the couple of things I must get accomplished in the day ahead (my big three). Often, I’ll also review the top two or three things I have to get accomplished in the week, and the two of three goals that I need to get accomplished in the quarter.

I’m trying to stir up momentum for the day ahead, get my mind spinning on the things that need to get done today rather than the many things that will flow in once I’ve opened the flood gate of slack (or Teams) and my email.

Once I’ve completed this quick 10 minute process I’m ready. Then I throw open the doors and quickly review my email from the prior evening and morning (is there anything so important that it rearranges my priorities?), then I might also peak at social media, Teams, etc and make sure that I’m still aiming at the correct goals. Once that is completed I’m focused and ready for the day ahead.

And… 5 or 6 pm rolls around. Whew! Another day is done. I’ve worked hard, checked a bunch off of my list and am ready to call it a day. But how should I shut things down in such a way that I’m finished (and I mean really finished) with work? How do I fully log off so that I’m not tempted to check one more thing or allow my ever curious brain to delve into any additional email?

First, I systematically close all the open programs on my computer leaving Teams and email for last. Then I clear out any unread texts and transfer action items to my todo list. Then I clear Teams in the same way (letting those folks with whom I am in active conversation know that I’m logging off) and lastly I spend some time emptying my inbox. If I have something that I can respond to I do. If it can wait I move it into a folder that says tomorrow, note these actionable email on my todo list, and then switch over to my calendar. From there I spend some time writing down my appointments for the next day in my planner. Not a ton of detail but I want to make sure that I’ve captured the rocks that will define my next day.

From there, I clear out my todo list, making sure that all of the tasks that I’ve captured throughout the day are in their correct bucket.

And finally, I decide on the couple of things I’m going to accomplish the next day, leaving my planner open on my desk to those pages, signaling my brain that it is time to move on, today is over and work is complete.

As a last step, I turn off my computer and put it away, dock my phone, iPad, keyboard and mouse and wipe down my workspace. I’m finished for the day, my tools are away and I’m ready for whatever fun we can get into that evening. This might mean you go jump on the trampoline with your kids, go prepare dinner, go for a family walk or just sit outside and enjoy the weather. The point here is to reward yourself. The day is done, work is away and you are in a new phase.

Life is too short to let work consume you. Frankly, you can’t work all the time and be effective, so, we all need to shut down, log off and distance ourselves. Boundaries are good. And if we are going to stay sane during this time, it is really important to put up some walls to separate our personal and professional lives.

Until next time… Thanks for reading.

 

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Beginning at the beginning

I come from a family of writers and journalists. They labor over sentences, correctly parse all of the verbs, and wouldn’t dare to use less or fewer incorrectly. They also think well when editing papers, writing emails or describing the small details that happen around them.

I tell you this because while I come from such a family, and have married someone who also communicates really well with the written word that just isn’t me. I’ve always enjoyed a conversation over a well constructed sentence and would much prefer to orally defend my findings than having to write a 20 page document describing them.

And yet, here we are… A blog? Seriously? The truth is that even though I’ve never been very comfortable writing I do feel like there are stories that I’m called to tell. I want to talk about God’s grace, and what he is doing in my life, to geek out on productivity and my love for organization and getting the right things done. And maybe even on my enjoyment of fine whiskey and cigars and a couple of reviews.

Who knows where this will go? But I’m excited about the journey and hope you will keep reading.

-Konrad