Time, Technology, and Stress

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Our Speciality

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Courageous & Authentic

LeadershipDeveloping leaders with

passion, authenticity, a sense of

their values and the impact and

power to make things happen

High-trust

RelationshipsBuilding relationships of

trust, openness and collaboration

that create remarkable results –

between individuals and between

organisational units

Shared

DirectionNavigating complexity to create

the insight, alignment and action

to sustainably address the great

challenges we face

TIME, TECHNOLOGY, AND STRESS

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Topics and tech

• Time Management

• Email Management

• Mindjet

• Outlook

• Evernote

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Self-Management is the

Heart of the Matter

Self

Team

Organization

© 2010 Paul Gibbons

Leadership

Creativity and Innovation

Involvement

Long term vision

Strategic thinking

Vs

Stress

Overwhelm

Illness

Unhappiness

Poor performance

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Problem

• The brain is the most powerful

processor that we know of…

• Horrible at information storage and

retrieval

– Working memory holds 5 – 9 items

• If we are grappling with more than that

number of worries, tasks, projects,

‘open loops’…

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A really useful tool…

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Tool: Mind Sweep


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Problem

• The vast number of inputs from…

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Useful tool…

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Uses/ features…

• Multiple formats – word/ pdf/ VOICE/

web clips/ photos/ snaps (from phone)

• Very powerful filing (multiple ways of

retrieving)

• Syncs with phone, Ipad, computer,

home computer

• Takes 30s to install, and you can begin

right away

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Problem

• Prioritizing in today’s world

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Tool: Four Quadrants


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Too busy to get unbusy?

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Four Quadrants in Action

The reactive/ victim/ fire fighting

quadrant

The procrastinating/ avoiding/ low

value add/ time wasting quadrant


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Your Four Quadrant Planning

• Draw your own 4 quadrant diagram and label the quadrants

• Think about all the priorities, tasks, to-dos, goals (and even

dreams) that you have and begin to put ACTIONS in each

quadrant as they come up

• Quadrant 2 is most ignored – the stuff in Quadrant 1 you can’t

get away from… (nor 3 probably)

• Think about how you can delegate or dump some Quadrant 3 or

4


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Quadrant 2 Calendar Control


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Combined Calendar and Lists


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Problem

• Drowning in email

• Email chains

• Nasty emails

• Brusque emails

• Vauge email

• Unactionable email

• Poorly labelleld email

• Etc

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Sending• You get ½ an email back for every one you send:

– Send fewer to get fewer!

• Beware CC/ BCC, ‘reply to all’

• Help people prioritize– INFO, ACTION, URGENT ACTION, FILE

• Make subject lines informative– Re:, Re:, Re:, Re:, Re: Meeting

– URGENT ACTION: 9/8 board meeting, update project plan

• Do not expect busy people to read more than the first paragraph

carefully.

• Do not expect busy people to trawl through the ‘trail’


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Sample Email…

• Thanks for the long conversation after our meeting.

I’m glad to see the project is progressing well. You

raised a number of interesting points, and I thought

they were well received. The delay in the project due

to changed scope (to include HR) was mandated by

the Exec. We need to re-plan accordingly. This may

also affect resource constraints and availability. I

understand that Janet in Finance may have some

availability. Get back to me if you have a question.


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Put Actions First!!

The WHAT…

The WHY…

The WHO…


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Responding–Manage Your

Email…• Your email inbox is not your to-do list…

– That traps you in reactive/ victim mode

– YOU decide your priority at that second, not the latest incoming

– Turn OFF all reminders, noises, flashes, blackberries.

– If you have to, shut the program down (yes, really)

• Have set times during the day for processing– ‘Processing’ = less than 2 minutes

– ‘Doing’ = the stuff that needs quality input and thought

– Set aside ‘processing’ slots in your calendar AND ‘doing’ slots for key actionable emails.

• Look at each email only once in your inbox– It either goes into your @HOTLIST folder

– Or your @DELEGATED folder

– Or gets filed

– Or gets deleted

or it will

manage you!


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The Complete System

Have a

good

‘parking

lot’ filing

system for

stuff you

don’t want

to think

about, but

don’t want

to forget

Have an email

folder entitled

HOTLIST

- empty every

night (even if not

finished)


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Your CockpitDaily to-do list here

(Option #1)Fast filing while working

****Never, ever, ever have email open unless you CHOOSE to have it open

Time blocked out for IMPORTANT activities

Daily to-do list here

(Option #2)


Time, Technology, and Stress

Business

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