Leader Mundial

Let’s Talk about Habits

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Russ Cline

I want to spend some time talking about HABITS.

One definition is this: “A habit is a routine behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.”

We all have habits. Some are good, some are not so good. But we have them.

Here’s an example of a “not so good habit”: I always forget to take the kleenex (tissue) out of my pocket of my jeans, and it makes a mess in the washing machine. Not a big deal, but it’s a hassle and it’s an inconvenience. I just can’t remember to check!

Here’s an example of a “good habit”: I like to brush my teeth and come my hair. That might not be a big deal, but I’m sure the people around me appreciate that I do that every day, no matter what I have going on!

We all have habits, and many of us spend a lot of time trying to “break them” out of our lives, or “build them” into our lives.

We all have “automatic habits” that we have nurtured and developed. These are things that don’t take a lot of work, but they are really important to us. Often we spend a lot of our time and energy focusing on developing habits that don’t make the biggest difference.
We need to focus on “deliberate habits”. These are habits that must be “consciously chosen, willed into existence and continually revised to strengthen your character and increase your odds of success.”

Burchard goes on to identify 3 personal habits and 3 social habits he’s seen “high performers” put into their lives. It’s a great study and encouragement.

If you’re like me, when you want to work on a habit you just START. You don’t spend a lot of time thinking, evaluating or even identifying what would make the biggest impact on your life or on others.

We’ve heard the myth that if you do something for 30 days, it will become a habit for life. The reality is that it takes much longer for something to set in as a habit, especially if it’s a “deliberate habit”, something that you have to really work on to insert into your life.

Today, I want to encourage you to do a small “HABIT AUDIT”. Just take a few minutes to take inventory of your life. Here are some simple questions:

• What are the HABITS I see in my life that are healthy. Habits that make me a better person, a better leader? List a minimum of 5 habits.

• What are the HABITS I see in my life that are NOT healthy? These habits drive others crazy, they aren’t productive and they aren’t helping me. List a minimum of 5 habits.

• What are some DELIBERATE HABITS I see in others that I really want? Why would they help me? Why would they be important to my own personal growth, development and influence? Can I make them my own? List a few in detail.

Taking a few minutes to simply think, process and plan will help you define what you need to work on. Remember, you’re not trying to simply copy someone else, but you’re trying to make it your own.

Let’s all take a step towards High Performance as Burchard talks about, and start with a few moments to think, pray, process and determine some ways to move forward in the area of our personal habits.

Posted in Leadership Coaching, Personal Leadership Tagged with: bad habits, habits, leadership, productivity

Changing My Leadership

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Russ Cline

I attended a “Trainers of Trainers” session a couple of weeks ago that was put on by an organization I’ve been connected with for a long time. As I sat down in the seat for the 2-day session, I had a flood of memories wash over me as I recalled the first trainers session I had attended over 30 years ago. I was remembering the excitement, the fear and the challenge of sitting in a room full of other leaders, wondering at the age of 23 if I would ever be able to become a leader and actually do some of the things we were being taught and challenged to do.

Fast forward 31 years: I am a leader as Jeremy Fouts founder of CorVive. I did put those things I learned into practice. I have been involved in a number of successful organizational ventures that have taken me around the globe.

Yet, here I was, years later, attending a new training session for leaders.

I’m reading a new book by John Maxwell titled, “Leadershift” (2019 Harper Collins Leadership). I haven’t finished it yet, but he talks about 11 shifts leaders need to make to continue to be effective as a Leader.

Maxwell makes these statements early in the book:

• TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT – Ask yourself, “When’s the last time I did something for the first time?”

•LEARN SOMETHING NEW – Ask yourself, “When’s the last time I learned something for the first time?”

• FIND SOMETHING BETTER – Ask yourself, “When’s the last time I found something better for the first time?”

• SEE SOMETHING BIGGER – Ask yourself, “When’s the last time I saw something bigger for the first time?”

This is why I attended the new “Trainer of Trainers” session last month. I want to be a leader that is growing and developing. I want to be a leader that is being challenged to new things. I’m not content with where I’ve arrived and what I’m doing today, but I want to continue to grow my impact and influence in whatever way possible.

Maxwell’s words resonate with me: “You cannot be the same, think the same and act the same if you hope to be successful in a world that does not remain the same.”

So, as I continue to find ways to grow, to be challenged and to “shift” my leadership in an ever changing world, how are you doing this?

Where are you learning and growing?

What’s NEW in your world of leadership and practice?

What are you being challenged in?

How have you changed in your leadership over the years?

For more on LEADERSHIP

Posted in Leadership Coaching, Organizational Development, Personal Leadership Tagged with: change, leadership, learning

Do Your Best!

Posted on November 9, 2018 by Russ Cline

I recently had 2 mail-order experiences. I ordered something for my office online, and when it arrived, the item was thrown into a large box, it had been broken during shipping, and when I picked up the box, it was falling apart because it had been damaged. The item had to be returned, and I had to purchase a new box to return it in. I wasn’t happy with the experience.

I then ordered something else online, and had an incredible experience. The item I purchased was an Apple Watch, so I knew the experience would be better because of their reputation. When I got the box to my office to open, I was impressed with the quality of the packing, the packaging, the branding. Everything was made of good quality materials. The watch inside had been protected completely. There were instructions in multiple languages, stickers, padding paper, boxes in boxes. Maybe even a little overdone, but by the time I got to the watch inside I had had such a great experience, I knew the watch was a great purchase!

Completely different experience.

Apple could have cut corners and saved costs by providing less quality packaging, but they’re selling a brand and the brand is “quality” and that crossed over to every aspect of the purchase experience.

In Colossians, there’s a passage that talks about this. In chapter 3 verse 23 it says, “… and don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best!” (MSG)

As I think about my shopping experience and I read the full passage in Colossians, I’m forced to ask myself if I’m really doing my best, or if I’m doing just enough to get by.

When I have encounters with people, projects and organizations, I want others to say something like, “I love working with Russ because he pays attention to the details and he does his best work.”. Don’t you want that?

Instead, we’re usually running so fast and so hard, we take for granted that those around us don’t expect much of us because we’re so busy, so we repeatedly cut corners over and over again.

When we talk about leadership, here are some things I want to challenge you to consider:

#1) When you plan a meeting, are you putting your best planning, your best thoughts, your best efforts into making that meeting purposeful, valuable, helpful, engaging, entertaining, challenging and important? Or do you assume that the others HAVE to attend, so you don’t have to work so hard preparing it. DO YOUR BEST!

#2) When you respond to someone via email or message, do you read the entire message and then think about what you want to so, or do you just fire off the first thing that pops in your mind? Take a minute and re-read your note. Stop and think through the question or the decision. Then respond AFTER you have taken just a little bit of time to give your BEST answer or reply.

#3) When someone asks for your help, are you generous with your time, your energy and your experience, or do you rush people in and out of your presence quickly? Take some time to really engage with someone, to give them VALUE.

#4) When you’re doing a project, completing a body of work or preparing for a presentation, do you take the time to put your best ideas and work into it or are you looking for the easiest solution that impacts your life the least? Do you realize that people might have an opportunity to hear from you that never will again. Are you giving them some old material or ideas that you’ve talked about and presented for years or are you providing fresh insights and new thought that you have studied and worked on deeply? Don’t WASTE peoples time.

Are you doing your best?

Do others appreciate the work you’re putting into the things you’re doing?

Don’t settle for mediocrity. Strive for excellence!

For more Leadership Tips, CLICK HERE

Posted in Leadership Coaching, Organizational Development, Personal Leadership Tagged with: Apple, best, leadership, mediocrity, value, your best

I’m Tired of Being Hacked!

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Russ Cline

I’m Tired of Being Hacked!

This week I found out I was hacked twice. In one case, an account was accessed and they tried to access my full personal account. In another case, someone got into a blog I had written and inserted a “click-for-pay” link into one of my articles, which was actually pretty clever. I addressed each of these issues.

When you’re hacked, there some simple things that need to be done:

1) Change Your Password: Choose something different, something challenging, and change it often. Don’t use the same passwords for multiple accounts, and don’t use things that people can find out about you online.

2) Be More Cautious: Pay attention to SPAM messages, click throughs, and things that are sent to you that might give people access to your personal information.

There are other things you can do to protect yourself, but beyond staying out of the “cloud”, these are the simplest things to do to avoid being hacked.

In the midst of my frustration this week with these 2 hacks, I was reminded about how I’m “hacked” in my life everyday.

The definition of “HACK” is this:

Hack /hak/

“use a computer to gain unauthorized access to data in a system.”
“cut with rough or heavy blows”
“manage; cope”

While this week I was focused on being hacked through the “unauthorized access to my data”, I was hacked other ways with “heavy blows” that kept me from being able to “manage;cope”. Here are some examples:

On Thursday, I got an infection in one of my eyes. This kept me from sleeping, caused me to spend time at urgent care, and just made me uncomfortable for a few days which really affected my work.
My wife had a back issue. This required attention, this caused us to change some plans, and affected part of my schedule.
I had 2 people contact me that needed help with a leadership issue. While this wasn’t a negative thing, their urgency became my urgency, which caused me to not get some of the things completed that I was hoping too.
I had a scheduled call with a leader, and I planned the call for 1 hour, and it went 2 hours. It was a good call, but it carved into time that I had allocated for something else.

I could go on and on, but the reality is that we are “hacked” every day in many different ways.

Plans are changed, our ideas and goals are derailed, we’re forced to respond to a crisis or emergency, or we just get distracted.

This is life. This is leadership.

I realized this week that when I was hacked electronically, I immediately responded to address the issues and try to avoid that happening again.

When I was hacked this week in other ways, I didn’t correct, respond or adjust. I just kept plowing through.

Here are some things that might help you in dealing with the DAILY HACKS that come to us all:

Plan some MARGIN in your schedule. Realize that these interruptions and emergencies will always come. Don’t be so packed full that you can’t respond to anything.
Figure out your priorities. When there’s a crisis in our family, we should respond, adjust and address that quickly. But, we need to determine if other people’s emergencies become ours. They way we determine this is by clarifying and communicating our priorities. This week, I should have said to one of the people that contacted me that I couldn’t respond right now because of some things going on in my life. Instead, I took the call.
When you’ve been hacked, or when you feel like you’ve been dealt a “hard blow”, take some time to recover. Instead of just pushing on, take a deep breath and your perspective will change. You’ll be recharged and able to address and respond to things that come at you on a daily basis. Example: This weekend, in response to a crazy week, my wife and I went and sat at the beach for 3 hours. We took a deep breath, we were encouraged and we were filled up. It’s amazing how something as simple as that can be a complete reset.

The reality is that YOU’RE GOING TO BE HACKED. How you respond to this makes all the difference.

For more on Time Leadership CLICK HERE

Posted in Leadership Coaching, Leadership Community, Personal Leadership Tagged with: hack, perspective, rest, saying no, time leadership, time management

Why Leadership Coaching Doesn’t Always Help

Posted on September 14, 2018 by Russ Cline

I’m a leadership coach.

I enjoy coming around other leaders and finding ways to help them, to challenge them, to encourage them, and to help them reach a goal or execute a plan.

The problem is that sometimes given all of my efforts, I’m not helping!

In trying to figure out why, I’ve identified a couple of things that influence the effectiveness of coaching from both the leaders perspective, and from the coaches perspective.

Here’s what I’m learning:

As a LEADER:

#1) I’m Too Busy

“I’m trying to squeeze coaching into an already packed schedule, and it’s more of a burden than a help. If I could just clean out my email first, then I’d be ready.” The reality is that you’ll never have time for coaching unless you make the time. You’ll miss the value and it’s a waste of energy if you can’t find some margin.

#2) I’m Not Very Patient

“I want the coaching, but I want a quick fix. Coaching should create immediate results… right?” The value of coaching come from building a relationships, identifying specific goals and tasks, and working towards those things. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it takes time.

#3) I’m Not Very Specific

“Each time I engage with my coach, we just sit and talk. It’s good, but nothing ever comes from it.” We need to have specific goals in mind when we bring in a coach. Identify something that you want to focus on, and stay there until you accomplish it.

#4) I Know More Than My Coach

“My coach can’t really help me because I know more than they know about the issues we’re talking through.” I would challenge you to keep your ego out of the relationship, and learn to listen. You’ll be surprised by what you can learn if you will just listen and stop talking. In some cases, a coach may not bring a lot of extra value, but I have ALWAYS found that I’m surprised by what my coach is able to teach and challenge me in.

As a COACH:

#1) My Leader Won’t Focus

“I’m trying to drive a conversation, but the leader is distracted and not focused.” As a coach, you need to realize the pressure and the load the leader is carrying. Find out what’s going on today and what they’re state of mind is. If they’re under pressure or operating under high stress, it’s not a good time for you to coach. They need instant help and results, and they’ll be distracted by their list of things to do. Find out how they’re doing before you dive into your conversation, and be willing to adjust based on their state.

#2) My Leader Won’t Do What I Suggest

“I give great advice and help, but they don’t do anything about it.” Coaching isn’t simply telling someone what to do… it’s walking with them through the process. Find ways that you can help and that you can be a part of the solution, instead of just giving them advice. Go deeper.

#3) My Leader Won’t Open Up and Be Honest

“I’m trying to build a relationship, but there are walls up. It’s as if they don’t trust me.” The leader you’re working with has been burned before. They’ve been promised something, they’ve been told something that hasn’t happened, and they’ve been let down. Focus on the relationship first. Take the time to get to know each other and build trust together. Take some baby steps and find some success early on. This will lay a foundation of trust and will lead to increased vulnerability. Also, as a coach, you need to be vulnerable as well.

#4) My Leader Needs More Than I Can Give

“The help my leader needs is something I know nothing about. What do I do?” Begin by admitting that, then commit to helping to either learn more, or find someone that can help them. A coach is “in it with them”. So discover together. You’ll learn something new. Don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know everything. They already know you don’t know everything. When you work together, you’ll build an incredible bond.

Lastly, here are some reminders that are critical to every coaching engagement:

• Meet Regularly: Identify a set time and place and prepare for it.

• Communicate Goals and Expectations: Make this your first conversation and then revisit it often.

• Build Relationship First: Get to know each other. The coaching you want or need might come in a way you didn’t expect.

• Define an End Point: Coaching shouldn’t be open-ended. Establish an end, then continue under new rules if you want to.

• Follow Through: Do what you commit to doing… both of you!

A Coaching Relationship has the potential to be one of the most impactful relationships in your life and your leadership. Don’t fall into the traps or mistakes I mentioned above.

If you are ready to try a coaching plan designed to help you achieve your objectives, learn more about Julie Han Coaching.

More more on COACHING: CLICK HERE

Posted in Leadership Coaching, Leadership Community, Organizational Development, Personal Leadership Tagged with: coaching, coaching doesn't work, failure, leadership coaching

STOP

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Russ Cline

Stopping.

You’ve heard me encourage leaders every chance I get to learn to STOP.

This is a difficult lesson because we have gotten so used to running full speed ahead that we’ve forgotten how to slow down, how to wind down, how to STOP.

This past week, I realized that I was hitting the wall a little bit. I was tired physically, I was emotionally drained and I had been unable to manage some things that should have been easy to handle. I was showing some signs of distress. For me, these signs are:

– Increased Frustration (everything was bothering me)

– Increased Distraction (I was doing everything BUT what I was supposed to be doing)

– Increased Eating (when I feel stress, I don’t eat well)

– Increased Separation (I pull away from people when I’m overwhelmed)

Now, I’ve been learning to manage myself for a long time, so these warning signs didn’t create panic or despair. Instead, they forced me to figure out what was going on.

So, here I am on Monday Morning, and I’m “unwinding” some things over the next 4 days so I can address what the source of all of this anxiety is all about. Also my dog was really upset and with a lot of anxiety, so I gave him the best calming treats for dogs amazon.

Here’s how I do it:

1) I Cleared My Schedule: I simply looked at the next 4 days and stepped away from as much as I could. I can’t control everything, so there are some appointments, calls and tasks I have to do, I stepped away from as much as I possibly could.

2) I Communicated My Schedule: I let my wife know and my co-workers know that I’m stepping back for a few days. I want them to be supportive and know that I’m doing some internal work.

3) I Changed My Perspective: Today, I woke up ready to do the work. It started with a great time at the gym, time in the Word, time clearing off my desk, and creating a plan for the next 4 days to get me where I need to go. I’m excited about the journey this week.

4) I’m Avoiding Distractions: It’s so easy to get bogged down in things that keep me from where I need to go. I’m saying NO to some things this week in order to say YES to what I need to be doing.

The goal: RENEWAL.

I need to find the joy again, I need to put things into perspective, and I need to be proactive instead of reactive.

This is an ongoing cycle. When we live at the pace that we live in, we have to figure out how to manage ourselves instead of just piling things on over and over again. We have to figure out what our “replenishment cycle” is, and work hard to refuel and refocus.

There will be some motorcycle time in my near future, as well as a good dose of exercise and nutrition. There will be some intentional relationship time with my wife that will hopefully include a walk on the beach, and there will be some silence and stillness. It’s amazing how healing some simple things become when we STOP.

If you need some help STOPPING, why don’t you join me for the next 4 days!

Posted in Leadership Coaching, Personal Leadership Tagged with: burnout, renewal, stop

Grow Your Influence

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Russ Cline

I just participated in a week-long leadership event where we spent the week talking about the power of our influence and we defined what this looks like and we spent time applying it to each of our contexts.

For anyone in leadership, the idea of INFLUENCE is something that drives what we do and it affects every decision we make.

I found an article by Marcel Schwantes at www.inc.com, and he shares 5 simple ways to grow this aspect of your influence. You can read the full article HERE. I’ll highlight the 5 steps for you.

#1) GAIN THE TRUST OF OTHERS

Covey talks about the fact that a team with high trust will produce results faster and at a lower cost. The foundation for everything related to your leadership has to be built on trust.

#2) LET GO OF YOUR EGO

An unhealthy ego can be a liability on the performance of the business.

#3) DEMONSTRATE COMPETENCE

Competence builds confidence in your people.

#4) INSPIRE OTHERS TO FIND THEIR VOICE

When people are liberated and empowered to collaborate, great things happen.

#5) DEVELOP A CULTURAL IDENTITY

Your corporate culture has to be grounded in giving employees ownership, authenticity and a community.

Read the full article as Schwantes goes into depth in each of these steps.

I simply want to encourage you to evaluate your influence. Just find some margin and ask yourself these questions:

*Who am I influencing and how? (identify at least 5 people and write down all the ways you share influence)

*Who am I missing and why? (identify some people who should be on the list above, and figure out why they’re not. Develop a plan to move them closer.)

*What can I do to grow my influence? (are there areas in your life that need attention? What can you do about them?)

*How have I been influenced? (identify the greatest influencers in your life and articulate what it is about them that has impacted you the most)

I’ll continue on this journey.

What about you?

Posted in Leadership Coaching, Leadership Community, Organizational Development, Personal Leadership Tagged with: culture, influence, leadership, trust

Learning to Leverage

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Russ Cline

LEARNING TO LEVERAGE

I’ve been working for the past few weeks on a presentation around “Leverage in your Leadership”. While reading some great books and articles, I found some really good tips to share with leaders about how to leverage our leadership into greater impact.

However, as I was researching and preparing, I realize that it’s one thing to “leverage your leadership”, and it’s another thing to “learn how to leverage your leadership”.

Here are a couple of things I think all of us can do that will help us find greater leverage:

#1) BE INTENTIONAL

Leverage doesn’t just happen. We have to work at it. We have to dream about it. We have to set some goals around it. We have to plan for it. The reality is that most of us don’t have the margin of time needed to be more intentional. We’re running as hard as we can, and we are dropping some of the spinning plates as we try to keep things moving. We will never be able to get the full impact of leverage unless we are more intentional. For the past few weeks we’ve talked about time and distractions. What’s keeping you from being intentional?

#2) BE SPECIFIC

Leverage is good. But what does that really mean? We need to quantify leverage by defining what it really looks like. Often we set goals or think about greater strategy without ever clarifying what this might look like. Recently I read a great book entitled, “Social Impacts” (©2014 by Marc J. Epstein & Kristi Yuthas). The book challenged me to really think about the metrics around what I’m trying to do.

An example might be: “I want to host a leadership coaching event for 15 leaders, helping them learn, grow and apply some leadership principles.”

A more specific way to say this might be: “I want to host a leadership coaching event for 15 leaders, helping them learn, grow and apply some leadership principles into their organizations, and seeing each leader share the principles learned with 2 leaders inside their organization within 15 days of the event”.

This is something that can be measured and immediately there’s a higher value placed on the activity.

#3) BE CREATIVE

Leverage isn’t just about “more people, more impact”. Think of ways to increase leverage that might require some different creative energy.

From the example above: “While teaching leadership principles to a group of leaders, I want to provide them with some tools to use not only in their organizations, but personally with their families. I want their families to be strengthened while they become better leaders.”

Sometimes we get excited when things happen that we didn’t expect. I want to encourage you to think outside the box about what can be leveraged, what can be impacted. Don’t settle for the easy multiplication model of 1 X 3 = Greater Impact! Be creative in the process.

Leverage can be defined as: “The power to influence a person or situation to achieve a particular outcome”

We all need to learn how to do this better!

For more on LEVERAGE, CLICK HERE

Posted in Leadership Coaching, Personal Leadership Tagged with: impact, leverage, multiplication

Distraction Management

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Russ Cline

I was recently reading a book by T.J. Addington entitled “Deep Influence” (Navpress ©2014). There are a number of themes in this book that I resonate with, but once again, the idea of distractions jumped off the pages as this is something I constantly work to manage.

Addington talks about this as he talks about leading with intentionality. Lot’s of great ideas and tips, and I encourage you to read the book.

I want to detour and focus on this idea of “Distraction Management”.

Here I am, looking at the screen, trying to write this blog post, and I’m checking my email, I’m waiting for a phone call, and I’m moving 3 different piles of paper on my desk all at the same time. I’m not managing my distraction very well, and the reality is, if I focused on one task, I would complete it faster, then I could move on to the next, but sometimes I get so caught up in trying to multi-task that I get to the end of the day, and I leave 5 or 6 projects undone because I got distracted and didn’t get it down.

While I haven’t perfected the art of “Distraction Management”, I have learned some things. I’ve shared them with you from time to time, but if you’re like me, you’re quick to forget… because you get distracted!

Here are some things that help me with this:

#1) BLOCK SCHEDULE MY TIME

I try to schedule the week ahead of me, making appointments with myself to focus on specific tasks and blocking time to work on priority projects. Don’t feel bad about doing this. You’re simply choosing to do what’s most important and communicating to people that you’re “booked” or that you “have an appointment”.

#2) ENGAGE FULLY WHENEVER I CAN

When I try to check my messages, track the weather, send texts to my kids and listen to a conversation at the same time, I miss out on something! Engage fully wherever you are. You’ll take more away and people will feel more valued by you.

#3) SAY NO!

You don’t have to do everything. Figure out what is most important, and if you can control your time and decisions, learn to say no. You can’t do everything.

#4) FIND YOUR SPACE

Figure out where you work best. Some people like to work in a coffee shop or in a noisy place. Others need complete silence or a comfortable place. Figure out what works best for you and get there when it’s time to do your most important work. For me, I am most productive when I’m in my office, at my desk, with all the resources I have around me as the OfficePro shipping labels so I can keep everything organized. I know I work better, faster and I’m less distracted in this “happy place” I’ve created, far from the distractions that tempt me to do something else. Where do you work best?

#5) TAKE A BREAK

I find that if I take regular breaks, I can work longer. I need to move, I need to refocus, I need to respond to urgent messages. Sometimes just taking a 10-minute walk around the block re-energizes me for another 90 minutes. Take a break when you can. I’ve found that many short breaks work best for me and keeps me fresh.

Learn to manage the distractions in your life, your work and your space!

For more on TIME, CLICK HERE

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: distraction, engage, management, multitasking, say no, space, time

Managing My To-Do-List

Posted on March 10, 2018 by Russ Cline

It happens to the best of us:

*We start the week by creating of list of things we need to do.

*Our goal is to “get through the list”, but the longer we focus on the list, the more items we remember to add to the list.

*We end up spending more time creating and managing our list then actually addressing the items that need to be done.

*The LIST controls us!

Janet Choi shares that “41% of t0-d0-items are never completed” (I Done This Blog)

By the end of the week, we’re checking things off, deleting things, and determining that some of these things should have been on the list in the first place!

But, the following week, we’re back at it, building our to-do-list again!

So, here are some simple tips to making your To-Do-List work:

#1) Determine if working off of a list helps your or if it distracts you.

Some people are list people. Some aren’t. If you’re obsessing about your list, or if you are trying to manage multiple lists, then it’s becoming a distraction. You need to figure out a better way to track actionable items.

#2) Keep the list SIMPLE

Don’t detail every aspect of what needs to be done, but keep the list simple. You might want to ask yourself the question, “What’s Important Now?” and only address things that are for NOW.

#3) Assign TIME to every item on the list

Don’t put anything on your list unless you have set a time in your schedule to address it. This is simple “block scheduling”. This is the only way you’ll be able to accomplish the things on your list. Over time, you’ll get better at estimating the amount of time needed to complete the task.

#4) Read through your list 3-times

As you look quickly at your list, you’ll be able to determine if all of the things on the list are under your control, if they are your responsibility, and if they’re a priority. Check the list quickly, and keep weeding off the things that creep in there that don’t need to be there. For example if you listed that you need to buy a new cabinet, you should look for the best cabinet maker online like http://oakcirclecabinet.com/ to get that done fast.

There are hundreds of different apps and tools to help you manage your list. Don’t spend too much time and money figuring out the best “method”. Instead, figure out how to be the most effective you can be.

I simply use the Reminders app on my phone, pad and computer, that I also use to play video games with a AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 that I got online. I always have my most current list, and if feels good to get things completed. Don’t get lost in the technology.

For more on time: CLICK HERE

Posted in Leadership Coaching, Personal Leadership Tagged with: block scheduling, effectiveness, list, priorities, productivity, tasks, time, to-do list