Organizing for success-1

Get 2 more hours out of each work day!

1. Taking control of your day:
2. The keys to successful goal setting and meeting deadlines:
3. Nice easy steps to establishing a goal:
4. Organizing, planning and prioritizing: daily and weekly:
5. Apply the veggie principle:
6. prioritizing and multitasking quickly and accurately:
7. Finding more time in a day:
8. Control your desk:
9. Prevent and limit interruptions:
10. Manage, control, and write more effective email:
11. Phone and voice mail
12. Delegation that empowers
13. Planning an effective meeting
14. how to recognize and manage procrastination

INTRODUCTION

When I look back at my own career, I wish I could tell you I did everything I recommend in this book. I didn't. In fact, I think I succeeded in spite of myself. Have you ever felt that way?  I used to get up every morning and immediately start shooting myself in both feet. By the time I got to work, I was already stressed out. But now, I can honestly tell you that I do everything in this book. If I didn't, there wouldn't be any way I could have a personal life and watch my two sons grow up.

The goal of this book

Use clear thought, step back from the "trenches" of everyday life, and analyze your activities:

Why you're doing it

What you're doing

When you're doing it

Give reality a hug

go with the flow-only add structure and discipline to the flow

When you keep track of your time for a week, you will see patterns in activities, tasks, interruptions, and unplanned events.

Chapter 1: Taking control of your day

I used to:

Get off to a poor start ( courtesy of excessive relationship building)

Jump from task to task as a result of a steady stream of interruptions

Work on the new interruption or request immediately and drop what I was doing

Assume what everyone meant rather than ask questions

Write and speak vaguely, which cause more questions to be asked ( which in turn took more time to answer)

Interrupt everyone else all day and ruin their productivity

I finally realize:

Change my though process. I had more  control than I thought, but I had to take the "bull by the horns."

Be more patient. I needed to slow down instead of running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Have more discipline. I had to realize that "there is a time and a place for everything." Successful time managers realize that it's all about discipline. Without discipline, you will jump from task to task and wonder a the end of the day, " Where did today go?"

Strategies:

• "Train" others to ask questions and to ask for help more efficiently...lead by example...one of the fastest way to improve productivity is to be more specific and detailed with others (eliminate questions and misunderstandings) Planning always same time!
• Relationship building was all about quality, not quantity
• Do one thing at a time...you could handle your "traffic" more effectively if it was coming from one direction at a time
• send the bulk of return emails twice a day, once before lunch and once before the end of the day..when most people have a greater sense of urgency
• voice message: please leave your name, number, the reason for your call...leave your number twice and dont speak too quickly
• put the reason sending email in the subject line

Chapter 2.Goal Setting

(If you don't know where you are going you will end up somewhere else)

Organizing is a thought process

Tip: the past is an excellent indicator of the future

Tip: it is better to under-promise and overdevelop than to over-promise and under-deliever

Enemy #1: procrastination

#2: Working on everything but your goal

Chapter3: Nine Steps

Unless you know where you are going, any road will take you there.

Clear define

write it down

measurable

realistic (what you've done in the past, what resources/people i will need, what has gone wrong before) (believe you can make it...nobody lies a complainer)

break into manageable chunks

write down start and completion dates

write down reward before ou start, not after

Identify what could go wrong

identify who you will need

Chapter 4: Organizing, planning, and prioritizing: daily and weekly
The problem is not likely to be the day planner or electronic calendar you are using. Rather, it is probably your skill set. Focus on improving your organizational skills.

Master List is  while a to-do list is .
a master list is a pad of paper, while a to-do list is a single paper.

the master list a pad of paper keep all the possible activities, notes, action items, and so on for an entire week. to empty your head of as many thoughts as possible Master list is only rewritten each Friday Will be saved each week, stapled together, and put in a file Its larger because it contains not only to-do tasks but also *meeting notes with a ction items *notes from conversations *ideas with a master list, everything is in one place. Most people have multiple to-do lists in the form of loose paper or post it.

a Daily List  a piece of paper where you will plan a realistic number of key activities for that day only (on Google Calender) simply a task list A to-do list is thrown away after its rewritten daily It is used as backup from time to time, and at the end of the year to complete your review