Beyond Scheduling Mastering Action & Performance

90 minute Intensive

Rose Hastreiter PMP, CAPS, of

directcorporate.com

90 min Intensive: Beyond Scheduling

• 3 days reduced to 90 min = “Intensive”!

• “I Kan” approach: Kanban & Kaizen

• Integrated approach: Not a magic pill!

• Science of Stamina & High Performance

• Time = professional & personal life

• Today = Action & Energy & Time mgmt.

If it only were always this simple:

Make To Do List

By When Do It!

Why then: Overbudget, overallocation of resources, stress, deliverables + quality not up to expectations?

#1 MYTH: Time Management

“Just Estimate & Schedule it.”

Energy

Commun-ication

Values

Priorities

FOCUS

PROCESS

Environ-ment

TECH & TOOLS

ACTION & Behaviours

It’s About Managing:

5 min of ACTION & TIPS

Tips you can do EVERY day to increase your performance &

productivity:

KEY: 2-Minute-Moving-Marathon

• Movement = energy = momentum

• Quality more important than Quantity: 2 min!

• Change Pace = Get Unstuck & Build Solutions

• Strategic Activity switching = High Performance

• Multiple Prime Times: ARE possible!

• QUICK HOW TO: Earbuds + 5 min walk

• Oxygenation, Digestion, Attitude, Chemistry

• We are biological, not mechanical.

KEY: Quick Priority Filter on your Lists

1

2

3

NON-NEGOTIABLE

IMPORTANT NEGOTIABLE

NICE TO HAVE

KEY: In sight = In mind

IN SIGHT = IN MIND

KEY: Check Your Action Sightline

• Arms UP • Arms OUT to side • Arms In front

#1 Priorities &

#1 Motivators:

Keep in sight

Next 2 weeks plan: Keep

Remove #3s for best

Activity Focus

Daily / weekly Update

Virtual / Physical

KEY: Tech as a Support, not a driver

• Phones out: Tech Check

• Anything Urgent?

• Pls - Turn to silent.

• Next: Put in a non-visible place.

• We’ll do a Tech Check 2 times today.

• Q: When’s the last time you changed default settings or Logged out?

KEY: Keep Your Motivators & Intentions Close to Your Action List.

What motivates your day / week / month / action?

What intention do you carry into your Day / Week or Specific Activities?

If you reclaimed 2 hours every week:

• What would you do with it? (Find it in 15.)

• Write this down in your Brain Book

• Next: Why did you choose this?

• And, Why, again?

• Could you frame this as a Reward Activity?

• Write down a specific activity you see as a reward. Be specific.

What project / activity are you actively avoiding?

• Find it in 15 seconds

• Keyword this down into your Brain book

• Next: Describe why you think/feel/sense you are avoiding it

• Next: Why - again?

• AND Why is this?

• One more time: Why?

Building Action Resilience

This is a Practice

ACTION KEY: Daily Resistance Training:

• Every day: find an activity you actively resist – Ask your 3 - 5 whys

• Determine if these are justifications / excuses • Commit 5 – 15 minutes of DOING this + Reward:

– Ask: what Joy could I find in the Doing of it? – If you focus on the pain, of course you won’t do! – Ask: what will it feel like once I’m done?

• Can I put in a reward activity in exchange for some of the DO? E.g. the activity you wrote if you had 2 extra hours every week?

PLANNING FOR ACTION

Top keys that work Personally, Professionally, and ON projects!

Clear = Understanding physical tangibility of an action,

expectation or deliverable.

WHY?

TO MINIMIZE CORRECTIVE ACTIONS LATER

KEY: Clarify Until It’s Clear

SMARTs

Duration & “Book-Ends”

Values & Sibling Values

Tools & Tech & Visualization

Action Environment

Energy & Capacity

Checkpoints & Review

Tool to help Clarify: Take it on The FerrisWheel

SmartS-Check Use for Goals, Deliverables & Actions

Doesn’t have to take you long! 30 sec check!

Clarity in Goal Setting

Health/

Fitness:

I will train to walk/run a consecutive 10K distance

by June 15, 2015, in 2 hours or less, and this is

relevant to my training for my first marathon next

year. I will sustain effort through to the end of this

goal by doing a weekly check-in with my coaches /

friends. When I don’t feel like training, I will plug in

my favorite playlist, look at my motivating factors,

coach myself with a healthy reward and DO it. I

commit to this.

SMARTS: examples

Work:

I will email my project results on phase 2 of my

project by June 15, 2015. I will sustain effort on this

activity by time-blocking and defending a 4-hr

window on Wed or Thursdays until my internal

deadline. I will communicate to my team in advance

of these time-blocks so they know I’m unavailable

except for team-defined urgencies.

Personal:

I will reach out to my close community of friends

and family at least once a week via email, social

networks, or phone. When I haven’t reached out

in a week, I’ll go to a coffee-shop and do my

reach-outs from there.

Think of ONE task you have to do this week.

• Let’s Run it through a “Smarts Check”

– SPECIFIC: Physical start, end, describe it

–MEASURABLE: How will you measure success?

–ATTAINABLE: Resources, ability to learn

–RELEVANT: Does this connect to a larger goal?

–TIME/TARGET: When is it going to be done by?

– SUSTAINABILITY: What effort will you need?

SMARTS: 2 min Activity

KEY: Breaking it Down

Take a Mountain, Turn it back into Molehills

QUICK HOW TO:

1. Take some sticky-notes and find an empty Wall. 2. On each note, write a category of work. Use

NOUNS to describe. 3. Stick it on the wall – in the order you’d like

them to appear on your plan. 4. Keep doing this until you can’t categorize your

work any more! You’ll know because you’ll start writing out activities.

5. Optional: Type it out in a project tool – I have one available to you post-workshop.

Work Categorization

KEY: Make it VISUAL Building Evidence +

Motivation + Control

• I have a tool we can use post – workshop: – INCLUDES page for you categorize project work

• Use a NOUN to describe the category • When you cannot use a Noun anymore, you’re probably at the level

of Activity. • “Activities” = Use verbs to describe! • Relate each activity to one of your work categories Set aside 2 hrs the first time you use • 30 min once-a-week to update and adapt your plan • Create a multi-week plan for project, even if you are in progress • 2 weeks ahead is usually good for many professionals

KEY: PLOT & VISUALIZE IT

We’re about to TASK SWITCH 30 seconds: Write out 1 key take away in your

Brain Book. Share with your partner

TECH CHECK & MUSIC BREAK 1 minute movement break – Pls grab your

phone, Stand Up, Stretch, Move, Dance

1 minute MOVEMENT

SMARTs

Duration & “Book-Ends”

Values & Sibling Values

Tools & Tech & Visualization

Action Environment

Energy & Capacity

Install Checkpoints &

Review

Next on The FerrisWheel: Duration

The Art of Accuracy:

Estimating Duration

Tips

Work Effort vs. Duration

PHYSICAL, REAL EFFORT LENGTH OF TIME BETWEEN START

AND END POINT

Work Effort USES RESOURCE BUDGET

Duration USES TIME BUDGET

PAINTING WALLS PAINT + DRY TIME + TEST +

CHECKING + CLEAN UP + SIGN OFF

WRITING A REPORT + EDITING WRITE REPORT + WAITING FOR

FEEDBACK + EDITING

Tips: Duration estimating

Method When to use

Delphi Technique Ask each stakeholder for an estimate,

average it. Use with historical + variance.

PERT formula (Std Dev) =(Optimistic + Pessimistic + (4xRealistic)) /

6 Use WITH Expert Judgement.

Expert Judgment + Historical Evidence + % Variance

Ask others. If you or your team have done this before, use historical estimates + a

variance. Increase variance if little historical evidence.

BOOKEND IT:

Define Physical Start + anticipated Physical End

Always. Important to define specific activity start + end points before

quantifying.

www.mitacs.ca

Human Energy in Duration Est:

Energy Requirements for Duration Estimating: Human Resource MUST be considered in your Optimistic / Pessimistic / Realistic estimates:

SMARTs

Duration & “Book-Ends”

Values & Sibling Values:

Choose 3 to use in your day.

Tools & Tech & Visualization

Action Environment

Energy & Capacity

Install Checkpoints &

Review

Next on The FerrisWheel: Values

MYTH:

“There’s an APP for that.”

SMARTs

Duration & “Book-Ends”

Values & Sibling Values:

5 min Tools & Tech Tips:

Customize to You

IDEAS: Browser Tabs Grouping & Extensions | Email Tips | Format Painter | Defaults

What matters? The 4S

Seamless, Supportive, Synchronistic, Searchable

Install Checkpoints & Review

TOOLS & TECH: Quick Tips for our inner Geeks

MAKING ACTION

Top keys that work Personally, Professionally, and ON projects!

SMARTs

Duration & “Book-Ends”

Values & Sibling Values

Tools & Tech & Visualization

Action Environment

Energy & Capacity

Checkpoints & Review

Tool to help Action: ACTION ENVIRONMENT

Action Environment: Key Tips

Not every Activity is the same, therefore: • Design your environment to SUPPORT your specific

Activity & Focus required. • Create 2 contingency environments to pull from • ZeitGebers: Understanding what triggers our

physiology e.g. Light/Dark, Sounds • Location e.g.: Library, Café, • Physiological: Food, water, Nutrition, sleep • Auditory Environment e.g. : Earbuds, Playlists,

podcasts, silence, • Motivating Factors: In sight • Audit your environment & weekly / biweekly checks

KEY: INTERVAL TRAINING & Ultradian Sprints

• Time-based intervals

• Performance-based intervals

• Ultradian Sprints: 90-120 min max time blocks

• Pomodoro technique / Shorter intervals

• Timer in different Room: Force stand up

TIP: When Working from Home

• Action-based clothing

• Action-shoes

• Lights on Timers to help intervals

• Focused environment: Design it.

Create A Time-Thief Management Plan

Interruptions

• External event to what we have intended / scheduled

Distractions

• Poor Notification systems, communication,

• Internally / Externally driven

Procrastination

• Internally driven

• Personal behaviour

• Values or Energy mis-aligned with activities scheduled

Over-

commitment

• Inability to defend personal schedule

• Inability to say No effectively and define boundaries

• Personal “Time Zone”

PROCESS: AUDIT & COUNTERACTION

AUDIT INTERRUPTION / DISTRACTION /

PROCRASTINATION

Design & Implement Counter-Action

7 day implementation cycle & Review DESIGN A DISTRACTION MGMT PLAN

PROCESS: AUDIT & COUNTERACTION

Think of One Time Thief You Physically

Experience

Brainstorm & Review Physical / Behavioural

CounterActions

DEMO: As part of Digital Kit, You can use this tool to help you design your plan!

Task Switching: Process

• Ineffective = 25% more duration

• Focus on ONE, get it DONE

• BUT, if you must: Control the switch

CAPTURE

& Keyword Your Current

State

(Brain Book)

Switch to other Activity: If

needed, time it with a

negotiated interval.

When tempted to switch:

Assess Urgency & Importance to your Day / Week

Try to negotiate

one minute more.

Use Keyword Capture

To Quick-access Where you left

off

KEY: Effective Task Switching • We are about to “Task-Switch” to a new activity • Keyword your key takeaways before we switch • 30 sec max – keyword on handout aka, today’s Brain Book • Turn to partner – share 1 or 2 points you’ll take away • Actively listen to your partner’s key takeaways TASK SWITCHING - - - - - - - NOW! To a TECH CHECK – Please pick up your mobile • Anything Urgent?

– IF no, pls put it back away. – IF yes, pls step outside and focus on it then come back in.

The Art of Adapting:

Changes will happen.

Defending & Adapting

Your Schedule.

Tactic:

Weekly Process Review

&

Accountability Factor

Installing Checkpoints & Review: WHY?

• 10 min: review what WORKED, what didn’t

• 20 min: Plot next one - two weeks ahead WITH new information gathered from previous week

• Plot it onto an activity plan / Whiteboard it

• 15 min: Make sure you review with a project partner / stakeholder to ensure you are on track / feedback / accountability factor

• CALENDAR: Let’s book your review

KEY TOOL: 30 – 45 min WEEKLY SCHEDULE REVIEW

Let’s book it:

The Art of the Follow-Through

• Install Deadlines into your schedule

• These are your LifeLines • Soft deadline? Hard Deadline?

– Soft = negotiable

– Hard = non-negotiable

• Create Harder deadlines to influence action

LIFELINES

• Top of Day: Intention & Motivations • “Make My Bed” activity: Find one • Top 2 To Do each day • Effective To-Do List & NOT DO list • End of Day: Brain dump, Wind Down Time

– What DID you accomplish today? – Gratitudes & Focus on what went well.

• Tech-Checks | Tech-Off time | Tech-OnTime • Communication Checks • Catch-all Days / Timeblocks for Catch-Up • In alignment with Weekly Priorities?

Daily Tips

• A Balance between Scheduling your PRIORITIES & Prioritizing your Schedule

• Energy Centre awareness: Drains & Recharge

• Prioritization using Long Lens & Short Lens

Effective DO lists

• Let’s open up to our handouts:

• List out 5 things you will need To Do

• List out 1 thing you won’t be doing

• Let’s take your To Do list through some prioritization filters

• You can use this technique “on the fly” to help adapt action schedule

Think of your next week

Is it a 1, 2, or 3?

1

2

3

NON-NEGOTIABLE

IMPORTANT NEGOTIABLE

NICE TO HAVE

If Everything is critical, nothing is critical.

Urgency & Importance: Defining

Excellence instead of Perfection

PERFECTION

EXCELLENCE

GOOD ENOUGH

FAIR

POOR

NON-ACTION

Some Weeks WILL Slip: It’s the Recovery that Matters!

• Strategic Recovery: – Catch-All Day / Catch-All Hours

– Energy Renewal = Better Productivity

– Spending energy on blame is wasting energy

– Make time for a lessons learned post-crisis

• Responsive vs. Reactive State – If you or your team are in Crisis

• Consider a Temporary Full Stop to regain Control

• Review Processes & Communication

• Re-Define Urgency & Importance

• Reverse Lens, Long Lens, Wide Lens

Let’s Stand Up and Do a

Stretch & Breathing Break

Manage Your Energy as a key

tactic for high performance!

Mastering Action &

Building Multiple Prime Times

4 different Energy centres as fuel:

physical mental

emotional spiritual

Check your Activity List: What Recharges your Batteries?

Reading Walk Dog

Walk Dog Walk Dog

The Science of Stamina • It’s not the Quantity of time, it’s the Quality of

action and energy.

• We are what we EAT: Energy & Action & Time

• Increase productivity with Quality Renewal breaks: See Harvard Business Study (Referenced in

handout: Tony Schwartz, Catherine McCarthy research.)

• Example COUNTERBALANCE: After 45 min of a Mentally draining activity choose a short 5 min Physical activity to counter-balance.

If I only had 2 minutes to share

anything:

So, Design Your Days.

In life, there are many Different Days & Ways:

Build a Better Bucket.

Energy

Commun-ication

Values

Priorities

FOCUS

PROCESS

Environ-ment

TECH & TOOLS

ACTION & Behaviours

It’s About Being Aware of:

Thank You! info@directcorporate.com