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3 Ways to Work on the Most Important Things

Enhance your focus on the Most Important Things (MITs)

Just yesterday I was working with a client who'd seen our Time Management DVD, and asked, "How do make sure you work on the most important things every day?"

It's a great question, and before I share my own ideas, I ask you to think to yourself: "How can I work on something really important (professional OR personal) before the sun goes down today?"

Ok, here are some of the things I recommend:

1) Turn off your computer monitor, and set an alarm to work on one "file" for 15 minutes. Read, write or plan until the alarm tells you 15 minutes have passed. Before you go on to to something else, decide what "next" would be and write that down on your "to do" list.

2) At the end of the day, write 3 specific projects you want to work on the next day. Put that paper with your car keys or wallet - look at it before you leave for work, and decide: Yes or No! If YES: Set yourself up for success. Leave those materials on your desk, and image-in yourself working on them the next day. (If NO, then choose something else to fill out your "top 3" list!)

3) Ask someone to watch you work for an hour. Don't talk them, and don't do anything differently - just respond to e-mails, file papers, write notes...do what you normally do. At the end, ask them to tell you what they saw. How did you stay focused, and where did you lose focus? Having someone watch me work gives an insight into HOW I am getting things done; not simply what I do during any 8, 10, 15 hour time period.

A thank you to Chris Baker (Wired Mag) and Leland Chee (Lucasfilm)

Well, I was only a few years old (yes, dating myself here) when Star Wars, Episode IV made it to the theaters. A fan from day one, my mom bought me toys, models and all kinds of gear so my brother and I  could pre-tend to be saving the universe!

Well, the article in Wired Magazine this month (Wired-16.09, September 2008) by Chris Baker (after meeting with Leland Chee at Lucasfilm) is awesome! If you get the chance, pick it and read through it ... even if you're NOT interested in the Force or Wookies!

Just one excerpt from the article/website:

So Chee spends three-quarters of his typical workday consulting or updating the Holocron. He also approves packaging designs, scans novels for errors, and creates Talmudic charts and documents addressing such issues as which Jedi were still alive during the Clone Wars and how long it takes a spaceship to get from Dagobah, where Yoda trained Luke Skywalker, to Luke's homeworld of Tatooine. The Keeper of the Holocron takes this very seriously: "Someone has to be able to say, 'Luke Skywalker would not have that color of lightsaber.'"

I saw this online, as well: Leland Chee, Keeper of the Holocron.

What is the ROI on your productivity? [Return on Investment]

Jodi and I wrote an article recently for Mortgage Originator Magazine (online edition)! Please visit, read, pass it on, and even leave a comment...thanks!

What's your "what for?"

On a drive from Ojai to Los Angeles this morning, I took the "quiet time" to listen...not to the radio, not to my voicemail, not to a book on CD; instead, I decided to listen to my own mind.

Over the past few months, I've noticed a theme of over-promising (to myself and to others) and then scrambling through late(r) nights, and over weekend days to get those things done. Today, I went through a "thought experiment" I call

...so that...

with several of my projects.

I think of a project, and identify a successful, valuable, end result. Then, I say to myself, "I am going to achieve that outcome so that..." and I fill in the blank.

As soon as I fill in the blank with one so that, I do it again; this time with THAT as the prompt. "I am going to achieve _______________ so that..."

It sure takes a while, but some of the clarity I experience on the other side is well worth the exercise.

How do you do that "task thing" in Outlook 2007?

Someone wrote in last week asking about setting up a "new task" in Outlook 2007. So, I put together a one-minute video here.

Q&A TeleSeminar today, 10am (08/19/2008)

At 10am PST, I'll host a 15-minute Q&A session for anyone who has attended one of our seminars this summer!

Please call in about 5 minutes early, just to get entered into the call and to get ready for our TeleConference. How do you do it? Pretty simple:

Call  (712) 451-6000

Listen to the welcome message and prompts and then:

Enter Code - 951197#

What was that...that just happened?

Ok, if you're anything like me, from time to time you lose focus. Yeah, it happpens.

While reading a book, talking on the phone, out for a run, or even at dinner with my wife...my mind way wander.

QUESTION: When it wanders, where does your mind go? For years, I've practiced "living with pen and paper." You see, I can't help my fleeting thoughts from coming in (or going back out!), but I can stop them from coming in again and again...by writing them down!

Give it a try, for the next five days, do these two things:

1) Bring paper and pen with you EVERYWHERE.
2) Write more things down.

Looking for some connections to John Maxwell

Help...

I'm looking for some assistance from this community.

On the phone today, a client suggested I read some of John Maxwell's work prior to our meeting next week. Do you have a link or two (website, blog, product line) you could recommend I review?

Thanks, in advance!

Thinking...in different ways!

In a seminar last week, someone asked about "thinking" and "goal setting." In my experience, I've found that there are more or less effective ways of thinking.

Not efficient (just thinking a lot, quickly, about what I've thought about before...) but effective (new thoughts, new innovations, new developments...) ways of thinking.

I know I'm a different kind of thinker. What can look from the outside to be "positive" thinking is really on the inside "directed" thinking.

Is it easy...Good God no! Is it worth it: absolutely, unequivocally YES!!!

"So Jason, how do you do it?"

I love (and I mean I really do LOVE) this question because it puts me in the learning. The real question is not "can you think in a directed why IF you need to," but...

• "When things are tough, when you are down, when it seems there's nothing left to uplift you, WILL you think in a directed way?"

There are a lot of things you could do (please, leave a comment below with your idea!), and I thought I'd just share a couple of my own ideas...

1) When I attend a seminar or watch a presentation, I write many notes in my notebook (for example, just the first 2 minutes and 47 seconds of this is enough to get me going...and writing Bill Strickland ). I realize that I can change my direction of thinking pretty easily! As a matter of fact, many years ago I was one of the only ones taking class notes in multiple colors. I found over time that one of the ways I learn the best is through visual variety.

2) Likewise, making goals attainable, attractive and fun in the process has taken me work and focus. I've tried a few things, including making collages, writing affirmations and creative visualization...I learned a lot of this through this book here: Creative Visualization. When I get a goal, I usually write it out (same goal, usually different words) on my bathroom mirror with a "dry-erase" pen. That way, I'm sure to see it when I'm getting ready for the day, and I'm sure to reflect upon it one more time before I go to sleep!

Finding what will work for you will ultimately be a process of trial and error. Try something; if it works...keep on doing it!

My central park 9-miler last week

For an overview of one of my favorite runs this month, click here!

It really was a great day! I started off by leaving the hotel around 4:50am, as I was hoping to meet with a triathlon/entrepreneur buddy of ours in New York City, Peter Shankman (you've GOT to see his site: Help a Reporter Out).

I wound up running solo, starting at the Mac store on 5th Avenue (which was open at 5am, by the way!) and headed into the park while it was still dark. The only one running along some of the trails, over the next hour or so I joined the hundreds of other people training - cycling, running, walking and roller blading. It was a nice morning...click on the picture below for the map of the run.