Choice 4: Rule Your Technology - Don’t Let it Rule You

Today I am writing part 4 of a 5-week blog series providing an overview to the principles covered in The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity.  Have you been so swamped in emails you missed the first 3 posts?  If so, today’s post should be helpful, but before you begin, make sure follow these links to read Choice1, Choice2 and Choice3.

When participants attend our 5 Choices Program, they get exposed to a video in the beginning of their training on Choice 4.  Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.  (author of Crazy Busy and Shine), points out that many of us have an addition… to technology.  He states it might not be a full blown addiction, but it is certainly a habituation. 

When your phone rings, your texts whistle at you or your computers ding, do you jump to see what it is?  When you see messages in your inbox that you haven’t read, does it stress you out?  It reminds me of a game I played when I was a teen.  We used to go up to our male friends and act like we were going to punch them in the arm.  When they flinched, we yelled, “Two for flinching!” and then we punched them in the arm twice.  If your technology could punch you for flinching, would you be sore?

We want the paradigm that “We Rule our Technology”, not the other way around.  The principle is of ALIGNMENT.  Our program teaches participants to Design a System that works best for them, to make the 3 Master Moves and how to use Productivity Accelerators.

This is by far one of the most popular parts of the program.  Participants find sanity in the process of setting up rules and alerts and learning new ways to look at information.  For example, almost every email you have can provide you information with one of the following: Appointment, Task, Contact or Notes/Document.  We teach participants to “turn it in to what it is.”  It’s one of the 3 Master Moves.

When you apply this content, you will have an effective system for appointment, task, contact or notes and you will no longer have to “live in your inbox.”  Your email will be organized so you can act on your most important work quickly.  This is a key step to achieving productivity!

Well, next week we’ll dive into Choice 5: Fuel Your Fire; Don’t Burn Out.  Be sure to check back.  I have a surprise for you!

Until next week,

John Vakidis

Choice 3: Schedule the Big Rocks, Don’t Sort Gravel

Today I am writing part 3 of a 5-week blog series providing an overview to the principles covered in The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity.  Did you miss the first 2 posts?  If so, follow these links to read Choice1 and Choice2.

One of the most common concepts taught by FranklinCovey over the last 25 years is the concept of Big Rocks.  The concept is simple.  In life, we have activities that require planning and others are more reactionary.  We also have some that are more important than others.  Once you have determined what tasks you need to accomplish, you need to schedule those into your calendar.  When urgent 9non-important) things come at you, stay focused on your most important goals.  When you do this over time, you will feel like you are accomplishing more in life and will become more fulfilled.

In order to achieve this, you will need to take 3 steps:

1.       Create a Master Task List

2.       Do Weekly Q2 Planning

3.       Do Daily Q2 Planning

Your master Task List captures all of your goals in one place.  It clears your mind of gravel.  It is used as a reference during Q2 planning.  It also helps categorize incoming tasks in natural chunks.

Your Weekly Planning should connect with your roles and goals.  You should take approximately 30 minutes to schedule your big rocks into your calendar and then organize the rest.

In order to achieve Extraordinary Productivity, we must live in Q2, as much as possible.  Here we find our most proactive work.  We create high-impact goals, do our creative thinking, we build our relationships and take time out for learning & renewal.

When working on your daily planning, build in some recurring Q2 time zones if possible.  Maybe you have a permanent block of time each day for planning, working out, reading, etc.

As a good rule of thumb, you will need to plan out 30 minutes a week and 5-10 minutes per day for planning.  Taking these 60-90 minutes per week to plan will allow you to live in Q2 and react less to unimportant activities.  Some things will simply not get done, but at least that isn’t what is most important!

Next week we’ll dive into Choice 4: Rule Your Technology, Don’t Let it Rule You!

Until next week,

John Vakidis