And many of them take a nice length of time to wade through, ironically giving the seasoned procrastinator a seemingly cast-iron excuse to put things off whilst they, “just learn how to get more done”.

So, I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of lengthy prose that makes you feel like you’re doing something to solve the problem, without actually solving it.

Instead, just promise yourself that you’ll commit to the next action. Are you ready? It’s…

Do the thing you least want to do first, and get it out the way.

(And yes, you do know which it is. It’s the lurking one that you’ll tidy your desk/wash-up/even go to the dentist to avoid…)

But do this just once a day, and your productivity will soar.

Plus, after the first few days of carrying this out, you’ll so enjoy the rush of energy, achievement and pleasure you get from carrying out a “dreaded task” that you might even look forward to getting them out of the way…

Be warned though, for this to work at it’s best, just attack the one thing you’ve least wanted to do, each day.

Please do leave feedback on the results you get from this (it’s likely to encourage other people to get more done, too, apart from anything else).

Enjoy!

Clare

It happened like this. In the midst of it everything else we had a powercut. (Yes, they do happen in London, mostly to do with people (endlessly) digging up the road).

Anyway, we had one. And because we had one, I had a proper, old-fashioned clock on my desk, in order to keep track of time during phone-coaching sessions.

The power came back, but the clock stayed. And during that day, I was more productive than I had been in ages. Other than a two-hour power cut, the only thing which had changed was the clock. So I began extolling its virtues to my Long-Suffering Spouse. Who listened patiently, as I explained that seeing the time in analogue made me (as someone who doesn’t “think in numbers”) made me much more aware of time passing than figures in the bottom right of the screen.

“You know you can get a picture of a clock on your screen, don’t you?” he said.

I didn’t. But as it turned out, you can get, not just that, but a note-pad for a ready-made to-do list (say goodbye to endless scrappy Post-it notes) and many other delights as well.

The secret is Google desktop gadgets, which are available here:

http://desktop.google.com/en/gettingstarted.html

My estimation is that they’ve boosted my productivity in recent days by around 20%.

Hope this helps you too.

Clare

Basically, it relies on the principle that however smart, or even intuitive you are, it’s impossible to predict everything that will happen during the course of a given week, project or other time period.

And so, even if you’re really organised, it can be all-too-easy to get side-tracked by extra demands coming in from left-field.

And yet, a wide variety of people have found that by allowing 20% more time for everything they plan at work than they think the task will take, all such distractions (otherwise known as “life”) can take place, and yet still allow them to reach their targets.

Why 20%? I don’t know. But I do know that it works!

Hope this helps

More soon

Clare

Breaking it down into stages is the answer, but the places where you choose to break are just as important as the breaking down. Stages that are short, and feel, “complete within themselves” allow you to give yourself a pat on the back with each completed one..Thereby making it more likely that you’ll get started on the next stage another day.

Breaking a project down, (especially one involving creativity or report-writing…though the two need not be mutually exclusive) into smaller parts has the added advantage that your unconscious mind can work on upcoming segments in the breaks between the different phases.

Typical parts of a project

So what are these mythical “component parts”? Well, oviusly no two projects are identical, but if you split yours into the following five phases, then tweak it to your own needs, you’re likely to see positive results.

1. Research, eg. asking questions like, “What’s my outcome?” or “What’s needed?” If this is your own creative idea, this stage mayseem to be less important than if someone else has asked for your output. . But thinking about the people who’ll receive the fruits of your labour is always a good idea. Plus, rumour has it that even that icon of creativity, J.K. Rowling, spent several years planning out the Harry Potter books in her mind before putting pen to paper.

2.. Give an idea a broad shape, getting down the first flashes of inspiration.

This is the equivalant of a surveyor or garden designer marking out proposed changes to a piece of land.You’re sketching the outline, and key points that stike you at once, so you know thye’ll be safely captured for later.

3. Produce a first draft or attempt, without judging it at all.

The key thing here is just to keep producing without judging your efforts. Plenty of time to make judgement calls later…when you’ll be heartened by the amount you have already done.

If the project is a large one, consider breaking this down further, into sections within the project. Eg. if you’re writing a large proposal, one day you might rough out the introduction, the next the key benefits, etc.

If you’re subdividing here, keep each “chunk” small, so that you’re sure to get that “quick win” feeling, within an hour ideally, and within two at most.

4. Polish and check the project or piece of work.

This is the time to get picky. Polish all you want, change and re-jig. Get others to review your output so far, if appropriate. But again, keep your timings, and the mini-goal of finishing this segment, in mind.

5. Publish, or otherwise distribute or announce the project.

Output time. How you give that output, its structure and format, will of course depend on you and the project. But after that, have an even bigger celebration…knowing that you can now use this system whenever you want to make thing more manageable, and generally “move mountains”.

Hope this helps!

More soon

Clare

Office partitions, let alone walls, are becoming rarer than a snowflake in June. Received wisdom states that this practice of wall removal is, “a good thing”. It’s supposed to encourage communication, interaction and a whole host of management-speak phrases ending in “tion” as well.

But over the last few months, I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve said things like:

“I can’t hear myself think in the office”.

“There’s nowhere just to sit quietly and plan things out”.

“I work much better from home, in my own space”.

“It’s hard to be creative when people just come and bug you all the time”.

Add to this the statistic lodged in my brain (from where, I’m not sure, but lodged it most certainly is) that your average CEO spends up to 85% of the time thinking about their business, often alone. Even average CEO’s of course, tend to have their own offices.

Then put into the mix the times when you yourself have had an idea “pop” into your head form nowhwere…and I’m guessing that you probably weren’t in a crowd at the time.

And it’s little wonder that many people in our ofices today feel that they are stressed, “never get anything done” and aren’t being as creative as they could be in their role.

What’s to be done?

What is to be done? Should go back to the days of everyone in their single, tiny, segregated office?

No, because there really are benefits to people being able to mix freely.

You may have a better suggestion than this, but I propose a two-part solution.

1. If at all possible, give people the choice of whether they want an enclosed working space, work from home etc or not. Then different people’s jobs, temperaments and circumstances could all be taken into account.

2. If that utopian ideal is a bridge too far, more workplaces could at least set aside small, “quiet rooms” and trust that the people sitting in them might actually be putting in useful and creative thought therein.

In that way, and for very little money, it’s likely they’d see a bigger increase in employee creativity, productivity and well being than any extra “management” seminar could possibly yield.

More soon

Clare