The art of Stress Free Productivity

A New Practice for a New Reality1

The Problem: New Demands, Insufficient Resources

No clear boundaries

in work

Jobs keep Changing

Old models,

habits are insufficient

Trying to focus on

big picture

High Stress

The “Ready State” of the Martial Artist

“It is a condition of working, doing and being in which the mind is

clear and constructive things are happening”

Anything that causes one to over-react or under-react controls us

Dealing effectively with internal commitments

Capture anything occupying mind-

space into external system

Decode stuff

Put reminders of the outcome and actions required

Define outcomes

The Process: Managing Actions

Managing stuff

Managing Actions: Clarity

on next steps

Bottom-up approach: Clearing

mundane things clears way for

imp ideas

Horizontal and Vertical control

Getting it all out of your head:

Capture thought and actions in objective tools

2

Management of Horizontal Aspects

Capture Clarify Organize Reflect Engage

All five stages are integrated yet should not be done together

A. Capture

Nothing possibly useful

will get lost gives one the

freedom to think

Gathering 100%

of the Incompletes

A. Capture

A. Capture

Capturing tools

• The Physical In-tray

• Writing Paper and Pads

• Digital and Voice Note taking

• E-mail and texting

A. Capture

The Success Factors for capturing

• Get It All Out of Your Head

• Minimize the number of capture locations

• Empty the Capture tools regularly

“Stuff” In-basket

Do it

What is it?

What is the next action?

Delegate itIs it

actionable?

Defer it

Wil

l it

tak

e le

ss t

han

2 m

in

Yes

No

Reference(retrievable

when required)

Someday/Maybe(Tickler file; hold for

review)Trash

Projects(planning)

Project Plans(review for

actions)

Yes

No

Waiting(For someone

else to do)

Calendar(To do at a

specific time)

Next Action(To do as

soon as I can)Clarify

Organise

B. Clarify

8. Reference7. Incubation6. Trash1. Projects2. Project

Plans3. Waiting 4. Calendar

5. Next Action List

The Next-Action categories Non-actionable items

Time-specific actions Day-specifications Day-specific

information

Someday/Maybe Tickler system

C. Organise

Having an overview of all the outstanding projects and loops

What to review when

Calendar

Next Action List

Waiting list

D. Reflect

The Four-Criteria Model

for choosing actions in

the moment

Context

Time Available

Energy Available

Priority

The Threefold Model for

Identifying Daily Work

Doing predefined work

Doing work as it shows

up

Defining your work

The Six-Level Model for

Reviewing Your Work

Ground : Current Actions

Horizon 1: Current Projects

Horizon 2 : Areas of focus and

accountabilities

Horizon 3: Goals

Horizon 4 : Vision

Horizon 5 : Purpose and

principles

Three Models for Making Action Choices

E. Engage

Trying to do “the most important things”

Reason for Failure

Getting Projects Creatively Under Way3

Vertical Planning

“What is the need of vertical planning?”

• Greater rigour and focus to get a project under control

• Ensure the right steps have been determined

• Validate and support our thinking

Natural Planning Model

This is how we plan things naturally in a day.

But it may not be the normal planning model!

5 phases of Natural Planning

Purpose and Principles

Principles are the standards and values that define the criteria for excellence in

behavior and parameters for action

Purpose asks the ‘Why?’ question. It provides the

juice and direction!

Vision and Outcome

Having clarity and focus helps brain’s reticular activating system (RAS) to start making you aware of how it can happen

Vision asks the ‘What?’ question

Brainstorming

External brainstorming helps see everything without having to remember it all!

Organizing

Helps figure out the things that are must occur to create the final result and their order

Should create project plan!

Next Actions

Involves decisions about the allocation and reallocation of physical resources

Activate the Moving parts!

4: Setting Aside Time

Getting set up can take a couple of days but can be done in smaller chunks

!

If you travel a lot, make a portable version with the basic files and supplies

Collection:Corralling Your Stuff

5

Capturing

The Ready, Set…. Go model

• There are two ways of capturing • Physical organizing• Mental gathering

• Capturing helps segregate the important from the unimportant

Physical gathering - Process

Move stuff to the

“In – Tray”

• Move previously organized stuff to

“still processing” list

• Prioritize and ensure that your

organizing is going to put it first in

the to-do list

• Identify unchanging activities and

ensure no action plan is associated

with them

Routine

Physical gathering - Issues

• More than what will fit in the tray

• Purging and organizing – derailment

• Previously organized stuff

• Running into critical things

• Make lists, notes, reminders etc.

• Putting dates on everything is a worthy habit

• Clarify and clear your lists quickly,

• Create smaller projects to purge and clean

Mental gathering - Process

• Make an extensive list of incompletion triggers

for tray items

• This is handy and helps in prioritizing focus on

one item at a time and avoids clutter

On completion of physical gathering, move on to

work on your mental RAM space

It is better to overdo the process than to risk missing out things, make enough stacks

Clarifying: Getting “In” to empty

6

• Process one item at a time

• Never put anything back into 'in'

The Next Action

Pending tasks are then moved up for further organizing and planning

Identify the next action to be done•The action must be the absolute next physical thing to do•No next action? Trash or file it in your 'reference system'

Do It

• If it takes less than 2 minutes

• Does not need tracking

• Spend task time considerately

The Next Action

Delegate It

• “Best person to do it” question

• Find a delegate and handoff tasks

• Keep dates and reminders

• Track the delegation

Defer it• Takes longer than 2 minutes

• Move them to pending list

• Add reminders to notify oneself

After the project identification the stance of the “In” Tray is on actionable terms

Project Identification

• Make broad project definitions• Adds a reviewing aspect to completion• Add tabs and placeholders on tasks• Avoid complacency of completion

HOW?

Keep a track of

‘Seven’

Primary Things

Calls Computer ErrandsOffice

Actions

At home AgendasRead/

Review

Reflecting:Keeping It All Fresh & Functional8

1 : Calendar

2 : Next Action List

3 : Waiting list

Daily review

Weekly review

Get Clear Get Current Get Creative

Collect Loose Papers and Materials

Get “In” to Empty

Empty your head

Review the following “Next Action “ List Previous Calendar data Upcoming calendar “Waiting For” List “Projects” list Any relevant Checklist

Review the “Someday/ Maybe” list

Be creative and Courageous

Engaging:Making the Best Action Choices9

Four Criteria Model

Three fold model for evaluating daily work

Six-level model for reviewing your own work

Narrow down actions to take by

All

Actions

Prioritized

list

Context

Time available

Energy Available

Priority

Four Criteria Model

Context

We have been here for 30 min already.. Such a waste of time!

I had my list of calls to be made ready in advance. I should be done by the time the traffic clears

Of your next action folders, ask yourself, what can I work on right now, given where I am?

Ignore all other actions!

Time Available

I think I have a

maximum of 15 minutes

before the next meeting.

Let me reply to those

mails….

Ask yourself, “How much time do I have before my next activity?”

For a 10-min slot, a list of only the “big” things won’t help.

Choose a relevant short activity!

Energy available

• End of tiring day

• Fresh early morning

• Talk to prospective client

• Process expense receipts

• End of tiring day

• Fresh early morning

• Talk to prospective client

• Process expense receipts

Take on the big, important things when you’re energetic.

Use the tired times for mundane work like refilling the stapler!

Priority

Ask yourself, “Out of all my options that match my context, time, and energy, what is the most important thing for me to do?"

An interplay between goals, responsibilities, responsibilities and relationships help decide priorities

Threefold model for evaluating daily work

Doing pre-defined work

Doing work as it shows up

Defining our work

Maintain a balance between:

Avoid tendency to get lost in the second option

10,000-feet

Runway

20,000-feet

30,000-feet

40,000-feet

50,000-feet

• Runway: Collect, process, organize, review, do

• 10,000 feet: Project-level (review, clarify, organize)

• 20,000 feet: Current focus areas. List, update, review, use as triggers every 1-3 months;

• 30,000 feet: 1 year goals;

• 40,000 feet: 1-5 year goals; and

• 50,000 feet: Overview of your life.

Six-Level model to review own work

How much Planning to do?

80% projects can go through this in the head

15% require external brainstorming and 5%

need deliberate application of steps

To need more clarity, shift up towards purpose

To need more actions to happen, shift down

towards Next Actions

Getting Projects Under Control10

More thinking or planning

2 types of thinking

Ones that need attention even when

next actions are known

Uses more brainstorming, organizing or

gathering information

Ones where useful information/ideas keep

showing up

Add more collection methods for the ideas

Tools to support thinking

Tools to support thinking

Get good quality stuff you actually want to use!

Spend an hour or two with your tools thinking, top to bottom, about any major projects that warrant it.

Good filling system is important

Project Planning Software

Project Planning Softwaresare mostly overkill

More useful includes anything that can do

outlining, capture brainstorm results, and write/attach

notes to other things

The Power of the Collection Habit11

The Power of Collection Habit

When people with whom you interact notice that without fail you receive, process, and organize the agreements they

have with you, they begin to trust you

Avoid negative feelings

Negative feelings come from our broken agreements with ourselves

To avoid –• Don’t make the agreement in

the first place • Complete the agreement• Renegotiate the agreement

consciously

Notes sitting idle

A note sitting idle in someone’s in-basket

unprocessed, or nodding ‘yes, I will’ in a conversation but not

writing anything down is unacceptable behavior

100% Collection standard is a tight ship

The Power of the Next-Action Decision12

Defining the Next Action

Define the

Next Action

Asking

"So what’s the next action here?”

increases Clarity

When working in a group this adds

Accountability

Most importantly it leaves the possibility for Change

Defining the Next Action

The Power of Outcome Focusing13

Productivity

Take actionChoosing and taking

next actions are

the essence of productivity

Small actions in natural planning

may lead to

significant improvements

Recap

Capture Clarify Organize Reflect Engage

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