Personal Productivity Secrets (Spoiler: It's Bacon)

@danielbelltn asked this question on Twitter the other day:

I'd like to know how productive folks do life without workaholic behavior. Any ideas?

I, being the over opinionated person that I am sometimes prone to be, had an answer.

I think strategic prioritization, always moving forward, and knowing when to Not to do something. Not that I do this well :) 

In the interest of posterity, I will leave my "to Not to" grammatical shame intact.  Also, notice my patented (not really) use of self deprecation to emphasize my humility.  It's easy, folks, when you have mad skills like this.

So I clicked "Tweet" and went on doing something else, but kept coming back to my answer and thinking a simple thought.  If I have a legitimate answer to a question I've asked myself, and I think that the way to get where I need to be is to do... Why am I not doing it?

My go to answer is that life happens.  And it does.  Right now life is happening.  I'm writing this blog post (my first in months) at 1:30am, after having cleaned the house at 12am, because life has been happening and it's the best chance I've had.  But at 30, that's not a good enough answer anymore. 

I thought about that answer.  And I thought about it some more.  And several hours later I'm writing about it because it makes sense.  It's doable as a mantra.  For example, I'm fat.  (I know, you think it's all muscle when you look at me.  It's not.  It's really as if someone took a bathtub filled with lard and poured it into my body.  Yeah, that's gross.  So's all the fat I'm carrying around with me.  I digress.)  Since I was at my lowest weight in college (a point where I still wasn't small), I've gained almost 80 pounds.  Let's apply my three points to losing that baggage.

Strategic Prioritization
First things first, I need to stem the tide of overeating and introduce some type of exercise.  I can do without running shoes, go all organic, or drinking whey protein.  What I need to do is not eat a piece of pizza (okay, 2), a sandwich, an oatmeal cream pie, and a honey bun (You can judge me. I give you permission).  And I need to move fast at some point each day.

Always Move Forward
During one of past attempts to lose weight (one that was fairly successful, actually, but died a painful death when stress and depression slapped me silly), I made a goal to make "small choices".  Any healthy choice, no matter how small, was a step toward better health.  Maybe I skip the salt, or park at the back of the parking lot, or eat a Hershey's kiss instead of the Chic-Fil-a vanilla shake (otherwise known as the Cup of YummuliciousneI don't need toss).  The concept is always keep moving toward your goal.  The smallest step is still progress.

Know When to NOT do Something
Okay, so my example is going to break down here.  What I really mean by this is that we have to know when to say "No" to projects and requests to come our way.  I know to lose weight you have to say "No" to food, but the spirit isn't the same me thinks.  So, I'll just leave it at that.

Okay, I'm done.  Go live.

P.S. No, bacon does not actually make an appearance in this blog post.  Except that it just did.  Self-fulfilling prophecy.

Better Communication

I didn't say that... Yes, you did.

Better Communication. Every time, in any organizational meeting where we brainstorm how we can improve, "Better Communication" is always on that list. More often than not, it's at the top. Why? Because when people communicate effectively, everyone understands their role better. If my manager can effectively communicate the vision of the company and his superiors to me, and from me accurately communicate my concerns, strengths, weaknesses, etc. up to his management, we all win.

Better communication isn't just the Holy Grail of organizations, however. As an individual, the ability to communicate is tantamount to a great sauce; everything just works better. Without further ado, here are a couple tips I've learned:

1. Say Less

Before I send out an email, even brief ones that don't (theoretically) hold any importance, I reread through and remove words and phrases that don't add meaning to the email. Sometimes this is time consuming, but as I've done it for years I've gotten better and have to do less and less revisioning. For any communication, but email especially, you want to say all that you have to in order to convey meaning, but no more than what is required. For example:

Non-Edited:

Bobby Jean,

I think that we would probably get the quote to her by tomorrow. We just need to make sure that there's not a large delay that puts us behind once we purchase it.

Thanks,
Brandon

Revised

Bobby Jean,

We should have the quote by tomorrow, but we'll need to insure there's no delay after we purchase.

Thanks,
Brandon

Trimming the fat on our words accomplishes two goals. First, it clarifies our meaning to the reader. Second, it shows that we value the reader's time. Both of which the reader will appreciate.


2. Be Nice

We all know the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." However, knowing a rule and following a rule are two entirely different items. Just as we were told, "If it's not true, kind, or necessary, don't say it", we need to be kind in our communication. First, never reply when emotional. Whether the emotion is anger, hurt, embarrassment, etc., let the emotion run its course, then reply. You will get plenty of chances to follow this rule, but it only takes breaking it one time to cause permanent consequences. Second, be courteous. If you are asking for something, acknowledge the help you are being given. If you are asking for something big, make the acknowledgement big, and be free with offers to return the favor. Lastly, give thanks and appreciation for help given. If you can do a quick thank you in person, all the better, but even an email saying thanks is better than no acknowledgement.


3. Do It!

The easiest way to communicate better is to communicate more. Manager X asks you to provide Item B, but Priority Q trumped it and made it late? Tell Manager X. Someone sends an email to twenty people on a problem, and you jump on it? Let everyone know you're working on it. The players in a project can only play well when they know what's happening, and the more you communicate, the more they know what's happening. I have turned around an entire department's view of my team by doing nothing more than focusing on communication.


4. Bonus #4
   Don't put stupid stuff in emails.  I know you think it's funny, but when your joke goes askew and you put your follies down in written format, you'll regret it.  Sure, levity is great, but stupid is still stupid. 

Abilities + Attitude = Results

This post's title comes from John Maxwell's book, Attitude 101.  I liked it so much I tweeted it, but wanted to expound my elucidative commentary on the equation (Tangent 1).  The ultimate level of our success will be dictated as much (or maybe even more) by our attitude as it will be by our abilities.

I'll be 30 this year.  I looked in the mirror a few months ago and, aside from noticing how handsome my beard was, traveled the journey of self-reflection and reached a decision.  I had underachieved this decade of life.  Why is that?  I am reasonably confident in my abilities, and have a good understanding of what they are (and what they aren't), so why did I accomplish less than I'm capable of?  Attitude.  Some days I'm lazy, some I'm discouraged, some I'm negative, some I'm combative, some I'm gluttonous, etc. etc. etc.  Those days are where my abilities are shackled by my attitude.

How can I change my attitude?  Don't know.  Just started that section of the book. :)  In all seriousness, my own experience says that you change your attitude like you change your habits.  Consistent effort.  I can say without a doubt that my attitude today is exponentially better than my attitude at 20, and that has taken a lot of effort (as well as that process of life slapping us upside the head we call Experience).  Start with identifying the bad attitudes and the stuff in life that triggers them, and work like the dickens (Tangent 2) to fix them.  Pray, read books, listen to speakers, ask for advice and feedback. 

Tangent 1:  "elucidative" is flagged by spell check for not being a word.  I get great pleasure from this.  It's like I'm rebelling against the system, one made up word at a time.  Maybe I'm a Shakespeareal Ninja.  Then again, maybe not.

Tangent 2:  Euphemisms crack me up.  I can say "Like the dickens" or "Dad blame it" or "Crud Muffins" and most people don't even notice it (unless to laugh at me for saying Crud Muffins.  However, replace those with real, non-PG versions, and a lot of people would freak out and revoke my Christian credentials.  The spirit of the response is the same.  So, imhho, it makes sense to either 1) refrain from all interjectory language, or 2) not care about either one.  This argument is independent of two other arguments.  First, that of using references to God flippantly (or "in vain").  Second is the argument that we shouldn't do things that cause others to stumble.  For if in my language I cause my brother distress, my language should reflect my care for his distress.

Noise

I regularly go through my Twitter account and... well... it's like this...  I Unfollow people.  Don't look at me like that.  You know you want to do it too.  Here's the deal; you can only process so much information.  Did you know there is more information in a single issue of USA Today than the average person, hundreds of years ago, would come across in their entire lifetime (a fact I got from the Leadership 101 Series by John Maxwell.  Great books, btw)?  I don't want to put useless filler in front of my eyes.  You might have a great point of view, maybe even say things that would change my life if I were listening, but if I'm not listening/reading/watching you then there's no reason for you to be on my Twitter, or my Facebook, or my blog list, or my IM buddy list, or my cell phone, or my email, or... well, you get the idea. 

Seth Godin had a post on his blog recently concerning signal to noise ratio.  I wholeheartedly agree.  We put so much unused information into our head that what we could use and often times need is lost in the static around it. From his post:

Until you remove the noise, you're going to miss a lot of signal.

As Switchfoot so wisely said, if you're Adding To The Noise, turn off that song.