Tag: productivity

Never complain, never explain.

Dave


I’ve heard that quote, most often attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, for many years. But it’s only in the last few that I have understood its value in a business context.

I’ve seen it explained as an exemplar of the upper-class Victorian attitude of power. With rank and privilege, you can demand what you want. But it has another meaning for me as both a leader and employee.

Your boss doesn’t want to hear excuses; your boss wants you to identify problems and create solutions. If you were up all night working on a client presentation, that means you either didn’t plan well or you don’t know how to delegate. There are very few times when you can complain about your workload or use it as an excuse for poor performance. You must do it carefully and sparingly.

If you find yourself complaining about a co-worker or explaining that your failures are caused by him, you’re telling your boss you can’t overcome obstacles. There’s a reason so many interviewers ask you about a seemingly insurmountable conflict and how you solved it.

Your colleagues and the people on your team don’t want to hear you justify your decisions or complain no one is listening to you. They want you to set a clear direction and act on it. When you explain, they hear it as lack of confidence. When you complain, they immediately compare your troubles to their own. And very few people think other people’s challenges are bigger.

The most successful people in any organization are the ones who meet their objectives without fuss. They focus on what’s important and make sure people see the value they provide without shouting about it. But there’s probably another maxim that covers that.

I’m learning to be more productive by watching videos of people who are learning to be more productive.

Dave

I’m getting interested in new productivity tools and looking at GTD, mind mapping and Chronodex. So far I’ve learned that YouTube videos posted by other people are not the best way to learn.

I just watched a “how to mind map” video in which the presenter created a map that apparently helps her remember she is a business owner, wife and mother who likes to jet ski.

I’m now watching a “how I use Chronodex” video posted, apparently, by a disembodied pair of Australian hands. The hands used Chronodex to record that they had waffles for breakfast and are planning to have spaghetti for dinner.

I’m doing all of this, mostly, because I’m always off on some harebrained scheme, and because in the last two weeks I’ve discovered fountain pens and the Traveler’s Notebook.* In about three days, if things go as they normally do, I’ll be selling handmade paper notebooks on Etsy.

But seriously, I’ve tried at least half a dozen different note taking and productivity apps and none of them has been nearly as satisfying, focusing and tactilely rewarding as writing on nice paper with a nice pen.

If you have any good resources for GTD, mind mapping or Chronodex, let me know.

The most efficient way, of course, would be to pay Christopher S. Penn to teach me how to do pretty much everything he does.

*I couldn’t just buy one, though. I had to get a handmade notebook from a leather crafter in Hong Kong. Because simplify.

Siri is a great productivity tool, and it keeps getting better.

Dave

I spend a lot of time thinking about productivity tools and apps and devices that might make my daily life more efficient. The irony, of course, is that I would probably get all the efficiency gains I need if I just stopped trying new tools every week. But what fun would that be?

I’ve been using Siri’s speech-to-text dictation on my iPhone for probably a year, and it is definitely a keeper. For instance, I find I reply more quickly to emails, whereas in the past I might’ve waited until I was at a keyboard.

I use it for making lists and recording ideas. There’s something about pacing with the iPhone in hand, talking off the top of my head, that feels more like brainstorming than if I were typing into a document.

I use it in the car at stoplights. I can dictate a quick email or text without taking my phone out of its holder.

I use it to write blog posts, including this one. I had to go back and correct some words that Siri misunderstood, but far fewer than a year ago. Not only do I think the service has gotten better, but it definitely seems to get to know your words and speech patterns.

Unless I’m totally imagining that. I suppose I could stop now and go research it, but another one of my new productivity techniques is to just write a blog post when I have an idea and not let anything distract me from finishing it.

Just what the world needs from me; more frequent vagueness.

I do need to guard against my tendency to ramble. If you’ve ever talked to me in real life, you know that I am an aficionado of the tangent. If I don’t watch myself, an email or blog post I dictate can run on and on and on. Being aware of that, however, helps me focus and try to stay concise.

I’ve talked to a lot of people who tried the dictation feature once and gave up on it. If that was your experience, it’s worth another try.

Is there a way to mark an item “to do” inside an @evernote note and have it populated to a master to do list?

Dave

I use Evernote for keeping notes during calls and meetings. Often something comes up that I want to add to my to do list, and I write it this way in my note:

*TODO: Send an email to Clint Flamblemast re pumpkin rodeo

Then at the end of the call, I transfer all those to dos to my master to do list. I can also search “*TODO” and find all the notes with “todo” in them. 

What I want, though, is for that to somehow happen automatically, so that something noted as a to do item gets automatically populated to a master to do list.

Is there a way to do that? I’m happy to change my taxonomy or procedures.

Posted via email from David B. Thomas