Begin with the end in mind

I have been traveling a lot the past couple of weeks and was catching up on my reading today, when I learned that Stephen R. Covey died on July 17, 2012.  Apparently, he had a bicycle accident back in April and died of complications from the accident.  I am sad to see him go.

Back in the late 80's, I started to get into time management in an effort to be more productive.  Like many people at the time, I began with a Franklin Planner and even took a course on how to use it.  The Franklin method made a big impact on me and helped me begin my decades-long relationship with productivity methods.  In the 90's, I discovered Covey's book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," which helped me re-frame why I did things and helped me more consciously work on more impactful activities.  This matrix is one I still think about as I plan what I want to work on:

From this book, I began to embrace the "Sharpen the Saw" concept and tried to spend more time in Quadrant 2, Important but Not Urgent.  I also learned the value of outcome-oriented thinking with his principle to "Begin With the End In Mind," and tried to create mutually beneficial results with his admonition to "Seek First To Understand."  Very powerful and motivating stuff.

Dr. Covey's work has influenced me quite a bit - in fact, my first post on this blog was a review of his book, "The 8th Habit."

I have since turned to other methods for the "how" part of productivity (such as David Allen's Getting Things Done, and my current favorite system, Michael Linenberger's Master Your Workday Now), but Stephen Covey's work is still my anchor for the "why" part of productivity.

Rest in peace, Dr. Covey - and congratulations on a fine legacy.

Beeminder is keeping me on task

I'm roughly 100 days into my use of "Beeminder" and wanted to provide an update.  If you recall from my earlier post on Beeminder, it is a "put your money where your mouth is" kind of commitment tool.  I committed to blogging at least 4 times per month and, if I don't, I owe money.  Yep, cash money.

I got into this base purely on curiosity, but I am now a huge fan.  There is nothing like a commitment to someone else to keep you honest, and nothing like a commitment of money to get you to take things seriously. When I first found out about Beeminder, it was relatively unknown.  Last month, the Beeminder team (now located in lovely Portland, Oregon along with me) received some well-deserved publicity from LifeHacker.

Here is how my progress is going so far:

Basically, the yellow line is my "yellow brick road" and my goal is to stay above it - below it, I owe money.  This is a great system and I am growing addicted to it.

They do a great job of providing you with updates via an email from the Beeminder Bot.  You can provide updates via email or on the Beeminder site, and provide data to make your graph go, as mine has. Rumor has it they are working on even more mobile-friendly ways of updating your status.

Got a goal that could use some pressure / encouragement?  Head on over to Beeminder and give it a try.  You'll love it.

Cheat codes for your real life

I was just reading an interesting compilation of "cheat codes" for real life on Reddit.  I play quite a few video games, and I'm familiar with cheat codes there - you can use them to gain access to special weapons, gain super strength, open up hidden challenges, and things like that.  I've used them a few times myself.

The list on Reddit is similar - special commands, sequences, etc. you can use in real life to gain advantages.

The full list or real life cheats is very entertaining (be warned, there is some adult language in there!) - here are a few I really liked from the list:

 #1. Stop: Stop: Play. Skip advertisements in movies and go straight to the movie.

#17. Can't find your car in a parking lot? hitting the lock button trying to get it to beep? Extend the distance of key-less entry by putting the key under your chin. The signal will resonate in your skull increasing the range dramatically. I swear to god this works, and I'm told it's safe because the radiation is non-ionizing.

#23. To peel a boiled egg, roll it around on your plate for a while until all of the eggshell is cracked evenly. Then it's easy to remove the complete shell at once. After you boil eggs immediately place them in ice cold water for a few minutes. No vinegar or salt or oil or whatever people use. Shells slip right off

#53. On flights, if you are fighting for an arm rest with a stranger. bring your arm (the one thats on the same side the arm rest you want) up to your mouth and sneeze/cough. Then place it by the armrest. The other person will move their arm. Has had 100% success rate.

There are a bunch more.  I can't vouch for whether they all work, but some of them are things I want to try (#53, for example).

Also, on #23 for peeling boiled eggs, I have my own little tricks for boiling eggs:  

• When you are going to boil eggs, put them in the water while it is still cold and let them warm up with the water - this greatly reduces the likelihood that the shells will crack during the cooking process. (You can further reduce the chances of cracking by letting the eggs warm up for 15-30 minutes after you take them out of the fridge.
• To make them easier to peel, add 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda (not baking powder) to the water before you boil them.  It doesn't affect the taste of the eggs at all, but it definitely makes it easier to peel the eggs - particularly if you peel them while their still warm.
• Also, the fresher your eggs are, the easier they are to peel.

Got any real-life "cheats" of your own?

Accountability and granularity

Lately, I've been involved in a debate about accountability  What's at the heart of the debate? Clarity regarding how much detail is required  for someone to feel like they have enough information to hold another person accountable.  

In my particular debate, the question revolves around accountability for some longer term goals.  The person making the commitment, let's call them Mr. Committer,  has made some bold declarations (more directional in nature, although there are some measurable aspects that are clear enough to give a "pass / fail" grade).  These declarations won't be complete for at least a year.

Starting with these bigger picture goals, Mr. Committer created a sort of "work back" list - in other words, they began to break the larger commitment down into smaller steps and arranging them in a sensible order, to create an execution plan.

When this person presented their plan to two other people for review, there was a lot of consternation from one of the managers (let's call her Ms. Stickler) along the lines of, "Hey, I don't have enough here to hold you accountable," or "I don't know what to hold you accountable for."  

Break down the breakdown

As we began to disect the situation, we discovered that the issue was primarily one of detail:

• Ms. Stickler wanted a fully-fleshed out plan with way more detail than had been presented.
• Mr. Committer complained that he wanted to be held accountable for his results - the "big commit" - and not the specific steps followed to achieve the results.
• Ms. Stickler asked, "How can I hold you accountable over the next few months if I don't have a specific set of steps you'll be following?"
• Mr. Committer retorted, "A lot can change as I learn along the way and I don't want to be locked in - how can I innovate with you bearing down on me about specific steps so early in the process?!?"
• and so forth…

Shift the focus

So how can we break this conflict?  In our case, we are trying to focus less on the detailed steps along the way and, instead, have been brainstorming some interim indicators that must be met regardless of the detailed steps we choose to follow.

This, in itself, is still a difficult discussion, but it is far more productive (and far less stifling) than a debate about what specific steps will be taken.  In other words, I think we've successfully shifted the emphasis away from the activity, and toward a focus on the desired results.

This transition has been difficult, because we are fighting human nature and personalities in the process (detailed/control-oriented personalities vs. big picture/don't micromanage me personalities).

Any tips or techniques I can steal from you?

I'm sure we didn't get to this point in the easiest way possible.  Have you seen this kind of situation before?  Have you cracked the code (or at least come up with best known methods to make this easier)?

I'd love to hear your proven techniques for dealing with this kind of issue - please share!

Is your laptop bag getting too heavy?

What better time than now to go through your laptop bag and find ways to lighten your load?  When I was preparing to hit the road this week, I noticed just how heavy & cluttered my laptop bag was.

I set aside some time on Sunday night to reduce my “travel weight” by getting rid of some things in my bag.  Here are some strategies to help you if you decide you want to lighten your load:

1. Move into a smaller place

   • Nothing forces decisions like having to fit your stuff into a smaller laptop bag.  This is a good strategy if you want to become less of a packrat with the things you carry along with you.  Don't go too far, though - remember sometimes you need room to bring back the things you bring on the road with you.
   • I have done the "try out" process on laptops before since I have a local luggage store with a very customer-friendly return policy.  I buy a bag, take it home and, if I don't like how it accommodates my stuff, I return it.  You can do the same via eBags - their selection is amazing - but it might take a little longer due to the shipping time..

2. Start with a clean slate

   • This is an extreme approach.  You empty your bag ad put in absolutely the bare minimum of “stuff” back in.  Travel like that for a while, and only add in things that a) you discovered that you really needed during a trip; and b) you are absolutely sure you will need within your next 3 trips.

3. Find lighter alternatives to the things you carry

   • This is the kind of approach that extreme backpackers take when they select their backpacking gear – ultralight tents, cups, etc.  You don’t have to go that far, but you could do things like:
     • carry a Kindle instead of books;
     • carry an iPad instead of a laptop;
     • move to a smaller / lighter laptop;
     • carry a smaller note pad instead of the larger one you’ve been lugging around;
     • stop carrying chargers you seldom use on the road;
     • find multi-purpose items (like a single charger that will charge multiple devices)

4. Audit your stuff

   • If you can’t decide what to leave behind and what to keep, audit your bag at the end of each trip.  What things did you ignore, what things did you use?  Are there things you can drop from your bag for your next trip?  If you’re not sure, leave it behind and see how much you miss it.
   • If you are a GTD follower, you could weave this into part of your inbox processing at the end of a trip – don’t just empty your inbox -- empty your bag, too.

These are just some ideas to help you lose some weight really quickly and make it easier on your back.  Got strategies of your own?  I’d love to hear them.