Motivation and Productivity

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The Key to High Productivity is Energy Management

One of the issues most often raised by my clients is better time management. People have tried prioritizing tasks, blocking out parts of their day for certain tasks, implementing new systems and getting better at delegation. While all of those things can make a difference, there is something else that will have an even greater impact on your productivity. The key to high productivity is energy management more so than time management.

Let me start to explain this concept by way of an example. A couple of years ago, a client was frustrated with his productivity. He had just come back from vacation and wondered to me why he couldn’t be as productive on his return as he had been on the day before he left. On the day before his vacation, he was a whirlwind of activity - plowing through the important phone calls that had to be made, responding to all the important emails on his computer, and clearing his desk of all the paperwork that needed his attention. By the end of the day, everything important had been attended to. He had had one of his most productive days. But upon his return, he had fallen back into his routine – productive, but not highly productive. He wanted to know how, or if, he could be highly productive on a daily basis. The answer is yes and no…

The reason for each answer has to do with energy management. Good energy management can allow you to be highly productive on a regular basis and poor energy management can keep you at average productivity or worse. Everything we do – from making sales calls to conducting meetings and presentations to attending little league games – requires energy. Most of us fail to take into account the importance that energy plays in our lives. Without the right amount of energy, properly focused and applied, we simply can’t be as productive as we could otherwise be. Certainly, even with a poor level of energy, we can be productive – most everyone is. We’re just not highly productive. Think about your day. Do you get up feeling tired? Do you put yourself on “cruise control” with a steady flow of caffeine throughout the day? Is your mental capacity diminished by mid-afternoon? Are you too tired to be active with family or outside interests in the evening?

Energy management has even greater impact than just physically getting through the day. I don’t know about you, but when most people get tired their creativity drops, their persistence abandons them, and they get a bit edgy and less tolerant of people and challenges. A drop in energy impacts virtually every area of our lives.

What affects our energy levels? You already know the answer to that question. Nutrition, sleep, stress, physical fitness, attitude, emotions, and environment are the major influencers of our levels of energy. How do you improve these aspects of your life so you maximize your level of energy throughout the day? Easier said than done. After all, we all pretty much know that these things affect us but haven’t done much about them so far. Usually we have a hard time making changes because our motivation is lacking. On the other hand, many of us know people who were out of shape, found out their health was in permanent jeopardy, and then found a way to get fit. It’s all a matter of self-motivation. How would your life be different if you were highly productive in your sales efforts on a consistent basis? What difference would it make if you had good levels of energy throughout the day – every day?

How to become highly productive is too much to cover thoroughly in a simple article, but we can touch on some good ways to start improving your energy management.

Nutrition: Most nutritional experts agree that eating a number of modest meals throughout the day is much better than a couple of big ones. Don’t forget to include protein with every meal.

Stress: There are no such things as stressful situations. It’s our reaction to events that causes us to feel stress. You know what works best for you to reduce your feelings of stress. Set time aside to take care of yourself throughout the week. If you don’t take time, soon enough you’ll have no choice due to health issues.

Physical Fitness: Do I really need to go into this? Doing something is better than doing nothing at all.

Attitude: Our attitude colors our view of our past, our present and our future. Most people allow the world to determine what we hear and see, which determines how we see the world in general and how we see our own world specifically. Start to take control of what you mentally and emotionally feed yourself. Cut out the negatives (like the news on TV) and start introducing positives (like listening to personal growth tapes or CDs).

Another critical key to effective energy management is to understand the many positive implications of stretching our abilities and then taking time to recover and rejuvenate. Regular recovery and rejuvenation are essential to becoming highly productive. I can’t stress enough the impact that regular rejuvenation can have on your energy, attitude, creativity, enthusiasm, and spirit.

Let me finish by getting back to the client example I started this article with. My client wanted to know how, or if, he could be as highly productive on a daily basis as he was on the day before his vacation, and my answer was yes and no. The yes part of the answer is that you can be highly productive on a regular basis, day after day, by managing your energy and the things that influence it. On the other hand (the “no” part of the answer), it’s impossible to be highly productive without allowing your body, mind, emotions and spirit to recover and rejuvenate regularly. Remember, when we’re tired we tend to slow down, make more mistakes and have a harder time being creative. After all, the main reason vacations exist is to allow us to recover and rejuvenate. You can accomplish more, with less effort and more creativity by backing off from time to time to recharge. Choosing how and when to recharge throughout the week is another story…

To recap what we’ve discussed in this article, the key to being highly productive in any endeavor is to manage your energy. By attending to your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs you can accomplish more with greater enthusiasm, greater creative and greater enjoyment than ever before.

About the Author

Written by Michael Beck, President of Exceptional Leadership, Inc. a firm which develops high-performance leaders through leadership enhancement and executive coaching. Michael can be reached at 877-977-8956 or mbeck@XLeaders.com , and you can learn more about the company and these ideas at www.XLeaders.com Permission to reprint with full attribution.
Exceptional Leadership, Inc.

How To Have a Perfect Meeting (Avoiding Dreary, Directionless Meetings Go On Forever)

By: Al Lipper

Many business owners and managers seem to fall into one of two categories. Either they dislike meetings because they always seem to drag on senselessly forever, or they think meetings are so unproductive, they simply avoid them.

Over the years, I've spent many hours in both productive and unproductive meetings. As I sift through this history, Ive been driven to improve meetings both in organizations Ive led, as well as for those my clients are in charge of. Through I combination of experience and research, Im going to provide a summary of what I have found makes a meeting not only effective, but also a positive (and brief) experience. Ill present this in the form of the Keys to a Perfect Meeting.

Perfect Meeting Key #1: Know Your Goal(s) For The Meeting

First, know what the meeting is for. Sounds obvious, doesnt it? But how many times have you been to a Staff Meeting where you left wondering what the point of it was? Write down the goal or goals on a printed agenda, even if its just a few lines. Make sure that everyone at the meeting has a copy of the agenda. This keeps you on track, lets everyone else know what the meeting is intended to accomplish, and it also lets you bring other back on track without them feeling like its personal. Instead, you just acknowledge the value of what they bring up, but ask if the meeting could be kept on the items on the agenda for the time being (suggest that their concern can be addressed later).

Perfect Meeting Key #2: Know What Kind Of Meeting It Is

There are four basic type of meetings:

Information Exchange These are meetings where one person has information to share with many others. Dont have more people at the meeting than need to participate in the information exchange.

Problem Solving These are meetings where there is some problem that needs to be resolved. The people at this meeting should be the ones who have skills for solving the problem or have a strong interest in it being resolved. Avoid including people just because they might want to know. When we involve people who dont have the big picture, it often just gets them stressed and irritated. They become a secondary consequence of the problem, rather than a part of the solution.

Decision Making You should leave these meetings with decisions and clear direction. People at these meetings should be those who have knowledge needed to make the decision effectively, or who need to be informed of such decisions. Again, avoid excess people.

Brainstorming These are creative meetings which generally do not result in any concrete decisions being made. They are a place for ideas to be freely shared, without judgment. Have people there whose roles make them likely to offer constructive ideas based on education or experience. Everyone has ideas make sure to only include those people who have relevant experience that make their ideas likely to be based on practical knowledge.

Perfect Meeting Key #3: Invite The Right People, Dont Invite The Wrong People

People who should be at a meeting are:

Those who have information to share based on position, education or experience. For example, a bookkeeper sharing the monthly financial summary.

Those who have advice to offer. For example, if youre considering selling a new type of products and one of your staff used to work at a place that sold them.

They are responsible for implementing an action decided on at the meeting. For example, a teacher who will be teaching a new class.

Perfect Meeting Key #4: Consider The Cost

If people at the meeting are being paid, then the meeting is costing you the sum of their salaries. Consider the cost of a meeting before inviting people, or having it at all. If you have 5 people whose salaries are $25 per hour at a meeting, then that meeting costs you $125 per hour. Is this the best way to spend this money?

Perfect Meeting Key #5: Only Have A Meeting If You Have To

Often a meeting isnt really necessary. Consider the following questions before scheduling a meeting:

Is the meeting just for distribution of information? If so, can it be done via email or printed documents?

Is most of the discussion going to be between just two people? If so, let them have a meeting and report the results to everyone else.

Do you have clear goals for the meeting? If not, either figure out what you want, or dont have a meeting.

Perfect Meeting Key #6: If Youre The Leader, Then Lead

Assuming you are the leader of the meeting, then be prepared to do just that.

It is your job to make sure that the participants stay focused on topics that bring the meeting closer to the its goals.

It is your job to keep the meeting moving along so it will be completed in the needed timeframe. Often, there is always more that can be discussed. After the most relevant information has been discussed, a good leader will move the meeting on to the next phase.

It is your job to tactfully counter people who get off track, or use emotional tactics to manipulate the meeting. Such tactics include:

•  Dominating Being aggressive in tone or language such that more shy people will not express their true opinion.
• Rambling Talking on and on about a topic in a way that is not constructive. This wastes time and makes others just want to do whatever is quickest to end the meeting (not necessarily what is best).
• Anger Some people will have emotional outbursts when a meeting doesnt go their way. It is simply an adult tantrum. It is often used to manipulate others into ending a meeting early or conceding on a decision.

It is NOT your job to have all the answers or to take all the actions.

It IS your job to make sure that decisions are made based on facts, and that those people who need to take actions know who they are and what they are going to do.

Perfect Meeting Key #7: Finish On Time

People want to participate in meetings, and get more out of them if they are brief and to the point. Keep them on time by beginning and ending on time. You are the leader and this is your responsibility. If other people dont take it seriously, this sets the tone for the whole meeting. When the time is half over, make sure you are halfway through the material. If you need more time, make it a formal decision to either continue for a specified amount of time, or to adjourn until another time.

Remember, you will often not cover all the details that people have in mind to talk about. This is okay. Use the 80/20 rule and move on. (80% of the work gets done with 20% of your time and effort. The remaining 20% will take 80% of your time and energy. Focus on that which nets you the greatest results.) At some point, its just time to move on.

Overall, meetings can be a very effective tool in business. Be sure to use them as such. When underused or overused, they lose their value. If you have specific questions about your meetings, feel free to email me at coach@CenteredBusiness.com.

 Coach Al Lipper
Business Coach for Yoga and Tai Chi Studios Destiny: Success
Website: http://www.CenteredBusiness.com Email: coach@centeredbusiness.com Telephone: (805) 544-3938

Coach Al Lipper of 'Destiny: Success' helps Yoga and Tai Chi studio business owners smoothly run and expand their studio business. He helps stressed and overwhelmed studio business owners who spend most their time wrapped up in daily business tasks, who can't handle any more clients, or who can't make any more money out of the business. Coach Al helps clients find new business strategies which result in generating more clients, increased profits, and more free time for the business owner.

Time Management and Your Big Rocks

In Steven Covey's excellent book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" (which, incidentally, is exactly why I am here today and not stuck in my old corporate job - another day, perhaps), he tells a well-worn story about the use of time.

In the story, some professor guy (I think) stands at the front of a class, with a big jar. In the jar, first of all he puts some big rocks, and asks the class, "Is it full now".

Mostly they say, "Yes".

Then he gets some smaller rocks and these fit in quite nicely too, just between the big rocks. Again, he asks the same question, "Is it full now?"

The group, a little more suspicious say, "Yes", because it seems to be.

He then gets out a bag of sand and surprise, surprise, those tiny grains of sand squeeze down beside the smaller rocks, filling up the tinier spaces. "Full?", he asks.

"Sure", say the increasingly dubious bunch of students in the audience.

Finally, trump card is the water, smaller than sand, of course and finally, as we aren't getting too sub-molecular about it, the jar is full.

Impressive huh?

The professor then asks,

"What's the moral of the story?"

.Of course the class, thinking they've spotted the trick here, say,

"You can always squeeze a bit more in"

A standard and pretty smart reply. The professor, however, is a step a head (all that professorism does it, of course!).

"The moral of the story is that you need to get your big rocks in first, or all that other 'stuff' gets in, way too soon and takes up all the space."

Cool story?

The point of course, relates to managing your time.

What are your 'big rock' things?

Well, for sure it isn't all the little jobs you do. All the fire-fighting (or it may be in the short-term, but that is another day).

The trick is to create spaces, ring-fenced, as they say, to do the good stuff.

In business, this is a list something like this:-

1. Planning for the future
2. Time with your people - good, focused one-on-one time preferably
3. Coaching your people in their work
4. Developing others around you
5. Delegating constructively
6. Creating Succession Plans
7. Building relationships
8. Developing new business opportunities
9. Fixing problems once and for all
10. Making time for a life outside the business

Covey and his big rocks eh?

He calls them Quadrant Two activities. If you don't spend time putting these first into your schedule, truth is, you will never fit them in and things will never evolve and grow.

Enjoy!

Copyright 2006 Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com.
…helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow…
"Used by permission of www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com"