10 Ways to Be More Productive

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Adapted from Inc.com (http://www2.inc.com)

1) Cut down on Sleep and Keep Fit
'I get up at 3:30 every morning and I’m at the gym by 4. Then I ride 25 miles on my bike before breakfast. Being in shape is what gives me energy.'

Jordan Zimmerman is the founder of Zimmerman Advertising, which has 22 offices and billings in excess of $2.6 billion.

2) Organize Your Daily Interruptions

'A daily memo, which I read after I go home every night. It's in four parts:
1) My next day's schedule
2) List of questions that cropped up during the day. I'll respond to those right away.
3) FYIs: information I don't have to act on but might like to know. Maybe my mother called to make a reservation for her neighbor next week at Blue Smoke. Or there might be a change in my schedule.
4) Longer-term reminders. I promised to write a blurb for a friend's book. I want to plan a vacation, so I need to check on my kids' school schedules.'

Danny Meyer is the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, which owns 13 New York city restaurants, including Gramercy Tavern and Eleven Madison Park.

3) Keep in touch

 ' I carry a little notebook with the names of 35 or 40 people in the company, and every week I look at it to make sure I’m in touch with everyone. There are always 20 or 30 people who are up-and-comers or one or two levels down, and I wan them to know I’m paying attention. Once a quarter, I go through my list of contacts—a couple of thousand of them—to see if there’s anyone I should be reaching out to about a job. Intensive as all of this is, I ultimately save time, because I can delegate with confidence.'
Kevin P. Ryan’s encore to DoubleClick—the ad-serving behemoth he sold for $1.1 billion to private equity firm Hellman&Friedman in 2005—is AlleyCorp, a variety pack of Internet start-ups he founded in New York City.
Hire for Flexibility

4) Rank Items on Your To-Do List

- 'Make the next day’s “to do” list before you leave the office.
- Rate each item A, B, or C based on its importance, and work on A items first.
- The productiveness of any meeting depends on the advance thought given the agenda, and you should never leave a meeting without writing a follow-up list with each item assigned to one person.

Barbara Corcoran made her mark building one of New York’s largest real estate companies. Today, she is a panelist on the ABC program Shark Tank and runs a much smaller firm that works with the start-ups she chooses to invest in on that show.

5) Utilize Off-Hours

'I get almost as much done outside normal office hours as during them. I’ll interview people on Saturdays, late at night, early in the morning. If I’m trying to solve a particularly difficult problem, I’ll come in on the weekend, when there’s less going on, and spend a day focusing on it. I read technology manuals and watch video tutorials late at night. During start-up, I think you have the choice of being productive or having a social life, and I’ve choosen being productive.'

Seth Priebatsch (center) is CEO of SCVNGR, a Boston-based start-up that helps organizations engage people through location-based smartphone games.

6) Schedule 'PowerTime' for Concentrated Effort

'I schedule time every week on my calendar for quiet, concentrated PowerTime where I only work on my most important activities. '

Krissi Barr is the founder of Barr Corporate Success, a business consulting firm in Cincinnati. She is also the author of Plugged – How To Dig Out and Get The Right Things Done.


7) Always Save Time to Exercise

'With the exception of one or two days a year, I work out every single day. Fitting a workout into the work day reduces stress, keeps you healthy, and is great for getting “alone time” to work out business and personal problems.'Work out at lunchtime and then eat at your desk.'

Mike Cassidy is the CEO of travel and tour site Ruba. He has also been the co-founder and CEO of Xfire (a company that helps gamers play online with their friends), Direct Hit (an internet search engine), and Sylus Innovation (which produced a computer telephony software).

8) Schedule Time to Focus on the Big Picture

'For me, a big part of productivity is being agile. I like to leave a lot of blocks in my day open. On an average day, I'm only 50 percent scheduled, though occasionally it gets as high as 80 percent. If I have a free block and nothing presents itself, I catch up on industry reports, self-education, and big-picture thinking. In a packed schedule, those things can get neglected. They shouldn't be.'

Scott Lang is CEO of Silver Spring Networks, a developer of smart energy grids, based in Redwood City, California.

9) Avoid Multitasking

'Don't multitask. Multitasking is something we all do these days. The problem is our brains just aren’t cut out for it. When you multitask, you’re interfering with your brain’s ability to perform at max-capacity. In most cases, multitasking=lesstasking. When you make those shifts from one context to another, you risk dropping things from your short-term memory. Do one thing at a time, minimize context shifts, maximize brain power!'

Douglas Merrill is the author of “Getting Organized in the Google Era” and former CIO of Google.

10) Review Your Productivity at the End of the Day

'The most difficult aspect of being a CEO is you driving your day, and not letting the day drive you. At the end of the day, I always checked whether I had taken action on my top three priorities. If the answer was 'no,' I stayed in the office until I made progress on them.'


Bob Compton is the CEO of Vontoo, a voice broadcasting technology company, and the Chairman of ExactTarget, an on-demand e-mail marketing and one-to-one digital communication platform.

Action Items:
1) Sleep Less
2) Have a Daily Agenda which is divided into 4 sections
3) Email or Call one person from LinkedIn or your contact list everyday.
4) Prioritize your TO-DO list
5) Have an agenda before going in a meeting. Conclude the meeting with follow-up items
6) Each Week set time aside for high value activities which need concentration
7) Workout during lunch time and Eat at your desk
8) Set aside one-hour each week to think about the big picture.
9) Do not multi-task.
10) End of day make sure you have finished your high priority tasks and set the To-Do List for next day.

Gratitude

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There are two words that, when spoken, have the most unfathomable power to completely change your life. Two words that, when they pass your lips, will be the cause of bringing absolute joy and happiness to you. Two words that will create miracles in your life, wipe out negativity, and bring you abundance in all things. Two words that, when uttered and sincerely felt, will summon all the forces in the Universe to move all things for you.

There are just two words standing between you, happiness, and the life of your dreams . . .


THANK YOU.

Lesson's from Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture

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On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.

Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come.

Watch Randy Pausch: The Last Lecture

The Power of I

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"I came out alone on my way to my tryst. But who is this that follows me in the silent dark?
I move aside to avoid his presence but I escape him not.
He makes the dust rise from the earth with his swagger; he adds his loud voice to every word that I utter.
He is my own little self, my lord, he knows no shame; but I am ashamed to come to thy door in his company. " - Gitanjali

These beautiful lines remind me of the ego which develops in all of us with time. Letting go of the tyrant is a challenge and overcoming this challenge carves out a better person in us.

The ego plays an essential role if you control it and make use of it to drive you. When your ego is in the driving seat then the ride at first will be great but it is only a matter of time before you come crashing down. We all are on an ego trip sometimes and more than often it is too late before we realize. Terry Starbucker from Ramblings from a glass half full talks about his rise and fall on his egoistic ride, then rise again and the effort it took him to get his head straight. An insightful read.

Learn from other people's experience and start giving, sharing and become humble to experiencing the real Power of I.

Creating 'eureka' moment !

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"Normally, we do not so much look at things as overlook them" - Alan Watts

 Deep practice involves visualizing an ability you'd like to acquire and then trying to replicate that behavior. Analyze your errors, then noting exactly where your performance didn't match your ideal. Then keep trying until you become a master.

But sadly when it comes to creativity you cannot learn it by practicing brain exercises. But there is hope for the non-creative - It's simple, read bits and parts of 6-7 books ranging from a wide variety of topics. Then go browse over some inspiring design, listen to stand-up comedy, a mystery novel and some eckart tolle or tony robbins.

Dump alot of fun/cool/inspiring things in your brain in a short amount of time and then go and do an activity you really enjoy like ice hockey or maybe skating or simply go and put your mind in a state of play.

After a while, a tiny lightbulb will go on. Try it - does it work for you?

In reference to : Creativity Boost - How to tap into Right Brain Thinking - Martha Beck