Inter-Personal Conflict Is A Productivity Time Bomb!

Ever notice how a two- or three-minute conflict with another person can drain more energy from your system than a full day’s work? If you carry that emotional upset with you and then take it home day after day, you make it grow. Down goes your own productivity, and down goes the productivity of those to whom you complain.

Persistent, unresolved conflict is a time-waster of the worst kind. Have the courage to fix it fast. If necessary, seek help from another person. You will conserve both time and energy.

Money! Not the only cost of consumption

When you buy a boat or a summer home, or any number of material possessions, you always know what it will cost in dollars.

How often do you stop to consider the cost of TIME? Most material possessions require some sort of maintenance time. Using possessions requires time too. Some people reach a point where much of their time is controlled by what they have (stuff) in contrast to what they need.

If this is you, consider getting rid of “stuff” that needlessly consumes time. You’ll end up with the luxury of more freedom of choice.

Rationalization can put a choke-hold on productivity

Rationalization is an attempt to justify inappropriate action or inaction. Sometimes people see it as a friend because it can help protect self-esteem. However, it is not a friend when it is used to avoid doing a vital task we don’t want to do.

Perhaps you are avoiding a call to an unhappy customer. You know the customer or client will be angry and you rationalize by saying something like, “This probably isn’t a good time.” Of course, you know it is an excuse.

A close look at rationalization reveals its first-cousin relationship to procrastination. Why? Because rationalization is used to justify putting things off.

Here is the good news! Rationalization is a self-imposed time-waster. This means you can control it. Listen to your self-talk and recognize when you are doing it. Replace those thoughts with a “can do” and “will do” attitude.

Decisions Are Footprints

Decisions are footprints we leave in the sands of time. We are remembered by the impressions we make in the lives of others, created with the use of our time.  We cannot escape decisions.  To not decide is a decision.  Each decision leaves an impression. Our decisions are marked with each tick of the clock!

What is the point?  Decisions create our legacy.  Positive decisions move us and others forward.  Negative decisions hold us back and can hurt others.

We complete our legacy with the impressions made with our time.  Think!

This is productivity strategy #63 from the book Attack Your Day! Before It Attacks You co-authored by Mark Woods and Trapper Woods, time management experts.

Choosing Activities

Choosing is the number one skill of activity management and it is critical to maximizing your performance and productivity.

An activity is anything that we do, it is a task that has been delegated by a boss, a customer request, eating, exercising, making a phone call, email, text message, Facebook, it’s even a thought or emotion that we feel inside.

• Activities drive productivity.
• Activities give us energy or steel energy.
• Activities can propel us forward towards our goals.
• Some activities have high payoff, low payoff and most have no payoff.

As activity managers we have to decipher the encryption code of activities as they’re presented to us as interruptions or distractions.  To do this we employ the ritual of asking this question. What color is it?  Doing this will help us:

• Maintain focus throughout the day
• Use logic not emotion in decision making
• Uncover the real urgencies
• And can help us reschedule unnecessary interruptions

The key is to identify the importance of the activity immediately when it’s presented.  To do this we are going use the metaphor of a traffic light and color our choices.  Using color is fast; it doesn’t require paper and a pen, just our brain.   This gives us flexibility no matter where we are.

So we are going to use the color RED to stand for things that are vital and urgent.  This means stop what you are doing and go take care of this right now.

GREEN means GO.  This is where we want to spend the majority of our day, on green events that have high payoff in our work and personal life.  Green activities do not require an immediate response; in other words they are not urgent.

YELLOW activities also don’t require immediate attention but have some degree of value.  YELLOW means to use caution.   Many yellow activities come to us wrapped in the context of artificial urgency, like when a co-worker drops in and claims they need your help right now.

GRAY activities are a complete waste of time.  We use the color gray to remind us to stay away from activities that have NO value.

The payoff for being skillful at choosing and refusing is HUGE. It’s one of the most important survival skills in modern organizations. Below is a partial list of activities based on feedback from our Facebook fans and what color I would personally give them.  Now these are given by way of example only, you decide how to color your choices.  Add to the list.  What activities are you doing today?

RED ACTIVITIES

Urgent request from a boss

Customer complaint

Internet is down

Out of milk

Filling gas tank

Paying bill due today

Prospecting call

Reschedule appointment

Expense report

Sick employee

Equipment breakdown

Accident

Sick child

GREEN ACTIVITIES

Daily planning

Gym

Running

Yoga, meditation

Grocery shopping

Time with family

Paying bills

Brushing teeth

Processing email

Laundry

Reading

Research for job

Project planning

Writing marketing plan

Creative for ad campaign

Cycling

Sales call

Writing proposal

Client meeting

Write blog post

Swimming

Calling a friend

Make dinner reservations

Buy airline ticket

House cleaning

Kids to school

Cooking

Kids to sports activity

Coffee with friends

Massage

Carpool (2x)

Piano lessons

Showering

Ironing

Homework

Shovel snow

Cleaning dishes

Taking out trash

Call mom

Feed pets

YELLOW ACTIVITIES

Forwarded Email

Upload photos

Facebook

Buy birthday gift

Monday night football

GRAY ACTIVITIES

Office Gossip

To much television

Surfing the Internet to long

Forwarded email from friends

Blank spaces of time

Doing nothing

You can begin today to color your activity choices. You’ll make great choices that way and it’s easy! You’ll always know when to stop, when to go, when to say no, and when to say no. For more information on the skill of choosing refer to our time management book Attack Your Day! Before It Attacks You. Download the first two chapters.

Decisions Are Footprints

Decisions are footprints we leave in the sands of time. We are remembered by the impressions we make in the lives of others, created with the use of our time.  We cannot escape decisions.  To not decide is a decision.  Each decision leaves an impression. Our decisions are marked with each tick of the clock!

What is the point?  Decisions create our legacy.  Positive decisions move us and others forward.  Negative decisions hold us back and can hurt others.

We complete our legacy with the impressions made with our time. What do your footprints look like?

Today’s Quote: “One worthwhile task carried to a successful conclusion is worth half-a-hundred half-finished tasks.”- Malcolm S. Forbes