The Easiest Way to Shrink Your Todo List

December 21, 2016 Mike StPierre

We've all been there. The day starts with a ton of positive energy and good intentions. I will have a day like none-other. I will conquer my todo list.

And then the day ends and you've still got things left on your list.

Not a good feeling but one we can all relate to.

There are probably two reasons why we go through this hamster-wheel process over and over again:
1. We are so eager to get things out of our head and onto a list.
2. We don't think in a block of a week and instead live day to day.

The first cause is actually pretty good. After all, it IS good to get things out of your brain and onto paper or into a trusted system.

The second cause is where most of us fall short. I can fall into the temptation to think of my work as five distinct days all strung together. That's where I go off the track. What's better is to think of your workweek as one whole unit.

Thinking along this line then impacts your todo list. Let me show you what I mean:

Let's say you do your Weekly Review on Sunday night. You have around 10-15 things that absolutely have to be accomplished by Friday. You could:

a. park everything on your Monday list.

or, better to go with another option

b. distribute your todo items throughout the week.

By doing this, you'll keep each day's list manageable and you won't feel like a loser. I suggest putting no more than 3-5 items on your list each day. This may sound like a small list but if you add in all of the meetings, interruptions, and other things in the day, getting 3-5 high-value things done is actually pretty good.

Download The Free Daily Planning Sheet

This is the planning page we suggest using every day.

Add that up, day after day and you'll have accomplished the following:

3 high-value tasks x 5 days per week: 15 tasks
15 weekly tasks x 4 weeks in a month: 60 high-value tasks

That's awesome productivity and an easy way to "shrink" your todo list and still manage to get a lot of things done.

5 Reasons Why People Don't Get Back to You

December 15, 2016 Mike StPierre

When was the last time someone didn't get back to you?

This may have been a text that didn't get returned or an email that was left unread. The result is the same on your end: frustration.

I can relate. I lead a monthly group discussion about faith with some of my best friends. I text. I email. Even still- the response is not always good. Sometimes all I hear is crickets.

How do you feel when someone doesn't get back to you?

Frustrated?

Angry?

Disappointed?

Or, maybe you take it personally. That's totally understandable.

There are probably five reasons why people don't get back to you:

1. They are totally overwhelmed with information overload. Things come in and they don't know what to do with it.

2. Their email habits are inconsistent and as a result, they only check their inbox every so often.

3. You have the wrong email or phone number. In other words, your messages just aren't going through!

4. You're coming across in a way that's "put-offish". (that's officially a new word!)

5. They're ignoring you. The message is fine but they're not interested.

I suppose the real question is this: which of the five reasons mentioned can you act upon the next time you try to contact someone?

How to Reset Your Day

December 2, 2016 Mike StPierre

Have you ever had a day that got away from you? You know, the kind of day that leaves you exhausted, wondering if you got anything done of real substance?

I've had plenty of those kinds of days. About a week ago, my schedule got sidetracked by a few calls that ran overtime, followed by having to pick up one of my kids from school. He was sick and needed to get some rest. The day just got away from me.

A lot of times, our schedules are fluid. Things come in and then go out. If you're not careful, a day full of interruptions can turn into a disaster.

The relevant question to ask is this: when a day gets away from you, how do you reset?

Resetting is a concept that is simple. It's like taking a breath in order to proceed with the rest of the day. Another way of looking at a reset, is as if your day were a computer- sometimes the best thing is to hit the button, restart and get a fresh look at things.

Your physical body plays a big role in the ability to reset. Getting up from your desk helps. Going for a walk is even better. Getting some cold water into your system is always smart. Changing your environment is smart.

A final part of resetting is to choose a different kind of activity. If you were doing financial work and started to burn out, change it up. If meetings totally killed your day, get some alone time. You get the point.

How will you reset the next time a day gets out of control?

How to Connect the Enneagram to Your Work

October 23, 2016 Mike StPierre

If there’s a personality test out there, I’ve probably taken it.

Myers Briggs was helpful as was DISC. I’ve had my teams take them for years and have always learned something new about my colleagues as a result.

When was the last time you took a personality test?

These days, I’m using the Enneagram test to learn more about myself and my colleagues. I first learned about this through the excellent podcast The Road Back to You with Ian Cron and Suzanne Stabile. Their show is based on the book with the same title.

The Enneagram is an ancient test used by Christians and other traditions to help people understand themselves better. The word means "nine ways".

It turns out that Fr. Richard Rohr, one of my favorite weekend homilists (you can check out his podcast here) is one of the preeminent experts on the Enneagram.

How can the Enneagram make a difference in your work? I’d like to suggest three ways:

1. The Enneagram will show you more about yourself than any other test. This leads to greater self awareness. For example, I’m a “1” on the test which has many blessings. Unfortunately, it also brings some negatives such as a tendency to think that I’m right. Now that I understand this better, I try to listen more and suspend my own opinions when I can.

2. The Enneagram will make you more humble. As Fr. Thomas Judge once said, “humility is truth”. When you know what you’re good at (and just as important, what you’re not good at), you’ll realize that you need smarter people around you at all times. It will also help you to be confident when you’re in familiar territory. Finally, it will let you know that you need help more often than not.

3. The Enneagram will make you more compassionate. When you see that God has wired someone else a certain way, you immediately appreciate them more. This makes you more effective at work as you learn one another’s moves and tendencies.

If you haven’t taken a personality test like the Enneagram in a while, make an investment in your own leadership today. I would guess than 10 minutes of assessment will lead to hours of understanding.

So You're Distracted at Work: What's the Big Deal?

October 10, 2016 Mike StPierre

Most of us feel distracted at work. Big time.

Whether it’s the inordinate amount of meetings or the myth of the “open door policy”, it’s getting harder and harder to focus.

I once worked with a woman who, without pay, would come in on Saturdays in order to get some peace and quiet (and to finish her work).

A priest friend of mine has the unfortunate situation of having his office just off of the main lobby. To cope with the people who want to see him ALL THE TIME he just shuts his door when he needs to get work done. As a complement, he will work from 6-8am when no one is around.

A brave approach but nuts nonetheless!

What have we done to our workplace that good women and men need to come in on Saturdays and work before dawn just to get some quiet space to think.

How about you? Does your work barrage you with stupid meetings and more interruptions than you can deal with?

I’m guessing your answer is yes. It certainly was for me up until a recent job change. If you’re a leader, it gets exponentially worse as everyone and their brother wants a piece of you, from the moment you step foot at work until you leave.

The bigger question though is this: what’s the big deal? Come on Mike, so I’m distracted at work… isn’t that just normal?

My answer is part psychological- we have enough distractions in our own heads. Think of the last time that you sat down to write or read something. Tons of distractions!

We don’t need our workplaces adding on to that in-our-heads level of stress.

Another part of the answer is this: when we are distracted we don’t give our very best to those we serve. This is easy to believe if you think of a surgeon. Not being focused could lead to a snip here or a mistake there.

Most of us will respond and say, “I’m not a surgeon or a pilot so I can afford a bit of distraction.”

No and no.

The cost of being distracted is huge. It adds stress to our work.

It tires us out physically.

It lengthens our hours.

It puts stress on those we love.

It saps us of our confidence.

It prevents us from finishing things.

It burns us out.

When you look at it that way, distraction at work is a very big deal. And, with some courage, now is the time to do something about it. Unfortunately, the solutions are probably not going to come “from above”. You and your peers will have to demand change “from below”.

Download The Free Daily Planning Sheet

This is the planning page we suggest using every day.

What might that look like? I suggest three easy solutions:

1. No meetings prior to 10am. Imagine if you had your most valuable hours without having to sacrifice them at the altar of meetings?
2. One day per week without meetings. This one is easy. Just ask for one day per week without meetings.
3. Close your door more often during the day. Build-up-the-courage-and-close-your-door. It’s both harder/easier than you think.

Being distracted at work is serious enough to worry about and important enough to challenge. It will start with you and you can do it.

---

For Further Reading

Check out Cal Newport's piece about Facebook's massive office space that's scaring away workers who want to focus.

The Problem with Sameness at Work

October 3, 2016 Mike StPierre

Some people can report for work in the morning and crank widgets all day, every day. They don’t mind being in one room for an entire day. They don’t mind sitting all day. They don’t mind things being pretty much the same all day.

I am not one of those people.

This realization came to me only a few years ago. Realizing that variety in the day was important for my sanity and productivity, I employed two strategies:

Working for an hour (or so) in one place and then switching to another location for the next hour.
Building into every week a longer block of time to work outside of the building.

These tactics worked well in order to combat the sameness of working in one office for an entire day. Strategy two also helped me to know that at least once per week I was focusing on bigger things than just the day to day.

Makes sense right? I mean, who among us really loves (I mean, deeply enjoys) sitting at the same blessed desk all day every day, day after day? And yet, most people... that's what they do. They settle for mediocre lighting, poor seating, a desk that they don't love and on and on.

Cause of Sameness at Work #1: The workplace itself. Most companies treat workers like hamsters who scurry in to work, scurry all day and then scurry home at night. It's dehumanizing.

Cause of Sameness at Work #2: A lack of courage. You could probably work in multiple places at work if you wanted to. It takes courage to say something to your boss. It takes guts to try and cut down on interruptions (which are a productivity suck). It takes moxy to decrease the number of meetings you attend.

Download The Free Daily Planning Sheet

This is the planning page we suggest using every day.

Now that my job is more mobile, flexible and self governed, I can work in my home office for part of the day and my other office for the other part of the day. Or, I can start at a coffee shop and then head to the library. The point is that I have the flexibility to keep it moving, switching my location whenever my energy starts to be depleted, etc.

When you can fight back against the tyranny of sameness, your productivity will soar and you'll be much happier.

How do you combat sameness in your workplace?