What To Do When There's Too Much To Do Reduce Tasks, Increase Results, and Save 90 Minutes a Day

by Stack, Laura

• ISBN13: 9781609945398
• ISBN10: 1609945395
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-07-02
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Summary

- Presents a straightforward, comprehensive system that allows you to do less and achieve more- Offers an approach tailored to the realities of today's wired, 24/7 workplace- Features links to complimentary online bonus material that will make applying the system simple and easyLook at your to-do list. It's ridiculous. You can't get all that done. You're already at capacity. And it probably doesn't even list every single thing you need to do. The last thing you want to do is more. As a skeptical audience member once told author Laura Stack before a presentation, "I don't want to hear a productivity consultant telling me to do more with less. I want to do less and achieve more."This is exactly what Stack offers. You're never going to save time and increase efficiency by adding more to your bloated list. You need a system: a comprehensive approach that will enable you to organize your life around the tasks that really matter and let go of the ones that don't. Stack's innovative, step-by-step Productivity Workflow Formula allows you to spend less time and achieve greater results than you ever thought possible. By following her logical and intuitive process, you can wrestle your schedule into submission. Ultimately, you can recover as much as ninety minutes of your day (or even more) to use as you see fit. Stack shows how to separate the productive wheat from the nonproductive chaff'to home in on the high-value tasks, protect the time to do them, and focus on their execution. Throughout this book, you'll learn how to scale back; reduce, reduce, reduce is Stack's mantra. You'll find dozens of ways to shrink your to-do list, calendar commitments, distractions, interruptions, information overload, inefficiencies, and energy expenditures. Each reduction will increase your results and save you time.You know you can't work any harder'if you want to accomplish more, you have to work differently. Let Laura Stack show you how you can keep your sanity, advance your career, and spend more time with your family and friends.'With the world spinning faster every day, Laura Stack's advice is especially timely. Her easy-to-implement system will get busy workers off the treadmill and on the right track.' ?Harvey Mackay, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive"

Author Biography

Laura Stack is president of the Productivity Pro, Inc., president of the National Speakers Association, and a popular keynote speaker on the topics of efficiency improvement, personal productivity, and time management. She is the author of four previous books, including Leave the Office Earlier.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vi
Introduction: The Case for Reduction	p. 1
Saving Our Own Lives	p. 3
Harsh Realities	p. 4
The Solution	p. 5
A Brand-New Model: The Productivity
Workflow Formula™ I(PWF)	p. 6
Determine What to Do	p. 9
Why Do You Have So Much to Do?	p. 10
What Is Your Productive Value?	p. 12
Tracking Down Time-Wasters	p. 18
Where Does Your Time Go?	p. 24
To-Do Lists: Tracking What's Left	p. 27
Triage: Wartime Prioritization	p. 32
Summary: PWF Step I Checkup	p. 35
Schedule Time To Do It	p. 37
About That 4-Hour Workweek Idea	p. 38
Scheduling 101	p. 40
Further Reducing Your Commitments	p. 47
Learn to Say No-And Make It Stick	p. 49
Rescuing Your Time from Meetings	p. 54
In the Decision Comes the Dilemma	p. 57
Summary: PWF Step 2 Checkup	p. 59
Focus Your Attention	p. 61
Driven to Distraction	p. 61
Handling External Distractions	p. 62
Heading Off Internal Distractions	p. 65
Slipping the Electronic Leash	p. 74
Focus Aids	p. 77
The Zen of Avoiding Distraction	p. 85
Summary: PWF Step 3 Checkup	p. 86
Process New Information	p. 88
Taming the Information Glut	p. 88
Filing Precepts	p. 94
Your Personal Time Management System	p. 97
Basic Information Handling	p. 101
The 6-D Information Management System™	p. 102
The E-mail Decision Tree	p. 111
Summary: PWF Step 4 Checkup	p. 113
Close the Loop	p. 115
Organized Implementation	p. 116
The People Problem	p. 117
Handling Micromanagers	p. 123
Reducing Inefficiencies and Breaking Bottlenecks	p. 126
The Quest for Constant Improvement	p. 133
Continued Progress Requires Constant Reevaluation	p. 137
Summary: PWF Step 5 Checkup	p. 138
Manage Your Capacity	p. 140
Personal Energy	p. 141
Get Some Sleep	p. 147
Watch Your Diet	p. 151
Exercise Your Body	p. 153
Make Yourself Happier	p. 154
Maintaining Your Energetic Edge	p. 158
Summary: PWF Step 6 Checkup	p. 160
A Final Note	p. 162
An Extra Hour-Or More	p. 163
The Productivity Workflow Formula (PWF) Self-Assessment	p. 167
Notes	p. 168
Index	p. 172
About the Author	p. 176
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