Work-flow Mastery

Work flow mastery. These are actually three different concepts here (Work, flow and mastery) which conjure up images of success. To be successful, we need to work or receive the fruits of other’s work. Work also needs to flow.

There needs to be a steady stream of actions, which if performed consistently will eventually yield results. Then and only then will mastery result.

The In-To-Empty concept

The first system I want to discuss is the concept of In-To-Empty. The term is probably famous due to David Allen’s Getting Things Done and really means getting your in-tray empty. In other words, sorting through your email inbox or the physical piles of stuff and deciding what to do with them. It could also mean going through your notebook and making sense of the random ideas you’ve had today.
I am not going to go into detail here on this concept, as I believe Mr Allen has done a fine job already. However, I will reiterate a couple of things.
Firstly, getting your in-tray empty, doesn’t actually mean that you are completing everything in your inbox. It simply means deciding what each email means and whether it requires further action. If it does require further action, you can then go ahead and add it to your to-do list(s).
The second thing about the in-to-empty model, is that you should ideally only do it once a day. What? Only check emails once a day? That’s heresy, surely. Well no, I believe it is one of the fundamentals of being successful. In other words, limiting the time you spend checking email, social media and voicemails. This is so that you can concentrate your mental energy on productive tasks. Then, maybe , at the end of the day, you can spend say 30 minutes quickly scanning your email list and sorting them. The other benefit of doing this is that when one of those emails turns up, you know the ones, where your heart sinks, you can just decide – yes I need to action this. So it goes in your to-do list.

Do it tomorrow

The key concept that makes the daily in to empty model work is the do it tomorrow concept. When you process all your in boxes, unless you can complete an item immediately, you mark it on your to do list to do tomorrow. It is such a relief to go through your email inbox, knowing you don’t need to reply to that ‘War and Peace’ request from your line manager.

Properly wording your tasks.

Now that you are processing your in box and filling your to-do list, the next thing to master is actually wording the tasks, so that when you come to reading it later, it not only means something, but you are also more likely to complete it.
The simple rule is that a properly worded task should have a verb, an object and a subject.

For instance – Ring Bob to chase up the report.

Ring (verb) Bob (object) Report (subject).

Now its quite alright when you make a note in your note pad such as “sort office out”. You know what this means when you write it, however, it’s not acceptable to write this on your to-do list. Coming across “sort office out” on your to-do list is a guarantee for you to procrastinate.
If you have followed David Allen’s GTD system , as you process this item, you might decide that this is actually a project. Your properly worded action for your to-do list could be “Plan out (verb) a project (object) to organise the office (subject).”
The key is to have all three elements and for the verb to be as simple as possible e.g. Ring, email, plan etc.

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Process Flow method

Do you have repeatable actions to do every day? Or what about one off projects? If so then here’s a great method I learned in Mark Forster’s How to Make Your Dreams Come True , which I have called process flow.

First, you list all the different types of tasks that you might perform on an average day. It might be Cold Call telephoning, online research, proposal writing. Then you might have that one off project that you never seem to be start. It might be one of those projects that could really move your business forward. It might not be urgent, so other things seem to take priority.

Next, you take all the actions and list them out on a table like below. Mark a number 5 in the box next to each task. This is because you will perform each task for just 5 minutes.

Start at the Top

So start with the task at the top of the list; Set your timer for 5 minutes and when the alarm goes, stop that task even if it’s not complete. You then move on to the next task. You would then repeat this until you have worked on all the task types for 5 minutes. If you complete the task, you mark another number 5 in the box to the right. This is because you will then repeat this the next day.
Any task you did not complete, you mark a number 10 in the next empty box. When you start the next cycle, you will be performing the tasks for 10-minute durations. If you complete the task, mark a 10 for the following day. If you didn’t finish it, it gets a 15.

Keep repeating this process until you get to 40-minute durations. This would be the maximum time you would spend on one task.
The benefit of this method is that we are firstly working on all the different tasks that are important, even though they might not be urgent.

We are also increasing our desire and motivation to do the work. The idea is that we are utilising a couple of psychological traits to our advantage here. First, by initially reducing the tasks to just 5 minutes in duration, we overcome our natural state of procrastination. Secondly, by stopping working before we have finished, we are using our natural need for completion. This makes us want to work on the task even more. As you rotate through you list of tasks, you start to go in to that state of flow that all high achievers desire.

Bottom Up method/ Top Down method

Another technique I borrowed from Mark Forster, I call the bottom up/ top down method. This is especially useful if you have a long to-do list full of unrelated types of tasks, some of which fill you with dread. This is another elegant method of overcoming that killer of success – procrastination.

Top down method:

With the top down method, the first thing you need to do is to list out your tasks. Next, you put an asterisk next to the item at the top of the list. Then you look at item number two and ask yourself if you would prefer to do this. If you would prefer to do this task, put an asterisk next to it. If not leave it blank. Then you repeat this process, working down your list, as you go down the list, the actions highlighted are more and more appealing to you. In theory, the lowest highlighted task on the list is the easiest or the nicest to do.

Next, start work on the top item. When you complete the task and cross it out. Then you move down the list to the next highlighted item. You repeat this until all the highlighted items are complete. The theory is that the tasks are getting easier and easier.

Once you have gone down your list once, you repeat the whole exercise with the tasks you ignored the first time. The highest task left on the list, then gets the asterisk. You then move down the list asking the same question – would I prefer to do this task.

By using this method, your work becomes progressively easy. This is a really effective way of gamifying your work. What I mean be this is that your work becomes a kind of play. This uses another key psychological human trait – we love to play.

Bottom up method:

With the bottom up method, when you come to starting your tasks, instead of starting with the hardest, you start at the bottom – the easiest. I know that a lot of the time management literature tells you to start with the hardest task first. In practice, though, sometimes you just need to make a start and the easiest task might just be the best place. Also by starting with the easiest task, you are making a start and creating momentum. And isn’t that the trick to all productivity? Making a start and creating momentum.

Backlogs

One final piece of technique I have adapted from Mark Foster is what to do if you find yourself in the situation of backlog. It could be that you have returned from your two week holiday to find over 1000 emails in your inbox. Or how about all those magazines that you have told yourself you will get round to reading. Or it could be just the mountain of work that has landed across your desk. How do you tackle this and also keep up to date with new stuff that comes in?

You declare a backlog.

Its a bit like declaring yourself financially bankrupt. Except you are going to pay this debt back. What you do is you take your entire to-do list and put it to one side. If it’s an email backlog, then move all your unread outstanding emails into a separate folder and name it backlog file. If it’s a reading list, physically move the items to one neat pile. One word of advice, though. That is to declare a backlog on only one type of item, ie email, to-do list or reading material.

Next, you add a project to your project list called Backlog Project. This works really well with the process flow grid (above). You are then going to carry on processing new work as it comes in and work on your ongoing projects. When you come to work on the Backlog project, just work at it like any other project, without guilt.

The beauty of treating your backlog like this, is that you are still tackling it, but you will also be tackling new stuff as it comes More importantly though, you are still working on your goals and projects.
Finally, when you do eventually clear the backlog, you could do some self-analysis asking yourself how you came to get so behind. What process can you put in place, to prevent it happening again?

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Checklists

Having read The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande, I am a convert to using checklists. I like to take the thinking out of repetitive tasks.

Using a checklist makes them an automatic habit, saving time and makes sure that they are consistent. Take for instance, my daily morning checklist, it ensures that I do the following every day without fail.

• Recite affirmations – written down in another checklist.
• Write journal entry – I also have a checklist of questions that I write answers to.
• Daily records log – here I record all the habits and targets I am focusing on e.g. calories consumer, TV watched and internet time etc.
• Meditate

By following this checklist, it becomes a habit and because it is a habit I can adapt and add to it. For instance, I could add to do some yoga stretches to the list and I know that I will do it.
I must stress that you should not work from a to do lists. To do lists are merely receptacles for things that you want or need to do. The list you will work from is your daily list.

The Daily List

The daily list is self-explanatory; it is the list of things you have agreed with yourself that you will achieve that day. No more, no less. It is not something you add to during the day. It is a finite list and anything else should go on your to do list.

I would recommend that every evening (or first thing in the morning if you prefer), that you write out a list of the things that you want to do/ or achieve that day. To start with if you are new to this concept, then start with just one or two items. Just write down the most important things you can do that day.
Your first task of the day will be to complete the first item on that list. You do nothing else until you complete that one thing. If anything should crop up whilst you are in the middle of your most important task, then make a note of it in your notepad to action later, and then return to your task.




Once you do the first task, move to the next one. This discipline, of tackling the most import thing first in the morning, is so important to your success. It will set you up for the day. If you study successful people, you will see that they tackle their most import task first.

Once you are sure that you have pinned down this habit of tackling the most important few tasks, you can start to add to the number. I would recommend no more than 10. If you fail to achieve one of the tasks on the list, then it becomes the most important thing to do for the next day.

How do you decide what your import tasks are? These will come from your goals and projects. From these, you decide what your week’s goals and targets are. This weekly goal list should be your first point of call in deciding your most important daily tasks. Look over your weekly list and note down anything you can do the next day to move you forward. Then you can look down your single action list to see if there is anything there that you can action that day.

Now that you have your daily list, you can see where this fits in with pre-arranged appointments on your schedule. See post on Scheduling.
So there you have it. This is a way for you to move forward to your goals day by day, by using checklists and tackling the most important tasks first.

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Prioritising

There are a million and one things you could be doing right now. Prioritising is deciding what the one thing is, you should be doing right now. That one thing is your highest priority.
Priority is singular; it comes from the Latin prior- former. It means the one most important thing. You can only have one most important task; in other words you don’t have a list of priorities, you only have one priority.
So how do you determine what your priority is right now? There are different tools and models that you can use to determine what your highest priority is. The first is the Goals to Actions model.

Goals to actions

Before you go any further I recommend at least that you read the blog on Goal Setting. Here you will learn the importance of having direction in the different areas of your life.

Direction comes from your vision and long-term goals, which are in turn broken down in to smaller goals and projects. These smaller goals and projects will then have associated next actions for you to take.
Depending on what your progress is, with these goals, will determine which of your next actions will take priority.

The concept of the different areas of focus of your life, will also determine what a priority is. You may have different areas of focus in your life, but the common ones would include business, health, spouse, family, friends etc. I use the acronym COMBINED.

To ensure you have balance in your life you would therefore prioritise certain tasks above others at certain times of the day or week. For instance my number one priority at the start of my business day is to make my 20 daily sales calls. Once I have done this I can move onto other things.
At other times of day, it becomes a priority to spend time with my loved ones or to perform my exercise routine. At other times, it may be my priority to sit down with a good book.

The Strategic Next Action

My 20 calls a day priority would be an example of a recurring task (see Scheduling for more on this). I call tasks that are not recurring, Strategic Next Actions (SNAs).
These immediate actions will move you forward in your goals. Once they are completed, there will be another SNA to complete. Watch out for the blog coming soon on Managing Projects, for more on SNAs. (Sign up for the newsletter and and you will get it sent automatically).

To do lists

No blog on productivity and goal setting would be complete without the obligatory section on To Do lists. Lists are great and I thoroughly recommend writing things down. In fact, it is essential for the successful person. Ideas and sudden reminders don’t come to you when you expect them to, but when you are engaged in something else or relaxing. That is why I recommend investing in a good pocket notepad and start to jot down everything that comes to mind. You don’t need to action anything just yet; that will come later. Again, see the In-to-Empty concept later in a blog on workflow mastery (Coming soon).

After you process these incoming ideas, some of these will be actionable items. You are then free to add these to a to-do list. See how to write out properly worded actions later.

The next question is where do you track these items? As I said before I am not going into details on the technology you use here, because whether you use an old-fashioned paper method or a task management system, the principle of good self-management is the same.

The first thing you have to get in mind, is that your to do lists will NEVER be completed. The to-do list should merely be a holding point for actions, which you agree to take.

I think of my to-do lists as reservoirs of actionable items, which I am waiting to add to my daily list.

What form should your to do lists take? If you read the on goal setting before, you will see that I use several to-do lists. I have a Single Action list of tasks that are unrelated to any projects or goals.

I have Project lists, which are multi action projects. Following on from this, I also have Project Action lists, so that for each Project, I list the actions related to it.

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