IntroductionWelcome| 00:04 | Are you getting maximum results from your time?
Are you focused in your attention?
| | 00:09 | Your answer to these questions, how productive and focused
you are, will have a significant effect on your career.
| | 00:17 | In my book, Invaluable, I explored how to help
individuals increase the value of their time
| | 00:22 | and quality of work life, in
other words, how to become invaluable.
| | 00:27 | This course, Enhancing Your Productivity,
is part of a five-course series on helping
| | 00:32 | you become invaluable and
get the most from your carrier.
| | 00:36 | In my coaching, two factors in becoming
invaluable are irreplaceability and focus.
| | 00:43 | These two factors go hand in hand and
are the key to enhancing your productivity.
| | 00:48 | Although they serve different purposes, they
both affect how you spend your time at work.
| | 00:56 | Irreplaceability is an indicator of how
difficult it would be to replace you with someone else.
| | 01:01 | It considers the next best
alternative to you and your services.
| | 01:06 | To make yourself irreplaceable, you want to
understand which of your activities are most valuable.
| | 01:13 | I call these your most
valuable activities, or your MVAs.
| | 01:17 | When you spend the majority of your time on
activities that bring the most to the business'
| | 01:22 | bottom line, you are
making yourself irreplaceable.
| | 01:26 | In this course, we will take you through the
process of identifying your most valuable activities.
| | 01:32 | Then, you will compare your results with the
most valuable activities of your co-workers,
| | 01:38 | including your boss, and any people
that you may manage. Why?
| | 01:43 | Well, by understanding your MVAs and those
of the people around you, you will begin to
| | 01:49 | see how you can fit yourself into the
company in a way that makes you irreplaceable, and
| | 01:55 | that will lead us to the
invaluable factor of focus.
| | 01:59 | This factor means that once you have
identified what makes you valuable, then you need to
| | 02:04 | focus your time as much as possible
on those most valuable activities.
| | 02:09 | I will give you some strategies to help you
maintain focus, both in scheduling your activities
| | 02:15 | and in eliminating the little
distractions that happen throughout your day.
| | 02:20 | When you combine the identification of your
most valuable activities with the strategy
| | 02:25 | of focus, you will take significant
steps toward enhancing your productivity.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:00 | Throughout this course, I'll be
asking you to fill out worksheets to better
| | 00:03 | understand how well you're
progressing on the path to becoming invaluable.
| | 00:08 | These worksheets have been provided
in the Exercise Files tab on the Course
| | 00:12 | Details page for all lynda.com
subscribers. Or if you're watching this tutorial
| | 00:18 | on a DVD-ROM, the exercise
files have been included there.
| | 00:22 | I suggest that you download these
worksheets and print them out prior to
| | 00:27 | watching the course.
| | 00:28 | At various points throughout the course,
I'll be asking you to pause the videos,
| | 00:32 | and fill out a worksheet.
| | 00:34 | In order for you to get the most out
of this training, I recommend you have
| | 00:38 | these worksheets on hand.
| | 00:40 | Now, let's get started.
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1. Your Most Valuable ActivitiesWhat makes you irreplaceable?| 00:00 | I'd like you to consider a
hypothetical question for a moment.
| | 00:04 | Let's imagine your
company had to let someone go.
| | 00:07 | What's the single biggest advantage
that you have that would keep you in the
| | 00:11 | company versus someone else?
| | 00:13 | What makes you irreplaceable?
| | 00:15 | Think about that for a moment.
| | 00:17 | What answer did you come up with?
| | 00:19 | Is that a lack of available alternatives?
| | 00:21 | Perhaps it's knowledge that only you
have about the business, maybe it's
| | 00:26 | your unique skill-set.
| | 00:27 | All of these things and many others
that we'll yet discover are part of what
| | 00:32 | makes you irreplaceable.
| | 00:34 | Not long ago, I surveyed thousands of
business owners to ask them what makes
| | 00:39 | their employees irreplaceable.
| | 00:41 | One common theme was that they knew how to
do certain things better than other people.
| | 00:47 | These business owners would have to
spend considerable time rehiring or
| | 00:52 | retraining to find another
person with the same expertise.
| | 00:56 | This is where the most
valuable activities come in.
| | 00:59 | I'll often refer to most
valuable activities as your MVAs.
| | 01:05 | Your MVAs are those activities you
perform at work that are worth the most per
| | 01:10 | hour, and are the most costly to replace.
| | 01:14 | Notice the emphasis on your MVAs worth per hour.
| | 01:18 | Some people consider their job
only in terms of their salary.
| | 01:21 | For example, thinking, I am an office
manager, this is what office managers get
| | 01:26 | paid, so that's what I'm worth.
| | 01:28 | The reality is that most people in the
workplace aren't filling just one position.
| | 01:33 | They're really filling many positions by
doing a wide variety of activities in a day.
| | 01:39 | Using my example of an office manager, I
may be dealing with accounts payable or
| | 01:44 | accounts receivable part of the day,
but there are other times during the day
| | 01:47 | where I'm spending time doing many
little activities that don't add much value.
| | 01:53 | Someone else could easily handle these tasks.
| | 01:56 | Your most valuable activities are the
things you do that are worth the most per hour.
| | 02:02 | When you spend the majority of your
time on these MVAs, you're making yourself
| | 02:07 | so valuable to the business, that finding
someone else to do your work would be difficult.
| | 02:13 | This makes you irreplaceable.
| | 02:15 | We're going to help you identify your
MVAs, and then help you discover your
| | 02:20 | least valuable activities, your LVAs,
and how to avoid getting trapped
| | 02:25 | spending your time in them.
| | 02:27 | For now, just understand that when
you perform MVAs at work, you're making
| | 02:32 | yourself irreplaceable, and when
you spend time in your LVAs, you make
| | 02:37 | yourself easier to replace.
| | 02:39 | We want to increase the moments of
irreplaceability by helping you focus on your
| | 02:45 | most valuable activities.
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| Discovering your most valuable activities| 00:00 | In order to make yourself irreplaceable, you need
to understand what your most valuable activities are.
| | 00:06 | I'm going to walk you through a
short process to help you discover them.
| | 00:10 | To make this easier for you we've
created a worksheet that you can use.
| | 00:14 | In this worksheet the column called Work Activity
is where you'll list each type of work activity
| | 00:21 | that you perform during the day.
| | 00:24 | For this exercise, you want to separate
these work activities in terms of the big picture
| | 00:29 | rather than individual tasks.
| | 00:31 | Work activities on this worksheet should be
listed by broad categories such as new product
| | 00:37 | development, graphic design or sales, not
email, answering phones, or running errands.
| | 00:44 | Next, move to the Talent column.
| | 00:47 | We're simply going to rate how talented you
think you are on a scale of 0 to 10, 0 being
| | 00:54 | no talent, 10 being highly talented.
| | 00:57 | Again, if you've gone through the process of
assessing your talents, you'll know that your
| | 01:02 | talents are those things that are
your combined gifts, loves, and skills.
| | 01:07 | Next, the Replace column is where you'll
rate how difficult it would be to replace you.
| | 01:14 | How easily could you find someone else in
the available job market who could perform
| | 01:19 | this activity well?
| | 01:20 | 0 means it would be very easy to hire someone
and a 10 would mean it would be nearly impossible
| | 01:27 | to find someone else to perform this
activity well for any amount of money.
| | 01:32 | Next, we move to the dollar per hour column.
| | 01:36 | Here we want to estimate how much it would
cost to pay someone else to do that activity.
| | 01:42 | That may seem like a strange concept,
particularly if you're working for someone else.
| | 01:48 | Just give it your best guess.
| | 01:50 | For instance, if one of my work activities
is graphic design, how much would I need to
| | 01:55 | pay a graphic designer per hour
to replace that activity for me?
| | 02:00 | I would enter that number in the column.
| | 02:03 | We want to end up with a dollar per hour
best guess estimate for each work activity.
| | 02:10 | If you need help coming up with an hourly
rate try taking what you think an annual salary
| | 02:16 | for this position would be and divide it by 2080,
which is 52 weeks in a year and 40 hours a week.
| | 02:25 | In the next column we're going to rank the various
activities to determine the most valuable activity.
| | 02:31 | There is no hard and fast rule to the ranking,
look at your answers in the previous columns
| | 02:37 | and then use your best judgment.
| | 02:39 | Rank the activities in terms of
first-place, second-place, and so on.
| | 02:43 | For example, if I listed developing new products
as one of my talents, it's difficult to replace
| | 02:50 | and it has a high cost per hour, then
I'm going to rank this activity very high.
| | 02:56 | When in doubt, if two activities seem
similar in your mind then rank the highest dollar
| | 03:03 | per hour activity higher.
Now complete the bottom section.
| | 03:08 | My top two most valuable
activities are based upon your ranking.
| | 03:13 | In this course, you'll learn the importance and
skill of focusing on just the top two activities.
| | 03:20 | Next, you'll see a series of three questions
beginning with the total number of hours you
| | 03:26 | spend working each week,
give a specific estimate.
| | 03:30 | Keep in mind that my definition of work
hours includes travel time to and from work and
| | 03:36 | time spent thinking about work while at home.
| | 03:40 | The reality is if you're
thinking about work you're working.
| | 03:44 | Next, estimate the amount of time per week you
spend in your top two most valuable activities.
| | 03:52 | Base this number on an
average week during the last month.
| | 03:56 | Finally, you'll divide B by A, this will show
you the percentage of work time that you are
| | 04:03 | spending on your most valuable activities.
| | 04:06 | Whatever that number is I recommend that
your goal for this course is to increase it.
| | 04:12 | The more time you spend in these
activities the harder it is to replace you.
| | 04:17 |
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| Avoiding the least-valuable-activity trap| 00:00 | Now that you've identified your most
valuable activities, let's look at the
| | 00:04 | other side of the equation, your
least valuable activities, or your LVAs.
| | 00:09 | Think about the relationship between your
MVAs and your LVAs like a glass of water.
| | 00:14 | An empty glass isn't empty, it's filled with air.
| | 00:18 | This is the equivalent of your LVAs.
| | 00:20 | As we fill the glass up with water,
your MVAs, it becomes more valuable and it
| | 00:26 | leaves less and less room for air, your LVAs.
| | 00:30 | As you spend more time in your MVAs the
amount of time available for your LVAs decreases.
| | 00:38 | However, most people are spending the
majority of their time in their least
| | 00:42 | valuable activities, naturally
decreasing their value.
| | 00:47 | We want to gradually increase the amount
of MVAs over time, so that in the end,
| | 00:52 | you have hardly any time at all
for these least valuable activities.
| | 00:57 | But LVAs are very powerful in their pull.
| | 01:00 | It's much easier to spend your
time doing least valuable activities.
| | 01:05 | Most anyone can do them and most
anyone is willing to do them. These are
| | 01:10 | small mundane tasks.
| | 01:12 | The simple things like running errands
at the store or printing out copies and
| | 01:17 | watching the printer roll. Even
attending meetings can be an LVA if the meeting
| | 01:22 | doesn't have an important purpose.
| | 01:24 | These kinds of activities take
very little energy and effort.
| | 01:29 | Contrast that with common MVAs, like
building high-level relationships with
| | 01:35 | partner companies, or developing a long
-term marketing strategy, these most
| | 01:40 | valuable activities take
more energy, effort and skill.
| | 01:45 | Here are a couple of tools to help
you recognize when you're falling into a
| | 01:49 | least valuable activity trap
and how to get yourself out.
| | 01:53 | The first is to continually ask yourself the
question, what is the value of this activity?
| | 02:00 | This awareness will start to create a desire
in you to not get sucked into these LVA traps.
| | 02:06 | You may even want to keep track in your
calendar of the value of each activity
| | 02:10 | which you perform, just make a note of
what you think each activity is worth in
| | 02:15 | terms of dollar per hour.
| | 02:17 | Next, we want to ask the question,
why am I doing this activity?
| | 02:22 | The why question will help you
identify how you got into that LVA trap.
| | 02:28 | Perhaps you just drifted into it or
maybe the task was delegated to you.
| | 02:33 | Many people don't reach their career
goals, because they allow themselves to get
| | 02:38 | blown around in the wind of the day.
| | 02:41 | Rather than making conscious decisions
about what they're doing with their time,
| | 02:45 | they become purely reactive to requests
from coworkers and events around them.
| | 02:50 | We need to become strategic about how
to serve both others and our career and
| | 02:55 | that leads us to the third tool, which is
to build a strategy to get out of LVA traps.
| | 03:01 | In the next video, I'll help you
build that strategy step-by-step.
| | 03:05 | Remember, it may take more effort
to stay out of these least valuable
| | 03:10 | activities, but the more you fill up
your glass with MVAs the less room you'll
| | 03:16 | have for LVAs and the
more valuable you'll become.
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| Focusing with the Order of Offloading| 00:00 | Your success at work depends in large
part on your ability to be selective
| | 00:05 | with your activities.
| | 00:07 | Think of your success like a hot air balloon.
| | 00:10 | Every activity that you perform, whether
it's valuable or not, is one more sandbag,
| | 00:16 | one more piece of weight to the balloon.
| | 00:19 | If you have your workday balloon
loaded up with 15 or 20 different kinds of
| | 00:24 | activities, you're going to find
it very hard to get off the ground.
| | 00:28 | If we can get your workday down to just
four or five different activities, two
| | 00:34 | of those being your most valuable
activities, then you're going to find it much
| | 00:38 | easier to succeed and
increase your value per hour.
| | 00:42 | But how can we trim these activities
down, especially if you work for someone
| | 00:47 | else and it's expected that
you perform these activities?
| | 00:50 | First, let's look at what not to do.
| | 00:54 | Most people when trying to get rid of
activities follow what I call the order of abdication.
| | 01:01 | Abdication means to get rid of things,
to give them away and hope that they
| | 01:06 | never come back again.
| | 01:07 | You're essentially just trying to toss it out
the window and imagine that it doesn't exist.
| | 01:12 | The order of abdication goes like this.
| | 01:15 | Number one, you realize that you don't
have enough time to get everything done.
| | 01:19 | Number two, you adopt technology or some
tool or maybe even hire someone to help
| | 01:25 | you get more things done.
| | 01:26 | Number three, you realize that the
tool can't solve your problem, which takes
| | 01:31 | you to number four, you get rid of the tool
and number five, you start over at step one.
| | 01:37 | Many professionals waste a lot of time
and money in the order of abdication,
| | 01:43 | repeating this process over and over.
| | 01:46 | Instead, I would like to offer
you the order of offloading as an
| | 01:50 | effective alternative.
| | 01:52 | The first step in the order of
offloading is to improve your personal systems.
| | 01:57 | Get as personally efficient,
organized and responsible as you can.
| | 02:02 | The best process that I can possibly
recommend to improve your personal systems
| | 02:07 | is to go through the Time Management
Fundamentals course here on lynda.com.
| | 02:13 | The second step is
improving the business systems.
| | 02:17 | These systems include the processes,
procedures and the organizational
| | 02:21 | structure of the business.
| | 02:23 | How well documented are
the systems in your business?
| | 02:27 | Do people know what they're supposed to
be doing and do they know it by heart?
| | 02:32 | Are you an expert in the systems
of your day-to-day work activities?
| | 02:37 | Mastery of business systems yields a
lot of extra time and helps you spend less
| | 02:43 | time in the least valuable activities.
| | 02:46 | Step three in the order of offloading
is to use the best technology available.
| | 02:52 | The most basic example is
the computer that you're using.
| | 02:56 | If your computer is older than five
years, odds are, it's slowing you down and
| | 03:02 | causing you to spend much more time
than necessary in your LVAs. A 2% slowdown
| | 03:09 | in your productivity, due to a
computer running slow, a printer giving you
| | 03:13 | difficulty, or repeated network outages,
can equal an entire lost work week
| | 03:19 | every single year.
| | 03:21 | Also consider the office
supplies that you're using.
| | 03:24 | If you use a 3 hole punch regularly
and it's not working properly, then
| | 03:29 | investing in a higher-quality tool
will save you time in the long run.
| | 03:34 | Usually, small investments in technology
can yield huge dividends in productivity.
| | 03:41 | Step four, is outsourcing.
| | 03:43 | It's a good idea to begin with
outsourcing or temporary help first, because it
| | 03:48 | let's you test what your needs are before making a
long-term commitment to hire. Hiring comes last.
| | 03:56 | If you follow the order of offloading
in the sequence I've given you, at this
| | 04:01 | point you will have established all of
the systems and put all of the tools in
| | 04:05 | place for a new hire to succeed.
| | 04:08 | I found that professionals, who
follow this process, make themselves much
| | 04:14 | harder to replace.
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2. Building Up CoworkersOffering assistance| 00:00 | If you want to become irreplaceable,
there is a powerful question that you can
| | 00:04 | use in any situation.
| | 00:06 | It will not only help you understand
the people that you work with, but it will
| | 00:11 | also show you actions that you can
take to increase your value per hour.
| | 00:16 | The question is, what's one thing I
can do to make your job easier for you?
| | 00:22 | You can ask this question of the person
who manages you, your coworkers and any
| | 00:28 | people who report to you.
| | 00:30 | What's one thing I could do to
make your job easier for you?
| | 00:35 | Simply asking this question helps the
other person understand that you care
| | 00:40 | about them and that you want to see
them succeed, regardless of their position,
| | 00:44 | which is why this question
should be asked genuinely.
| | 00:48 | You need to ask it with the intent to
actually follow through on the things the
| | 00:53 | other person suggests.
| | 00:55 | By helping to increase the value of the
people around you, through making their
| | 01:00 | jobs easier, you actually
increase your own value.
| | 01:04 | In fact, in the simplest terms, your
value is primarily determined by how easy
| | 01:10 | you make life for the people around you.
| | 01:13 | Let's say that I ask my coworker,
what's one thing I can do to make your
| | 01:18 | job easier for you, and she tells
me that it would be helpful if she
| | 01:22 | received my reports on time.
| | 01:25 | Perhaps I've gotten reports to
her a little bit late in the past.
| | 01:29 | Taking it a step further, I would
also want to ask one or two follow-up
| | 01:33 | questions to really
understand what it is that she wants.
| | 01:37 | For example, what does on time mean to you?
| | 01:42 | How has getting the reports to you
late made your job more difficult?
| | 01:47 | Asking some follow-up questions gives
them the opportunity to clarify their needs.
| | 01:52 | Then as a result of that discussion,
you'll write down one action that you can
| | 01:57 | take to honor their request.
| | 02:00 | Decide what you're going to do, when you
will do it and then follow through and do it.
| | 02:06 | Make this question a regular part of
your communication process, such as regular
| | 02:12 | one-to-one meetings with your
manager, coworkers or direct reports.
| | 02:16 | You can ask this question at any time
during the meeting to get insight into how
| | 02:21 | to serve them and in turn, increase your value.
| | 02:26 | In the following videos, we will go in
-depth into more ways you can greatly
| | 02:31 | increase your value and make
people's jobs easier for them.
| | 02:35 | But it all starts with that one question,
what's one thing I can do to make
| | 02:40 | your job easier for you?
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| Identifying coworkers' most valuable activities| 00:00 | Earlier we helped you to identify your most
valuable activities, the two things that you
| | 00:06 | do that bring the greatest impact
to the bottom line of the business.
| | 00:10 | Everyone has their own unique set of MVAs,
and because of this, your relationship with
| | 00:16 | the people around you, has an
impact on their irreplaceability as well.
| | 00:21 | So, once you've identified and learn to focus on your
own MVAs, you can begin helping the people around you.
| | 00:28 | The process that we're going to go through can apply to
any person that you are working with in your business.
| | 00:34 | It can apply to your manager,
co-workers, and even those you manage.
| | 00:39 | Regardless of your position in the company,
there is someone that you may be able to help.
| | 00:45 | One way to become irreplaceable is to help those
people protect their time and stay in their MVAs.
| | 00:54 | Irreplaceability often occurs faster when two or
more people work in tandem to support each other.
| | 01:01 | First, I suggest that you get approval to
follow this process from your manager or supervisor,
| | 01:08 | so that they're aware of the process
and you can have their support and buy-in.
| | 01:12 | Next, I recommend that your co-workers
review the videos on most valuable activities
| | 01:19 | and complete the worksheet provided.
| | 01:21 | At the end of that process they will have
a list, like you have, of activities that
| | 01:26 | they perform ranked in terms of their value,
and they'll know what their top two MVAs are.
| | 01:34 | Next, I recommend that you and your co-worker
sit down and compare the results of the worksheets
| | 01:41 | you have both completed.
| | 01:43 | In particular, look for areas where there
is crossover, where they are performing the
| | 01:48 | same activities that you are performing.
| | 01:51 | Ideally, you'll identify one or two of their
least valuable activities, that are your most
| | 01:58 | valuable activities and vice-versa.
| | 02:01 | For instance, let's say that one of my co-worker's
least valuable activities is designing presentations.
| | 02:08 | And one of my MVAs is graphic design.
| | 02:12 | We've identified an area where I can take
more responsibility from my co-worker and
| | 02:18 | help them spend less time in
their least valuable activities.
| | 02:22 | Then after you've identified those areas, you
can have a discussion about how to redistribute
| | 02:28 | some of the work load between the two of you,
so that you both spend more time in your MVAs.
| | 02:34 | In the next video, I will offer
ideas on how to have that discussion.
| | 02:39 | Of course, not every relationship is
going to line up as evenly as this example.
| | 02:45 | Even if that happens, going through this
process together and understanding each other's MVAs,
| | 02:52 | will show you opportunities to help the other
person be more successful and be more valuable.
| | 02:59 | The better you understand your co-worker's
needs and most valuable activities, and help
| | 03:05 | each other stay in those MVAs, the
more valuable you both will become.
| | 03:10 |
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| Creating a plan of improvement| 00:00 | In the previous videos we've identified
your most valuable activities and we've
| | 00:05 | talked about helping your co-workers
identify their most valuable activities.
| | 00:10 | At this point you and your co-workers
should each have a basic understanding of
| | 00:15 | the two most valuable things that
you both can be doing with your time.
| | 00:20 | Now how can we use the information
you've learned about your co-workers to help
| | 00:25 | make you irreplaceable?
| | 00:27 | First, I recommend that you
schedule a special one-to-one meeting with
| | 00:32 | one purpose in mind.
| | 00:34 | To help each other, focus more
in your most valuable activities.
| | 00:38 | The amount of time it will take to
accomplish this may vary, but 50 minutes
| | 00:44 | should be enough time.
| | 00:45 | Here's the agenda I recommend.
| | 00:47 | First, share your most valuable
activity worksheets with each other.
| | 00:52 | As I mentioned in the previous video
look for crossover as you review the
| | 00:56 | worksheets together.
| | 00:57 | Ideally for areas where
your MVAs are their LVAs.
| | 01:03 | If your activities don't line up like
this you can still look for ways to help
| | 01:08 | each other spend more time in your MVAs.
| | 01:11 | Next, discuss ways you can help your co-
worker, begin with an attitude of giving first.
| | 01:19 | Ask them, how can I help you remove
some least valuable activities from
| | 01:23 | your work schedule?
| | 01:25 | Use the steps in the order of
offloading that I discussed in a previous video.
| | 01:30 | Discuss ways they can
improve their personal systems.
| | 01:33 | Talk about how you can improve
business systems, using better technology and
| | 01:37 | possibly outsourcing or hiring.
| | 01:40 | Remember, hiring someone else or
outsourcing should be the last option considered.
| | 01:46 | You're looking for solutions to help
the other person stay in their MVAs
| | 01:50 | using the resources that you already have
available, or through making some small upgrades.
| | 01:57 | Next, after you've helped your co-worker,
ask them for help and suggestions on how
| | 02:02 | you can spend more of your time in your MVAs.
| | 02:06 | At this point you may be wondering,
| | 02:08 | if everyone's offloading their least
valuable activities, when does any work get done?
| | 02:14 | The answer can come from an old adage.
| | 02:17 | One person's trash is another person's
treasure, or one person's least valuable
| | 02:24 | activity is another
person's most valuable activity.
| | 02:28 | This isn't about which work is
undesirable or considered lower on the pay scale.
| | 02:34 | This is about focusing your attention
on the work that's most valuable based on
| | 02:40 | your own talents and gifts.
| | 02:42 | Once you've discussed ways you can
help each other, make commitments to each
| | 02:46 | other about the actions
that you're going to take.
| | 02:49 | And finally, schedule another meeting 30 days
out to revisit the plan that you came up with.
| | 02:57 | It's likely that after 30 days you'll
find areas where your solutions didn't
| | 03:02 | work completely. That's expected and
actually good, because you'll have learned
| | 03:07 | through experience what
worked and what didn't work.
| | 03:10 | Now in the follow-up meeting, tweak the
system that you created and refine it.
| | 03:15 | In other words, don't worry about
getting this perfect the first time you meet.
| | 03:19 | Just come up with the best plan you can
and then improve it after you test it out.
| | 03:26 | By making small progress and working
together, and improving how much time you
| | 03:31 | spend on your MVAs, you'll be
contributing to each other's career success.
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3. Having FocusManaging your time| 00:00 | If you have completed my Time
Management course on lynda.com you're familiar
| | 00:04 | with the concept of using a schedule to
focus on your most valuable activities.
| | 00:09 | When it comes to being invaluable, the
principle of focus really is about time.
| | 00:15 | It deals with how you choose to use
your time on a weekly, daily, and even
| | 00:19 | hourly basis, especially your work time.
| | 00:23 | I encourage you to complete the entire
Time Management course as a preparation
| | 00:28 | to help you become focused, but there
are two basics I can share with you right
| | 00:33 | now that will give you some benefit.
| | 00:36 | The first deals with switching and multitasking.
| | 00:39 | Many people feel they have too many things
demanding their attention and too much to do.
| | 00:45 | So they attempt to
multitask to compensate for that.
| | 00:50 | Yet however attractive the concept of
multitasking is, it's ultimately false.
| | 00:56 | When you attempt to do multiple things
that require your attention at the same
| | 01:01 | time, you switch back and
forth between those activities.
| | 01:05 | This is why I refer to
multitasking as switchtasking.
| | 01:10 | Switches are the most common reason that
people feel they don't have enough time.
| | 01:15 | They have a lack of focus
especially now in our fast-paced,
| | 01:19 | information-saturated society.
| | 01:22 | Every time you switch you lose attention,
you lose time, you lose quality, and
| | 01:28 | you increase your stress levels.
| | 01:31 | The invaluable factor of focus encourages
you to make as few switches as possible.
| | 01:37 | This applies not only to your day-to-
day activities but also in the bigger
| | 01:42 | picture of your long-term career.
| | 01:45 | Every switch you may make from one job
to another job, is a loss of productivity,
| | 01:51 | a loss of time, and an increase in stress.
| | 01:55 | The second basic principle of time and
focus is something I call the truth of time.
| | 02:01 | The truth of time is that we all have only
24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour.
| | 02:08 | Because multitasking is a false concept
we need to make very wise choices about
| | 02:14 | how we spend that limited time.
| | 02:17 | In this chapter I'll give you
tools you can use to make clear, conscious
| | 02:22 | decisions about where you're going to
spend the time, and to make sure that
| | 02:27 | you don't overspend it.
| | 02:29 | Overspending time is like going into debt.
| | 02:32 | It may give you something that you want
in the moment, but in the long term it
| | 02:37 | will cost you greatly.
| | 02:39 | In order for you to be truly focused
when it comes to your career, you'll
| | 02:44 | actually want to
underspend the time that you have.
| | 02:47 | This is the paradox of focus, that
the less you do the more you get done.
| | 02:53 | We'll begin helping you make some of
those conscious choices in the next video
| | 02:59 | where we'll establish your ideal schedule.
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| Eliminating external distractions| 00:00 | I mentioned that switches
are the biggest enemy of focus.
| | 00:04 | These are the things that pull your
attention away from your most valuable
| | 00:07 | activities into a least valuable activity.
| | 00:11 | Let's look at the external
switches or distractions.
| | 00:14 | These are the things from outside of
you that grab your attention and interrupt
| | 00:18 | you during your day.
| | 00:19 | I'm going to discuss five of the most
common switches in today's workplace and
| | 00:25 | I'll give you five
switchbusters to combat them.
| | 00:28 | A switchbuster is something that helps
to reduce or even eliminate the switch.
| | 00:33 | Let's talk about the first switch;
| | 00:36 | beeps, buzzes and flashes.
| | 00:38 | These are anything digital or
electronic that's clamoring for your attention.
| | 00:43 | It can be a voicemail notification, a
text message, a ringing phone, or a flashing
| | 00:48 | screen letting you know
that an email message came in.
| | 00:52 | All of these digital distractions
can rob you of your focus,
| | 00:56 | pull you away from your most
valuable activities and cause you to lose
| | 01:00 | large amounts of time.
| | 01:02 | The first switchbuster is to,
turn off these notifications.
| | 01:07 | Rather than letting technology tell
you what you should be doing, create a
| | 01:12 | schedule of when you're going to
respond to voicemail and email.
| | 01:16 | Once you have this schedule set up,
it's a good idea to let other people know.
| | 01:21 | For instance on your voicemail greeting,
let people know the time of day when
| | 01:25 | they can expect a reply.
| | 01:27 | The next most common switch is what I
call the dreaded double Q. It's the quick
| | 01:33 | question, such as someone dropping by
or calling you on the phone and saying
| | 01:38 | "I've got just a quick question." While
you need to respond to these questions,
| | 01:44 | there's a more productive way to
deal with them, than interrupting each
| | 01:48 | other throughout the day.
| | 01:49 | Use a one-to-one meeting, a regularly
scheduled time where you each go through
| | 01:55 | your list of questions for each other.
| | 01:58 | For a more detailed explanation on the
agenda of the one-to-one meeting, and how
| | 02:03 | to conduct one, see the Effective
Meetings course here on lynda.com.
| | 02:08 | The next most common switch is noise,
which includes any kind of distracting
| | 02:14 | noise in your work environment, such
as people talking, music, industrial
| | 02:19 | noises, you name it.
| | 02:21 | This random external noise can have
a bigger effect on your productivity
| | 02:26 | than you may realize.
| | 02:27 | There are two simple switchbusters to
deal with this and you can choose which
| | 02:32 | one to use, depending on your
personality and preferences.
| | 02:36 | The switchbusters are either silence or music.
| | 02:41 | You can create silence by moving to
a location that's quieter, putting on
| | 02:46 | headphones, or even creating white
noise around you, such as a desk fan.
| | 02:52 | However, for some people music can be
as effective as silence because it shuts
| | 02:58 | out the other noise around them.
| | 02:59 | Of course you'll want to be sure that
your music isn't creating noise for the
| | 03:04 | other people around you.
| | 03:05 | The next switch deals with
instant and text messaging.
| | 03:10 | These communication methods deserve
their own discussion because not only are
| | 03:16 | they becoming more common, but they
are also frequently used improperly.
| | 03:21 | Text and instant messaging can be
valuable when you're passing one piece
| | 03:27 | of information to another person and the
conversation will not go beyond one message.
| | 03:34 | For instance, I might text someone
whom I'm meeting for lunch that I'm
| | 03:38 | running five minutes late.
| | 03:39 | However if I need to have a
conversation back and forth with someone, that's
| | 03:45 | when I should use the simple switchbuster
of picking up the phone and calling.
| | 03:51 | It's much faster to have a quick
conversation over the phone for a back and
| | 03:55 | forth exchange of information, than it
is to have a protracted conversation with
| | 04:01 | many separate, small interruptions.
| | 04:05 | The final switch is unique, as it deals
with the necessary switches in your day.
| | 04:11 | What if you operate in an
interruption-driven business such as technical
| | 04:15 | support or healthcare?
| | 04:17 | In these situations, the best
switch buster may surprise you.
| | 04:21 | It is to schedule less
in your day, I'll explain.
| | 04:26 | If my day is packed full and there's
no breathing room between appointments.
| | 04:32 | When unnecessary interruption comes in,
I'm going to be tempted to multitask.
| | 04:38 | Remember multitasking causes me, to
actually get less done, make more mistakes
| | 04:43 | and increase my stress levels.
| | 04:46 | It's better to leave lots of space
between my scheduled activities in the day.
| | 04:51 | Than when interruptions come, I can
temporarily delay the activities I've
| | 04:57 | scheduled for myself and do them after
the necessary interruption is handled.
| | 05:03 | Use these five switchbusters and any
others you can think of to increase your focus.
| | 05:09 | Remember it's impossible to
completely eliminate the external switches.
| | 05:14 | But the more you can reduce these
switches, the more focused you can be on your
| | 05:21 | most valuable activities.
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| Eliminating internal distractions| 00:00 | In the previous video we talked about
external distractions, all of those things
| | 00:05 | outside of you that demand your focus,
but what about the things that you do
| | 00:10 | internally to yourself?
| | 00:12 | It's becoming more common for people
to feel that they're unable to focus.
| | 00:17 | While there may be psychological or
even genetic reasons behind this, everyone
| | 00:22 | can benefit to some degree from the switch
reducing tips that I'm going to share with you.
| | 00:28 | I call these tips switchbusters.
| | 00:31 | The first common internal switch is,
when people constantly check their messages
| | 00:36 | to see if they have something new.
| | 00:38 | Call it refresh addiction.
| | 00:41 | I put refresh addiction in the internal
category, because your mind has become
| | 00:46 | accustomed to checking,
regardless of outside notification.
| | 00:50 | In fact there have been studies showing
that this urge to check messages is
| | 00:56 | similar to compulsive gambling.
| | 00:58 | You can combat refresh addiction with
the same switchbuster you used to stop
| | 01:04 | external message reminders.
| | 01:06 | Set a schedule to check messages, rather
than sitting at my computer continually
| | 01:12 | pressing the check email button.
| | 01:14 | I might set up a time every day
just before lunch to check my emails.
| | 01:19 | Whatever time works best for you do it.
| | 01:23 | As you practice following the schedule,
you'll find it easier to resist refresh addiction.
| | 01:30 | Ideas that come into people's heads
are the second most common switch.
| | 01:35 | Many people are great idea generators.
| | 01:38 | But they find these thoughts constantly
interrupting them in the middle of their work.
| | 01:43 | If you find yourself in this
situation, the switchbuster I suggest is to
| | 01:48 | capture those ideas in a gathering
point, which is a place that you've
| | 01:53 | designated for gathering ideas.
| | 01:56 | Choose one place where you put those
ideas, such as a notepad, sending yourself
| | 02:02 | email, leaving yourself a voicemail
message, or whatever you feel is appropriate.
| | 02:07 | Make sure that you're gathering using
only one gathering point and that you
| | 02:12 | use it consistently.
| | 02:14 | This leads us to the next
switch and switchbuster.
| | 02:18 | The switch is making decisions
many times throughout the day.
| | 02:22 | If you're trying to make these
decisions as soon as you get new information,
| | 02:27 | you are going to find it very hard
to get any work done during the day.
| | 02:32 | Instead, set a time for processing.
| | 02:35 | I cover processing in great depth, in my
Time Management course here on lynda.com.
| | 02:42 | In short, take one item at a time and
decide what you're going to do with it,
| | 02:47 | when you're going to do it
and where the item belongs.
| | 02:52 | I recommend that the average person plan
about five hours of processing time each week.
| | 02:59 | The schedule that you setup can be
very flexible, the point is that you're
| | 03:03 | holding off all of those decisions,
until that scheduled processing time and
| | 03:08 | then using the rest of your work time to
execute on the decisions that you've made.
| | 03:14 | The next switch is what I call screen addiction.
| | 03:17 | It's the tendency that people have to
be drawn to the magic glowing screen in
| | 03:22 | front of them, whether it's a
computer monitor, a TV, or a mobile device.
| | 03:27 | That glowing screen can be very
seductive at times and often it pulls our
| | 03:33 | attention away, when we most need to focus.
| | 03:36 | The simple switchbuster that I recommend
for screen addiction is to turn them
| | 03:41 | off or walk away from them while
you're working on something important.
| | 03:45 | Of course if you need the
computer to do your work, leave it on.
| | 03:50 | But if I'm having a conversation on the
phone with someone and I don't need the
| | 03:55 | computer, then turning off the
monitor or walking away from it will help me
| | 04:01 | maintain focus on the person.
| | 04:04 | The last internal switch
is very common, impatience.
| | 04:09 | In our digital world, we have come to expect
instant responses to pretty much everything.
| | 04:15 | When we put a question into a search
engine, access a web site or call technical
| | 04:20 | support, we expect instant responsiveness.
| | 04:24 | The problem is sometimes things just
aren't instant and so we have to wait.
| | 04:30 | The tendency for many people when
they become impatient during the wait is
| | 04:35 | to do something else.
| | 04:37 | If you're going to be on hold for
a long period of time that might be
| | 04:40 | appropriate, but in most cases it's
better to use those moments of waiting
| | 04:46 | to gather your focus.
| | 04:48 | Rather than making a switch
because you're impatient, take a moment.
| | 04:52 | Take a deep breath and relax.
| | 04:54 | Perhaps think about what you're
going to do once the wait is over.
| | 04:58 | The constant rush to always be doing
something causes us to get less done.
| | 05:04 | If we use the moments of waiting to
relax and focus, we'll actually get more
| | 05:09 | done than if we fill every
second with some activity.
| | 05:13 | Understanding when you can be your
own worst enemy and then responding to
| | 05:19 | internal switches with these switchbusters,
can help you maintain focus on your
| | 05:24 | most valuable activities and get more done.
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| Maintaining a long-term focus on your career| 00:00 | So far we've primarily discussed ways
in which you can maintain focus on an
| | 00:05 | hourly and daily basis in the workplace.
However, long-term focus is equally important.
| | 00:12 | Imagine that I want to take a road
trip from Berlin to Paris, but after a
| | 00:17 | few hours of traveling I change my mind and
decide that I want to drive to Rome instead.
| | 00:22 | Then after driving a couple of more
hours, I decide I'd rather travel to
| | 00:27 | Amsterdam, and then perhaps I change my
mind and want to travel to Athens, but
| | 00:32 | later decided again on Paris.
| | 00:35 | You can see from this example that I'm
going to do a lot of traveling but never
| | 00:40 | really reach any destination.
It's the same with your career.
| | 00:44 | The more focused you can be on a
final destination, then the faster you
| | 00:49 | make progress toward that goal and receive
the benefits of mastering a particular field.
| | 00:55 | The first step that I suggest to help
you maintain long-term career focus is to
| | 01:01 | choose a destination. Write a short
statement, perhaps one paragraph of where
| | 01:07 | you want your career to be 10 years from now.
| | 01:11 | I encourage you to put that
statement somewhere where you can look at it
| | 01:15 | regularly and be reminded of the focus
that you want to have in getting there.
| | 01:21 | Next, I recommend that once every three
months you do a self review of your progress.
| | 01:27 | You can simply ask yourself the question,
| | 01:29 | am I making progress
toward my chosen destination?
| | 01:33 | I'd also suggest that as part of this
quarterly self review, you complete the
| | 01:39 | most valuable activity worksheet.
| | 01:41 | See if you've made progress in your MVAs
and if you're improving your value per hour.
| | 01:47 | Remember, the value of your activities
reflects how much it would cost to pay
| | 01:51 | someone else to do those same
activities as well as you can.
| | 01:56 | So, if you're continually getting
better at those activities then the value of
| | 02:00 | the activities should increase over time.
| | 02:03 | Also once every three months, it might
be helpful to use a daily work tracker
| | 02:09 | for a week, to see how much time you
are actually spending in your MVAs.
| | 02:14 | We've created a special version related to
focus that you can download to track your time.
| | 02:19 | Simply mark how much time you spent in
each activity that day, to see if you're
| | 02:25 | spending the majority of your time in your MVAs.
| | 02:28 | And finally, once every 6 or 12 months,
I suggest you meet again with your
| | 02:34 | manager and your co-worker's, to see
how well you're all doing in focusing
| | 02:39 | your time on your MVAs.
| | 02:41 | Use this meeting to find
ways you can serve each other.
| | 02:44 | If you can work together to help each
other succeed and focus, you'll all reach
| | 02:49 | your individual destinations faster,
than if you try to do it all on your own.
| | 02:55 | It's possible that you may find legitimate reasons
why you need to change your final destination.
| | 03:01 | If you've thought things through carefully
and believe that making a change is
| | 03:05 | the right decision, don't be alarmed.
You can still succeed with a new destination.
| | 03:10 | However, the more focused you can be
over the long term on a single destination,
| | 03:16 | the faster you'll become
irreplaceable and invaluable.
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ConclusionFinal thoughts| 00:00 | Thank you for investing
your time in this course.
| | 00:03 | We have provided the framework to
help you understand what it really takes
| | 00:07 | to make yourself irreplaceable, and
how to focus your time on your most
| | 00:12 | valuable activities.
| | 00:13 | If you've enjoyed this course, I
recommend that you share it with your
| | 00:17 | coworkers and managers.
| | 00:18 | If you can, consider making the materials
I've covered here a discussion in
| | 00:23 | future group meetings.
| | 00:25 | If you can work together as a group to
learn these principles, you'll begin to
| | 00:30 | speak a common language in the workplace,
| | 00:33 | and you will learn from each other as you
become more irreplaceable and more focused.
| | 00:37 | You are in control of how valuable you become.
| | 00:42 | Protect your focus and keep your day-
to-day actions in your most valuable
| | 00:46 | activities and you'll
become difficult to replace.
| | 00:49 | Your talent will increase and more
opportunities will open up to you.
| | 00:54 | Thank you for watching,
and may you be invaluable!
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