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If you're someone who has a LOT on their plate and wants to find a system to handle it all, but who also craves downtime for yourself, this course is for you.
You might be an employee who doesn’t feel organized, a manager or exec who is learning to handle your own work and be an effective leader at the same time, a working parent, or someone who has recently said one of the following:
If you're someone who has a LOT on their plate and wants to find a system to handle it all, but who also craves downtime for yourself, this course is for you.
You might be an employee who doesn’t feel organized, a manager or exec who is learning to handle your own work and be an effective leader at the same time, a working parent, or someone who has recently said one of the following:
"I just don't have enough hours in the day. "
"I've got too much on my plate. "
"I have no downtime. "
"I feel like I'm failing at work AND home. "
"Planning stresses me out. "
Do you wake up at night thinking about something you need to do at work tomorrow? Do you go to bed thinking about all the things you didn't get done today? Do you fall into bed exhausted every night having had no time for yourself? Do you often find yourself scrambling to get things done at the last minute?
Now imagine how it would feel if you:
Were able to leave work at work, and be present at home (while getting it all done. )
Had time for yourself, every day
Could show up to every meeting, event, or activity prepared and on time
Were well-rested, focused and relaxed
Knew you were using your time in service of your own goals and values
In this course, I distill all of the content, strategies, techniques and skills that I acquired, developed and implemented over 15+ years managing Operations and HR in start-ups (and that I use daily with my clients in my time-management coaching practice) into an easy-to-follow, step-by-step process for anyone looking to get more out of their time.
In this course, you will:
Master the techniques, strategies, tips and hacks to get everything done…without the stress.
Build a personalized productivity system so you can feel, and truly be, on top of it all.
Create and maintain a task-list system (for work and home) where balls are not dropped, nothing is forgotten or overlooked, and that allows your brain to focus on your work, instead of remembering the to-dos.
Implement simple techniques for increasing focus and minimizing distractions.
Employ prioritization frameworks to decisions and tasks for more efficient and effective prioritization and decision making.
Learn how to say yes (and no. ) to the right things.
Learn how to disconnect and truly recharge in the evenings, on the weekends, and on vacation (without negative consequences).
In short, you’ll do more and stress less.
Specifically, this course will cover:
Common Roadblocks to Productivity (and how to combat them. )
Personalized Productivity - How to use your natural tendencies to your advantage.
Task Management - How to keep track of it all without relying on your memory.
Prioritization - How to make sure you're working on the right things at the right times.
Planning - How taking a few moments now saves your future self TONS of time.
Focus - How to increase focus and minimize the impact of distractions.
Time is a finite resource, and perhaps our most valuable one. In this digital age, our time and attention is being pulled in many more directions than ever before. Mastering time management is essential to living a balanced and fulfilling life.
Most books and apps about time management and productivity claim to be the silver bullet, if you can just follow them. However, they don't take into account the fact that we're all different. Not everything will work for everyone. In this course, we start with who YOU are, to build a system that works specifically for you.
The lectures in this course are complemented by exercises such as discovering your personal productivity roadblocks, creating a task system, creating action plans for minimizing distractions and increasing focus, building a personalized rewards and breaks "menu" and more. The exercises ensure that you apply the content from the lectures in a practical and pragmatic way.
Enroll today to take back control of your time, excel at work, and make time for the things that matter in YOUR life.
CPE (Continuing Professional Education)
Learning Objectives
Identify roadblocks that prevent you from being your most productive self.
Determine how your natural tendencies affect your productivity and ways to work with your natural tendencies instead of against them.
Recognize the key inputs of a single-trusted task management system.
Discover prioritization frameworks and methods and use them to determine when you should perform tasks on your to-do list.
Identify the benefits of planning.
Define the SMART framework for setting goals.
Describe various strategies you can use to maintain focus on your work and reduce distractions.
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Welcome! I can't wait for you to get started on your journey to transform your approach to time management and productivity. Throughout the course, I'll guide you through identifying common productivity roadblocks, personalizing strategies that fit your life, mastering task management, applying effective prioritization techniques, planning for success, and minimizing distractions.
Get ready to equip yourself with the tools and insights needed to reduce stress, enhance focus, and achieve a harmonious balance between work and personal life, all while enjoying the process.
In this lecture, you'll dive into the crucial understanding that time is a finite resource and learn how to tailor your time management to suit your unique personality, skills, and life situation. By focusing on prioritizing your commitments and learning to gracefully reduce your current obligations, this lecture sets the foundation for a more intentional and fulfilling approach to managing your time and energy.
Feeling swamped by obligations? This exercise is the first step in the right direction!
In this lecture we'll explore three powerful strategies to lighten your load.
We often rely on our memory for tasks, but this backfires, causing us to constantly juggle them in our heads and hindering focus. To combat this, we need to externalize our tasks. In this lecture, you'll learn the why behind the how.
From email notifications to chatty colleagues, distractions lurk around every corner, pulling your attention away from important tasks.
In fact, it takes an average of 23 minutes to refocus after an interruption, significantly impacting your workday.
In this lecture, we explore specific techniques to minimize distractions and maximize your productivity.
We've explored the top 3 productivity roadblocks: memory reliance, lack of a system, and distractions. Now it's your turn to reflect! Download the worksheet and identify your personal struggles that hinder your time management.
Be honest - this is just for you.
Throughout the course, we'll use these insights to find strategies that work best for you and help you overcome these roadblocks.
Let's review what you've learned in Section 2.
You are unique! And it's a lot easier to build strategies around who you are than to try to fit yourself in someone else's box. So, in this lecture, you'll discover why, and how, to engage in some self-knowledge.
Trying to be a morning person when you're not naturally one can lead to frustration and decreased productivity. The opposite is also true.
In this lecture you'll learn how to leverage your energy levels throughout the day, you can schedule tasks that require focus for times when you're most alert.
And I'll give you some practical tips for navigating a world that often favors early risers.
Update 09/2021: There's a bit more nuance that I wanted to add to this lecture after it was recorded. Based on newer research, I now refer to the concept of "learning styles" as "preferred learning/info processing methods". This research shows that most individuals learn via a mixture of these methods or styles, but I do still find most people identify more strongly with some methods than others. However, that doesn't mean that if you identify as a primarily tactile learner that you can't learn through visuals. Despite the fact that individuals don't usually have a single "learning style" that completely excludes the others, I find that it is still very helpful to identify which methods you gravitate towards so that you can modify your environment and strategies to best fit what works for you.
In the olden times, work stayed at work. Now that we have the technology to be always connected, the "always on" pressure blurs the lines. This lecture will help you better understand the 2 primary two work-life styles:
Integrators and Segmentors
Knowing your style is key to building strategies that work for you!
Did you know that you can leverage introversion/extroversion tendencies to positively impact your productivity? If not, this lecture will show you how!
The lectures in this section have helped you better understand how personality traits can affect productivity.
Now, download the worksheet and take the linked quizzes (about 30 minutes total) to discover your natural tendencies. Reflect on the results and brainstorm ways to leverage them for better time management.
Remember, building a system around who you are is key to maximizing your productivity.
Let's review what you've learned in Section 3.
Task management, the heart of time management, is, in essence, about keeping track of your to-dos and scheduling time to complete them.
The key is a "Single Trusted System," a single location for all your tasks, ideas, and questions. In this lecture, you'll learn all about how to implement a Single Trusted System of your own.
A single trusted system keeps tasks organized and reduces stress. The first step is a "brain dump": writing down all your to-dos, questions, and projects to clear your head.
This is a tried and true technique for stress relief, focus and productivity.
Ready for your first brain dump?
Grab your preferred note-taking method (or the PDF attached to this lecture) and let's get started!
List everything that comes to mind (including next actions), personally and professionally.
Good luck!
Your single system holds all tasks and projects for prioritization, updates, and daily to-do determination. This lecture outlines the key elements for a functioning system.
Now that you've brainstormed and identified your system components, it's time to build a comprehensive task system.
Use the provided worksheet to find tasks from all your sources besides your brain.
Input everything into your chosen system, aiming for a complete record to avoid missing anything.
There's no such thing as a system that doesn't require maintenance, but in this lecture, I'll show you how to maintain your system with minimal overhead and maximal results.
Don't forget to download the attached PDFs to help you along the way.
Let's review what you've learned in Section 4.
Congratulations! You've built a system to capture all your tasks, freeing your mind from the burden of remembering everything. Now, it's time to tackle prioritization. In this lecture, you'll learn how having everything in one place empowers effective prioritization, allowing you to see the "forest" and not just the "trees."
We'll also explore strategies for dealing with an overloaded schedule.
This lecture will shed light on the power of seeing ALL your tasks, including the ones you're neglecting. (It's ok, no one can do everything!)
Instead, I'm going to teach you how to prioritize in such a way that you know, every day, that the things you did were more important than the things you didn't do. You're going to learn to feel good about the tradeoffs.
Feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list? This lecture will equip you with two powerful frameworks to help you make clearer prioritization decisions.
It's time to take action! In this lecture, you'll transform your to-do list from a chaotic jumble into a prioritized plan.
So, you've prioritized what you need to do today, but how should you prioritize those tasks within the day? What order should you do them in? And how should you handle unfinished tasks? In this lecture, you'll find out.
Didn't conquer your entire to-do list? Don't sweat it! This lecture tackles the inevitable: managing uncompleted tasks.
Learn how to:
- Embrace the "living system": Recognize that your task list should adapt to your reality, not the other way around.
- Banish the "overdue" label: Reprioritize uncompleted tasks for the future, eliminating the anxiety and stress of unrealistic expectations.
Remember, the only time you can do something is in the future!
Does it sometimes feel like "What's the point of planning when urgent stuff comes up all the time, obliterating my plan?"
This lecture equips you with strategies to effectively handle urgent requests and perceived emergencies.
Let's review what you've learned in Section 5.
Discover the power of planning in this lecture! Learn how planning:
- Saves you time
- Boosts efficiency
- Reduces stress
If you're constantly pushing off planning because you have "real work" to do, then this lecture might just change your mind. Conquer your workload by shifting your perspective on planning; planning is how you shift from reactive to proactive.
Ditch the morning scramble and discover the power of end-of-day planning! This lecture empowers you with a game-changing, low-effort, high ROI approach to daily planning. Bonus: planning today, for tomorrow, will allow you to disconnect and actually enjoy your evenings!
Make end-of-day planning even easier and more effective by incorporating end-of-week planning!
Learn this simple, step-by-step process, to effectively plan your week, achieve better work-life balance, and feel prepared for anything that comes your way!
Take action! Get those planning sessions on the calendar and give it a try.
Remember that "end of day" doesn't have to be the last thing you do; anything in the latter part of the day should work.
Play around with the timing to see what works for you!
Conquer any objective with effective goal planning! Learn a step-by-step process to break down any goal, big or small, into actionable steps.
You've got the skills; now let's apply them! Craft a winning roadmap for your goals! If you've ever heard the quote "A goal without a plan is just a wish" then this lecture is for you.
Download the PDF, and start making your dreams a reality.
Let's review what you've learned in Section 6.
This lecture debunks the myth of multitasking and equips you with a practical alternative: Single tasking!
Distractions come from 3 main sources: technology, other people and your own brain. And studies show that distractions steal about 1/3 of the workday for most people.
Imagine what you could do if you had 1/3 of the workday back under your control?!
In this lecture, you'll learn tons of actionable strategies you can apply right now to reduce distractions and reclaim your time!
Let's put your knowledge into action! In this exercise, you'll:
- Identify your personal distractors: Reflect on your daily work experiences and pinpoint the specific distractions that hinder your focus most.
- Develop a customized plan: Based on your identified distractions, choose or create effective strategies from the provided options to combat them.
- Take action: Commit to implementing your personalized plan within the next week and experience the benefits of improved focus and productivity.
This lecture empowers you with a comprehensive calendar-based strategy to:
- Boost focus and productivity: Allocate dedicated time slots for specific tasks, minimizing distractions and maximizing efficiency.
- Enhance time management: Gain realistic insights into your workload and ensure you prioritize tasks effectively.
- Set healthy boundaries: Schedule time for necessary activities like email, planning, and personal breaks, promoting a healthy work-life balance.
And if you're a bit skeptial of this method, check out the attached resources
Don't let the name of this lecture scare you away! Documentation is essential to unburdening your brain from the mental load. In this lecture, you'll learn how simple documentation can save you hours each week, and free up your brains pace to focus on the task at hand.
Equip yourself with practical strategies to implement breaks and disconnection techniques, maximizing your productivity and well-being in all aspects of life!
Plus, make sure to download the attached PDFS and learn how to prepare for and return from vacation, without having to dig yourself out of a mountain of work when you return.
Not all breaks are created equal! You're unique, so in this exercise, you'll craft your personalized break menu! This interactive activity empowers you to:
- Identify rewarding breaks: Select activities that bring you joy and refreshment, fueling your focus and motivation.
- Boost productivity: Designate intentional breaks that align with your goals and values, preventing time-wasting distractions.
- Take control: Manage your breaks effectively, ensuring they serve as a springboard for renewed productivity instead of a hindrance.
The Pomodoro technique is a timer-based focus technique that can work wonders. And I have some tweaks I'll share in this exercise that'll help you to tailor this technique to your unique needs and schedule.
Let's try it! Download the attached PDF and:
- Identify Pomodoro-worthy tasks
- Schedule focused work sessions
- Boost productivity and focus
Let's review what you've learned in Section 7.
Master peak productivity with two powerful "rules":
- The 2-Minute Rule: Conquer small tasks instantly, freeing up mental space and boosting efficiency.
- The One-Touch Rule: Handle incoming information once, minimizing distractions and streamlining your workflow.
Congratulations! You did it!
This course equipped you with a powerful toolbox of:
- Effective time management strategies to maximize your efficiency and achieve your goals.
- Personalized productivity systems tailored to your unique needs and preferences.
- Actionable techniques to combat common pitfalls and stay focused on what matters most.
Remember, you now have the power to regain control over your time and achieve your goals!
In this lecture, you'll celebrate your progress! Also, make sure to check out the resources attached to this lecture for additional free resources, as well as options to deepen your learning through coaching, or to bring me to your team for a live workshop.
In order to receive CPE credit for this course, you must a) complete all course content, and b) pass this qualified assessment with 70% or greater.
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