so my plan today is to present a series
00:04
of talk about a series of topics with
00:06
you that I think are generally relevant
00:08
to most people and you will hopefully
00:11
find at least one idea here of something
00:13
that you'd either like to try new do
00:15
more of what you're currently doing or
00:18
kind of spiff up something that you're
00:19
currently doing I always do say because
00:23
it's true that every person in this room
00:24
already has a system for keeping track
00:27
and doing things or you wouldn't be
00:29
sitting in this room and and so I can't
00:32
presume to know exactly what you might
00:34
need help with personally but I'm hoping
00:36
that there will be ideas here for
00:37
something at least for everybody and
00:40
I've tried to provide a lot of written
00:42
resources books websites and some
00:46
articles that I wrote that are on my
00:48
website that you can look at later if
00:50
you like that will cover a broader array
00:52
of topics so does that sound okay all
00:56
right so this is I love this saying from
01:01
Bilbo Baggins because it captures so
01:04
well the way most of us many of us feel
01:07
some of the time at least if not a lot
01:09
of the time I feel thin sort of
01:11
stretched like butter scraped over too
01:14
much bread sometimes I'm asked to give
01:18
talks about multi-man in multiple
01:19
priorities and one day I realized every
01:21
single person has multiple priorities
01:23
it's not a special situation that you
01:26
find yourself in given what your job is
01:28
like we all have multiple priorities
01:29
across our life and so the challenge is
01:32
how to handle how to figure out how to
01:34
deal with all of those and do things in
01:36
a way that you would like to be doing
01:38
them so this is the agenda that I've
01:41
selected some ideas about making more
01:45
effective to-do lists a method some
01:50
ideas about managing email more
01:52
efficiently and effectively effectively
01:54
being the operative word some ideas
01:57
about making time for the most important
02:00
work that you need to do that often gets
02:01
drowned out by daily urgencies and
02:04
interruptions and just routine work and
02:06
then a some some ideas about how to plan
02:10
your time over the short run so many of
02:12
us may have a plan for where
02:13
like to be like five years for an hour a
02:15
year for now or what we want to get this
02:17
done this month or this quarter but all
02:19
those do is represent plans that sit
02:21
around unfulfilled if we don't figure
02:23
out how to get the actual work done this
02:25
week and in a day so we're gonna talk a
02:28
little bit about weekly planning and
02:29
daily planning so is that sound okay
02:32
anybody who's not interested in any of
02:34
those topics can leave now
02:37
although you read the objectives right
02:39
so hopefully you did it before you came
02:44
so look let's start o let's start with
02:49
keeping track of your work and of course
02:51
this would be easily able to figure out
02:54
this is talking about how are you going
02:56
to record stuff that you need to do and
02:58
the standard methods would be on some
03:01
kind of a list or on a calendar or
03:03
typically both there's most people have
03:05
a hybrid system where some things go in
03:07
their calendar and some things go on
03:09
lists is there anybody here who doesn't
03:11
use any kind of everybody has to use a
03:14
calendar you're forced by your
03:15
institution to do that
03:17
does anybody here who doesn't use lists
03:19
outside of the calendar okay good you
03:25
all get gold medals no it's actually not
03:27
true you can do it either way but I was
03:28
just curious about that so the
03:32
underlying reason why we need to do this
03:36
it's pretty obvious most of us have too
03:38
many things that to do to try to
03:41
remember them all and so the obvious
03:42
reason why you should record them is
03:44
because otherwise you'll forget do we
03:46
agree that that's the primary reason
03:48
that you want to write things down but
03:51
there's another reason that has to do
03:52
now I said I was going to not say
03:53
anything about any cognitive science
03:55
stuff today because we have at least one
03:57
neurologist in the room are there others
04:00
so I have to be a little oh okay here we
04:03
go
04:03
this is the Gynaecologists
04:05
interpretation of cognitive science so
04:08
I'm free to say whatever I want so it
04:11
turns out that there's evidence that's
04:13
been around for over a century and and
04:15
in modern times some modern research to
04:19
support the idea that when you have
04:20
something in your brain that you need to
04:22
do and haven't done it yet if it stays
04:24
in there long enough undone it starts
04:26
there's
04:27
start to have stress around that so
04:29
Bluma Zeigarnik a young russian
04:32
psychologist in the early 19th century
04:35
with her colleagues actually did the
04:37
original experiments as I understand it
04:39
around this and other people have
04:40
studied it since so you also want to get
04:42
rid of record everything that needs to
04:45
be done not just so you'll remember it
04:46
but so you don't your brain doesn't have
04:48
to hold on to it which leaves you in a
04:50
position to be more focused on what
04:52
you're actually doing so it's a stress
04:54
reliever in that way and another reason
04:56
to make sure that you record everything
04:57
that you need to do that you can't do
04:59
right away of course you can do it right
05:01
away that's fine is because it's the
05:02
only way you can really effectively
05:04
prioritize and plan is if you're looking
05:06
at all the possible options in front of
05:09
you outside of your brain your brain can
05:11
only hold a few acts things in active
05:12
memory and trying to prioritize like 15
05:16
things you just can't do it it's not
05:18
really possible so by writing them down
05:20
you can do effective job of prioritizing
05:22
so there are lots of different reasons
05:23
why it's a good idea to not just have a
05:25
list system but a complete list system
05:27
or everything that you need to do gets
05:30
written down so that's my first
05:32
suggestion to you and oh there's a case
05:35
there's a there's a case report about
05:38
this that will just drive this home
05:40
really easily so here's how the brain
05:43
works of someone not you you understand
05:45
not your brain but someone who is trying
05:48
to remember everything or most things
05:49
their brain is filled up with these
05:51
little memorized tasks and there's
05:55
there's no room left over for thinking
05:57
now I know have those little T's in the
05:59
wrong part of the brain but that's just
06:00
you know at the time what I did it's a
06:03
graphic art it was a graphic artists
06:05
decision
06:06
now there's another brain that we
06:08
couldn't look at this is the case report
06:10
Albert Einstein so Albert Einstein is
06:13
reputed to have said many times that he
06:15
never tried to remember anything he
06:19
didn't know his own phone number
06:20
he said if I want to call myself I'll
06:22
look it up in the phone book just like
06:23
everybody else and so Einstein's brain
06:26
was filled with actual thinking and
06:28
creative work and so forth and not
06:30
focused on holding on to two tasks so
06:35
there you go you can't argue with that
06:39
so let's talk a little bit about lists
06:41
and some things you might think of doing
06:43
if you're not already doing them to make
06:44
them more effective oh I have to show
06:47
you my frog and toad picture so how many
06:49
people know the frog and toad children's
06:51
series is just a wonderful little series
06:53
written back in the I don't know 40s or
06:55
50s it's pretty old and this story was
06:57
about toad and what happened to him when
07:00
his list blew away it was a bad day for
07:02
toad was a bad day for toad and it's a
07:05
bad day for me if I can't access my list
07:07
to figure out what I'm supposed to do so
07:09
that was just a little intro at one time
07:11
but then I realized one day that this is
07:15
actually oh are my annum oh this is
07:19
actually the very first example in
07:21
history of a list stored in the cloud
07:25
all right now there are two key features
07:28
of an effective list system the first
07:30
one I've already suggested you is that
07:32
you have to write things down
07:33
now when I say write down you can
07:34
dictate them you can type them you can
07:37
do whatever you want to get them into
07:38
someplace out of your head that's the
07:39
first thing get it all down get it all
07:41
down get it all down the second but
07:46
that's not enough of course the second
07:49
key thing is you have to look at the
07:51
list regularly I'm looking at everyone
07:55
here because one of the main complaints
07:57
that people tell me about in sessions
07:58
like this about why their lists don't
07:59
work for them is because they don't look
08:02
at them so the solution is to look at
08:07
them this is like if you're if you're
08:11
hitting your toe and it hurts stop
08:14
hitting your toe with a hammer
08:16
so looking at it regularly turns out not
08:18
to be so easy because when you're busy
08:20
the thought of looking at your lists is
08:22
kind of hard to do so in the planning
08:24
section we're gonna talk about a routine
08:25
that you could get into that will help
08:27
you to stay on track with looking
08:29
actually looking at your lists now
08:32
another suggestion would be if you're
08:34
not already doing this is to keep what
08:35
I'm calling here a master list it does
08:37
not have to look like this one this is
08:39
just a sample done on a legal pad so a
08:44
lot of people make lists that are
08:46
timeframe anchored lists so they make a
08:51
list for the day
08:52
or their lists for the week or they make
08:55
a list for the month and these lists all
08:57
have to especially the monthly ones have
08:59
to be sort of rewritten or completely
09:01
redone at the end of the month what I'm
09:03
suggesting here is that you have one
09:05
list one place where everything that you
09:07
think of that you intend to do goes as a
09:10
master database of all the possible
09:12
things you could be choosing from and
09:14
then you take that and turn that into a
09:17
shorter term list for a few weeks or
09:20
however you'd like to do whatever
09:21
timeframe you want and then that's where
09:23
you can and from that you can come up
09:26
with a weekly list and then a daily list
09:27
so that you keep everything there's
09:29
nothing that you're trying to remember
09:31
and then make your shorter term list
09:33
using this as a database
09:34
does anybody here do this and you find
09:38
that helpful how is you know both of
09:40
your eating that's kind of rude of me to
09:42
ask you to can you talk anyway yeah okay
09:45
oh I'll throw them all in there what's
09:56
the app - so it's Microsoft program
10:03
that's right so Microsoft yet makes an
10:05
app now that was eventually gonna be
10:07
completely integrated into Outlook so
10:09
the idea she has is she has this app
10:11
where she just throws the tasks into the
10:14
thing called the task list and then you
10:15
can also make other lists in that
10:17
program there are lots of third-party
10:19
apps that will do that so that's one way
10:21
to have it with you at all times
10:23
great idea anybody else want to say
10:26
anything about their master list or how
10:29
it's helpful yeah
10:37
so the problem with with her list is
10:39
that she can't access it everywhere and
10:41
so that's another key improvement that
10:45
you can make if your list is in a place
10:47
where you can't access it is to somehow
10:50
convert it into a form that you can have
10:52
with you so there are lots of different
10:54
ways to do that if it's a document you
10:56
could take a picture of it if you really
10:58
don't want to go away from paper and the
11:00
paper is someplace where you can't do it
11:02
you could go to a synchronized an app
11:03
that synchronizes you could go to a
11:06
something that's bound or a notebook
11:09
that you always carry with you at all
11:10
times so there are lots of different
11:12
options for making your list accessible
11:14
key element
11:21
that's right so a lot of the apps that
11:24
are available including the the the new
11:27
Microsoft to-do app which is actually
11:30
the old Wunderlist app which has been
11:31
around for a really long time and they
11:34
they Microsoft bought up the entire
11:36
operation so the people that developed
11:38
wunderlist are now working for Microsoft
11:40
continuing to work on that product so
11:42
it's the same product with some
11:44
modifications that synchronizes across
11:46
any device the reminders program on the
11:50
iPhone will synchronize to the task list
11:54
and Microsoft I don't think there's a
11:57
web version of reminders so that's a
12:00
little limited but at least it's on your
12:01
phone which you have with you most of
12:03
the time workflow there are prop there
12:07
are dozens of of apps and workflowy is
12:11
one of them I think I think I have a
12:13
slide here that has some suggestions but
12:16
has a link you can go to if you're
12:17
interested in trying an app to look at
12:19
what the current ones are that are
12:21
around for a while and our solid so
12:25
that's the master list idea it's the way
12:27
to become completely stress-free around
12:29
not worrying about forgetting things the
12:34
second idea is something that actually
12:36
turns out to be harder to do than it
12:38
sounds and that is to have a single
12:40
calendar in your life that has all of
12:43
your time commitments on it now the
12:46
reason this becomes complicated is some
12:47
of you at work may have multiple I don't
12:50
know is that happen here with multiple
12:51
calendars that you can't necessarily
12:53
synchronize or you have family calendars
12:56
that you need to take into account so
12:58
I'm just going to stop right there and
13:00
say there's no simple solution to this
13:02
in the worst case scenario you'd have to
13:05
go with the paper calendar and write
13:07
things down but ideally you'll find one
13:09
of your calendars that you can maybe
13:11
synchronize on your phone that turns out
13:13
to be the simplest way if it's a Google
13:15
Calendar like I'm right now have a
13:16
Google Calendar and I have two Microsoft
13:19
account calendars and I can see them all
13:21
on my phone and overlap them so that may
13:26
be your solution so here I'm just
13:27
setting out a goal for you which is to
13:29
figure out how to have a place where all
13:31
your time commitments are
13:34
located so that you don't over schedule
13:37
double scheduled have things
13:39
back-to-back that can't work out that
13:41
way everybody gets the idea about why
13:42
that's a good idea
13:45
now there's another kind of stuff that
13:49
comes into our head that looks like work
13:51
but really isn't and those are ideas
13:53
that you have about things you might
13:54
want to do at some later time you're not
13:57
committed to them or you are but you're
13:59
not gonna be doing them for quite a
14:00
while if you put those kinds of ideas on
14:03
your regular to-do list that you're
14:05
working off of it dilutes the list and
14:08
confuses your brain why are we looking
14:10
at all these things that we're not
14:11
actually working on so the better
14:14
practice is to pull all those items out
14:16
and put them someplace else for
14:18
safekeeping so you accomplish your
14:20
purpose of not carrying around ideas in
14:22
your head but your to-do lists are
14:24
actually confined to things that are
14:26
actually going to do at least as as as
14:30
you're thinking about it right now so so
14:32
this demonstrates conceptually how you
14:35
would do that you'd have your one place
14:37
where you however your list system looks
14:39
like whatever you do and then you have
14:43
some place where you keep ideas what I'm
14:44
just gonna call ideas for later
14:46
does anybody here follow the David Allen
14:48
getting things done program this would
14:50
be the some day maybe list if that
14:52
wasn't obvious to you it probably was
14:54
there are a couple different ways that
14:56
you can place this where you could think
14:57
about doing this which must not have
15:00
ended up on that slide so the first
15:03
place would just be a list or a folder
15:05
or a shoebox or a set of post-it notes
15:07
all stuck together in one place any
15:09
place where you can just download these
15:10
ideas and keep them for safekeeping it
15:12
doesn't really matter how you do that
15:14
the other idea is that if this is
15:16
something that you'd like to bring back
15:18
into your life at a particular time in
15:20
the future you can just make a note on
15:22
your calendar so say for example UVA
15:25
promised all of its employees and
15:27
expense free trip to Maui a year and a
15:30
half from now you're gonna flood the
15:32
island everybody's gonna be there but
15:35
you don't know if you can go because
15:37
your cousin's son may get married that
15:40
week so you can't really make a
15:43
commitment right now to going on that
15:44
trip so what should you do well you
15:46
should figure out when do I have to
15:47
commit
15:47
the Maui trip and how in and at that
15:50
point put it on the calendar and then
15:54
confirm with your sister your cousin
15:56
there either is or isn't gonna be a
15:57
wedding
15:58
and if they don't know you're golden
16:00
because you've already committed to
16:02
something if they haven't so you just
16:04
make a note and or it's a let's say a
16:07
great a what could it be a grant that
16:16
you'd like to submit to an agency or
16:19
foundation that doesn't have a time
16:21
limit right now you know they take that
16:23
kind of work and you'd like to think
16:24
about a grant so you can't do it right
16:27
now and just throw it on your calendar
16:28
when you think the first time is you'd
16:30
like to pull that back into your life
16:31
does that make sense so you can use it
16:33
both for personal and professional does
16:36
anybody here do an ideas for later kind
16:38
of set up and did you find that helpful
16:42
you do yeah so see we have to at least
16:45
three spontaneous testimonials for this
16:47
idea also
16:48
so anybody questions about how that
16:51
works now some point at some point when
16:53
I'm talking about all these different
16:54
things people sometimes people's eyes
16:56
start to glaze over because I'm having
16:58
hard enough time with just one list
17:00
that's okay don't worry about it if you
17:03
want to just have a simple flat list to
17:05
start with to get used to the idea of
17:07
writing everything down just do that and
17:09
then as you get used to that you'll
17:11
begin to see ways that you could break
17:13
it out into different into different
17:15
places if if it would be more useful to
17:18
do that but just start with a plain flat
17:20
list and write everything down that's
17:22
how I got started 20 years ago I had a
17:24
legal pad it was not pre-computer in
17:26
those days but it was you know not
17:28
really apps so I just had a legal pad
17:31
every time something came up that I had
17:33
to do I wrote it down on the legal pad I
17:36
crossed things out when I finished them
17:38
when I got to the bottom of a page and
17:40
thought of more things I just go to the
17:42
next page and keep writing if a page got
17:44
mostly crossed off I'd tear it off and
17:46
rewrite the undone things at the end of
17:47
the list I did that for a couple of
17:49
years and it honestly changed my life I
17:52
was not stressed anymore about things
17:54
and there it all was now as my work got
17:56
more complex and I started learning more
17:58
I developed a slightly different system
18:00
that is
18:00
maybe a bit more allows planning a
18:03
little bit better but that flat list is
18:05
is can work really well for a lot of
18:08
people now there's another reason that
18:12
wrist lists can cause problems that is
18:14
there are things on them that you just
18:15
seem to never do has anybody ever
18:17
noticed that that the thing that items
18:19
just sit there like lumps and you're not
18:22
doing them so they're a couple lots of
18:23
different reasons probably why that
18:24
happens but here are two of them so the
18:28
first one is that the item on the list
18:29
is too vague it says you've written down
18:35
bus ticket what what what would we do
18:41
with that item those of us who are
18:42
looking at this list what do you suppose
18:44
that means does it mean buy a bus ticket
18:48
cancel a bus ticket we don't really know
18:52
now you might say well who cares if I
18:55
wrote that on my list I would probably
18:57
know and that's true when you first
18:59
write it down but then as time passes
19:03
you may actually forget completely what
19:06
that was about and then you have to stop
19:08
and think what was this about a bus
19:10
ticket and then you'll remember so
19:12
you've now wasted a lot of time another
19:14
example would be call Mary so when you
19:18
wrote it down you knew what what you
19:19
were gonna do the next week you remember
19:24
to you you you remember whom areas but
19:28
you can't remember why you were calling
19:29
her and then six weeks later you can't
19:32
remember whom it which Mary it is so
19:34
putting a more detail into the item will
19:36
always make your life easier and here's
19:40
an example of the bus ticket so this is
19:42
the way I would write this article this
19:44
task by a Trailways bus ticket online
19:47
for Jane my daughter I know that it's my
19:50
daughter for Thanksgiving trip home from
19:52
college November 20th to the 25th so
19:55
almost all of my task items look
19:57
something like this I might abbreviate
20:00
some words but I write them out in a
20:02
fair amount of detail
20:04
does anybody here do that and
20:11
uh does anybody think I would be writing
20:14
all day long if I had to write down this
20:16
one sheet job me does that occurred you
20:18
that this seems like maybe excessive so
20:21
here are the reasons why it's not
20:22
excessive and it actually doesn't take
20:24
that long
20:25
it only takes the only time it takes a
20:28
long time is if in fact you don't know
20:31
exactly what you're gonna do so
20:33
sometimes you'll write down something
20:34
kind of cryptic like by a Trailways bus
20:38
ticket which you've never done before
20:40
and you actually don't know how to buy
20:42
the tickets and you haven't talked to
20:44
your daughter yet about when she's
20:45
coming home so when you write down bus
20:47
ticket or by bus ticket even if you know
20:49
what the end product is if you haven't
20:53
figured out how you're gonna do it
20:54
you're gonna avoid that item potentially
20:57
because it's kind of vague and you
20:59
haven't ever done it before so by
21:01
forcing yourself to put down enough
21:02
information in the item that you can
21:05
execute it off of the item itself and
21:07
not have to go elsewhere for information
21:09
the more likely you are to do the thing
21:10
in a timely way that for me works almost
21:14
every time this is a major anti
21:16
procrastination tool that I've been
21:18
using for a long time so I discovered
21:21
things I don't really know how to do and
21:23
then I know the next thing I have to do
21:24
is figure out how to do them so that
21:26
what's what goes on my list and when I
21:28
look at an item I can just do it I don't
21:30
have to rethink it or look stuff up so
21:33
think about converting your items into
21:35
more detail one clever person accurately
21:38
described this method as delegating
21:41
tasks to your future self and if you
21:44
were doing that right you would always
21:46
give this much information and so unless
21:49
you're gonna do it tomorrow even then
21:51
it's better just to get it out of your
21:52
system sometimes when I write these I
21:54
think oh my goodness I could do that
21:55
right now and then off I go sometimes it
21:57
just leads to very quickly doing them
22:00
now the other problem and maybe a bigger
22:03
one for a lot of people is that they
22:05
just write down the code word grant book
22:09
plan party one guy that I worked in a
22:13
small group I had on at the Iowa campus
22:15
it said promotion and I said well
22:19
alright let's talk about that one so
22:20
what it what what what kind of a task is
22:23
this he said well hmm
22:24
I think I'm supposed to be promoted this
22:27
year but other than that I don't really
22:28
know so how long you know what was how
22:31
long was he gonna look at this before
22:32
figuring out that that in fact this
22:34
isn't a task at all these are our
22:37
outcomes of a series of tasks outcomes
22:41
of a series of tasks so it's some kind
22:42
of deliverable that you're trying to
22:44
produce you're trying to get ready for
22:46
promotion you're trying to plan a party
22:47
you're trying to plan a trip you're
22:48
trying to write a grant you're trying to
22:51
buy a new refrigerator it could be
22:52
anything that's kind of a big outcome
22:54
that has a lot of things steps or
22:57
actions or tasks that you're going to
22:59
need to do so on your task list what you
23:01
would want to do is for that for that
23:04
project is to make the is write down an
23:06
actual task something that's doable that
23:09
one in a given timeframe draft the aim
23:14
for K or even better schedule 30 minutes
23:18
spend 30 minutes drafting aim one that
23:21
would even be better because it would be
23:22
time limited and you could visualize
23:24
what it is you're going to be working on
23:25
now some people their work really
23:28
depends almost exclusively on projects
23:31
and so their task lists may not have the
23:35
the projects listed on it but it'll just
23:38
have the tasks but they keep track of
23:40
their projects in their head and when
23:43
you say well tell me about all your
23:44
projects where it show me your list well
23:46
they don't have a list I would say this
23:48
happens 75% of the time when I ask
23:51
faculty about their project work and I
23:54
bet for those of you who aren't faculty
23:56
the same thing is probably true maybe
23:58
for home stuff or other things you're
23:59
doing in your job at work so the idea
24:02
here would be to keep a separate list of
24:04
projects because these represent the big
24:07
pieces that you're trying to get done
24:08
that often are the most important things
24:11
that you'll be doing in terms of
24:13
advancing your career or providing value
24:15
to the institution or elsewhere patience
24:18
or or science and you but you don't keep
24:21
track of them in a very careful way and
24:22
that's one of the reasons why they don't
24:23
get done so this would be just a
24:27
conceptual view of of what these two the
24:31
relationship between the projects and an
24:33
actual to-do list so you keep your list
24:35
of projects
24:38
these of course are sort of faculty like
24:40
projects but you can think of anything
24:42
that would apply to you so you just have
24:44
a list of those and that can be more
24:45
complex but just a simple list actually
24:47
is a good way to start and then when you
24:49
think of what's the next thing I'm gonna
24:51
do for that first project you put it on
24:53
your task list what's the next thing I'm
24:55
gonna do here I put it on my task list
24:57
and then it has all your other
24:59
standalone tasks call the dentist to get
25:01
a your teeth cleaned
25:03
but whatever the usual things that are
25:05
on your to-do list so this concept makes
25:07
sense now there are different ways to
25:09
organize this so we're not going to this
25:11
talk isn't about to-do lists although
25:13
you're kind of fearful that it may be so
25:17
this system that I use is based on is
25:20
David Allen's getting things done system
25:23
there's a nice book that you can read
25:27
about it or go on the web and read about
25:28
the essentials of it if you're
25:30
interested in this but there are many
25:31
other ways there are other systems to
25:33
keep track of these to keep track of
25:35
these two kinds of things because they
25:37
represent the tasks represent actual
25:39
action things you're going to do and the
25:41
projects represent outcomes you're
25:43
trying to achieve that need to be
25:45
prioritized and planned for so there are
25:49
different types of things that does that
25:52
make sense yeah
26:10
that is a really great question people
26:13
often misinterpret this method as
26:15
requiring that you think of every single
26:17
little thing you need to do that's
26:18
completely wrong so you should think of
26:21
for a big project like the pieces of it
26:23
like I've got to do get my collaborators
26:25
straightened out I need a budget you
26:27
know the usual list of steps or
26:29
milestones or pieces when put together
26:31
that lead to the project but that's all
26:34
you have to do at the beginning and then
26:35
your only job then is to think which of
26:38
these do I want to work on first and
26:39
what's the next thing I have to do for
26:41
that yet period so just you only need
26:43
one to make this system work and then
26:46
when you're done with that what do you
26:47
think you do for a project I did the
26:52
first one what do I do now what's that
26:56
well you make a new thing no you figure
26:58
out now that I've done this what do I do
26:59
next so you may you sequentially think
27:01
of tasks as you need to at the task
27:03
level yeah it's a really good question
27:06
anything else so you can if you don't
27:10
interested in doing this method the idea
27:13
that we're talking about if keeping a
27:14
project list that might be separate from
27:16
your task list so that you keep an eye
27:18
on these bigger things a lot of you do
27:20
it in some way like maybe something on a
27:21
whiteboard or you know you know the
27:24
things you have to do so if you're not
27:27
doing that think about whether that
27:30
would be helpful to you okay we're
27:36
finally done with lists so I'll breathe
27:38
a sigh of relief I will say though that
27:41
having a having an effective place to
27:44
write things down for me was the thing
27:47
that really allowed me to have the
27:49
mental space to be able to do other
27:51
things because I wasn't so busy worrying
27:54
about what I had to do it reduced the my
27:56
overwhelmed feeling pretty dramatically
27:58
and now I could go on and do do other
28:00
things so now we're gonna talk about
28:02
email is there anybody here who doesn't
28:05
really have any issues with email and
28:07
would like to be like to be excused for
28:09
a few minutes I mean I'm not saying
28:11
there isn't anybody
28:11
like that but this is really if you if
28:14
you look at the sort of business
28:15
literature now this is like the bane the
28:20
bane of everybody's existence it's not
28:22
just in academic medical centers this is
28:24
everywhere there was a recent study that
28:26
I saw just a snippet about saying that
28:28
in some business they had actually had
28:30
some way of actually counting how many
28:32
times people looked at their email
28:33
during the day what do you think the
28:35
average number of times the workers in
28:38
that business big business looked at
28:41
their email eighty four eighty four
28:45
eighty four times can we all agree
28:50
that's not a good thing it completely
28:54
when you're looking at your emailed that
28:56
often you you are clearly distracting
28:58
yourself you're being distracted from
29:00
things that you should be focusing on
29:02
instead so it's a major cause of
29:06
distraction and loss of focus lots of
29:11
focus okay so the concepts we're going
29:16
to talk about here apply to any kind of
29:18
routine work that you have that comes
29:19
regularly and some of you may have
29:21
certain kinds of paperwork either actual
29:23
paper or workflow type things on that
29:26
you're responsible for keeping up you
29:28
may have other kinds of like clinic like
29:30
discharge summary there are all kinds of
29:32
things that people do routinely in their
29:33
job that followed this same dynamic now
29:37
hmm when I was in ninth grade I had to
29:42
take a course I required one semester
29:43
course in which we looked at different
29:45
kinds of career opportunities and took
29:48
it in interest inventories I don't know
29:50
if they still do that in school or not
29:52
and so in the G section I found a couple
29:55
things that looked interesting to me one
29:57
was graphic artist and the other was
29:59
gynecologist and when I show you this
30:01
slide you'll understand that
30:02
gynecologist was a much better choice
30:04
for me so I spent a lot of time by the
30:09
way making these little these little
30:11
circles and then grouping them and
30:13
copying and it's a very expert job at
30:16
creating that so I spared you the
30:18
playing it's out day by day and just
30:20
show you what happens after four days if
30:23
you think about for a minute if your
30:24
email comes
30:25
and you don't look at any of it do
30:27
anything with what comes in today what
30:29
happens to it the next day
30:31
does it go ahead has it gone away like
30:35
vanishing ink no it's that snapchat that
30:38
would be a great idea a snapchat like
30:41
email if you don't get to it in ten
30:44
hours it just disappears I never thought
30:47
about that
30:50
so no of course it just adds in and and
30:53
so and so nobody really does this is
30:56
anybody here ever I mean consistently no
30:58
you know a day after day not to any
31:00
email but what would happen if you did
31:02
all but one email what would your email
31:05
inbox look like after a year it would
31:08
have hundreds and hundreds of messages
31:10
and it wouldn't it well at least have
31:12
365 messages in it and so it doesn't
31:18
take very missing very many per day to
31:20
add up over a fairly short period of
31:22
time to a big backlog of things that you
31:24
haven't really dealt with so this is not
31:27
a good deal and it leaves you after a
31:28
while feeling like a lot of people do
31:30
just kind of overwhelmed an email or
31:32
whatever that task is that you have this
31:34
like email maybe the electronic medical
31:37
record may he shares some
31:39
characteristics of this phenomenon so
31:43
the only Kenai
31:45
I would be able to think of if I was
31:47
just looking at this well what would the
31:49
only solution be what would the
31:52
solutions be you could what what's that
31:56
you could just yet you could you could
31:58
be your own snapchat and just delete
32:00
everything periodically you could do
32:03
that I'm not suggesting that if you had
32:07
someone to delegate to there are some
32:09
people who do have someone they could
32:10
delegate most of their e-mail to but
32:12
thats not most of the people in this
32:13
room right you don't have that assistant
32:16
who can you know is just for you and can
32:19
help you with your email so people in
32:21
positions that have those assistants
32:23
actually do use them but you don't most
32:25
of you don't have that option so the
32:29
only option really is to look at them
32:30
and figure out what you're going to do
32:32
and and do it so let's talk about a
32:34
method to do that this method I'm going
32:38
to talk to you about inbox
32:39
incorporates some important standard
32:42
strategies for routine work and the
32:44
first one is that may not seem obvious
32:47
to you at first is the avoidance of
32:51
trying to do two tasks simultaneously
32:53
it's of course by now everyone
32:55
recognizes that you can't truly do
32:57
anything simultaneously you're always
32:59
rapidly flipping back and forth in
33:01
milliseconds between between two so
33:03
texting and driving but uh so when
33:08
you're trying to simultaneously do two
33:09
things it is not possible and it erodes
33:14
your performance on each task and the
33:16
studies that have been done with PET
33:18
scanning and functional MRI and exciting
33:20
things like that
33:21
by fifty percent at least so your your
33:24
performance degrades so here's my
33:27
recommendation when you're doing email
33:30
do email if you're doing email focus on
33:34
the email as if it's actually part of
33:36
your job which it is it's actual work
33:40
focus on it now this means that now
33:44
maybe you've never heard of this
33:45
practice of when you're on a conference
33:48
call ah I caught some of you there doing
33:54
your email while you're participating in
33:56
a conference call now if it's a
33:57
conference call you don't have to
33:58
participate in and yours being forced to
33:59
do it even though you don't need to be
34:01
on it you want to ignore it that's fine
34:02
but otherwise you'll find yourself in a
34:05
situation that's happened to me many
34:06
times I'm going along and some suddenly
34:09
I hear Susan Susan what do you think
34:13
about that this happens on my Swan
34:14
because we meet we're dispersed so all
34:17
of our meetings are by or by conference
34:19
call and I'll say oh oh you know I had
34:21
to step out for a minute to request
34:24
lying I have to lie to get out of it so
34:26
you know what I mean so when you do that
34:28
in a meeting or on a conference call or
34:30
I actually did see at at breakfast the
34:33
other day when in an airport these four
34:36
guys sitting at a table three of them
34:38
were on their computers typing and the
34:40
other guy was just talking to them it
34:43
was the most bizarre thing I've ever
34:44
seen they all look down like this and he
34:46
was just chatting about his life and
34:48
personal things when you're doing your
34:52
email treat it like work get focused on
34:55
it it will go much faster if you do that
34:57
and you won't make as many mistakes like
34:59
sending things to the wrong person or
35:01
saying things that you regret later and
35:02
so forth treat email like work okay the
35:06
second is to to when it's when it's
35:09
possible don't do and you know this
35:11
already don't do emails as they pop up
35:12
during the day do them in batches now
35:16
some people have a job where they have
35:17
to see them as they come in and so if
35:19
that's your job don't follow this rule
35:21
but those of you for whom monitoring
35:24
email on a constant basis it's not part
35:26
of your job
35:27
let's not have it not monitor turn the
35:30
notifications off so that you don't know
35:32
that new emails have come in and then
35:34
figure out what how much time has to
35:36
elapse before you feel as if you have to
35:40
look at your email to see what's come in
35:41
so what I mean by that is some people
35:43
worry that or know that they get a lot
35:46
of urgent requests from a boss or a
35:48
colleague and if they don't check every
35:50
45 minutes they're gonna be in trouble
35:53
if that's true for you and there's no
35:55
way to change it then you just have to
35:57
do that but don't think of the email
35:59
while leading up to that 45 minute mark
36:02
obviously 45 minutes is not ideal I'd
36:04
rather have it be at least two hours
36:05
some people can get by with two or three
36:08
times a day try to make it as as the
36:14
batches be as far apart as you can
36:17
possibly make them does that make sense
36:19
to do just do most people do their email
36:22
that way how many people do it as it
36:25
comes in because not because they have
36:26
to just because they are completely
36:29
addicted to it and can't I know what you
36:32
mean it's it's very addictive alright so
36:35
see if you can create some batches even
36:37
if you do some of your stuff when it
36:39
pops up if you could move most of your
36:41
email work to a batch it's one of the
36:44
things about doing it in a batch as you
36:45
minimize context switching which is when
36:48
you're doing one thing and then you go
36:49
to another thing there's a mental switch
36:51
that you have to take so in an email
36:53
you're typically in the same sort of
36:55
mental frame and so there's less context
36:57
switching and it'll go faster than if
36:59
you're jumping around between dissimilar
37:01
kinds of tasks
37:05
now all of us would would it would be
37:13
helpful for us to think about in our job
37:14
or there are certain kinds of things
37:16
that we do regularly that are kind of
37:18
processes and it would be better if we
37:21
would write down the process instead of
37:23
trying to remember it every time
37:24
especially if it's something you don't
37:25
do very often this idea of making
37:27
checklists or process list because sort
37:30
of is in the popular culture now ever
37:32
since that book by is it a tool go on D
37:34
wrote book that got a lot of play a few
37:37
years ago where he talked about using
37:38
them in medicine so if they're so just
37:41
as a general thing to do look at your
37:43
job and see if there are things that you
37:44
do that where you're always wondering
37:46
when you sit down to do it now how did I
37:48
do that last time make a checklist if
37:50
you did so that's the general rule the
37:52
other thing though is about using
37:53
standard processes to do things so when
37:55
you do something that you do regularly
37:57
try to come up with a process that is as
37:59
efficient as possible and then stick
38:01
with that don't wing it every time and
38:03
do it a different way and it'll be
38:05
easier for you if you at least initially
38:07
write those down so that you can learn
38:10
so you learn them and they become
38:11
habitual the way in which this applies
38:13
to email is I'm going to suggest that
38:15
you have a process a standard process
38:17
for processing email rather than just
38:20
diving in and doing whatever you like
38:22
I'm going to show you my process so
38:23
you'll get a sense of what that looks
38:25
like and then the final one is the
38:26
two-minute rule which is this is David
38:30
Allen's expression of the the standard
38:35
advice and time from time management
38:37
experts that if something could be done
38:38
right away just go ahead and do it don't
38:41
bother to write it down and put it off
38:43
if you can do it right away and you're
38:44
not in the middle of something else just
38:46
get it done
38:48
Alan has condensed this into what he
38:50
called in to putting kind of a two
38:51
minute limit on that that's just it's
38:54
not a metaphor but that's just a
38:56
guideline now the way this and you can
38:59
apply this across all of your work some
39:01
of you do it naturally and others of you
39:02
like me it took me a while to learn how
39:05
to do this where it applies to email is
39:07
that there are a lot of emails that come
39:09
in to you during the day that you could
39:11
in fact take care of very quickly if you
39:13
just took the time to do it where we get
39:15
caught up sometimes an email
39:17
we think well this isn't all that
39:18
important I could do this later even
39:19
though it's a quick response and of
39:22
course the problem is if you have a
39:23
whole bunch of those little things
39:25
piling up that's when you get into that
39:28
overwhelmed with all the things you've
39:30
you've not done so the better idea is if
39:35
you have the time go ahead and just
39:37
respond to as many things as possible
39:38
right on the spot so now what it's okay
39:44
okay so now what we're gonna boy this
39:47
I'm this is a wild slide changer I think
39:52
I won't touch it here so the method I'm
39:56
going to describe to you is called inbox
39:57
zero some people call it zero Inbox
40:00
it's been around for a while more than
40:04
10 years 15 years probably the if you
40:08
follow this method exactly the way it
40:10
was just as described originally at the
40:13
end of the day you have an empty inbox
40:14
and here's what that looks like an inbox
40:17
with no now you don't have to use that
40:21
as your metric there are people who
40:25
prefer to keep all their messages in
40:26
their inbox after they've finished with
40:29
them believing even though it's not
40:32
really true that it'll be easier to find
40:33
them later
40:33
since search works everywhere it isn't
40:36
really true but some people just have
40:37
done that and it works fine for them
40:39
they don't put anything off I say go for
40:42
it if that's if that's what you do for
40:43
but for me and most of us it feels
40:46
cluttery to look at an inbox that has a
40:48
lot of stuff in it and you have to be
40:49
just religious about making sure
40:50
everything that's there has been taken
40:52
care of except for the unread stuff and
40:55
that I could never do that
40:56
so so this method takes care of that
40:59
latter problem there are three ways you
41:01
could get to this we've already talked
41:03
about the deleting everything at the end
41:05
of the day and I think we've all agreed
41:06
that we're not going to do that right I
41:09
don't want to be responsible for anyone
41:11
losing their jobs so please promise me
41:13
you won't do that
41:13
the second way we could do it is to have
41:15
a series of folders related to projects
41:17
and people and when an email comes in
41:19
about that project or with that person's
41:21
name on it we just move the email over
41:23
to the folder and say to ourselves I'll
41:25
get back to that later that's not what
41:29
this means either
41:30
that's the one you can't do so the the
41:37
method is really a simple one
41:39
conceptually it would be like if you
41:41
took a big stack of paper mail you would
41:43
just grab the first one off the top open
41:45
it up junk mail throw it away next one
41:47
ooh I got to put that in my file it's
41:48
about taxes this one is a letter I need
41:51
to reply to but I don't have time right
41:52
now I'm gonna put it here and all the
41:54
things that I have to do later are here
41:55
and here are some things that I could do
41:57
right away I'll do them right away
41:58
that's that's all it is you just look at
42:00
every single email to the extent that
42:02
you need to to figure out what you need
42:03
to do and then do it if you can and if
42:07
you don't have time to do the thing that
42:09
needs to be done you segregate it out in
42:10
its own spot a place for undone unrep
42:14
lied to messages that's all the the
42:16
method is it's really not very hard
42:21
there's a lot of anti inbox zero
42:23
sentiment out there though there are
42:25
articles in the Wall Street Journal and
42:27
Forbes and all these bloggers who say
42:30
you should never try to do this it's
42:31
just unrealistic I honestly don't know
42:33
what they're talking about do they mean
42:35
that like two-thirds of your messages
42:37
you just shouldn't even look at them you
42:39
should just let them sit there I I think
42:43
I think there's a misunderstanding about
42:45
the following point I think a lot of
42:47
people interpret this method to mean
42:48
every email has to be completely managed
42:52
and finished and dealt with at on that
42:55
day while you're doing it that there's
42:57
no deferring things and that's
42:59
completely wrong of course if you had to
43:01
do everything at the spot you get a
43:03
invitation to write a chapter well I'd
43:07
better do that right now because
43:08
otherwise I won't have an inbox zero at
43:09
the end of the day no of course not so
43:12
so so I think if you if you understand
43:15
that that's not the purpose here it's
43:16
the real purpose is to be sure that
43:19
you've seen everything and made a
43:21
decision about what you need to do so
43:24
there are no surprises in there and do
43:27
the ones that you can write in the spot
43:29
cuz a lot of it is quick does that does
43:32
that make it sound more like a something
43:35
to a method to think about maybe I guess
43:38
yes
43:39
I
43:41
Oh so how do they decide can you hold
43:47
that question I'll give you some options
43:49
there are actually several different
43:50
ways that you can do it so I'll show you
43:52
a slide that's got and these slides
43:53
you'll get you all get these slides so
43:56
you'll have that on it that's a really
43:57
important question but let's go through
43:59
the method first and then we'll come to
44:00
that okay so you know what I'm gonna
44:04
just move on from that because that's
44:05
let's let's let's go ahead and talk
44:09
about what to do if you have hundreds of
44:11
messages in your email okay does anybody
44:13
here have more than 86,000 messages in
44:16
their inbox so no one has set a record
44:19
in my personal experience 86,000 was the
44:23
most recent number I heard and I thought
44:24
well you're all in good shape don't you
44:26
think so if you want to try this method
44:30
and feel as if you have so many messages
44:32
in your inbox that it would be you
44:34
wouldn't be able to experience the joys
44:36
of an empty inbox very quickly you can
44:38
do that you can do it by doing a quick
44:41
start method where you where you create
44:48
a new folder called something like inbox
44:50
messages before whatever the today's
44:53
date or maybe yesterday's date and then
44:55
you move your entire inbox in there then
44:58
you take out today or maybe a couple
45:00
days worth and move them back here and
45:02
then your plan from now on is to finish
45:06
up the today and to pop back in here
45:09
when you have time to go in backwards
45:12
order from the most recent to the last
45:14
in the in reverse chronological order to
45:17
find things that you still need to deal
45:18
with do you have to go through all the
45:21
86,000 no do you have to go through all
45:24
700 no because most of those are dead as
45:27
a doornail by now the half-life of an
45:30
email is very short and anything that
45:33
came three weeks ago the odds are good
45:35
it's too late or if it's not an
45:38
important someone will send you a
45:39
reminder so you do not have to go
45:41
through all the messages but you should
45:43
keep them I just tell people to hang on
45:45
to this heading on to this folder
45:47
you know what the laser button is in the
45:51
place where the that's why I keep doing
45:53
that
45:54
I want you to know it's not a sign of
45:57
mild cognitive impairment it's a device
46:00
I haven't used before okay so so this is
46:04
just you can do this if you want to you
46:06
don't have to it's just a way to get
46:07
going quickly okay so here is the
46:13
process I use every single time I look
46:15
at my email I first of all I don't look
46:17
at my email unless I'm prepared to do
46:20
something productive with it if I have
46:23
to look on my email at odd times on my
46:25
phone rather I at least delete
46:28
everything that can be deleted without
46:29
opening it up and anything that looks
46:32
really urgent I might open it and then
46:33
deal with it if it is otherwise I ignore
46:36
everything else because the phone is not
46:38
really the best place to do this you can
46:40
do a lot these days because you can have
46:41
folders but my preference is to do my
46:44
email on a larger device so you have to
46:47
decide whether that's practical for you
46:49
or not and you can do this whole thing
46:50
pretty much on a phone if that's your
46:53
only real choice but don't look into so
46:56
no more checking randomly look for a
46:58
purpose okay so I do two passes so the
47:04
first pass is I go through every message
47:06
in the inbox remember this is just from
47:08
yesterday or two hours ago so it's not
47:11
like tonight 2014 or anything like that
47:13
I go through and I delete everything I
47:17
can delete without opening the message
47:19
so it's based on what this what's on the
47:22
subject line sender or title I just
47:26
delete on the second pass is my work
47:29
round by the way you can do an urgency
47:32
scan when you're doing that also if
47:34
something pops out at you as being
47:35
urgent you can look at it on the second
47:37
pass I start with I start personally
47:40
with the newest one one because I'm
47:42
confident I'll get to the bottom at
47:44
least by the end of the day because I've
47:46
been doing this a long time and the
47:47
numbers aren't so huge but you so you
47:49
could start with the oldest one and work
47:51
up otherwise you may end up with this
47:53
stagnant pool at the bottom that you
47:55
never quite get to and here's how I do
48:00
it I open the top message and I deal
48:03
with it I think I read it as much as I
48:06
need to read figure out what I need to
48:07
do do
48:08
if I can set it aside if I can't and
48:11
then I move right to the next one I do
48:12
not stop and say which email would be
48:15
the next most the best one for me to
48:18
look at you waste enormous amounts of
48:20
time reading and rereading your your
48:24
emails titles when you could just be
48:26
working so once I switched over to ski
48:28
to not skipping and just doing them like
48:30
an assembly line Wow it made it go
48:32
faster I felt a better sense of progress
48:35
I wasn't setting things aside that I was
48:37
trying to avoid was just made yeah added
48:40
to my stress in the moment and so that's
48:43
my standard way to do it now sometimes
48:45
you're in a big hurry you're going off
48:47
to do a liver transplant you won't be
48:49
available for several hours and you have
48:51
to you know you have to pick out the
48:53
ones that are really seem like they're
48:54
urgent but for the most part I'd like
48:56
you to think about trying this method of
48:58
no skipping now the algorithm for what
49:02
you ask yourself about each one is
49:04
pretty simple the first question is
49:07
should this just be deleted now in the
49:09
new version of Microsoft which I think
49:11
I've determined you all have there's a
49:13
new feature called the archive folder
49:15
there's a ribbon in the ribbon and the
49:17
email page there's a little on the on
49:19
the far left side there's a little icon
49:22
that looks like a banker's biotics and I
49:25
think it says archive underneath it and
49:26
then if you look in the list of folders
49:28
in the inbox there'll be a folder that
49:30
says archive this is not archiving it's
49:34
not archiving why they call it archive I
49:36
don't know because it's just confusing
49:37
it's just a folder it's just a folder
49:40
into which if you touch the email and
49:42
press the button it'll go in there or
49:44
you can just drag the message over to
49:47
the archive but it's just a folder to
49:49
put messages that you want to save or
49:51
don't want to delete without putting
49:54
them in some kind of specific topical
49:56
folder the evidence around folder izing
50:00
is that you should minimize how often
50:02
you do that because it's the fastest way
50:05
and in the research that's been done to
50:08
find an email retrieve an email is
50:10
through search now I don't believe that
50:12
that's always true so there are some
50:15
specific things that I like if I have a
50:17
project I make a folder for it all the
50:20
email about that project goes in there
50:22
it's quicker for me to find things if I
50:23
can go right to the project folder but I
50:25
only do it about active work now I don't
50:27
do it about other kinds of things I just
50:29
archive them so you'll have to
50:31
experiment a little bit with that
50:32
and learn how to use the search function
50:34
maybe better than you do right now so
50:37
delete or archive is the first option
50:40
and then there are some that need to be
50:42
filed either in archive or in a special
50:44
folder that you keep do it right do it
50:46
right then so what I find with people
50:48
who are learning this method the one
50:49
thing that they consistently don't do at
50:51
the beginning is delete archive or file
50:54
they just let them sit there and they
50:55
say to me it would take me too long to
51:00
do that and I say it would not take you
51:02
too long to do that so please delete
51:04
file and archive because if it's really
51:07
taking too long to file it means your
51:10
folder system is way too complicated
51:12
right so try to do that at the time and
51:15
then optional reading is not everybody
51:17
may need this but I get a lot of like
51:19
blogs and professional newsletters and
51:22
articles that people have sent me and
51:23
the holiday letter for my uncle in
51:26
California that are not critical to my
51:28
work in any way therein they might they
51:30
would be interesting to look at I'd like
51:32
to look at them I get those if I can't
51:34
look at it right at the time I move it
51:35
into my into my optional reading folder
51:39
and then I can go in there and look at
51:42
stuff you know when I'm bored or want to
51:45
take a break and you might say well that
51:47
get pretty big and I would say it
51:49
doesn't matter because it's optional you
51:50
only put things in it really don't have
51:52
to look at another kind of specialty
51:55
folder like this would be if some of you
51:57
subscribe to a lot of table of contents
51:59
emails does anybody hear you you could
52:01
make you can even create a rule for
52:03
those that will move them right into a
52:04
table of contents folder and then you'll
52:07
you can again go in there when you want
52:08
to be looking at table of contents but
52:10
don't climb up your inbox by having
52:14
those things just sitting there does
52:16
that make sense
52:16
does anybody have any experience with
52:19
that yeah
52:25
yeah related things that I'm worried
52:34
will be relevant in the next week or two
52:36
but also people that will be balanced
52:38
again
52:45
Oh give me this pipe Microsoft you guys
52:58
out looking at what features allows you
53:00
to select in cancer could you I don't
53:09
does anybody know I don't know that well
53:13
yeah now whether this is good advice or
53:17
not I don't know so I would set a time a
53:20
time frame like like I'm gonna what time
53:26
frame would be realistic for the patient
53:28
stuff three months six months and just
53:30
you know periodically go back that far
53:33
you can just put them chronologically
53:34
and then just delete everything that's
53:36
earlier just do it manually yeah yeah
53:39
and just you know how to do it where you
53:40
select the top one press down the shift
53:41
key press the bottom one delete they all
53:44
go away okay press one
54:05
relevant ones into a foot yeah so I
54:08
think that either of those your
54:10
technique actually might feel more
54:11
comfortable to people that they don't
54:13
pick the wrong date or something
54:14
mine is more efficient but you know I'm
54:16
just kidding those are both ideas so
54:19
does that make sense yeah yeah because
54:25
Joy's in the world is to delete emails
54:27
yeah and one of the best things that
54:30
happens around here is I'll start
54:31
getting message that says I'm running
54:32
out of space yes and that's when I go oh
54:35
good that means I can go in in to leave
54:37
emails and so then I'll just go in and
54:38
delete my crazy because it helps me to
54:41
force me it forces me to consider what
54:44
all I've stored or do I really need that
54:47
and and you know usually 95% of it I
54:51
don't really need a month later it can
54:53
all be deleted so so I appreciate your
54:58
what you get out of it and the fact that
55:00
you have to do it to keep your email
55:01
functioning where do you swear are those
55:03
sitting in your inbox they're usually in
55:05
different folders for different projects
55:07
for example okay so that must take a
55:11
little while sometimes I mean I don't do
55:13
it very often have you ever gone to
55:15
searching just on the there's an
55:17
automatic search for just things with
55:18
with attachments you might think about I
55:22
can do that is then you can just
55:24
massively get rid of the huge but if it
55:26
works for you to do it that works for me
55:28
because usually it's by time I just kind
55:30
of say well I don't need this it's been
55:32
right is you know that was three months
55:34
ago just everything from three months
55:35
ago yeah and and I think this makes a
55:37
this actually leads to a really good
55:39
point so thank you for bringing that up
55:40
is that there are some things that so
55:42
people have if you did a better visual
55:44
analog scale about readiness to
55:47
eagerness to delete there would be I
55:50
never delete anything I mean I've had
55:53
people tell me they never delete it they
55:55
have a off inbox place to put things and
55:58
other people I know one guy these are
56:00
the two anchors that person I've only
56:01
met one like that and the other one is a
56:03
guy at my place who told me I think it's
56:06
he deletes every single email that he
56:07
gets he did applies and deletes he
56:10
doesn't keep anything he said if it's
56:12
important somebody else will have it now
56:14
I think that so so I'm saying that there
56:17
are these two ends of the spectrum
56:18
delete a lot and right away and never
56:21
delete everybody is somewhere along that
56:24
continuum I'm more on the delete but not
56:28
to that extreme I'm more quick delete
56:30
and you're more of a later delete and I
56:33
think that those are both reasonable
56:34
positions because the willingness to
56:37
delete depends on your confidence and
56:39
your decision-making and some people are
56:41
you know can can quick decision makers
56:43
about that and other people and neither
56:45
is a wrong decision I'd probably delete
56:47
things that eventually I wish I had kept
56:49
and you probably never do that so it's
56:52
you just have to figure out how much
56:54
time it will take you to defer it versus
56:56
doing it right away and your comfort
56:57
level with deleting so does that make
57:01
sense so you just have to figure out
57:02
where you fit on all of that but don't
57:04
let them sit in your inbox I guess that
57:06
would be my main thing yeah
57:16
no I say that again I miss oh oh okay so
57:26
hang on what's I didn't get to finish my
57:27
slide goodnight so now let's talk about
57:29
the real work of email which is these
57:31
last two categories so there are two
57:33
kinds of emails that you get during the
57:35
majority of them represent emails that
57:38
you're expected to reply to the person
57:40
sending you the message wants you to
57:41
tell them something a decision
57:44
information answer a question do you
57:47
know what I mean I mean there's
57:48
something that you're being asked to do
57:49
and the way you know that you finished
57:51
that work is that you replied to the
57:52
other person and gave them what they
57:53
wanted maybe not the answer they wanted
57:56
but you gave them an answer okay so
57:57
that's what most emails are about but
57:59
there's another bigger a big chunk of
58:02
emails and everybody's going to have a
58:03
different level of these that represent
58:06
new work being given to you like you
58:11
need to fill out your evaluations for
58:13
the students for the last three months
58:15
it's time the person doesn't really care
58:17
to have you reply to them that's
58:19
irrelevant what they want you to do is
58:20
the work right or some new big project
58:24
comes your way with a big outline of it
58:26
and resources and materials about it and
58:31
they say here's your new project go to
58:33
it it's up to you to lead this so for
58:39
the ones where there's a reply we've
58:41
already talked about what to do reply
58:42
right away whenever possible and then
58:44
defer if you can't and we'll look at
58:46
some places in a minute there are some
58:47
messages that you get by the way that
58:49
you should not reply to an email so what
58:52
kind would those be do you think do you
58:54
have any ideas much trouble is caused by
58:59
these emails that you shouldn't be
59:02
sending yeah anytime there's any sense
59:06
of hostility or rudeness or anger it's
59:09
generally not a good idea to respond by
59:11
email even though it's so tempting it's
59:14
so tempting to not have to face that
59:16
person because the problem the problem
59:19
so the reason why you shouldn't try to
59:21
respond an email is because no matter
59:23
what you write no matter how pleasant or
59:27
upbeat
59:28
that messages that you sent it will
59:30
always be interpreted negatively by the
59:32
person receiving it if they're mad at
59:34
you that you're nice email it will make
59:36
not one bit of difference they'll find
59:38
something to complain about it and just
59:40
get matter and I know this from you know
59:43
the proverbial 20 years of seeing emails
59:45
that people have sent that have riled up
59:48
you know the entire department or two
59:50
people I once had to interrupt an
59:52
exchange of emails between a department
59:54
chair and a faculty member they started
59:57
in the morning and they were both
59:58
copying me on the messages and pretty I
60:00
had to call them both and say stop no
60:02
more emails let's figure this out
60:03
another way so that's one situation what
60:05
you do is you would write and say it
60:06
sounds like we should talk or it sounds
60:09
like I should go to HR and report you
60:11
I mean whichever just go don't you don't
60:14
need to reply now so so that's I just
60:18
put that in there because there's a lot
60:19
of trouble in academics caused by these
60:20
kinds of messages so I just don't want
60:22
you to participate in that no when it's
60:25
new work to be done of course is this is
60:27
where you might have an opportunity to
60:28
delegate that would be great but if you
60:30
don't then you're gonna have to do it
60:31
and so some of these are small tasks
60:33
that you can do immediately or you have
60:35
enough time right now to do the
60:36
evaluations you know it'll only take you
60:38
20 minutes you have 20 minutes let's
60:39
just get it out of the way
60:40
straightforward now if it's new work
60:43
that you can't do right now you have to
60:45
get it out you cannot manage that very
60:47
effectively in your inbox but you could
60:50
manage it if you think about it this is
60:51
typically will represent either a big
60:53
task or bordering on or an actual
60:56
project where there's a bunch of stuff
60:58
to be done you could make a folder in
61:01
your in your inbox labelled projects and
61:07
I think I hate to go back okay so here's
61:12
an example of a folder in your in your
61:14
email system it would be in the same at
61:17
the same level as your inbox you know
61:19
what I mean by that
61:20
okay projects you can call it what
61:23
everyone thinks I'm currently working on
61:24
projects active work new work that came
61:27
by email whatever you want to think
61:28
about it and then you just decide what
61:30
you're going to call it and then you
61:31
make a folder for it then that email
61:33
goes in there and that task or project
61:36
goes on to your project system you just
61:40
write in a new project here's what it is
61:42
and then the material the the subsequent
61:45
emails about that project go there so
61:48
you save it in a place where you know
61:49
you'll be able to find it because it's a
61:51
project you're currently working on does
61:53
this make sense so that's the way I
61:55
would handle it I would get it out of
61:57
out of the email inbox and into a folder
61:59
and then my my list system one of the
62:04
reasons you want to do that is because
62:05
sometimes work that comes by email is
62:08
mistakenly interpreted as being urgent
62:10
like other emails feel and a lot of that
62:12
work is not urgent and so you what you
62:15
need to do is think about all this other
62:16
work you have over here and you don't
62:18
you shouldn't preferentially pick the
62:20
email conveyed work when you have other
62:22
things that might be more important or
62:23
urge it here so you want to get it over
62:25
into that system so that you can
62:27
prioritize it properly and do it when
62:29
the time is right not just because it
62:31
came by email does that make sense it
62:33
takes a little while to figure out how
62:35
you're gonna do this but this project
62:37
approach or even if it was just a big
62:41
task like you had six months of Resident
62:43
evaluations you're doing a lot of them
62:45
but it's really just one thing just make
62:47
a folder for it and then put it on your
62:49
list or or you could also if it's
62:52
something you can do in one sitting you
62:53
could drag it onto your calendar and
62:55
create and create a time block and so
62:59
the email will be there with the
63:01
directions right in the calendar and you
63:04
can get it out of your inbox that way
63:09
anything else
63:10
so this okay now we'll have some
63:13
subliminal reinforcement okay where are
63:17
we going to keep our deferred messages
63:19
well before we get to that exciting
63:21
moment the first thing is I want to have
63:24
you change your practice a little bit
63:25
about emails that you defer so in my the
63:28
way I did it in the old days is that I
63:30
would see a message I'd opened it and
63:33
I'd go that's gonna take a while and
63:36
then I'd close it
63:39
and then I might open it up a few days
63:43
later and close it and this could go on
63:44
for weeks sometimes I never really read
63:47
it I never really figured out what I was
63:48
supposed to be doing I just knew it was
63:49
gonna be painful so they would just sit
63:52
there like you know lumps and so I want
63:58
you to before you close an email before
64:02
you make an email referred an email task
64:03
referred I want you to ask yourself two
64:06
questions why is it that I can't do it
64:08
now
64:09
what's preventing me now to do that
64:11
you're gonna have to read the message so
64:13
you know what it is and that forces you
64:15
to know what it is you're faced with
64:16
because sometimes it won't be anything
64:18
like what you thought just from your
64:19
initial scan so and then and sometimes
64:23
it'll be an emotional energetic reason
64:25
I'm tired of this conversation with John
64:28
I'm tired of John I'm just tired and if
64:33
it's any one of those three things then
64:35
the the solution is to say oh I realize
64:37
this is an emotional energetic thing and
64:38
I can just go ahead and do it because I
64:39
know what I should say or you can give
64:41
yourself a break and come back the next
64:42
day I don't really care don't force
64:44
yourself into some you know but but
64:47
recognize what the problem is it's not
64:48
that you don't know how to reply it's
64:50
that you don't want to the so that'll be
64:54
a small number for you I hope and then
64:57
the next question is if it's not that
64:59
what is it that I need to to do to be
65:02
able to reply to this message because
65:04
typically these messages are complex or
65:07
have there's a lot of work you have to
65:08
do before you can reply
65:10
they're like little mini or sometimes
65:12
not so many projects and so here would
65:15
be a simple example you get an email
65:17
from the foundation just to save the
65:20
penguins in Antarctica they want you to
65:23
donate 14 million dollars and you think
65:27
you're thinking about it but there's
65:30
just something about it that feels like
65:31
you can't do it right now so then you
65:33
realize well what do I need to do well
65:35
first I need to look in my account
65:37
probably your retirement counts if if
65:40
it's that much money and then you
65:43
realize that you're the password to that
65:45
account is expired so you have to change
65:48
your password look at the account and
65:50
then you'd better consult with other
65:52
people in your life who
65:53
depending on that money to see whether
65:55
they agree with this and now you have a
65:57
three-step process before you can
65:58
actually reply now that third one might
66:00
compel you to just delete the message
66:03
right away but but you know what I mean
66:04
so there's a little task list that you
66:06
will find and if you do something
66:10
usually with me if I just figure out the
66:11
first thing I'm good to go because I
66:13
realize that I can't just reply it or do
66:15
it I have to do something else first so
66:17
just pay attention to that now when you
66:19
have emails that you think you can't do
66:21
and work toward the idea of figuring out
66:24
how you're gonna do them any questions
66:26
about that right so what are the places
66:32
so there are lots of different things
66:33
you can do with so there are lots of
66:35
different built-in solutions for where
66:38
you can put deferred emails and just
66:41
like with making a list the key is not
66:44
picking the solution it's looking at it
66:46
every day but you have to look at the
66:49
deferred emails every day so that you
66:51
don't ignore them otherwise you end up
66:53
in a situation that I've encountered
66:55
many times where someone will be looking
66:57
at their email and I'll say oh I say you
66:59
use flags what do you use flags for
67:01
these are urgent things that I need to
67:03
attend to
67:04
so then I just click on the flag icon
67:06
and we sort by flag and we find out
67:08
there's 800 of them and my I say your
67:12
definition of urgent must be different
67:14
than mine they just you they forget to
67:17
look at them they don't realize that
67:18
they can sort them out they're not in a
67:19
habit of looking at them all so here are
67:21
the options that I know about now okay
67:25
one would be to make a folder inbox
67:28
emails that require action or something
67:30
like that
67:32
for me this would be like the
67:34
dead-letter office it would be really
67:37
hard for me to train myself to look in
67:38
that folder every day but I know people
67:40
that do it effectively so it's not that
67:43
you can't do it that way you just need
67:45
to be sure that you will train yourself
67:47
to look every single day okay so that's
67:51
one option that's the super simple make
67:53
a folder put things in it look every day
67:57
okay so that's easy a second option
67:59
which many of you are probably not ready
68:03
to take yet but need to might want to
68:05
know about in case
68:06
you want to use it and some of you
68:07
already have a system like this there
68:09
are to-do list apps including I don't
68:12
think that I don't think that
68:16
Microsoft's to do can do this yet they
68:20
can't can they and I don't think
68:21
reminder I don't think does anybody know
68:23
with reminder can you send an email to
68:25
it reminder
68:26
does anybody know there are other
68:29
programs where you can do that where you
68:30
can just forward the email to the app
68:32
and it'll be treated like a list item
68:34
you can do that you use it in the
68:36
outlook task program you can do that the
68:38
the native tasks that they're going to
68:40
be getting rid of you can easily do that
68:42
so if you have an app that allows you to
68:44
forward emails then then you you can you
68:49
can use that method and then again you
68:51
just have to look there every day and
68:53
it'll be incorporated in all of your
68:55
tasks you can prioritize and so forth
68:57
now the other method involves keeping
69:01
those messages in your inbox now I have
69:05
decided that this does not violate the
69:07
inbox zero method because you're putting
69:10
them in a septum ajan having a big space
69:13
here and you've got you've got a big a
69:15
big bucket basket that's this tall in a
69:18
little basket the one you want to have
69:20
empty at the end of the day is the big
69:22
basket where all the new stuff came the
69:24
little basket is where you put the
69:26
things that you're going to come back to
69:27
and so if you can create a little basket
69:29
essentially in your inbox it's okay to
69:31
do that again as long as you look at it
69:34
every day so the options you have for
69:35
that are using a flag which you can do
69:41
in how many people use how many Mac
69:44
Outlook users windows Outlook users this
69:47
will work I think in both of them you
69:49
know they change so often and they're
69:51
not in parallel programs so that the so
69:54
in the outlook newest version of the
69:55
outlook Windows if you have an inbox an
70:00
email in the inbox and you click the
70:02
flag the flag lights up and the message
70:04
turns yellow it's highlighted very cool
70:08
and makes this a much more usable method
70:11
in my in my method I don't know if the
70:14
Mac version does that somebody will have
70:15
to try it it does so using that flag
70:17
with a highlight and then keeping your
70:20
inbox
70:20
permanently sorted by flag so the flag
70:22
stuff is always at the top that way you
70:25
never forget about it and you'll have
70:26
like two groups it'll it'll sort into
70:28
this group in this group and where you
70:30
need to get through are the ones that
70:31
aren't flagged so that's probably these
70:33
days the simplest way to do this the
70:36
other option that you have is in an
70:40
Outlook is to create a category it's the
70:44
other way to designate a an email it's
70:47
like a tag a label and Gmail dude people
70:50
how many people know about labels in
70:52
Gmail it's just a tagging system they
70:56
call them labels so with the category
70:58
designation you create a category you
71:00
can make it whatever color you want you
71:03
can have multiple categories so you
71:05
could keep project related to Jews in
71:08
one spot and other tasks in another spot
71:11
and you just assign the category to the
71:16
message and then sort the email by
71:18
category so it's a lot like flags except
71:21
you could have more than one that would
71:22
be labeled clearly with what was in
71:24
there I kind of think if you're gonna
71:25
try this the flag method would be the
71:27
one I'd recommend and if you're
71:30
interested in the other one give me
71:31
email me and I'll give you more
71:33
information about the categorizing
71:35
method the thing you don't want to do is
71:38
to make two men if you use categories
71:40
people want to go wild and have like 18
71:42
categories for things that need to be
71:44
done it's a disaster you're much better
71:46
off starting with one group to begin one
71:49
basket to begin with and then only
71:51
expand if you need to do something else
71:53
so the idea here is you're going to
71:55
clear out all the unread ones in that
71:58
big batch that have come in today or
72:00
whatever and you're gonna have that
72:02
little group of clearly identified
72:03
messages that sit together or can be
72:05
made to sit together that represent ones
72:07
that you're gonna work on later does
72:09
that make sense okay
72:12
so let's talk a little bit about Project
72:15
Work any other email questions yes let's
72:22
take one yeah right now how do you
72:24
manage after being gone for a week or
72:27
two and you come back to 1,200 emails
72:29
you know the the vacation thing is a
72:31
tough one because people nobody
72:33
nobody a lot of you people do this
72:35
different ways.the the ideal method
72:39
which is hard to get yourself to do
72:42
psychologically is to schedule an extra
72:45
day of vacation come back from your
72:48
vacation a day early and spend that day
72:51
catching up doing email getting prepared
72:53
for what's to come that's one way to do
72:56
it and that is doesn't pull away from
72:59
your work because you're doing it on
73:01
that one day you can put some blocks of
73:06
time in the week after you get back that
73:08
are there for you to go back through the
73:10
old email and get caught up in little
73:14
chunks instead of that extra day of
73:16
vacation what you can't say is I'm just
73:19
going to forget all this right so you've
73:21
got to think out something now I have a
73:23
colleague who spent a lot of time abroad
73:25
working and he had a message that said
73:28
while I am in China for the next six
73:30
months I will not be responding to any
73:32
emails so if you really need to call to
73:34
contact me you should wait and do it
73:36
after I'm back now most of you are not
73:38
in a position to be able to do that he
73:40
was sort of independent least he wasn't
73:42
independently wealthy but he was
73:43
independently an independent scholarly
73:46
wealthy he could kind of do whatever he
73:48
wanted so you can tell people that
73:50
you're not gonna be responding this is
73:52
an approach that people use I'm not
73:53
gonna be responding during this week so
73:55
if you need need me you'll need to write
73:59
me back after I get back it's a little
74:00
you know that might not be appreciated
74:02
by everyone so you have to think about
74:04
who writes to you if you you know if
74:11
with the EMR you can have somebody else
74:13
monitor but I don't know how most of you
74:15
would find someone else to like clear
74:17
out your email for you to get rid of all
74:20
the junk I just think that probably was
74:21
so I think when you get back to
74:23
facilitate the speeding up you should
74:24
organize by sender and then delete big
74:28
chunks with using the shift click shift
74:32
click method and you can get rid of vast
74:35
amounts of deletable items right away to
74:37
speed up that process another one that
74:40
you should use and I actually usually do
74:44
this I actually keep up when I'm on
74:46
vacation now
74:47
the downside of that is I probably don't
74:50
ever completely get away from work but
74:52
I'll be honest because I limit myself to
74:55
first thing in the morning before
74:56
anybody else is up and then I never look
74:58
at it again till the next morning for me
75:00
I can actually separate myself I
75:03
remember when I was in the Provost's
75:05
office as I was I had a new Provost I
75:07
was getting ready to go on a vacation
75:08
for two weeks to Hawaii and I thought
75:10
well this would be great I'm not gonna
75:10
do any email and his secretary came and
75:13
said of course Provost Lu that's kind of
75:16
how I thought of him after this it says
75:17
you need to be available every day for
75:19
I'll make you so that dinged that but
75:22
for me that's worked really well I'm not
75:24
recommending that to any of you I'm just
75:26
telling you that depending on your job
75:28
and how long you're going to be gone you
75:30
might decide that that's a better
75:31
approach than getting hit you know when
75:34
you get back I prefer that you did some
75:36
kind of scheduling time off when you got
75:38
back that would be a better way to do it
75:39
anybody have any other approach that
75:41
they use when I'm on a business trip I
75:46
always keep up yeah I don't the out of
75:48
office function I find to be really
75:50
helpful because you'll see your email
75:52
volume dwindle down over time because
75:56
people realize you're not gonna be
75:57
responding because after all they send
75:59
an email for original you should always
76:00
you should always use out of office yeah
76:02
I'm sorry I just
76:04
that seemed yeah so you should always
76:06
set an out of office message and then
76:08
yeah but it doesn't prevent people from
76:10
writing to you the first time so you've
76:11
got to do some mix any other solutions
76:16
okay I don't like to do my email on my
76:22
vacation but I've just learned that for
76:24
me then when I come back I'm just ready
76:26
to start right in it does not interrupt
76:28
my vacation so I think that's for me
76:30
that works for other people it wouldn't
76:31
okay now we're gonna talk about a little
76:33
bit about finding time to do that
76:35
project work we've talked about those
76:37
big things so here again is another
76:39
example of my graphic artist prowess
76:41
this is a little graph of me sort of
76:44
describing how I and some other people
76:46
approach big work especially if it has a
76:48
deadline where we do maybe do a little
76:51
bit and then we do nothing for a long
76:53
time and then we have a day that's open
76:55
and we think oh good now I can work on
76:56
this project I've got some uninterrupted
76:58
free time
77:00
and then we never have that again or we
77:03
stop and then when the deadline comes
77:05
we're all in for a few days or week
77:08
couple weeks - does this look familiar
77:10
do you know anybody that so what are the
77:15
reasons that people do this why do
77:23
people work this way yeah well I think
77:28
it is true that a lot of people started
77:31
doing that when they were like in middle
77:32
school junior high because they knew
77:35
that they could they always could get it
77:37
done and got AIDS and so why change so
77:40
there's just a habit and you get that
77:42
kind of adrenaline rush at the end that
77:45
I've accomplished something so some of
77:48
it is just habitual you've always done
77:50
it that way what other things might lead
77:53
you to practice yeah so remember we said
77:59
at the beginning everybody has multiple
78:01
priorities and so you have different
78:03
deadlines or different expectations
78:04
different urgencies of things that
78:06
you're working on plus all that routine
78:07
work that's otherwise piling up and
78:09
burying you so you have a lot of things
78:11
to do in here I actually think except
78:13
for those of us who really are
78:14
procrastinators we have an executive
78:16
functioning disorder and it's hard for
78:18
us to stay on track I was so excited
78:23
when I learned that by the way it's not
78:25
a moral caring a character flaw there
78:27
really is something in your brain if
78:29
you're an extreme procrastinator which
78:31
can be overcome so yeah so a lot of
78:35
stuff is going on now there's one other
78:39
big reason that people do this is that
78:41
they say they get their best ideas and
78:43
do their best work if they wait and do
78:45
it under pressure have you ever heard of
78:46
that you know um I don't know this this
78:51
is just a thought experiment on my part
78:53
but I got to thinking I don't actually
78:55
get my best ideas under pressure when
78:57
I'm under pressure it's only if there's
79:00
a deadline that that I might get good
79:03
ideas but other times when I'm under it
79:05
feel like I'm pressured to do something
79:06
I don't actually do my best work so I
79:09
thought well what could be going on here
79:10
for me at least and it turns out that
79:12
the other thing
79:13
things going on simultaneously during
79:16
this time frame you're under pressure to
79:18
meet the deadline and you're also
79:20
intensively engaged with the material
79:23
and it turns out that does does produce
79:27
good ideas when you're intensively
79:29
engaged with the material and so it's
79:31
probably and so it may not be the
79:33
pressure at all it may be the fact that
79:35
the pressure has forced you to become
79:37
intensively engaged and that's why you
79:41
get good ideas now the problem is that
79:44
although most of the time what you what
79:45
you do in this phase is good enough if
79:48
you you don't always have time to fully
79:50
use those good ideas that you had you
79:53
don't have time to develop them to
79:54
integrate them into your product and so
79:56
forth so you could do potentially better
79:58
work if you got those ideas in an
80:00
earlier phase got new ideas along here
80:03
that you could work on work on work on
80:04
and then you still have a rush at the
80:06
end but it wouldn't be the same kind of
80:07
rush you'd be starting with rich
80:09
material that's partially developed
80:11
instead of sort of from scratch so the
80:14
argument here would be that it might be
80:16
better to have a process we're working
80:17
on projects and then with other with
80:19
projects that are a team project there
80:21
are all kinds of troubles when you do
80:22
this because you throw other people off
80:24
right there other people have deadlines
80:26
for you and that's a real mess now
80:31
there's one other reason for for writers
80:34
and that is when you have a writing
80:36
project that does not have a deadline
80:38
this for those how many people here are
80:40
faculty members so hmm so we get caught
80:46
up in writing grants for deadlines
80:48
because you have to do that right if you
80:49
do work that requires grants so I
80:51
completely get that but what is the
80:53
thing that really has the most impact on
80:55
your career on the science on on
80:58
patience what's the thing that actually
81:01
makes a difference it's not grants it's
81:04
the papers you write it's the papers
81:06
that are the real thing you need to you
81:09
want to do and and so I I have to tell
81:11
you I've I've read about this so I know
81:14
it's true everywhere and I've
81:16
experienced this just in looking at
81:18
people's careers through my faculty
81:19
affairs work lots of people have many
81:22
papers sitting in their desk you are
81:23
there partially done and they never get
81:26
them written
81:27
and it's a major cause of academic
81:30
failure not getting those papers done
81:32
and because there is no deadline a lot
81:34
of people don't have a method to work on
81:35
them that doesn't involve a dental a
81:37
real external deadline so I didn't mean
81:42
that to sound so depressing because
81:46
there's a bright side to the solution
81:48
okay so so I love this quote it's it's
81:53
from a book by a writer who was writing
81:55
a little handbook of sort of how to
81:58
write for professional writers not for
82:00
us but for people that write novels and
82:02
that sort of thing and this just jumped
82:05
out at me work not contemplating work is
82:09
what brings satisfaction when a lot of
82:11
us do including me is we spend a lot of
82:12
time contemplating our work we make
82:14
lists we think about our work but we're
82:16
not actually doing anything to move and
82:18
we have to shift to doing some thinking
82:21
about it but then shifting over to work
82:23
much more quickly so I'm going to talk
82:25
about a process that so-so so the basic
82:29
point the big point about this would be
82:31
for your highest priority project or two
82:33
to try to work on them in some fashion
82:35
almost everyday not to wait till you
82:39
have a big bunch of uninterrupted time
82:40
or feel motivated neither of which is
82:43
necessary in order to do the work
82:45
sometimes there might be just a small
82:47
task you need to do even for a paper or
82:50
there might be some writing you need to
82:52
do and you want to try to figure out
82:55
something everyday that you can do that
82:57
will move that project forward so that's
83:00
the basic idea but is easier said than
83:03
done as I'm sure you know so let's talk
83:05
about the how you could find this time
83:08
so one of the most common pieces of
83:10
advice that you'll get about this is to
83:12
try to do something first thing in the
83:13
morning basically the idea is before you
83:16
get involved in your regular work with
83:19
phone calls coming in and interruptions
83:21
and new things that pop up and your
83:23
routine work and so forth and so
83:28
and if you can do this this is a great
83:30
way to do it but not everybody can
83:33
either because there they don't really
83:35
do well in the morning although they may
83:37
not have tried it so if they aren't sure
83:40
you should try it
83:41
but sometimes life gets in the way on
83:43
this one and there just isn't any way
83:44
that you can devote even 30 minutes to
83:47
working on a project whether it's
83:48
writing or something else in the morning
83:50
before you go to work it's just not
83:52
realistic if you can't do it then my
83:55
advice would be to try to do something
83:56
as early in the day as possible because
84:01
because of the thing I mentioned about
84:02
the longer you wait the more likely you
84:04
are to get kind of overwhelmed with
84:06
what's going on that day but the other
84:08
reason is if you do something even a
84:09
tiny little thing at the beginning of
84:11
the day as early as possible today you
84:13
feel successful here's this thing you've
84:15
been putting off and not working on and
84:17
now you did something concrete about it
84:19
and it really changes your approach to
84:22
the whole day and if you can do that
84:23
regularly you can see how that would
84:24
build on itself to encourage you to
84:26
reinforce the habit of trying to do
84:28
something as early in the day as
84:29
possible so that's one idea the other
84:33
idea is to schedule time blocks maybe
84:36
this is all the rage right now there are
84:38
books written about time blocks and
84:40
probably a thousand blogs and it's
84:42
everywhere they're everywhere they're
84:44
not a new thing of course people have
84:45
been using time blocks for decades
84:47
students use them all the time college
84:49
students they say I'm going to study
84:51
biology from one to two because my lab
84:53
is at three and I'd better be ready for
84:55
it
84:55
so and they put it on their calendar and
84:57
then when they graduate they stop doing
84:58
it and why do you think they stopped
85:00
doing it why do people stop tend to stop
85:05
using time blocks when they get out of
85:08
either either undergraduate or graduate
85:10
school it's a pretty simple reason
85:14
actually it's because they have less
85:17
control over their time all of a sudden
85:19
when you're an undergraduate you just
85:23
remember those days fondly when you
85:25
could really you really could decide to
85:26
study biology from one to two o'clock on
85:28
Tuesday and now if you try to do that
85:31
that might not always work out so well
85:32
right because of the way your job is
85:34
configured so it's it's the figuring out
85:36
how to do it that's the problem so so
85:40
the
85:41
the science behind tine box comes from
85:44
work done on what are called
85:45
implementation intentions which as I
85:48
understand it is the study of how people
85:50
what what conditions increase the
85:53
likelihood that someone will do the
85:55
thing they say they're going to do so
85:57
implementation intentions and the idea
86:00
here would be if you had these two
86:04
groups of people this group says I'm
86:05
going to work on my project whatever it
86:07
is for three hours this week and this
86:09
group says I'm going to work on my
86:10
project for three hours at one o'clock
86:12
from one to two on Monday from one to
86:15
two on Wednesday from one to two on
86:17
Friday in the library of my department
86:19
with a candlestick and the butler will
86:21
come and you know kind of a candy land
86:23
kind of a clue kind of deal so basically
86:27
with implementation instructions the
86:28
more you define about when and what
86:30
you're gonna do the more likely you are
86:32
to do it it's like three times as much
86:33
three times as much so that doesn't
86:39
necessarily make them easier to do if
86:41
you don't have a lot of control over
86:42
your time so we'll move on here but I
86:43
just want you to understand that this is
86:45
a method that has some actual has
86:48
validity to doing it to it one of the
86:53
things that's helpful to think about is
86:54
and it's sometimes a barrier for people
86:56
it's not the time but it's that they
86:58
come up against the block and they say
87:00
oh I have other things to do and then
87:02
move on I've something more important to
87:04
do so I'm just going to skip this block
87:06
so it helps to understand kind of the
87:09
micro anatomy if you will of a time
87:11
block so here are the phases at least as
87:14
I think about them the first one is that
87:16
when you when you a sudden you create a
87:18
time block you need to have an idea
87:20
about what you're gonna do during that
87:22
time block don't just put down project a
87:24
or write or grant don't do that that's
87:29
overwhelming undifferentiated when you
87:31
sit down you'll have to think about what
87:32
you're gonna do and that'll take up all
87:34
the time and you'll be discouraged and
87:36
you'll never do it again instead you
87:37
want to say drink on this block I'm
87:39
going to I'm going to work on the
87:40
methods and I'll start by looking at the
87:43
second paragraph where I left off last
87:46
time so that you have a specific goal
87:48
for what you're going to work on during
87:50
the time and then you need to stay
87:53
focused and not let yourself be
87:54
interrupted
87:55
distracted and then when you're finished
87:59
and now you can establish the cycle here
88:01
we're at the end of the block you'll say
88:04
what's the next thing I need to do to
88:06
work on this project whatever it is and
88:08
that becomes your starting point for the
88:10
following block so you can put it into a
88:11
list if you want to or if you have
88:13
blocks scheduled you can stick it into
88:14
that block so you always have something
88:17
to do you can change your mind when the
88:19
time comes but you're never left with a
88:20
blank screen basically yeah
88:28
I've seen
88:37
yeah so so so when you especially when
88:39
you have things coming from your boss
88:41
that have to be done right away it's a
88:44
challenge isn't it but it doesn't
88:46
necessarily mean it's impossible you
88:48
just have to get more clever about it
88:54
one of the things if your boss is
88:56
constantly bringing you things that -
88:57
you don't actually seem that urgent he
88:59
or she is just and always in a hurry to
89:01
get things done and you have some big
89:03
important project that you need to work
89:05
on that's for the good of the group it's
89:06
not just your own personal thing you
89:08
could go to your boss Sunday say you
89:09
know I'm trying to work on this big
89:12
important project that we've agreed is
89:13
something that's going to be valuable to
89:15
the institution or to my career or
89:17
whatever and so I'd like to start don't
89:19
say and stop so stop writing you know
89:21
calling me with these new things and I'd
89:23
like to start with an experiment where I
89:25
set aside 45 minutes every day to work
89:28
on this project and I'll put it on I put
89:30
it on my calendar if you want and if
89:32
it's obviously really urgent
89:34
to interrupt me during that 45 minutes
89:35
then do it but I'd like to try this and
89:37
see if I don't become more productive on
89:39
behalf of you I mean that's kind of the
89:41
pitch right there's no way that you can
89:44
completely get around that and not all
89:45
bosses will respond to that they'll just
89:47
say do it anyway I say so I completely
89:50
get that that's a problem so that's the
89:53
basic and this you can apply this
89:56
structure to a time block of any length
89:58
a minimum time block would probably
90:00
about thirty minutes to work on a
90:01
project and then it could be anything
90:04
but so think about thirty minutes as
90:05
your minimum time during which you will
90:08
be able to get something done if you use
90:10
this method of working on the project
90:13
almost every day and defining these next
90:15
steps that's the key ok time block
90:20
scheduling this is this is sort of
90:21
obvious but some people wonder well when
90:23
should I do it so if you are in a
90:25
position to be able to do it at the same
90:26
time every day I don't care what time
90:28
that's the best from a habit-forming
90:32
position now I know that these I have a
90:36
couple of clients right now at home who
90:37
are chemistry professors and they use
90:40
time blocking almost exclusively to plan
90:43
their time and they can do it because
90:45
they
90:45
can say I'm gonna meet with my students
90:47
here and not here and I think wow this
90:50
is so cool and I said to one of them now
90:51
I the physicians that I work with and
90:54
and and lab scientists for that matter
90:57
these people don't work in a lab I said
90:59
really have a hard time using time
91:01
blocks and he looked at me he said do
91:05
they really can't do them or they do do
91:07
they just not want to you do them and I
91:10
thought James they can't do them because
91:13
they're going to the ER and so on and so
91:15
forth so so it's not true that everybody
91:17
can use a scheduled time lock so don't
91:19
panic every time would be good some
91:21
people can only like get a day a week
91:23
when they in theory are on admin or
91:26
scholarship time if you have that day do
91:28
not fill it up with patient care stuff
91:30
and email first thing in the morning set
91:33
aside an hour to work on your project
91:34
with a little buffer time after so that
91:37
you can keep going if you need to one
91:39
hour just one hour at the beginning of
91:41
the day and then move into that other
91:42
stuff as you need to but don't waste it
91:44
on things that aren't could be that you
91:46
can compress or collapse however you
91:55
well if it's on your calendar that will
91:57
help so put down meeting with the Dean
92:04
you can use my meeting with or dr. MS
92:08
myself dr. myself you could put a sign
92:12
on your door close your door put a sign
92:14
on it I'm in the middle of something
92:15
I'll be done at this time I'd appreciate
92:18
unless it's urgent that I that you leave
92:20
me alone
92:20
don't say it quite like that so you can
92:22
do that you could go someplace else
92:25
those are kind of the big things
92:27
calendar sign on the door go someplace
92:30
else yeah ideally every division head
92:39
would would understand this phenomena
92:42
and realize that for people to actually
92:43
get focus work done they have to be able
92:45
to set aside focus time and will allow
92:47
everybody do at least an hour a day that
92:49
would be the ideal thing on a day when
92:50
you're not in clinic all day and
92:52
understand that that's how people are
92:53
going to progress and that that person's
92:55
own reputation will be enhanced by the
92:57
productivity of the division or
92:59
department but unfortunately not
93:00
everybody sort of gets it and they do
93:02
what they can to disrupt you and you
93:04
have to figure out a way around it you
93:06
could do also ad hoc scheduling you just
93:08
look at your schedule at the beginning
93:09
of the week find a couple of times two
93:11
or three times and then plunk in an
93:12
appointment during that time now you can
93:16
also use the Neil Fiore unschedule
93:19
method which is you make an intention to
93:22
write and you make a little list of like
93:24
three things you you in a row that you
93:26
could write about and then when a moment
93:28
appears you just sit down and work on
93:30
the project you just work on it as long
93:32
as you can it's just ad hoc and then you
93:35
get to record it on your calendar as
93:36
time that you actually did so this is a
93:38
form of self monitoring that is helps
93:42
with habit formation and encourage you
93:44
to keep going just like keeping track of
93:46
steps or writing down what you eat every
93:47
day so you could use this method and
93:50
that allows you to take care of the odd
93:51
moments that pop up and pop up and for
93:54
something substantive you really only
93:56
need 30 minutes to get something done
93:57
and if it's a task you could do it a lot
93:59
quicker so if you know at the beginning
94:01
of the day what you're aiming for you'll
94:02
be able to take advantage of that time
94:04
does that make sense to you so I'm not
94:07
I'm not going to say that this is easy
94:09
even for people that have pretty much
94:11
control over their time to the our eyes
94:13
but you sort of have to make a decision
94:17
either I'm going to do this work or I'm
94:19
going to do something different but you
94:21
can't go through your whole career
94:23
saying I just don't have any time to do
94:25
it but yet I know that I'm expected to
94:27
do it and do you know what I mean that
94:29
that's just that's what really makes you
94:31
crazy that's what really makes you crazy
94:34
so I think you can do it
94:36
now the distraction part you have to I
94:39
don't know what you're distracted by
94:40
everybody has a different sort of
94:42
distraction profile from other people in
94:44
themselves this is Hugo Gernsback was a
94:47
physical scientist and well known for
94:50
being the jet the editor of the first
94:53
journal in this discipline in the early
94:55
1900's he was also known for being a
94:57
really odd guy so he was obsessed with
95:01
distractions and developed this thing
95:03
called an the isolator which was like a
95:05
diving helmet that was airtight had to
95:07
be hooked up to oxygen there were no air
95:09
holes to cut down an audible and the the
95:12
eye holes were slits were just wide
95:17
enough to let him look at one line of
95:18
type at a time this did not catch on you
95:23
cannot go to ebay and get a isolator but
95:26
his idea was a good one so you have to
95:27
figure out what if you think you're
95:29
having a lot of trouble with
95:30
interruptions and distractions keep a
95:32
log for a while of when you're doing
95:33
focus work
95:34
what's interrupting you and so you can
95:36
see do I really need to move to a
95:38
different location because this is just
95:39
there's nothing to do about it
95:40
or are there people you can talk to
95:42
about this is what I'm doing
95:45
so I want to put this sign up he'll come
95:47
there are different ways that you can
95:51
deal with that
95:52
you can't luminate all distractions but
95:55
you can reduce them the Pomodoro is
95:58
probably the technique that's most
95:59
commonly used for is a very commonly
96:06
used technique to help get started with
96:08
project work and to focus on it through
96:11
a period of time in this case the
96:13
minimal amount is 25 minutes in the
96:17
original Pomodoro method how many people
96:19
here know the Pomodoro
96:20
a technique good so does anybody here
96:23
use it so here's how this was made by
96:28
Francesco Cirillo when he was a graduate
96:30
student and he was having trouble
96:31
focusing so he came up with this method
96:33
and involved a kitchen timer that looked
96:34
like that which is a tomato can you see
96:38
it looks like a tomato and he called the
96:40
technique Pomodoro because Pomodoro is
96:42
the Italian word for tomato so even if
96:44
you don't like this technique now when
96:46
you go to an Italian restaurant and you
96:48
see pasta with pomodoro sauce you'll
96:50
know what you're getting so there's
96:52
value in that so the method involves the
96:54
following you take a piece of paper then
96:58
write at the top what it is you're gonna
96:59
work on for the next 25 minutes just a
97:01
little statement of a goal just like we
97:03
talked about and then you set your timer
97:05
for 25 minutes and while you're doing
97:08
that you say to yourself during the next
97:11
25 minutes I'm only going to work on the
97:13
thing I wrote down on this piece of
97:14
paper and I'm not gonna let myself be
97:15
interrupted can you remember that you
97:19
have to say those exact words in order
97:21
to know you're just setting an intention
97:23
when you set the timer to do that and
97:25
then tick tick tick you work for 25
97:28
minutes and then the timer goes up Bing
97:29
and then you can take a break if you
97:31
want to Pomodoro I mean it's Rollo was
97:33
into these five minute breaks I don't
97:37
think most people do that I think if
97:38
they're if they're working along and
97:39
want to do more they just keep going and
97:41
then stop when they're done probably at
97:44
90 minutes you should stop for a few
97:45
minutes just to kind of shake it off
97:47
because your brain works intensively
97:50
better in for most people 90-minute
97:52
cycles so there's that and then the
97:54
final part is how to manage
97:55
interruptions so here we are we're
97:56
working away in our office and the Dean
98:01
walks in and says I would like to speak
98:03
to you do you know what the Dean looks
98:05
like ok good because you wouldn't you
98:09
wouldn't you wouldn't respond correctly
98:10
if you didn't and he says I would like
98:12
to speak to you right now and you pick
98:14
up your tomato timer and say I could
98:16
speak to you in 11 minutes could you
98:18
come back then that's all you do see how
98:20
easy that is no no what you do is when
98:24
when someone else interrupts you or when
98:25
you are distracted by thinking of
98:27
something that you might want to do you
98:29
ask yourself one question can this wait
98:30
till the timer goes off whether there's
98:33
24
98:34
minutes left or one minute left your
98:35
whole goal is to get through 25 minutes
98:37
and so if it's another person and it's
98:39
appropriate which it not would not be in
98:41
this case that I presented you would
98:44
negotiate with the person when you're
98:45
getting back to them and you would write
98:47
it down on the piece of paper to get
98:49
back to John in an hour or when I'm done
98:52
with this if it's something that you've
98:54
thought of like oh I have to call the
98:55
dentist to get my teeth cleaned
98:56
Dennis do not work except when you're
98:58
working their offices aren't open so
99:01
you're going to have to do it during
99:02
work and so are there any dentists here
99:06
don't okay good
99:09
so you don't call the dentist it would
99:11
just take a minute
99:12
no you write it down on the piece of
99:13
paper call the dentist and then as soon
99:15
as the timer's done you're free to do
99:17
what you want you can do those things
99:19
you can move on to another Pomodoro and
99:21
wait till later but what you do is you
99:22
get them on your head so you're not
99:23
they're not distracting you from your
99:24
work
99:25
that's the Pomodoro Technique and it's
99:30
used by a lot of people for writing but
99:34
it can also be used for any other kind
99:35
of work some people use it to limit how
99:38
much time they're spending on email you
99:41
do one Pomodoro v-mail you don't have to
99:44
buy a timer like that if you go to your
99:45
phone you'll you'll find all kinds of
99:48
apps for your phone there are web
99:50
browser versions there are some programs
99:52
that for writing that have that Pomodoro
99:54
timer built into them so you have lots
99:56
of different options you could use just
99:58
a regular timer but let me cost you it
100:00
has to you have to have a sound at the
100:02
end you can't just look up at the clock
100:04
and say oh it's 1:45 I'm gonna go till
100:09
because how you then you have to stop
100:10
and figure out when 25 minutes really is
100:12
oh yeah don't do that they have a timer
100:16
you can set and have it go off at the
100:18
end that's those are the two key pieces
100:22
okay now we're gonna finish up by
100:24
talking about some tactical planning
100:26
we're not going to talk about what a 12
100:28
week cycle plan I don't know why that's
100:30
up there I deeply apologize if you want
100:33
to know about 12 week cycle planning
100:35
email me and I'll send you some
100:36
materials I did not intend to include
100:38
that today we're gonna talk about weekly
100:39
and daily plans way more fun and useful
100:42
to get started with so the weekly plan
100:46
is how many people here do a sit down
100:48
and plan out their week in some way so a
100:51
lot of you have will have a great
100:53
opportunity to improve your productivity
100:55
right off the bat because this is
100:57
something that's super simple to do and
100:59
you can start doing it this week this
101:01
weekend or Friday people do it different
101:04
days Friday Saturday Sunday Monday
101:05
morning whatever works the idea is that
101:08
if you don't plan what you'd like to get
101:10
done this week it'll most of it'll never
101:12
happen so you know what important things
101:14
you want to get done you're going to
101:16
look to see in your schedule where you
101:18
might fit them in and make a plan for
101:19
that and decide what it is you want to
101:22
get done so you don't aren't overly
101:23
ambitious or underly ambitious as well
101:25
as looking at all the routine things to
101:27
be sure you know what's coming up in
101:29
your week so that's the idea behind
101:30
weekly planning so there are two
101:34
features here the first one is the one
101:37
I'd recommend you start with well know
101:41
you can start with either one forgetting
101:43
about that 12-week planned stuff what is
101:44
that doing in there I just don't know
101:46
okay so the first thing would be to
101:48
review what I call my inventory at work
101:52
so this is all the work that I've
101:53
committed to that's on that master list
101:56
that I was talking about that I've
101:58
committed to not the some day list the
102:00
I've been to and I looked through every
102:01
item and I say hmm should this still be
102:05
here have I already done it is it too
102:07
late
102:07
do I not wanted is it really not
102:09
appropriate to do it anymore if there's
102:10
an item that's too vague and I don't
102:12
really know what it is I try to remember
102:14
and then I rewrite the item so that it
102:16
reflects something that I could actually
102:17
do and I just go through my list and
102:19
update it basically so that it's
102:20
complete and I've reviewed it and just
102:23
by reviewing it even if you didn't do
102:25
anything else you'd make better
102:26
decisions in the coming week because you
102:27
would have looked at that stuff
102:29
you also want to look at your calendar I
102:31
usually go ahead at least three weeks or
102:33
I look at every single thing on my
102:34
calendar and I asking myself two
102:36
questions is there any is this something
102:38
I need to prepare for in advance and
102:41
then I make a note either on the
102:43
calendar the day before or I put it on
102:44
my my weekly list of tasks I really want
102:47
to get done however you want to keep
102:49
track of that and then I look for
102:51
logistical problems like oh I'm
102:53
scheduled in two meetings back to back
102:54
in buildings that are two miles apart on
102:56
campus
102:57
that won't work very well I made a
103:00
mistake so I have to renegotiate or
103:02
somebody needs to take the kids to their
103:05
ballet lessons and oh I'm not going to
103:07
be able to do it because I have this
103:08
meeting and I it gives you time to find
103:10
somebody one time I found plane tickets
103:12
I didn't have for meeting that week and
103:15
this was in the paper ticket days so it
103:16
was not just a matter of going online
103:18
and getting them that was a horrible but
103:20
I found them in time so look at your
103:23
to-do list in your calendar and just see
103:25
what it is that's coming up and then the
103:27
second thing you can do is to look for
103:29
one or two key results you'd like to
103:32
achieve for your project highest
103:33
priority projects by the end of the week
103:36
and so the way that would look is you
103:39
would focus on a completion goal not a
103:44
work on goal so what we'll often say is
103:47
I'm going to work on my K award this
103:48
week or I'm going to work on the paper
103:50
this week or I'm gonna work on the
103:52
birthday party but we don't say what it
103:53
is we're gonna do and our brain doesn't
103:56
no idea what we're talking about when we
103:57
say work on so instead you want to say I
103:59
aim to complete the following by the end
104:02
of the week and that jump starts your
104:04
brain to start to figure out how are we
104:05
going to fit that into the day so when
104:06
you make your daily plans and half-free
104:08
bits of time that pop up you're more
104:10
likely to work on those things you can
104:15
do time blocks if you want to or not
104:21
now the final thing that you can do on a
104:23
weekly basis I mean there many things
104:25
you could do but this would be another
104:26
thing would be to set some time plan
104:31
kind of how you're gonna spend your time
104:32
that week across your whole life not
104:35
just not just at work set some
104:37
boundaries about when you're going to
104:38
work so the red squares there are times
104:41
that this person has decided they will
104:43
probably need to do work work
104:45
professional work some of its at night
104:47
some of its on a weekend that's okay as
104:49
long as it's clearly bounded and you're
104:51
not trying to fit it in while you're
104:52
doing other personal things you let your
104:55
family know I have to work here and here
104:56
but the rest of the time I'm not working
104:57
so you're setting boundaries and then
105:01
you plan some some fun stuff to do
105:02
social stuff things with your family to
105:05
the extent that you want to so that
105:06
those things happen instead of just
105:08
slipping away when you don't plan
105:10
and then if you want to do your time box
105:12
you could add those in so you have kind
105:13
of a big picture of personal time work
105:16
time and when the important work is is
105:20
likely to get done so you this is
105:22
optional but sometimes it can be really
105:23
helpful in looking at what the week is
105:26
gonna bring okay and we're finished up
105:29
with the day you could start if you
105:34
wanted to just with this because this is
105:35
super easy but it helps to do the weekly
105:38
to make this more effective I'll just
105:40
say so a daily MIT plan is what some
105:44
people what people who write about this
105:47
think of as a short list of tasks tasks
105:50
that are related to high priority work
105:53
not all the things you're going to do
105:55
that day you might have a separate list
105:58
of things you want to try to get done
105:59
but they're not these super important
106:01
things so you want the list to be short
106:03
and focused limited to high priority
106:05
things so that you're like you're more
106:06
likely to get them done here's what
106:08
happens if you make a big long list like
106:09
you just dump everything out in the
106:11
morning of all the things you can think
106:12
of that you should do today it'll be a
106:14
mix of unimportant and important things
106:16
and I don't know about you but during
106:20
the day if I looked at that list and one
106:21
thing was work on the abstract that's
106:23
due next week and refill my stapler
106:26
I would always pick the stapler quick
106:31
win cross off oxytocin or whatever
106:36
whatever get whatever gets released so
106:41
by forcing the list down to a really
106:43
small one I list of like as I do only no
106:47
more than three things that are these
106:49
high priority tasks I would feel
106:51
embarrassed to put refill the stapler on
106:54
that list and I always say oh I suppose
106:56
I have to put the abstract on there
106:58
because it's coming up and it's
106:59
important and then because this is such
107:00
a tiny list I'm usually pretty good at
107:02
getting it done getting to it so really
107:05
has helped me focus the must be done
107:08
category in my list are things that have
107:10
a deadline of today a real
107:11
honest-to-goodness external deadline
107:13
the bill is due I promise to have this
107:15
done by today whatever not not internal
107:18
deadlines but or it would be really good
107:20
if I did it would be an actual deadline
107:21
so there's some adverse out
107:23
come if you don't do it that list often
107:25
doesn't have anything on it I'm most
107:27
days it doesn't because most days you
107:29
don't have something that actually has
107:30
to be done today outside of your normal
107:33
work so I just keep a list that usually
107:35
has no more than three to five things on
107:37
it for my daily most important list now
107:43
what so your your day is driven by lots
107:46
of different things right we've just
107:48
been talking about kind of high priority
107:49
work here so but you have a calendar and
107:51
there are things on your calendar that's
107:53
the primary driver where you have to be
107:55
places there's kind of routine work that
107:57
you have to do whatever that is there
107:59
are little tasks that show up during the
108:01
day or even big ones that interrupt your
108:03
work that you have to do and then you
108:05
have this this high priority task list
108:07
so you have to you have to think about
108:09
all of these things and you know this I
108:11
mean it looks terrible when you see it
108:12
in a slide oh my god I have all this
108:13
stuff but this is really sort of how
108:14
your day is organized and what you're
108:17
trying to do is get this stuff done
108:18
while at the same time fitting in some
108:20
of those things now the real problem of
108:23
course is interruptions which happened
108:26
to you all every day and so you also
108:28
have to become facile at triaging it's
108:32
obvious I'm not going to be able to get
108:33
all this done today which things will I
108:35
work on and which things will I put off
108:37
and you'd be better off some day saying
108:38
some of this routine stuff is going to
108:40
get put off till tomorrow and I'm going
108:41
to do the important thing because when
108:43
you think about your career it's the
108:45
important stuff that really counts and
108:48
you have to use your own judgment but
108:49
you have to get good at splitting that
108:50
around so Cal Newport who is writes
108:54
about these things he's a computer
108:58
scientist at Georgetown it has this
109:03
really nice way of describing this the
109:05
reality of daily scale productivity what
109:07
you get done today is that plans are not
109:09
meant to be preserved what he means by
109:11
that is when you make a plan in the
109:12
morning it doesn't mean you'll actually
109:13
do that it means instead the plan is
109:17
meant as a device for ensuring that you
109:18
tackle your day with deliberation rather
109:22
than the winds of things that pop up so
109:25
thank you very much
109:27
we are done
109:30
now I have to reference slides here this
109:33
is these are more general resources for
109:37
time management and productivity and
109:39
these are specifically about writing and
109:41
I highly recommend these two books in
109:44
the box if you're wanting to improve
109:47
your academic writing they're both
109:50
terrific
109:51
you'll probably want to start with
109:52
Sylvia book because he's a academic
109:56
psychologist and he writes more from a
110:00
kind of science point of view Joe Lee is
110:02
a communication science professor but
110:05
her book addresses a lot of issues that
110:07
Paul that Paul doesn't so that two
110:11
together they're both pretty short and
110:12
in recent editions it's a really good
110:15
resource for you if you want to do that
110:19
now my my pledge here is that you have a
110:22
lifetime pass each of you to email me
110:25
with any questions you have about
110:26
today's presentation or if there are any
110:29
other areas that you'd like more
110:33
information about I can send you links
110:36
to things and a direction of where to
110:37
look and you can look at I've got I
110:40
think eight or nine articles short
110:42
columns on my that I wrote several years
110:44
ago on my website on the homepage
110:46
articles go there topics that overlap
110:49
with some of this or are different that
110:52
are helpful in the academic world so
110:54
take a look at those that's just a kind
110:56
of a way to get yourself started
110:57
thinking about some different issues you
110:59
may have all right some of you are
111:01
staying so I thought if everyone leaves
111:03
then I'll know I'm done for the day
111:06
but otherwise so thank you for those of
111:08
you who are leaving now and I hope a few
111:10
of you decide to stick out the next
111:13
version Thanks