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DaQuane Cherry was once the kid who wore a hoodie to hide skin flare-ups in school. Now he’s an artist and advocate helping others feel seen. He reflects on his psoriasis journey, the power of small joys, and why loving yourself first isn’t a cliché—it’s essential. Plus, a deep dive into the history of La Roche-Posay’s legendary spring. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
Content provided by Larry Tribble, Ph.D. and Larry Tribble. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Larry Tribble, Ph.D. and Larry Tribble or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
What to do if our primary tool is not really helping us? I argue that this is the case with our to-do lists. I’ll talk about why and what you can do about it. To Do Busy Right, we are fighting three enemies: interruption, multitasking, and distraction. Distraction is the most difficult to defeat. To-do list is another tactic to deploy in that fight. Everybody knows about to-do lists; most everybody uses them. In my experience, they are by far the most common tool. But we don’t do detail on them; we don’t have a vetted process. You don't hear about doing them, right? But you don't hear about them in the same way you don't hear about toothbrushes, because it's taken for granted. I think that you need to have a list. It’s good to get things out of your head. But there are better and worse ways. Somehow, there's got to be something where I have my tasks written out. I think implementation of this can vary a lot. The problem that a to-do list should solve… Cal – not a quote, but from A World Without Email - [We] try to pick this ‘congealed mass’ of expectations, tasks, and commitments apart. We do this because we want to figure out what to DO. General steps for creating a To-do list
Generate the items (how do we ‘know’ what is on the list)
Put it somewhere (generally calendar or paper)
Part 1 What goes on the list
Normal ways to generate the list: 1) make it up from scratch daily or 2) collect it from various places.
Make it up from scratch
From scratch – Q: what’s the problem? A: it’s a bad question for our brains
The first part gives us brainstorming – “what COULD I do today?”
The second part gives us urgency (only)
Priority is always situational, contextual, and relative.
Collect the things from multiple places
This usually means a lack of a clear, repeatable process
It's easy to forget the odd places – everything needs to go to one place.
The challenge of multiple places – sub-prioritizing by source – pick and choose and leave everything else there then everything downstream is ‘filtered’
BTW, if you’re not sure you have a good process, take a look at Attention Compass.
Part 2 Where to put the resulting things Now, you’ve created your list; you need to record the result of that work Two general ways to do this – on calendar or on paper
Either way, these 'lists" are fragile and unwieldy
The first way - On paper
Sorting the list (and re-sorting) is bad. Sorting is a hard exercise for your brain
If you don't believe me, take the sorting challenge
With the list, you’re putting your brain into a sorting situation – minimize the number of times you have to do this.
“On the same piece of paper” is a category – but it ignores context
What do we do when we don’t finish our paper list?
Often we set that piece of paper aside for in the morning – another place to collect from
But, are yesterday’s priorities automatically today’s?
The second way - In your calendar
The calendar is a bad place, no better (really) than paper It's: too fragile, 'must begin at', and has no sense of probability.
If we either run short or run long, then the Calendar tool begins to show its weaknesses - fragility
When I say ‘fragile’ I mean it ‘shatters’…
A list is a static, steady state tool - What to do with “pop-up” priorities?
The assumption when we make the to do list is, well, if nothing else pops up, this is my plan – how’s that working for you?
Regardless of what you say, you have to deal with some people’s emergencies
Ideally, we would have less fragility
Bottom line – with creating a to-do list, we set all kinds of brain challenges (the bad question, multiple collection areas) Our medium (paper or calendar) also presents challenges. We have a bad process. Instead of 'to-do list' think “backlog” What’s a backlog?
Definition
It's in one place.
It is continuously sorted
It is never complete
It is fluid, so less fragile
Why a backlog cannot be on paper
A proper backlog takes care of this for us. It’s built into the AC backlog and processes
What a backlog does for us
Processing takes care of the sorting
Deals with fragility
The “next thing I need to do” is already in the backlog
Daily review takes care of the overnights and the calendar
If you want to solve these problems once and for all, let me know. My clients have pre-decided, recorded those decisions, and they follow that. They think "I’m going to flexibly pursue the highest priority items in my backlog while attending to my calendar and 'pop-up' priorities." They can do this calmly with minimum hassle. They use a backlog. What did we accomplish in this episode? So when we’re fighting distraction, we’re using a rusty sword (to-do list). If we fix it (move to a backlog) we’re using an upgraded weapon in the fight to Do Busy Right
Content provided by Larry Tribble, Ph.D. and Larry Tribble. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Larry Tribble, Ph.D. and Larry Tribble or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
What to do if our primary tool is not really helping us? I argue that this is the case with our to-do lists. I’ll talk about why and what you can do about it. To Do Busy Right, we are fighting three enemies: interruption, multitasking, and distraction. Distraction is the most difficult to defeat. To-do list is another tactic to deploy in that fight. Everybody knows about to-do lists; most everybody uses them. In my experience, they are by far the most common tool. But we don’t do detail on them; we don’t have a vetted process. You don't hear about doing them, right? But you don't hear about them in the same way you don't hear about toothbrushes, because it's taken for granted. I think that you need to have a list. It’s good to get things out of your head. But there are better and worse ways. Somehow, there's got to be something where I have my tasks written out. I think implementation of this can vary a lot. The problem that a to-do list should solve… Cal – not a quote, but from A World Without Email - [We] try to pick this ‘congealed mass’ of expectations, tasks, and commitments apart. We do this because we want to figure out what to DO. General steps for creating a To-do list
Generate the items (how do we ‘know’ what is on the list)
Put it somewhere (generally calendar or paper)
Part 1 What goes on the list
Normal ways to generate the list: 1) make it up from scratch daily or 2) collect it from various places.
Make it up from scratch
From scratch – Q: what’s the problem? A: it’s a bad question for our brains
The first part gives us brainstorming – “what COULD I do today?”
The second part gives us urgency (only)
Priority is always situational, contextual, and relative.
Collect the things from multiple places
This usually means a lack of a clear, repeatable process
It's easy to forget the odd places – everything needs to go to one place.
The challenge of multiple places – sub-prioritizing by source – pick and choose and leave everything else there then everything downstream is ‘filtered’
BTW, if you’re not sure you have a good process, take a look at Attention Compass.
Part 2 Where to put the resulting things Now, you’ve created your list; you need to record the result of that work Two general ways to do this – on calendar or on paper
Either way, these 'lists" are fragile and unwieldy
The first way - On paper
Sorting the list (and re-sorting) is bad. Sorting is a hard exercise for your brain
If you don't believe me, take the sorting challenge
With the list, you’re putting your brain into a sorting situation – minimize the number of times you have to do this.
“On the same piece of paper” is a category – but it ignores context
What do we do when we don’t finish our paper list?
Often we set that piece of paper aside for in the morning – another place to collect from
But, are yesterday’s priorities automatically today’s?
The second way - In your calendar
The calendar is a bad place, no better (really) than paper It's: too fragile, 'must begin at', and has no sense of probability.
If we either run short or run long, then the Calendar tool begins to show its weaknesses - fragility
When I say ‘fragile’ I mean it ‘shatters’…
A list is a static, steady state tool - What to do with “pop-up” priorities?
The assumption when we make the to do list is, well, if nothing else pops up, this is my plan – how’s that working for you?
Regardless of what you say, you have to deal with some people’s emergencies
Ideally, we would have less fragility
Bottom line – with creating a to-do list, we set all kinds of brain challenges (the bad question, multiple collection areas) Our medium (paper or calendar) also presents challenges. We have a bad process. Instead of 'to-do list' think “backlog” What’s a backlog?
Definition
It's in one place.
It is continuously sorted
It is never complete
It is fluid, so less fragile
Why a backlog cannot be on paper
A proper backlog takes care of this for us. It’s built into the AC backlog and processes
What a backlog does for us
Processing takes care of the sorting
Deals with fragility
The “next thing I need to do” is already in the backlog
Daily review takes care of the overnights and the calendar
If you want to solve these problems once and for all, let me know. My clients have pre-decided, recorded those decisions, and they follow that. They think "I’m going to flexibly pursue the highest priority items in my backlog while attending to my calendar and 'pop-up' priorities." They can do this calmly with minimum hassle. They use a backlog. What did we accomplish in this episode? So when we’re fighting distraction, we’re using a rusty sword (to-do list). If we fix it (move to a backlog) we’re using an upgraded weapon in the fight to Do Busy Right
Hi there. I want to talk about a common source of pain among people on teams: meetings. You simply can’t discuss productivity without addressing meetings, and my goal is to equip you with actionable ways to make meetings more productive. I’ll share tactics, discuss the realities of meeting culture, and provide desk-level actions you can implement to improve how meetings function within your organization. Why is this topic valuable to you? Because for many of us, especially if you're a boss or have a boss, you spend a significant amount of your time in meetings. While we all complain about meetings, the reality is that a pervasive lack of structure and process around them exists in business culture. This episode aims to change that. Whether you're a boss with significant control, a self-employed professional with autonomy, or an employee navigating existing structures, there's something here for everyone. For employees, especially, I want to emphasize that you shouldn't turn this off; there are specific tactics you can use to exert some control or influence, and this information will be invaluable when you become a boss. It’ll help you avoid inflicting unproductive meetings on others. Core Problems with Meetings: We often don't structure meetings. This might be due to a lack of knowledge, laziness, or a feeling of being the only one to do it differently. We don't have different kinds of meetings for different purposes, only different names for the same kind of meeting. This leads to a mismatch between meeting style and goal. Legitimate Purposes for Meetings: All participants should have something to do within the meeting structure. Example: The "Stand-Up" Meeting: Common in Agile project management methodologies. Very tight, usually 15 minutes or less. Not a status report or a time for accomplishments. One-to-many dissemination of information (semi-legitimate): Purpose: Vision casting, policy updates, informing about new initiatives. Challenges: the format is boring and only saves time for one of the meeting members. Alternative: leverage technology Exceptions: Heavy-duty compliance meetings (e.g., safety briefings, regulatory requirements) where in-person attendance is legally or ethically mandated. If this is the case, clearly state why in-person attendance is required. Brainstorming or Group Idea Sessions: Boss's Role: clear and honest about the purpose and decision-making process Primary Ineffective Meeting Type to Avoid: The Weekly Status Meeting: The least valid reason to have a meeting. Better handled through other means (e.g., individual updates, shared documents). Key Tactics for Productive Meetings (Primarily for Bosses/Meeting Holders): Always Have an Agenda: Purpose 1: Guide to keep everyone on track during the meeting. Purpose 2: Help people prepare for the meeting. If attendees don't need to prep, they might not need to be there. Purpose 3 (Crucial): Help people decide to attend. Produce Shared Notes: Notes on what happened in the meeting should be made available to everyone; a shared note is ideal Utilize a Scribe/Facilitator: Avoid "Pop Quiz" Meetings: Tactics for Employees/Attendees: Offer to be the Scribe: Offer to Prep an Agenda: Demonstrate upward leadership by helping your boss structure meetings. Stay Focused and Present During the Meeting: Engage with the material even if it feels like a lecture, it's an opportunity to train your focus and discipline. Suggest Resources to Your Boss: If your relationship with your boss allows, suggest resources like Patrick Lencioni's books (e.g., Death by Meeting, The Advantage) or even this podcast, to help them think about meeting culture. Conclusion The key to productive meetings lies in structure and purpose. We need to be honest about why we're meeting and choose the right kind of meeting for the right purpose. Always strive to have an agenda that helps people prepare and decide if their attendance is truly valuable. Make sure meetings are action-oriented, with participants taking away clear "to-dos," and document these actions in shared notes. Finally, leverage technology for information dissemination where appropriate, and always avoid multitasking during meetings to maximize your own engagement and contribute positively to the collective focus. My hope is that bosses will be open to fundamentally rethinking their meeting culture and structure, recognizing the significant impact it has on productivity. And for those of you who are employees, remember that you have opportunities to influence and lead upward. By understanding these principles and applying these tactics, you can be part of the solution, contributing to a more effective and less frustrating meeting experience for everyone involved. Let's work together to make every meeting count.…
My goal today is to help you understand a few things that are true about knowledge work, specifically focusing on a concept called executive function. This term may be new to you, but I believe it perfectly describes what we're all dealing with in our daily lives and work. Ultimately, I want to describe an "operating system" that we can put in place to help us with this crucial skill. Why is this important for you? I'll show that understanding and improving your executive function is the root of productivity in the modern world. It's about your ability to plan, manage time, and problem-solve – essential skills that put you in a position to operate effectively in the world, whether at work or in your personal life. Think of it as the underlying "athleticism" for a general knowledge worker. Perhaps even more critically, it's the cure for productivity anxiety. Research shows that while 61% of us feel productive at work, a striking 80% report having productivity anxiety. This means many of us feel a constant struggle to meet expectations, feeling we’re "not productive enough". By focusing on executive function, we can address this widespread challenge head-on. We'll deal with that here. What is Executive Function? Encompasses the ability to plan, manage time, and problem-solve among other things Set of skills comparable to "athleticism" for physical workers, but applied to knowledge work A life skill that applies equally to your job and your personal life It differs from specialized skills (e.g., an electrical engineer's advanced math, which aren't typically applied at the same level in daily life. Also it is not taught in schools. Group Executive Function How teams operate: rules, procedures, information management, and communication Is dependent on the high executive function of its individual members. Executive Function as Your Personal "Operating System" Computers act as tools that support our executive function. We can conceptualize our personal executive function as an "operating system" – a set of standard procedures and guidelines that allows us to function effectively. Like an OS enables a computer to run specialized programs, our executive function allows us to perform diverse roles effectively. Improving Executive Function: A Scientific Management Approach Inspired by Frederick Taylor's scientific management A key to increased knowledge work productivity The Problem: Widespread Productivity Anxiety Our feeling of productivity often stems from our own standards, while anxiety arises from failing to meet others' expectations or from unfavorable self-comparison. This is often compounded by a "bravado" Symptoms of productivity anxiety include: feelings of inadequacy, guilt about hours worked and vacation or sick days, chronic dissatisfaction with your output. Recap We're talking about productivity anxiety and our urgent need to understand and improve our executive function. This is because executive function is the fundamental basis for the kind of productivity that truly matters – both in your professional life and in everything else you strive to accomplish. The good news is that getting better at this executive function is the cure for productivity anxiety. We have powerful tools at our disposal, like our computers and their search functions, which should support our executive function. The key is to use these tools properly and consistently, ensuring they genuinely support, rather than undermine, your executive function. This means it's time to "be your own executive". It's often up to us to figure it out. I can help. That's why we emphasize adopting new mindsets, tactics, and habits. Structures like the Attention Compass are designed precisely to provide this operating system, helping you effectively manage these underlying skills. By consciously working on your executive function – whether it's becoming a little better at problem-solving or improving your information management – you directly enhance your overall productivity and reduce anxiety. Remember, executive function is that underlying skill set that allows us to function well in the modern world, encompassing all those essential "life skills". By embracing this, by actively working to improve your personal operating system, you become more effective, more productive, and more capable of turning the world and yourself into what you want them to be.…
Productivity is hard to measure. I’ve talked about it before. The measurement problems can lead us to confusion about our productivity. I’ll talk about what this looks like in the workplace in a minute. If we think we’re more productive than we are (and there’s good reason to believe we do), we won’t be motivated to engage in making it better. We’ll be complacent, thinking that ‘we’re doing about as well as everyone else’. As Dave Ramsey says – “you do what you see everyone else doing and you’ll be as broke as they are.” I hope you walk away from this episode with clarity that motivates you to engage in further developing your own productivity. There are huge benefits to constantly improving our productivity – defined as effective use of our attention. As humans, when we can apply our attention we learn and grow. The primary benefit is that you become able to get the results you want in the world, over time. There is a class of things “poor metacognitive tasks” or “skills”. The phrase means that we have a hard time telling how good we are at them – we might be “unskilled and unaware of it”. At present, our productivity is a good example of such a task/skill. I’ll give evidence of that claim and how it manifests itself in our lives. We are not nearly as productive as we think we are. In experiments, output, surprisingly, does not go down when moving from a 5-day to a 4-day work week. Interpretation: There is significant waste in the system, 20% of hours don't produce output. Identifying the nature of wasted attention We may think we are working as hard as they can and their productivity is fine, not needing help. We may want to work less for the same pay, attributing current inefficiencies to wasted time. Often, we blame meetings, but work habits (often learned in office settings) also affect non-office workers. Specific Wastes Under Individual Control The "Big Three" Generic Wastes: Interruption Multitasking Distraction Other Specific, Tactical Wastes: Hunting for information Making a daily to-do list Inefficient communication channel handling Self-interruption / Task switching (i.e., "I'd better do it before I forget") Facets of a Solution for Personal Productivity Seamless, easy, lightweight organization of all information Task Management via 'backlog' Communication Channel Management Managing Postponed Tasks Call to Action: Focus on what you can control in your personal workflows Take ownership; decide to eliminate waste. It can be done. Redistribute saved hours over other areas of work Or become more valuable by maintaining current hours to significantly increase output and effectiveness; this is not "hustle culture" www.linkedin.com/in/larrytribble larry@dobusyright.com…
Today, I'm going to outline the current progress in the pursuit of increasing knowledge work productivity. I'll have some suggestions about how you can improve your productivity. Mostly, this is encouragement and motivation to do the work required to get on top of your game and stay there. Purpose: understand that Knowledge Work Productivity is not a solved problem while recognizing good directions to go to solve it. Value for you #1: understand where we are in this work, so you'll know where to go next. Value for you #2: recognizing that knowledge work management represents a competitive advantage in the market for talent. You'll be 1) more productive, 2) less burned-out, 3) a faster learner, and 4) better at your job as you develop these skills. Knowledge Worker Productivity as an Unsolved Problem Knowledge worker productivity is not a solved problem, and individuals should avoid being complacent with existing tools or solutions. Historical Context: Scientific Management Historically, manual work processes were often guarded secrets within guilds, creating a "mystery" around how tasks were performed and hindering process improvement thinking. In the early 20th century, Taylor introduced time and motion studies to break down work into discrete steps and identify improvements. The Gap in Knowledge Work Analysis A scientific management analysis of knowledge work has not yet been performed. Individuals often believe their knowledge work is uniquely different and cannot benefit from generalized process improvements. Critique of Productivity Tools Productivity tools are often not designed for users' personal effectiveness but rather to sell better. Software development is expensive, leading companies to avoid costly new features without clear justification, which contributes to software being "relatively static". Learned Helplessness Users may experience "learned helplessness" with computer tools, leading to complacency where they assume existing tools are the best available and avoid the effort of seeking or implementing changes. Applying Process Analysis to Knowledge Work We need a scientific management approach to knowledge work, particularly focusing on personal information management, which is crucial for managing attention. This approach involves analyzing sequential steps, breaking down sub-processes, and identifying areas of waste. For knowledge workers, "attention" is the primary productive asset to optimize, not just time. Recommendations for Improving Knowledge Worker Productivity Focus first on eliminating waste, especially waste of attention based in task switching. Then (and only then) break down processes and improve sub-components. Avoid constantly switching tools, the learning curve and difficulty of effective experimentation make it too expensive and often unproductive. Instead, engage with your own processes, understand your system, and develop repeatable processes for your work.…
I’m going to dive into the logic of the debate around technology. Purpose: To earn a stronger hearing for honest critiques of technology: We’ll discuss a common pattern where critics are dismissed as "anti-technology" or "Luddites". What’s in it for you: To be encouraged and equipped to question the rhetoric that faces us from a technology-forward culture. And/or answer the question: “You don’t use social media X, what’s wrong with you?” And/or generate the courage to shut something down, like Cal Newport suggests in Digital Minimalism. And/or, if you’re a boss and are wondering how to improve your organization’s productivity, consider similar arguments in Cal’s A World Without Email. My claim for the next 45 minutes… I am a critic of certain kinds of technology. I and others who do this often face a particular kind of counter argument. This typical counter-argument pattern equates general use with harmlessness. I’ll show that this general use argument is not well-supported with evidence. By highlighting how past critiques, like those of television, have been "vindicated," I’ll establish the validity and necessity of such discussions. Introduction to critiquing technology and my position My background and motivation for critique Examples of technology I think are challenging The Common Pattern of Argument Against Technology Critics Stereotype of critics: Often labeled "anti-technology" or implying a lack of understanding The counter-argument pattern Premise: A new technology (X) is critiqued (e.g., Facebook is a problem). 2. Counter-claim: People previously critiqued a di erent new technology (Y), and those past critics "were demonstrated to be wrong" because Y is now in general use and "didn't kill us". Challenge to Critic: The critic is then asked to prove why technology X is "worse than" technology Y. * The speaker notes the di iculty of comparing disparate technologies like Facebook and television (e.g., weak comparison points like "looking at screens" or "consuming attention"). Dismissal: If the critic cannot prove X is "worse," they are dismissed as a "Chicken Little" or an "old curmudgeon" interfering with enjoyment. Historical example: "Go-to statement" in early programming languages Initially debated as "useful in the hands of a knowledgeable user". Now universally agreed to be bad programming practice because it produced buggy, hard to maintain, and clumsy code.. This pattern often appears in discussions where convenience is the primary perceived benefit of a technology. Flaws in the Counter-Critique's Logic Lack of Burden of Proof on the counter-critic False Equivalence: General use does not imply harmlessness Television as a Case Study: Vindication of Early Critiques Early critics of television have been vindicated, though this isn't widely recognized. Three primary critiques of television Critique 1: Content Quality Critique 2: Waste of Time/Attention Critique 3: Advertising as Brainwashing/Propaganda Recap…
Most people don't know how to process incoming information. This is a core part of personal information management, which (particularly for knowledge workers) is absolutely critical for modern economic life. The ways in which we receive information are continuing to change. The amount of information and level of awareness that the business and general cultures expect of us are both increasing as well. In order to be successful with those, we need to have our information processing really working well. Here’s how to process incoming information well. Lots of people are trying this on their own, but it’s hard to be successful that way. If you want to talk to me about coaching, hit me on LinkedIn or larry@dobusyright.com Let’s get into it. Incoming information and Information Channels: Definitions Information channels thought experiment: do you have a process for dealing with information channels? General ideas about channels Basic approach: open it, empty it, close it – ‘processing’ Two basic types of information All channels are bad places to store both kinds of information All channels are bad places to do work Another storage location is REQUIRED A few differences between channels Synchronous versus asynchronous Discrete versus continuous Digital versus analog Two-way versus ‘read only’ or ‘write only’ Typical level of urgency Examples Processing an e-mail channel (asynchronous, discrete, digital, two way) Processing a phone channel (synchronous) Processing a chat channel (continuous) Processing a conversation/meeting (analog) Processing a blog channel (one-way) We’ve covered how to process email across several channels and we’ve covered the differences across the four properties of channels. You should be able to construct a basic process for each of your channels.…
I was answering a question: “how do I manage my time?” and I was thinking of it in terms of scheduling. Then it occurred to me that we don't manage time. (I've said that a lot.) But, what is it then that we do with time? And it occurred to me to think: time is the constraint. Now, this is hardcore knowledge worker stuff here. Time is the primary limiting factor on throughput in our productivity system. If our productive asset is attention then the limiting factor on attention that cannot be removed is time. Now, we're into the theory of constraints and its systems and bottlenecks, these kinds of ideas. We’ll talk about where we need to be headed if we want to become outstanding managers of our own productivity. We’ll delve into systems theory to figure it out. The Theory of Constraints Overview and the notion of bottlenecks In a desktop productivity system, many of the normal limiting factors that would be present in a factory are already absent If time is the limiting factor; it's not an input and it's not an asset We look at the bottlenecks second, after we’ve done the easier work of eliminating the wastes, which happen to everybody The wastes (3 of them) The first two wastes are pretty much mindset changes – interruption and multitasking The third takes more finesse – distraction. But we know how to deal with that. Systematizing our investigations Then we can move on in a systematic fashion to identify bottlenecks in our specific process. You can’t do systems analysis until you have a repeatable system in place- deal with interruptions and stop multitasking. And deal with distractions. Three generic, common bottlenecks The fact that it's a bottleneck does not mean that it's a useless behavior One: Planning Three kinds of planning (today, foreseeable future, and intentions) Two: Maintaining awareness of our environment Covey: the circle of control and the circle of concern Are we aware of the right things (scope) What is the useful intensity of our awareness. Three: efficiency of sub processes The first: Sub processes that take our attention that probably shouldn't The second: Would it be useful for us to be more efficient in some sub-processes? I think that we make a common error in that we start working on the second process before we get phase one straight. If you aren’t dealing with interruptions, there’s no real need for you to work on your typing speed. You don’t have the attentional space to deal with that and won’t get it done. So, the search for tools and the next app that will “save my productivity” – let me save you some time; it doesn’t exist (at least not yet). Recap www.linkedin.com/in/larrytribble larry@dobusyright.com…
WFH: Don't Fall For the Hidden Challenge Most everybody I hear wants to work from home. I’ve posted previously that most employees see WFH as a convenience and a perk. Is it possible that WFH is not all upside? What if WFH presents challenges to our thriving. I’m all about thriving, so I think you should know about this challenge that Gallup is reporting. And I think the challenge is one we can face with the proper ideas and techniques. So WFH can support our thriving rather than representing a challenge to it. For the record, I think WFH is generally good for people and good for companies. Situations vary, of course, but both sides save money, time, and stress, so why not? In addition, WFH forces managers to develop good managerial tactics (‘cause the bad ones don’t work as well) which is good for everyone. What’s the situation Gallup studies Engagement Definition of Engagement – similar to passion Definition of well-being Correlation between engagement and well-being Work styles (e.g. “remote capable”) History of remote work and WFH – WFH a perk? History of remote work and WFH Programming jobs were first in work from home But WFH was rare The impact of COVID - universal WFH Then leadership changed their minds (again) The debate on WFH continues, based on opinion not data Productivity Engaged = productive (most likely) The relationship between remote and knowledge work When engagement is up our work is energizing, promising, positive. Fun? Autonomy is generally considered useful to motivation Well-being should be a primary goal of productivity So why are well-being and engagement diverging The personal factor in WFH Anecdote “your best people…” About management The level of “external” management What is “external” management “Agency” and “Freedom” are good things, right? But are they the most productive for us? Hypothesis: to achieve our greatest levels of productivity we need management Why do we dislike management Intrinsic motivation as compared to extrinsic motivation. Public goals are one of several evidences of our need for external accountability the manager in the organization produces accountability It’s a good thing to have a boss To help us prioritize our work. Bad managers: poorly trained and poor promotion habits Lack of external management in WFH The challenge of self-management The well-being component is probably reflecting the challenge of self-Management. “Adulting is hard.” (Sigh) It's easier to complain about somebody else not managing you well than it is to manage yourself well. Self management similar to management of others I think the data point to this notion of self-management Good management is helpful Management is “support me as I do this work”, the “manager as coach models” Engaging life coaching is hiring a manager, hiring a coach Growth of coaching is co-incident with the increase in remote work and the increase in knowledge work That's what this podcast is about Exploring the idea of self-management A big component of that is mindset… recognizing that you do need to manage yourself The goal here is for both engagement and well-being to go up together Let's take a much closer look at our need for… management (in its most positive sense) larry@dobusyright.com www.linkedin.com/in/larrytribble…
Eradicating information overload. The goal of personal information management is to put processes and tools around our information so we can “manage” it – that means control it, tame it, have fewer emergencies around it. Our fear that we don’t have it well-managed causes us stress and anxiety – we call this ‘information overload’. So, a feeling of information overload is an indication that we don’t have our information managed well. After all, if you have a feeling of “bill overload”, you would look at your finances and budget, right? But is information overload a USEFUL term? Does it help us understand and deal with the problem? Or is it just a clickbait? Here, we’ll look into the definition of information - understanding the situation is a key to success. If Information Overload and/or the associated stress is a primary concern for you, this is your episode. Definition of information We don’t really have a good one – and that’s coming from an expert We think we can dimly grasp what information is… its related to some way of conveying 'something'. We even use information to convey 'something' to ourselves with notes, etc. For more, see James Gleick's book The Information But is information an independent thing? Information and attention are symbiotic. Example – regular radio pulses from astronomy. Is that information? How does this relate to overload? Information itself is not something that impinges on us. It can’t do that. But we do feel stress – meaning we feel like there's more than we can deal with - about 'something'. Is our problem really communication overload? Communication impinges on us. Communication means information used in a way that has a message (content) and usually has a signal. (we refer to both content and signal as information) We get shouted at - communicated AT Is our problem really content overload? There's no such thing as information overload in a library - content, in itself, has no means to impinge on us If books hollered at you and they weren't well organized, the library would be a horror show. So, this is Information that's well managed and has organizational schemes. In personal information management, one of the better metaphors is to have one's own personal library Is our problem really signal overload? The amount of incoming signal has never been so high The informational content of a signal itself is pretty low. Phones ring, computers beep, screens flash. We think this the right approach. But almost every signal is under our control It's signal overload. So, we've also got to think about the signals that we allow and those that we create for ourselves Conclusion/recap www.linkedin/in/larrytribble larry@doubsyright.com.…
This episode is about the outcomes you can achieve with the information and coaching I am able to give. This is important, because it's gonna be work. It's not hard work but it is work. You'll need to change a couple of thought patterns and build a new habit or two. And in order for you to do that work, you need to know what's in it for you: what's going to happen when you do it. I’ll talk about what other clients have experienced as they've adopted this attention management mindset. The goal is nothing short of making you a better worker and making your life easier. That's two things, not one that depends on the other. What I mean is not that your life's going to be easier because you're a better worker. It's two things. Work's going to be easier to deal with and life's going to be easier to deal with. Outcome: better work/life balance One of the primary pressures on productivity is the notion of work life balance We’re doers of many things in both work and life spheres So, we have two claims on our attention A third primary claim on our attention - entertainment. It's attention consuming. Attention is the primary constraint in modern life The bottleneck on on 'productivity' is our ability to pay attention to getting things done Our work is very much mental work What is it we get better at with attention management? Parallel to athleticism in sports General education - things that apply to all work Underlying even that are abilities that allow us to perform work well We need to develop skills to have our attention where it needs to be when we need for it to be there. There's simply not a word for it in the English language. Attention helps us with the "infinite number" of things that we've got to do If we don't handle that set of things very well they absorb too much of our attention We need a concept of wasted attention If we get better at both work and life (independently), then we’ve got more space to “balance” the two. We come to see that they are not automatically in competition all the time Other outcomes that we can expect You'll get better at your work, regardless of what you do. The important notion of "deliverables" and why attention is critical Better opportunities in your career Better at tasks that constitute 'life' Better at learning, the most basic knowledge work skill An aside on the stress related to competition Corporate world: competition for promotion Sales: competition with other products / solutions Our business schools are focused on models of industry competitiveness Economics teaches us scarcity and competition. If we know we're more skilled, we can face competition with less fear and stress Recap larry@dobusyright.com www.linkedin.com/in/larrytribble…
I want to describe calm productivity. And I want to contrast the results of attention management to the results of efforts to do time management. I’m going to take you over to a recording of a public talk I did at a conference at UA. It’s titled: "The Three Enemies of Productivity". The actual thing that we all want is productivity or efficiency (which are probably synonyms, for the most part). Productivity and efficiency both mean outputs per unit input. When we talk about productivity, we typically think of outputs per unit time. On the other hand, when we're talking about organizational productivity we may be talking about maximizing output per dollar cost or other things. But when we talk about individual productivity, personal productivity and knowledge work, then typically we're going to wind up talking about maximizing results per unit time. And that's fine. But maximization of that is not a “flow” state. It is not calm productivity. It’s “hurry culture”. The equations come from physical product studies Physical product is not variable Delivery mechanisms are critical in knowledge work because information must be comprehensible Part of the product is this comprehensibility Less so in the physical product world Implications of the physical-product-based efficiency equations How this plays in “time” management The first thing is to get rid of waste The notion of “wasting time” is challenging - many things LOOK like waste. So, we try to shrink time. But “speeding up” is bad for us, although “less time” is often good. Poor utilization of the asset (downtime) is the first waste. We've got to understand what the asset is What's being challenged for us is not exactly our time. It's our attention. And, there's lots of ways that our attention could be wasted. There is no real way to ‘overclock’ If I can make you go faster than you're comfortable going, then you're going to start making mistakes. Trying to make somebody go faster than they can is the result of a focus on time management. In the extreme, rushing to make time efficient is cutting corners Rushing does nothing to give us a sense of of calm, and peaceful. Macro waste of attention I don't Talk about macro waste. Use the Covey quadrants. We can't be Attention intensive for 8, 10, or 12 hours a day. “Losing” our attention We don't yet know what "leaves" when we lose our focus. An example of talking about attention in the wrong way Micro wastes of attention. Task switching has an enormous cost in attention. Two reasons for focus The three primary 'micro' wastes of attention (the Keynote) Interruption Multitasking Distraction ...and how to deal with them I enjoy giving this keynote. It helps me spread the message about the core of productivity. If you know someone who needs to hear it, share or get them in touch with me for a keynote. www.linkedin.com/in/larrytribble larry@dobusyright.com…
Our attention is over-allocated by a nexus of events. This episode is what to do about that. I'm gonna acknowledge something that I'm not a big fan of. Apparently April is stress awareness month. So, if you weren't aware of stress, stress is a thing. I think most of us are aware of it. I don't want to be a curmudgeon but oh my word. Yes, I'm already aware of all of the different months that have some awareness attached to that. About stress… My promise to you is: if you practice good attention management, that will lead to a new level of productivity for you. That productivity will interact with your level of stress around 1) your to-do list and 2) the information that you need to manage such that your level of stress will go down. In this episode, I'm going to try and do a couple of different things. One is I'm going to tell you a little bit about stress. I’ll give you a great resource around stress. Two is we're going to talk about a really strange notion in our modern world; it's called contentment. If you've never heard that word before I get it, and we'll talk about what that is. Stress versus contentment and achieving some sense of peace, calmness, and clarity. And dare I say it, happiness? This is all based on our attention and the fact that we're at a nexus of events. These events are colliding such that the world is putting us, more precisely our attention, under intense pressure. The intensity of pressure is something that we have not dealt with before, as a culture, as a society. There’s an attention-based stress challenge. Society and culture are placing huge demands on us. It's not a published demand; nobody notified you that this would be happening. That set of forces is the third thing that we'll talk about today. What is stress? Stress is the difference between our expectation and what we experience in reality In this sense, it is closely related to frustration. The feeling is like frustration The Myth of Stress – Andrew Bernstein The only way to deal with it is to learn new expectations (not easy) Our stated expectation – this is just a busy time (month, quarter) – is not reality Also, there seems to be an unstated assumption that we’ll just get better at this as a culture or society. Another false expectation Contentment Example of escalating expectations: the notion of a 'prom-posal' The only term I can come up with at present is: child inflation. Contentment is counter-cultural The present culture has associated contentment with inability - inability to achieve - or poverty, inability to pay for it. We don't want to be seen as incapable of living up to this cultural Norm The factors around our attention Fact 1: the level of attention getting is higher than ever. We’re all trying to get each other’s attention. The level is rising Fact 2: our levels of information and communication are continuing to rise Fact 3: more of us are using our attention as our productive asset Fact 3.5 we are the most entertained society in history And entertainment is a pleasant deployment of our attention. We feel trapped in our frustration over attention My hypothesis is that we wandered into this situation and, therefore, we don't have good tactics to deal with it. That's what I do: give you good tactics to deal with the information- and task-based claims on your attention. That will lower your stress and help you perform better in work. Email me with comments or questions: larry@dobusyright.com And connect with me on LinkedIn to see occasional announcements on episodes and other stuff: www.linkedin.com/in/larrytribble (please mention the podcast).…
The happiness at work episode. Yay. I’m happy to be at work. Last time we talked about pessimism versus optimism. A closely related subject is happiness versus misery. I do think that optimism is critical. I've heard it said that your number one goal as an entrepreneur is to protect your optimism. I think it's that important. If you’re in the knowledge Work World and think you're not an entrepreneur and then you probably need to reconsider the definition of Entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is somebody that makes their own deal, that makes their own job. And you should probably be a lot closer to doing that than maybe you think you should be. Standing around getting told what to do all the time. Is not. Fulfilling satisfying, or really very enriching. You got to bring something to the party. So figure out what your thing is and bring it because we need it. And then protect your optimism that you can make a difference in the world. As I'm recording this, it's Easter week and I'm a Christian, I'm very happy. Today is Thursday of Easter week. Which is Maundy Thursday. For those of you who aren't familiar with Christian tradition, Maundy is m-a-u-n-d-y. Traditionally, it's where we celebrate Jesus serving his disciples at the Last Supper and Loving on them in that way. Tomorrow, of course, will be Good Friday, which you may be even more familiar with. If not, Good Friday is traditionally the day that Jesus was crucified. We say good to make the point. A lot of people are particularly happy at Christmas. I like Christmas too, but Easter is nore theologically sound. So I hope you're happy this week too while we talk about happiness at work. Happiness and optimism go hand in hand. If you're optimistic about an outcome, then generally speaking that's going to correlate with some degree of happiness about where you are in the world. It's a confusing topic to some degree. I don't think it's necessary that we get into the controversy, but let's talk about what we all agree on. I think a lot of people don't like work. I think a lot of people have made up their minds that they're not gonna like work. In the minority of cases we don't like work because we work in some nasty environment, really dangerous, those kinds of things. Of interest, of course, is the fact that many of the people who do that sort of thing are really, really passionate about what they do and their unhappiness about it seems at least to be limited if not totally subsumed. People in the military, people in the medical profession, a lot of these areas. That said, if you're listening to this podcast you probably work in a nice comfy office - comfortable chair, air conditioning, you’ve got the tools that you need. You’re pretty comfortable and well-treated. Maybe there's bits and pieces around the edges that you'd prefer were different, fine. I just think we've got to recognize that as part of this happiness equation. Optimism is more productive - last podcast Happiness and optimism go hand in hand Charley Gilkey: happy = 31% greater productivity Attitude is important, particularly in service businesses – “my pleasure” Challenges to happiness at work Last podcast… the meme that realism is a sophisticated approach Desire and "wanting it." Flow state is NOT hard, grunting work I do think that the desire piece is overstated in the culture. Avoid this part of the hustle culture I don't think it has to be hard to be morally good work. Negativity and pessimism around work have two primary components Ways to be happier at work Human beings have a great capacity to enjoy the things that we do. A definition of discipline(s) Strong relationships require disciplines. We call this discipline and learn as small humans to dislike it. I’m disciplined in some areas and not in others. You're likely the same Work-life balance vs. chore-craft balance - from Cal Newport and Scott Young. Craft – doing “the thing” Chore – peripheral to “the thing” Craft transcends the work life conflict Happiness at work is certainly possible. Believing that is half the battle. How we do our work with happiness. Engage the disciplines Understand the indirect relationships Happiness is a big part of Doing Busy Right. Part of it is stress reduction. Part of it is greater throughput. Part of it is greater confidence. In addition, consider some of these other ways to be happy at work. larry@dobusyright.com www.linkedin.com/in/larrytribble…
This one's about optimism and pessimism, and what that has to do with productivity. I and the whole thing is a productivity concern for me. We talk about confidence around these parts. That’s because I think confidence ties to productivity. The tie there is imposter syndrome. We struggle to understand what confidence is. But confidence is fundamental to what we're trying to do, particularly as knowledge workers. By the same token, optimism is fundamental to productivity. A lot of this has to do with long term career growth rather than just simple productivity. We'll leave that career growth potential aside, and just talk about productivity now. The problem The problem is that many people are pessimists If you are not confident in your ability to do something, then your ability to do that thing is going to be quite limited The invisible work that we do leads to negative mental gymnastics like writer's block and imposter syndrome. Our feelings about a thing do have a lot to do with our ability to do and thus I think we should cultivate optimism I’ll give you some tools and motivation to embrace optimism, if you’re an optimist and work to become an optimist, if you’re not Realistic positivity - optimism vs “Toxic positivity” Definition of discipline Mental landscape and productivity The science Learned helplessness Growth mindset is pretty close to a good definition of optimism Grit Counter arguments I'm not a pessimist about me. I'm a pessimist about the world. Optimism as naivete, realism is rational Limiting disappointment by managing expectations Engineering mindset Definition of work Problem solving Tenacity Recap I hope I've convinced you that optimism is the most productive, practical mindset. You should now have some tools to help you cultivate optimism in your life and work. Remember, you've solved many problems and (to date) have survived the worst news you've received. You can do it. larry@dobusyright.com www.linkedin.com/in/larrytribble…
I want to talk about the history of knowledge work productivity. And it's going to involve a lot of different names. It's going to involve the triumvirate, well, the quadrumvirate (that’s the real word), the Mount Rushmore. Only through understanding what they were thinking about can we extend that thinking. Then we can work on knowledge work productivity. We'll go all the way back to the start of the 20th century. We have Frederick Taylor studying “Scientific Management”, which is a study of work, not ‘management’ per se. Then we've got Peter Drucker, and he's important because he was doing all the thinking around knowledge work and how that came about. Stephen Covey taught us that we have to get our mindset right in order to be effective people. David Allen taught us how to use tools and stop using our brains for task and attention management. I might bring in Cal Newport and Thomas Davenport and these different kinds of names, just because of the curiosity factor there. But anyway, Drucker, Covey, Taylor, David Allen, This episode is about: What problem do businesspeople and managers (in particular) have to deal with Why is it an important problem What ways have we tried to deal with this previously What tools are at our disposal to try to solve it now Who is currently presenting solutions and what are they The issue is that our economy, particularly our economic productivity, is changing. We have yet to fully understand how to react to that change. Some history to give us perspective and hints on what to do. 20th century productivity growth Organizational structures - sociology (business structures were not theorized/engineered) Original organizational structures (government/church/military) were monarchy/hierarchy The notion of trade, business, and getting wealthy (via the “business” way) Apprentice -> employee -> growing organization -> modern business problems (management) Used to be everybody worked for the king, who distributed wealth and work It needed to scale and be ‘optimized’, but was never engineered We don't know exactly how it works You got three blacksmiths. All of a sudden it's a managerial problem Most things cultural or sociological there isn't hard science - like business Atom bomb derived from theory and we ‘engineered’ a way to construct one. Same thing with NASA and the space program. Business really was not that way Railroad/telegraph as a management problem (distributed locations). If you need to tell somebody the train's coming, there's no faster way for that information to travel than the train itself. The history of information really correlates to the history of business and culture We can’t communicate quickly enough between different locations for ‘real-time’ management These business/communication structures grew organically, business is perhaps more Darwinian than Darwin Well, all of this was command and control. So what about leadership/governance/control of the organization Now, we have to explain leadership, and this notion of who gets to tell who what to do The ‘great man’ theory Mid 20th century, there was a cult of personality Huge corporations, like General Motors, and they're selling stock, and nobody really understands how that works Government: we've got to understand how this business thing works and explain it to people and regulate it How we began to understand and explain Frederick Taylor "scientific management" and notions of the efficiency of individual workers Peter Drucker In "The Concept of the Corporation" is trying to explain the notion of governance structures, some way to get people to work together We've got big organizations and factories. Got to produce a lot, and so we need to break this down, because nobody, no one person, can produce it all Drucker developed technique for management and the ideas of knowledge work Stephen Covey comes along. He's exploring this idea of technique for ‘effectiveness’. Covey talks effective people in terms of psychological, psychosocial properties of behavior and modes of thought. This is different from previous thought. Now, Knowledge Work improvement (and management) Drucker’s hypothesis: improve the productivity of knowledge work. How do we manage versus how do we strategize? Now, we’ve moved to KW (and management) So, how do we manage ourselves and others The goal of such management is to improve the productivity of knowledge work. David Allen started to use Taylorist thinking in improving knowledge work. My offering on how to manage Knowledge Work is the Attention Compass - a successor to Allen's methodology. Focus: What are the components of knowledge work and how can we improve them? What is the system that needs to be put in place? Our community is working on this and needs your insights and voice. Get in touch. larry@dobusyright.com or find me on LinkedIn.…
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