Government Executive - Authors - Elizabeth Grace Saunders

How to Rebalance When You Get Off Track

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Tue, 05 May 2015 16:47:08 -0400

One of the biggest misconceptions about time management is that if you just get the right systems in place, all of your time management stress will be solved forever. But that way of thinking is simply not accurate.

Your systems and routines are extremely important, but they are not everything. These strategies are more or less the equivalent of building yourself a boat so that you’re not clinging to drift wood as you go through life. But even in a boat, you still need to captain your ship to maneuver through the various weather changes and obstacles that cross your path.

“Captaining your ship” relates to adjusting to changing circumstances and also to managing your emotions. Chapter 2 of my book The 3 Secrets of Effective Time Management is on overcoming crippling emotions and Chapter 3 is on empowering mental patterns because I know these are foundational for lasting behavioral change.

To get you started and help you to stay calm in what can be a spring season, here are a few tips on how to achieve peace now:

Lean the Other Way

When you notice that you get off track, a temptation can be to just give up. Instead of saying to yourself, “I got off track to the right so now I’ll veer to the left to get back on track,” you keep putting more energy in the direction you’re going until you get more and more off balance. A better way to handle things is to put your focus and attention to re-centering. For example: My e-mail inbox has gotten completely out of control. I’m going to set aside one day to get it cleared out so then I can focus on maintaining it.

Forget the Negative

Whatever we focus on increases in size. When we talk or think again and again and again and again about what didn’t go right or what we wish we had done better, we increase its power over us. It’s good to reflect upon and learn from situations, but dwelling on them can lead to unnecessary tension, fear and anxiety. Develop a short memory for mistakes and failures by reflecting on what you want to do differently next time and then letting them go. When you ignore the negative, it gets bored and goes away.

Repeat the Positive

Another way to push out the negative is to immerse ourselves in the positive:

I find that it’s incredibly helpful to listen to music that puts me in a positive mind-set.
Fun YouTube videos like this one can also help: Jessica’s Daily Affirmations
Quotes also have incredible power: “Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.”—Jerry Rice

Meditation and prayer can also help us to regain perspective. As one of my clients so eloquently stated: The sun is always there but through the course of our days, clouds can cover it. Meditation is a way of clearing the clouds so we can see the sun again.

May these strategies help you to achieve peace as you approach the rest of 2015.

(Image via Dragon Images/Shutterstock.com)

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Taking the Idealistic Approach to Everything on Your To-Do List Is Not Ideal

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Fri, 01 May 2015 16:00:00 -0400

Many of you are “idea” people who:

Often think of different ways to approach a problem
Like to do things “ideally”
Care about quality
Feel a bit dissatisfied with most results

Your pursuit of excellence is a huge asset when pursuing your most important time investments as Cal Newport so eloquently describes in his post about remarkability. But when you take a high-quality, idealistic approach to everything from selecting toothpaste to composing a masterpiece, it’s almost impossible to achieve your ideal overall life and schedule.

To help you work through this dilemma, I devised the INO System to assist you in thinking about how you approach each item on your to do-list. This is not an “ABC” or “123” method of deciding what to do in a day. Instead this is a way of deciding on the benefit of applying more time and energy to an activity that is already in your schedule. Here are definitions of the three types of activities and potential examples (you get to decide how your daily activities fit into each category):

Investment: Spending more time on these activities could lead to a significant increase in the benefits you receive. Professional example: a significant career enhancing project. Personal example: quality time on important relationships.

Neutral: These activities give back as much as you put into them. Professional example: hourly work. Personal example: pleasure reading.

Optimize: More time spent on these activities decreases benefits. Professional example: routine e-mail or paperwork. Personal example: cleaning the kitchen.

At the start of each day, you can label each item with an I, N, or O to help you remember whether it’s worth putting more time and energy into that activity. In order to maintain balance, even the “investment” activities will need to have some time boundaries. But in general, you want to:

Complete the “optimize” activities as quickly as possible. (They charge an interest rate.)
Limit the amount of time you spend on “neutral” activities. (They have a 0% interest rate.)
Maximize the time you spend moving forward on “investment” activities. (They pay you back with interest.)

(Image via Elnur/Shutterstock.com)

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The Secret to Reducing Deadline Stress

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 09:00:00 -0400

When you and your stakeholders don’t see eye-to-eye on the timing of communications and deadlines—stress happens.

Why is setting time expectations so important?

The challenge for leaders is that if you don’t set expectations, your stakeholders will. That means you may go for months—or even years—feeling like you’re constantly being thrown for a loop by everyone else’s whims. Most constituents don’t know what’s reasonable in your position, so for everyone to be happy you need to let them know what to expect.

What’s one of the biggest problem areas?

Communication is by far one of the biggest issues. If leaders don’t set clear boundaries on when they will and won’t be available to answer constituents’ and colleagues’ questions, they never feel like they have a break.

What do you suggest to set time expectations about email, voicemail, etc.?

Set limits on when you and your staff will be accessible, and as much as possible, stick with them. Also, try not to set the expectation that you will answer communication immediately. If you consistently answer email and voicemail in about 24 hours, constituents and colleagues won’t be upset if they don’t hear from you right away.

What about when you don’t hear back from colleagues?

When colleagues don’t communicate a decision until right before a deadline, it can wreak havoc on your workflow. You can use this type of approach to set standards for communication with your colleague:

Dear [name of colleague]:

I’ve attached the proposal for the work we discussed. In order to meet your deadline of Friday, December 17, I’ll need to hear back from you by Friday, December 10. If I receive a decision from you after the 10th, we’ll need to move back the deadline.

We look forward to serving you well.

All the best,

Leader with Good Boundaries

Are there any other ways leaders can eliminate deadline stress?

If you don’t make promises to deliver decisions or services “by tomorrow” or “by next week,” you can reduce stress by increasing your timeline. Also, leaders shouldn’t make commitments to a deadline until they have a clear sense of when they can complete the work. Just because a constituent or colleague wants something as soon as possible, doesn’t mean that you should stay up until 2 a.m. trying to finish everything for them.

Any other final time tips?

If there’s any part of your workflow that’s causing you time stress, ask yourself the question: “Should I be setting my expectations differently for myself or others?” Most of the time the answer is “yes.”

(Image via Syda Productions/Shutterstock.com)

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Time Management: Taming Your Inner Rebel

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Thu, 22 May 2014 16:00:00 -0400

But I don’t waaant to. Attempts to start or follow a routine come to a screaming halt when your inner routine rebel just doesn’t want to cooperate. No matter how much you recognize on an intellectual level that you need more structure, on an emotional level, you resist it.

Why? Why keep yourself in a place of frustration and guilt when you could experience the freedom of operating in strong, powerful routines?

As a time coach and the author of The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: How to Achieve More Success With Less Stress, I’ve investigated this question alongside my coaching clients, many of whom tend toward the naturally spontaneous side.

Through this real-world inquiry, I’ve discovered that one or more of these blocks may hold you back from success in implementing routines. Also, you may have different blocks for different routines. For example, a desire for guilty pleasure may sabotage your bedtime routine while a desire for control may thwart your planning efforts. The next time your inner routine rebel stages a revolt against the authority of routine, try one of these tactics to get back on track.

Desire for Control

One of the biggest reasons you don’t want to follow a routine is that you want to feel in control of your choice of what you do or don’t do. But as anyone with no routines can testify, a lack of structure can leave you feeling completely out of control. Here are some ways to reframe the way you think about routines so that you can still feel in charge:

I always have a choice of whether I follow my routine. I decide to make a routine because it allows me to more easily and consistently move forward on what’s most important to me, especially when I have low willpower. The right amount of structure empowers me to stop worrying about the mundane details of life and frees me to achieve my full potential and to focus on exciting new ventures.
My schedule is my servant, not my master. The point of mapping out my priorities is to free me to focus on the activity of the moment—or even do something spontaneous—without worry that I am forgetting something or should be doing something else.

Resentment

Most people think of passive aggressive behavior as something that happens between two people. But when you have an internal routine rebel, you act passive aggressively with yourself. You can create this resentment against your self-imposed routines when you try to force yourself to do something that you feel you “should” do to make others happy, or meet some sort of societal norms, but that doesn’t truly align with your internal values or priorities. Or deny yourself time to do something else that matters a great deal to you, such as spending time with friends, reading, playing video games, or running.

To avoid this internal deadlock:

Make sure that you have a really good reason why you want to practice a routine. If you can’t come up with one, you may want to drop the routine entirely. There’s no reason to feel guilty for not doing something that truly doesn’t matter to you
Set up a system of rewards, such as once I go to the gym I can read Lifehacker. As this article on the power of relaxation to enhance your productivity explains, you perform better when you emotionally and mentally know that you will have time to rest.

Guilty Pleasure

If you fight with an inner routine rebel now, then as a child you probably took delight in the thrill you could achieve by “getting away with something,” especially in regard to bedtime. You felt like you had won when you could stay up late reading with a flashlight or not go to sleep at all at a sleepover. This desire for guilty pleasure can carry over into a sleep-deprived adulthood with staying up late watching TV, surfing the Internet, reading, or really doing anything other than sleeping. Even though you know have no authority figure, you still feel like you’re getting away with something—and in the moment, it feels good.

But the next day, you feel exhausted, and you really wish you had gone to bed. If this sounds an awful lot like you, it’s time to engage in some self-parenting regarding your bedtime routine. I’ve adapted these steps from the Love and Logic methods that typically apply to parenting little kids but can help with disciplining yourself.

Make yourself a goal of when you will turn out the lights for the night instead of putting pressure on yourself to fall asleep at a certain time. You have control over the position of your body and the illumination of your space but not over your brain activity.

Start to wind down 40 to 60 minutes before you go to bed so that you have a good chance of hitting your target and of your brain slowing down and being ready to sleep when the time comes.

Since you aren’t literally a child, you can give yourself the choice to stay up but frame the choice in terms of the consequences of your decision. This could sound like, “I can get in bed by 10 p.m. or I can feel exhausted tomorrow.” By thinking beyond the immediate alternatives to the conclusion reached from that choice, you heighten your awareness of your true decision.

This desire for guilty pleasures also can lead to not wanting to follow routines in other areas. Here are some ways that you can reframe other choices:

In regard to eating, you can tell yourself something like: “I can stick to my meal routine or I can gain weight and feel sick.”
When you struggle with perpetual lateness due to the addiction to the buzz of gaining “extra time” by attempting to squeeze more than you can actually do into a day, try this line with yourself: “I can leave in enough time to arrive at the start time or I can make the people I’m meeting feel disrespected.”
When you contrast of positive action against the negative consequences of the alternative, you make the right decision feel less restrictive and the wrong one seem less pleasurable.

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Why Being Happier Helps You Manage Your Time

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 09:00:00 -0500

This question may be familiar to you if you struggle, like so many of us, with time management. We may be clear in our minds about what we need to do, but for whatever reason we can’t seem to implement real changes in our behavior.

As a time coach, I’ve seen over and over again that when people hit this road block, it’s time for them to stop and examine their emotions. Our analytical minds may resist this idea, viewing the ominous forest of feelings as suspicious at best, and terrifying at worst. We may even find ourselves thinking that acknowledging the role our emotions play in our time management (or as I like to call it, “time investment”) makes us look weak.

But the truth is that having emotions doesn’t mean we’re weak—it simply means we’re human. And the more we recognize and address our emotions, the more power we have to direct our own life, including our time investment choices.

In his book The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt describes the relationship between emotions and rational thought this way:

“Our emotional side is an elephant and our rational side is its rider. Perched atop the elephant, the rider holds the reins and seems to be the leader. But the rider’s control is precarious because the rider is so small relative to the elephant. Anytime the 6-ton elephant and rider disagree about which direction to go, the rider is going to lose.”

There are several crippling emotions that can hold us back from effective time investment, including ambivalence, fear, frustration, guilt, shame and feeling overwhelmed. Here’s how to get started on the way to a more peaceful and productive life.

Address Your Fear

A real or perceived threat to someone or something important to you creates a sense of fear. This is a natural part of the human experience, and sometimes it can even signal that a person has a great deal of good things going on in their life, such as a new job, a great relationship or an exciting opportunity. When we have more to care about in our lives, we also have more opportunities for feeling fear. But this emotion can drive unhealthy behaviors when it comes to time management, particularly procrastination.

The good news is that fear doesn’t have to mess with our productivity. We can reduce fear to nothing more than a passing, momentary impact on our lives—it all comes down to how we handle it.

Verbalize it. When we don’t acknowledge our feelings of fear, they can nag at us even more in a desperate attempt to be heard. Instead of turning your back on the fear, listen to it, figure out what it’s saying and if it helps, tell someone else. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing with another person, try journaling—writing down our feelings has been shown to enhance physical health and psychological growth. Often, fears diminish or disappear entirely when we simply express them.
Harness the motivation. If a fear has a legitimate basis (such as the fear of not passing a test because you haven’t studied all semester, or the fear of not excelling in a career because you lack organization), channel the fear into positive action. Instead of rehashing a fear over and over again in your mind, develop a plan and get support for studying or getting organized. If fear pops up again even after you’ve begun implementing the plan, quiet the fear by saying to yourself, “I have a plan, and I’m following it. I can focus on doing what is within my control, and I don’t need to be afraid of the results.” Repeat this to yourself every time fear starts to creep back in, then get back to work.
Develop unconditional happiness. The author C.S. Lewis put it so accurately when he said, “Don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose.” Indeed, one of the best ways to feel less afraid is to realize happiness doesn’t come from anything or any person around you. Make it a habit to practice unconditional self-love and surround yourself with people who will accurately reflect your intrinsic worth—doing so will provide you with the confidence to weather any fears, which means they’re less likely to knock you off track.

Don’t Blame Others

Placing responsibility for our personal happiness on other people’s shoulders is a guaranteed fast track to unhappiness and poor time investment. When we believe that our feelings and our power to improve our situation lie within other people’s control, it’s easy to feel bitter, resentful and downright frustrated with those around us. And when we spend our time thinking about what others should do for us, we’re wasting valuable time and mental space that could be used to solve the issue. We start to believe we have to wait for them to take action, which makes us the victim—and can stall our progress. Here are three steps you can take to address this pattern of behavior:

Claim your power. In almost every situation, we have the ability to do something. Even if it’s as simple as changing your attitude, you’ll have taken a giant leap toward lowering your frustration. The next time you start to get irritated at someone else, ask yourself, “What can I do about this situation?” Then get into action.
Meet your needs. It’s true: People can’t read our minds. Sometimes other people might be completely unaware that you have a need that isn’t being met. Give people the opportunity to respond to your needs by respectfully and directly stating your wishes. After that, if you find that someone is still either unwilling or unable to give you what you need, it’s time to take responsibility for the situation. Need a timeline for a work project? Make one. Want to be more social? Reach out to friends to make some plans. By taking action, you’ll reinforce that you can always do something to make progress.
Assume good intent. Most people don’t purposely try to annoy you; they simply don’t know you’ll find something bothersome. Instead of assuming that they meant to frustrate you, try assuming they didn’t. Then, if necessary, gently remind them of your needs. If you find this really difficult, remember the words of Albert F. Schlieder: “We tend to judge others by their behavior and ourselves by our intentions.” It’s likely that without too much effort, we all can think of at least a time or two when we frustrated someone else without meaning to do so. Think of how you would want to be treated in that situation, and then give others the same benefit of the doubt. It’s a much more productive response than wasting time on feelings of bitterness or disappointment.

By addressing the underlying emotional blocks to effective time investment, we can all learn to be happier, less stressed, and more productive. To your brilliance!

(Image via Maksim Kabakou/Shutterstock.com)

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Why Even Your Surgeon Needs a Coach

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 15:00:00 -0500

How would you feel if you knew your surgeon had a coach? It’s natural if your first thought is: What’s wrong with him?

But according to Atul Gawande, in his The New Yorker article “Coaching a Surgeon: What Makes Top Performers Better,” you should be thrilled. Atul found that coaching really helped him transcend a plateau in his surgeries.

I agree that coaching can absolutely help you move to the next level. But I’ve also found that coaching can lead to brilliant results as a sort of physical therapy or occupational therapy. Here’s what I mean:

Physical Therapy

Sometimes due to our natural abilities or some major challenge that we’ve faced, our habits are too weak to support us in a healthy way. For instance, many of my clients need strength training to build their planning muscles.

Occupational Therapy

A coach can help you when major life changes or increases in responsibility require developing new ways of thinking and acting. This is when your life went to the next level but no one gave you the instructions on how to operate in this new stratosphere.

In my experience, both with coaching others and receiving coaching myself, it can feel a bit embarrassing at first to admit that you really are not sure how to improve. But once you are working alongside someone who understands how to navigate the territory and will encourage you to not give up when it’s hard, everything comes so much easier.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders, CEO of Real Life E®, a company that provides time coaching and training services that help government leaders feel peaceful and accomplished.

(Image via XiXinXing/Shutterstock.com)

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Stress Less By Setting Expectations With Colleagues

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 16:00:00 -0400

When you and your stakeholders don’t see eye-to-eye on the timing of communications and deadlines —stress happens! To help you prevent frustration and feel more in control, here's how to set expectations with customers and colleagues.

So, why is setting time expectations so important?

The challenge for government leaders is that if you don’t set expectations, your stakeholders will. That means you may go for months–or even years–feeling like you’re constantly being thrown for a loop by everyone else’s whims. Most customers don’t know what’s reasonable in your position so for everyone to be happy, you need to let them know what to expect.

Communication is by far one of the biggest issues. If government leaders don’t set clear boundaries on when they will and won’t be available to answer the questions of customers and colleagues they will never feel like they have a break.

How should I set time expectations around email, voicemail, etc.?

Set limits on when you and your staff will be accessible, and as much as possible, stick with them. Also try not to set the expectation that you will answer communication immediately. If you consistently answer email and voicemail in about 24 hours, customers and colleagues won’t be upset if they don’t hear from you right away. (For more info on this topic, check out my blog post on How to Set E-mail Expectations.)

What about when you don’t hear back from colleagues?

When colleague don’t communicate a decision until right before a deadline, it can wreak havoc on your workflow. You can use this type of approach to set standards for communication with your colleague:

Dear [name of colleague]:

I’ve attached the proposal for the work we discussed. In order to meet your deadline of Friday, July 19, I’ll need to hear back from you by Friday, July 12. If I receive a decision from you after the 10th, we’ll need to move back the deadline.

We look forward to working with you.

All the best,

Government Leader

What other ways can government leaders eliminate deadline stress?

If you don’t make promises to deliver decisions or services “by tomorrow” or “by next week,” you can reduce stress by increasing your timeline. Also, government leaders shouldn’t make commitments to a deadline until they have a clear sense of when they can complete the work. Just because a customer or colleague wants something as soon as possible, doesn’t mean that you should stay up until 2 a.m. trying to finish everything for them.

If there’s any part of your workflow that’s causing you time stress, ask yourself the question, “Should I be setting my expectations differently for myself or others?” Most of the time the answer is, “Yes!”

Elizabeth Grace Saunders, CEO of Real Life E®, a company that provides time coaching and training services that help government leaders feel peaceful and accomplished

Image via rangizzz/Shutterstock.com

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How to Beat Information Overload and Get Things Done

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:00:00 -0400

I’m finding that lately overwhelm is rampant. Whether it's checking email, going to meetings or using social media, the demands on our time are extreme and potentially endless. To combat this time assault, I’ve developed this two-part method:

Ask Yourself, Why?

Before you engage in any activity, always ask yourself questions such as:

Why am I doing this activity?
Why am I spending this much (or this little) time on it?
Why would someone care about what I’m doing?
Who does this work serve?
Will this advance my organization's mission?
How does this activity reflect on my personal brand?
Does this activity energize me and focus me on my important goals?

These kind of questions work with anything from networking, deciding if you need to be in a meeting or even Twitter updates—basically if you can’t see a clear ROI on an activity, you might want to stop or reduce your time doing it. If you simply enjoy doing something, you can still do it on your personal time. But don’t waste time on tasks that produce no results.

For instance, when I worked exclusively as a freelance writer before becoming a time coach and trainer, I did not write a blog. I made this decision based on the fact that my clients were not interested in hiring me based on blogging. Instead, my clients cared more about seeing me face-to-face on a somewhat regular basis. At that time, it made more sense to spend a couple of hours a week visiting their offices rather than writing posts.

Time Block Everything

The mental state required to effectively process email or scan tweets is not the same as the one needed to write a cohesive report. One of the biggest ways to make writing or any project that requires a high level of mental concentration take FOOOREEEVER is to flit between the project and email or social media. You must block out distraction.

I’ve found it most effective to answer all of my email and do all my processing at the beginning of the day. Then I can take a little break to get a cup of coffee or stretch my legs and focus completely for a couple of hours on a major assignment such as an article. Once that’s done, I take a little break, maybe check email for 10 minutes, and then focus on the next important task.

To stick to your schedule and overcome distraction, try these techniques:

If you’re a twitterer, decide when you will go on Twitter and for how long, then stop once you reach your limit.
If your job requires lots of email correspondence, designate a certain time slot or at least number of hours you will spend emailing, then stick with it.
If your job requires you to read lots of content and reports, collect them all in a single electronic or paper folder and then designate a certain amount of time each day or week to review it. Stop when you reach the limit.

With the onslaught of electronic demands on our time, the lie is that you will always benefit from more information, but that’s simply not true. By picking the best information, learning from it, and applying it, you will be far ahead of the people who fritter away their lives reading yet another Facebook update while accomplishing nothing.

Read Less, Do More

It will take time to develop the habit of focus when you’re used to falling for the endless lure of of mindless web browsing or email. But as you decide on what’s most important and set time limits, you’ll start to develop new habits and the ability to maximize the value of your time on and off the clock.

Image via Oleg Golovnev/Shutterstock.com

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6 Simple Ways to Expand Your Network

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:17:00 -0500

I completely understand that you have a certain relational capacity and that over investing in meeting new people is not a good use of time. However, through recent conversations with new additions to my network, I’ve been reminded of the incredible importance of expanding my horizons in this area.

New connections are the life blood of your career that can open up new worlds of opportunity to you.

If you’re someone who struggles with making time for this activity, I want to share two key principles with you and then a few tips.

Principle #1: Routine is key. If you don’t naturally make connections with new people, you need to set up some type of routine to make this happen on a regular basis. That could be something as small as spending 10 minutes on LinkedIn every Friday afternoon or as big as joining the leadership team in a professional organization. The key is that you want to have regular prompts to spend time with new people.

Principle #2: Pace yourself. Unless you are in a field like sales or business development, meeting new people will not always be your highest priority. It’s completely reasonable to set a limit for yourself and to spread out meetings over the proper amount of time. For instance, you may decide that you will have 1 to 2 phone conversations with new people each week and that you will attend one event each month.

Once you have those two principles planted firmly in your mind, you can use these six tips to start connecting with more people:

Start by contacting people you already know or who you had promised to follow up with in the past. Although you may feel a bit embarrassed about the amount of time that has passed, most people will be happy to hear from you and rekindle the connection.
Ask for introductions from others. Cool people generally know cool people. It’s completely acceptable to ask if someone might be willing to write a quick e-mail introduction that could lead you to setting up a phone conversation or face-to-face meeting.
Talk to new people when you see them. This may seem beyond obvious, but as a general role, we like to stick to our comfort zones. That means that even at networking events our natural inclination is to only spend time with the people we already know. When you’re out and about–at a meeting, at a conference, at a networking event, or even at lunch–consider saying, “Hello,” to the people around you. Not all may lead to good connections, but you could have some big breakthroughs for relatively little effort.
Use social media strategically. Social media typically doesn’t lead to deep connections with people, but when used strategically, it can be incredibly helpful in facilitating an initial introduction. One of my friends, Shama Hyder Kabani, recently released her 2012 edition of “the zen of social media marketing” that contains incredibly practical advice on how to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and other social media tools for business. If you’re looking for step-by-step practical advice, I recommend that you check it out.
Plan in one-on-one time. Talking to someone for 3 minutes as you wait in line for food rarely leads to a pay off. But scheduling a phone call or a lunch meeting for even 30 minutes can have a huge return on investment. It’s completely reasonable to plan these one-on-one meetings even a month out from when you meet. But the important point is that you get it on the calendar so that you’ll be prompted to make it a priority.
Follow up in 24 hours. I make it a personal goal to follow up on anything that I said I would do within 24 hours of meeting someone. This helps me to take advantage of the benefits from the connection and to keep the professional relationship moving forward.

I hope these tips open you up to new and better connections this year!

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the author of The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: How to Achieve More Success With Less Stress and is the founder of Real Life E Time Coaching & Training. For more time investment tips, check out www.ScheduleMakeover.com.

Image via Shutterstock/Oleksiy Mark

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Never Be Late Again With The 'On Time is Late' Principle

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 07:00:00 -0500

Life rarely perfectly follows a plan. But that doesn’t mean that you should just give up and not make a plan. It means that you should embrace a realistic expectation of what planning can and can not do for you:

Planning Can Not:

Guarantee everything will go perfectly.
Make all work fit within the desired estimates.
Eliminate all unexpected obstacles.

Planning Can:

Give you clarity on your priorities.
Reassure you that you’re not forgetting anything.
Allow you to get the most important things done on time.

The importance of realistic planning was re-emphasized for me in the completion of my book manuscript , which I turned in this summer. I would like to share a bit with you about this simple yet very powerful secret to dramatically reduce stress:

On Time is Late

I’m a realistic optimist in the sense that I think very positively but I plan very responsibly. A very simple, yet important principle that I’ve incorporated into my planning is the idea that “on time is late.”

This principle resulted from the fact that I used to plan to do things “on time,” yet then sometimes ended up super stressed out or slightly missing deadlines whenever something unexpected happened.

To solve that problem and reduce my anxiety, I started setting personal deadlines for myself before the actual deadlines. With short, rather predictable projects, that could look like simply making a goal to get things done the day before they’re due. But with larger, more complex projects, like my book, that means pushing myself to try to get everything done far in advance of when it is due.

For instance, I finished writing my manuscript two and a half weeks before my deadline so that I would have a few weeks to go back through and do the style edits and proofreading. And I’m so glad that I did! This is my first book writing project, and I vastly underestimated how long it would take me to do all of the fine tuning and tweaks. But because I gave myself extra time and a personal deadline before my “real” one, I had the time to do what needed to be done and even to delegate some of the work.

This one mental shift in your approach to planning could dramatically decrease your stress levels. Here are some ideas of how to apply the concept of “on time is late” in other areas of your life:

Prepare for meetings the day before they happen, including reviewing notes, location, and any items you need to bring.
Before you go to the grocery store, look out over the entire week to see if there are any gatherings like a BBQ or a birthday party that require some special food purchases.
When you have a special event that requires a gift, like a wedding, put time into your calendar to shop for the gift on the next possible free weekend or evening. You want to avoid that last-minute panic at Bed Bath & Beyond just minutes before the bride walks down the aisle.
If you have people working for you, delegate projects to them as soon as they come into your inbox instead of waiting until it’s too late to pass them off.
Plan on finishing any large projects like presentations or creative projects at least a couple of days before they are actually due so you have a buffer and time to “sit” on them.
If you need to leave the house at a certain time, get completely ready first and then work on optional activities.
When you have a big trip, go through a checklist like this one at least a week before you leave.
If it’s very important you arrive somewhere on time that’s very far away, try to arrive the night before. If it’s very important you arrive somewhere on time that’s near, give yourself at least a 30 minute buffer unless you’re in a big city in which you’ll want to plan even more time.

Aiming for early will play a dramatic role in helping you to achieve more success with less stress.

Image via Pressmaster/Shutterstock.com

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3 Ways to Leverage Your Time to Restore Work-Life Balance

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:00:00 -0500

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When you care deeply about your career and receive a great deal of satisfaction from what you do, this phrase can become the mantra for your life: When in doubt, work.

Woke up early? Work. Just arrived home? Work! Free Saturday afternoon? Work.

In and of itself loving your work and being eager to get things done is a great quality. Ambition and a desire for excellence can take you far. But problems ensue when this mindset creates an overall sense of stress that you have never done enough and guilt whenever you engage in activities other than work.

According to a Polaris Marketing Research poll, 42 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds reported feeling very stressed, and 49 percent of female participants said their stress levels had increased in the last five years. That’s a problem.

During my first few years of owning a business, I struggled with this work-whenever-I-can mindset and overcame it. This led to me found Real Life E Time Coaching & Training to help others accomplish more with peace and confidence. Through these experiences, I’ve discovered some key strategies for investing your time wisely so you succeed both on and off the job.

Here are some of my key tips for success.

Diversify Your Time Investments

Wanting to devote a significant amount of time and energy to your professional life makes sense when you have your eyes set on making a significant impact in your field. But if you don’t intentionally diversify your time investments, you may end up with an unnecessarily high-risk portfolio.

For example, I begin putting together my clients’ ideal schedule by blocking in time for sleep, exercise, and relationships. Often these activities get relegated to the “time left over once all my work is done.” However given the pace of work and life, this typically means they get entirely squeezed out or reduced to an inadequate number of hours.

Getting proper sleep and exercise not only makes you feel better, but can literally add productive years to your life. According to a study published in the European Heart Journal, participants who slept less than six hours per night had a 48 percent greater chance of developing or dying from heart disease and a 15 percent greater chance of developing or dying from stroke.

Also, I’ll never forget when I sat in outplacement classes as a 21-year-old after having gotten laid off from my first job. All around me, people who had worked for their companies for 10… 20… 30… years lamented how they had sacrificed their health, their family, and their friends for the sake of their jobs and then been let go when they were no longer necessary. At that point, I vowed to make sure to invest in my relationships outside of work so that no matter what happened, I would have a safe place to land.

Bottom Line: Determine your top life priorities and make sure you allocate the proper time investment to all of them.

Invest Wisely & Deeply

A key element of making space in our life for both quality work and a healthy life outside the office is setting realistic expectations for ourselves and others. You have a better chance of leveraging the impact of your time when you put the most effort into your most important professional activities. Try these practical strategies for making this happen:

Determine the activities that will have the greatest impact on bringing you toward your goals, raising your professional profile, and advancing your career. Block in time for those on your schedule first.
Take note of what activities you do on a regular basis that don’t align with your goals and aren’t leading to any substantial results. If possible, stop doing them, delegate them, or spend less time on them so you can increase your investment in other activities. (If this involves committee work, try to cultivate a replacement or ask your boss about potential ways you could gracefully exit.)
Before accepting new responsibilities, evaluate them against what you currently have on your schedule. If they have a higher return on investment, consider accepting them but decreasing or eliminating your involvement in another task. If they don’t have a higher return on investment and you have a choice of whether to participate, thank the people who made the request for the offer but let them know that unfortunately you don’t have the time to fully invest yourself in this new project right now.

Although it may feel tempting to think that you’re a “slacker” for not saying, “Yes,” to every opportunity that comes your way, you’ll almost always end up more productive for focusing on what matters most. I don’t believe that everyone needs to limit themselves to a 40-hour workweek as a recent Inc Magazine article, “Why Working More Than 40 Hours a Week is Useless,” advocates. But I do believe that consistently putting in long hours dramatically decreases your productivity and motivation to make progress on what’s most important.

Bottom Line: Focus on your most important professional activities and evaluate the return on investment before taking on new commitments.

Set Up Automatic Time Investment

Once you’ve consciously decided to diversify your time investments and to focus on what’s most important, how do you actually stick to your plan when you face the temptation to stay just a few minutes longer or check your e-mail just one more time before bed?

As author Tony Schwartz explains in a Harvard Business Review article entitled “Why You Need to Make Your Life More Automatic,” we have a very limited amount of willpower. These type of automatic time investment strategies provide the structure and motivation to keep you on track in the heat of the moment:

Make commitments to others that give you a reason to stop one activity and start something new. As Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, shares in her recent Inc interview, she leaves work at 5:30 p.m. so she can be at family dinner at 6 p.m. You could set up a similar type of system by making dinner commitments to family, friends, or your significant other.
Sign yourself up for healthy activities that keep you accountable. Purchasing a gym membership can give you some motivation to go work out, but signing up for a Zumba class at a specific time or meeting with a personal trainer on a regular basis is even better. These sorts of items make wellness a set part of your schedule.
Use technology to your advantage by installing a program on your computer that will start automatic shut-down at the time you designate so that you’re less tempted to get more screen time instead of going to bed.

Bottom Line: Make commitments that reinforce your ideal time investments when your willpower is high so that you’ll follow through when your willpower is low.

With these time investment strategies, you should have an easier time of creating a well-balanced and successful life. As with any sort of investment, be sure to rebalance on a regular basis, such as every three to six months so that you keep your life on track for the greatest success.

(Image via Anatoli Styf/Shutterstock.com)

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3 Email Auto Responders to Break Email Addiction

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:00:00 -0500

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Email Addiction Has Reached Epidemic Proportions. If You Don’t Take Proper Precautions, It Will Soon Take Over the Planet.

Seriously. According to a Kings College study that Tim Ferriss often cites, email and phone distractions lower people’s IQ more than drugs. Crazy!

In response to this national crisis, I have been developing a email Detox Program. But to get the ball rolling, I wanted to share a few effective email auto responders that can help you break the vicious cycle of treating your email message indicator like a fire alarm.

Once you set the expectation that you will not immediately respond to email, these auto-responders will become unnecessary. But for now, the emails below can be your “patch” during the detox process.

Email Auto Responder #1

Tim Ferriss provides a form email auto responder in Chapter 7 of his book The 4-Hour Workweek. This email corresponds with his suggested method of checking email at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Email Auto Responder #2

This is an auto responder used by Mitch Matthews, a trainer, coach, and connector extraordinaire! Mitch says it’s helped him to psychology let go of the compulsion to constantly respond to email.

Subject Line: “Thanks for connecting! Re: Subject Line of Original email”

Text:

Hello!

Thanks for your email.

I’m sending this to let you know that due to a number of exciting
projects, I am only checking and responding to email once a day.

You and your email are important.

So… if you need an urgent response, please call the Matthews Group,
Inc. toll-free number at 800.491.5316.

If it is not urgent, know that I will respond to your email as
quickly as possible.

Thanks again for connecting and thanks for understanding this move
towards greater effectiveness.

Have a fantastic day!

Mitch

–
Mitch Matthews,
Coach, Speaker & Connector

www.akickinthepants.com

p: 800.491.5316
f: 515.221.3801

Check out these “kick” connection projects:

www.doyouQ.com

www.BIGdreamgathering.com

Email Auto Responder #3

This is an example of an auto responder from Patrick Combs, an amazing speaker and coach who is on on the road frequently. It lets people know that he cares about their message but might not get back to them immediately.

Text:

Ah, your email has arrived but alas it might take me time to respond. So…

If you need an immediate, time sensitive response please contact me through my office: [office manager's email address] or (858) 759-6994. Phones are more fun anyways.

If you have my direct line, feel free to call me. And…

If you are seeking my coaching, might you consider my coaching program? It puts you on the phone with me on a regular basis and you can ask me anything you wish. It’s less than $1/day. www.coachedbyPatrick.com

Many blessings,
Sharing Success,
—————————————
Patrick Combs
(858) 759-6994
www.coachedbyPatrick.com
www.goodthink.com
And on FaceBook
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=554560093

What tips do you have for reducing email stress?

(Image via 4Max/Shutterstock.com)

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Leverage Your Anxiety to Overcome the Uncertainty of Transition

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:00:00 -0400

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With political transition hours away, sequestration hanging over our heads and budget cuts on the horizon; federal employees are in a period of intense uncertainty and anxiety. Author Elizabeth Grace Saunders offers tips for leveraging that anxiety to get focused and keep moving forward, despite the uncertainty ahead.

It may seem odd for me to encourage you to “leverage anxiety.” Isn’t anxiety bad or simply some sort of mental weakness?

Well, yes, and no.

On the one hand, anxiety separated from reality can have all sorts of counterproductive effects like causing you to shut down under pressure or to frantically throw yourself into an activity. We don’t want to allow emotional compulsions to control us so in these instances working on your mental game with positive affirmations or meditation can really help.

But when anxiety rises in you based on the recognition of a true problem, you shouldn’t ignore it, but leverage it.

I recently wrote a guest post for the99Percent.com on how to use Past, Present, and Future Focus to not get overwhelmed by big projects.

But if you’re using the techniques I describe in this post, and still start to feel anxious, you can channel that sensation into productive action in these ways:

Leveraging Anxiety over Past Focus:

Big Picture: If reviewing actual numbers from past projects makes you anxious about your current project, this is a sign that you may need to ask for a deadline extension or extra support.
Day-to-Day: If you evaluate your weekly progress and start to feel anxious, that’s a signal that you need to start allocating more time to your main project or push yourself to move through it at a faster pace.

Leveraging Anxiety over Present Focus:

Big Picture: If looking over your weekly or monthly schedule raises your anxiety, see what other responsibilities you can eliminate or delay until later. Even if you’ve already agreed to something, it’s often better to back out early than to try to do everything and let everyone down.
Day-to-Day: If your daily progress (or lack of progress) causes you stress, do whatever it takes to get focused. Go to an Internet-free location, install blocking software or uninstall tempting programs, turn off your phone, listen to music, and use this anxiety to lock you in on your goal.

Leveraging Anxiety over Future Focus:

Big Picture: If thinking of what comes after you finish your big project makes you anxious, you may need to start doing some exploratory research. It could be as simple as talking with someone who has done what you’re doing before or thinking through the big picture steps of what will need to be done. Try to identify what actually makes you afraid and to address that fear directly.
Day-to-Day: If you’ve mapped out the next micro-level steps and you still feel afraid to execute, it may be time to get someone to help you do the work, teach you a new skill, or at least give you feedback. If you don’t know what you’re doing, admit it and get support.

Over the course of writing my book, I’ve experienced anxiety in all of these areas. But instead of denying my anxiety, I’ve leveraged it as a powerful force to take the steps that would drive me toward my goal and reinstate my sense of inner peace.

I hope you find these insights helpful in staying focused and moving forward during the coming period of transition and uncertainty.

“Getting rid of all traces of anxiety would be like successfully dismantling your house’s security system. Yes, things are quieter and more relaxed, but you won’t know you are in trouble until it’s too late.“

~from “Good Anxiety–and Bad” in Psychology Today

(Image via Dbrus/Shutterstock.com)

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Top 10: How to Take Control of Your Email

Elizabeth Grace Saunders — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:00:00 -0400

Email is not your boss. It is simply a method of communicating information, just like postal mail. Before the advent of all of our modern electronic “conveniences” there was an expectation that it would take a bit of time for you to receive information. No one ran to their mailbox every five minutes or had a panic attack if someone didn’t immediately receive and respond to their note. The expectation was that communication took time, and when people were able, they would respond.

Fast forward to 2012, between email, IM, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and the multitude of computer and smartphone based communication options, many Americans have a serious case of information overload and Web-induced ADD.

Here is one simple strategy to conquer email overload:

Set the expectation that you will only reply to email once or twice a day.

I know this may sound crazy, but I’ve been doing it successfully for a couple of years and kept email in its proper place. Here’s how:

If you have set the expectation that you will respond to email in 2-seconds flat, set up one of these auto responders to start to wean people off of instant access to you.
Set aside a day to completely clear out your in boxes. (This could be shorter or longer depending on your backlog.)
At the designated time, sit down with a list of all of your email accounts in front of you. Number them in order of attack.
Look at the first inbox. Select and delete all of the messages that do not require a personal response (updates, newsletters, feeds, ListServes, etc.). If you can’t bear the thought of deleting something because you “will read it” move it into a properly labeled email folder.
Select and move all of the emails related to a particular project/person/topic that you need to keep but don’t require a reply into designated folders. (I have one for each client and each business development topic.)
Take a hard look at your inbox and make sure there is nothing more you can delete or file before starting to read email.
Click on the first message in your inbox. Take the appropriate action (i.e. read, reply, forward, etc.), and then immediately delete or file it. It CAN NOT remain in your inbox. If you need to remember to complete a task related to that email, put a note on your to-do list or calendar and then file the email.
Continue down the list of emails until you are entirely done with the inbox. The only time you are allowed to spend time scanning the entire inbox is if you can respond to multiple messages with a single email. (For instance I replied to five of my client’s messages sent on one day with a single email response.)
Repeat this process with the rest of your email inboxes. The psychological relief will be sublime!
Develop a personal system of responding to email just once or twice a day so you can stay on top of email on a regular basis without having it constantly interrupt you. For instance, I block out 1-2 hours every morning to clear out my business email inboxes. Then for the rest of the day, I am free to complete projects. I send email when necessary, but try to only scan my inbox a couple of times a day and only respond to emails that are truly urgent. Otherwise, they have to wait for my morning email purge.

According to Lauren Berger, the Intern Queen, this is the best piece of advice I ever gave her! I hope you’ll experience similarly brilliant results.

What strategies do you have for managing your email?

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