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March 4th …Time to March Forth!
A few years ago I was talking with someone at a business luncheon, and at the end of our conversation he wished me a happy March Forth. I considered this to be a bit odd at the time, but I didn't give it much more thought. A couple days later -- on March 4th -- I received a homemade card from him. The cover of the card contained a picture of a beautiful waterfall. The inside of the card read, "Thunderous and powerful, yet oh so beautiful! May your power within thunder out, as you march forth and realize all your dreams. Happy March Fourth." It wasn't until I received his card that I caught the literary ploy.
Although you do not need to wait until March 4th to march forth and realize your dreams, it serves as a good reminder to get you moving with whatever you care about most in your life that is not getting the attention it deserves. In this issue, I'll share some concrete and practical tips to help get you unstuck so you can march forth.
If you're like many of the executives and professionals I work with, you may be paralyzed by mind overload. Compare your brain to the RAM in your computer. There's only so much storage space available before it's full and you need to delete some things or store them elsewhere. Just as computers fill to capacity, when you get too many Post-it notes in your brain, your RAM gets full.
There may be a lot of contributing factors to the number of "to-dos" you are trying to manage in your head. Perhaps you are over-committed, which leads to you feeling overwhelmed and overloaded, and eventually paralyzed by it all! If you are over-committed, the landscape of your brain may look a bit like this: every white space on your calendar is filled in, papers are overflowing from your in-box, your to-do list is sprouting additional lists, and, there's no end in sight. Sound familiar?
Since "overwhelmed" is not an effective place to be, you might consider what drives you to remain so. Does being over-committed fill a need within you for approval or recognition? Do you feel more important when you're busy? Have you unconsciously created a barrier to intimacy with others by being unavailable? Are you afraid to be alone with yourself? Have you become out of touch with what brings you pleasure? Are you too accommodating? Perhaps your "no" muscle has gone flabby! Sometimes just getting conscious to what is driving you to over-commit yourself can be an eye-opening experience.
Check your commitments to make sure that what you are saying "yes" to is indeed something you choose to do vs. something you should do. Remember that every time you say "yes" to someone or something, you are saying "no" to someone or something else. That something else may be your own health, time devoted to an important relationship, or a key stepping stone to marching forth in whatever direction you want to be going.
So what can you do if you're experiencing overload?
One of the best ways I've found to help someone move from feeling overwhelmed to feeling at peace and in control is to help them identify all of the "incompletions" in their life and then come up with a plan for how to deal with all of them. An incompletion is anything you pay attention or give thought to that needs to be different than it is right now. Here are some examples of types of incompletions:
- Things you intend to do but have not started
- Things you have started but have not completed
- Things you have completed but have not acknowledged that it's complete/good enough
- Agreements/promises you've made but have not kept
Recently I heard author/speaker David Allen describe a similar process for identifying incompletions, and he called it a RAM Dump. That's the perfect name for it! Here's how it works…
Pull up a comfortable chair and start jotting down everything in your head that requires action by you. Do not leave anything out. The point of this exercise is to help you dump everything that needs your attention and is being stored in your brain onto paper (or onto a computer screen) so your brain doesn't have to store it anymore. When I facilitate this with my clients, I provide an extensive list of questions that trigger the many Post-it notes in their memory. Click here to see the list of trigger questions.
When doing a complete RAM Dump, it's important to write down everything -- regardless of level of importance -- so you can be assured when you are done that you have left nothing for your brain to worry about forgetting. You list will include everything from cleaning out that cobweb in the corner of your bathroom, to the multiple tasks that come to mind for completing an important project at work.
By doing a RAM Dump, you free up your brain to focus on what's most important for this week, and you can park all the other action items somewhere else until it's time for you to focus on them.
Once you have dumped all of this on paper, you'll probably have pages and pages of notes. At first, you may feel overwhelmed looking at your "to-do" list. But a part of you may also feel relieved that you no longer have to remember it all now that it's committed to paper. If you were to stop here, you'd most likely experience a strong anxiety attack as you think to yourself, "How can I possibly manage it all? I'll NEVER finish all of these things!"
Sort and Contain Your List |
Now it's time to review your priorities and make some decisions about what you choose to do with everything on the list you generated from your RAM Dump. I suggest the 4D process for this sort:
Once you've sorted everything on your list into these four categories, you can dump the DUMP list, although you may first need to renegotiate some tasks if you've promised someone else that you would do it. The rest needs to be contained in a way that gives you the peace of mind of knowing that you will not forget to follow through when the time is right.
Here are some ways to "contain" what's left:
- A Projects List is a place to list things that require multiple actions. Many of the tasks on your RAM Dump list will most likely be parts of a larger project. By pulling them all together onto a Projects List, you'll be able to see the bigger picture and sort out the next logical step to move the project forward. You can also begin planning what parts of the project will be delegated to others, and what the timeline is for completing the entire project. From there, you can create benchmarks on the timeline to keep you on task as you move toward completion, and then place those benchmarks on your calendar. ·
- A Delegation Log is a vital tool for helping you keep track of those tasks you've chosen to hand off to someone else. Click here to see my sample log . I suggest that you review your Delegation Log as part of your weekly planning.
- The Perhaps List is a place to park all the someday or maybe ideas in a safe place where you won't forget about them. You can review this list when you do your weekly planning. This is for actions you that you either are not yet committed to doing (perhaps you'll do it, perhaps you won't), or ideas that you definitely plan to act on but you have not yet decided on the timeline. My Perhaps List is organized by each of my key roles and sub-roles, which makes weekly planning easier and helps me to build more balance into my life. In other words, I have a total of 15 lists categorized within my Perhaps List. Click here to see a sample Perhaps List.
- A Tickler File System provides one of two ways to maintain a Defer List. I suggest using both an electronic and paper-based system. For lists of action items, I recommend a contact management program such as Symantec ACT! or Microsoft Outlook to remind you to follow up when appropriate. For paper-based items that you want to refer back you, you can use a tickler file system. This excellent organizing tool gives you a place to put things so you will see them WHEN you need to. It also gives you a place to store things you want to defer for later consideration or review. It's the best alternative I've found to "I'll just set it here for now." These are hard to find in office supply stores, so I retail them through my Company Store at http://www.orgcoach.net/products
We Don't Plan to Fail…We Fail to Plan
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I've mentioned weekly planning several times in this article. To review my favorite six-step weekly planning process, developed by Stephen Covey, click here.
Once you've gone through this RAM Dump process and sorted out the results into various lists, you will be in a better position to March Forth! Contact me for assistance creating the structure to march forth, getting started on a weekly planning process, and building in accountability for yourself. Request your complimentary consultation or coaching call today.
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Is this you?
- Do you often wonder where the time went?
- Does your to-do list keep getting longer, even though it feels like nothing is getting done?
- Have you totally given up on keeping a to-do list? (After all, you're never able to cross anything off, so what's the point?)
- Do you have trouble finding what you need?
- Do you feel like you’ll NEVER catch up?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, we can help out by teaching you some powerful techniques that will help you increase your personal and professional productivity. In fact, don't be surprised if we can add an hour or MORE to your day EVERY DAY. Imagine what you would do with an extra hour each and every day.
Here's what you'll be able to accomplish when you attend my upcoming webinar and put what you learn into practice:
- Set your priorities and focus on what matters most (do this and you'll be amazed at how fast you can start crossing things off your to-do list).
- Remember important follow-up tasks BEFORE rather than AFTER…(wouldn't that save tons of stress not to mention embarrassment?).
- Efficiently handle mail, filing, returning phone calls and other repetitive tasks so you'll have more time to do the things you LOVE to do.
- Streamline information management and communications (no more time wasted on information that's "interesting but not relevant” to what you need NOW).
- Relax and enjoy a less cluttered environment.
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