Monkey See, Monkey Doo!
September 4, 2007
If you’re like most folks, you’re what I call a “visual prioritizor”. Visual prioritizors leave things out as reminders to prompt them to take some kind of action.
For example, you might leave a letter on the table next to the door to remind you to mail it the next time you leave the house.
Or maybe you leave a post-it note on your computer monitor or phone to remind you to make an important call as soon as you get into the office. Perhaps you leave messages in your email inbox (remarked as unread of course) as reminders to follow-up when you check email.
If these examples ring true, then you’re probably a visual prioritizor.
It’s actually quite natural to try prioritizing things by keeping them “in your face”. But there are serious draw backs to this method.
First, it can become visually overwhelming very quickly. For instance, if you have ten different post-it notes around your monitor and 16 emails flagged in your in box, that starts making you feel busy, and can stress you out.
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No More Bobblehead Prioritizing!
September 3, 2007
This one time … no, not at band camp. I worked with a colleague who was so notorious for dropping the ball on follow-up, that it actually become an inside joke between us.
Here’s how it would typically play out. We’d be at a business lunch, and we’d get to the “down to business” part.
We’d discus a topic, and it would come time to assign tasks. Whenever “Forgetful Fred” was assigned a task, without fail, he would always shake his head in agreement, but NEVER WROTE IT DOWN.
Of course, the rest of my colleagues and I eventually caught on that if we didn’t see Forgetful Fred “capture” the task by writing it down, there was a good chance it wasn’t ever going to get done.
I call this bobblehead prioritization. Because whenever I see someone (or catch myself) get assigned a tasks, shake in agreement, but not write it down … it seems just as silly as watching a bobblehead shake its head around. It’s actually just as productive too.
So how do you keep from bobblehead prioritizing?
The Case of the Missing Post-it Note
August 30, 2007
Several years back, before becoming a productivity trainer, I worked in a sea of cubicles like so many of the rest of you. One day my manager gave me a post-it note with the name and phone number of customer I was to call to “resolve an issue.”
Now, this particular “issue” was one of those less-than-fun tasks, that I was-less-than thrilled about handling. So my first thought was to quickly postpone the call until the next day. I’ve learned better since then (see when you’d rather not).
So I placed the post-it on my computer monitor to remind me to make the call the next day. Well, that day came and went, and no call was made. The day after that, I knew I’d better call that customer, So in an attempt to bump it up in priority, I moved it from the computer monitor to my phone.
That strategy proved so effective that a whole other day came and went with no call being made. Adjusting its priority again, I moved it to my palm pilot (yes, I had the original palm pilot of the late 90’s).
“Notes … Copious, F!%king Notes!”
August 24, 2007
Several years back, while in a business meeting my boss at the time (a rather intense man), the tension in the room became quite thick as the boss admonished everyone to, “Stop taking notes, and start paying attention to everything I’m saying” … he further added, “You can’t pay attention and take notes at the same time!”
Not two minutes later, he walked over to where I was sitting and quite sternly explained, “Not you, you’re their manager … you need to be taking notes … copious, f**king notes!!”
To this day I giggle every time I think about that moment, for two reasons: First, because my boss has such strong opinions on the matter. Second, because I’m sure I was witness to the first time in history the word “copious” and the “F” bomb where ever used in the same sentence.
