Matt Church is the founder of Thought Leaders Global, and is without a doubt Australia’s and possibly the worlds foremost authority on the topic of Thought Leadership.
In this 10-minute video, Matt has a slightly different take on how you can Work Smarter. Packed with 15 ideas to get you on track to working smarter, just click on the image below to get started.
In the below 6-minute video, I share with you my 8 favourite books on productivity. I briefly discuss the main idea behind each book.
If you want to create a more interactive presentation, use a simple 4 part segmenting tool like DISC with the room and the ‘Gang Belonging Effect’ will create a more social and responsive conversation. People who feel they belong are happy to take risks and share. Divide and conquer.
If you have a huge task you need to accomplish break it down into it’s component parts and get to work knocking off the stages. Next time your daunted by the mammoth task ahead of you its simply because you didn’t divide and conquer.
Finally, if you need to engage a community or enroll a list of people, break them down into segments and develop specific campaigns that engage these segments around what they care about. It might be efficient to send one message to all people but its not likely to enroll them effectively. Segmenting lists is an example of divide and conquer.
Its an idea that’s as old as time but its really the key to making anything large project a reality.
Thought Leadership has to be more than just talk and ideas. You have to develop a bias for action. Get off your behind and do something. Thought leaders are creative by nature but commercially smart by decision. It is commercially smart to get projects across the line. So... how good at this are you?
Neen James, a Thought Leaders Mentor based in the US, worked with me on this about 10 years ago and created the following matrix as a literature review on all of the productivity principles available. Develop an understanding of each of these productivity strategies and use them to help you get more done.
The first column with Efficient, Effective and Leveraged is all about how you work personally. The second column with Systemised, Functional and Engaged is all about how you help a team of people to get things done. The third column with Active, Strategic and Aligned is all about how you engage a community of people to be productive.
The rows also have a frame of reference. The bottom row with Efficient, Systemised and Active are the 3 ways you can manage scarce resources (such as time) efficiently. The second row with Effective, Functional and Strategic is all about how you manage attention and focus. The top row with Leverage, Engaged and Aligned is all about how you manage energy.
Be efficient: Efficient people are able to get their heads across all the details and elements that need to be done.
Be effective: Once you are across the detail you have to manage your focus so you pay attention to those things that will reap the highest return. It’s about focusing on the things that matter most and doing them first.
Be leveraged: Each task you work on with a small amount of extra effort can reap more benefit than simply the task you are completing. Look at what you are doing with a view to other projects and tasks.
Get systemised: Systems are the key to making sure the repetitive tasks in your life and those of your team get done. Systems also save time in the long run as they reduce the re-works that eat into your time.
Be functional: Functionality is about people being clear about what their job is and what it is they are meant to do. It’s also about you letting go of controlling everything.
Build engagement: When people want to work, they will work without extra monetary compensation. In all things, look for the opportunity to keep people into what they are working on.
Get active: A community that develops a bias for action will achieve amazing things. It’s about moving from meeting for meetings sake and instead meeting to advance projects.
Get strategic: Strategy is about knowing where you are going as a community. It's less about the big vision and more about a certainty of direction. Thought leaders maintain a clear sense of direction.
Get aligned: Make sure that all participants in the conversation are participating for the same or at least complimentary reasons. This frees up energy and decreases the friction that typically occurs when many people work together.
M@
So what do you do?
Well, there are no hard or fast prescriptions, but some useful self-talk dialogue and scripts I personally use include;
Good luck becoming a productivity hunter!
P.S. This month I suggest you watch my friend Dr Jason Fox as he explores how you can make clever happen.
The missing piece between those who do and those who don't is the relentless pursuit of action. Get busy doing something, anything. The real competition you are up against in any endeavour is always status quo.
Develop a bias for action. Make doing something your default status. Brian Tracy in his Psychology of Achievement series says it well. He suggests that you become blessed with dissatisfaction.
Tony Robbins the success coach, says you should focus on continuous and never-ending improvement.
I think the key is to be detached to the outcomes while focussed on action. It's almost as if you take action deliberately in a focussed manner but with a care-less manner.
People get exhausted by action the moment they make it serious. It's just a game, have fun. Set goals and implement with a playful spirit. The moment you make it a drudge you become a 'busy' person who forgets how to 'Be'.
So go on and have some fun doing something.
M@
Every transformation requires a stretch. For example, you might launch a new project by canceling the next three Saturdays... Two of my friends did this recently: Peter Cook went on a holiday to Bali, and he wrote every day whilst his wife Trish, actually had a holiday. My friend Darren Hill, basically unplugged the TV for six months. Scott Stein recently missed out on a few days of very important family time, trampoline jumping and ball tossing with the kids. In each case, they had to stretch their comfort zones. These periods of intensity are key for growth. The pay offs are huge and in a slightly masochistic way, the exertion makes you grow at the same time. I don’t want to get too biblical, but sacrifice can pay off. Here is a thought (or several): What do you want to achieve? Is it something that you want so badly that you are willing to forgo something for a while? If so, then decide. Go into immediate action and don’t quit until you get it. I have just finished a book, called Thought Leaders (you can buy an advance copy here), and am pushing for a new one. I am not canceling Christmas, but I am taking a break later. We will stop the day before Christmas, not the week. So go on... stretch yourself. M@
You have to become a serious doer if you want to be successful in a practice. Leveraging your time becomes one of the major pieces of the success puzzle. A practice is different to a business. The principal or CEO of the practice must be awesome at doing things and helping others around them to also get things done. In a practice, the CEO gets into it intensely on the bits only they can do, then gets out of the way. In a business it's about the CEO getting out of the business. Note: We teach information experts how to create million dollar expert practices selling their thoughts. Contrary to the internet marketing and wealth creation deluge on the NET, we show people how to create a labour of love practice. To find out more about the distinction between a practice and a business you can check out the back issues on my BLOG. My thoughts on being massively productive: Three must read books on this topic: First things first by Dr Stephen Covey Getting things done by David Allen The 4-hour work week by Tim Ferris M@
Are you planning to speak at a conference anytime soon? If so, here are a few basic things to remember... Before you begin speaking... Things to remember when on the stage... And finally, Make sure you know the actual finish time and length of talk, so you finish then, no matter what! M@ Matt Church
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