Getting My EDGE on Sleep

by Skip Colfax

Ahh Sleep! It’s time that our bodies and minds need to refresh, energize and rebuild. The importance of getting enough deep sleep is difficult to overemphasize. There is nothing better than sitting up as the sun is peeking over the horizon, stretching with a yawn, and looking forward to a great day ahead. Being well rested helps us:

• Make good decisions.
• Be more creative.
• Handle our stress more effectively.
  

I rest very well these days, but there were times I’d find myself waking up in the middle of the night, feeling very anxious, thinking, “Oh no! I forgot to …” or, “I cannot forget to...” My mind would begin racing with worry about all of the “what if” scenarios that could happen. Worrying like that certainly didn’t contribute to getting the rest I needed. Consequently, I wasn’t as effective nor productive as I would be with good rest.

One of the best practices I learned in the Getting the Edge, is the practice of “mind sweeping” and entering all of the things I need to remember to do into my EDGE System. I know from experience that my mind is not very good at storing and organizing information, so by entering them all into my system, I don’t worry about forgetting anything. In Getting the Edge, we refer to a wonderful Chinese proverb that I have come to know as a truth, “The palest ink is better than the brightest memory.” I’ve learned to Write It Down! and I’ll sleep better.

One of my colleagues, Robertt Young, says, “Control/Shift K, will make your day!” That has become my mantra, and, as I said earlier, I’m sleeping great these days!

Organized Shopping in the Sky

by Kim Brewster

Ever present on most commercial planes, in the seat back pocket, is SkyMall, the catalogue for a captive audience. In it are items you may not encounter in your brick and mortar mall or unique gift ideas when shopping for the person who has everything. Many offerings purport to make your life easier and save time.

Got pets? SkyMall offers the latest in furniture that houses litter boxes, ramps for your pets to get on the bed (yours) or in the car and motion activated alarms to discourage pets from getting on furniture and countertops. Hope the four-legged friends aren’t too confused about where they are allowed to be.

Organizationally challenged in the bedroom? Not to worry – available for purchase is a platform bed containing 12 drawers, 2 attached bedside tables and lighted headboard with storage above. You may not remember which drawers your things are stored in, but the handy out of sight, out of mind reference comes to mind.

Unless you host a lot of backyard parties or work at carnivals, would you need a 53” high popcorn or snow cone cart? What is your time worth to clean and store something which can’t be disassembled? That 19” margarita mixer is starting to look good – at least it can be stored more easily.

After practicing EDGE techniques for the past few years, I sift the idea of potential purchases through buckets of a deciding model:

Is the item that has me salivating its purchase a Want or a Need?
Is it in my Budget?
Can I benefit from it Immediately and Long Term?

Often the answer is to defer the purchase to my Someday/Maybe list. When or if all my questions about the potential purchase align, it may even be on sale. Deferring definitely has its benefits.

I look forward to each flight with a new Sky Mall, wondering what will they come up with next.

How Did This Happen?

by Laura Finney

During the first week of December 2008, I had purged my "perfect" chronological filing system with the files from 2007. No, not 2008, because I may need those (or so I thought) for reference in 2009. This was my tradition every December in the previous years. It was such a feeling of relief and pride, relief to be rid of the old and pride in being "pro-active" by preparing and filing empty folders for the upcoming year.

In January 2009, something happened. My two, very full, yet very organized desk file drawers were almost empty. How did this happen? What happened to my (at least twenty) categorical green hanging file folders and tabs? Where did all my "reference" aka inactive files go? All of the "projects" files and the "just in case" files are gone. This was no mystery. This was my old system being streamlined into my new system, my Paper Effectiveness system.

Getting the Edge's Paper Effectiveness system has transformed my working file drawers. The two drawers have gone from full to almost a quarter filled. From twenty (or more) tabbed file folders to three tabbed file folders (Project Reference, Actions, and Handy Reference). Implementing this system has allowed me to create a work environment that is neat and easy to manage. The Paper Effectiveness system has eliminated my using the file drawers as storage space filled with bulging file folders; full of information I would not need immediate access to. There are no "just in case" file folders in my newly organized file drawers.

The Paper Effectiveness system uses three categories: Project Reference, Actions, and Handy Reference. This system focuses on what works. In Project Reference, I put my supporting materials for current projects. Under Actions, you will find only paper that is needed to take action on any of my categories that begin with a double dot. And, the Handy Reference contains the paper of my frequently used list such as my phone list and contacts. That's it!

This sort of relief cannot be explained, it can only be experienced by using the Paper Effectiveness system in Getting the Edge. Using this system will give you the transformation to a clean, neat, and organized filing system.

What Does It Really Mean to Prioritize?

by Robertt Young

Before I joined the Effective EDGE I tried several types of time management programs. You could say I was a time management groupie. if there was a time management course to be attended within 50 miles, I was there. While I picked up a lot of great ideas over the years, the one thing that never seemed to work for me was how these classes would teach prioritization. The first class I ever attended taught to make a list of the top ten things we wanted to accomplish that day and work on job one until it was done, then work on job two and so on and so forth. This process was to continue until you had completed everything on your list, then you could go home feeling satisfied, productive and absolutely great about what you had accomplished. They told us that this worked because it was invented by Benjamin Franklin. Well let’s see what did old Ben have to do in those days; what did his list look like?

1. Buy a kite
2. Buy some string
3. Get some keys
4. Wait for a storm
5. Buy a ticket to France
   

Not anything like mine in 2009. So, I quickly found that didn’t work for me. The next class I attended suggested that I make a list of everything I had to do everyday, then look over the list and rate my high priority things “A” mid priority things “B” and low priority things “C”. Then, I was to work on my A’s until they were finished, then the B’s, then finally the C’s. That seemed like a great idea until I tried to put it into practice. I would spend 30 minutes each morning planning my day this way and boy was I ready to start attacking those A’s and then my day happened and my A’s turned to B’s and C’s turned to B’s and a whole bunch of new A’s got thrown on my list. Now I was just as confused as before. It wasn’t until I began working for The Effective EDGE that I found a prioritization model that was practical, usable and effective. It was as simple as it was elegant.

So what are the best practices around prioritization?

There are several:

1. Collect everything in one place. Have all your action items on your task list/to do list or on your calendar depending upon the timing of the action item, i.e. if it has to be done to day, it goes on your calendar. All the others go in the proper category on your task list.
2. Manage from your lists not your head.
3. Move expiring action items, those that are due today, from your task list/top do list to your calendar.
4. Complete all your day specific items first.
5. Then, look at your ..Actions category and ..Calls and apply the EDGE TEST Criteria to determine the Next Action.
6. T = Time, how much time do I have?
7. E = Energy, how much Energy do I have?
8. S = Location/Context, Where am I? Can I make calls? If not, then I can’t do anything in my ..Calls category.
9. T= Top Level, what is the highest leverage action you can take at this moment?
   

If you work from your calendar/task list during the day instead of your email inbox, and look to your calendar and your task list/to do list for what you need to work on throughout the day, you will easily regain 1 – 2 hours a day, minimize distractions and feel a real sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.

Quicksand: Then and Now

By Paige Webb

Do you recall an era when fictional television characters like Tarzan and Zorro came to the rescue of damsels in distress or travelers who found themselves in the unfortunate situation of sinking in quicksand? The sight of this always caused me to writhe with anxiety. Would they make it out of the quicksand? Would they suffer injuries? How did they get there in the first place? Despite the fictional nature of the television program, and the fact that there was a 99% chance the episode had a happy ending, the anticipation of a scene in quicksand caused me, and I’m sure other viewers, stress.

The era when we were more in tune with television has evolved. Our society is now more in tune with the internet, and with the internet comes email. I like to think of an email inbox as a modern-day quicksand scene, where I find myself in distress and in need of a rescue. I go about my days committed to my calendar appointments and tasks on my list, but if I am not careful, I slip into my email inbox, and begin to sink. The “pre-EDGE” me would sink and sink further, flounder, and stress out from digging myself out of email quicksand. By leaving emails in my inbox, each time I view it, I get stuck. It’s the perfect analogy, including the stress associated with that feeling.

Each of us is forced to process our email inboxes to get through our days to prevent things from falling through the cracks. In fact, I can’t recall a day in the last ten years when I didn’t have new email every day, and each required a decision about whether to store the information for reference, or how to take action. Client questions, project updates, those pesky “reply to all” emails, family updates, newsletters, and advertisements are just a few examples of the types of emails that make up the quicksand effect. The EDGE Deciding Model comes to the rescue, much like Tarzan and Zorro did. The sinking in the quicksand will cease when the process is applied. Whether the email is something I can delete, do, delegate or defer I know the next action I’m responsible for.

When I began trusting my EDGE system soon after being taught, I had no problems leaving my inbox alone more often. The “EDGE-y” me might visit my inbox a few times a day, because I keep it lean and clean. There’s no sinking or drowning allowed, nor do I find myself in the stressful situation of digging through quicksand! My EDGE system is my hero.

Is Change That Difficult?

by Russell Tibbits

I recently read an article about a unique high school football team in California. While the typical offense contains linemen, wide receivers, tight ends, running backs and a quarterback, Piedmont High School lines up with, what is in essence, 11 wide receivers on the field. This offensive formation is known as the A-11 and causes nightmares for a defense because almost every offensive player on the field can run, throw or catch the ball on any given play. Could you imagine a giant defensive lineman trying to cover a wide receiver 20 yards down field? In fact, the A-11 has been causing so many headaches for opposing defenses that the national organization in charge of high school football is thinking of banning this type of play, considering it “unsportsmanlike” and “deceiving.” What’s interesting to note is that this style of offense, just a variation of a style many schools already run, is completely legal. So why is it being banned?

A friend and I discussed the genius behind this style of offense. And while I’d love to talk about this at length, what really struck me is that we couldn’t find one reason why the A-11 was being banned, other than it is just too difficult to defend and opposing coaches don’t want to deal with it. It made me sad for the coach who designed it and the kids who participated in something groundbreaking. But it made me sad to realize that, in some way, we all do this. We hate appearing weak or flawed. We fight change, even if it makes us stronger, smarter and faster. We resist ideas that may make us better so that we can continue with familiar actions. Often times, we choose short-term comfort over long-term improvements.

I wonder where I would be if I was always resistant to change? And where would I be if I never feared change? But I also wonder where our country would be if we didn’t fear change. And maybe the more painful question is where is our country headed if we don’t change?

My Favorite Shortcuts

by Kristi Willis

Recently a reader of the blog asked for more shortcuts. I totally understand where he is coming from because I love shortcuts. I hate doing anything in two steps that I could have done in one.

Since we teach Getting the EDGE on Outlook and Lotus Notes, I have provided a few shortcuts for each. I hope you enjoy them and hope that you’ll share your favorite shortcuts as well.

Microsoft Outlook Shortcuts

In class we emphasize the keyboard shortcuts for creating the different Outlook items. CTRL+SHIFT+K to create a new Outlook Task is by far my favorite shortcut because I know as soon as I press CTRL+SHIFT+K, I’m going to be able to get that task out of my head and give it to Outlook. As one of my colleagues says, “CTRL+SHIFT+K will make your day.”

My other favorite keyboard shortcuts is CTRL+SHIFT+M to create a new mail message. The great thing about CTRL+SHIFT+M is that you can bring up the new mail screen from anywhere in Outlook without getting sucked in to your inbox. Try it the next time you need to send an e-mail but don’t want to get stuck in your inbox.

I discovered one of my other favorite shortcuts because of a problem I ran into when traveling. If you only attach the e-mail to a Task or Calendar item, you can’t see open it from your phone. I need to be able to see the details of my airline, hotel and rental car reservations in the text box of the calendar item and I want the e-mail attached to it in case I need it. You can accomplish this by using the Move to Folder command.

First, open the e-mail. Then, click the Move to Folder button on the toolbar. Select the Calendar or Task folder from the list. Outlook will create a new Task or Calendar item, put the text of the e-mail in the text box of the item and attach the e-mail. Now you have the details you need on your phone and you have the e-mail attached in case you need it.

Lotus Notes Shortcuts

Unfortunately Lotus Notes isn’t chock full of shortcuts, but there are a few that I’m particularly fond of. My favorite is the Copy Into New button. In order to create a new To Do or Calendar item from an e-mail, select the e-mail in the inbox and then click the Copy Into New button. You can then delete the e-mail from your inbox.

If you want to turn the Calendar or To Do item back into an e-mail message, select it then choose Copy Into New Memo to return it to an e-mail form.

Copy Into New lets you have just one copy of an item in the place you need it, but still be able to have the e-mail format when you need it as well. It’s a great tool!

Gen Y - Learning for the Future

by Zahra Petri

Have you ever felt that you were failing at everything you tried? Maybe you have many projects and tasks to accomplish but feel that you are not making progress. You may wonder if you’re doing anything correctly because no one is checking your work. This may not be the big problem you think it is; in fact, you may just learn differently.

At the end of last year, my company talked about learning styles in a team meeting. Much of the conversation was centered on the learning abilities of younger generations. Some of the highlights of Gen Y learners were:

• They want constant feedback to track their efforts and know what they can improve upon.
• They are creators and collaborators and do not adapt well to the work styles of three previous generations of learners.
• They are technology savvy and will jump from source to source until they find what they’re searching for.
• They are highly relationship and team oriented because they feed off brainstorming together and combining ideas.
• They can be impatient and skeptical, causing them to ask lots of questions and disengage quickly.
  

Does any of this sound familiar to you? It did to me. As soon as I heard some of these learning styles, I finally realized that I was not alone and nothing was wrong with me. I simply learn differently than some of my colleagues. I realized that I was not bad at the things I needed to accomplish, but in fact needed to go about them differently.

For projects, in order to stay on track and continue forward, I must follow The Effective Edge’s best practices for organizing a project. I must first state my desired outcome then lay out all the actions and steps as well as attach a timeline, if it’s time sensitive. Without this guideline and structure, I feel lost and have trouble completing what is necessary in order to excel at my job.

Trusting my system and performing regular maintenance checks keep me on track. Now I can spend more time learning and collaborating with the other generations of learners I work with.

Managing your Distractions

by Alison Chapman

Personal distractions will always be a part of your life. I am not talking about interruptions. Although, those are not going anywhere either. I am talking about those leisure activities that some consider distractions, such as TV for hours or lying out by the pool. Often times there are individuals that think you need to completely abandon them. They think there is no way you can be successful if you have some fun.

I do not agree with this. Unfortunately, a lot of people that think you should abandon fun activities, use guilt to get their point across. There is a huge difference between giving up distractions, and managing distractions. One is hard and one is not as hard but also less productive. Additionally, talking about how you need to get rid of them just makes matters worse. Do not get me wrong, you are never going to get anything done if you come home from work and watch 6 hours of TV every day.

Personally, I think most of us are mature enough to understand the difference between distractions and leisure activities. Whether you are trying to run a household, lose weight, run a business or get an advanced degree, you need to be able to manage these distractions.

Managing personal distractions is like managing any other part of your life. The first step is realizing they are a part of your life and accepting that. Then make a plan for managing them because, as we all know, you can’t completely erase all distractions. You need a plan to fit them into your life in a way that does not take too much time away from your goals. The goal is making unconscious distractions, conscious distractions. For example, get DVR and set aside some time each week to watch your shows. Make one night movie night, or gaming night, or clubbing night. Then go and have fun without the guilt, because it’s scheduled and part of your plan. It’s a conscious decision, not an out of control waste of your time.

Managing distractions is no different than managing any other part of your life. The key is being conscious of what you are doing, then making a plan and following it. Personal distractions can be very loud and demanding. They can also be fun and could always be a part of your life if done at the right time.