Do not manage your time. Manage your decisions, attention, and energy instead!

We live in a productivity paradox. With the incoming flow of information enabled by today’s technology, it becomes both easier and harder than ever before to achieve extraordinary productivity. To illustrate this, a team scattered in different countries can meet virtually, instantly see each other’s faces and productively collaborate in real-time; while some people would spend 5 hours of their time in a day scrolling down on social media feeds, doing literally nothing productive – using the same technology. The trouble is, our attention is now under constant attack, we have low energy levels, and as a result, we make low-value decisions. How can we overcome these challenges?

The good news is, there are five choices that you can make to rise above the chaos and feel more accomplished at the end of each day. The key is not to manage time but manage your decisions, attention, and energy.

Let us start with the choices of decision management:

1.??????Act on the important – don’t react to the urgent

Sometimes you may feel buried alive with the incoming flow of information: email notification, phone calls, interruptions, and other urgencies. Acting on the important implies using your prefrontal cortex (that part of your brain where you make conscious and very intentional decisions) to discern the important from the urgent and increase your ability to focus in the midst of fierce distractions. As Stephen Covey said, “anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant”.

2.??????Go for extraordinary – don’t settle for ordinary

Going for extraordinary does not mean setting unattainable, perfectionist standards, but going to bed at the end of each day feeling satisfied and accomplished. Ask yourself: “What does success look like to me? What are the most important roles I am currently playing”. Maybe you want to be the extraordinary father your children will remember after you are gone, or maybe you want to succeed as a salesperson who makes an impact on every client you encounter. Whatever your definition of success, going for extraordinary implies having a clear picture of what success looks like, then, guiding your decision-making through a framework of what success looks like in your most important roles – both personally and professionally.

Now let us move to the choices of attention management:

3.??????Schedule the big rocks -?don’t sort gravel

The big rocks are your biggest weekly priorities linked to your different personal and professional roles. Sometimes we get lost in the gravel (those notifications and interruptions that I mentioned earlier) and we lose sight of our personal mission statement and most important roles. Scheduling your big rocks means using tips and tools to?schedule?your priorities instead of?prioritizing?your schedule, in order to execute with excellence on the most important things.

4.??????Rule your technology – don’t let it rule you

Technology has become the drug of choice for many people. Just like smoking crack cocaine, technology can amp up the addictive power of urgency more than you can imagine. You may find yourself caught up in responding to texts and tweets, thinking you are being productive, when in fact you are really only being distracted. Of greater concern, you may be missing on building relationships, working on important projects or focusing on important work. Ruling your technology is making your technology work for you, not against you, and turning it into a productivity engine.

Last but not least, the choice of energy management

5.??????Fuel your fire – don’t burn out

The way we live today – constant stress, poor diet, lack of exercise and sleep, and lack of social life - leads to what scientists call exhaustion syndrome. The rest of us call it burn out. ?To avoid it, it is important to recharge your batteries.

You can do it in five ways:

1. Move. It is not just about exercise. Your body was meant to move. 2. Eat. The food you eat is like fuel to your brain. 3. Sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep is vital to extraordinary productivity. 4. Relax. Learn to turn off the stress responses, and just relax. 5. Connect. Positive connections with people that matter most to you are fundamental for your brain. Remember, it is not about getting everything done, it is about getting the right things done without burning out.?

We have pulled together Live Online classes and workshops,?which can be delivered in English or French, designed to help anyone feel inspired and take action! If you are interested in increasing your productivity, I invite you to take our 5-hour Live Online Class on the 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity.?Register here?

The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity??combines timeless principles with current neuroscience research to help better manage decisions, attention, and energy.

WHAT YOU GET:

• THE 5 CHOICES QUICKSTART PROCESS - Complete your 5-Week Quickstart online.
• PRE- AND POST-ASSESSMENTS
• PARTICIPANT GUIDEBOOK TECHNICAL GUIDE Maximize the use of Microsoft? Outlook?, IBM Notes?, Google?, etc

HOW YOU WILL BENEFIT

Participants learn to make more selective, high-impact choices about where to invest their valuable time, attention, and energy.

Register here?

Time management alone is not enough. Decision management, attention management, and energy management are required to achieve extraordinary productivity.

I’ll be rooting for you