I got really angry recently

It has happened a very long time ago. I'm usually a happy guy. An optimistic guy. A silver-linings guy.

I was only sometimes happy. But I learned that anger is a tricky motivator. I have to use it cautiously, or I risk being swallowed by it.

The last time I was angry...

In 2013, I gave my TEDx Toronto speech. I wrote that speech (I spoke about food preserving as a metaphor that old solutions can solve new problems) for four months before throwing it in the garbage.

I had already begun to memorize my speech when I met Neil Pasricha ten days before the event. Neil Pasricha is a renowned author and speaker known for his insightful perspectives on happiness and resilience and his unique perspective on AWESOMENESS.

Neil spoke to a group of us and said, "Just let the audience see every emotion you have about your topic."

By the next morning, I realized I had written an intellectual plea and left all emotion at the door. I left work and became briefly reacquainted with what drove me to start preserving food in the first place: I was ANGRY about the state of food in our world and our relationship with it.

I re-wrote that speech that night over 3 pints in a pub.

Why am I angry today?

About ten days ago, I realized I had been thinking about interruption management from a clinical standpoint.

Just consider:

• We currently send over 1,000,000,000 (TRILLION) emails every three days! The number of emails sent in a year continues to increase every year.
• 62% of email is "not important" (Harvard Business Review)
• Microsoft reports that the average professional spends 2 hours a day on email (combine that with the above, and we are wasting, on average, over an hour each day on unimportant email).
• Tim Cook (the CEO of Apple) starts his day every morning at 3:45 AM to get a jump on reading his 700+ emails daily.
• 71% of meetings are considered ineffective (HBR).
• The average person spends 3.25 hours per day on their smartphones.

THIS IS MADNESS!

We aren't wasting time - we're wasting lives.

I know many CEO's who personally approve expenses of $1,000 or more. "It sends a message," they say. "It shows we watch the little things," they claim. "What gets measured, gets done," they advise.

Yet we are burning 20%++++ of our payroll on unneeded emails, wasteful meetings and other interruptions that rob us of time, focus, cost and energy.

We need to handle interruptions and time-wasting as an opportunity to improve our companies, create more impactful and exciting work and inspire each other to achieve more than we are.

What would your company be like if every person had 20% more time? What would their lives be like?

You can only be serious about productivity, engagement, EBITDA or performance if you are looking at your company's most expensive leakage areas. And we can't build inspired teams who are engaged and impassioned while wasting 20% of their time and telling them to work harder.

Free resources to help

Free 45-minute Webinar

I'm hosting a Webinar (free) on March 7th at 1:05 PM EST. In that session, I'll share why traditional approaches to time management are failing, highlight some of these (and other similar problems) and propose ways to save time and simplify work, energy and create focus.

You can find out more and register (for free) here.

Have Better Meetings

Need to improve NOW? I published an easy framework to transform meetings from mundane time-wasters to powerful, solution-focused, practical sessions for all. You can read about that here:

Asking for Help

I'm building my voice here and, candidly, need help from the community to spread the word.

If you're stumbling on my content and find it helpful, it means a lot for you to comment, like or send it to someone you think might benefit.

I'm also looking for companies to work with on these problems and help you remove the low-value time wasters that are dragging us down.

Last But Not Least

Have a fantastic week, my friends!

Smiles,

Joel