Just like most weeks, this week was another intense one keeping everything moving forward.  Let’s wrap up the week, and series, and talk about Friday:

• Had conference call right out of the shoot.  While waiting for it to start, banged through the DCL.  Being that I keep my inbox (well, inboxes, see my other post), at zero everyday, this was a breeze.
• Transitioned to my Next Action list (Projects Widget), and managed to hit about five different projects.  Again, I date things for follow-up, so three different projects popped up for follow-up, and I got them all done.
• The rest of the day consisted of work on one project.  I was able to get that one wrapped up; a nice way to end the week.

So, all in all, I think this was a relatively good week.  I helped a lot of people move forward on their projects.  Also, I moved forward on * all * of my projects (even if it was a quick glance during the Weekly Review to assure they have follow-up dates on them so they will pop up in the Projects Widget) even with all the interruptions.

What were the lessons learned from this week?

• Quick Capture Interruptions.
  • As I think I commented about this week, interruptions are the real killer.  You have to capture them and keep your focus.  I didn’t do as well in this area as I like and will need to focus on that more next week.
• Break the addiction to email, IM and Twitter.
  • These are all major sources of interruptions.
• Block out more time, especially when you have projects that require big chunks of un-interrupted time.
  • This, along with corralling interruptions, will be my goals for next week.

That wraps up this series for this week.  On the onset of this series, I had said that I had two goals for it:

1) To give you some ideas / tips / tricks on managing multiple projects.

2) For me to track what I’m up to – helping me see progress as well as possibly see where I can improve.

I hope this series helped you out; it did me and I have some great goals for next week to help boost productivity even further.  Make it a great, relaxing weekend!

As I’ve written about in the past, flexibility is a must to effective and relaxed productivity.  And, as I reflected on at the end of the day today, capturing and containing stuff is a must!  Here’s Wednesday:

Americano (this one is a deal breaker; I lived above – no flexibility for me on this one first thing in the AM!  Well, I lied again, I don’t go to Starbucks very often; instead, I bought one of their home espresso machines and keep plenty of beans in stock.  My Fiancé is an incredible Barista!

On to the Daily Check List….

• Voice Mail (had call from internal client and returned it immediately as I feel that if they left a voice mail, as opposed to email, they are desiring a call back sooner than later.  Glad to be of service to Mr. WW!)
• Check e-Mail (Though I still believe that this being my primary form of communication and job for my employer, I’m starting to feel I’ve become way to addicted again – it comes and goes – to checking email.  I feel like I’m in the movie “You’ve Got Mail!”)

Side Note: Wow; crazy day already (though, this is not unusual – hence why I want to write more about relaxed productivity).  Several things, a couple via IM, popped up and put me off down some different paths.  Fortunately, and as usual, they are related to current projects, so, progress has been made.  If they were not related to current projects, I would have Quick Captured them and got back on track.

Wrapped up DCL.  Wrapping up the “different paths” from above.  Then, I’ll stop, take a couple of deep breaths, and regroup to make sure I get my focus back.  Decided to drop the blogs today; especially with how busy it is today.

(Later that day…) Well, “wrapping up” really never happened.  Today ended up being a “chase several fronts” day and I now am noting that I didn’t make much progress on “Big Rock” projects.  Some, progress mind you – I have one thing checked off.  And, I’m going to SHUT OFF email, IM and focus on getting one more “notch in my belt.” for the day.

Lesson of the day, or at least something to ponder – how to stay pertinent and relevant in today’s connected society, without letting it eat you (and the important stuff you need to be working on) alive.  One things I didn’t do as well today as I usually do — and it’s pretty much in line with David Allen’s advice, capture everything that hits your plate, get it contained, get it off you mind and get back to -a- mind like water and -b- the important task at hand.  That ultimately needs to be my goal for tomorrow, use Quick Capture much more.

(To put picures in the blog, or not?  That is the question)

The secret to my success – follow-up’s; after I touch base with someone, or delegate something, I put a follow-up task on the project, dated, so it will pop up in the Projects Widget, reminding me, and basically forcing my attention back to that project.

This is something I’ve always done, but then had it really solidified for me when Jack Welch said in his book that * you have * to follow-up with people.  It’s the only way to make sure things keep moving forward – and that’s so true!

14 projects, 150+ tasks, yet this is what’s on my radar scope for today – exactly what I need to be working on.  I love my product!

* Americano

* Set my Twitter status – at the company I work for, we have recently begun using this as our In-Out board.  Having one “in-out” board in on location for a company of four geographically diverse locations just really didn’t make sense to me.

* Start processing my Daily Check List…

>  Clear Voicemail.

>  Clear E-Mail – as I mentioned yesterday, I * really * preach that one not do this and first try to jump into something important first thing.  Yet, I’ve been personally torn about this as, in my position with the company I work for, e-mail is the major way I communicate with my clients.  So, my alternative is I have two items on my Daily Check List – check email ** once ** in the AM, then once again at the end of the day — leaving the rest of the time to work on projects and not participate in “e-mail conversations.”  (See this post and series of posts for more ideas and information). 

Yes; every day, I do get my inbox to zero.

And, I’m glad I did as a client needs me to call them….

>  Check our enterprise management software for internal messages.

 >  Glance at my calendar and see what’s coming up over the next three days – making sure I’m ready for any commitments I made.  Generally, if I see something coming up (i.e., a meeting), I’ll divert at this point and work on any projects related to that, before I get to my project list.

>  I do have “Catch Up on Blogs” on my DCL.  I’m torn on this one.  I * so * want to keep up with things.  But, there is so much out there.  I have iGoogle tied to Google Reader, limiting what I see to only a couple of blogs.  I’ve been 50 / 50 on the “success” or value add of following blogs.  For instance, I love Seth, and this made me chuckle (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/08/weirdest-billboard-ever-or-brilliant-targeting.html) but probably wasn’t worth the time.

 This one was good and made me stop and think: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/08/who-spreads-your-word.html

 * Done with the daily check list.  Like I said yesterday, I’m hoping to do some fine tuning on myself with this series.  In this case, it sure feels like this took a lot of time out of the day already.  As Peter Drucker said, “No Thy Time!”  I started at 7:15, and it’s now 9:00am.  I’ve touched back with clients via email, I’ve talked with someone on the phone that needed to talk to me, and my decks are COMPLETELY CLEAR to focus on my projects.  So, even with reading the blogs (and, I forgot – doing some spiritual reading, which I’m also trying to get more in the habit on), and writing this post, I think I’m doing ok.

 * On to projects.  Which, because of doing my Weekly Review yesterday and having my Project Widget all ready displaying my Next Actions, I’m ready to go – no “guessing” at “what’s important or next.”

So, off to work…… More later.

Side Notes:

>> Missing from my day:

* Exercise / Workout – I used to run, however fell out of the habit a couple of years ago after accomplishing my goal of a 5K.  This is something I’ve got to get my way back to.  I have a plan; the subject of a great post I want to get to.

A lot of this is based on 7s (http://www.fixyourtodolist.com/foresight_system.htm).

So, with that in mind, I present “Monday” and kicking off the week:

Last night I wrote a letter to all my Foresight users asking for feedback on the product.  Being that they are subscribers and using the product, they are truly the experts and I wanted to hear what they had to say.  Feedback has been real positive (always great to hear , thanks again, everyone).  One person had a great question:  Can I categorize my work so when I’m at home, I only see “home stuff,” at work I see “work stuff,” etc?

Yes!

This was a key design issue for Foresight.  My goal was to keep only in front of you what you need at the time, so you can focus – and keep the other stuff out of site to keep stress down.

What I do is categorize all my projects by “Personal, Foresight, Work.”  Then, when I’m “at work,” I set the Category drop-down on the Projects Widget to “Work” — so I only see work items and don’t see Foresight or Personal (as, promise, my brain * will * spin on those items (“Gee, I really need to get the lawn mowed.  Gee, I really need to get a new blog posting done.”) – adding stress to the day.

For more information, take a look at this: http://www.fixyourtodolist.com/support/projects_widget.htm

One of the best ways to keep moving forward with multiple projects is to stop and take inventory once in awhile. Pause, look at the list, prioritize the list for the needs of here and now, then use that as your roadmap on how to move forward. The Projects Whiteboard in Foresight was designed just for that purpose.

With the Projects Whiteboard, you can open it up, then drag and drop projects into an order that works for what you need to be focusing on. If you have “multiple areas” in your life like I do (Personal, Work, Foresight), then, use the Category drop down to choose that “area,” which will cut down the number of projects you are looking at – making it easier to prioritize. Once you have the list reflective of today, close it then refresh the Projects Widget to see your true next actions. When a lot gets on your plate, this is a sure way to make sure you can get through it.

Today was one of those days for me. Several things hit at once. So, I performed the above steps first thing this morning and I’m happy to report that I had several “check marks” to close my day. A lot got done; the right things got done – and that’s a great feeling.

(Alternate Title: Open Multiple Windows in Outlook so Foresight Stays Right Where You Need It!)

When I designed Foresight, I designed it to be your “dashboard.” I designed it have all your pertinent information right in front of you, and, Quick Capture to be right there to snap up any interruptions. However, in several conversations I’ve had lately, people have asked me, “How can Foresight do this for me when I have to change to my Inbox to work on email, or, to my calendar?” After I showed them how I use Foresight and Outlook, they left the conversation smiling.

When I start Outlook, I have it start on my calendar. I do this as Outlook has enough to do on start up and bogs itself down without trying to load Foresight on top of it*. After Outlook is done loading and done checking email, I switch to Foresight Today so my dashboard is in front of me – and that is where it stays.

When I’m ready to process email, or need to review my calendar, I open these in new, separate windows. You can do this by right-clicking on the item you want and selecting Open in New Window as shown below.

I’ve taken this a step further by using some macros based on those originally developed by Michael S. Hyatt. This allows me to put buttons on the toolbar that let me instantly show my calendar and Inbox all in new and automatically arranged windows – giving you an incredible planning and productivity tool.

* Performance tip: disable any add-on’s you don’t need – this alone helps significantly with Outlook’s performance.

I’ve been using this feature more and more lately and wanted to pass this Foresight Tip along.

If you are like me, every day, you get pieces of information here and there about projects you are working on. They may not be anything you need to make a Task or Calendar Item out of. Yet, you know you just need to keep it – like a note about a conversation, or a password, or a link. Foresight will let you quickly and easily Quick Capture this information right into the Notes section of the Project (appending it to what might already be there). This lets you quickly get it off your mind and lets you get back to what you need to be focusing on. Just enter it like I show above.

For more information, click here.