When everything is important

‘What do I do first - everything is priority one!’, said Wendy. 

‘Have you visualized your work?’, I asked. 

‘I’ve got a to do list. Is that visual enough?’, she said. 

‘Does it include everything... everything you have on your mind?’

Wendy said, ‘Well, no. It’s just got the things I need to do today.’



And there it is ... the thing that makes us feel like everything is important. 

The partial to do list. The list for today only. 

When we only capture some of what we need to do, we capture the immediate and pressing, and it’s all important. 

But if we capture everything we need to do - yes, everything - we create a more realistic collection. 

Looking at everything, it’s clear some of them aren’t as important or don’t need to be done today. 

If we haven’t visualised the work to be done, we are going by what’s in our head or our inbox and that can feel like everything is important. 

Until you truly capture everything, you won’t know. 

We get distracted by the noise of so many tasks bumping into each other, gathering importance and urgency from each other - even when they don’t deserve it! 

Get it all out. 
Visualize it all. 
And then pick a top 3, 5 or 10. They’re the priority. 

How you handle a problem

When you were most recently working on a problem, a conundrum or a tricky situation, how were you handling the problem? Were you talking about it? Say, sitting around a table with other people, just talking it through? Or were you ‘handling the problem’? Did you actually get your hands on the problem?

When we physically work with a problem, see, feel and imagine the pieces of it and move things around, we solve it quicker.

If we do, that means the l-o-n-g meetings we’re in (where we are usually just talking about the problem) will be finished sooner! We'll come up with better ideas and solutions and we generate a greater range of possibilities.

A product development team at a consumer goods business used cards with the key issues, challenges and obstacles written on them. They moved the cards around on the meeting table.

Seems simple, right? Engagement, participation and buy-in was boosted, and people more clearly understood what the details of the issue were all about.

Try not to just talk about the problem - but get your hands on it! You'll bring more people into the work to be done. 

A Visual Map for your 2015 Planning

Happy new year to you for 2015!

To help you on your way - no matter what you're doing with resolutions, resets, reviews or renews .... here's a visual map to plot out some 2015 intentions. 

This is the visual map I use each year and this year it's a gift to ya! 

It's a one-pager for a reason. It has the 'big picture' in one visual snapshot. Once I've completed it for the year, I put it up on the wall in my office or have it as the screen lock or screen saver on my devices. I want it to be there in front of me to act like a display or dashboard or map to remind me what I'm doing this year. 

A big distractor for us achieving what we want is ... well.... distraction. Lack of focus is .... oh look, a cute dog running along the beach .... yes, that's me, I'll turn my head at the first fluffy jumping four-legged dog I see. Whatever your distraction is, let's get some focus in front of that distraction via this visual map. It's a quick and clear tool in the war against distraction. 

Get focusing on this visual map each day, at times throughout the day, to get it embedded in your mind so that soon you'll know what it looks like without looking at it. 

How to complete the Visual Map

Here's how I use it - of course you can put whatever you like wherever your like - or create your own:

1. I print it out and get myself a nice black marker; (yes for those that know me, it's probably a chisel tip marker!) ;-)
2. Starting with the yellow circle-y - cloud shapes I write in my big 'WHYs'. Why do I do what I do? What's important to me? Is it family, health, freedom, independence, giving... think about what is important to you. These are written in first for me to look at and I know they are always part of why I do what I do. I write one in each yellow shape. You'll see the centre yellow one is bigger - that might work for you with one being above all others. So why do you do what you do? What's important to you?
3. Below the big '2015', in the blue cloud shape I write a key word for focus. At Thought Leaders Business School, founder Matt Church suggests setting yourself a 'big word' to give you context and focus for your year ahead. Write it in there. Maybe it's about growth, productivity, clarity, love, balance, community - what's the one word that you're gonna be about this coming year?
4. Along the road between now and the horizon, there are four grey segments. Think of these as 90 day blocks or quarters for the year. Set some goals for those 90 day blocks. What's the key word for each of those? What will each quarter be about for you? What do you want to achieve, think, feel, do, have, be? These spaces are purposely not too big - I don't want clutter and confusion there for you. There's space to write some key goals and targets and some key intentions. Sometimes, I keep it simple and then fill in more details for the latter 90 days as the year progresses.

OK, get going on it...!

How are you feeling about committing some of this to paper? 

Sometimes I take the time to be quiet, listen to some music, sit at the beach or under a tree and complete this visual map as a real planning session. Other times, it's a quick and clear brain dump of what I've been working on and thinking over recent weeks. 

Relax... it's not set in reinforced concrete - it's flexible, changeable and maleable.

Use this as a kickstarter, a hack to get you focusing on what's important and why you do it, and breaking down the year into manageable chunks. 

Let me know how you go... email me photos of your Visual Maps; I'd love to see them and know more about what you've got your sights set on for 2015.

Make your work visible

Walking past a tall city building yesterday I noticed data on TV screens showing how much CO2 they were producing, how much electricity was being used and how much water was being consumed. There were other measures too but these were the big numbers. All on show. Their consumption and production…visible.

The TV screens and information caught my eye because I'd just finished a meeting at a client business who uses techniques of 'visual management' throughout the organisation, but on the inside of the building!

Here's what they make visible: the key tasks that teams are about to work on (to do), the tasks they are working on (doing), and tasks just completed (done). This info is visible throughout the business.

You never have to wonder what they do in any team or unit because you can see it! Pictures on the walls, sketches on noticeboards, data on monitors, handwritten information and post-it notes on charts.

So here is a tool for you...



This visual tool is one that will help you manage your:
To do
Doing, and
Done.

The approach of making work visible is based on a technique called Personal Kanban, adapted from the lean manufacturing world of building cars. 

You make your work visible and minimise the number of tasks you're juggling! 

In his book Personal Kanban, Jim Benson guides you to be more productive and effective, and transform tasks that can appear conceptual... into actionable steps.

It brings clarity to overloaded desks and those crazy-long 'to do' lists. 

So the mini Kanban visual above is a page for you to click, save and print out.

Start putting a couple of items on your 'To Do' column. Write each task on a post it note. Move a task over to 'Doing' and start doing it.

When you're done, move it to the 'Done' column.

Then move another item over from 'To Do and start doing that. 

I use this type of Kanban approach often - particularly when there is too much to do. Great clarity, focus and super-productive. It keeps work visible, it lets you and others know what you're working on. It's transparent, communicative and clear. 

Niiiice! See?