THE MISSION CONTROL PRODUCTIVITY & ACCOMPLISHMENT … · The$Mission$Control$Produc2vity$and$Accomplishment$Workshop$ ©"2001&2014"Mission"Control"Produc5vity,"LLC" 11 Copyright ©

The Mission Control Produc2vity and Accomplishment Workshop

© 2001-‐2014 Mission Control Produc5vity, LLC 1

Copyright © 2001-2014 Mission Control Productivity, LLC. All rights reserved www.missioncontrol.com

THE MISSION CONTROL PRODUCTIVITY & ACCOMPLISHMENT

WORKSHOP


The Workshop

The foundation and fundamentals for a breakthrough in individual productivity, performance and

experience of accomplishment.

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Productivity, Performance, Accomplishment

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Context (Assumptions, Conclusions, Thinking)

Actions / Habits

Tools & Infrastructure


Mission Control

For Everything there is for you to do and handle in life.

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What is your overall experience of the totality of everything there is for you to do and handle in life?

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Everything There Is For You To Do And Handle In Life

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Unconfrontable •  For most of us, what there is for us to do and

handle in life, exists in one of three states

•  Up in our face

•  Sometime later

•  Unconfronted

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•  The payoff of not confronting the mountain

Comfort

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§  More to do than I can get done in the time I have to do it

§  Overwhelm

§  Frustration

§  Annoyance

§  Anxiety

§  Loss of power §  Resignation

§  Accomplishment as not much more than keeping the wolf away from my door

§  Small experience of myself

The cost of not confronting the mountain:


The Big Question

Is it actually possible for anyone to get done Everything there is for them to do or handle?

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Trying to get it all done

We are addicted to trying to get it all done.

Addiction: the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.

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Trying to get it all done

We are addicted to trying to get it all done.

It’s a fundamental assumption that we should get it all done.

It’s an unexamined Context that we live our lives inside of.

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Burden and Overwhelm

•  Consider that any experience of burden and overwhelm is not a function of having too much to do.

•  It is a function of: •  Not confronting the totality of all you have to do and handle

•  Trying to get it all done, and thinking you should get it all done

The first step in getting the mountain off your back is getting clear, down to your bones, that you will never get it all done.

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POWER, FREEDOM, AND PEACE OF MIND




Power, Freedom, and Peace of Mind

Power is having what you say realized •  Power is measured by two factors •  the magnitude (scope and depth) of what

you say, and

•  the amount of time and effort it takes to realize what you say

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Freedom is the space to choose on an ongoing basis what you do and handle in life

• Having the time and wherewithal to do and handle what is important to you

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Peace of Mind is being fully present in life

• Having 100% of yourself available to each thing you do or handle

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Mission Control gives you a way of relating to and dealing with

the Totality of Everything there is for you to do and handle in life

so that you experience Power, Freedom, and Peace of Mind

in the face of Everything there is for you to do and handle in life.

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What Produces Power, Freedom, & Peace of Mind

The experience of Power, Freedom, and Peace of Mind in the face of what there is for you to do and handle in life is a function of two (and only two) things:

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The number of Incompletions in your life. 1 The way in which what there is for you to do and handle exists for you.

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WORK HABITS




Definition of habit

hab•it (habit) n. A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition. An established disposition of the mind or character.

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Common Work Habits

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You do this (Action)

Something comes up you need to remember.

You jot it on a handy scrap of paper.

Someone asks you to do something.

You say yes but don’t check to see if you have the time to get it done.

Your phone rings while you’re doing something.

Without giving it a second thought, you answer it.

An email arrives in your inbox. You stop what you’re doing and read the email.

Something you need to do comes to mind.

You tell yourself “I’ll remember it later” and you let it slide by.

Someone walks into your office. You stop what you’re doing and talk.

This happens (Trigger)

You read an email that requires you to take an action.

You leave it as “unread” to deal with later.




The impact of work habits

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How do our work habits create stress and lack of balance? The workplace around us is changing every day.


The changing workplace

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Touch tone (digital) phones

Personal Computers

Sputnik & Space race

Affordable air travel

Mainframe computers

Cell phones Email

Instant Messaging

Trains (standardized time zones)

Electric typewriters

US Interstate Highway System

Broadband Internet

Automobiles

Personal Fax Machines

Assembly lines & mass production

Late

180

0’s

1900

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

Speed, Complexity, & Volume of information we are expected to process has exploded!

Over time, speed, volume and complexity increase

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WiFi

Smart Phone

Webinars

GPS Wikipedia

Online Streaming

Smart TV’s

Podcasts Social Networking

VoIP




Speech Habits

•  Most people think that they use language, but in fact, in a very real sense, your speaking and listening uses you.

•  We speak in habitual ways about the things we have to do and handle, the environment in which we are working and even about ourselves.

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Our habits

In today’s workplace, we are expected to manage an ever increasing speed, complexity and volume of work!

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Our work habits …

§  are not correlated with that reality.

§  are what most restrict our productivity.

§  will unfailingly argue for their persistence.






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2


Incompletion and Completion

Everything there is for you to do and handle is either Complete or Incomplete.

Period.

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Incompletions

Examples of “Incompletions” •  Piles, papers, notes or reminders on your desk •  Saying you are going to do something by a

certain time, not doing it, and not saying that you’re not doing it

•  Your car being overdue for an oil change •  Hearing about a book you’d like to read, and

making a mental note to buy it someday •  Hundreds of emails in your inbox •  Places in your home that are disorganized •  Things that you think about over and over again

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§  Almost complete

§  Virtually complete

§  99% complete §  Not even close

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States of Incomple2on





Why is almost everything we have to do and handle

incomplete?

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The Habit of Letting It Slide

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Things come to mind and we let them slide by until there is so much slipping by, and so much on our mind, that we spend our lives in a fog that can only be penetrated by emergencies.




The Habit of Storing Incompletions

Using the Existence Structure Inventory, put a check mark next to places and ways you store the things you have to do and handle in your life.

Count the items checked

How do you keep

Everything you

have to do and

handle in

existence?

WORKBOOK PG 8

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INCOMPLETION AND COMPLETION




Completion

Everything there is for you to do and handle is capable of being complete

Now!

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Big Surprise!


States of Completion

Incomplete §  Almost complete


§  99% complete

§  Not even close

Complete §  Fully complete

§  Provisionally complete

§  Automatedly complete

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Everything there is for you to do and handle is either in some state of being incomplete, or is complete.




Working from Completion

1.  It could be done now, but it is not.

2.  It cannot be done now, but could be finished in the foreseeable future.

3.  It is repetitive or ongoing, and therefore cannot be finished, even in the foreseeable future.

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If something is incomplete, it is incomplete in one of these three ways:


Fully Complete

Something that can be fully complete now is experienced as complete only when:

§  It is done and ceases to exist for you as something to do

§  AND, the fallout of its being complete is in existence as a compelling opening for action

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Provisionally Complete

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Something that cannot be done now, but could be finished in the foreseeable future, is nevertheless experienced as complete when:

§  What cannot be done now is in existence as a compelling opening for action.


Automatedly Complete

§  Everything that is repetitive is in existence as repetitive compelling openings for action.

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Something that is ongoing and cannot be finished, even in the foreseeable future, is nevertheless experienced as complete if it is automated:





Incomplete §  Almost complete


§  99% complete

§  Not even close

Complete §  Fully complete

§  Provisionally complete

§  Automatedly complete

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Everything there is for you to do and handle is either in some state of being incomplete, or is complete.


The Foundation

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Existence

•  Whether or not you do or do not do something there is for you to do and handle is determined by the way in which what there is for you to do and handle exists for you

•  What you accomplish with regard to what there is for you to do and handle is determined by the way in which what there is for you to do and handle exists for you

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WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

An aspect of how what we have to do and handle exists for us




Definition of concern

con•cern n. 1)  a matter that engages a

person’s attention, interest, or care, or that affects a person’s welfare or happiness.

2)  a matter of interest or importance to one; that which relates to or affects one.

3)  Worry.

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*Taken From: Simon & Schuster, and Webster’s New World Dictionary


§  The way any person is, and what any person does, is powerfully shaped by the particular set of Concerns that individual desires to fulfill.

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The way Mission Control uses the word Concern is exactly as it is meant in the following sentence:

Mission Control definition of Concern




Concerns

§  The Concerns are what produce the things we have to do or handle.

§  Anything we have to do or handle started out life as a Concern

§  If you take anything there is for you to do or handle and ask why it exists, and you keep drilling up, you will ultimately come to a Concern you want fulfilled.

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Enterprise Concerns

The actions and culture of any enterprise are powerfully shaped by the particular set of Concerns that enterprise exists to fulfill.

In an enterprise, jobs only exist because the enterprise has a Concern it is willing to pay someone to fulfill.

If the Concern disappears or if it can be fulfilled without paying someone, the job disappears.

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Concerns you are paid to fulfill

If you know what Concern you are fulfilling, you are more naturally, powerfully, and effectively fulfilling it.

When you are clearly fulfilling the Concerns of your enterprise, your work is more valuable to the people who are paying you to fulfill those Concerns.

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THE WORLD OF “SOMEDAY”

An aspect of how what we have to do and handle exists for us




The world of “Someday”

People talk about what they are going to do “someday”, but “someday” never comes.

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I’ll get to it later I’ll do it as soon as I can

I’m working on it I’ll do it tonight / on the weekend

It’s on my to do list I’ll get it to you in the next few weeks


THE WORLD OF NOW

An aspect of how what we have to do and handle can exist for us




What is always and unfailingly present when something actually gets done?

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When things get done

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A “Now”

Doing takes time and the kind of time doing takes is a

time called “Now”.




When things get done

In this course, when we say Now, we are referring to a Now that is a

“period of time”

For example, 9:00 to 9:45 AM Tuesday, June 21st, 2016

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What do we mean by “Now”?


Nows

Creating Nows in which to complete what there is for you to do or handle

is the first step in experiencing Power, Freedom, and Peace of Mind

in the face of what there is for you to do and handle.

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Occasion

1.  A favorable time; opportunity.

2.  A state of affairs that makes something possible.

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Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, Version 2.8

oc•ca•sion


Occasion

§  A state of affairs that:

•  creates a compelling opportunity for you to do something there is for you to do

•  empowers and enables you to do something there is for you to do

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The Mission Control definition of Occasion is:




Occasion

§  Schedule a now of sufficient duration to complete something there is for you to do or handle

§  State the something-there-is-for-you-to-do-or-handle as an accomplishment, a result completed

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Creating an Occasion:


STATEMENTS OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

An aspect of how what we have to do and handle can exist for us




Stating Accomplishment

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Marketing Strategy Meeting Or We’ve aligned on our 3rd quarter marketing strategy, and have committed to the actions that will unquestionably satisfy our KPI’s


Occasion

Without an Occasion there is a good chance you won’t do what you should do, what you want to do, what you need to do.

With an Occasion there is a good chance you will do what you should do, what you want to do, what you need to do.

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Existence

§  What you are Doing Now §  What you are Not Doing Now §  What you are Never Doing Now

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In truth

What there is for you to do or handle in life exists in one of only three ways:


Existence

Whether you actually do or don’t do what there is for you to do is also

determined by the way in which what there is for you to do exists for you

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2



Recap

§  The current reality (burden, overwhelm) is a function of: §  Not confronting the Totality §  Trying to get it all done §  Habits

§  A new reality: Power, Freedom and Peace of Mind §  States of Completion §  How things exist •  Fulfilling what’s important •  “Now” / Occasions for accomplishment •  Doing Now / Not Doing Now / Never Doing Now

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THE MISSION CONTROL SYSTEM FOR POWER, FREEDOM AND

PEACE OF MIND


The Mission Control System

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The Six Tools 1

Standard Work Practices for using those Tools 2

There are two parts to the Mission Control System:




Six Tools of the Mission Control System

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Capture Tool: Work Practice #1

Any new thing for you to do or handle, enters through your one and only one Capture Tool.

Why do we say one and only one Capture Tool?

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Capture Tool: Work Practice #2

Your Capture Tool Is Ready-to-Hand at all times

§  Make this an absolute habit

§  Stop the world when it is not ready-to-hand

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Capture Tool: Work Practices #3

You immediately enter anything for you to do or handle into your Capture Tool Recommended agreement with yourself:

§  Not capturing – you aren’t doing it

§  Not capturing – it doesn’t exist for you

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Capture Tool: Work Practices #4

Empty your Capture Tool every day … into your Calendar or one of the other parts of the Mission Control System

§  Set up a recurring daily Occasion.

§  Critical work practice

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The Calendar of Occasions

Your Calendar of Occasions is the first choice when emptying your Capture Tool.




Calendar of Occasions

§  You have one and only one calendar for your Calendar of Occasions

§  Your Calendar of Occasions must be: §  A daily calendar §  Preferably with each hour broken up into 15 minute

segments §  Preferably starting no later than the earliest you

generally arise, and preferably going as late as you generally go to sleep

§  Each 15 minute segment should be big enough to write out a statement of what is to be accomplished

§  Have a month at a glance section

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Typical task-centric scheduling habits

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Only appointments are put in the calendar A to-do list is kept with no reference to how long items take to get done Fosters reacting to what seems urgent or whatever comes up, or just what’s next on the list Actually supports the addiction of trying to get it all done!




Calendar-Centric scheduling practices

•  If you’re going to do it, schedule it.

•  If you’re committed to doing it, schedule it.

•  If you’re accountable for doing it, schedule it.

•  If you want to do it, schedule it.

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Calendar-centric scheduling practices

To Do’s are transformed into Occasions and reflect reality of time to accomplish Routines are accounted for




Calendar of Occasion Work Practices

§  Schedule Occasions §  Statement of Accomplishment

§  Sufficient time

§  Time for fallout

§  Alarm

§  Can always move

§  Leave sufficient unscheduled time

§  Schedule routines

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Your routines

Meal routines?

Holiday routines?

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Lunch Routines?

Work routines?

Typical patterns & routines to track & account for:

Time that it takes to get up, eat breakfast, shower, & drive to work?

Evening routines?

Meeting routines? E-mail routines?

Phone call routines? Reading routines?

Weekend routines?

Travel routines? Driving routines?

Play routines?

Shopping routines?

Family routines?

Bill paying routines?




Calendar of Occasions Practices

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At the end of each week, you make your Calendar

of Occasions of the coming week as accurate and realistic as possible.

At the end or beginning of each day, you make your

Calendar of Occasions of the coming day

completely accurate and realistic.

I am complete - Email is handled, I emptied my capture tool, handled my occasions and everything is in existence and complete for me


Taking Control of Your Time and Your Life

§  Most doing seems dictated by circumstances

§  Creating the Calendar of Occasions is designing and directing your own life

§  What about spontaneity?

§  Living by the truth of what you have time for – and what you don’t have time for

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Not Doing Now List and Pile

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A tool for vividly displaying what you have determined will exist for you as:

WHAT I AM NOT DOING NOW.


Not Doing Now List: Work Practices

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One and only one list, and…

What you are Not Doing Now consists of:

…one (but only one) file or pile.





•  Critical: The number of items must never be more than you can comfortably confront

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Not Doing Now Pile

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Turn it into something You Are Never Doing Now by moving it to Your Never Doing Now list or piles, or,

Turn it into something You Are Doing Now by creating an Occasion for it, or,

Take it out of existence entirely by revoking your Concern for ever doing it (delete it entirely from the Vivid Display).

Confirm that it should appropriately continue to be What You Are Not Doing Now, or,

At least once each week, confront each item in your Not Doing Now List and…




Never Doing Now List and Piles

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A tool for displaying what you have determined will exist for you as:

WHAT I AM NEVER DOING NOW.


Never Doing Now List: Work Practices

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One and only one list, and…

What you are Never Doing Now consists of:

…any number of files or piles.





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Never Doing Now Piles

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Turn items into something You Are Not Doing Now by moving it to Your Not Doing Now list or piles, or,

Turn items into something You Are Doing Now by creating an Occasion for it, or,

Take items out of existence entirely by revoking your Concern for ever doing it (delete it entirely from the Vivid Display).

Confirm that the items should appropriately continue to be What You Are Never Doing Now, or,

Monthly, look through your Never Doing Now List and piles and…



§  Almost everything you have to do and handle (i.e. almost everything in the Mountain) will go in your Never Doing Now list and piles

§  Start to take out of existence what you have the courage to take out of existence altogether

§  What is one thing you will choose to never do again?

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AGENDAS


Agendas

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AGENDAS are a tool for managing ongoing conversations with colleagues, projects, and much of what causes interruptions.




Reducing Distractions and Interruptions

§  A large amount of what distracts you will disappear when you implement the Capture Tool

§  Interruptions are most likely from colleagues or clients who need something from you - or you from them

§  Agendas greatly increase your productivity by reducing the number of times you interrupt other people and the number of times they interrupt you

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Agendas: Work Practices

§  For people or teams you regularly meet with, create and maintain an Agenda of items to be handled with them.

§  Schedule recurring Occasions with the person or team during which you will handle the items in the Agenda.

§ Never have an Agenda for which there is not an occasion!

§  Unless it is absolutely urgent, use the Agenda to record new items, avoiding a constant stream of interruption when new thoughts come to mind to do or handle with that person.

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Using Agendas


RELEVANT INFORMATION

SYSTEM




Relevant Information System

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A tool for storing RELEVANT INFORMATION, so that it is linked directly to the thing to do or handle to which it is relevant.


Relevant Information: Work Practices

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Relevant Information is always at hand when you need it – connected to the thing to do or handle.

§  With the Occasion

§  With Not Doing Now

§  With Never Doing Now




Relevant Information System

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Attach all the information to the scheduled Occasion (or other item).

You then have everything you need to fully focus on the accomplishment in the NOW that you have scheduled for it.


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Relationships of the Six Tools




EMAIL AND MEETINGS


Example Email Practices for Productivity

§  Relate to your Inbox as an extension of your Capture Tool. §  Empty your Inbox by the end of each day.

§  Schedule 2-3 Nows per day to read and manage Email and only manage Email during those times. Turn off any audio or visual email pop up notifications you may have set to notify you of arriving email.

§  As you are managing your Email, slide anything that you cannot respond to instantly, into a NOT DOING NOW or Reference email folder.

§  Use Rules to automatically route incoming mail you are CC’d on to a NOT DOING NOW Email folder.

§  Schedule three or four Occasions per week to review, process and respond to what is in your NOT DOING NOW and Reference Email folders. Complete all items that you can.

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Sample Email Protocols

§  Start the subject line of each message with INFORM, ACTION REQUIRED, URGENT and/or CONFIDENTIAL §  INFORM means no action is required by the reader §  ACTION REQUIRED means the reader is requested to take some

action

§  URGENT means a response is required same business day §  CONFIDENTIAL means the email should not be forwarded to or

copied to anyone else without the permission of the sender

§  If someone is listed in the “Cc” field of the email, they are not expected to take any action with the email §  If you want someone to take an action, they must be listed in the “To” field

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Sample Email Protocols

•  For distribution of documents •  Where possible, do not send the document as an

attachment – point people to shared information folder on the network drive; send email with a hyperlink to the file(s)

•  At the end of the email •  If you do not require a response to your email, end with “No

response required”

•  If you do require a response, say what response you are asking for and by when; explicitly say to whom to respond

•  Think before you open that Inbox •  For quick questions and informs, consider using IM or text

vs. email to reduce email volume

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Example Meeting Practices for Productivity

1. Limit meetings to 45 minutes, instead of 1 hour.

2. List the objectives being fulfilled and outcomes intended for the meeting in the invitation to attendees. Request this when missing from meetings you are invited to.

3. Start and end on time.

4. Do not go back and review for latecomers.

5. List next action steps, if any, for all participants by end of the day.

6. Allow at least 15 minutes between consecutive meetings.

7. Everyone is required to have a way of capturing information at the meeting. Promises to “remember” are not allowed.

8. Authentic No’s and Counteroffers are acceptable.

9. People who accept requests are asked to check their schedule, right in the meeting, to see if they have the time. Accepting requests without available Nows is not accepted.

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WHAT WILL THIS TAKE?




What this will take

§  Enjoying the Power, Freedom, and Peace of Mind provided by utilizing the Mission Control System requires honesty, practice and discovery.

§  Sometimes it takes courage to be honest, especially when the consequences are frightening.

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What this will take

§  In all honesty, what there is for you to do and handle exists in only three ways: §  What You Are Doing Now,

§  What You Are Not Doing Now, and

§  What You Are Never Doing Now

§  It takes honesty, practice and discovery to develop work habits based on the truth – work habits that leave you with Power, Freedom, and Peace of Mind.

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What this will take

§  If you find yourself “too busy” to utilize the Mission Control System, you are trying to get it all done, and what is missing is honesty, practice and discovery.

§  When you are not utilizing the Mission Control System, tell the truth: §  Being honest when you are not using the system, that you are

simply not using the system, makes it easier to start using the system again.

§  Explaining and giving reasons and justifications about why you are not using the system, makes it difficult to go back to using the system.

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What is possible

•  You are able to view, consider, and confront the totality of what you have to do and handle.

•  The impediment you are to your own productivity will become too blatant for you to continue.

•  You have the experience of Freedom, Power, and Peace of Mind about the totality of – and each one of – what there is for you to do and handle.

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END

Documents

THE MISSION CONTROL PRODUCTIVITY & ACCOMPLISHMENT … · The$Mission$Control$Produc2vity$and$Accomplishment$Workshop$ ©"2001&2014"Mission"Control"Produc5vity,"LLC" 11 Copyright ©