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The Three Things Project
Efficient & Effective Productivity
© Copyright 2010 ThreeThingsProject.com
Welcome to the project
of YOU
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What Do You Want?
• Doesn’t everyone wants to be successful?
• “No one plans to fail, they just fail to plan”
• How would you like a daily achievement system that doesn’t require high tech, high cost, high drama, or a long learning curve?
• With just 15 minutes a day, you can achieve more and worry less…
• …Three Things at a time
15 minutes seems doable
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What Does Success Look Like?
• Is it achieving health, wealth, happiness, fulfillment, and/or lasting relationships?
• Is it making consistent strides towards your personal and professional goals?
• Is it having a deeper sense of pride and satisfaction?
• How about being up to 50% more effective and 50% more efficient using Three Things?
Traditional methods require 50% more
time and create 50% more errors*
*Brain Rules by John Medina
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How Do You Spend Your Time?
• Everyone has the same 24 hours each day– 8 hours per day of sleeping*
– 8 hours per day of earning*
– 8 hours per day of living*
• Time is the one commodity that we have in equal amounts with everyone else on the planet
• But what are YOU doing with your time? More importantly, what are you doing with it TODAY?*These are obviously estimates, but sleeping and earning time are rarely negotiable
I want 8 hours of sleep!
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Piece of the Pievs. Peace of Mind?
Working
Living
Sleeping Where’s my
sleep?
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The 21st Century Hourglass
Time Allotted
Where’s my life?
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Conventional wisdom tells us
to multi-task
Three Things keeps us
focused on what’s
important
“Doing it all” takes 50% more time
and causes 50% more errors
But…I want to do it all!Trying to do it all leads to failure and
disappointment
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So What?
• Is it possible to know that you are using your available time wisely?
• Can you feel productive and satisfied at the end of each day?
• How can you know you are getting what you want out of life?
• Consider: The Three Things model
The Project of YOU
The Projec
t of ME
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Three Things Model
• Your Three Things are:– developed in a Daily Meeting…
– where you ask yourself Three Questions…
– and determine your most important Three Activities for the day.
• Practicing Three Things leads to efficient and effective productivity– Efficient: More focused, less distracted, higher quality of work
– Effective: More intention, more accomplishment, more candidness and openness, more learning and growth
– More confidence, satisfaction, and achievement
Warning: Three Things can lead to a
richer life
10
ThreeThingsProject.com
Daily Meeting
Three Questions
Three Things™
1. What are the three most important things I accomplished yesterday?
2. What obstacles, problems, or issues hindered my progress?
3. What are the three most important things for me to accomplish today?
© Copyright 2010 ThreeThingsProject.com
These are the three parts of
Three Things
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The Daily Meeting
• Held at the same time and place each day; probably early morning or late night
• Lasts for 15 minutes
• Answers the three questions
• Produces your Three Things (3 activities) each day
• Recorded in a notebook or spreadsheet along with other ideas and reflections
Same time and place creates a
good habit
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The Three Questions
• What are the three most important things that I accomplished yesterday?
• What problems or issues hindered my progress?
• What are the three most important things for me to accomplish today?
We call the important things the
Three Things
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Today’s Three Things
• A list of three “activities” that will each consume approximately 2 hours of effort
• Be specific about what you are working on and the outcome you seek
• Be realistic about how much you can get done today
• You decide what is “most important” to today because your most critical activities deserve your best effort and most focused attention.
Every day you determine what is important to
you
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Your First Daily Meeting
• Grab a notebook and a pencil or pen
• Take 5 minutes to make a list of the three most important things you remember accomplishing yesterday (or the last day you worked)
• Take 5 minutes to make a list of problems and issues that you dealt with yesterday that interfered with your progress
• Take 5 minutes to make a list of the three most important things to accomplish today; block out 6 hours on your calendar to do these
Go ahead. Stop the presentation and try it now.
We’ll wait for you.
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What If I Have More than Three Things to Do?
• Keep a longer list; just remember that the “big three” need your priority time and effort
• The point is to get your best focus and energy on the most important things that you accomplish each day
• Once you have the large items accounted for in your schedule, it is easier to get the smaller things done around them
• You can group small things together for one of your Three Things (e.g. phone or errands)
Keep using your current planner and
calendar
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An Activity is a Collection of Tasks
Programs Operations
Projects
Activities Activities
Processes
Tasks Deliverables Meetings
Temporary OngoingAn activity is an objective
Activities include tasks, deliverables, and meetings
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Why Two Hours?
• A well-structured Activity is approximately 2 hours of work; sometimes it may get done in 1 hour and sometimes it may take 4 hours
• Do not plan for Three Things to take more than 6 hours of your day; you will need those other hours to handle the unknown and unexpected
• Your brain needs a change in focus; you’re not going to do great work when you’re bored
• Multitasking = more time + less quality
• Focus = less time + higher quality
Nothing is more
important than
getting things done
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Why Only Plan Six Hours?
• Because you can always count on the unexpected to happen
• Because there is usually other routine stuff to attend to (email, voice mail, reporting, filing, walk-ins, phone calls, etc.)
• Because an effective and efficient system must flex with the realities of life
• You cannot be 100% accurate in estimating effort; but you will improve over time
Because it’s the
important things that count the
most
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Other Questions
• Does this system really work? – It is so easy that you have already learned it
• Can I take more than 15 minutes for my daily meeting?– You could, but why? The point is to figure out what is most
important and start doing it. Work smarter, not longer.
• Isn’t this system too simple? – No. It is simple enough.
Try it for a week
and see!
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To Recap
• Sit down in the same place at the same time for 15 minutes each day
• Review yesterday’s success
• Consider your challenges and issues; they may happen again
• Settle on your Three Things for today
• Schedule time in your day to do each of your three things (about 2 hours each)
• START: Try the Three Things Project: Weekly Planner (Excel workbook)
Try the Weekly
Planner for more tips and
helps
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You Want to Get Even Better?
• Learn how to maximize your daily meeting by Starting a Three Things Group Meeting
• Learn how to build a productive team with Three Things for The Workgroup
• Learn how to apply Three Things for The Family and Time Off
Come see us at ThreeThingsProject.com
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Daily Meeting
Three Questions
Three Things™
1. What are the three most important things I accomplished yesterday?
2. What obstacles, problems, or issues hindered my progress?
3. What are the three most important things for me to accomplish today?
ThreeThingsProject.com
© Copyright 2010 ThreeThingsProject.com
