Tip #1: Eliminate Chaos

When everything around you is moving fast it’s hard to get organized. Does this sound like your typical day? You return from one meeting only to go to another and yet another throughout the day; you don’t have time to focus strategically on one project because your time is spread so thin over a dozen; you have three people at your door waiting for a decisions on three different projects.

Unless you gain control over the madness of your days, it will control you. You need to do whatever it takes to prepare yourself for these tornadic days – because they’re not going to stop. You need time management. You need to get organized.

• Come in 30 minutes early and straighten your desk and reply to urgent e-mails: It’s amazing how much quality work you can do when nobody else is in the office.
• Organize your files so you know where everything is: It’s a great feeling to be called into a last minute meeting and be able to grab the appropriate file.
• Block out chunks of your days to ensure you have time to get your work done: I find that I’m most productive on Monday-my brain is fresh and I’m still thinking clearly. After my morning meetings I’ve blocked out a few hours in the afternoon to actually work.
• Take time to help others: You’ll find that when you’re organized, you’ll be better able to help others and help them with things they need.

I’ve learned that when my life is chaotic, I work minute-by-minute. I can’t see the horizon and I start to feel overwhelmed and stressed. So, take some time and eliminate the chaos by getting organized.

 In my next post I’ll talk about Tip #2: Embrace Others

Author: Matt Murdoch, FranklinCovey

 A very wise and wonderful woman once told me that we become a reflection of our life experience. There are about 6.8 billion people in this world and they all have very different experiences. They all think though things differently, do things differently, and get the results that their behavior produces. Today more than ever we live in a very complex environment, technology breakthroughs, massive noise, complexities with factors and forces that interact, it’s chaos out there, the speed of information is overwhelming. The pressure to perform at work is harder today more than ever. What worked in the past may not work in the future because of the changing climate that we have.

 The one thing we know at FranklinCovey that remains constant is that change will happen and continue to happen. So the need to learn, adapt and grow is more important today then ever before. So how do you approach this?  How do you even start to make sense of this concept? We know the way you think dramatically impacts what you do  and your behavior. And your behavior typically produces the results in your life, right? The way you feel influences your thinking, which impacts what you do and, what you do gives you your results. If you feel positive or negative, based on your feelings, it can really impact things. A lot of people think they can’t necessarily change the way they think or what they do to get the results that they want. But we are here to tell you that you can be the author of your own future. If you want small incremental change, focus on your behavior. But if you want big change, focus on your thinking. The purpose of this blog is to help you make lasting transformational change and unlock the passion in yourself to reach all your goals and dreams.

 Please feel share with me you thoughts, insights and experiences on change.

 Check out this post as a video blog post:

 Author: Sam Bracken, Global Director of Product Management Marketing, FranklinCovey