5. Piece of the Pie vs. Peace of Mind? Working Living Sleeping Where’s my sleep?
6. The 21 st Century Hourglass Time Allotted Stuff to Do Where’s my life?
7. But…I want to do it all! 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 Trying to do it all leads to failure and disappointment
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16. An Activity is a Collection of Tasks Programs Operations Projects Activities Activities Processes Tasks Deliverables Meetings Temporary Ongoing An activity is an objective Activities include tasks, deliverables, and meetings
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Editor's Notes
Welcome to the Three Things Project. In the next 15 minutes, you are going to learn a simple, yet powerful tool for personal productivity. We believe it is the most effective and efficient process available today. What you are going to learn is not new, by any means. However, it reflects the best practices used today in start-ups and fortune 500 companies.
Do you know what you want in life? Do you plan to be successful? Doesn’t everyone plan to be successful? Someone once said that, “No one plans to fail, they just fail to plan.” Self-help gurus have preached for years about the importance of having goals and plans. Fortune 500 companies have spent billions of dollars over the years trying to help their professional staff achieve their highest potential. Many of the solutions they have imbibed are expensive, complicated, difficult to learn, and even harder to practice consistently. How would you like a daily achievement system that doesn’t require high tech, high cost, high drama, or a long learning curve? What we’ve discovered is that in just 15 minutes per day, you can achieve more than you thought possible. You can build your future and grow your dreams THREE THINGS at a time.
What does success look like to you? Is it achieving wealth, health, happiness, fulfillment, or lasting relationships? Is it making consistent strides towards your personal and professional goals? Is it having a deeper sense of pride and satisfaction with your work and personal life? Would you like to see significant results in just five days using the Three Things process?
We talk about spending time, but time is the oddest commodity of them all. We all have the same 24 hours to spend each day If you’re healthy, you probably spend 8 hours per day sleeping If you’re ambitious, you probably spend 8 or more hours per day earning a living That leaves us about 8 hours per day for living our lives: spouse, children, friends, hobbies, education, leisure activities, and the like. You have the same number of hours per day as the wealthiest, healthiest, and most successful people on the planet today. But what are you doing with your time? More importantly, what are you doing with your time TODAY?
There is a common myth that those who spend the most time at work are the most productive workers. So let’s say that you decide to stay at work a couple more hours per day? And then, because you really want that next promotion, you decide to go into work 2 hours earlier each day. At first, it seems like a winning strategy, so you decide to start staying an additional 2 hours. You’re there before the boss each day. You’re the last person to leave each day. Once you get that promotion, life is going to be easier, right? But to stay at work later, you’re stealing time from your Living Segment. And to go to to work earlier, you’re stealing time from your Sleeping Segment. And after a few days, as fatigue sets in, you’re stealing more time from your Living Segment to to get 6 hours of sleep per night. Maybe you’re smart enough to get 8 hours of sleep per night, but now you’re Living Segment is left with just 2 hours per day. And two hours is not much time to life a life…that is, to get up, morning routine, breakfast, lunch, dinner, evening routine, hobbies, family, friends, religion, community… you get the idea. You’re working harder, not smarter. Without balance, you will topple over at the least provocation. That is not living. That is not a life.
This hourglass demonstrates the challenge we all face in the 21 st Century. We have never ending demands on our time and energy, but we have precious little time to address or respond to those demands. Most of us are overwhelmed with the weight of what seem to be infinite expectations trickling down into a very narrow opportunity of time to act each day.
How many times have we been told to, “Do more with less” or “improve our multi-tasking.” The fact of the matter is that the human brain is a serial processor that can only focus on one thing at a time. Trying to do everything on a TO-LIST with 50 action items will ultimately lead to failure and disappointment. However, as you learn to group your tasks and action items into activities, you will find that you can spend less time planning your work and more time doing your work. Three Things is about focusing on the most important things first. Learning to spend 80% of your time on the three most important objectives of your day (which is really the top 20% of your task list) will increase the quality of your work, increase the value of your work, and increase your personal satisfaction (and your bosses satisfaction) with your efforts. Three Things is not rocket science. What Three Things teaches you is how to change contexts between activities less while temporarily ignoring the less important things that could be consuming your time. By focusing on the important things, you are unleashing your personal creativity and energy on those things that will have the biggest payoff in the end. You will be more effective, and you will be more efficient. Trying to do two things at once makes both items take 50% longer to accomplish and produces 50% more errors.
“So What?” you might ask. Is it really possible to know when I am using my time wisely? Is it possible to feel productive and satisfied at the same time? Am I getting what I want out of life? Consider the Three Things Project; because what could possibly be more important than the Project of YOU?
Three Things is a very simple model for personal and professional productivity. It starts with a Daily Meeting where you ask yourself Three Questions. Those questions help you develop your Three Activities, or Three Things, for the day. Three Things is built on proven principles of efficiency and effectiveness. You are more efficient when you work with more focus, have less distractions, and thereby produce a higher quality of work. You are more effective when you operation with more intention, get more things done, learn to be more honest and open with yourself, and grow into the person you long to be. You CAN have more confidence, more satisfaction, and more achievement in your life…starting right now…
Your daily meeting and your three questions help you develop your Three Things. 1) What are the three most important things you accomplished yesterday? 2) What obstacles, problems, or issues hindered your progress? 3) What are the three most important things for you to accomplish today? It’s your choice. It’s your life. It is your Three Things. The most important activities of your day will now going to get the time and attention they deserve.
The Daily Meeting is held at the same time and place each morning or evening. Your daily meeting should last no longer than 15 minutes. You want to write down the things that come to your mind as you ask yourself the three questions. When you’ve spent 10 minutes reviewing yesterday’s accomplishments and obstacles, you’re ready to decide what today’s Three Things need to be. You will want to record your answers in a notebook, computer file, or other location where your answers can be easily reviewed the next day. After you practice Three Things for a couple of days, you will find that there are a lot of other things that you will want to write down and keep along with your Daily Meeting.
What are the three most important things that I accomplished yesterday? Focusing on yesterday’s success ensures that you take credit where credit is due and also that you identify and accept responsibility for those things that are not yet completed or not yet started. What problems or issues hindered my progress? By acknowledging your roadblocks and obstacles, you are identifying important factors in your productivity. Sometimes these will be external obstacles like a stubborn co-worker or an over-burdened department. Sometimes the obstacles will be inside of you…things like your attitudes, your emotions, and your thinking will often block you from being your most productive. What are the three most important things for me to accomplish today? Only you can answer this question for yourself. Only you know what is most important to you and your life.
When deciding on today’s Three Things, you are sifting through a list of possibilities. You are seeking three activities, or collections of tasks, that will consume about 2 hours of your effort. This “time-boxing” is to ensure that you give your most important activities your best time and attention. Be specific about what you want to accomplish; that is, what is the end-state that you have in mind for this activity. Is it to finish a document, start a new project, get caught up on some phone calls, or spend time with your spouse and children? Whatever it is, be clear with yourself about what you want to accomplish. It is also important to be realistic about how much you can get done today. In time you will learn to set objectives for each activity that takes into account the rest of your day; such as, how many appointments you have, how big your other two things are, or how many interruptions you can expect today. Ultimately, Three Things is you deciding for yourself what is most critical for you today. That is because your most critical values and priorities deserve your best effort and most focused attention.
If you’re ready to stop worrying and start living, pause this presentation and go get a notebook and a pencil or pen to write with. The rest of this slide will walk you through the three questions to help you produce your first set of Three Things. Take 5 minutes to make a list of the three most important things you remember accomplishing yesterday. Take another 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. Once you have a list of your Three Things, block out 6 hours on your calendar to accomplish these important activities. That is, make an appointment with yourself to succeed at these Three Things.
Of course, you’re already asking, “How can I possibly only do Three Things in a day?” My days are chaotic at best with dozens of things to do and to track. It’s good to keep a list of things that you want to accomplish, even though you may not get to them today, tomorrow, or next week. However, once you identify today’s Three Things, those activities need to get your primary time and attention. The point is to get your best focus and energy on the most important things that you accomplish each day. Some days you will attend meetings or take trips that will need to be accounted for in your Three Things. If you’re in training, decide what are the Three most important Things for you to learn in class today. Once you have the large items accounted for in your schedule, it is easier to get the smaller things done around them. One of the most common mistakes people make in managing their time is spending more time tracking and planning tasks than they do on the actual tasks. We are creative human beings. We can think on our feet and accomplish more when we are free from anxiety and fear…free to act with confidence that we’re doing the right things at the right time. Sometimes you will want to group several smaller activities or tasks together to collectively represent one of your Three Things. Maybe you need to make phone calls or respond to emails. Focusing on the quality of your communication with others can certainly warrant a place within your Three Things. Other times, this communication may be related to a project or deliverable you are working on and it will be a part of that “thing” or activity.
The concept of activity is different than a single task, deliverable, or meeting. An activity is much more like an objective that you are trying to reach within a two-hour window. It will often include multiple tasks, or steps, one or more deliverables, and interactions (or meetings) with other people. The chart above makes a distinction between Projects and Operations. Operations are on-going business functions, while programs and projects have a defined start date and end date. However, both programs and operations will break down into activities that can be further broken down into individual tasks, deliverables, and meetings. By deliverable, we mean any tangible item that you would produce, be it a document, a software component, a report, a web page, or replacing or producing a widget. By meeting, we mean any conversation you have with one or more persons, whether in person, by phone, conference call, webinar, and the like.
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. Make sure that you do not plan for your Three Things to take more than 6 hours of your day; you will need those other two hours to handle the unknown and unexpected demands that will come up. Your brain needs a change in focus in order to avoid boredom. You will work better stopping what you are doing after two hours and moving on to another critical priority. Multitasking is a myth. Your brain does one thing at a time. When you try to do more than one thing at a time it takes up more of your time and produces lower quality work.
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 personal planning system must flex with the ever-changing realities of life You cannot be 100% accurate in estimating effort; but you will improve over time
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. Why not try it for yourself and see.
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)
The Three Things Project is in the process of building out a full set of materials to help you get more out of life with less effort, anxiety, and money. Please visit our web site to find out how you can join the Three Things Project and make the Project of YOU the most important project of your life.
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