All the components of this classic training scheme updated. Includes current statistics of office life, and suggested remedies for coping with work pressure.

1. INCREASING
EFFECTIVENESS TO
MASTER OFFICE LIFE@kevinduncan

2. MODERN OFFICE LIFE

3. INFORMATION INUNDATION
Average professional gets 300 emails a
week
People check their phones 221 times a day
People use their mobiles for 2 hours a day
They spend 28 hours a week on email
Executives interrupted every 8 minutes,
losing over 2 hours a day
It takes 15 minutes to get back to what you
were originally doing
Sources: Atlassian, Internet trends, University of California,

4. WORK EMAIL HABITS
“I often or sometimes check my email...
 Immediately when I wake up 80%
 On weekends 63%
 On holiday 58%
 In bed 34%
 Before 7am 66% UK average
6.51am
 Before I go to bed 54%
 During commute 33-61%
Source: APSIS, YouGov

5. ATTITUDES TO TECHNOLOGY
 70% feel they receive too many emails
 51% of emails deleted within 2 seconds
 48% of executives “cannot live without
email.”
 26% of men “could not live without their
laptop.”
11% of men “could not live without their
BlackBerry.”
Email checked 30-40 times an hour
Having unread messages reduces IQ by 10
points

6. WHAT SCIENCE SAYS
 Average attention span in 2000: 12 seconds. 2015: 8
secs.
 We can handle 3-4 cognitively demanding thoughts
at once.
 When you think you’re multitasking you’re actually
switching back and forth between different tasks.
 There’s a switch cost. It takes the brain 15-25
minutes to get back.
 Digital devices have a negative effect on prolonged
focus.
 The only way to be productive (prolonged focus and
deep thinking) is to switch off devices.

7. OUT OF HOURS WORKING
 93% of employees continue working when
they have left the office
…for a total of over 3 and a half hours a
week
…or 15 hours a month
…or 183 hours a year
…or 23 extra working days a year
Source: YouGov

8. THE WORST
ASPECTS OF
OFFICE LIFE
@kevinduncan

9. EXCUSES AND WAFFLE

10. The excuse culture (p.118)

11. DON’T MAKE EXCUSES
 Get things done
 Don’t be vague or evasive
 Don’t use jargon
(unless with specialists who know the
lingo)
 Don’t use bullshit
 Keep politics to a minimum

12. Spotting waffle (p.32)

13. HATE WAFFLE
 Waffle is the enemy of a clear decision
 Take the time to think first
 Think straight then talk straight
 Don’t do spontaneous word dumps
 Ask for five minutes of their time
 When’s convenient for you to talk?

14. PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION

15. PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION
 Perfectionist bosses demoralise staff
by consistently redoing their work
 Perfectionists in a team take too long
agonizing, putting pressure on colleague
 Go for highest standards & finish the job

16. Quantitative v Qualitative (p.133)

17. DO IT FAST OR DO IT PROPERLY
 Quantitative tasks can neither be done we
nor badly
 Get them done fast with minimum fuss
 Qualitative tasks need time and thought
 By having clear set times for the quant,
we can think harder about the qual.
 Mornings for creative, deeper thinking wo
 Am I just doing it, or am I doing it well?

18. Just doing it, or doing it well?
(p.134)

19. SOME SUGGESTIONS

20. Not like this Like this
MULTITASKING DOESN’T WORK.
TRY RAPID SEQUENTIAL TASKING (p.63)

21. Not like this. Not like this.

22. SETTING PRIORITY (p.90)
• Do the worst first
• Think and plan properly
• Ignore irrelevant stuff

23. SAY NO POLITELY (p.50)

24. NEGOTIATE ROBUSTLY
• Key to any negotiation
• Can have any two
• Too much pressure = collapse
• Start all sentences with “If…”
• “If you require x, we require y...”

25. Protect the company’s position

26. Brevity equals intelligence (p.40)

27. The one-touch approach (p.65)

28. A NEW EMAIL ETIQUETTE
 Never touch an email more than once
 Read it, then action it, file it, or delete it
 Use a different medium if you can
 Don’t be an email thief and steal time

29. Make it work for you,
not the other way around
(Taming Technology Rules p.76)

30. FIFO: FIRST IN FIRST OUT (p.94)

31. Do the worst first (p.49)

32. Set up tripwires (p.123)

33. DEALING WITH DEADLINES (p.160)
• Human nature to delay, but
don’t
• Convene decision makers in
the first 24 hours
• Set direction, brief experts,
course correct if necessary
• Debate hard and early p.52

34. A NEW MEETING ETIQUETTE
 Only call meetings when really
necessary
 Make them short
 Turn up, prepare properly, stay on
theme
 Shut up and listen

35. SHARPER, SMARTER, FASTER
 Brevity equals intelligence
 The shorter the better
 Edit first before wasting others’ time
 Tasks do not improve if they are delayed
 So do the worst first
 Free up time for important stuff
 Concentrate on qualitative tasks

36. PERFECT LIST WRITING

37. Personal priorityPERFECT
system p.85

38. Emotional importance

39. Reason for doing

40. Financial value to you

41. Everyone else’s priorities

42. Chronological sift

43. Time shifts

44. Try them out
and create your own style
or write an anti list (p.48)

45. TOWARDS A
MANIFESTO
FOR A
BETTER WAY
OF WORKING

46. NO EXCUSES
PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION
MEETING & EMAIL ETIQUETTE
SHARPER SMARTER FASTER
HATE WAFFLE
DO IT FAST, DO IT PROPERLY

47. • What can you put into
practice right now?
• How can you act yourself
into a new way of thinking?
You don’t think yourself into a
new way of acting…

48. expertadviceonline.com
tickachieve.co.uk
@kevinduncan
07979 808770