The precursor to my book Reboot Your Life - which is on Amazon and fine booksellers everywhere. (Well actually just on Amazon.) Learn some simple tools for managing time, deciding what is important, and handling email.

1. Our Speciality
Courageous & Authentic
High-trust
Shared
Leadership
Relationships
Direction
Developing leaders with
passion, authenticity, a sense of
their values and the impact and
power to make things happen
Building relationships of
trust, openness and collaboration
that create remarkable results –
between individuals and between
organisational units
Navigating complexity to create
the insight, alignment and action
to sustainably address the great
challenges we face
TIME, TECHNOLOGY, AND STRESS
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2. Topics and tech
• Time Management
• Email Management
• Mindjet
• Outlook
• Evernote
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3. Self-Management is the
Heart of the Matter
Leadership
Creativity and Innovation
Involvement
Long term vision
Strategic thinking
Self
Team
Vs
Stress
Overwhelm
Illness
Unhappiness
Poor performance
Organization
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

4. Problem
• The brain is the most powerful
processor that we know of…
• Horrible at information storage and
retrieval
– Working memory holds 5 – 9 items
• If we are grappling with more than that
number of worries, tasks, projects,
‘open loops’…
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5. A really useful tool…
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

6. Tool: Mind Sweep
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

7. Problem
• The vast number of inputs from…
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8. Useful tool…
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9. Uses/ features…
• Multiple formats – word/ pdf/ VOICE/
web clips/ photos/ snaps (from phone)
• Very powerful filing (multiple ways of
retrieving)
• Syncs with phone, Ipad, computer,
home computer
• Takes 30s to install, and you can begin
right away
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10. Problem
• Prioritizing in today’s world
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11. Tool: Four Quadrants
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

12. Too busy to get unbusy?
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13. Four Quadrants in Action
The reactive/ victim/ fire fighting
quadrant
The procrastinating/ avoiding/ low
value add/ time wasting quadrant
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

14. Your Four Quadrant Planning
• Draw your own 4 quadrant diagram and label the quadrants
• Think about all the priorities, tasks, to-dos, goals (and even
dreams) that you have and begin to put ACTIONS in each
quadrant as they come up
• Quadrant 2 is most ignored – the stuff in Quadrant 1 you can’t
get away from… (nor 3 probably)
• Think about how you can delegate or dump some Quadrant 3 or
4
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

15. Quadrant 2 Calendar Control
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

16. Combined Calendar and Lists
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

17. Problem
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Drowning in email
Email chains
Nasty emails
Brusque emails
Vauge email
Unactionable email
Poorly labelleld email
Etc
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18. Sending
• You get ½ an email back for every one you send:
–
Send fewer to get fewer!
• Beware CC/ BCC, ‘reply to all’
• Help people prioritize
–
INFO, ACTION, URGENT ACTION, FILE
• Make subject lines informative
–
–
Re:, Re:, Re:, Re:, Re: Meeting
URGENT ACTION: 9/8 board meeting, update project plan
• Do not expect busy people to read more than the first paragraph
carefully.
• Do not expect busy people to trawl through the ‘trail’
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

19. Sample Email…
• Thanks for the long conversation after our meeting.
I’m glad to see the project is progressing well. You
raised a number of interesting points, and I thought
they were well received. The delay in the project due
to changed scope (to include HR) was mandated by
the Exec. We need to re-plan accordingly. This may
also affect resource constraints and availability. I
understand that Janet in Finance may have some
availability. Get back to me if you have a question.
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

20. Put Actions First!!
The WHO…
The WHAT…
The WHY…
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

21. Responding–Manage Your
Email…
•
Your email inbox is not your to-do list…
–
–
–
–
•
Have set times during the day for processing
–
–
–
•
That traps you in reactive/ victim mode
YOU decide your priority at that second, not the latest incoming
Turn OFF all reminders, noises, flashes, blackberries.
If you have to, shut the program down (yes, really)
‘Processing’ = less than 2 minutes
‘Doing’ = the stuff that needs quality input and thought
Set aside ‘processing’ slots in your calendar AND ‘doing’ slots for key actionable emails.
Look at each email only once in your inbox
–
–
–
–
It either goes into your @HOTLIST folder
Or your @DELEGATED folder
Or gets filed
Or gets deleted
or it will
manage you!
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

22. The Complete System
Have an email
folder entitled
HOTLIST
- empty every
night (even if not
finished)
Have a
good
‘parking
lot’ filing
system for
stuff you
don’t want
to think
about, but
don’t want
to forget
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© 2010 Paul Gibbons

23. Your Cockpit
Fast filing while working
Daily to-do list here
(Option #1)
Time blocked out for IMPORTANT activities
Daily to-do list here
(Option #2)
****Never, ever, ever have email open unless you CHOOSE to have it open
© 2010 Paul Gibbons
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