Are you an “I-can-do-it-all-myself” person? Do you have some tasks, responsibilities, or projects that you have been procrastinating? I will assume that since you are still reading that the answer is yes to both.

If you have a mental list of items that you are procrastinating, I first recommend that you get them out of your head and on to a piece of paper (or into a document on your computer). Either way, get a list – and then we will work on that list.

I want you to look over your list of procrastinated tasks (projects, etc.) and deliberately, mindfully, and purposefully DECIDE to ask for help on at least one of them. I’ll wait right here while you are doing that.

There are two ways to think about this:

1. Sometimes, you need to ask someone else to help you by doing a particular task, errand, or other commitment and

2. Sometimes, you need to ask someone to handle sometime that you have been handling so that YOU can then complete or make progress on one of your procrastinated items.

For example, let’s say you are procrastinating getting several articles finished – all of which you need to get written and published if you are going to be able to confidently go up for tenure. The help you need to ask for is that your significant other get himself and the kids out of the house with minimum muss and fuss for at least 4 hours every Saturday afternoon, rain or shine. That’s the help you need.

In another case, you have been procrastinating cleaning out the garage. You ask a teenager to come over and help you. You are happy to contribute to this young person’s financial well-being if he will help you get things down out of the rafters, off top shelves, and out of various garage nooks and crannies. And, you will be so happy to have him haul things away to a dumpster, Goodwill, recycling places, etc. when the sifting and sorting are complete. You are not delegating out the garage cleaning – you are asking for the help you need so that you can clean out the garage.

Go through your list now and determine the items where you need to deliberately ask for help. Put the name of the person you will be asking for help. The idea here is to think about the ones you’re procrastinating just because you need some kind of help with getting it done.

Here’s a secret: People are glad to help. They are especially glad to help if you have come across as an “I-can-do-it-all-myself” person. I know this from experience.

Here’s another secret: It is hard to ask for help if you have been an “I-can-do-it-all-myself” person – and it gets easier. I know this from experience.

Here are some simple ways to make connections with others (and it is OK to read this even if you are a man).

These are deceptively simple ideas. And, part of what is powerful about them is their simplicity and yet the profundity of what you can accomplish. In the best of all worlds, you could change someone’s life. In most cases, you can brighten the person’s day.

Guess what else? You also brighten your own day by engaging and connecting with others. So, here are ten ways to make connections with others.

1. Write notes. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just a quick, preferably hand-written, note.

2. Use social media. Authentically acknowledge what others are doing and saying.

3. Go to lunch. The idea is not to go to lunch by yourself but to go to lunch with someone – for the one and only reason of connecting.

4. Meet for coffee. Just as with #3, you are meeting someone for a beverage just to check in. Surprise someone with an invitation and see what happens.

5. Make a phone call. Out of the blue, call someone you haven’t connected with for awhile. Today.

6. Send a card. Keep a supply of different greeting cards available. If you don’t have just the “perfect” card, then send a standard card with your personalized note in it.

7. Give a hug. If you pay attention, you will notice those who need one.

8. Take food. It can be an entire meal, a treat from your crockpot, some vegetables from your garden, a special take-out dish from a local eatery, or a single cookie or cupcake just to say, “I’m thinking of you.”

9. Put others in touch with one another. You can help others make connections via email, social media, face to face introductions, or a number of other means. Where others take their connections is up to them, but you want to have done your part to tell both parties why you’re making the introduction…and then get out of the way. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

10. Recommend a book. Just the right book at the right time can be a blessing for the person who receives the recommendation. It may be that the book is right or that you were knowledgeable and caring enough to send the recommendation.

Just because these are short doesn’t mean they are to be dismissed.  They are deceptively simple.  You really can make an effort on one of these today – and see what positive connections occur.

To receive weekly sets of 10 productivity tips similar to these, go to www.TopTenProductivityTips.com (and the weekly tips are free).  We are all learning together!

When you have been stuck with particular challenges in your life and business, you need to generate creative solutions. If you are really ready for some unique ways to bring those ideas forth, consider using graphical options and sensory prompts.

As far as graphical, try out these two ideas:

1. Mindmapping is one of my favorites and there are a multitude of resources you can find about how to mindmap and what its benefits are. I won’t go into that in this session. I just wanted to remind you about the idea if you haven’t mind mapped lately.

2. Use drawings and symbols - even in “high level business meetings.” If you need to demonstrate the power of that to others, use this idea, which I learned from Grace McGartland.

• Have everyone describe his/her dream vacation – and encourage everyone to provide as much detail as possible and as many aspects of that vacation as they can. Provide one minute.

• Then, ask everyone to draw a picture of their dream vacation, being as detailed as possible and including as many aspects as they can. Again, provide one minute.

Now, which of the two exercises is going to result in the most information? The second one – and you’ve now made your point. As Arthur Koestler said, “True creativity often starts where language ends.” Use that to break through old patterns of thinking.

Energizing the senses is a magnificent way to prompt new ideas. Consider this one, which is one of my favorites:

1. Use a forced “synaesthesia” activity. Synaesthesia is a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. It’s a true condition – and for this suggestion, I am suggesting that you use a technique that, when I thought of it, reminded me of Synaesthesia. So, I just called in “self-imposed synaesthesia.” Not sure it’s too catchy of a name, but it’s what we’re using!

2. Anyway, use sensory words to ask people about some of the challenges you are currently working through. For example,

• What does our staff reduction smell like?

• What does the gossip in the staff room feel like (tactilely, not emotionally)?

• What does our new budget sound like?

• How does having 2 new projects added taste?

• When you think about helping get our candidate elected, what colors do you see (or sounds do you hear, or tastes do you experience), etc.?

What you are doing is jarring people out of their normal mode and it’s quite incredible what can emerge from this kind of questioning and experiencing and thinking. Try it!

Alan Alda said:

The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.

I enjoyed your workshop, and felt validated in my approach when I heard your examples of assertiveness. I’d like to ask if I should use the “When you do X, I feel Y” approach even when we write letters, or only in personal discussions?

Here was my answer to her:

This is a really good question…

And I think written communication is touchy…even touchier than face to face communication. So, it’s possible to use the “When you do X, I feel Y” in writing…but I think it’s harder because so many of the other means of communication are lost…tone and body language for example.

So my answer would be ‘yes’ in some cases, ‘no’ in others…particularly those where the stakes are high.

Thanks for writing and listening to the teleseminar. Dr. Julie-Ann McFann and I did a number of podcasts recently, we focused on the topic of the ‘toxic’ environment in academia.  You can go here for recent podcasts and the shownotes/articles:  http://aroundtheacademy.com/

First, your question described your signature as “sales real estate.” And you’re right, your email signature is extremely important. You will want to include (at least) the following:

• Your name
• Your company name
• Mailing address
• Email address
• website URL (and more than one website URL is OK, but don’t list all 17 or 77 that you have!)
• Phone/fax number(s)

In essence, you want to make sure that anything that people need in order to get back in touch with you is easily accessible. Most professionals expect this to appear in an email signature.

Then, you can have several other components included in your email signature, but avoid having all of them:

• Your “tag line” if you have one
• A great quote that supports your overall professional message
• An “offer” and this might be a book, a special report, a way to get weekly email from you, a program that you will be teaching, a teleseminar you’re offering, etc.

Again a reminder, don’t try to include all of these, just one. This area can quickly become cluttered and if people are printing out an email, you don’t want an overstuffed email signature to be the reason the printing runs on for an additional page.

One more caution: Do not put fancy graphics or emoticons (or sailing ships made from parentheses), etc. Depending on what it is, it is either hard to load, won’t show up the way you intended, or makes people wonder whether you have enough to do that you can figure out how to make a ship from parentheses (well, you get the idea).

You want your email signature to let people know what you do and who you are – and why they would want to work with you. Take the ideas in this article to heart and then take a good look at whether your email signature needs to be revised.

And, to access additional ideas so you are productive in your personal and professional life, you’ll want to access the resources at

** http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm)

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, & consulting.

Question: 

I really liked your last article about email etiquette! We’re going to makes some changes around here! Here’s my question: when should you email, when should you phone and when should you text? Is there a difference?  -Office Manager

Answer: 

I try to follow these rules of thumb:

Use text for relaying a one-way piece of information, such as a telephone number or telling someone “I’m on my way!” Do not try to converse via text, which is a switchtasking, productivity-killing disaster.

Use email when the conversation is brief (two to three exchanges), when the information isn’t charged with emotion, or when keeping a searchable, written record is important. Avoid email for time-sensitive requests, since you cannot predict accurately when someone will check their email.

Use the phone or meet in person for conversations that might carry emotion, may require a detailed exchange, or is fairly urgent. As The Myth of Multitasking recommends, establish a recurring meeting schedule either in person or via phone for those co-workers who need regular attention.

-Dave Crenshaw

Be sure to check out Dave’s website for lots of tools & tips.

Is it difficult to get the bridgeline and AudioAcrobat to “communicate” with each other?

Posted by Billy Simms | 5/29/08

Answer:

It’s easy, really. Here are the steps:

• First, you call into the bridgeline and get squared away there.
• Secondly, you hit the “flash” button (which is just the “hang up” button on your phone) and that opens up a second line.
• Thirdly, you dial into your Audio Acrobat number and choose the correct option (e.g., 3 is the option to record a conference call).
• Fourthly (fourthly?), you hit the “flash” button again and it “patches” you back to your conference call.
• When 30 seconds have elapsed and there’s no talking, then the recording stops, so generally, that’s just at the end of the call.

After about 10 – 30″ the recording shows up in your AudioAcrobat account which you access through their website. You can then rename it, download it, do whatever–and it keeps living there for however long you have your AudioAcrobat account. When you send someone a link to listen to a call you’ve recorded, they are actually accessing it through the AudioAcrobat server.

I just finished listening to the recording from Saturday’s teleseminar. It was good. I also just finished getting myself set up with a bridgeline through allfreeconference.com. When I received the instructions from them, they have a way to record the call.

What is the difference between using their system to record and using Audio Acrobat?

Posted by Billy Simms | 5/29/08

Answer:

I haven’t checked it lately, but the way that it used to be (and is for a number of these free services) is that you can’t store the recording as an MP3–it is stored so that people could call in and listen to it again, which is good, but it can’t be downloaded. I just went to their webpage and I saw this:

Press *9 to record the conference: Anyone can hear the recording by calling the dial-in playback number which you’ll be provided via email when you sign up.

So it’s a great free way to get started…and once you want to start saving your calls for later playback and products, then it’s better to look at another option, such as AudioAcrobat.

Hello Meggin!
I wanted to follow up with the lead you gave me last week in regard to 2 administrators.  I sent them an e-mail introduction and statement of interest as well as a resume and reference letter attached on February 28.  When should I expect a response, and /or when should I make my next contact?

Posted by Michele Luck | 3/5/08

Answer:

Hi, Michele and welcome!  This is a great question for all MEMc members in terms of response & follow-up time. 

There’s a fine line between following up and pestering…and we all need to find that “right place.”  Most of us are so worried about pestering that we delay TOO long and then when we follow up with someone, they don’t even remember who we are or what we sent them. 

My suggestion is to send them a follow-up email and/or phone call within 2 weeks of when you first sent your information.  Just a gentle, “Hi…just wanted to follow up and make sure that my email and attachments got to you.  I know that sometimes things get screened out by spam filters.  I have also sent you my information via the US mail so you can be watching for that.” 

This is perfectly legitimate because school district email filters are weirdly strict…so your email (with the attachments) may never have gotten through to them.  A hard copy is a good idea.

After you’ve sent the hard copy, then I would call and follow up with them again (within about 10 days) and see if you could set up a brief appointment.  You might even specify that you’d like to meet with them for 15 minutes, no longer.  They are super busy and if they know you only want to come in for a short time, then that will help. 

Does this help?  And keep asking more questions along this line because I think this helps everyone.

Thanks!

Okay, I’m organizing my planner months in advance in order to carry out all the necessary things I need to do so I can accomplish my goals. Follow up calls to principals that I sent tips booklet letters and order forms to is a task that needs to be accomplished. I want to spend time every day doing this. As I was writing down this task in my planner I started thinking that maybe this would be a good time to start delegating more.

Delegating is a “secondary” goal that I’m keeping in the back of my mind. I think I remember you making a comment that you have Lisa do follow up calls for you. For this type of task, would it be best if I made the calls or should I find a virtual assistant to do this for me? I can see advantages of doing it either way.

Can you give me some examples of what type of language I should use when I make these calls? We’ve talked about this before but can you refresh my memory? What are some “phrases” I can practice before I make the calls?

Posted by Billy Simms (to the Help Desk and excerpted for the blog) | 1/10/08

Answer:

Good for you!!! For right now, I think if you can make the calls, that would be great…and then when you can find someone who is excellent and you can train that person to do the follow up calls…then start to have him/her do some, too. It’s got to be someone who has excellent communication skills and “gets” what it is that you do, too.

Try just making a few calls each day and see how that goes.

Here are some suggestions on the phrasing & language: “Hi, this is Billy Simms and I was just calling to check to make sure you had received the booklet on bullying that I sent last week. It’s called _____________ and would have come in a regular business sized envelope. I wanted you to have this with my compliments and I know how the holiday mail goes sometimes…so I just wanted to make sure you’d gotten it.”

Then, depending on the response, go from there. If no, you could ask, “would you like me to send you another one?”–but only if you see bullying as an issue at your school, that is. Or, “would you like me to fax over a couple of the pages so you can see the kinds of tips I offer…they are great for teachers and other people in your school who are helping to address any bullying problems that might crop up.” If yes, then you can ask if s/he has had time to read it and then let him/her know that you have quantity discounts if they’d like to order enough for their teachers and that you do workshops on these topics, etc. Find out if s/he has any questions, etc…. Keep it short unless the person keeps it going. It’s key to get past the secretary if you can.

Meggin’s note:  Billy came up with the idea to offer to send the e-version of his booklet and this has made a huge difference in getting through to the principals.  Hooray!    Having digital versions of your writing is so wonderful because it doesn’t “cost” you anything to send it.  I’ve got lots of my digital items listed on one of my new websites www.FromtheDeskofMegginMcIntosh.com.  And, BTW (by the way), I’d encourage you to get a domain name that is something like this….but with your name of course.