Often, you need to make changes in your upcoming appointments and commitments. Many people aren’t sure how to let others know that an appointment needs to be changed or a deadline won’t be met. The best phrase I’ve ever found is “It turns out….” Use the phrase, “It turns out…” when you need to tell someone that you

• Can’t meet with him;

• Need to reschedule lunch with an acquaintance (and that you’ll get back to her…or not);

• Will have to change your “yes” to a “no” regarding an upcoming holiday party;

• Can still write the letter of support for a grant, but will need the person to send a draft of that letter to you, which you’ll then tweak as needed, put on your letter head and send back;

• Won’t be able to fill in for someone on the carpool for the 10^th time this month;

• Will need to contribute some money to an event rather than being there in person;

• What else?

When you say, “It turns out…” with no further explanation for why you are making the change, you are not being unfriendly, unresponsive, uncaring, irresponsible, or any of the adjectives that your “gremlin” might be saying to you.

You are clearing out space to work on your priorities. All professionals have far more requests for their our time than there is time to commit. You have to make choices. That is part of being a grown up. It’s a huge factor in your success in business and in life.

When you are trying to determine when to use the phrase “It turns out,” evaluate what is in your planner (calendar and to-do list) based on the criterion of importance. If something is not important, get rid of it.

Let me give you a little quick lesson on the difference between urgent and important (because many people get confused).

• important = adj 1: of much import, carrying with it serious consequences; weighty, momentous, grave, and significant. (Oxford English Dictionary)
• urgent = adj 1: pressing, compelling; calling for or demanding immediate action; anything characterized by urgency. (Oxford English Dictionary)

You have probably seen the Urgent/Important matrix, which was brought into popular culture by Stephen Covey, but was talked about by leadership and time management professionals prior to Covey’s book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. If you haven’t seen it, just Google it and you will see examples.

What I want you and everyone else reading this article to do is to remove appointments and tasks/to-do’s that are NOT important from your planner. Just use “It turns out,” as your power productivity phrase and start making space for your most important projects and commitments.

If you feel overwhelmed and overloaded – and you aren’t happily making progress through your most important projects, tasks, and commitments, it’s time to make changes. Big ones. Here’s what I recommend:

Eliminate at least 20% of what is currently noted in your planner, including both the calendared events (appointments and so forth) and the to-do list items.

“WHAT?!” you say?! “Are you crazy? 20% of what is there?! No way! Can’t be done.”

Yes, that’s just what I’m saying. Here are some suggestions for how to eliminate at least 20% of what is there.

If something is “well, uh, bleh, but…” then that’s a yellow dot.

Those things that are either high energy for you, high priority (due to importance), central to who you are and what you do, then those are ones to mark with a green dot.

• Open your planner (which I hope you have been using as the place to record all your appointments, meetings, tasks, and other commitments). If you have an electronic planner, print out the monthly pages and to-do list for the next 2 months because you will need to be marking on them if you choose to use this particular suggestion. If you have a paper planner, you’re set.

• Note: Two months is usually a reasonable place to start. You have it complete enough that you know it’s overloaded and it’s a large enough window that clearing it by 20% (or more) will make a difference.

• Now, get a green, yellow, and red pen, marker, or colored pencil. Look at every single appointment, to-do list item, etc., and if your feeling is “ugh!” and there’s no energy and you just can’t make a case for doing whatever is written there, put a red dot next to it. (I’ve done this, and it is actually a pretty fast process; you know what the red dots are – intuitively).

• And now, go back and eliminate the red dot items. In some cases, all you have to do is cross them off the list or delete them from your planner. There are some appointments and tasks that are completely self-selected and their cancellation doesn’t have any impact on anyone else – so you can just go right in there and get rid of those. Really.

As you determine what needs to be erased, deleted, or ruled out from your planner, take the steps to make it happen. You don’t want to have one more task of “Oh, brother. I need to call him.” Or “Dang, I need to get off this committee and I better let the chair know.” Just make the call, send the email, do what you need to do. It’s such a relief.

Truly, put this into practice and see if you aren’t more productive.

What happens when your calendar is just crammed? Should you quit using a calendar? Should you just pitch the calendar?

No, of course not. You have to figure out how to make more room so you can get your projects done. The way that you make more room is by eliminating part of what is already there. You can do that by implementing one or more of the following:

1. You can move some tasks, projects, appointments that are scheduled for the next week, month, or longer into the future. You have to decide what period of time is overly-crammed and start taking a good hard look at what you can move to the future.

2. You can assess that some of what you thought needed to be on your schedule (or in your to-do list) really doesn’t need to be there. You make that assessment by realizing that some of what is currently there is not as important as other tasks and projects that you want to accomplish.   Note: Just because you eliminate something doesn’t mean that it is not important at all, it just means that it is less important – now – than what you need/want to be doing instead.

3. You can minimize your involvement on some projects or other commitments that you want to keep. You are not dropping the commitment altogether, but you are shrinking it. If you put your mind to it, I have faith that you can find something to minimize but still not eliminate it completely.

4. You can figure out if someone else can take over all or part of some aspect of what you need to do. Regardless of whether you are trying to clear out some of your personal or professional commitments, consider delegating out at least a portion of one or more of those scheduled items.

5. You can ask for some help. If you have children and someone else lives in your house, ask that person for some extra help for the few weeks or months. If you have some friends who “get it,” do some trade-off time with them. You take the “crew” one Saturday and your friend takes the crew the next week. If you have projects at work that could be shared, see about figuring that out, with the idea that you are lessening your involvement and the time commitment.   Note: You aren’t shirking your duties. You are committed to accomplishing goals that are important to you either personally, professionally or BOTH.

So, take a good look at your crammed calendar and apply one or all of these 5 tips. Make some space so you can be more productive on what is most important.

You may have heard the quote from Mike Litman: “People form habits and habits form futures.” If you are ready for a future that is more productive, consider these first 5 of 10 tips to help you form your new habits – and thus, your future.

1. Choose one habit to replace. It may be that you have 3 or 4 or 12 or 13 that ultimately you would like to change. Just pick one at a time. One of the reasons so many people establish resolutions at the beginning of the year and then fail with those is that they choose too many – or they don’t follow the next 9 tips with the one they chose. Read on…

2. Realize that in most instances, you replace one habit with another practice, so identify the replacement practice. For example, if you have been in the habit of running late to everything, then your replacement habit is leaving for every meeting, appointment, class, or child carpool 15 minutes early.

3. Forget the 21-days-to-change-a-habit maxim. It might take longer and it might take less time. It takes however long it takes.

4. Put in systems to support your new habit. If you want to leave your office desk clean and tidy at the end of each day, then set a timer or have your assistant notify you 20 minutes before the time you plan to leave your office – with strict instructions to get your desk contents processed in the next 15 minutes or so.

5. Decide if you want to make a commitment or a promise about your new habit only to yourself or if you want to include someone else. Only tell another person if it will help, not if it makes a burden. Support is one thing. Nagging or comments intended to make you feel guilty is something else again.

Peaceful, predictable productivity is the result of a number of positive habits. You’ll get there. Use these tips to get started and to support you in your positive changes.

Roger Mellott speaks about stress management for professionals. He discusses the idea of having an “energy pie” and posits that some people wake up with an energy pie the size of a dinner mint and others wake up with an energy pie that is the size of a child’s swimming pool. I take several lessons from this:

1. You need to have the biggest energy pie possible;
2. You need to be aware of where your energy pie goes;
3. You need to avoid what I call “pie suckers.” You know what I mean….those people who just suck the life right out of you. There’s a sucking sound that you hear whenever they approach.

Some ideas for how to deal with the “pie suckers,” i.e., those people who are thieves of your energy (and thereby your time, too).

1. Know who your “pie suckers” are. Don’t make a list to post in your office, but know who they are. The first step in preventing any of your time and energy thieves is awareness. What’s the saying, “Forewarned is forearmed”?

2. Avoid your pie suckers whenever possible. Practice saying “Hello!” rather than “How are you?” The last thing you need to do is engage with your pie suckers. It’s likely that they will try to engage with you…so do everything possible not to invite their interaction. Just changing your morning greeting may be helpful in this regard.

3. Walk past pie suckers quickly (fast walking burns more calories, anyway). At work, you should hardly be sauntering about anyway, so moving quickly helps give the impression that you are busy, on the move, in a hurry, on a mission, etc. and thus makes it easier to keep interactions with your pie suckers to a minimal level.

4. When one of your pie suckers asks if you “Have a minute?” answer “No.” You may smile and shake your head, but don’t give an inch. If it’s someone that you simply must talk with, let them know that you have a minute, but that’s it. Chop, chop. Move right into the topic, deal with it, and then move on (or get the pie sucker to move on).

5. Be polite but distant. Don’t learn about your pie sucker’s illnesses, pets, in-laws, children, or work-out routine. Similarly, don’t share your own private information. This may go completely against your nature, but if this person is sucking your energy pie (i.e., stealing your energy), then resist any temptation to make connections, especially of a personal nature.

6. Under no circumstances should you share a meal with your pie sucker. Even if it means sitting alone in your office at lunch, don’t chance it. (And a private lunch with you and your thoughts sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?)

7. Do not feel obligated to give your pie sucker birthday or holiday cards or gifts. If your pie sucker gives these items to you, thank him/her. Refer to item #5.

8. If you share office space with your pie sucker, rearrange the furniture so you don’t have to face him/her. Put up a partition if possible. And do what you can to change the office-sharing arrangement if you can. Sometimes, it just takes asking.

9. Remember that pie suckers are stealing from you. This isn’t nice. You don’t allow other people to steal your things (essentially all of which are replaceable). Why would you allow someone to steal your energy or time (which, essentially aren’t replaceable)?

10. High blood pressure is expensive. Is your pie sucker worth the price? Be very conscious of the cost of interacting with this person.

Please note: The moniker “pie sucker” applies only to one or two people in your life (at least I hope so). This terms doesn’t apply to the person who just sort of irritates you now and then or someone you just don’t care for. A pie sucker is a person who just drains your energy in ways that distinguish him/her from others.

It’s sad to say, but usually when I talk about this concept in workshops, people know exactly what I’m talking about. If you have more than one or two pie-suckers, you may need to do some seriously re-thinking about your work or personal life and how this is happening.

Additional note: In all honesty, we are likely to be someone’s pie sucker, too. We should take a look at what people might find about us that just drains the life out of them. There’s room for growth in all of us.

Energy thieves are the worst kind of thieves because we need our energy to be productive–both professionally and personally. Take steps to eliminate energy thieves from your life and start with “pie suckers.”

How is it that a grown woman/man can procrastinate day after day, month after month, and year after year? Because procrastination works. It keeps you from having to do the task that you just hate to do. Well here’s the news, folks, you can break the habit (if you want to, that is).

1. Keep a procrastination log. (You’ll enjoy this because you’ll be procrastinating from doing something else.) The way a procrastination log works is this: take notes on those items that you know you should be doing, but you just aren’t getting them done. As each item floats into your consciousness, write it down. You can have a special pad or notebook just for this.
2. After a few days of this, look at the items in your log and divide the list into “work” items and “personal” items. Sometimes, you will see a pattern just by doing this step! It’s amazing when you realize that you never procrastinate at work or you never procrastinate on personal items. If this is the case, then you could have some insight into the issue just by knowing this. If not, however, move on to the next step.
3. Look through your lists and see if there are any items that can be done in five minutes or less. Do these immediately! (Now you can check off a few items in your log and this is so very satisfying).
4. Next, look through your lists and tell the truth. Be honest with yourself. Are there items that you’ve written down that you know you’ll never do? Cross them off. They are just bugging you and weighing you down with guilt–and there’s no need for that if you know perfectly well that you will NEVER do them. Just cross them off.
5. “Return” a task that really isn’t yours. This might be a home task or a work task. You probably have a gracious plenty of tasks, responsibilities, and projects that are yours and yours alone. The last thing you need to do is take on any extras. So give the task back to the original owner.
6. Delegate anything on your list that you can reasonably delegate. Can you pay another person (or company) to do one or more of the tasks on your list? It’s possible there are children or teens in your house who would clean up your linen closet/pantry/storage area for $$. Isn’t it worth that to you? And heavens knows that whatever your salary is, you are probably procrastinating items at work that could be hired out to someone who makes less than you do.
7. Is there anything on your procrastination log that really calls for a professional to step in and help you or take over the task? What if the carpet in your home or office is pulling up from the seam and you can’t fix it yourself (nor should you try to!)? Set a specific time every week to make phone calls to professionals to help you with odd tasks like this.
8. Check through your list to see if there are actually procrastinated tasks that you are afraid of. How about that big project your employer asked you to do? Even if you aren’t going to do the task today, make an outline of what must be done to complete the task. Force yourself to complete one item on the outline before you leave work today. Ed Bliss calls this the salami technique. Just slice off a tiny little piece and get it done. Much easier (and tastier) than trying to gnaw on a whole salami.
9. Hmmmm…now what about those tasks on your procrastination log that you hate to do? Accounting, filing, etc.–and it depends on the person what is on this list. If you really can’t stand to do the task, but it’s part of your job, then get to work 10 minutes early for the next several days until these items are caught up. Then designate an early morning time to complete the item on a regular basis.
10. Lastly, don’t allow yourself to whine about your procrastination. In the time it takes you to whine, you could have finished the task.

And a final tip to get rid of the procrastination time thieves is to read Rita Emmett’s book The Procrastinators’ Handbook. It’s worth the time it takes to read the book, believe me. No thievery there!

Oh, boy. Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. You have so many projects to complete, and yet things that are way down low on your priority list get done first. Here are a few ways to avoid distracting yourself.

1. Map out your day as “work” and “other” times. When you’re supposed to be working, you should be working. Imagine yourself as your boss – would your boss want to pay you to rearrange the pencils in your top drawer? (And if you’re an entrepreneur–you ARE your boss!)

2. Plan a few breaks during your day. No one can efficiently sit at a desk for hours on end. Your back, as well as your work, will suffer. If your breaks are planned, then you are being conscious about the need to do something to help yourself refocus. If you don’t plan a few breaks, then the self-distraction is more likely to occur.

3. Proactively ward off receiving (and making) personal calls during your work time. These often take longer than you imagine. See #1 above. There is work time and there is “other” time.

4. Avoid having too many personal items on/near your desk. The minute you look at that picture of your pet and think about when it was just tiny or you notice the plants on your desk or nearby shelf that, ‘gosh, just need a little water,’ well, you get the idea. It does not take long if you are prone to self-distraction to head off in that direction.

5. Maintain a “random thoughts” pad prominently on your desk. As soon as a random thought occurs, (e.g., what to pick up for dinner, when to call the dentist for an appointment, etc.) write it down. Then ignore the sheet until the end of the day. Take this sheet home with you and deal with what is listed so these thoughts won’t continue to distract you. [You can create your own 'random thoughts' pad or get the ever-so-cool Note To Self pad on the www.KnockKnock.biz site. Do not self-distract while on this site. Shop here during your "other" time.]

6. At the end of the work day, take a few minutes to deliberately close it out, i.e., put items (files, sticky notes, pens, notebooks, etc.) away. The next day can start more productively if you arrive to an orderly environment rather than a cluttered one. The self-distraction time thief can steal 15 – 60 minutes right off the bat in the morning when you arrive if you haven’t prepared your work space to be ready for you to start fresh on your work.

7. Maintain a work space that is designed for work. Have the items that you use frequently nearby. If you go through stationery at a rapid pace and the stationery is stored somewhere other than in your work space, then you have to go somewhere to get more. On the way to get more stationery, you can easily self- (and other-) distract. Some people do this on purpose. Don’t be one of them.

8. Along the same line, determine whether you have deliberately set up your desk so that it “looks out” toward the foot traffic. Most people are unable to ignore movement (especially if you are avoiding doing your most important work). If you face the door into the hallway, a window by a sidewalk, or any other opening that lets you pick up physical movement, then do what you can to change the physical set up or to otherwise block your view.

9. If you have audible anything in your work space, take a careful look (and listen) to whether it encourages you to self-distract. A few examples might be: a chime that announces that email has arrived, a CD player that has to be changed after each CD (vs. one that you can load up once and will play all day), a radio tuned to talk radio (any verbal sound will pull the verbal part of your brain away from its other thinking).

10. Never, never, never play a computer game during your work time. Disable or remove them from your computer if you can. One game of solitaire or free cell can turn into oh-so-many games. The time thief that is disguised as a computer game is delighted when this happens.

Just choose one of these ideas to implement if you know you are prone to attacks from the self-distraction time thieves.

If every workplace in North America (and my guess would be the other continents, as well) became gossip-free zones, I am positive that productivity would go up by at least 25% overall. In some environments, it might go up by 50% or even more. And, the theft of time caused by this lack of productivity would be essentially eliminated. So, how can you avoid gossip and help your organization be a gossip-free zone? Here are some ideas to consider:

1. Know what gossip is. A few definitions include: “Rumor or talk of a personal, sensational, or intimate nature” (American Heritage Dictionary); “Idle, often sensational and groundless talk about others” (Houghton Mifflin Thesaurus). Hmmmm. Neither one of those sound like this is something you want to be engaged in. And it certainly doesn’t make anyone more productive.

2. Keep a count for 2 days of the number of times you engage in gossip, either because you instigated it or because someone else did and you listened. Then ask yourself if you are increasing your productivity (or anyone else’s) through this behavior.

3. Once you have a number of times that you engage in gossip, then work to shave that number down for each two-day period in the future, until you are down to 0 times.

4. Make a pact with yourself to stop gossiping. When I was a teenager, one of my best friend’s parents would say, “ZONK!” anytime either one of us would say anything that wasn’t nice about someone else. As teenagers, this was just mortifying, because Mr. and Mrs. Riley felt free to do this when we were out in public, not just at my friend Donna’s house! However, I can still hear her parents’ voices whenever I say something negative about another person. (And let’s just say it’s been a few years since I was a teenager and leave it at that!)

5. Keep a count for 2 days of the number of times you overhear others gossiping. Ask yourself whether they are increasing their productivity by doing so.

6. Come up with a way to gracefully and respectfully tell others that regardless of your behavior in the past, you are making a new choice about gossiping. That is, you are choosing not to be part of it. This is a tough step, but is necessary to change the behaviors and culture within an organization. Be bold and assertive–and professional. It is the professional (and productive) thing to do.

7. Remember that gossip can ruin business relationships, whether you’re the one gossiping or if you’re the one being gossiped about. It’s just nasty business.

8. Ask yourself if the people you know who are gossipers are well respected. Does gossiping add to or detract from your self respect and others’ respect? You know the answer.

9. Remind yourself that gossip hurts (and never helps). Anytime anyone (including you) starts to pass along a salacious tidbit (or something more minor), ask who is helped or who is hurt by this talk. Adjust the conversation accordingly.

10. Calculate how much time you spend in gossiping behavior. If you are like other professionals in today’s world, you’re always looking for a few extra minutes in the day – and here they are! Just by getting rid of the gossip time thief, you can regain 5, 10, 30 or more minutes EVERY day. Multiply this by the number of people in your organization who are spending time gossiping. Think of the increase in overall productivity if you eliminated this time thief.

“There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill behooves any of us to find fault with the rest of us.” – James Truslow Adams.

The following tips are to help you get people out of your office/work space (and maybe even your home). If it turns out that you are the perpetrator, stop bothering people!

1. Arrange your office/work space wisely. You want to move your furniture so that you don’t get or make eye contact with people who walk by randomly. If people need you, they’ll knock or call out your name – don’t worry.

2. Remove “invitations” for people to stop by your workspace. If you put candy on your desk, that is an open invitation to others to come by, dig around in the candy, chat a bit, and just generally interrupt you. [If you are one of the candy purveyors, it may even surprise you that sometimes the candy grabbers complain about what you do and don't have.] Whatever it is that you have been putting out for others, remove that jar, basket, box or whatever right now. When the regulars stop by, let them know that you’ve decided for the health and productivity of everyone in the office, you are no longer going to provide snacks at your desk.

3. Replace “How are you?” with “What can I help you with today?” Unless you are sitting around with nothing to do and are happy to just steal your salary from the company or organization, the idea when you are at work is…to get work done. Shooting the breeze with a co-worker (which is invited with an opening question like, “How are you?” doesn’t help either one of you get to work. “What can I help you with today?” gets the conversation going in the direction where you can assist the person with what he/she came by for. If the answer to that question is, “Oh, nothing. I was just dropping by,” then you can respond with, “Well, thanks. I better get back to work so I can get this project done/get home on time/earn my keep” or whatever is the best phrase for you.

4. Explain to others that you are changing your ways. If you’ve gotten into a habit of allowing a person to steal your time (“Come on in – how are you?”) on a regular basis; that is, whenever that person passes your door, use the next time you see him/her to explain briefly that you simply can’t chat on company time in the future. If you want to socialize with people from work, set up a time to see them when you are “off the clock.”

5. Close your door. Whether you have a door or not, when you need to indicate that you are in the middle of a project, put up a sign that says when you’ll be available again.

6. Tell the truth. If you are busy, yet someone has interrupted you, stand immediately and gently usher him/her toward the door. If the interrupter says “Are you busy?” say “Yes.” That’s all. Don’t explain what you’re doing or offer an apology for not having time for the interrupter. Keep it brief and professional.

7. Praise the behavior you are seeking. If you are busy, but someone interrupts you with important/appropriate information, praise the person with that in mind: “Thank you so much for bringing me these reports, Jean. It seems that I get interrupted too frequently with unimportant information, but I really needed this. I appreciate it that you’re only bringing me critical information this morning while I’m working on this project.”

8. If you have a home office, put out a sign that says you are working. Even small children can tell that the big picture of the clock (or some other symbol) means you can’t disturb mom/dad unless it’s very important. If they break in, immediately assign a chore that they must do (one of yours) to re-pay your lost time. My assistant holds out her hand for the $5 bill that her family members must present if they want to interrupt her (emergencies excepted). Remember to praise the behavior you’re seeking (see #7) if they remember to wait until you are “off the clock.”

9. Learn to say “back to work!” and mean it. If the truth were known, there are times you might even hope for a drop-in visitor or maybe you’re even the one dropping by others’ work stations. Just say “Back to work” either as a signal to others to move on–or to yourself to get going on your work.

Oh, my. Some of these are tough ones. However, whether you can cite the statistics about how much time is wasted every day by drop in visitors, you probably already know this fact based on your own work life. Help make your time and everyone else’s more productive. Share this list. And get yourself some signs to post.

Ah, employment. Making sure you have protected pockets at work means that you have enough time to complete necessary tasks, plan for future (possible advancement) and still have time left to go home and have a life there, too. How do you do this? Here are five ideas to help you answer this question:

1. First, ask whether your job has sufficient pockets for your comfort. Some jobs are really meant for two people and no matter how hard you work or how dedicated you are, the job is out of hand. How well compensated are you for your job? Certainly we all understand that some jobs require periods of stress. Constant stress, however, due to a paucity of pockets, creates an unproductive environment. How often do you worry that, despite your best efforts, you cannot complete your current tasks (let alone plan for future tasks)?

2. Consider yourself and whether you are well-suited for the job you have. Does it energize you on a regular basis? If not, why not? Are you approaching or at your limit of toleration for this particular job, industry, or career?  Life is too short to spend the bulk of your time in a work situation that doesn’t match your strengths and talents.

3. Re-think your workspace. Does it allow for constant interruptions? If so, is there any way to screen less-essential activity? At the very least, you should have uninterrupted planning time every day. Some people can make do with a few minutes and others may need the better part of an hour. Put up a sign that says you should only be interrupted for important reasons. Be proactive about putting in some pockets so you can get your work done.  It is not ‘selfish;’ it is productive.

4. Another aspect of your workspace to consider is whether you have adequate supplies that are handy. Do you have enough envelopes, staples, a hole-punch, water, etc., so that whatever it is that you need to use on a frequent basis, you can access it easily? Or, are you using up any time pockets you have by hunting down a 3-hole punch or a piece of stationery several times a week?

5. Get a planner and use it. Organize your tasks for the day, week, month, quarter, year, and build in pockets for accomplishing them.

Just as a quarterback has people around him who create a pocket so he can do his job, you also need to make sure that you have the pocket that will let you do your job.