SMART WORK; Contents; About the author; Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction; Part I Centralise your actions; Chapter 1 Consolidate your work; Meetings vs tasks; Meeting tools
the shift from paper to electronic; Task tools
stuck in the 20th century; Centralise absolutely every action: Centralise all of your actions in one place; Consider
Commit: Get everything centralised ASAP; 1. Consider; 2. Capture; 3. Commit; Types of actions
hard to soft: Work out the best way to schedule the action; Undated task lists; Loosely scheduled tasks; Date-specific priorities
Blocked-out timeMeetings; Zoom in, zoom out: Zoom in and out of your schedule to execute and plan; Use undated task lists: Capture low-priority actions in lists without committing them to a date; Outlook undated tasks; OneNote; Mind maps; Paper notepad; Capture mind clutter: Get it out of your head and into a place you can trust; Chapter 2 Schedule it forward; Reactive zone 1
the first minute; Reactive zone 2
the last minute; Decide when and schedule: Allocate the resource of time to your priorities to work more proactively
Plan your time using a weekly workflow: Zoom out of your schedule to see your meeting and task workloadUse action horizons: Use the horizons of next week and next month to defer less pressing actions; Focus on the start: Be aware of the due date, but manage the start date; Balance your workload: Create a balance between your meeting and task workloads; Don't dilute your task list: If you want your task list to keep you focused, keep it focused; Next steps only, please: Schedule only next-step actions in your task list
Track it back: Use your forward schedule to remind yourself about work or information due back from other peopleInformation at your fingertips: Keep relevant information attached to the action in your calendar or task list; This seems like hard work; Chapter 3 Focus your day; Start each day with a daily plan: Get focused for the day ahead; Highlight the critical work: Measure both importance and urgency to define how critical your work is; Manage the change: Your plan will change
be ready to manage the change; Update the progress: Keep your task list up to date and stay motivated
Key practice: PrioritisingPart II Organise your inputs; Chapter 4 Reduce the noise; Reduce email noise: Minimise the noise coming into your inbox; Action emails; Information emails; Junk mail; Turn off the alerts: Turn off email alerts on all devices and check email proactively; Check email proactively: Build a proactive routine around checking emails; Batch information emails: Batch information emails such as newsletters and non-critical reports to be reviewed later; Delete decisively: Don't be afraid to delete; Tell them to SSSH: Manage other people's expectations and buy yourself some time
