Shifting from Time to Outcomes

SUMMARY

Are you always busy and not finishing everything that you want to get done? I know how that feels, and I work with people all around the world who have that same problem. We know what the problem is so stick with me because this week I want to start a conversation that will help you change all that for good.

Productivity is one of those things that has been bothering us for a long time. Most people say that they don't get enough done, and unfortunately, we are all still looking in the wrong direction and using the outdated strategies. It’s little wonder why you’re busy but not getting the productivity that you want.

This week, I want to start a conversation around the productivity shifts you must make in your professional leadership. I’ll help you shift from focusing on time, which is not in your control, to focusing on outcomes. It’s going to mess up some of your thinking and you will need to unlearn some stuff that you thought was working for you so that you can get more done with less.

Well, that’s it from me for another week. Join me again next week as we start this journey around shifting your productivity by helping you manage your expectations.

I’ll see you then.

TRANSCRIPT

Are you always busy and not finishing everything that you want to get done? I know how that feels, and I work with people all around the world who have that same problem. We know what the problem is so stick with me because this week I want to start a conversation that will help you change all that for good.

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, leadership and sustainable performance coach, and today I want to continue our conversation on the 9 crucial shifts by helping you shift from time to outcomes.

Productivity is one of those things that has been bothering us for a long time. Most people say that they don't get enough done, and unfortunately, we are all still looking in the wrong direction and using the outdated strategies. It’s little wonder why you’re busy but not getting the productivity that you want.

This week, I want to start a conversation around the productivity shifts you must make in your professional leadership. I’ll help you shift from focusing on time, which is not in your control, to focusing on outcomes. It’s going to mess up some of your thinking and you will need to unlearn some stuff that you thought was working for you so that you can get more done with less.

A couple of months ago, we talked about shifting your performance from high performance to sustainable performance, and we’re going to bring a lot of that into productivity because it is determined by your ability to get things done through your efforts. So, it’s crucial that you go through all those things again and look after yourself so that you’re in the best position to get your work done.

To start this off, I want to help you put down some things you’ve been trying to achieve that are holding you back. This is an area where I get a lot of push back when working with clients, no matter where they are in the world. People often say, “Oh no, you don’t understand, Grant. It’s not something I can do. What you do is different to me.”

Let me help you right now; IT’S NOT.

This is because I’m not going to look at the specifics of what you do; I’m going to go at a much more macro level and look at principles everyone can apply. So, open your mind and try what I will teach you. If you’re a little bit like I was, try it just to prove me wrong. However, those who shift their mindset, unlearn those unhelpful habits, and then implement the strategies I will teach you, will enjoy much more beneficial productivity. They get more done, which allows them to go home on time, forget about work, and enjoy being who they need to be in every area of their life.

Hopefully, I’ve given you a reason why you need to join this conversation because without that, nothing will change.

The first thing I want to do is revisit this conversation around work-life balance. It doesn’t exist. Work is not separate from life; work is just one part of life. I hear people shifting the language around that, and instead of saying “work-life balance,” they say “work-life something else.” But it’s not the suffix that’s the problem; it’s the prefix. Anything that has “work-life” is not going to work because it assumes that they’re separate.

First, I want you to take “work-life balance” and throw it away—back to the seventies or wherever it originated. It’s not going to work. It’s not within your control to separate and make these things distinct. We’re going to look at how you can be all the people you need to be in every area of your life without them being in competition with each other and definitely not in balance. Balance has a connotation of being on the edge, and at any moment, you could just tip over.

So that’s the first myth I want to dispel.

Now that you’ve taken that on board, and if you have, it means you’re still with me.

The second thing I want you to understand is that you cannot manage time.

Time is something outside your control. You get 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week. I don’t know how many seconds—that’s not important—but people keep focusing on that. You’re not able to press pause on time or wind the clock back. It’s like people using their snooze alarm to wake up, setting their clock 15 minutes back. Your brain knows that you’ve done that, so over time, instead of getting up out of bed and having that extra 15 minutes, you go, “I’ve already set the clock back.” So, none of those things work. You’re not in control of time. Whether you believe in God, Mother Nature, or some other being, they’re in control of time.

What I want to do is teach you, over the coming weeks, strategies around 3 things that you can control. It’s a shift here from focusing on time to focusing on outcomes, looking at what you achieve rather than what you do.

Next, I want you to get rid of your to-do list.

By the way, there are things on your to-do list that still need to be done. And, I’m sorry, but I don’t have a magic wand that says they’re all done—throw the list away. What I want you to do is throw away the concept of using to-do lists. A to-do list creates overwhelm because as you’re ticking things off, which might feel good, you’re constantly adding more. It becomes a visual representation of what you know you won't achieve. This affects your brain and body balance, putting you in a place where you are not as productive and effective as you could be. So, what we’re going to do is learn how to take that to-do list and place it in a system that will help you (A) get rid of the overwhelm and (B) tell you when you’re going to do those tasks.

We’re going to learn some strategies along the way of chunking our calendar in certain ways so that you can take those things that are on the list and put them in the calendar. Unfortunately, most people use their calendars for meetings only. So, if you need to be somewhere, whether online or in person, at a certain time, it’s on your calendar. Therefore, you look at the rest of the calendar and think, “Well, I’ve got plenty of time.” And you don’t. You’ve only got the same amount of space and bandwidth in your calendar as everybody else. So, taking that to-do list and putting the things in your calendar when you are going to do them gives you a more realistic picture of what you need to get done.

By doing that, it helps you release the overwhelm in your brain because your brain says, “Aha, you’ve now told me that you’re going to do that then.” And that’s just one example of how we get rid of that to-do list. In fact, I would much rather have a “to-don’t” list—a list of things that you are doing that are currently sabotaging your results.

Most of us wear “busy” as a badge but being busy is not enough. We need to look at how to leverage what we’ve got. The speed of change and the way we need to operate in today’s world mean that using yesterday’s strategies won’t get things done. There are three things that you can manage, and over the next three weeks, I’m going to go through those in detail and give you the concepts behind them, as well as practical things that you can do to implement them.

As I said, you cannot manage time. It’s not within your control. So, let’s talk about 3 things that you can manage.

The first thing is managing your expectations—both the expectations you have of yourself and the expectations of others.

The second is managing your environment. Whoever said that an untidy desk is a sign of genius was just a slob. Having an environment—and I don’t just mean a clean desk—that is conducive to being productive is really important.

And number three is managing your energy. Energy is a finite resource. It’s something that you need to protect and work with in a way that enables you to get stuff done while leaving enough energy to be who you need to be in every area of your life.

So, in today’s conversation, we’ve looked at what we need to unlearn: work-life balance, time management, and to-do lists. And start a journey around expectations, environment, and energy. Over the coming weeks, stick with me. Bring along an open mind and change things one at a time. In every conversation we have, look for one thing that you can do differently. Then, incrementally, as you change those things, you’ll accomplish more and have the energy and enthusiasm to enjoy every area of your life.

Well, that’s it from me for another week. Join me again next week as we start this journey around shifting your productivity by helping you manage your expectations.

I’ll see you then.