A Real World Example of David Allen’s Getting Things Done

Let me set the scene for the first time I knew I needed help with my office. It was 8:00 pm on a Tuesday. My wife and son were out of town and I decided I’d stick around the office to play catch up. Piles of paper had stacked up on my desk, my conference table, and the floor around me.

Getting Things Done

Sticky notes are great for jotting down an idea or a person’s phone number. They do not, however, offer much benefit as one’s only means for tracking what needs to be done. As I sifted through the papers I’d discover yet another note scribbles on a sticky note. “Crap, I never got back to him on this” I’d think, …

Practical Ways To Shave 10 Hours of Work off Your Week

Almost everyone I know would like to have more time with his or her families. This is why we all enjoy vacations and why books like The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris are so popular. Most folks however, can’t up and retire, nor can they get by with only four hours of work a week.

Practical Ways to Shave 10 Hours

But, what if you could shave 10 hours off of your week every single week? What if you could spend 520 more hours with your family? That’s equivalent to 13 weeks of vacation! This isn’t such a far-fetched idea. In fact, it is very simple to do. Here are several places where you can create more family time in your day:

1. Stop

Outsourcing Labor To Become Super-Dad

Outsourcing labor has come to be a taboo phrase. The fact is, outsourcing labor is quite the opposite. In a world that is often too fast-paced where leaders feel overworked, outsourcing labor can be your key to becoming a super-dad, just in time for Father’s Day.

“Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow, and in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a friendship die, ’cause you never had time to call and say hi?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast, time is short, the music won’t last.”
This is my favorite quotation from David L. Weatherford’s poem “Slow Dance.”

Everyone can relate to Weatherford’s poem. Too often we are so preoccupied …

How To Balance Work And Life

Being a parent is tough; we all struggle to learn how to balance work and life. We must work to provide for our family…but at what expense?

How to Balance Work and Life

Learning how to balance work and life can be the difference between living a life of joy or a life of failure. We all struggle to find the right balance. I know I struggle on an almost daily basis; it’s inevitable for us all. But it is not impossible to learn how to balance work and life.

I recently wrote a post about the Leadership of Boone Pickens. His son, Michael Pickens, quickly commented, “Boone Pickens is a farce.” No doubt about it, Boone did not know how to balance work and life. …

Using Philips GoLITE To Become A Morning Person

Enter Grok, the primitive cave man living waking up at sunrise somewhere with the dinosaurs.  The early light of the morning passes between the edges of the cave entrance and the rock covering he uses as a door.  This is his version of the Philips GoLITE.  Grok quickly rises, stretches, then sets out for his morning hunt.

Philips GoLITE

George Lois, the original Mad Man, though he was way more impressive in real life, claims to have only slept 3 hours a night!  As a business leader, I have always been envious.  For me, my mornings have always consisted of exactly three things, oversleeping, grogginess, and wasteful procrastination.  I wanted to find the secret to waking up at sunrise.

I used to …

Leadership Lessons From Boone Pickens

Driving through University Park on my way to our Dallas, Texas offices, I can’t help but think of Boone Pickens. He lives in the area and his new company, BP Capital, is headquartered here right off Preston Road. Boone epitomizes the word leadership.

Leadership Lessons from Boone PIckens

An engineer who works for us and whom we later made a partner, once worked at Boone’s energy firm, Mesa Petroleum, now known as Pioneer Resources. On the first day of orientation you were given Boone’s latest book and expected to finish it. I guess I would have been a standout; I’ve read all of his books.

What appeals to me about Boone Pickens is his leadership skills. Once a man who was living in his …

Sleep Less and Become A Morning Person With Biphasic Sleeping

When I began looking into biphasic sleeping as a way to sleep less, I wasn’t concerned about becoming a morning person. In fact, I intentionally stopped being a morning person in order to adapt to biphasic sleeping. The truth is you can have the best of both worlds with biphasic sleeping. You can sleep less and become a morning person.

Sleep less and become a morning person with biphasic sleeping

A morning person has more time to be productive. A person who has figured out how to sleep less has more time to be productive. Biphasic Sleeping is your double-edged sword to take into battle against sleepiness.

George W. Bush used to rise at 5:30 am to exercise, read his bible, and prepare to lead the free world. Michael Hyatt uses the advantage …

Eat Like An Elite Athlete In The Office

“You are what you eat” is only sometimes true; take cinnamon buns, for example. Eating a cinnamon bun won’t make the others in the office excited to see you like they are when they see a cinnamon bun.

bigstock-Young-athletic-woman-holding-a-41032018

Eating like an elite athlete can make you a super human in the office. The opposite is true as well. Eating junk food can make you lazy, lethargic, tired, and unmotivated. Learning what to eat and when to eat it will make you an all-star at work.

World-class athletes have known for decades that what you eat prior to activity will play a huge role in your performance. The same is true for the world-class cubicle Olympian. Eating like an elite athlete, …

How To Limit Work Distractions

Recently, one of my partners and I were discussing our average workday and the high level of work distractions we experience on a daily basis. The higher in an organization you go, the more sought after your time will be. Managing all of these work distractions in the correct way can be the difference between getting things done and failing as a leader.

How To Limit Work Distractions

If you thought that big corner office would get you out of the cubical section into a more private space, you were sadly mistaken. The truth is, you’ll likely find more work distractions, as the size of your team and influence grows. Your goal should be a perfect balance between providing the input your team needs and …

Planning for the Stages of Life

We all find ourselves changing and adapting as we progress through the stages of life. What stage are you in now? Did you take full advantage of the last stage or are you still trying to relive the glory days? Learning to plan for each of the stages of life will help you to live a truly fulfilled life.

planning for the stages of life

I recently played a round of golf at Shoal Creek Golf Club in Birmingham, Alabama. It was incredible to say the least. Upon returning home, I had the itch. Apparently, it wasn’t only the hummingbird-sized mosquitos that had bitten me in Alabama; the golf bug got me too.

It has been two weeks since I’ve returned and I haven’t played a …

Never Forget A Thing Again With Evernote

Flying through the air at 30,000 feet, I found myself perusing the Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine when I saw a very interesting blurb about a film I’d like to see.  One week later, I couldn’t remember the name of it. Evernote came to the rescue and bailed me out again.

Never Forget a Thing Again

It seems that the world is spinning faster and faster with each day. We have more to remember, more things to do and less time to get them done.  At these times I find myself forgetting more and accomplishing less. To combat this problem, I’ve found Evernote. With Evernote, you’ll never forget a thing.

I downloaded Evernote for the first time a few years ago. At first brush it seemed …

Have a Problem…Wait, Don’t Be That Guy

I hate energy suckers. They walk into a room and instantly all the positivity is stripped from the walls. You know these people, they always have a problem and they bring it with them everywhere they go.

Have A Problem...Wait, Don't Be That Guy

It’s early morning and I’m sitting at my desk with a nice warm mug of coffee (brewed in my Aerobie Aeropress of course).  I’ve got my Nozbe open and I’m going through all my actions for the day, excited to take the day by the horns.  Suddenly, I have a problem.  I hear the door handle turn and in walks Mr. Negative to the office.

The force of his positive vibe vacuum nearly knocks me to the floor as it sucks all the …

Delegation: Your Key To Success

In 2007, when I first took over Allied Equipment’s Alternative Fuels product line, I was still a young and untested leader. I still had not produced enough for the company to be what John C. Maxwell would consider a “level three leader”. Delegation was far from a priority as I chewed up opportunities one after another trying to prove myself.

Delegate - The Key to Success

This high level of production pulled me up the ladder quickly.  I was first promoted to Director of Business Development, then soon, Vice President of the entire company.  But producing will only take you so far.  At the Vice President level, I found a new problem.  I was doing too much and didn’t have time to do what I was …

Creating Office Workspaces That Work

“Are you out of your mind?” my pilot asked me when he saw me standing next to a reclaimed bookshelf that I had slid into my office when no one was looking. It was certainly an oddity for most office workspaces, but not mine. This bookshelf soon became my desk. This continued for months, until I finally purchased a handmade, custom, stand-up desk.

Creating An Office Workspace

My new stand-up desk was the talk of the office.  It was mostly talk about how crazy I was. I wasn’t listening to the critics though. The amount of energy and high level of production I was experiencing while at work was unparalleled. A stand-up desk should become a staple of all office workspaces.

In order to …

Why I’m Scrapping My Excel To Do List for Nozbe

Years ago in college I finally caved in and realized a to do list might not be as evil as my middle school English teacher made it sound. So I began to use an excel to do list to track what needed to be done each day. A few years ago I switched to Nozbe and I haven’t looked back.

excel_to_do_list_nozbe

David Allen wrote a book that I’ve used for years as my go to guide on getting things done. The book is aptly named Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.  At first, I tried to use my excel to do list to track everything I needed to do. I soon found excel too bulky and rigid.

That …