I was asked the question:

"What have your challenges been when attempting to balance between networking and managing your business?"

Watch my answer and share your own tips for balancing your life.

9 comments // In Time Management

I am in a never-ending battle with distractions. There’s often a “Great Wall” of email, Facebook, and who knows what else between me and productivity.

So I am very thankful for my friend Stever Robbins' great guidance around how to get more done. Stever’s got a great podcast, The Get-It-Done Guy, and now a great book, Get-It-Done Guy’s Nine Steps to Work Less and Do More. I got him to wrap some the best of it into an RMA masterclass, to help whip our work flow into shape.

Here are a few of Stever’s tips:

• Work on purpose: Keep your actions connected to your goals.
• Stop procrastinating: Don’t subdivide tasks. Subdivide time. Even schedule time for your distractions so they won’t pop up during important tasks.
• Conquer technology: Choose a timeframe to email, text, etc. If that doesn’t work, physically rearrange your workspace so you are separate from your gadgets.
• Focus: Just say no. You set your priorities.

How do you stay focused and productive throughout the day?

0 comments // In Time Management

Want the answer to information overload? You'll find it in your network - if you can harness technology to get directly to the information and opportunities you need. Members of my Relationship Masters Academy were lucky to get help straight from the horse’s mouth on this one: T.A. McCann, CEO of Gist, the company and cool new business tool, gave a 30-minute masterclass presentation on how to use the application to stay constantly on top of what's important to the people who are important to you.

People always ask me how I prep for meetings and I feel a little stupid telling them, “I have my relationship management assistant pull together a 1-page dossier.” Clearly an assistant’s not in everyone’s reach (although you should look into virtual assistance a la Tim Ferriss – surprisingly affordable!). So I was so happy to hear about Gist - this is the best technology I’ve seen so far to help you aggregate your contacts’ online imprints so that you can DO YOUR HOMEWORK with ease. It doesn’t replace my assistant, but it makes it a lot easier to get the “gist” of what my contacts are up to at any point in time.

Here are three of T.A. McCann’s top strategies for leadership success, almost straight from the pages of NEA:

1. Be a connector. Introduce people. Technology makes it so easy!

2. Make yourself "public" and interesting. The more people can get to know you online, the more they’ll be interested in finding out what you’re up to – and helping you make it happen!

3. Create "thought leadership" through content and connections - think Twitter, blogging, and podcasting.  Again, compelling content wins you respect and interest.

Who out there’s using Gist? Cool tips, hacks, or feedback for T.A.?

6 comments // In Time Management

Stever Robbins' new book is out! Congrats Stever.  Check out video and audio clips on www.SteverRobbinsBook.com - and of course, pick up a copy of the book at www.WorkLessAndDoMore.com.

Here is a tip from the book to stop yourself from procrastinating:

Thinking causes procrastination. No, really. We build up tasks in our mind, thinking they'll be huge, unachievable,or unpleasant. The remedy is to stop thinking and just start acting....

Make your brain happy by speed-dating your tasks.

1. List what you're procrastinating.

2. Start at the top and work on each task for exactly five minutes, then move to the next task. Use a timer to be precise.

3. When you're done, take a 5-10 minute break and do it again.

Five minutes is short; your brain will let you do it. Since you're hitting several of your procrastinated tasks, your brain knows you'll get to your other tasks just five minutes from now. It frees you to focus completely on the task in front of you, yet guarantees you'll go on to make progress on everything that's important.

How do you GET IT DONE when you need to?

3 comments // In Time Management

As proud as I am of the program we created for Relationship Masters Academy, I’m even more proud of the content that’s being published there by users themselves.

Here's one idea I loved, the ultimate time-management principle: Always tell the truth. That wisdom was served up in the RMA forums by Jason Womack of the Womack Company.

Simple but powerful!

Think of how much easier everything would be if you just told the truth. You wouldn’t have to waste energy posturing, or track the little white lies. Even better: Think of how much easier everything would be if everyone else told the truth! Office politics would fade away and solutions would be achieved so much more quickly.

To wit: A 2008 study by Salary.com found that office politics were a time-wasting distraction for almost half of American workers. Pull yourself out of the political posturing and experience an immediate jump in focus and effectiveness!

John Smith, another RMA participant shared the following story in the forums:

“A long time ago I was a supervisor for the Air Force recruiting mission in central Iowa. The first piece of advice I provided to new recruiters was to tell the truth. Your integrity is yours and how others measure you. Telling the truth saved time, because we did not raise false expectations. We did not have to scramble to apologize or correct our mis-truths. When I started out my team was ranked 203/207 three years later we were consistently in the top 10. I believe our simple philosophy worked well.”

Being unfailingly honest not only builds character and integrity, it is also efficient!
As the old saying goes – honesty is (truly) the best policy.

Do office politics waste your time at work?

24 comments // In Time Management

Relationship management at its best is a way of life. You want to be engaged in relationship building relationships in a continuous, effortless flow that moves you in the direction of your highest priority goals.

One ritual for keeping the flow going is what I call “Programming.” What that means is that for any of your contacts, at all times you should either have a program (e.g., call them one a month, have dinner with them twice a year) or a next step (something unique to the relationship) in place.

A couple ideas to get this practice in motion:

1.    Relationship To-Do List: After every exchange, use a three column ledger to track: the Individual, the Goal they’re associated with, and the Program or Next Step.

2. Followup or Fail: Schedule followup/debrief time immediately after all of your meetings to schedule your next step.

How do you make relationship building a way of life?

4 comments // In Business Networking, Relationship Management, Time Management

Did you know that 66.3% of people who are happy in their job are confident in their stress management skills?

In a recent post on time management, I asked for your favorite rituals for stress-free relationship building. They were all great! Here are my ten favorites:

10. Dog walking. That's prime pinging time for me, working from a home office. The dog doesn't mind. - John Kerr

9. Network at the gym. - Elizabeth Rhody

8. Every 3-4 months, organize informal drinks as a way to connect with people - but in a very time efficient manner. You buy appetizers, everyone buys their own drinks. - Sital

7. Split your lunch hour in two: Eat with one person and go for a walk with another. It gets in a little extra exercise and many people are happy to move around in the middle of the day. - Alizabeth Van Wieren Read more →

43 comments // In Time Management

I'm someone who multitasks (or what I thought was multitasking), well, almost all the time, other than during meetings (a big 'don't') and on stage. I've continued this even since I heard from Marcus Buckingham that multitasking reduces your IQ to below stoned-out-of-your-gourd levels. Scary...

Needless to say, I was very interested in Dave Crenshaw's POV. He's the author of The Myth of Multitasking. According to Dave, multitasking doesn't exist. So put down your Blackberry and pay attention!

The Three Steps to Overcoming Multitasking
by Dave Crenshaw

I'd like to share a valuable principle with you. It's something I've taught to many business owners and executives I've worked with. This principle may go against the grain of some of your beliefs about time and the best way to get things done. Because of that, I ask you to keep an open mind.

Multitasking is a myth. It just plain doesn't exist. Read more →

13 comments // In Time Management

Thanks for all those great time management tips earlier this week! We're going to have a great webinar.

Now, here are two productivity tips from marketing leader and teleseminar king Alex Mendossian, who writes frequently on the subject on his blog. I had breakfast with him at Larry Benet's Speakers and Authors Networking Group (SANG) Conference here in LA (see pic of me and Larry below), where I gave the keynote and Alex lead a great panel on events marketing.

Now, Alex's tips: Read more →

6 comments // In Time Management

A common reaction I get when I teach people my relationship building system is, “My schedule’s killing me! And now you want me to fit in all these pings and calls and meetings and dinners and…?”

Here are my favorite tips for making all those important relationship building activities fit inside the schedule you already have – no add-ons! Read more →

29 comments // In Time Management