18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done (13 page)

We need to remind ourselves of who we know we really are. And then we need to act that way. To be that person. Constantly, predictably, minute by minute and hour by hour.

J
ulie, the head of a division of a retail company with which I work, was at risk of getting fired. Here’s the crazy thing: she was a top performer. She had done more for the brand in the past year than any of her predecessors had in five years.

The problem was that she was a bear to work with. She worked harder than seemed humanly possible and expected the same of others, often losing her temper when they wouldn’t put in the same herculean effort she did. She was also competitive and territorial; she wanted the final say on all decisions remotely related to her brand, even when her peers technically had the authority to make them. She wasn’t good at listening to others or empowering them or helping them feel good about themselves or the team. And though she was working all hours, things were falling through the cracks.

But none of that was the problem for which she was at risk of losing her job. The real problem was that she didn’t think she had a problem. And the reason she didn’t think she had a problem was because she was working so hard she never paused long enough to think about it.

I was asked to work with her, and my first step was to interview everyone with whom she worked in order to understand the situation and share their perspectives with her.

When I did share the feedback, her response surprised me. “I didn’t know it was that bad,” she said, “but it doesn’t surprise me.” I asked her why.

“This is the same feedback I received at my previous company,” she said. “It’s why I left.”

We could look at Julie and laugh at her ignorance. At her unwillingness to look at her own behavior, at her failures. And to repeat them. But the laugh would be a nervous one. Because many of us—and this includes me—do the same thing.

I’m often amazed at how many times something has to happen to me before I figure it out. I believe that most of us get smarter as we get older. But somehow, despite that, we often make the same mistakes. On the flip side—but no less comforting—we often do many things right but then fail to repeat them.

There’s a simple reason for it. We rarely take the time to pause, breathe, and think about what’s working and what’s not. There’s just too much to do and no time to reflect.

I was once asked: If an organization could teach only one thing to its employees, what single thing would have the most impact? My answer was immediate and clear: Teach people how to learn. How to look at their past behavior, figure out what worked and repeat it, while admitting honestly what didn’t and changing it. That doesn’t mean spending all their time developing their weaknesses. In many cases, what people need to learn is how to leverage their strengths while mitigating the negative impact of their weaknesses. But learning from their past successes and failures is the key to long-term success.

If a person can do that well, everything else takes care of itself. That’s how people become lifelong learners. And it’s how companies become learning organizations. It requires confidence, openness, and letting go of defenses. What doesn’t it require? A lot of time.

It takes only a few minutes. About five, actually. A brief pause at the end of the day to consider what worked and what didn’t.

Here’s what I propose…

Save a few minutes before leaving the office, before stopping work, or simply toward the end of your day to think about what just happened. Look at your calendar and compare what actually happened—the meetings you attended, the work you got done, the conversations you had, the people with whom you interacted, even the breaks you took—with your plan for what you wanted to have happen. Then ask yourself three sets of questions:

This last set of questions is invaluable in terms of maintaining and growing relationships. It takes just a few short minutes to shoot off an email—or three—to share your appreciation for a kindness extended or to ask someone a question or keep them in the loop on a project.

If we don’t pause to think about it, we are apt to overlook these kinds of communications. But in a world where we depend on others—and what other world is there?—they are essential.

After several long conversations, Julie came to appreciate the efficiency of slowing down enough to see the others around her. To see that she was working so hard, moving so fast, that even if she was delivering quality results, she was working against herself. Putting her job at risk. And making things harder, not easier.

So over time, she began to change. Slowly and with great effort. But people began to notice. I knew things were going to be okay when I left her a message expecting a call back in several weeks, if at all, but she called me back that evening.

“Hi, Peter,” she said. “I just wanted to let you know I
got your call and I appreciate you reaching out to me. I’m heading out with the team for some drinks. I’ll try you again in a few days.”

And, sure enough, she did.

I
started with the best of intentions. I walked into my office in the morning with a vague sense of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I sat down, turned on my computer, and checked my email. Two hours later, after fighting several fires, solving other people’s problems, and dealing with whatever happened to be thrown at me through my computer and phone, I could hardly remember what I had set out to accomplish when I’d first turned on my computer. I’d been ambushed. And I know better.

When I teach time management, I always start with the same question: How many of you have too much time and not enough to do in it? In ten years, no one has ever raised a hand.

That means we start every day knowing we’re not going to get it all done. So how we spend our time is a key strategic decision. That’s why it’s a good idea—as we’ve seen in the last few chapters—to plan ahead, to create a to-do list
and an ignore list, and to use our calendars. The hardest attention to focus is our own.

But even with those lists, the challenge, as always, is execution. How can we stick to a plan when so many things threaten to derail it? How can we focus on a few important things when so many things require our attention?

We need a trick.

The late Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru, knew all about tricks; he’s famous for handcuffing himself and then swimming a mile or more while towing large boats filled with people. But he was more than just a showman. He invented several exercise machines, including the ones with pulleys and weight selectors in health clubs throughout the world. And his show,
The Jack LaLanne Show
, was the longest-running television fitness program, on the air for thirty-four years.

But none of that is what impresses me. He had one trick that I believe was his real secret power.

Ritual.

Right up until his death at the age of ninety-six, he spent the first two hours of every day exercising. Ninety minutes lifting weights and thirty minutes swimming or walking. Every morning. That ritual enabled him to achieve his goals of staying fit, healthy, and strong. His eleventh book, published when he was ninety-five, was titled
Live Young Forever
.

So he worked, consistently and deliberately, toward his goals. He did the same things day in and day out. He cared about his fitness, and he built it into his schedule.

Managing our day needs to become a ritual, too. A ritual that’s simple enough to do each day. Clear enough to keep us focused on our priorities. Efficient enough to not get in the way. And comprehensive enough to incorporate what we’ve learned in the last few chapters about what works, and what doesn’t.

That ritual should take a total of 18 minutes a day:

STEP 1 (5 Minutes): Your Morning Minutes.
This is your opportunity to plan ahead.
Before turning on your computer
, sit down with the to-do list you created in
chapter 22
, “Bird by Bird,” and decide what will make this day highly successful. What can you realistically accomplish that will further your focus for the year and allow you to leave at the end of the day feeling that you’ve been productive and successful? Then take those things off your to-do list and schedule them into your calendar, as we discussed in
chapter 24
, “When Tomorrow?” And don’t neglect
chapter 25
, “The Three-Day Rule”: Make sure that anything that’s been on your list for three days gets a slot somewhere in your calendar or move it off the list.

STEP 2 (1 Minute Every Hour): Refocus.
Now, remember
chapter 26
, “Who
Are
You?” Set your watch, phone, or computer to ring every hour and start the work that’s listed on your calendar. When you hear the beep, take a deep breath and ask yourself if you spent your last hour productively. Then look at your calendar and deliberately recommit to how you are going to use the next hour. Manage your day hour by hour. Don’t let the hours manage you.

STEP 3 (5 Minutes): Your Evening Minutes.
At the
end of your day, shut off your computer and review how the day went, asking yourself the three sets of questions listed in
chapter 27
, “It’s Amazing What You Find When You Look.” Questions like: How did the day go? What did I learn about myself? Is there anyone I need to update? Shoot off a couple of emails or calls to make sure you’ve communicated with the people you need to contact.

The power of ritual is in its predictability. If you do the same thing in the same way over and over again, the outcome is predictable. In the case of 18 minutes, you’ll get the right things done.

This particular ritual may not help you swim the English Channel while towing a cruise ship with your hands tied together. But it may just help you leave the office feeling productive and successful.

And at the end of the day, isn’t that a higher priority?