In the article,“Making it in America”, in the Atlantic, Adam Davidson writes about how to create and keep a job in our globalizing, mechanizing, economy.  It’s a deep look at the impact of the shift to globalization and how “the rewards for being skilled grow, while the opportunities for unskilled Americans diminish.”

One of the passages really stood out for me:

“Productivity, in and of itself, is a remarkably good thing.  Only through productivity growth can the average quality of human life improve.   Because of higher agricultural productivity, we don’t all have to work in the fields to make enough food to eat.  Because of higher industrial productivity, few of us need to work in factories to make the products we use.  In theory, productivity growth should help nearly everyone in society.   When one person can grow as much food or make as many car parts as 100 used to, prices should fall, which gives everyone in that society more purchasing power; we all become a littler richer.  In the economic models, the benefits of productivity growth should not go just to the rich owners of capital.  As workers become more productive, they should be able to demand higher salaries.”

It reminded me that the way forward, is not to go backward.   It’s to embrace change and empower yourself with skill.   Personal productivity is a powerful tool for surviving and thriving in a world where better, faster, cheaper is the name of the game.

In my experience, the key to productivity is to apply it to meaningful problems and to flow value along the way.  To keep my own productivity in check, I use a guiding question:  “Am I working on the right things, at the right time, with the right energy, the right way?” While the question itself doesn’t hold all the answers, it does hold the keys that help finding them.

When it comes to “making it,”  I think productivity is one more lesson we learn from business that applies to life.   It’s an area we can invest in for the rest of our life, for the best of our life.  It never goes out of style.

Photo by Jane Rahman.

Trying to plan for a month can be a challenge, especially if you don’t have an approach.  I’m going to share with you a very simple way to plan your month.  It’s simple, but powerful.

You can use Agile Results as a way to simplify your monthly planning.  Agile Results is the system I talk about in my book, Getting Results the Agile Way.

3 Steps to Plan Your Month

To plan the month using Agile Results, simply do three things:

1. Pick a theme for the month.
2. Identify three wins you want by the end of the month.
3. Write them down.

Monthly Theme

The monthly theme will give you focus.  You can use it as a mantra.  For example, let’s say the focus for this month, is simplicity.  (I happen to like that one because I used simplicity as a focus for one of my projects at work, with great success.)   For the entire month, you will have this one theme to keep going back to.  It will remind you of what’s important.  It’s like a mini-mission for the month.

Three Wins for the Month

The three wins you identify will help you set a target for the month, in a way that’s goal oriented.   As soon as you start to think about what you can achieve in a month, you will start to ask better questions.  You’ll start asking questions about what’s important.  You’ll start asking questions about what’s next.  You’ll also start asking questions about, what’s possible.

Meaningful Months

Meaningful months are made up of your weekly wins and your daily dos.   The Rule of Three is your friend and will help you focus, as well as zoom in and zoom out.  For example, you can use The Rule of Three to identify three wins for the day, three wins for the week, and three wins for the month.   This helps you avoid getting overwhelmed, and we tend to be pretty good at remembering three things.  Three is also a good way to focus your time and energy.

The best part is that each month is a chance to turn the page and start fresh.  You are the author of your life and you are always writing your story forward.  Use each month as a way to add great chapters to your life.  When things don’t go as planned, carry the lessons forward, and use each day, each week, and each month, as  a fresh start on your path of meaningful results.

Getting Results the Agile Way is a simple time management system for achievers.   Whether you are an underdog trying to make the most of what you’ve got, or you are simply somebody with a passion for more from life, you are an achiever in my book.  (After all, we are all an underdog at some point in our lives.)  This is a system to help you be YOUR best.

As a time management system, Getting Results the Agile Ways is focused on answering two very fundamental questions about time management:

1. What to do?
2. How to do it?

By figuring out what to do, you set the stage for meaningful results.  This is all about slowing down to speed up.  This also reiterates the idea that less is more.  Rather than spread yourself thin, the idea is to focus on what really matters to you, and create meaningful experiences.

Download the Free eBook

The Getting Started with Getting Results the Agile Way Guide is a short guide (14 pages) to help you get up and running fast.

• Download Getting Started with Getting Results the Agile Way Free eBook

Take it for a test-drive and get the system on your side.  Share it with friends, family, and whoever you want to help get more out of life and put the system on their side, too.

“Movement isn’t progress.” — Thomas Leonard

You can dramatically shape a positive inner work life if you know what the key catalysts are.  Catalysts are powerful ways to influence a positive inner work life.   When people have a positive inner work life, they are more creative and productive.  People are also more committed to their work and more likely to work well with their colleagues.

Progress is actually one of the best ways to motivate people, and catalysts influence your progress loop in an interesting way.  First, a catalyst can positively influence your inner work life, before it actually impacts the work itself.  For example, if you knew you were getting a faster computer, you would think positively of your employer before you actually got the computer.  Next, when the catalyst does actually positively impact your work, it then boosts your inner work life again.

In the book, The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work , Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer share the most crucial catalysts that shape your inner work life.  Their findings are based on studying more than 12,000 “even of the day” narratives by employees across multiple organizations.

The Seven Major Catalysts
Here are the seven major catalysts that affect both the positive perception of progress and the actual positive impact on progress:

1. Setting clear goals.
2. Allowing autonomy.
3. Providing resources.
4. Giving enough time — but not too much.
5. Help with the work.
6. Learning from problems and successes.
7. Allowing ideas to flow.

The opposite of each of these is an inhibitor of progress.  Inhibitors hinder progress or cause setbacks and have a negative impact on inner work life.

Photo by Anil Bhatt.

"With each sunrise, we start anew." — Anonymous

This is my roundup of productivity blogs.  You can think of it as a “productivity hub”, where each spoke is a blog focused on productivity.

Like many things, productivity is a skill you can learn.  If you want to be more productive, you can learn proven practices for improving your focus, improving your energy, improving your motivation, setting goals, and managing your time.

Why focus on productivity?  It’s a way to amplify your impact.  It’s a way to get better, faster, simpler results.   Whatever you save in time and energy, you can apply to other areas of your life.  By improving your productivity, you can unleash your creativity, flow more value, and make the most of what you’ve got.  Success is also a numbers game so if you’re a productive artist, you can stack the deck in your favor.

Top 10 Productivity Blogs

1. 43 Folders, by Merlin Mann
2. Dumb Little Man
3. GTD Times
4. Life Optimizer, by Donald Latumahina
5. Lite Mind
6. Marc and Angel Hack Life
7. Productive Flourishing, by Charlie Gilkey
8. Stepcase Lifehack
9. The Blog of Tim Ferriss
10. Zen Habits, by Leo Babauta

A – Z (Insightful Productivity Blogs A – Z)

1. 43 Folders, by Merlin Mann
2. Academic Productivity
3. Business Hacks, by Rick Broida
4. Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life, by Steven Aitchison
5. Chasing Productivity, by Chase Smith
6. Craig Harper
7. Cranking Widgets
8. David Seah
9. Did I Get Things Done, by Andrew Mason
10. Double Your Gains, by Caleb Lee
11. Dragos Roua
12. Dumb Little Man
13. Effective Time Management
14. Escape from Cubicle Nation, by Pam Slim
15. Genuine Curiosity
16. Get Everything Done, by Mark Forster
17. Get Organized Wizard, by Michele Connolly
18. Getting Things Gone, by Dwayne Melancon
19. Goals Success.com, by Josh Hinds
20. GTD Times
21. Hack College
22. Hack the Day, by Alex Brie
23. How to Change the World, by Guy Kawasaki
24. Ian’s Messy Desk, by Ian McKenzie
25. Illuminated Mind, by Jonathan Mead
26. Jonathan Fields
27. Knowledge Jolt with Jack, by Jack Vinson
28. Laura Stack – The Productivity Pro
29. Learn This, by Mike King
30. Life Hacker
31. LifeDev, by Glen Stansberry
32. Lifehack.org
33. Life Optimizer, by Donald Latumahina
34. Life Reboot, by Shaun Boyd
35. Life Sutra: The 4-Hour Workweek Journal, by Andrew Brick
36. Lite Mind
37. Marc and Angel Hack Life
38. Managing with Aloha, by Rosa Say
39. Matthew Cornell
40. My Bad Habits, by Clark Guelph
41. Neat and Simple Living, by Airane Benefit
42. Open Loop, by Bert Webb
43. Parent Hacks
44. patrickrhone.com
45. Pick the Brain
46. PluginID
47. Productive! Firm
48. Productive Flourishing, by Charlie Gilkey
49. Productivity 501, by Mark Shead
50. Productivity Cafe, by Susan Sabo
51. Productivity Goal
52. Ririan Project
53. Scott Berkun
54. Scott Young
55. Seth Godin
56. Simple Productivity Blog, by LJ Earnest
57. Stepcase Lifehack
58. Steve Pavlina
59. Steve-Olson.com
60. Study Hacks
61. Success Begins Today, by John Richardson
62. Synechism, by Doug Belshaw
63. Technotheory.com, by Jared Goralnick
64. The Daily Saint
65. The Bamboo Project, by Michele Martin
66. The Blog of Tim Ferriss
67. The In Context Blog, by Stephen Smith
68. The Life Uncommon
69. The Personal MBA, by Josh Kaufman
70. The Positivity Blog, by Henrik Edberg
71. Think Simple Now
72. Upgrade Reality
73. Wise Bread
74. Your Life Organized, by Monica Ricci
75. Zen Habits, by Leo Babauta

The Quality of Being Productive
My dictionary defines productivity as "the quality or state of being productive” and it defines productive as "having the quality or power of producing especially in abundance."  For me, I’m not into mass production.  I care more about meaningful results.  So for me, I think of productivity as a tool for unleashing efficient and effective results based on what I want to accomplish.

I share a lot of tips and techniques on this blog for improving your productivity.  I also have a playbook you can read for free, Getting Results the Agile Way, that distills the best practices I’ve learned for improving productivity and time management.  That said, I’m a fan of learning from a wide variety of sources and standing on the shoulders of giants.  This list is my way of helping you find some of the best shoulders to stand on when it comes to learning effective productivity skills and taking your game to a whole new level …

My Related Posts

• Productivity Quotes
• Productivity Personas
• Be Effective, Then Efficient
• 10,000 Times the Productivity

Photo by pranav.

“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.” — Mike Murdock

Normally, I try to avoid posting on the weekends (it’s part of my “take weekends off” strategy), but I came across such a timely and beautiful blurb that I just had to share it.

I know that for many people, the idea of a routine seems like the death of innovation and creativity.  It’s actually quite the opposite.  Having routines means you can stop wasting your precious time and energy on the basics.  Instead, you can use routines to move up the stack and unleash your best.  More precisely, it puts your thinking where it counts.

While reading the book, Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution , by Peter Weill, I came across a few pieces of perfect prose that make the points way better than I have in the past.

From Deliberate Task to Second Nature
The more we can turn common tasks into routines, the less we have to think about them.  The less we have to think about the basics, the more we can spend on the more advanced things.

Weill writes:
“Every human being performs a variety of critical, fairly complex tasks without actually thinking about them.  These tasks include breathing, hearing, swallowing, and seeing.  With experience, humans can take on more-deliberate tasks like walking, riding a bike, driving a car, and making coffee.  At first, these more-deliberate tasks require some concentration and adaption, but they quickly become second nature.”

Easy for the Expert, Tough for the Novice
The expert can perform the basics without thinking.  The novice needs to spend a lot of time thinking through the basics, to understand the nature of the tasks and how to sequence their actions.  Additionally, the expert builds distinguishing capabilities by specializing in more advanced skills.  The difference between a novice and expert can be exponential.

Weill writes:
“Over time, different humans develop distinguishing capabilities.  A talented musician learns how to play piano; a great athlete plays basketball; a famous chef prepares extraordinary meals.  Each of these distinctive capabilities has repeatable, routine activities that would be hard for a novice but that the expert can perform without thinking.”

Concentrate on Achieving Greatness
By turning the basics into routines or habits, you can focus on developing your greatness.

Weill writes:
“Because experts need not focus on the routine activities in their field, they can concentrate on achieving greatness.”

Now, while routines are a good thing in concept and in practice, there is another important rule of thumb.  Don’t let your routines stifle or limit you.  The last thing you want is a routine that becomes a burden or works against you.   A simple way to prevent this, or fix this, is to innovate in your routines.  Periodically sweep your routines.  Throw out the ones that aren’t working, tune and prune the ones that do, and keep testing what works.

Model from the best, and tailor to work for you.

Photo by eviltomthai.

“Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.” –  Calvin Coolidge

I hope your New Year’s Resolutions or goals are going well.  For a lot of people I know, they aren’t getting the results they want.  Let’s fix that.

One of the best ways to get results is to use a system.  Why is that?

Because if you use a system, you can keep tuning it.

But it’s more than that.  If you use a system, you don’t have to keep figuring out the basics.  You can move up the stack and focus on higher-level issues.  Another benefit is that you can chip away at a problem.  Few problems withstand sustained effort over time.

The System in a Nutshell
Here is a very simple system, that I use, along with many other, for getting results:

• Monday – Each Monday, write down three results you want for the week.  Yes, just three.  And write down the “results” you want, not the ‘tasks” of how you’ll get it done.
• Daily – Each day, write down three results you want for that day.  Again, identify the ‘results”, not the tasks.  If you know what you want to accomplish, you’ll figure out the tasks.
• Friday – Each Friday, ask yourself, “What are three things going well?” and “What are three things to improve?” and write them down.

That’s the Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes, Friday Reflection pattern from my book, Getting Results the Agile Way.

The writing down part is important, even if you lose it.  It’s the process.  This is a simple, but systematic way to get results.  In fact, it might seem too simple, but that’s why it works.

Why the System Works
I’m torn between wanting to tell you a story or give you an example to light this up, but I’m actually going to reveal the magic for now.  If you know why the system works, you can better leverage it to unleash your best results.  Here are some of the finer points on why this system works:

1. It’s pinned to a week.  Each week is another chance to test the system.
2. It uses The Rule of Three.  By sticking with three things, it helps you chunk up your results and make them easier to remember.
3. It works with pen and paper.  I use an electronic approach.  But I’m primarily paper-based.  I use sticky notes to write my three things down.
4. It’s “outcome” focused.  Because you are focusing on three results, you avoid being a “task master.”  All of your “tasks” should roll up to your three results or outcomes.  These three results are your tests for success for the day, and the beauty is, you decide what those three key things are.
5. Meaningful results.  This makes you the author of your life.  You write your story forward.  You define those three results each day, and each week.
6. You automatically improve focus, priorities, and time management.  Simply by making mindful choices about your results, you’re exercising your focus, priorities and time management.  By focusing on the day or the week, you are tuning your time management skills by figuring out what you can bite off that makes sense with the time you’ve got.
7. Avoid overload and overwhelm.  Rather than get buried under your tasks, you uplevel it.  You decide the meaningful results to carve out for the day or the week.
8. You can see the forest from the trees.  You can zoom into the day, by focusing on your three key results, or your can take a look from the balcony, and focus on your three key results for the week.
9. It’s a positive spin.  You’re basically empowering yourself and taking ownership of your results.  In addition, part of Friday Reflection is shining the light on your personal victories.  These quickly add up.  Every week.
10. Roll with the punches.  Things go wrong.  This system is all about getting back on your horse, in the simplest way possible.  Did you fall off today?  Fine … it’s a clean slate.  Simply ask yourself, what are three results you want for today, with the time, energy, and resources you’ve got?
11. Fresh starts.  It’s a fresh start, each day, each week, etc.
12. It’s a learning loop.  Just by practicing the system

It’s a system I’ve used with many people over many years.  It’s worked wonders.  The surprise is how effective it is for such a simple system, but the proof is in the results.  Take it for a test drive and see whether it helps you whip your day into more meaningful results, improves your energy, and helps you actually achieve more of the things that matter to you.

Keep the test simple and just write down three results you want for today down on paper.  That’s it.  You’re doing Agile Results.

Here are some additional resources to explore for more information:

• Getting Results the Agile Way (Landing Page)
• 30 Free Training Modules for Getting Results
• Video – Eduardo Jezierski on Getting Results the Agile Way

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” – Maria Robinson

This is a story of a person, who started a new chapter in their life.  They decided to follow their dream and write their story forward.

Meet Alik Levin.  Talk about changing your life.  Earlier this year, Alik came to the U.S. with his family in search of his dream job.  Not only did he land his job, but he’s been making amazing impact on his new team and driving change in powerful ways.  He’s in his element and truly unleashed.  Alik is now a successful Microsoft programming writer.  He’s living his passion while he’s helping customers succeed on our platform, by sharing success patterns with customers around the world.

Every now and then, somebody does something that just blows your mind.  I’ve known Alik for a long time, but When Alik first told me that he was coming to the U.S. to find a job and make his dreams happen, I was in disbelief.  It was the type of thing you read about or watch in the movies, but to see it unfold right before my eyes was nothing short of spectacular.  You see, this was not a story of somebody simply hopping from one mountain peak to another.  It was a story of personal triumph.  I got to watch Alik climb a mountain from scratch, based on his conviction and courage for a better life.  Watching him uproot his family and start a new life, in this new world, has been one of the most amazing transformations I’ve seen in a long time.

While I’m happy that the story had a happy ending, and a wonderful new beginning, I’m truly proud of this guy.  In a world of turbulence, he decided to take the bull by the horns and live life on his terms.  He’s no shadow of his former self.   Instead, he is a model for leading a life of action and making the most of what he’s got.  He truly is the author of his life.  Wow.

You can imagine how ecstatic I was when Alik offered to share his story of how he uses Getting Results the Agile Way, as his secret weapon for getting results …

You can find the original video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2creyf13eVI.  If you know somebody who needs a lift in their day, feel free to share Alik’s story with them.   It just might make their day.  I know a lot of people who could use a shoulder to lean on or a helping hand, or even just a story of hope.

“Action conquers fear.” –  Peter Nivio Zarlenga

Today, I significantly revamped the Knowledge Base for Getting Results the Agile Way.  The Getting Results Knowledge Base features templates and tools for making things happen in work and life.  The Getting Results Knowledge Base is a non-trivial collection of some serious know-how that you can use to change your game.  The Getting Results Knowledge Base includes:

• Getting Started with Agile Results
• Fast Track
• Cheat Sheets
• Checklist
• Explained
• Glossary
• Guidelines
• How Tos
• Posters
• Scenarios and Solutions
• Slides
• Templates
• Visuals

If you ever get lost or if you’re helping somebody get up to speed on Getting Results the Agile Way, simply refer to the one-page guide … Getting Started with Agile Results.  It shows you how to adopt Agile Results in three easy steps.

Another good entry point, and one you might end up using as a daily reminder, is the Checklist for Getting Results.  It’s a tickler list of one-liner reminders and prompts to help you get better results in any situation.

Enjoy.

“The true meaning of life is to give our life meaning.” — Tate T. Weber

Your Outcome: Review the basics of the Agile Results system and set the stage to take your life to the next level by exploring more of the Agile Results principles, patterns, and practices.

I wanted the end to be a good beginning … for the rest of your life.  Well, here we are. It’s day 30 of 30 Days of Getting Results, based on my book Getting Results the Agile Way.  It’s been 30 days since we started and you  can browse all the lessons at 30 Days of Getting Results.  Revisit them when you need them, or share them with friends and family to help give them the edge.

I hope one of the most important ideas that came across during our journey together is that you are your ultimate investment, throughout your life.   Investing in yourself is how you turn your world around and how you turn other people’s world around.  It breathes spirit into life and it’s contagious.

At the end of the day, you are the one that makes your life happen.  You are the one that takes care of your business.  Whether you’re getting your game on at work or taking care of your business of life, I hope that Agile results can help you succeed far beyond your wildest dreams.  It’s there to enhance you and help you unleash what you’re already capable of.  Everybody deserves a chance at “the good life”, and this is the ultimate toolkit that I can give you that can help you make the most of what you’ve got.
Write Your Story Forward … A Day at a Time
As a reminder of what Agile Results is, it’s a simple system for meaningful results. You can use it to step up your game and support you for the rest of your life, in everything you do.   It gives you an extreme advantage by giving you state of the art practices from a variety of disciplines for improving your thinking, feeling, and doing.  I know many parents who are using Agile Results to help their kids improve their focus, their energy, their time management, and basic productivity.   I know companies using it to help drive change and to help build a rhythm of results for their teams.  I know many people that are using Agile Results to get a new lease on life.  The common theme behind the system is one simple ideas:

… Be the author of your life and write your story forward.

By using three stories to drive your day, your week, your month, and your year, you take charge of your life, and you live life on your terms.  It helps you be who you want to be and create more of the experiences you want to create.  By spending the right time, on the right things, the right way, with the right energy, you unlock a powerful combination for your life that unleashes your best possibilities and helps you make the most of what you’ve got.

Back to the Basics

The basics work and they’ll support you.  Let’s do a quick recap:

1. You can use The Rule of 3 to avoid getting overwhelmed.
2. You’re the author of your life and you can write your story forward, one moment or one day at a time
3. You can use three stories to drive your day and and light up your day by connecting to your values (Daily Outcomes).
4. On Mondays, you can use three stories to drive your week (Monday Vision).
5. On Fridays, you can use Friday Reflection to celebrate your wins and find your personal success patterns.
6. You can map out what’s important in your life using Hot Spots to create a meaningful map.
7. You can let things slough off with skill … no more straws breaking the camel’s back .
8. You can add power hours and add creative hours to breathe life into your week and get more done, in less time, with better results.
9. You can use metaphors to inspire yourself with skill and make meaning in everything you do.
10. You can achieve a peaceful calm state of mind, where worries melt away, and your clarity and focus come to the forefront.
11. You can setup boundaries and buffers to achieve work-life balance with skill.
12. You can feel strong all week long, by playing to your strengths and spending less time in weaknesses and things that drain you.
13. You can do something great and make it a month long project.  Great things can happen in month-long packages, and it’s a way to rock your world, a month at a time.

Monday Vision, Daily Outcomes, Friday Reflection is the Backbone
Each day or each week is another way to get the system on your side.  All you have to do is remember this simple pattern:

• Monday Vision – Identify three stories or outcomes you want for the week.  This sets the stage.
• Daily Outcomes – Each day, identify three outcomes or stories that you want to achieve for the day.
• Friday Reflection – Each Friday, identify three things going well and three things to improve.

I wanted a system that was easy to adopt and immediately get the benefits, and that if I fell off, I wanted it to be easy to hop back on.  The system is super simple to get back on if you fall off.  On any given day, simply ask yourself, what are three outcomes you want for the day, and you’re back on saddle again.

Where to Go from Here
Oh, the places you’ll go.  For your journey for the rest of your life, take the system with you and get the force on your side:

1. Read the book – Getting Results the Agile Way at http://GettingResults.com
2. Explore the Agile Results Knowledge Base, and be sure to browse the visuals.  I find some pictures are worth a 1000 words.
3. For inspiration, read the testimonials and some of the stories of adoption and real-world case studies.

If you had a chance to go through Day 27 – Do Something Great, hopefully you have something in mind that you are excited about and ready to tackle.  I have something that I’ll be working on, and I’m looking forward to cranking things up.

Here’s to your success … onward and upward.

Photo by mikebaird.