I hope you had a great International Day of Happiness last month. Spring is now fully in gear and our thoughts turn to being as productive as possible before summer arrives and we slow down a bit to enjoy the rewards of our hard work.

With that in mind I have an array of items on increasing your productivity in this issue. We can all do better on the productivity front, right? If you read through everything in this issue I'm sure you'll get a new idea or two that you can apply to your work. Ready? Let's go.
Use the MOLO Principle to Direct Your Energy Properly

In my strategic planning workshops I ask participants to focus on the essential few ideas that really matter and get rid of the trivial many items that don't lead to real progress over time. I recently read about the MOLO principle (More Of, Less Of) from Tony Jeary , which definitely boils things down to a level anyone can understand and apply.

Here's how it works. Get a blank sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left side write 'More Of' at the top. On the right side write 'Less Of' at the top. Now write down what you want more of and less of in your life and business. Show what you've written to a trusted advisor and start discussing how you can start rearranging things to do More Of what you want while shedding those activities you want to reduce. It's a great starting exercise to being more productive.
7 Quick Tips to Be More Productive

Here are seven rapid fire ideas for you to boost productivity this week.

1. Know when you are at your best during the day. Is it early morning, late morning, or mid-afternoon? That's when you want to work on that which requires your best such as writing, meeting top clients, or brainstorming.

2. Practice HABU throughout the day with your To-Do list. Start every day with a to-do list. Then, throughout the day look at the list and decide what next action would constitute the Highest And Best Use of your time.

3. Have a living plant or flowers on your desk. Studies have shown that this boosts your productivity, happiness and cognitive function. Read more about this  here .

4. Have the scent of lemon around. This scent improves mood and cognitive performance. You can get the essential oil of lemon from  Sharon The Health.

5. Block 60 - 90 minutes of time each day to work on a top priority. If your day's are too busy, then do this before 8 am. No excuses.

6. Utilize bunching. Instead of doing email constantly, block a few hours during different day parts to mow through it. Make all phone calls in a morning session and an afternoon session. Have your meetings one after another on certain days and take a day each week to work on sales, marketing or strategy exclusively.

7. Don't answer the phone except by appointment. I know this is controversial and hard to do. It's part of training yourself to own your schedule.
Michael Hyatt's Top 10 Productivity Hacks

Michael was named one of the Top 10 people to follow online by Forbes in 2014 . In fact, he was the author's top pick from the list. Michael has a great podcast, multiple books to his name, and a wildly successful member community that opens its doors just a few times a year. You could say that Michael's PRETTY productive. In a recent podcast he shared his top 10 hacks.
One I hadn't thought of as clearly as he does is to invest in the bestTOOLS you can afford. If a new smartphone (or computer) saves you just 10 minutes a day, multiply that savings by 5, then 50 to get the annual amount that investment will save you. Chances are the value of that time saved will far outweigh the cost of the new device. This also goes for faster internet or a better desk.

Michael also outlines how to delegate on multiple levels of trust. It's a great explanation of how delegating is far more than just having someone else do something you could do. Listen to Michael's explanation of this and 8 other hacks here . If you don't want to listen to it, the transcript can be found here .
90 Days to Better Speaking

Is public speaking one of your fears? Do you just plain stink at delivering presentations? You  sweat , you  stutter , you  can't engage  a crowd. You just don't get the response or results that you imagined when you spent hours putting a presentation together.
Maybe you've Googled "public speaking tips," watched a couple videos on YouTube, tried a few things and failed.
You're not alone.  Surveys discovered that a whopping 90 percent of people fear and loathe speaking in front of a crowd. 90 percent!
What if you had the chance to become a much better public speaker in just 90 days?  Would you do it?
For years I've been coaching speakers 1on1 to improve their presentation skills through my other business ( Speak Well and Sell ). However, there has been a group of people who don't want 1on1 coaching. They'd prefer to have a GROUP class, and especially one that meets more than once so they can really work on their skills and improve their abilities over time. Is that you?
 
Registration is now open for 90 Days to Better Speaking. This class will go from A to Z to help you improve in this critical success area. You'll get plenty of practice, too. You cannot help but get much better in 90 days when you fully participate in this program. Check out the information page and register now if you're serious because this is a very limited enrollment class. 

Each participant will get a ton of personal attention.  I hope you'll be one of the first to take advantage of this new and exclusive opportunity to learn from my 17 years of experience speaking and studying the art of speaking.
What it Takes to Experience Real Business Growth

Are you ready to grow your business in 2016?  Would you like some proven concepts, tools, and guidance to GET IT DONE?  Then run, don't walk to attend the Business Growth Series.
Attending this program will position you for next level success with strategies that will put you head and shoulders above your competition.
Learn more and get registered before time runs out!
Book Recommendation

When it comes to being productive, there are few thought leaders out there that surpass David Allen. He spawned a worldwide movement with the release of his book, Getting Things Done in 2001. I was working in marketing at Oracle back then and was on the mailing list for Nightingale Conant (this is a good mailing list to be on by the way). I received a mailer promoting the audio version of the book, which I bought and listened to hungrily.

A year or two after that I attended a live event with David Allen in San Francisco where he broke down his process even further. It was good to get his methodology in a different context and even more ideas sunk in after that. Here are several ideas he espoused that resonated with me...
  • Process everything that's coming in and deal with it (plan it for later, delegate it, delete it, file it, handle it).
  • If you can deal with something incoming in 2 minutes or less, do it NOW.
  • Be highly productive so you can enjoy your down time with no regrets.
  • Always know what the next step is on a project, then take that step in a regular interval (daily, weekly, etc.).
  • Tie your work regularly to your goals/projects.
  • Create organized files/folders so you know where to put things you've dealt with or are putting off for another day (someday/maybe file).
  • Let your mind be like water. Disruptions are temporary allowing the water to return to a still state afterwards.
  • This wonderfully deep book full of ideas and processes was updated and re-released just last year. You can find it on Amazon here.
Quote to Inspire You
"Stressing output is the key to improving productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite." - Paul Gauguin

That's it for this issue. I hope you found some ways to be more productive! Let me know what you are going to apply in your work this week.

Michael Neuendorff | The Growth Coach | 650.373.2022