a good start gives lasting impact

Be careful how you start your day. If your day begins with yelling and profanity, it sets the tone for everyone involved. When someone tries to start your day like this, choose instead calm and gratitude. A calm and grateful start will benefit you the entire day. If the negative influence repeats, apply preventive measures.

try the fastest solution first

Sometimes the fastest approach to a question gives you the necessary amount of information and prevents needless discussions or technical research. Bing, Google, or other search tools well represent this approach. Try applying this at home, on vacation, or fulfilling a work request and see how much time you can win back for yourself.

easy question, easy expert

When faced with a new task, ask whether it’s routine for someone else. That person is your expert. An expert can quickly clue you in to the necessary steps involved in a project, particularly one that follows a regular or systematic process.

quicken comprehension with summary of key points

I was given a project recently with multiple steps and various requirements. How do you understand the scope of a project quickly? I opened the emails and attached summary documents. I scanned the instructions looking for key concepts to piece together. Often, you don’t need to read every word. In fact, that could be more confusing on a first pass. Scanning for milestones or summary points provides a clearer overview. After gaining a high-level understanding of the total project, you will more easily absorb all the relevant details.

suggestion for task batching

Schedule mundane, low-cognitive activities for the same time as a webcast or other listening-only activity. You get two tasks done while increasing your enjoyment of both.

time flies when you’re having fun

If you would like to pass some time more quickly, get engaged in what you’re doing. Focus on what is interesting about the task. This can also help you enjoy and get more out of the limited time you have.

simple tasks deserve simple starts

I was asked for a two-minute pitch recorded on video. I quickly reviewed the instructions to initiate the recording and wrote down the main points I wanted to hit. Instead of searching for detailed instructions or building up a comprehensive outline, I hit record and started talking. I completed the assignment in less than ten minutes. Others spent over an hour prepping, practicing, and re-recording to obtain the same result. Don’t make a simple task complicated. Sometimes you can start quickly and learn what you need as you go.

keep performing, don't dwell on mistakes

Act confident. Be confident. Keep delivering the presentation and ignore your mistakes. Even if the audience notices any mistakes, they’ll take more notice if you lose your composure.

try the quick solution first

Search engines are your friend. A quick suggestion from a web search and a few minutes of testing might give just as good a solution as hours on the phone with tech support.

What and Why

I attended a training session that included opening presentations and instruction followed by hands-on lab work, all completed remotely by web conference. The lab consisted of a script to follow with software in a demo environment. The script provided an excess of information that distracted from the core goal of becoming familiar with the software. The greatest benefit of the training came from reading the lab overview and following the prescribed steps through the software. In other words answering the ‘what’ and ‘why’ and then stepping through the interface provided the most learning. All the other details were less critical to the core concepts and quickly forgotten. Thus spending any serious time focused on those non-core details was inefficient.