Productivity

It was easy for me to choose Christmas gifts for my seven-year-old nephew Riley and his five-year-old sister Abbey, because they had the foresight (or rather, my sister did!) to go through a department store catalogue and circle the gifts they wanted. In fact, they did more than just circle them – they marked their favourites as "really, really, really want":

That made it easy for everybody who was giving them Christmas gifts! And lo and behold, Riley got his "Zac Power Pack" 10-book set from me, and Abbey got her Aqua Sand kit – exactly what they wanted!

Have YOU done the same for your goals?

Make a list of the things you want – and I mean really, really, really want – to achieve. Even if you don't have generous family and friends to shower you with everything you want this year, I reckon this is still a good idea. You don't even have to share it with anybody else, but at least you're setting a direction for yourself.

You can do this for all areas of your life, of course. But I want to focus on your Internet strategy in particular.

Here's a simple model you can use to help this process:

Let's look at each of these four quadrants …

Start with Have and Want (gratitude) at the top left: What do you like about your current on-line presence (your Web site, lots of newsletter subscribers, a shopping cart that works, strong leads through the Web site, whatever)?
Then jump down to the bottom right – Don't Have and Don't Want (avoidance): What are you pleased you don't have (a slow Web server, fraudulent credit card transactions, etc.)? These are also things to be grateful for, but also things to keep avoiding.
Now look at Have and Don't Want (eliminate) at the bottom left: What would you like to eliminate (manual processing of orders, unnecessary queries from members, tyre-kickers, etc.)?
Finally, look at Don't Have and Want (aspire) at the top right: What do you want to achieve or add ($X in on-line sales each month, Y% conversion rate from first-time visitors, Z new members in your membership site, etc.)?

As you can see, the first two are about what you like and the other two are about what you don't like. Use the first two to be grateful for what you've got, and the other two to set your goals.

It's a simple, but very powerful, process.

The eGurus Community

If you're a member of the eGurus Community, there's a section of the eGurus Vault with resources about being more productive.

If you're not an eGurus member, find out about membership at www.eGurus.info.

Conference Presentation: Channelling Chaos

In our highly-connected, “always on”, 24/7 world, the old rules of goal setting, productivity and time management don’t work. The new principles for high performance and super productivity are direction (rather than goals), signals (rather than interruptions), collaboration (rather than meetings), and flow (rather than time management). In this presentation – which can be tailored for any level of your organisation – Gihan will show you how to apply these principles in your business, so you can improve performance, increase productivity and boost your bottom-line results.

Audio Program: Creating Certainty – Gihan Perera with Erica Bagshaw

Have you ever doing a goal-setting process that didn't work? Wondering how to set goals in uncertain times? Would you like to know how to create certainty in your future? Join Gihan Perera as he interviews alignment expert Erica Bagshaw, talking through her unique goal-setting process.

Webinar Recording: Be More Productive

There's already more information about your business and expertise than you can handle in a lifetime, and it's growing even faster than before. How do you keep on top of everything you need to know? In this webinar, I'll teach you four simple but effective strategies to manage the information overload, so you can be productive, be effective and continue to be valuable to your clients.

Webinar Recording: Managing the On-line Information Overload

As experts we're expected to be ahead of the curve, not just keeping up with everybody else. But there's so much information now that it's impossible to keep up, let alone get ahead. So how do you stay on top of the information overload and still have a life? In this webinar I show you how to create your own strategy for managing the flood of incoming information effectively, processing it efficiently when it arrives, and delivering it engagingly to your audiences, clients and market. I'll also share with you the tools and processes I use in my business.

Articles

Webinar Recording: 9 Things Successful People Do Differently

Are you still setting goals that you’re having trouble achieving? Or perhaps you’ve been so disheartened by the goal-setting process that you’ve given up altogether. The good news is that there’s a better way! Recent research in social psychology gives us new insights into how to be motivated, more productive, and to achieve our goals. In this webinar, I’ll show you nine scientifically proven techniques for setting and achieving goals.

Webinar Recording: Information Overload

We’re being bombarded by more information than ever before, and there’s bad news and good news. The bad news is (of course) it isn’t going away anytime soon, and if anything is only going to get worse. But the good news is that information overload is part of our job. As experts, our clients and audiences are looking for us to sift through information and convert it into insights, wisdom and practical ideas for them and their organisations. In this webinar, I’ll show you how to manage the information overload, so not only does it not get in the way, but you can use it effectively to deliver relevant, engaging material to your networks.

Webinar Recording: Cut Through The Clutter

Your clients, audiences and networks expect you to know enough – and stay current – in your area of expertise so you can guide, advise and support them. The world is changing so fast that it’s not possible to know everything, but you can pick and choose what’s most relevant for you and your market. In this webinar, I’ll show you how to use simple Internet tools and productivity strategies to stay current in your field, while filtering out all the noise that gets in the way.