Would you want to be driving in front of her and have to stop suddenly?

In 2007 in Washington State a law passed that made it illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving without a head-set. However, it was a secondary offense, meaning one could only get a ticket if there was another infraction committed, such as speeding, or swerving.

The legislators noticed that despite the law, there has been an increase in car crashes and associated injuries with cell phone use and in March of 2010 they voted to make driving while talking on the cell phone or texting a primary offense. This revised law went into effect on June 10th and if ticketed, comes with a fine of $124.00 per offense.

Drivers who are distracted by the phone, eating, texting, even some conversations and music, aren’t as alert as those who just focus on the road and their route. Did you know that a driver talking on a cell phone is as impaired as a driver with a .08 blood-alcohol level? Did you know that a driver who is texting is as impaired as a driver with a .16 blood-alcohol level (double the legal limit)? Did you know that a driver talking on a cell phone will be half a second slower to hit the breakes in emergencies and missmore than half the visual cues seen by attentive drivers? (These facts are from the Washington State Department of Licensing).

While fictional, dramatacized and graphic (do not watch with young children near by), this video originated on break.com and viewed often on YouTube depicting the potentially fatal results of texting while driving is one you may want your teen driver to see (or may want to review occassionally yourself if you’re tempted to text while driving).

The New York Times did a series called “Driven to Distraction“. Make sure to check out the fun 3-minute game we featured in a previous post ( illustrating what happens when we drive distracted) and this quick video that features real people and shows interesting simulated distracted driving results.

The next time you go to send a text while on the road, don’t, or pull over if you must. If you have to make a call, only do so using a hands-free devise, and even then, remember that its not just important to keep our hands on the wheel, and our eyes on the road, we also need to keep our mind in the game and fully engaged as well.

Bottom Line: We’re just not as good at multitasking as we think we are and the road, behind the wheel, is a dangerous place to discover the truth. Is there any call, text message, email or other distraction that’s more important or more urgent then you life and the lives of others? We think not. Don’t drive distracted!

Thoughts? Comments? You know where we stand on this issue; we’d love to hear from you. (Just not while you’re driving).

Reminder: Mother’s Day is this Sunday, May 9th!

Not sure what to give your sweetie for Mother’s Day this year? We’ve got an idea we think she’ll love! Give her the Gift of Time. This is a gift that won’t add clutter to her life and that she’s sure to appreciate.

Most Mom’s we know are constantly giving of themselves. Often putting others first means that their needs, wants and desires are a second (or last) thought.

When my husband asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day this year, it wasn’t anything material that came to my mind, it was that I wanted time! Time with my family, time to myself, time with my husband, time to do the things that I don’t get to but would like to do (or have done) … these are the things I wish someone could give to me.

We have a couple of suggestions:

1. Give her a gift certificate to a service provider that can save her time. Think house cleaner, gardener, handy-man (unless you’re caught up on your “honey-do” list or love to do these things yourself), baby sitter, Professional Organizer (hint hint). These professionals can take tasks off her hands, or even show her how to save time or make her life easier.

2. Bring us in to do some Productivity Consulting with you at work so we can help you get more done in less time and send you home earlier each day to enjoy your family (and so they can enjoy more time with you!). Your wife will appreciate the efforts you make to get home earlier or more consistantly.

3. Do the same for your wife if she works outside the home. Send us in to her office for a Productivity Consultation. If we can help her get more done efficiently and effectively at work, she’ll have more time for herself.

4. Arrange for a date-night (you get the sitter, make the plans and give her the gift of experience). Enjoy the time together as she enjoys not having to make any of the arrangements!

5. Send her out for some “me-time”. Get her a gift-certificate for a day spa, or a cooking class (if she’s find that enjoyable), or surprise her by having a girl friend of hers swing by to take her on a hike. While she’s away, do one or two things around the house that she would normally do. Not only does she enjoy the time away to “recharge”, but she comes home to a few things checked off her list. Double gift!

You get the idea. The Gift of Time is usually high on her list and is a great option (not to mention that its easy to arrange last minute … just in case you’ve put off getting a gift, or have forgotten that Mother’s Day is just days away).

Let us know how it goes and let us know if we can help you out!

Happy Mother’s Day to the women in your life. And don’t worry, your turn is next month!

Debbie is training to run her 2nd half marathon at the end of June.  She’ll participate in the Seattle Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon on June 26th. Way to go Debbie!!!!  The first thing Debbie did was make this a personal goal…she decided to commit to running a half marathon.  She shared her goal with important people in her life (to gain support and accountability) and now quite publicly (Do you think that will increase her chance for success? You bet it will!) After she decided to take on this task, she knew she would have to come up with a training schedule and a plan of attack to get in shape.  She then had to decide how she would ”work the plan.”  She is currently in the process of working the plan.  Debbie has a 12 week half marathon training schedule.  She has blocked off days, times and distances to run in order to get her body prepared for this task. She’s joined forces with a few others training for the same event to build community and create additional support. She’s running full force forward (pun intended) with her eye on the prize (she’s decided on a way to reward herself when she’s accomplished the goal).

Without setting the initial goal, creating a plan, blocking off time to do the work  and then working the plan, Debbie would most likely not do very well in this half marathon.  By taking the steps that she has taken, Debbie will be ready both mentally and physically and will achieve great results.

We hope you can see how these simple steps can help you whenever you set a new goal. 

1. State your goal.

2. Share your goal with others.

3.Create an action plan.

4.Schedule the tasks.

5. Work the plan.

6. Celebrate success! 

What are your favorite strategies for achieving goals and following through? We’re always looking for new ideas and inspiriation.

If you have a hard time following through on your goals, please let us know.  We would love to help you by creating a plan and keeping you accountable while you “work your plan.” Ask us about our packages … we’ll be happy to find the one that’s right for you and your goals.

On May 4, 2010 from Noon to 4:30pm the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce will be Celebrating Women in Business.  The keynote speaker, Liesbet Trappenburg will present “You are Not Your Job!  Creating Sustainable Work/Life Balance.” 

Debbie has been asked to be one of three break-out speakers for this exciting event.  Debbie will be teaching “Multitasking Makes you Stupid.”  Learn why multitasking is not an effective productivity strategy. More importantly, learn how to focus on one task at a time, working free of distraction, so you can consistently get more of the important things done in less time. You’ll be able to implement some new productive habits immediately so that you can work smarter, not harder and get results.

They are expecting 100 Sammamish businesswomen and entrepreneurs at this year’s event!  For more information or to register for this event, click here!

We recently came across this trailer for a documentary called ”Race to Nowhere.”  This trailer shows how our kids are under so much pressure to perform well in school and extracurricular activities that they are feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and unhappy.  According to the students and teachers interviewed for this documentary, students are spending countless hours on homework each night, not eating, getting sick, and some have gone so far as to contemplate suicide as a solution to end their pain and stress.   How devastating!  

The goal of this documentary is to redefine success.  Success is often measured by how much money you make or what you produce, but how great would it be if success was defined by how happy you are? 

We find out clients are happiest when they feel good about their work/life balance. There’s a great quote I read that states, “You can do everything you want in life. Just not at the same time” (Barbary Sher). Take this to heart and prioritize. What’s important to you right now? What can wait? Do you have the balance you want in life?

Please take a few minutes to check out this Race to Nowhere trailer and then take some time to slow down and enjoy life!

Let us know what you think and how this trailer impacts you. We always love to hear from you.

Yesterday I read two interesting blog posts about the dangers of multitasking. They seem in line with what I’ve written before about the Myths of Multitasking.

One, written by my Accountability Partner, Jan Wencel, of Life Contained, references a statistic that equates the effects of multitasking while driving to that of driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level of .08 (the legal limit in my state).

The other, written by leadership and teamwork consultant and trainer, Mike Rogers, of SecondG.net references a British study that showed we lose the equivalent of 10 IQ points when multitasking. He shares that 10 points is more than you would lose if you were working during the day after a sleepless night, and more than double the points lost for smoking marijuana. Interesting!

So if you’re now convinced that multitasking may not be the solution you’re looking for to get it all done, try focusing instead. Do one thing and think about that one thing at the same time. Minimize or eliminate distraction. Avoid the “shiny objects”. Turn off your phone, your email notification, and anything else that buzzes, rings, rattles or calls for your attention while you’re working on a high priority task.

Let us know how that works out for you. We bet you’ll be more productive (and safer) as a result!

As promised in our post earlier this week, here are our favorite guidelines around delegation and outsourcing:

Delegate things others can do faster than you, better than you, more economically than you, or that cause you great stress. You’ll free up your time to do the things that only you can do.

There are certain things that only I can do for myself; like go running.  No one else can go running for me (or if they did, I certainly wouldn’t realize the benefit!).  There are also tasks in my business that I love to do and that are highly profitable for the business, like group training. If I can delegate other tasks to someone else, so that I have time to run, or so that I can teach a productivity workshop for a company, then I make the best use of my time and I benefit or the business benefits.

I used to spend about 10+ hours a  month on book keeping tasks. I was slow because this wasn’t my area of expertise and frankly, I didn’t really like to do the book keeping.  I decided to hire a bookkeeper. My book keeper is able to do those same tasks in 2-3 hours per month. So I’m saving 10 hours of my time per month. Additionally, I’m only paying for 2-3 hours at a fraction of the rate I bill clients for the consulting work I do. What I can make in the 10 hours I save, by working with clients, far outweighs what I pay for the 2-3 hours of service. This is a no-brainer. 

Another great time to outsource is when a task causes you stress or anxiety.  If cleaning your house is a dreaded task that causes you to be overwhelmed and stressed out, it would make sense to hire a house cleaner to come in and do this task for you.  This way you have freed up some of your time to do something you truly enjoy and you reduce your level of stress!

It also pays to outsource when you are not the expert.  Hiring a Financial Advisor, a CPA or a Lawyer are really good examples of times to outsoure.  If you are not well educated or the expert in these areas (or do not want to take the time to stay on top of these or other industries), you could end up making a very costly mistake.  It is best to outsource from the beginning.

Lastly, it is a good idea to outsource when you are trying to learn something new for the first time.  For example, if you want to learn how to get a good workout in 30 minutes, it would be a wise investment to hire a personal training for a short period of time.  You will be able to learn an exercise routine that can help you long term. You might even consider working with a Professional Organizer to help you clear clutter in your work space, minimize distraction and learn new productive habits that would allow you to get more done in less time. Another wise investment with a big ROI! (Hint Hint!)

What’s your favorite task to delegate or where do you see the biggest ROI with outsourcing?

Let us know if you have any questions about delegation or outsourcing and as always, let us know if  we can be a resource to you.

Did we catch your attention? Are you under the impression that you have to multitask to “get it all done”? Well we’ve got news for you, it doesn’t work – not as well as you think it does.

Come learn more on February 23^rd, 2010 ,from 4:30 – 5:30 pm in our Open Enrollment class

Multitasking Makes You Stupid. We’ll meet at  

MetLife Home Loans: 1700 Westlake Ave N  #315, Seattle, WA 98109. Class investment is $45.  

Learn why multitasking is not an effective productivity strategy. More importantly, learn how to focus on one task at a time, working free of distraction, so you can consistently get more of the important things done in less time. You’ll be able to implement some new productive habits immediately so that you can work smarter, not harder and get results.

Offered in conjunction with Dani McDonough of MetLife Home Loans.

Register here today to reserve your spot. Class size is limited to 12.

Not getting everything on your to-do list done? Feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you need to do? Not enough time in your day?

Did you take our challenge last week to use a time log and to identify time wasters you could eliminate, lower priority tasks you could minimize or get done faster, and tasks others could do for you to free up your time?

We want to cover some ideas around delegation as a productivity strategy.

Some people are hesitant to delegate or to outsource tasks. The most common reasons I hear are that “it will never be done the way I would do it” (aka: I like to be in control and worry it won’t be “perfect”), or “its too expensive to pay someone else to do it”, or “in the time it takes me to show someone else how, I could just do it myself.”  To those, I would challenge:

1. Done is almost always better than perfect! When you take time to identify the skills needed to get a task done, find the right person for the job, clarify what needs to be done and the results you expect and assign ownership to the person you’re delegating to, you delegate effectively. Now let go. Don’t micromanage. Feel free to check in along the way once or twice to hear about progress, provide additional direction or clarification if needed, and to celebrate the end result. It may not get done exactly like you would have done it yourself, but if the end result is acheived all the same, then its a win (because you “win” the time you freed up by not doing the task yourself).

2. It is not expensive to pay someone else a task if you can use the time you free up by delegating to bring in more revenue or increase your billable hours in your business. If the revenue you bring in, or your hourly bill rate exceeds what you’re paying to delegate a lower priority or administrative task, then it pays to delegate/outsource.

3. Think about the Return on Investment (ROI). You may invest time in training someone to do a task for your once, but then they will be able to perform that task for you every time it needs to be done, saving you time and money time and time again. Short term investment for a long term gain.

Stay tuned tomorrow for some guidelines and ideas around how and when to outsource or delegate.

Do you know where your time really goes? Yesterday, we posted about creating and using a time log to track your time for a few days.

Note in 15 minute increments what you do throughout the day and be brutally honest. Remember, you are just trying to raise your awareness here, not trying to impress anyone. The more honest you are on paper about how you spend your time (the tasks and activities that you engage in as well as the duration of time you spend on any one task or activity), the more useful your time log will be.

Once you have  tracked your time for a few days, take time to to review & analyze your log.  Look for time wasters; tasks that weren’t the best use of your time, tasks you did to avoid doing the tasks you were really supposed to be doing, or tasks that took much longer than you thought they should or would.

Identify unneccesary, low priority or low value tasks that you spent time on and consider whether or not you could eliminate them, reduce the time you spend doing them, or delegate them to someone else, all of which would free up more of your time to do the things that only you can do.

Were you surprised at how you are really spending your time?  Once  you have taken the time to identify the time wasters, the next step is to take action: 

• What tasks can you delegate to someone else so you can spend your time on those tasks only you can do?  Identify the task, define the skill set needed and then pick the right person for the job. Clarify with them what needs to be done, the outcome you expect and by when the task should be complete. Make sure that you’re not doing tasks someone else could or should be doing for you. For example, if you have an administrative assistant, let them take care of the administrative tasks (data entry, scheduling, travel arrangements, etc.). When you spend time on these types of tasks, it is not the best use of your time.
• How can you minimize time spent on certain tasks? Is there something you can learn to do faster? Do you have a lot of reading for work? Would employing some speed reading techniques save you time? Can you chunk tasks together to get them done more efficiently?  For example, only check your email three times a day and process your email each time, instead of all throughout the day. Minimize distractions as well when you’re focused on your higher priority work. Turn off email notifcations, silence your cell phone so your messages can go straight to voicemail, use a  “do not disturb” sign on your office door for periods of time, etc.. 
•  What time wasters can you eliminate completely during your day (or only use as “rewards” during defined breaks)? Consider posting a “not to do” list of things you’d like to stop doing in order to increase your productivity. You might include things such as surfing the internet without a purpose, spending time on social networks unless they are for a specific work-related purpose (again, perhaps during breaks is fine if this gives you something to look forward to after focusing for a certain period of time), reading periodicals that don’t add value to the work you do, etc..

You time log will raise your awareness about how you spend your time. Once you identify things you can eliminate, minimize or delegate, you’ll find you have more time available for the high prioritity tasks and work that will help you accomplish your goals and achieve the results you’re after.

Let us know if you need help reviewing your time log.  We can help you identify time wasters and help you come up with solutions for how to use your time more efficiently. 

For the month of February we are offering “A Shot of Time Management”  Package. Check back tomorrow for details of this Timely package.