Just for today: squelch half of what you want to say.  See if you survive.

Two days ago we quoted Plato.  Yesterday we suggested paying extra attention to whether what you need to say needs to be said.  In case neither of those was simple enough, today just squelch half of what you say.  Don’t worry about evaluating whether you should be saying it.  Just talk less.  And see if you survive.  I’ll bet you will.

Of the things we think, say or do:
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

– The Four-Way Test of Rotary International

Yesterday we quoted Plato. Today we mention a more detailed filter that might be useful for any of the hyperverbal or impulsive among us. The Four-Way Test was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor, who was in the midst of turning around a bankrupt company. See the whole story here.

When it’s crunch time, one of my friends puts tempting but non-critical projects in a cabinet and shuts the door. Another turns his monitor off and puts his keyboard away when he needs to avoid the web and email.

Is there anything you can put away today?

Similarly, some folks shut their office door when they don’t want distractions from the outside.  However: Others make sure the office door stays open so that they are constantly reminded that they’re in a place with other people who are working – not just sitting in their offices reading interesting newspaper articles or playing Scrabulous.*

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*if you don’t know what Scrabulous is, do NOT, repeat do NOT Google it to find out.  The job you save might be your own.

From an ADDexecutive reader:

“If I have a clear set of tasks to do, a big cup of coffee in the morning is a great productivity-enhancer.  I get straight to work and stay focused for hours.  But if I don’t have a clear set of tasks in mind before I have the coffee, I’m just wired and rudderless.”

Many times there’s a sequence to doing things.  We ADDexecs have spent many years ignoring the steps, and sometimes that’s fine.  But sometimes we really need to know the 1, 2, 3…

Assembling “a clear set of tasks to do” may be a big challenge when we’re working on large, complex projects where the list of tasks and priorities is not easy to write.  But on many of our days, writing up a coffee-mug’s worth of priority tasks is pretty simple, and only takes a minute.

Just for today — try this for a late-afternoon task: write down your priority items for tomorrow morning.  Then when you get to the office, you’ll know.  Before the caffeine boost.  And before the interruptions start coming over the transom (or through the email, or in your office door).

This Malaysian train was derailed by a heroic elephant protecting its herd.

Executives with attention deficit disorder get derailed by much smaller things for less noble reasons, both external and internal. Examples are easy to find:

External derailers:

• email
• visitors
• conversations in the hallway
• telephone

And internal:

• new ideas
• the urge to see something funny on YouTube
• remembering something you forgot to tell a colleague
• anxiety or impatience.
• etc. etc.

I can’t say whether external or internal stimuli are more to blame for our distractions, but I’m sure that when we’re at the office, external distractions are easier to fend off than internal distractions.

Just for today: Make a short list of your external derailers.  Then pick one you can shut out for 60 minutes. Can you turn your phone off? Not check email? Shut your door — or if you don’t have one, go work in the conference room? I once read about an exec who worked on the subway the whole day just so he could evade colleagues and other work folks who might interrupt him. Can you begin to do the same without having to go underground?

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Photo: Malaysian National Archive.  Story here at Journey Malaysia.

Try this today: wait five minutes before sending an email request or instruction for anything.  In the five minutes that the email sits in your Drafts folder, you may discover that it needs an addition or an edit.  Or maybe that it doesn’t need to go at all!

It’s tempting to make promises, but can you fulfill them all?

– a recent fortune cookie

Such a strange feeling: to not say “yes”. Or to say nothing at all when there’s a call for volunteers — not even an “I’m sorry, but my schedule is full.” Just nothing at all in response to, “Would anyone be willing to help with _____?”

And then the strange surprise, nearly always: to hear nothing in response. No recrimination. No anger. No surprise. Just the sound of silence as your asker moves on to figure out some other solution.

Try this today?

The next time someone asks you for a commitment, think about whatever you were about to promise them, and chop 25% off your promise before you actually speak.

If someone asks how long it will take to get something done, and you think it’s going to be 6 hours, tell them 8. If someone asks how much profit you think a new project is going to earn and you think it’s going to be $10k, tell them “$7,500, tops”.

The point isn’t that ADDexecs constantly miss by 25%. The point is that ADDexecs constantly underestimate efforts and overpromise results. We do this for many reasons: an eagerness to please, optimism, a failure to account for all the subtasks it’ll take to get a project done. But whatever the reason, we’ve grown comfortable with calling out the wrong number. This exercise forces us to live with speaking something different out loud. In the process, we discover that the world doesn’t punish us when we “fail” to be overoptimistic. That’s a good discovery.

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Remember the Seinfeld episode when George Costanza realizes that since his life has been such a failure, he might be well-served by doing the exact opposite of whatever his first inclination is? That was a great episode. This blog entry isn’t that great — but then again, it isn’t just something you’re watching on TV

Try this today?

Be early for an appointment:

• 5 minutes early for an appointment in your building
• 15 minutes early for an appointment you have to drive to.

New experiences: a jazz musician discovers that there are two ten o’clocks in a day, and an adult with attention deficit disorder discovers that it is physically possible to be at an appointment before the thing is scheduled to start.

What new things will this ADDexec gain: maybe a moment to collect thoughts and begin a meeting with a quiet mind; the respect of colleagues who appreciate the respect of their own time; a chance to visit to the restroom; the chance to notice something important about a customer’s office or interests? The list goes on.

Do you have a to-do list with items more than one month old?

Try this for today: find one item you know you’re not going to do, or that you at least know you can live without.  And scratch it out.

I bet your mind will thank you.