I'm musing over life outside the comfort zone and how it feels. My answer: Painful – but embrace that mental pain right? It will make you grow.
I know a few of us were slightly overwhelmed on the last call over the final assessment. Things got a little quite in the online classroom there for a while.
So I wanted to share something that’s been at the forefront of my mind, aside from “oh cr*p, where do I start?”
Rebels. They have a different way of doing things. One of my favorites is Tim Ferriss. Tim is a master of loopholes, working smarter and simply, a productivity guru. His book “The 4-Hour Work Week” first introduced me to Pareto’s Law which dictates that 80% of your desired outcomes are the result of 20% of your activities or inputs. This can be interpreted as: there are only few things that are really important and it seems the key is identifying that significant 20-percent.
Could we use this principal in our approach to tackling a PR plan? Say for instance, always having the Big Picture in focus - that 80% (or more) reap factor? Would this help eliminate distractions and highlight the important deliverables at each point in our timelime?
And could we use it to identify tactics that are “best – fit” for our clients (those 20% of social media campaigns producing 80% or more measurable results)?
Tim also introduced me to Parkinson’s Law which dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion…..
Confused Much?
Tim clarifies this point so elegantly that I would like to share it with you all:
“It’s the magic of the imminent deadline. If I give you 24 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the bare essentials. If I give you a week to complete the same task, its six days of making a mountain out of a molehill. If I give you two months, God forbid, it becomes a mental monster. The end product of the shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or higher quality due to greater focus”.
So perhaps, as it directly relates to PR, assignment work and life in general - a good piece of advice is this:
“Identify mission-critical tasks and set aggressive start and end times for their completion”.
Or simply: Deadlines create focus (I think I remember you saying this too Eric?)
Working Smarter has been a common thread in our discussions on this blog, so if someone’s point of view or personal methodology has had a lasting impression on you, do share – I would love to hear about it.
First, Nicole, I want to thank you for your optimistic approach. You seem to bring optimism and an "I can do this" mindset to all that you do. I like it.
ReplyDeleteOne statement stands out, so I want to address it head-on.
NICOLE WRITES:
"I know a few of us were slightly overwhelmed on the last call over the final assessment. Things got a little quite in the online classroom there for a while.
So I wanted to share something that’s been at the forefront of my mind, aside from “oh cr*p, where do I start?”
ERIC RESPONDS:
Overwhelmed is not what I'm aiming for here, so if we're moving too fast, by all means -- let me know.
Where do you start? Keep Pareto's Law top-of-mind with the PR planning, because it will serve you well. I'll add three other items:
1. Don't Overthink. Think of the project in bite-sized chunks, and as we discussed last week: Keep It Simple, [Stupid]. The "Overthink" is where you'll introduce careless strategic errors. Don't overwhelm yourselves.
For example, I'll have students turn in pages of eloquent, carefully crafted prose when all that's required is a one-pager with a clear objective; smart, colorful language; section headers; and active-voice bullet-point statements.
2. Manage Timeslices. Pareto's Law complements this mindset. Think of those colleagues who respond to requests with this response: "I'm so busy." Ah, the "B" word. Everyone is busy. Everyone juggles. Managing time slices will help.
3. It's OK to Screw Up. I created the course so that some level of critical thinking is involved. Smart PR pros make errors -- and then respond and react accordingly.
"a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion….."
ReplyDeleteThis kind of blew my mind Nicole!
It reminds me of the mission statement Dan Heath was talking about. It was simple and effective at first. If you had 5 minutes to write a mission statement, it might say "to offer the best damn pizza". Nothing wrong with that. But when you have time to over analyze, send to colleagues, tear it apart, it becomes a bigger project just because there is more time to over think it.