Work Day Casino:
How You Could Be Gambling
with Your Productivity and Success
As many of you know, I just recently returned from Las Vegas, NV, one of the most popular, fun and exciting cities in America (or in the world?) It’s really one of a kind. You see things there that you just don’t see anywhere else.
Gambling is the leading attraction in Vegas. 
It’s entertainment and it’s fun if you’re winning, but what if you’re not winning?
When I talk with professionals and visit my clients in their offices, I find gamblers of another sort. The kind of gambler who plays “professionally” and I don’t mean they have gambling skills like none other. I mean they’re gambling with their job, career or business. They’re gambling in their offices, with their work days and with their productivity.
And this is why gambling should be left in the casinos.
Are you one of these types of gamblers?
Are you playing high-stakes Poker with your priorities?
Is it a roll of the dice that you have enough time in your day to get everything done that you planned?
Are you scrolling through your e-mail Inbox like you spin a Roulette wheel? Hoping you’ll land on that special e-mail you’re looking for? Will you find it? Will you not? Who knows…?
Now let me ask you one last question… Are you winning or losing at these games?
If you’re playing any one of these games in your day, then you’re gambling too much. You’re gambling with your progress and success. And unless you’re working for fun, there’s no room for gambling with your time, your organization, your tasks, your priorities or your e-mail Inbox.
It’s time to step away from the tables and play it differently. It’s time not only for playing it safe, but winning.
Let’s go over the 4 things I see professionals leave to chance in their work day and how to play it differently… and better. And the way I suggest gives you a guaranteed win.
1. Leaving your time to chance
Are the interruptions you entertain taking little bits of time out of your day like the slot machines are taking coins out of your hands? Well, I know you’re in control of every coin you feed a slot machine, but you’re not always in control of all the interruptions you get in your work day and some will never stop altogether.
However, you do probably give away more time than you realize, just by allowing too many interruptions and not taking proactive control of your time. You’re probably leaving more to chance than you think.
Here’s how to play it differently…
Start by using only one calendar to hold all your appointments and commitments, whether personal or business in nature. If you use more than one calendar to track you time you’re gambling.
You want a calendar that’s structured, but flexible, meaning start with the structure and then allow for flexibility. Leave yourself some time every day to plan and reprioritize all that happens and all you receive during your day. If you don’t, things will surely stack up.
And as for interruptions, if you don’t like what you’re seeing, feeling or experiencing, it’s up to you to make a change. This is your chance! You can start to tell people what you want and what you don’t want, when you’re available and you’re not available, and then you can put a little structure around how you and others communicate.
2. Leaving your tasks and priorities to chance
I’m continually surprised how many professionals still try to keep track of everything they need to do or want to do on a calendar. Using your calendar is a gamble if you’re putting lots of little tasks on your calendar that really aren’t schedule-specific. You’re skewing your sense of actual, available free time.
Using the calendar and the reminder feature on the calendar allows pop ups to remind you at intervals of what you need to do. Not only is this interrupting you in the middle of something you might be focused on, but it’s not an effective way to manage your to-dos.
And too often I find people using the “Snooze” button.
That’s how the day goes… to-dos are listed on the calendar, the pop-ups remind you of these to-dos and you hit the snooze button every time the pop-ups appear. If this is you, I’ll ask you now: How’s that working for you? And now I’m going to gamble… I’ll bet you’re not getting things done the way you’d like.
Here’s how to play it differently:…
Set aside and protect blocks of time in each day for an hour or so in order to build one task list electronically in a program like Outlook, my favorite. To begin, start by picking up papers and things around your desk to identify any action steps you need to take and when. Enter these bits of information into your task list. And use a verb to identify your next action step.
One of the things I really want you to remember is that you don’t have to prepare a written to-do list every day ever again. Your list will have already been created and all you have to do is add to it and maintain it.
Are these tasks and dates locked in stone? Of course not! Will you move them around? Absolutely! That’s the beauty and flexibility and power of the system.
3. Leaving organization to chance
I was online the other day and discovered I had bookmarked a page with an interesting concept on it. Have you ever heard of Gresham’s Law of Planning? It’s actually a spin-off from the original Gresham’s Law, penned by economist Thomas Gresham.
Here’s the law:
“An important principle of Organization design that relates to managerial decision making is Gresham’s Law of Planning. This law states that there is a general tendency for programmed activities to overshadow non-programmed activities. Hence, if a series of decisions are to be made, those that are more routine and repetitive will tend to be made before the ones that are unique and require considerable thought. This happens presumably because you attempt to clear the desk so that you can get down to the really serious decisions. Unfortunately, the desks very often never get cleared.”
[From http://marc-abramowitz.com/archives/2005/01/28/greshams-law-of-planning]
If you leave “clearing your desk” to chance and you actually don’t plan it in to your schedule, then it won’t happen. The ideas and projects you have on your plate needing “considerable thought” as stated above, are the ones where you’re going to need a clear desk and a clear mind in order to make progress.
Here’s how to play it differently…
Schedule time in your calendar for “Step One” of getting organized. You’re just going to be categorizing at this point, but this is an important and necessary step.
As you pick up everything on your desk or in your office (one thing at a time) separate all of what you find into the following 5 categories just for starters. And yes, you can use “piles” for this. You won’t be able to create your files or build your new task list or create any other system until after this first step is completed.
Now “Follow the STARRs” (like the Hollywood Walk of Fame!)
Send it out: Things that are outgoing, to be mailed out, sent out, delegated out and things that don’t belong in your office
Toss it: Things you can toss, recycle or shred
Act on it: Things with actions associated with them: to-dos, reminders, tasks and projects
Reference it: Things you want to reference later in a file system.
Read it: Things you want to read – magazines, newspapers, newsletters…
Once you’ve put everything into its designated area, then you can start building the systems and locations for each of these categories. You’ll have your actions separate from your reference, reading and what doesn’t belong in your office. And the trash will be tossed!
4. Leaving your e-mail to chance
I find that professionals gamble twice with their e-mail: once when they hold on to everything, thinking they’ll find it again and again when they don’t make decisions on whether or not to delete something. They gamble that they’ll “have time later” to go back and look at the e-mails they saved.
Do you gamble this way too? 
Do you love your Search function in Outlook or other program you’re using? How much time do you actually spend searching for things? Do you always find what you’re looking for? Do you ever get back to those e-mails you wanted to read later?
If you’re holding onto everything and sifting through hundreds or thousands of e-mails to find one you’re looking for on a daily basis, then you’re gambling with your e-mail and your time. You’re leaving it to chance that you or your system will find what you’re looking for. And sometimes you’ll lose. I’ve seen my clients lose on this gamble time and time again and I want to prevent this from happening to you.
Here’s how to play it differently…
Organize your electronic files and documents first to make sure you know what you have in your C: drive, My Documents or shared drive. Get rid of anything you don’t need any more.
Then review the folders you’ve set up in your e-mail system. In Outlook, they’re on the left side of the screen. What have you been keeping over there? Be sure to clear out e-mails and folders you no longer need.
Make sure all the electronic documents you’re storing for reference are indeed reference and not action steps. Tasks should never be filed away in various folders. One folder for tasks is acceptable if you haven’t learned how to incorporate them into your e-mail system’s task function, but more than that is gambling again.
- Be clear on how far back you want to hold onto reference documents.
- Archive or delete what you won’t need access to in the future.
- Don’t create a file folder for every person who’s ever sent you an e-mail.
- Avoid saving and organizing every e-mail you receive into folders
- Separate business from personal
- Aim for getting your Inbox to 0 on a daily basis
It’s most important to create specific e-mail folders according to major ongoing projects, programs or anything in-progress temporarily. If you delegate to a team, have a folder for each of your team members too and cycle the tasks in and out.
If you plan to permanently keep and reference certain e-mails or attachments for later then you need to start incorporating those into your electronic file system in the C: Drive, My Documents or a Shared Drive. This should be your permanent library of information.
And as for making decisions about what to keep and what you’ll have time for later, get real with yourself. Be honest. Are you really going to get back to those e-mails you saved for later? Pick your favorites, make time for your favorites and let go of the ones you know you won’t have time for.
Getting your Inbox to 0 and keeping it that way is easy once you are clear on what you want and don’t want and you have all your other systems set up to receive information: task list, paper files, e-files, and your reading pile. Oh, and let’s not forget about the trash can and delete folder… my clients and I use those a lot!
To stop gambling with your time, tasks and organization, consider a Productive Day Power Hour strategy session with Leslie so you boost your productivity, make more progress, and increase your success! Don’t gamble your day away – start winning today! Sign up here: http://www.ProductiveDay.com/powerhour
