Strategy Sarah

helping working moms make life + business just a bit easier

Productivity

5 simple ideas to improve your problem-solving skills

· · Leave a Comment

Problem-solving skills. They’re critical. And yet, how often do we think through how we can improve our skills? Not often? Well, let’s change that.

Let’s examine 5 simple ideas to improve your problem-solving skills at work and in life, courtesy of a recent pediatrician visit.

I have a child with off and on constipation issues. I know, I know. I talk about poop too often. I promise there is a point. Also, I have boys. They are 4 and 6. Poop is a common topic of conversation. (Fellow parents, are you with me?!)

Recently, the issue was severe enough that we checked in with the pediatrician to see what else we could do to solve the problem.

The visit included the usual advice:

  • Pay attention to diet.
  • Use something drastic to get the pipes moving again.
  • And…set a schedule for consistency. It doesn’t matter if the act is successful or not, reward the consistent effort.

We also learned that with chronic issues, it can take several months for things to get fully back to normal.

It struck me how well these same tips apply to most of the common challenges we face in life and in our work.

We can use these ideas for broad solutions across most areas of life, not solely bodily functions.

5 simple ideas to improve your problem-solving skills | strategysarah.com

Keep reading for five simple ideas to improve your problem-solving skills at work and at home.

How to improve problem-solving skills

1. Pay attention to input.

Are the inputs helping or hurting the problem? Do you need to include additional people in a conversation or decision-making process? Are there too many people involved? Do you have the right information? Are you asking the right questions?

Having the right inputs can make a project infinitely easier. The wrong inputs can make a project impossible to complete.

2. Take extreme measures to reset when you’ve got an acute problem.

For many challenges, baby steps make enough of a difference. But sometimes we need to use extreme measures to hit reset. This is one reason crash diets are so popular.

In your work, do you need to stop doing something (or multiple somethings) completely to give focus to a priority? Or completely change the team working on a problem?

Maybe the solution is a completely new process, system or tool.

Extreme measures can feel risky, but have potential for big payoff.

3. Be consistent. Build a habit.

Whether the solution is a drastic change or baby steps, be consistent in your implementation of the new approach. If it’s something time bound, set a timer or calendar reminder.

You can also consider finding a trigger action. For example, one trigger could be that after every meeting, you send out meeting notes immediately.

4. When the outcome is out of your control, reward the effort. (When needed, bribe.)

There are times that no matter how much effort we put in, the outcome is our of our control. In those instances, consistent effort and habit creation is worth rewarding.

Ultimately, consistent execution of the right actions will produce results.

5. Recognize that lasting change takes time.

While consistent application of be right action produces results, there’s no guarantee those results will come quickly. It’s important to recognize that lasting change takes time.

By rewarding consistent action, you ensure that you stick with it long enough to produce results.

Applying these simple ideas as a framework to improve problem-solving skills can immediately improve your success rate.

What challenge are you facing today? Which idea will you implement? Try one (or more!) of these ideas out. Then email me and let me know how it went!

5 reasons I think you’ll love Asana as much as I do

· · 4 Comments

How do you currently manage your workflow and projects? Is your current setup working for you, or would you like to step up your game?

My #1 recommended tool for any size team is a fantastic web-based project management tool called Asana. In late 2017, PC Magazine named Asana one of the best collaboration and productivity apps for teams.

There are five core reasons why I love Asana and think you will too.

5 reasons Asana is my favorite project management app and tips on how to get it #asana #projectmanagement #app #tools

Why I love Asana:

1. Asana is easy to use.

You can get setup and started in Asana in about five minutes. In an hour or so, you can have a working tool managing your work. (I know! I can’t wait for you to finish reading this and get started also!)

Asana is structures work into Teams, Projects and Tasks and provides multiple options for viewing the same core information like list view, a kanban board view and a calendar view. You have the ability to add tags, @mentions people, projects or tasks and do some cool search-based reporting.

The core functionality is pretty straightforward and can be quickly learned by anyone who can use a web browser.

2. Asana is flexible.

If I had to rank order my absolute favorite reason to love Asana it’s the flexibility and versatility that it provides.

Asana comes out of the box as a fairly blank slate that can be customized to meet just about any team’s needs. And trust me, I’ve tried to break it working with some complex teams.

There are a handful of core ways to enter, sort and categorize information, but the possible combinations within that are endless.

Asana is a tool can work with you at whatever state you’re in. If you already have a dialed workflow and process, you can easily configure Asana to execute your existing process the best way possible.

If you kind of know what you’re doing, but are still figuring out what works best, Asana can help you figure it out. Put what you do know into Asana, and adjust as you go – it’s that flexible!

One of the more common reasons people don’t set up technology and tools to support their systems is that they don’t want to put a lot of effort into something that will be wasted when the process or the work changes. With Asana, that won’t happen. Decide that it makes more sense to work a slightly different way? Asana’s flexibility and bulk editing options work with you, not against you.

3. Asana is continually improving.

I first used Asana for a side project in early 2013, and it was very barebones. In fact, the only reason we chose to use Asana over a more robust tool was because it was free and we had zero budget for tools. In the last five years, the Asana team has continually rolled out new and improved features, along with a robust API that connects Asana with other applications for added features.

Two notable project management features not currently natively in Asana are a Gantt chart view and time tracking. Integration with Instagantt covers off on a Gantt chart view, and Asana has their own version currently in beta. If needed, you can implement time tracking and resource management with add-ons like Harvest and Float.

Based on everything I’ve seen, I’m confident the Asana team is in it for the long-haul and I’m on board.

4. Asana is FREE (or cheap).

Asana comes in two versions: Free and premium. Premium starts at $6.25 per month, per user, although there is currently a minimum of five users.

The free version is pretty impressive and can meet the needs of many users. The premium version will blow your mind. If Asana offered a premium version for fewer than 5 users, I would recommend that everyone go for the premium version. They don’t currently, so if you have fewer than 5 people in your organization, the per-user cost is higher and you’ll need to decide if it’s worth it.

5. Asana is fun!

There are unicorns! And narwals! In my experience, even the most tool-averse, skeptical teams want to use Asana, in part because it takes some of the seriousness out of managing projects and is fun to use.

Get started today!

Combine fun, flexibility, ease of use and robust features, and what more could you want or need? Well, in talking to people who have used or attempted to use Asana, my beloved flexibility can actually be the hardest part.

There can be some trial and error involved in figuring out how to make Asana work best for YOU and your work. If that’s you, I’d like to help. Email me and let me know what questions you have, and how I can help you get set up for success in Asana.

7 ways to calm in chaos

· · Leave a Comment

I cringed when I saw the message pop up. “Do you have the presentation done yet?”

I had fully intended to. Actually, I had fully intended to have it done last week. I certainly had spent a lot of time thinking about it. I had fully mapped out in my head was exactly how it would go.

There wasn’t a set deadline, other than “soon.” The project was certainly important, but I was buried in the tyranny of the urgent.

Every time I sat down to do the work, something came up. A phone call, a text message and a person dropping by my desk. An email, that left ignored, was likely to quickly snowball into 10 emails that would take far longer to deal with than if I just took 60 seconds to respond now. Five minutes later, a meeting started. Then another one was scheduled on my calendar after that.

The result?

I failed to meet the expectation. I felt worthless. I wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and not come out. Or better yet, to wake up and find that it was a dream and that the work actually had gotten done.

Does this sound familiar?

Whether people admit to it or not, everyone gets bogged down at some point.

It’s normal to have busy seasons where there is fire drill after fire drill, and everyone triages work until things settle back down.

The problem comes when a chaos level of busy and crunch time mentality becomes the new normal.

A study conducted by Workfront revealed that 80% of marketing professionals feel overloaded and understaffed. The number two specific problem identified was “Juggling all your work to get it done in a 40-hr week.”

While this study was released two years ago, feeling overworked and overwhelmed isn’t limited to marketing professionals and hasn’t slowed down.

I’m not alone in having these moments. Neither are you.

But there’s hope.

20% don’t feel overloaded and understaffed. With the right tools in your arsenal, you can be one of them.

Love these ideas. I need to work on #4

7 ways to calm in chaos

1. Set clear priorities for yourself.

Set priorities at both a macro level, and on a daily basis.
Recognize the priorities of those higher up than me.
Set priorities with peers and those below me.
Start each day with the Daily 6.

2. Set clear priorities with others.

In this situation, I have not only a boss with expectations, but many co-workers who rely on my work and have expectations of what I deliver. To set myself up for success, I need to clearly communicate with all of them.

3. Recognize that you can’t always meet everyone’s expectations.

Sometimes the reality is that there’s simply more work than there are hours in the day, and that something has to give. Deciding who you will disappoint in these moments is critical. Who are you willing to disappoint and who are you not willing to disappoint?

4. Use time blocking to avoid interruptions.

A research study by Gloria Mark from the University of Irvine has shown that it takes an average of 25 minutes to get back on track after being interrupted. While we can’t always eliminate interruptions, we can focus our time into blocks, and turn off as many distractions as we can. It’s okay to turn off email and messages for a period of time. For critical work, it may make sense to physically move somewhere you are less likely to be interrupted.

5. Make a don’t do list.

A don’t do list is simply what it sounds like. A list of things you are not going to do. This can be items that you’ll never do, or items that you won’t do right now or in a specified period of time.

6. Ignore shiny object syndrome.

Similar to making a don’t do list, make a conscious effort to avoid shiny object syndrome. Distractions will occur, and many of those distractions have potential to be worthwhile tasks and projects. But if they aren’t what’s most important right now, they should be intentionally set aside – either for later or for never.

7. Know your personality and personal weaknesses.

My failures are almost always boil down to overcomplicating something. This is usually because of fear or perfectionism, and typically results in procrastination. Because I know this, I can plan ahead, recognize when it’s occurring and set

Back to Calm

On my presentation, I simply responded to the message with, “It’s in progress, and I have this afternoon blocked off to finish it.”

I did have some time that afternoon blocked to work on the presentation, and I quickly re-prioritized my afternoon and blocked off a whole lot more time. The question posed to me prompted me to reassess my priorities for the afternoon, set expectations about when I would have the presentation completed, block my time and ignore everything else that came up.

The reality is that I had accomplished more than I was giving myself credit for. While I could have been more proactive in learning and setting expectations on this particular project, many of the urgent tasks I was on were important. I took the opportunity I was given to reset expectations, reset my focus and get the work done.

Having the framework above to reference allows us to quickly bring a sense of calm back to the chaos – both when there is literal chaos around us and chaos in our brains.

10 useful things you can do in the next 5 minutes

· · Leave a Comment

One of these days is none of these days. – Mark Twain

How often do you have small pockets of time that seem to disappear on you? What if you had a list of easy AND useful things you could do in 5 minutes per day (or less!)?

Lucky you, it’s right here! After all, it’s always easier to have an idea ahead of time what you will do that’s useful or productive in your pockets of time than to try to come up with ideas in the moment.

I just did #2! Great list of easy and useful ways to use 5 minutes per day

1. Write a status update of your written goals.

If you’re already reviewing your written goals every day, take once a week or once a month to write down a written progress report. This can be as simple as 1-2 sentences, and can be written anywhere easy. The purpose is two-fold: To have a record of your progression and to reinforce the value of your goals by physically writing down the current status of each goal.

2. Review your calendar for upcoming meetings, events or appointments.

How many times have you looked at your calendar only to realize that you have a meeting coming up that you forgot to prepare for, forgot to plan childcare for, or wanted to do a few things before it happened? Taking a quick glance at your calendar for the next day (or few days) can make a dramatic difference in how you prioritize your immediate time.

3. Read an article relevant to your professional or personal life.

I use Feedly and keep a list of news sites and blogs categorized by type of information (Business, Parenting, Food, Friends, etc). When I have a few minutes, I can quickly scan categories and/or headlines and read where I need the most encouragement.

4. Do a short workout.

There are a number of different apps with short workouts, or you could simply jog in place or walk up and down a few flights of stairs.

5. Drink a glass of water.

They say it’s good for your heath.

6. Take a series of deep, calming breaths.

I’m no expert, but taking a long, deep breath in and slow-exhale out really does relax and ground me, especially in the midst of busy or stressful times.

7. Text or email three friends.

So easy, and yet one so many of us (myself included!) don’t do if it’s not a conscious thought.

8. Clean out your handbag, desk drawer or any other single surface/drawer/cupboard.

This always takes less time than I think it will. Having clean, uncluttered surfaces is an instant mood lift.

9. Read a few pages in a book.

I keep physical books at my desk and bedside, as well as the Kindle app on my phone to that reading a page or two in pockets of spare time

10. Secure your passwords.

I started using LastPass several years ago, and it’s saved me more time than I can count not having to re-look up or reset passwords. Signing up for a LastPass account is quick (less than 5 minutes!), and you can add passwords as you go, a few minutes at a time – no need for a massive project.

Which useful idea will you take action on today? 

Need more ideas? Read 10 more tips here.

How to not get overwhelmed by bundle sales

· · Leave a Comment

You’ve seen the ads floating around the inter webs. Buy this bundle sale! Short time only! Incredible resources!

You look, think “That’s interesting, but holy cow, that’s an overwhelming amount of information.” Then you shut down that browser window as fast as you can to avoid the madness.

I’m a huge fan of bundle sales and have found some of my favorite personal and business resources through bundles. Since I like to read and devour information (see StrengthsFinder: Input), I especially love having all the information I could ever want about any given topic readily at hand.

As we talk about making it easier to get life and business done, buying a bundle of resources – literally a whole grouping of books, courses and bonuses – might seem like the opposite of making life easier.

And it can be.

If you’ve ever bought a bundle, you’re likely to have sat there at least once, dumbfounded, staring at a list of resources, not having the faintest clue where to start.

So why buy a bundle?

By definition, a bundle sale is a chance to buy a whole group of books, courses, worksheets and bonuses together at a massive discount compared to list price for all the resources. Typically it’s also a limited duration. You’ll see these marketed as “$5,000 worth of resources at 97% off!” or “99% off this amazing bundle go 67 resources!”

Who has time for 67 resources?! You may be tempted to write off the idea entirely as too much to even know where to start. Don’t. You may just miss out on some incredible, life-changing information.

What you need is a framework to remove the overwhelm so that you can use and apply the right resources that you got for a steal.

I wish I had this guide when I bought my first ebook bundle! Thanks @strategysarah

Lucky you, the Strategy Sarah framework works perfectly to take the overwhelm out of a bundle sale.

  • Make a Plan
  • Get Organized
  • Take Action

Step 1: Make a plan: Decide whether or not a given bundle is worth your time.

If you’re a nerd like me (and you should be in this instance), you’ll do the math and determine how great of a deal a particular bundle really is.

For me, the threshold for a deal is any bundle that has one or more resources I would pay full price for that cost more than the total value of the deal.

For example, Bundle A costs $47 and has a course I’ve been eyeing that regularly costs $67. Sold.

Bundle B might cost $27, but I’m only truly interested in one resource that costs $15. Pass.

Action Step: When you come across a relevant bundle that’s a deal while it’s on sale, buy it.

Bonus budget tip: I keep a stash of cash (not literal cash, but the electronic version that I track in YNAB) at hand for those hot deals that come up unexpectedly but are too good to miss out on. FOMO, anyone?

Bonus bonus tip: FOMO is NOT a reason to buy a bundle. I repeat. Do not buy anything, bundle or not, simply because of FOMO. You’ll regret it. So will your YNAB account. #affiliate

Step 2: Get organized.

You’ve already scanned the list of resources in enough depth to determine if there are resources that make the bundle a good deal. Now it’s time to dive deeper.

Print the list of resources (or copy into your favorite tool like Evernote).

Quickly scan the list of resources and highlight all resources that look potentially interesting. You likely mentally did this while you were making your purchase decision, but this time make it concrete.

This step should take less than 5 minutes. Don’t spend a lot of time, but scan the titles and descriptions and see what fits. For some bundles, not as many of the resources are immediately applicable and this first step provides an easy list to prioritize. For others, most of the resources are appealing and this may feel like it didn’t narrow down much.

Side note: One of the many reasons I love and am an affiliate with Ultimate Bundles is their focus on making bundles accessible in a non-daunting way. Every bundle comes with a Getting Started guide that lists out all of the resources by type (book, course, printable, etc) and by level (beginner, intermediate advanced). This makes it so much easier to review and prioritize!

Rank order your highlighted resources. Review your list of highlighted resources. If you have five or fewer, rank order them in order of importance and move on to step 3, Take Action.

If there are more than five, review the entire list again and ask yourself, “Will this make an immediate positive benefit on my life?” Place a 1 next to those resources.
Next, ask “Will this make a positive benefit in my life in the next 6 months?” Place a 2 next to those resources.”

Place a 3 next to all remaining highlighted resources.

Review your list of items marked with a “1” and rank order them in order of impact. That’s where you start!

Action Step: Prioritize resources you’re going to use and get ready to get started!

Step 3: Take Action

Download the bundle.

Download the individual resources you listed in step 2 as once you will use.

Many bundle sales have an easy “Download All” button. If you’re interested in more than 3-4 of the resources in a bundle, this is usually faster than downloading individually. However, I highly recommend that you immediately delete any resources that didn’t make your prioritized list. You don’t need more reasons to be distracted! Digital clutter is just as real as physical clutter.

You have a clear plan of what resources you’re going to use, and they’re safely downloaded and filed on your computer. Yay!

Review your calendar and block off time specifically to work through these tools. 

Failure to plan is planning to fail. Cliche, but true. Identify specific time to work through bundle resources, clear your calendar to make it happen, and don’t let amazing resources gather dust.

Action Step: When the scheduled work time pops up on your calendar, you have a clear plan of action and are ready to focus on taking the next step forward!

Disclaimer

The views expressed on this site are those of Sarah Parsons only, and do not represent those of any employer or client past or present with whom I have worked.