ISSUE #10

Welcome to the + 2 newsletter from The PPM Academy

Each month, I’ll send you two quick and simple approaches to improve your Productivity and Project Management that you can try, test, and adapt into work and everyday life.

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Meeting management is a constant struggle as a PM, whether that's the team's availability, ensuring they have value or having too many of them. In this Project Management tip, I'll share a new approach to meeting scheduling to free up more working time for you and your team. 1 minute, 32 seconds reading time.

How often do you put the small things off or even the tougher tasks? In this edition's Productivity tip, I'll share a simple trick to help you make the right decisions at the right time and improve your self-discipline. 1 minute 33 seconds reading time.

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Project Management Tip: Start and end of day meetings

There is so much to say and complain about meetings in the workplace regarding how many we have to attend and how often so many are low in value.

A day full of meetings often means the work you need to do gets pushed to another day or, worst case, into the evening.

They can leave you frustrated and stressed as your workload builds up.

Improving how your meetings are booked, planned and run is a company-wide change, and one rule that you can implement is always plan meetings for either the start or the end of the day.

This approach has many benefits, the first being consolidating your meetings to free up a lot more undisturbed working time in the middle of the day. The opposite is a 30-minute meeting, then a 15-minute break, an hour meeting, and a 30-minute break. This leaves you with very little time for focused work.

Another benefit is that as the team is aware of this rule, they're more present when you have meetings at the start and end of the day.

This is because they know they have working time coming up, so can participate fully, rather than trying to reply to emails worrying about how much they still have to do and having no time to do it.

This approach is hard to implement as often in agencies, there are meetings to be held ad-hoc or in the middle of the day as this is the only time the participants can do it.

However, you can still make this a rule, so your first thought when booking a meeting time is in the first few hours of the start or the last few hours at the end of the day.

The more your team and colleagues are reminded of this, over time, it becomes a habit, and slowly but surely, more and more blocks of working time appear.

Productivity Tip: Just Do It,

When you hear 'Just Do It, you think of Nike, but I used this positive phrase to get stuff done.

Our emotions often lead our actions, and we often make decisions that don't serve us without even realising it.

If we're not motivated, we don't perform the behaviours or actions moving us closer to our goals or the expected performance levels.

To have high productivity, you need self-discipline, which means leaning into the resistance, e.g. I don't feel like it, I'll do it later, it's hard, I'm not good enough….

There are many ways to improve your self-discipline, but this tip is how I use the 'Just Do It phrase when I'm not feeling motivated.

You can say it out loud, under your breath or in your head, but use it every time you're at the decision fork, and I find, and those I coach do too, saying it out loud has a more significant impact.

This small but powerful approach to improving your self-discipline isn't just for work; you can use it in all aspects of your life, big and small.

You are walking past an empty cup that needs to go in the dishwasher. 'Just Do It pick it up and put it in rather than thinking you'll do it later or your partner will do it.

Notice something in the food cupboard that's spilt a little, 'Just Do It'. Clean it up; otherwise, you'll leave it until you don't have time and wish you had done it earlier.

Thinking you really should call an old friend or family member as it's been too long 'Just Do It'. You never know if that could be the call they really needed.

The list can go on and on.

These examples may seem trivial, but taking action every day can, over time, have a huge impact on your well-being and how those around you see you.

Where could you use 'Just Do It' today?

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PS: If you like these tips, did you know I have a programme where I develop PMs on their Project Management skills, Productivity and Mindset to become high-performing Project Managers and Leaders? If you would like to learn more about working with me, you can book a free discovery call here. ​

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