In a desperate attempt to keep control of my life I have now adopted a ‘Don’t Do’ List policy. It should be easier to stick to the ‘Don’t Do’ list but actually it is till pretty tricky. So, in no particular order, today’s “don’t do’s”:

#1 DON’T EMAIL FIRST THING OR LAST THING EACH DAY
For me that reads: “Don’t email before 10.00am or after 4.00pm.”
Emailing first thing screws up the day as you get distracted beyond belief. Emailing last thing screws up your sleep pattern - it can wait till tomorrow!

You must define one important/key task for each day and that must be your first priority.

#2 DON’T CHECK EMAILS REGULARLY
For me that reads: “Don’t email before 10.00am or after 4.00pm and only check them at set times, say 10.00am and 3.30pm. You must define one important/key task for each day and that must be your first priority. Email addiction will destroy your business and screw up your brain”.

#3 DON’T ANSWER CALLS FROM PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW/RECOGNISE
Never ever answer a call unless you know who it is from. You should have a PA or virtual PA screening all your calls. Let them know who you will and who you won’t speak to and instruct them as to how to handle the various different types of call

eg keynote speaking enquiries to Trish…, Consultancy enquiries to Lesley and so forth.
Because we create our own businesses around ourselves, we end up being involved in way too much. You should be designing the business so that it operates without you.

Try putting autoresponders on your email that say “I am out of the office but consultancy enquiries can be dealt with right now by Lesley at lb@directorscentre.com or on +44 (0)1225 851044 and keynote speaking enquiries can be dealt with by Trish on….” You could do the same with your direct line answerphone if you don’t have someone to filter your calls for you.

Just stop talking to people you don’t know - the call is probably for their benefit and not for yours!

#4 DO NOT TURN UP TO MEETINGS ON TIME
This is known as Lombardi Time.

The great Hall of Fame football coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, invented a strategy that he recommended to his coaches and players.

Lombard Time states “Show up for every important business meeting 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled meeting time.”

The idea is to use the 15 minutes to catch your breath, collect your thoughts and preplan what you want to accomplish in the meeting and how you’ll go about it.

I hate being late. If others are late I consider it the height of rudeness (can’t they be bothered/organised…).

Here’s a thought from Jack Carroll’s blog… If you look closely (because you arrived early…!), you’ll see people arrive at meetings, and this will tell you a lot about the way they lead their lives.

#5 DON’T WORK WITH (OR EMPLOY) ENERGY SAPPERS
This is ’stolen’ from Clive Woodward.
From time to time we all work with energy sappers/zappers and don’t we just know it! They seem to squeeze every last ounce of passion and excitement out of any project. Their mantra is some permutation of:

“Yes but…”
“If only…”
“They won’t/can’t'/haven’t/shouldn’t/couldn’t…”
“Well, if that’s what you want to do…”
“I don’t really see the point of…”
And don’t the energy sappers just love the “they” word. “They did this…”, “They do that…”

Oh how I hate these people! They become high-maintenance (and usually low-profit) because of the damage they do to your own immune system. Their stress and negativity-dumping behaviour sucks the very lifeblood out of your most precious asset - your enthusiasm.

Replace all energy sappers with energisers - it is as simple as that!

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