Dot Connector Blog

Have you ever missed someone’s birthday? Lost the location of a cool website you found? Maybe you were driving, had an idea, didn’t stop to write it down, and now it’s gone?

Today, that all ends!

If you leverage my 3 online reminder services below, you will remember more than you do today.

1. Never forget another birthday (or other event) using Backpack Reminders

I’ve written about the power of using Backpack, the online organization tool, to manage your to do lists. Did you know Backpack is also an online reminder service that will help you remember dates?

Here’s how you do it:

• Simply enter what you want to remember into Backpack
• Associate a date/time with it
• Tell Backpack to email you or send a txt message to your cellphone.

That’s it! Imagine this: the morning of your friend Ben’s birthday, you get a txt message on your cellphone that says “Ben’s Birthday is Today” so you can give him a call. Pretty cool, huh?

2. Never forget another idea and boost your memory using Jott

Jott is a fantastic, free tool that seriously enhances what you can remember and accomplish. Here’s how Jott works:

• You use your cell phone to call Jott, and the service asks you “Who you want to Jott?”
• 98% of the time, I say “myself”
• Then, I simply leave myself a Jott.

What the heck is a Jott? Well, it’s a voicemail that gets translated (via the Jott system) into an email and sent to me.

So, when I’m driving in the car, walking the dog, etc. and have a great idea, I just Jott myself. Bam! Idea is “saved” in my email, and I don’t have to think about it anymore. Later, when I check my email, I will see my voicemail as email text and I can act on it then.

Jott is also useful for sending an email to a person, or group of people by simply leaving a voice mail using your cell phone. Check out the Jott website for more examples on how to use their service.

3. Never forget another website using del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is a “social bookmarking website,” which is fancy tech-speak for: it remembers websites for you, and you can let other people see what you save in it. Del.icio.us is especially helpful because:

• It’s web-based, so as long as you have a web browser, you can save bookmarks to it
• It has an “Add-on” for the web browser Mozilla Firefox, so you can create and classify your bookmarks from within Firefox.
• It uses “tags” (labels you create) to classify your bookmarks so you can easily find them later

Give del.icio.us a try. Once you have your bookmarks centralized there, you’ll easily be able to find websites whenever, and wherever, you need them!

If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.

-Jack Dixon

How important is mental focus? It’s simply the number-one key to becoming legendary at what you do.

We have a saying at Quicken Loans: “what you focus on, you find.” Oprah and followers of the book The Secret – say that “like attracts like.”

However you choose to say it, the power of focus is what separates those who are good from those who are great.

However, your daily life can easily compromise your ability to focus. Let’s take a look at a recent day in my professional life as an example:

• 623 emails across 4 email accounts
• 23 social media requests, messages, etc.
• 13 incoming phone calls, and 9 voicemail messages
• 2 conference calls and 3 one-on-one meetings
• 1 presentation to some of my Clients
• 1 contract negotiation

How do I maintain focus when I have all of these things challenging it? Of course, I stay organized with to do lists, manage my voicemail, and keep my email management system in top shape. But, as I tell people all the time, you’ll always have 100 things on your plate, but are you doing the right things?

Patrick Rhone has written about his Today Card. The Today Card is a note card he keeps with 3 simple things he would like to accomplish that day. Patrick’s post inspired me to go back to a similar tradition I used to keep, specifically using a Top 3 list to help me focus.

I’ve re-adopted and improved on my old Top 3 list technique. It’s insanely simple, and has increased my ability to focus exponentially.

Here’s my secret to using a Top 3 list to achieve mental focus every day:

1. For 5 minutes right now, think about what you really need to focus on. This should be time where you focus only on important things that will move your project, career, etc. forward. Mentally ban thoughts about an email you have to respond to, a person you have to call, etc. Use this time to deliberately force yourself to mentally focus on what you need to do.

2. Write down the Top 3 things you need to focus on. I like to write this list down in my moleskine notebook, but you might prefer a sticky note, or a note card, like Patrick. Your goal is to use this Top 3 list to guide what you do tomorrow.

3. Tomorrow morning, do one thing from your Top 3 list before you open your email. I am TOTALLY SERIOUS about this. Email is a gigantic distractor and priority-changer. Do not let it prevent you from maintaining focus. By doing at least one thing on your list before opening your email, you set yourself up for a successful day.

4. At the end of the day, check your Top 3 list, cross off what you’ve accomplished, and write your list for tomorrow. It’s CRITICAL that you write your list for tomorrow at the end of the day today. At the end of the day, you still have the day fresh in your mind. Also, by doing this, you’re not spending time tomorrow morning figuring out what to do.

That’s it – the secret to mental focus is the Top 3 list! If you really use this technique (including #3 and #4 above), you’ll be amazed at the mental focus and clarity you have.

To quote another saying (from Dan Gilbert, Chairman and Founder of Quicken Loans), “nothing clarifies like clarity!” Good luck!

It happens to all of us…at different points in our careers, we feel our creativity is stifled.

It’s happened to me, and it’s happened to people on my team. In fact, I’ve had project managers seriously questioning their career choice, since they were so stifled creatively. When dealing with project issues, budgets, and deadlines, I totally understand how this can happen.

Here’s the bottom-line: You don’t need to be on the “creative” team, be a “creative director,” or be a “designer” to be a creative person. The opportunity to be creative is right “under your nose” every single day!

Here are my top 3 ways to seize the opportunity to be creative!

#1: Get Creative when Reporting Metrics

• Many of us manage and launch projects to meet a company’s goal: more leads, more sales, more interactions with the brand, etc. Every single time you give an update on a project’s metrics, you have the opportunity to be creative.
• Think about it:the people who are reading your update (probably an email) are senior leaders in your organization who care about such results. You have their attention! Use this to your advantage. As Avinash Kaushik says, “don’t puke data out.” Always intepret what you think is happening in the data you are providing. And go beyond that: propose new ideas based on what the numbers are telling you.
• Your leaders want you to step up, they want you to “read between the lines,” they want your new ideas! Get creative and drive your new ideas to fruition!

#2: Get Creative with Your Communication

• From Tip #1, and my previous post on telling your story, you already know you should be thinking about your “message” when giving project updates. But have you ever really pushed the boundaries of what you can do? As Picasso said: “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” Be sure to check out The Positivity Blog for Picasso’s Top 7 Tips for Creating an Exciting Life.
• Here are just a few real-world examples to spark your creativity for giving a project update (I’ve seen people do each of these, and yes, I know some of these are a bit crazy!):
• Shoot a video: with video cameras and editing software within reach of everyone, use that to your advantage! Shoot a video telling your story and send it to your team, leaders, Clients, etc. Make it fun and engaging – people will remember it!
• Create your own soapbox: literally take a box you can stand on into a meeting, group of people, etc. and deliver your update “town crier” style! Again, people will not forget it, or you!
• Write a song or rap: Write your own song or rap about your project, and deliver your update that way. Some of the most memorable ones I have seen spoofed popular songs/raps people know. Combine this with video, post it on YouTube, and send the link to your entire team!

#3: Get Creative with Your Project Management

• When you manage a project, are you being productive or active? Just because you’re active, it doesn’t mean your being productive.
• Look critically at what you are doing: are you procrastinating and not dealing with an issue by staying active? Have you fallen into the “old ways” of doing things and not realized it? Challenge yourself to be better than that!
• Are you defining the world around you in such a way that you either: have a negative view? can’t see ways to get things done? or disregard new ideas? Be very careful of this trap! By doing so, you not only limit what you can accomplish, you limit what your project team can do too. If you’ve fallen into this way of thinking, you probably cannot see new opportunities to get things done.

I hope these ideas help you get creative, think differently, and manage projects more successfully!