Total, Relaxed Organization, The Blog

As I coach people on their time management skills, they often lament:

“My family is all disorganized, and I’m afraid that I will never be able to learn how to get organized.”

“I try to get organized, but I can only manage it in small bursts. Then everything falls apart.”

“The TRO system would help me a lot, I can see that. I’m just too chaotic to ever learn it.”

Anyone can get organized. There is no “time management gene.” You weren’t born disorganized, and you don’t have to live disorganized. To be an organized person, you need two things: the time management mindset and an airtight system.

The Time Management Mindset

Organized people are absolutely convinced that everything won’t fit. Choosing one activity disallows others, and they make choices based on this knowledge. The time management mindset is the ability to see the options and choose the best use of your time. 

“But that’s too simple to solve my problems,” you say. Actually, it’s exactly the solution for your problems. A few examples will illustrate:

You have work tomorrow, but your friends convince you to stay out late. The next day, you’re rushed, late, tired. To get everything done, you have to work late. You curse yourself for being so disorganized.

You are required to submit a report by the 15th of each month. You set it aside with plans to do it on the 14th, a day early. But several deadlines creep up, overwhelming you in the days [Click title for more...]

I recently received an ecstatic email from a client, Steve Leininger (Capital Performance Advisor at Thomas, Wirig, Doll & co.) who sent me this screenshot during his Total, Relaxed Organization training. Steve started out with 3,605 emails, he followed the TRO steps, and he reached the elusive landmark of email organization: inbox zero.

I never thought in my lifetime the inbox would be empty,” he wrote in his email. “This is the second time.”

There’s a sense of relief you get from an empty inbox that can’t be replaced. If you have to wade through tasks to email a reply, you are going to feel stressed—all those uncompleted actions will cry out for attention. This also makes processing stressful, which is why so many people struggle to clear their inboxes.

Click here to find out more.

A TRO trainee pointed out a great service you need to know about. Remail.me saves you a ton of time when switching email addresses. It’s easy, it’s thorough, and it’s cheap. (You can read his forum post here. Thanks for the tip, Andy!)

According to Remail.me, “there are six steps to switching email addresses smoothly.” We agree. Here is what Remail does with minimal effort on your part.

[Click for More...]

Client Question: Should I try Mark Forster’s new “autofocus” time management system?

Answer by Kevin Crenshaw, Priacta Head Coach and co-author of The TRO Field Guide:

Mark Forster’s new “autofocus” system is interesting, and Mark is a great time management experimenter, so we’re paying attention.

We believe even great systems can be improved, so we constantly look at other methods to enhance Total, Relaxed Organization. For example, TRO is based largely on David Allen’s GTD principles, and TRO uses some ”closed lists” like Mark Forster’s prior system, Do It Tomorrow. (TRO’s “Do Today” list is a closed list, and TRO relies on closed lists even more with certain tools like Remember the Milk.)

Overall, we see both good and bad in Mark’s new “autofocus” system. It could be great for some people but would probably fail in the long run for anyone feeling a lot of time management pain. Here is our reasoning.

[Click to Read More...]

Client Questions: I am interested in TRO training, but should I still get Total Workday Control by Michael Linenberger or Getting Things Done by David Allen?

How does TRO training differ from TWC and GTD? Or are they the same?

How would I benefit from TRO over Total Workday Control or Getting Things Done?

[Click here to read more...]

Blogging is great, but it’s a time trap. A good article can take many hours to write and dozens of minutes to read. Who has all that spare time?

We recommend instead: micro blogging and mini blogging. We’re moving to that format here at Priacta, for your sake and ours.

Here’s how you do it. [Click here to read more...]

How many times have you been ready to hit the “send” button and thought, “I should add this to my to-do list,” or, “I’d better check up on this later?” Both GTD and an enhanced system, Total, Relaxed Organization (TRO), teach that you must follow up on tasks. However, manually typing every little job into your task list can be a hassle. When it’s a hassle, it’s easy to forget.

Want an easier way?

If you know the secret, Outlook and other email programs can automatically create follow-up tasks. Go through the simple setup that I’m about to show you, then type anywhere in the email title … and presto! The task is created foryou, allowing you to check on the assignment later. Easy!

Click here to read exactly how you can “teach” your email to do the work for you.

Q: I’m a student, not a businessperson. But I still find it just as hard to keep to my schedule and finish my tasks and appointments. I can’t finish my study plan! Do you have any advice for me?

A: Absolutely! Total, Relaxed Organization is a life-saver for students. With TRO you’ll get more done with less stress, which means you’ll learn better—because stress actually kills brain cells! (The Franklin Institute 2004) Fortunately for your brain cells, we’re going to share some secrets that make TRO work in a school environment, and help you learn faster in the process. Here you’ll find our 10 golden rules of student organization (plus we’ll throw in one extra, bonus rule that lets you get more sleep when things get crazy). Click here to read the entire article and find out how.

What’s the best strategy for personal, business, or career growth in a rapidly-changing world? What’s Priacta up to right now? The same answer addresses both questions. This quick article will give you an instant life, productivity, and business skill and provide insight into our company.

As innovation and better communication accelerate the pace of change, how do you survive and even thrive? To find the answer, first recognize that programs (specific approaches) change, but principles (fundamental truths packaged for application) remain more-or-less invariant. Look for correct principles and live by them.

Here’s one powerful principle for success in a sea of change.

Golden Opportunities, Sudden Threats

Donald Sull’s 2005 Harvard Business Review article (“Strategy as Active Waiting“) points out that golden opportunities are essential to success. However, they come rarely and you can’t force them. You can only 1) watch for them, actively scanning the horizon, 2) prepare so you have resources to seize them as they arise, then 3) commit those resources at the right moment.

Simple, powerful, relaxed strategy. However, timing is everything. Windows of opportunity open and close quickly, so you have to be ready, you have to act fast, and you also have to choose your opportunities carefully.

Donald also points out that sudden threats also arise and have to be addressed head on or else. In my experience, threats and opportunities appear simultaneously with increasing frequency. Innovate or languish. Apply now or other job candidates will do it instead. That’s the nature of competition, and competition, in business, creates a better world for everyone. Compare the level of service you receive from many government agencies with the level of service you receive from companies in highly competitive markets. Which do you prefer?

So how do you prepare and respond to these opportunities and threats? [Click here to read the rest of the article...]

Client Question: “I feel like I’m spinning my wheels, not really accomplishing the big things in life. My goals are not clarified or mapped out, and I don’t have a system in place that allows me to see that I am moving along, that I am progressing. What’s the answer?”

Coach Answer: Although you do need to identify and write down life goals, you need more than that to really move forward. The easier the approach, the more likely your success—if your approach is sound. With Total, Relaxed Organization training (which simplifies and improves on basic GTD principles) you just need to add two simple things to start realizing the progress and accomplishment you’re missing. Here they are. [Click here to reach your goals with less effort...]