Tick Achieve: How to Get Stuff Done

How many times have you thought of something crucial to do and then forgotten it completely?

That's why people invented lists. And very useful they are too. If, and only if, they are used effectively. Put thirty things on a list, and it becomes too daunting. Put three things on, and there's no point in having a list. And so we have refined the art of list writing to allow for about ten or twenty things to do.

But in truth, most lists are rubbish. Randomly assembled, they do little to help the author navigate their way through the maze of stuff to do. After all, the only point of a list of things to do, is to get things done.

Tick Achieve does just that. It shows you how to get stuff done, with lots of little techniques tried and tested on scores of individuals over 25 years. This includes the cathartic and highly effective process of writing a list of what you are not going to do.

The author has trained hundreds of people in the art of getting stuff done. There is no Big Plan as such (contrary to what many other books suggest). It's all about details, and they can be very easy to implement. Little things can make a massive difference.

Once you get the hang of it, life gets easier. In a business context, and personally. You can sleep better and worry less. Concentrate on the things that matter, and leave out the trivia and irrelevant. Learn how to celebrate little bits of progress, look down your list, tick off a job well done, and shout Tick Achieve!

EXAMPLE CHAPTER OUTLINE

1. BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

• "I'm too busy, I'm in a meeting": professional time wasting and how to avoid it
• Teams; what's the point?
• The problem with the business world: other people
• How to think more and worry less
• How being organised lets you take it easy
• Action not activity
• Outcome not output
• "If I do x, then y will happen..."

2. STRAIGHT TALKING AND GETTING STUFF DONE

• Permission to talk straight
• Cliché and jargon red alert list
• How to get to the point and get everything done quickly
• Some ways to say no politely
• How to liven up boring meetings
• Spotting business bull****
• Cutting through it and moving on

3. LEAVE IT OUT

• Less really is more
• How eliminating issues gets to faster answers in business
• Write a list of what you are not going to do
• Improving your time management
• Simplifying everything
• Being totally objective about the past
• How leaving it out forces the issue

4. ONE IN A ROW

• How breaking big problems down into small tasks really works
• How to eat an elephant - in stages
• Knock 'em down one at a time
• Rapid sequential tasking: an alternative to multi-tasking
• The one-touch approach
• Tick, achieve, move on

5. LOOK LIVELY!

• The value of energy: in business, and in life generally
• Getting your attitude right
• Why lazy people are unhappy people
• Speed, that's the thing
• Spotting pointless people
• Ditching the time wasters
• Don't waste time yourself: beware aimless net surfers
• Cutting out the irrelevant stuff

6. HOW TO OUTTHINK YOURSELF

• Pre-arranging tripwires
• Dealing with problems
• Pretend the job is finished
• It's urgent - pretend it's not
• It's not urgent - pretend it is
• The art of outthinking yourself

7. TICK ACHIEVE

• The art of great list writing
• The Priority Matrix
• The Growing Pane and how to use it
• Tick achieve
• So have you done it?

Kevin Duncan is a business adviser, marketing expert and author. He was educated at Oxford and has worked in communications for 25 years, advising companies such as British Airways, Carlsberg-Tetley, Diageo, Heineken, Lloyds TSB, Marks & Spencer, Norwich Union, Reuters, Scottish Courage, Sony, and Virgin.
He has hands-on knowledge of how to run most types of business, and has worked with over 200 clients in almost every category (except tobacco, which he won’t work on). He has deployed £600m of funds on more than 200 brands, overseen over 1,000 projects, and won 35 awards for creativity and effectiveness.
Kevin is the author of Running Your Own Business, Growing Your Business, So What? and Start. He teaches at Canterbury University and for the last eight years he has been an independent troubleshooter, advising companies how to run their businesses.
www.expertadviceonline.com