Focus Magazine - Spring 2016 - (Page 46)

5 QUESTIONS Tim Sosbe 5 Questions With... Kevin Kruse K Kevin Kruse, author of 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management evin Kruse is familiar to many in our community as the former executive director of LTEN. He is also a leading expert on employee engagement and a New York Times bestselling author. His new book, 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management, is based on interviews with more than 200 people - billionaires , entrepreneurs, Olympians and straight-A students. I recently spoke with Kevin about the habits and rituals of ultra-productive people. Tim Sosbe (TS): So does the world really need another book on time management? Kevin Kruse (KK): [Laughs] Unfortunately, yes. Because it turns out we've all been lied to. All those training programs teaching us about to-do lists are bunk. at's why we're running around "crazy busy" and feeling overworked, overscheduled and overwhelmed. TS: e people you interviewed included Mark Cuban. What was his advice? KK: Yes, I interviewed seven billionaires and it's fascinating-most of them talked about the dangers of meetings. Cuban, in his typical snarky style told me, "You should never take a meeting unless someone is writing you a check." Which of course isn't very realistic unless you're the top boss. Dustin Moskovitz co-founded Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg. He told me that meetings have gotten so out of hand they have "No Meeting Wednesdays" - one day a week to do stuﬀ, make stuﬀ, think, whatever - but no meetings. at's an idea any life science team leader could implement. Maybe she can't ban meeting requests from higher ups, but she could set the policy for her own direct reports. TS: What do you have against to-do lists? KK: To-do lists were popularized by a guy named Ivy Lee over a hundred years ago. He recommended you make a list of six items to do each day. Look, it worked before we had email, before we worked globally. One study done last year found that 41 percent of to-do list tasks are never completed. To-do lists have become the graveyard where things go to die. TS: But what's the alternative? KK: Ultra-productive people live from their calendar. ey schedule their day in 15minute chunks and everything gets scheduled. Time to process email, on the calendar. Time to return calls, on the calendar. Even personal time - date night, kids soccer games, visits to parents. ey say you can truly see what a person values by looking at their checkbook and their calendar. TS: What surprised you from all the interviews for the book? KK: e biggest surprise for me was that there is no magic to extreme productivity. ese ultra-productive people, they aren't genetically gied, they don't have a magic wand or some superpower. ey have just mastered a series of habits that we can all implement, too. It's like following a recipe. A recipe for living a life of high achievement but without being so overwhelmed. ■ Tim Sosbe is editor of Focus magazine and editorial director for LTEN. Email Tim at tsosbe@L-TEN.org. 46 FOCUS | SPRING 2016 | www.L-TEN.org http://www.L-TEN.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Magazine - Spring 2016

Focus Magazine - Spring 2016
From the President: Change is in the Air
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Guest Editor: 'Training Event' or 'Learning Experience'?
Directions: Engaging with Life Sciences Leaders
Front of the Room: 'It Can't Be Me, Right?'
Neuroscience: The Science of Imitation
Bristol-Myers Squibb: Launching a New Global Selling Model
Accelerating the Journey to Customer-Centricity
Cognitive Science: Creating More Effective Multimedia Learning
The Art of Sales Improvisation – Your Competitive Advantage
Developing Leaders Who Excel at Strategy Execution
Learning Technologies for Event-Based Training
Defending Your Sales Process
Virtual How: Market Access Training
Ad Index
Focus Contacts
5 Questions with Kevin Kruse

Focus Magazine - Spring 2016