0:00:00.000,0:00:04.328
[percussion music plays]

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Welcome[br]to Carnegie Mellon Online.

0:00:06.314,0:00:09.382
For more multimedia[br]from Carnegie Mellon University,

0:00:09.382,0:00:14.348
visit www.cmu.edu/multimedia

0:00:17.868,0:00:20.915
[audience applauds]

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Thank you,[br]that’s very kind,

0:00:22.264,0:00:25.053
but never tip the waiter[br]before the meal arrives.

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[audience laughs]

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Thank you,[br]Gabe and Jim,

0:00:29.241,0:00:33.133
I couldn’t imagine being more grateful[br]for an introduction.

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These are two people[br]that I have known a long, long time.

0:00:36.376,0:00:38.092
I taught here[br]at University of Virginia.

0:00:38.092,0:00:39.090
I love this school.

0:00:39.090,0:00:41.193
It’s just an incredible place filled

0:00:41.193,0:00:44.359
with tradition and history[br]and respect,

0:00:44.359,0:00:46.379
the kind of qualities[br]that I really admire,

0:00:46.379,0:00:48.858
that I want to see preserved[br]in American society.

0:00:48.858,0:00:50.570
And this is one of the places[br]

0:00:50.570,0:00:53.022
that I just love[br]for preserving that.

0:00:53.022,0:00:56.084
I think the honor code alone[br]at the University of Virginia

0:00:56.084,0:00:58.559
just is something[br]that every university administrator

0:00:58.559,0:01:00.578
should study and look at,[br]and say, you know,

0:01:00.578,0:01:02.160
"Why can’t we do that, too?”

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So I think there are a lot[br]of things about this place to love.

0:01:06.485,0:01:09.867
I’m going to talk today[br]on the topic of time management.

0:01:09.867,0:01:12.147
The circumstances are,[br]as you probably know,

0:01:12.147,0:01:14.208
a little bit unusual.

0:01:14.208,0:01:17.200
I think at this point I’m an authority[br]to talk about what to do

0:01:17.200,0:01:18.924
with limited time.

0:01:18.924,0:01:20.021
[audience laughs]

0:01:20.021,0:01:22.591
My battle[br]with pancreatic cancer started

0:01:22.591,0:01:24.347
about a year and a half ago;

0:01:24.347,0:01:26.183
fought,[br]did all the right things,

0:01:26.183,0:01:28.001
but it’s, you know,[br]as my oncologist said,

0:01:28.001,0:01:31.111
if you could pick off a list,[br]that’s not the one you’d want to pick.

0:01:31.111,0:01:33.758
So, on August 15th,

0:01:33.758,0:01:34.868
these were my CAT scans.

0:01:34.868,0:01:36.796
You can see if you scroll[br]through all of them,

0:01:36.796,0:01:39.001
there about a dozen tumors[br]in my liver.

0:01:39.001,0:01:42.585
And, the doctors[br]at that time said,

0:01:42.585,0:01:44.162
“You are likely[br]to have three to—”

0:01:44.162,0:01:45.329
I love the way they say it,

0:01:45.329,0:01:48.792
“You have three to six months[br]of good health left.”

0:01:48.792,0:01:50.736
Right?[br]Optimism and positive phrasing.

0:01:50.736,0:01:52.115
It’s like when you’re[br]at Disney,

0:01:52.115,0:01:53.497
“What time[br]does the park close?”

0:01:53.497,0:01:55.214
“The park is open until 8.”

0:01:55.214,0:01:56.445
[audience laughs]

0:01:56.445,0:01:58.958
So I have three to six months[br]of good health.

0:01:58.958,0:02:01.102
Well, let’s do the math.

0:02:01.102,0:02:04.232
Today is 3 months[br]and 12 days.

0:02:04.232,0:02:06.181
So what I had on my Day-Timer[br]for today

0:02:06.181,0:02:09.618
was not necessarily being[br]at the University of Virginia.

0:02:09.618,0:02:12.858
I’m pleased to say that we do treat[br]with palliative chemo.

0:02:12.858,0:02:14.784
They’re going to buy me a little bit[br]of time,

0:02:14.784,0:02:17.853
on the order of a few months,[br]if it continues to work.

0:02:17.853,0:02:20.900
I am still[br]in perfectly good health.

0:02:20.900,0:02:22.814
With Gabe here,[br]I’m not going to do push-ups,

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because[br]I’m not going to be shown-up.

0:02:24.647,0:02:25.646
[audience laughs]

0:02:25.646,0:02:28.175
Gabe is really in good shape.

0:02:28.175,0:02:31.072
But I continue to be[br]in relatively good health.

0:02:31.072,0:02:32.604
I had chemotherapy yesterday.

0:02:32.604,0:02:34.266
You should all try it,[br]it’s great.

0:02:34.266,0:02:36.097
[audience laughs]

0:02:36.097,0:02:37.951
But it does sort of[br]beg the question:

0:02:37.951,0:02:40.752
I have finite time,[br]some people have said, you know,

0:02:40.752,0:02:42.267
"Why are you going[br]and giving a talk?”

0:02:42.267,0:02:44.360
There are lots of reasons[br]for coming here to talk.

0:02:44.360,0:02:47.747
One of them is that...

0:02:47.747,0:02:49.875
I said I would...right?

0:02:49.875,0:02:51.331
That’s a pretty simple reason.

0:02:51.331,0:02:52.814
And I’m physically able to.

0:02:52.814,0:02:55.500
Another one is that[br]going to the University of Virginia

0:02:55.500,0:02:57.211
is not like going[br]to some foreign place.

0:02:57.211,0:02:59.299
“Aren’t you spending[br]all your time with family?”

0:02:59.299,0:03:00.939
And by coming back here[br]for a day,

0:03:00.939,0:03:02.529
I am spending my time[br]with family,

0:03:02.529,0:03:04.511
both metaphorically[br]and literally,

0:03:04.511,0:03:05.680
because it turns out that--

0:03:05.680,0:03:07.370
many of you[br]may have seen this picture

0:03:07.370,0:03:09.398
from the talk that I gave.

0:03:09.398,0:03:11.911
These are my niece and nephew,[br]Chris and Laura.

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And my niece, Laura,[br]is actually a senior,

0:03:16.125,0:03:20.028
oh, a fourth year here[br]at Mr. Jefferson’s university.

0:03:20.028,0:03:21.281
So, Laura, could you stand up

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so they see[br]you’ve gotten taller.

0:03:23.086,0:03:24.207
There we are.

0:03:24.207,0:03:26.076
[audience applauds]

0:03:29.266,0:03:33.639
And I couldn’t be happier[br]to have her here at this university.

0:03:33.639,0:03:36.203
And the other person—[br]so that’s Laura,

0:03:36.203,0:03:39.353
the other person[br]in this picture is Chris.

0:03:39.353,0:03:40.791
And Chris,[br]if you could stand up

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so they see
[br]that you’ve gotten much taller.

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[audience applauds]

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And they have grown[br]in so many ways,

0:03:50.662,0:03:51.592
not just in height.

0:03:51.592,0:03:54.503
And it’s been wonderful to see that,[br]and be an uncle to them.

0:03:54.503,0:03:56.680
Is there anybody here[br]on the faculty

0:03:56.680,0:03:58.790
or PhD students
[br]of the history department?

0:03:58.790,0:04:00.982
Do we have any history people here[br]at all?

0:04:00.982,0:04:02.599
Okay, anybody here is[br]from history,

0:04:02.599,0:04:05.048
find Chris right[br]after the talk...

0:04:05.048,0:04:07.091
because he’s currently[br]in his sophomore year

0:04:07.091,0:04:08.212
at William and Mary,

0:04:08.212,0:04:10.918
and he’s interested in going[br]into a PhD program in history

0:04:10.918,0:04:11.852
down the road.

0:04:11.852,0:04:14.695
And, there aren’t many better[br]PhD programs in history

0:04:14.695,0:04:15.756
than this one.

0:04:15.756,0:04:19.613
So...so I’m pimping[br]for my nephew here, all right.

0:04:19.613,0:04:22.001
Let’s be clear, all right.

0:04:22.001,0:04:24.389
[audience laughs and applauds]

0:04:24.389,0:04:26.778
So, what are we going to talk[br]about today?

0:04:26.778,0:04:28.651
We’re going to talk about,[br]you know—

0:04:28.651,0:04:31.550
this is not like the lecture[br]you may have seen me give before.

0:04:31.550,0:04:33.356
This is a very pragmatic lecture.

0:04:33.356,0:04:35.348
And one of the reasons[br]I agreed to come back

0:04:35.348,0:04:37.784
and give this is[br]because Gabe had told me that--

0:04:37.784,0:04:39.391
and many other faculty members[br]told me,

0:04:39.391,0:04:42.194
that they had gotten[br]so much tangible value

0:04:42.194,0:04:43.929
about how to get more done.

0:04:43.929,0:04:45.444
And I truly do believe[br]that time

0:04:45.444,0:04:47.106
is the only commodity[br]that matters.

0:04:47.106,0:04:49.088
So this is a very pragmatic talk.

0:04:49.088,0:04:52.218
And it is inspirational[br]in the sense that it will inspire you

0:04:52.218,0:04:54.639
by giving you some concrete things[br]you might do

0:04:54.639,0:04:56.480
to be able[br]to get more time done—

0:04:56.480,0:04:58.846
more things done[br]in your finite time.

0:04:58.846,0:05:02.052
So I’m going to talk specifically[br]about how to set goals,

0:05:02.052,0:05:05.109
how to avoid wasting time,[br]how to deal with a boss--

0:05:05.109,0:05:07.280
originally this talk was how[br]to deal with an adviser,

0:05:07.280,0:05:11.137
but I’ve tried to broaden it[br]so it’s not so academically focused.

0:05:11.138,0:05:12.978
And how to delegate[br]to people.

0:05:12.978,0:05:16.095
Some specific skills and tools[br]that I might recommend

0:05:16.095,0:05:17.844
to help you get more[br]out of the day.

0:05:17.844,0:05:19.771
And to deal[br]with the real problems in our life,

0:05:19.771,0:05:21.358
which are stress[br]and procrastination.

0:05:21.358,0:05:22.699
if you can lick that last one,

0:05:22.699,0:05:25.360
you’re probably[br]in good shape.

0:05:25.360,0:05:27.832
And really,[br]you don’t need to take any notes,

0:05:27.832,0:05:29.485
so I’ll presume[br]if I see any laptops open,

0:05:29.495,0:05:31.209
you’re actually just doing,[br]you know,

0:05:31.209,0:05:32.933
doing IM, or email,[br]or something.

0:05:32.933,0:05:34.558
[audience laughs]

0:05:34.558,0:05:37.015
If you’re listening to music,[br]please at least wear headphones,

0:05:37.015,0:05:38.628
I would always say.

0:05:38.628,0:05:40.743
But all of this will be posted[br]on my website,

0:05:40.743,0:05:42.453
and just[br]to make it really easy,

0:05:42.453,0:05:44.671
if you want to know when[br]to look up,

0:05:44.671,0:05:46.721
any slides that have a red star[br]on them are points

0:05:46.721,0:05:49.905
that I think you should[br]really make sure that you got that one,

0:05:49.905,0:05:51.269
all right.

0:05:51.269,0:05:53.260
And conversely,[br]if it doesn’t have a red star,

0:05:53.260,0:05:54.303
well, pfft.

0:05:54.303,0:05:55.792
[audience laughs]

0:05:55.792,0:05:59.008
So the first thing I want[br]to say is Americans are very, very bad

0:05:59.008,0:06:02.744
at dealing[br]with time as a commodity.

0:06:02.744,0:06:06.183
We’re really good[br]at dealing with money as a commodity.

0:06:06.183,0:06:08.805
I mean, we’re, as a culture,[br]very interested in money,

0:06:08.805,0:06:11.150
and how much somebody earns,[br]as a status thing,

0:06:11.150,0:06:12.465
and so on and so forth.

0:06:12.465,0:06:15.658
But we don’t really have time[br]elevated to that.

0:06:15.658,0:06:19.480
People waste their time,[br]and it just always fascinates me.

0:06:19.480,0:06:20.991
And, one of the things[br]that I noticed

0:06:20.991,0:06:23.956
is that very few people equate time[br]and money,

0:06:23.956,0:06:26.004
and they’re very,[br]very equatable.

0:06:26.004,0:06:28.246
So, the first thing I started doing[br]when I was a teacher

0:06:28.246,0:06:29.954
was asking my graduate students,

0:06:29.954,0:06:32.362
“Well, how much is your time worth[br]an hour?"

0:06:32.362,0:06:33.467
Or if you work[br]at a company,

0:06:33.467,0:06:35.577
"How much is your time worth[br]to the company?”

0:06:35.577,0:06:38.121
What most people don’t realize is,[br]is that if you have a salary,

0:06:38.121,0:06:40.394
let’s say[br]you make $50,000 a year,

0:06:40.394,0:06:43.010
it probably costs that company[br]twice that

0:06:43.010,0:06:44.456
in order[br]to have you as an employee,

0:06:44.456,0:06:47.485
because there’s utilites,[br]and other staff members, and so forth.

0:06:47.487,0:06:49.883
So, if you get paid[br]$50,000 a year,

0:06:49.883,0:06:52.426
you are costing that company—

0:06:52.426,0:06:55.546
they have to raise $100,000[br]in revenue.

0:06:55.546,0:06:57.679
And if you divide that[br]by your hourly rate,

0:06:57.679,0:07:00.598
you begin to get some sense[br]of what you are worth an hour.

0:07:00.598,0:07:02.220
And when you[br]have to make trade-offs of:

0:07:02.220,0:07:04.040
“Should I do something[br]like write software,

0:07:04.040,0:07:06.620
“or should I just buy it,[br]or should I outsource this?”

0:07:06.620,0:07:10.699
Having in your head[br]what you cost your organization an hour

0:07:10.699,0:07:14.295
is really kind of a staggering thing[br]to change your behavior,

0:07:14.295,0:07:15.666
because you start[br]realizing that,

0:07:15.666,0:07:18.218
“Wow! If I free up three hours[br]of my time,

0:07:18.218,0:07:20.056
"and I’m thinking of that in terms[br]of dollars,

0:07:20.056,0:07:21.524
that’s a big savings.”

0:07:21.524,0:07:23.733
So start thinking about your time[br]and your money

0:07:23.733,0:07:26.426
almost as if[br]they are the same thing.

0:07:26.426,0:07:29.117
And of course, Ben Franklin[br]knew that a long time ago.

0:07:29.117,0:07:30.581
So you got to manage it.

0:07:30.581,0:07:32.819
And you got to manage it[br]just like you manage your money.

0:07:32.819,0:07:34.840
Now I realize not all Americans[br]manage their money,

0:07:34.840,0:07:38.181
that’s what makes the credit card[br]industry possible.

0:07:38.181,0:07:41.097
And that’s—[br]and apparently mortgages, too, so....

0:07:41.097,0:07:43.679
[audience laughs]

0:07:43.679,0:07:45.496
But most people[br]do at least understand,

0:07:45.496,0:07:46.986
they don’t look at you funny[br]if you say,

0:07:46.986,0:07:49.330
“Well, can I see your monetary budget[br]for your household?”

0:07:49.330,0:07:51.422
In fact,[br]if I say, “your household budget,”

0:07:51.422,0:07:54.193
you presume that I’m talking[br]about money,

0:07:54.193,0:07:56.054
when in fact the household budget[br]I really want

0:07:56.054,0:07:58.399
to talk about is probably[br]your household time budget.

0:07:58.399,0:08:00.490
At the entertainment technology center[br]at Carnegie Mellon,

0:08:00.490,0:08:02.863
students would come in,[br]and at the orientation, I would say,

0:08:02.863,0:08:05.994
“This is a master’s program,[br]everybody’s paying full tuition.”

0:08:05.994,0:08:08.930
And it was roughly[br]$30,000 a year.

0:08:08.930,0:08:10.136
And the first thing[br]I would say,

0:08:10.136,0:08:12.023
“If you’re going to come[br]into my office and say,

0:08:12.023,0:08:14.513
“‘I don’t think[br]this is worth $60,000 a year,’

0:08:14.513,0:08:16.164
“I will throw you[br]out of the office.

0:08:16.164,0:08:17.904
"I’m not even going to have[br]that discussion.”

0:08:17.904,0:08:20.127
And of course they would say,[br]“Oh god, this guy's a real jerk.”

0:08:20.127,0:08:21.391
And they were right.

0:08:21.391,0:08:24.848
But, what I then followed[br]on with was,

0:08:24.848,0:08:27.505
“Because the money[br]is not important.

0:08:27.505,0:08:30.263
“You can go[br]and earn more money later.

0:08:30.263,0:08:34.153
“And what you’ll never do[br]is get the two years of your life back.

0:08:34.153,0:08:36.588
“So if you want to come into my office,[br]and talk about money,

0:08:36.588,0:08:37.524
“I’ll throw you out.

0:08:37.524,0:08:39.484
“But if you want to come[br]into my office and say,

0:08:39.484,0:08:42.151
“‘I’m not sure this is a good place[br]for me to spend two years,’

0:08:42.151,0:08:44.380
“I will talk to you all day[br]and all night,

0:08:44.380,0:08:46.914
“because that means we’re talking[br]about the right thing,

0:08:46.914,0:08:51.074
“which is your time,[br]because you can’t ever get it back.”

0:08:51.074,0:08:53.294
A lot advice I'm will give you,[br]notably for undergraduates—

0:08:53.294,0:08:55.121
how many people[br]here are undergraduates,

0:08:55.121,0:08:56.317
by show of hands?

0:08:56.317,0:08:58.959
Okay good, still young.

0:08:58.959,0:09:01.554
[audience laughs]

0:09:01.554,0:09:02.880
A lot of this—

0:09:02.880,0:09:04.745
put it to Hans and Franz[br]on Saturday Night Live,

0:09:04.745,0:09:05.534
if you’re old enough.

0:09:05.534,0:09:07.657
[faking German accent][br]“Hear me now, but believe me later.”

0:09:07.657,0:09:08.481
Right?

0:09:08.481,0:09:10.069
A lot of this[br]is going to make sense later,

0:09:10.069,0:09:12.103
and one of the nice things[br]is Gabe has volunteered

0:09:12.103,0:09:13.245
to put this up on the web.

0:09:13.245,0:09:15.443
I understand that people[br]can actually watch videos

0:09:15.443,0:09:16.646
on the web now.

0:09:16.646,0:09:17.882
So this is...

0:09:17.882,0:09:20.368
[audience laughs]

0:09:20.368,0:09:21.841
so a lot of this[br]only makes sense later,

0:09:21.841,0:09:25.383
and, when I talk about your boss,[br]if you’re a student,

0:09:25.383,0:09:27.111
think about that[br]as your academic advisor.

0:09:27.111,0:09:29.226
If you’re a PhD student,[br]think about your PhD advisor.

0:09:29.226,0:09:31.855
And if you’re, you know,[br]if you’re watching this,

0:09:31.855,0:09:33.607
and you’re a young child,[br]think of your parent,

0:09:33.607,0:09:36.644
because that’s sort of the person who is[br]in some sense your boss.

0:09:36.644,0:09:38.290
And the talk goes very fast.

0:09:38.290,0:09:40.948
And as I said,[br]I’m very big on specific techniques.

0:09:40.948,0:09:42.469
I’m not really big[br]on platitudes.

0:09:42.469,0:09:43.518
I mean,[br]platitudes are nice,

0:09:43.518,0:09:47.912
but they don’t really help me[br]get something done tomorrow.

0:09:47.912,0:09:48.843
The other thing is that,

0:09:48.843,0:09:50.890
one good thief[br]is worth ten good scholars.

0:09:50.890,0:09:52.568
And in fact,[br]you can replace "scholars"

0:09:52.568,0:09:56.339
in that sentence[br]with almost anything, all right.

0:09:56.339,0:09:59.570
So almost everything in this talk[br]is to some degree inspired,

0:09:59.570,0:10:03.372
which is a fancy way[br]of saying “lifted,”

0:10:03.372,0:10:04.746
from these two books,

0:10:04.746,0:10:06.491
and I found those books very useful,

0:10:06.491,0:10:08.675
but it’s much better to get them[br]in distilled form.

0:10:08.675,0:10:11.048
So what I’ve basically done[br]is collected the nuggets

0:10:11.048,0:10:13.253
for your behalf.

0:10:13.253,0:10:15.148
I like the part[br]about the time famine.

0:10:15.148,0:10:16.366
I think it’s a nice phrase.

0:10:16.366,0:10:19.564
Does anybody here feel like[br]they have too much time?

0:10:21.124,0:10:23.275
Okay, nobody;[br]excellent!

0:10:23.275,0:10:24.565
And I like the word “famine”

0:10:24.565,0:10:26.552
because it’s a bit like thinking[br]about Africa.

0:10:26.552,0:10:28.526
I mean,[br]you can airlift all the food you want

0:10:28.526,0:10:32.368
in to solve the crisis this week,[br]but the problem is systemic,

0:10:32.368,0:10:35.314
and you really need[br]systemic solutions.

0:10:35.314,0:10:36.843
So a time management solution[br]that says,

0:10:36.843,0:10:39.091
"I’m going to fix things for you[br]in the next 24 hours,”

0:10:39.091,0:10:40.154
is laughable,[br]like saying,

0:10:40.154,0:10:42.529
“I’m going to cure hunger in Africa[br]in the next year.”

0:10:42.529,0:10:43.884
You need to think long-term,

0:10:43.884,0:10:46.583
and you need to change[br]fundamental underlying processes,

0:10:46.583,0:10:47.996
because the problem[br]is systemic.

0:10:47.996,0:10:49.582
We just have[br]too many things to do,

0:10:49.582,0:10:51.534
and not enough time [br]to do them.

0:10:51.534,0:10:53.773
Also remember that it’s not just[br]about time management.

0:10:53.773,0:10:56.129
That sounds[br]like a kind of lukewarm,

0:10:56.129,0:10:57.646
you know,[br]a talk on time management,

0:10:57.646,0:10:59.717
that’s kind of, you know,[br]milk toast.

0:10:59.717,0:11:00.725
But what if the talk is:

0:11:00.725,0:11:03.345
“How about not having ulcers?”

0:11:03.345,0:11:06.332
All right,[br]that catches my attention.

0:11:06.332,0:11:08.136
So a lot of this is life advice.

0:11:08.136,0:11:11.238
This is, how to change the way[br]you’re doing a lot of the things

0:11:11.238,0:11:12.803
and how you allocate your time,

0:11:12.803,0:11:16.463
so that you will lead a happier,[br]more wonderful life,

0:11:16.463,0:11:18.781
and I loved in the introduction[br]that you talked about fun,

0:11:18.781,0:11:21.260
because if I’ve brought fun[br]to academia,

0:11:21.260,0:11:23.911
well it’s about damn time.

0:11:23.911,0:11:25.478
Whew!

0:11:25.478,0:11:28.130
I mean, you know,[br]if you’re not going to have fun,

0:11:28.130,0:11:30.083
why do it...right?

0:11:30.083,0:11:31.178
That’s what I want to know.

0:11:31.178,0:11:32.981
I mean, life really is too short,

0:11:32.981,0:11:35.298
if you’re not going to enjoy it—[br]you know, people who say,

0:11:35.298,0:11:37.139
“I’ve got a job,[br]but I don’t really like it.”

0:11:37.139,0:11:40.384
And I’m like,[br]“Well, you could change.”

0:11:40.384,0:11:41.481
“That’d be a lot of work.”

0:11:41.481,0:11:43.313
“True, you should keep going[br]in to work every day,

0:11:43.313,0:11:44.854
“doing a job you don’t like.

0:11:44.854,0:11:46.372
“Thank you, good night,”
[br]right?

0:11:46.372,0:11:47.525
[audience laughs]

0:11:47.525,0:11:49.972
So, the overall goal is fun.

0:11:49.972,0:11:52.796
My middle child Logan[br]is my favorite example.

0:11:52.796,0:11:55.389
I don’t think he knows how[br]to not have fun.

0:11:55.389,0:11:56.789
Now granted,[br]a lot of the things he does

0:11:56.789,0:11:59.480
are not fun for his mother[br]and me,

0:11:59.480,0:12:01.738
but he’s lovin’[br]every second of it.

0:12:01.738,0:12:03.089
And he doesn’t know how[br]to do anything

0:12:03.089,0:12:05.590
that isn’t ballistic[br]and full of life,

0:12:05.590,0:12:07.461
and he’s going to keep that quality,[br]I think.

0:12:07.461,0:12:08.616
He’s my little Tigger.

0:12:08.616,0:12:10.885
And I always remember Logan[br]when I think

0:12:10.885,0:12:13.338
about the goal is[br]to make sure that you lead your life,

0:12:13.338,0:12:15.132
you know—[br]I want to maximize use of time,

0:12:15.132,0:12:17.309
but really, that’s the means,[br]not the end.

0:12:17.309,0:12:20.992
The end is maximizing fun.

0:12:20.992,0:12:24.987
People who do intense studies,[br]and log people on video tape,

0:12:24.987,0:12:26.105
and so on and so forth,

0:12:26.105,0:12:27.848
say that the typical office worker

0:12:27.848,0:12:31.261
wastes almost two hours a day.

0:12:31.261,0:12:33.241
Their desk is messy,[br]they can’t find things,

0:12:33.241,0:12:35.262
miss appointments,[br]unprepared for meetings,

0:12:35.262,0:12:36.474
they can’t concentrate.

0:12:36.474,0:12:38.793
Does anybody in here,[br]by show of hands,

0:12:38.793,0:12:40.929
ever have any sense that one[br]of these things

0:12:40.929,0:12:43.140
is part of their life?

0:12:43.140,0:12:45.784
Okay, I think[br]we’ve got everybody.

0:12:45.784,0:12:47.160
So these[br]are the universal thing,

0:12:47.160,0:12:49.586
and you shouldn’t feel guilty

0:12:49.586,0:12:50.900
if some[br]of these are plaguing you,

0:12:50.900,0:12:52.384
because they plague all of us,

0:12:52.384,0:12:54.461
they plagued me for sure.

0:12:54.461,0:12:56.055
And I also want to tell you,

0:12:56.055,0:12:57.560
it sounds a little cliched[br]and trite,

0:12:57.560,0:13:01.693
but being successful does not make you[br]manage your time well.

0:13:01.693,0:13:03.717
Managing your time well[br]makes you successful.

0:13:03.717,0:13:05.494
If I have been successful[br]in my career,

0:13:05.494,0:13:07.198
I assure you it’s not[br]because I’m smarter

0:13:07.198,0:13:08.604
than all the other faculty.

0:13:08.604,0:13:09.467
I mean,[br]looking around,

0:13:09.467,0:13:11.104
and seeing some[br]of my former colleagues,

0:13:11.104,0:13:12.409
I mean, I see Jim Cohoon[br]up there.

0:13:12.409,0:13:15.169
I am not smart than Jim Cohoon,[br]okay.

0:13:15.169,0:13:16.880
I constantly look[br]around at the faculty

0:13:16.880,0:13:18.175
at places like[br]the University of Virginina

0:13:18.175,0:13:19.319
or Carnegie Mellon,[br]and I go,

0:13:19.319,0:13:21.333
“Damn! These are smart people.”

0:13:21.333,0:13:22.981
Right, and I snuck in.

0:13:22.981,0:13:23.929
[audience laughs]

0:13:23.929,0:13:26.527
But what I like to think I’m good[br]at is the meta-skills,

0:13:26.527,0:13:29.024
because if you have to run[br]with people who are faster than you,

0:13:29.024,0:13:31.759
you have to, like,[br]find the right ways

0:13:31.759,0:13:34.749
to optimize what skills[br]you do have.

0:13:34.749,0:13:37.136
So let’s talk first about goals,[br]priorities, and planning.

0:13:37.136,0:13:41.179
Anytime anything crosses your life,[br]you’ve got to ask,

0:13:41.179,0:13:42.857
“This thing I’m thinking[br]about doing,

0:13:42.857,0:13:43.983
“why am I doing it?”

0:13:43.983,0:13:46.072
Almost no one I know starts[br]with this core principle of:

0:13:46.072,0:13:48.977
there’s this thing on my to-do list,[br]why is it there?

0:13:48.977,0:13:50.217
Because[br]if you start asking why—

0:13:50.217,0:13:51.773
I mean, again, my kids are great[br]at this.

0:13:51.773,0:13:56.103
That’s all I ever hear[br]at home is, “Why? Why? Why?”

0:13:56.115,0:13:57.851
Eventually,[br]they will stop saying why,

0:13:57.851,0:13:59.517
and just going to say,[br]“Okay, I’ll do it.”

0:13:59.517,0:14:00.689
Right?

0:14:00.689,0:14:01.850
So ask:[br]Why am I doing this?

0:14:01.850,0:14:02.670
What is the goal?

0:14:02.670,0:14:04.980
Why will I succeed[br]at doing it?

0:14:04.980,0:14:08.438
And here’s my favorite: [br]What will happen if I don’t do it?

0:14:08.438,0:14:09.897
If I just say,[br]“Yeah, I’m just not—.”

0:14:09.897,0:14:11.092
The best thing[br]in the world is

0:14:11.092,0:14:13.969
when I have something on my to-do list,[br]and I just go, hm, no.

0:14:13.969,0:14:14.972
[audience laughs]

0:14:14.972,0:14:17.828
No one has ever come[br]and taken me to jail.

0:14:18.618,0:14:20.387
I got out [br]of a speeding ticket last week.

0:14:20.387,0:14:21.514
It was really cool.

0:14:21.514,0:14:24.814
[audience laughs and claps]

0:14:24.814,0:14:26.484
It’s like the closest[br]I’m ever going to be

0:14:26.484,0:14:30.796
to attractive and blond.

0:14:30.796,0:14:33.934
And I told the guy, you know,[br]why we had just moved,

0:14:33.934,0:14:34.970
and so on and so forth.

0:14:34.970,0:14:36.836
And he looked at me[br]and he said,

0:14:36.836,0:14:38.958
“Well for a guy whose[br]only got a couple months to live,

0:14:38.958,0:14:40.512
you sure look good.”

0:14:40.512,0:14:41.369
[audience laughs]

0:14:41.369,0:14:43.403
I just pulled up my shirt[br]to show the scar, said,

0:14:43.403,0:14:47.067
“Yeah, I look good on the outside,[br]but the tumors are inside.”

0:14:47.067,0:14:49.278
He just ran back[br]to his cruiser and—

0:14:49.278,0:14:52.064
[audience laughs]

0:14:52.064,0:14:54.925
So that’s one positive[br]law enforcement experience for me.

0:14:54.925,0:14:57.560
[audience laughs]

0:14:57.560,0:14:59.391
So the police have never come

0:14:59.391,0:15:01.506
because I crossed something[br]off my to-do list.

0:15:01.506,0:15:02.874
And that’s a very powerful thing,

0:15:02.874,0:15:04.544
because you just got[br]all that time back.

0:15:04.544,0:15:06.776
The other thing to keep in mind[br]when you’re goal-setting,

0:15:06.776,0:15:09.360
is a lot of people focus[br]on doing things right.

0:15:09.360,0:15:12.331
I think it’s very dangerous[br]to focus on doing things right.

0:15:12.331,0:15:14.798
I think it’s much more important[br]to do the right things.

0:15:14.798,0:15:16.883
If you do the right things[br]adequately,

0:15:16.883,0:15:18.477
that’s much more important

0:15:18.477,0:15:21.581
than doing the wrong things[br]beautifully.

0:15:21.581,0:15:22.435
All right.

0:15:22.435,0:15:26.709
Doesn’t matter how well you[br]polish the underside of the banister.

0:15:26.709,0:15:29.130
Okay?[br]And keep that in mind.

0:15:29.130,0:15:30.792
Lou Holtz had a great list:

0:15:30.792,0:15:33.229
Lou Holtz’s 100 things to do[br]in his life.

0:15:33.229,0:15:35.643
And he would, sort of,[br]once a week look at it, and say,

0:15:35.643,0:15:37.875
you know, "If I’m not working[br]on those 100 things,

0:15:37.875,0:15:40.035
why was I working[br]on the others.”

0:15:40.035,0:15:41.778
And I just think[br]that’s an incredible way

0:15:41.778,0:15:43.561
to frame things.

0:15:44.971,0:15:46.370
There’s something[br]called the 80/20 rule.

0:15:46.370,0:15:47.955
Sometimes you’ll hear[br]about the 90/10 rule,

0:15:47.955,0:15:49.406
but the key thing[br]to understand

0:15:49.406,0:15:52.084
is that a very small number[br]of things in your life,

0:15:52.084,0:15:53.275
or on your to-do list,

0:15:53.275,0:15:56.069
are going to contribute[br]the vast majority of the value.

0:15:56.069,0:15:59.112
So if you have—[br]if you’re a salesperson,

0:15:59.112,0:16:02.770
80% of the revenue is going to come[br]from 20% of your clients.

0:16:02.770,0:16:05.342
And you better figure out[br]who those 20% are,

0:16:05.342,0:16:08.795
and spend all of your time sucking[br]up to them,

0:16:08.795,0:16:11.300
because that’s where the revenue[br]comes.

0:16:11.300,0:16:13.151
So you’ve got to really be willing[br]to say,

0:16:13.151,0:16:14.913
“This stuff[br]is what’s going to be the value,

0:16:14.913,0:16:15.910
and this other stuff isn’t.”

0:16:15.910,0:16:18.045
And you’ve got to have the courage[br]of your convictions to say,

0:16:18.045,0:16:18.907
“And therefore,

0:16:18.907,0:16:22.272
I’m going to shove the other stuff[br]off of the boat.”

0:16:22.272,0:16:26.366
The other thing to remember[br]is that experience comes with time.

0:16:26.366,0:16:27.848
And it’s really, really valuable.

0:16:27.848,0:16:30.135
And there are no shortcuts[br]to getting it.

0:16:30.135,0:16:32.745
So, good judgement comes[br]from experience,

0:16:32.745,0:16:35.479
and experience comes[br]from bad judgement.

0:16:35.479,0:16:37.359
So, if things aren’t going well,

0:16:37.359,0:16:39.330
that probably means[br]you’re learning a lot,

0:16:39.330,0:16:40.883
and it’ll go better later.

0:16:40.883,0:16:42.405
[audience laughs]

0:16:42.405,0:16:45.585
This is, by the way,[br]why we pay so much in American society

0:16:45.585,0:16:47.782
for people who are,[br]you know,

0:16:47.782,0:16:50.400
typically older, but have done lots[br]of things in their past,

0:16:50.400,0:16:51.948
because we pay[br]for their experience,

0:16:51.948,0:16:55.596
because we know that experience[br]is one of the things you can’t fake.

0:16:57.176,0:16:59.458
And do not lose the sight—[br]do not lose sight

0:16:59.458,0:17:01.407
of the power of inspiration.

0:17:01.407,0:17:03.564
So, Randy’s in an hour-long talk,

0:17:03.564,0:17:05.850
and we’ve already hit[br]our first Disney reference.

0:17:05.850,0:17:07.001
[audience laughs]

0:17:07.001,0:17:09.363
Walt Disney’s quote--[br]Walt Disney has many great quotes,

0:17:09.363,0:17:11.847
but the one I loved is,[br]“If you can dream it, you can do it.”

0:17:11.847,0:17:13.685
And a lot [br]of my cynical friends say,

0:17:13.685,0:17:14.702
yada-yada-yada,

0:17:14.702,0:17:16.155
To which I say, “Shut up.”

0:17:16.155,0:17:17.721
[audience laughs]

0:17:17.723,0:17:20.595
Inspiration is important,[br]and I’ll tell you this much, if you

0:17:20.595,0:17:22.889
if you--[br]I don’t know if Walt was right,

0:17:22.889,0:17:23.974
but I’ll tell you this much,

0:17:23.974,0:17:26.595
if you refuse to allow yourself[br]to dream it,

0:17:26.595,0:17:29.230
I know you won’t do it.

0:17:29.230,0:17:31.942
So the power of dreams[br]are that they give us a way

0:17:31.942,0:17:34.863
to take the first step[br]towards an accomplishment.

0:17:34.863,0:17:37.402
And Walt was also[br]not just a dreamer.

0:17:37.402,0:17:39.580
Walt worked really hard.

0:17:39.580,0:17:41.650
Disneyland, this amazes me,[br]because I know a bit

0:17:41.650,0:17:44.097
about how hard it is[br]to put theme park attractions together,

0:17:44.097,0:17:47.215
and they did the whole original[br]Disneyland park

0:17:47.215,0:17:50.405
in 366 days.

0:17:50.405,0:17:54.760
That’s from the first shovelful of dirt[br]to the first paid admission.

0:17:54.760,0:17:55.833
All right.

0:17:55.833,0:17:57.790
Think about how long it takes[br]to do something, say,

0:17:57.790,0:17:59.151
at a state university.

0:17:59.151,0:18:04.117
[audience laughs]

0:18:04.117,0:18:05.283
By comparison!

0:18:05.283,0:18:08.750
So, it’s, you know,[br]it’s just fascinating.

0:18:08.750,0:18:10.096
When someone[br]once asked Walt Disney,

0:18:10.096,0:18:12.025
“How did you get it done[br]in 366 days?”,

0:18:12.025,0:18:15.952
he just deadpanned,[br]“We used every one of them.”

0:18:15.952,0:18:16.638
[audience laughs]

0:18:16.638,0:18:19.023
So again,[br]there are no shortcuts,

0:18:19.023,0:18:23.783
there’s a lot of hard work[br]in anything you want to accomplish.

0:18:23.783,0:18:25.036
Planning is very important.

0:18:25.036,0:18:26.779
One of the time management[br]cliches is,

0:18:26.779,0:18:30.244
“Failing to plan[br]is planning to fail.”

0:18:30.244,0:18:32.677
And planning has to be done[br]at multiple levels.

0:18:32.677,0:18:34.643
I have a plan every morning[br]when I wake up, I say,

0:18:34.643,0:18:35.827
“What do I need[br]to do today?

0:18:35.827,0:18:37.040
“What do I need to do[br]this week?

0:18:37.040,0:18:38.605
“What do I need to do[br]each semester?”

0:18:38.605,0:18:41.272
That’s sort of the time quanta,[br]because I’m an academic.

0:18:41.272,0:18:43.915
And that doesn’t mean you’re locked[br]in to it.

0:18:43.915,0:18:45.949
People say,[br]“Yeah, but things are so fluid.

0:18:45.949,0:18:47.497
“I’m going to[br]have to change the plan.”

0:18:47.497,0:18:50.150
And I’m like, “Yes! You are going to[br]have to change the plan.

0:18:50.150,0:18:53.440
“But you can’t change it[br]unless you have it.”

0:18:53.440,0:18:54.260
And the excuse of,

0:18:54.260,0:18:56.883
I’m not going to make a plan[br]because things might change,

0:18:56.883,0:18:59.505
is just this paralysis of:[br]I don’t have any marching orders.

0:18:59.505,0:19:00.554
So have a plan,

0:19:00.554,0:19:01.655
accept[br]that it will change,

0:19:01.655,0:19:05.316
but have it so you have the basis[br]to start with.

0:19:05.316,0:19:06.415
To-do lists.

0:19:06.415,0:19:08.553
How many people here,[br]right now, if I said,

0:19:08.553,0:19:11.969
can you produce it,[br]could show me their to-do list?

0:19:11.969,0:19:15.264
Okay, not bad, not bad.

0:19:16.324,0:19:17.619
The key thing with to-do lists

0:19:17.619,0:19:20.627
is you have to break things down[br]into small steps.

0:19:20.627,0:19:22.072
I literally once,[br]on my to-do list,

0:19:22.072,0:19:24.401
when I was a junior faculty member[br]at the University of Virginia,

0:19:24.402,0:19:26.274
I put: “Get tenure.”

0:19:26.274,0:19:29.100
[audience laughs]

0:19:29.100,0:19:31.996
That was naive!

0:19:31.996,0:19:33.714
And I looked at that for a while,[br]and I said,

0:19:33.714,0:19:36.791
“That’s really hard,[br]I don’t think I can do that.”

0:19:36.791,0:19:40.082
And, my children, Dylan and Logan[br]and Chloe,

0:19:40.082,0:19:42.217
particularly Dylan,[br]is at the age

0:19:42.217,0:19:45.595
where he can clean his own damn room,[br]thank you very much.

0:19:45.595,0:19:47.860
But he doesn’t like to.

0:19:47.860,0:19:50.923
And, Chris is smiling,[br]because I used to do this story on him,

0:19:50.923,0:19:53.112
but now I’ve got my own kids[br]to pick on.

0:19:53.112,0:19:54.253
[audience laughs]

0:19:54.253,0:19:55.576
But Dylan will come to me[br]and say,

0:19:55.576,0:19:57.560
“I can’t pick up my room,[br]it’s too much stuff.”

0:19:57.560,0:19:58.937
[lets out exaggerated sigh]

0:19:58.937,0:20:00.798
He’s not even a teen[br]and he’s already got that,

0:20:00.798,0:20:01.531
you know?

0:20:01.531,0:20:02.776
[lets out exaggerated sigh]

0:20:02.776,0:20:04.968
And I say,[br]“Well, can you make your bed?”

0:20:04.968,0:20:07.314
“Yeah, I can do that."[br][imitates footsteps retreating]

0:20:07.314,0:20:09.124
“Okay, can you put the clothes[br]in the hamper?”

0:20:09.124,0:20:11.381
“Yeah, I can do that.”[br][iimitates footsteps retreating]

0:20:11.381,0:20:12.942
And you know,[br]you do three or four things,

0:20:12.942,0:20:14.220
and then it’s like,

0:20:14.220,0:20:15.860
“Well, Dylan, you just cleaned[br]your room.”

0:20:15.860,0:20:17.235
[childlike voice][br]“I cleaned my room!”

0:20:17.235,0:20:18.113
And he feels good.

0:20:18.113,0:20:19.464
He is empowered.

0:20:19.464,0:20:20.852
[audience laughs]

0:20:20.852,0:20:22.060
And everybody’s happy,[br]and

0:20:22.060,0:20:24.805
of course, I’ve had to spend twice[br]as much time

0:20:24.805,0:20:27.231
managing him[br]as I could’ve done it by myself,

0:20:27.231,0:20:29.344
but that’s okay,[br]that’s what being a boss is about,

0:20:29.344,0:20:30.898
is growing your people,

0:20:30.898,0:20:32.849
no matter how small or large[br]they might be at the time.

0:20:32.849,0:20:34.115
[audience laughs]

0:20:34.115,0:20:36.435
The last thing about to-do lists,[br]or getting yourself going,

0:20:36.435,0:20:38.188
is if you’ve got a bunch[br]of things to do,

0:20:38.188,0:20:41.147
do the ugliest thing first.

0:20:41.147,0:20:43.651
There’s an old saying,[br]"If you have to eat a frog,

0:20:43.651,0:20:46.322
"don’t spend a lot of time looking[br]at it first.

0:20:46.322,0:20:49.987
"And if you have to eat three of them,[br]don’t start with the small one."

0:20:49.987,0:20:52.187
[audience laughs]

0:20:56.537,0:20:58.768
All right,[br]this is the most important slide

0:20:58.768,0:21:00.194
in the entire talk.

0:21:00.194,0:21:01.870
So, if you want to leave[br]after this slide,

0:21:01.870,0:21:04.938
I will not be offended[br]because it’s all downhill from here.

0:21:04.938,0:21:06.115
And this is blatantly stolen,

0:21:06.115,0:21:08.298
this is Steven Covey’s[br]great contribution to the world.

0:21:08.298,0:21:12.733
He talks about it in one—[br]in the Seven Habits book.

0:21:12.733,0:21:14.528
Imagine your to-do list—

0:21:14.528,0:21:17.403
most people sort their to-do list,[br]either, you know,

0:21:17.403,0:21:20.142
“the order that I got it,[br]throw it on the bottom.”

0:21:20.142,0:21:22.737
Or, they sort it in due-date list,

0:21:22.737,0:21:25.126
which is more sophisticated,[br]and more helpful.

0:21:25.126,0:21:28.844
But still very, very wrong.

0:21:28.844,0:21:30.917
So looking at the four-quadrant[br]to-do list.

0:21:30.917,0:21:32.420
If you’ve got a quadrant[br]where things are

0:21:32.420,0:21:34.435
“Important and Due Soon,”

0:21:34.435,0:21:36.478
“Important and Not Due Soon,”

0:21:36.478,0:21:38.396
“Not Important and Due Soon,”

0:21:38.396,0:21:40.569
and “Not Important[br]and Not Due Soon.”

0:21:40.569,0:21:41.648
All right,

0:21:41.648,0:21:44.160
which of these four quadrants[br]do you think,

0:21:44.160,0:21:45.679
upper left, upper right,[br]lower left, lower right,

0:21:45.679,0:21:48.877
which one do you think[br]you should work on immediately?

0:21:48.877,0:21:50.008
Upper left!

0:21:50.008,0:21:51.449
You are such a great crowd.

0:21:51.449,0:21:52.337
Okay.

0:21:52.337,0:21:55.646
And which one do you think[br]you should probably do last?

0:21:55.646,0:21:56.542
Lower right.

0:21:56.542,0:21:58.104
And that’s, you know,[br]that’s easy.

0:21:58.104,0:21:59.919
That’s obviously number one.

0:21:59.919,0:22:02.229
That’s obviously number four.

0:22:02.229,0:22:06.627
But this is where everybody[br]in my experience gets it wrong.

0:22:06.627,0:22:07.550
What we do now[br]is we say,

0:22:07.550,0:22:09.470
“I do the number ones,[br]and then I move on

0:22:09.470,0:22:11.704
“to the stuff that's ‘Due Soon[br]and Not Important.’”

0:22:11.704,0:22:13.429
When you write it[br]in this quadrant list,

0:22:13.429,0:22:14.580
it’s really stunning,

0:22:14.580,0:22:15.887
I’ve seen[br]people do this, they say,

0:22:15.887,0:22:17.715
"This is due soon,[br]and I know it’s not important,

0:22:17.715,0:22:19.618
“so I’m going to get right[br]to work on it.”

0:22:19.618,0:22:22.272
[audience laughs]

0:22:22.272,0:22:24.756
And, the most crucial thing[br]I can teach you

0:22:24.756,0:22:26.678
about time management[br]is when you’re done picking

0:22:26.678,0:22:30.747
off the “Important and Due Soon,”[br]that’s when you go here.

0:22:30.747,0:22:32.692
You go to it’s “Not Due Soon[br]and It’s Important.”

0:22:32.692,0:22:34.847
And there will be a moment[br]in your life where you say,

0:22:34.847,0:22:37.107
“Hey, this thing that’s due soon[br]but not important,

0:22:37.107,0:22:40.131
“I won’t do it!

0:22:40.131,0:22:43.201
“Because it’s not important![br]It says so right here on the chart!”

0:22:43.161,0:22:48.645
[audience laughs]

0:22:48.645,0:22:51.614
And magically, you have time

0:22:51.614,0:22:53.410
to work on the thing[br]that is not due soon,[br]

0:22:53.410,0:22:54.420
but is important,

0:22:54.420,0:22:59.321
so that next week[br]it never got a chance to get here,

0:22:59.321,0:23:01.673
because you killed it[br]in the crib.

0:23:01.673,0:23:03.572
[audience laughs]

0:23:03.572,0:23:05.588
My wife won’t like[br]that metaphor.

0:23:05.588,0:23:08.531
[audience laughs]

0:23:08.531,0:23:11.747
But you kill,[br]or you solve the problem,

0:23:11.747,0:23:13.517
of something that’s[br]due next week

0:23:13.517,0:23:16.364
when you’re not under time stress,[br]because it’s not due tomorrow.

0:23:16.364,0:23:19.586
And suddenly you become one[br]of those zen-like people,

0:23:19.586,0:23:21.381
who always seem[br]to have all the time in the world,

0:23:21.381,0:23:24.583
because[br]they’ve figured this out.

0:23:24.583,0:23:25.348
All right.

0:23:25.348,0:23:27.222
Paperwork.

0:23:27.222,0:23:29.991
The first thing you need to know[br]is that having cluttered paperwork

0:23:29.991,0:23:30.843
leads to thrashing.

0:23:30.843,0:23:32.513
You end up with all these things[br]on your desk,

0:23:32.513,0:23:34.303
and you can’t find anything,

0:23:34.303,0:23:35.518
the moment you turn[br]to your desk,

0:23:35.518,0:23:37.073
your desk is saying to you,

0:23:37.073,0:23:38.505
[in a gruff voice][br]“I own you.”

0:23:38.505,0:23:39.324
[audience laughs]

0:23:39.324,0:23:42.549
[in a gruff voice][br]“I have more things than you can do.

0:23:42.549,0:23:46.420
"And they are many colors[br]and laid out.”

0:23:46.420,0:23:48.595
So what I find[br]is that it’s really crucial

0:23:48.595,0:23:50.593
to keep your desk clear,

0:23:50.593,0:23:52.893
and we’ll talk[br]about where the paper goes in a second,

0:23:52.893,0:23:54.109
and you have one thing[br]on your desk,

0:23:54.109,0:23:57.401
because then it’s like,[br]“Haha! Now it’s Thunderdome!

0:23:57.401,0:23:59.729
"Me and the ONE piece[br]of paper.”

0:23:59.729,0:24:02.868
And so I usually win that one.

0:24:02.868,0:24:04.679
One of the mantras[br]of time management is

0:24:04.679,0:24:06.782
"Touch each piece[br]of paper once."

0:24:06.782,0:24:09.761
You get the piece of paper,[br]you look at it, you work at it,

0:24:09.761,0:24:13.124
and I think that’s extremely true[br]for email.

0:24:13.124,0:24:15.658
How many people here—[br]well, I’m going to take it for granted

0:24:15.658,0:24:17.844
that everybody here[br]has an email inbox.

0:24:17.844,0:24:18.936
How many people right now

0:24:18.936,0:24:22.920
have more than 20 items[br]in their email inbox?

0:24:22.920,0:24:26.790
Ohh! I’m in the right room.

0:24:26.790,0:24:30.014
Your inbox is not your to-do list.

0:24:30.014,0:24:34.893
And my wife has learned that I need[br]to get my inbox clear.

0:24:34.893,0:24:38.688
Now sometimes, this really means[br]just filing things away,

0:24:38.688,0:24:41.053
and putting something[br]on my to-do list.

0:24:41.053,0:24:43.428
But remember,[br]the to-do list is sorted by importance.

0:24:43.428,0:24:46.538
But my—does anybody here[br]have an email program

0:24:46.538,0:24:49.458
where you can press the[br]“Sort by Importance” button?

0:24:51.328,0:24:54.254
It’s amazing how people[br]who build software,

0:24:54.254,0:24:57.299
that really is a huge part[br]of our life and getting work done,

0:24:57.299,0:24:59.421
haven’t a clue.

0:24:59.421,0:25:01.612
And that’s not a slam[br]on any particular company.

0:25:01.612,0:25:03.636
I think they all[br]have missed the boat.

0:25:03.636,0:25:06.223
And I just find it fascinating...

0:25:06.223,0:25:07.765
because everyone I know,[br]or most I know,

0:25:07.765,0:25:09.237
have this inbox that's—

0:25:09.237,0:25:11.916
all right, I gotta ask, how many people[br]have more than 100 things

0:25:11.916,0:25:13.364
in their email inbox?

0:25:13.364,0:25:16.223
Oh, I’m just not going to keep going,[br]this is too depressing.

0:25:16.223,0:25:18.304
[audience laughs]

0:25:18.304,0:25:21.713
So, you really want to get the thing[br]in your inbox,

0:25:21.713,0:25:22.886
look at it, and say,

0:25:22.886,0:25:24.102
“I’m either reading it now,

0:25:24.102,0:25:26.818
“or I’m going to file it and put an entry[br]in my to-do list.”

0:25:26.818,0:25:29.118
And that’s just a crucial thing,[br]because otherwise,

0:25:29.118,0:25:30.673
every time you go[br]to read your email,

0:25:30.673,0:25:34.064
you’re just swamped,[br]and it’s as bad as the cluttered paper.

0:25:36.044,0:25:37.504
You’re all trying[br]to figure out how

0:25:37.504,0:25:41.209
that heading goes[br]with that picture.

0:25:41.209,0:25:44.639
A filing system[br]is absolutely essential.

0:25:44.639,0:25:46.203
And I know this[br]because I married

0:25:46.203,0:25:48.075
the most wonderful woman[br]in the world,

0:25:48.075,0:25:50.689
but she’s not a good filer.

0:25:50.689,0:25:52.413
But she is now,

0:25:52.413,0:25:55.657
because...after we got married,

0:25:55.657,0:25:57.151
and we moved in together,

0:25:57.151,0:25:59.492
and we resolved all the other[br]typical couple things, I said,

0:25:59.492,0:26:03.142
“We have to have a place[br]where our papers go,

0:26:03.142,0:26:05.399
“and it’s in alphabetical order.”

0:26:05.399,0:26:07.838
And she said,[br]“Well, that sounds a little compulsive…”

0:26:07.838,0:26:10.485
[audience laughs]

0:26:10.485,0:26:13.613
And I said,[br]“Okay, honey….”

0:26:13.613,0:26:16.227
So I went out to IKEA,[br]and I got this big, nice,

0:26:16.227,0:26:19.860
way-too-expensive, big, wooden,[br]fake-mahogany thing,

0:26:19.860,0:26:20.967
with big drawers,

0:26:20.967,0:26:23.366
so she liked it,[br]because it looked kind of nice.

0:26:23.366,0:26:25.632
And having A Place[br]in our house

0:26:25.632,0:26:28.716
where any piece of paper went,[br]and was in alphabetical order,

0:26:28.716,0:26:31.289
did wonderful things[br]for our marriage,

0:26:31.289,0:26:32.499
because there was never any,

0:26:32.499,0:26:35.086
“Honey,[br]where did you put blah-blah-blah?”

0:26:35.086,0:26:36.670
And there was never being mad[br]at somebody

0:26:36.670,0:26:38.554
because they put something[br]in some unexpected place.

0:26:38.554,0:26:40.610
There was an expected place[br]for it.

0:26:40.610,0:26:42.516
And when you’re looking[br]for important receipts,

0:26:42.516,0:26:44.622
or whatever it is,[br]this is actually important.

0:26:44.622,0:26:48.946
And, we have found that this[br]has been a wonderful thing for us.

0:26:48.946,0:26:51.153
I think file systems among groups[br]of people,

0:26:51.153,0:26:52.823
whether it’s a marriage[br]or an office, are crucial,

0:26:52.823,0:26:54.088
But even if it’s just you,

0:26:54.088,0:26:56.650
having a place where you know[br]you put something,

0:26:56.650,0:26:59.572
really beats all hell out of running[br]around for an hour, going,

0:26:59.572,0:27:02.549
“Where is it?[br]I know it’s blue.

0:27:03.429,0:27:04.837
“And I was eating[br]when I read it.”

0:27:04.837,0:27:08.049
I mean,[br]this is not a filing system.

0:27:08.049,0:27:10.690
This is madness.

0:27:10.690,0:27:11.882
A lot of people ask me,

0:27:11.882,0:27:14.081
“So Randy, what does[br]your desk look like?”

0:27:14.081,0:27:15.558
So, as my wife would say,

0:27:15.558,0:27:16.987
this is what Randy’s desk[br]looks like

0:27:16.987,0:27:19.015
when he’s photographing it[br]for a talk.

0:27:19.015,0:27:22.679
[audience laughs]

0:27:22.679,0:27:24.548
The important thing[br]is that I’m a computer geek,

0:27:24.548,0:27:26.526
so I have the desk[br]off to the right,

0:27:26.526,0:27:29.075
and then I have the computer station[br]off to the left.

0:27:29.075,0:27:30.654
I like to have my desk[br]in front of a window

0:27:30.654,0:27:32.830
whenever I can do that.

0:27:32.830,0:27:34.245
This is an old photograph.

0:27:34.245,0:27:36.059
These have now been replaced[br]by LCD monitors,

0:27:36.059,0:27:38.176
but I left the old picture[br]because the crucial thing is

0:27:38.176,0:27:40.212
it doesn’t matter[br]if they’re fancy high-tech,

0:27:40.212,0:27:42.295
the key thing is screen space.

0:27:42.295,0:27:43.471
Lots of people[br]have studied this.

0:27:43.471,0:27:44.985
How many people[br]in this room

0:27:44.985,0:27:48.566
have more than one monitor[br]on their computer desktop?

0:27:48.566,0:27:49.509
Okay, not bad.

0:27:49.509,0:27:52.043
So we’re getting there,[br]it’s startin' to happen.

0:27:52.043,0:27:54.187
What I’ve found[br]is that I could go back

0:27:54.187,0:27:58.293
from three to two,[br]but I just can’t go back to one.

0:27:58.293,0:28:00.442
There’s just too many things,[br]and as somebody said,

0:28:00.442,0:28:03.424
it’s the difference between working[br]on a desk, like at home,

0:28:03.424,0:28:06.535
and trying to get work done[br]on the little tray on an airplane.

0:28:06.535,0:28:08.243
In principle,[br]the little tray on the airplane

0:28:08.243,0:28:10.608
is big enough[br]for everything you need to do.

0:28:10.608,0:28:14.424
It’s just that in practice,[br]it’s pretty small.

0:28:14.424,0:28:16.867
So, multiple monitors,[br]I think, are very important.

0:28:16.867,0:28:20.308
And I’ll show you in a second what is[br]on each of those.

0:28:20.308,0:28:23.440
And I believe in multiple monitors,[br]we’ve believed in it for a long time.

0:28:23.440,0:28:26.560
That’s my research group,

0:28:26.560,0:28:29.313
our laboratory a long time ago,[br]at Carnegie Mellon.

0:28:29.313,0:28:31.750
That’s Caitlin Kelleher,[br]who's now Doctor Kelleher, thank you,

0:28:31.750,0:28:34.114
and she’s at Washington University[br]in St. Louis,

0:28:34.114,0:28:36.764
doing wonderful things.

0:28:36.764,0:28:38.619
But we had everybody[br]with three monitors,

0:28:38.619,0:28:40.859
and the cost[br]on this is absolutely trivial.

0:28:40.859,0:28:44.246
If you figure the cost[br]of adding a second monitor

0:28:44.246,0:28:46.947
to an employee’s yearly cost[br]to the company,

0:28:46.947,0:28:49.655
it’s not even 1% anymore.

0:28:49.655,0:28:50.881
So why would you not do it?

0:28:50.881,0:28:52.686
So one of my “walk-aways”[br]for all of you

0:28:52.686,0:28:54.571
is you should all go to your boss[br]and say,

0:28:54.571,0:28:56.982
“I need a second monitor,[br]I just can’t work without it.

0:28:56.982,0:28:58.628
“Randy told me[br]to tell you that.”

0:28:58.628,0:29:00.340
[audience laughs]

0:29:00.340,0:29:01.874
Because it will increase[br]your productivity,

0:29:01.874,0:29:04.863
and the computers can all[br]drive two monitors, so why not?

0:29:04.863,0:29:07.009
So what do I have[br]on my three monitors?

0:29:07.009,0:29:10.288
On the left is my to-do list,

0:29:10.288,0:29:12.478
all sorts of stuff in there.

0:29:12.478,0:29:14.437
And my system,[br]we’re all idiosyncratic,

0:29:14.437,0:29:17.426
my system is that[br]I just put a number zero through nine,

0:29:17.426,0:29:20.308
and I use an editor[br]that can quickly sort on that number

0:29:20.308,0:29:21.236
in the first column.

0:29:21.236,0:29:24.053
But the key thing is,[br]it’s sorted by priority.

0:29:24.053,0:29:26.012
In the middle[br]is my mail program.

0:29:26.012,0:29:30.086
Note the empty inbox.

0:29:30.086,0:29:34.095
And, I try very hard,[br]I sleep better if I go to sleep

0:29:34.095,0:29:35.997
with the inbox empty.

0:29:35.997,0:29:39.505
When my inbox does creep up,[br]I get really testy.

0:29:39.505,0:29:41.250
So, my wife will actually say[br]to me,

0:29:41.250,0:29:43.218
“I think you need[br]to clear the inbox.”

0:29:43.218,0:29:45.214
[audience laughs]

0:29:45.214,0:29:47.140
On the third one is a calendar.

0:29:47.140,0:29:49.327
This is from a number[br]of years ago,

0:29:49.327,0:29:52.098
but that’s kind of like[br]what my days would be.

0:29:52.098,0:29:54.006
I used to be very heavily booked.

0:29:54.006,0:29:55.950
And, I don’t care which software[br]you use,

0:29:55.950,0:29:57.355
I don’t care which calendar[br]you use,

0:29:57.355,0:29:58.911
I don’t care if it’s paper[br]or computer,

0:29:58.911,0:30:00.852
whatever works for you,

0:30:00.852,0:30:04.027
but you should have some system[br]whereby you know

0:30:04.027,0:30:08.363
where you’re supposed to be[br]next Tuesday at 2 o’clock.

0:30:08.363,0:30:11.225
Because even if you can live your life[br]without that,

0:30:11.225,0:30:14.505
you’re using up a lot of your brain[br]to remember all that.

0:30:14.505,0:30:16.281
And I don’t know about you,[br]but I don’t have enough brain

0:30:16.281,0:30:18.148
to spare to use it on things

0:30:18.148,0:30:21.301
I can have paper or computers do[br]for me.

0:30:22.521,0:30:25.853
So back to the overview.

0:30:25.853,0:30:28.973
On the desk itself,[br]let’s zoom in a little bit.

0:30:28.973,0:30:32.924
Look, I have the one thing[br]I am working on at the time.

0:30:32.924,0:30:34.247
I have a speaker phone.

0:30:34.247,0:30:34.973
This is crucial.

0:30:34.973,0:30:37.595
How many people here[br]have a speaker phone on their desks?

0:30:37.595,0:30:40.998
Okay, not bad,[br]but a lot more people don’t.

0:30:40.998,0:30:43.780
Speaker phones are essentially free.

0:30:43.780,0:30:46.327
And, I spend a lot of time[br]on hold,

0:30:46.327,0:30:48.748
and that’s because I live[br]in American society

0:30:48.748,0:30:50.572
where I get to listen to messages[br]of the form,

0:30:50.572,0:30:53.970
“Your call is extremely important[br]to us.

0:30:53.970,0:30:56.729
“Watch while my actions[br]are cognitively dissonant

0:30:56.729,0:30:58.200
from my words.”

0:30:58.207,0:31:03.273
[audience laughs]

0:31:03.273,0:31:07.314
It’s like the worst abusive relationship[br]in the world.

0:31:07.314,0:31:09.857
[audience laughs]

0:31:09.857,0:31:11.560
I mean, imagine a guy picks you up[br]on the first date

0:31:11.560,0:31:12.605
and he smacks you on the mouth[br]and says,

0:31:12.605,0:31:13.826
“I love ya, honey.”

0:31:13.826,0:31:16.592
That’s pretty much[br]how modern customer service works

0:31:16.592,0:31:18.599
on the telephone.

0:31:18.599,0:31:19.976
But the great thing[br]about a speaker phone is

0:31:19.976,0:31:21.912
you hit the speaker phone[br]and you dial,

0:31:21.912,0:31:23.716
and then[br]you just do something else,

0:31:23.716,0:31:25.935
and if it takes seven minutes,[br]it takes seven minutes.

0:31:25.935,0:31:27.966
And hey, I just look at this[br]as somebody’s piping music

0:31:27.966,0:31:29.179
into my office.

0:31:29.179,0:31:30.466
That’s very nice of them.

0:31:30.466,0:31:31.409
[audience laughs]

0:31:31.409,0:31:34.710
I also found that having a timer[br]on the phone is handy

0:31:34.710,0:31:37.349
so that when somebody[br]finally picks up in Bangalore,

0:31:37.349,0:31:41.157
I can say things like,

0:31:41.157,0:31:43.000
“I’m so glad to be talking with you.

0:31:43.000,0:31:44.732
“By the way, if you’re keeping records[br]on this sort of thing,

0:31:44.732,0:31:46.839
“I’ve been on hold for seven[br]and a half minutes.”

0:31:46.839,0:31:48.052
But you don’t say it angry,[br]you just say it as,

0:31:48.052,0:31:50.296
”I presume you’re logging this kind[br]of stuff.”

0:31:50.296,0:31:52.228
And you’re not angry,[br]so they don’t get angry back at you,

0:31:52.228,0:31:54.601
but they feel really guilty.

0:31:54.601,0:31:56.763
And that’s good,[br]you want guilty, all right.

0:31:56.763,0:31:57.471
[audience laughs]

0:31:57.471,0:31:58.631
So a speaker phone is really great.

0:31:58.631,0:31:59.858
I find that a speaker phone

0:31:59.858,0:32:02.767
is probably the best material possession

0:32:02.767,0:32:05.572
you can buy to counter stress.

0:32:05.572,0:32:08.171
If I were, like,[br]teaching a yoga meditation class,

0:32:08.171,0:32:09.540
I’d say,[br]we’ll do all the yoga and meditation,

0:32:09.540,0:32:10.831
I think it’s wonderful stuff,

0:32:10.831,0:32:13.456
but everybody[br]also has to have a speaker phone.

0:32:13.456,0:32:15.565
[audience laughs]

0:32:15.565,0:32:16.824
What else do we have[br]besides a speaker phone?

0:32:16.824,0:32:19.162
Let’s talk about telephones[br]for a second.

0:32:19.162,0:32:21.707
I think that the telephone[br]is a great time-waster,

0:32:21.707,0:32:24.317
and I think it’s very important[br]to keep your business calls short.

0:32:24.317,0:32:26.975
So I recommend standing[br]during phone calls.

0:32:26.975,0:32:29.059
Great for exercise,[br]and if you tell yourself,

0:32:29.059,0:32:30.820
“I’m not going to sit down[br]until the call is over,”

0:32:30.820,0:32:34.979
you’ll be amazed[br]how much brisker you are.

0:32:34.979,0:32:37.200
Start by announcing goals[br]for the call.

0:32:37.200,0:32:39.003
“Hello, Sue?[br]This is Randy.

0:32:39.003,0:32:40.126
“I’m calling you[br]because I have three things

0:32:40.126,0:32:41.369
“that I wanted to get done.”

0:32:41.369,0:32:42.249
Boom, boom, boom.

0:32:42.249,0:32:44.032
Because then[br]you’ve given her an agenda,

0:32:44.032,0:32:45.310
and when you’re done[br]with the three things,

0:32:45.310,0:32:45.964
you can say,[br]“That’s great.

0:32:45.964,0:32:48.334
“Those are the three things I had,[br]it was great to talk to you,

0:32:48.334,0:32:49.204
“love to talk to you again,[br]bye.”

0:32:49.204,0:32:51.261
Boom, we’re off the phone.

0:32:51.261,0:32:54.951
Whatever you do,[br]do not put your feet up.

0:32:54.951,0:32:57.456
I mean, if you put the feet up,[br]it’s just all over.

0:32:57.456,0:33:00.266
And the other handy trick is[br]have something on your desk

0:33:00.266,0:33:03.730
that you actually are kind of interested[br]in going to do next.

0:33:03.730,0:33:05.579
So that the phone call[br]instead of being,

0:33:05.579,0:33:08.510
“Wow, I can get off the phone[br]and go do some work, grr,

0:33:08.510,0:33:10.160
“or I could keep chit-chatting.”

0:33:10.160,0:33:11.394
And usually the person[br]you’ve called,

0:33:11.394,0:33:13.594
they’d like to chit-chat, too.

0:33:13.594,0:33:15.917
So this is where the time-waster[br]in the office goes.

0:33:15.917,0:33:19.258
And if you’re a grad student…

0:33:19.258,0:33:19.981
well, if you’re a grad student,

0:33:19.981,0:33:23.663
you already know[br]about time wasting.

0:33:23.663,0:33:25.748
So having something[br]you really want to do next

0:33:25.748,0:33:27.669
is a great way to get you[br]off the phone quicker.

0:33:27.669,0:33:30.571
So you gotta train yourself.

0:33:30.571,0:33:32.853
Getting off the phone is hard[br]for a lot of people.

0:33:32.853,0:33:36.220
I don’t suffer[br]from an abundance of politeness,

0:33:36.220,0:33:39.303
so—my sister,[br]whose known me for a long time,

0:33:39.303,0:33:42.043
is laughing a knowing laugh.

0:33:42.043,0:33:45.591
So, when I want to get off the phone,[br]I want to get off the phone.

0:33:45.591,0:33:46.600
I’m done.

0:33:46.600,0:33:49.279
And what I say is,[br]you know,

0:33:49.279,0:33:51.988
“I’d love to keep talking with you,[br]but I have some students waiting.”

0:33:51.988,0:33:53.159
Now I’m a professor.

0:33:53.159,0:33:55.901
Somewhere[br]there must be students waiting.

0:33:55.901,0:33:59.046
[audience laughs]

0:33:59.046,0:34:02.445
Right, I mean, it’s just,[br]it’s gotta be.

0:34:02.445,0:34:04.085
Now sometimes you get[br]in a situation like

0:34:04.085,0:34:06.347
with a telemarketer,[br]all right.

0:34:06.347,0:34:10.041
And, that’s awkward[br]because a lot of people are so polite.

0:34:10.041,0:34:11.259
I have no trouble[br]with telemarketers.

0:34:11.259,0:34:13.393
I’ll just go there with them.

0:34:13.393,0:34:14.814
All right, if you’re a telemarketer[br]and you call my house,

0:34:14.814,0:34:16.699
you have made a mistake.

0:34:16.699,0:34:17.777
[audience laughs]

0:34:17.777,0:34:18.332
All right.

0:34:18.332,0:34:19.228
“Yeah, I can’t talk right now,

0:34:19.228,0:34:20.685
but why don’t you give me[br]your home phone number,

0:34:20.685,0:34:23.437
and I’ll call you back[br]around dinnertime.”

0:34:23.437,0:34:24.743
Seinfeld did a great bit on that.

0:34:24.743,0:34:27.233
Or, if you want to be a little bit more[br]over the line,

0:34:27.233,0:34:28.517
“I’d love to talk with you about that,

0:34:28.517,0:34:32.415
“but first, I have some things I’d like[br]to sell you!”

0:34:32.415,0:34:33.048
And the funny part is,

0:34:33.048,0:34:36.579
they never realize you’re yanking[br]with them.

0:34:36.579,0:34:38.531
But if you have to hang up[br]on a telemarketer,

0:34:38.531,0:34:41.817
what you do is,[br]you hang up while you’re talking.

0:34:41.817,0:34:43.471
“Well, I think[br]that’s really interesting,

0:34:43.471,0:34:44.474
and I would love to keep—.”

0:34:44.474,0:34:48.754
You know.

0:34:48.754,0:34:51.782
I mean, talk about self-effacing!

0:34:51.782,0:34:53.988
Hanging up on yourself!

0:34:53.988,0:34:56.032
And they won’t figure it out,[br]and if they do, and they call back,

0:34:56.032,0:34:57.372
just don’t answer, all right.

0:34:57.372,0:35:01.118
So, ten years from now,[br]all anybody will remember

0:35:01.118,0:35:04.619
from this talk is hang up[br]on yourself.

0:35:04.619,0:35:05.918
The other thing is,[br]group your phone calls.

0:35:05.918,0:35:08.598
Call people right before lunch[br]or right before the end of the day,

0:35:08.598,0:35:11.981
because then they have something[br]they would rather do

0:35:11.981,0:35:14.268
than keep chitty-chatting[br]with you.

0:35:14.268,0:35:16.782
So I find that calling somebody[br]at 11:50 is a great way

0:35:16.782,0:35:18.812
to have a ten minute phone call.

0:35:18.812,0:35:20.788
Because frankly,[br]you may think you’re interesting,

0:35:20.788,0:35:23.233
but you are not more interesting[br]than lunch.

0:35:23.233,0:35:25.285
[audience laughs]

0:35:25.285,0:35:27.427
I have become very obsessive[br]about phones

0:35:27.427,0:35:28.903
and using time productively,

0:35:28.903,0:35:32.408
so I just think that everybody[br]should have something like this.

0:35:32.408,0:35:34.687
I don’t care about fashions,[br]so, you know.

0:35:34.687,0:35:35.917
I don’t have Bluetooth.

0:35:35.917,0:35:37.520
And, you know,[br]I have this big, ugly thing—

0:35:37.520,0:35:41.332
“Hi, I’m Julie from Time Life,” right?

0:35:41.332,0:35:44.504
But the thing this allows me[br]to do, because you know,

0:35:44.504,0:35:46.512
I am sort of living the limit case[br]right now of,

0:35:46.512,0:35:49.709
I’ve gotta get stuff done,[br]and I REALLY don’t have a lot of time.

0:35:49.709,0:35:52.913
So, I get an hour a day[br]where I exercise on my bike.

0:35:52.913,0:35:54.556
And this is me on my bike,[br]and if you look carefully,

0:35:54.556,0:35:56.822
you can see I’m wearing that headset,[br]and I’ve got my cell phone.

0:35:56.822,0:35:59.176
And for an hour a day,[br]I ride my bike around the neighborhood.

0:35:59.176,0:36:01.579
This is time that I’m spending[br]on the phone,

0:36:01.579,0:36:04.408
getting work done,[br]and it’s not a moment being taken away

0:36:04.408,0:36:06.479
from my wife or children.

0:36:06.479,0:36:09.943
And it turns out that I can talk[br]and ride a bike at the same time.

0:36:09.943,0:36:11.615
[audience laughs]

0:36:11.615,0:36:14.082
Amazing the skill sets I have.

0:36:14.082,0:36:17.317
So, it works better[br]in cold weather climate--

0:36:17.317,0:36:18.863
in warm weather climates.

0:36:18.863,0:36:22.057
But, I have just found[br]that having a headset frees me up,

0:36:22.057,0:36:23.638
even if it's just[br]around the house you wear a headset,

0:36:23.638,0:36:26.308
you can fold laundry,[br]it’s an absolute twofer.

0:36:26.308,0:36:29.743
And, I just think telephones[br]should have headsets,

0:36:29.743,0:36:31.881
and someday[br]we will all have the Borg implant,

0:36:31.881,0:36:34.722
and it will be a non-issue.

0:36:34.722,0:36:35.606
What else is on my desk?

0:36:35.606,0:36:37.151
I have a sort of one[br]of those address stampers,

0:36:37.151,0:36:39.523
because I got tired[br]of writing my address.

0:36:39.523,0:36:41.085
I have a box of Kleenex.

0:36:41.085,0:36:43.164
In your office at work,[br]if you’re a faculty member,

0:36:43.164,0:36:47.007
you have to have a box[br]of Kleenex.

0:36:47.007,0:36:51.021
Because if—[br]Jim is laughing.

0:36:51.021,0:36:53.268
At least if you teach the way I do—

0:36:53.268,0:36:55.679
[audience laughs]

0:36:55.679,0:36:58.931
there will be crying students[br]in your office.

0:36:58.931,0:37:00.659
And what I found[br]to diffuse a lot of that

0:37:00.659,0:37:03.438
is that I would have CS352,[br]or whatever,

0:37:03.438,0:37:05.779
written on the side[br]of the Kleenex box.

0:37:05.779,0:37:08.662
And I would turn it as I handed it[br]to them.

0:37:08.662,0:37:10.558
And they would take the Kleenex,[br]and they would be like, “Oh.”

0:37:10.558,0:37:13.947
I said, “Yeah, you’re—[br]it’s for the class.

0:37:13.947,0:37:15.806
“You’re not alone.”

0:37:15.806,0:37:17.955
So having Kleenex[br]is very important.

0:37:22.135,0:37:24.819
And “thank you” cards.

0:37:24.819,0:37:26.630
I’ll now ask the embarrassment question,

0:37:26.630,0:37:29.922
and I don’t mean to pick on you,[br]but it just points things out so well.

0:37:29.922,0:37:33.231
By show of hands,[br]who here has written a “thank you” note

0:37:33.231,0:37:34.687
that is not a quid pro quo.

0:37:34.687,0:37:35.356
I don’t mean,

0:37:35.356,0:37:38.554
“Oh, you gave me a gift,[br]I wrote you a ‘thank you’ note.”

0:37:38.554,0:37:39.815
And I mean[br]a physical “thank you” note,

0:37:39.815,0:37:41.827
with a pen and ink and paper.

0:37:41.827,0:37:43.989
Not email,[br]because email is better than nothing

0:37:43.989,0:37:45.980
[in high-pitched voice][br]but it’s that much better than nothing.

0:37:45.980,0:37:47.093
Okay.

0:37:47.093,0:37:48.881
How many people here[br]have written a “thank you” note

0:37:48.881,0:37:51.621
in the last week?

0:37:51.621,0:37:54.833
Not bad, I do better here than[br]at most places, because it is UVA.

0:37:54.833,0:37:55.521
[audience laughs]

0:37:55.521,0:37:56.701
Chivalry is not dead,[br]but that’s not the—

0:37:56.701,0:37:58.560
how many people[br]in the last month?

0:37:58.560,0:38:01.232
How many people[br]in the last year?

0:38:01.232,0:38:04.586
The fact that there[br]are a non-trivial number of hands not up

0:38:04.586,0:38:07.456
for the year means[br]that anybody who is in this audience,

0:38:07.456,0:38:11.297
his parents are going,[br]“Ooo, that way my kid.”

0:38:11.297,0:38:14.370
“Thank you” notes[br]are really important.

0:38:14.370,0:38:17.139
They’re a very tangible way

0:38:17.139,0:38:19.317
to tell someone how much[br]you appreciated things.

0:38:19.317,0:38:20.199
I have “thank you” notes with me,

0:38:20.199,0:38:22.476
and that’s because I’m actually writing[br]some later today

0:38:22.476,0:38:24.841
to some people who’ve done[br]some nice things for me recently.

0:38:24.841,0:38:25.984
And you say,[br]“Well, god, you have time for that?”

0:38:25.984,0:38:26.254
And I’m like,

0:38:26.254,0:38:28.050
“Yes, I’ve have time for that,[br]because it’s important.”

0:38:28.050,0:38:29.682
Even in my current status,

0:38:29.682,0:38:31.959
I will make time[br]to write “thank you” notes to people.

0:38:31.959,0:38:35.955
And even if[br]you’re a crafty, weasely bastard,

0:38:35.955,0:38:38.863
you should still[br]write “thank you” notes,

0:38:38.863,0:38:42.027
because it makes you so rare,

0:38:42.027,0:38:43.972
that when someone[br]gets a “thank you” note,

0:38:43.972,0:38:45.813
they will remember you,[br]all right.

0:38:45.813,0:38:47.341
It seems like the only place[br]that “thank you” notes

0:38:47.341,0:38:48.819
are really taken seriously anymore

0:38:48.819,0:38:51.164
is when people are interviewing[br]for jobs.

0:38:51.164,0:38:52.463
They now sometimes[br]write “thank you” notes

0:38:52.463,0:38:54.597
to the recruiters,

0:38:54.597,0:38:56.340
which I guess shows a sign[br]of desperation

0:38:56.340,0:38:58.499
on the part[br]of the recent graduate.

0:38:58.499,0:38:59.935
But “thank you” notes[br]are a wonderful thing,

0:38:59.935,0:39:02.124
and I would encourage[br]of all you to go out and buy a stack

0:39:02.124,0:39:03.442
at your local dime store,

0:39:03.442,0:39:06.266
and have them on your desk,[br]so that when the moment seizes you,

0:39:06.266,0:39:07.069
it’s right there.

0:39:07.069,0:39:09.271
And I leave my “thank you” notes[br]out on the desk,

0:39:09.271,0:39:10.949
readily accessible.

0:39:12.699,0:39:13.748
And as I’ve said before,

0:39:13.748,0:39:15.604
gratitude is something[br]that can go beyond cards.

0:39:15.604,0:39:17.188
When I got tenure here,

0:39:17.188,0:39:19.401
I took my whole research team[br]down to Disney World

0:39:19.401,0:39:20.794
on my nickel for a week.

0:39:20.794,0:39:22.676
And I believe in large gestures,

0:39:22.676,0:39:23.937
but, you know,[br]it was also a lot of fun.

0:39:23.937,0:39:26.236
I wanted to go, too, right.

0:39:26.236,0:39:30.366
I didn’t send them[br]without proper chaperoning, after all.

0:39:30.366,0:39:30.758
What else?

0:39:30.758,0:39:35.032
I have a paper recycling bin,[br]and this is very good,

0:39:35.032,0:39:38.388
because it helps save the planet,[br]but it also helps save my butt.

0:39:38.388,0:39:39.757
So, when I have a piece[br]of paper

0:39:39.757,0:39:41.790
that I would be throwing away,[br]I put it in that bin,

0:39:41.790,0:39:44.471
and that takes, I don’t know,[br]a couple of weeks

0:39:44.471,0:39:48.786
to get filled up[br]and then actually sent somewhere else.

0:39:48.786,0:39:49.790
And so what[br]I’ve really done here,

0:39:49.790,0:39:52.923
is I’ve created sort of[br]the Windows/Macintosh trash can

0:39:52.923,0:39:54.979
you can pull stuff back out of.

0:39:54.979,0:39:57.688
It works[br]in the real world, too.

0:39:57.688,0:39:59.705
And about once a month,[br]I go ferreting through there

0:39:59.705,0:40:02.295
to find the receipt that I didn’t think[br]I’d ever need again

0:40:02.295,0:40:03.543
that I suddenly need.

0:40:03.543,0:40:04.898
And it’s extremely handy.

0:40:04.898,0:40:07.347
I suspect that if I were giving this talk[br]in ten years,

0:40:07.347,0:40:10.167
I would say I just put it[br]in the auto-scanner,

0:40:10.167,0:40:12.038
right, because I find it[br]almost inconceivable

0:40:12.038,0:40:13.051
that ten years from now—[br]first of all,

0:40:13.051,0:40:15.415
that a lot of this stuff would be paper[br]in my hands anyway.

0:40:15.415,0:40:16.148
But if it were paper,

0:40:16.148,0:40:18.626
that I would have any notion[br]of doing anything other than

0:40:18.626,0:40:21.010
putting it on the desk where it goes, “zzzt,”[br]and it’s already scanned,

0:40:21.010,0:40:24.180
because it touched the desk,[br]all right.

0:40:24.180,0:40:26.882
You know, this kind[br]of stuff is not really hard to do.

0:40:26.882,0:40:27.953
So I think that’s[br]what’s going to happen.

0:40:27.953,0:40:32.269
And of course,[br]I have a phone book.

0:40:32.269,0:40:34.724
Notepad--I can’t live[br]without Post-It notes,

0:40:34.724,0:40:37.069
all right, I mean....

0:40:37.069,0:40:40.301
And, the view out the window[br]of the dog.

0:40:40.301,0:40:44.846
Because the dog reminds me[br]that I should be out playing with him.

0:40:44.846,0:40:46.462
We have a—[br]when I got married,

0:40:46.462,0:40:48.187
I married into a family.

0:40:48.187,0:40:49.994
I got a wife[br]and two beautiful dogs.

0:40:49.994,0:40:51.437
There’s the other one.

0:40:51.437,0:40:52.246
[audience laughs]

0:40:52.246,0:40:54.215
Could you help me[br]with a debate I’ve had with my wife?

0:40:54.215,0:40:54.971
By show of hands,

0:40:54.971,0:40:56.533
how many people[br]would semantically say,

0:40:56.533,0:40:58.417
"The dog is on the couch"?

0:40:58.417,0:41:00.210
[audience laughs]

0:41:00.210,0:41:03.744
Nobody![br]Thank you! Thank you!

0:41:03.744,0:41:07.253
Because the dog was not allowed[br]on the couch.

0:41:07.253,0:41:09.533
And my wife came in one day...

0:41:11.173,0:41:12.683
and--

0:41:12.683,0:41:14.326
anyway, thank you for agreeing[br]with me.

0:41:14.326,0:41:17.687
It makes me feel very good.

0:41:17.687,0:41:19.098
So the dog is wonderful.

0:41:19.098,0:41:20.337
The dogs have long gone on,

0:41:20.337,0:41:21.984
but they are still in our hearts[br]and our memories,

0:41:21.984,0:41:27.538
and I think of them every day,[br]and they’re still a part of my life.

0:41:27.538,0:41:29.748
I’ve presented to you[br]how I do my office,

0:41:29.748,0:41:30.662
how I do things.

0:41:30.662,0:41:32.045
It’s not the only way.

0:41:32.045,0:41:33.720
One of the best assistants[br]I’ve ever met

0:41:33.720,0:41:35.281
was a woman named Tina Cobb.

0:41:35.281,0:41:36.658
And she has a really[br]different system.

0:41:36.658,0:41:38.535
She’s a spreader.

0:41:38.535,0:41:39.193
All right.

0:41:39.193,0:41:41.013
If you think about it,[br]there’s a method to her madness.

0:41:41.013,0:41:44.085
Everything here[br]is exactly one arm’s radius

0:41:44.085,0:41:45.762
from where she sits.

0:41:45.762,0:41:48.759
You know,[br]it’s like a two-armed octopus.

0:41:48.759,0:41:50.070
And she got so much stuff done.

0:41:50.070,0:41:52.314
And I never presume[br]to tell somebody else

0:41:52.314,0:41:54.924
how to change their system[br]if their system is workin’.

0:41:54.924,0:41:57.780
Tina was much more efficient[br]than I was, so, you know,

0:41:57.780,0:41:59.603
I would just say,[br]“Look, do what works for you.”

0:41:59.603,0:42:01.581
And everybody has[br]to find the system for themselves.

0:42:01.581,0:42:04.878
But you really gotta think[br]about what makes me more efficient.

0:42:04.878,0:42:06.297
Now let’s talk about office logistics.

0:42:06.297,0:42:08.793
In most office settings,[br]people come into each other’s offices,

0:42:08.793,0:42:11.128
and proceed to suck the life[br]out of each other.

0:42:11.128,0:42:12.798
[audience laughs]

0:42:12.798,0:42:15.106
If you have a big, cushy chair[br]in your office,

0:42:15.106,0:42:17.894
you might as well[br]just slather butter all over yourself

0:42:17.894,0:42:19.528
and send yourself naked[br]into the woods

0:42:19.528,0:42:21.291
for the wild animals[br]to attack you.

0:42:21.291,0:42:23.449
[audience laughs]

0:42:23.449,0:42:25.777
I say make your office comfortable[br]for you,

0:42:25.777,0:42:28.155
and optionally comfortable[br]for others.

0:42:28.155,0:42:29.273
So no comfy chairs.

0:42:29.273,0:42:32.087
I used to have folding chairs[br]in my office,

0:42:32.087,0:42:33.176
folded up against the wall,[br]

0:42:33.176,0:42:35.098
so people who want to come in to me[br]and talk with me,

0:42:35.098,0:42:36.380
they can stand.

0:42:36.380,0:42:37.334
And I would stand up,

0:42:37.334,0:42:38.905
because then the meeting’s[br]going to be really fast,

0:42:38.905,0:42:40.936
because we want to sit down.

0:42:40.936,0:42:42.163
But then if it looks[br]it’s something

0:42:42.163,0:42:43.195
that we should have[br]a little bit more time on,

0:42:43.195,0:42:45.885
I very graciously go over[br]and open the folding chair.

0:42:45.885,0:42:48.491
I’m such a gentleman.

0:42:48.491,0:42:49.935
Some people do a different tactic[br]on this.

0:42:49.935,0:42:50.870
They have the chair[br]already there,

0:42:50.870,0:42:52.842
but they cut two inches[br]off the front leg,

0:42:52.842,0:42:54.006
so the whole time you’re[br]in their office,

0:42:54.006,0:42:55.698
you’re sort of[br]scooting yourself up.

0:42:55.698,0:42:58.463
[audience laughs]

0:42:58.463,0:42:59.922
I’m not advocating that,

0:42:59.922,0:43:02.599
but I thought it was damn clever[br]the first time I saw it.

0:43:02.599,0:43:06.627
[audience laughs]

0:43:06.627,0:43:08.378
Scheduling yourself.

0:43:08.378,0:43:09.264
Verbs are important.

0:43:09.264,0:43:12.332
You do not find time[br]for important things,

0:43:12.332,0:43:13.359
you make it.

0:43:13.359,0:43:17.639
And you make time by electing not[br]to do something else.

0:43:17.639,0:43:19.241
There’s a term from economics

0:43:19.241,0:43:22.029
that everybody should hold near and dear[br]to their heart,

0:43:22.029,0:43:25.148
and that term is[br]“opportunity cost.”

0:43:25.148,0:43:27.635
The bad thing[br]about doing something

0:43:27.635,0:43:28.756
that isn’t very valuable,

0:43:28.756,0:43:30.738
is not that it’s a bad thing[br]to have done it.

0:43:30.738,0:43:32.835
The problem is[br]that once you spend an hour doing it,

0:43:32.835,0:43:36.520
that’s an hour you can never again spend[br]in any other way.

0:43:36.520,0:43:38.315
And that’s important.

0:43:38.315,0:43:40.688
Now how do you[br]keep these unimportant things

0:43:40.688,0:43:42.062
from sucking into your life?

0:43:42.062,0:43:44.532
You learn to say no.

0:43:44.532,0:43:46.362
It’s great,[br]my youngest child Chloe

0:43:46.362,0:43:47.940
is at an age where this[br]is her new word.

0:43:47.940,0:43:49.660
About two weeks ago[br]she learned it.

0:43:49.660,0:43:51.120
And it’s like now, everything is,[br]“No!”

0:43:51.120,0:43:52.887
“No! No! No-no-no-no-no! No!”

0:43:52.887,0:43:54.664
She should be giving this talk.

0:43:54.664,0:43:55.762
[audience laughs]

0:43:55.762,0:43:57.433
And I asked her,[br]and she said, “No!”

0:43:57.433,0:43:59.576
[audience laughs]

0:43:59.576,0:44:02.207
So she’s home playing.

0:44:02.207,0:44:03.102
All right.

0:44:03.102,0:44:05.494
But we all hate to say no[br]because people ask us for help,

0:44:05.494,0:44:06.527
and we want to be gracious.

0:44:06.527,0:44:09.369
So let me teach you[br]some gentle “no’s.”

0:44:09.369,0:44:10.483
The first one is,

0:44:10.483,0:44:12.169
“I’ll do it if—[br]I’m really strapped,

0:44:12.169,0:44:14.471
“but I want to help you,[br]I don’t want you to be in the bind,

0:44:14.471,0:44:18.259
“so if nobody else steps forward,[br]I will do this for you.”

0:44:18.259,0:44:19.006
All right.

0:44:19.006,0:44:20.267
Or, “I’ll be your fallback,[br]

0:44:20.267,0:44:21.784
“but you have to keep searching[br]for somebody else.”

0:44:21.784,0:44:23.871
Now, you will find out[br]about the person’s character

0:44:23.871,0:44:25.639
at that moment,[br]because if they say,

0:44:25.639,0:44:27.769
“Great![br]Whew, I got my sucker!”

0:44:27.769,0:44:29.470
And they stop looking,

0:44:29.470,0:44:31.324
then they[br]have abused the relationship.

0:44:31.324,0:44:32.284
But if they say,[br]“That’s great!

0:44:32.284,0:44:33.913
“My stress level’s down[br]at zero,

0:44:33.913,0:44:35.611
“because now I know[br]it’s not going to be a disaster.

0:44:35.611,0:44:36.633
“But I’m going to keep looking[br]

0:44:36.633,0:44:38.877
“for somebody for whom it’s less[br]of a imposition.”

0:44:38.877,0:44:42.626
That’s a person that will get lots[br]of this sort of support.

0:44:42.626,0:44:43.795
Okay?

0:44:43.795,0:44:45.111
When I was in graduate school,

0:44:45.111,0:44:46.821
we did a moving party[br]with four people,

0:44:46.821,0:44:49.228
a lot of moving parties,[br]to carry heavy objects.

0:44:49.228,0:44:51.821
We had four people,[br]we should have had 12.

0:44:51.821,0:44:53.793
It was a long day.

0:44:53.793,0:44:55.588
And after that,[br]I adopted a new policy.

0:44:55.588,0:44:57.468
I said, “From now on,[br]when somebody says,

0:44:57.468,0:44:58.501
‘Will you help me move?’,

0:44:58.501,0:45:00.784
I’ll say,[br]‘How much stuff you got?’”

0:45:00.784,0:45:01.605
And they would tell me,[br]and I'd say,

0:45:01.605,0:45:03.864
“Hmm, that sounds[br]about like eight people.

0:45:03.864,0:45:06.372
“If you give me the names[br]of seven other people that’ll be there,

0:45:06.372,0:45:08.167
“I’ll be there.”

0:45:08.167,0:45:09.609
And I never again was[br]at a moving party

0:45:09.609,0:45:13.398
that went for 14 hours,

0:45:13.398,0:45:15.680
in January in Pittsburgh.

0:45:15.680,0:45:18.165
[audience laughs]

0:45:18.165,0:45:20.075
Everybody has good[br]and bad times.

0:45:20.075,0:45:22.406
A big thing[br]about time management is,

0:45:22.406,0:45:26.093
“Find your creative time[br]and defend it ruthlessly.”

0:45:26.093,0:45:29.417
Spend it alone,[br]Maybe at home, if you have to.

0:45:29.417,0:45:32.992
But, defend it ruthlessly.

0:45:32.992,0:45:34.836
The other thing is[br]find your dead time.

0:45:34.836,0:45:37.917
Schedule meetings, phone calls,[br]exercise, mundane stuff,

0:45:37.917,0:45:42.759
but do stuff during that[br]where you don’t need to be at your best.

0:45:42.759,0:45:43.910
And we all have these times.

0:45:43.910,0:45:45.683
And the times[br]are not at all intuitive.

0:45:45.683,0:45:47.767
I discovered[br]that my most productive time

0:45:47.767,0:45:49.752
was between 10pm[br]and midnight,

0:45:49.752,0:45:50.941
which is really weird,[br]but it’s sort of this--

0:45:50.941,0:45:54.368
for me, it’s just this burst[br]of energy right before the end.

0:45:54.368,0:45:58.554
Let’s talk about interruptions.

0:45:58.554,0:45:59.510
And interruption—

0:45:59.510,0:46:01.023
there are people who measure[br]this kind of stuff,

0:46:01.023,0:46:02.659
who have stopwatches[br]and clipboards,

0:46:02.659,0:46:04.706
and what they say[br]is that an interruption

0:46:04.706,0:46:07.163
takes typically six[br]to nine minutes,

0:46:07.163,0:46:09.127
but then there’s a four[br]to five minute recovery

0:46:09.127,0:46:11.605
to get your head back[br]into what you’re doing.

0:46:11.605,0:46:13.373
And if you’re doing something like[br]software creation,

0:46:13.373,0:46:14.791
you may never[br]get your head back there,

0:46:14.791,0:46:17.089
the cost can be infinity.

0:46:17.089,0:46:18.070
But if you do the math on that,

0:46:18.070,0:46:22.782
five interruptions[br]blows a whole hour.

0:46:22.782,0:46:25.578
So you’ve got to find ways[br]to reduce both the frequency

0:46:25.578,0:46:27.237
and the length[br]of these interruptions.

0:46:27.237,0:46:29.928
One of my favorites[br]is turn phone calls into email.

0:46:29.928,0:46:31.546
If you phone my office[br]at Carnegie Mellon, it says,

0:46:31.546,0:46:34.959
“Hi, this is Randy.[br]Please, send me email.”

0:46:34.959,0:46:38.443
[audience laughs]

0:46:38.443,0:46:40.441
Again, I presume everybody here[br]has email.

0:46:40.441,0:46:42.812
How many people here,[br]when a new message comes in,

0:46:42.812,0:46:45.385
does your computer go “ding,”[br]or makes some other noise?

0:46:45.385,0:46:47.024
Do we still have people[br]doing that?

0:46:47.024,0:46:49.102
What the heck is wrong[br]with you people?

0:46:49.102,0:46:49.653
[audience laughs]

0:46:49.653,0:46:51.048
And I love the fact[br]that computer scientists

0:46:51.048,0:46:54.489
just know nothing about anything,[br]so for years by default,

0:46:54.489,0:46:56.853
all these packages[br]out of the box would go “ding!”

0:46:56.853,0:46:58.141
every time you get a new piece[br]of email.

0:46:58.141,0:47:02.069
So we had taken a technology[br]explicitly designed

0:47:02.069,0:47:03.921
to reduce interruption,

0:47:03.921,0:47:06.308
and we turn them[br]into interruptions.

0:47:06.308,0:47:07.904
So you just gotta turn that off.

0:47:07.904,0:47:09.985
The whole point of email is you go[br]to it when you’re ready,

0:47:09.985,0:47:12.026
not you’re sitting around[br]like Pavlov’s dog, saying,

0:47:12.026,0:47:13.723
“Oh, maybe[br]I’ll get another email.”

0:47:13.723,0:47:16.191
[audience laughs]

0:47:16.191,0:47:18.799
In the same way you try[br]to not interrupt other people,

0:47:18.799,0:47:20.852
I save stuff up[br]so I have boxes[br]

0:47:20.852,0:47:23.020
for Tina,[br]or for my research group meeting.

0:47:23.020,0:47:25.420
And I put stuff in those boxes,[br]and then once a week,

0:47:25.420,0:47:26.871
or however often[br]when the box gets full,

0:47:26.871,0:47:27.993
I walk down the hall,

0:47:27.993,0:47:29.458
and I interrupt that person one time[br]and say,

0:47:29.458,0:47:32.379
“Here are the eight things I have[br]for you.”

0:47:32.379,0:47:33.512
How do you cut things short,

0:47:33.512,0:47:34.252
because people will always want

0:47:34.252,0:47:35.829
to spend more time[br]than you want to spend.

0:47:35.829,0:47:38.266
Well you can say, look,[br]somebody interrupts you and says,

0:47:38.266,0:47:38.903
“Got a few minutes?”

0:47:38.903,0:47:40.660
And I say, “Well, I’m in the middle[br]of something right now.”

0:47:40.660,0:47:41.446
And that tells them,

0:47:41.446,0:47:43.224
“I'm interrupting it,[br]I’m going to do it quickly,

0:47:43.224,0:47:45.167
“but I’ve got to get back to that.”

0:47:45.167,0:47:47.291
Or you can say,[br]“I only have five minutes.”

0:47:47.291,0:47:48.425
The great thing about that is

0:47:48.425,0:47:51.680
that later you have the privilege[br]of extending that if you so choose.

0:47:51.680,0:47:52.811
But when the five minutes are up,[br]you can say,

0:47:52.811,0:47:54.088
“Well, I said at the beginning[br]I only had five minutes,

0:47:54.088,0:47:55.297
and I really have to go now.”

0:47:55.297,0:47:58.273
So it’s a very socially polite way[br]to bound the amount of time

0:47:58.273,0:47:59.725
on the interaction.

0:47:59.725,0:48:01.627
If somebody’s in your office,[br]and they don’t get it--

0:48:01.627,0:48:03.361
now I’m not saying[br]that as a computer scientist

0:48:03.361,0:48:05.920
I have an inordinate amount of time[br]to interact—

0:48:05.920,0:48:08.988
opportunity to interact[br]with people with no social skills,

0:48:08.988,0:48:13.848
[audience laughs]

0:48:13.848,0:48:18.420
But, if you have someone[br]in your office who is just not getting it,

0:48:18.420,0:48:21.935
what you do is you stand up,[br]you walk to the door,

0:48:21.935,0:48:23.380
you compliment them.

0:48:23.380,0:48:26.522
For some reason,[br]this is a crucial part of the process.

0:48:26.522,0:48:29.634
You thank them,[br]and you shake their hand.

0:48:29.634,0:48:31.866
And if they still don’t leave,

0:48:31.866,0:48:34.617
which is pretty much a guarantee[br]that you’re dealing

0:48:34.617,0:48:37.364
with someone from my tribe,

0:48:37.364,0:48:39.978
then you’re in the doorway,[br]you just keep going.

0:48:39.978,0:48:44.158
[audience laughs]

0:48:44.158,0:48:45.787
What I have found[br]is that people don’t like it

0:48:45.787,0:48:48.351
when you look at your watch[br]while you’re talking with them.

0:48:48.351,0:48:51.392
So what I do is I put a wall[br]on the clock right behind them,

0:48:51.392,0:48:53.865
so it’s just off access[br]from their eyes,

0:48:53.865,0:48:55.532
and I can just kind of glance[br]over a little bit

0:48:55.532,0:48:56.857
when I need to see[br]what time it is.

0:48:56.857,0:48:58.521
It’s a very nice way[br]to get me information

0:48:58.521,0:49:00.851
without being rude to them.

0:49:00.851,0:49:01.746
Time journals.

0:49:01.746,0:49:02.713
Time is the commodity,

0:49:02.713,0:49:05.839
you better find out[br]where your time is going.

0:49:05.839,0:49:09.399
So monitor yourself,[br]and update it throughout the day.

0:49:09.399,0:49:10.667
You can’t wait until the end[br]of the day and say,

0:49:10.667,0:49:12.131
“What was I doing at 10:30?”

0:49:12.131,0:49:13.311
because our memories[br]aren’t that good.

0:49:13.311,0:49:16.105
So what you do,[br]and I really hope that technology

0:49:16.105,0:49:17.807
within, you know,[br]another five years or so,

0:49:17.807,0:49:19.417
will be so good[br]that the time journals

0:49:19.417,0:49:22.503
can be created automatically,[br]or at least some facsimile of it.

0:49:22.503,0:49:25.261
But until then, what we do is[br]we monitor it ourselves.

0:49:25.261,0:49:27.482
So this is what an empty time journal[br]would look like.

0:49:27.482,0:49:28.452
The details aren’t important,

0:49:28.452,0:49:30.410
but the key thing[br]is that when you fill it in,

0:49:30.410,0:49:32.940
you’ve got a bunch of categories,[br]and what I was doing.

0:49:32.940,0:49:35.032
And you can do this very informally,

0:49:35.032,0:49:39.074
but you get a lot of real data[br]about where your time went.

0:49:39.074,0:49:40.209
And it’s always very different.

0:49:40.209,0:49:42.088
Anybody who has done[br]monetary budgeting,

0:49:42.088,0:49:43.022
you look at it[br]and you go, "Wow!

0:49:43.022,0:49:45.386
"I didn't know I was spending that much[br]on dry cleaning.”

0:49:45.386,0:49:48.566
Or restaurants or--[br]it’s always a fascinating surprise.

0:49:48.566,0:49:51.486
And you always spend[br]more than you think.

0:49:51.486,0:49:52.512
But with time budgets,

0:49:52.512,0:49:54.909
you find out that the time[br]is just going wildly differently

0:49:54.909,0:49:57.063
than you would have imagined.

0:49:57.063,0:49:58.250
The best example[br]of this I know

0:49:58.250,0:50:00.591
is Turing Award winner[br]Fred Brooks’s time clocks.

0:50:00.591,0:50:03.801
He’s a brilliant computer scientist,[br]but he also has this great array

0:50:03.801,0:50:04.945
of clocks in his office,

0:50:04.945,0:50:06.638
and when you go in[br]and talk to him, he says,

0:50:06.638,0:50:08.597
“Is this meeting[br]about research or teaching?”

0:50:08.597,0:50:09.864
or whatever,

0:50:09.864,0:50:11.319
and then he[br]flips the appropriate switch,

0:50:11.319,0:50:14.063
And at the end of the week,[br]he knows exactly where his time went.

0:50:14.063,0:50:15.250
[audience laughs]

0:50:15.250,0:50:20.204
The man is a genius!

0:50:20.204,0:50:22.472
When I meet with students,

0:50:22.472,0:50:25.446
and this is, I think, just as appropriate[br]for people in the workplace,

0:50:25.446,0:50:26.481
I say,[br]“What’s your schedule?”

0:50:26.481,0:50:29.969
You have a set of fixed meetings[br]every time, every week.

0:50:29.969,0:50:32.040
And, what you have to do is,[br]you have to look at those

0:50:32.040,0:50:35.568
and identify the open blocks[br]where you’re going to waste time,

0:50:35.568,0:50:37.712
and I can tell your going to waste time[br]just by looking at.

0:50:37.712,0:50:40.641
So in this case,[br]you’ve got a class where, uh,

0:50:40.641,0:50:42.600
you’ve got a class[br]at a certain point,

0:50:42.600,0:50:43.972
and then you’ve got a gap[br]until the next class,

0:50:43.972,0:50:46.027
so I’ve identified those here.

0:50:46.027,0:50:48.006
And the gaps between classes

0:50:48.006,0:50:50.600
that in this case last an hour[br]or an hour and a half,

0:50:50.600,0:50:52.685
this is just prime time[br]to be wasted.

0:50:52.685,0:50:56.111
So what I always taught my students was,[br]make up a fake class.

0:50:56.111,0:50:58.548
The fake class is go[br]to one specific place

0:50:58.548,0:51:00.241
in the library during that hour,

0:51:00.241,0:51:01.721
and when you’re sitting there

0:51:01.721,0:51:03.757
with just you in the library[br]and your books,

0:51:03.757,0:51:06.886
there’s a pretty good chance[br]you might actually study.

0:51:06.886,0:51:09.280
So, don’t go and hang out[br]with friends for an hour,

0:51:09.280,0:51:11.548
just make that a fake class,[br]make your own little study hall.

0:51:11.548,0:51:12.454
It’s a simple trick,

0:51:12.454,0:51:13.826
but it’s amazing[br]how effective it is

0:51:13.826,0:51:17.181
when somebody[br]just explicitly does it.

0:51:17.181,0:51:18.645
When you’ve got[br]your time journal data,

0:51:18.645,0:51:19.763
what do you figure out[br]from that?

0:51:19.763,0:51:21.954
What am I doing[br]that doesn't need to be done?

0:51:21.954,0:51:23.051
What can someone else do?

0:51:23.051,0:51:24.953
I love every day[br]sort of saying,

0:51:24.953,0:51:26.620
“What am I doing[br]that I could delegate

0:51:26.620,0:51:28.687
“to somebody else?”

0:51:28.687,0:51:30.021
My sister is again laughing

0:51:30.021,0:51:33.953
because she knows who that person was[br]in our youth.

0:51:33.953,0:51:35.713
What can I do more efficiently?

0:51:35.713,0:51:37.916
And, how am I wasting[br]other people’s time?

0:51:37.916,0:51:39.155
When you get good[br]at time management,

0:51:39.155,0:51:40.920
you realize[br]that it’s a collaborative thing.

0:51:40.920,0:51:42.757
I want to make everybody[br]more efficient.

0:51:42.757,0:51:44.566
It’s not a selfish thing,[br]it’s not me against you.

0:51:44.566,0:51:49.316
It’s how do we all[br]collectively get more done.

0:51:49.316,0:51:50.909
As you push[br]on the time journal stuff,

0:51:50.909,0:51:53.581
you start to find[br]that you don’t make yourself

0:51:53.581,0:51:55.185
more efficient at work

0:51:55.185,0:51:58.126
so you can become some sort[br]of uber worker person.

0:51:58.126,0:52:01.813
You become more efficient[br]at work so you can leave at 5,

0:52:01.813,0:52:05.972
and go home[br]and be with the people that you love.

0:52:05.972,0:52:08.587
People call this work-life balance.

0:52:08.587,0:52:11.892
For the junior faculty,[br]you may have heard of it

0:52:11.892,0:52:13.029
[audience laughs]

0:52:13.029,0:52:16.498
in some sort[br]of mythical sense.

0:52:16.498,0:52:18.941
But it is possible.

0:52:18.941,0:52:21.217
I found that I worked less—

0:52:21.217,0:52:23.671
I worked fewer hours[br]after I got married,

0:52:23.671,0:52:25.317
and I got more done.

0:52:25.317,0:52:27.186
And I was alway fascinated[br]in graduate school

0:52:27.186,0:52:30.320
that the people who graduated fastest[br]with their PhD’s

0:52:30.320,0:52:33.098
were the people[br]who had a spouse and kids.

0:52:33.098,0:52:35.623
And I said, how can that be,[br]that’s like a built-in boat anchor.

0:52:35.623,0:52:36.245
[audience laughs]

0:52:36.245,0:52:37.040
All right.

0:52:37.040,0:52:39.580
You know, you got all these other demands[br]on your time,

0:52:39.580,0:52:40.788
and I’m, like, a single guy,

0:52:40.788,0:52:43.078
and I got all the time in the world,[br]and that’s the problem.

0:52:43.078,0:52:45.847
I approach it like I got all the time[br]in the world,

0:52:45.847,0:52:47.715
so my time isn’t precious.

0:52:47.715,0:52:49.551
When you got a spouse[br]and little kids,

0:52:49.551,0:52:51.844
your spouse is likely to say things[br]to you like,

0:52:51.844,0:52:53.636
“You better not be[br]in at that grad school

0:52:53.636,0:52:55.013
“more than 40 hours a week.”

0:52:55.013,0:52:56.072
So when you come in,

0:52:56.072,0:52:57.423
you’re not sitting[br]around playing computer games,

0:52:57.423,0:52:59.015
not that I ever did that.

0:52:59.015,0:53:00.507
[audience laughs]

0:53:00.507,0:53:02.670
But when you come in,[br]you’re comin' in, and you’re doing work.

0:53:02.670,0:53:04.047
And I found,[br]like most people,

0:53:04.047,0:53:06.085
that once I got married[br]and had kids,

0:53:06.085,0:53:08.161
my whole view[br]of time management really got—

0:53:08.161,0:53:10.446
I mean, we were playing[br]for real stakes now.

0:53:10.446,0:53:12.257
Because now there are people[br]who’s lives are impacted

0:53:12.257,0:53:15.446
if I’m spending too much time[br]at work.

0:53:15.446,0:53:16.579
The other thing[br]about time management,

0:53:16.579,0:53:19.244
it makes you really start[br]to look through a crystalline lens

0:53:19.244,0:53:21.007
and figure out what’s important[br]and what’s not.

0:53:21.007,0:53:23.445
I love this picture.

0:53:23.445,0:53:25.682
I’ve blanked out her name,[br]but this says,

0:53:25.682,0:53:26.733
“Blah-blah-blah-blah—,”

0:53:26.733,0:53:28.529
this is a pregnant woman,[br]and it says,

0:53:28.529,0:53:31.458
“She is worrying about the effect[br]on her unborn child

0:53:31.458,0:53:33.467
“from the sound[br]of jackhammers.”

0:53:33.467,0:53:35.695
So they're doing construction,[br]and the people here are laughing

0:53:35.695,0:53:37.387
because they can see[br]that this woman,

0:53:37.387,0:53:38.704
who’s so concerned[br]about the jackhammers

0:53:38.704,0:53:42.257
affecting her unborn child,[br]is holding a lit cigarette.

0:53:42.257,0:53:44.180
[audience laughs]

0:53:44.180,0:53:45.766
You gotta get really good[br]at saying,

0:53:45.766,0:53:48.474
“I gotta focus my time[br]and energy on the things that matter.”

0:53:48.474,0:53:50.034
And not worry[br]about the things that don’t.

0:53:50.034,0:53:53.611
Now I’m not a medical doctor,[br]and I don’t play one on TV,

0:53:53.611,0:53:55.818
but I’m willing to bet[br]that if I were the fetus,

0:53:55.818,0:53:56.323
I’d be saying,

0:53:56.323,0:53:58.093
[yelling][br]“Put the cigarette out, mom!

0:53:58.093,0:53:59.868
I can do deal[br]with the noise!”

0:53:59.868,0:54:04.173
[audience laughs]

0:54:04.173,0:54:05.880
Alrighty, so in terms of—

0:54:05.880,0:54:09.282
I want to tell you a little story[br]about effective versus efficient.

0:54:09.282,0:54:11.578
I actually was going to[br]give this talk a couple of weeks ago,

0:54:11.578,0:54:13.103
and I talked with Gabe[br]about it,

0:54:13.103,0:54:16.952
and we were going to come up here[br]as a surprise for my wife.

0:54:16.952,0:54:19.123
Her favorite musical group[br]in the whole world is “The Police,”

0:54:19.123,0:54:22.266
and has been for a long, long time,[br]they’re a wonderful group.

0:54:22.266,0:54:23.374
And so we said,

0:54:23.374,0:54:25.036
“Hey, we’re going to drive her[br]up to Charlottesville and seem them.”

0:54:25.036,0:54:26.227
We managed to get some tickets.

0:54:26.227,0:54:28.096
And I said, “Well honey,[br]as long as we’re up there,

0:54:28.096,0:54:29.317
“I promised Gabe a long time ago

0:54:29.317,0:54:30.664
“that I wanted[br]to give my time management talk,”

0:54:30.664,0:54:32.951
and she said okay,[br]because it’s about a three-hour drive,

0:54:32.951,0:54:35.762
so it's very efficient[br]to couple these two trips together.

0:54:35.762,0:54:36.642
And about two days later[br]she said,

0:54:36.642,0:54:39.395
“You know honey,[br]I know how you are with talks.

0:54:39.395,0:54:41.192
"And before you give one,[br]for a couple of days,

0:54:41.192,0:54:43.101
you start to obsess.”

0:54:43.101,0:54:46.015
[mouthing words, no sound]

0:54:46.015,0:54:48.809
And, as we talked through it,[br]she said,

0:54:48.809,0:54:50.699
“So we’re going to go up[br]on this couple’s time away"--

0:54:50.699,0:54:52.344
we’d gotten a sitter[br]to watch the kids,

0:54:52.344,0:54:55.065
“and this couple’s time away[br]is going to be eaten up

0:54:55.065,0:54:57.987
by you obsessing over[br]and preparing this talk.”

0:54:57.987,0:54:59.011
And, I thought about it,[br]and I said,

0:54:59.011,0:55:00.882
“Okay,[br]so obviously the right solution

0:55:00.882,0:55:03.245
“is we should keep our couple’s time[br]our couple’s time.

0:55:03.245,0:55:04.762
“We’ll go up,[br]we’ll see the concert,

0:55:04.762,0:55:06.195
“you know, we’ll have[br]our time together,

0:55:06.195,0:55:07.445
“and I’ll just schedule a different day,

0:55:07.445,0:55:09.822
“and I’ll go up on a one-day trip[br]and I’ll do the talk.”

0:55:09.822,0:55:12.403
And she said,[br]“Wow, that was easy!”

0:55:12.403,0:55:14.835
Right, once you frame it[br]in the right way, and you say,

0:55:14.835,0:55:18.952
“Yeah, the cost here is that[br]I have to do the drive a second time.”

0:55:18.952,0:55:21.811
But it turns out I’m doing the drive[br]with my nephew, Christopher,

0:55:21.811,0:55:23.517
and we talk,[br]and my mom turns out

0:55:23.517,0:55:25.331
so the time[br]wasn’t even dead-time,

0:55:25.331,0:55:26.321
so there was no loss at all.

0:55:26.321,0:55:27.980
But the key thing was we said,

0:55:27.980,0:55:29.138
“It’s not about efficiency,[br]

0:55:29.138,0:55:32.384
"it’s about effectiveness[br]and best overall outcome.”

0:55:32.384,0:55:33.384
And of course[br]one of the nice things

0:55:33.384,0:55:35.066
was that we did get to go[br]to “The Police” concert,

0:55:35.066,0:55:36.995
and I really want to thank Gabe[br]and Jim Aylor,

0:55:36.995,0:55:38.676
because we REALLY went[br]to the concert.

0:55:38.676,0:55:40.051
[audience laughs]

0:55:40.051,0:55:42.436
And my wife was very happy.

0:55:42.436,0:55:43.716
[audience laughs]

0:55:43.716,0:55:45.484
I’m the guy in the back,[br]saying,

0:55:45.484,0:55:47.826
“She’s not paying any attention[br]to me today!”

0:55:47.826,0:55:50.464
[audience laughs]

0:55:50.464,0:55:51.600
But it was wonderful.

0:55:51.600,0:55:53.874
And he is charming gentleman[br]in person,

0:55:53.874,0:55:56.469
he is absolutely charming.

0:55:56.469,0:55:57.744
So let’s talk[br]about procrastination.

0:55:57.744,0:56:00.347
There’s an old saying:[br]“Procrastination is the thief of time.”

0:56:00.347,0:56:01.700
Procrastination is hard.

0:56:01.700,0:56:04.000
And I have a little bit[br]of an insight here for you.

0:56:04.000,0:56:07.051
We don’t usually procrastinate[br]because we’re lazy.

0:56:07.051,0:56:09.349
Sometimes people[br]rationalize their procrastination.

0:56:09.349,0:56:11.562
They say,[br]“Well, gee, if I wait long enough,

0:56:11.562,0:56:14.148
“maybe I won’t have to do it.”

0:56:14.148,0:56:15.093
Right?

0:56:15.093,0:56:19.431
That’s true,[br]sometimes you get lucky, all right.

0:56:19.431,0:56:22.496
But--and other people say,[br]“Gee, if I start on it now,

0:56:22.496,0:56:24.081
I’m just going to spend[br]all the time on it.

0:56:24.081,0:56:27.448
“If I only give myself the last two days,[br]I’ll do it in two days,

0:56:27.448,0:56:30.091
“because as the work expands[br]to fill the time available—

0:56:30.091,0:56:31.282
Parkinson’s Law.”

0:56:31.282,0:56:33.636
That’s marginally true.

0:56:33.636,0:56:37.411
But I think the key balance here is[br]to understand that doing things

0:56:37.411,0:56:40.733
at the last minute[br]is really expensive.

0:56:40.733,0:56:43.670
And it’s just much more expensive[br]than doing it just

0:56:43.670,0:56:45.446
before the last minute.

0:56:45.446,0:56:48.309
So if you’re doing something,[br]and you can still mail it

0:56:48.309,0:56:50.164
through the US mail,[br]you have suddenly avoided

0:56:50.164,0:56:52.479
the “Oh my god,[br]I’ve gotta do the whole FedEx thing!”

0:56:52.479,0:56:53.921
Now, I love Fed-Ex.

0:56:53.921,0:56:58.417
FedEx supports our whole universal habit[br]of procrastination.

0:56:58.417,0:57:00.960
But it also allows us[br]to get stuff there when it really has

0:57:00.960,0:57:03.028
to be there in a hurry,[br]so that's a wonderful thing.

0:57:03.028,0:57:06.022
But I think you have to,[br]you have to realize that

0:57:06.022,0:57:07.558
if you push things right up[br]to the deadline,

0:57:07.558,0:57:09.632
that’s where all the stress[br]comes from,

0:57:09.632,0:57:11.973
because now[br]you can’t reach people.

0:57:11.973,0:57:14.277
If somebody is out of the office[br]for just one day,

0:57:14.277,0:57:15.375
your whole plan is upset,

0:57:15.375,0:57:17.912
so you really have to work hard[br]on this kind of stuff.

0:57:17.912,0:57:19.534
The other thing is that deadlines[br]are really important.

0:57:19.534,0:57:21.148
We are all essentially[br]deadline-driven,

0:57:21.148,0:57:23.184
so if you have something[br]that isn’t due for a long time,

0:57:23.184,0:57:26.246
make up a fake deadline,[br]and act like it’s real.

0:57:26.246,0:57:27.857
And that's wonderful[br]because those are the deadlines,

0:57:27.857,0:57:30.150
when push comes to shove,[br]you can slip 'em by a couple of days,

0:57:30.150,0:57:33.590
and it’s all right,[br]so they’re less stressful.

0:57:33.590,0:57:35.172
If you are procrastinating,

0:57:35.172,0:57:38.252
you’ve gotta find some way to get back[br]into your comfort zone.

0:57:38.252,0:57:40.248
Identify why you’re not enthusiastic.

0:57:40.248,0:57:41.532
Whenever I procrastinate[br]on something,

0:57:41.532,0:57:43.656
there’s always a deep[br]psychological reason.

0:57:43.656,0:57:45.624
Usually it’s I’m afraid[br]of being embarrassed

0:57:45.624,0:57:47.681
because I don’t think[br]I’ll do well,

0:57:47.681,0:57:49.603
or I'm afraid[br]I'm going to fail at it.

0:57:49.603,0:57:53.899
And, sometimes it involves[br]asking somebody for something.

0:57:53.899,0:57:56.322
And one of the most magical things[br]I’ve learned in my life

0:57:56.322,0:57:59.599
is that sometimes[br]you just have to ask

0:57:59.599,0:58:01.234
and wonderful things happen.

0:58:01.234,0:58:02.541
But you just have to,

0:58:02.541,0:58:05.924
you know, step out[br]and do that.

0:58:05.924,0:58:09.343
I won the parent lottery,[br]I have just wonderful parents.

0:58:09.343,0:58:12.193
And my dad unfortunately[br]passed away not too long ago.

0:58:12.193,0:58:13.644
But this is one[br]of my favorite photographs,

0:58:13.644,0:58:15.262
because my dad[br]was such a smart guy,

0:58:15.262,0:58:17.545
I could almost never surprise him[br]or impress him,

0:58:17.545,0:58:19.320
because he was just that good.

0:58:19.320,0:58:21.426
But we were down on a family vacation[br]at Disney World,

0:58:21.426,0:58:22.470
and the Monorails were going by,

0:58:22.470,0:58:23.847
and we were going to[br]board the Monorail,

0:58:23.847,0:58:26.363
and we noticed that in the front,[br]up here in the cabin,

0:58:26.363,0:58:27.968
I don’t know if you can see it[br]in this picture,

0:58:27.968,0:58:29.701
but there’s a engineer[br]who drives the Monorail,

0:58:29.701,0:58:31.963
and there were actually guests[br]up in there with him,

0:58:31.963,0:58:33.456
which is kind of unusual.

0:58:33.456,0:58:35.021
My dad and I were talking[br]about that,

0:58:35.021,0:58:36.393
and I knew,

0:58:36.393,0:58:38.127
because I’ve done some consulting[br]for Disney.

0:58:38.127,0:58:38.719
My dad’s saying,

0:58:38.719,0:58:41.739
"They probably have to be special VIPs,[br]or something like that.”

0:58:41.739,0:58:42.984
I said, “There is a trick.

0:58:42.984,0:58:45.924
“There is a special way you get[br]into that cabin.”

0:58:45.924,0:58:47.009
And he said,[br]“Really, what is it?”

0:58:47.009,0:58:48.577
And I said, “I’ll show you.[br]Dylan, come with me.”

0:58:48.577,0:58:49.915
And Dylan, who’s—

0:58:49.915,0:58:51.465
the back of his head[br]you can see there,

0:58:51.465,0:58:52.859
we walk up,[br]and I whisper to Dylan,

0:58:52.859,0:58:55.505
[whispering][br]“Ask the man if we can ride[br]in the front.”

0:58:55.505,0:58:56.170
[audience laughs]

0:58:56.170,0:58:58.482
And we go to the attendant,[br]and the attendant says,

0:58:58.482,0:58:59.214
“Why, yes you can.”

0:58:59.214,0:59:01.448
And he opens the gate,[br]and my dad is just like….

0:59:01.448,0:59:02.747
[audience laughs]

0:59:02.747,0:59:06.665
“I told you there was a trick,[br]I didn’t say it was hard.”

0:59:06.665,0:59:09.953
And sometimes all you have to do[br]is ask.

0:59:09.953,0:59:11.793
And it’s that easy.

0:59:11.793,0:59:12.871
Let’s talk about delegation.

0:59:12.871,0:59:14.835
Nobody operates[br]individually anymore.

0:59:14.835,0:59:18.615
And you can accomplish a lot more[br]when you have help.

0:59:18.615,0:59:20.972
However,[br]most people delegate very poorly.

0:59:20.972,0:59:22.524
They treat delegation[br]as dumping.

0:59:22.524,0:59:25.738
“I don’t have time to do this,[br]you take care of it.”

0:59:25.738,0:59:28.575
You know, and then they micromanage,[br]and it's just a disaster.

0:59:28.575,0:59:29.310
The first thing[br]if you’re going to

0:59:29.310,0:59:31.173
delegate something[br]to a subordinate

0:59:31.173,0:59:33.505
is you grant them authority[br]with responsibility.

0:59:33.505,0:59:34.717
You don’t tell somebody,

0:59:34.717,0:59:37.099
“Go take care of this,[br]but if you need to spend any money,

0:59:37.099,0:59:38.696
you gotta come back to me[br]for approval.”

0:59:38.696,0:59:40.682
Uh-uh,[br]that’s not empowering them.

0:59:40.682,0:59:42.053
That’s telling them[br]that you don't trust them.

0:59:42.053,0:59:43.387
If I trust you enough[br]to do the work,

0:59:43.387,0:59:45.432
I trust you enough[br]to give you the resources,

0:59:45.432,0:59:46.604
and the budget,[br]and the time,

0:59:46.604,0:59:48.535
and whatever else you need[br]to get it done.

0:59:48.535,0:59:50.184
You give them the whole package.

0:59:50.184,0:59:51.605
The other thing is,[br]delegate

0:59:51.605,0:59:54.027
but always do the ugliest job[br]yourself.

0:59:54.027,0:59:56.497
So when we need[br]to vacuum the lab before a demo,

0:59:56.497,0:59:59.307
I bring in the vacuum cleaner,[br]and I vacuum it.

0:59:59.307,1:00:02.111
All right, do the dirtiest job yourself,[br]so it’s very clear

1:00:02.111,1:00:04.967
that you’re willing to still get the dirt[br]on your hands.

1:00:04.967,1:00:06.330
Treat your people well.

1:00:06.330,1:00:07.545
People are the greatest resource,

1:00:07.545,1:00:10.265
and if you are fortunate enough[br]to have people who report to you,

1:00:10.265,1:00:11.765
treat them dignity,[br]respect,

1:00:11.765,1:00:13.997
and, you know,[br]to sound a little bit corny,

1:00:13.997,1:00:15.676
the kind of love[br]that they should have

1:00:15.676,1:00:17.374
from someone who cares[br]about them

1:00:17.374,1:00:18.809
and their professional development.

1:00:18.809,1:00:20.183
And for crying out loud,

1:00:20.183,1:00:23.335
staff and secretaries[br]are your lifeline.

1:00:23.335,1:00:24.826
If you don’t think[br]you should treat them well

1:00:24.826,1:00:26.405
because it’s the decent thing[br]to do,

1:00:26.405,1:00:28.316
at least treat them well[br]because if you don’t,

1:00:28.316,1:00:30.143
they will get you.

1:00:30.143,1:00:31.388
[audience laughs]

1:00:31.388,1:00:33.304
And they will get you good.

1:00:33.304,1:00:36.008
And you will deserve it,[br]and I will applaud them.

1:00:36.008,1:00:39.545
[audience laughs]

1:00:39.545,1:00:41.594
My giving a talk[br]on time management

1:00:41.594,1:00:43.840
with Alf Weaver in the audience—[br]where is Alf?

1:00:43.840,1:00:45.205
There he is.

1:00:45.205,1:00:47.485
That’s like talking[br]about surviving the Jonestown flood

1:00:47.485,1:00:49.961
if Noah's in the audience.

1:00:49.961,1:00:51.706
One of the things Alf Weaver[br]taught me,

1:00:51.706,1:00:54.370
is whether it’s to a colleague,[br]or to a subordinate,

1:00:54.370,1:00:57.737
if you want to get something done,[br]you cannot be vague.

1:00:57.739,1:01:01.081
And he said, “You give somebody[br]a specific thing to do,

1:01:01.081,1:01:02.930
“a specific date and time.

1:01:02.930,1:01:05.369
“‘Thursday’ is not a specific time.

1:01:05.369,1:01:09.379
“‘Thursday at 3:22[br]gets somebody’s attention.

1:01:09.379,1:01:12.879
“And you give them a specific penalty[br]or reward that will happen

1:01:12.879,1:01:14.709
if that deadline for that thing[br]is not met.”

1:01:14.709,1:01:15.773
And then he paused,[br]and he said,

1:01:15.773,1:01:18.687
“And remember, the penalty[br]or the reward has to be for them...”

1:01:18.687,1:01:19.319
[audience laughs]

1:01:19.319,1:01:21.077
"not you!"

1:01:21.077,1:01:23.137
“I will be screwed over[br]if you don’t meet that deadline!”

1:01:23.147,1:01:24.960
“Oh, bummer.”

1:01:24.960,1:01:26.434
[audience laughs]

1:01:26.434,1:01:31.453
This is an important point[br]to not get wrong.

1:01:31.453,1:01:33.356
Challenge people.

1:01:33.356,1:01:35.214
I’ve been told that one[br]of the tricks

1:01:35.214,1:01:38.409
is you delegate[br]until they complain.

1:01:38.409,1:01:39.887
I don’t know[br]about until they complain,

1:01:39.887,1:01:42.373
but what I’ve found[br]is that under-delegation is a problem.

1:01:42.373,1:01:45.259
People are usually yearning[br]for the opportunity to do more,

1:01:45.259,1:01:46.606
they want to be challenged.

1:01:46.606,1:01:48.493
They want to prove to you[br]and themselves

1:01:48.493,1:01:51.927
they can be more capable,[br]so let them.

1:01:51.927,1:01:53.948
Communication has to be clear.

1:01:53.948,1:01:56.300
So many times people get upset[br]with their bosses

1:01:56.300,1:01:57.923
because there’s a misunderstanding,

1:01:57.923,1:01:59.589
and particularly in a time[br]of email,

1:01:59.589,1:02:01.327
it’s so easy to communicate[br]via email,

1:02:01.327,1:02:03.200
even if you’ve had[br]a face-to-face conversation,

1:02:03.200,1:02:05.910
send a two-line email,[br]just to be specific afterwards.

1:02:05.910,1:02:07.979
And it’s not like we’re trying[br]to be all lawyer-like,

1:02:07.979,1:02:10.057
it’s just that[br]as Judge Wapner said,

1:02:10.057,1:02:12.897
“Get it in writing,”[br]if you remember “The People’s Court.”

1:02:12.897,1:02:13.938
And Judge Wapner said,

1:02:13.938,1:02:15.312
“If there isn’t a problem,[br]it’s not a problem,

1:02:15.312,1:02:18.130
“it didn’t take you much time,[br]but if there ever is a problem—

1:02:18.130,1:02:19.715
“well, wait a second,[br]there won’t be a problem

1:02:19.715,1:02:21.611
“because there’s a written record.”

1:02:21.611,1:02:23.432
And that’s the magic,[br]there won’t be a confusion,

1:02:23.432,1:02:26.149
because you can’t disagree[br]about the written word.

1:02:26.149,1:02:28.787
Don’t give people[br]how you want them do it,

1:02:28.787,1:02:30.141
tell them what you want[br]them to do.

1:02:30.141,1:02:31.815
Give them objectives,[br]not procedures.

1:02:31.815,1:02:35.004
Let them surprise you[br]with a way of solving a problem

1:02:35.004,1:02:36.735
you would never have imagined.

1:02:36.735,1:02:41.230
Sometimes those solutions[br]are mind-blowing, good or bad.

1:02:41.230,1:02:43.741
But they’re really much more fun[br]than just having them

1:02:43.741,1:02:45.099
do it the way you[br]would’ve done it.

1:02:45.099,1:02:47.110
And you know what,[br]if you’re in a university,

1:02:47.110,1:02:49.540
your job should be[br]to have people smarter than you,

1:02:49.540,1:02:50.706
i.e. your students,

1:02:50.706,1:02:53.413
and they will come up[br]with stuff you would never thought of.

1:02:53.413,1:02:55.821
Also, tell people the relative importance[br]of each task.

1:02:55.821,1:02:57.605
I mean, so many people say,[br]my boss is an ogre,

1:02:57.605,1:02:59.361
they gave me five things to do.

1:02:59.361,1:03:02.139
I’m like, “Well did they tell you which one[br]was most important?”

1:03:02.139,1:03:04.695
“Oh yeah.[br]Hmm, I guess I could ask that.”

1:03:04.695,1:03:06.320
Knowing that if you[br]have five things,

1:03:06.320,1:03:08.417
which are the ones[br]to get done is really important

1:03:08.417,1:03:11.163
because if you’re flying blind,[br]you got a 20% chance

1:03:11.163,1:03:14.216
of gettin' them done[br]in the right order.

1:03:14.216,1:03:17.037
And delegation[br]can never be done too young.

1:03:17.037,1:03:19.388
[audience laughs]

1:03:19.388,1:03:25.466
Does everyone see the difference[br]in the two pictures?

1:03:25.466,1:03:28.974
This is my daughter Chloe,[br]I love her to death,

1:03:28.974,1:03:31.669
but I want her to grow up[br]to be a wonderful person,

1:03:31.669,1:03:34.415
and I know the sooner[br]she holds her own bottle,

1:03:34.415,1:03:37.559
the better.

1:03:37.559,1:03:39.419
Sociology:[br]beware upward delegations.

1:03:39.419,1:03:42.127
Sometimes you try to delegate,[br]people try to hand it back to you.

1:03:42.127,1:03:43.892
One of the best things[br]I ever saw was someone

1:03:43.892,1:03:45.576
who had a secretary trying[br]to say,

1:03:45.576,1:03:47.401
“I can’t do this,[br]you’ll have to take it back.”

1:03:47.402,1:03:49.202
And he just put his hands[br]behind his back,

1:03:49.202,1:03:51.808
and took a step backwards.

1:03:51.808,1:03:53.442
And then he waited.

1:03:53.442,1:03:55.722
And then[br]eventually the secretary said,

1:03:55.722,1:03:58.594
“Or maybe I could[br]find this other solution.”

1:03:58.594,1:03:59.573
And he said,[br]“That’s wonderful!

1:03:59.573,1:04:02.103
“I’m so proud you thought[br]of that.”

1:04:02.103,1:04:05.064
It was just an elegant gesture.

1:04:05.064,1:04:06.540
Reinforce behavior[br]you want repeated.

1:04:06.540,1:04:08.673
One of my favorite stories[br]in The One-Minute Manager

1:04:08.673,1:04:09.743
is he talks about,[br]did you ever wonder

1:04:09.743,1:04:12.674
how they got the killer whales[br]to jump through the hoop?

1:04:12.674,1:04:15.233
If they did it like[br]modern American office managers,

1:04:15.233,1:04:16.682
they would yell[br]at the killer whale,

1:04:16.682,1:04:18.256
“Jump through the hoop!”

1:04:18.256,1:04:20.430
And every time the killer whale[br]didn't jump through the hoop,

1:04:20.430,1:04:21.509
they’d hit it with a stick.

1:04:21.509,1:04:23.442
[audience laughs]

1:04:23.442,1:04:23.715
Right?

1:04:23.715,1:04:26.228
I mean, this is how we train people[br]in the office place.

1:04:26.228,1:04:27.774
Read the book if you want[br]to see how they actually do it,

1:04:27.774,1:04:29.657
because I’m curious.

1:04:29.657,1:04:32.404
I know now, but it’s really cool[br]how they get them to do it.

1:04:32.404,1:04:34.062
So reinforce behavior[br]you want repeated.

1:04:34.062,1:04:35.861
When people do things[br]that you like,

1:04:37.317,1:04:37.567
praise them[br]and thank them.

1:04:37.567,1:04:40.160
That’s worth more than any amount[br]of monetary reward,

1:04:40.160,1:04:41.495
or a little plaque.

1:04:41.495,1:04:43.999
People really like[br]to just be told straight up,

1:04:43.999,1:04:47.065
“Thank you, I really appreciate[br]that you did a good job.”

1:04:47.065,1:04:48.166
The other thing is that

1:04:48.166,1:04:49.727
if you don't want things[br]delegated back up to you,

1:04:49.727,1:04:51.152
don’t learn how to do them!

1:04:51.152,1:04:52.620
I take great pride,[br]I don’t know how

1:04:52.620,1:04:54.714
to run photocopiers[br]and fax machines,

1:04:54.714,1:04:56.899
and I ain’t going to learn!

1:04:56.899,1:05:00.535
That’s certainly not how[br]I’m going to spend my remaining time.

1:05:00.535,1:05:02.724
Meetings: the average executive[br]spends more than 40%

1:05:02.724,1:05:03.930
of his or her time[br]in a meeting.

1:05:03.930,1:05:05.663
My advice is[br]when you have a meeting,

1:05:05.663,1:05:07.713
lock the door,[br]unplug the phone,

1:05:07.713,1:05:10.340
and take everybody’s[br]BlackBerrys.

1:05:10.340,1:05:12.386
Because if it’s worth our time,[br]it’s worth our time.

1:05:12.386,1:05:15.247
If it’s not worth our time,[br]it’s not worth our time,

1:05:15.247,1:05:17.097
but I don’t have any interest[br]in being in a room

1:05:17.097,1:05:20.248
with six people[br]who are all half there.

1:05:20.248,1:05:21.943
Because that’s very inefficient.

1:05:21.943,1:05:24.108
I don’t think meetings[br]should ever last more than an hour,

1:05:24.108,1:05:25.593
with very rare exception.

1:05:25.593,1:05:26.883
And I think that[br]there should be an agenda.

1:05:26.883,1:05:28.646
I got into a great habit a couple[br]of years ago

1:05:28.646,1:05:29.449
when I just started saying,

1:05:29.449,1:05:31.953
“If there’s no agenda,[br]I won’t attend.”

1:05:31.953,1:05:32.857
And the great thing[br]about that is

1:05:32.857,1:05:34.634
whoever called the meeting[br]had to actually think

1:05:34.634,1:05:37.162
before they showed up[br]about why we were supposed to be there,

1:05:37.162,1:05:38.313
because otherwise it’s like,[br]“Well, why are we here?”

1:05:38.313,1:05:40.949
Because we had a meeting,[br]it’s on all of our calendars.

1:05:40.949,1:05:43.329
It’s just a classic Dilbert moment.

1:05:43.329,1:05:46.251
So, most important thing[br]about meetings,

1:05:46.251,1:05:49.040
and again, this comes[br]from The One-Minute Manager,

1:05:49.040,1:05:50.082
one-minute minutes.

1:05:50.082,1:05:51.223
At the end of the meeting,

1:05:51.223,1:05:53.510
somebody has to have been[br]assigned the scribe,

1:05:53.510,1:05:57.570
and they write down in one minute[br]or less what decisions got made,

1:05:57.570,1:06:00.021
and who is responsible[br]for what by when.

1:06:00.021,1:06:01.192
And then email it out[br]to everybody,

1:06:01.192,1:06:02.387
because if you don’t do that,

1:06:02.387,1:06:04.212
you have your next weekly meeting [br]next week,

1:06:04.212,1:06:07.136
and you all sitting around going,[br]“Now who was going to do this?”

1:06:07.136,1:06:08.235
It’s very inefficient.

1:06:08.235,1:06:11.765
And it’s so fast[br]to just do these one-minute minutes.

1:06:11.765,1:06:13.349
Let’s talk about technology.

1:06:13.349,1:06:14.580
People—you know,[br]I’m a computer scientist,

1:06:14.580,1:06:17.785
so they say which gadget[br]will make me more time efficient?

1:06:17.785,1:06:20.551
And I don’t have an answer for that,[br]it’s all idiosyncratic.

1:06:20.551,1:06:21.981
But I will tell you[br]that my favorite comment

1:06:21.981,1:06:23.411
about technology comes[br]from a janitor

1:06:23.411,1:06:25.821
at the University of Central Florida,[br]who said,

1:06:25.821,1:06:28.916
“Computers are faster,[br]they just take longer.”

1:06:28.916,1:06:32.347
[audience laughs]

1:06:32.347,1:06:34.578
That’s zen, right there.

1:06:34.578,1:06:36.316
So, that’s another way[br]of saying,

1:06:36.316,1:06:38.209
only use technology[br]that’s worth it.

1:06:38.209,1:06:39.327
And worth it is,

1:06:39.327,1:06:41.381
end to end,[br]did it make me more efficient?

1:06:41.381,1:06:45.479
And that depends on how you work,[br]and we’re all different.

1:06:45.479,1:06:47.820
And remember[br]that technology is getting insane.

1:06:47.820,1:06:49.783
I walked into McDonald’s,[br]and I ordered, you know,

1:06:49.783,1:06:51.232
Happy Meal number 2,[br]and they said,

1:06:51.232,1:06:53.410
“Would you like a cell phone[br]with that?”

1:06:53.410,1:06:55.481
[audience laughs]

1:06:55.481,1:06:58.827
I went to the grocery store[br]to buy 16 slices of american cheese,

1:06:58.827,1:07:02.070
and you get Grolier’s encyclopedia,[br]so with 16 slices of cheese,

1:07:02.070,1:07:04.496
you get all of man’s knowledge[br]for free.

1:07:04.496,1:07:10.332
[audience laughs]

1:07:10.332,1:07:13.272
That’s just spooky scary.

1:07:13.272,1:07:16.904
And remember that technology[br]really has to be something

1:07:16.904,1:07:18.063
that makes your life better.

1:07:18.063,1:07:19.315
You guys may have seen this.

1:07:19.315,1:07:26.809
I just find it very humorous.

1:07:26.809,1:07:28.007
[bang!]

1:07:28.007,1:07:32.784
[audience laughs]

1:07:32.784,1:07:34.531
[bang! bang!]

1:07:34.531,1:07:39.539
[bang! bang! bang! crash!]

1:07:39.539,1:07:45.398
So, only use technology[br]that helps you.

1:07:45.398,1:07:47.071
I find that technology is good

1:07:47.071,1:07:49.663
if it allows you to do things[br]in a new way.

1:07:49.663,1:07:52.282
Just doing the same things[br]a little bit faster

1:07:52.282,1:07:53.293
with technology is nice,

1:07:53.293,1:07:55.515
but when technology changes[br]the work flow….

1:07:55.515,1:07:57.355
So I was carving pumpkins[br]a few years ago,

1:07:57.355,1:07:58.889
and this is F.M.,[br]a good friend of mine,

1:07:58.889,1:08:00.531
and I don’t know[br]if you can see it,

1:08:00.531,1:08:02.389
but down by her right knee[br]is a pattern,

1:08:02.389,1:08:04.017
and you lay this pattern[br]over the pumpkin,

1:08:04.017,1:08:05.886
and you get[br]this little special carving knife,

1:08:05.886,1:08:06.708
and you can,

1:08:06.708,1:08:09.710
instead of these amateurish pumpkins,[br]like I made,

1:08:09.710,1:08:12.583
you get this sort of[br]“howling at the moon,”

1:08:12.583,1:08:14.670
And her husband Jeff[br]and I thought this was really cool,

1:08:14.670,1:08:18.452
but in a sign of a reactionary[br]burning man kind of a moment,

1:08:18.452,1:08:21.999
we grabbed our power drills,

1:08:21.999,1:08:25.538
and we carved our pumpkins[br]that way!

1:08:25.538,1:08:27.856
Use technology[br]if it changes the way you do things,

1:08:27.856,1:08:28.833
because you get—

1:08:28.833,1:08:31.004
and believe me,[br]the results of a power drill,

1:08:31.004,1:08:34.284
you get these little—[br]oh, it’s just gorgeous.

1:08:34.284,1:08:35.351
Let’s talk briefly about email,

1:08:35.351,1:08:37.627
because email is such a large part[br]of all our lives.

1:08:37.627,1:08:40.032
First off,[br]don’t ever delete any of it.

1:08:40.032,1:08:40.827
Save all of it.

1:08:40.827,1:08:42.868
I started doing this[br]ten years ago.

1:08:42.878,1:08:45.666
An interesting thing[br]is that all the historians talk about,

1:08:45.666,1:08:49.559
“Oh, it’s such a shame[br]we don’t have people keeping diaries,

1:08:49.559,1:08:50.486
“we don’t know[br]what their day is like.”

1:08:50.486,1:08:52.714
I’m like,[br]“You fools!”

1:08:52.714,1:08:55.744
We have just entered a society,[br]circa about ten years ago,

1:08:55.744,1:08:57.083
and I’m a living example of it,

1:08:57.083,1:08:59.503
every piece[br]of my correspondence

1:08:59.503,1:09:02.774
is not only saved,[br]it’s searchable.

1:09:02.774,1:09:05.803
So if I were, you know,[br]a person of merit, a historian—

1:09:05.803,1:09:07.527
which is a BIG stretch—

1:09:07.527,1:09:11.140
a historian could actually look[br]at my patterns of communication

1:09:11.140,1:09:13.760
much better[br]than the most compulsive diary writer.

1:09:13.760,1:09:17.119
Now we could talk about whether[br]or not I’m being introspective,

1:09:17.119,1:09:18.462
that’s about content,

1:09:18.462,1:09:21.283
but in terms of quantity,[br]it’s great.

1:09:21.283,1:09:22.584
And of course,[br]you can save your email,

1:09:22.584,1:09:24.336
and you can search it,[br]and it’s just wonderful

1:09:24.336,1:09:26.693
because you can pull back stuff[br]from five years ago.

1:09:26.693,1:09:29.784
So never delete your email.

1:09:29.784,1:09:31.428
Here’s a big email trick.

1:09:31.428,1:09:35.833
If you want to get something done,[br]do not send the email to five people.

1:09:35.833,1:09:38.018
“Hey, could somebody[br]take care of this?”

1:09:38.018,1:09:39.487
Every one[br]of those five recipients

1:09:39.487,1:09:41.577
is thinking one,[br]and only one thing,

1:09:41.577,1:09:43.019
“I deleted it first!”

1:09:43.019,1:09:46.201
[audience laughs]

1:09:46.201,1:09:49.584
“So, the other four people,[br]will take care of this, I don’t have to.”

1:09:49.584,1:09:51.809
So you send it to one,[br]and only one, person.

1:09:51.809,1:09:53.267
But if you really want it[br]to be done,

1:09:53.267,1:09:55.348
send it to somebody who can do it,[br]tell them—

1:09:55.348,1:09:56.485
again, Alf Weaver—

1:09:56.485,1:09:58.457
specific things,[br]specific time,

1:09:58.457,1:10:01.200
and then the penalty[br]can be more subtle,

1:10:01.200,1:10:04.424
like you just CC their boss.

1:10:04.424,1:10:06.028
All right.

1:10:06.028,1:10:07.694
And the other thing--[br]and I’ve had to teach—

1:10:07.694,1:10:10.399
I had this conversation[br]with every student in my entire career,

1:10:10.399,1:10:11.651
because they send email,

1:10:11.651,1:10:14.105
and then they just wait[br]for the person to respond.

1:10:14.105,1:10:17.233
I say, “If the person has not responded[br]within 48 hours,

1:10:17.233,1:10:18.751
"it’s okay to nag them.

1:10:18.751,1:10:20.733
“And the reason it’s okay[br]to nag them,

1:10:20.733,1:10:22.865
“because if they haven’t responded[br]within 48 hours,

1:10:22.865,1:10:27.217
“the chance that they are ever[br]going to respond is zero.”

1:10:27.217,1:10:29.658
I mean, maybe not zero,[br]maybe that small.

1:10:29.658,1:10:30.522
But in my experience,

1:10:30.522,1:10:32.739
if people don’t respond to you[br]within 48 hours,

1:10:32.739,1:10:34.457
you’ll probably never hear[br]from them,

1:10:34.457,1:10:37.673
so just start nagging ‘em.

1:10:37.673,1:10:41.527
Let’s talk about the care[br]and feeding of bosses.

1:10:41.527,1:10:44.943
There’s a phrase,[br]“Managing from beneath.”

1:10:44.943,1:10:46.626
Because we all know[br]that all bosses are idiots.

1:10:46.626,1:10:48.085
That’s certainly the expression,[br]you know

1:10:48.085,1:10:50.985
the sense I’ve gotten[br]from everybody who has a boss.

1:10:50.985,1:10:52.658
When you have a boss,[br]write things down,

1:10:52.658,1:10:54.317
do that clear communication thing.

1:10:54.317,1:10:56.110
Ask them,[br]“When is our next meeting?

1:10:56.110,1:10:58.084
“What do you want me[br]to have done by then?”,

1:10:58.084,1:10:59.905
so you’ve got sort of a contract.

1:10:59.905,1:11:01.961
“Who can I turn to for help,[br]besides you,

1:11:01.961,1:11:03.550
“because I don’t want[br]to bother you.”

1:11:03.550,1:11:07.573
And remember, your boss wants a result,[br]not an excuse.

1:11:07.573,1:11:09.080
General advice[br]on vacations.

1:11:09.080,1:11:11.244
Phone callers[br]should get two options:

1:11:11.244,1:11:13.029
the first one is,[br]when you’re on vacation,

1:11:13.029,1:11:16.062
the first option is,[br]“Contact John Smith, not me.

1:11:16.062,1:11:16.752
“I’m out of the office,

1:11:16.752,1:11:18.897
“but this person can help you now[br]if it’s urgent.”

1:11:18.897,1:11:21.363
Or, “Call back when I’m back.”

1:11:21.363,1:11:22.416
Why? Because you don’t want[br]to come back

1:11:22.416,1:11:25.101
to a long sequence[br]of phone messages saying, you know,

1:11:25.101,1:11:26.680
“Hey Randy, can you help me[br]get care of this?”

1:11:26.680,1:11:27.770
And you call them back,[br]and you know,

1:11:27.770,1:11:28.775
you’ve been on vacation[br]for a week,

1:11:28.775,1:11:30.431
they already solved it.

1:11:30.431,1:11:32.268
And the other thing[br]is that it's not a vacation

1:11:32.268,1:11:34.959
if you’re reading email.

1:11:34.959,1:11:35.543
All right.

1:11:35.543,1:11:36.424
Trust me on that.

1:11:36.424,1:11:39.026
It’s not a vacation[br]if you’re reading email.

1:11:39.026,1:11:40.748
I can stay in my house[br]all weekend,

1:11:40.748,1:11:42.810
and not read email,[br]and it’s a vacation.

1:11:42.810,1:11:45.312
But if I go to Hawaii,[br]and I’ve got a BlackBerry,

1:11:45.312,1:11:47.819
I’m not on vacation.

1:11:47.819,1:11:48.541
And I know this,

1:11:48.541,1:11:50.277
when I got married,[br]my wife and I got married,

1:11:50.277,1:11:52.651
we left our reception[br]in a hot air balloon,

1:11:52.651,1:11:55.690
which did not have wireless[br]on it.

1:11:55.690,1:11:59.267
And dean Jim Morris at the time—

1:11:59.267,1:12:00.327
we took a month-long honeymoon,

1:12:00.327,1:12:03.592
which was great,[br]but not really long enough.

1:12:03.592,1:12:05.131
And Jim Morris said—[br]I said,

1:12:05.131,1:12:06.089
“I’m not going to be reachable[br]for a month.”

1:12:06.089,1:12:07.511
And Jim said,[br]“That’s not acceptable.”

1:12:07.511,1:12:09.203
I said, “What do you mean,[br]‘it’s not acceptable’?”

1:12:09.203,1:12:12.897
He said “Well, I pay you,[br]so that’s the ‘not acceptable’ part.”

1:12:12.897,1:12:15.819
And I said, “Okay.[br]So there has to be a way to reach me?”

1:12:15.819,1:12:16.448
And he said, “Yes.”

1:12:16.448,1:12:18.268
I said,[br]“Okay, so you call my office,

1:12:18.268,1:12:19.766
“there would be[br]a phone answering machine message

1:12:19.766,1:12:22.196
“that said, ‘Hi, this is Randy.[br]I’m on vacation.

1:12:22.196,1:12:24.484
“I waited until 39 to get married.

1:12:24.484,1:12:27.064
“And so we’re going[br]for a month.

1:12:27.064,1:12:28.711
“And, I hope you don’t have a problem[br]with that.

1:12:28.711,1:12:30.712
“But apparently my boss does,

1:12:30.712,1:12:32.317
"so he says I have to be reachable.

1:12:32.317,1:12:33.687
“So here’s how[br]you can reach me.

1:12:33.687,1:12:36.400
“My wife’s parents live[br]in blah-blah-blah town,

1:12:36.400,1:12:37.290
“here’s their names.

1:12:37.290,1:12:39.753
“If you call directory assistance,[br]you can get their number.”

1:12:39.753,1:12:40.946
[audience laughs]

1:12:40.946,1:12:44.237
“And then if you can convince[br]my new in-laws

1:12:44.237,1:12:46.909
“that your emergency[br]merits interrupting

1:12:46.909,1:12:50.060
“their only daughter’s honeymoon,[br]they have our number.”

1:12:50.060,1:12:54.313
[audience laughs]

1:12:54.313,1:12:55.660
Here’s some[br]of my most important advice.

1:12:55.660,1:12:57.246
We close with some[br]of the best stuff.

1:12:57.246,1:12:58.550
Kill your television.

1:12:58.550,1:13:00.467
People who study this[br]say the average American

1:13:00.467,1:13:05.255
watches 28 hours[br]of television a week.

1:13:05.255,1:13:08.485
That’s almost 3/4[br]of a full-time job.

1:13:08.485,1:13:12.082
So, if you really want[br]to get time back in your life,

1:13:12.082,1:13:13.228
you don’t have to kill[br]your television,

1:13:13.228,1:13:15.625
but just unplug it,[br]put it in the closet,

1:13:15.625,1:13:17.461
and put a blanket over it.

1:13:17.461,1:13:20.908
See how long it takes you[br]to get the shakes.

1:13:20.908,1:13:21.988
Turn money into time,

1:13:21.988,1:13:23.879
especially junior faculty members

1:13:23.879,1:13:26.068
or other people[br]who have young children,

1:13:26.068,1:13:29.986
this is the time to throw money[br]at the problem.

1:13:29.986,1:13:31.757
Hire somebody else[br]to mow your lawn,

1:13:31.757,1:13:35.242
do whatever you need to do,[br]but exchange time for—

1:13:35.242,1:13:37.835
exchange money for time[br]at every opportunity

1:13:37.835,1:13:39.277
when you[br]have very young children,

1:13:39.277,1:13:40.970
because you just don’t have[br]enough time.

1:13:40.970,1:13:42.354
It’s just too hard.

1:13:42.354,1:13:43.888
And the other thing is,[br]eat and sleep and exercise.

1:13:43.888,1:13:48.030
Above all else,[br]you always have time to sleep.

1:13:48.030,1:13:52.451
Because if you get sleep-deprived,[br]everything falls apart.

1:13:52.451,1:13:54.524
Other general advice,[br]never break a promise,

1:13:54.524,1:13:56.100
but renegotiate them[br]if need be.

1:13:56.100,1:13:58.347
If you’ve said,[br]“I'll have this done by Tuesday at noon,

1:13:58.347,1:14:01.386
“you can call the person on Friday[br]and say I’m still good to my word,

1:14:01.386,1:14:03.072
“but I’m really jacked up.

1:14:03.072,1:14:04.908
“And I’m going to have to stay[br]and work over the weekend

1:14:04.908,1:14:07.197
“to meet that Tuesday deadline.

1:14:07.197,1:14:08.690
“Is there anyway there’s any slack[br]on that?”

1:14:08.690,1:14:11.015
And a lot of times they’ll say,[br]“Thursday’s fine,

1:14:11.015,1:14:14.568
“because I really needed it Thursday,[br]but I told you Tuesday.”

1:14:14.568,1:14:15.822
Or they’ll say,[br]”Oh, it’s no problem,

1:14:15.822,1:14:17.197
“I can have Jim do that[br]instead of you.

1:14:17.197,1:14:18.339
“He has some free time.”

1:14:18.339,1:14:20.143
Now if they say,[br]"No, there’s no wiggle room here”,

1:14:20.143,1:14:22.582
you say, “That’s okay, no problem,[br]I’m still good to my word.”

1:14:22.582,1:14:23.460
All right.

1:14:23.460,1:14:24.596
If you haven’t got time[br]to do it right,

1:14:24.596,1:14:27.407
you don’t have time[br]to do it wrong, that’s self-evident.

1:14:27.407,1:14:29.323
Recognize that most things[br]are pass-fail.

1:14:29.323,1:14:30.972
People spend way too much time—

1:14:30.972,1:14:33.924
there’s a reason we have the expression,[br]“good enough.”

1:14:33.924,1:14:36.953
It’s because the thing[br]is "good enough."

1:14:36.953,1:14:38.767
And the last thing is,[br]get feedbacks loops.

1:14:38.767,1:14:41.330
Ask people in confidence.

1:14:41.330,1:14:43.435
Because if someone will tell you

1:14:43.435,1:14:45.502
what you’re doing right[br]or doing wrong,

1:14:45.502,1:14:47.556
and they’ll tell you the truth,

1:14:47.556,1:14:51.286
that’s worth more than anything else[br]in the whole world.

1:14:51.286,1:14:52.718
I recommend these two books.

1:14:52.718,1:14:54.660
Time management[br]is not a late-breaking field.

1:14:54.660,1:14:59.655
Both these books are old books,[br]but I recommend them highly.

1:14:59.655,1:15:03.606
And it’s traditional to close a talk[br]like this with,

1:15:03.606,1:15:04.900
“Here’s the things I told you about.”

1:15:04.900,1:15:06.596
I’m not going to tell you the things[br]I told you about.

1:15:06.596,1:15:07.463
I’m going to tell you the things

1:15:07.463,1:15:10.968
that you can operationally go out[br]and do today.

1:15:10.968,1:15:13.798
One, if you don’t have a DayTimer[br]or personal digital assistant,

1:15:13.798,1:15:15.585
you know,[br]a PalmPilot or whatever,

1:15:15.585,1:15:17.133
go get one.

1:15:17.133,1:15:18.808
Put your to-do list[br]in priority order,

1:15:18.808,1:15:20.789
you can use the four quadrants,[br]or do what I do,

1:15:20.789,1:15:24.171
just put a number zero to nine,[br]but sort it by priority.

1:15:24.171,1:15:25.262
And do a time journal.

1:15:25.262,1:15:26.677
If that’s really[br]too much effort,

1:15:26.677,1:15:30.415
just count the number[br]of hours you watch of television

1:15:30.415,1:15:32.001
in the next week.

1:15:32.001,1:15:34.040
That’s my gift to you.

1:15:34.040,1:15:35.488
[audience laughs]

1:15:35.488,1:15:36.448
And the last thing is,

1:15:36.448,1:15:40.600
once you’ve got your DayTimer,[br]make a note for 30 days from today—

1:15:40.600,1:15:43.194
it’s okay if that one goes “ding”[br]to remind you—

1:15:43.194,1:15:46.181
and revisit this talk in 30 days,[br]it’ll be up on the web,

1:15:46.181,1:15:47.354
courtesy of Gabe.

1:15:47.354,1:15:51.012
And ask,[br]"What have I changed?"

1:15:51.012,1:15:53.234
And if I haven’t changed anything,

1:15:53.234,1:15:55.655
then we still had[br]a pleasant hour together.

1:15:55.655,1:15:57.340
If you have changed things,

1:15:57.340,1:16:00.055
then you’ll probably[br]have a lot more time

1:16:00.055,1:16:03.585
to spend[br]with the ones you love.

1:16:03.585,1:16:05.177
And that’s important.

1:16:05.177,1:16:07.290
Time is all we have.

1:16:07.290,1:16:09.778
And you may find one day,

1:16:09.778,1:16:12.333
you have less than you think.

1:16:12.333,1:16:13.355
Thank you.

1:16:13.355,1:16:17.675
[audience applauds]