Tick achieve - Kevin Duncan

That's why people invented lists. And very useful they are too.If, and only if, they are used effectively. Put thirty things on alist, and it becomes too daunting. Put three things on, and there'sno point in having a list. And so we have refined the art of listwriting to allow for about ten or twenty things to do.

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

Tick Achieve does just that. It shows you how toget stuff done, with lots of little techniques tried and tested onscores of individuals over 25 years. This includes the catharticand highly effective process of writing a list of what you are notgoing to do.

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

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

EXAMPLE CHAPTER OUTLINE

1. BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

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

2. STRAIGHT TALKING AND GETTING STUFF DONE

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

3. LEAVE IT OUT

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

4. ONE IN A ROW

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

5. LOOK LIVELY!

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

6. HOW TO OUTTHINK YOURSELF

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

7. TICK ACHIEVE

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