What Thought Leaders Are Saying about the Perfect Day Method “PierreKhawanddemonstrateshow simple visuals cannotonlyhelp you

navigate a "perfect day" but also help him explain the concepts behind

workinginshort,productiveburstsofattention.Hisvisualdepictionofthe

"ResultsCurve"is,literally,eyeopening.Ilovehisargumentforusingpaper

journalstoanchoryourprogress.”

‐‐DavidSibbet,BestsellingAuthor,PresidentandFounder,TheGroveConsultantsInternational

“ThePDMapproachhelpsmecreateaconsistentstructureandprocessfora

multi‐tasking,multi‐lingualandmulti‐projectworkenvironmentthatoften

defiestimezones.ItisaneasymethodtointegratewithmytoolsasIalways

carryanotebookformyideasandthoughtsthroughouttheday.”

‐‐ Karina Jensen, Practice Director, Centre for Leadership and EffectiveOrganizations, Professor, Global Innovation and Leadership, NEOMA BusinessSchool,France

"Inaworldsaturatedwith inputsand information,weneedsomethingto

cleartheclutterandfocusonwhattrulymatters.Pierre'stime‐testedtactics

willhelpyoudojustthat,inshortpowerfulburststhatadduptosignificant

accomplishments.Read thisbook,practice theprinciples,andwatchyour

worktransform15minutesatatime."

‐‐JennyBlake,authorofPivot:TheOnlyMoveThatMattersisYourNextOne

"Behindeverysuccessfulstrategicplanisanintensefocusonexecution.The

Perfect15‐MinuteDayMethodenablesteamstoreachtheirstrategicgoals

15minutesatatime,providingindividualsandorganizationsacompetitive

advantage in today's information deluge. In addition to step‐by‐step

instructions, thebookdemonstrateshowkey elementsof themethodare

supportedbyneuroscientificresearch.Amustreadfortoday’sexecutivesand

theirteamstoavoidscatteredmindsandexecutetoachievetheirstrategic

goals.”

‐‐AdrianC.Ott,Award‐WinningAuthor,The24‐HourCustomer,CEOExponential

EdgeInc.

“AsapsychiatristwhospecializesintreatingADHD,Iknowtheimportance

ofstructureandthevalueoftoolsthatcanbeusedtocreatethisstructure.

This book providesan excellent tool to structure one’s time.Unlikemost

books tackling timemanagement issues, thisbookgoesa step fartherby

addressing not just the mental, but also emotional factors affecting

productivity.

“MyADHDpatientsoftenexperienceoverwhelmwiththeirto‐do lists.

Thismethodgivesamuchneededstructuretoaccomplishthesetasks,ina

manageableway.”

‐‐AliciaR.Maher,M.D.,BoardCertifiedPsychiatrist,SubspecialtyBoardCertified,PsychosomaticMedicine,AkashaCenterforIntegrativeMedicine,SantaMonica,CA,UCLASchoolofMedicineClinicalFaculty

What Users Are Saying about the Perfect Day Method “[I] can finally remember what it is like to love my job again!”

‐‐RachelUngar

“Ibecamemoremindfulofwhat Iwasdoing throughout thedaywithout

beingaslavetotheclock.”‐‐JulieMeyer

“Ibecamemoreawareofhow Igetdistractedand learnedsomeways to

limitthedistractionsandtoresistthepullofe‐mail.”‐‐AnnT.

“Biginsights[fromthemethod]werethevalueofmakingyourto‐dolistand

actionsvisibleandbecomingmoreawareofhowmuchtimethingstaketo

do.”‐‐SusanTempleton

“[Themethod]helpedmeprioritizeandfocusonthethingsIreallywanted

togetdone.”‐‐AudreyPlough

“[Themethod]providedmewithgreatclarityonhowI'mspendingmytime

duringthedayandwhereItripmyselfup.‐‐AmyKoh

“Itissimpleanddirectenoughtobeusefulallthetime.”‐‐RosanneBelpedio

“[Oneofthetopthreebenefitsofthemethodis]gettingthingsdonethatI

mayhavebeenprocrastinatingon.”‐‐JeffFanselow

“[Igained]asenseofcalmandcontrol.”‐‐KatieUckele

“Totalsuccess”‐‐TiffanyConn

© 2016 OnTheGo Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.

Nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,

or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written

permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations

embodied in critical articles and reviews. All rights reserved. For

information or bulk orders, please write: OnTheGo Technologies LLC:

info@people‐onthego.comorvisitwww.people‐onthego.com.

Allproductnamesandservicesusedinthisbookmaybetrademarks

and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. All rights

reserved.

ISBN‐13:978‐1532783814

ISBN‐10:1532783817

About Pierre Khawand Pierre Khawand has more than twenty years of experience in the

software industry. He has led several technology ventures, completed

successful mergers and acquisitions, and founded People‐OnTheGo in

2001.HisAccomplishingMoreLeadershipProgramhelpstoday’sleaders

develop the awareness and behaviors needed to focus on results and

developpeople inthemidstof the informationoverload.Hisbestselling

Accomplishing More With Less workshop is enabling today’s business

professionalsmakebreakthroughsintheirworkandpersonallives.Pierre

holdsaMaster’sdegree inEngineeringfromtheUniversityofMichigan,

andhascompletedseveralExecutiveEducationprogramsattheStanford

Graduate School of Business (Stanford California). When not tackling

productivityissues,PierreenjoyshikeswithhiswifeandfriendsintheSan

Franciscoarea,aswellasTaiChiandArgentineTango.

Also by Pierre Khawand TimeforLeadership

TheResultsCurve

TheAccomplishingMoreWithLessWorkbook

AccomplishingMoreWithGoogleApps

TheNewNewInbox

ThePerfect15‐MinuteDayJournal

Acknowledgements First,IwouldliketothanktheearlyadoptersofthePerfect15‐Mintue

Day Method who contributed tremendously to the refinement of the

methodandwhohelpedusconfirmthatthereishopeformanagingthe

overload,feelingcalmerandhappierintheworkplaceandbeyond.

SpecialthankstothePeople‐OnTheGoteam,especiallySarahTangfor

her dedicated effort in research andwriting, and her valuable insights

throughoutthisjourney,andKatieUckeleforherextensiveresearchthat

helpedsupportthemethodeverystepoftheway,andClaireDonaldsonfor

helpingmakethebookvisualanduserfriendly.

Lastbutnotleast,thankstomyfamilyandfriends,whosesupportand

engagement have beenmost instrumental to the completion of this yet

anotherexcitingjourney.

IhopeyouenjoyreadingThePerfect15‐MinuteDay and take these

habits to your work and personal life to create accomplishments and

happinessforyou,yourteam,yourorganization,andyourcommunity!

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Getting started ...................................................................... 1

Chapter 2 The Results Curve™ .............................................................. 25

Chapter 3 The Perfect Day ................................................................... 37

Chapter 4 The E-mail Task ................................................................. 54

Chapter 5 MicroPlanning™ .................................................................. 66

Chapter 6 Thoughts about Things to Do ............................................. 76

Chapter 7 Thoughts and Emotions ..................................................... 86

Chapter 8 The Awareness Wheel ........................................................ 103

Chapter 9 External Interruptions ....................................................... 125

Chapter 10 End-of-Day Reconciliation ............................................. 137

Chapter 11 Mindfulness @Work ....................................................... 145

Appendix: More Offerings from People-OnTheGo ............................. 159

1

Chapter 1

Getting started

2

We live in a world of overload, no doubt about it!

Unlessyouhavebeenonsomeotherplanetforsometime,youalready

knowandfeeltheoverloadinsomewayoranother:toomanye‐mails,too

3

muchsocialmedia,toomanycompetingandchangingpriorities,toomany

interruptions.Worse,weare led tobelieve thatweneed tokeepup, to

speedupinordertosucceedinthemodernworkplace.1Asaresult,our

minds are overwhelmed and scattered. Studies show that work in an

interruptiveenvironment,whetherornotthoseinterruptionsarerelated

toourwork,increasestheexperienceofstress,frustration,timepressure,

andefforttogettheworkdone.2

1“TimeandTimeAgain:TheSearchforMeaning/fulnessThroughPopularDiscourseontheTimeandTimingofWork”byDawnaI.BallardandSunshineP.Webster

2“TheCostof InterruptedWork:MoreSpeedandStress”byGloriaMark,DanielaGudith,andUlrichKlocke(2008)

4

The Perfect 15-Minute Day Method (PDM) comes to the rescue

AfterthesuccessoftheAccomplishingMoreinLessTime,WithLess

Effort, and Less Stress methodology 3 , with thousands of business

professionals achieving significant breakthroughs as a result, we

3TheAccomplishingMoreWithLessWorkbook,TheAccomplishingMoreWithLessWorkshop,TheAccomplishingMoreLeadershipProgram.

5

continued to explore new ways to overcome the overload and help

businessprofessionalsregaintheirabilitytofocussoastofeelhappierand

morefulfilledatwork.Thus,PDMwasborn.

6

At the end of the day, a happier you!

Participantswho tested andhelped refinePDMwere fascinatedby

howsimpleandhowpowerful it is, that is,simple in itsapplicationbut

powerfulinitsoutcome.Theyreportedfeelingsignificantlylessscattered

andbetterabletomanageinterruptions,stayfocused,andquicklyrecover

7

frominevitableinterruptions;theyalsofeltbetteratestimatinghowlong

taskswouldtake,andutilizingtheirtimemorestrategically.Participants

alsoreportedthattheyfeltlessstressed,thattheystoppedmoreoftento

acknowledgetheiraccomplishments,andfeltfulfilledandmotivated.They

werehappy!

8

All you need is a journal and a timer

Withjustajournalandatimer,PDMhelpsyoua)bealwaysawareof

whatyou’reworkingonandb)stayfocusedonthetaskathandbyworking

in highly productive bursts of short 15‐minute increments. The method

includestheuseoftagstohelpyoutrackyourtasks,manageinterruptions,

9

managethoughtsandemotionsalongtheway,andbeabletoreconcileand

closetheloopsonunfinisheditemsattheendoftheday.

Studies confirm that we work in a highly interruptive work

environment,andfindthatmostofususetoolslikepost‐its,planners,and

e‐mail printouts to help us maintain our attention and keep track of

informationfromallourdifferenttasks.4Thejournalexceedsthisfunction.

While post‐its, planners, and e‐mail printouts remind us of important

tasks, theyoftenarenotorganizedbypriority ‐ororganizedatall.Too

oftentheseitemsarescatteredintheworkspaceandeasytolosetrackof.

ThePDMjournalisorganizedtosimplyandefficientlyinformusoftasks

andtheirpriority.Italsounifiesyournotesandprovidesagreataudittrail.

4“Constant,Constant,Multi‐taskingCraziness:ManagingMultipleWorkingSpheres“(2004)byVictorM.GonzálezandGloriaMark

10

Ifyou’rethinking“butIdoeverythingelectronically”,youwillsoon

discoverthejournalperfectlysupplementstheelectronicworldandplays

animportantroleinhelpingusgaindepthandperspective.

WhilemanyofthePDMtechniquescanbedonedigitallytothesame

success, the PDM journal has a key advantage over digital task

management assistants ‐ it is always visible and can be constantly

consulted.Thejournalwillnotbeminimizedwhileyouaretasking.Taking

notesinthejournalislessintrusive,usuallymuchquieter,andmuchfaster

thanopeninganote‐takingapp.Oftenwegetdistractedintheprocessof

accessingadigitalnote‐takingapp.Thejournalissimpleenoughtoquickly

captureanitemwithoutdistractingyou.Plus,ajournalcanbewithyouat

alltimes.Ittakesnotimetogetitoutandopenit,anditneverrunsoutof

battery.

We suggest trying a paper journal first, then, if you feel you can

effectivelyintegratethemethoddigitally,feelfreetodoso.

11

Why 15 minutes, you ask?

Anythingshorterisnotlongenoughtomakemeaningfulprogresson

most work‐related tasks, and anything longer loses its immediacy and

risks our getting lost in time. The 15‐minute increment is both short

12

enough to keep us focused and long enough for us to accomplish

something.

Your timer should always be set to 15 minutes, and reset to 15

minutes.Havingadefinedallotmentoftimefreesyouofmakingadecision

everytimeyoutakeonatask.Makingadecisiontakestimeandenergythat

couldbebetterspentworkingonyourtask.

Note that the15minutes isnotadeadline. It is an intentionanda

checkpoint.Itmeans:“Iintendtofocusonthistaskforupto15minutes

andthenchecktoseeifIamontherighttrackorifIwanttoadjust.”Itis

aboutbecomingawareoftimeinsteadofgettinglostintime.

The15‐minutemarkdoesn’tlimityoufromworkingmoreonatask.

Oncethetimerbeepsyoucanrenewyourintentiontoworkonthattask

foranother15minutes,andyetanotherone,andthereforeworkonthe

task for a cumulative 45minutes, or longer. The idea is that you have

checkpointssoyoucanbemoreconsciousofthetimedecisionsthatyou

aremaking.

13

Whileitmaybetemptingtochooseatimeincrementotherthan15

minutes,weurgeyoutostartwiththe15‐minuteincrementandsticktoit

for a week at first. In fact, studies show that people already work in

fragmented amountsof time averaging about12minutesof continuous

workonataskbeforeswitchingtoanother.5Thus15minutesoffocusis

morethanenoughtoaskforintoday’sbusyworkday.Mostusersdiscover

thatthe15‐minutetimeincrementisjustrightandcontinuetouseit.Some

tailoritto20or30minutes.

5“Constant,Constant,Multi‐taskingCraziness:ManagingMultipleWorkingSpheres“(2004)byVictorM.GonzálezandGloriaMark

14

PDM helps you manage your thoughts and your emotions

After all, and before all, we are humans! We have thoughts and

emotionsofallkinds,somemoreproductivethanothers.Howwehandle

thesethoughtsandemotions,especiallytheunproductiveones,canhavea

15

profoundimpactonourstresslevel,ourmood,ouraccomplishments,our

relationships,andourhappiness.Unlessweareequippedwiththetools

weneedtobecomeawareofthesethoughtsandemotionsandeffectively

manage them, we are bound to a less satisfying or even persistently

frustratingexistence.PDMprovidesyouwiththetoolsandtechniquesthat

areneededtomanagethoughtsandemotions.

16

PDM turns you into a multi-tasking guru

True multi‐tasking‐‐which consists of performing multiple tasks

exactlyatthesametimelikecomputerswithmultipleprocessors,isnot

17

possible for us humans. Instead,we switch between the tasks at hand,

thinkingthatwearemulti‐tasking.

Thisformofmulti‐tasking(ortaskswitching)isinefficientandtiring,

largelybecauseofthelimitationsofourshort‐termmemoryandinability

tokeepalltheneededinformationhandyasweswitchfromtasktotask.

ThePDMjournalsolvesthisissuebyallowingustocreatethenecessary

“informationstores”tohelpusswitchbetween,andskillfullyhandle,the

mostdemandingtaskswithease.

Multi‐tasking also contributes to stress and overwork. Studies

showthatthosewhomulti‐taskfeelliketimemovesmorequicklyandthat

theirworkload ismuchheavier than thosewho focusona single task.6

Ideallywewouldworkonasingletaskonourownpace,butweknowthis

6 “Simultaneity, Sequentiality, and Speed: Organizational Messages AboutMultiple‐TaskCompletion”byKeriK.Stephens,JaeheeK.Cho,&DawnaI.Ballard

18

isnotpossibleintheaverageworkday.Instead,PDMgivesusthetoolsto

switchbetweentasksyetmaintainasingularfocus.

19

PDM helps you achieve mindfulness @work

There is growing scientific evidence that mindfulness and

mindfulnesspracticeshaveconcretephysicalandmentalhealthbenefits.

MRI scans ofmeditators compared to non‐meditators have shown that

20

mindfulness practices correlate with a thicker cortex in regions of the

brainassociatedwithattentionandsensoryprocessing.7Otherresearch

shows thatmindfulnesspractices increase activity in areasof thebrain

associatedwithpositiveemotion,andevenbooststheimmunesystem.8

ThePerfectDayMethodisdesignedtogiveyoutheskillstohoneyour

attentionandregaincontrolofyourtime.PDMpracticesbringmindfulness

toyourwork ina transparentandprofoundwaysoyoucanreap these

benefitsandexperienceamazingresults.Youwilldiscovermoreaboutthis

topicintheMindfulness@Workchapter.

7Lazar,S.W.,Kerr,C.E.,Wasserman,R.H.,Gray,J.R.,Greve,D.N.,Treadway,M. T., … Fischl, B. (2005). Meditation experience is associated with increasedcorticalthickness.Neuroreport,16(17),1893–1897.

8 Richard Davidson, et al., “Alterations in Brain and Immune FunctionProducedbyMindfulnessMeditation,”PsychosomaticMedicine65,no.4(2003):564‐570

21

PDM is not just a timer technique

Behind the simplicity of PDM lies enormous depth. Don’tmistake

PDMforatimertechnique.WhilePDMincorporatesthetimer,similarto

someof thepopularmethods like thePomodoroTechniqueandothers,

PDM is a completemethod formanaging your time, your thoughts and

22

emotions, your interruptions, and, equally important, for bringing

mindfulnessandplaytoyourdailywork,helpingyouaccomplishamazing

thingsandbehappierdoingso.

PDM,mostlybydesignandpartlybydiscovery,leveragesscienceand

neuroscience, primary and secondary research, including the feedback

from userswho have reportedmajor improvements in their work and

personallivesasaresult.

23

In the upcoming chapters

The Results Curve™ chapter provides some of the fundamentals

relatedtohowweworkandhowweachieveresults,ornot,dependingon

interruptions and distractions. The chapters that follow explain the

methodandtheinsightsbehindthemethod.Eachchapterbeginswitha

“HowitWorks”sectionthatexplainscertaintagsorfeatures,andthena

“DeeperMeaning” section that explains someof theunderlying insights

andobservations,andfinallya“Discoveries”sectionthatportrayssomeof

theobservationsfromusersofthemethod.

24

Remember: Your life is a reflection of the next 15 minutes

Ifyoudon’tknowhowtomanagethenext15minutes,youdon’tknow

howtomanageyourlife.Soletusgetstarted!

25

Chapter 2

The Results Curve™

26

The Accomplishment Zone™ Letusstartbyexamininghowourresultschangewithtimewhenwe

areworkingonatask.Whenwestarttoworkonatask,westarttoproduce

results,andthenaswecontinuetoworkonthattask,weproducemore

results.Thiscontinuesuntileventuallytheflowofresultsbeginstolevel

offandthenstartstodiminish.Resultsdiminishbecausewegettired,or

becausewehavedonewhatwecouldandnowneedtowaitforsomeone

elsetodotheirpart,orbecausewehavecompletedthetask:

Nowlet’sgetbacktoreallife.Whathappensintherealworldafterwe

spendafewminutesonatask?

27

Wegetinterrupted!

E‐mailarrivesinourinboxandwefeelthisirresistibleurgetocheck

itout,oraninstantmessage(IM)popsupwithacompellingproposition.

Thenthere’sthephoneringingorachattycolleagueoreagerbossstopping

by.Whenaninterruptiontakesplace,itprematurelyendstheprogresson

thetaskathand:

Post‐interruption,whenweresumeourworkonthistask,ourmind

needstore‐retrievetherelevantpiecesofinformationthatwereletgoof

duringtheinterruption,andreconstructthelogicandrelationshipsthat

28

were previously established. Worse, most people resume a task after

dealing with more than two other unrelated tasks; thus re‐starting

requiresmorecognitiveefforttoreorient,andoftenresultsinredundant

work.9Thismeanswewillsufferasetbackattherestartingpoint:

Thenwestartmakingprogressagain,butafewminuteslater,another

interruptionpulls us off task, and our results suffer again. Thispattern

repeats itself time after time as the calls, emails, and IM’s continue.

9GloriaMark,VictorM.Gonzalez,andJustinHarris“NoTaskLeftBehind?ExaminingtheNatureofFragmentedWork”(2005)

29

Interruptionsarenolongertheexceptionsinthedigitalage–theyarethe

norm.Thisisourlife:alifeofinterruptions:

30

Ifwecomparetheactualresultsthatwearegetting,representedby

theshadedareasbelow,tothepotentialresultsthatwecouldrealizeifwe

could manage to stay focused on our task, represented by the Results

Curve™, the outcome is nothing less than shocking. We are probably

gettingasmallfractionofthepotentialresultsthatwewouldbegettingif

weweretostayfocused:

31

Toremedythesituation,youneedtostayfocusedonyourtasklong

enoughtoachievethedesiredresults.Thiscantakefifteenminutes,thirty

minutes,orlonger,dependingonthetask:

32

The Collaborative Zone™ Once you finish the focused session and have accomplished

meaningfulresults,nowisthetimetostopfocusingandswitchtobeing

collaborative.Thismeansliveinteractionswithourstakeholdersaswell

as handing e‐mail and the like. Just like the focused session, This

collaborative session is of paramount importance and likely to bring

significantresults:

33

The Play Zone™ Onceyoufinishthecollaborativesession,itistimetostopandtakea

break.Thisbreakisintendedtohelpyougetrefreshedandenergizedand

readyforwhateverhappensnext.WecallthisbreakthePlayZone™.Itcan

be short and sweet such as a breathing exercise, stretching for a few

minutes,listeningtoyourfavoritemusic,oritcanbemoreinvolvedsuch

astakingawalkaroundtheblock:

34

Three important takeaways from the Results Curve™

Focusiscrucial

Stoppingisessential

Workinginburstsisthenameofthegame

Focusiscritical.AsillustratedintheResultsCurve™above,without

thefocusedsession,wearedoomed.Weworkafewminuteshereanda

fewminutesthere,stayatthesuperficiallevel,dothequickfixes,andnot

getdeepintoourwork.Wemissthecreativeandstrategicthinkingthat

bringsaboutmeaningfulaccomplishments.Aswenavigatequickly from

oneinterruptiontothenext,ourbraingetsscattered,wegetagitated,and

soonstressedandoverwhelmed.

35

Stoppingisessential.TherearethreeimportantstopsthattheResults

Curve™highlights.Firstisstoppingandfocusing.Secondisstoppingthe

focusedefforttocollaborate.Afterall,withoutcollaboration,wecanbeleft

inthedark,missingimportantinformation,ideas,andcontributionsfrom

ourstakeholders.Thirdisstoppingandgettingenergized,withoutwhich,

wecanbegettingunproductive,ineffective,stressed,andslowlybutsurely

headingtoburnout.

Working in bursts is key. This means alternating between focus,

collaboration,andplaybursts.Thelengthandorderoftheseburstsisall

uptoyou.Thesedependonthenatureofyourworkandyourpreferences.

Workinginbursts ismorethanjustalternatinghowever. It isbecoming

awareofwhichphaseyouareinatanyparticulartime,andpurposefully

choosingtoswitchattherighttime.

36

The Results Curve™ and The Perfect Day Method

The Perfect DayMethod enables you to turn the insights from the

ResultsCurve™ intopractical and sustainablebehaviors andhabits and

therefore taking your accomplishments and your happiness to awhole

newlevel.Let’sgetgoing!