Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Dave Crenshaw is an author, speaker, and master of building productive leaders. He has appeared in Time magazine, USA Today, FastCompany, and the BBC News. His courses on LinkedIn Learning have received millions of views. He has written three books and counting, including The Myth of Multitasking which was published in six languages and is a time management bestseller. His fourth book, The Power of Having Fun, is due for release in September 2017. Dave was called to serve a mission in Portugal and was later reassigned to the Indiana, eventually assisting in the opening of Spanish-speaking Indianapolis. He attended Brigham Young University and currently resides in Herriman, Utah with his wife and kids.
Episode Highlights:
(14:00) Importance of clearly defined “dividing points” within the day/week.
- “Bank of time” principle – time behaves like money.
- Time demands and “interest rate” in repayment.
- Determining your “budget” and then not crossing it – actually under spend your time.
- Budgeting transition time between activities to allow for buffer time.
- Google setting “Speedy Meeting” that automatically adds buffer time in calendar.
(20:00) How to Communicate time budget boundaries to others.
- Correct answer: Regularly scheduled meetings with those with whom you need to meet.
- Establishing a clear “when” to reduce the occurrence of “now”.
- Practical answer: Leave time each day/week unscheduled to allow for unexpected needs (buffer time).
- Time budget equivalent of a rainy day fund/emergency preparedness for our time.
(24:30) Principles for running an effective meeting.
- Make sure that all meetings are action-oriented.
- Every meeting ends with a question.
- What are the actions that are going to be taken?
- Who is going to do them? When are they going to deliver them?
- Secretary makes note of the actions, gives reminders to the individuals assigned a task and a summary to the individual running the meeting.
(27:20) The Myth of Multitasking.
- Be aware of “switch-tasking”.
- Switch-tasking on an individual communicates to them that they are not important.
- “Back-tasking”.
(35:00) Public speaking tips (sacrament meeting, teaching lessons, etc).
- Went through seminary training program while at Brigham Young University.
- Feel confident about what we are doing.
- Teach Ye Diligently, by President Boyd K Packer.
- (39:00) Effectively using principles of Readiness, Participation, and Application.
Links:
- DaveCrenshaw.com
- The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw
- The Power of Having Fun by Dave Crenshaw
- Teach Ye Diligently by President Boyd K. Packer
Great interview and insights. There were a couple of points that I wonder about, though. First, he said if you’re not a priesthood holder with keys, don’t provide people with an “application” for a gospel principle. After this comment and a few other comments I’ve heard over the last year, I think I realized that some people – perhaps the majority of my church leadership, I don’t know – believes exercising keys means telling people what to do (or at least a part of it). Or to put it another way, find out what the Lord wants them to do, invite them to do it, and promise the Lord’s blessings for doing it. So, so much of my leaders’ counsel over the years falls into this pattern. A second, related, thing he said was quoting Elder Packer, to paraphrase, “The teaching of doctrine does more to change behavior than the teaching of behaviors.” But… is this true? The most helpful part of this interview for me what when Dave provided very specific advice about changing behavior (managing my time), not an underlying principle of why I need to manage my time. And, in my experience, the most effective way to get a group of Mormons to do something specific is to tell them to do something specific. So I wonder if the quote should instead read: “The teaching of doctrine and best practices does more to achieve best practices than merely teaching doctrine or best practices, alone.” I wish Elder Packer was still around to ask! Another great interview. Very helpful. Thanks.