Total, Relaxed Organization (TRO) mergers GTD principle with Covey principles for a smooth, easy-to-follow system. Slides cover: core principles of productivity, workflow conveyor, why prioritization fails, how to set up your office for best results, triaging your work, improving GTD, and more.

1. Total, Relaxed Organization
do more, in less time
without stress, without mess

2. Kevin Crenshaw, your coach
Executive Coach
Contract Executive (Rapid Change)
www.kevincrenshaw.com
@kcren

3. Kevin Crenshaw, your coach
Almost everyone feels overwhelmed
“Everyone needs a good mentor”

4. Kevin Crenshaw, your coach
practical “tricks of
the trade”
what really
works?
what apps/
devices are best
answers for
special situations

6. I‟m now your Mentor
Intervention
Usually: 7 hours/person
Compress: 2.5 hours

7. You need to:
Take detailed notes
Join the exercises
Ask questions immediately

8. Your “Control Score”
How in control do you feel over
your time and tasks right now?
control
Rate Yourself: 0 to 100
(0 = no control, 100 = absolute control)

9. Expect To Get

10. + 1.6
hours/day!

11. 60% less
general stress

12. What do I need to do?
Participate
Schedule and finish coaching
Honor appointments
21-day follow-up emails

13. Trustworthy
System

14. What are your
top 10 stressors?

15. and how to
resolve/reduce
each one?

16. How would you feel if you…?
Chose something to do about it
(a goal or resolution)
Selected a next action
(make it happen)
Scheduled with ease
(know it will fit schedule)
Knew you'd be notified when to do it
(no chance of forgetting)

17. That‟s your
“Trustworthy System”

18. That‟s your
“Trustworthy System”
That, is
Total, Relaxed Organization

19. Why traditional time
management practices fail

20. Why traditional time
management practices fail
Traditional: NOT principle-based
Principle vs. Practices

21. Why traditional time
management practices fail
“Only touch each piece of paper once”
Must finish the whole project before you
feel successful
Must create or manage task list daily
Must sort task list by “Due Dates”

22. Fundamental Principals of Time & Workflow
You are only
one person
one timeline
budget time in a
single calendar
have a single task list
(because it‟s actually an extension
of your calendar)

23. Fundamental Principals of Time & Workflow
You only have
one brain
multitasking is a lie
do similar things together
we focus on what we notice

24. Fundamental Principals of Time & Workflow
Collect points
(the more you have,
the worse it gets)
Your brain is not an acceptable
collection point

25. Fundamental Principals of Time & Workflow
Bad collection points
can„t find things.
dropped assignments.
chaos > uncertainty > procrastination > stress
distracted by many
things at once.

26. Fundamental Principals of Time & Workflow
“Projects” are just tasks with more than one step
Problems and goals are “projects”

27. Small tasks fit between the cracks,
Large tasks must be budgeted
Fundamental Principals of Time & Workflow

28. Balance isn‟t obtained by prioritizing,
but by budgeting
Fundamental Principals of Time & Workflow

29. Fundamental Principals of Time & Workflow
Everything needs a Home
“no visitors allowed”

30. Putting them all together creates a
conveyor belt for all you work

31. The TRO Workflow conveyor belt

32. The TRO Workflow conveyor belt
Collect Process Review Do
Re-Process
Decide next step
Add notes
Schedule
Assign Contexts
Additional Steps

33. The TRO Workflow Conveyor Belt
Collect it all
(briefly preview daily, weekly, monthly)
Process everything
Review tasks
(briefly preview and daily, weekly, monthly)
Do next steps and re-process
(until everything is done)

34. The TRO Workflow Conveyor Belt
Tasks & Projects move forward
naturally to completion

35. Design Your Optimal
Workflow System

36. Tame Your Collection Points
Remember: A “collection point is anywhere stuff accumulates:
(What) No next step decided
(When) Not scheduled (next step, either flexibly or firmly)
(Where) Not in its home

37. Count Your Current
Collection Points

38. Count Your Collection Points: How many of each?
Paper Notepads or
Notebooks (1 per each
now in use)
Paper task list, Paper To
Do List
PC/Mac/Web Electronic
Task List
Mobile Device
Task/Notes Apps
Email Inboxes (Count 1
per inbox)
Contact/CRM Software
with Tasks
Voicemail Inboxes (Count
1 per Inbox)
TXT Messaging (Count 1
per TXT, phone,
WhatsApp
Work Desk Piles (1 per
pile on, under)
Work Desk Drawers, Desk
Shelves
Work Physical Bins/Boxes
(in/out/bills)
Other Work Office Areas
(Shelves, Storage)
Filing Cabinet (1 per
drawer if they have
lurking tasks)
Calendars w/ tasks
(Paper, Digital, you
calendar app)
Home Desk Piles,
Drawers, Shelves
Home Physical
Bins/Boxes ( In/Out,
cardboard)
Home Outside Areas
(Garage, Shed, Porch)
Home Other Areas (Junk
drawers, each table pile)
Post It Note “Posting”
Areas (1 per posting
area)
Whiteboard, Corkboard
(if used for tasks
Purse/Planner Pockets Clothing Pockets Voice Recorder (For tasks,
ideas, reminders)
Floor Areas (Home and
Office)
People You Ask to
“Remind Me” (Admins,
spouse)
Areas in Car (Glove box,
Trunk, each seat with
stuff)
Your Mind (Always
counts as 1)
Other (Paper scraps,
company task software,
etc.)
Your Total: _________

39. 7 Approved Collection Points Include
1. 1 Wire inbox on desk
2. 1 Task manager
3. 1 Email inbox (2 if separate work/personal)
4. 1 Notepad
5. 1 Voicemail inbox
6. 1 Portable paper inbox (in “portable office”)
7. Voice Recorder (optional)

40. Where do you work?
What tools will you need?

41. Your Main Office
PC or Mac
Desktop and/or Laptop
TRO-Capable Task List Software
Outlook, Toodledo, Nozbe, Get It Done,
Donedesk, Wrike, Paper planner, etc.
Huge list of TRO-Capable apps: www.priacta.com/gtdsoftware
Email Software
Outlook 2010, Gmail, Apple Mail, etc.

42. Supporting Tools in Main Office
Good desk (drawers, file drawer…)
Hanging folders, manila folders
Paper trays, labeler
Buy or have on hand before continuing
Complete list in TRO Online
Training Lesson: ”Preparation: Gather or Buy”

43. Your Mobile Tools
Smart Phone
(iPhone, iPad, Android, or other
smart phone with Web access)
Paper Planner
(Franklin Convey, DayTimer, create your own;
must meet TRO criteria)
Task List Printouts
(Special situations only)
or
or

44. Your Portable Office
Briefcase or laptop case
(3 sections, closes securely)
(with)
Portable “trays” in briefcase
(Plastic project folders, You will label
them later to match your desk trays.)

45. The TRO Workflow conveyor belt
Collect Process Review Do
Re-Process
Decide next step
Add notes
Schedule
Assign Contexts
Additional Steps
Set up your office for
Workflow Conveyor Belt

46. The TRO Workflow conveyor belt
Collect Process Review Do
Re-Process
Decide next step
Add notes
Schedule
Assign Contexts
Additional Steps

47. Objectives (Conveyor Belt Setup)
Create good collection points
Establish “homes” for all your resources
Retire all bad collection points by…
…colleting all stuff to good ones
Zero uncertainty about where anything goes
when it comes in

48. Supporting Tools in Main Office
Set up your A-Z file. It‟s the “backbone”
of your filling system
Decide on desk trays. Your desk trays
are extensions of:
your backbone A-Z filling system

49. Inbox
Outbox
Deferred
Read/Review
Bills
Choose the Trays you need
Scrap Paper
Shred
Other: ________
Burn Box (box on floor,
“slow trash can”)

50. You‟re ready to “Sweep”.
When you‟re
done sweeping...

51. Clear Desk (will stay that way)
“Hot” and “Cold”
“Everything in its home,
no visitors allowed”

52. Collect
Close your eyes and envision
How will you feel?

53. Collect
Schedule a time
to “sweep” your office

54. Process
Set Up your “Processing“
Conveyor Belt

55. The TRO Workflow conveyor belt
Collect Process Review Do
Re-Process
Decide next step
Add notes
Schedule
Assign Contexts
Additional Steps

56. First: Triage (Pre-Process)
Triaging is:
Toss junk; communicate (>2min);
enter tasks; file resources
All approved collection points

57. Then: Decide/Defer
Decide next step (projects)
Schedule:
Smart Dates
Budget
Files in home:
Context(s)
Deferred
A-Z

58. Tasks need “Homes” too
Tasks in homes, via “contexts”:
tags, categories or folders.
In TRO (unlike GTD), tasks and steps need
multiple contexts because:
you may need to see a task in more than
one list: (Work), +Ops, 1Joe.

59. Define the “Homes” for
your processing conveyor belt

60. Create your Master Contexts List
Major life areas: (Work), (Family)
Automatic meeting agenda items: +Staff, +Ops
1-1 or ad hoc meetings: 1 Bob, 1 Sheri
Other groupings for efficiency: Errands, Calls

61. Hidden benefits of Deciding & Deferring
Effective delegation and follow-up, focused
meetings and teams, Projects move forward
Delegation means: asking
Every “Delegate Out” is a W/F “in”

62. Hidden benefits of Deciding & Deferring
If you delegate to anyone regularly, you need:
regular meetings with them
Schedule follow-ups as W/F tasks in your
regular meetings using task list categories or tags

63. Meetings, Projects and
Next Steps

64. In Regularly-Scheduled Meetings, you will:
• Look at +Meeting and 1Person list.
(These show you instant agenda items)
• Report back and follow up
Projects will move forward automatically this way.
“What we measure, improves. And if we report back,
improvement accelerates.”

65. Q: What is your initiative grade?
(A: When do you act and report back?)
Top 5 levels of Initiative:
A Takes action, reports back periodically
B Takes action, reports back immediately
C Suggests what should be done
D Asks what they should do
E Does it when asked (!)

66. Processing is the
core skill of TRO
A coach (or the TRO Online Training
System) will drill you on processing
what you gathered.

67. Projects: Your Task Manager
Project Name / Next Step
(or)
Project Field
(or)
Project category or tag
(for large projects only)

68. Email is no different

69. Review Do
Final two conveyors:
Reviewing & Doing

70. The TRO Workflow conveyor belt
Collect Process Review Do
Re-Process
Decide next step
Add notes
Schedule
Assign Contexts
Additional Steps

71. Reviewing
Reviewing is really previewing.
Daily Review: 5 min., “Must Do” Tasks
Weekly Review: 5 min., “May Do” Tasks
Monthly Review: 5 min., “Someday” tasks

72. Doing and Beyond
Doing includes re-processing
Additional training and purposes:
“Mind Dump” - Get all tasks off you mind
Strategic Calendar - Balance all life areas
Work Areas & Work Values - Focus on MPAs
Large Projects, Templates - Advanced needs

73. Decision Time

74. Dedicate and schedule your next step
• Self-Training (included)
Online training at your own pace (~10 hrs.)
Skim/work to “Accountability”, then do all
• ½ Day Remote Coaching (optional)
1-1 coaching in your office, coach on call
• EITHER WAY: 21-Day Follow-up
Automated accountability and feedback

75. What‟s at stake?

76. + 1.6
hours/day!

77. 60% less
general stress

78. Questions

79. PRIACTA
EXPEDITING THE WORLD‟S WORK