Tick Achieve

Kevin Duncan is a business adviser, marketing expert and author. He was educated at Oxford and has worked in communications for 25 years, advising companies such as British Airways, Carlsberg-Tetley, Diageo, Heineken, Lloyds TSB, Marks & Spencer, Norwich Union, Reuters, Scottish Courage, Sony, and Virgin.He has hands-on knowledge of how to run most types of business, and has worked with over 200 clients in almost every category (except tobacco, which he won’t work on). He has deployed £600m of funds on more than 200 brands, overseen over 1,000 projects, and won 35 awards for creativity and effectiveness.Kevin is the author of Running Your Own Business, Growing Your Business, So What? and Start. He teaches at Canterbury University and for the last eight years he has been an independent troubleshooter, advising companies how to run their businesses.www.expertadviceonline.com

"This book is more thoughtful that its over-slick title suggests... entertaining and surprisingly persuasive... splendidly illustrated." (Research Magazine, February 2009) "It shows you how to get stuff done, with lots of little techniques tried and tested on scores of individuals over 25 years." (Publicnet.co.uk, Tuesday 17 June 2008)

• 1. Business Intelligence? 1“I’m too busy, I’m in a meeting.” 2Business intelligence? 2Tick Achieve: what does it mean? 3What does Tick Achieve not mean? 3What is a tick? 4What does achieve mean? 5Achievement is not an endgame 6Professional time wasting 6Most businesspeople want to waste time 7Seeing through the red mist 9Addicted to work 9The modern curse of WIP 10Yes, but have you actually done it? 11How to think more and worry less 11How being organized lets you take it easy 11Outcome not output 12Action not activity 13Cause and effect: first principles 13“If I do x, then y will happen…” 14Most of what people do has nothing to do with the main point 14What’s on your list? 15How to Tick Achieve 15What’s to come? 172. Talking Straight 19People who are incapable of coming to the point are literally pointless 20The new world of waffle 20You can’t think straight if you can’t talk straight 21The curse of internal waffle 22Duckspeak and Birtspeak 22There’s waffle and there’s strategic waffle 24A strategy is simply when you have decided what to do 26The rise of Offlish 26Mission Incomprehensible 27The fine art of business fiction 30Spotting waffle 32Understand how language works 33Pleonasms and circumlocution 35Permission to talk straight 36If you must use jargon at work, do not use it at home 37The mate, mum or grandmother test 37How to talk straight 383. Leave It Out 39Brevity equals intelligence 40Less really is more 40The Laws of Simplicity 41How eliminating issues gets to faster answers 43Does this need to be done at all? 44Extraneous extraction 44How leaving it out forces the issue 45Reductionism: think harder and simplify everything 46Boxy minds and why they help 46Anti lists 48Tasks do not improve in quality if they are delayed 49Do less and get more done 49Towards a manifesto for Tick Achieve 49Say no more often 50Debate hard and early 52Have a system 53Once you have written a task down you can forget about it 54Trust your Depth Mind 54Kick bad habits 55Killer Questions 56How to leave it out 574. One IN A ROW 59Achievement does not have to be a relentless series of successes 60The sublime accountant 60Breaking big problems down 61How to eat an elephant 62Introducing mini steps 62Rapid Sequential Tasking 63The one-touch approach 65Never touch a piece of paper or email more than once 65An untidy desk used to betray disorganization – now technology hides it 67Think, do 67Possible meanings of think 67Possible meanings of do 68Improving your time management 69The curse of modern technology 71Managing machines 72Most of the people on any given street are moving without paying attention 72Attention deficit syndrome 72If you want to get something done, turn off your mobile or hand-held device 74Hello Personal Organizer, goodbye Personal Assistant 74The overnight test 75Haste and regret 75Emailed does not mean the job is done 76Compress, excess and success 77How to practice one in a row 775. Tick Achieve 79To tick off is to move on 80The need for structure 81Boxy minds and phrenologists 82The art of great list writing 83The PERFECT system 83Personal priority 85Emotional importance 86Reason for doing 86Financial value to you 87Everyone else’s priorities 87Chronological sift 88Time shifts 88VPNs 89The Priority Matrix 90Bad lists and how to spot them 91Don’t talk about it: do it 92Talk can be the enemy of action 92The power of instinct 93Views of the experts 94Tick Achieve as a way of life 95Just because a task is started, it doesn’t mean it is finished 96A task is only finished when it is finished 96How to Tick Achieve 966. Look Lively 99Liveliness of the mind is more effective than any physical activity 100The rigour of vigour 100The more you do, the more you will get done 101Energy and the art of effective activity 102Getting your attitude right 103Walk TALL 104Conquering the quotidian 105Liberate more time for the things that you find enjoyable 106The joys of experimentation 107Laziness vs. liveliness 108When to do nothing 111The value of self-editing 111Quantity is no substitute for clarity 112How to look lively 1127. Outthink Yourself 115Knowing what you are unlikely to do can increase your likelihood of doing it 116The art of anticipation 116The excuse culture 117Glossing, glazing and glozing 120If you want to get something done, stick to the facts 120Facing up to your failings 120Being aware of your failings allows you to get more done 121The art of outthinking yourself 121Your locus of control 122Prearranging tripwires and fail-safes 123Lateness 123Disorganization 123Everything last minute 124Forget things completely 124Can’t remember names 124Pretend the job is finished 125Winning sportspeople have already pictured themselves winning 126It’s urgent – pretend it’s not 126It’s not urgent – pretend it is 126Recommending ratiocination 127The one thing intelligent people know 128How to outthink yourself 1298. Progress Not Perfection 131 The fact that nothing is perfect needn’t stop you making progress 132Quantitative and qualitative perfection 133Just doing it or doing it well? 134Progress not perfection 135Apogees and brobdingnagian achievements 136Moments of greatness 138Gaining control of yourself 140What’s happening? 143Liminal limits 144Dyspeptic diversions 145How to make progress without perfection 1469. Making Business Tick 149Tick Achieve for businesses 150Most organizations are not well organized 151Panjandrums and pirates 151The year that never is 154No company workforce ever works effectively for twelve months of the year 154A new manifesto for business 156Smaller chunks 157Long-term fiction 157Decision windows 157Are you deciding or just talking? 158Crisis Bombs and how to predict them 158Simplify everything 159Monkey-free leisure time 159Useless brainstorms 160Meetings: who needs them? 161The cult of the manager 163How to make business tick 16310. Make Yourself Tick 165The complete Tick Achieve method 166What makes you tick? 171It is your responsibility to get things done – not someone else’s 172Monkey on your shoulder? 172Efficiency is a sophisticated form of laziness 173In search of unworried Completer Finishers 174How many hours in your life? 174The one-page personal plan 175Planning your year 176Improve your ticker 177Three final critical questions 177How to make yourself tick 178Bibliography 181Appendix 183Index 219