What is the best
approach to checking your email?
Select
an answer:
- Schedule appointments to check your email.
- Leave your inbox open throughout the day so you can immediately respond to important emails.
- Only check your email once a day and set aside a large chunk to do it.
- Resolve each email and project completely so you can put it in the trash and be done thinking about it.
How should you
think of your calendar appointments?
Select
an answer:
- Think of your appointments as
commitments to yourself and others.
- Think of your appointments as
flexible agreements to "pencil in" for the day.
- Think of just your appointments
for the coming week.
- Focus
only on recurring appointments because these are consistent.
Why is saying
"no" to a request sometimes the best choice?
Select
an answer:
- Saying "no" is
sometimes the best choice if you don't like the person making the request.
- Saying "no" allows
you to keep your current commitments without spreading yourself too thin.
- Saying "no" is never
a good choice. You should always say "yes" to maintain your
importance and status.
- Saying
"no" to most requests will free up a lot of time.
A small business
owner decides to improve her work/life balance by going home earlier. She still
looks at her work email during evening hours while spending time with family
but doesn't answer them. How would you describe her approach?
Select
an answer:
- This is okay for her. Since she
is a leader, she should always be aware of everything going on in her work
email account.
- Since she is just looking at
emails and not actually answering them, she isn't really working.
- Her work/life balance has
improved since she is not spending as many hours at work.
- She
hasn't really improved her balance very much. She is still working while in
the presence of her family.
Why is it so
important to complete this course in your primary workspace?
Select
an answer:
- You'll have access to multiple
technological tools.
- You can complete the training
more quickly at your normal desk.
- You won't miss any important
calls or emails while you complete the course.
- Your
workspace is a laboratory for hands-on action.
How difficult is it
to identify your most valuable activities (MVAs)?
Select
an answer:
- It’s easy. Simply rank your
activities by their value per hour, based on a rough estimate of how much
you'd pay someone else to do them.
- It's nearly impossible because
everything you do is required in your job description.
- It's easy. All your activities
have the same value, since you're paid the same per hour regardless of
what you are doing.
- It's
difficult. You can't truly calculate the value of your work unless you can
actually hire other people to do your work.
Switchtasking, or
what many often refer to as multitasking, means to _____.
Select
an answer:
- complete one task in its
entirety and then move on to the next
- do something active while
something mindless or mundane happens in the background
- open several browsers or
computer programs simultaneously
- switch
back and forth between tasks in rapid succession
You friend sends
you an email invitation to attend a webinar mildly interesting – but less
valuable – topic. It's scheduled for Thursday afternoon, the time you've
budgeted for your MVAs. What is the best response?
Select
an answer:
- Go ahead and accept the invitation,
so you don't appear rude to your friend.
- Accept the invitation since you
can probably view the webinar and work on your MVAs at the same time.
- Decline the invitation, and
possibly see if you can attend at a different time or view a recording of
the webinar later.
- Just
pretend that you misplaced the invitation if your friend ever asks you
about it.
Why is
procrastination always bad?
Select
an answer:
- When you procrastinate, you
will forget what your idea was about and never carry through.
- It's not, you just need to
communicate to others when you are procrastinating.
- You get nothing done.
- It's
not, if you use your calendar and are cautious of deadlines.
When preparing to
organize your office, which of the following should you do?
Select
an answer:
- Gather all unprocessed items
into your physical inbox.
- Leave unprocessed papers that
are not on your desk alone and deal with them later.
- Put sticky notes about next
steps in prominent areas around your workspace.
- Put
things away if they are out of place.
A mind filled with
tasks and to-dos is _____.
Select
an answer:
- more productive
- more creative
- in a constant state of
switching
- a
sign that you're getting too much sleep
Assume you
completed the gathering points worksheet and found you have over 100 gathering
points. What does this mean?
Select
an answer:
- Your high number means that
this course will be easy for you.
- This is a great opportunity for
improvement.
- You probably made an error in
counting. Nobody has a count that high.
- It
means that you are a Focus Master.
Your goal in
processing your email is the same as your goal in processing your physical
inbox. What is this goal?
Select
an answer:
- Flag important emails to which
you plan to return.
- Bring it to zero, meaning
completely empty, at least once per week.
- Create new subject lines to
create an order of importance.
- Continually
stay on top of your email so it doesn't overwhelm you.
You should create
an email filter (or rule) ONLY if _____.
Select
an answer:
- it's a coupon or junk email
- there are times of the day when
you shouldn't be distracted by email
- someone regularly sends you
pointless emails
- you
will never need to see or act on that type of email from that sender
How should you use
the list of mental triggers?
Select
an answer:
- Use the list to come up with a
task for each line item.
- Use the list to brainstorm new
and creative ideas.
- Use the list to discover which
focus area is giving you the most difficulty.
- Use
the list to clear your mind of all your unresolved tasks.
Why do you need to
repeat the mind clearing exercise? Won't that become time-consuming and boring?
Select
an answer:
- Repeating the mind clearing
exercise is essential for optimal focus. It will get faster each time you
do it.
- Sometimes you just have to do
time-consuming things.
- It's not boring, because
repeating the mind clearing exercise will help you come up with new ideas
to pursue.
- You'll
only need to repeat it once or twice, and you can stop once you get good
at it.
After you've done some
processing, you find that your task reminders list is growing very large. What
might this mean?
Select
an answer:
- You're probably not scheduling
enough of these tasks on your actual calendar.
- You're likely to end up with
too many items on your task reminders list unless you delegate most of the
items.
- You should put everything on
your calendar instead.
- You
could avoid this by doing everything in your inbox as you come to it.
Where should you be
on the focus-chaos scale to benefit from this course?
Select
an answer:
- Anywhere
- Focus Master
- Nomad
- Chaos
Master
What is the most
efficient solution to keep personal and work emails separate, even if they are
in a single email inbox?
Select
an answer:
- Use different email programs
for each.
- Use different signatures and
email accounts for personal and professional emails.
- Use an attachment that denotes
you will keep the email private even though it's from a work email
account.
- Use
different colors for each person addressed in the email.
How can you reduce
switchtasking when using messaging apps?
Select
an answer:
- Ignore the notifications until
you have some free time.
- Schedule a specific time that
works best for you to check your messaging apps.
- Leave them all open on a
separate screen, so you can respond easily and quickly.
- Don't
use them at all.
You teach music
lessons out of your home. You often have sheet music, handwritten notes on
individual students, and financial records. What's a quick-but-effective
strategy for your physical filing system?
Select
an answer:
- Create a general alphabetical
file for non-financial documents, a separate alphabetical file for student
files, one for sheet music, plus a set of twelve-monthly folders for
financial documents.
- Put everything into one large
filing cabinet organized alphabetically.
- File everything by date.
- Recycle
50% of all paper files.
What is an
effective way to store PowerPoint sales presentations that you periodically
update for work?
Select
an answer:
- Just store everything online in
the "cloud." Search for it later.
- Keep your personal and work
files separate. Then create a subfolder for “Sales,” a final folder for
“Presentations,” and put the file there. Keep older versions in an “old”
folder here.
- Only keep the most recent
version of the PowerPoint presentation, filed under "Personal"
on your computer. Delete older ones.
- Put
all your PowerPoint files into one folder called “Presentations.”