Tools of Control

by Sam Carpenter

In Western culture, the word “control” has an undeserved bad rap. It conjures up the image of a type-A personality gone wild with power, who, headed down the road of personal self-destruction, cuts wide swaths of anxiety among all those encountered. “Control freak” is the term that often surfaces, and in order to avoid that label we’re anxious to “lighten up and go-with-the-flow.” But if hyper-control is a bad thing, do we want the opposite, to be out of control? (And, let’s say it here: As we search for a middle ground, let’s not forget this brutal reality: Each of us will someday lose control of all that we have. Life is ephemeral and survival is temporary. Sooner or later, for each of us, it’s over.)

So, as we “go with the flow,” we want to avoid navigating without reason, care, or attention to detail. Control, in fact, is a good thing. Truth is, control’s four horsemen of self-discipline, planning, efficiency, and consistency are mandatory for securing freedom, wealth and life-satisfaction. How can we lighten up if our world is confused?

Most people don’t spend enough time focusing on the methodology of control. There is a science and an art to it. And yes, like everything else, moderation is the key.

In your business and your personal life, are you ready to devote some energy and time to seizing control of your day and your destiny? Then let’s get technical and talk about hard details. Center your efforts around three primary tools: a digital voice recorder, Microsoft Outlook, and your cellular phone. Of course, none of these tools are new and each stands alone in its usefulness. However, it’s when one combines them that a new and powerful sense of control is found. These tools are about the following:

• Having a goal-oriented, consistent strategy. You already know that one must have clear goals with specific strategies to reach them.
• Having efficient mechanical tools to accomplish all necessary tasks ASAP and with minimum input. “Most recurring processes can be automated or delegated.”
• Not suffering the effects of “errors of omission” — ineffectiveness due to actions not taken. Remember that most of our failures lie in what we don’t do, not in overt mistakes.

These tools are about capturing thoughts as they pass through the mind and then acting on those thoughts. They are about devising, designing, and then constructing desired outcomes.

Think of the mind as an endless film strip spewing out a random stream of thoughts, all rushing downhill in sequential order with no rhyme or reason. Good and bad thoughts, pointless thoughts, historical anecdotes dredged up from the past, future events in vivid Technicolor arriving before their time, hazy wistfulness and beautiful, brilliant insights when least expected. Coming hard and fast, thoughts pass through consciousness in relentless sequential order.

How to trap the good ideas and at the same time slow down the incessant mind-noise? Very simple: Start by carrying a digital voice recorder. When an idea worth remembering appears, pull out the recorder and record the thought. Then put it away, forget the thought and move on, leaving your mind with one less bit of clutter. For me, it doesn’t matter whether I’m driving, walking, working, sitting in the theater, having lunch with a friend, waking in the middle of the night, reading a book, skiing, cycling, or climbing a mountain. I capture the thought, and my mind is free to move on. There is nothing more to ponder in the moment and nothing to remember later.

Daily, I review the recordings of the past 24-hours, transcribing them into the appropriate Microsoft Outlook task, calendar, or contact list. Once transcribed, the thought has permanence and action will be taken.

Microsoft Outlook, my second efficiency tool, has enormous time-savings advantages over the classic paper-based day planner that I lugged around for so many years. As a manager, the most vital feature is the task list. (Hint, if you have managers, designate each manager as a “category,” thus centralizing each manager’s various tasks, the better to engender concise and quick “sit-downs” to review progress on various tasks.”) Outlook’s appointment calendar and contact information features are obviously vital, as well.

One mandatory habit that remains from my former paper-based Franklin-Covey planner routine is my morning “planning and solitude session.” In the quiet early morning, it’s time to download the voice recorder information into Outlook and then review the upcoming tasks for the day. This session is the day’s most significant act of personal control.

The third efficiency component is the cell phone. My telephone number doesn’t represent a place, it represents me. After all, people aren’t looking for the place where Sam is located; they’re looking for Sam. They don’t care, and it’s none of their business, where I am physically.

Remember the cell phone’s best feature is its on-off switch. The always-on cell phone can annoy not just those in close proximity, but the user too. The primary purpose of my cell phone is to make calls, not to receive them and so the phone spends a good part of the day turned off as I divert incoming calls to voice mail. This way, I can focus on immediate tasks without interruption. I’ll call people back later when I am in the call-back mode. (Anyway, at Centratel, our intense system-improvement focus’s end-result is that I seldom get more than one or two Centratel-related calls during the day.)

That’s it! Three integrated communication tools to help you solidly grasp control of the day. If you can muster up the necessary self-discipline, and have the patience to work out the details of how the tools interface with each other to suit your own style, I promise you will experience significantly more control and peace in your day.

As I update this in June, 2009, I must answer the obvious question: Why haven’t I combined the tools into a Blackberry? I choose to draw the line this side of being able to collect emails anytime, anywhere: I read books in those free moments. There is a reason it’s called a “Crackberry.” It’s not that there’s more to life than being connected every moment. It’s that being connected every moment makes me crazy.

-sc