5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There Is Never Enough Time

10Ranking Your Gear Order

Now that you know the full meaning behind the metaphor, it is time to start applying the 5 Gears in your life. In this section, we will help you discover your personal gear order, your gear order under stress, and the gear order of others in your life.

As I noted at the outset of this book, every vehicle has a natural gear order. For cars that order is 1st to 2nd to 3rd to 4th to 5th and reverse when you need it. Transmissions are designed to allow for an engine to be in the right gear in the right time. The same is true of people. We have a natural gear order that is meant to be, and one that is our reality.

What Is Your Gear Order?

So, what is your real gear order? Not what you want it to be, but what it actually is in your everyday life. Steve and I thought it would be good to share what our gear order is to help you understand how to think through your own. Let's start with Steve's gear order, which is 4, 1, 3, 5, 2:

I love 4th gear: I enjoy the multifaceted nature of work. I am constantly moving between email, Facebook, iMessage, tasks, phone calls, coffees, and GoToMeeting videoconferences. I thrive on variety, autonomy, and the freedom to work from wherever I am in the world. I tend to work in bursts of energy and move in and out of work throughout the day. I love what I do, so it's actually recreation for me to dream about how we win in the future!

1st gear is next. I truly recreate when the external stimuli are more powerful than the desire ...