The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey for 2008 has recently come out, and it holds some interesting statistics about the way Americans as a whole spend their time. A common frustration we hear from people is that there just isn’t enough time for what’s important. Looking at the survey results it would appear that watching television is the number one time-waster in people’s days. According to the survey, over 80% of people spend close to three hours a day watching television. The only other things American’s spent more time on were working and sleeping. If you’re looking for a quick fix for time issues, it’s a good idea to take an honest look at your leisure time and see if television is eating up a large portion of it. There’s nothing wrong with relaxing a bit at … [Read more...]
Work Life Balance: The Productivity Minute #16 Beating the After-Work Low-Energy Blues
Work Life Balance: Laura Stack talks about ways to maintain your energy after work. Keep up your energy so that you can enjoy your evenings and after-work time with friends, family and yourself. (C) 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]
Increasing Productivity: The Productivity Minute #15: Back To School Goal Setting For Parents And Their Kids
Back to school goal setting for parents and their kids. How can we as parents help our children to be more productive? Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), talks about how we can be proactive and help our children plan for success in school. (C) 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]
Business Productivity: Learning in Tough Economic Times Pays Off for Many Organizations
In their recent study Learning in Tough Economic Times: How Corporate Learning is Meeting the Challenges, ASTD and i4cp report that in this economic downturn, more organizations maintained their commitment to learning, and that commitment correlates strongly with better performance in the market. These organizations are not only trying to survive the downturn, but also to emerge strong when the economy recovers. Maintaining the learning function helps the organization stretch the lean workforce, while keeping their workers prepared for the future. Download an Executive Summary of the report or purchase the full report from ASTD. … [Read more...]
Time Management: Laura Stack Article Featured in Productive Magazine
The latest issue of Productive! Magazine features Laura Stack's article "I spend waaaaaay too much time on..." The digital magazine has already exceeded 6,000 downloads. Visit Productive! Magazine online at www.productivemagazine.com for your free digital subscription filled with great articles and tips on being more productive. Laura's featured article talks about time managment, what some of the biggest timewasters are, and how to avoid them. Enjoy! … [Read more...]
Personal Productivity: Why Greensizing is Productive
We all want to do our part to help the environment. But if you can give the Earth a break and increase your productivity at the same time, that’s a real no-brainer! Luckily, a lot of the things you can do to help sustain the planet can help sustain your productivity as well. Read on for tips on how to green-size your life and get more done at the same time. Use less paper. About 80 percent of papers that are filed are never referenced again. What a waste! A good solution? File less. An even better solution? Produce less paper to begin with. That doesn’t mean you have to constantly inconvenience yourself or feel guilty about ever sheet that comes off the printer. It just means you should think twice before you hit “print.” Do you really need a paper copy of that e-mail message or … [Read more...]
Increasing Productivity: I spend waaaaay too much time on…
I asked readers to fill in the blank on our last monthly survey and received some great responses. There were tons of interesting answers, but it didn’t take long to start seeing some patterns. Read on for the seven most common responses (and what you can do about them). 1. E-mail. Let’s face it. E-mail can be a phenomenal productivity tool, but it will eat your day alive if you let it. Lots of people complain that their overflowing inbox is beyond their control, but here are three steps you CAN take to start getting a handle on it right away: Do you keep one eye on your inbox all day long? What does that do to your productivity? If you drop everything and attend to every e-mail that comes in throughout the day, you are derailing your productivity, over and over again. Not … [Read more...]
Online learning library of Microsoft Outlook training videos with Laura Stack
With email being such a huge productivity drain right now, I created a brand-new online video learning library to conduct Microsoft Outlook training virtually. (I am a Microsoft Certified Application Specialist in Outlook.) The series includes ten 1-hour modules of online self-paced training. You can watch these streaming videos from the privacy of your own office, from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. Each flash video includes a detailed workbook with screen shots, so you can repeat on your Outlook. Microsoft online video learning library with Laura Stack: Module 1: Customizing Your Outlook Module 2: Inbox/Outbox/Sent Items/Drafts Module 3: Tasks Module 4: Calendar Module 5: Notes and Journal Module 6: Contacts Module 7: Time Savers Module 8: Advanced E-mail … [Read more...]
