"Social media isn't the end-all-be-all, but it offers marketers unparalleled opportunity to participate in relevant ways. It also provides a launch-pad for other marketing tactics. Social media is not an island. It's a high-power engine on the larger marketing ship." -- Matt Dickman, American marketer and blogger. "Networking is not about hunting. It is about farming. It's about cultivating relationships." -- Dr. Ivan Misner, American author. "The most successful marketer becomes part of the lives of their followers. They follow back. They wish happy birthday. They handle problems their customers have with products or service. They grow their businesses and brands by involving themselves in their own communities." -- Marsha Collier, American speaker and business author. Networking—the … [Read more...]
How Leaders Can Get More Done Through Others: How Micromanagement Can Kill Productivity and Creativity
If you want to destroy worker initiative, blast a hole in productivity, and scribble the bottom line with red ink, there's no better way to do it than by micromanaging your employees. Keeping workers on tight leashes and constantly interrupting them ruins their ability to find thoughtful, profitable ways to do their jobs, and it wastes your valuable time as well. True organizational productivity requires engaged, informed personnel willing and eager to work toward the organization's mission and vision. And it all starts with a simple concept that's amazingly hard for some people to implement: trust. Learn to Trust This can be a tough sell, especially if you've built your organization from the ground up. It's your baby; you know all its quirks, and it can be hard to trust even … [Read more...]
What’s Your Personal ROI?
"Loyalty, hard work and diligence are all great assets, but leadership today wants to know what your personal contribution is to cost reduction, increase in sales…what’s the return for your hours put in, and your salary and benefits that they pay you for that work?" -- Terry Humphrey, American business coach. "It's really up to each of us to make certain that our personal and professional value is realized by those around us... Never assume that people know that kind of information." -- Sheryl Sookman, Principal, The MeetingConnection "You possess personal capital. It is comprised of your time, effort, knowledge and skills. Investing that capital wisely yields a return on your investment. The higher your return on investment (your ROI), the more profit you earn." -- Nan Russell, American … [Read more...]
During Which Period of the Day Do You Feel Most Productive?
"I frequently find it odd that so many people need to squeeze their working hours into a narrow timeframe, and I hope that modern jobs will start to change this." -- Alexander Swallow, poll respondent, U.K . "Early morning—there are few others around, the phone doesn't ring, there's little clutter in the working memory, and the imagination works better. Psychologically, there's more enthusiasm at the beginning of the day." -- Alan S. Hill, poll respondent, Australia "It always varies for me, but when I DO feel productive, no matter what time of the day it is, I will capitalize on that by 1) Making sure I'm having fun, which will 2) Lower my stress level and 3) Make me feel more hopeful and creative and productive. " -- Dr. Trina Hess, poll respondent, U.S.A. Back in mid-May … [Read more...]
Productivity Minute Video: Packing Efficiently for a Trip
Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), travels extensively. She shares tips on packing for maximum efficiency. (C) 2011 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]
Productivity Minute Video: No Nosing In on Family Time
Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R) discusses the importance of getting things done at work so your family time is not compromised. (C) 2011 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]
Work Life Balance: Is All That Unpaid Overtime Really Worth It?
"Stress is your body's way of saying you haven't worked enough unpaid overtime." -- Scott Adams, American cartoonist (Dilbert) "More men are killed by overwork than the importance of this world justifies." -- Rudyard Kipling, British author "By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day." -- Robert Frost, American poet. As I write this, we're mired in the Great Recession of the early 2000s. The job market is tighter than it's been in decades, which means that most of us are willing to do what it takes to keep the jobs we have. This often means putting in overtime, increasingly of the unpaid variety. The reasons that individual workers are willing to do so vary, but two factors are repeatedly cited: the need to prove themselves … [Read more...]
Time Management: The 4-Hour Workweek — Is It Really Possible?
"There is nothing that the busy man is less busy with than living; there is nothing harder to learn." -- Seneca, Roman philosopher "I want to say, in all seriousness, that a great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by belief in the virtuousness of work, and that the road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organized diminution of work." -- Bertrand Russell, British philosopher "The commonsense rules of the 'real world' are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions." -- Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek. In 2007, Timothy Ferriss created a sensation in the business world with his provocatively titled book, The 4-Hour Workweek. In it, he outlined his philosophy that once you've worked hard to build your business, it's possible to maintain that … [Read more...]
Productivity Minute Video: Packing Efficiently for a Trip
Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), travels extensively. She shares tips on packing for maximum efficiency. (C) 2011 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]
Distractions and Interruptions
Why do distractions and interruptions tend to disrupt our focus so easily? The answer is at least partly biological. Despite modern myth, the brain isn't a marvel of infinite capacity; we are, after all, only human, with all the limitations that implies. One limitation lies in our capacity to process what's happening in the world around us. We're flooded with so much sensory data at any one time that our brains have to filter out most of it to avoid overload, working with what's left to create a structured reality that we can function within. One result, as Winifred Gallagher points out in her intriguing book Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, is that "when you focus, you're spending cognitive currency that should be wisely invested, because the stakes are high." That is, you have … [Read more...]
