Microsoft Email: The Productivity Minute #12: Curing the “Reply to All” Sickness

Don't you hate it when someone sends an email to 15 people asking for input and someone hits "Reply to All" and creates a huge volley of 47 messages later?  AAAAAAH!  In this episode, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), gives three better ways to handle email when you need to get ideas from a group of people.  (C) 2009 Laura Stack.  All rights reserved. https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]

Increasing productivity: 55-1/5 Ways to Boost Productivity Today!

Okay, let’s face it. We’re all trying to do more with less.And chances are that you and your company have already made the big, tough decisions needed to streamline operations. But what about the little things?You can still boost both personal and team productivity in lots of smaller ways that are easy to implement and provide immediate results. Read on for quick tips on getting more done. 1. Hit the ground running. Don’t waste the first hour of the day. As soon as you arrive, focus on getting something done before you even think about checking Facebook or dropping in on a coworker. 2. Decline a meeting. Meetings are necessary. Every meeting is not. Don’t automatically accept every meeting invitation you receive, especially if there is no clear agenda or outcome. 3. Close your e-mail. Do … [Read more...]

Check out PRODUCTIVE! Magazine

Download a free PDF of a great new magazine---PRODUCTIVE! magazine.  First two editions available.  I'm delighted to be listed on the blog roll and look forward to contributing.  Their stated mission: Our Mission: Productive Magazine is a platform where the top productivity bloggers will share their best productivity principles and tips’n'tricks. Let’s help everyone get more done and be more productive! … [Read more...]

Microsoft Outlook virtual training series announced with Laura Stack

Our first virtual Microsoft Outlook webinar series was such a huge success that we're doing it again! The new series begins May 22, 2009 with Microsoft Certified Specialist Laura Stack. I’m going to present 10 modules covering various aspects of Outlook, step-by-step. This isn’t just computer training. It’s real-world, reality-based workflow processing that helps you actually be MORE productive with Outlook, instead of wasting hours every day playing with it. I will share my desktop and show my computer screen LIVE using my actual Microsoft Outlook software. This is not PowerPoint! It is a real-time demonstration. Even you Outlook experts will be shocked by what you don’t know you don’t know! Each webinar is very affordable at $39 per person. If you attend all ten, the price is … [Read more...]

Laura Stack’s books featured on Slideshare

Slideshows featuring three of Laura Stack's published works are featured at Slideshare.net and have received hundreds of views.  Get an overview of each of her books with tips from each chapter on how to leave the office earlier, find more time, and beat exhaustion! … [Read more...]

Workplace efficiency: 100 Awesome Cheat Sheets to Learn and Do Everything in Less Time

Forget multitasking: the real skill you need to compete in the business world and in life is efficiency. The ability to pick up new tricks and hacks quickly but effectively is priceless. This list of 100 awesome cheat sheets can help you to learn and do everything in less time, from working on your blog or designing a web page to losing weight and growing your own herb garden. … [Read more...]

The Productivity Minute #11: How to be Unproductive

If you were actually trying to be unproductive, what would you do? If someone were watching with a video camera from your ceiling, what behaviors would you change. Laura Stack dishes about participants in her time management seminars telling their secrets of how they waste time. And how their images of an unproductive day often resemble their actual days! (C) 2009 Laura Stack. https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]

Connecting with People: Relationships are Productive!

One of the trickiest parts of leadership is finding a way to strike a balance between your employees as subordinates and your employees as real, live people. Managing relationships with the people you work with (and for) is as important to your everyday productivity as it is to your career. (C) 2009 Laura Stack. www.TheProductivityPro.com Listen Now: Powered by Podbean.com … [Read more...]

Increasing productivity: Paper or Plastic? Managing Your To-Do Lists

Paper or Plastic? Managing Your To-Do Lists

Technology has given us so many options when it comes to keeping track of our to-do lists—Smartphones, web-based applications, desktop applications, PDAs—but figuring out the best system for you can be a real challenge (and a frustrating one at that).  Interestingly enough, even with all the technology out there, informal research (mine and others’) still shows that when push comes to shove, most people still fall back on good old-fashioned paper. In fact, a lifehack.org survey shows that not only do most people use a paper to-do list, but that paper is more than twice as popular as any other method listed!  Why is that? Because we’re human. Life doesn’t always happen when you’re sitting in front of your computer. We sit in meetings. We leave the office and go home. We travel. … [Read more...]

The Productivity Minute #10: The Bane of Sticky Notes and Scraps of Paper

Watch this episode and learn why you have sticky notes all over your office.  Figure out what sticky notes are good for and not good for.  What do you do when you think of something you need to do? (C) 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. www.TheProductivityPro.com … [Read more...]