"Man is most free when his tools are proportionate to his needs." -- Soetsu Yanagi, Japanese philosopher. "Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest." -- Leo Babauta, American blogger and journalist. In 1900, Lord Kelvin reportedly declared during an address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, "There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement." Just five years later, Albert Einstein burst onto the scene with a unique theoretical approach that helped firmly establish the precarious new field of study we now call quantum physics, and we're still exploring its ramifications today. The lesson here? Just because we've studied a field intensely for a century or more doesn't … [Read more...]
Patching Productivity Holes: New Thinking About Handling Productivity Weaknesses
Breaking Parkinson’s Law: Six Ways to Deliberately Constrain Your Workflow
"I might as well put some action in my life/Breaking the law, breaking the law..." -- Judas Priest, British heavy metal band. "[Parkinson's Law] is the magic of the imminent deadline… The end product of the shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or higher quality due to greater focus." -- Timothy Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week In an essay published in the The Economist in 1955, British historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson formulated his most famous axiom: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." Though originally applied humorously, Parkinson's Law hits uncomfortably close to the mark. You can apply it to everything from committees to finance to corporate structure—and people have. I believe it's especially applicable to personal productivity. … [Read more...]
Welcome Change to the Family: Helping Your Team Embrace the New
"If you have always done it that way, it's probably wrong." -- Charles Kettering, American inventor and former head of research at General Motors. "The only completely consistent people are dead." -- Aldous Huxley, British writer As surely as hair grows and flowers bloom, change will come rolling through your organization today, tomorrow, and always. Trying to resist it would be like trying to hold back the ocean. That didn't work for King Canute, and it won't work for you. Instead, take advantage of change: catch the wave, hang ten, and use its energy to your advantage. Admittedly, that may prove easier said than done. But you can use that argument for almost anything. You can also blame someone else when change leaves damage in its wake because you did nothing. You can actively resist … [Read more...]
Promises, Promises: What To Do When Your Coworkers Fail You
"Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable, and you will never be asked to do a thing." -- Paul Theroux, American travel writer and artist. "From the backstabbing co-worker to the meddling sister-in-law, you are in charge of how you react to the people and events in your life. You can either give negativity power over your life, or you can choose happiness instead." -- Anais Nin, French-American diarist. Volunteer leaders, freelancers, and corporate employees alike all depend on others to contribute or provide work. At some point, you will run into people who fail to deliver what they've promised. How should you react when people leave you in the lurch? Your reaction depends on a number of factors: • Was the failure an oversight, or did they outright break a promise? • Was this a … [Read more...]
Increasing Creativity in Your Organization: Six Ways to Spark Innovative Thinking
"You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore." -- André Gide, French author (winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947). "An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all." -- Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright and poet. While the business environment requires a certain level of built-in routine in order to maximize productivity, that doesn't mean you can't have creative fun at work. Remember what Peter Drucker taught us: "The business enterprise has two—and only two—basic functions: marketing and innovation." So what does that have to do with creativity? Just this: when you reduce it to its essentials, innovation is creativity. Innovation facilitates the agility and flexibility all organizations require to survive. So … [Read more...]
A Review of Laura Vanderkam’s newest eBook: What the Most Successful People Do at Work
No matter what your field, you no doubt know a few superstars: people who somehow manage to outshine everyone else in terms of productivity, while keeping health and sanity intact. Every field has its Einsteins and Hawkings. You may even be one of them. In recent years, my colleague Laura Vanderkam has scrutinized how such superstars handle the 168 hours a week we're all gifted with, and what makes them so much more productive than most. She's reported the results not only in her bestselling 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than you Think, but also in e-books like What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend and What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. On April 23, Portfolio/Penguin will release the latest in the series, What The Most Successful People Do at Work. Like its … [Read more...]
How to Determine How Much Work is Enough Each Day: What is the Limit to Your Productivity?
"Too much work and too much energy kill a man just as effectively as too much assorted vice or too much drink." -- Rudyard Kipling, British author. "Don't smoke too much, drink too much, eat too much, or work too much. We're all on the road to the grave—but there's no need to be in the passing lane." -- Robert Orben, American humorist. Recently, I held a public seminar where one of the participants posed an interesting question to me in the Q&A section: “Laura, how much work is enough? I could work 16 hours a day, but I'm not sure when to stop! What is a good gauge?” What a great question! One of the audience members said (only half-jokingly), "I stop when I finish my to-do list or can't stay awake any longer." In my case, it depends: I work constantly and consistently when I travel … [Read more...]
Warts and All: Taking Ownership of Unlikable Tasks
"Eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." -- Mark Twain, American writer and lecturer. "Many people today don't want honest answers, insofar as honest means unpleasant or disturbing. They want a soft answer that turneth away anxiety." -- Louis Kronenberger, American critic and author. Have you found that perfect job yet? Of course not, because the perfect job doesn't exist. Every job in the world includes unpleasant tasks that may bore you to death, strain your capacities, or require such brainless repetition you'd rather go hide in the nearest swamp. Whatever your job's deficiencies, though, you've got take ownership of those tasks—or how can you say you've done your job? Here are a few suggestions that'll help you stay … [Read more...]
Using Scoreboarding to Measure and Advance Your Goals
"Money is a scoreboard where you can rank how you're doing against other people." -- Mark Cuban, American businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. "It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality." -- Harold S. Geenan, American businessman and former CEO of ITT. It's harder to fix what you can't measure, because it’s harder to know if you’re improving. All business leaders require a decent understanding and consistent knowledge of basic performance metrics, like last quarter's sales figures or the week's labor percentage. But how often do all team members see figures telling them how they're doing or how their work contributes to the bottom line? Very rarely—except when … [Read more...]
Helping You Helps Me
In some situations, the concept of taking accountability for productivity and performance extends beyond your own job—especially when you find yourself in a leadership position—and team productivity becomes paramount. In situations like these, doing your job well also means helping others do their jobs better and more efficiently, so their performance dovetails with yours in a satisfyingly synergistic way. Carefully cultivated, the result can be a fruitful cycle of productivity, forming a positive feedback loop that expands into all aspects of the workflow process, making work life easier for all involved. As a manager, you must constantly refine your organization’s workflow processes and streamline your systems. Actively pursue opportunities to eliminate nagging time bandits, … [Read more...]
