Radiant Thinking reflects your internal structure and processes. The Mind Map is your external mirror of your own Radiant Thinking, and allows you access into this vast thinking powerhouse. -- Tony and Barry Buzan, The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain’s Untapped Potential If you're like me, every once in a while you get stuck on a problem and just can't seem to go any farther with it—no matter how many ideas you bounce off the wall, or how many angles of approach you try. Call it writer's block, creative dysfunction, or what you will, it can be like pulling teeth to tease those ideas out of the far wrinkles of your brain. Sometimes all you need is a little rest or relaxation to shake things loose; then you can come back strong enough to smash through … [Read more...]
Increasing Productivity: If You Think It, Ink It!
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. -- John Steinbeck My father had a saying he used to repeat often. He always carried around one of those little Mead spiral notebooks, which he liked to call "his brain," and whenever an idea would strike him he'd write it down and say, "If you think it, ink it!" That used to just drive me crazy…but Dad was absolutely right. You can't depend on your meat brain to remember everything, especially when you're in the middle of another task. Nor is it a good idea to drop the task you're working on and go haring off after the new idea. Oh, you can do that, but if make a habit of it you'll never finish anything—and your productivity will be shot to heck. So when you have a random thought … [Read more...]
Office Productivity: Making No Mean No
Learn to say 'no' to the good so you can say 'yes' to the best. -- John C. Maxwell (author, speaker, and pastor). In Oklahoma!, the befuddled Ado Annie Carnes sings, I'm just a girl who cain't say no, I'm in a terrible fix I always say "come on, let's go!" Jist when I orta say nix... Ever find yourself in Annie's situation? Are you a people pleaser? Do you have trouble turning down new tasks, even when you're drowning in work? Does everyone turn to helpful ol' you when they need something done? Is your schedule packed until the turn of the century? Sounds like you need to learn to say no graciously—and make it stick. Many of us have been conditioned by society to say "yes" to any reasonable request. It's as if the word "no" is a four-letter word, even when you've got all you can … [Read more...]
Work Life Balance: Back To School Goal Setting
Summer’s over and it’s time to get back to school! This gives you an opportunity to set some goals with your kids. Many people think of January 1 as the New Year. However, I think the back-to-school season is a much better time to get some perspective on kids’ lives and what we’d like to change in the coming school year. What are some of the objectives you have, both for yourself and your children? How can you as a parent help them learn to be more productive and help them achieve success? One of the best gifts that you can give your children is the opportunity to grow and to learn. You have to help coach them, counsel them, encourage them, and sometimes discipline them. Before school begins, take the opportunity to sit down and have a family meeting. What are some things that your … [Read more...]
Critical Tips for Successful Team Execution
Over time, individual teams and whole organizations tend to establish a standard pace. This pace can easily become unnecessarily lethargic. The trick is to regulate the pace, keeping it as high as possible without provoking burn-out. Executing at a brisk pace keeps your team energetic and fresh. Here are ten acceleration strategies that can help you and your team pick up the pace. 1. Identify an “enemy.” 2. Break the decision gridlock. 3. Develop contingency plans and work-arounds. 4. Set the bar higher. 5. Establish momentum-building milestones. … To read the rest of the list and a description of each accelerator, click here: http://www.mylinkage.com/GILD/2010/ten-tips-for-accelerating-your-teams-execution to visit Linkage’s Leadership Blog. © 2010 Linkage, Inc. All Rights Reserved. … [Read more...]
Your Days of Being Simply Competent Are Numbered! Learn to be SUPERCOMPETENT, Starting Today!
TODAY’S THE DAY!!! Laura Stack’s latest, extraordinary book, SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best (John Wiley & Sons), was released in bookstores TODAY, AUGUST 9! After almost 20 years of studying the art and science of personal productivity, Laura Stack reveals the six behaviors high-achieving professionals demonstrate over their lower-performing peers. Today is the day to purchase SUPERCOMPETENT and receive the valuable free bonus gifts listed at http://supercompetentbook.com/bonuses.php, as well as hundreds of dollars in valuable bonuses from her sponsors listed at http://supercompetentbook.com/sponsors.php. What should you do? 1. Purchase your copy of SuperCompetent TODAY from any retail or online store: • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • … [Read more...]
Business Productivity: Stop Procrastination in Its Tracks!
Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried. -- Anonymous This week, I'd like to discuss a form of self sabotage that I see all too often: procrastination, the fine art of putting things off. And off, and off, and off…. We've all let things slide when we shouldn't have. It's not always about forgetfulness, or overwork, or even laziness. In fact, some of the worst procrastinators are busy professionals who are otherwise successful in the workplace. Ultimately, all procrastination does is generate anxiety and negativity. So why do we hobble ourselves this way? The reasons are rarely clear-cut, but often they consist of some mix of the following: • Lack of self confidence • Uncertainty • Excess perfectionism • Distractions • Fear (of the unknown or a negative … [Read more...]
Join the SuperCompetent Online Campaign
The book launch date is fast approaching, but it's not too late to join the online campaign for my new book, SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best. We will list you on the SuperCompetentBook.com site as a partner with a link to your site, and all you need to do is send a message to your subscribers on Monday, August 9 to share with them the information about my new book. It's as easy as that! To join the campaign, visit Hasmark at http://hasmarkservices.com/campaigns/stack.html and sign up. … [Read more...]
Business Productivity Video: Handling Your Paperwork
Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R) shares tips on managing all the paper that comes across our desks. (c) 2010 Laura Stack. All Rights Reserved … [Read more...]
Performance Improvement: How to Empower Your Employees…and Yourself
In the high-octane world of modern business, you hear a lot of theories about what it takes to increase employee productivity. Empowerment is one of the philosophies discussed most often, especially as it relates to the corporate team environment. The idea is simple enough: by implementing practices that help employees feel confident, capable, and in control of the outcome of their work, they feel empowered to do that work effectively and without excessive oversight or micromanagement. Ideally, this ensures commitment to the company's core mission and vision, which results in greater productivity over the long term. That's the theory, anyway. But as any scientist will tell you, all that really matters is how well a theory stands up to testing. If it's a dud, a few experimental runs out … [Read more...]
