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The Sunny Side of the Street: Four Ways to Rewire Your Brain for Positivity

Posted on 05/08/2017 by ·

"For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Proverbs 23:7, Holy Bible. Let's talk about brainwashing yourself. Okay, I'll admit that sounds a little strange; but when you get right down to it, brainwashing is a kind of pounded-in, acquired training you find very difficult to break. That's not always bad. I'm not talking about Manchurian Candidate-level conditioning, just self-teaching that helps you succeed. This involves simple, practical ways of rewiring your subconscious mind from negativity to positivity, so instead of being what a colleague of mine calls a "PITA negatron," you automatically look for the best side of any situation. Every affirmation you tell yourself each morning, every photo you look at to motivate yourself, every mantra you consider, every firm belief in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, Life Balance, Personal Productivity ·

Tapping Into Your SUPERPRODUCTIVITY! Five Rocket Boosters for Success

Posted on 04/03/2017 by ·

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."—Francis of Assisi, Catholic saint Have you ever been faced with a large task, whereupon you dismissed everything else from your mind, put your head down, and got to work? How often have you "come to" later, only to find your task is done or near-done—and hours have passed almost without you noticing? I suspect it's happened to you more than once. It tends to happen fairly regularly to those of us engaged with our jobs and genuinely interested in doing well. It's kind of like highway hypnosis, except that instead of just going on autopilot, your mind and body have melded in such a way that you tap into what I call "super-productivity." Here are five ways to enter…The Super-Productivity … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Performance, Personal Productivity, Time Management ·

Standing Out Above the Crowd: How to Toot Your Own Horn

Posted on 03/20/2017 by ·

"Become addicted to constant and never-ending self-improvement." – Anthony J. D'Angelo, self-improvement author and speaker. When I was young and first heard the term "human resources," it took me a while to figure out what it meant. I wasn't used to thinking of people and their experiences, educations, and abilities as "resources," in the same sense that energy, materials, and supplies are resources. But looking at the equation from a hard-nosed business perspective, that's exactly what people are. In fact, personnel represent the most important part of any business equation, though we sometimes lose sight of this fact. As with all resources, smart businesses want to maximize the return on the investment they've made in you; this is why you're occasionally sent to training courses, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance, Personal Productivity ·

Subconscious Productivity: Four Ways Your Brain Can Make You More Productive

Posted on 03/13/2017 by ·

"Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will someday become a reality." – Earl Nightingale, American motivational writer, speaker, and author. It's well established that, like an iceberg, only a small percentage of a person's mind is "above the water," active and aware, at any particular time. I'm not going to spout the over-used claim that you use only 10% of your brain on average; the majority of your brain is, in fact, used to control automatic and autonomous functions like breathing and heartbeat, as well as to process the flood of incoming sensory information you deal with constantly. Besides, this is the mind I'm talking about here, as apart from the brain: the consciousness that the electrochemical reactions inside in your head somehow … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Performance, Personal Productivity ·

Four Ways to Intensify Your Focus: Maximizing the Value of the Time You Have

Posted on 01/30/2017 by ·

  "You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks."—Winston Churchill, British statesman. One of the characteristics of high achievers is their intensity of focus. (←Click to Tweet) High achievers know how to bury themselves in their work to such an extent that nothing can easily pull them away. It's like they're in a productivity trance. Fortunately, you CAN learn to be more focused, even if you believe you’re one of the worst multi-taskers on the planet. Here are four effective ways to tighten up your concentration and intensify your focus. 1. Keep a distraction list open. An active mind works on many levels, some of them subconscious. Your brain may suddenly come up with an idea or reminder that threatens to derail you from your task … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, General, Performance, Personal Productivity, Time Management ·

Self-Sabotage: Five Ways to Kill Your Own Productivity

Posted on 01/23/2017 by ·

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." – Henry Ford, pioneering American automaker. In some ways, you may be your own worst enemy—even when you don't realize it. Self-sabotage is a very real problem in corporate America, and I've seen many people and organizations fall prey to it (← click to tweet).  It's almost never deliberate; it's typically either due to subconscious beliefs or compulsive activities that take control of your good sense. It can happen even to those of you who consider yourself a top producer, if you let your guard down. Self-sabotage can even feed on contentment; it's one of the more destructive aspects of our subconscious minds, which can otherwise serve us so well on the productivity front. Paralysis analysis may be the most famous … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Personal Productivity, Time Management ·

Four Tips to Encourage You to Grab for the Gold Ring: Incentivizing Yourself to Higher Productivity

Posted on 01/16/2017 by ·

"I always felt that I hadn't achieved what I wanted to achieve. I always felt I could get better. That's the whole incentive."— Dame Virginia Wade, OBE, British former professional tennis player Incentivization may be a buzzword in business circles, but it's a buzzword for good reasons. Researchers have known for years that most employees aren't fully engaged with their work; some never engage at all. Even the best of us sometimes see our jobs as little more than guaranteed paychecks—a means to the end of a comfortable lifestyle or, in more troubled times, fiscal survival. Hence the need for motivators not to just do better work, but to bother to work hard at all. Motivation has always been a prime worry of management, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. (← click to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Performance, Personal Productivity, Time Management, Tools & Systems ·

Six Ways to Prepare to Excel: the Connection Between Groundwork and Productivity

Posted on 12/26/2016 by ·

 "Be prepared."—Boy Scout Motto. According to legend, Albert Einstein shared this characteristic with the late Steve Jobs, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, and U.S. President Barack Obama: he pared his wardrobe down to a few simple outfits, so he didn't have to worry about what to wear every morning. Whether it's true or apocryphal for the great physicist remains uncertain, but it's an established fact for the three aforementioned leaders. Simple routines represent a great way to triage your schedule and save time for what really matters. If you think about it, that's one way that advance preparation can improve your life. What other routines can you establish to prepare in advance and heighten productivity? 1. Marshal your resources the evening before. If you know you'll need certain … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Performance, Personal Productivity, Time Management, Tools & Systems ·

Three Simple Family Routines to Make You More Productive at Work: Striking the Ideal Work-Life Balance

Posted on 11/29/2016 by ·

"The most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home." – Harold B. Lee, American religious leader and educator. I find it amusing that some of my colleagues claim the concept of work/life balance is dead. It's not that they all believe you should give up on having a personal life if you want to get ahead at work, though this sometimes seems to be the subtext. Most simply believe work and the rest of life have become so intertwined we can't pull them apart, so we have no choice but to respond to email and Facebook requests on the beach or while doing laundry or dining with the family. Hogwash. Having boundaries and balancing work and the rest of life is absolutely crucial for your sanity, especially when you want to have a life once you retire. Besides, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Life Balance, Performance, Personal Productivity, Time Management ·

Seven Tips for Sick Days: Producing Even When You’re Under the Weather

Posted on 11/22/2016 by ·

"I see sick parents and kids every day. I also know many people who go to work sick because they don't have paid sick days. Having paid sick days would prevent the spread of illness and make sure people are not penalized for staying home when they are sick." — Dr. Ben Danielson, Seattle pediatrician. Although it would be awesome to actually stay home sick whenever you feel bad, it's not always possible. PTO tends to be limited in even the best of companies, and it takes just one bout of the flu to wipe it out. Many supervisors also look askance at people calling in sick, suspicious of faking, resulting in a chilling effect on the truly ill. And many people simply have no choice but to go in no matter how we feel, because our teams depend on us—and there's always some deadline bearing … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity, Performance, Personal Productivity, Time Management ·