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Excellence, Planning, and Effort: Baking the Productivity Cake

Posted on 09/04/2013 by ·

"One of the great challenges of our age, in which the tools of our productivity are also the tools of our leisure, is to figure out how to make more useful those moments of procrastination when we're idling in front of our computer screens." -- Joshua Foer, freelance American journalist and 2006 U.S.A. Memory Champion. As a rule, you don't just stumble across productivity—and it doesn't strike you out of the blue like a gift from Heaven. One of the most cogent observations I've seen on the subject comes from motivational speaker Paul J. Meyer: "Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort." Print out that quote, frame it, and hang it prominently on your wall. Take it to heart—because Meyer certainly … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

Your CORE Time Management System

Posted on 08/30/2013 by ·
Your CORE Time Management System by Laura Stack #productivity

To manage your time effectively, you’ll need to track all the information required to keep your life and schedule moving along smoothly. To a large extent, this will depend on the personal time management system you adopt—paper-based, electronic, or some hybrid (combination) method of both. Information arrives and gets stored in myriad ways today, due to all the new technologies constantly being introduced. Most people track contacts, communication, meetings, notes, and to-do lists within their personal systems, which could include: Information delivery software such as Outlook or Google, intranets, and instant messages. Texting and apps using your favorite Smartphone, tablet, or handheld, such as Droid, iPad, Kindle, or Blackberry. Information capturing methods, including … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Management · Tagged: , , , , , ,

The Execution Continuum: Your Means of Spinning Victory from Chaos

Posted on 08/28/2013 by ·
The Execution Continuum: Your Means of Spinning Victory from Chaos by Laura Stack #productivity

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."—Sir Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the U.K. "Building a visionary company requires one percent vision and 99 percent alignment." -- Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, American authors of Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. As with so many other things, business has borrowed the concepts of "strategy" and “tactics” from military and games theory, where the two are typically regarded as discrete if interrelated topics. When business still moved at human speed, we could afford to consider them separately. In the Electronics Era, we no longer can. We need to perceive tactics and strategy as what they truly are: points on an Execution Continuum, along with several other critical … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , , ,

Productive Mentoring

Posted on 08/26/2013 by ·
Productive Mentoring by Laura Stack #productivity

Leaders tend to have one of two opinions on the value of mentoring inexperienced workers: either "it's something that would be nice to do if only I had the time," or "it's a complete waste of time." But in truth, mentoring is never a waste. In fact, it can boost the productivity of both the mentee and mentor significantly, and by doing so, it contributes to the success of the entire organization. But mentoring becomes a productivity accelerator only when taken seriously—i.e., when it becomes more than lip service or an educational tool indulged in as time permits. Productive mentoring kicks it up a notch, driving performance and challenging mentees to grow into their roles in profitable ways. Making It Work Everyone involved must be willing to take time for mentoring; you can't … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

How to Escape a Workplace Productivity Rut

Posted on 08/23/2013 by ·
How to Escape a Workplace Productivity Rut by Laura Stack #productivity

By now, you've internalized the basics of time management in an effort to maximize your productivity. You know you must be self-disciplined, shut down distractions, eliminate time-wasters, improve information handling, and make every effort to smooth out your workflow. The problem is, you can do everything right and still end up with poor results if you're not careful. After following the straight and narrow path for a while, you may discover that you've worn yourself into a constrictive rut, where speedy reaction to the evolving business environment becomes difficult. In the end, your efforts to save time might result in a willingness to do no more than necessary to meet minimal standards. It's happened to us all at one time or another, sneaking up on us due to lack of time, poor … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: , , ,

Recovering Your Common Sense: How to Rein in Information Overload

Posted on 08/21/2013 by ·
Recovering Your Common Sense: How to Rein in Information Overload by Laura Stack #productivity

"There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher "The abundance of books is a distraction." -- Lucius Annaeus Seneca, ancient Roman philosopher and statesman. Social researcher S.A. Wurman once calculated that every issue of the New York Times contains more information than the average person in Elizabethan England learned in their lifetime. Wurman released this startling tidbit back in 1987—before the info-splosion we call the Internet really got started. Imagine how much worse we have it today, with our daily deluge of print and broadcast news, webpages, social media, email, and more. Some researchers claim we now create more information every two days than we did from ancient times up to the year 2003. Add in easy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tools & Systems · Tagged: ,

Million Dollar Productivity

Posted on 08/19/2013 by ·
Million Dollar Productivity by Laura Stack #productivity

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Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged:

No More Mediocrity: Making Meetings More Effective and Enjoyable

Posted on 08/14/2013 by ·
No More Mediocrity: Making Meetings More Effective and Enjoyable by Laura Stack #productivity

"Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything." -- John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist. As we can all attest, business meetings often waste valuable productive time and tend to last far longer than they should. But until we learn to communicate telepathically, they will remain a necessary evil—not just as a means of exchanging ideas and information—but also as a way to build relationships with others. That doesn't mean we have to like them. In fact, as economist and social theorist Thomas Sowell once quipped, "People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything." Whether he meant it facetiously or not, there's a grain of truth in Sowell's statement, since someone who enjoys meetings might actually prolong them and anything else they laid … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

Breaking It Down to Move It Forward: How to Simplify the Complex

Posted on 08/12/2013 by ·
Breaking It Down to Move It Forward: How to Simplify the Complex by Laura Stack #productivity

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." -- Hans Hoffman, German-American abstract expressionist painter. The modern business world is becoming more complex, competitive, and unpredictable by the day. Those of us at the leadership level must remain constantly aware of this reality, because the decisions we make affect the lives and careers of everyone on our team, and they may ultimately determine the fate of the entire organization. Occasionally, one must stop, take a good look around, breathe, and attempt to do what we can to reduce the complexity we face. While you may have no control over issues associated with overarching trends like globalization, rapid technological change, or national economic policy, you can certainly … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity ·

Awesome Efficiency: Five Ways to Maximize Team Productivity

Posted on 08/07/2013 by ·
Awesome Efficiency: Five Ways to Maximize Team Productivity by Laura Stack #productivity

"Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things." -- Peter Drucker, Austrian-American management guru. "The highest type of efficiency is that which can utilize existing material to the best advantage." -- Jawaharlal Nehru, former Indian Prime Minister. What comprises true efficiency, at least in a useful business sense? That's a question worth pursuing, because the answer isn't necessarily what you might expect. Business "efficiency" has evolved beyond its classic dictionary definition, which is essentially minimizing the resources required to do something. That's fine as far as it goes—but what if the thing done right isn't the right thing? If your mechanic changes the wrong tire on your car, it doesn't matter how efficiently he does the job; you've … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Management · Tagged: , , , , ,