"I frequently find it odd that so many people need to squeeze their working hours into a narrow timeframe, and I hope that modern jobs will start to change this." -- Alexander Swallow, poll respondent, U.K . "Early morning—there are few others around, the phone doesn't ring, there's little clutter in the working memory, and the imagination works better. Psychologically, there's more enthusiasm at the beginning of the day." -- Alan S. Hill, poll respondent, Australia "It always varies for me, but when I DO feel productive, no matter what time of the day it is, I will capitalize on that by 1) Making sure I'm having fun, which will 2) Lower my stress level and 3) Make me feel more hopeful and creative and productive. " -- Dr. Trina Hess, poll respondent, U.S.A. Back in mid-May … [Read more...]
Productivity Minute Video: Packing Efficiently for a Trip
Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), travels extensively. She shares tips on packing for maximum efficiency. (C) 2011 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]
Productivity Minute Video: No Nosing In on Family Time
Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R) discusses the importance of getting things done at work so your family time is not compromised. (C) 2011 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]
Work Life Balance: Is All That Unpaid Overtime Really Worth It?
"Stress is your body's way of saying you haven't worked enough unpaid overtime." -- Scott Adams, American cartoonist (Dilbert) "More men are killed by overwork than the importance of this world justifies." -- Rudyard Kipling, British author "By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day." -- Robert Frost, American poet. As I write this, we're mired in the Great Recession of the early 2000s. The job market is tighter than it's been in decades, which means that most of us are willing to do what it takes to keep the jobs we have. This often means putting in overtime, increasingly of the unpaid variety. The reasons that individual workers are willing to do so vary, but two factors are repeatedly cited: the need to prove themselves … [Read more...]
Time Management: The 4-Hour Workweek — Is It Really Possible?
"There is nothing that the busy man is less busy with than living; there is nothing harder to learn." -- Seneca, Roman philosopher "I want to say, in all seriousness, that a great deal of harm is being done in the modern world by belief in the virtuousness of work, and that the road to happiness and prosperity lies in an organized diminution of work." -- Bertrand Russell, British philosopher "The commonsense rules of the 'real world' are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions." -- Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek. In 2007, Timothy Ferriss created a sensation in the business world with his provocatively titled book, The 4-Hour Workweek. In it, he outlined his philosophy that once you've worked hard to build your business, it's possible to maintain that … [Read more...]
Productivity Minute Video: Packing Efficiently for a Trip
Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), travels extensively. She shares tips on packing for maximum efficiency. (C) 2011 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]
Distractions and Interruptions
Why do distractions and interruptions tend to disrupt our focus so easily? The answer is at least partly biological. Despite modern myth, the brain isn't a marvel of infinite capacity; we are, after all, only human, with all the limitations that implies. One limitation lies in our capacity to process what's happening in the world around us. We're flooded with so much sensory data at any one time that our brains have to filter out most of it to avoid overload, working with what's left to create a structured reality that we can function within. One result, as Winifred Gallagher points out in her intriguing book Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, is that "when you focus, you're spending cognitive currency that should be wisely invested, because the stakes are high." That is, you have … [Read more...]
Productivity Minute Video: Don’t Overload Yourself
Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R) talks about doing too much. You can't be productive if you're overloaded. (C) 2011 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]
Dealing With Distractions and Interruptions: Strategies for Staying Focused on Important Tasks
More than ever, modern workers are bedeviled by distractions and interruptions that pull us away from the key activities of our jobs. If it's not your noisy office-mates, it's the siren song of the Internet, or an over-fascination with email. Therefore, it's imperative that you learn to trim your activities down to the few things that are truly important, so you can actually get your job done and become both the envy of your peers and the apple of your boss's eye. Proper focus requires discipline and mastery to achieve, like any other skill. In this article, I'll help you get started in your quest to wield your focus like a blade, stripping away the things that keep you from getting your work done on time and under budget. Let's start with one of the worse culprits: your … [Read more...]
Business Time Management For Sales People: Freeing Up Your Time to Sell
In sales, there will always be more things to do than time to do them. Working longer isn't going to save you. (I’d bet you’ve never gone to sleep at the end of a long day with everything on your to-do list completed.) To counter this never-ending battle, you’ll need to learn to be more efficient and get your work done in less time. Always keep in mind that it doesn’t matter if you worked a 12-hour day if 10 of those hours didn’t involve tasks that translate into revenue. To free up more time for client acquisition (asking for referrals, calling prospects, networking, etc.), you must decrease time spent on administrivia and increase time spent on the selling function. If you can figure out how to be more productive during the day and achieve greater results in less time, you can leave … [Read more...]
