If you or someone in your company or organization occasionally brings in outside speakers for training or meetings, please keep reading. As the economy turns around, we are finding training hasn't yet returned to 2006-2008 levels, budgets are still suppressed, and attendees can't get out of their offices for a full day of training. So after successful pilots in Sioux Falls, SD, and Tampa, FL, we think we've stumbled on a solution: we are playing MATCHMAKER. Rather than flying out to work with a single company, we will help you find someone in your area to split the costs. Here's how it will work. I will book a two-day tour in select cities based upon interest. We will use the same discounted in-state "piggybacking" rates we use for Colorado. Four companies will each get a half-day … [Read more...]
Time Management: Match Your Tasks to Your Energy Level
You can know all the productivity tips in the world, but nothing will work if you don’t have the energy to give 100 percent. Personal energy is a measure of how strong, invigorated, or up to a task you may feel at any moment. If you feel down, your zest ebbs, and you tend to produce mediocre work. So know your own rhythms and plan your work around them. If you tend to have a lot of energy first thing in the morning, then do your most challenging work then. High energy gives you the ability to concentrate well, make critical decisions, perform complex analysis, or do any task requiring creativity or problem solving. When your energy is low, however, these tasks become more difficult, take longer, and often have poor results. So if the afternoons are difficult for you and you experience … [Read more...]
Business Productivity: Technology In the Workplace 2010 Study
Intercall recently published the 2010 study on Technology In the Workplace. The findings of the study make it clear that today's workers are feeling the pinch of tough economic times and increased pressure to do more with less and stay connected to the office even in off hours. Almost half of American workers who use technology at work believe that in this economy they must produce more even though they have fewer resources. Twenty-five percent of American workers feel their job security "is partially dependent on their supervisor seeing they are connected to work even after hours." Even with the increased workloads, Americans do see technology as a key part of productivity in the workplace. Job satisfaction increases when companies provide technology tools to help workers do more in … [Read more...]
Time Management: Gracefully Refusing Requests
What do you do when you have the perfect plan set up for the day, then everything and everyone tries to blow up your plan? Part of that could be your fault. Perhaps you’re responding to e-mails as they're coming in or otherwise wasting time. But the other part is no fault of your own. You need to learn some language, verbiage, and techniques to use when someone asks you to do something not on your plan. If you’re thinking, “This is just not that important right now,” you need to know how to decline gracefully. Certainly there are some things that are worth stopping what we’re doing and handling; however, there lots of things that aren't important and don't qualify to be handled immediately. One of the things you can do is always negotiate a due date with the person as they make a … [Read more...]
Workplace Productivity: Your First To-Do of the Day
What’s the first thing you do when you begin your day? What do you literally do when you sit down to begin working? Many people do the “beverage ritual.” They get all their beverages just right and their snacks all lined up and settled. Maybe they do a little bit of checking on blog postings to see what's come in and of course visit Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Next they check e-mail and get sucked into that vortex for a couple of hours. Now what time is it? Lunchtime! How do you feel after lunch? Probably pretty low energy. What do you feel like working on? Nothing. At least nothing that requires a very high level of energy and focus. I would suggest instead that you think very carefully about the leading activity of your day, because it's going to set you up for success or … [Read more...]
No Time Like Now To Get Organized
How do you get more out of your busy day? Most of us have at least one area of disorganization which seems to hold us back from being at our most productive. How do we address those areas? Here is a link to one of the Productivity Minutes on Denver's Channel 7 News. See here: No Time Like Now To Get Organized. … [Read more...]
Business Productivity: Weekly Series on Denver’s Channel 7
Laura Stack is now presenting a weekly series, The Productivity Minute, on Denver's Channel 7 News. Each week she'll share great tips and tricks on how to be more productive at work and at home. View her introduction to the series: Special thanks to The Denver Channel for inviting us to be a part of their show. Be sure to tune in for future episodes! … [Read more...]
Time Management: It’s All in the Timing
An important part of being and staying productive is knowing the right time to accomplish a task. This is true not only in the business world, but in our personal lives as well. When we're working on getting things done, we don't always know exactly what the best time is for certain things. I ran across this helpful list of 100 tips and tricks for the best times to do things: The Best Time to Do Everything. I hope you find a few tips to help you make the most of your time! … [Read more...]
SuperCompetent KEY #3: Attention
This month’s article correlates to the third key in my newest book SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best (Wiley), to be released on August 16: ATTENTION. Simply put, attention is the ability to concentrate and not get distracted. SuperCompetent workers are always tightly focused: on getting the job done, on their department's success, on their company's success, on the success of their own careers. They home in like a bloodhound on the task at hand, rather than flitting from one thing to another. Distractions are ignored or shunted aside. They avoid negative chat and whining and are proud of what they've accomplished at the end of the day. SuperCompetent people don't have nifty time-stretching devices like the one Hermione uses in the Harry Potter series to … [Read more...]
Business Efficiency: Audio Podcast: Resolve to Stop the Meeting Madness!
Around this time of year, everyone begins thinking about making resolutions and getting organized for greater productivity in the New Year. If I could pick a single goal for everyone, it would be revamping those time-sucking meetings! (C) 2010 Laura Stack, www.TheProductivityPro.com Powered by Podbean.com … [Read more...]
