Office Productivity: Stop the Meeting Madness

Stop the Meeting Madness

Meetings can absolutely eat up your day if you let them. Ever seen the Dilbert cartoon about preliminary pre-meeting meetings? Does it feel like you're stuck in that Dilbert cartoon and can't get anything effective done? Well, you don't have to take it anymore! Keep these things in mind when dealing with time-stealing meetings. Refuse Face-to-Face Meetings When Unnecessary Determine if you really need to meet in person. How many times have you attended a meeting and asked yourself, "Why am I here?" Hopefully, by now you've started protecting your time from every person who wants a piece of it. If my clients want to meet in person, I charge a consulting fee. For telephone calls, no charge. Ninety percent of the time, a conference call will suffice. Extra travel time and expenses are … [Read more...]

Time Management: Audio Podcast: I Spend Waaaaay Too Much Time on…

I asked readers to fill in the blank on our last monthly survey and received some great responses. There were tons of interesting answers, but it didn’t take long to start seeing some patterns. (C) 2009 Laura Stack. www.TheProductivityPro.com Powered by Podbean.com … [Read more...]

Business Productivity: The Productivity Minute Video #22 If you don’t have something to say, say nothing

Sometimes the most productive thing to do is nothing. If you don't have anything new to add to the conversation, whether it be on email or in a meeting, don't say anything at all. (C) 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]

SUPERCOMPETENT™ KEY #6: ATTITUDE

This month’s article correlates to the sixth key in my newest book SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best (Wiley), to be released on August 9: ATTITUDE. Attitude is your motivation, drive, and proactiveness. The most effective people in any endeavor are those with a hard-working, positive, can-do attitude. Their attitudes exude the kind of passion that commits fully to a course of action and sees it all the way through. It's infectious, and it keeps them and others in their team moving forward, even when the way becomes difficult. In order to succeed in a competitive work environment, you have to be a self-starter, consistently driven, consistently flexible, and consistently innovative. You must also learn to be a good communicator in all directions: up to … [Read more...]

Getting Things Done: The Productivity Minute #21 Don’t Get to it SOME day Do it NOW

Part of what keeps us stressed out is all of the incomplete tasks running around in our heads. Too many folks have loose ends and things they say they will "get to it some day." Stop saying "some day" and get those things done! (C) 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. https://theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]

Business Efficiency: FREE Webinar with Laura Stack January 7

Leave the Office Earlier with Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, Day-Timer, and Office Depot January 7  from 10AM-11AM Mountain Time. ** Sponsored by Day-Timer and Office Depot ** Do you find yourself continually racing against time? Do you feel that you have so much to do that it’s difficult to get anything done? Managing time effectively is the key to managing your individual performance. Time management is much more complicated than making a list and checking things off. Learn how to set priorities and focus on what’s truly important, plan and schedule your day, and organize your time management system. Attend this special webinar with Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, and you'll learn how to achieve Maximum Results in Minimum Time®. Get your work done efficiently and leave the … [Read more...]

Business Productivity: The Top Ten Commandments of Social Networking Etiquette

The Top Ten Commandments of Social Networking Etiquette: 1. Thou shalt develop a purposeful social media strategy. 2. Thou shalt dedicate yourself to really learning how to use the ones you choose. 3. Thou shalt not sell yourself before earning the right to do so. 4. Thou shalt not keep your browsers open all day. 5. Thou shalt turn off all notifications and alerts. 6. Thou shalt do real work during the day. 7. Thou shalt not use social media to waste time. 8. Thou shalt limit the number of visits to your social media sites. 9. Thou shalt post once and let the third-party software post the rest. 10. Thou shalt not update us when you go to the bathroom. What would you add to this list? … [Read more...]

Getting Things Done: The Productivity Minute #20: Is Organization Genetic or Environmental?

Are we born organized and productive, or are these learned traits? Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), discusses this question. (C) 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. … [Read more...]

Microsoft Email: Preview Laura’s Outlook Training

Microsoft Outlook Virtual Training Products: This isn’t just computer training. It’s real-world, reality-based workflow processing that helps you actually be MORE productive with Outlook, instead of wasting hours every day playing with it. I estimate most people know 10-20% of the capacities of Outlook. Even you Outlook experts will be shocked by what you don’t know you don’t know! Now you can see a preview of all ten modules from Laura Stack's Outlook training series! Visit us here to watch the previews and sign up for your training course: https://theproductivitypro.com/s_outlook-virtual-training-products.html. Take your office productivity to a whole new level with Outlook! … [Read more...]

Time Management: The Productivity Minute #19: Business Processes That Make No Sense-United Airlines

Are your employees bogged down with business processes that make no sense? Laura gives an example of a United Airlines policy that not only inconveniences customers, but also wastes employee time. Eliminate business processes that don't make sense! (C) 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. … [Read more...]