Five Ways to Serenity: How to Dial Down Work Stress and Boost Your Performance

Five Ways to Serenity: How to Dial Down Work Stress and Boost Your Performance

"The time to relax is when you don't have time for it."–Sydney J. Harris, American journalist. Despite the many arguments to the contrary, stress isn't necessarily bad for you. A little stress forces you to get off your duff and try to improve your life. Every good thing that humans have accomplished—from starting fires, to figuring out how to break rocks to make stone tools, to traveling to the moon—has been triggered by a form of stress, whether environmental, physical, or mental. Psychologist call positive stress eustress. What really hurts us is strain: too much stress forced on us too quickly for too long, without let-up. That's what causes people to break. This does not mean, however, you should invite stress when you can avoid it, or take on more stress just for your own good. … [Read more...]

Using Stress Productively

Using Stress Productively by Laura Stack, CSP, ,CPAE

We all have stress. How can you make it work for YOU? Listen to this week's podcast by Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro! (C) 2015 Laura Stack, All Rights Reserved. www.TheProductivityPro.com … [Read more...]

Business Productivity: Slipping the Electronic Leash

"We...can strategically train our attention. When it comes to email and the Internet, it's critical that we do so to give ourselves more time to think more reflectively, creatively, and deeply in an increasingly complex world." -- Tony Schwartz, president and CEO of The Energy Project "If left unchecked, 'info-mania' will damage a worker's performance by reducing their mental sharpness. This is a very real and widespread phenomenon." -- Glenn Wilson, British psychologist "When you log on, you feel like you're in touch with everything that's going on in the world. But what you really are is out of touch -- literally. There is no touching anymore." -- Judith Regan, Regan Books Would it surprise you to learn that paying too much attention to your email can lower your IQ by as much as 10 … [Read more...]

Performance Improvement: Using Stress Productively

" No one reaches peak performance without being stressed, whether an athlete, an office worker, or a manager." -- Robert Ostermann, American psychologist "We need to reframe how we look at anxiety. It’s not something to run away from, but something that can be used as productive energy. Fear is the body’s way of preparing for action." -- Robert Rosen, Ph.D., author of Just Enough Anxiety: The Hidden Driver of Business Success You may think you know what stress is...but do you really? In the medical sense, stress is your body's response to any kind of demand or constraint, good or bad. Put that way, it's obvious that some stressors can be positive and adaptive; that is, they may help you stay healthy, provide a sense of good feeling, or both. Some researchers call such stressors … [Read more...]

Work Life Balance: Beating the After-Work-Low-Energy-Blues

How is your energy level after work?  When you work hard all day long and come home exhausted, what is the first thing you want to do? For many people, it’s pick up the remote, sit on the couch, watch television, and just veg out. Let’s discuss some alternatives, because the less you do, the less energy you are going to have. The more you do the more energy you are going to have. It’s one of life’s cruel ironies. Take exercise for example. The more you exercise, the more energy you have; the less you exercise, the less energy you have. Intuitively, we know this is true, but it is so hard to put into practice. After you’ve worked hard all day, you come home to more…work.  This is the second shift—the one you don’t get paid to do. You need all the energy you can muster to make dinner, … [Read more...]

Productivity Minute Video: Prevent Crisis By Planning in Advance: Time Management

Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R) discusses advanced planning. (C) 2010 Laura Stack. All Rights Reserved … [Read more...]

Time Management: The Productivity Minute 26: The Value of Hiring Others

Must you do it all yourself? Not necessarily. Laura Stack talks about the value of outsourcing certain tasks to free up more of your time. (c) 2010 Laura Stack www.theproductivitypro.com … [Read more...]

The Productivity Minute #9: Stress and Performance

Everyone has stress! But is yours the good kind or bad kind? Positive stress can create improved productivity levels, but negative stress can cause performance to decline. Learn to diagnose your stress levels and determine the proper balance in your life. … [Read more...]

The Productivity Minute #5 – Sleep: The Secret Productivity Trick

Laura Stack shares ideas on how to boost your productivity during the day by sleeping better at night and provides some tips on how to do it.  Watch video below. (C) 2009 Laura Stack.  All right reserved. https://theproductivitypro.com   … [Read more...]

Break Out of the Comfort Zone – guest post by Karen Leland

Welcome to guest blogger Karen Leland, who interviewed me for an article for Woman's Day and who authored Time Management In An Instant: 60 Ways to Make the Most of Your Day. Breaking Out of the Comfort Zone In my office, on my desk, I have a plain white coffee cup that has written on it in simple black letters, “’Do one thing every day that scares you’—Eleanor Roosevelt.” As I stare down the barrel of another year filled with hope, possibilities, challenges, and change, I think about what living the cup’s motto really means in practice. ? It’s all too easy to stay in the same routine year after year, doing the same things, thinking the same thoughts, eating the same foods, doing the same job and engaging in the same hobbies. Relatively nothing new learned or risked. No standing on the … [Read more...]