A holistic approach to increasing your get-up and go, from the productivity expert whose previous books showed people how to Find More Time and Leave the Office Earlier. If you want to be productive but are just too tired all the time, you need to read this book! Laura Stack combines invaluable insights and practical advice in this guide to becoming more energetic and more productive in every area of life. Stack describes the factors that contribute to low energy (the "energy bandits") and explains how to reduce their effects and build up or renew sources of positive force (with "energy boosters").
Find More Time. You can't add more hours to the day, but Laura will help you make the most of the time you have and get things done. Available now from Amazon.com.
Leave the Office Earlier, Laura shows you how you CAN get more done than you ever thought possible and still get home to your real life sooner.Available now from Amazon.com.
NEW!
Streaming online learning library of Microsoft Outlook videos! Ten one-hour
modules available for 2003 or 2007—includes detailed workbook with screen shots
and step-by-step instructions!
Normally $39 each module. Special through September 2009: ALL TEN modules for
$319. Use code ALLTEN in coupon code. Pick Outlook 2003 or 2007.
NEW Monthly Survey
Answers to last month’s poll: “If there
were a 25th hour, I’d spend it on…
1. Reading
2. Myself.
3. Me, enjoying my hobbies or grandchildren.
4. Sleep
5. Doing a tutorial for a software program I've bought and haven't used most
effectively yet!
6. Sleep.
7. Time for myself -- which most likely means I would be reading or journaling.
8. My friends and family...and me!
9. Filing
10. Reading a book
11. Watching a movie.
12. Reading a book
13. Quiet time like meditating, planning for the next day.
14. Giving my wife my undivided attention.
15. Having more "me" time.
16. Who needs 25 hours? 24 hours is plenty of time to attend to everything I
want - family, work, sleep, leisure. Now an extra day in the week....
17. Time with my husband!
18. Me!
19. Sleep
20. Sleep
21. Personal projects that I never get to do.
22. Doing something peaceful like yoga.
23. Sleeping
24. Me
25. Sleep!
Are you seeing a pattern here?
This month’s poll: What are some “tricks” that you use to help you keep
productive and focused at work and at home?
Take our survey.
Words of Wisdom
“We do not inherit the
earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” – Native American
Proverb
“Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.” – William
Ruckelshaus
“When you use a manual push mower, you're cutting down on pollution and the only
thing in danger of running out of gas is you! “ – Grey Livingston
Where in the World
is Laura?
If you're interested in bringing Laura to your organization to present a training seminar for your employees on the day prior or the day after one of these engagements below, please contact John Stack for special "piggyback" pricing.
We all want to do our part to help the environment. But if you
can give the Earth a break and increase your productivity at the same time,
that’s a real no-brainer! Luckily, a lot of the things you can do to help
sustain the planet can help sustain your productivity as well. Read on for tips
on how to green-size your life and get more done at the same time.
Use less paper. About 80 percent of papers that are filed are never
referenced again. What a waste! A good solution? File less. An even better
solution? Produce less paper to begin with. That doesn’t mean you have to
constantly inconvenience yourself or feel guilty about every sheet that comes off
the printer. It just means you should think twice before you hit “print.” Do you
really need a paper copy of that e-mail message or status report?
Why you’ll get more done: The less paper you allow into your day, the
less time you’ll spend managing it. I’m talking about filing things, shuffling
them around, and tearing through the heaps to find what you need. Keeping less
paper means you’ll have an easier time finding the things that really matter and
also eliminate some of the stress that inevitably comes from stacks of paper
clutter.
Give your PC (and yourself) a rest. When was the last time you gave your
PC a break? Letting it sit with the screensaver on doesn’t count. I mean
actually shutting it down, all the way. The next time you finish working for the
day, turn your computer off (black screen, no blinking lights). You’ll save
energy and let the machine cool down for the night.
Why you’ll get more done: Shutting down your PC at the end of the day not
only saves electricity, but it can also work wonders for your personal energy
level. It’s easy enough to leave a computer untouched at the office, but I’ll
bet your home computer is buzzing away whenever someone is nearby. This leads to
technological burnout. You’re constantly checking e-mail. Mindlessly surfing the
web. Compulsively scanning social networking sites. The next thing you know it’s
deep into the night and you never really took time to unwind. Shutting the
computer down means you’ll be less likely to plop down in front of it for “just
a minute” and more likely to accomplish things around the house, spend time
relaxing with family, or go get some exercise.
Drive smart. Does it ever feel like you’re losing time every day running
errands or zipping around from appointment to appointment? If you think ahead,
you might be able to consolidate all those quick trips into one or two longer
outings, especially if you can batch them together based on where in town you
need to go. Also consider making your regular commute outside of rush hour.
You’ll travel the same distance in a shorter time and pollute less along the
way.
Why you’ll get more done: Driving smarter isn’t just going to save gas,
money, and harmful emissions, but it’s also going to save you time. Planning
ahead and spending less time running around or stuck in traffic will do nothing
but add precious productive minutes (or hours!) to your day.
Recycle and declutter. Don’t you always feel better after getting rid of
stuff? It doesn’t matter if you’re at home or the office, getting rid of clutter
is always a liberating experience. Tackle problem areas one at a time by
identifying clutter and dividing it into “storage,” “trash,” and “recycling”
piles. Recycling can mean sending junk to a traditional recycling facility or
simply passing items along to those who can make better use of them than you
can. Sites like www.freecycle.org can
help you find a good home for your unused stuff and local schools and libraries
often have a need for any extra office supplies you may have lying around.
Why you’ll get more done: Getting rid of clutter is just plain good for
your state of mind, which is good for overall productivity. On top of that,
getting rid of clutter will have the same effect as getting rid of paper – less
junk to sort through, fewer storage hassles, and more space to live and work.
Travel less. Lots of companies learned this lesson from the recession,
but there’s an environmental impact as well. Is all of your business travel
necessary? Think about the trips you take, whether they’re across town or across
the county. Would it be possible to get the work done remotely? Technology
allows us to accomplish an awful lot from afar, from conference calls to
complete virtual presentations. If you can manage to stay in town in a few
instances where you’d usually pack up the car or hop on an airplane, you’ll be
doing Mother Nature and yourself a favor.
Why you’ll get more done: Business trips can eat a lot of time. Sometimes
you’ll literally need to spend days on the road for the sake of engaging in a
few hours of productive activity once you’re there. Sure you can get work done
on the go, but it isn’t the same as being close to home base. Skipping an
out-of-town trip or two can free you up to make a serious dent in your workload.
When you get down to it, greensizing is just a matter of paying a little more
attention to the habits that you wouldn’t usually give a second thought. Often,
productivity is the same way. I hope you’ll join me in thinking twice and
finding simple ways to conserve not only precious resources but valuable time as
well. The planet will thank you and you’ll get more done. That’s what I call a
win-win.
Make it a productive day!(TM)
(C) Copyright 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved.
Have Laura speak to your company, conference or organization. How do you know if Laura would be perfect for your next event, meeting, or training? View the "Laura Stack Is Perfect For This Group" fact sheet.
Letters to the Editor
Dear Laura,
I have been a day planner user for 20 years yet in spite of technological
advances in communications with laptops, PDA’s, and smart phones nothing beats
manual note taking for documenting, referencing and enabling me to stay on track
and accomplishing what needs to get done. Yet until now, no paper planning
system has kept up with the change in the way we capture and record the activity
of our daily routines in conjunction with these technologies. That is until now.
I have been using your Productivity Pro planner for three months now and I can’t
say enough about its usefulness and what it has done for putting my day in
perspective with regards to organizing, recording, and accomplishing the many
tasks that make up so much of my professional and personal day.
First and foremost the expanded “TO DO LIST” is the best most thoughtfully
designed I have ever used, since much of my every day responsibilities consist
of fulfilling multiple requests and doing things for employees, customers,
boss’s and family that need to be tracked. Most other paper systems limit this
section in some form making it either too confined or inconvenient to really
capture some of the detail of a more thorough “to do list”. I also love the
Productivity Pro’s roomier two-page-per month calendar, and that it is color
coded by quarters, making it an easy and efficient way to set and meet targeted
strategic and financial dependant goals in a business environment, yet is
flexible enough to meet my personal and family lifestyle.
Nonetheless, and at the risk of coming across as self seeking and ostentatious,
I would like to make the following recommendations for future revisions of the
Productivity Pro planner. The “PHONE CALLS” section which gets a lot of use from
me captures much more than just phone calls. In this section I jot down notes
from many forms of communications that come my way on a day to day basis
including text messages, voice mail, email reminders, and even some face to face
verbal communications. So perhaps “The Days Communications” or “Daily
Communication” would be more a relevant and contemporary title for this section.
The “ERRAND” section confused me a little since my “to do list” often includes
errands and with the space you have allocated for this area, for me it is simply
a matter of priority and whether it is a personal or work related errand, but it
still needs to be addressed as a to do. More often I find myself using this
section for jotting down reminders such as a time and place for meetings,
conference calls, appointments of the day or even a concise memo to myself
referencing airline and travel information. A sort of schedule if you will, but
without having the frequently unused and space consuming hour by hour
appointment schedule layout found in most paper planners. In other words this
section accomplishes for me exactly what you meant it to do keep track of those
daily “MUST DO” tasks. But “errands” in this planner system have a redundant
connotation to it. Perhaps a title like “Important Reminders” would be a more
suitable designation for this sector, and still capture the nuance of errands.
After all that is why we all put our thoughts down paper and utilize post it
notes, to remind us.
Regardless of this, I will continue to use the Productivity Pro planner system
as it has proven to be far superior to anything I have used in the past. Thank
you and I hope you will take my suggestions into consideration for future
revisions.
It is my honor to announce that I was elected Vice President of the National
Speakers Association (NSA) at our annual convention in Phoenix earlier this
month. I will assume the presidency from July 2011-2012 and will have the
privilege of representing our 3500 members of NSA in the America and around the
world. My travels will take me to over 30 chapters in the USA, as well as
Australia, Europe, Singapore, and even Canada.
Monthly webinar series! AUGUST 24, 2009: If a mountain of deadlines and a staff
that surfs the Internet for pleasure is keeping you awake at night, bring Laura
in for guidance. Good leaders understand that time management is not about
squeezing more into the day; it's about you and your people spending time
productively toward the accomplishment of organizational goals. Managing the
clock isn't the answer—teaching employees to manage themselves is. This
innovative program discusses three key time management principles for leaders:
(1) avoiding organizational “speed bumps,” (2) eliminating activities that waste
people’s time, and (3) modeling effective time management behavior. Only $29 per
person! (You can still buy the discounted package of all ten: you’ll get a link
to the recording of those that have past.
Click here for
more information and to register.
To be featured in this section of our newsletter and get a free eBook with our thanks, send your productivity tip or trick to[email protected] with "Tips and Tricks contribution" in the subject line.
1.Thanks so much for the Month folders tip – I am
using that and it works really well. The tip was to have Jan – Dec folders for
filing – it works great – it is much easier for me to find things by month now!
I also have folders labeled Monday through Friday. If I have an absolute task I
need to do later in the week – I drop it into the folder marked with that day –
and tada it is there when I need it. Before I go home at night, I make a list
for the next day. Hope this works for others!
All Articles (C) 1999-2008
Laura Stack. All rights reserved. This information may not be distributed, sold,
publicly presented, or used in any other manner, except as described below.
Permission to reprint all or part of this article in your magazine, e-zine,
website, blog, or organization newsletter is hereby GRANTED, provided:
1. The ENTIRE credit line below is present,
2. The website link to www.TheProductivityPro.com is clickable (LIVE), and
3. You send a copy, PDF, link, tearsheet, etc. of the work in which the article
is used when published.
This credit line MUST be reprinted in its entirety to use any articles from
Laura Stack:
