Category Archive: Productivity

How To Overcome 6 Major Decision Making Obstacles

Posted by on September 3, 2018

This Fast Company post was very timely for me because I have been dealing with a major decision.  Almost every issue discussed in this article, I dealt with in some form or another.  At the end of my struggle, I was focused too much on potential long term consequences rather than the short term next steps.  Confirmation will come later but now is the time to move forward:

“Deciding on key investments in your company over the next year may seem like a wildly different thought process than deciding where to take your family on vacation. However, a recent study published in the journal Science indicates that your decision-making approach for each may be similar and based on your willingness to take responsibility for others.”

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How To Spend Time Wisely And Get Things Done

Posted by on August 31, 2018

I spend more time and research on productivity than any other leadership discipline.  The reason is I find myself with more inputs every week and therefore it becomes even harder to get the most important work done.  This applies to how I spend both my personal and professional time.  This Forbes post did not disappoint:

“The CEO of a Fortune 500 company with an overloaded schedule and a college graduate procrastinating about starting a business each get 168 hours per week to spend as they see fit.

Some people are able to accomplish a lot from Monday to Friday (or to Sunday if you count weekends) while others struggle to get much done at all.”

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New Practical Techniques On Planning And Productivity

Posted by on August 13, 2018

Once I finally died to the use of multi-tasking all during my day, things began to get a lot better.  The idea of knowing when your most productive work can be done and the blocking of that time for deep work is transformational.  Leaving  at least 20% open time for new daily inputs now gives me the time to shift priorities as well.  This Fast Company post was great:

“How many hours do you work each day? If you’re like most of the U.S. working population, you probably think you get a solid eight hours in. That’s 40 hours a week. Around 1,800 a year (minus 2 weeks’ vacation). Not too bad.  The problem with this kind of thinking is that just because we’re at work for eight hours a day doesn’t mean we’re doing eight hours of work.”

4 Mind-Set Shifts To Greater Productivity

Posted by on August 10, 2018

I live in this space of personal productivity every day just like the rest of you.  I want to leverage the latest technology and sustain the necessary discipline to stay focused.  However, the sheer volume of daily inputs has forced me to walk away from any idea of wiring up my entire day.  This Fast Company post was very practical:

“High-potential employees are those who have exceptional decision making, technical, and analytical skills, according to the study. However, these workers still have trouble staying focused on the right priorities, struggle to meet deadlines, and fail to communicate or avoid surprises in their workday or responsibilities.”

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Are You Productive Enough?

Posted by on August 1, 2018

I have had to learn some very hard lessons in the area of personal productivity.  I have shifted over the years from notes and to do lists to going paperless with only project management software.  The technology has really helped but it can be a trap if you try to wire everything up in 15 minute segments.  This HBR post asks a great question:

Productive: “Achieving or producing a significant amount of result.”
Enough: “As much or as many as required.”

“As a time management coach, I’m keenly aware that you could answer the question “Am I productive enough?” using a variety of methods. I’m also familiar with the fact that individuals fall on a productivity spectrum. One person’s maximum productivity for a certain role in a particular environment could look vastly different from another person’s. These variations result from a combination of intrinsic ability, experience level, overall capacity, and desire.”

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You're Never Going To Be Caught Up At Work

Posted by on July 24, 2018

I will never forget the days when best practices productivity told us to plan every minute of our days for maximum effectiveness.  The primary discipline then was stick with the plan and make sure you got everything done.  Today, I block at least 20% of my day as open for new inputs that I know are going to blow up my best planning for the day.  This HBR post helps take the guilt away:

“Most people I know have a to-do list so long that it’s not clear that there’s an end to it. Some tasks, even quite important ones, linger unfinished for a long time, and it’s easy to start feeling guilty or ashamed about what you have not yet completed.

People experience guilt and its close cousin shame when they have done something wrong.  Guilt is focused internally on the behavior someone has committed, while shame tends to involve feeling like you are a bad person, particularly in the context of bad behaviors that have become public knowledge.”

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5 Ways To Prevent Decision Fatigue From Ruining Productivity

Posted by on April 27, 2018

Multi-tasking felt so good because we were almost always doing something.  Eventually, when I evaluated all of the important work I actually did at the end of the day it was almost nothing.  I now block time for deep important work so that I can stay focused long enough to make real progress.  This Fast Company post is very helpful:

“More and more, our careers depend on making good choices. And by understanding decision fatigue and how we can counter it, we can make sure we’re operating at 100% all day long. Decision fatigue is the deterioration of our ability to make good decisions after a long session of decision making.”

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6 Ways To Regain Control Of Your Schedule

Posted by on April 18, 2018

There is not a day that goes by that at least 20% of my time is spent dealing with new inputs or changing priorities.  It has forced me to be almost brutal about blocking time and at the same time leaving open spots for the unknown.  If I wire it up too tight it only blows up even more.  Always looking for help and Avery Blank provided:

“Time is money. It is valuable to your career and well-being. If you want to advance, you have to identify your career priorities and move efficiently towards them. Stop valuing other people’s time more than yours.  Here are six ways you can take control of your schedule”

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7 Ways Clarity Powers Productivity

Posted by on March 5, 2018

One of the major problems we all face today is the enormous volume of new daily inputs.  Should we delete, delegate, delay or do them today?  Without a clear sense of clarity around what is the next most important thing to do based on what I know now, we waste tremendous amounts of emotional energy and capacity.  This Forbes post was helpful:

“A clear destination opens the door to action. Specificity is the key here. When you know exactly what you are trying to achieve, you are able to focus. You don’t have to waste time guessing, fishing for more information, or convincing yourself that you are on the right track.”

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How To Create A Schedule That Really Works For You

Posted by on February 28, 2018

I think over the years I have made every mistake possible in working with my schedule.  My high D wants everything down on the calendar to the minute only to see my plan get blown up within the first hour of most days.  Today, there are so many new daily inputs that we must learn to block hours in our week to create the necessary capacity to stay on track.  This Fast Company post was very helpful:

“Being over-scheduled leaves us no time for ourselves. The more “in control” we are of our calendar, the less control we feel like we have over our lives. Not to mention we’re notoriously bad at knowing how long tasks take us to do. When your schedule is this jammed, even going 15 minutes over on your morning task will throw your whole day out of whack.”

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