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Get your brain in motion

Category: Time Management (Page 2 of 9)

An easy hack to put your smartphone away

04/03/2020 /

Smartphones are great. They connect us to the world, they allow us to find any information at any time, in any place, they help us find the best services available around us and they can also be a creative outlet. 

Smartphones are also overwhelming. They have brought us to fill every single moment of our life. Whether we’re scrolling the screen or listening through our earphones, there is always a flow of information streaming through our brains. This has terrible consequences on our physical and mental health. We’re more prone to burnout, to excessive levels of stress and to overwhelm. Our brains don’t have any more time to process what we’re feeding them. They don’t have time to elaborate, create and simply be.

The author of this article suggests an easy (and trendy) way to put your smartphone away: buy a fanny pack!

 

smartphone use

Picture: CC0 – Creative Commons  – Unsplash

 

The Bus Metaphor

22/01/2020 /

The right people in the right seats on the bus: this is the metaphor from the first Jim Collins best-seller ‘Good to Great’. In that book – published in 2001 – the author identifies what leaders need to do, in order to see their teams and organizations excel. And he uses the power of an image to communicate the following concept.

According to Collins, leaders who are able to transform their organizations begin not by setting a direction, but by getting the right people on the bus – and the wrong people off the bus.

Actually great leaders understand the following three simple truths:

1. If you begin with “who,” rather than “what”, you can more easily adapt to a changing world.

2. If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away, because they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great.

3. If you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won’t have a great company.

Assembling the team is the first crucial point. Then a leader has to develop a vision (the direction of the bus), to remove obstacles to high performance (that is, maybe people are not exactly in the right seats and need to be assigned to the right role) and to help people with diverse talents and interests building trust in each other.

It is an hard work, but leaders need it to accomplish objectives with the right people.

The right people in the right seats on the bus

Image source: Flickr

Your reminder to slow down

04/12/2019 /

Are you breathing?

When was the last time you got up from your chair to take a break?

Is your mind feeling clouded and cluttered?

Chances are you might be moving too fast. Not physically I mean, but in your thoughts. We are bombarded with so many stimuli in the modern-world, we often don’t even have time to process them.

Which is why today, I invite you to take a rest. It can take whatever form you wish. Just make sure to leave space for your thoughts to settle and for your self to recover. You will gain so much value from it.

Read more about the importance of rest: Slow is not Static

 

rest

Image from Pexels (CC0 – Creative Commons)

5 tips for Working from home

27/11/2019 /

The number of people wornking from home continues to rise. Technology continues to bridge the gap between face-to-face and virtual work environments and organizations are increasingly focused on getting results from their workforce and not just hours of employment. Employees are also seeking these unconventional work arrangements as a means to greater work-life satisfaction.

The dream of working from home, however, can quickly become a nightmare if you aren’t prepared for such an isolated and unstructured environment. This article provides five skills that may help working from home:

1. Self-Discipline: the most important skill is to be able to resist the numerous distractions vying for your attention. Those who work from home must create a work schedule that is aligned with their physical and mental energy, and seek to stay on that schedule as much as possible.

2. Flexibility: While a rigid schedule is necessary to give structure to your day, don’t be afraid to rearrange your day when necessary.

3. An Outcomes-Oriented Approach: The danger when working from home is that you might get several non-work tasks done during the day and give yourself a false sense of accomplishment. When starting each morning, clearly identify what you’re going to create or develop before the day is over.

4. Critical Thinking: When working at home you’ll need to be able to think creatively on your own. Set aside time to think.

5. Effective Communication Skills: Make it a habit to reach out to others on your team to discuss and seek answers when needed. Utilize different types of technology (e.g., Skype, join.me) to collaborate and work with team members.

Image: Pixabay – Pexels (CC Creative Commons)

From Hobby to Hustle

18/09/2019 /

There is a so-called “modern trap” affecting our societies and it’s all about losing sight of what our passions are supposed to be doing for us.

For some of us, our work coincides with our passion; we pour everything into it and dedicate most of our days to making it a success.
For some of us, work is a way to get by from a financial point of view, but there are passions that we cultivate on the side.

Well, we are observing a trend whereby these passions are turning into side hustles for many people. This is by no means something bad; on the other hand, it can feel really nice to be able to do something we love and give it value too. However, what we are losing sight of is the intrinsic value of that activity we are passionate about: it makes us feel good. This nearsightedness can bring to a very negative consequence: not feeling justified to carry out our favourite activities unless we’re turning them into something profitable.

This trend is part of a bigger one: not being able to spend time just being. Not being able to take things slow. Not being able to enjoy free time. Not scheduling any self-care time.

Read this really insightful article here: Modern Trap of Turning Hobbies into Hustles

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Source: Pixabay (CC0 – Creative Commons)

When to be fast, when to be slow

04/09/2019 /

In this very interesting article, we are told that “Most of life is better lived slowly.” Strange, isn’t it? In a world where we are always rushing, always thinking of the next task at hand, always engaged in some project, the idea of taking things slow has become almost impossible to visualise.

Yet many actions we do daily, from basic ones like washing the dishes, to more important ones like making decisions, would be much better off if done slowly and mindfully.

The author says we should behave like the Kung Fu Master: he is fast when needed, but the rest of the time he moves slowly and stays calm.

Life is already short, we are better off enjoying every moment of it.

Read the article here: Be Fast When It Matters

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Source: Pixabay CC0

Improve scheduling and make it more effective

30/07/2019 /

We all need to improve our scheduling and make it more effective.

In our daily routine we are unceasingly exposed to facts and events that can easily draw our attention away from tasks which are essential for being efficient and fully productive at work.

Effective scheduling can help us prioritizing and preventing unfruitful struggles to cope with the demands placed upon us.

Geoffrey Whiteway on Coaching Positive Performance lists eight tips that – if daily implemented – can help us scheduling:

  1. Plan the night before: making plan the night before, will ensure you less anxiety and better night sleep.
  2. Select 1 key task: identify the most important task for each day and get that task completed.
  3. Key task first: Life is unpredictable and if somethings happens that plays havoc with your plans, getting the most important task done first will increase the probability for your day to still be effective.
  4. Context based lists: If you have more than 20 tasks to be completed, make a list and put specific tasks under headings based on the situation you find yourself in, or the resources available to you at the time.
  5. No agenda, no meeting. Avoid meetings which do not have a clear agenda, as they tend to be just “talking shops”.
  6. Establish rituals. Routines allow you to get important, repeated tasks completed with maximum efficiency and minimum thought.
  7. Only time specific tasks go in your calendar. Tasks without a deadline risk being continuously put off.
  8. Projects vs. tasks A task is something which needs to get done but has not been done yet. A project is something which needs to be done, but has not been done yet and will take more one task to get done. There is real benefit in thinking this way and breaking each project down into tasks.

Try these tips in your daily life. They might reveal useful to improve and make more effective your scheduling. They will help to improve your productivity and create some free time for you!

Improve scheduling and make it more effective

Image Source: Pixabay (CC0)

10 Tips to Work Under Pressure

17/07/2019 /
Is your routine demanding and challenging? In today’s jobs timing and productivity are not just precious, they even need to go hand in hand. It is important to find the right balance, to take advantage of time and to be able to do our best in every situation. In this article Martina McGowan suggests 10 ways to properly face up pressure.
  1. Remain calm, always.
  2. Stay focused on what needs to be accomplished.
  3. Help others to get through their taxing day.
  4. Sidestep the drama and stay positive.
  5. Get help if you need it.
  6. Steer clear of too much caffeine.
  7. Take your breaks.
  8. Use your vacation time wisely.
  9. Join in with big projects.
  10. If you are feeling stressed, avoid letting it show too much.

Read the full article

 

Image source: Pixabay – qimono (CC0)

Top Productivity Secrets – Master Class

26/06/2019 /

Productivity is probably one of the most commonly used words today.

All of us are looking for ways to improve, increase, hack or boost our productivity, whether that may be in the workplace or overall lives.

Articles are constantly being published and appearing on our newsfeeds on the latest secret to increasing our productivity.

Yet in all this mayhem we can end up feeling overwhelmed, not knowing which tips to implement. And we end up not doing anything at all.

In this free Masterclass, Niklas Goeke provides actionable tips that we can adopt in our everyday lives to improve our productivity without having to turn everything upside down. It’s all about small steps!

Click here to sign up to the Master Class (did I mention it is free?): Master Productivity – 14 Day Course

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Image: Pixabay (CC0 – Creative Commons)

The Best Schedule Management Tips

19/06/2019 /

Here are 20 Schedule and Calendar Management Tips that can help you meet all those deadlines and never have to ask for more time again!

  1. Review. Then review again
  2. One event-free day a week
  3. Schedule meetings ASAP
  4. Use meeting scheduling tools
  5. Follow up
  6. Use reminders
  7. Add another time zone
  8. Import all your calendars
  9. Only meet for as long as you need to
  10. Say “no” to fact gathering or update meetings
  11. In fact, just say “No”
  12. Start on time and skip the roll call
  13. Meeting conflicts
  14. Cancel it
  15. Batch meetings on your calendar
  16. Color-code your calendar
  17. Schedule time in your calendar for email
  18. When is your productive peak?
  19. Do you REALLY need to meet?
  20. Fin time in your schedule with time-tracking tools

To learn more about each of these tips, read the full article!

20 Brilliant Calendar & Schedule Management Tips

Office, Business, Paperwork, Document, Laptop, Agenda

Image: Pixabay (CC0 Creative Commons)

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