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Category: Time Management (Page 6 of 9)

9 Productivity Tips from People Who Write About Productivity

16/02/2016 /

In recent years, work has become more complex due to technological innovation. Now, more than ever, we need strategies for being productive. Here are some advice given by 26 bestselling science and productivity writers for achieving top performance at work:

1. Own your time;

2. Recognize busyness as a lack of focus;

3. Challenge the myth of the “ideal worker”;

4. Intentionally leave important tasks incomplete;

5. Make a habit of stepping back;

6. Help others strategically;

7. Have a plan for saying no;

8. Make important behaviors measurable;

9. Do things today that make more time tomorrow.

Read more on Harvard Business Review

Productive

Image source: Lifehack.org

 

 

Eight steps to happiness

04/02/2016 /

Positive living is definitely an attitude, at least for some lucky people.

However, it can also be a conscious choice: with a strong commitment and the right awareness, anyone can make a concerted effort to redress the balance and start the path to happiness.

In this article, you can find eight steps to move in the right direction:
1. Find a happy place;
2. Indulge yourself in a hobby;
3. Exercise;
4. Find affirmations;
5. Exploring new things;
6. Do not walk away from a challenge;
7. Ignore the rules;
8. Visualise.

FullSizeRender

Source – Flickr – Muffin (CC BY 2.0)

How Good is Your Time Management?

21/01/2016 /

Many factors influence our ability to effectively manage time and reach our goals. A quick test on Mind Tools can show you where you can do better. Of course, the ability to prioritize and schedule is fundamental, but the most interesting part is dealing with the unexpected: interruptions.

How can you navigate through phone calls, emails, requests from colleagues, even problems with your car, all at once and without any warning? “Expect the unexpected” is no satisfactory answer: you have to manage it.

Like a firefighter, we should be available, aware of priorities and capable of understanding others’ needs.

Firefighters.jpg

Image: Flickr – Heather Paul (CC BY-ND 2.0)

 

 

 

7 Time management mistakes which are costing you dearly

03/12/2015 /

Time lost is never found again. Identifying mistakes in your time-management can improve your productivity allowing you to save time for really important activities. But which are the most common time management mistakes? This article contains a list of them:

  1. Lack of vision
  2. Failure to delegate/outsource properly
  3. Lack of a regular time management review
  4. Perfectionism
  5. Prioritising urgency over importance
  6. Lack of perspective
  7. Overestimating importance

And now be honest: are you making any of the above mentioned time management mistakes? If the answer is yes, it is time to review your working methods, coming out with new strategies meant to correct the flaws in your time-management skills.

Read the full article by Coaching Positive Performance

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Image source: flickr: monkeyic.net (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

8 Tips for effective scheduling

19/11/2015 /

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.

schedule

Image source: Flickr – photosteve101

Struggling with deadlines? Write down a to-do-list!

24/09/2015 /

A simple but effective solution to flying deadlines could be writing down a to-do list: chunking your daily tasks into easy to digest, bite-size pieces could actually revolutionize your working strategies improving your overall performance. This article by Vanessa Loder provides you with five tips to make your to-do-list even more helpful:

1.Keep it simple.

2.Write your to-do-list the night before.

3.Tackle the first item on your list first thing in the morning when you are fresh.

4. If you have a hard time limiting your to-do-list to a maximum of three items write a mind dump.

5. Sometimes small is big. Be strategic about your energy.

To-Do List

Image source: Flickr, Jayel Aheram CC BY 2.0

 

Eight Deadly Ways to Kill Employee Motivation

15/09/2015 /

In this article, Lolly Daskal singles out eight ways that can kill employee motivation. In order to avoid this risk and to provide your employees with an environment in which they can thrive, it is important to pay attention to the following aspects:

  • Minimizing the damages caused by toxic people in the workplace. They spread negativity and suffocate the positive;
  • Encouraging the professional development of your employees. They will learn and grow every day;
  • Understanding the “big picture” and sharing it with your employees;
  • Showing people you value them by showing them you value their time;
  • Showing that a clear flow of communication benefits everyone;
  • The more collaboration, the more investment and the more motivation!
  • Rewarding your employees by saying ‘Thank you!’;
  • Starting with developing your own leadership, then hire and grow the best leaders at every level.

Allagash Bee Hive has a new queen!

Image source: Flickr – Allagash (CC BY 2.0)

 

 

7 steps to improve your time management

23/07/2015 /

Although there is no one size that fits all solution, Carthage Buckley, on Coaching Positive Performance,  lists 7 steps that can help each of us improving our time management and the quality of our results.

1. Become aware : if you want to create real and last change you need to understand exactly where your time is going

2. Analyse your data: collect the time and the percentage of time spent on each activity and consider the results, are you happy about that?

3. Identify tasks which are not necessary: very often a task is being performed for no other reason than it has always been done

4. Identify the tasks that can be automated

5. Identify the tasks that can be delegated or outsourced: if you work alone and you have nobody to delegate to, consider the possibility of outsourcing

6. Make gradual changes: Pick 2-3 small changes that can have a positive impact on your time management

7. Right task, right time: examine your energy levels and make the best use of them. Assign your most important tasks to periods of highest energy

For more: How to improve your time management quickly

Time management

Salvador Dalì – The persistence of memory, 1931

 

 

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