Do you struggle with balancing your need to be responsive with your (equally important) need to protect focus time in your day? Remember: your great work requires focus and attention. It’s important to build this time into your day - and protect it as you would any other meeting or appointment in your calendar. Here are three strategies you can use to help you avoid slipping down the spiral of distraction.
If you’re working hard but don’t feel you’re making progress, there’s a good chance you’re slipping into a common productivity challenge: taking on too much. It's tempting to want to do it all. But this dilutes our effort, wastes our time, and creates the frustration of carrying countless unfinished tasks. If you can relate but don’t know where to start, it's time to try a new approach.
Our emails are designed to prompt action. The easier we make this action for our recipient, the more likely we are to prompt the results we want. But with email subjects spanning anything from corporate mergers to little league schedules, it’s hard to imagine one approach to fit this wide range of communications, yet there is. Try my 4C approach to send clear and concise emails that are easy to answer.
Our time is our most precious resource. I wrote Workday Warrior to help you reclaim control of your time using three simple tools to transform how you work – and live. This proven method weaves the best time-management approaches into our daily work schedule, so our days are centered around what we value most. Here's how you can use one of the Workday Warrior tools to make the most of your time.
Are you trying to settle on a new approach to work, balancing some days in the office and some days at home? Or maybe you are back in the office every day and having to juggle personal and family commitments to accommodate this shift. As the way we work continues to evolve, you may find yourself craving consistency, predictability, and connection. Building and keeping a Proactive Routine is the key.
Research shows individuals can be very productive in a hybrid model - if we do it right. As changes continue to ripple through the workplace, and more and more organizations adopt a hybrid approach to work, attention has been focused on the dynamics of hybrid teams. Here are some best practices you can use to stay productive and thrive as a hybrid worker, along with the pitfalls to avoid.
Our brains detest the vast amount of uncertainty we’ve been navigating over this past year. It's in our nature to crave certainty and predictability. We like to know what is coming around the corner. We are wired to constantly scan for new information in an effort to strengthen our internal prediction algorithms. And the internet is primed to provide us with a cognitive sugar rush. As a result, we find ourselves endlessly scrolling. This leaves us stuck in an endless loop of seeking more information to help compensate for this feeling of information overload. How can we take back control and regain our footing? Here are the 3 most effective approaches to mitigate information overload and avoid unnecessary stress.
Do you feel like you’re pulled in too many directions? Is daily planning about as futile as sorting Lego, when the universe seems determined to scatter your beautiful piles? In the short term, it is easier to manage our work the way we always have. But this doesn’t fix the inequality when our lists are longer than our days. We need a fresh approach. Here's how you can take small steps each day, so you can simplify your work, reclaim time, and create better results. Over time, these small steps will add up to radically different days. Simplified days with amplified results.
We have an abundance of choice when it comes to setting goals and dreaming up our next great achievement. This is a gift. But if you’re anything like me, this gift can sometimes lead to over-committing yourself. This is when you turn to your Main Action Plan, the foundation of productivity. At Clear Concept, we call this productivity tool your MAP because it’s your guide to prioritizing and getting things done. Here is how you can use your own MAP to keep yourself on track and do your best work.
Many people struggle to stay organized because they treat it as a one-off strategy. If you want organization to work for you, it’s important to make time for organization, just as you would block time for a meeting or project. After all, the goal is to spend your time doing your best work, not looking for it! Here are 4 strategies you can use to make time for organization – and make it stick.
