Posts Tagged ‘effectiveness’

Self-Discipline: The Foundation of Productive Living

The productivity industry is awash with tips, tricks, systems, and hacks to help you get more done in less time. Yet many who read books and blogs on this topic for the purpose of getting things done say they have trouble implementing these tools and becoming more productive.

No system for keeping your email under control will help you on its own. No tips and tricks for budgeting will ever… » Continue

March 12 2008 | By Joel | Tagged: action, discipline, effectiveness, motivation | 18 comments»

Effective is Not the Same as Efficient

Are you efficient, effective, or efficiently effective? As you are focused on getting things done efficiently you may be making very quick decisions. You rapidly move through tasks and check things off your To-Do list one, two, three. You look productive because there is activity, your list is full of check marks or strikeouts showing completion, and your calendar shows meetings. That To-Do list isn’t too long and overwhelming… » Continue

November 1 2007 | By Susan | Tagged: deadline, effectiveness, efficiency, project, work | 17 comments»

Getting Rid of Yesterday: How to Start Your Day Fresh

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sometimes we start a day with the previous day still in mind. We think about the mistakes we made in the previous day, how things went wrong, and how we felt bad about it. No wonder it becomes difficult to focus on the current day. And since we cannot fully focus on the day… » Continue

October 30 2007 | By Donald | Tagged: attitude, effectiveness, energy, focus, happiness, life | 18 comments»

Eight Tips to Find Your Information Oasis

The Internet Age allows you to get whatever information you want, as much as you want it. This, however, may do you more harm than good. The reason is simple: there is usually far too much noise in the information we consume. It becomes increasingly difficult to get the gems out of it, and it takes a lot of time and energy to deal with. Besides, increasing noise means… » Continue

August 22 2007 | By Donald | Tagged: effectiveness, information, prioritization, Productivity, reading, tips | 19 comments»

How to Build a Reliable Work Ethic

Have you ever noticed how some people seem to just get things done? They don’t need “productivity hacks” or GTD and procrastination is a foreign word to them. These people have a reliable work ethic.

A work ethic is a set of values based on the ideals of hard work and discipline. Building a reliable work ethic means training yourself to follow these values. Training… » Continue

August 21 2007 | By Scott H | Tagged: effectiveness, ethic, reliable, work | 5 comments»

10 MORE ways to create a breakthrough in your life.

Here—again in no particular order—are 10 more ways to transform your working life. Maybe you should try them.

Slow down. Give yourself time and space. Never be in more of a hurry than you have to be. Allow time for thinking, musing, just noodling around in your head with no apparent purpose. Give space in your thinking for ideas you haven’t had yet; allow openings for sniffing out the ideas of

» Continue

March 26 2007 | By Adrian | Tagged: breakthrough, effectiveness, work | 43 comments»

Priorities and Posteriorities

Priorities. While our lives get more chaotic and demanding, we’re constantly trying to remember what our priorities are, and to prioritize time spent on our priorities.

But it’s hard.

Our calendars are jammed with commitments (many of which we wish we had said “no” to up front), our to-do lists are ever-growing and could fill a spiral notebook, and people keep asking us to do more. And because we aim… » Continue

February 27 2007 | By Rob | Tagged: effectiveness, priorities, timemangement | 2 comments»

26 Tips to Keep Your Computer Up and Functioning

Open Loops blogger Bert Webb and I often collaborate on projects, include guesting at each others functions. At a recent presentation I did on “Effective Workplace Communication” the laptop I was using to run my PowerPoint presentation became possessed by evil juju and began a spontaneous series of automated functions ending in a system shutdown. Bert and I had different theories about why this occurred at this… » Continue

January 30 2007 | By Reginald | Tagged: effectiveness, maintain, schedule, software, tips | 66 comments»

Great Managers Teach (When They Should)

Great Managers cultivate a work environment where lifelong learners thrive. Everyone simply learns for the sake of learning, thrilling to its personal reward. In these workplaces, curiosity is admired and all ideas are prized, and the Great Managers are those who facilitate the learning process in which those ideas incubate until innovation breaks through. People grow magnificently in the process.

Among studies of their own, managers will learn how to be… » Continue

January 25 2007 | By Rosa | Tagged: coaching, effectiveness, expertise, learning, teaching | 3 comments»

Finding More Entrepreneurs . . . and Fewer Jerks

I have two topics this week: the present-day obsession with clinging grimly to the status quo, when we have rarely needed change and entrepreneurial flair so much; and the obnoxious jerks whose presence in leadership positions disfigures too many organizations. These topics are linked by a recurring theme: the way that Hamburger Management—that dismal system of cutting corners, hounding people to reach crazy targets, and driving down every cost except… » Continue

November 20 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: achievement, behavior, bestpractices, business, business-fundamentalism, businesslife, competition, creativity, effectiveness, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Hamburger-Management, innovation, leadership, Management, motivation, organization, performance, respect, slow-leadership, work, work/life-balance | 1 comment»

Change Here

After the election last week in the United States, change is a hot topic, but it isn’t political change that I have been thinking about recently. It’s how organizations and their leaders cope—or, more often, fail to cope too well—with the need for changes in business practices to promote growth and foster creativity.

It’s a truism to point out that no one can avoid change. It’s part of the reality in… » Continue

November 13 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: breakthrough, business-fundamentalism, change, civilized-work, corporate-culture, creativity, dignity, effectiveness, Hamburger-Management, happiness, improvement, lifebalance, Management, priorities, slow-leadership, strategy, thinking, thought, trust, work, work-life, work/life-balance, worklife, workplace | 1 comment»

Why We Should Put an End to “Hamburger Management”

Hamburger Management is a shoddy, debased version of real leadership that focuses on just three things: whatever demands least, can be used fastest, and costs least. It thrives wherever organizations seek to meet unrealistic targets with insufficient resources to maximize short-term profits. Indeed, Hamburger Management is short-term by nature, and will habitually sacrifice long-term advantage and value for the immediate gratification of bosses and investors.

To force people to work long… » Continue

November 6 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: accomplishment, anxiety, business-ethics, change, civilized-work, competition, creativity, effectiveness, Hamburger-Management, innovation, leadership, lifehacks, Management, manager, micro-management, organization, slow-leadership, strategy, stress, trust, value, work-life, work/life-balance, worklife, workplace | 3 comments»

Antidotes to Hamburger Management

I’ve been thinking and writing quite a lot this week about Hamburger Management: the type of management approach that is based on always doing whatever is quickest, simplest and (above all) cheapest. Hamburger Managers provide the kind of leadership that is best described as: “Never mind the quality, look how fast it goes and how cheap it is.” Sadly, this approach is being forced on a great many otherwise perfectly… » Continue

October 23 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: attitude, behavior, bestpractices, business-ethics, civilization, civilized-work, competition, decision-making, effectiveness, empowerment, engagement, expectations, guideline, Hamburger-Management, innovation, integrity, leadership, lifebalance, Management, meetings, organization, performance, priorities, prioritization, slow-leadership, strategy, stress, success, trust, work, work-life, work/life-balance | 4 comments»

Creating Hardworking Idiots

The German World War II general Erich von Manstein is said to have categorized his officers into four types. The first type, he said, is lazy and stupid. His advice was to leave them alone because they don’t do any harm. The second type is hard-working and clever. He said that they make great officers because they ensure everything runs smoothly. The third group is composed of hardworking idiots. Von… » Continue

October 2 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: business, business-ethics, business-fundamentalism, civilized-work, effectiveness, leadership, Management, micro-management, priorities, prioritization, slow-leadership, strategy, work, work-life, working, worklife | 22 comments»

The Power of Praise: Becoming a Great Leader #5

Effective leaders treat others with a positive regard. Specifically, effective leaders understand the power of appreciation. This goes beyond the Carnegie precepts of “Be hardy in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”

Effective praise is a skill set that must be learned like any other. As leaders we often find ourselves spending and inordinate amount of time identifying what is wrong, identifying mistakes, and concentrating on errors. Effective leaders… » Continue

September 26 2006 | By Reginald | Tagged: behavior, business, effectiveness, leadership, managememt | 6 comments»

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