Posts Tagged ‘time-management’

Productivity maybe . . . but for what purpose?

Why choices about what to do with the time and effort you save are more critical

One reasonable definition of increased personal productivity is creating the ability to do more with less effort and in a shorter time. Nothing wrong with that — at least until you ask what you will do with the time and effort you have saved. Not so many years ago, many people — including governments and… Continue reading

10 Tips For Improving Your Appointment Setting Skills

No matter what business you’re in, the odds are that you spend at least some time in appointments. Your appointments may be big group meetings, one-on-ones, or even job interviews. You may even be skipping the face-to-face aspect of meeting and be taking conference calls or using Skype. No matter what type of meeting you’ve scheduled, though, these tips can help you improve your appointment setting skills.
  1. Set agendas ahead

Making Fake Deadlines Real: Completing Projects with Self-Assigned Deadlines

As a freelance writer, nothing annoys me more than a client who tells me, “Oh, just get it to me whenever you can.” I hate it! I need deadlines in order to schedule and prioritize my work. I do what I can to get clients to nail down a deadline, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen. That’s when I have to go to Plan B: the ‘fake’ deadline. Fake is… Continue reading

Do you REALLY need to get yet more things done?

Maybe today’s fashion for increasing personal productivity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

Increasing your personal productivity is the subject matter of a slew of books, magazine articles, and more than a few successful blogs. It’s fashionable, popular, and, most of all, highly profitable for the authors and writers of software. But does that make it right? I believe that more cookery books are published each year that any other… Continue reading

12 Hours to Better Time Management

Work. Kids. School. Sports. Second job. Partner's job. The next great American novel. Your knitting circle. Remodeling the guest bathroom. Taking your car in for its 30,000 mile tune-up. An on and on and on -- it seems like we have things to do in abundance. What we don't ever seem to have enough of is time.

I think we all know what we should do, but the prospect… Continue reading

How Not to Impose Productivity Systems On Others

My baby sister visited me this weekend and brought along a stack of homework that I thought was unbelievable: she’s a junior in high school and her task list had something for every class — and projects in most of them. She keeps track of it in a planner that has such small spaces for recording appointments or tasks that I thought my eyes would fall out of my… Continue reading

Seven Ways to Procrastinate for Better Results

Procrastination is a dirty word. It doesn’t need to be. Procrastination that stems from a lack of discipline, causes you to lose sight of your goals, and results in decreased productivity deserves a bad rap. But what about postponing or avoiding things that can otherwise cause us pain and frustration if we apply the go-forward, “get it done” approach? Is this type of procrastination such a bad thing? We… Continue reading

6 Rules to Work Less and Get More Accomplished

It’s impossible, right? In order to get more done, you need to invest more time. Working ten hour days will make you more accomplished than a colleague that only works seven. Studying three hours a day will get you better grades than the guy who skims through a few chapters before the test. More work = more results. I disagree. Working smart beats working hard… Continue reading

10 Ways to Conquer Boredom (and Feeling Too Busy)

Boredom and feeling too busy are the same problem. Some people might claim I’m being too ambitious trying to strike down chronic boredom and busyness at the same time. I’d argue that the only way to take them out is simultaneously. The problem stems from how you manage your attention. Both boredom and busyness stem from feeling there is a lack of quality in what is covering… Continue reading

Overcome Procrastination Once and For All

Why We Procrastinate Before we can solve the problem of procrastination we must understand why we do it. There are a few basic reasons:
  1. Feeling overwhelmed with a situation.
  2. Given up hope that a situation can be changed or affected.
  3. Afraid of failing.
  4. Too "Busy" to get the really important things done.
  5. Can't make a decision.
  6. Overworked, tired.
  7. Want to avoid work you don't like.
Each of these can be reduced down to the pleasure/pain principle which says… Continue reading

Are you late?

Why are you late? Time management begins with one of the absolute basics - arrive on time. In his book Copy This!, the founder of Kinko's (now FedEx Kinko’s) Paul Orfalea recounts that he would make hiring decisions based on key basic modes of operating. One of those is being punctual. I’m sure that Mr. Orfalea isn’t the only one making career decisions based on being on time and… Continue reading

Results Only Work Environment

While reading an article at NYTimes.com called Time Wasted? Perhaps It’s Well Spent, I came across an interesting concept. First of all, the post is about how time is spent at work. With the average workday comprising of a reported 1.5 hours of actual work, Lisa Belkin asks the question, 'Where does the time go?' The big idea is that, like athletes, people work better in short bursts rather than long… Continue reading

Tired in the morning and awake at night? Here is a REAL solution.

Ever since high school, I've had a peculiar problem. No matter how little sleep I get the entire week, no matter how much I avoid caffeine, no matter how much exercise I do...I am wide awake in the middle of the night doing my best work! Often my most productive hours are between midnight and 2 or 3AM, even if I've gotten only a few hours sleep the night before and… Continue reading

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