In my last post, I talked about six of the most common work habits that sabotage your productivity. The first offender on my list was how frequently you check your email. As I was writing my last article, I found that there was a ton of information on that topic, and it was…

One of the most insidious pressures on tech-savvy people these days is the seemingly constant pressure to provide quick, top-quality computer and web support — to our families. If you happen to do web design, system administration, programming, or other vaguely computer-related work as part of your job, the pressure is magnified all the more…

If you’re anything like me, life keeps you pretty busy. Sometimes — more often than I’d like, actually — it’s hard just to keep straight what day it is, let alone where I’m supposed to be and what I’m supposed to be doing. Keeping track of the various roles I play helps keep…

It’s nothing new, but how would your life change if you took an extra day off work every week? If you were in a position to do so, why wouldn’t you? And then it hit me: there will always be more to do. Working more won’t change that. In fact, working more is actually counter-productive…

When you get back to work tomorrow, endeavour to take control of your time. Not just in that time-management, productivity, no-procrastination kind of way. Let’s be selfish with our time. Consider blocking your own calendar for meetings with yourself. I know many people & teams that do this just to create some protected calendar…

Where does the time go? In whatever working circumstance you are in, time management can become an issue. The key to even coming close to managing your time the way you really want is defining exactly where your time ends up. Enter time auditing. This is the simple activity of tracking where you spend your time…

Trying to organize a day where everyone is available? A work meeting or drinks with your enormous entourage; it can be difficult to find that one day when we’re all free. In comes the Iteration List. This is a very simple, bare-bones, text-based calendar that allows each person to edit in their free and not-free days…

DailyPlanIt has put together a few interesting links to articles trying to answer this question. Where is your time going and is it balanced the way you want? This chart, which comes from the American Time Use Survey 2006 by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows where time is going for many Americans. Is…

Actually, Marc Andreessen at pmarca.com suggests that eliminating your commitment to scheduling all together is the key. This idea comes from a wonderful book called A Perfect Mess, which explains how not keeping a schedule has been key to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s success as a movie star, politician, and businessman over the last 20 years. Want to meet…

I’ve always found deadlines to be strangely helpful when needing to come up with new ideas and content. This would definitely fit into what Scott H Young calls the Push. What he’s established are the misuses of deadlines, as well as when to use deadlines for completing projects. Attributes of a Good Deadline Objective – Have you reached…

If you’re trying to do anything productively a system, and at some stage a routine, should be set. This is important for everything working from home or elsewhere. When you’re home all day and don’t have routines in place your day may become a shamble with nothing getting done properly. Likewise, if you return home…

They say time is money, but really, time is more important than money. Time can make you money, and well invested time can get you a whole lot more. PickTheBrain.com looks at three ways that make investment in time work. It probably comes down to common sense, but how many of us actually do this stuff?…

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…

Stuart Levine at MSNBC has some tips on getting more out of your working day. Time burglars beware, some of us are trying to get out at 5. 4. I got it. As soon as you understand exactly what someone is explaining, tell them in one way or another, “I got it.” Doing so frees them to…

Here are 50 ways to increase your productivity and add hours to your day. 1. Take a break. You can’t always be working at optimum productivity. Instead, you should shoot for working in short bursts at your most productive times. 2. Set a timer for each of your tasks. 3. Eliminate all distractions. This includes the phone…