In previous posts, I discussed why the so-called “negative” emotions of anger, shame, sadness, and fear are actually good friends and guides. In this post, I am going to close the loop on this project by outlining why joy, a “positive” emotion, can be your enemy. How…

It’s no secret that career success often depends on the quality of the relationships you develop with your managers and co-workers. Although office personalities vary considerably, there are certain rules that always apply because we are all human. Here are 9 to keep in mind as you strive to lead, influence, and collaborate with…

How many productivity systems, methodologies, strategies or tools have you tried so far? Do you already use something that fits your needs perfectly, or are you just doing OK, still have a feeling that something could be better? Many people want to find the perfect productivity system or tool. Having…

The last few months, I’ve been wondering about something. I am self-employed. I work in an office by myself. No one watches me or looks over my shoulder. I work flexible hours.  Do those hours really add up to 40 or more a week? My Productivity Experiment I did an experiment in which I calculated all…

You have goals and since you are reading Lifehack you may probably have a lot of them you want to accomplish. Goals lead to projects and projects lead to a sea of tasks. The problem with this is that those sea of tasks may never dry up and you could find yourself drowning in…

Most people, most years. have given up on their resolutions by about mid-January. In order to give you a better chance, I’m offering the following techniques below in worksheet format. These techniques will help with any goal — from losing weight to pursuing a promotion to starting…

There are many great articles that tell you what to do in order to get things done. Some advocate very practical steps, like breaking the task into smaller pieces, or delegate more. Others are more high-level, about maintaining discipline or mindfulness and gratitude. For the record, I…

Whether you’re a high-flying manager tasked with leading your team into battle in the latest big company mission, or looking to get a passion project off the ground, falling into that most counterproductive of traps and trying to do everything yourself can be all too easy. After all, these projects are your babies; their success –…

The iPhone has enabled the IT workforce to become more mobile than ever before. In order to capitalize on this and make IT more efficient on the go, a mobile IT toolkit is needed. However, of the 450,000 apps, which are useful to IT and of those which are worth having? I’m not talking about apps…

Earlier this week we touched on NaNoWriMo, and one of the things that plagues those taking part in the “novel-writing in 30 days” process is getting through the blocks so that you can get the book written in such a short time frame…

You received glowingly positive comments about your presentation from several colleagues, but when one person said something critical, you obsessed about that comment for days and ignored all of the positive feedback. Does this sound familiar?  Beware of Cognitive Distortions In the mid-twentieth century, renowned psychologists Albert Ellis and David Burns popularized the notion of cognitive distortions

I know some people love Halloween, but can we keep it out of the office? This is not to say that you can’t go out and have all the drunken, costumed fun you want with your friends after hours — I just don’t want to deal with it at work. Remember, we’re not friends — I’m just…

As we head into the weekend, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate it than to do my part in shortening it for you. Okay, that’s not really my intent. But look at a calendar. You know, a paper-based one. One of the first things you’ll notice is that the first day of the week…

Editors note: This article speaks about two apps, Notesy and OmniFocus for iPad. Although the author uses these to get work done, these are by no means the only apps that can be used to be productive at work with an iPad. When the iPad was initially released the tech media touted it…

My first boss disliked me so much I thought I had hurt one of her relatives.  She’d call me into her office and yell at me for dressing too casually, interrupting colleagues in meetings and other infractions real and imagined.  I didn’t know how to talk to her but I couldn’t stand the situation…