You're only productive at work three days out of the week. How can you improve that? The secret to getting more done is to make things automatic. Control over your schedule stops you from getting tired at work. Progress motivates us more than anything else.
When I woke up this morning, I had one goal: Finish this article by 11 a.m.
I was drowning in e-mail. Overwhelmed. Overloaded. Spending hours a day, it seemed, roiling in an unending onslaught of info turds and falling further and further behind. The day I returned from a two-week break, I had 23,768 messages in my inbox. And 14,460 of them were unread.
You're only productive at work three days out of the week: People work an average of 45 hours a week; they consider about 17 of those hours to be unproductive (U.S.: 45 hours a week; 16 hours are considered unproductive). So how can you improve that?
Gmail is one of the most popular email services with more than 500 million users, so chances are pretty good that you're one of them. But are you making the most of your email account? Many of us complain that our inboxes are too full and that responding to email is too time-consuming, but several tools are available that will streamline your email experience.
One of the most important things a small business manager can do is make sure that everyone is taking on a fair share of the workload. If some are taking on a bigger share of the work than others, it can lead to hurt feelings and inefficiency.
Ever feel like you're just not getting enough done? Know how many days per week you're actually productive? About 3: People work an average of 45 hours a week; they consider about 17 of those hours to be unproductive (U.S.: 45 hours a week; 16 hours are considered unproductive).
When I was a kid, I read a book called The Listmaker. It's about a young girl who uses lists to organize and make sense of her life. At the time I didn't read any more into it besides the fact that this was an odd hobby for a pre-teen girl to spend so much time on.
Strengthen fraying cables by wrapping a pen spring around them. How genius is that?!
Optimizing your work day to maximize your productivity and happiness admittedly isn't a hard science. Differences in body chemistry, sleep routine, personality, profession, and office culture mean that one person's ideal day is another's productivity nightmare. But there are some evidence-based guidelines you can follow to get yourself on the right track.
Recently, Mari Luangrath posted on Facebook, "What's your favorite productivity hack?" Likewise, in the Arment Dietrich private Facebook group (sorry, it's open only to employees), Clay Morgan posted, "What "hacks" or habits or pieces of technology do you do/use that make your work life a little easier?"
Even Andrew Carnegie understood the power of making a list. In an anecdote detailed in the book, Good Strategy Bad Strategy, management guru Richard Rumelt writes: It was 1890, and there was a cocktail party here in Pittsburgh. All the movers and shakers were there, including Carnegie.
Many of us already know and love Google Docs for being free, available on the web, and relatively robust. What you may not know is that there are a ton of features hiding in Google Docs that either don't exist in other suites, or are just too awesome to not use all the time.
When things get busy, we all have tasks we put off. Sometimes items end up delayed out of necessity. If you are putting off the right things, it can be a good move to reduce your workload. But if you procrastinate on the wrong tasks, you might be setting yourself up for trouble later.
There are plenty of great productivity apps for every platform, but actually using and tracking those apps can be a hurdle to getting things done. Sean Oliver solved it by creating a "Do folder" of apps, and making some rules for what goes in that folder.
Some photos are on your smartphone. Others sit on your home computer. Your digital work documents, favorite web clippings and notes from meetings? Scattered like confetti after New Year's Eve. If you've embraced a digital lifestyle, this situation is probably all too familiar. Thankfully, there are services available to help those of us in need.
In an increasingly digital world, email has become the primary mode of business communication. That little unopened letter symbol, the blinking red light, the "ding!" of a new message-each has become the string to our puppet, a Pavlov's bell, if you will, bringing us to immediate attention dozens or, for some, hundreds of times each day.
Complaints about email abound. Perhaps you've heard some of these or uttered them in pain yourself: I receive hundreds of emails a day. I can spend my whole day responding to incoming messages. I can't find anything in my inbox. In response, some companies are taking drastic steps to help workers manage the number of messages they receive.
I love email. I can be hooked to my inbox all day on my trusty smartphone-and therefore, I love my smartphone, too. I was not always an email-lover. More than three ago, when I was working at a day job, I barely felt the need to check my email.
In an increasingly digital world, email has become the primary mode of business communication. That little unopened letter symbol, the blinking red light, the "ding!" of a new message-each has become the string to our puppet, a Pavlov's bell, if you will, bringing us to immediate attention dozens or, for some, hundreds of times each day.
"Until you have the whole inventory of everything you need to do," says productivity guru of gurus David Allen, "it can be tough to prioritize." Allen, whose Getting Things Done system is certainly the stuff of best sellers and may qualify as a quasi-weird movement , emphasizes the inventory-taking aspect of productivity.
Our days fill up so fast and are so rushed and filled with distractions that they seem to be bursting. It's a huge source of stress for most people, and stress is perhaps the most important factor determining whether we're healthy or sick. So how can we simplify our days?
Being productive requires focus and energy - and Add-ons! When you're at school, at work or at home surfing the Web, these are the top six Firefox Add-ons that can help you get through your to-do list faster. 1.
Click to viewYour boss needs the updated PowerPoint presentation file by Tuesday. Your spouse wants to know how many vacation days you've got left this year. Your co-worker needs your office pool picks. Everyone gets task requests via email all day long, and it's so easy to let these messages slip through the cracks.
Managing the steady stream of email that gathers in your inbox every day can feel like an impossible task. Not long ago, I kept a lengthening list of folders in my email software to track messages by topic, sender, project, urgency and any other context that seemed relevant that hour.
