A holistic approach to increasing your get-up and go, from the productivity expert whose previous books showed people how to Find More Time and Leave the Office Earlier. If you want to be productive but are just too tired all the time, you need to read this book! Laura Stack combines invaluable insights and practical advice in this guide to becoming more energetic and more productive in every area of life. Stack describes the factors that contribute to low energy (the "energy bandits") and explains how to reduce their effects and build up or renew sources of positive force (with "energy boosters").
Find More Time. You can't add more hours to the day, but Laura will help you make the most of the time you have and get things done. Available now from Amazon.com.
Leave the Office Earlier, Laura shows you how you CAN get more done than you ever thought possible and still get home to your real life sooner.Available now from Amazon.com.
Here are the top seven responses from last month's poll: Complete this sentence: "I spend way too much time on..."
1. Email.
2. Watching television.
3. Searching the Internet.
4. Procrastinating on starting a difficult task or project.
5. Family concerns during my work day (way too many 9-5 tasks that only I can do).
6. Scheduling meetings. It's close to impossible to get five or more attendees that are available at the same time and the same date. I sometimes spend hours to schedule one meeting.
7. Shifting my tasks forward instead of just getting them done...usually the boring mundane ones.
"If you procrastinate when faced with a big difficult problem... break the problem into parts, and handle one part at a time." --Robert Collier
"Do it now! can affect every phase of your life. It can help you do the things you should do but don't feel like doing. It can keep you from procrastinating when an unpleasant duty faces you. But it can also help you do those things that you want to do. It helps you seize those precious moments that, if lost, may never be retrieved." --Napoleon Hill
"The finest eloquence is that which gets things done." --David Lloyd George quotes
Where in the World
is Laura?
If you're interested in bringing Laura to your organization to present a training seminar for your employees on the day prior or the day after one of these engagements below, please contact John Stack for special "piggyback" pricing.
Ten Reasons Tasks Never Move off Your To-Do List (and how to fix it)
I recently surveyed my readers on the eternal question of productivity: Why is it that some things on your to-do list never get done? Some great responses rolled in, ranging from the classic (too many interruptions) to the matter-of-fact (I don't feel like doing it).
But as diverse as the responses were, it didn't take long to see certain themes emerge. Below are the top ten issues at the heart of the problem and some guidance on how to deal with them.
1. You haven't made the necessary decisions. Your to-do list should be full of clear, actionable ideas--in other words, things you can actually do. If you have a vague goal, like "Have a sale," you've still got a lot of thinking to do before you can hit the ground running and make real progress. Take a minute to figure out exactly what you need to accomplish: What kind of sale? When will it take place? What will it promote? Once the task is more fleshed out, you'll be more likely to make progress on it.
2. You haven't talked to the people involved. Are you worried that you don't have the necessary support to make your idea happen? If you need buy-in, go get buy-in. Chances are that your first step should be to pick up the phone or schedule a meeting. Even if you don't get the answers you want, at least you'll know where you stand. From there, you can move forward, adjust your strategy, or simply move on. Wherever the idea ends up, at least it isn't festering on your list.
3. You haven't done your homework. Perhaps you know you need to schedule a teleseminar series, but haven't gotten around to researching which platforms are available. Figuring out the mundane logistics is now keeping you from making an important decision. Carve out some time to do the legwork, or better yet, delegate that part of the task to someone else. Once you have a better idea of your options, you can focus on the real issue at hand.
4. You're ignoring your internal clock. We spend so much time focused on schedules and deadlines that we often forget to pay attention to our body's natural rhythms. Yes, your Outlook calendar might say that a block of work will fit perfectly on Wednesday afternoon, but if that places your big task in the middle of a low-energy period of your day, you don't stand a chance. Keep your daily energy levels in mind as you plan your day. Start high-energy projects early if that's when your concentration is at its best.
5. The task is unpleasant. The first step is admitting it! If you're being honest with yourself, you probably have an item on your list that hasn't been done simply because the task is unpleasant and you'd rather not do it. If that's the case, it's time to get tough. Make a decision right now to either do the task, delegate the task, or forget about it altogether. If you need to do it, stop thinking about it and just get it done. If it can be delegated effectively, go ahead and make arrangements with someone else. And if you're going to eliminate it completely, cross it off your list and for goodness' sakes move on already!
6. The task is overwhelming. You don't know where to start. Is there an item on your to-do list along the lines of Complete Huge Multifaceted Project XYZ? No wonder you aren't making progress! The task it too big. Large or complicated projects need to be broken down into manageable chunks or else they'll always take a back seat to the smaller, more manageable things on your list. After all, would you rather spend the afternoon completing five smaller items on your list or barely making a dent in one? By identifying a few key steps, such as "Gather Project documents" and "Outline project scope," you'll know exactly what needs to be done next and be less likely to hesitate as you take action.
7. You are plagued with distractions and interruptions. Seemingly innocent interruptions like checking e-mail, answering the phone, or chatting with coworkers will eat your productivity alive. And although many of these interruptions aren't necessarily your fault, managing them is your responsibility. Identify your time wasters and take immediate steps to correct the problem. You might need to set regular times each day to check e-mail or close your door to let coworkers know you're temporarily unavailable. Not sure where your time is going? Keep a detailed log for a few days and find out once and for all.
8. You are constantly putting out fires. Does it seem impossible to achieve any real long-term focus as you jump from one urgent, immediate priority to the next? Good leaders understand how important it is to make time for true high-value activities, even if they don't present themselves as urgent, deadline-driven issues. If you spend every day jumping from one issue to the next, you might help avert disasters, but you won't ever accomplish anything substantive. Instead, focus on the cause of all those urgent interruptions. Do they come from lack of planning, procrastination, or a team that isn't empowered to handle simple issues on their own? Once you address the underlying problems, you'll be able to focus your time and energy where it belongs.
9. The task requires a lot of work for little reward or recognition. Recognition is nice, but don't live and die by it. If the task is worth doing, it is worth doing regardless of whether you will be recognized for the contribution. If it's not worth doing (but you have to do it anyway), just get the darn thing done and move on to something more fulfilling. In the meantime, your paycheck is your reward.
10. You day is overscheduled before you even sit down in the morning. You schedule time and bend over backwards for everyone else...why don't you do the same for yourself? Make appointments with yourself and treat them with the same level of importance as you would a meeting with a client or coworker. If you know you need three hours to get something done, schedule three hours to get it done. And I mean really schedule it. Put it on your calendar, eliminate distractions, and treat the task with the same respect you would a one-on-one meeting with a live person.
So there you have it: ten huge productivity bandits--decide which ones best apply to you. Be relentless as you kick them to the curb and get those tasks checked off your list!
Make it a productive day!(TM)
(C) Copyright 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved.
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If you have a productivity dilemma, send your question to Becca@TheProductivityPro.com to get in the queue. What is your biggest time management frustration? What keeps you from doing what you know you should be doing? Our readers will send you advice.
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All Articles (C) 1999-2008 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. This information may not be distributed, sold, publicly presented, or used in any other manner, except as described below.
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Messages from Laura
June 2 is National Leave the Office Earlier Day! Pledge to work only eight hours on Tuesday, June 2 (versus your normal 10-14) by clicking here. You'll receive a FREE 10-day eCourse on "How to Leave the Office Earlier," and will be registered to win valuable productivity prizes from Day-Timer®! June 2nd was designated as National Leave the Office Earlier Day in 2004 by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, bestselling author and a leading authority on productivity and workplace issues. The annual event, which is officially listed in Chase's Calendar of Events, is intended to focus workers on improving their personal productivity and asks them to commit to working no more than eight hours on that day. "The eight-hour workday remains a myth to many working Americans," says Stack. "But by implementing some simple strategies and tactics, even the most overworked and overstressed people can be more productive and shorten their workday and feel good about it." Visit my website for a complete media kit and articles for reprint in your e-zine, newspaper, or website, as well as a Workplace Flyer to post and a Letter to the Boss.
Monthly webinar series! Next webinar JUNE 22, 2009: Staying on Top of the Inbox: Control, Organize, and Communicate Efficiently with Email. 9:00 AM Pacific/10:00 AM Mountain/11:00 AM Central/12:00 PM Eastern. If you keep more than a screen shot of email in your in-box, you need this program! Email has become the productivity bane of modern corporate employees, the ball-and-chain that keeps them stuck at their desks for hours every day. They wade around, desperately trying to sort, respond to, and organize messages. Pending items fall through the cracks. Email for long-term projects sit in the inbox and collect dust. Employees hit "Reply to All" to 17 people and create hundreds of "Me too!" responses that add nothing to the conversation and waste everyone's time. ENOUGH! Take this course and get and stay on top of your email, once and for all. Only $29 per person! (You can still buy the discounted package of all ten: you'll get a link to the recording of those that have past. For more information and to register click here.
To be featured in this section of our newsletter and get a free eBook with our thanks, send your productivity tip or trick to Becca@TheProductivityPro.com with "Tips and Tricks contribution" in the subject line.
1. Can you imagine waking up on Monday morning and having the inspired thought "Thank God It's Monday"? And, having everyone on you your team wake up feeling the exact same way? Wouldn't it be great if everyone woke up feeling inspired and ready to take on the world with enthusiasm every day of the week? My colleague and bestselling Author, Roxanne Emmerich has transformed hundreds of workplaces across the country consistently getting revenue and bottom line impact for many companies that is nothing short of miraculous. Most of her clients are having record quarters while their competitors are posting record losses! To jump start your inspiration and reignite your passion, buy Thank God It's Monday! When you buy the book, you'll receive lots of cool gifts from friends who are helping promote the book by entering your receipt number. Visit the Thank God it's Monday site here.
2. When I take an online course, like at HP, I always print out the lessons, the assignment and the quiz and then I put them in binders (under certain categories such as digital photography, creativity, etc. I also have certain binders for each topic. That way I can always refer back to them if I need some sort of answer. I put the articles I really want to keep in sheet protectors so they will keep forever and are much easier to flip through. You just have to make sure you don't get too many binders and keep just what you want. I also get binders with the clear overlays and insert my own personally made inserts and binder sides. I just go to HP or Avery.com. Etc. and print them out and insert them. It is so easy to keep them organized and they look professional. I use binders for many things. I make one for my Mother who is 88 and have emergency numbers, our family's phone numbers and any things she really wants to keep such as recipes, Heloise columns, favorite letters, etc. It's helpful to have them in one place for her since she can't remember where things are. Thanks again for the course. I really enjoyed it and am employing my information into my computer; a very good idea for me since I love computers. --- Zoe L. Berryman
Laura in the News!
What's Keeping You at the Office (9 Tips to get home quicker) "Don't focus on catching up," says Laura Stack, president of The Productivity Pro®, Inc. and author of Leave the Office Earlier. "You will never catch up. There will always be more things to do than there is time to do them."
Are You Ready to Leave the Office Earlier? | Team Taskmaster | BNET
BNET's CC Holland brings managers the tactics and tools they need to inspire productivity, teamwork, and collaboration.
America's Most Productive Companies - Our 2009 research is the most comprehensive study of human capital productivity of its kind, covering almost 14 million people in over 1600 companies and 175 industries. (study attached in PDF)
Have Laura speak to your company, conference or organization. How do you know if Laura would be perfect for your next event, meeting, or training? View the "Laura Stack Is Perfect For This Group" fact sheet.
