Productivity
Any.do launching a new calendar app called CAL this summer
Any.do has been my personal task manager of choice because it offers a clean easy to use interface but is very powerful (feature rich). Over the last couple of months, the any.do team has been making small refinements but now we learn that they have an ambitious plan to bring their interface experience to the world of calendaring through an upcoming app called CAL. In the below video, you see snippets of the app integrating with social networks, your contacts and having situational awareness (location, birthday knowledge, knowing what you are doing now, etc).
How to find what really matters in YOUR life.
In January, I wrote an article entitled “Do Less, Accomplish More” where I stress the importance of asking “What’s most important to you about […]”. This is an extremely powerful question that will help you make the right decisions. I recently used this question to help a former colleague and wanted to share that experience. Recently I had an interesting discussion with a former colleague who seemed exasperated and overwhelmed with life. He was so swamped he didn’t know what to do next.
Does productivity hurt creativity?
I love the Chinese concept of yin and yang. It reminds us that all things in the universe must be in balance. Good with bad, positive with negative and productivity with creativity. What?? You heard right, productivity and creativity are at opposite ends of the spectrum. The part of your brain that handles organized productive thought is the opposite side of the one that comes up with the crazy out of the box thinking that creates revolutionary shifts. I often hear comments like “I was on the plane and all of a sudden, I had this great idea”.
Do less, accomplish more
We are in the tail end of January and many have already given up on their new year’s resolutions. In life just like in business, too many people “fail” at accomplishing the goals they set up for themselves. This is a great time to remember one of my favorite questions “What’s most important to you about […]” Doing less accomplishing more This is a simple sentence that has been used to turn around dying companies and turn around marriages. Forget about trying to accomplish 500 things simultaneously and distill your commitments to the real value-add goals.
The 3 most powerful questions to ask yourself
Having worked with thousands of people throughout my career, it is clear that people have the hardest time being honest with themselves, about themselves. But this is one case where honesty is the best policy. As an employee of a company, your future depends on the quality, depth and breadth of skills you bring to the table. You can lie to yourself all you want, ultimately your true colors will come through and you will be judged. Every 6 months, I take some time to myself and think about where I am, where I thought I would be and decide where I want to go (short, medium and long term).
Try something new to re-energize yourself
We are creatures of habit and sometimes nothing can be more energizing that trying something pleasurable and new. Find something you have wanted to do for a while and just commit to getting it done ASAP (start it as soon as possible). You will get a rush of the happiness hormone (dopamine). For some people, this becomes the catalyst that launches them in a new and better direction. It is a simple yet very powerful idea.
The power of NO!
Most people are in the business of pleasing others and find it difficult to set boundaries and say no. Remember that always saying yes means you are always putting others before you. It is important to ensure that you give yourself permission to be a little selfish and let people know you have limits. This is one of the most rewarding things you can learn and it will also greatly increase your productivity. Saying No everywhere The above tip is useful for all aspects of your life and shouldn’t be restricted to business only settings.
Followupthen.com free email reminder service review
If you are anything like me, you probably get a few hundred emails a day. Some of those emails require immediate attention but most are for future actions that I don’t need to look at now. So how do you clean up your inbox without losing the reminder for these future actions? Enter a cool new free service called Followupthen.com. Ubiquitous Using the service is simple, you send the email to a special (time coded) Followupthen.com email address and the service will then remind you at the designated date and time.
10 minute time management course
I love Getting Things Done and it is the basis of my day to day time management system. Like any skill, it takes time to learn and practice to master. Some people aren’t ready to make the time commitment to learn GTD but want to improve their time management. So if you fall into this category, these tips are for you: Start with the end in mind For each activity you will undertake, spend a couple of minutes to determine what a successful outcome would look like for that activity.
Virtual Meeting Etiquette
We are living in a global just-in-time community where more and more of our meetings are held in cyberspace. This new reality is sometimes drive by cost and other times but convenience. Regardless of the business drivers, it requires an entirely new approach. In real estate, the most important quality is location, location, location. In the world of virtual meetings, it is communication, communication, communication. To have efficient communication, you need trust and your remote participants need to feel like part of the team.