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Posts tagged productivity
How to Deal with Criticism in One Single Step
Jun 13th
Sometimes You Have to Jump In
Jun 13th
Action beats inaction.
Decision beats indecision.
It may look overwhelming, but sometimes you just have to jump.
Into that new project. Or at that new opportunity.
When was the last time you jumped and took that leap of faith?
The Deep End of the Pool
Do you find yourself waiting to take on a new opportunity?
What is stopping you?
Fear of failure? Fear of the unknown?
Sometimes you have have no choice but to jump right into the deep end.
“Fortune favors the bold.
Those brave enough to jump at opportunity are often rewarded.”
I am not talking about doing anything rash or silly.
As long as you have thought out your actions, there is nothing to worry about.
Dramatic Action
Jumping can be the action that starts your day, your project, or simply your productivity.
Here are a few of the benefits of taking that jump:
- Can’t Turn Back – Jumping creates a “no turning back” moment. It commits you to taking the action you have commenced. This can be a powerful tactic when starting a new endeavor.
- Get Support – People like to support those that jump in. People want to assist those that are doing and in the thick of it. Who on your team will support you when you jump in?
- Create Momentum – Jumping builds momentum. It gets you going in a dramatic fashion. It creates an energy level that will increase your productivity. Leverage this energy to drive your progress.
- Make a Splash – Whether in the workplace or at home, jumping usually creates a big splash. If you want to make positive waves at work try jumping in. It is usually those who jump at opportunities who get the rewards and praise.
Making a Splash
Jumping is about doing. It is about taking dramatic action.
It is not about being unsafe. Or getting in over your head.
It is about taking calculated chances.
And going forward. Taking that leap.
Sometimes you just have to jump in.
Where do you need to jump in your life?
7 Epic Strategies for Introverts (by Introverts) to Ignite Your Social Skills
Jun 10th
Life, to me, is all about human connections.
No, it’s not so much about the “professional networking” aspect or building a social media network full of fans and promoters. Even in our increasingly tech-laden world, it’s those pure, totally uninhibited, simply “human” face-to-face connections that mean the absolute most in life.
There’s something so unique and special about the bonds we forge over laughter and smiles, as well as those shared over tears and during moments of adversity when communities unite to overcome sorrow.
However, if you’re more of an “introvert” like me and not a Type-A, extroverted personality, those human connections feel a bit tougher to come by. I’d rather listen that talk, ask questions than rattle off answers. It takes some real courage for me to enter a social setting that I’m unfamiliar with, or especially (gasp!) a social scene where I don’t know anybody else beforehand.
Are you the same way?
No matter the extent of your social skills, introverted personality, or even if you deal with social anxiety in certain situations, I’ve assembled some of the easiest and most effective tips for introverts — provided by introverts, themselves! — from across the web and Twittersphere for you to try out at your next networking event or at the local watering hole this weekend!
1. JUST DO IT!!
“I have to force myself to get out there. It’s hard to do. But I join organizations, talk to business people… Engaging people first through social media has helped make the transition to real life interactions easier: It sets up a wonderful comfort level.” calkundra, on Twitter
Honestly, what would we do without the wisdom of Nike’s infamous catch-phrase? Simply force yourself to step outside of your comfort zones. You can even use social media like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to facilitate face-to-face connections in a way that provide an initial level of familiarity and comfort with new people.
Did you know that modern scientific and psychological studies prove that when you interpret difficult, uncomfortable situations as “challenges” and “adventures,” we are better able to cope with stress and anxiety?
Get creative and push yourself to extend your boundaries. View each interaction, and each new social setting as a unique challenge, opportunity and adventure to meet new and wonderful people — who knows who you’ll meet, what you’ll learn, and what good could come to a stranger’s life thanks to your friendly smile.
2. RELAX, GET COMFORTABLE
“Warmth. Getting relaxed as possible prior.” playwithamy, on Twitter
Outside of using social media to get yourself more familiar with people who will be in attendance at upcoming networking and social events, you can even visit the venue itself to get familiar with the “lay of the land.” I don’t know about you, but I get all sorts of flustered when I get lost heading to a new venue or struggle to find parking for my car (or, in Boston where I’m currently living, figuring there’s a good chance of getting ticketed and/or towed!).
Watch a funny movie or TV show ahead of time, too.
Your happy, smiling, fun-loving state will carry over into the event and help you radiate with attractive, positive energy and invite new people to approach you for conversation.
3. SET SIMPLE GOALS
“Speak to one stranger per day! Trust and embrace the unknown!” outwardnick, on Twitter
Focus on setting simple goals. Meeting one new person every day — or even just one person in any social setting — helps to build your confidence, gather forward momentum and create a sensation of steady growth within you.
You can meet just one stranger per day, can’t you? :)
4. GET HELP FROM YOUR (OUTGOING) FRIENDS
“I think having at least one very extroverted friend helps. When I’m with mine, you’d never know how shy and introverted I am.” aprilsmithma, on Twitter
This is an awesome bit of advice. Who are your most outgoing, social friends? You can “ride their coat-tails” and tag along with them to events you might not otherwise feel comfortable attending, and begin meeting new people through their naturally extroverted personality.
Don’t feel intimidated by your friend if he or she woos the room and you feel like you’ve taken a back seat or are hiding in the shadows. Remain confident and smiling. You can even ask your friend outright for help meeting people — they will happily oblige.
I use this strategy myself!
5. EMBRACE THE NERVES
“Be scared, uncomfortable, and do it anyway. Stretch boundaries slowly, desensitize one awkward situation at a time! :)” jwitcraft, on Twitter
You’re nervous? Good. You’re alive.
Like any skill, socializing takes practice. I’ve gotten better and better at it over time, and in spite of your nerves, stretching your boundaries step-by-step will help you grow to become pretty good at witty banter and that typical back-and-forth of conversations when meeting new people.
6. MAKE IT ABOUT THEM, NOT YOU
“Focus on the other person. Asking ppl about themselves & being interested makes them think you’re a great conversationalist. :D” cordeliacallsit, on Twitter
I personally LOVE this tip. In any uncomfortable situation, an introvert’s best strategy is to simply take the attention off yourself by asking questions, becoming invested in the words the other person is saying, and deeply listening to their stories.
Take the attention off of yourself by making your interaction with someone about them and not you, and you won’t feel like you’re buckling under the pressure of “putting on a show.”
This technique will also make you feel more comfortable to open up yourself and get familiarized with the group of people with whom you’re spending time.
7. DROP THE ‘INTROVERT’ LABEL ALTOGETHER!
This tip is my own!
Personally, I’m really not sure when I “finally” realized I was an introverted personality. But if the decision was an “either/or” between introvert and extrovert, it’s not like I had much of a choice, anyway!
I’m not sure that it makes any sense to completely reduce our deeply complex personalities to such a black-or-white, introvert or extrovert, one-or-the-other label: one that ingrains an idea within our own minds of our personal skills, talents, abilities, and — equally as powerful — our perceived limitations.
Truly, each of our individual personalities (combined with our unique living experiences) should remind us that each of our personalities represent one of “one million-shades of gray.”
Just drop the “introvert” label and remind yourself that every person is really in the same boat as a human being looking to share those same unique and special human connections with others.
After all, that’s what life is really about.
Personal Productivity Book Review: “Creating Flow With OmniFocus” by Kourosh Dini
Jun 9th
Disclaimer: I am a Getting Things Done geek which is a productivity system creating by David Allen. This article assumes that you have a clue of what Getting Things Done is. If you don’t, check out David Allen’s site for more information.
Over the past half a year I have reluctantly adopted using OmniFocus for my personal productivity system and core Getting Things Done implementation. I use the word reluctant because I don’t solely live in an OS X environment. I actually develop on a Windows machine so not having the OmniFocus client on my main machine has made me quite apprehensive in adopting this awesome tool. I figured that since I had my MacBook and iPad though that I could use these to make OmniFocus work in my life.
One of the main reasons that I have decided to use OmniFocus as my personal productivity tool is that it does a great job of automating my projects and next actions for me. To get this type of automation OmniFocus is a little difficult to setup and because of that it is hard to explain just how to do it. This is where the new e-book “Creating Flow With OmniFocus” by Kourosh Dini comes in.
At first blush
I first heard ramblings of “Creating Flow With OmniFocus” on the Mac Power Users podcasts as well as a few others and was intrigued to find out what it was about. The cost of the book is a hefty $30 but after reading some of Mr. Dini’s articles about implementing OmniFocus, I had a good idea that it was well worth the money.
The book is huge. Coming in at 551 pages in the PDF version. It is stuffed full of tutorials and screenshots to show you just how to implement some of Dini’s techniques. The book is typeset beautifully and is extremely well written.
When I bought the book I was thinking that it was going to be all about implementation because of what Mr. Dini explains on his sales page. But after getting into it I found that this book was about the practical and even spiritual side of the Getting Things Done method. This was something that was welcomed and a bit of a surprise to me.
What’s inside
Like I said before this book is full of useful examples and information and Mr. Dini delivers a “full spectrum” solution to implement your productivity system in OmniFocus. Here are just some of the things that you would find inside:
- Understanding basic principles like project and task handling, certain view modes, hiding tasks, filters and the Inspector, contexts, and the inbox.
- More advanced project stuff like focusing, outlining projects, quick entry, creating templates, and using repeats and time information.
- Setting up a “routine maintenance” plan and strategy, creating basic and advance perspectives, and using multiple clients (iPhone and iPad).
- Advanced principles like implementing a “Core Design”, handling tasks done today, calendar review, dealing with calls and agendas, and even email workflow.
- More advanced stuff like prioritization, GTD’s “Horizons of Focus”, attention and time.
- 20 awesome pages that tie up all the loose ends of the system that is implemented throughout the book.
Yep. There is a ton of stuff in this book and it took me about a week to get through it all. There was a lot of the basic stuff about OmniFocus that I already knew, but going back and looking at it even for the useful keyboard shortcuts was worth the time.
A few qualms
If you are looking for a simplified approach to using OminFocus this book may not be the best choice. There is a lot to setting up the system that Mr. Dini entails and if you are happy with using simple projects and context of OmniFocus, the manual that ships with OmniFocus coupled with Don McCallister’s excellent tutorial videos from ScreenCasts Online will do the trick.
Is it worth it?
In one word?
Absolutely.
This is by far the greatest tutorial on a piece of productivity software that I have ever laid eyes on. It’s concise and straightforward and it shows you just how to make OmniFocus become the most powerful GTD client on any operating system.
After applying just 10% of what this book offers you will gain a much better understanding of how OmniFocus can support a variety of productivity system implementations and can help you automate your next actions on projects more effectively.
Not only do you get practical advice in this book about setting up OmniFocus, Mr. Dini offers some excellent advice about productivity and creativity as well. In fact, some of his writings on the understanding of what David Allen means by a “trusted system” and making time for creative actions is the best that I have read.
So, if you are an OmniFocus user and you have a portion of uber-geek in you, I highly suggest picking up “Creating Flow With OmniFocus” by Kourosh Dini.
Dealing With Stress: The Stop, Look and Listen Method
Jun 8th
Think of your last hell task week. What exactly constitutes a “HTW”? Think of those weeks when you have to deliver that huge, vital project. You know, while also dealing with a computer crash, 40 urgent emails per day and your boss giving you a ton of ‘I want this by tomorrow’ tasks. That’s “HTW”.
You probably fear these weeks, and barely remember how you dealt with them after they are over. I want to share with you my method to dealing with them systematically.
To deal with “HTW” I use a method I call Stop, look & listen. It is very simple, and you can apply it to every stressful situation.
Stop
Shut your door, and put up a huge paper sign with “Do not disturb” on it. You can add the drawing of a skull, or the international signs for danger or death. Be creative, but make sure no one will open your door until you remove the sign unless the building is on fire or Godzilla is destroying the city.
If you have office mates, make clear to them you will be unavailable for a while. You can put your earphones in, (I personally love headphones that cancel ambient noise. For example, I use a pair of in-ear Sennheiser). Keep a baseball bat or some other menacing piece of office supplies just in case someone wants to ask you something. If you work in an open office, try wearing something that indicates ‘don’t disturb’. My girlfriend, for example, wears a hat when she can’t be interrupted, as a cue to her office mates.
Disconnect your office phone and your cell phone. Don’t worry, this will only take half an hour or so, the likelihood of something really critical happening are much like 0. Of course, Murphy’s law can decide to trick you and you lose an important call. Don’t worry, they’ll call again. Close your email, Twitter, chat and whatever things connect you to the outside world.
Give your mind at least 5 minutes of relaxation. No stressful calls, no deliveries, nothing. Just relax for a while and think about nothing. You need it. You know you need it, too. Just do it, now is the moment. Think about your favourite relaxing place, think of you as a rock: unmovable by external forces.
Look
Write down all your outstanding tasks. All that stuff that you need to get done this week, no matter who you have to kidnap or how many nights without sleeping you need to endure. Write down your appointments (dinner with X, kids game, vet visit) and usual time consuming commitments (prepare company newsletter, take the dog out).
Take a look at this list, and then remove at least 20% of the tasks. Either delegate them, postpone them, or just remove them.
Now, see if you can get rid of another 20% of that same list.
Delegate as many as you can, even if you need to ask for some favour from your coworkers (please find me the numbers for this report and next Monday I’ll take care of the server problems) or your family (This week I can’t take the dog out, but I’ll compensate next week by also preparing dinner).
Listen
Now, although it sounds a little new-age, listen to your heart and add tasks you need to do. Add the stuff you pospone in your life for the sake of your work.
The first few times you follow this procedure, in the “Look” step you are likely to remove all life stuff just to leave work stuff. You think about your big project and put it against watching the soccer match with your father, and put off calling your dad until next week.
Work and life should be balanced. You need to avoid reaching the point that your work starts to eat into your personal time, and vice versa. If your boss is overworking you, talk to him. If the big project is conflicting with the tasks he asks you to get done from one day to the other, ask him to help you prioritize.
With this sense of control most of your stress will just fade away, because the oppressing feeling of tasks hanging over our heads without control is why we get overwhelmed. This method gives you control, and with control comes a sense of calm and diminished stress.
You can get in control by starting to manage your tasks instead of your time. When you are overwhelmed time management is usually pointless: there is a certain number of tasks that need to be done soon, and the only think you need is a piece of paper to have all them written down, but you won’t need any fancy timeboxing or split time strategy.
Pretend you are a post office worker. As tasks are assigned to you, return them to the sender, delegate to the appropriate person (or bribe/ask for a favour/task exchange) or in extreme cases, put in your list of do it.
This week, try to gain some control over your stress. By next week, I’m sure things will be different…in a good way.
How to Hold a Quick & Easy Virtual Meeting – Join.me
Jun 7th
Ever need a quick way to share your computer screen with someone?
Maybe a remote colleague? Or a client?
However, you are in the middle of a phone conversation.
You don’t want to bother to set up a conference. Mail invitations. Etc.
Today, I want to show you a tool that lets you quickly set up a virutal meeting.
It is so easy that you can do it on the fly.
It’s called join.me.
Join Me at Join.me
Join.me is perhaps the quickest, easiest way to setup a virtual meeting.
Simply go to join.me (joinme.com also works) and you can download the meeting client in moments.
Your partipants then go to join.me and type in a simple 9-digit meeting code.
That’s it!
No registration, setup, accounts, invitations, etc.
And the best part? Join.me is free.
Other details:
- It can share with up to 250 attendees
- You can pass mouse control to a participant
- It has chat and file sharing functionailty
- It even has free tele-conference built in
And one of my favorite features is that there is an iPad/iPhone client for attendees.
Watch this quick video demo of join.me:
If you cannot see the video in your browser, click here to view it.
Join.me is the quickest and easiest tool I have found to hold a virtual meeting.
It is so quick, that when on the phone I can set up screen sharing on the fly and simply read out the 9-digit meeting code.
It is that easy!
Quick and Effective Virtual Meetings
Join.me is a free service that is provided by LogMeIn. You are probably familiar with them, as they make many remote access applications.
The next time you need a quick hassle-free way to share your screen with someone, try join.me.
It is great for individuals, small businesses, and even those who are dealing with their corporate technology limitations.
What do you use for virtual meetings?
Is it Really an Emergency? 5 Reasons Not to Panic
Jun 6th
We worry about too many things.
We panic too often. And, we let too many things scare us.
Many of these things never happen.
Or they turn out to be not as bad as we imagined.
Truth be told, there are very few true emergencies in life.
It is important to be able to keep your bearings in the face of urgent and perceived emergencies.
It’s an Emergency!
How you ever found yourself saying, “I can’t right now, I am dealing with an emergency.”
What was it? Was it really an emergency?
Or was it something that appeared urgent?
Urgent issues interrupt our day. They often derail our priorities.
Sometimes they are other people’s fire drills. Sometimes, they are our own.
But, what is an emergency?
emergency – “a serious, unexpected, an often dangerous situation requiring immediate action.”
In our urgent, must have it now society, we mistake many things for emergencies.
So, how do you tell if that latest urgent matter is worth having a panic attack over?
A good personal thumb rule, is to ask yourself whether or not it involves physical harm to people. (Notice the word “dangerous” in the above definition.)
Lots of other things can be replaced. Money. Property. Other items.
People cannot be replaced.
So, is your emergency actually dangerous?
Or are you stressing about something that is much less serious?
Don’t Panic, It’s Not Worth It
If you let ever little bit of drama get you excited, then you are going to live your life like a pinball constantly ricocheting from one urgency to the next.
This is a very stressful way to live. And not very fun, either.
Instead, let’s try to keep some perspective on what is truly an emergency.
Here are 5 Reasons Why it is Not Worth Panicking in the Face of that Emergency:
- 99% of the Things We Worry About Never Happen – If everything that people worried about came to be, the planet would no longer be here. The truth is that the majority of things that we worry about never come to pass. Don’t wear yourself out worrying about what “might” happen. Instead focus your attention on the things that you can affect. Often, this means looking at ourselves (the only thing we can control) and not worrying so much about others (those that we cannot control).
- Very Few Decisions Are Permanent – Many of us fear the decisions that we make. We become paralyzed with fear that we may make a bad choice. Or choose a road that we cannot get back from. However, there are very few decisions in life that you cannot change at a later time. Even career and job choices are not permanent.
- You Have to Take Some Risks – Many of us fear the consequences of our perceived emergencies. Yet, we will all encounter some drama and unexpected events. That is life. It is normal, unless you plan to live locked in your home never to come out. You have to take some risks, and you have to be willing to let yourself fail when appropriate.
- Sometimes Bad Isn’t All Bad – Ironically, many of the emergencies that we fear turn out to not be that bad. The results are no where as catastrophic as we predicted. Additionally, many times there is opportunity in the bad. Opportunity for growth, to learn something new, or for a new opportunity.
- Some Fires Should Not Be Put Out – Some people like to create emergencies for others. They enjoy bringing their drama to you and others. However, you need to be able to resist other people’s fire drills that are disguised as emergencies. Just because your co-worker did not do their job for the past month doesn’t mean that you should be ruining your vacation to save them. Some fires should not be put out. It only hides bigger problems. Sometimes you have to let things happen.
Keep Your Head
The next time those emergency bells go off, ask yourself, “Is this really an emergency? Or could you be overreacting?”
Keep your head while others are panicking.
Prevent urgent matters from interrupting your priorities.
And don’t let worry and stress rule your life.
It is amazing what you can accomplish when you are calm in the face of perceived doom.
Do you let emergencies rules your life? How do you deal with faced with one?
Why an Empty Calendar is a Productivity Danger Sign
Jun 1st
Take a look at your calendar. How full is it?
Maybe there is too much on it. It may be full of things that others have scheduled for you.
Perhaps, you are guilty of letting others steal your time.
On the other hand, maybe your calendar is blank.
Just waiting (and wanting) to be filled up.
On the surface, it appears that you have plenty of free time.
However, an empty calendar can also be a productivity danger sign.
The Empty Calendar
What are you going to do today?
If your calendar is empty, you may think that you can do whatever your want. (Free day!)
There are some people that like the “take as it comes” approach.
(Many of these are the ones that I reference as driftwood on the river of life.)
Usually, a blank calendar means that you haven’t planned anything. You are unsure (and unaware) of what you need to be doing and when.
“I believe that a good plan beats no plan… any day of the week.”
On the flip side, too many meetings can be destructive and there are many reasons why you should skip that meeting.
Most meetings are a waste of time. No agenda, no purpose, and no follow-up.
However, when a meeting is with your work… that is another thing.
When More Meetings is Productive
Over-scheduling can be a bad thing. However, most people tend to under-schedule.
This is especially true when it comes to themselves.
“Most individuals let others schedule them all over the place
…but don’t take the initiative to schedule time for themselves.”
It is important to be take command of your calendar.
Here a few tips to help you better schedule your time:
- Call a Meeting with Yourself – Yes, with yourself. Everyone else calls meetings with you, why shouldn’t you also do so? Schedule time for yourself. The important thing is to do it in advance of others getting ahold of your time. I usually block out personal time 1-2 weeks in advance on my calendar.
- Let Your Calendar Help Your Todo List – Tasks need appointments, too. Let your calendar support your todo list by scheduling time to accomplish specific projects or work. This is a powerful technique that lets your tasks take priority over many of the daily timewasters.
- Don’t Leave Yourself Open – Leaving your time open only lets others think they can take it. For example, you are planning on using Thursday afternoon to work on an important report you need to write. What happens? By the time you reach Thursday, your Outlook calendar is peppered with meetings that your colleagues scheduled because they thought “you were open.”
- Don’t Be Afraid of Your Calendar – Don’t be afraid to put things on your calendar, even if they are placeholders. Most people are hesitant to add things to their calendar that are not definite. Be quick to put tentative plans on your calendar. It will prevent other things from taking their place.
- Defend Your Time – Be ruthless in defending your time. We don’t let others take our money, yet we are often careless in letting others steal our time. Money can be replaced, time cannot.
Call A Meeting With Your Work
Many meetings are a waste of time.
However, sometimes more meetings can be a good thing.
So, make sure that you schedule time for yourself.
Maybe it is time to call a meeting with your work.
What does your calendar look like? Is it covered with wasteful meetings or it full of scheduled time with your work?