The Streamlined Mind - Work, Work, Work - Be More Productive

If you've taken all of the advice you already know on board and started putting some of these systems in place then you should start to notice life becoming a bit easier. You have more time, you have fewer decisions to make and you're less stressed thanks to a quieter social calendar.

But you're probably still over-worked and over-stressed and this comes down a lot of the time to your work. Work is what makes many of us so stressed and it's what leaves us with so little time to do anything else.

Time to put a stop to that.

Be More Productive at Work

The first thing you need to do is to start approaching your work in a more productive and efficient manner.

How do you make sure that you get through that to-do list and that you aren't constantly treading water?

The first thing you need to do is to remove multitasking from the equation. While multitasking maybe useful in some occasions, studies show that it simply doesn't work in a workplace environment.

The simple reason for this is that activities that require our mental faculties don't enable multitasking.

What you think is multitasking is actually sequential tasking - you're quickly switching from one task to another and back. This takes up more mental energy and less work gets done overall.

Instead then, you need to set out the tasks you need to do and then work through them in order until they're all complete.

This means that you should start your day with a to-do list. And there's a definite art to coming up with a to-do list. Tim Ferriss, author of the Four Hour Workweek, always talks about having one task that he absolutely must get completed that day and then completing that. Everything else, he considers to be 'extra'.

This is generally the best attitude to take to any list of objectives. Complete the biggest and most important task first and then move onto the smaller ones.

The reason this is so important is that the biggest task is going to take the most time, the most focus and the most energy. It's also going to give you the biggest sense of satisfaction once ticked off.

If you complete all the smaller tasks first, then you risk taking up a lot of time with switching between tasks, answering emails and setting things up.

This can end up taking longer than you think and then not leave enough time to complete that one 'big task' that you needed to finish. As a result, the day ends and you're left feeling stressed.

Instead, work on that one massive task that will make a real difference first. Then start on those smaller jobs and get as many as possible out the way. You can do this after 4pm, at the point in the day when you're starting to feel less productive.

Removing Distractions

Now you have just one big task to complete during your work day, you should stand a much better chance of getting into a 'flow state'. A flow state is an almost mythical state of mind that is described by many productivity gurus.

The idea is that by focusing on one job that you need to complete you can eventually get into a state of mind where you're able to shut out all outside distractions and work in a fast and focused manner. This results in the best work and also allows you to get through the task without procrastinating.

The most important key to being able to get into a state of flow, is to make sure you remove distractions and things that can break your concentration.

And the number one culprit? Email.

Email at work is one of the things that is most responsible for causing us to become distracted and stressed and as soon as we start responding to emails we can find ourselves getting into a 'reactive' mindset as opposed to a 'proactive' one. Now we're working to someone else's agenda instead of our own and that means we're less likely to complete the tasks we set for ourselves.

One important tip then is to make sure that you complete at least a certain amount of work before you even look at your emails.

In fact, you should aim to set yourself a certain amount of work before you complete any other task.

How you might have previously started your day is by going and making a cup of tea, having a chat and then answering your emails. A couple of those emails might take some time and thought and you can then end up quickly taking a look at Facebook for a break.

By the time you've started completing any actual work, it's already 11am!

So instead, start your day by sitting down and making a 'gentle start' on that one big project. Now set yourself a goal. If you have to write 6,000 words today for instance, then tell yourself you won't make that first cup of tea until you've completed 2,000 words. And you won't look at emails until you're on 5,000 words.

Suddenly, you've changed your regime in order to put the pressing work first. The psychological impact of having this much work 'under your belt' cannot be understated and because you have made such a start, you'll find it's much easier to just jump back into work.

By the time you've answered those emails, you'll now have completed a huge amount of work and be well on top of your daily tasks! Meanwhile, having a 'goal' to work to can act as great motivation.

The Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is another tool you can use to formalize this process. Simply use a timer and set yourself a specific amount of time that you're going to focus on your work. This can be 10 minutes, 20 minutes or 60 minutes.

Work until that time is complete and the timer sounds and once that's happened, set the timer for 5 minutes to rest and relax.

Then, set the timer for another block of work.

Dividing your day into periods of work and rest like this helps you to maintain separation between your productivity and recovery and this can prevent burnout while also helping you to finish more work.

Reducing Email

The only downside to this plan is that a lot of people will feel very unsure about ignoring their emails in case they are missing something very important. A way to avoid this nagging concern is to consider investing in a smartwatch.

While you might think that having yet another device with notifications is only going to make matters worse, in fact this gives you a handy (no pun intended) way to check what the email is about without having to actually load up Gmail and potentially get sucked in.

Another option is to set-up an autoresponder on your email that tells your audience you will only answer emails at certain times of day but that they can contact you by phone only if it's an emergency.

When you do this, you ensure that there's always a way you can be reached in a serious emergency but at the same time you also avoid getting inundated with unnecessary calls.

Reducing Communication Overhead

Communication overhead is a term used to describe the negative impact that lots of meetings, emails and phone calls can have on your productivity. When you're in a meeting you aren't working and when you're on the phone, you're not working!

To get around this, try to keep unnecessary communication to an absolute minimum. You can reduce this in a number of different ways.

For instance, if you find yourself in lots of long phone calls, consider asking people to email instead of calling. Alternatively, preface your phone calls by telling the person you're speaking to that you only have five minutes so you'll need to get straight to business. They may offer to call back, but simply say 'no it's okay, but we'll just have to make it quick'.

As for meetings, consider discussing with your manager whether you really need to be present for meetings. Try skipping one to begin with and explain that you have lots of work to finish and that you feel your time could be put to better use in other ways.

Flexi-Time

If you can arrange flexi-time with your work - or even arrange working from home - then this can help you to save a huge amount of time on commuting and getting started with work.

Again, try to discuss with your boss how you could be put to better use by doing other things with your time and you can provide the same service from home. The only real legitimate reason a company might need you to stay at the office is if you're needed to answer the switchboard.

Otherwise, it will just be a matter of convincing them to let you give it a try - and then you prove yourself by completing even more work than you would do in the office.

Flexi-time meanwhile could just mean asking if you can come into work an hour earlier and leave an hour later. This can make a huge difference if it helps you to avoid the rush hour and mean you actually save at least half an hour of your day...

The point is that you don't have to work in the exact same manner as everyone else and it may be that there are other more effective work styles that are better suited to your lifestyle. It just takes the confidence to push for the changes that suit you and to help your employer modernize a little!

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Streamlined-Mind---Work,-Work,-Work---Be-More-Productive&id=9358467

The Messy Multitasker

There are a plethora of articles that support or condemn multitasking. Some say it takes 23% longer to finish one item when you multitask. Others say the brain is evolving and could potentially compartmentalize tasks simultaneously, like a computer. While both comments may have merit, there is an aspect of multitasking that is almost never discussed. That is the conversational multitasker.

The conversational multitasker is one who listens to another person as they reference their experience and knowledge to understand or validate what the speaker is saying. This is multitasking because the listener is actually listening to two conversations simultaneously. They are listening to what the speaker is saying and they are listening to their interpretation, which is a conversation about what the speaker is saying.

While many may acknowledge this process, it is difficult to distinguish the amount of conversations happening in the mind of the listener. For example, if the speaker talks about the color blue, the listener may have flashbacks of the midnight blue car their dad drove when they were young. The memory could evoke great feelings of their dad driving and the fascinating views the listener saw while in the car.

Furthermore, when the listener is listening to their experience in their mind about their dad's blue car, they are living in the past. As they relive the past, they are not present to the present - the speaker. This form of multitasking causes the listener to miss part of what the speaker is saying. As a result, the outcome can often be miscommunication. In the worst case, it can turn into an argument.

At the same time, the listener may not be very interested in what the speaker has to say. He or she may only be interested in what they agree or disagree with. Therefore, they may not be listening to the words of the speaker. They are simply listening to a representation of what the speaker is saying. In other words, if the speaker says things that match the listeners past experience or education, it is likely the listener will agree with the speaker. The opposite holds true for disagreement.

In the event the listener has no point of reference for what is being said to him, he may not know if he can agree or disagree. He may elect to ignore it. Or he may go into a state of confusion. One way to defend being in a state of confusion is to disagree with the speaker and insist the speaker is incompetent on the subject. To do this, the listener must run a list of conversations in his or her mind to determine how to respond to the confusion, all the while not fully listening to what is being communicated by speaker.

As you can see, the conversational multitasker can be a messy job. He can ruin great relationships simply because he tries to understand everything through that which he already understands. This is problematic because no one knows everything. If he encounters something that is outside of his experience or knowledge, he may try to make it fit what he already knows. Or she may invalidate it.

Some of you may be thinking to yourself: "that's just your point of view". The moment you have that conversation with yourself, you have engaged in conversational multitasking. Any comment you make is predicated on what you already know, the past.

Perhaps children have an advantage. They do not have an extensive past. In some cases, they have no past to reference. Instead, children take every experience as an opportunity to learn something new. They don't compare new information to the past. They simply understand what is occurring in front of them for what it is.

As for adults, the power comes when you can distinguish your conversational multitasking. The moment you do you will have the power of choice. You can continue to choose to listen to your past. Or you can hear what is being communicated to you with nothing added.

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Messy-Multitasker&id=9494263

The Time to Give Back (As Told By a Friend)

To give back is to freely offer yourself for the benefit of other people, for a worthy cause, and philanthropy (to promote the welfare of others) in general. What to give back and how is up to you. The principle element is time. We can be very busy with our lives. For most of us, our time spins about the performance or our employer's work, care for our family, and sleep. We fit in relaxation, a trip to visit a relative, and perhaps a vacation, but then, quite a lot of us believe that all of our available time is exhausted. We are exhausted.

You have heard the term multi-tasking. If you discipline yourself to do it, you can accomplish multiple activities simultaneously. This may be a fine way for busy people to give back. When you arrive at the grocery store, with your list, take the time to look at yourself in the vanity mirror. Are you smiling? Do you have a pleasant demeanor on your face? No? Well, put one there. As you walk the aisles, make eye contact and smile. You are giving back. Say something kind and polite to a brother/sister shopper. You have given back more. Compliment the store clerk who passes by. Tell the clerk that the aisle is neat, clean, and well-lit, and that you love to shop there. You gave back again.

Giving back is also getting back. As you leave the store, the many positive encounters that you had with other people will calm you, lower your blood pressure, make you feel better about yourself as a person, and the smile on your face will stick naturally. You will not have to work so hard to put it there. Get in your car and drive home. Don't ride the bumper of the car in front of you. Be mindful of the other drivers. When they signal, allow them to drive into your lane. Wave thanks to them when they are kind to you. Tell yourself that you don't own the road. If you see other drivers who act like they own the road, realize that the other may be young and inexperienced, stressed, or possibly ill. Give way and pray for them later. Give back.

I turned sixty-years-old recently. I was blessed to be able to retire. My youngest child will marry in 14 days. Only my wife and I will live at our house. I have an abundance of time on my hands, need to expand my social circles, and devise reasons to get out of my house. This is an extraordinary time for me to give back. I gave blood yesterday. I have become more active in my church. I have made my friends welcome to come over to my house for visits. We have begun to play games. All of them still work. I listen to them, encourage them, and help them when I can. Two of them now refer to me as their best friend. I help my neighbors when I see them labor with yard work. One of them has invited me to go fishing. We barely spoke to each other before.

I feel better about myself. Giving back has become my habit. I look for new ways to do it. For me, and perhaps for you, it is no longer about finding the time. Maybe, it never was about that.

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Time-to-Give-Back&id=9289821

5 Most Common Distractions Many People Are Challenged With Every Single Day

We live in a world where almost everyone is in a rush - whether it's getting to a meeting venue on time, submitting work notes on schedule, beating traffic so as not be late to work or school - these are just some of the common scenarios that mirror how hectic our schedule have become. With so many things to do in 24 - hours, we seldom get the chance of getting everything done. When did things get so complicated???

Sometimes you have to sit back and ask yourself honestly: When was the last time you felt good because you were able to clear out your to do list? Can't remember? That's not surprising at all.

Now, if we've been spending hours rushing to get from one meeting to another or working from one project to the next, why is it that we never ever get to finish something up? This is because there are so many distractions in our world now and we are constantly multi tasking. Ultra productive people know that in order to accomplish a massive amount and, importantly, to feel great about their accomplishment & balanced, you have to be single minded in your approach. Eliminate distractions so we can focus on completing the things which really matter.

Here are what I know to be some of the most common distractions many people are challenged with every single day.

#1 Unnecessary Meetings

You know there is a problem in our working culture when there are books out now called 'Death By Meeting'. This is a book by Patrick Lencioni and it is awesome. Have you ever wondered how much time you have wasted being in meetings where your attendance seemed pointless or a waste of time? Where it just seems to be a meeting for the sake of a meeting which goes on for ages made up of mostly dribble and then at the end no real actionable items coming out of it?

Shoot me now. Here are some tips to make meetings effective:

Make sure there is a point and a clear desired outcome that must be reached before you go into the meeting

Try having stand up meetings

Set a time limit, where as soon as that time is up, everyone gets up and leaves - there is nothing like a bit of pressure to get a result

Ask: do I really need to be involved in this meeting?

Ask for the agenda prior to the meeting and that the pre-read materials be sent to you

#2 Email

We are in a culture now where people expect instant responses. Someone sends an email and if you don't respond within 10 minutes they are wondering if you are OK? This is a productivity killer. How many times a day do you check your email, honestly? 10 times a day, 20? Is it open all the time, just desperately waiting for that next earth shattering email to arrive? Seriously, most emails are a waste of time and don't get me started on the need for people to cc the entire world in on emails.

Top tips:

Set specific times each day where it is only then that you check email. For me it is 11am in the morning and 3pm in the afternoon and I check it for about 30 minutes at a time.

Condition others not to expect instantaneous responses from you (unless this is your job of course). If you don't condition others, they will expect you to live by their conditions

Set up rules and filters

Get someone else to check them for you. I have a virtual assistant who manages my email for me and sorts them into one of four boxes: Action, review, Archive, delete. I have given her a clear set of rules to follow and it clears the clutter. (Stay tuned for a later blog on how to do this effectively)

Finally, turn off that bloody pop up you've got mail or the 'ding' or the little envelope. As soon as it is there, you know you can't help but check it. Curiosity will get the better of you

#3 Social Media Sites

Can't resist looking at your phone or logging in to your pc to check your Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube? Social media is fun but it can be a huge time-waster especially when you begin to lose track of how much time you spend updating people with your status posts, reading your timeline or tweeting people back.

You can help minimize the time you spend with social media by designating a set amount of time each day for online social sites.

In 15-20 minutes, you can update your status or send a few tweets and once the time is over, log-out so you don't get distracted by social media notifications and start working.

It will take a lot of self-control to accomplish this, you know it will, but you will thank yourself for practicing restraint especially after you plough through one project to another.

#4 Office Chit-Chat and Random Distractions

Ever noticed how a 5 minute small-talk with a co-worker can stretch into 30 minutes, even a full hour? There is nothing wrong with socializing but when it begins to eat up your time and affect your productivity, then you have to do something about it. Minimize office chit-chat by communicating to colleagues your need for focus time. Hang a sign/symbol on your doorknob or outside your cubicle to discourage people from chatting with you and to send a signal that this isn't a good time to interrupt your work and learn this phrase:

"Bill, I would love to talk to you, but I have an urgent deadline right now, can we chat later?"

People will tend to leave you alone when you say you have something urgent to complete with a deadline. We are conditioned to respond to urgency in this day and age.

#5 Multi Tasking

I should really have this at the top. How big is your to-do list? Massive I bet, if you are like most people. Now I actually don't like to do-lists, they are ineffective and can be very overwhelming, there are much better systems based on outcomes, values and priorities, but this is for another time. Still, even this is better than nothing for most people who just let all of the things they have to get done rattle around endlessly in their heads and live in this constant state of reaction and drama.

I am only going to give you one tip here. There are many more I can add but I reckon that this is so vital that if you did it, it could completely change your life. It is one question:

"What is the one thing I could do right now, that if I did it and made major progress would do more to advance me in my life and career than anything else? "

Now, do that one thing.

Then, you guessed it, ask the same question again, and do that one thing.

Then ask again

You get the point right????

If you let them, these distractions will suck away a major portion of your life and can hold you back from reaching your potential in work and in life.

Here are the 3 real themes to practice in your life:

Focus on simplicity and taking strategic action on one thing at a time.

Set up your environment around you and systems to eliminate distractions and ensure you stay on track.

Remember, that you are not playing life like most people are, you are extraordinary and are not going to follow like a sheep what everyone else does. So condition the people around you to your way of working. If you don't, they will expect you to conform to their way and society's norms which are totally ineffective.

One of the greatest things I learned when I first started out on my growth journey at a young age was to become ultra productive and it is a skill set and habit which has taken me a long long way and allowed me to outperform the majority of others around me. Any successful person loves time management. Do yourself a favour and become a time master.

http://ezinearticles.com/?5-Most-Common-Distractions-Many-People-Are-Challenged-With-Every-Single-Day&id=8961581

Tips for Improving Your Memory

Focus on the task at hand. While we often say we are multitasking, the reality is that doing one thing well is better than doing several things poorly. You do need to be in the moment and pay attention. Recently flying home from a cross country trip, we couldn't find the car upon returning which was frustrating. How many times have we parked the car in a crowded parking lot, only to come back out and have to think where we parked? Look at your surroundings instead of your cell phone to mentally take note of the location of the car notable landmarks. Be in the moment.

Take notes. If we had written down the parking lot section at the airport, we wouldn't have wasted a half hour after an exhausting day of travel. Someone once said, "A short pencil is better than a long memory." With the fast pace of the world, give yourself an edge and write it down. That also includes using a calendar for appointments.

Repeat it. Someone tells you their birthday is next week and you want to acknowledge it with a phone call on the actual birthday. Repeat it aloud and think about what you would say. Do that a few times and you will remember.

Have a place for everything. Many people complain about misplacing car keys. Get a basket or key rack and use it. Putting your car keys in the same place will save you time in the morning. If your son can't find his shoes all the time, then get a shoe rack for the closet.

Good habits save time. We are creatures of habit and this can work to our advantage. Have a mental checklist before leaving to make sure you have that dry cleaning you want to dropping off after work or your lunch you packed. Don't remember if you turned off the iron or not? Make it a point to disconnect any electrical appliance as soon as you are done with it and better yet, only buy appliances with automatic shut off.

Plan ahead. Check your pantry items for the upcoming week, make a menu and use a grocery list help save needless extra trips to the store because you forgot things. A little time getting organized will help you remember better as you can see how prepared you are already and will feel more confident.

Chunk the information. This is a strategy with which to remember something like a phone number or address. Take the smaller parts, repeat them a few times and memorize them separately. The idea of memorizing smaller sections and then putting it together is easier than remembering large amounts of information. This is a great study technique for students who need to memorize things.

Don't let electronics rule you. Many people get so wrapped up in their TV, computer or phone that they feel like they do not need to remember anything as modern technology will do it for them. As an exercise for your memory, take time to remember your important numbers in case you misplace your phone.

Memory joggers. Return to the location where you had the thought you can't remember. Sometimes there is a visual clue that hit you when you had that thought. Life is so fast paced that taking a moment to think about what you were going to do or say helps bring the thought back.

Visualize. Think through the idea of what you are trying to remember by picturing it. When you paid your bill, did you do it online or write a check? How much was the bill for? And what type of stamp did you use? Which collection box did you use? Making a mental movie of what you did can help sharpen your memory.

Play games. Use mnemonics to help you remember your errands. Make a rhyme of your list you want to remember or sing out the list. Exercise the brain with brain teasers, puzzles and cross word puzzles.

Your memory is a use it or lose it process. With television, the Internet and our cell phones, we have let our minds become lazy and complacent and don't always employ strenuous thinking. For example, driving down the street, we may know the route to take, but can we easily name the roads and route numbers, enough to give good directions to others? Make the connections and make a conscious effort to exercise your brain. If you try these tips and they are not helping, you may want to discuss this with your doctor.

If you want to improve your memory and sharpen your mind for greater productivity, here are 5 top most apps to help you Click Here to Download Your FREE Guide

http://ezinearticles.com/?Tips-for-Improving-Your-Memory&id=8858291

How to Stop Multitasking and Start Speed Dating Your Tasks Instead

Speed dating for productivity uses the brain’s ability to focus on one thing at a time—in rapid succession.

We all have a dozen things that need to get done at once, so we multitask. But research is pretty much unanimous: Multitasking is less productive than single-tasking, and it actually degrades your cognitive functions across the board. The first thing to go? Your ability to assess whether or not you’re actually being productive.

But when we have a lot of tasks that we want to work on at once, our brains freak out. We think we can’t spend an entire hour focused on a marketing report, or our client calls will fall behind. In the end, we flail, we procrastinate or we search the web for cat pictures. And let’s face it: There are a lot of cat pictures just waiting to be found.

If you want singletasking quality, while still making progress on several fronts in the same work session, there is a way to do it: Speed date your tasks.

Speed Dating Your Tasks: The Technique

Speed dating your tasks is easy:

1. Grab a blank piece of paper.
2. On the paper, list the activities you’re going to do.
3. Grab a stopwatch and set it for 10 minutes.
4. Work on your first task for 10 minutes.
5. The instant the buzzer goes off, put a checkmark by the task you just worked on, and switch to the next task.
6. After one pass through all your tasks, take a five-minute break and do it again.

You can use a smartphone or paper to list your tasks. I prefer paper because checking off a task at the end of an interval is much easier than manipulating a computer interface.

If you use a pocket notebook and pencil, speed dating for productivity is easy and portable! And since it’s portable, you’ll discover you can use it in a number of surprising ways.

How to Speed Date Your Tasks at Work

Work is where speed dating shines. You have a full to-do list: write a travel expense report, prepare a presentation, scan a bunch of documents, and prepare the department’s weekly numbers, too. Use speed dating to get everything done: Spend 10 minutes writing out your expense report, then when your stopwatch says time’s up, move on to the presentation, the scanning, the numbers. Then take a five-minute break and begin again.

When you have several important projects to do at once, your brain wants to think about all of them at once (thus the attractiveness of multitasking). When you’re writing your expense reports, you’re thinking, But I have a presentation I’m ignoring! And when working on your presentation, you’re thinking about the expense reports that aren’t done yet. With speed dating, you have a list and you have time limits. While you’re working on your expense report, your brain knows that in a mere 10 minutes, you’ll be working on your presentation. Secure in that knowledge, it lets go of the nagging and you’ll find yourself able to hyper-focus on the expense reports until your interval is done.

How to Speed Date Exercise at the Gym

I hate exercise, so I speed date the gym. My trainer Steve insists I bench press three sets of 15 reps. That’s 45 reps, plus rest periods—that’s going to take forever! Wouldn’t it be much, much easier to skip the bench press and instead just stand around listening to music on my iPod, thinking really hard about doing the bench press? (Steve says no, but if I turn the volume up really loud, I can pretend I didn’t hear him.)

Your brain resists large tasks, but if it thinks a task will be quick and easy, it’s willing to jump right in. So use speed dating. Grab a trainer at the gym and ask them to design a circuit for you. A circuit is a series of exercises that work complementary muscles. You do them in rapid succession, with little or no pause in between. While you’re working the muscles from the second exercise, the muscles from the first exercise are taking their recovery time.

A circuit makes each exercise seem smaller, and easier to start. You’re just concentrating on the current set of the current exercise, rather than the entire block of sets you have planned for this workout.

How to Speed Date Your Tasks at Home

Because we’re so busy being productive at work, stuff at home can sometimes build up. There’s laundry to fold, ceiling molding to install and an ever-growing stack of books to read “someday.” Set your timer, grab your clothes and start folding.

When the timer goes off, stop immediately. If you’re halfway through folding a pair of underwear, leave it sprawled ungracefully on your folding table. Move on to the ceiling moldings, pronto.

Speed dating keeps you engaged, which is why you want to stop in the middle of a task. Stopping mid-task feels incomplete. Your brain wants completion, and the sense of incompletion will draw you right back into the task on the next go-around. You’ll be able to pick up right where you left off. Next time around, the instant you finish an interval with your underpants half-folded, that piece of molding hanging by only two nails will call you right back into hanging molding.

Singletasking and Speed Dating Wins the Race

Multitasking fails because it splits your attention among several things at once, often including interruptions. Speed dating does the opposite. It uses the brain’s ability to focus on one thing at a time—it just does so in rapid succession. Choosing a small set of tasks to switch between means you always know what’s coming up, and it’s easy to switch back into a task that you stopped partway through.

http://www.success.com/article/how-to-stop-multitasking-and-start-speed-dating-your-tasks-instead

Are You The Pilot Or Passenger Of Your Time? Time Management Strategies Worth Using

Many of us try to be hyper-productive. You know, running around with a coffee in hand, making calls, and checking e-mail, all while trying to eat breakfast in the car. You know who you are. Those who do this often think that since they are "staying busy" they are more successful. To the contrary, "staying busy" leads to mindless productivity - a constant need to do something but actually a waste of time on tedious tasks.

Instead, you've got to work smarter, not harder. Consciously think about each task you're doing. Can it be done more efficiently or eliminated altogether? Managing time isn't about how many tasks you can possibly squeeze into your day, it's about prioritizing and getting the most important ones done faster. Believe it or not, there are enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do. You can workout, get your work projects done, make a homemade dinner, take a bubble bath, and spend time with your friends and family. You just need to rearrange a few things and clear away space in your life.

To make your day more efficient, you've got to complete the most important tasks first. This is the golden rule of time management. Each day, identify the two or three tasks that are the most crucial to complete, and do those first. If losing weight is number one on your list of goals, then do your workout first thing in the morning. While you're at work, do the task that's going to make you the most money or get you promoted. Once you have completed your most important tasks, your day is already a success and you can move on to smaller things such as laundry or running errands. You've finished the essentials.

After creating a prioritized list, give time limits to each task and allow transition time. Instead of saying, "I'll work on this until it gets done", try thinking, "I'm going to finish this in two hours." The time limit will motivate you to work more efficiently and push you to focus.

In order to focus at your fullest potential, you must avoid multitasking. We repeat, do not multitask! We all do it. Texting while in an important meeting or checking Twitter every five minutes while at work. You may think you're being productive but you're just limiting your potential and wasting time. It's not nearly as efficient as sitting down and focusing on one thing. Moving back and forth between tasks actually wastes productivity and causes you to make mistakes. As much as you dread the thought of not being near your phone, put it in another room on silent while you complete the task you are working on. No distractions means no excuses.

Despite what you may think, all these time management strategies won't be worth using if you're not getting enough sleep, plain and simple. Get an early start each day and make sure you're getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. Our bodies and minds need 7 to 8 hours to function at optimum capacity. Not to mention, we are more productive in the mornings, so why not get an early start on something?

By changing a few simple things, you will become a more productive person and have more time for the people you love, play, and rest. Trust us, the time management strategies we've listed are worth using.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-You-The-Pilot-Or-Passenger-Of-Your-Time?-Time-Management-Strategies-Worth-Using&id=9309441

4 Tips to Turn Off the Distractions

Find out what sidetracks you and prepare to address it head on  

Think the grass is greener on the other side of your attention? Think again. The more you tolerate distractions, the more difficult it is to deliver timely and quality output in business.

But maybe you think of your distractions as multitasking. That’s really a myth, according to a recent article published by The New Yorker. 

More than 20 years of research by Dr. David E. Meyer, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan and one of the world’s leading experts on multitasking, reveals that “when you think you’re doing two things at once, you’re almost always switching rapidly between them, leaking a little mental efficiency with every switch.” Bet you thought you were really doing more with less, right? Wrong.

Cope with distractions and increase productivity with these four tips:

1. Raise your standards and take control. The same kind of thinking that tethered you to distractions won’t help you to avoid them. This means you must change the way you think about time, value and results. Make them first priorities, not afterthoughts. 

Remember that no distraction is worth compromising your integrity, professional reputation or the bottom line. In the end, only your results matter. Excuses won’t.

2. Anticipate the kinds of distractions likely to sidetrack you. Make a list. For example, if you know that constantly checking email will usurp two hours of your day—write that down first—it's a key distraction to avoid. Pick one 15-minute block later in the day to scan your inbox and stick to it. Don’t respond to your email until after crunch time is over, when time is on your side.

Can’t resist incessantly checking your Facebook feed for updates? Don’t fall for the head fake: It won’t give you a second wind. It’ll only increase your commitment to being distracted. Use Facebook to completely decompress after you’ve completed your tasks. Don’t log in until you can unplug.

If you know that Chatty Cathy comes in every Monday morning to regale you with her weekend shenanigans, be prepared to put your foot down. Advise that while you’d love to hear about her incredible weekend, you have some important things to accomplish first. Be polite, but firm.

3. Plan, commit and execute. If you want to successfully avoid distractions, you can’t tackle them haphazardly. You’ll need a solid plan of attack.

Prepare your plan in advance—in writing. It should include a list of key distractions, strategies for avoiding them and a plan for confronting ones that can't be avoided. Be thoughtful in your approach. Brainstorm tough scenarios. Role-play to increase your comfort level. Review your plan first thing in the morning. Focus on outcomes and strategies before you do anything else.

Think you’re all done? Not so fast. Drafting a great plan is not enough to inspire productivity. You need to take action. Commit to playing full-out and successfully accomplishing the goal, no matter what. Encourage yourself to do the heavy lifting. Exercise discipline and be prepared to dig your heels in. The trenches are where the real work begins.

4. Cultivate sensory acuity. Just because you create a plan—even a really good one—doesn’t mean that it’s going to work. Therefore, learn to cultivate sensory acuity by paying closer attention to the results you’re getting. Ask yourself whether you’re moving closer or farther away from your goal based on your efforts. Be honest. It’s the only way you’ll learn to connect the dots. 

Sensory acuity is a muscle like any other. It becomes stronger with increased use. By sharpening your analytical skills and becoming “acutely aware,” you’ll learn to detect the devil in the details. And, believe me, high performers are intimately acquainted with the devil in the details.

Key takeaways: Coping with distractions can be challenging. But don’t be afraid to confront and overcome them. You have the power to stand up to people, situations and ideas that wreak havoc on your productivity.

Choose to be more productive and embrace productivity for the long haul.

http://www.success.com/article/4-tips-to-turn-off-the-distractions

How to Get More Done in Less Time

Multitasking slows you down and burns you out. Use this schedule trick to get focused and productive.

Have you ever spent all day working, but at the end, after at least eight hours of straight desk time, you have nothing to show for it? How is that even possible? And how can you fix it?

By doing something unexpected: working for less time. It sounds backwards, but working less can up your productivity. As more demands are placed on you and your life gets busier, you often compensate by working harder and for longer periods of time. Instead, you need a smarter system that allows you to get more work done per hour. And to do that, you need to remove the activity that clouds your mind and slows you down: multitasking.

The human brain is not built to multitask. Ask someone to walk fast in a straight line and solve a difficult math problem; their walking speed will slow down while they try to calculate the answer.

When you do two things at once, your brain is “context switching.” When you stop doing task #1 to start task #2, you have to mentally bookmark what you were doing and where you were to then come back after you finish task #2 to start task #1 again. This confusing chain of events is called a context switch—and just like a computer, your brain slows down when you give it multiple commands at once.

Many people live in a “mixed mode”—they’re not fully focused on work, but they’re not completely switched off, either. It slows them down, burns them out and drains them of all their energy. Think that might be you?

Signs You’re Stuck in Mixed Mode:

1. You work until you’re distracted. You work on one task until you get sidetracked, then you start a new task until your attention is diverted again. You have trouble focusing.

2. You are always multitasking and never fully disconnecting. You’re at a social dinner but you talk about work, or you’re at home with your family but you check emails constantly. You never completely relax and recover, so you feel tired all the time.

3. You don’t take breaks. You tend to work on tasks until they are 100 percent complete. By ignoring the mental cues that you need to take a break, you run down your mental energy faster. When your concentration evaporates, you don’t have the energy to reboot, so you get stuck in mixed mode.

Our bodies have natural “work and rest” cycles built into them. A runner who runs without rest will damage their body, but a runner who over rests will become weak. The solution? To run and cause a little stress to the body, then have a period of rest where the body recuperates and makes itself stronger.

The secret to personal performance is to work in a similar way. If you work without breaks, you will burn out—mentally and physically. But if you unplug too often, your performance will weaken. So to maximize your output, you need to focus your working time in 90-minute chunks (“focus mode”) and follow up with 30-minute breaks (“stop mode”).

You should try to get your first “focus mode” completed as early in the day as you can—logging 90 minutes of focused, uninterrupted work first thing will give you something substantial to show with just one session.

Next up will be your first “stop mode”—that 30-minute period where you’re completely disconnected from work. The idea is to switch gears, to switch modes. So get away from your desk. Don’t even think about work. Unplug and unwind. When you come back to your work, you should feel recharged.

If you run the “focus mode” session four times a day, you'll get six solid hours of work done, which is much better for you than working eight straight hours. And it’s definitely better than eight straight hours of being in the “mixed mode.”

Your thoughts will feel clearer because you’re focused. You'll feel more energetic because you're not wasting your energy in the mixed mode any more. And you'll get more work done in less time.

http://www.success.com/article/how-to-get-more-done-in-less-time

The Ultimate Guide to Learning Anything Faster

“If only I could have learned Spanish three years ago…”

“If only I learned about investing when I was still in my early twenties…”

If only.

For many of us, there are more things we want to learn than we have time for. And as information becomes more readily accessible online, the number of things we want to learn has only increased. That means that the only variable we can actually control is the time we spend learning them.

Shortening the learning curve is a topic that’s been studied for many years, and this guide will cover the fundamental core principles of learning faster. Were these principles perfectly in place, you could leverage them to push yourself to learn faster and master any category of learning, including languages, business skills, musical instruments and more. To quote Tony Robbins: "One skill you want to master in this day and age we live in, if you want to have an extraordinary life, is the ability to learn rapidly." 

So, here are those principles:

1. Don't reinvent the wheel.

Why reinvent a wheel that’s already been created? The common tendency we all have when learning something new is trying to master it alone and underestimating the amount of time and effort that can be saved by getting help from someone who’s already learned it. 

Think back to a time when you first learned how to speak a new language or obtain a new skill. You probably had a steep learning curve initially, but after a few years or even months of experimenting and making mistakes, you could design a shortcut to help a friend avoid those same mistakes you made early on.

In order to achieve mastery faster, our first step should be to consult the top players in the field, and model the path they have already carved out for us. As Robbins puts it: "Many great leaders have proven that the fastest way to master any skill, strategy or goal in life is to model those who have already forged the path ahead. If you can find someone who is already getting the results that you want and take the same actions they are taking, you can get the same results 

"It doesn’t matter what your age, gender or background is," Robbins continues. "Modeling gives you the capacity to fast track your dreams and achieve more in a much shorter period of time. In this day and age, it’s possible to retrieve almost any solution that’s out there in the form of books, blogs, training videos, consultants, someone in our network -- the list goes on."

To quote yet another wise individual, this time Pablo Picasso: "Good artists copy. Great artists steal."

2. Deconstruct the skill.

The next step to hacking the learning curve is to deconstruct the skill you see into its basic, fundamental components. Break down the parts and find the most important things to practice first. (See Pareto’s Principle, which describes a goal of generating 80 percent of results by putting in 20 percent of the effort.)

It turns out that this concept can apply to almost anything in life, including:

• Business (80 percent of sales comes from 20 percent of customers)
• Employee efficiency (80 percent of results comes from 20 percent of employees)
• Happiness (80 percent of happiness comes from 20 percent of relationships)
• Travel experiences (80 percent of our travels may be summed up from 20 percent of our highlight experiences)

Embracing this way of thinking only goes to show that very few things actually make a difference in any aspect of our lives, including learning. Our goal then, should be to separate the 20 percent of our learning materials that will give us 80 percent of the result.

As it turns out, fast-learning experts have already embraced this ideology, and have provided some concrete examples on how to do this effectively. In his TED talk, Josh Kaufman said he believed that you don’t need 10,000 hours in order to master a skill. Instead, the key is to embrace the first 20 hours, and learn the most important subset skills within that time frame to get the maximum amount of impact. Numerous studies in the fields of motor and cognitive skill acquisition have established that the first few hours of practicing a new skill always generate the most dramatic improvements in performance. (See Parkinson’s Law.)

3. Stop multitasking.

Multitasking is a guilty pleasure we’ve all developed in the age of constant notifications and mobile applications. From checking our emails every ten minutes, to scrolling through our Instagram feed, to welcoming co-workers coming by our desk for a “five-minute break”: Multitasking can be one of the biggest hurdles preventing us from learning faster.

Think about your own computer. When you have 20-plus different tabs open on your browser, your computer begins to slow down and it takes longer to process every action afterwards. Studies have shown that when an individual gets distracted, it takes an average of 25 minutes to return to the task at hand. What’s more important to note is that a study by the University of California Irvine found that a worker applies himself or herself only 11 minutes before becoming distracted.

The same thing applies to our long-term focus. Many of us aren’t able to dedicate the six-to-12-plus months it takes to learn a skill because of the countless new projects, ideas, or hobbies that come our way. And when we decide to shift our focus to a new distraction, it’s much more difficult to find the same passion and drive to focus on the previous skill.

Once you have deconstructed the subset skills that will give you the maximum amount of results, focus solely on improving those skills and avoid learning anything else until you’ve mastered them.

4. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

This is the part where most of us struggle, and what many of us don’t want to hear is the rule that mastering anything faster requires practice. Learning requires frequency of and persistence in performing the same skill over and over again, until you can do it subconsciously, without having to think about it.

The best performers in the world understand this “secret” to learning faster and become the best, yet rarely talk about its importance because of how unsexy it sounds.

Expert-level performance is primarily the result of expert-level practice, not due to innate talent. As K. Anders. Ericsson, a scientific researcher from Florida State University, elaborated in a paper: “People believe that because expert performance is qualitatively different from normal performance, the expert performer must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from those of normal adults. This view has discouraged scientists from systematically examining expert performers and accounting for their performance in terms of the laws and principles of general psychology.”

5. Seek immediate feedback. 

In 1960, while they were still an unknown high school rock band, the Beatles went to Hamburg, Germany, to play in the local clubs. The group was underpaid. The acoustics were terrible. The audiences were unappreciative. So what did the Beatles get out of the Hamburg experience? Nonstop hours of playing time, practice and immediate feedback that forced them to get better. That’s the key difference that elevated the Beatles to the top, according to Macolm Gladwell in his book Outliers. The band didn’t just practice in a garage for the sake of practicing; they strived to get in front of a live audience that would provide them immediate criticism and constructive feedback.

As the Beatles grew in skill, audiences demanded more performances -- giving them more playing time. By 1962 they were playing eight hours per night, seven nights per week. By 1964, the year they burst on the international scene, the Beatles had played over 1,200 concerts together. By way of comparison, most bands today don’t play 1,200 times in their entire career. This is why at Rype, we’re solely focused on connecting you with native speaking tutors, who can give you immediate feedback during your lessons.

 

6. Go Long. 

Unfortunately, many of us give up before or during what Seth Godin calls “The Dip.”

Godin says that although it’s important to know when to quit, many potential winners don’t reach success because they quit before the dip. According to Godin, five reasons you might fail to become the best in the world include: 

1. You run out of time (and quit)
2. You run out of money (and quit)
3. You get scared (and quit)
4. You're not serious about it (and quit)
5. You lose interest (and quit) 

Psychologists have also studied what’s known as the transition cycle. This is the cycle of progress we go through whenever we’re experiencing change or a novel event, such as a tragedy or the opportunity to learn something new. There’s a sense of euphoria we all experience when we begin something new. That's why we’re so addicted to seeing notifications on social media, because dopamine gets released each time.

Once the honey-moon phase fades away, we experience the “dip” and our progress begins to plateau or diminish. This is when most of us quit. The reason why this is important is that if you can predict that a dip is coming, when you’re learning anything new, it’s easier to fight through it. More importantly, the dip is there because those persistent enough to stick it out can ride the upward wave that is at the end of the tunnel.

So, to restate these points on how to hack the learning curve:

• Model an expert who’s been there, and don’t reinvent the wheel.
• Deconstruct the skills that will deliver 80 percent of results.
• Stop multitasking.
• Practice those reps, reps, reps! Then seek immediate feedback.
• Go long and don’t quit before or during the dip.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246118