At a recent company meeting, one of the people on my team announced that she was “the most engaged at work” that she’s ever been. She’s worked on our team for several years, and this hasn’t been the easiest of them. Yet she is on fire. Imagine the impact her enthusiasm for work has on our
Browsing tag: productivity
Most of my days start with the question: What do I have to do today? I run a series of filters that includes deadlines, unfinished projects, obligations, schedule, correspondence and personal needs. These filters create a specific focus for the day: Get these things done. Recently, though, I began an experiment by considering what might
I have several “to-do” lists that crowd my brain. There’s a list of personal items in my iPhone “Notes” app. There’s a list of activities queued for me on our internal workflow tool. My email inbox has its own lineup. And then my head reminds me of items I haven’t written down: pick up dinner
We were walking through our neighborhood on Father’s Day this year when we spotted a man doing yard work. “Happy Father’s Day!” I called out. “What I want to do today is be productive!” he replied. I understand that—it feels good to get things done. The most recent book I highlighted on my Recommended Resources
Chances are, your email owns you. It’s open on your computer as you read this, or it’s an app away on your device. Your inbox is an endless fountain of opportunity—and challenge. Because it doesn’t matter whether you fight to control it or resign to the flood; either way it owns you. Its constant flow
I have a confession that hurts to write: I don’t have much appreciation for people who aren’t useful to me. When someone works hard and improves their results over time, I’m invested in the relationship. When they aren’t demonstrating the activity I expect, I distance myself from them and consider ways to “fix” the situation.
This week, I wasn’t feeling particularly creative as I wrote this post. My instinct was to just fall back on the routine, to fill in the tried-and-true template. It’s efficient. It’s productive. The box is checked. When you have trouble pushing the boundaries, it’s easy to succumb to the pull of efficiency. Just look at
It vexes us all: that never-ending, un-prioritized barrage of messages—from spam to strategy, trivial to tragedy. Since nearly every coaching session I conduct makes its way to the problem of email, I decided to interview Nate Whittier, a good friend and the best industrial psychologist I know, to learn how we might manage email more
Show me a transcript of all of your emails, meetings and conversations this week, and I’ll tell you what you really value. Emails, meetings, deskwork…much of what I do each week feels productive but really isolates me from others. These activities are usually more about getting things done than about connecting with other human beings.