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Why you need to say ‘no’ at work (hint: your work will get better)
Here’s a familiar scenario: You’re up to your ears in projects. Despite this, your boss comes up with a new initiative and is asking you to spearhead it, knowing full well you’re already overloaded. You somehow ignore the internal screaming inside your head and, to your own disbelief, you hear yourself saying yes to this request. Why?
Classic children’s fables that teach us work-life balance lessons
The ever-elusive work-life balance: The idea that you can find complete equilibrium in your personal and professional life. A balance so coveted that, in a 2016 global survey, nearly 20% of Millennials were found to prioritize work-life balance when deciding upon a new career opportunity.
From passion to productivity: how to build personal motivation into better work
We all have (and perhaps envy) a friend who seems to love their job. You know, the person who “whistles while they work,” so to speak—who seems to skip merrily to the office, is happy to put in overtime, who claims they’d still be an accountant or a teacher even if they didn’t get paid.Ok, so this friend may not exist. Work is supposed to be work! Still, the goal of finding a career that is both a source of happiness and fills our bank accounts is not as lofty as it once seemed. Most of us spend the majority of our waking lives at work. It’s not too much to ask that we feel as if we’re working toward something more than a paycheck alone. How then, do we go about finding fulfilling work?
3 lessons from an email guru for taming inbox chaos
It’s not a stretch at all to say that I’m ridiculously obsessed with email. (I have the t-shirt to prove it.) The obsession probably started back in 2011 when I was a virtual assistant getting the, ahem, horrifying, peek into my clients’ inboxes. Or maybe it was way back in 2004 when I graduated college and was sending email after email applying to jobs and had to find some way of staying organized.
Push off flaws, be less productive: how to stop making excuses
You made a New Year’s resolution to go for a run at least three times per week, but have only managed to put on your running shoes a handful of times. It’s easy to muster up excuses as to why you haven’t stuck to your goal—you’ve been working late nights, it’s been too cold (or too hot) out to run—or you simply just can’t “find” the time to exercise consistently.
Avoid the seagull effect: the 30/60/90 framework for feedback
Has this scenario ever happened to you? You’ve spent weeks working on a big project. It’s almost near completion and frankly, you’re quite proud of it. You did a ton of research and you fussed over every detail to make sure it’s perfect. Your big presentation is just a few days away and you’re putting on the final touches.
What’s your feedback flavor? How to give negative feedback beyond the compliment sandwich
7 true stories of people building incredibly productive morning routines
Productivity advice can often come across as rather drab and uninteresting when it’s doled out like artificially flavored cough medicine. This isn’t the fault of the advice itself, but rather the delivery. On the flip side, we can learn a lot from stories, especially when these stories are both true and read like pages out of somebody’s (productivity) diary.
Fascinating productivity routines we can learn from nature
Everyone knows the ol’ bird and the bees adage, but we’re not talking about that form of productivity. Nature has always had systems in place, many of which we take for granted: From the Golden ratio, a fascinatingly predictable pattern that is repeatedly found in the structures of plants and sea creatures, to ocean tide schedules that can be tracked down to the minute every day.
How to beat decision fatigue with better brain habits
You wake up every morning with decisions to make: What to wear, what to eat, and of course the perennially difficult decision of heading to the gym or remaining burrowed in your warm bed. These are all important decisions that set the tone of a productive morning and day. And once you clock into work, the decision flood gates open. By the time you’re winding down for the night, you’ve made an average of 35,000 decisions!