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How Getting Overwhelmed Helps Improve Productivity

By Royale on April 30, 2012 in Productivity

Guest post by Krisca Te

Ridiculous Suggestion

How could becoming overwhelmed — the end of productivity, efficiency, accomplishment — be tweaked to render some benefit to those finding themselves overwhelmed? Well, it may seem ridiculous to suggest, but being overwhelmed can bestow some benefits.

Bad Math

To be overwhelmed is simply to have one too many (or two too many, or three) things to do. As a result, you will be dealing with some unpleasant effects, all of which overlap to a degree:

Too many things demanding attention.
Inability to figure out where to begin.
Flitting from task to task.
Lack of concentration.
Poor productivity.

Taking some time to pause is necessary to glean some worth out of being overwhelmed. Ask yourself these questions:

How did you get overwhelmed in the first place?
Did you overestimate yourself?
Did you underestimate the tasks?

No matter the answers to those individual questions, the broad answer will be that you simply have more work than you can do. Just as in mathematics, when the results of your calculations don’t work out, it’s time to go back over them and figure out where you have made a mistake.

Not Purely Negative

Look at the positive side of being overwhelmed. Like any negative aspect of life, it is an invitation to reflect and consider yourself, perhaps even the way you look at life and earning a living. And you should ask yourself still more questions:

Where am I over-extending myself?
Which tasks are essentials?
Which tasks can be completed later?

As you’ve always heard, mistakes make the man. They are lessons, sometimes-unpleasant ones that are teaching situations. Learning is learning but you will hopefully, be that much stronger and wiser for having endured them.

What Do I Need to Do?

What are your needs? If you were taking a course in managing your personal finances (banking, investing, taking loans, etc.) you would be asked to differentiate between your needs and your wants. You may think this is obvious until you really start concentrating. Needs and wants can both be very strong, almost emotional, and both can strongly compete for your attention. But needs, no matter how distasteful at the moment, come first.

Moore’s Law Often Kicks In

Cast a critical eye upon your undertakings. What can you reasonably do? Not what you could do if you were perfect, but what you can expect to accomplish as a human prone to error and missteps. Also, at some point Moore’s law will probably kick in, inspiring smarter, more adaptive problem solving that optimizes task integration at a greater speed while reducing your energy consumption, just like a semiconductor.

What Can I Do?

Knowing what you need to do isn’t enough. Humans tend to underestimate enterprises and overestimating their productivity. Sift through your tasks to prioritize things. If you do, need two things at the same time, better go with the one you know you can do first, followed with the other. Being overwhelmed is not an entirely a negative thing. It can be turned into a positive thing if you see it as an opportunity for re-evaluation and learning. And perhaps prompt you to critically ponder the philosophy of life that you are presently following.

Krisca Te works with Open Colleges, Australia’s leading provider of TAFE courses equivalent and counselling courses. When not working, you can find her actively participating in local dog show events – in support of her husband.

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Why You Need to Go with the Flow

By Royale on April 4, 2012 in Energy, Productivity, Stress, Time

The entire course of our life follows a cyclical pattern of good and bad, up and down, more then less. Everything flows this way, years, months, weeks, days, hours. High energy, then low energy, creativity, then boredom, tremendous focus, then distractibility.

The key is in understanding how to use these shifts to our advantage. We can channel these fluctuations, if we understand how they affect our moods, actions, and productivity. It can be a valuable tool lower stress and improve the quality of our lives.

How can we do this?

Analyze

When are you the most focused? The most distracted? The most tired? Energized?

How does lunch affect you? Difficulty concentrating or energized?

Are their times when you prefer to be more social? Periods when you want to be left alone?

Are there periods when you can’t seem to sit still?

When do you find it easier work on long projects?

Do you see a pattern starting to emerge?

Utilize

Look at what you do each day…each week…each month.

Shift whichever projects, tasks, or activities you can so they better match your energy?

Propose changes for activities that involve others. Altering the schedule may help them as well.

Schedule detail work or highly creative activities; designing, writing, idea development for times when you are better able to focus?

Do social tasks/activities during times when you feel the most social; meetings, calls, project collaboration.

Save tedious or repetitive tasks, like data entry, billing, reports, filing for when you can be quiet and alone.

Everyone is unique. Don’t conform to other people’s cycles or moods.

Some things are beyond our control. Manage what you can. Deal with the rest. You’ll be surprised at how flexible other people can often be once they understand why you’re making this type of request.

Big Picture

Think about what happens throughout the year. Some months are usually busier, while some are quieter and more flexible.

Consider commitments that you have in the other area of your life. If you have young children, parent who needs care, or a spouse who travels or works a lot, take that into account when taking on a new project, role, or responsibility.

Our persistent tendency to compel our brains and our bodies to conform to a schedule that conflicts with our individual energy patterns adds stress to our already unbalanced lives.

Stop fighting it and go with the flow…at least sometimes.

Your turn…Thoughts?

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How to Stay Productive and Focused

By Royale on March 28, 2012 in Goals, Inspiration, Life Balance, Motivation, Personal Growth, Productivity

I was recently cleaning out old files and documents on my computer. I came across the transcript of an interview I was asked to give about a year ago or so, on how I stay productive, maintain my focus and enjoy life.

As I was reading through, I had to ask myself if the answers are still true and more importantly if I’m living by them. Yes and no. The answers are still true. Definitely. But I don’t consistently translate them into daily actions, and when I don’t my productivity, my connection and my happiness in life falter.

It was an important reminder to me. And I hope that by sharing, you will ask yourself the same questions and that your answers might make your path to life fulfillment and successes clearer.

Questions:

How do you stay productive?

I think the key to living a productive life and making productivity a consistent practice is in having clearly defined goals or outcomes, knowing what actions you need to take to accomplish what you desire, then making it a habit to follow through to completion on tasks and projects. Then you need to make sure you have some balance in your life. There has to be some fun on the flip side.

Where do you find motivation on a daily basis?

I am motivated by a burning desire to connect with others and to share any wisdom or insights I may have that might help them in some way. I see an epidemic of busyness both in the work place and at home. People are frustrated and overwhelmed in their lives and careers. We’re working harder, enjoying life less and spinning our wheels much of the time.

It doesn’t have to be that way! I think life is a journey of growth and we are meant to continuously evolve. I think we design our lives by the actions and choices we make each day and I truly believe that if I can help others make wiser choices and take better actions then I’m doing something worthwhile with my life.

How long have you been doing what you do?

I have been blogging for about two years. I actually started out with a completely different blog and focus, but gradually evolved both my personal (GuardWife.com) and professional (ProductiveLifeConcepts.com) blogs until they were a more comfortable fit for me.

What inspires you?

I am constantly inspired by the world around me. I read incessantly…I always have. I find people interesting and am fascinated by what makes them tick and why they behave the way, they do. I also have a genuine love of nature. The simple beauty of flowers, trees, animals, even the weather provides me with endless inspiration and ideas. I try to get out into nature every day. It calms and centers me, which allows me to be more creative as well.

How did you develop a talent for writing?

I’m not sure honestly. I have always been good at writing, especially on non-fiction topics, but never pursued it professionally until I decided to get into blogging. My writing has definitely improved with practice. After writing hundreds of blog posts and writing my first book, I have gotten much more efficient and clearer with my writing, both during the writing process and in the end result.

Once I discovered my personal writing style, which happens to be very conversational in nature, I found that my writing flourished. I write as I speak, as if I’m having a conversation with a colleague or friend, share a bit of myself, break a few rules, and have fun.

Your Turn

You’ll obviously want to substitute whatever you do and what your talent is for mine, but the questions are still relevant, and I hope useful.

I’d love to know your answers if you’re willing to share. By sharing something of ourselves, we inspire others.

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Are You Up for The Challenge?

By Royale on March 26, 2012 in Productivity, Time

I challenge you to a race…

A race against time. A race against yourself.

What could you do faster? Where would a bit lower quality be OK if it saved you time? What is necessary, but you’d like to spend less time on it?

Perfection is the enemy of time. Distraction is the enemy of time. Overwhelm is the enemy of time. Mindless activities are the enemy of time.

We are often our own worst enemy of time.

In many cases, we can do something to save, recover, and take back that time.

Challenge yourself to a race.

I’ll be doing it along with you.

Great candidates for a TIME CHALLENGE:

Email –always at the top of the list

Social media – another top contender

Household chores – vacuuming, mopping, dusting, clean up

De-cluttering and purging – tackle those pile, closets, shelves

Organizing – rearrange, put items back, restore order

Filing – just do it

Phone calls – keep it brief, no chitchat

Meetings – agenda, timer

Writing – stop censoring and editing as you write; edit later

There are many others. Tasks you dread. Activities that are time wasters. Necessary, but tedious. Whatever may be on your, “Oh no, not again,” list.

Here’s the simple challenge.

Choose an activity. Decide the amount of time to allot. Settle on the acceptable quality. Set a timer. GO!

How many emails can you get through in 20 minutes?

How many words can you write in an hour?

Can you get the filing done in 15 minutes?

What can you cover in a 30-minute meeting if you stay on topic?

How many calls can you make in 45 minutes if you cut chitchat?

Dusting race – 10 minutes. Good enough is the key phrase.

Sort, purge, piles. 30 minutes. 60 minutes. When in doubt, throw it out.

So many options. So much time saved.

The best part. When you’re done, use some of that recovered time to treat yourself.

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A Simple Tool to Improve Your Health and Increase Your Productivity

By Royale on February 13, 2012 in Health, Productivity

We have become a sedentary society, sitting hunched over our desks for long periods of time. This is not only detrimental to our posture and our joints it can be disastrous for our health. I discovered a solution that addresses these issues.

Advantages

A walking desk, sometimes called a treadmill desk is a very useful tool. Not only does it get you up and out of the chair, it helps you combine exercise (which nobody seems to have time for,) with work, surfing the internet, playing games, checking Facebook, however you use your laptop.

One word of caution…Do not expect to jog or speed walk while using this desk. I am not responsible for injuries. I am generally able to walk at 2 mph at a 5% incline. It doesn’t sound like much, but it saves me time, helps me stretch out my joints and muscles, and burns about 250 – 300 calories per hour in contrast to the 50-80 calories that sitting still burns. It adds up.

Results

My experiment with my walking desk has been a complete success. I have been using it for about 6 hours a week for a month and have noticed a less stiffness and back pain already. I have also saved time and seem to be getting at least as much work done as before, maybe more. Not to mention the extra 1200 calories I’m burning a week just by walking.

Equipment

Many of us have an old treadmill that is probably accumulating dust or has clothes draped over it. If you are not one of those, consider investing in a treadmill (and actually using it.) It is the simplest option for improving your health and exercise. There are so many choices, you can certainly find one that suits your needs and fits your budget.

There are also many choices for the desk itself. They range from pricey, but state of the art walking stations to inexpensive homemade versions. There is a wealth of information on the internet.

Some links I found helpful:

I put in 5 miles at the office – http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/health/nutrition/18fitness.html

How to set up a treadmill desk – http://www.macworld.com/article/156988/2011/01/treadmilldesk.html

Design and build your own treadmill desk – http://www.treadmill-desk.com/

I happen to already own a treadmill and have a handy husband, so I described what I wanted and he built it for me. It really was not very hard and cost less than $100.

My new work station

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18 Minutes To a More Productive Day

By Royale on February 8, 2012 in Books, Goals

I could not wait to read “18 Minutes,”by Peter Bregman. A longtime reader of his Harvard Business Review column, I was confident that he would be offer useful productivity tips. I had no idea that he would lay out such a simple solution to a problem that plagues most of us, too much to do, a never-ending task list, and the overwhelming struggle to master the issue of time management.

To be fair, his 18 minutes a day process alone is not the entire solution. He goes beyond daily task management, to address the larger issues that overwhelm us, not being happy and fulfilled with what we’re doing, feeling like we’re beating our heads against the wall and becoming more clear about where we want to go with our lives.

With strategies like using the Four Elements of Focus, hourly reminders and learning to pause.

“A brief pause will help you make a smarter move. Know what outcome you want before you respond.”

- Peter Bregman

Peter Bregman offers us an insightful, useful and easy to implement success program. Written in a conversation tone, he lays out step by step how combat the overwhelm, hectic busyness and lack of focus that make up the bulk of our days. 18 Minutes might be one of my favorite reads, notes in the margins, highlights on the pages, it has earned a prominent place on my bookshelf.

Let me know your thoughts on this book?

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Get Involved in Your Community

By Royale on January 13, 2012 in Personal Growth, Work

Photo by Dennis Herrara (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Smart Moves

Did getting more involved in your community make your list of goals or resolutions?

Here’s why it should.

Any form of community involvement can be a wonderful thing in itself. The satisfaction you experience by contributing to your community and the people around you is priceless and many times is the most positive thing you do in your day. Although community involvement by its very nature is altruistic, you will often find that you receive more than you give.

But beyond the personal rewards, being active in your community also provides a tremendous opportunity to network with people who live in your area and the professional connections can help you advance your career or bring in more business. It can also present a fantastic opportunity to make new friends and build your personal support network.

Start participating in neighborhood or community meetings, take part in activities relating to your kids’ school or join a volunteer group or cause that interests you. The choices are endless. Find something that appeals to you and fits into your schedule. Don’t view this as another demand on your time, but as a possibility to enhance your career and your life.

Plus you’ll be setting a great example for your children.

I have over the years been a part of the school PTO and joined a local literacy tutoring group. I found both to be enjoyable, rewarding and very beneficial in adding to my pool of connections.

What type of community involvement have you done or are you planning to di in the future?

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7 Ways to Stay Productive While Working from Home

By Royale on January 4, 2012 in Productivity

Today’s post is a guest post by Amanda Tradwick. Enjoy…

You’ve worked only one hour, and it’s nearly 4:30. The kitchen smells like a wharf with last night’s shrimp leftovers, the neighbor needs you to trim those branches that keep shedding leaves onto his precious lawn, the dogs peed on the carpet again, but the boss is breathing down your neck in cyberspace.
According to Business News Daily, people who work from home name household chores as their number one interruption at “the office,” and that’s followed by distractions like television, errands, children, and the Internet.

No one can fix all of these problems for us, but there are ways to keep chaos at bay.

1. Choose one room from which to do your work—and only one room. Working in a common area like the dining room sets you up for family- or roommate-related distractions. Choose a quiet space, preferably with a door from which you’re going to hang a “Do Not Disturb” sign (yes, you are) and with adequate natural lighting to keep you wide awake.
2. Keep your workspace tidy. Working in a clean and organized environment means you’ll be spending less time cleaning and organizing—or using cleaning and organizing as an excuse to procrastinate work—and more time accomplishing tasks. Try to spend five minutes daily or thirty minutes at the end of every work week putting your work place in order.
3. Look professional. Just because you work from the spare bedroom doesn’t mean you should do so in pajamas. Our hygiene and outfits have an impact on how we feel on a date just as much as how we feel in an office, even if it’s a home office. So, have breakfast, shower, and put on deodorant and clean clothes.
4. Invest in lumbar support. You’re probably going to be sitting in your chair for several hours; doing so in a cheap one can lead to shoulder and back pain and an overall I-hate-work mentality that will damage productivity. Try Craigslist or your local thrift store for a cheaper option.
5. Keep a glass of water nearby at all times. Not only will the motion of drinking every few minutes keep you awake almost as effectively as a cup of coffee, you’ll force yourself to take small breaks throughout the day, which is important for your body and mind.
6. Shut the door and turn off the phone. Remember that “Do Not Disturb” sign? To prevent upsetting family members, gently explain to them that just because you work at home doesn’t mean you’re always available for errands and favors. Your home office is still an office, and it should have office hours during which you work, not mow the lawn. Explain this to anyone who tends to call you during work hours, too, and then leave your phone on silent or turn it off altogether to maximize focus. If people refuse to help you on your path to productivity despite these conversations and the passage of time, it’s probably safe to say that you won’t lose much by ignoring them.
7. Define and separate work and play. One of the most difficult parts of working at home has been keeping myself from checking my Facebook and other social sites—while my work email is loading, after I’ve come back from the bathroom, when I get a notification on my phone, etc. My solution is this: create a business profile alongside your personal profile on your computer. On the business profile, use only business-related tools and use only a browser that has business-related favorites. The process of logging out of my business profile, logging in to my personal profile, checking Facebook, logging out, then logging back into my business profile has been enough to deter me from temptation…at least until lunch.

About the author:

Amanda Tradwick is a grant researcher and writer for CollegeGrants.org. She has a Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Delaware, and has recently finished research on minority grants and student grants in Utah.

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Why You Need a Clean Sweep if You Want to Improve Your Success

By Royale on December 30, 2011 in Energy, Goals, Life Balance, Personal Growth

Photo by Jesse Gardner

Every once in a while I get the urge to just dump everything…well almost everything… that I’m doing and clear the decks. Just sweep them clean. Create a blank slate on which to write our aspirations, goals and dreams. We get so tied up and bogged down in everything we have on our plates; projects, commitments, habits, that we have no room to breathe. No space to experiment. Not even the tiniest crack in our schedule to stop and think.

Do I truly care about the projects I’m involved in?

Why am I doing this again?

Do I really need to do that thing?

Here’s the harsh reality. If you haven’t made any progress on those goals you set earlier in the year, you need to question if they really matter.

Now take a deep breath and let them go. Make room for new goals, fresh ideas, creative projects.

What would you do if only you had the time?

It’s almost a new year, time for a fresh start.

Time for some house cleaning, both literally and figuratively.

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The One Thing You Must Do to Gain Control of Your Inbox

By Royale on December 19, 2011 in Productivity, Technology, To-Do, Work

Image via Wikipedia

Simple Steps

Do you cringe when you open your email? How could you possibly have 42 new emails overnight you ask?

If you’re lucky they’re spam (that’s easy to take care of with a good spam filter,) but usually they’re not. Many of those messages are announcements, updates, sales or some other form of mailing list torture that you’ve somehow gotten yourself into; social media updates, group messages, retail ads, community, news or parenting digests, the list of our informational interests is endless.

You may have thought it seemed like a good idea at the time. Of course you don’t want to miss out on a good sale. You have to keep up with the latest news and industry updates. You never know when you’re going to receive a fabulous new recipe or tip that will change your life. But now, the informational deluge is overwhelming. You cannot conceivably read every one of those emails if you ever want to get anything else done. They must be multiplying while you sleep…

You could just delete them. That’s probably what you have been doing, isn’t it? How’s that working?

Great for a few moments, but they just keep coming back, stalking you like that weird kid in 7^th grade who wanted to walk home with you every day…but gave you the creeps. You just knew eventually you were going to have to tell him to leave you alone. Right? Or did you just try dodging him, ducking over to another street or walking fast so that he maybe couldn’t keep up? That’s just sad…

Well the same thing happens in your inbox. You can run, you can hide, but you will never get away from the unwanted stalker emails unless you take a firm proactive action.

Wait! It’s easier than it sounds.

Unsubscribe. Yep, that’s it. That’s all you have to do.

Look for the link at the bottom of the email. You may have to log in and change your email preferences or settings, especially if it’s a group or membership.

But that takes time. Stop whining and just do it. A few minutes now will save you minute after minute, week after week after week. Those minutes add up to many hours of your valuable time wasted.

I started doing just a few unsubscribes each day for a week or two. It took maybe 10 minutes at most. The funny thing is it would have taken me at least that amount of time to sift through them to get to the important emails. And after a couple of weeks my inbox was so light, I could see white space around the edges.

Try it for a week and see if you don’t notice a difference.

*If you can’t possibly live without some of these updates, use your email program to create a filter for updates or sort them into a separate folder for later review. Pay attention to which ones you actually read on a regular basis and unsubscribe from the rest.