ProductivityGoal: June 2006 Archives

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Jun30	Prepare for Productivity Claire Tompkins June 30, 2006 Know More: Looking forward to a four day weekend? Good for you! But before you bolt out the door, spend 15 minutes organizing your desk so you can start being productive right away come Wednesday. First, throw some stuff out. You know there's paper on your desk that you're not going to need Wednesday any more than you need it now. It'll be a new week, a new month. Take a few minutes and weed through your piles of mail, Internet print outs and old magazines. Pare them down. Second, make notes about anything you've committed to do next week. Don't rush through late afternoon conversations and then expect to remember it all next week, especially if your brain is already at the beach. Make notes too about what you've been working on today that you'll need to continue on Wednesday. Third, put things away. Give yourself an inviting, productive workspace for next week. Stow the office supplies. Leave some clear working space on your desk. You only need to spend a few minutes on these tasks to make your workday on Wednesday much more pleasant and, yes, productive. Have a great weekend and a happy Fourth! Posted at 3:16 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun29	One Question Interview: Michelle Dunn Claire Tompkins June 29, 2006 Michelle Dunn is a very productive entrepreneur, writer and expert on debt collection. She's committed to helping women become successful in this male-dominated field, and she ably juggles all this with raising two teenagers and, of course, blogging. As you'll... Continue Reading Posted at 8:53 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun28	Put Worry on Your To Do List Claire Tompkins June 28, 2006 Worry can get to all of us. We may know intellectually that we can control our own thoughts, but that doesn't mean we can always do it, especially when we feel overwhelmed by all that's going on. When you're struggling... Continue Reading Posted at 10:27 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun26	Positive Delegating Claire Tompkins June 26, 2006 We often think of delegating when we're overloaded and looking around for someone to help. When we look around, though, everyone else seems busy too so we either suck it up and do it ourselves or we pull rank and... Continue Reading Posted at 12:53 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun23	Rest Up for a Productive Week Claire Tompkins June 23, 2006 The weekend is here and it's time for some productive resting. Rest and recreation are important parts of your productivity program. If you neglect them, your work will suffer because you'll be tired, irritable and not performing at your peak. Taking time... Continue Reading Posted at 8:42 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun22	One Question Interview: Brian Clark Claire Tompkins June 22, 2006 Brian Clark is an entrepreneur whose business model is finding (and often creating) unique products and services to sell online. The goal of his blog, Copyblogger, is to share the techniques and tools he has used over the last eight years... Continue Reading Posted at 10:35 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun21	Time and Paper: Keep the Flow Going Claire Tompkins June 21, 2006 Don't be a beaver! Time, paper and activity keep flowing. You must direct and divert that flow, not damn it up at your desk. Sometimes people feel like they've got a logjam on their desks. Project A floats in and... Continue Reading Posted at 10:33 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun20	Productivity Tips from Average Experts Claire Tompkins June 20, 2006 In case you're wondering, the people I select for my Thursday One Question Interviews are not super organized time wranglers. Well, some of them do have pretty awesome systems, but that's not why I chose them. My aim is to... Continue Reading Posted at 12:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun19	Work Smarter, One Small Step at a Time Claire Tompkins June 19, 2006 If you're having one of those days when you can't seem to get going, or you've got a project you're dreading, try smaller steps. Micro steps, even. Inspirational writer SARK has a worksheet devoted to this technique. Whenever you have a project... Continue Reading Posted at 12:28 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun16	How to be Successful and Outstanding Claire Tompkins June 16, 2006 I'm thrilled and honored to announce that I've joined the august company of SOBs! By accepting this badge, I agree to uphold the tenets of SOB-dom, fostering "relationships, interconnectedness, and community." Liz Strauss is terrific at doing this herself, and... Continue Reading Posted at 1:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Productivity Tips for Aural Learners Claire Tompkins June 16, 2006 On Wednesday I mentioned different learning styles in connection with hand writing vs. typing. I'm a big proponent of using productivity techniques that suit the way you already behave and think. It's hard enough to make new habits. Don't make... Continue Reading Posted at 9:05 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun15	One Question Interview: Ann Michael Claire Tompkins June 15, 2006 Ann Michael started her change management consulting company after many years of experiencing corporate change from the inside. Her blog, "Manage to Change," shows change from a new perspective - as something exciting and full of possibility. The bottom line:... Continue Reading Posted at 10:19 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun14	Be a Leader at Work Claire Tompkins June 14, 2006 Scot Herrick is writing a series about leadership at work over at his blog, that is, leadership by any and all individuals in an organization, from the mailroom to the cubefarm and on up. He points out that leadership isn't... Continue Reading Posted at 12:33 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Hand Writing vs. Typing Claire Tompkins June 14, 2006 I almost always retain more information when I write it by hand instead of typing it. I did a few web searches for evidence of this and didn't find any. What's your experience? Do you find one method works a... Continue Reading Posted at 9:59 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun13	Build In Contingency Time Claire Tompkins June 13, 2006 Chris Brogan wrote a post over at Lifehack about how he chunks his time. I like it because he's realistic about how much he can get done and how long things take. He builds in contingency time too, which a... Continue Reading Posted at 2:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Worry Saps Productivity Claire Tompkins June 13, 2006 I'm starting a new category called Self Management. One of the basic tenets of my blog is that it's not about the tools, it's about you. It doesn't matter how good your tools are if you don't use them, and... Continue Reading Posted at 11:49 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun12	Why is Email such a Time Sink? Claire Tompkins June 12, 2006 “What really slows you down is the email that matters,” says Michael Linenberger in a Fast Company interview. Deleting spam and FYI emails is annoying, but not that time consuming because they're easily identified. Emails that need some action from... Continue Reading Posted at 12:55 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 9	Decision Making Tool Claire Tompkins June 9, 2006 What’s your preferred decision-making style? Do you go with spontaneous feelings use a structured method of weighing options? People tend to think of themselves as intuitive “feely” types or as thinking “logical” types, but you can use a combination of... Continue Reading Posted at 10:24 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 8	Web-Based To Do List Claire Tompkins June 8, 2006 There is a bunch of applications that allow you to create to do lists online. Some are ultra simple lists with checkboxes next to each item, and some let you set deadlines, create notes and prioritize items. Toodledo does that and... Continue Reading Posted at 2:01 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	One Question Interview: Elisa Camahort Claire Tompkins June 8, 2006 Elisa Camahort, who I interviewed last weekend about the impact of blogging on business, is back again with her favorite three ways to stay on top of her work. She says, "I find I can never be too busy," and... Continue Reading Posted at 10:13 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 7	Bonus Email Tips Claire Tompkins June 7, 2006 I thought of some more ideas to share with you for managing email, following on yesterday's posts. Create Structure. People at work get the email that falls into some basic patterns. Use folders to route mail categories. Then when you... Continue Reading Posted at 10:09 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 6	How to Change Bad Habits, Part Two Claire Tompkins June 6, 2006 2. Out with the Familiar. Make the new way easier than the old way, or at least as easy. When you think something is easy, it’s often just because it’s become a habit. What seems like a confusing series of... Continue Reading Posted at 1:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How to Change Bad Habits Claire Tompkins June 6, 2006 Recidivism. This term is usually used in connection with career criminals, but you could apply it anytime you fall back into bad habits. Why do people relapse? Some reasons: The environment for doing it the old way is still in place... Continue Reading Posted at 12:06 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 5	Stop Those Pesky Productivity Leaks Claire Tompkins June 5, 2006 Executive coaches often ask their clients, “what are you tolerating?” Clients make lists of little annoyances such as a stapler that doesn’t work right; things that are certainly annoying in the moment, but don’t really seem important in the larger scheme... Continue Reading Posted at 12:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 4	Elisa Camahort on the Impact of Blogging on Business, part two Claire Tompkins June 4, 2006 This is part two (of 2) of my interview (yesterday was part one) with Elisa Camahort, one of the cofounders of Blogher. Elisa Camahort: I have one client, Browster, where the CEO is absolutely consistent about addressing blog mentions of... Continue Reading Posted at 11:30 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 3	Elisa Camahort on the Impact of Blogging on Business Claire Tompkins June 3, 2006 Elisa Camahort, one of the cofounders of Blogher, has made a career of blogging and blog watching for businesses and non-profits. With her background in marketing, she immediately saw the potential of blogging for communicating with customers. She writes six client blogs,... Continue Reading Posted at 5:21 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 2	The Two Minute Task Timer Claire Tompkins June 2, 2006 Two minutes isn't much time, but it's plenty of time to get some of those items off your to do list. Just how long is two minutes, anyway? The David Allen Company sells an onscreen two minute timer because lots... Continue Reading Posted at 5:51 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Midnight Memory Trick Claire Tompkins June 2, 2006 Here’s a good tip to use when you wake up in the middle of the night suddenly remembering critical information for the next day. This is a great trick because it’s easy to do, even in the dark, with one hand... Continue Reading Posted at 10:26 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 1	One Question Interview: Martin Neumann Claire Tompkins June 1, 2006 Today is Thursday, time for the One Question Interview. Today's interviewee is Martin Neumann, who has been blogging about small businesses and publishing for over two years. I'm happy to announce that his blog will be relaunching today! If... Continue Reading Posted at 10:44 AM \| Permalink \| Comments

« May 2006 | Main | July 2006 »

Jun30	Prepare for Productivity Claire Tompkins June 30, 2006 Know More: Looking forward to a four day weekend? Good for you! But before you bolt out the door, spend 15 minutes organizing your desk so you can start being productive right away come Wednesday. First, throw some stuff out. You know there's paper on your desk that you're not going to need Wednesday any more than you need it now. It'll be a new week, a new month. Take a few minutes and weed through your piles of mail, Internet print outs and old magazines. Pare them down. Second, make notes about anything you've committed to do next week. Don't rush through late afternoon conversations and then expect to remember it all next week, especially if your brain is already at the beach. Make notes too about what you've been working on today that you'll need to continue on Wednesday. Third, put things away. Give yourself an inviting, productive workspace for next week. Stow the office supplies. Leave some clear working space on your desk. You only need to spend a few minutes on these tasks to make your workday on Wednesday much more pleasant and, yes, productive. Have a great weekend and a happy Fourth! Posted at 3:16 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun29	One Question Interview: Michelle Dunn Claire Tompkins June 29, 2006 Michelle Dunn is a very productive entrepreneur, writer and expert on debt collection. She's committed to helping women become successful in this male-dominated field, and she ably juggles all this with raising two teenagers and, of course, blogging. As you'll... Continue Reading Posted at 8:53 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun28	Put Worry on Your To Do List Claire Tompkins June 28, 2006 Worry can get to all of us. We may know intellectually that we can control our own thoughts, but that doesn't mean we can always do it, especially when we feel overwhelmed by all that's going on. When you're struggling... Continue Reading Posted at 10:27 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun26	Positive Delegating Claire Tompkins June 26, 2006 We often think of delegating when we're overloaded and looking around for someone to help. When we look around, though, everyone else seems busy too so we either suck it up and do it ourselves or we pull rank and... Continue Reading Posted at 12:53 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun23	Rest Up for a Productive Week Claire Tompkins June 23, 2006 The weekend is here and it's time for some productive resting. Rest and recreation are important parts of your productivity program. If you neglect them, your work will suffer because you'll be tired, irritable and not performing at your peak. Taking time... Continue Reading Posted at 8:42 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun22	One Question Interview: Brian Clark Claire Tompkins June 22, 2006 Brian Clark is an entrepreneur whose business model is finding (and often creating) unique products and services to sell online. The goal of his blog, Copyblogger, is to share the techniques and tools he has used over the last eight years... Continue Reading Posted at 10:35 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun21	Time and Paper: Keep the Flow Going Claire Tompkins June 21, 2006 Don't be a beaver! Time, paper and activity keep flowing. You must direct and divert that flow, not damn it up at your desk. Sometimes people feel like they've got a logjam on their desks. Project A floats in and... Continue Reading Posted at 10:33 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun20	Productivity Tips from Average Experts Claire Tompkins June 20, 2006 In case you're wondering, the people I select for my Thursday One Question Interviews are not super organized time wranglers. Well, some of them do have pretty awesome systems, but that's not why I chose them. My aim is to... Continue Reading Posted at 12:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun19	Work Smarter, One Small Step at a Time Claire Tompkins June 19, 2006 If you're having one of those days when you can't seem to get going, or you've got a project you're dreading, try smaller steps. Micro steps, even. Inspirational writer SARK has a worksheet devoted to this technique. Whenever you have a project... Continue Reading Posted at 12:28 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun16	How to be Successful and Outstanding Claire Tompkins June 16, 2006 I'm thrilled and honored to announce that I've joined the august company of SOBs! By accepting this badge, I agree to uphold the tenets of SOB-dom, fostering "relationships, interconnectedness, and community." Liz Strauss is terrific at doing this herself, and... Continue Reading Posted at 1:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Productivity Tips for Aural Learners Claire Tompkins June 16, 2006 On Wednesday I mentioned different learning styles in connection with hand writing vs. typing. I'm a big proponent of using productivity techniques that suit the way you already behave and think. It's hard enough to make new habits. Don't make... Continue Reading Posted at 9:05 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun15	One Question Interview: Ann Michael Claire Tompkins June 15, 2006 Ann Michael started her change management consulting company after many years of experiencing corporate change from the inside. Her blog, "Manage to Change," shows change from a new perspective - as something exciting and full of possibility. The bottom line:... Continue Reading Posted at 10:19 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun14	Be a Leader at Work Claire Tompkins June 14, 2006 Scot Herrick is writing a series about leadership at work over at his blog, that is, leadership by any and all individuals in an organization, from the mailroom to the cubefarm and on up. He points out that leadership isn't... Continue Reading Posted at 12:33 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Hand Writing vs. Typing Claire Tompkins June 14, 2006 I almost always retain more information when I write it by hand instead of typing it. I did a few web searches for evidence of this and didn't find any. What's your experience? Do you find one method works a... Continue Reading Posted at 9:59 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun13	Build In Contingency Time Claire Tompkins June 13, 2006 Chris Brogan wrote a post over at Lifehack about how he chunks his time. I like it because he's realistic about how much he can get done and how long things take. He builds in contingency time too, which a... Continue Reading Posted at 2:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Worry Saps Productivity Claire Tompkins June 13, 2006 I'm starting a new category called Self Management. One of the basic tenets of my blog is that it's not about the tools, it's about you. It doesn't matter how good your tools are if you don't use them, and... Continue Reading Posted at 11:49 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun12	Why is Email such a Time Sink? Claire Tompkins June 12, 2006 “What really slows you down is the email that matters,” says Michael Linenberger in a Fast Company interview. Deleting spam and FYI emails is annoying, but not that time consuming because they're easily identified. Emails that need some action from... Continue Reading Posted at 12:55 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 9	Decision Making Tool Claire Tompkins June 9, 2006 What’s your preferred decision-making style? Do you go with spontaneous feelings use a structured method of weighing options? People tend to think of themselves as intuitive “feely” types or as thinking “logical” types, but you can use a combination of... Continue Reading Posted at 10:24 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 8	Web-Based To Do List Claire Tompkins June 8, 2006 There is a bunch of applications that allow you to create to do lists online. Some are ultra simple lists with checkboxes next to each item, and some let you set deadlines, create notes and prioritize items. Toodledo does that and... Continue Reading Posted at 2:01 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	One Question Interview: Elisa Camahort Claire Tompkins June 8, 2006 Elisa Camahort, who I interviewed last weekend about the impact of blogging on business, is back again with her favorite three ways to stay on top of her work. She says, "I find I can never be too busy," and... Continue Reading Posted at 10:13 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 7	Bonus Email Tips Claire Tompkins June 7, 2006 I thought of some more ideas to share with you for managing email, following on yesterday's posts. Create Structure. People at work get the email that falls into some basic patterns. Use folders to route mail categories. Then when you... Continue Reading Posted at 10:09 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 6	How to Change Bad Habits, Part Two Claire Tompkins June 6, 2006 2. Out with the Familiar. Make the new way easier than the old way, or at least as easy. When you think something is easy, it’s often just because it’s become a habit. What seems like a confusing series of... Continue Reading Posted at 1:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How to Change Bad Habits Claire Tompkins June 6, 2006 Recidivism. This term is usually used in connection with career criminals, but you could apply it anytime you fall back into bad habits. Why do people relapse? Some reasons: The environment for doing it the old way is still in place... Continue Reading Posted at 12:06 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 5	Stop Those Pesky Productivity Leaks Claire Tompkins June 5, 2006 Executive coaches often ask their clients, “what are you tolerating?” Clients make lists of little annoyances such as a stapler that doesn’t work right; things that are certainly annoying in the moment, but don’t really seem important in the larger scheme... Continue Reading Posted at 12:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 4	Elisa Camahort on the Impact of Blogging on Business, part two Claire Tompkins June 4, 2006 This is part two (of 2) of my interview (yesterday was part one) with Elisa Camahort, one of the cofounders of Blogher. Elisa Camahort: I have one client, Browster, where the CEO is absolutely consistent about addressing blog mentions of... Continue Reading Posted at 11:30 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 3	Elisa Camahort on the Impact of Blogging on Business Claire Tompkins June 3, 2006 Elisa Camahort, one of the cofounders of Blogher, has made a career of blogging and blog watching for businesses and non-profits. With her background in marketing, she immediately saw the potential of blogging for communicating with customers. She writes six client blogs,... Continue Reading Posted at 5:21 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 2	The Two Minute Task Timer Claire Tompkins June 2, 2006 Two minutes isn't much time, but it's plenty of time to get some of those items off your to do list. Just how long is two minutes, anyway? The David Allen Company sells an onscreen two minute timer because lots... Continue Reading Posted at 5:51 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Midnight Memory Trick Claire Tompkins June 2, 2006 Here’s a good tip to use when you wake up in the middle of the night suddenly remembering critical information for the next day. This is a great trick because it’s easy to do, even in the dark, with one hand... Continue Reading Posted at 10:26 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jun 1	One Question Interview: Martin Neumann Claire Tompkins June 1, 2006 Today is Thursday, time for the One Question Interview. Today's interviewee is Martin Neumann, who has been blogging about small businesses and publishing for over two years. I'm happy to announce that his blog will be relaunching today! If... Continue Reading Posted at 10:44 AM \| Permalink \| Comments

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