You will know of our interest in boosting personal productivity.
This is a really useful piece shared by a reader.
You will know of our interest in boosting personal productivity.
This is a really useful piece shared by a reader.
Tags: management
We are interested in personal responsibility…it is a topic that comes up regularly from leaders when we talk about desired organisational behaviours – see this . We like the work of John Miller and encourage all to step up in the way we live our lives – high on responsibility and low on blame.
On the flip side, the preference from many of us, is for choice and self-determination in our lives.
At work, we find the thinking of Gerard Fairtlough on ‘responsible autonomy’ – the third of his ‘Three Ways of Getting Things Done’ – especially useful in blending these two in the design of productive organisations and fulfilling work.
Read (and listen) to more here.
How we handle the trickle, tide or torrent of emails is a key part of our personal productivity.
But is all that about to change? From social networking technologies like National Field to the head of French consulting firm ATOS stating they will not use internal emails at all in 3 years, people are seeing the way to speed the absorption and management of information from outside of the inbox.
One thing…do you see your email life as work or a distraction? Fun or a threat?
Maybe it depends on the work you do (a nurse vrs a communications manager; an electrician or a CEO)?
Maybe the solution depends on
1) The scale of the problem for you – one person was complaining to me last week they had 10 emails a day…and most of those didn’t need much time to sort
2) Your personality – some love their online persona’s (possibly too much!)
3) Your web connectivity at work –social networking required decent connectivity
4) And the devices you prefer – iPhones are relatively poor for handling email, but better for networked solutions
Tags: behaviour, management
Who said there is no such thing as free lunch (well webinar)?
Please do sign on, or pass on, for the free personal productivity online seminar at 2pm GMT on 10th January? See the second section here.
And you can register quickly by completing this with your email address or contact phil.hadridge@idenk.com instead.
Tags: Decision-making, working life
The second section of our Festive Briefing offers something you might want….
Please sign up for the complimentary personal productivity webinar at 2pm GMT on the 10th January – or pass it on.
Tags: Decision-making, working life
What is the surest way to fulfilment?
Broadly there are two schools of thought. Many aspire to idleness: planning the quiet weekend, hoping for an easy early retirement, keeping working hours low. Others argue that reasonable levels of stress keep us mentally alert and physically fit – and calming down gives us more time to fret and get fat.
It probably won’t surprise, that as part of our thinking about living a ‘front foot’ life, we see it as a question of balance!
Most independently wealthy people, emeritus academics or aged social entrepreneurs, have a few projects on the go at any one time – even in late retirement (if they have one!). But also, it is good to be able to sit still and listen – to early morning birdsong, meditatively, to yourself or nothing at all. And it is good to be able to calmly watch – what is going on in the relationships around you, noticing people going by from a café.
Reflecting why you have an aversion to sitting still or taking on lots is probably a good question for a therapy session!
So the challenge is to discover the best route to create and sustain positive emotions. Acheiving the balance between activity and idleness – projects and chilling – is an important element. It can be a difficult balance to strike, with the risk of overreaching and it’s associated stress or under activity with the resulting lethargy. Getting the balance right gets us into the ‘flow’ and allows us to be our most productive in work and play.
I have a new passport. With a nine digit number. With a date of issue. And expiry.
Thinking ahead to those online visa applications and the many landing cards to be completed over the next 10 years, is it worth memorising all those details so I don’t need to dive into the document draw or retrieve my jacket from the overhead locker or cupboard?
Broadly there are two schools of thought on this one.
The first (epitomized by Dave Allen author of Getting things Done), argues to supplement our minds as much as we can – with lists, data banks – creating the space for attention on important tasks. On the other hand, some (such as the Brain Gym movement) argue that exercising our ‘mental muscle’ with simple memory activities improves the functioning of our minds.
Whilst I quite like numbers, am good at recalling upcoming diary dates and can remember many phone numbers (mainly those from years ago before the era of mobile phones and digital landlines with rapid dial), I do find numbers over 7 digits hard going.
But on this occasion, I have decided and already learnt those passport details. I think. 54…Or is it 45… Hum
Managing emails comes up time and time again with our clients along with managing diaries and meetings.
Being in charge of your emails is an important skill in our connected world.
We have written about personal productivity (see the second half of this Business Briefing) and this on email management from The Guardian makes similar points – and argue the ‘war’ on emails may never be won.
One thing that rarely comes up is how hard it can be to do the skim reading and quick replies needed on the small screens and handsets of iPhones and Blackberries.
Tags: management, working life
At this time of global, national and household budget angst, here are a few bits of inspiration from music, literature and significant lives…
The Rolling Stones in their song “You can’t always get what you want” note that you might be able to get what you need though. However, even if we are clear what we need (and how that might be less than we want), what about the supply of resources?
Charles Dickens summed in David Copperfield over 160 years ago: “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds and six, result misery.”
But what about another way of looking at it?
In his biography of Churchill, Roy Jenkins makes the point that Winston realised from his late teens that despite his enormously privileged family income he could spend far more than he earnt. So (as author from the Calvary Barracks in India and as a speaker around the US) he devoted much energy in his life from his early 20s onwards to earning more, rather than worrying about where to spend less!
And John Welsey, the 18th Century preacher, during the hard economic times of the early industrial revolution, exhorted this less hedonistic but similar stance to Churchill: “Earn all you can, give all you can, save all you can”
So the choices
1) Focus on needs and not wants to help cut spending to below income
2) Focus on earning more so you can have what you want…
In both a balanced budget, or even one in the black, is the aim…
Tags: Decision-making, economics
We like the work of Liz Miller – and her approach to thinking about managing out negative emotions (anxiety and depression) and balancing positive ones (active and calm).
Readers of our business briefings will know we like 2×2 diagrams – and had a feature called “Matrix of the Month” for a while, so we find Liz’s one helpful.
Tags: emotions
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