Worst Things First!
July 30, 2007
Do you ever find yourself saving really important, but less than fun tasks for last? Before you answer that, let me just remind you of two things: Paying bills and submitting expense reports!
I especially struggle with submitting expense reports. I’m not sure why it’s so hard to get motivated to gather my receipts and submit them, but it is. The strange part about my reluctance is that it’s my own money we’re talking about here. I, like most folks, use my personal credit card when traveling for business. Then after the trip, I submit my expenses for reimbursement.
When faced with less than fun tasks … don’t put them off for last. Recite the mantra, “Worst Things First!” and knock them out right away.
Productivity … A Laughing Matter??
July 24, 2007
Here’s an interesting post I came across at lifehacker.com about a tool Jerry Seinfeld uses to stay motivated and track progress.
As a stand up comic, Jerry knows the importance of constantly creating new material. For him that means writing new material every day. To help motivate himself, and provide a quick visual report card on his progress, Jerry uses (or did use when he was touring regularly) a wall calendar. Basically, he gets a huge wall calendar that shows the entire year in one view. When he spends at least some part of the day writing, he draws and “X” on that day. His goal is to create a “chain” as long as possible by writing as many days as he can without a gap.
I think this is a great technique if you’re interested in quickly monitor your progress on activities you’ve identified as crucial to success.
Click here to read the entire post
When Going Through Hell … Don’t Stop!
June 27, 2007
When going through particularly stressful times … don’t abandon your organization strategy, because you feel you need to switch to fire fight mode.
When you’re going through a particularly busy or stressful time at work, it’s not the time to abandon your system of organization. But guess what? People do it all the time because that’s the way we humans are wired to handle stress, we panic! Read more
