Posts Tagged ‘tips’

Whenever possible, your preferred communication method should be email, chat, or social media. No phone calls, no meetings. In other words, use “passive” communication methods.

You see, when you’re on a phone call or meet with people, everyone involved is “stuck”. You can’t take your time to reply, think about what you want to say properly, do some research, or prioritize.

A phone call or meeting interrupts your work flow, disturbs your focus, and puts you in a position where you have less control over your time and resources.

You can choose to get off your email while you’re working, ignore chat windows, etc… When using passive communication methods you can prioritize and decide what requires your attention more urgently and what doesn’t matter as much.

Passive communication methods are more respectful of people’s time and priorities. They’re also usually much more efficient – people tend to be more concise, precise, and effective when they have to write things down.

You can also keep track of your conversations and exchanges and refer back to them down the road.

Of course don’t apply this to your personal life .

Some related posts in this Productivity Tips series:

• Focus on the next step
• Work when you’re productive

How is it that everybody drop their new year resolution by February? Because our resolutions are usually too vague and abstract to remain sustainable. If you want to reach the top of the mountain – you’ve got to forget about the top of the mountain and focus on the next step you need to take. Every journey, long or short, starts with one small step – and the entire journey is made of a continuity of small steps. (more…)

Before you start spending time on something, ask yourself if that’s going to make a difference for your business. Are you sure you really need to worry about this right now? (more…)

Sometimes the simplest and most obvious things are also the easiest to overlook. Working when you’re productive and not working when you’re not is one of these duh facts that I rarely see applied effectively. In fact, if you simply take a minute to read this post and answer the quiz at end, you’d be surprised at the immediate benefits you’ll get! (more…)

I’m sure you all have great resolutions for the new year. And for sure you’re totally committed to reaching your new goals in 2011. We all are.

But when is that day when you’re fit and go to the gym everyday coming? You know what I’m talking about. That day when you don’t eat anymore crap; the day you quit your job for a better one; the day you’re financially comfortable and only work on what you want; the day you’re appreciated and recognized for what you do; the day you don’t waste so much time watching stupid stuff; the day you work efficiently and produce more in just a few hours than you used to achieve in weeks of procrastination; the day you launch that project you’ve been talking about; the day you take that trip you’ve been thinking of for so long. You know what day I’m talking about. When is that day coming? (more…)

You don’t need to have your email open all day. That’s pretty obvious when it comes to personal email but the same holds true for your professional email. I have the bad habit of keeping my various work emails open on my computer and I check them all the time while I’m working on other stuff. I’ m going to change that.

Nobody expects an immediate response to their emails so there’s really no need to have it open all day long. Any email can wait a few hours. For urgent stuff, you should have specific support and sales channels that’s separated from your main email.

In fact having your email open all day is the best way to lose track of your important emails. (more…)