The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time - Tony Schwartz by Tony Schwartz | 8:53 AM March 14, 2012 Why is it that between 25% and 50% of people report feeling overwhelmed or burned out at work? It’s not just the number of hours we’re working, but also the fact that we spend too many continuous hours juggling too many things at the same time. What we’ve lost, above all, are stopping points, finish lines and boundaries. Technology has blurred them beyond recognition. Tell the truth: Do you answer email during conference calls (and sometimes even during calls with one other person)? The biggest cost — assuming you don’t crash — is to your productivity. But most insidiously, it’s because if you’re always doing something, you’re relentlessly burning down your available reservoir of energy over the course of every day, so you have less available with every passing hour. I know this from my own experience. If you’re a manager, here are three policies worth promoting: 1. 2. 3. It’s also up to individuals to set their own boundaries. 1. 2. 3.
Building A Village Starts With Building The Tractor hide captionDesigned and built on Marcin Jakubowski's farm, this tractor cost far less than a commercial tractor. Jon Kalish/NPR Designed and built on Marcin Jakubowski's farm, this tractor cost far less than a commercial tractor. Do-it-yourselfers have made everything from bamboo bicycles to 3-D printers, but nothing as ambitious as what's happening on a farm in northwest Missouri where tractors and other industrial machines are being made from scratch. hide captionPhysicist Marcin Jakubowski leads the Open Source Ecology project, which aims to design and build affordable alternatives to industrial machines. Physicist Marcin Jakubowski leads the Open Source Ecology project, which aims to design and build affordable alternatives to industrial machines. Marcin Jakubowski earned a Ph.D. in physics, and his doctoral thesis deals with velocity turbulence and zonal flow detection, whatever that is. Jakubowski moved to Missouri, where he eventually bought 30 acres in the town of Maysville.
4 Secrets of Great Critical Thinkers In 2009, J D Wetherspoon, a chain of more than 800 pubs in the UK, was facing declining sales. Demand for beer had been down for five years. In addition, pricing pressure from super market chains was intense, and higher alcohol taxes further squeezed its already tight margins. What would you say is the company's real business problem? Most people see it as a sales problem and recommend better marketing and promotion. But this reflex may be wrong. The strategy worked. If you fail to do this, you risk solving the wrong problem. Ironically, the more experience you have, the harder it will to break from conventional mindsets. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman attributes shallow framing to people substituting easy questions for hard ones. 1. 2. 3. 4. This article was co-authored with John Austin and is second of in a series examining the key components of strategic aptitude: anticipating, thinking critically, interpreting, deciding, aligning, learning.
Life Lessons From Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was a man of action. Over his lifetime, his curiosity and passion fueled a diverse range of interests. He was a writer (often using a pseudonym), publisher, diplomat, inventor and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. His inventions included the lightning rod, bifocals and the Franklin stove. Franklin was responsible for establishing the first public library, organizing fire fighters in Philadelphia, was one of the early supporters of mutual insurance and crossed the Atlantic eight times. Self-development was a constant endeavor throughout his incredible life. Benjamin Franklin was clearly a man who knew how to get things done. 14 Action Inducing LessonsLess Talk, More Action “Well done is better than well said.”Talk is cheap. “Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” This is probably one of the first quotes I remember hearing as a teenager. Be Prepared “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” You need a plan to accomplish your goals.
Two Lists You Should Look at Every Morning - Peter Bregman by Peter Bregman | 11:00 AM May 27, 2009 I was late for my meeting with the CEO of a technology company and I was emailing him from my iPhone as I walked onto the elevator in his company’s office building. I stayed focused on the screen as I rode to the sixth floor. I was still typing with my thumbs when the elevator doors opened and I walked out without looking up. Then I heard a voice behind me, “Wrong floor.” I looked back at the man who was holding the door open for me to get back in; it was the CEO, a big smile on his face. The world is moving fast and it’s only getting faster. So we try to speed up to match the pace of the action around us. But that’s a mistake. Never before has it been so important to say “No.” It’s hard to do because maybe, just maybe, that next piece of information will be the key to our success. A study of car accidents by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute put cameras in cars to see what happens right before an accident.
9 Keys to Business & Career Success I'm fortunate enough to know a number of remarkably successful people. Regardless of industry or profession, they all share the same perspectives and beliefs. And they act on those beliefs: 1. Deadlines and time frames establish parameters, but typically not in a good way. Forget deadlines, at least as a way to manage your activity. Average people allow time to impose its will on them; remarkable people impose their will on their time. 2. Some of your employees drive you nuts. You chose them. Think about the type of people you want to work with. Then change what you do so you can start attracting those people. Successful people are naturally drawn to successful people. 3. Dues aren't paid, past tense. No matter what you've done or accomplished in the past, you're never too good to roll up your sleeves, get dirty, and do the grunt work. Remarkably successful people never feel entitled--except to the fruits of their labor. 4. You have "10 years in the Web design business." 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
The Link Between Quietness And Productivity Some of you may have tried to reach me this morning and found that I was unavailable. That’s because I was knee high in muck with my husband and some friends. We were out having what I call clamming wars, here on Cape Cod. I have to admit, my team was quite vocal everytime we scored a clam, which by my count was many. Sometimes we forget that the most productive people in an organization aren’t the ones who make the most noise. Here are some reasons I think this is so. Being quiet strengthens focus. Being quiet calms others. Being quiet conveys confidence. Being quiet means you think before you speak. Being quiet gives you the space to dig deep. The next time you evaluate team performance, be sure to give credit where credit is due. Guest contributor Roberta Chinsky Matuson is an internationally recognized expert on increasing profitability by maximizing employee contribution. [Image: Flickr user Benson Kua]
What Successful People Do With The First Hour Of Their Work Day Remember when you used to have a period at the beginning of every day to think about your schedule, catch up with friends, maybe knock out a few tasks? It was called home room, and it went away after high school. But many successful people schedule themselves a kind of grown-up home room every day. You should too. The first hour of the workday goes a bit differently for Craig Newmark of Craigslist, David Karp of Tumblr, motivational speaker Tony Robbins, career writer (and Fast Company blogger) Brian Tracy, and others, and they’ll tell you it makes a big difference. Here are the first items on their daily to-do list. Don’t Check Your Email for the First Hour. Tumblr founder David Karp will "try hard" not to check his email until 9:30 or 10 a.m., according to an Inc. profile of him. If you need to make sure the most important messages from select people come through instantly, AwayFind can monitor your inbox and get your attention when something notable arrives. Choose Your Frog
What Successful Night Owls Get Done Before Bed Early birds get all the credit. Research indicates that morning people tend to be more active and goal oriented, and such larks as Steve Jobs, Craig Newmark of Craigslist, and 25-year old David Karp, founder of the Tumblr blogging platform suggest that climbing the ladder of success is easier before breakfast. So does that mean night owls are at a disadvantage? Research by Satoshi Kanazawa and colleagues at the London School of Economics and Political Science suggests no. The group discovered significant differences in sleep preferences and found that people with higher IQs are more likely to be night owls. They found an evolutionary shift from being active in the day towards nightly pursuits and that those individuals who preferred to stay up late demonstrated "a higher level of cognitive complexity.” Armed with that knowledge, Fast Company found a group of dedicated night owls to discuss their strategies for making the wee hours work for them. Pick One Project Combat Clutter
Uncompromising Promises 7 Things Customers Want Most From You What do your customers really want from you? No matter what your industry, your customers want more than just great products and workable solutions. What they really want to know is that you--personally--are the type of person whom they can trust to get the job done. 1. Customers want to know that you'll represent their interests, even it's not in your own financial interest--and particularly when the proverbial chips are down. 2. Customers want to know that you can be trusted to do the right thing. 3. The best customers don't want you to truckle and beg. 4. Customers don't have the time to sit and listen to cookie-cutter sales presentations. 5. Customers are taking a risk when they buy from you. 6. Customers want you to see the situation from their perspective. 7. Above all, customers want you to be honest with them.
Big Idea 2013: The Year Small Business Goes Big