How to Scale Yourself and Get More Done Than You Thought Possible
The following is a detailed write-up of a popular productivity talk delivered by Scott Hanselman. Visit his blog, hanselman.com, for more productivity tips. "Don't worry, just drop the ball." This counterintuitive advice is one of a dozen-plus productivity practices preached by Scott Hanselman, a program manager at Microsoft, author and avid blogger and speaker. "Dropping the ball is sometimes the right answer," Hanselman says. Hanselman's not the person you'd to expect to hear encourage dropping the ball and discourage burning the midnight oil. How does he do it? "A lot of people say, 'Well, Scott, you're doing all this stuff. "It turns out," he continues, "the less that you do, the more of it that you can do. Scale Yourself In a 40-minute talk Hanselman originally delivered in 2012, and has since presented several times—most recently at South by Southwest Interactive earlier this month—he shares his productivity practices. Look for Danger Signs "Hope is not a plan," Hanselman says.
Rules that have no reason are just obstacles
Productivity We all abide by many spoken and unspoken rules every day; while some of those rules have good reasons, plenty more have no reason and possibly a negative outcome. They stifle us, they rob us from imagination and they contain us. Why do we follow rules that stifle us? As comfortable as this may sound; here are 5 reasons why avoiding rules will make you more productive. Rules that have no reason are just obstacles A classic example is the work dress code. “Hell, there are no rules here – we're trying to accomplish something.” — Thomas A. Rules hinder our imagination If you live by the rule of “never color outside the lines”, you will quickly become bored (and possibly boring), life will be filled with mediocrity. Challenging assumptions makes us grow as people. Rules trap us in a local maximum Rules that put us in local maxima are the hardest to break, but breaking them can be quite rewarding. Moving from one hill to a bigger hill often requires risk. Rules hinder innovation
70% of Time Could Be Used Better - How the Best CEOs Get the Most Out of Every Day
The average tech CEO works about 300 days a year, 14 hours a day. That’s 4,200 hours a year. The stats for most other tech leaders and startup employees aren’t too far off. It sounds like a lot of time, but for most, it’s not enough. Nearly 30% of that time gets sunk into email. Looking at the schedule of a typical CEO, a full 70% of that time is sub-optimal, and I’ll back that up with my own experience. This year, I spent several weeks leading up to our annual CEO Summit catching up with people I know who do a superhuman job at managing their time. As your company becomes more prominent, you’re only going to get more of everything. Saying no is so hard. Try “No” templates — canned responses for all the common situations where you find yourself saying no. Hi Bill, Great to hear from you. Best,Josh This lets you put the time and attention you want into crafting a response. When you have your batch of templates, you can say no to salespeople. All day. The seven-minute workout.
5 Things You Should be Doing to Have an Insanely Productive Week
A productive week depends largely on what you focus on every working day and how much time you allocate to activities that take up your time (i.e. busy work). Working harder does not necessarily mean you are being productive. There will always be a better way to complete that task. Find it, work smarter and get more done in your working week. These are a few things can do to have an insanely productive week this and every other week. 1. It's okay to make time to plan what needs to be done in the week or month but when you get back to the planning table often, you lose precious productive hours. So instead of plan, just do it. Related: 8 Steps to Having Wildly Productive Mornings Also, are your meetings really worthwhile? 2. “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.” — Warren Buffet. Saying "yes" to a request seem easier than a simple "no". 3. Related: 10 Ways to Become the Most Productive Person Around
The Origin of the 8-Hour Work Day and Why We Should Rethink It
One of the most unchanged elements of our life today is our optimal work time or how long we should work – generally, every person I’ve spoken to quotes me something close to 8 hours a day. And data seems to confirm that: The average American works 8.8 hours every day. At least, those are the official statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: And yet, for most of us it is obvious that knowing how long the average person works every day has little to do with how efficient or productive that pattern is. At least, that is what I personally found for my own productivity. With success stories from people working 4 hours a week, to 16 hours a day, it’s hard to know if there is an optimal amount. Share stories like this to your social media followers when they’re most likely to click, favorite, and reply! Why do we have 8 hour work days in the first place? Let’s start out with what we have right now. So there we have it. “Manage your energy, not your time.” 1.) Sounds fairly obvious right?
businessinsider
How to Be More Productive and Eliminate Time-Wasting Activities by Using the 'Eisenhower Box' | James Clear
Dwight Eisenhower lived one of the most productive lives you can imagine. Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States, serving two terms from 1953 to 1961. During his time in office, he launched programs that directly led to the development of the Interstate Highway System in the United States, the launch of the Internet (DARPA), the exploration of space (NASA), and the peaceful use of alternative energy sources (Atomic Energy Act). Before becoming president, Eisenhower was a five-star general in the United States Army, served as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, and was responsible for planning and executing invasions of North Africa, France, and Germany. At other points along the way, he served as President of Columbia University, became the first Supreme Commander of NATO, and somehow found time to pursue hobbies like golfing and oil painting. Urgent and important (tasks you will do immediately). Elimination Before Optimization Sources
5 Things We Need For Sustainable Performance At Work
We all want to perform well at work and live a fulfilling life. It all gets down to these two simple needs. If we take a minute to contemplate that a bit more, those two simple needs further get down to a few simple actions. I’m writing this for those folks who work in offices at computer screens: software developers and others. #1. Get enough good sleep Big things start with simple habits. #2. You woke up in the morning. #3. Our stress ball is rolling on. #4. This involves interactions that we have with co-workers, whether work-related or not. #5. Count all those occasions when you have mini-bummers as your tools won’t let you do the work comfortably, keeping your flow. Related articles: Top 5 Non-Office Brain Killers Cognitive Endurance Basics for Software Developers Continuous Problem-Solving Is No Accident
