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Productivity vs. Getting Things Done

Productivity vs. Getting Things Done
This post originally appeared on the Exist blog. I’ve been a sucker for so-called “productivity porn” for a while. I still am, to some degree, but I’ve been working hard to cure myself of this time-wasting habit and I’m getting a lot closer to that. For anyone who’s not familiar with it, my interpretation of productivity porn is pretty much anything related to productivity as a topic of interest, that doesn’t actually involve getting anything done. For me, it includes things like trying out new task managers, reading blog posts about productivity and stocking up on stationery I don’t need. I’ve known for years that this habit isn’t doing me any favors, but I’ve only recently started to shake it by enforcing some strict rules on myself. Go back to basics The first thing I did that really made a difference was cutting out all the tools, apps and systems I had been using. I’d never truly understood my own workflow before this. Use MITs Focus on what works Cut out unproductive habits

Big data study finds most productive people work in sprints: 52 minutes, rest for 17 | VentureBeat | Business | by Gregory Ferenstein A new big data study claims to have found a formula for ultimate productivity: work 52 consecutive minutes and then ditch the computer for 17 minutes of rest. Worker productivity monitoring company, DeskTime, sorted through volumes of data on how quickly workers performed tasks and found interesting patterns in the elite, Olympic athletes of the office. “The reason the most productive 10% of our users are able to get the most done during the comparatively short periods of working time is that their working times are treated as sprints,” wrote Julia Gifford at the DeskTime Blog. DeskTime’s results can’t be compared to the results found in university research: First, DeskTime has a limited population, and it can only make claims about the kinds of companies that willingly buy its software. Second, averages tend to give us misleading precision. DeskTime’s general ratio — sprints of work followed by bouts of serious rest — is worth experimenting with.

Objeciones de ventas : no son un problema sino la solución | Pilar Punzano Las objeciones de ventas son la mayor preocupación para cualquier vendedor. Cómo responder a ellas de manera efectiva para no perder el impulso de compra que haya creado es crucial para los resultados finales en ventas. Todo el trabajo de detección, presentación y argumentación se puede venir a bajo si no somos capaces de tratar y responder a las objeciones que nos plantearán los clientes de manera efectiva. ¿Por qué se producen las objeciones? Incertidumbre del cliente en la toma de la decisión final debido al entorno tan cambiante o la falta de confianza establecidos.Por lo general, las personas tienen miedo de hacer un cambio o a tomar una decisión equivocada.Se hizo una mala presentación en la que no se respondió adecuadamente las necesidades del cliente y no respondió a las expectativas de creación de valor. Si tienes un interés real en aportar valor a tu cliente, las preguntas son fáciles y la confianza se creará y crecerá de manera natural. Paso 2: Haz preguntas. Paso 3: Escuchar.

The Science of Productivity: How to Get More Done in a Day Time is our scarcest resource, yet we spend so much of it doing things that are unproductive -- usually without meaning to. The average person wastes 31 hours in unproductive meetings according to Atlassian. And a McKinsey study shows we spend an average of 13 hours per week reading, writing, or responding to email. While it's true we're being pulled into more directions than ever before these days, it's not just the internet and our bosses and our coworkers holding us back from making the most of our time. Part of this stems from our addiction to information. Since most of us more successful and happy when we're productive, we've all become a little obsessed with hacks and shortcuts. Well, there's no secret, per se. Just get started. There's something to be said about Nike's "Just Do It." According to a study by Award-Winning Psychology Researcher Dr. So the next time you're faced with a daunting task, the key is to start. Work in sprints. Just look at the world's top musicians. Why?

The 3 Myths Most Entrepreneurs Tell Themselves About Marketing Most entrepreneurs I know don’t spend a lot of time thinking about marketing proactively. Instead, they tend to think about promotion when preparing a big product launch, seeking funding or after seeing a competitor gain a significant lift in press coverage. Most are hardwired to think about product-market fit and cash flow but tend to outsource, underestimate and generally assign marketing a lower priority. In preparing our new book, Inbound Marketing: Attract, Engage, and Delight Customers Online, my co-author and HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan and I spoke with many entrepreneurs whom we admire. We realized that while the way consumers shop and buy has changed dramatically over the past 10 years, many entrepreneurs haven't much changed their ideas toward marketing. Instead of embracing social media, owned content and other marketing best practices, founders are still turning to PR firms and paid advertising to get the word out. Related: Marketing Trends Experts Want You to Avoid

15 Time Management Apps and Tools That Will Supercharge Your Productivity No one can dispute the countless benefits technology has brought us. It has undoubtedly allowed us to connect, perform, improve and leverage our resources beyond what was once imaginable. We all make daily use of a wide variety of different tools and devices to make life easier and more comfortable. How many tools and apps are you currently using to optimize your time? If you are not taking advantage of the hundreds of apps and tools out there, you are certainly missing out. With so many apps to choose from, how do you know which ones to use? Do you know where all your time goes? Rescue Time If you have doubts that you are using your time wisely, this app will send you weekly reports to indicate your time thieves. Manage all your tasks effectively Remember The Milk If you are struggling to manage everything you have to do and you work with many different devices, this app is for you. Share and send large files effortlessly Dropbox Capture everything in one place Evernote Focus booster Toggl

Admit the Things You Don't Understand and Other Must-Read Business Tips A roundup of the best tips of the week from Entrepreneur.com. Effective communication between managers and employees in any company, and especially in a startup with a small staff, is crucial. But in some cases, managers may not fully understand some employees' skill sets or the benefit to be derived from their work. Your job as a manager is to be able to critique their work constructively as a non-specialist. Not all countries are created equal. Client service is even more important than you think. When writing, don't mix up your mediums. Write your tweets with retweets in mind. This Printable To-Do Template Shows How Long Those Tasks Really Take Cómo entrevistar clientes para saber lo que quieren. La entrevista de problema. Published on Nov. 26, 2013 La entrevista de problema es una técnica que te ayudará a validar tu idea de negocio y saber qué es lo que necesitan exactamente tus clientes. El proceso de entrevistar a tus potenciales clientes antes siquiera de comenzar a construir el negocio te dará la información necesaria para saber si la propuesta de valor en forma de producto o servicio que propones realmente tiene sentido o no para tus clientes. Tu negocio pretenderá solucionar X problemas a tu cliente objetivo. ¿Realmente conozco a mis clientes? Éstas son las preguntas a las que podremos responder después de realizar las entrevistas problema. 1- Bienvenida. 2 min. Explícale a tu cliente el objetivo de la entrevista y cómo funciona el proceso de la misma. 2- Datos demográficos. 2 min Preguntar ahora al cliente sobre su historia y que se describa personalmente, edad, trabajo, responsabilidades. 3- Principales problemas. 5min 4- Ranking de los problemas. 2min 5- Hora de profundizar. 15-60 min

My 23 Go-To Productivity Tools for Remote Work At Todoist, we know the right tool can mean the difference between frantically struggling to keep all of the balls in the air at once and feeling calm and in control of everything you need to get done. That’s why we reached out to the impressively productive writer and business consultant Zachary Sexton to ask him about the tools he uses to stay sane as a remote worker. He put together this incredibly comprehensive list of his go-to productivity tools AND explain exactly how they fit into his streamlined workflow. You’re sure to find some fantastic ideas for saving time, stress, and effort on a daily basis. We certainly did! Hey there. I love it. Fortunately, my productivity buddy and fellow online worker Thomas Frank did a roundup of all the apps and tools he uses to keep his blog, podcast and youtube channel up and running. He asked his fellow keyboard banging friends what was in their batman utility belt of hardware and software… 5 months later… I obliged. Skitch MindJet Mindmanager 1.

The Simple Secret to Making an Instant Connection With Everyone You Meet “We have two ears and only one tongue in order that we may hear more and speak less.” - Diogenes Laërtius Two months ago, I was in Munich missing a plane for Paris. Arriving minutes before the gate would close on me, panicking inside, I tried to remain calm while explaining the situation to a ticketing officer. I could not get a word in with this person whose job was to listen to me and solve my problem. Instead, I was only more frustrated and stuck in Munich without a solution. Related: How to Start Conversations That Make Instant Connections For the sake of protecting the company’s brand, I won’t mention what airline it was, but it’s safe to say I won’t be flying with them again. The most powerful way to create an instant connection with your friends, family, co-workers and everyone you will ever meet from this moment on is simple. Hearing vs. listening. Who’s doing most of the talking? Studies show that less than 2 percent of professionals have had formal education on how to listen.

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