Archive for the ‘Productivity’ Category

Death by Meeting

Posted on March 12th, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

Lencioni, Patrick. Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business.
First of all, what a great title! As someone who has endured hundreds…no, make that thousands…of meetings that were deadly, the title caught my eye immediately. The content did not let me down. Lencioni’s “fable” books (e.g., The Five Dysfunctions [...]

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Avoiding Telephone Time Thieves – 2

Posted on March 10th, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

Here are five more ways to be proactive about keeping chaos at bay. Implement the following ideas to avoid letting the telephone “steal” your time:

Use caller ID. If calls are coming through that are “unknown”, then you can feel better about not picking up the phone.
Put your number on “Do Not Call” registries. This works for home [...]

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Avoiding Telephone Time Thieves – 1

Posted on March 8th, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

Implement the following ideas to avoid letting the telephone “steal” your time (and of course, it’s not the “telephone” that is stealing your time, now is it?)

Don’t answer the phone. If you are doing something that has your attention, don’t pick up the phone. Let your machine or voice mail pick it up. We often [...]

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Apply the Pomodoro Technique for More Productivity

Posted on March 8th, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

OMG!  I love this idea.  It fits right in with my idea of setting my timer for 30 minutes for LOTS of my projects, but I love how this is explained.
I first read about it in Daphne Gray-Grant’s column in www.MyFavoriteThesaurus.com’s daily e-magazine.  She recommended this fabulous blog post… 
…and also let readers know about the [...]

The Inner Edge – Build Personal Leadership

Posted on March 7th, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

Jay, Joelle. The Inner Edge: The 10 Practices of Personal Leadership
This may be my favorite book of 2009 – and on into 2010.  WOW!  Dr. Joelle Jay is a master coach who has worked with executives around the country.  The insights and wisdom she has provides in this book, along with the tools available in [...]

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The Fundamental Process (David Allen)

Posted on February 26th, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

I’m a big Getting Things Done (David Allen) fan.  He shared this in one of his recent email messages:
The fundamental thinking process of GTD (Getting Things Done) is simple, but not simplistic. Whether you are applying it to an email that just landed in your inbox, a problem that just showed up for you to solve, [...]

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Planners – Work & Home Systems

Posted on February 21st, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

Recently, a subscriber to the Top Ten Productivity Tips (the original series…so named since there are now 8 different series) recently sent me this:
I was just re-reading this great TTPT about using your planner productively and realize that I struggle with implementing this. I’m hoping you can point me to some answers.
For many years, I’ve used [...]

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Avoiding Procrastination Thieves – 2

Posted on February 16th, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

How is it that a bright, motivated professional can procrastinate day after day, month after month, and year after year? Because procrastination works. It keeps you from having to do the task that you just hate to do. Well here’s the news, folks, you can break the habit!
1.  Can you pay (a reasonable sum) to [...]

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Time Travel: 7 Shortcuts to Maximize Your Time (Free Workshop)

Posted on February 12th, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

Teleseminar: Time Travel: 7 Shortcuts to Maximize Your Time
This must-attend teleseminar will be hosted by Meggin McIntosh and taught by Joelle Jay.  Click here for more information and to register.
By participating in this teleseminar, you will learn how to maximize time in several ways including ways to:

save time
spend time
find time
create time
free time
…and more, we [...]

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Avoiding Email Time Thieves – 2

Posted on February 11th, 2010, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

We’ve all done it – allowed ourselves to be distracted by email rather than getting busy with the task at hand. Email, while often productive and important, can steal time in the most creative ways. Try these techniques, and encourage your colleagues to do the same. (Note: This email can be used as the topic [...]

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