Following on from my earlier post about how to set and achieve realistic goals, I’m sharing my own goal template I use. This is a template that you can use in Evernote. Or, you can simply write it down somewhere. However, if you’re using my recommended approach for setting and achieving your goals, you’ll want to use Evernote.
Whenever we look at making changes and improvements to our lives we need to set goals and it’s not as easy as it sounds. When I started wanting to change things I would pick what I wanted to change, ponder it for about 10 minutes and then nothing would actually change. The problem was that my 10 minutes of pondering left me with a goal that was so grand and unachievable that I had no hope of reaching it.
That’s not to say that setting grand goals is a bad thing, not by any means – we all still have aspirations of becoming millionaires I’m sure. But what it does mean is that we need to figure out a better way to reach those goals and understand that change doesn’t come instantly or easily.
How many meetings do you have in a week, or even in a day? If you’re like most people, you are probably involved in two or three meetings per day. Each one taking around one to two hours of your time. How much time in each of these meetings do you think is spent on the details, on what the meeting was called for in the first place? Not much, maybe twenty to thirty minutes! So what happens to the rest of the time? Firstly, a meeting rarely starts on time, so there’s about 10 minutes lost. There’s the introductions and laid back chit-chat at the beginning that might last for 10 to 15 minutes. Sidetracks and tangents happen about 5 or 6 times per meeting and can last a few minutes each (or take over the meeting if you’re not careful). Banter and jokes to make sure people are still paying attention takes up more time. And finally, there’s the thank-you’s and good bye’s at the end that might take another 5 to 10 minutes. In the time that’s left, you have to power through as much content and questions as you had originally planned for the full time the meeting was scheduled for. Oh, and let’s not forget how long your travel time to and from the meeting takes. That’s a huge consideration. If you have to go out for a meeting that’s scheduled for say two hours, you should probably block out at least four hours in your calendar right away – your travel time will be about an hour either side to be safe! It all seems like so much wasted time! Here are seven tips to help you cut your meeting times in half and be more productive!
Recently a friend introduced me to focus booster. It has changed the way I work. It helps me to eliminate distractions and get a lot more done in much less time, and it gives me more breaks!
Typically, when you review your task list you’ll pick an item on the list that “feels” like it’s ready to be taken care of. You then might set about actually doing that task. Normally you won’t have much of a deadline to work to, or if you do it’s not a short term deadline. This means that its importance doesn’t seem as high. Then there’s the constant barrage of distractions to handle. There’s the problem of your email client constantly reminding you of the hundreds of unread emails in your inbox. Your colleague pings you over instant messenger and asks you a question. Then you remember that you wanted to follow up something you noticed on the news in the morning. Before you know it half an hour has passed and you’re no closer to being able to tick the task off as having been done.
Wunderkit has now gone into public beta. This means that everyone can now get to know and love the wonder that is Wunderkit.
One of Wunderkit’s unique strengths is the concept of public workspaces. Typically, you would imagine a set of tasks, or a project to be very private, either to an individual, or to a team. Wunderkit, however, has cleverly bridged together the worlds of productivity and social with these public workspaces with some amazing results.
There are thousands of articles out there on the internet that tell you that if you want to be more productive in your workplace you should stop drinking coffee and drink more water. I’m here to tell you that is wrong. Incorrect. Rubbish.
Coffee, whether you like it or not, keeps economies, businesses and individuals going. It is the fuel for our minds, our creativity and ingenuity. It’s what gets you out of bed in the morning. It helps you get more done, in less time. Fact.
Here’s how…
