In a post that I wrote last week about crisis management, I presented some techniques for limiting the pressure of deadlines. Responding to this, one reader commented that it wasn’t useful advice for those “on the front lines who don’t have jobs that come with laptops, travel, and corporate jargon.”
I recognize that not everyone [...]

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Do you know any time-challenged parents who want to help their children use time productively? There is no question that kids can spend multiple hours per day on the internet, often to the detriment of homework. YouTube is one of the favorite spots.
Now there is another site growing, called TeacherTube, based on the [...]

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“Your lack of planning should not be my emergency.”

Have you ever wanted to say that to someone?
Could you be guilty of frequently interrupting others with a “Now!” issue?

There is no question that crises do arise from time to time, issues that require everyone to change focus. However they tend to occur much more [...]

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There is an old adage that says if you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of your day looks pretty easy. If you have two frogs to eat, pick the biggest, ugliest one first. Your personal “frog” is the project or activity that:

Yields the most benefit for you in [...]

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51% of small-business professionals end up dreaming about their work.
Of those 51%, 70% turn their work dreams into action items upon waking.

The above study was commissioned by Staples, the office supply store. If you are one of those people who dream about your work, you might suddenly find yourself jolted awake at 2 [...]

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“Help!”

I often lose documents on my computer.
I don’t know how to set up an electronic filing system.
I can’t find information on our network that someone else created.

These are common cries when I visit companies and assess their current productivity levels. For the most part, electronic filing systems have never been set [...]

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It is a common refrain: “I’d get something done if I weren’t always interrupted and distracted.” There are tools and techniques that help you manage your daily schedule better and get more productive work done. However even when someone is familiar with the processes, they may still not be utilizing the concepts. [...]

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Getting organized has become a $6 billion industry. The concept is not new, but the tools to make it happen keep evolving. No longer are you faced with the choice of storage containers in blue or clear plastic. You can now choose your materials, from bamboo to sea grass.
Do you want [...]

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Your medical card is a million-dollar credit card.
We have all heard so much about identity theft and what a nightmare scenario can result. Besides credit issues, countless hours are consumed trying to correct the damage. Those hours eat into work time as well as personal time. In addition, there is worry about [...]

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You’ve worked hard all year. Now it should be time to take a break and enjoy the holidays. Yet so often the opposite occurs because work tasks do not disappear as personal activities consume more time. Combine both work and extra personal time without a plan, and you have stress.
One more thing [...]

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