Get a Stopwatch — You Need It!

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clock-782536_640The most common excuse for not being more productive is saying that you have too much going on.

“I’m too busy.” — you often say.  

Am I right?

I’m going to let you in on a little secret — no you aren’t!  

The thing with productivity is that it’s not how much you do, but how you do it. Do you get the most out of the time you have?  Or are you so busy because you fill your day with stuff you don’t really need to be doing.  That’s precious time you could be wasting!

The easiest way to find out is to track your time.

When I started making a note of how I spent my day I had a few surprises. For example, that thing I thought took only five minutes, actually took way longer than that.  It’s never just five minutes in the end.

There are a few apps and techniques to help you track your time. You can find them in the Entrepreneur.com article I wrote on time management.

Also if you want to know more about tracking your time, my friend and fellow author Laura Vanderkam is giving away her time tracking guide for free! Laura’s written several books including What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast and I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time.  If anyone knows how to manage time it’s her!

Listful Thinking is Published in Dutch

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2edd36a12109c37fa5c2542134911455_cache_In September, I was excited to discover that my book Listful Thinking had been published in Spanish and Chinese. It’s so interesting to me how a love of lists can translate into different cultures.

Well it’s happened again.

My book is now available in Dutch, under the title ‘Everything at a Glance‘. That title makes the book sound so much more philosophical!

As part of the release in the Netherlands I was interviewed by one of their largest newspapers this week called Algemeen Dagblad.

During the interview I discovered that lists where incredibility popular in the Netherlands. Clearly it’s a country I should visit!

For the Dutch, list making is seen as a way to keep your mind and your life in order. Isn’t that great?

Just had to share the exciting news with all of you.  Can’t wait to see where else my love of lists will go!

Don’t Micromanage – Make This List to Work With Others

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team-386673_640Remember in high school when you’d have to do a group project and get paired up with a bunch of other kids?

I was always the one who was trying organize things and make sure we hit our deadlines.  (Nerd Alert!)

But no matter the project — there was always that one kid who said she would be responsible for a crucial element…and then not deliver.  

Nothing would make me more annoyed, but I was always happy when the project was over and we didn’t have to work together again.

In the “real world” the same thing can happen.  But the downside is you can’t trade in your team members as often.  

You’re forced to work with the same team and figure out a way to make it work.

This is where lists can really come to the rescue.    Read more

Tested Strategies to Get More Done

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workstation-405768_640I don’t have ADHD or ADD, but I know a lot about it.  That’s because I cover health news for a living. Although having this blog has taught me a lot about it too.  Turns out a lot of the tips that I’ve given through the years are particularly useful to people with ADHD and other attention issues and they’ve reached out to me about it.  It’s true — I struggle with distractions too and have systems to cope.

Recently I listened to Peter Shankman’s webinar on how to be productive when you have ADD. If you don’t know of him, Shankman is a public relations and marketing expert who has written three books including “Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management Is Over–and Collaboration Is In.” He also created HARO (Help a Reporter Out) which is a journalism tool I use daily. And he also has ADHD and travels all over the world regularly.  So there are a lot of amazing sights that catch his eye throughout the day! Read more

How To Change Your Luck And Live A Happier Life

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winningDo you ever just feel unlucky?

Always getting caught in a traffic jam when you’re running late, or the printer runs out of ink five minutes before you’re due to give a presentation?

Does everyone else around you seem to be getting their dream job, but you never seem to be in the right place at the right time?

So what is the key difference separating them from you?

They believe they’re lucky.

No really, that’s it. Read more