Secrets of High-Performing Hybrid Teams

/0 Comments/in , , /by

___

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

___

At the beginning of the pandemic, we went from mostly working in-office to working remotely overnight. Now that we’ve settled into our remote or hybrid work environments, it’s time to assess.

Is your virtual or hybrid team thriving? Or just surviving? Is the team you’re leading happy? Or will you be the next company to experience a wave of “The Great Resignation”?

So I asked speaker, best-selling author and founding president of Clear Concept Inc., Ann Gomez, to join me on my live-streaming show Inside Scoop, to spill the secrets of high-performing and happy hybrid teams.

Here are four ways to cultivate a great hybrid work environment.

Read more

Live Boldly to Reinvent Your Life

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

___
BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.
___

“New year, new you.” It gets thrown around a lot, but it’s time to really think about it.

Is it time for a new you?

What steps have you taken recently towards living the life you’ve always dreamed of? Have you been thinking about making a career change? Or have you been taking the steps to make it change?

My friend, author, journalist, and podcaster, Tamsen Fadal, joined me on my live-streaming show Inside Scoop, to chat about living boldly and the art of reinvention.

Here are four ways to get started reinventing yourself.

1) Declutter Your Life

You need organization to make major changes. And organization starts with my favorite thing…

Lists!

Tamsen uses lists to get her thoughts out and her priorities straight. “I really write down everything in my head and do a brain dump. I block out time every single day so I can declutter my head a little bit and then prioritize what’s the most important thing” Tamsen said.

If you don’t know your priorities (more on that here during my recent WPIX interview) and what you want, you won’t be moving in the right direction. If you’re not sure how to get started using lists to figure that out, I have a LinkedIn Learning Course “The Power of Lists to Get Stuff Done” that will guide you through using lists to improve your life.

Once you’ve decluttered and you know your priorities, you have to…

2) Be Honest with Yourself About Your Goals.

It’s easy to throw yourself into things and start working just to feel productive. “The scariest thing is to stop and really think about and assess what you want,” Tamsen added.

Ask yourself, where do you want to be a year from now? Don’t worry about what other people think. Where do you want to be?

Don’t start working until you have specific and exciting answers to those questions. “I think you really have to be honest with your goals and what it is that you want in the end because  sometimes we find ourselves working toward one goal, only to realize that wasn’t the end game,” Tamsen explained.

______

3) Be Honest About Your Reinvention Timeline.

Once you’ve aligned yourself with the right goals, be realistic about how long it will take to achieve them. Be honest about how long tasks will actually take. You’re not going to launch a new content channel in a week. But you can decide what kind of content you want to be regularly creating in that long.

I asked Tamsen what your reinvention timeline should be. “Three months,” she said without having to think about it. “That’s a real established time to get a habit started or at least to achieve something and then go back and look at what you’ve achieved,” she added.

Taking the time to applaud your small accomplishments is important!,” she said without having to think about it. “That’s a real established time to get a habit started or at least to achieve something and then go back and look at what you’ve achieved,” she added.

Taking the time to applaud your small accomplishments is important!

______

4) Celebrate Yourself to “Unlock Your Bold.”

Living boldly is something we’re all capable of doing. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be hard at times. Keeping a list (Yay more lists!) of your wins will help you stay motivated.

Even professionals as successful as Tamsen keep a list of their accomplishments. “Not only am I looking forward, but I’m looking back at what those achievements are. When you start building those blocks on top of each other, I think you can unlock that bold part of you,” Tamsen said about keeping her list.

Tracking your accomplishments will help you feel proud of your progress and encouraged to keep going.

For more tips on reinvention, check out Tamsen’s guide to “Unlocking Your Bold” and watch our entire conversation here.

___
BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.
___

Five Productivity Experts Weigh In On Your Life

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

___

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

___

When it comes to productivity, the past year and a half has thrown many people for a loop. Working from home and hybrid work has brought all kinds of new challenges — and new opportunities. (I’ve even produced several courses for LinkedIn Learning about this exact topic – check them out here.)

All this disruption is an opportunity to evaluate what’s working and what needs to change. It’s a chance to make changes that were a long time coming, and begin making more time for the things that have always brought you joy.

When it comes to finding new strategies and tools, I’ve always loved talking to the thought leaders and authors who are blazing new trails when it comes to productivity.

That’s why I started my live-streaming show Inside Scoop — to elevate the voices of experts on everything from financial productivity to WFH office design.

Here are some of my favorite episodes on productivity. Here are five episodes of Inside Scoop to catch up on:

 

Money-Making Productivity Tips with Jennifer Barrett

 

Make Sleep Your Productivity Superpower with Julie Wright

 

Design Your WFH Office for Productivity with Lee Wright

 

Making Stress Work in Your Favor with Heidi Hanna

 

Planning Your Farewelling with Karen Bussen

 

These experts are full of suggestions for creating the life you want to be living. Let’s take the lessons of the past year and put them to good use!

___

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

___

Money-Making Productivity Tips

/0 Comments/in /by

___

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

___

Imagine the life you really want to be living. What does it include?

For many people, the answer includes traveling to new places, eating good food, visiting friends and family, and living in a comfortable environment. 

Well, all of those things require financial planning skills!

Jennifer Barrett, financial expert and author of the book Think Like a Breadwinner, joined me on my live-streaming show Inside Scoop. We talked about how to rethink your approach to finances in order to create the life you really want.

1. Look at the shorter-term.

Jennifer says that many of us think that all we need to think about is saving for retirement and having a rainy day fund. But that view is limiting — you’re leaving out all the things you want to do before retirement!

Jennifer suggests having short-term savings goals that line up with your life goals. Do you want to have children or start a small business? Well, both of those things require money. Jennifer says it’s a good idea to align your investment plan with the amount of money you’ll need for the milestones you want to achieve.

2. This doesn’t have to be hard.

For many people, especially women, the messaging we’ve been getting is that financial literacy is complicated. But Jennifer says that’s just not true!

When it comes to investing in the stock market, Jennifer suggests checking out the S&P 500 list of companies. Those investments will probably be safer for beginners. If you’re struggling to decide which stocks to buy, let your interests guide you!

Jennifer’s grandmother actually led the way for her on this one — she invested in companies whose products she used or was interested in!

You don’t have to move around your stocks, either. Jennifer says that leaving your investments to grow until you need them is probably your best bet. 

3. Set yourself up for success at work.

Jennifer has some productivity tips for work, too. You can try focusing on “promotable work” — the things you do that will help you get to the next stage in your career.

Spending your time and energy on what researcher John Williams calls “office housework” (like ordering food for meetings) is probably not the best use of your time. Those tasks often fall to women because they want to be helpful. But that means missing out on productivity and promotions. 

You don’t have to be rude or unhelpful — just balance your time and priorities so that you are not doing unseen labor.

Want more money-making tips? You can watch our full conversation here.

___

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

___

Four Ways to Replace the Watercooler When Working From Home

/0 Comments/in , , , , , /by

____

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

____

Working in an office has one big benefit that many people didn’t appreciate until working remotely became the norm. 

It’s watercooler talk. 

Yep, the humble watercooler is actually key for increasing productivity and innovation. Don’t just take it from me — scientists at the University of Sydney actually did a study proving it. 

Read more