Tag Archive for: being more productive

Productivity Tricks We Can Learn From Politicians

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elephant donkeyI always try to find productivity inspiration wherever possible.  And the race for the presidency is no exception.

Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio recently announced a bid for the White House.  And the usual eye rolling about non-stop campaigning is starting right along with it.

Now, without getting political, we should be asking why, if the election isn’t until late 2016, are they even bothering to start campaigning now? What do they gain from it? What does starting a major project early do for them? Does it actually help?

The simple answer is yes. A lot.

Using these candidates as a template, we can break down the different stages of getting a long-term project done:

Goal setting: Undoubtedly, long before they announced, these candidates and their team mapped out a pretty solid plan for the campaign. You need to have a hyper specific end goal in mind for any project.

What would that look like for any of these candidates? Surely not “Be elected president.” That is much too vague. More likely it would be something like “Achieve X number of votes”, or “Win states A, B, and C in the election.”

When you are setting your own long-term goals, remember to keep them as specific as possible. For example, if your goal is to lose weight you should have a specific number in mind. Be honest with yourself about what you really want.

Plan of action: Not only do you need a firm goal, but you need to understand how to break it down into manageable subgoals. For the Democratic presidential candidates, this might mean swaying certain swing states such as Ohio, while not spending very much time in liberal California. Likewise for the Republicans, states such as Texas are pretty “safe”, so they might try and spend more time winning over Florida’s votes.

Your own plan of action should have an equally well-defined path. Think about the day to day – what would be a realistic way to achieve your goals? For example, if you want to exercise more, would you do something every day, or on specific days of the week.

Prepare contingencies: If each candidate doesn’t win the state they deemed as most pivotal — then what?  How do they regroup and refocus their attention? That’s the key — this is all predetermined with “if/then” scenarios laid out in advance.

In your own planning, you need to prepare for unforeseen consequences. I firmly believe in always having a backup plan.

Set things in motion: Perhaps strangely, this step is last on the list. The beauty in planning out for long-term goals is that it takes a lot of the guesswork out of the process. While we are only hearing about these candidates’ plans recently, they’ve probably known about this for months or even years. They certainly weren’t going to start campaigning until plans were set in stone. That gives them the freedom to dictate how the campaign will go, and not have the campaign dictate to them how it will go. The same thing should apply to your own goals.

How do you prepare for your own long-term goals?

Five Ways to Bounce Back After an Unproductive Morning

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Asleep at phoneI like to get up at 6:15am, hours before I need to be at work. I know it’s a little crazy, but it gives me a chance to relax and ease into my morning. Unfortunately sometimes I get a bit bogged down and the morning gets away from me. I’m sure some of you have experienced this too – being on a busy schedule can be taxing. But should we let a productivity setback stop us from being efficient the rest of the day? No!

Here are five ways to bounce back after having an unproductive morning:

Talk it out with somebody: When you are too focused on a problem, you can get stuck in your way of thinking about it. Sometimes you need to just step away from the desk and find someone to talk it out with. You’ll get the benefits of face- to- face interaction with the added bonus of a fresh perspective.

Remove distractions: It’s easy to get caught up answering emails and calls all day. They seem like such pressing issues sometimes. If you find yourself dealing with everyone else’s problems, you might need to shut down. Sometimes I turn off my phone and close my email inbox so I can focus on a single task. Read more

How to Schedule Meetings in a Snap

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Learn how to become a better schedulerSometimes it feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, and in spite of making and maintaining a list to help us streamline our lives, some things still end up causing unneeded stress.

For me, I get a bit anxious whenever I need to schedule a meeting.  It seems silly but the thought of having to look at my calendar and come up with several options stops me in my tracks.  I usually end up putting off those types of emails for a while and they take up valuable space in my in-box for too long.
There are a number of online programs and apps that can alleviate stress and streamline the process of scheduling meetings:

YouCanBook.Me— With a simple setup, you can connect your Google calendar to your YCBM profile. What’s really nice is it allows you to embed your YCBM account directly on your website. This way your clients can quickly schedule an appointment without having to waste time creating an account themselves. It can be a little inflexible, but it’s worth a try.

Calendly— Calendly  is another program that connects directly to Google calendar. Similarly to the other programs on this list, it is rather easy to use and takes the burden of scheduling (often through bothersome phone tag!) off your shoulders. Read more

What’s the Best Planner To Make You More Productive?

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image1 (1)Last Thursday I went back to Long Island, to the town I grew up in to attend a Listful Thinking event. It was at the library I went to as a child, where I first developed my love of reading. I remember joining a summer reading group there when I was a kid and getting a sticker for each book I completed. What a thrill!  So being there to speak about my book felt very much like an Oprah full circle moment.

My very first friend and neighbor Jackie is a librarian there and set up this event for me. While I was there I spoke to a women who was having issues with buying too many planners and not using them. (Sound familiar?)

image5Her friends all raved about how helpful the planners had been for them, but she just couldn’t get into them. So she assumed the problem was with her.

I asked her if she was having any organizational troubles, besides not using the planners, which she didn’t.

I imagine this may sound like something many of you can relate to, so I thought I would share with you what I told her – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Don’t try to force yourself into a system that doesn’t work for you. You have to find your own unique productivity style and be true to it.

image4It’s almost a psychological thing where we feel the act of buying a new planner/notepad/pen will make us more productive. But the truth is there isn’t any special planner or notepad that will change your life and make you more productive. There is a only the planner or notepad that suits you.

If that’s a simple steno pad or Post-It note then so be it. It’s more important to have a system that works for you. I write my work to-dos for the following day before I leave the office everyday. I do it on a simple steno pad. Where you write the to-dos matters less than the actual system you have for capturing them.

What planners have you tried that worked or didn’t work for you?

4 Productivity Lessons I Learned From Life

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4 Productivity Tips I Picked Up FromIt’s pretty well known that most lessons are not taught in a classroom. I think this is especially true when it comes to productivity. No one ever teaches you how to write a list or how to plan your schedule in school. (Maybe they should!) We’re just expected to know these things.

Most of what I learned about list making and time management I learned the hard way – through mistakes.

Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned over the years:

List Making is in My Blood

For as long as I can remember my Dad has always been making a list about something. For example, my dad’s garden is his pride and joy. Every March he makes a list of all the vegetables that he wants to have in his garden for the summer. He’s very systematic about it and even draws out a map of where each vegetable will be planted. It’s pretty cute that he’s so passionate about it.

Watching my Dad planning out his garden had a strong influence on me as a child because I love a good system.

I use them all the time in my work as a health producer. The day before a shoot, I sit at my desk and run through the entire interview I’m going to conduct in my head. I visualize exactly how it should go. For example, I’ll interview the doctor first, then get exam video of the patient and doctor, and then interview the patient. I think about the purpose of the story and then write a list of all the questions to ask the doctor and the patient. This helps me make sure I don’t leave anything out.

Some people might see it as being over prepared – but just as my Dad’s planning would pay off with a fruitful harvest every summer – all my systems have made my life much easier.

Every List Helps

My very first TV job was at WLNY-TV 55 on Long Island. (Random fact: It’s also where I met my hubby.) One night at that station will live on in infamy—all because of a stupid and avoidable mistake.

That night the main anchor was on vacation, so one of the reporters was filling in for him on the 11:00 p.m. newscast. That fateful night, the clock struck 11, and camera one’s red light went on. We were live.

The fill-in anchor read the show’s opening perfectly. She then turned to camera three, as scripted, for the next story— except that there was no script! Eeek! An anchor’s nightmare: no teleprompter.

She scrambled to make it look as though nothing were wrong. But it was obvious to her, the viewers, and everyone involved in the production that something had gone awry.

That night, during our “postmortem” meeting—in which we discussed the good, the bad, and the ugly of the show—the substitute anchor threw the camera operator right under the bus. It wasn’t pretty. Turns out, an intern (not me!) was on camera three that night and forgot to turn on the teleprompter.

Boy—that did not go over well.

The next day there was an announcement from our news director: “Everyone must fill out a checklist before operating a studio camera!” As you can imagine, this idea was met with eye rolling and groaning. But we did it. Every one of us completed this form before every single show in the two years that I worked there.

It may seem silly to make a checklist for some simple things that you do everyday, however when our brains are running on automatic we don’t always make the best decisions. That day I learned that no list too simple.

Life Is Easier With A List

I’ve written before about my recent apartment-buying drama, but lists can really come to my rescue when searching for a new home. And the move before this last one was no different. My husband and I decided we should leave our home in Forest Hills in Queens and move to Manhattan.

We checked every area we could find in Manhattan for a rental in our price range. But as soon as I got off the F train in Forest Hills and headed back to our apartment, I had already forgotten how many closets the apartment we looked at had, if it had an air conditioner, or what floor it was on!

When you’re renting, sometimes the listings aren’t complete. They don’t have pictures, and there are rarely floor plans. Normally, I’m very good at paying attention and staying focused, but for some reason, this assignment completely overwhelmed me. I was shocked, until I realized why.

I wasn’t tackling this in a way that I knew from experience would work perfectly for me—with a list!

After several disappointing and frustrating trips, I decided to make a checklist, just as I do at work. So I made a list of all the things I needed to pay attention to when I was looking at an apartment: address, floor, view, hardwood floors or carpeting, number of closets, square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, dishwasher, laundry, doorman, etc.

This checklist became our rundown every time we stepped foot into an open house. Jay and I would refer to it as we walked through a space and ask questions accordingly. It allowed us to focus on exactly what we needed to pay attention to so that we could walk out with all the information we could possibly need to make a clear decision.

I think it was important for me to struggle through those first few months of apartment hunting. Since it lead me to the realization that whether it’s a work or a home, a list will make almost any process run smoother. Plus that list lead to the start of this blog!

Be Prepared

‘Be Prepared’ is the boy scout motto and for a good reason. Life has a way of surprising us at the most inconvenient times. Last year my parents called me in the middle of the day at work and told me that my mom had to be taken to the hospital. She got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, blacked out and fell and hit her head badly. Eeek! I talked to her and she was fine but being admitted for all kinds of tests. So I wanted to be there with her.

I left work and went home to pack an overnight bag and froze.

I couldn’t think of anything that I needed – and I should’ve known that I needed all the essentials. You know — pajamas, an outfit for the next day, toiletries, etc.

But I couldn’t think of anything. When something like this happens your mind is thinking a hundred different things. It catches you off guard and your not able to think as rationally.

I think it’s a lifesaver to have a short list of items to pack in case of emergency. These types of small lists can save you time down the line.

These are just a few of the stories that I touch on and more in my book Listful Thinking: Using Lists to be More Productive, Highly Successful and Less Stressed. If you want to hear more of my misadventures with lists — please check it out. And if you already have — I’d love it if you could leave a review on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

What productivity tips have you learned from the school of life?