Improving concentration is a goal to numerous who want to enhance their memory. It’s not only students and working women and men who really need concentration, but anyone of us. But to boost memory power and sharpen the mind you have to invest considerable time in thorough concentration exercise alongside memory improvement games. This is not about performing these brain gym exercises intensively for just a several times a week but doing them often for a set period of time everyday throughout life.
Such lengthy commitment and practice works wonders and keeps mental performance at its highest potential in “learning to retain” information regardless if a person gets older. Persistence and determination is crucial as only practice will bring successful results.
Your mind initially fights back the efforts to discipline it by making you believe that there have been no progress. This may lead to panic or anxiety or disillusionment and shortly the person manages to lose the motivation to carry on the mind exercise regimen. It’s at such times you ought to not lose the conviction and vision concerning the final goal of mastering mental performance and reaching the entire potential of the brain.
Meditation and breathing are two very beneficial exercises in regards to enhancing concentration. One can go for Yoga that requires exercise of both body and spirit through meditation and deep breathing. The science of Yoga keeps body supple and mind agile. This control of senses by focusing them on whatever one chooses to keeps the concentration in the right direction.
In place of looking to overburden oneself with hours of practice initially it is advisable to keep the practice short and fun. In case the concentration trainings are done with full determination and without any self doubt on the purpose of it, They are found to be extremely effective.
Nathalie Doremieux are written other articles regarding Improving Concentration and concentration exercises. You can read more on her webiste about how to improve concentration.
Copyright 2006 Dr Joe Rubino
Watch a movie, open the newspaper, listen to the air, or visit news websites and you’ll immediately discover that the volume of human failure and disaster you are exposed to is disheartening. For anyone who is much like me, you can definitely find yourself avoiding these causes of news and “entertainment” since you can’t stand the quantity of negativity that infiltrates your head and harmfully impacts your energy-state! Unsurprisingly, most of the negativity on the globe is sourced from people having an unhealthy, low-level of self-esteem. Shocking, extensive studies have shown which more than 85% from the world’s population has a deficiency of their a higher level self-esteem.
Low self-esteem causes feelings of discomfort, unhappiness, anger, fear, procrastination, frustration, shyness and incapability. This variety of negative thoughts and sensations causes individuals to seek out artificial strategies to cover the absence of confidence through on forced or unnatural behaviors. Three of the extremely common strategies to covering up a bad self-image, diminished self-esteem and low confidence levels are:
1) Forced and unhealthy communication Forced acts of communication are techniques we relate with one another in the unnatural and destructive way. Examples of unproductive communication might be uncontrolled anger, screaming or abusive language, or making unfair or unproductive remarks. Often times, after we feel uncomfortable in social situations or fear being controlled by another, we attempt to gain the upper hand by dominating your lover somewhat. By way of example, your better half might create a remark that you simply allow to cause you to definitely feel poorly with regards to you or attacked in some manner. (The word what of another can’t negatively impact our self-esteem unless we allow them to do it.) Quite often, we interact with what someone says once they retrieve something we’re not able to be around about precisely how we view ourselves. This reactive feeling is actually too frequently a sign of a diminished self-esteem. Caused by feeing threatened, you would possibly counter having an aggressive or hostile remark of ones own. Before long, you’ve got unintentionally begun a unpredictable manner in communication that can surely erode your relationship after a while.
Lacking self-esteem likewise impacts all the other aspects of life. Additional for example nervous about formal presentations, ineffective professional communication, pursuing a carrier which is not in alignment with one’s passions and life-purpose, dating as well as marrying people who do not fit well with our most important values because we fear natural meats not attract our ideal partner, and raising children to become fear-based, reactive, or unhealthy of their perceptions on the planet and in relationships with others.
2) Sleeping Excessively in order to Get away from Reality Are you aware anyone who “sleeps their time away?” For countless people, sleeping is a solution to escape their painful feelings of incapability, fear, discomfort, unworthiness, and weakness. This sort of feeling stem from your interpretation any particular one is somehow unlovable or you cannot good enough and are ultimately a result of low self-esteem levels. They drain our energy and cause internal friction that makes us tired. In addition, they cause having us wish to escape those situations rather than handling them in an appropriate and effective manner. For most people sleeping could be the easiest escape instead of learning how to face life’s challenges. Sleeping is often a method of recuperation – so upon awakening, all challenges might be coped with increased easily with fresh energy. However some people don’t use sleep with regards to regenerating energy. They numb their pain with ‘chronic sleeping’ as an avoid reality. Just as one escape strategy, problems remain unaddressed and unsolved and for that reason have a tendency to become worse with the passing of their time.
3) Using Alcohol, Drugs, and Cigarettes Being an active observer of people’s coping strategies, notice how many times countless seek out approaches to numb the pain sensation as an alternative to address the foundation of the challenges. Many find comfort in cigarettes to be a stress reliever. The base supply of mental stress and bodily tension can often be diminished self-esteem. Often, people condition themselves to convert to alcohol or drugs after experiencing a stressful event. Instead of deal with the causes of life’s disappointments, relationship challenges, or ineffective communication, it’s often safer to look for strategies to leave out the problems by embracing alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Certainly, these destructive forms of escaping the uncomfortable feelings which can be caused by low confidence, a bad self-image and poor self-esteem often cause compounded health insurance and social challenges that belongs to them. And harmful physical effects, drugs and alcohol amplify negativity thereby result in further destructive behavior. Like this, they compound the already present challenges and produce a worsening, vicious loop of greater proportions.
Low self-esteem is most often the reason for these destructive and escape-seeking behaviors. As opposed to detach from or attempt to escape the difficulties due to a negative self-image and low self-confidence, there is a more effective method to live a powerful, happier plus much more abundant life – merely by elevating one’s amount of self-esteem. We have spent personally with thousands of coaching clients in the past 20 years, I have uncovered a highly effective yet simple and easy-to-implement formula for improving one’s self-esteem. The operation of healing one’s painful past, accurately assessing one’s current situation, and proactively designing the near future in choice can be found in the step-by-step self-study program entitled, “The Self-Esteem Book: The best Secrets and techniques for Boost the Most Underrated Ingredient for Success and Happiness in your everyday living.” For additional info on restoring your self-esteem and reclaiming your magnificence, visit TheSelfEsteemBook.com website.
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Sometimes You Need Some Inspiration
We all need a little motivation every once in a while.
Maybe you aren’t feeling on top of your game.
Or perhaps, you have suffered a loss or setback.
Sometimes we fail at things.
When this happens to you, how do you get yourself motivated?
20 Ways to Motivate Yourself
Here are 20 ways to get yourself going when you need a little motivation:
1. Exercise – One of the best ways to pump yourself up, is to exercise. It doesn’t matter what form as long as you enjoy it.
2. Read One of Your Favorite Quotes – Keep your favorite quotes nearby where you can see them. Here is one of my favorites:
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, and dream for tomorrow.”
3. Do It Today – What have you been meaning to start? Start something today that you have been putting off.
4. Finish Something – Nothing feels as good as finishing something to completion. And remember, when you can’t do big things… do little ones.
5. Get up! – Really! Get up and move around. Walk around. Better yet, go outside and do a lap around your house or office. The fresh air will do wonders for your motivation.
6. Play Some Music – Keep your favorite music at hand. Whenever I need some inspiration, I have a special playlist on my phone.
7. Clean Something Up – When I say something, I mean anything. You desk, your files, even your cell phone. (Delete those unused apps!) A clean environment leads to productivity and motivation.
8. Tell Someone About Your Goals – A great way to motivate yourself is to tell someone about your goals and what you will accomplish. Often, you will gain a deeper understanding of your motivation by explaining it to someone else.
9. Read a Motivational Article – Here is one of mine.
10. Watch This Speech from Rocky Balboa on YouTube
11. Stretch Yourself – Do something you didn’t think you could do. We are all stronger than we think.
12. Get Your Productivity Started – Sometimes you just have to sharpen your pencil and get your productivity going. Your motivation will soon follow.
13. Visualize What Success Means – Think about what success means. Motivate yourself by visualizing what things will be like when you accomplish your goals.
14. Write a Letter to Your Future Self - Write your future self a letter about what you will have accomplished. Here is a great site to help you do that: FutureMe.org.
15. Think Back to a Time You Won – Remember something from your past when you succeeded. How it felt, what you did, why it made you feel proud.
16. Finish Something Ahead of Schedule – Finishing something ahead of schedule feels great.
17. Be Early – Being late brings stress. Be early and be happy. Here are 17 ways to be early.
18. Build Some Momentum – Sometimes you need get some motion in order to motivate yourself. Here’s how to build some productivity momentum.
19. Call a Good Friend- Even better if it is someone you haven’t reached out to in a while.
20. Be Yourself – In our society of conformity, remember what makes you…you. Celebrate why you are unique.
Inspire Yourself
Sometimes we just need to pick up our mood.
Other times, we need to pick ourselves up from the ground.
We all have ways that we motivate ourselves.
I invite you to share below your favorite methods of motivation.
How do you motivate yourself when you need some inspiration?
I’m starting to think the word ‘workplace’ is a contradiction in terms.
I’ve lost count of the number of people who have told me they do their best work in the early mornings and evenings, “because it’s impossible to get any real work done during working hours”.
This is particularly common among creative employees, many of whom bitterly lament being charged with delivering outstanding creative work – and then expected to work in conditions that crush their creativity.
In other words, these are people who really want to work hard and deliver amazing results for their employer. But they are being prevented from doing so by the very people whose business depends on their creativity.
Of course,you only need to worry about this if your business depends on creating innovative products, services or business models to stay ahead of the competition – and if you’re relying on your employees to dream up great ideas and put them into action.
If your competitive advantage comes from being more organised, efficient and/or cost-effective than the next company, and you don’t need or want your employees to be creative, then feel free to ignore this article, and thank your lucky stars you don’t have to get involved in anything so messy and unpredictable as creativity.
But if you are serious about making your company a powerhouse of creativity and innovation, here are 10 big creativity crushers to avoid – and what to do instead.
1. Trying to Buy Creativity
It might seem perfectly reasonable that if you are paying people a good salary, with lots of perks and bonuses, then they should deliver outstanding creative work in return. But this flies in the face of reality.
There is a large body of research evidence demonstrating that extrinsic motivations (money, promotions and other rewards) not only fail to enhance creativity but actively inhibit it.
The trouble with dangling a nice fat carrot in front of someone as a reward is that they tend to focus on the carrot at the expense of the task in hand. And to do an amazing job, they need to be 100% focused on the work itself.
The same research shows a robust link between intrinsic motivation and creativity. Intrinsic motivations are inherent in the task itself – things like pleasure, learning, meaning, purpose, autonomy and creative flow. In other words, creative people love to work – so if you make the work interesting and challenging enough, they will respond by giving you their best.
You can’t buy creativity – you have to inspire it.
Solution:
Set people inspiring, difficult, meaningful problems. Creative people love being stretched, and get fired up when the work has a purpose beyond just making money – so it’s essential that you really believe in what you are doing (they’ll sniff it out if you don’t).
And of course, you still have to pay them properly. The critical balance to strike is to reward them well enough that it’s not a bone of contention (and therefore a distraction), without making rewards the main focus of your efforts to motivate them.
For advice on using intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to raise performance, see chapters 5 and 6 of my free e-book How to Motivate Creative People (Including Yourself).
2. Punishing Failure
I once taught a workshop in a large organisation and included an activity where I asked the delegates to think of the ‘second right answer’ to a problem, based on Roger von Oech’s book A Whack on the Side of the Head
Everyone froze. They looked like rabbits caught in the headlights. When I asked them what was wrong, they told me they were always expected to come up with the right answer, and were severely punished for making mistakes.
No prizes for guessing how creative they were. And yet – when they relaxed a little – they showed me they were perfectly capable of thinking creatively. It was the fear of punishment that stopped them from using this ability at work.
People and companies that succeed through innovation take a very different approach to failure. They accept it, or even encourage it, because they know that failure holds the key to success.
You fail if you don’t try. If you try and you fail, yes, you’ll have a few articles saying you’ve failed at something. But if you look at the history of American entrepreneurs, one thing I do know about them: an awful lot of them have tried and failed in the past and gone on to great things.
Richard Branson
The London branch of the famous ad agency Wieden + Kennedy encourages risk and experiment with its company tagline ‘embrace failure’, which has appeared on its blog, on an office sign and even a range of t-shirts.
Thomas Edison famously took hundreds of attempts to perfect the light bulb filament, allegedly saying:
I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.
But he got there in the end – and not through hard work alone. Apparently he was relaxing on the shore of Battle Lake, Wyoming, when he looked at some stray threads on his bamboo fishing pole and thought of making the filament out of carbonized bamboo. The light bulb is now a universal symbol for creative thinking.
Solution:
Encourage people to try new things and learn from their inevitable mistakes. Reward them for being open and honest about mistakes and failures – so that these are not swept under the carpet, causing even more problems.
Get your managers to issue two kinds of insurance policy when they delegate tasks:
- Act, then advise – for tasks where failure won’t have major consequences.
- Advise, then act – for tasks where failure could be catastrophic.
If you’re going to punish anything, punish failure to learn. If you don’t, the market will.
3. Micro-Managing
When the buck stops with you, it’s only natural to want to maintain control of the work, and seek ongoing reassurance that people are doing it properly – and give them plenty of advice on how to do so.
But creative people hate being micro-managed. It sets their teeth on edge. And it prevents them from doing their best work.
By definition, creativity is about coming up with a new solution – or a range of different solutions – not the one right answer (see No.2). If you entrust a task to a creative worker, you are not getting full value from them unless you allow them some freedom to execute it in their own way.
And it’s not just the ‘suits’ who use this creativity crusher – very often, it’s a senior creative who can’t resist telling people to execute tasks and solve problems the same way they are used to doing it. Which is fine if you just want ‘Mac monkeys’ – people to implement your ideas and flesh out designs to your specification. But not so good if you genuinely want to grow a creative team.
Solution:
Stop micromanaging people and start coaching them:
- Define the goal as clearly and specifically as you can, and then allow people as much freedom as possible in finding their own solutions to the challenges you set them.
- Ask focused-but-open questions, to direct their attention and draw out their ideas.
- Give accurate, non-judgmental feedback to help them learn and improve continuously.
- Hold them accountable for delivering to a high standard.
For advice on using the coaching style of management to foster creativity, read my free e-book Creative Management for Creative Teams.
4. Efficiency Drives
3M is a poster child for corporate innovation, and rightly famous for producing a string of successful inventions including masking tape, Thinsulate and the Post-It note. Yet a few years ago, this wasn’t enough for senior management, who resolved to build on their success by introducing the Six Sigma methodology for quality control and efficiency.
The Six Sigma ‘black belts’ discovered plenty of areas of waste and inefficiency within the organisation, and worked tirelessly to eliminate these. The result was a leaner, more efficient and cost-effective organisation – but according to a BusinessWeek article, a less creative one:
Efficiency programs such as Six Sigma are designed to identify problems in work processes—and then use rigorous measurement to reduce variation and eliminate defects. When these types of initiatives become ingrained in a company’s culture, as they did at 3M, creativity can easily get squelched.
(At 3M, a Struggle Between Efficiency and Creativity by Brian Hindo)
The black belts had overlooked the fact that creativity requires downtime, experiment and freedom to make ‘errors’. Cut that out and you cut out the opportunity to make new discoveries.
No, not every experiment will succeed, but that’s the nature of experiments. Every successful creative industry finds a way to manage risk. None thrives by trying to eliminate it. The movie industry, for example, spreads its risk by funding several films, knowing that one hit will cover the losses of several flops.
Remember Google’s famous rule of allowing its engineers to spend 20% of their time on personal projects? They wouldn’t be one of the most innovative companies in the world if they had lost their nerve and decided to eliminate this ‘inefficiency’.
Solution:
Accept that you can have either 100% efficiency or outstanding creativity – not both.
If you choose creativity, find ways to set limits on downtime and playtime. Google sets the limit at 20%, not 50%, and with good reason.
Make sure everyone in the company understands your strategic goals, and give them regular updates on your progress. Not only will this instil a sense of urgency and responsibility, it will also help them keep your target in mind even as they are playing around and experimenting with new ideas.
5. Banning Social Networks
You are paying people to work, not waste time chatting to their friends, so it makes sense to ban social networks during working hours, right?
It’s true that allowing people to spend time on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks means they will not spend all day every day ‘cranking widgets’, in productivity guru David Allen’s famous phrase.
But you don’t hire creative people to crank widgets. You hire them to be creative – and as we’ve seen, creativity is not 100% efficient. It requires idle conversation, new connections and sources of information – all of which can be found in abundance on social networks.
No company has a monopoly on innovation. Connecting to larger networks of bright, inspiring, creative people should be not only tolerated but actively encouraged, if your company is to remain relevant and competitive.
Social networks are a double-edged sword – they can enhance productivity as well as kill it. If you want a creative organisation, a blanket ban isn’t the answer.
Solution:
Make sure everyone understands the importance of getting the job done, and provide clear guidelines on what you consider reasonable vs excessive personal use of social networks and the internet in general.
Help them avoid avoid the social media time-sink by developing a social media strategy (and policy) that is aligned with your business strategy.
Encourage them to build their professional network by connecting with their peers on relevant networks, in order to learn, share ideas and best practices, and look for opportunities to collaborate to advance your business goals.
Teach them about time management for creative people (yes, that’s another free e-book for you) and encourage them to restrict their use of social media to times that have not been ring-fenced for focused work.
Give them tools such as Freedom or Concentrate to help them regulate their own use of the internet, and trust them to do this responsibly.
Make people accountable for achieving goals (see No.3) and challenge them if they are failing. If you have evidence that social networking is part of the problem, give them some robust feedback. Otherwise, assume networks are part of the solution.
Too Much Control or Not Enough?
The creativity crushers I’ve covered so far are all born of the same mindset – trying to control people by using the carrot and stick, micro-management, peer pressure, efficiency directives and restricting their internet use.
This mindset is typical of the Theory X approach to management, where people are assumed to be lazy, irresponsible, incapable and in need of constant supervision, bribes and punishments, if they are to achieve anything productive.
Basically, Theory X means you don’t trust them. This may not be a problem if they are doing repetitive or mundane tasks, but you need to know it is guaranteed to destroy their creativity.
The alternative is Theory Y, which assumes people are fundamentally honest, trustworthy, responsible and keen to do the best job they can. Even if you don’t believe this is universally true, it makes sense to hire people with these qualities. Because you won’t get much creativity out of people who don’t take initiative and responsibility for making things happen.
The funny thing is, some of the most controlling organisations compound their control-freakery by being incredibly lax in areas where they should exert much more control – if they really want their people to be creative. Here are five cases in point.
6. Amateurish Feedback on Creative Work
Feedback is a notoriously sensitive subject, and giving feedback on creative work is even more difficult than giving feedback on behaviour, for two reasons:
- There is always an element of subjectivity in assessing the value of a creative artefact.
- Creative people identify very strongly with their work – so when you criticise the work, they are liable to take it personally.
Get this wrong, and you can crush their motivation. And because motivation and creativity are inextricably linked (No.1) when you crush one, you crush both.
Get it right, and you not only make the work better, you retain the motivation and enthusiasm of your people over the long term.
Given all of this, you might expect companies to take the art of giving feedback on creative work very seriously. But to judge from the number of complaints I hear from creatives, this isn’t happening in many organisations.
They tell me about having their work dismissed with vague and inconsistent criticism, by managers and colleagues who clearly don’t understand what they are looking at. Not all of them are as bad as the Emperor from Amadeus, but some are even worse.
It’s fun to make sweeping judgments on movies and rock bands over dinner with friends – but not so funny when a few tactless words from a manager can seriously damage your business.
Solution:
Teach people to give – and receive – feedback on creative work in a genuinely constructive way.
- Managers, account managers and others giving feedback – follow my 5 Tips for Giving Feedback on Creative Work.
- Creatives – start growing a thicker skin and having more productive conversations with the above people, using my 6 Tips for Receiving Feedback on Your Creative Work.
7. Meetings
If you put six people in a meeting for one hour, you’ve used up six hours of productivity. So you might expect meetings would be rare occurrences, and when they did happen, to be high-octane sessions where people used a lot of energy to attack important challenges and achieve meaningful breakthroughs.
How many meetings like that have you attended recently?
Now think of a number of meetings you’ve been in where you have found your presence redundant for long stretches – and to judge by some of the sighs, blank stares and fiddling with gadgets around the table, you’re not the only one wishing you could be somewhere else, doing something more productive.
No wonder the most creative people can’t stand meetings
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson of 37signals call meetings “toxic” and “the worst interruptions of all”.
Seth Godin says he doesn’t mind attending a meeting as long as there are no chairs in the room, which stops people lingering longer than they have to.
If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’
Dave Barry
Solution:
Ask yourself whether you really need to have so many meetings, or whether some of them are scheduled out of habit. Get your people to ask the same questions. Make it acceptable for people to ask whether they need to attend, or whether they can leave early.
When you have to have a meeting, ask how much of the agenda needs to be discussed in person, versus information transfer that could take place via email, written report, intranet post or wiki entry. Have a clear goal for the meeting, and for each item on the agenda, with clear next action steps agreed and recorded for each person. Then let everyone get back to work.
If part of the purpose of your meeting is to give people a chance to connect with each other, maybe you could do that in a more pleasant setting? A team breakfast, lunch or after work drinks will probably do more for morale, and stimulate more creative conversations than sitting in the board room.
8. Interruptions
When I trained as a hypnotist, I was taught that one of the easiest ways to induce amnesia is to keep interrupting someone. You’ve probably experienced this yourself – when the waiter has just taken your order, and neither you nor your companion can remember what you were talking about a few moments ago.
In his book Your Brain at Work
One study found that office distractions eat an average 2.1 hours a day. Another study, published in October 2005, found that employees spent an average of 11 minutes on a project before being distracted. After an interruption it takes them 25 minutes to return to the original task, if they do at all. People switch activities every three minutes, either making a call, speaking with someone in their cubicle, or working on a document.
Distractions are not just frustrating; they can be exhausting. By the time you get back to where you were, your ability to stay focused goes down even further as you have even less glucose available now. Change focus ten times an hour (one study showed people in offices did so as much as 20 times an hour), and your productive thinking time is only a fraction of what’s possible.
Amnesia and exhaustion – not exactly a recipe for creativity.
It’s no surprise that creatives complain interruptions are one of the biggest obstacles to producing high-quality work. They aren’t being prima donnas, any more than the baker when he says he needs a hot oven for baking, or the accountant when she says she needs all the figures to prepare your accounts.
Solution:
One person’s interruption is another’s urgent request. So to keep everyone happy, creative and productive, you need to come at this problem from two sides:
- Interrupters – ask yourself whether it’s essential to interrupt someone now, in person or on the phone – or whether you could talk to them later, send an email or text, or put a note in their in tray.
- Interruptees – let people know when is a good time/bad time to interrupt, and the best ways they can get your attention. If you’re terrible at email, ask them to leave a note on your desk or a message on your phone. And when you agree to do something, give a timescale, check that it’s okay with the other person, and keep your promise! The more times you get back to them on time, the fewer nagging interruptions you will get.
9. Death by PowerPoint
When was the last time you actively looked forward to seeing a presentation at work?
What percentage of the PowerPoint slides you see on an average week are covered in bullet points, text in tiny fonts, and charts that are impossible to read from where you sit?
How much time do presenters spend looking you in the eye, telling you something that matters and inspiring you with their message – as opposed to looking down at their notes or back over their shoulder, as they read the text off the slides?
Death by PowerPoint has been around so long the phrase is now a cliche, but that doesn’t stop people perpetrating it on a daily basis. Which is a crime, considering the power of public speakers to inspire and communicate.
You don’t have to be Barack Obama or Winston Churchill to give an engaging and stimulating presentation. And believe it or not, PowerPoint can actually be a very creative medium, as long as you disregard most of Microsoft’s hints about how to use it.
Solution:
You wouldn’t tolerate illiteracy in your copywriters, or innumeracy in your accountants, so don’t tolerate poor communication in your presenters.
Make it a rule that no one in your company is allowed to use PowerPoint until they have read and started to apply the lessons from Garr Reynolds’ book Presentation Zen. Or better yet, give a dynamic presentation yourself that explains and exemplifies the following guidelines for presenting:
- One big idea
- Three key points
- One compelling story
- One idea per slide (and no more than six words)
- One clear call to action
For more advice on taking a creative approach to presentations, read my article How to Create a Captivating Presentation.
10. Email Run Amok
It’s amazing to me that some of the companies that have the strictest policies on social networks are the most lax when it comes to email.
I’m not talking about sending personal emails in work time – some of them are only too happy to monitor employees’ email. I’m talking about allowing people to send work emails in ways that produce inefficiency, unnecessary interruptions (No.8) and apathy.
Some of the biggest creativity crushers include:
- CCing everyone on just about every message
- using emails instead of the phone for urgent requests
- expecting a near-instant response
- not signalling whether an email is FYI or contains an important request
- burying requests in long rambling messages
- sending an email to avoid having an emotionally charged conversation (pretty well guaranteed to start an argument)
Left unchecked, these habits produce overflowing inboxes and a sense of overload. It feels impossible ever to clear the inbox, so many people give up trying to keep up with email. Others spend all day on hyperactive alert for email, inducing amnesia and mental stress (see No. 8). Meanwhile, important requests and information are slipping through the cracks in your business…
Solution:
Get everyone in the office to read Seth Godin’s email checklist – not to follow his prescriptions slavishly, but to start a conversation about what kind of email habits are the most effective for everyone’s needs.
Ask for people’s biggest gripes about email – and consider whether you could introduce a new email rule to eliminate these. For example, some companies report boosts in productivity and morale after instituting ‘email free Fridays’. Another made it imperative for someone to pick up the phone if an email conversation generated more than five replies.
Here are a few suggestions to get the ball rolling:
- If you need a response today, don’t rely on email. Pick up the phone or go and see them. This means no one is under pressure to check internal email more than once a day (client-facing employees are an obvious exception) and can devote their time to more productive activities.
- Batch process emails. It’s far quicker to answer 30 emails at one sitting than it is to keep stopping and answering them one at a time throughout the day.
- Use email for correspondence, not conversation. Correspondents don’t send letters every five minutes. Correspondents take care over what they write, and keep their reader in mind. Correspondents don’t expect an instant response.
- Take the conversation elsewhere, such as a conference call, Instant Messenger or intranet forum. Or better still, sit down in a room together. You’ll have a more productive conversation, you won’t be clogging up your inboxes, and you’ll all feel better.
How Much Creativity Do You Need?
Remember, you only need to worry about these things if you’re depending on the creativity of your people to help your business succeed. You’re running a company, not a creativity workshop.
If your business model depends on creativity, then watch out for these creativity crushers and use the solutions I’ve provided. And if you know someone else who is running a creative business, please forward them to link to this article.
But if you can afford to manage without your employees’ creativity, carry on crushing it.
Over to You
Which of these creativity crushers have you seen in action?
What would you add to the list?
Any tips for improving workplace creativity?
About the Author: Mark McGuinness provides specialist coaching and training for creative organisations, including motivation and time management for creative people.
What do you use to collect your notes?
I use my Moleskine for my day to day notes, especially for meetings.
However, when it comes to electronic notes, I turn to Evernote.
It is hands down the simplest and quickest way to get your notes in the cloud.
Today, I want to discuss 10 ways you can save time using it.
Your Notes in the Cloud
Evernote is a great app for collecting your thoughts, ideas, clippings, whatever. It lets you store all of your notes both locally and in the cloud, so they are accessible from almost anywhere.
If you have not used Evernote, I recommend you take it for test drive. A great place to start is by reading Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials e-book. Click here for details. (affiliate link)
Today, I am not going to go into the basics of using the application, but rather some ideas for saving time with it.
“What could you get done if all of your notes were available to you from anywhere?”
After all, having immediate access to your information is a powerful thing.
10 Time Management Ways to Use Evernote
There are myriad ways to use Evernote. And no wrong ways to use it…
In fact, there is even a marketplace to showcase all of the supplemental apps that use Evernote. (It is called The Trunk.)
Here are 10 of my favorite ways to save time using Evernote:
- Take Pictures of Things – I am not talking about for your photo album. I am referring to taking pictures of things you want to remember. A picture is worth 1000 words, so instead of trying to write down a description of that bottle of wine or the hours from that little shop, instead take a picture.
- Access from Everywhere – One of the best aspects of Evernote is that it is accessible from anywhere. Your Desktop. The Web. From your phone. Or your iPad. Most people using Evernote tend to relegate themselves to one access point for Evernote. Don’t forget about all the other options and leverage them.
- Scan Your Notes – What to do with all those paper notes? Scan them, of course. Evernote has OCR, so even many of your handwritten notes will be instantly searchable. (Michael Hyatt has a great post on this here.)
- Your Paperless Library – Trying to go paperless? Evernote is a great way to file all those PDF scans. In fact, you can even set up your scanner to file right to Evernote. Time to get rid of all those bills, papers, and file cabinets.
- Carry Reference Information – You may know clothing sizes, food brands, etc. But, when you are out and about running errands, do you remember the air filter size for your house? Or the type of light bulb needed in the dining room? Use Evernote to keep that “once in a blue moon” information at your fingertips.
- Save Important Receipts and Registrations – Many people don’t know what to do with all those old receipts. Put them right into Evernote. This is especially true of online receipts. You can email them from your inbox right into Evernote.
- Web Clipper – Surfing the web and find something useful? Save it for the future. I use the Web Clipper for Chrome. With a simple click I can quickly clip articles, URLs, or pics. When I think of the idea again, I can find it instantly.
- Solutions to Problems – This is one of my favorite uses. When I solve a problem, no matter how big or small, I store the solution in Evernote. That way, when I encounter the same issue in the future, I am ready for it. For example, I had a problem with my web server several years ago that required a technical list of steps to resolve. When it happened again recently, I simply pulled up my remediation notes from 3 years ago. Save your solutions so that you don’t have to solve problems mulitple times.
- Notebooks, Lists and Collections – Evernote is a great place to store your lists and collections. My wife recently started “notebooks” to store her wine collection and her favorite recipes. When she wants to find a recipe, no more searching through books, magazines, and online articles. As well, Evernote allows you to create shared notebooks. Need an idea repository for you and your business partner? Or a space for you and your spouse to collect notes on that next vacation you are planning?
- Sensitive Information – People get nervous about saving their sensitive information in the cloud. (Especially in light of many recent news articles about hackers.) However, with the proper precautions, it can be safe to put your important personal info out there. A little known feature is that you can encrypt your sensitive info. You can encrypt any note or part of a note. So, while I do not use Evernote as my password manager, I do store sensitive account info, #’s, and passwords in it. I just make sure I encrypt that information.
Saving Time With Evernote
Evernote is a very powerful tool.
You can use it casually, or you can use it extensively to replace almost all of your other filing systems.
No matter how you use it, it can be a great time saver.
How do you save time using Evernote? Share your best ideas below.
It is no secret that I am a big technology fan. I have lots of gadgets.
My iPhone and iPad travel with me almost everywhere.
But, at some point, you have to ask “Do your gadgets make you more productive?”
Do they set you free? Or hold you back?
Today, let’s look at whether or not your gadgets save you time.
And how to keep them productive.
Do Your Gadgets Get Things Done?
Do your gadgets make you more productive?
Maybe they do.
But, I’ll bet you can also name several ways that they waste time. From distractions to games to tech difficulties, many of the gadgets that we carry actually take up time.
“Does your tech save you time? Or does it take up more time than it’s worth?”
Some questions to ask yourself:
- Do you really need to check your email every 10 minutes?
- Are your gadgets life-enablers that set you free or simply a technology leash that holds you back?
- Is that smartphone really smart, or are you using it to play Angry Birds?
- Is immediately looking up every unknown fact on Google really benefitting you?
Tool or Toy?
Technology tools are very powerful when they are used for your advantage.
From video calls to mobile banking to other amazing apps, we can do things from almost anywhere that were only dreams a few years ago.
However, it important to keep that technology in check. Otherwise, we can find ourselves playing, surfing, and futzing with our gadgets until they actually become a hindrance.
Here are 5 Ways to Keep Your Gadgets Productive:
- Limit Your Gadgets – This is easier said than done. Most tech enthusiasts are always trying out the latest gadgets. However, it is important to avoid tech creep, that leads to too many tools. (Remember the “Power of 1.“) Do you really need a smartphone, tablet, camera, Kindle, laptop, and MP3 player in your bag? Stick to as few devices as possible.
- Choose Tools You’ll Use – Always choose tools that are suited to you. Don’t get the newest, shiniest gadget just because everyone else has it. Select technology that you are good with and will use. Otherwise, your gadgets will be a permanent tech support issue and you will stop using them.
- Remember Who Is In Charge - Do you rule your tech? Or does it rule you? Break that tech leash. Remember that your tech is there for you, not the other way around. You don’t have to jump everytime your device buzzes or vibrates.
- Replace Tech That Doesn’t Work – The other day I tweeted, “Printer, you have failed me for the last time…” Why do we put up with this stuff? If you have a gadget that is not living up to its potential, then by all means get rid of it. And quick. I put up with a GPS for months that was not doing its job. You wouldn’t keep hammering with broken hammer…would you?
- Turn Off Unnecessary Interruptions – Again, your gadgets are there for you. Turn off the notifications, bells, pop-ups, etc. Do you really need to know that your sister just updated her Facebook status while you are in the middle of a business meeting?
Timesaver or Timewaster
Technology can be life changing. Look at the advances that have happened in just the past few years.
However, it can also cause problems and take up your time.
Take a hard look at the gadgets you are carrying. Maybe you need to shed or replace some of those timewasters.
Are they making your more productive? Or do they take up more time than they are worth?
Make sure your tech is saving time, rather than wasting it.
Do your gadgets save you time? What tech is wasting your time?
What extremes do you go to in your workplace to be more productive?
Do you bend the rules? Maybe break them every once in a while?
Sometimes you have to go against the grain.
Sometimes you have to take risks.
Sometimes you need to be a little… dangerous.
A Little Bit Dangerous
Recently, while talking with a small group of corporate workers, I heard their stories of how they sometimes take it to the extreme to get their work done.
They talked about the distractions, the red tape, and the politics of their workplace that kept them from getting their work done.
They went on to describe the tactics, work-arounds, and rule bending that they found necessary to be productive.
Consider your company’s workplace. Is it a conducive environment to get work done?
Or does it present conditions, noise, rules, politics, and more, that actually hinder your workers productivity?
This results in workers trying to get around the system.
They develop alternate ways to work. They bend the rules. They use tools and technologies that the company has not provided.
And they feel like they are being dangerous.
After all, what would happen if management knew what they were doing?
Use at Your Own Risk
When workplaces present obstacles to getting your work done, you need to find ways to be productive in the face of adversity.
You may need to go to extremes to get your work done. You may need to bend the rules or even set your own.
To that end, here are some dangerous suggestions to help you win the battle against workplace inefficiency…
14 Dangerous Ways to be More Productive in Your Workplace
- Make Appointments with Yourself – You boss might get a bit curious if he sees your calendar filled with meetings scheduled with yourself, but blocking your time is key to getting work done. Be bold and schedule meetings not only with yourself but with your projects and tough tasks.
- Don’t Check Your Email – What would happen if your turned off the email on your smartphone? What if you only checked your email in the morning, lunch, and close of the day? Would you be more productive?
- Close Your Door – Close your door when you need uninterrupted time to work. I am sure some HR types are gasping at this one, but “Open Door Policies” are not about physical doors, rather they are about relationships.
- Don’t Answer Your Phone – Your phone is there for your convenience. Not so that anyone (including a solicitor) can interrupt you any time of day. Don’t answer your phone when you are busy. They will leave a message or call back. Trust me.
- Don’t Go to that Meeting – What could you be getting done if you skipped that meeting? Next time politely decline and see what happens. You may be surprised, you may not have been needed at that meeting.
- Clean Your Workspace – OK, this one may not sound that dangerous, but some will say that having a clean desk will make people think you are not busy. In reality, keeping a clean workspace will not only let you get more done, but will have others thinking you are doubly on top of your job.
- Prepare For Your Day – This one will make others think you are dangerous. In fact, it will scare some of your co-workers. Most people walk into their day unprepared and simply “show up.” When you walk into that meeting with documents already reviewed and marked up, your co-workers will perk up in their seats. I usually use a red or green felt pen for added effect, so people are aware I have already reviewed the material at hand.
- Be (Way) Early to Meetings – I try to be 10 minutes early to most meetings. This too will scare people. The 2nd or 3rd time they walk into a meeting room and you are already there, it will start to spook them. And you will be amazed how much you can get done in the 10 minutes prior to the meeting.
- Go Hide Somewhere – If your cubicle or office is not a productive place to work, then go hide out someplace quiet. Maybe a place where there is less traffic and noise. Many workers have there own productivity place that they go to when they need to concentrate on tough projects.
- Over-communicate – Too much can be too much. But, too little can be deadly. Make sure that you keep your boss aware of the status of projects and work. You want them to be ready to answer questions when asked, and be aware in advance of anything that is a problem.
- Reach Out and Touch Someone – Don’t send that email. Don’t leave that voicemail. Instead, reach out and touch someone. Go down the hall or to the other floor and see someone in person whenever possible. You may think that picking up the phone is quicker, but the face-to-face will not only get more done, but you might just build a relationship and make someone’s day.
- Start New Things – Companies like the status quo. They like the boat steady and not to be rocked. However, if you want to get things done, sometimes you have to be the initiator. You have to be the one to start something new whether it is a new process, procedure, or idea. (See this post about Seth Godin’s “Poke the Box.”)
- Stand Out – Companies also like normal. They like conformity. Sometimes you need to stand out to be recognized. I am not saying to wear fluorescent colors and bow-ties, but dare to be different. After all, if everyone else is the same in their appearance, performance, and skills… well, you get the point.
- Swim Against the Current – When everyone else is going with the pack, be brave enough to question if you are all going upstream like salmon or whether you are lemmings headed over a cliff. Be brave enough to question things even in the face of the majority.
Let’s Get Dangerous
Some of the tips I provided may not work in your workplace.
Some of them may actually get you in trouble at your company.
But, they may also help you get ahead, be productive, and stand out as an achiever.
So…Be brave. Be productive.
And today… be a little dangerous.
What out-of-the-ordinary or dangerous methods do you use at work to be more productive?
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Does it feel like there is a brick wall between you and your goals?
Sometimes, there is.
What obstacles are separating you from your dreams?
The approach taken against these obstacles is what separates those who achieve great things and those who do not.
Walls Keep People Out
Years ago at the University of Virginia, I was fortunate enough to study under Professor Randy Pausch. (In fact, his User Interface class was my all-time favorite and I still keep the course notes on my bookshelf. True!)
Sadly, Randy Pausch is no longer with us. However, he passed on many life lessons and today I want to highlight one of his more famous quotes.
In reference to reaching your goals, he spoke of the “brick walls” that life places in our way. These walls were metaphors for the obstacles that keep us from reaching our dreams.
He said,
“Brick walls are there for a reason.
The brick walls are not there to keep us out.
The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something.
Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough.
They are there to keep out the other people.”
- Randy Pausch
Are you letting the walls prevent you from reaching your goals?
How to Beat a Brick Wall
Don’t be one of the other people.
The ones that look at the wall and walk away or give up.
Will you be stopped or will you do whatever it takes?
How do you beat a brick wall?
Here are 4 Ways to Beat That Brick Wall:
- Go Over – This is what everyone else is trying to do. It is not easy, but it is the safest. Other people may root for you. However, this can be the hardest course and require the most effort. The walls are tall for a reason.
- Go Through – With enough brute force, you can go right through some walls. Some may be old rules that no longer apply. Some may not be as strong as they look. But, you have to be careful. You need to ensure that you will win and not the wall. Be prepared, there can be political fallout. The wall’s destruction or your own can be devastating.
- Go Around – Sometimes the best way to beat a wall is to outsmart it. Most walls are stationary obstacles, and with the right strategy you can outflank them. Sometimes the easiest path is around the wall. What others consider “out-of-bounds,” may be the shortest path to your goal.
- Wait and Come Back – Sitting and waiting for a wall to go away is not what I am advocating. However, sometimes timing is everything. That new idea may not fly now, but it could down-the-road under new circumstances or leadership. Sometimes an obstacle is temporary. Even a bad boss, can sometimes be outlasted.
Walking Through Walls
What wall is in the way of your dreams? Are you letting obstacles prevent your success?
As Randy Pausch said, the walls are there to keep the other people out.
Reaching your goals takes time, hard work, and much sacrifice.
It truly is about how badly you want them.
Enough to best a brick wall?
That may be what it takes.
What brick walls are stopping your from reaching your goals? What are you doing about it?
Can you win on positive attitude alone?
Maybe not.
Then again, you might.
Sometimes a positive attitude makes all the difference.
Bring Your Positive Attitude
Plain and simple, you get more done when you are positive.
It is a energy source that can motivate and invigorate you.
It can drive others, too.
In fact, people are attracted to it.
A positive attitude can be the tipping point, between mediocrity and excellence.
“All other things being equal, it is attitude that separates winners from the rest of the crowd.”
Do you bring a positive attitude to everything you do?
Attitude Wins
When you are feeling unproductive or unmotivated, check your attitude.
Consider how your attitude is affecting you and those around you.
Don’t underestimate the power of positivity.
Here are “10 Ways a Positive Attitude Can Help You Win”
- Attitude is Contagious – You influence those around you. A positive attitude is as contagious as the flu. In fact, one positive person can lift an entire team to better performance.
- Complaining is Procrastination in Disguise – Complaining wastes time. It’s that simple. What could you get done if you put the time you spent complaining to better use?
- Turn an Enemy Into a Friend – A positive attitude can melt even the toughest opponent. Sometimes you can turn an enemy into an ally simply with your attitude.
- From Bad to Good – Ever turned around a problem simply with your attitude? It can be powerful. While others are upset and losing their cool, keep your positive attitude front-and-center. You will be amazed at the results.
- Brighten a Stranger’s Day – Spread your positive attitude even with those you don’t know. Make someone smile or look on the bright side of their day. Remember, it’s a small world out there. You never know where you might meet that stranger again.
- Stand Out in the Crowd – A positive attitude can make you stand out like a shining beacon. Do you know someone like this in your workplace? Someone that everyone looks to for positive energy?
- Get Through That Tough Task – There is truth in the sayings, “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down” and “Whistle while you work.” No matter the task, a positive attitude can make it more enjoyable.
- Make Others Like You – People are attracted to a positive attitude. No one wants to hang out with Debbie Downer. People want to hang out with those that are positive and fun. Which are you?
- See the Opportunity – When things seem at their lowest, can you see the silver lining? Lost that contract? Or your job? What now? Sometimes the biggest problems lead to the biggest opportunities. Make sure you look on the positive side even when things are at their worst.
- The Difference Between Winning & Losing – Attitude wins. Ask the interviewer who gets the job. The interviewee with the positive attitude or the one who tells them about all their troubles?
Be Positive
Regardless of what life deals today, let’s be positive.
Even when walking into a bad situation.
It’s a choice, and it’s up to you.
Bring your own attitude.
Do you bring a positive attitude even when things are tough? When was the last time you won because of your positive attitude?