Carson Tate's Blog, page 7

Test post 1

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

The post Test post 1 appeared first on Carson Tate.

How to turn your email into the best personal assistant

Did you
know that you have personal assistant? If not, you two should meet. Right now.

That
personal assistant is your email program.

You are probably shaking your head or rolling your eyes in
disbelief wondering if you just read the last sentence correctly. Is it even
conceivable that your email program could ever be that helpful, let alone, your
personal assistant? Your inbox is a constant source of angst and frustration.
It creates work for you – a lot of work. It certainly does not reduce your workload
like a personal assistant.

I want you to start to think about your email program
differently – especially as we gear up for a busy, end of year, flood of
emails. What if your inbox could actually reduce your workload? What if it
could be your personal assistant?

In writing my book, Work Simply, I realized that people were
significantly underutilizing the technology tools available to them in their
email programs. They were overlooking the fact that their email programs are
designed to support and assist them in completing work and accomplishing goals.

So, I am asking you to suspend your disbelief about the
capabilities of your email program. (Suspend your belief at least until you
have finished reading this post.) Because today is the day that you meet your
new personal assistant.

Let me get you two re-acquainted; let me show you what your
assistant can do for you.

ASK FOR WHAT YOU NEED.

Even an
exemplary personal assistant cannot read your mind. Neither can your inbox. It
is time to starting asking what your email program can do for you instead of
just assuming that all it can do is consume hours of your day. You are actually
in control. Start asking your email platform to do more for you. It can
automatically file your messages, send automated responses and schedule tasks.
If you want it do something and you are not sure if it can, just ask. Ask
Google. You will be pleasantly surprised to learn that the answer is most
likely yes. As my former sales manager told me, if you don’t ask, you are
guaranteed a no. If you ask, you have a 50% chance of a yes. Go for the yes.
Ask your email program for what you need.

HALT
INTERRUPTIONS.

Assistants are gatekeepers. They do not allow
interruptions. Why shouldn’t your inbox also be a gatekeeper? Use AwayFind an application
that works across email platforms. It will halt your daily barrage of email
notifications, except for the ones that include senders and keywords you
designate as urgent. Also, turn off all of the new message alerts – those
pings, buzzes, and pop ups that interrupt you. You do not have to be interrupted. Let
your assistant halt interruptions.

SCHEDULE
YOUR MEETINGS.

Assistants manage calendars. Ask your email
program to help you schedule your meetings. Eliminate the back and forth emails
trying to determine a time to meet. Click on the meeting shortcut icon
(available in Outlook and Outlook for Mac) and immediately turn that email into
a meeting request. Now, you will have access to that person’s calendar (if they
shared it) and can schedule the meeting. As an added bonus, the text of the
original email is pasted into the body of the meeting request so everyone has
background information on the meeting.

REMIND YOU OF YOUR PENDING REQUESTS.

Assistants
help you keep track of all of your open tasks and pending requests. Ask your
email program to remind you of the requests you have made via email where you
are waiting on a response. Automate your follow up by setting up and using the
‘waiting for’ rule.

Here’s
how it works: When you send an email where you need a response from the
recipient, cc yourself on that email. That email will then be automatically
saved in a folder you have designated for all of your follow ups. As new
messages are automatically added to this folder, the numeral indicating how many
messages are in the folder will become bold. No longer will you spend hours
searching through sent messages or trying to remember if you have followed up
on your open requests. Your personal assistant will remind you.

PRIORITIZE INCOMING MESSAGES.

Assistants
support you in prioritizing messages. Let your email program prioritize your
incoming messages. Color code your incoming message by sender priority. For
example, you might color code your manager red, your top clients in green and
turn the messages where you are cc:ed to light gray. So, when you open your
inbox, you can quickly scan looking for the most urgent messages, those from
your manager or key clients.

Surprised?
You do actually have a personal assistant. And that assistant is readily
accessible – right at your fingertips.

It’s
time you realized that your email program can do more for you. So, let it.
Then, you can get back to doing what you do best.

WHAT CAN
YOU DO NOW?

• Google one action you wish your email program
could perform for you. Ask for what you need. If you don’t ask,
you will not receive.

• Download AwayFind and turn off all of the new
email message alerts.

• Set up custom rules. Ask
for what you need. If you don’t ask, you will not receive.

The post How to turn your email into the best personal assistant appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

Why It Takes You Hours to Process Your Email

“Does this message require action by you?”

“Do you need to keep this message?”

“Have you responded to this message?”

These were just several questions I asked my client as we worked together to wade through her unread, email messages. 17,000 unread, email messages.

In almost every case, she stopped, reread each message, and sat to think for a minute about an answer to my respective question.  All of these emails loitering in my client’s uncontrolled, overflowing inbox were clutter. And, when it really comes down to it, what is clutter?  Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions.

In writing my book, Work Simply, I realized that the key to eliminating inbox clutter and reducing the hours you spend processing your inbox lies in making faster decisions.

The best way to do this is by using my Email Agility Process. The goal is to become more agile – able to move quickly and easily – in managing your inbox. The Email Agility Process is a four-step process—read, decide, act, contain—that will help you get into and out of your inbox as quickly as possible and make faster decisions without undermining your accuracy.

Read Your Email Messages Once

The first step in the Email Agility Process is to read.  Obvious?  Maybe. The fact is though that you are probably reading your emails – and then rereading them over and over.  You’re doing that because we’ve gotten ourselves into the habit of opening our email when we cannot truly read them and absorb the information they contain. For example, do you read your email while engaging in conversation, during the last few moments before a meeting, when standing in line for coffee, or while you have one foot out the office door?  The result: we only retain a fraction of the contents. Which means we must reread them. Which means we’re wasting precious time.

This problem sounds trivial, but let’s assume you receive 100 messages per day, and that it takes you approximately one minute to read each one. That means you invested one hour and 40 minutes reading your messages once. But, if you were unable to read and understand them fully the first time, and, therefore, you need to go back and reread them, the time you’ve now invested amounts to three hours 20 minutes.

Get into the habit of opening your email only when you have the time and energy to read and absorb the contents.

Decide – What is this email message? Does it require action?

The second step in the Email Agility Process is decide. Remember: clutter is postponed decisions. This is the step in the process where you are actively preventing clutter from building by making a decision about the email message. Ask yourself, “What is this email message? Does it require action?” This is a quick and very simple step, but very powerful. Do not underestimate the power of making a decision. Remember, every decision you postpone, the more time you have to spend processing your email.

Act On Your Email Messages

The third step in the Email Agility Process is act. Does the email message require some concrete action by you—for example, to answer a question, send a piece of information to someone else, add a date to your calendar, or recommend a solution to a simple problem?  If so, you have three choices.

Follow Nike, and “just do it.” Take this choice if you can complete the requested task or answer the question in three to five minutes or less.
Delegate the email to someone else. This requires a decision as to whether or not you are the right person to address the issue raised in the message. If you’re not the right person, delegate it, and do so immediately.  You can either forward the email to the right person (after adding a few words explaining what you’re doing) or write a brief response to the original correspondent recommending the appropriate contact and copying the contact on the message.
Convert the email into a task. This simply means reading the message, deciding on your next action step, and converting it into a task. It’s as easy as changing the subject line of the email to your next action step, converting it into a task using the task function in your email program, or creating one or more appointments directly from the email – whatever works best for you and your productivity style.

Now, what if an email message doesn’t require action by you? In that case, you have two choices: File it or delete it.

How do you decide which to do? Before filing an email message, ask yourself: when would I need to retrieve this information? Do I need it for legal, compliance, or regulatory reasons? Are there specific details about an ongoing project that are available in this email and nowhere else?  If not, delete it.

Contain your email messages.

Finally, the fourth step in the Email Agility Process is to contain your email messages.  This is not so much a separate step as a summary of the entire circle.  The word contain should remind you that your inbox is not an optimal storage container for all of the thousands of messages you receive. Contain those messages by moving them to one of the following locations: your file folders, the trashcan, your calendar, or your task list.

Now, implement the Email Agility Process, keep your inbox clutter free, and reclaim your time. You have great things to do with your life – none of which involve sitting in front of your email.

What can you do now?

Decide not to “read” your email messages while waiting in line for coffee, at stop lights or while walking down the street today. Chose to read your email messages when you can focus enough to make a decision.
Change the subject line of your email messages to reflect your next action step.
Before filing one more email message, ask yourself, when would I need to retrieve this information? Do I need it for legal, compliance, or regulatory reasons? Are there specific details about an ongoing project that are available in this email and nowhere else?

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting https://carsontate.com/

The post Why It Takes You Hours to Process Your Email appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

Reentry Strategy

Five Tips to Avoid Reentry Stress After a Vacation

 

Although we all love taking a break from work, vacation can often create a lot of stress. And reentering back into work and the routine of everyday life after being gone for an extended period of time can be brutal!

 

After you return from your trip, a mountain of tasks awaits you at home, including:

Laundry to wash
A refrigerator to restock
Emails to read
Mail to sort
To do list items

 

And on and on. Sometimes the stress of just thinking these tasks before leaving for your trip is enough to make you want to cancel. I’ve been there. But don’t cancel your plans! Taking a break by going on that vacation can actually boost your productivity at work afterward—if you go about it correctly.

 

Before you leave, make a strategy for how you’re going to avoid falling into the trap of reentry stress. Here are five tips on how to make an easy, smooth transition back into your work routine and everyday life after your vacation.

 

Block the first morning
Make use of travel time
Reflect on your work
Slowly and steadily get back into your work routine
Tackle the house as a team

 

1.      Block the First Morning

If your first day back includes stressful meetings, you may find yourself falling behind and getting overwhelmed. Don’t take any meetings the first day you return to work. Instead, ease yourself back into work. The only meeting you should be booking is with yourself. Block off the first morning or, better yet, the entire first day if you can. Take the time by yourself to catch up on emails and voicemail messages. Respond when you need to.

 

Get clear and current. What did you miss while you were away? The world may not have stopped, but that doesn’t mean you have to fall behind. Check in with your colleagues to catch up on everything you missed during your time off.

 

If you take this time to transition, you won’t experience as much stress while you get back into your routine. You’ll be more efficient and effective with the work you get done.

 

2.      Make Use of Travel Time

Depending on how far you’re traveling, you may end up spending a significant amount of time transporting from your destination to back home. Why not make the most of this time? If someone else is driving or if you’re flying, you can take this time to get ready for the week ahead. Organize yourself by reviewing your task and calendar. This will help you mentally get back in the game. Take your time to get caught up emails and send responses if you can.

 

If you’re driving yourself back home, you might want to consider returning home with a few hours to spare. This way you can still take the time to catch up on emails and mentally prepare for the upcoming week. While you’re driving, mentally transition back into work mode. Think ahead about what you need to accomplish and how you can be the most effective in completing those tasks.

 

3.      Reflect on Your Work

Getting away from your usual routine and environment is the perfect opportunity to reflect on your work. New ideas and insights are most likely to hit you while you’re away from your normal routine.

 

While your brain is still fresh, take time to evaluate. Be honest about your work. Think about changes you can make and areas that need improvement.

Are you attending some meetings unnecessarily?
Are you generating reporting that no one reads?
Are there some tasks on your calendar that aren’t worth the time you’re putting into them?

 

For some of these items, you might need to take a different approach. With others, you should eliminate them altogether. Getting away can be a great way of seeing what tasks are worth your time and what simply are not as important. Think about how you’re allocating your time and what you can do moving forward to be the most effective and productive that you can be.

 

4.      Slowly and Steadily Get Back into Your Work Routine

In the coming week, give yourself grace as you ease your way back into your regular work routine. Don’t schedule any especially challenging work for yourself in the first two or three days after returning home. Remember that the world didn’t collapse while you were away. You’ll catch up on everything you missed, but it might just take a little time.

 

Even though you’re back at work, there’s no need to completely forget your vacation. Get together with friends to talk about your trip and share your vacation photos.

 

5.      Tackle the House as a Team

When you arrive home, put the whole family to work. If you have kids that can help with the chores, let them. You and your spouse can work on different tasks simultaneously. If you think ahead, there might even be some things that you can get done before you leave. For instance, you might be able to order groceries online before you leave for vacation and get them delivered the night get home. That’s one task you won’t have to worry about when you return!

 

Get creative. Sometimes setting a timer to see how quickly you can accomplish a task will help you work fast. If everyone pitches in, the work will be done in no time. Many hands make light work!

 

Don’t let the stress of reentering your home prevent you from relaxing while you’re away. If you follow this strategy, you’ll experience an easy transition back into your routine. Don’t feel guilty about taking a break. It will boost your productivity and your mental health. With that in mind, go enjoy your vacation!

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting https://carsontate.com/

 

 

The post Reentry Strategy appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

How to Get Ready for Vacation— the Smart Way

I hear it all the time: “It’s just too much work to take a vacation!”

Now, I can completely sympathize. Getting ready for vacation can be a chore! If you’re traveling with your family, you have to make sure they have everything they need, do laundry to make sure your kids and spouse have the clothes they need.

Not to mention, you have to plan out the trip—transportation, accommodations, dates. You might have to reschedule appointments, figure out who’s going to take care of your pets and water the plants. And, at work, there are projects to complete, an inbox to clear, colleagues and clients to connect with before you can leave.

Wondering if Vacation is Worth the Time and Energy?

I don’t say that to scare you away from vacations. Quite the opposite! I want you to know that I understand how overwhelming it can be to get ready for vacation. But I also know that vacation is absolutely ESSENTIAL to your mental, physical, and spiritual health. It can boost your energy, productivity, and happiness like nothing else.

For me, it’s simply not an option to skip vacation. I need it. You do, too.

And there’s a better way to prepare for vacation—a way that won’t stress you out!

My Top Tips for Stress-Free Vacation Preparation

Here’s what I did before our last vacation.

What to Do at Work Before Going on Vacation

First, I carved out about 3 weeks to prepare and plan for the trip. That gave me plenty of time to remember everything I needed to do to get myself, my family, and my work life organized before we left town.

I reviewed all the projects and tasks that I needed to do before I departed. Instead of writing down all the “want-to-do” stuff, I focused on the things that absolutely needed to get done. I also wrote down the action step I needed to take as soon as I got back home. This made it much less stressful to leave my work behind!

One of the most important things you can do in the weeks before leaving is to communicate with your colleagues. Let them know the status of any projects that impact them, and make sure they know what to do while you’re gone. Let them know if you will be checking in, or if you will have any office hours during vacations. If you’ll be totally off-grid, good for you! Just be sure to let people know that they won’t be able to get ahold of you.

While taking to my colleagues in the weeks before leaving, I determined my contingency plans. In other words, I figured out who would be handling the things I normally handle at work on a day to day basis. Some things could wait until I got back, but other tasks needed to be handled, so I made sure there was someone available who could take over in my absence.

I wrote an out-of-office email response that included the dates of my absence as well as a list of colleagues to contact for various different questions and issues.

Another great tip is to put your dates of absence into your email signature a week or more ahead of time. After your name, simply say something like “Note: I will be out of the office June 14-20.”

Right before you leave, you should communicate with any clients, vendors, or other key stakeholders to remind them you’ll be gone and to make sure they know who to contact if they need something during your vacation.

During this time, I also booked a meeting with myself for the first morning that I got back in the office. I wanted to make sure that when I got back to work, I had a chunk of time freed up to do email and phone calls and connect with my colleagues and clients.

All these things really helped me relax and have a stress-free vacation, knowing that I did everything I could to get my work life organized and under control before I left.

How to Organize Your Personal and Family Life Before a Vacation

In the three-week period that you’ve carved out for vacation prep, there’s lots to do at home, too! If you do everything in an organized way and don’t wait until 10:00 the night before you leave, you’ll have a much better chance at success.

First, inventory your vacation supplies ahead of time. Do you or any family members need new clothes or swimsuits? Do you have sunscreen? Do you need to get reading material for the trip? Snacks for the car or airplane? Make sure to figure all these things out before you hit the road! You want your vacation to be special and memorable, not fraught with stress from items that you forgot to bring.

Prepare your home for departure. A few weeks ahead of time, make plans for your pets. Figure out if you need anyone to water the plants or get the mail and newspaper.

And, of course, make sure all your plans are in place for travel, accommodations, and any excursions you might be going on. Keep all your plans organized in a notebook, folder, or even on your phone to make sure you have all your reservations and other information handy.

Go Forth and Relax!

Don’t let anything stand between you and your next vacation! As you can see, it just takes a bit of time, dedication, and organization—but going on vacation doesn’t have to be too hard! And, I promise, it will be totally worth it to get out of town and unwind for a few days with your family. Have fun!

The post How to Get Ready for Vacation— the Smart Way appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

Your Meetings Stink—Here’s How You Can Fix It.

There’s a reason no one likes attending your meetings! They’re boring, repetitive, and often times irrelevant. Most companies hold more meetings than they actually should, and the meetings they do hold often times aren’t as useful as they could be. For many people, meetings are simply a waste of time and don’t end up accomplishing much of anything, let alone their intended purpose. Quite frankly, your meetings stink.

 

Rethinking your meetings

There are definitely times when meetings are necessary for brainstorming, informing, and more. So how can you make the necessary meetings really count? If you want people to attend your meetings, you need to rethink your meetings! And if you want attendees to stay engaged instead of zoning out or constantly checking their phones, you’ll need some extra help.

 

Stop mindlessly planning your meetings. Here are six questions you should ask yourself before sending invites to your next meeting. They will help ensure that your meeting is efficient and effective.

 

1. Why do we need to meet?

The very first step to planning any meeting should be deciding on its main purpose. For some meetings, you may have many reasons you think you should meet, while for others, you may only be able to think of one. If identifying a purpose is too difficult, you’re not ready to meet. Either take some time until you can come up with a clear purpose or forgo a meeting altogether.

 

Even if you have a purpose, maybe a meeting is not the most effective way of accomplishing your purpose. Think about if there is some way other than having a meeting that you can accomplish the same thing. Is there a faster, more effective way to meet your goal—such as sending an email? If so, do that instead.

2. What is the outcome?

In other words, what do you want to achieve as a result of the meeting? This is different from a purpose because it is an actual change that needs to take place as a result of the meeting. Because of your meeting, how will you or your employees’ ways of thinking change? What will you or your employees end up doing differently? What will they say differently?

 

If you can’t find something tangible that will change because of the meeting, it’s better to not have one. Otherwise, you’ll just be wasting your attendees’ time and your own.

3. Is there an alternative format?

Sometimes the information you want to convey in a meeting is necessary but choosing a meeting as a means of conveying that information will be ineffective. With the power of technology, you have so many possible platforms. Think about the tools that are available to you:

 

email
social media
flyers
the polling feature on Outlook
doodle poll
video
And much more!

 

And, it will probably be much better at holding their attention than sitting in a hot, stuffy room for an hour! Get creative. Maybe you could create a flyer about policy changes and hang it up in the bathroom stalls. There’s no one size fits all solution for conveying information to the company. You know your employees better than anyone. Match the platform for your message with the audience.

4. Who needs to attend the meeting?

Next, you should think about the appropriate audience for the information you need to share. Don’t be lazy and send invites to the entire company—that’s the fastest way to make enemies with a large group of people. A lot of people you might consider inviting won’t care and won’t want to be there.

 

This is your meeting. You’re the subject matter expert, and you need to be the one to make the decision. Determine who the stakeholders involved with your purpose are and base your decision around that. Sometimes it might be hard to admit that not very many need to be present at your meeting. It’s easy for ego to get in the way. But it’s better to have a small meeting with essential staff than a big one where most people won’t benefit from the agenda.

5. What do the attendees need to know?

Now you need to think about the most important information that must be conveyed in your meeting. You don’t want to bore everyone with extra information that they don’t need. People have short attention spans. There may also be additional tasks you want meeting attendees to accomplish beforehand. Should they review financials? Create a presentation? Compile a report? Make sure they know this ahead of time, so they can prepare accordingly.

6. What expectations do I have?

Lastly, think about how you are expecting people to have prepared for the meeting and how they should participate during the meeting. Make sure you communicate these expectations clearly. Set your attendees up for success and do everything you can to achieve your meeting objectives. This will include attaching your meeting agenda to your meeting invitation.

 

You now have all the tools you need to create a successful meeting invitation! The next time you think it’s time to hold a meeting, stop and ask yourself these questions. Your employees will thank you!

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting https://carsontate.com/

The post Your Meetings Stink—Here’s How You Can Fix It. appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

Are There Too Many Meetings In Your Life?

If you’re like most people, your schedule is packed full of useless meetings that you don’t want to attend. Between accomplishing everything on your task list, replying to emails, maintaining your personal life, and more, you just not have enough time to sit down and participate in a meeting. A lot of times you probably don’t even see the value of the meetings you’re invited to.

 

Most of us spend too much time in meetings. And the time that we invest in meetings is usually a waste. Meetings are typically boring, repetitive, too long, and irrelevant. Worst of all, they don’t always accomplish something. It’s time for a meeting revolution! Start questioning the value of the meetings you attend instead of just mindlessly accepting every meeting invite you get.

 

Here are five specific questions that you should always ask yourself when you’re trying to decide what meetings to attend.

 

1. Will this meeting assist you in achieving your goals?

Consider the return on investment with your meetings. Will you obtain new information, get a fresh perspective, or get the chance to share about your challenges? What you glean as a result of the meeting should outweigh the time and energy you have to put into it. If nothing purposeful is going to happen, why are you going?

 

Your time and energy are valuable resources you should not invest lightly. And if you don’t take action and protect your resources, no one else will. It’s your responsibility to ensure you are investing your time and energy into worthwhile meetings. That means you’ll end up declining some meeting invitations.

 

2. What contribution can you make to the discussion?

Maybe the meeting you’ve been invited to is necessary, but it’s pointless for you to be present. Sometimes it can be hard to admit that you’re not essential. But that’s okay because everyone in your company has different strengths and weaknesses. When you know what yours are, you can decide which meetings you can benefit from and contribute to. You can also rule out the meetings you don’t need to attend.

 

Every meeting you attend should align with your company’s strategic priorities. If your presence won’t benefit anyone’s who’s there, why would you go? If you have to ask yourself why you were invited, decline. Or if you think there actually is a reason you’ve been invited, you can always email the meeting’s organizer. If even they don’t know why they are inviting you, then you definitely need to accept the invitation. You would know if there was a good reason for you to go.

 

3. Will anyone notice if you don’t attend?

Do you really think that your co-workers will realize whether or not you attend the meeting? Just because you got an invite doesn’t mean your presence is actually needed at the meeting. Check your ego. If it’s a company-wide meeting, odds are, no one will realize if you don’t attend. Only go to meetings where you can truly make a difference. If you’re not contributing anything to the meeting, your presence will probably be overlooked and unimportant

 

4. Will this meeting be energizing?

Some meetings are so boring that they can feel like they are sucking the life out of you. You have to sit in a hot, stuffy room. The meeting is long and draining and sometimes characterized by arguing and negativity. And for meetings that aren’t necessary for you to attend, you’re needlessly suffering. There are so many things in your life that will drain you anyway between work and your personal life. If a meeting is not necessary and will only put a damper on your motivation and productivity, don’t go to it.

 

Get clear on what your specific return on investment for the meeting will be. If this meeting will just be a re-hash of recent meetings, don’t go! You shouldn’t have to suffer for the meeting organizer’s poor judgment in organizing the meeting. Only attend meetings that leave you feeling inspired and motivated.

 

5. What will you not be able to do if you don’t attend?

Meetings are not costless. Remember that whenever you say yes to one thing, you’re saying no to another. Think about this: who will you disappoint if you attend this meeting? If you’re like me, your family is the first thing in your life to suffer when you say yes to too many meetings. I know that in the past when I’ve overbooked my schedule, I’ve sacrificed time I could have spent with my daughter. While my co-workers might not have missed me at these meetings, my daughter certainly noticed my absence.

 

Don’t let your ego say “yes” when you’ll end up letting down someone you care about. Stop acting like you have an endless amount of time to go to every meeting you’re invited to. Time is a finite resource. Spend it wisely! Don’t ever assume that attending a meeting is the most important use of your time. Chances are, you have more important tasks at work or at home.

 

It’s time for you to have a manageable number of meetings in your life. Take back control of your schedule and start being selective about what meetings you attend. Minimize your meetings and become part of the meeting revolution!

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting https://carsontate.com/

The post Are There Too Many Meetings In Your Life? appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

Discovering and Leveraging Work Style Diversity

If you’re a leader, you know the importance of leveraging the diversity of your team members to achieve long-term success. But if you’re like most people, you probably think about diversity in too narrow of terms. Diversity means a lot more than just differences in ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, and age. These are all important, but one type of diversity you’re probably forgetting about is work style diversity. This means the way that people think about, organize, and complete their tasks. There will always be differences in work style no matter what line of work you’re in.

 

There are four basic types of work styles:

Logical, analytical, and data-oriented
Organized, plan-focused, and detail-oriented
Supportive, expressive, and emotionally oriented
Strategic, integrative, and idea-oriented

 

Balancing all four of these work styles within one group can skyrocket the success of the group! If your group members all share one work style, or if you’re missing one or two styles, you’ll run into trouble. For instance, if you have too many members that are focused on the big picture, you’ll frequently end up over budget and behind schedule. On the other hand, if you have a lot of the organized, plan-focused, and detail-oriented members, you’ll struggle with product development.

 

It takes a variety of work styles working together, complementing each other’s various strengths and weaknesses to make a strong team.

 

Are you not sure what type of work style you or your team members have? Or are you wondering how you can promote this type of workplace diversity? Here is a simple guide to identifying your coworker’s work styles and using their differences to your advantage.

 

Observe Your Team

Just like in poker, your coworkers have “tells” that help indicate what type of work style they have. So, watch them at work and evaluate how they finish their projects. Look for areas where they excel and ones they seem to struggle with more than others.

 

Think about questions like this:

Do any of your coworkers consistently complete tasks ahead of the deadlines, or do they wait until the last minute?
Do they send emails that are brief and to-the-point, or overly wordy with lots of information?
Are they animated with lots of hand gestures or are they stoic when they communicate?

 

The answers to some of these questions might be subtler than others. But they will all help you pinpoint the work styles of your team members.

 

Recruit New Members

Just like their personality, a person’s work style is often ingrained and won’t be easily changed. Because of this, the key to good workplace diversity is recruitment, not development. You shouldn’t expect a person’s work style will change with time, even if a person tries to change it. So, if you notice a lot of one or two styles on your team—or a lack of one or two styles—it’s time to switch things up to diversify work styles.

 

Leverage Strengths

Lastly, after you’ve determined the work styles of your team members, you can start brainstorming ways of leveraging everyone’s individual strengths. Play to your coworker’s strengths. Manage your expectations for them in light of their different work styles. It’s unfair to constantly assign a Logical work style the tasks that the Supportive work style should be completing. And, your results won’t be as good as they would be if you were correctly assigning tasks to the appropriate person.

 

Here are some helpful hints on what tasks you should assign to each of your group members based on their work style.

Logical

This person will be at their best when they are processing data or solving complex problems. They have clear goals in mind and are intentional about exactly what they need to get done to accomplish those goals. Expect them to dwell on the facts and have a harder time with theoretical concepts.

 

Organized

The organized work style is your best choice for completing structured projects and accurately completing tasks. They’ll be great at creating highly detailed plans. Expect them to be consistent and practical. If you need someone to assess your decision and find the flaws with it, the organized type should be your first choice.

 

Supportive

This person is great at building relationships, which means they are exceptional at persuading someone or selling ideas. They are effective communicators with sharp intuition. If you need someone to teach a concept or explain an idea to your other group members, the Supportive type will get the job done effectively.

 

Integrative

These people are the catalyst for change. They are great at brainstorming and synthesizing disparate thinking. When you find yourself falling behind, these are the people who will ensure your group is doing what it needs to constantly move forward. They are creative and open-minded, constantly challenging the status quo.

 

When you really seek to understand the uniqueness of your coworkers or team members, you’ll be a much better leader. If you’re still not sure where some of your group members fall in these four types of work styles, or if you’re unsure of how to effectively leverage their strengths, take my Productivity Style Assessment. It’s an easy quiz that will help you understand and appreciate the differences in work styles. 

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting carsontate.com.

 

The post Discovering and Leveraging Work Style Diversity appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

Reclaim Your Morning

Mornings are stressful. No matter how much sleep you get, it seems like you’re always still tired when your alarm goes off. If you’re like most people, you spend some time checking your phone to see what you missed on social media while you were sleeping and see what emails have already started cluttering your inbox. You may not even have time to eat breakfast, but you always overdose on caffeine. You rush to get ready, have to deal with traffic, and arrive late to the office.

 

Then, for the rest of the day, your schedule is dictated by your overflowing inbox. You don’t feel in control of your life. You feel like you’re living out the expectations others have set for you. You feel frantic, rushed, and you struggle to complete any truly meaningful work. A bad morning can hijack the rest of your day.

 

Does this sound familiar? If so, you need a better morning routine! These habits are probably ones you’ve been following for years, but it’s never too late to make a change. You can get out of the morning rut that’s hindering your progress during the rest of the day. The first 90 minutes after you wake up are absolutely crucial. If you start your day strong, you’ll be more focused and productive.

 

Four Habits to Successfully Reclaim Your Morning

Here are four ways you can change up your morning routine that are easy to do but yield big results.

 

1. Drink Water

After sleeping for seven or hours straight, your body gets dehydrated. The very first thing you should do after waking up is hydrate. Drink at least twenty ounces of water. This will jumpstart your metabolism and help you feel refreshed when you start your day.

 

Staying hydrated is also vital to your brain function, since it’s made of 76% water. By drinking water first thing in the morning, you’re fueling yourself for the rest of the day. Whenever you’re running low on water, your brain function will suffer. You’ll also experience fatigue and sluggishness that definitely hinders your work day. You’ll feel physically and emotionally drained and be more likely to get painful headaches throughout the day. Not only do these aches cause physical pain but they can also deter your ability to concentrate.

 

2. Meditate

Meditation is a great way to recharge your mind and body. After you’re hydrated, spend some time quietly meditating. It creates a positive state of mind that will keep you motivated throughout the day. Because it reduces stress and anxiety, meditation is an easy way to improve your mental health. It clears your thinking and improves your concentration.

 

If you don’t have much experience with meditation, the Headspace app is a great place to start. You can sign up for a free 30-day trial. Each morning, open the app and select an easy guided meditation to help you decompress. The topics include stress, anxiety, and focus. They’re short, so you won’t have to commit very much time to using the app. It will take some practice, but with time, it will get easier, and you’ll glean the many benefits from meditation.

 

3. Exercise

Exercising isn’t just helpful for your physical health. There’s are so many reasons why exercising is the ultimate way to start your day! Exercising enhances your ability to transfer glucose and oxygen throughout your brain and body. Exercise is a natural way to help you feel more energetic. Unlike with caffeine, exercise won’t make you feel anxious or crash later on in the day.

 

If you don’t enjoy working out, experiment with the many different ways you can get moving! Do yoga, try cardio, learn how to weight or do all three. Different types of exercise will benefit you in different ways. You don’t have to stick to a routine. Switch things up regularly to keep yourself interested. Take classes, try a trainer, work out at home, or go to the gym with friends. Look for workout plans and new exercises on fitness websites or on YouTube. Working out early in the morning is especially beneficial. It increases your focus and helps you stay alert throughout your workday.

 

4. Focus on Achieving Your Goals

Now, your body and mind are primed for the rest of the day. This is the exciting part—it’s time to focus on setting and achieving your goals. Think of how much you can accomplish when you feel great and your mind is focused!

 

One way to help strategize your day is to use a method from The Five-Minute Journal. You can purchase these books online, but you don’t need to buy the book to follow the principles. Start your day by asking yourself these three simple questions:

What am I grateful for?
What would make today great?
I am ______________

 

After journaling your answers to these questions, write three to five action steps you can follow that will get you closer to achieving your goals. By writing them down, you’ll be more likely to follow through. And you’ll have the right focus throughout the day. This will enhance your morning routine.

 

The way you conduct your mornings will help dictate the rest of your day. And although there will always be things you can’t control, you can control your morning routine. Choose to set yourself up for success instead of failure.

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting carsontate.com.

 

The post Reclaim Your Morning appeared first on Productivity Coaching.

How to Prepare for the New Year

It’s hard to believe, but the new year is right around the corner. With just a few weeks left in 2018, it’s time to start preparing for 2019. Are you ready?

 

Maybe 2018 was a fantastic year for you, or maybe it was one you’d rather soon forget. Either way, it’s important for you to plan ahead for the new year. You won’t get a productive, prosperous 2019 without intentionally working toward it. Don’t just make New Year’s resolutions that are short-lived and leave you feeling disappointed when you inevitably give up on them. Rather than arbitrarily coming up with one goal for the new year, focus more on long-term goals.

 

If this sounds intimidating to you, here are four ways to make the most of the remainder of 2018 and get ready for the new year.

 

Clean Up Your Workspace

Before you can start fresh with a new year, you need to clean out your life. You need space—both physical and mental! If you don’t have this, you won’t have any room for new ideas and opportunities. Start with organizing your workspace. Archive and shred old documents and papers that you don’t need anymore. If they aren’t serving a purpose, they are needlessly taking up space. Don’t stop your purge with just paper items. Delete old emails and electronic files. If there are items you can’t delete, at least archive them so they aren’t cluttering up your inbox and computer.

 

Eliminating the items that you don’t need will help clear your focus. That pile of old business cards, notes, and paper scraps will distract you from the many things you need to do. Clutter also has a tendency to overwhelm us. The last thing you need is more stress in your life, but that’s exactly what you’ll get when you have a lot of extra stuff in your workspace. Your work area should be a place where you feel inspired and motivated to work—not one where you feel suffocated and unwelcome. If you find yourself scared of getting rid of things, remember your motto during this time: out with the old, in with the new.

 

Reduce Your To-Do List!

Have you ever thought about how your responsibilities are constantly growing, and you are always adding to your to-do list, but you never take anything away?  After some time, you have to realize it’s impossible for you to keep up with all of these responsibilities. At some point, you are going to have to either choose to eliminate something, or it will fall through the cracks by default. This is especially true toward the end of the year when everything is piling up and will eventually reach a tipping point. Don’t let something important become the thing that falls by the wayside.

 

Take a long, hard look at your list, and ask yourself if each project you have listed is still relevant. Will they all tie into your priorities for 2019? Are there items you have on the list just because you think they SHOULD be, but you keep putting them off and you don’t intend to accomplish them? There’s no point in them staying on your list. Ask yourself if some of the items on your list are just busy work. Maybe you included writing reports and updates that no one reads. Choose to remove these items and replace them with more meaningful tasks.

 

In your new and improved to-do list, consider how you can showcase your strengths. Don’t forget to keep items that will bring you joy. Get clear and current on your to-do list.

 

Manage Information Flowing into Your Life

It’s very important you manage the information you are allowing yourself to absorb. Information overload is normal, but it shouldn’t have to be. Think hard about what you actually want to let into your life. Who do you follow on social media? Are there some accounts that make you feel bad about yourself rather than inspiring and motivating you? Unfollow the accounts that have a negative impact on you.

 

Don’t forget about junk mail—both physical and digital. Unsubscribe from promotional emails that fill up your inbox. You can use optoutprescreen.com to opt out of credit card solicitations and valpack.com to stop receiving coupon packs and catalogs.

 

Take Stock of 2018

Lastly, review the past year of your life. What did you accomplish either personally or professionally? Remember your achievements and be proud of yourself! But don’t just look at the ultimate results. Think about what led to those results. What books did you read that inspired you? What podcasts did you listen to, television shows did you watch, etc.? Did you go to any conferences or workshops? All of these things have an impact on your motivation and creativity. It can be good or bad. Make sure you weed out the influences that have the wrong kind of impact on your life. If you don’t have a lot of good influences, think about the type of results you want in the new year and what influences you need to start consuming to achieve those goals.

 

Don’t just focus on the good things. Think opportunities you missed or times when you think you failed. If you’re aware of these mistakes, you’ll be less likely to repeat them in 2019. Think about what you want more of next year and what you want less of.

 

If you’re intentional about the way you spend the final days of 2018, you’ll have a better 2019. Enjoy what’s left of 2018 and have a happy new year!

 

Carson Tate is a renowned coach, teacher, and creator of the Productivity Style Assessment® with expertise in providing simple solutions that transform individuals’ personal and professional lives. Learn more about her philosophy and strategies for productivity by visiting carsontate.com. 

 

 

 

The post How to Prepare for the New Year appeared first on Productivity Coaching.