ED 262 Research, Reference & Resource Skills

Any phenomenon that becomes “fashionable” instantly acquires its own mythology. This mythology forms a system of concepts that are accepted and not questioned. At the same time, the vast majority o…

What do successful people do differently? For one thing, they typically wake up very early. Long before they hit the office, they’ve been up and active, performing tasks that will set them up for success throughout the day.

There’s a notable distinction between being busy and being productive. Being busy doesn’t always necessarily mean you’re being productive. Despite what some might believe, being productive is less about time management and more on managing your energy. It’s the business of life. It’s learning how to spend the least amount of energy to get the most benefits. I personally learned how to reduce my work week from 80 hours to 40 hours, and get a lot more work done in the process. For me, less is more.

Successful entrepreneurs have a lot of things in common; one is knowing how to make the best use of their time. When the clock is ticking and they are under pressure to deliver, many have a favourite productivity hack to ensure things get done on time. Here, seven entrepreneurs share their tried and tested ways of being more productive.

Create artificial deadlines

Business expert and author of The Startup Coach Carl Reader uses a clever technique of creating artificial deadlines to guarantee a productive finish.

“One of my favourite tricks is the ‘train journey to nowhere,” he said. “I book a return train ticket, don't take my mobile phone, and set a completion target for the journey. With a clear deadline and no distractions, I find that I often produce more than I would in the office in a whole day. It's great if you can tie this around meetings that you need to travel to, but if not, the productivity boost is well worth the cost of a train ticket.”

Want to know one habit ultra-successful people have in common?

They read. A lot.

In fact, when Warren Buffett was once asked about the key to success, he pointed to a stack of nearby books and said, “Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”

Buffett takes this habit to the extreme — he read between 600 and 1000 pages per day when he was beginning his investing career, and still devotes about 80% of each day to reading.

And he’s not alone. Here are just a few top business leaders and entrepreneurs who make reading a major part of their daily lifestyle

Guest Post: Time Keeps on Slipping (So, use it productively)!

Paying enough effort and time is a key to success. However, sometimes the effort and time are not enough to get what you want. The matter is that we get the desired result when we properly use all the resources available. In this lies the real effectiveness that can help you to achieve what you want.

There are thousands of examples when people have several spare hours per day for accomplishing their goals but they never get what they want. And there are thousands of examples when people who have almost no free time get everything they want: they combine work and study, family and business, travel and full-time job. Why does this happen? In fact, the answer to this question lies in personal productivity and ability to manage time properly.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2016/03/14/time-the-most-important-factor-neglected-in-education/

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Time+Management

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Productivity

Stephen Altrogge

Spending more time at work and on specific tasks can actually hurt our performance, reducing the quality of our work. Research has shown that when weekly hours worked exceed 50 or 55 hours, cognitive performance (e.g., emotional intelligence skills and  the capacity to reason and solve problems) and work engagement levels begin to decline, dragging down the quality of the work produced with it. The relationship between reduced quality and working more is not new. In fact, Henry Ford’s primary motivation for cutting weekly hours from 48 to 40 was to reduce the number of errors his employees were making. Employers in a number of manufacturing industries have similarly found that they could maintain output and quality while decreasing employees’ hours.

Forget slogans and posters. Forget mission statements. Forget culture decks. A survey of over 400,000 people across the U.S. found that when employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they are more than two times as likely to give extra effort at work -- and to plan for having a long-term future with their company.

But wait, there's more: When employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they are more than five times as likely to believe their leaders act with integrity.

The result? At those companies, employee turnover rates are half that of other companies in the same industry. Productivity, innovation, and growth metrics outperform the competition. For public companies, stock returns are almost three times the market average.

Do you feel like your brain is on serious overdrive? A stream of clutter slowly turning your mental space into a chaotic mess? If the answer is yes, it means that your mind is frantically waving a red flag, begging you to free up some headspace.

Just like our cabinets and cupboards, our minds too need tidying up from time to time. Getting rid of all that non-essential mental baggage is crucial to stay focused, motivated and productive.

Here are ten simple yet effective tips to help you de-clutter your mind in no time.

New research shows that it may not be the sound itself that distracts us…it may be who is making it. In fact, some level of office banter in the background might actually benefit our ability to do creative tasks, provided we don’t get drawn into the conversation. Instead of total silence, the ideal work environment for creative work has a little bit of background noise. That’s why you might focus really well in a noisy coffee shop, but barely be able to concentrate in a noisy office.

One study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that the right level of ambient noise triggers our minds to think more creatively. The researchers, led by Ravi Mehta of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, examined various levels of noise on participants as they completed tests of creative thinking.

Do you feel pretty bad about procrastinating? Here are 4 life hacks that will help you quit the procrastination habit at workplace.