6 Important Tips To Be More Productive at Work.

We all have tough days at work when we just can't seem to get it all done. Maybe you're coming back from vacation and are having a hard time hopping back into your routine; maybe your boss is training you for more responsibility, and it's overwhelming you; or perhaps you are covering for a workmate who has called in sick.


However, what if you feel like that all the time? Feeling that way adds to our stress level and reduces our productivity. It's not just about the impact on our mental sanity, either – feeling constantly overwhelmed affects our physical, long-term health. According the Cleveland Clinic: "Newer information supports the idea that not only does physical illness cause stress, but stress may bring on or worsen certain symptoms or diseases."

Bottom line: We need to be able to get our work done without feeling overwhelmed, otherwise our physical health can be impacted. The following tips can help you feel more in control of your workload:

1. Use the time-blocking method. Productivity is the result of intelligent planning – not working extra hours every day. This is where organizing and prioritizing comes in. Prioritize your tasks by week, and then by day. Take 30 minutes on Monday to prioritize your tasks and projects for the week. What are the two biggest projects or tasks you need to accomplish? Focus on the larger items rather than the everyday email-checking or following up with clients.

Use the time-blocking method, in which you block out the time on your calendar for the projects you need to complete. Mark the time on your calendar so no one else can schedule a meeting during that time. Then, be flexible during the week. Things change, and you can't always control your schedule. Spend a few minutes in the afternoon to prioritize your tasks for the next day. Create your to-do list, and adjust your time blocks for the following day. Your time blocking should be a weekly and daily planning task.

Finally, check tasks off as you finish them. We all like that small rush of adrenaline we get from checking things off the list.

Action tip: Take 15 to 20 minutes at the beginning of each week to plan your week. Then take five minutes each afternoon to organize your next day, defining the top three priorities and length of time each one will take. Block out the time you'll need on your calendar.

2. Create a routine, and stick to it. We are creatures of habit, and so are our brains. When we establish routines, we can carry out tasks faster since we don't have to "think" about the task – or prepare for it – as much, and can work on autopilot.

This can be helpful for less important, daily, repetitive tasks in the office. Decide on a routine that works for you in your job. For example, after you get organized in the morning, you may decide to check and respond to all your emails. Then you prepare for any appointments and meetings for the day. After that, you could start on your list of projects. When you group together smaller tasks, and your brain creates that habit, you will be able to fly through them and move on with your day.

Assigning days of the week for certain things helps as well. Mondays and Fridays could be administrative days, for example. Tuesdays and Wednesdays could be dedicated to client meetings. Not everyone can control their schedule this much, but try to create as much structure as possible.

Take it a step further, and create your ideal schedule. How would you like your calendar to look? Write it down. Create it as a separate Google calendar, so when you are scheduling your week you can use it as a guideline. Choosing certain days and times of day to work on specific projects and tasks can help you create a routine that will make you more efficient. Finally, stick to the routine. Take a breath, and prioritize.

Action tips: Decide which small tasks you could group together every day, and decide when you will do them. Create an ideal schedule for yourself using certain days and times of day for specific tasks. Consider when you are most productive for tougher tasks.

Also consider your workflow and typical deadlines. Take a few minutes to consider the typical flow of your work in any given week to understand when it's best to tackle certain tasks. Then, take action on the next tip below.

3. Keep track of your time. Maybe you feel you are organized at work but still don't have enough time in the day for everything. Log your time for two weeks, writing down how much you spend on each task and activity at work. Track everything from emails to lunch to conversations with workmates to work projects and breaks. This will allow you to see where the majority of your time is being spent and then make any necessary adjustments. You may be surprised with the results. If you need to, speak with your boss about where you are spending your time and if it's the right balance and percentage of time in each area.

Action tip: Find an app, or buy a notebook to use today so you can start logging your time at work tomorrow. The clock doesn't lie, so make sure to log your time honestly. At the end of each week, tally up how much time went into each activity. You may find lots of time going into unimportant emails or conversations with workmates. Decide how you can channel that time into more important tasks so you can get everything done in the day.

4. Remember, you are a professional. While it is helpful to schedule your harder tasks during a time of day that you feel more alert, like after your afternoon espresso, do not let this always be an excuse to wait to feel like you are ready to complete your tasks. Be honest with yourself., and get started on the project you need to tackle. Set yourself up for success by gathering every tool you need to complete the task. And turn off unnecessary distractions, such as your cell phone and email alerts. Try listening to music or an audiobook, if your job permits you to do so, and power through.

Action tip: If your line of work allows you to listen to music, create a power playlist for that time of day when you feel less motivated to complete tasks. Try turning off your phone alerts while you are concentrating on projects so you can stay focused.

5. Own the Pareto principle. This is also known as the 80/20 rule, which basically means that 80 percent of results come from 20 percent of effort. Keeping this rule in mind will help you focus on the most important tasks and get better results. You may find that certain tasks look just as good when you only do the most important things instead of using a lot of time to perfect small details. For example, instead of spending a lot of time perfecting an email to your colleagues about a team meeting, you could simply use bullet points for the issues you need to discuss as a team and then move on to other tasks.

Action tip: Review your time-tracking log. Decide when you can use the Pareto principle in your work day. Identify which projects or tasks you spend too much time on because you're being too much of a perfectionist or trying to avoid other items. Sometimes we want to perfect every single task, but this principle helps to control that urge. When too much time is spent on simple tasks, there isn't enough time for the important ones.

6. Stay balanced. If your office allows you to take breaks during the day, take advantage of it, even if you only take five minutes instead of 15. Get up, walk around, go outside and get some fresh air. Also, respect your day off. If you take the weekends off, don't work unless it's absolutely necessary. Enjoy your time with friends and family doing activities that have nothing to do with work.

This will allow you to return to work feeling refreshed, happy and ready to take on a new workweek. It gives your brain down time and can even allow you time to subconsciously muse on problems you need to address at work. When you get back to work, you might just have a new solution.


Credit:  Hallie Crawford

6 Reasons to Turn Down a Job Offer.

Job seekers can get so focused on landing a new gig that they may not pay attention to signals that the job, boss or company isn’t all that great.

The red flags might be flying during your interview, but you’re so busy talking about how well you work with your team or your killer sales record that you don’t see them. Or you pretend you don’t see them. You pretend you don’t hear the interviewer complain about a colleague or working long hours. Or you decide it's no big deal that she interrupted your interview twice to take a call.

If getting the job means a big jump in pay, or if you’ve been looking for work for a while with no luck, you’re more likely to be wearing blinders. But you have to remove these blinders if you don’t want to be job hunting again in a few months.

The good news is that there are usually clues during the interview process that you are heading for trouble. Spot any of these signs, and you may want to turn down an offer:

Your interviewer is late. Being a few minutes late for an interview is no big deal. However, if someone is 15 or 20 minutes late, that’s another story, particularly if your interviewer doesn’t appear to care. Being on time is a sign of respect.

Rescheduling your interview a few times doesn’t bode well, either. Your interviewer might be overworked or disorganized, and you really don’t want to work in that situation.

Your interviewer hasn’t reviewed your résumé. If the hiring manager isn’t familiar with your background, you have to wonder why you are being interviewed at all. Hiring managers who haven’t taken the time to read your résumé aren’t doing their job.

Ideally, the hiring manager and your potential boss will have called you in because they’ve carefully read and discussed your résumé and read your online profiles. If they haven't done this, they’re not invested enough in bringing in the right person, or they're just desperate to hire someone.

There's confusion about the position. Sometimes you get called in for an interview through a referral or because you have great résumé, and the manager is trying to figure out where you fit. You may wind up getting hired, but the job you get might not be best suited to you.

Taking a job because you like the company or the manager isn’t enough. Try to pin down specifics about what you will do and how you will be evaluated. Can’t get them? Walk away.

Your interviewer checks email. It's just too rude. And if someone is that uninterested in what you are saying, chances are you aren’t getting hired anyway.

The department has a lot of turnover. During your interview, ask why the previous employee in that position resigned, as well as how long that employee had been in the job and with the company. When you meet other team members, ask them about their career paths as well.

If many team members are recent hires, be sure there is good business reason for the hiring spree, such as a new product or client or a round of funding. Otherwise, too much employee churn hints at a toxic boss or culture.

You hear negative comments or read them online. If your interviewer criticizes the person you will be replacing, team members, a boss or even the company, don’t overlook it. It isn’t professional, and it might mean you will be working for someone who doesn’t respect other people or is impossible to please.

Pay attention to negative comments in online reviews of the company as well. A few negative reviews are one thing; there are always a few disgruntled employees. But if there are many, consider yourself warned. Look for patterns in the comments, too. If the same negative words or phrases pop up in many reviews, such as “political," “lacking vision” or “endless hours,” the problem might be the culture or the leadership, rather than a single manager.

Remember: This is your career, and you deserve a good one.

Credit: Susan Price

7 Signs of a Leader in the Making

And how to start building key management skills today.

If you’ve set your sights on becoming a supervisor, general manager or executive, you can begin building the necessary skills today.

Football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” Those wise words apply to your career, too.

It isn’t enough to want a promotion into a leadership position. You have to do the hard work to prepare yourself and gain recognition within your organization, which is often easier said than done.

But there is hope. Organizations are increasingly concerned about succession planning and holding on to good employees. The cost of recruiting new talent is high, and there is a degree of risk involved whenever someone from the outside is hired. The desire to promote the best candidate from within the organization may result in identifying and tracking high-potential employees earlier in the pipeline and improving measurements.

Korn Ferry, a talent management organization, conducted a global succession planning survey that assessed how companies identified and developed future leaders. “The results show us that people are promoted for what they can do, but fail for who they are,” states Stu Crandell, senior vice president of global offerings at Korn Ferry and the Korn Ferry Institute, in the survey's press release.

You’ve probably seen what happens when the right criteria and clear measurements weren’t used to promote someone. It is easy for companies to fall into the trap of promoting top performers. This is known as the Peter Principle. While top performers were great at the job, they may lack the characteristics and skills to be effective in the new role. For example, a top performing salesperson may not always have the ability to motivate a team and develop strategies that best meet the corporation’s financial objectives. Without these skills, the newly promoted sales manager would most likely struggle.

If your goal is to rise up through the ranks to leadership, begin developing the skills and traits valued in leadership roles and gain recognition for being competent and capable. Start with these seven signs of leadership identified by Korn Ferry:

1. A track record of formative experiences. Have you successfully handled any of the job requirements in leadership roles?

2. Learning agility. Have you taken what you’ve learned from previous experiences and applied it in different or new situations?

3. Self-awareness. Do you solicit feedback? Have you identified your strengths and weaknesses? Are you taking steps to improve where necessary?

4. Leadership traits. What qualities have you demonstrated that would be valued in more senior positions? Popular leadership traits include decisiveness, honesty and assertiveness.

5. The drive to be a leader. Do you seek out more challenging opportunities inside and outside of work?

6. Aptitude for logic and reasoning. How well do you analyze information, create innovative solutions to complex problems and develop strategies for improvement?

7. Management of derailment risks. Do you know what personal failure looks like? What are you doing to keep yourself on the leadership track? How are you keeping up to date and continuing to be well-respected?

The good news is that you can develop all of these qualities. You don’t need your manager’s permission or company-sponsored training to begin upgrading your qualifications.

Now is not the time to be humble. Keep written documentation of your successes, and as you begin improving your skills in these areas, document them. Add these successes to your résumé and LinkedIn profile, and share them with your manager. In fact, schedule regular conversations with your manager to lay out your successes, goals and expectations. The meetings give you a chance to highlight your achievements while also giving a reality check on your goals.

If your current employer doesn’t tap you for a promotion, the hard work you’ve invested will pave the way for a stronger résumé that highlights many of the leadership qualities valuable to another company. You can go pitch yourself to one that will value what you bring to the table or has room for you to grow.

Credit: Hannah Morgan

5 Qualities Every Employer Wants in a Job Candidate.

Preparing for a job interview can be a time-consuming and nerve-wracking experience. Some people spend a ridiculous amount of energy trying to prepare and memorize answers for every imaginable interview question.

It may be better to spend time thinking about the job at hand with a larger lens by stepping back from the particular details and requirements. Ask yourself: "If I were the hiring manager, what would be the qualities I'd need to see in a person before I’d be willing to say, 'You're hired'?"

Work these qualities into your self-description, and prepare examples of stories from your experience that demonstrate you have them.

1. Creativity. If everyone who claims to “think out of the box” really did so, there would be nobody left inside it. Like the other qualities discussed below, you need to demonstrate your creativity rather than just asserting that you have it.

Do you have stories to tell about how you conceived and implemented positive workplace change? Perhaps you have changed how your company’s products or services are produced, packaged or marketed. Maybe you came up with ideas about how to shorten production time or eliminate or reduce administrative procedures and red tape. These are all examples of stories you can tell with a great takeaway message.

2. Subject-matter expertise. What employer doesn’t want someone who is an expert in his or her field? Becoming a thought leader isn’t as daunting as it might sound when you take the time to keep up-to-date. Read professional journals, or – better yet – contribute an article and get published. Make the effort to offer poster-board presentations, lead workshops or give talks at professional conferences.

It's easier than ever to demonstrate your expertise by publishing a blog, YouTube videos or examples of code you’ve written. You can also curate your creative content and put it online.

Depending on your field, one or another medium will be better or more appropriate, but when you describe yourself as a “published author” or can point to other intellectual achievements, you gain the credibility necessary to be seen as a leading professional worth wooing.

3. Pride in work. No one likes people who continually self-promote with statements like, “I’m the greatest at …” And, at the other end of the spectrum, many people find it difficult to tell how great they really are.

But when you speak about the tasks you’ve performed and accomplishments you’ve achieved with a smile on your face and project enthusiasm with your voice, you show that you aren’t the kind of worker who just logs hours and waits for a paycheck at the end of the week.

4. Adaptability to changing technology. Baby boomers have gone from records to eight tracks, cassettes, CDs and DVDs, to carrying around music on their phones or simply streaming it at will. Likewise, in the workplace, virtually nothing is done the way it used to be. The sound of the music may be the same, but the way you hear it continues to morph.

Employer demand for people who are a whizzes at Excel far surpasses the demand for people who excel with their slide rule! No matter what your generation, every employer wants to know that you're up-to-date with necessary technologies. Moreover, they expect you to be able to show how you will keep that way on an ongoing basis.

It's great when you can interject in an interview something like this: “I’ve gone from carbon paper to 'Ctrl C,' and I can’t wait to see what’s next!”

5. Willingness to go above and beyond. You might be surprised to hear someone say something like, “I’ve done everything my boss asked of me,” and then be astonished to learn that this isn’t as impressive a statement as they thought.

Telling a story about how you did whatever it took to get a project done on time and under budget gives you much greater cred. The person who relates, “I stayed an extra couple of hours at work to see [whatever] through to completion,” shows the dedicated spirit that employers can’t necessarily demand but nonetheless expect and love.

When you prepare stories that demonstrate your personal qualities, you’ll be amazed at how appreciative and responsive your interviewers will become. By conveying your passion, expertise, adaptability, and “can-do, will-do” attitude, you’ll be well on your way to making your next boss say to you, “You’re hired!”

Happy hunting!


Credit: Arnie Fertig

Graduating Soon? Here’s How to Kick Off Your Job Search..

If you're graduating soon, you're probably feeling the pressure and stress of knowing that now you need to take that degree and figure out what kind of job you can get with it.

Don't panic! Millions of new grads before you have successfully navigated this transition and found meaningful and even interesting work. But if you haven't embarked on an active search yet, now's the time to get serious about it. Here are seven steps that will help:

1. Don't put off job searching. You might be tempted to take some time off after graduating to relax, thinking you can start your search later in the summer or even in the fall. That's your prerogative, of course, but be aware that you might have a more difficult search if you wait. Job searches usually take longer than people expect, and that means if you put it off, you could end up with a long period of unemployment that will make you a less attractive candidate than you would be as a fresh graduate.

2. Use your network. New grads often feel awkward about using their networks to find job leads, but it's a very normal part of job searching. Don't resist it! Your friends, parents, parents' friends (and friends' parents!), alumni network and pretty much everyone you know from anywhere is part of your network.

Reach out and let them know what type of work you're looking for. You can also turn to your network to get more information about a particular field or to find industry contacts.

3. Learn about how to conduct a good job search. How to actually find a job usually isn't a skill you're taught in school, and unfortunately, campus career services are rarely well-equipped to provide concrete help to new grads and alumni. Moreover, your professors and parents might not know how to job search effectively in today's job market – in fact, they might have pretty outdated advice that will lead you in the wrong direction.

Fortunately, there's tons of information about résumés, cover letters, interviewing and negotiating online. You just need to seek it out and put in the time to absorb it all.

4. Include all your work experience on your résumé. New grads sometimes don't realize they should include all their work experience. They end up leaving experiences like retail or food service jobs off their résumés, figuring they don't relate to the field they're now pursuing.

However, many employers consider it a plus to see that experience, because it demonstrates work ethic, reliability and customer service skills, among others. At this stage, you're not going to have enormous amounts of work experience, so don't sell yourself short by editing it down.

5. Realize that work experience matters more than schooling. New grads often come out of school assuming the academic work they've been focusing on for the past four years is their strongest qualification.

However, in most fields, employers will care most about work experience – internships, volunteering, summer jobs and so forth – even if the work isn't in your field. They want to see a track record of performing in an environment similar to their own, and for most employers, those short-term jobs will often feel more relevant than a school project. (That doesn't mean you shouldn't talk about school projects at all, but be selective about what you highlight, and put the emphasis on work.)

6. Talk to people in the field you want to go into. Do everything you can to seek out people who work in the field you want to work in, and ask them about their experiences. What do they wish they had known about the field before starting in it? What are the best things you can do to stay current in the field – are there materials to read, organizations to join or people to talk to? Who are the best employers in the field? Who should you be wary of? What kind of starting salary should you expect? Are you being realistic about the roles you're aiming for in your job search?

This isn't about hitting people up for job leads, although you might end up getting job leads out of it. It's about learning about the field, how people succeed in it and all the behind-the-scenes nuance you may not have learned in school.

7. Make sure you're coming across as a professional – not a student. That means you need a professional email address (firstname.lastname@gmail.com is good; keg-stand@gmail.com is not), a professional-sounding voice mail greeting and a clean online presence. Employers are sometimes wary about the professionalism of people right out of school, so you want to demonstrate that you're mature and have good judgment.

Credit: Alison Green

Top Tips to Make Your Employer Love You.

It doesn’t matter who you are; whether you’re the office brown-noser or you just keep your head down and get on, we all still want our employer to love us.

The difference between your employer being your friend and being your colleague can be the difference between the subconscious decision of who to promote.

Just like you would trust your closer friends more than the person you’ve only known for a month, your employer will more likely trust you with bigger tasks, be more lenient towards you or even just look out for you more if they see you in a good light.

Dress the Part

Depending on your kind of office culture, something as simple as dressing the part can put you in a whole different light to your employer.

Even if your office tolerates a more casual attire, your effort will speak volumes. It will show your dedication and ability to take your role more seriously by taking your appearance seriously. Although we shouldn’t, we all subconsciously make snap judgements on people by the way they look, so keep that tone of “you can trust me” with a smart work attire.

Communicate

Some of us won’t admit it, but what can set some of us back is our ability to communicate. This doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t hold a healthy conversation, it means keeping your employer in touch with what you’re getting on with.

This doesn’t mean copying them into every email, or pestering them every hour with what’s next on the agenda. It simply means giving regular updates so that they are more coherently aware of the work you’re getting on with – and to prove that you’re not just procrastinating on social media all afternoon.

Admit your mistakes

Whether you answered a phone in a grumpy tone of voice or sent the wrong email to a client, employers will develop a great respect for you if you confess that it was your fault.

We don’t mean that you should take the blame for everything that goes wrong in the company, it just means that when a problem occurs and no immediate person is at fault, but you know that somehow you were involved, just admit your part and apologise in a professional and sincere manner.

Master the art of looking busy

Now, we aren’t giving you permission to do what you want for the day as long as you look like you’re doing something, we’re advising you to find ways to communicate your hard-working ethos without openly and obviously saying “I am such a hard worker.”

Things as simple as working through a couple of lunch hours; take a half lunch break instead and just do some odd jobs in the second half. Stay a little later at the end of the day, although you don’t necessarily get paid for it, show your dedication by spending a little longer at the office. If staying late doesn’t take your fancy, why not get in 30 minutes early; traffic may be better the earlier you are and it doesn’t hurt to show your enthusiasm for getting on with the day.

Lastly, don’t be the distractor or distracted. If you find yourself being the one that takes office conversations onto a long un-work-related tangent, then do your best to cut these conversations short. Interacting with colleagues is always good, but some employers can get frustrated when you’re spending most of your time chatting about the weekend rather than getting your work done.

In Summary

Getting your employer to love you doesn’t mean becoming ‘teacher’s pet’, it’s more a case of building a healthy relationship between you and your employer. It might mean you become more comfortable asking for advice or seeking consoling if something is troubling you. Healthy working relationships are essential to enjoying your job; for most of us, we spend a large proportion of our waking hours at work, so if you aren’t happy there, you probably won’t be happy the rest of the time.

The One Word That Will Make You Rich.

There is one word at work that arrives like a gift. It makes me feel happy and brings a jolt of joy to everyone who sees it in an email, IM, or text. I love reading this word more than any other -- it has always spoken to me more than “bonus,” “raise,” and even “promotion.” I bet you love it too.

The reason I love this word is that it's written every day. It denotes team progress, and is free for everyone, anywhere to use at any time. It speaks to our sense of accomplishment -- both as individuals and a team.

Before I share this special word, I want to tell you why it will make you rich. But let's be clear about what I think about wealth. Being rich is about achieving what you have dreamed of accomplishing. I tell that to our team at Aha! (which is a product roadmap software company) every day.

For many though, being rich means having $1M in the bank or buying that fancy car that they have wanted since high school. But for others, wealth is defined by their community service, overcoming addiction, or finally earning the degree that they abandoned 20 years ago.

I am not the only one who thinks broadly about the word rich. In a survey released last year, 90% of respondents said they believe that success is more about happiness than money or prestige. 60% of the same survey respondents said success means "loving what you do for a living"; just 20% said success is defined by monetary wealth.

So, do you know the one word that will bring you treasure? The one word you can write that will make you rich is, “Done."

You might be surprised, but stay with me so I can explain how powerful this little word is. The word "Done":

Builds confidence
The more often you complete a task, the more your confidence to achieve what's next grows. Writing "Done" to your colleague or boss who has asked for status on a task, means everything. It's similar to crossing items off a to-do list, but in a collaborative way. That sense of confidence allows you to take on new challenges and continue to grow.

Pleases others
Most colleagues don't like asking for help. But when they do, they probably really need something from you. You have an opportunity to thrill that person when you respond with "Done" as it means you completed their request. This helps them get to "Done" too. Writing "Done" reminds everyone that they are part of a team, and that you have a key role.

Highlights your value
Getting work finished is energizing, and when you write the word "Done," it reinforces your contribution. It also enhances your reputation for being trustworthy, reliable, and dependable. Ultimately, our accomplishments are what satisfy our internal ambitions and are rewarded at work too.

People who love and respect the word "Done" work hard and have deep reservoirs of stamina. They take great satisfaction from being productive and helping others along the way.

They also happen to be the people who are rich. This is because they are driven by their talents to achieve greatness. Their hard work drives them to achieve their own goals and ensure their teams are terrific too.

Do you agree that writing "Done" will make you rich?