Teaching Business Communication and Workplace Issues

We live in a busy world. Whether you’re looking around online or off, there’s “stuff” going on all around us. Some of us are trying to keep up and some of us aren’t. Either way, both parties are inevitably going to miss out on some of this “stuff” I’m alluding to. And that’s because we all need to look at not only why we’re missing out, but how we can avoid missing out on as much as we do. This is when levels of personal productivity come into play.

So, how do you “level up” your personal productivity? Well, here are 10 things that you need to do to be supremely productive.

Last week I was at the grocery store when my three-year old toddler asked, “Daddy, I want that chocolate ice cream.” I suppose it was more a demand than a question. When I refused to put the chocolate ice cream in our cart, he quickly turned up his volume by about 100 decibels, and made his demand again. The last thing I wanted was to create a scene at the grocery store, so I gave in and placed the ice cream in the cart. He was very persuasive.

If you’re not a toddler, then screaming at the top of your lungs would probably not be very effective. But whether you want to admit it, we persuade people on a daily basis. In fact, we have to persuade people quite often to get what we want. I want you to read this article, so I started out with a relatable anecdote about persuasion to get you hooked. Did it persuade you to continue reading? If you want to upgrade your own persuasion skills, keep reading!...

Want to get the stuff done that really matters? Boost your productivity and lessen distractions by scheduling them in time blocks.

The demands on our time are greater now than ever before. With information coming at us faster than we can digest it, responsibilities handed to us faster than we can handle them and communication moving at breakneck speed, finding ways to fit as much as possible into your day is a daunting task to say the least. But there is a way to get more done of what you want and need with less distraction, and it’s a strategy that you likely employ for some things already.

You have to schedule stuff. Not just the appointment-specific stuff, but all of the stuff that matters. You can do that by scheduling time blocks.

The one great equalizer that all of humanity has is time. No one has twenty-five hours in their day; we all have twenty-four. How we choose to use those hours is what separates us. By scheduling the stuff that matters (from the urgent to the crucial), you’ll be spending those hours far more wisely. In addition, you’ll be living your days proactively rather than reactively...

There will never be another Steve Jobs. His parting gift to the world are 10 lessons we can all use in life and leadership. Steve Jobs lessons in digital leadership.

Digital Leadership

It is a sad day for the world when a visionary like Steve Jobs is no longer walking among us. It truly reminds all of us how short and precious life is. Just like there will never be another Socrates, Wayne Gretzky, Winston Churchill, or Ghandi, there will never be another Steve Jobs. While we can never become Steve Jobs, nor should we strive to be (follow your heart). What we can do is understand what is the greatness of Steve Jobs and, where applicable, apply these principals to help us develop as leaders...

Let’s face it. We all fail.

As we go through life we have relationships that don’t work out, jobs that just aren’t right, exams that we flunk, initiatives that don’t succeed. The more new things we try the more failures we are likely to have. In fact, the only way to avoid failure is to do nothing new.

The important thing is how we deal with failure. It can be part of a downward slide in which lack of confidence reinforces feelings of inadequacy and incompetence. But experiencing failure can be a learning experience and an opportunity for a fresh start. A good way to begin this process is by asking yoruself some tough questions...

We are all faced with challenges constantly in every area of our lives. Most people have a hard time accepting and dealing with these challenges that arise. The truth is that you will have to deal with difficult problems throughout your life, whether it is in your personal life or career. Most of us get really afraid and run away from problems because we don’t want to accept reality the way it is.

Running away from your problems is the worst thing you can do to deal with the challenges you are faced with. I have some tips for you below on learning how to deal with everyday challenges. Start now and develop the self-discipline to practice the below points...

No matter how much you love your job, there are times when your work motivation is just going to bottom out. There can be any number of reasons for this but the important thing is that it does happen to everyone at some stage. If you follow the simple tips I’m sharing here, you can regain your motivation and achieve a new sense of drive that you’ve been sorely missing:

1. Be Honest With Yourself
Admit that you’re lacking motivation and that you need to do something about it. Honesty is always, always the best policy...

Do you have trouble staying focused?

Whether you work for yourself or for an employer, spending hours surfing the net and updating your Facebook profile won’t get you any closer to your goals ... yet you find it hard to keep on-task.

Even when you do try to concentrate, you might get to 5pm and feel like you’ve not accomplished anything.

Here’s how to stay focused and get more done – every day.

Minimize Interruptions
If you live alone and work from home, interruptions are unlikely to be a big problem. If you work in a busy office and your job involves a lot of reactive tasks, like answering phone calls or emails from clients, you might be getting interrupted every few minutes...

This article debunks four common procrastination myths we often tell ourselves in order to avoid doing the hard work that needs to be done.

There are less than one hundred days left in 2011.
If you have a backlog of projects that you meant to work on this year, but which you haven’t gotten around to, it’s very likely that procrastination is the culprit.

Timothy Pychyl, Ph.D., creator of the popular web site procrastination.ca, is one of the world’s foremost experts on procrastination. Dr. Pychyl defines procrastination as “the needless, often irrational, voluntary delay of an intended task”. That is, you intend to work on a task but you go off and start working on something else which you know is not as important, and which doesn’t need to get done right away...

The best way to produce quality results that ring try with what matters to you involves a simple step: be honest with yourself.

There are many tools you can use to increase your level of productivity. Whether paper-based solutions are your cup of tea or you’ve dove into the digital well of task management offerings, you’d be wasting a ton of time trying to discover all of the tools out there. I’d wager it is one of the least productive things you could ever do.

But of all the tools at your disposal, the one between your ears is the one that needs to be actively engaged to allow for prominent increases to happen. There’s a human component that leads to better productivity on the whole, and while analog tools may not remove the brain from the equasion as fully as digital ones might, when we trust our lists as written without using our brain in tandem, the results for the items that are crucial to us are less desirable...

Today I want to share some of the truths I have learned over the years that have stopped me moving forward in life.

Do any of these ring true for you?

1. Perfection – Perfection does not exist. If you accept that everything can be improved upon then perfection cannot exist. Give up the concept of being perfect and get on with your life as best you can.
2. Waiting for the right time – The right time is now, why put it off. If you’ve been waiting for the right time for something and haven’t taken action yet, it’s going to be difficult to start...