Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Monday, August 29, 2016
Amazing Business Radio Podcast interview with Shep Hyken
Shep Hyken knows how to pay attention. As a speaker on amazing customer service he is often highlighting how companies can pay attention to their customers and provide a competitive advantage. I loved being interviewed on his show – hope you enjoy it too!
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Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Take Charge of Your Personal Life – Guest Blog by Jon Petz
No matter how much you try to keep your personal and professional lives separate, they both have a great impact on each other. Even for some, their professional life is the reflection of their personal life. When you are happy, stable, and content in your personal life,you may redirect your optimal energy to your work which may directly affect your productivity and professional growth.
So, if you have been putting your personal life on hold, read through to take charge.
Step Back and Assess
Unwind and assess yourself to find out the things you have been missing in life.Be honest with yourself and think more clearly about the adversities and setbacks.Discover the things that are working and those that are not working in your life. This allows you to see problems you have been avoiding as well as the things you have been submitting to against your will.
Once you know your problems, you can work to make a change. Rather than letting your fears set in, you need to acknowledge them and try moving past them to embrace things that bring happiness and contentment.
Maintain a Healthy Body and Mind
The health and fitness of your mind and body plays a crucial role in the overall satisfaction and happiness in your life. In order for this, eat healthy food, exercise regularly, and take good sleep to feel better about your body. Besides helping you achieve a well-balanced body, these may help you reduce anxiety, control anger, and ease depression to help you achieve overall wellness. A Harvard study that studies a group of men for over 70 years found that maintaining a healthy mind and body is among the top secrets to a good life.
Set Short-Term Goals
Connect with Jon directly to learn more about he can great an atmosphere of energy and engagement in your company or association. With his wit and engaging speaking style as motivational speaker and inspirational speaker, Jon has helped thousands of people take charge of their personal and professional lives for good. Call at 614-456-3072 to check availability.
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Friday, August 19, 2016
5 Things to Stop Doing to Be More Productive
Here are five things you need to stop doing as soon as possible in order to be more productive in both your work and personal life.
1. Staying logged in to social media
It has happened to all of us before. We get one new notification, and stop what we are doing to check to make sure it isn’t urgent (it very rarely is). Then, without even realizing it, we somehow end up on a completely different site, immersed in something that has nothing to do with work or what we originally stopped to check in the first place. Social media can be a good thing. Too much of a good thing, however, is never truly all that good.
Social media destroys any chances you might have at a consistently productive schedule, especially if you can’t go more than an hour or so without checking your notifications. Too much of anything is a productivity killer, when you look close enough. Social media helps us connect with others, it helps us stay informed, but in many cases, it mostly ends up distracting and delaying us.
Unless constant social media surfing is your job, stay off social networks, blogs and video streaming sites. Everyone knows ‘I’ll just watch one more video and then I’ll get back to work’ is never a promise likely fulfilled. They call it the web because it’s very easy, and tempting, to get lost in a constant sea of articles and comment sections.
2. Procrastinating
We have all procrastinated on a major project or deadline at least once. That rushed, frantic feeling in the pit of your stomach just sits there agonizing you until you finally hit that submit button. We often procrastinate because we are avoiding something. Sometimes we even procrastinate on accident.
While it may help in some cases to kick yourself into gear, doing a lot of work in a short period of time consistently is going to send you straight into burnout mode. If you think your productivity levels are suffering now, just wait until you’re left feeling so overwhelmed and overworked that not even caffeine can wake you up.
If you can’t get your procrastination habit completely under control, at least learn to manage your to do list in a way that makes sure you are still getting the most important things done first. Figuring out how to manage a bad habit, and gradually replacing that bad habit with a better one, is much more effective than doing nothing at all.
3. Giving up sleep to do more work
It seems logical at first, thinking that by doing more work and cutting into your sleep time, you are quickly becoming a productivity mastermind. What’s a few more hours of work in the evening or getting up an hour earlier in the morning if it means you can have more waking hours to get things done? Sleep deprivation does more harm in the short and long term than you might think.
Sleep, adequate and consistent sleep, is a productivity and overall health essential. Better sleep leads to better productivity. Less sleep leads to lower levels of productivity. The more tired you are, the less energy you have to put toward getting your work done. Now that makes much more logical sense, doesn’t it?
Sleep. Even when you don’t feel tired; even when you don’t think you have enough time, or are somehow not going to be able to get as much done because of it. The best thing you can do for yourself is set a sleep and wake time and stick to that schedule, especially in the beginning. This is how you can make sure you are going to get enough sleep in order to be more productive throughout the day.
4. Skipping the gym
This is probably the habit most of us are guilty of out of all the items on this list. You don’t have time to work out, so you simply don’t. Why spend 30 minutes walking on a treadmill when you could spend that time answering emails or making phone calls? You’ll exercise tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next day.
Regular exercise – 150 minutes or more of moderate physical activity each week – has been shown to improve mental health, boost energy, make us more alert and help prevent physical illness. Even though you might think giving up exercise makes you more productive, you would probably have much more energy and motivation if you spent just a little time increasing your heart rate.
5. Doing less important tasks first
One reason many of us end up procrastinating and messing up our productivity is because there are things on our to do lists we are desperately trying to avoid. Even when we finally do sit down and start working, we often fall into the habit of picking out less important things to do first simply because they seem easier or less cringe worthy.
Find the task on your to do list you are dreading the most, likely the most important thing, and tackle that first. It will seem hard and unpleasant at first, but in reality, you are doing yourself a favor. If you get the most important task out of the way first, you will feel much less pressured and stressed to continue on and complete more tasks.
If you are a list maker or you use a to do list app, order or number your tasks so that you can clearly see which things you absolutely need to get done first. You will feel energized and relieved after finishing it, and will end up getting more done throughout the day because of it.
Kick those bad habits, replace them with better ones and watch your productivity levels skyrocket.
This blog originally posted to http://ift.tt/2bH8nPk – stop by and visit the site to leave comments on their awesome tips, interviews and strategies to thrive in your life.
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Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Digital Detox – Plug Into What Matters Most
During the summer months it’s the perfect time to experiment with your own Digital Detox. Read about mine here, we’d love to hear about yours. Watch this video for more ideas and share your comments below.
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Digital Distractions – Neen’s Pet Peeves
Attention is all about connection. When we choose our phone and other digital distractions over our person we aren’t paying attention to what really matters.
What are your pet peeves? One of mine is when others make technology more important than people!
Today I challenge you:
Can you schedule a date with someone you love and leave your cell phones off the table?
Can you look people in the eye when you talk with them today?
Can you put away your devices (maybe even leave them in your car)?
What could you do to accelerate your engagement with people around you? I’d love to hear your thoughts below.
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Monday, August 08, 2016
Pay attention on social media guest blog by Joel Block
Joel’s Facebook post read:
People frequently ask how I have such a significant social media following and how I engage with them.
I have put together a few thoughts to help my friends and colleagues be more successful on-line. I don’t speak or consult on this topic, but it was recently reported that my LinkedIn network the #70 largest network on the planet.
Having great “offline” networking skills doesn’t come easy but we have learned through trial and error – or because other people helped us be more effective. But online, most people lack the same level of social networking skills, and even fewer succeed in generating any material amount of leads for their offline businesses.
To me, there is some etiquette that seems to work. I am no Emily Post, but I have a few suggestions I hope will create more mutual support and better business success for each of us.
The old adage is that the fuel of networking is “giving”.
Start giving if you want to receive – and by the way, you have to give before you get. Here are some ideas so we can help each other make a huge difference in all of our social media performance – and on our ability to monetize it too. You don’t have to do all of these to be helpful – but the more you do and the more you give, the more you are likely to receive.
- On Facebook, “like” everything unless you really don’t like it. Think of the word “like” as “acknowledge” instead. Add comments if appropriate. More “likes” move posts higher in the timeline area. Did you ever give a talk, ask for questions, and there were none? Same feeling when you get almost no “likes”. Plus it helps me to remember what posts I have already read which saves time in the future. If 50 people see a post, 45+ should “acknowledge” it.
- Read and review the books and other assets of your colleagues. Post your thoughts about them for others to consider on Facebook and Amazon (among other places). Your third party testimonial is very valuable.
- Retweet. Retweet. Retweet.
- Share and repost articles on LinkedIn.
- “Like” articles that you see on LinkedIn and make comments when appropriate. Sharing is even better – and by the way, I find that sharing on LinkedIn increases my exposure in many valuable ways.
- Follow others on Twitter with the expectation that they will follow you.
- Connect on LinkedIn – never IDK (i.e. click “I don’t know” the person). Networking is a game of leapfrog. It’s not about the person connecting to you – it’s about who is in their network that might be helpful to you.
- Give recommendations on LinkedIn if appropriate. This is a great place to put them because they are here permanently. They can be used by the recipient for multiple other applications for example because LinkedIn is building a social media engine to compete with Klout.
- All reviews should be positive – not necessarily balanced. If you are not trained as a professional journalist, don’t pretend to be one. And if you don’t have something nice to say, ask your mom what to do.
- Nobody wants to toot their own horn – and besides, a testimonial from a third person is so much better than self-promotion. Give as many 3rd party insights as is appropriate. It helps others to get to know your colleague and it gives them a very good impression of you.
- If you are an expert and you know how to do something well, share that with others. Don’t sell to your colleagues. Networking and selling don’t mix. Give your expertise freely (to peers not clients) which will boost your status as an expert in your field. We are all here to learn and teach, network and grow. Contribute to that process as best as you can. I am an expert (not a broker) in the money business (hedge funds, venture capital, alternative assets and raising capital). What do you want to know? I’ll happily share.
Let’s make these actions habits and you will be pleasantly surprised by what comes back to you
Joel is a long-time venture capitalist and Hedge Fund manager addressing audiences from Silicon Valley venture firms to Wall Street bankers on matters of capital formation and most recently, on Investment CrowdFunding. Twice each year, Joel hosts and headlines the standard-setting Real Estate Syndication and Hedge Fund Symposium program, educating and advising CPAs, attorneys, investment bankers and asset class specialists on organizing and running investment pools. Having organized and invested in over 40 deals, and having advised on hundreds more, Joel is a valuable resource not only to the private securities industry, but to attorneys and courts of law who seek his expert opinion. And though he doesn’t admit often, Joel is also a CPA. Find out more about Joel and the services he offers at www.bullseyecap.com
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Tuesday, August 02, 2016
What are your Attention Grabbing Gremlins?
There were only three rules for Billy’s new pet: no water, no food after midnight and no bright lights. Did you see the movie Gremlins?
Once this happened, the cute, adorable little pet became a green monster creating chaos.
Do you have attention grabbing gremlins? What are your monsters?
My monsters include Facebook, Email, Twitter, Instagram, and ShopStyle (yes I love when my fave brands are on sale). What would you add to this list?
As a productivity expert I get distracted and overwhelmed and when this occurs, the gremlins are more frequent.
Here are three strategies to help manage your attention grabbing gremlins:
Don’t feed your gremlin – it takes discipline to stay off social media sites (it’s harder than it sounds) if that’s a struggle for you, try apps like Freedom (site blocking software). It’s also worthwhile using your gremlins as a reward, meaning allow yourself to look at social media AFTER completing important proposals, or speech preparation or client calls.
Avoid after midnight – just like Billy couldn’t feed his pet after midnight, consider turning off email, social media, text messages, notifications and other distractions at this late hour to allow you to have deeper sleep and not be pulled into distracting and unproductive activity and conversations. Please don’t send team members emails late at night; it steals minutes from them and their family (because if you are the boss, they think they need to respond). Where possible, wait to send the emails in the morning.
Put it away – ‘out of sight’ may help ‘out of mind’. Can you spend a few minutes eliminating the distractions of unfinished projects, unread books, unviewed magazines and put them away until you are ready to action them? We find when working with our clients on creating a productive environment the simple act of putting items in drawers, books on shelves, projects in files it helps people feel a sense of order and that allows them not to be constantly reminded of everything left to do.
BONUS tip: Create a to-do list – an old fashioned , paper list. Spend 15 minutes doing a mental brain dump of all the activities you want to get done at work (and at home) – this huge list might inspire you to focus on completing those activities and help you mange your attention gremlins.
What do you do to manage your attention gremlins? Love to hear your ideas here on our blog:
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