You are here: Home / Search for "procrastination"

Five Time-savers

2010 by Mark Shead 7 Comments
save-sq

Logging into and navigating voice mail. Of course, you have to check your voice mail; but there are some things you can do to keep it from interrupting your day. Personally, I find that navigating voicemail menus is a huge waste of time. I have set my voice mail system to send me an email with the message attached as a .wav file whenever someone leaves me a message. This centralizes all my messages to the same place (my email box) and doesn't require that I navigate using the phone keypad. Reading emails. Here are several tips for streamlining your email reading: Make all your emails come to one place. If you have to log into several different accounts to read email you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Tagged With: , , ,

The Power of Knowing

2010 by Mark Shead 3 Comments
decision-main

A lot of time-management techniques suggest creating some sort of prioritized to-do list. Why? What is so special about having a pre-determined order assigned to the things you need to do? Obviously, picking your kids up from school is a bigger priority than washing your car, but for the things that are nearly equal, what does it matter? It turns out that there is a very good reason that so many people recommend this. Good time management has an arch enemy. It isn't interruptions or even procrastination. The big foe to good time management is indecision. Knowing exactly what you need to do next wards off indecision. Even if the order is somewhat arbitrary, there is value in having a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Tagged With: , ,

Interview Productive Work Zone

2009 by Mark Shead 8 Comments
workspace-main

What is your most valuable tip for getting into your productive zone for working? (190) Definitely keep a clean desk and inbox. Before I leave work for the evening, I clean off my desk. When I get to work every morning, I always have a clean desk. The only stuff that can be found on my desk are projects that require action that day. The same can be said for my inbox. Every evening I clean it out. The next morning only contains emails that I'll read/work on that day. Michael Morton from Marketing Monster (rss) Pavlovian conditioning. Here's where procrastination can really hurt you in the beginning. If you go into your home office (or cubicle or whatever) and do nothing, that's … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , ,

Inteview: Biggest Productivity Challenge

2009 by Mark Shead Leave a Comment
multitask-main

What is your biggest challenge to productivity and how do you overcome it? (671)  That is the question we asked a number of bloggers and here are their answers. As a student, I was a master of procrastination, running down the clock as long as I could before beginning a project. What resulted was strong work and ridiculous levels of self-induced pressure. (I suppose that's the academic version of living on the edge.) The strategy that I now like to call granularity helped me to overcome my tendency toward procrastination, by making it possible to see a large project as a matter of many smaller, more manageable tasks. Michael Leddy from Orange Crate Art (rss) My biggest challenge … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: ,

Fewer Choices Result in Better Efficiency

2009 by Mark Shead 3 Comments
choice-main

There was a study published in 2003 by the Journal of Psychology that attempted to measure how helpful time management training was for employees.  They sent a group of employees to a 1 and 1/2 day seminar on time management and then compared their self-assessment one month later with a control group. The study showed that individuals who had been through time management training believed that they significantly decreased their avoidance behavior and worry.  They also reported that they had an increased ability to manage time. (Notice that the study wasn't trying to measure their actual skill level, only their perception of their skill.) This is, of course, a great study for all the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , ,

Ways to Deal with Distraction

2009 by Anna 3 Comments
home-main

Focus and dedication are things that everyone must master in order to be successful and productive. We've gathered a list of articles intended for various audiences on the subject of focus. Working in a cubicle Dealing with Distractions-Dawn Foster Those that work in close proximity with others know that even small things can become major distractions. This article points out a few ways to deal with this problem. Sounding off on Cubical Survival Tips-Office Smurf This article gives some sound advice (pardon the pun) for eliminating or coping with a loudness in the workplace. Noisy Coworkers: 5 Ways to Deal with Them-noisycoworkers.com When the cacophony becomes to bad, distraction … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , ,

Interview: Successful Habit

2009 by Mark Shead 4 Comments
success-main

What productive habit do you feel is most responsible for your success? (960) Getting started. It's only by getting started that you progress and learn simultaneously. Lodewijk van den Broek from How to be an Original (rss) For many things, I find that the first 10 minutes are the most difficult. Habit: Having a second reason to do something important. Since none of us can change the amount of time we have (24 hours a day flat), the only way to be more productive is to extract "more value" out of every hour. Suppose you can find a second reason to do something important, you immediately found a way of getting more out of the time you assigned to engage in that activity. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , , , ,

Procrastinating in Sheeps Clothing

2008 by Mark Shead 3 Comments
procrastination-main

Most of the time, procrastination is easy to spot.  However, there is a subtle and very dangerous type of procrastination everyone should be on the lookout for.  It looks like productive work, but the result is the same...it keeps you from accomplishing the things you need to accomplish. This type of procrastination can take several forms, but in the most dangerous one, the victim appears to be involved in good habits of organizing and planning their work.  In reality, they are being lured into doing nothing that will actually move them closer to their goals. To avoid this type of procrastination, you must be alert. When you get the urge to suddenly rearrange your office from productivity, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , ,

Praise for the Procrastination Prevention Course

2008 by Mark Shead 1 Comment

Since its release the Procrastination Prevention course has quickly gained over 550 users.  Here is what some of them are saying: Thank you so much for these Procrastination Prevention emails, they have been very interesting and useful. Changing one small thing has had profound effects and I feel much less likely to procrastinate in the future now I have tools like the 5 minute contract to hand! - Dianne … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asides Tagged With: ,

Procrastination Course

2008 by Mark Shead 2 Comments

Since the Procrastination Prevention Course was released a little over a week ago, we've had well over 400 people sign up.  It has been really encouraging to see how many people are making use of it. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asides

Procrastination Prevention Course – Now Live!

2008 by Mark Shead 3 Comments
laptop-face-sq

Previously I announced that we were testing the Procrastination Prevention Course. I took the feedback from the testing group and made some changes. The course is now live. If you have trouble with procrastination, you need to go through this course. It is designed to give you some simple strategies for preventing procrastination. Each day you get a short email with a simple assignment to help you practice breaking the procrastination habit. The funny thing about a procrastination course is that the people who most need it are the ones most likely to put it off. If you are reading this and thinking "Maybe I'll do that some day" I strongly recommend that you sign up for it right now. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Tagged With: ,

Group Interview – Distraction Free Internet

2008 by Mark Shead 3 Comments

The internet can help your productivity, but it can also be a distraction. How do you obtain the benefits while avoiding the downsides?. I finally had to do two things that are working for me: In the Bookmark Bar, I narrowed the categories to only those related to business. I allow myself a set amount of time (20 minutes) to check the newsfeeds and other favorite sites for 20 minutes maximum 4 times during the day. On minute 21, I close the browser window.That means I potentially "lose" 1:20 minutes of work. As a result of the routine, it never amounts to that much. Steve Roesler from All Things Workplace (rss) Steve's suggestion to allow a certain amount of time for "unproductive" … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Misc Tagged With:

Advice for Setting up a Home Office – Group Interview

2008 by Mark Shead 21 Comments

If you like this post, why not subscribe to the RSS feed or email feed for this site? I recently emailed a number of bloggers asking them for the most important non-intuitive piece of advice for setting up a home office. Here are their responses along with my thoughts. If you find a response that seems especially relevant to you, consider subscribing to the author's blog rss feed (included below). I learned this from Tannaz Sassooni, one of my favorite Wise Bread bloggers: Put an old fashioned egg timer on the desk. When I start a long or boring project, I'll set the timer at 15 minutes, and no matter what happens, I'll force myself to take a break when the alarm goes off. At first I thought … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Organize Tagged With:

Habit List Course Beta

2007 by Mark Shead 4 Comments

As I mentioned before, I'm testing some email based courses as an added feature here at Productivity501. I have a very limited test going on for the Procrastination Prevention course right now. The second course I'm working on is for the Habit List. I know many people downloaded the Habit List, printed it out and promptly buried it under a pile of other papers. The course helps walk you through the different uses of the Habit List by sending you a very very short email for 10 days. The idea of the course is to help motivate people to actually use the tool simply by keeping it on their mind for a week and a half. I'm going to do a slightly larger test for this course. You can signup … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:

Courses

2007 by Mark Shead 4 Comments

We are currently creating short email based courses to help readers improve specific areas of their productivity. Procrastination Prevention Course 10 Days - One Lesson every 24 hours Learn how to break the habit of procrastination. This 10 day course walks you through several steps to lead you away from the procrastination habit and toward better productivity. The emails are short, but offer valuable tips and strategies on getting your stuff done. Don't procrastinate! Sign up today.   Email: Name:   Praise for the Procrastination Prevention Course: Thank you so much for these Procrastination Prevention emails, they have been very interesting … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tagged With:

Looking For Procrastinators

2007 by Mark Shead 9 Comments

I am experimenting with a simple 10 email course designed to help break habitual procrastination. If you are interested in previewing the course and providing feedback, please send a a note to list@productivity501.com and ask to try the Procrastination Prevention Course. At this point, I would ask that you only try it if you are willing to provide some feed back at then end and let me know what you liked and what you didn't. I'm looking for about 10 people to try it out. Edit: Well that didn't take long. :)  I have everyone I need for testing.  If you are interested but were not able to be part of the testing phase, keep an eye out for the official release in the near future. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:

Tuesdays Tip: Start Something

2007 by Mark Shead 1 Comment
set.gif

Procrastination is the initial hump we have to get over to do something. Here is a trick to get over procrastination. If there is something you don't want to work on, promise yourself to start the task and work on it for 15 minutes and then you can quit. Much of the time, once you get started you'll find that what was really holding you back was just starting the task. This is a great way to handle exercise. If you dread going to the gym, go for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes if you still don't want to be there, you can leave. If you don't like it that day, no problem, you made the effort and you'll stay longer on a day when you like it better. We can apply Newton's first law of motion … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Misc Tagged With:

Interview: Best Post

2007 by Mark Shead 7 Comments

This is the third and final post where we interviewed a number of experts in personal productivity, time management and organization. I wanted to thank everyone who participated and also thank Leo at ZenHabits for putting together the list of 50 Productivity Blogs back in April which gave me a great starting point for these interviews. The first question we asked had to do with identifying the biggest way people waste time without realizing it. The second gave the experts a chance to share the single change that has had the biggest results in terms of being effective. The third and final question was: If someone were to read just one post from your site, which would you recommend the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Misc Tagged With:

Interview: Becoming Effective

2007 by Mark Shead 7 Comments

What change has made the most difference in making you effective? Mmmm...tough question. Ironically, I think having less time available for discretionary projects has made me more effective in the areas of my life that I choose to spend time in. So get married, have kids and take a job that keeps you busy all the time: it'll make you more effective! Brendon Connelly from Slacker Manager (rss) This seems counterintuitive, but I guess it makes sense. Having more stuff to do should help force you to be more efficient. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Misc Tagged With: