I am a reader. I can cruise through a couple of books a week. However, my backlog is continually growing because I am only reading fiction. I decided a couple of months ago that I had to address the growing pile of nonfiction books. But it has not been an easy switch. In this episode, number 78, I will share the tips that I have used to make time for reading.
We all know that multitasking is bad. It has been estimated that multitasking can cost as much as 40% of your attention. But what about multi-projecting? Is it better to work one project and see it through? Or work several at a time? We will explore this question in Episode 77: One Project at a Time or Many?
Have you ever completed a job task or a project, just to be told that it was no longer needed? I’ve seen it happen time and again. Today’s podcast, Episode 76, will talk about Questions To Keep You From Wasting Time and Energy.
A recent attempt to do Agile methodology “perfectly” had me stopping to look at the rest of my life. Perfectionism had crept back in. Today’s episode talks about what perfectionism can do to you, and some steps to combat it.
I rarely have time to prep for the new year in December. The holiday season is a busy one for me, and it doesn’t allow for the retrospection that I find I want to give the start of a new year. I know that January 1 is only a date, but I like taking the slow weeks after the new year to consider the year ahead. I like to reflect and plan the new year in the slow weeks of January.
Disruptions are a part of life. But depending on how we approach them, they can be minor blips, or major derailments. Using anchor points to assess the level of disruption and modifying routines, both in simplifying or complicating, allow me to weather disruptions without long-term consequences.
I love bright and shiny as much as the next person. Besides having all the new tools, and the untarnished promises that a new system brings, it also feels productive because I am working on my productivity system. But shifting systems is a big deal because there is a lot of switching time between. Today we’ll talk about how and why in Episode 72 called Switching Systems.
Productivity systems leak. And like plumbing, sometimes the only evidence is after the fact. Today we talk about how leaks develop, how to spot them, and what to do about them.
The feeling of getting to zero in my email in box is something that really gives me a boost. I realized after a trip away that the piles in my life were very much like a backlog of email: incomplete decisions. I decided to go through my physical, written and electronic spaces to pursue a concept of zero.
If I have too many projects on my plate I shut down, overwhelmed by the volume. I needed to tackle this early this fall, and I tried something new: clearing the decks. It worked really well taking my 18 project list down to 4 in about 5 hours.
