cell phone

Why I Keep My Cell Phone On

One of the common pieces of productivity wisdom is "turn your cell phone off." I agree that smart phones can be a distraction. It all comes down to managing the usage. And I leave mine on, even when I need to concentrate. Here's why.
take notes with pictures

Take Notes with Pictures

A picture is worth a thousand words, or so the saying goes. In our modern lives, we focus on text: text messages, emails, web pages, books, newsletters. But sometimes a picture is a better way to capture information. And with cameras on phones, it becomes even easier.
personal development garden

Personal Development Lessons from the Garden

I am a terrible gardener. But I do try. Every year. And every year I have less than stellar results. I sat down and tried to pinpoint the causes of my many failures. I made a list, and realized that they apply to personal development as well.
scale your task list

4 Ways To Scale Back Your Task List

There are days when I am overwhelmed. I still haven’t learned to only put on my task list what I can actually do. Today we will look at how to scale back your task list.

I approach my task list from the standpoint that if it is on there, I have committed to do it…today. This isn’t always feasible, though, and it can build up to the point where I need to revisit the list. I recently needed to scale back my to do list, and here are the ways I did it:
overwhelmed

What To Do When You’re Overwhelmed

It's one thing to make deliberate choices when the choices are easy. But what can you do when there are too many to choose from and they all need to be done yesterday? What do you do when you're overwhelmed?

Overwhelm is a common problem and can stop people from doing anything. After all, why even start if you can't possibly finish?

I'm looking at a perfect storm of a week: meetings Tuesday through Friday, along with a full task list. Here are the steps I took to make this week do-able.