Tag Archives: productivity tip

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Strategies to Simplify: A refresher!

work simply coverBy now, you’ve probably noticed that each week we’ve been sharing a tip from Carson Tate’s book Work Simply on how to streamline your life. Here at CMLE, we found Tate’s book incredibly valuable and thought it would resonate with many of you, too. We hope this has been the case, and that you have found these tips useful in your daily activities!

This post is simply to remind you of the source of that content: Carson Tate’s Work Simply. Before beginning the series, we reached out to her to request her permission to incorporate her content into our posts. We were so pleased when she was willing to do so! It was a great reminder that sometimes taking a chance does pay off.

Have any of the Strategies to Simplify tips we have shared worked particularly well for you? We’d love to hear about it! Leave us a comment or send us an email. We will continue to share tips beginning again next week.

If you missed any of the series so far, catch up now:

 

Academic, Check this out:, CMLE, General, Public, Resources, School Media Specialist, Special

Strategies to Simplify: Tip 6: Transform your email

“Work simply. Live fully.”  This week CMLE focuses on the following work productivity tip from Work Simply, Carson Tate’s popular book.  At CMLE, we’ve boiled down Tate’s wealth of knowledge from Work Simply to a few key points; please see the book for more detail and resources. At the bottom, see links to earlier tips in the series! Let’s all be our best selves….

This week’s activity: Reclaim your inbox by refining your email skills. 

By making just a few tweaks to your email routine, you can feel in control of your inbox. Take advantage of Carson Tate’s Email Agility System from Work Simply, through which she believes “The faster you can make accurate decisions regarding the content of your inbox, the more time you will have in your day.”

Read
Decide (does this email require me to do something?)
Act (if action is required, then just do it, delegate it, or create a task. If not, delete or file it!)
Contain 

Recently, you discovered your Productivity Style with a simple assessment.

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Work Simply

Find your Productivity Style for some personalized advice for controlling your inbox:

Prioritizer: Take advantage of the Rules feature: Pay attention to patterns of the emails you receive, and write Rules to file them accordingly. You could also try setting a goal of having no more than a specific number of emails in your inbox at any time.

Planner: Schedule specific times during the day to check your email. You could also benefit from using numbers and symbols to organize your email folders so that your current folders of highest importance are at the top and easily accessible.

Arranger: Beware your tendency to overcommunicate, and use the cc: line sparingly. You may also like to try listening to music while you manage your emails, which brings some fun into the process.

Visualizer: Use the tool of color to code your incoming messages by sender or subject (red for your boss, etc) which helps you see quickly which emails require timely attention. Also, minimize distractions by turning off your email notifications.

Previous tips in this series

Academic, General, Public, Resources, School Media Specialist, Special

Strategies to Simplify: Tip 3: Time tactics

“Work simply. Live fully.”  This week CMLE focuses on the following work productivity tip from Work Simply, Carson Tate’s popular book.  At CMLE, we’ve boiled down Tate’s wealth of knowledge from Work Simply to a few key points; please see the book for more detail and resources. At the bottom, see links to earlier tips in the series! Let’s all be our best selves….

This week’s activity: Time is valuable, so choose time investment tactics that work best for you.

In her book Work Simply, Carson Tate argues that “Time is more valuable than money. You need to start treating it that way.” In order to do that, we need to begin “thinking about time as a commodity, and in particular as an infinitely valuable, nonrenewable resource.”

Recently, you discovered your Productivity Style with a simple assessment.

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Work Simply

Find your Productivity Style for some personalized time tactics:

Prioritizer: You excel at using time efficiently. Try this: Begin your day with your highest priority project or task.

Planner: You are able to minimize the risk of mistakes by adhering to best practices or past procedures. Try this: Plan for extra time each week to allow for unanticipated issues or opportunities

Arranger: You are skilled at encouraging teamwork in order to get the most done. Try this: To help keep your focus, turn off your e-mail notifications.

Visualizer: You can productively handle multiple tasks and projects at once. Try this: Ask yourself, “What is the best use of my time right now?”

Previous tips in this series

Academic, General, Public, Resources, School Media Specialist, Special

Strategies to Simplify: Tip 2: Set your READY goals

“Work simply. Live fully.”  This week CMLE focuses on the following work productivity tip from Work Simply, Carson Tate’s popular book.  At CMLE, we’ve boiled down Tate’s wealth of knowledge from Work Simply to a few key points; please see the book for more detail and resources. At the bottom, see links to earlier tips in the series! Let’s all be our best selves….

This week’s activity: Set your READY goals and work to achieve them using your Productivity Style

In her book Work Simply, Carson Tate suggests setting goals in four main areas of your life: Professional, personal, health, and spiritual. Keep the acronym READY in mind – it is the first step of the READY, Aim, Fire method that will “not only assist you in getting very clear on your goals and priorities, but also ensure that you achieve those goals in the most efficient and effective way possible”

R – Realistic, E – Exciting, A – Action-oriented, D – Directive, Y – Yours.

Recently you discovered your Productivity Style with a simple assessment. Find your style to use these tips for fulfilling your READY goals:

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Work Simply

Find your Productivity Style for some personalized tips:

Prioritizer: When setting your goals, challenge yourself to look at the big picture – think about the action steps required over the next several months (instead of the next several weeks). It may help to keep in mind why this particular goal is important to you.

Planner: Similar to the Prioritizer, try to move your focus beyond short-term action steps, and focus on the big picture. Focus on what the final outcome is that you are hoping to achieve.

Arranger: While it’s helpful to keep in mind the people that are able to encourage you to meet your goals, don’t forget to also focus on how you will complete the actions required to achieve the goal.

Visualizer: Seeing the big picture comes naturally to you. Try to also think about who else needs to be involved in making your goals a reality.

Previous tips in this series

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

May Productivity Tip: Remember to Recharge

According to the folks at  MakeUseOf, “The time has come where we all make promises to ourselves that we’ll be better, harder, faster, and stronger by the end of 2014. Twelve months is a long time, though, and it can be easy to lose steam over such a long period. What can you do about it? Our approach: break the year down into months and dedicate each month to a particular change. This method lets you internalize one change at a time before moving onto the next one. Front loading all of your resolutions together is just a recipe for being overwhelmed. A common resolution for most working people is to be more productive. If you do it right, by the end of the year you’ll be doing more work in less time!” Credit for the content of these monthly posts goes to Joel Lee, MakeUseOf.

Have you gotten your vacation request on the books? Don’t wait too long, or someone else may get your ideal time slot!

Image by erichhh. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by erichhh. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

May’s Bad Habit: Forgetting to Recharge

“If you don’t have energy, you can’t work productively. We already covered physical rest in February; this time I’m talking about mental rest. We often feel like any time spent not working is productivity lost, which leads us to work, work, and work even more at the expense of recreation. This is more detrimental than you might think.

Solution: Keep your work life and personal life separated when you leave the office and take time to pamper yourself for at least an hour every night. Watch Netflix, play some Android games, or pick up a new hobby. Recreation and entertainment are essential for maintaining clarity of mind and preventing burnout.”

This excerpt is from 12 Productivity Habits To Finally Hack Your Life In The New Year by Joel Lee, MakeUseOf, Jan.1, 2014