Networking is vital to a successful career in almost any field. Without the time and ability to engage in networking at the same level as their non-parent peers, working parents need to get creative and develop concrete strategies for cultivating professional relationships. If you’re struggling to find the time, try systematizing your approach so that it becomes a seamless part of your routine without stealing precious hours from your day with these easy strategies.
A 75-year study at Harvard University, known as the Grant Study, found that close relationships — more than money, fame, IQ, or genes — are what keep people happy and healthy over a long life. It’s one thing to cultivate close relationships with people who live under our roof or within our community. But staying close to those who live further away is a whole different challenge. Often, we tend to rely on social media to do the heavy lifting, keeping us up-to-date on the lives of our friends and family members. But that can’t be all there is. For our long distance relationships to go the distance, it’s important to actively prioritize and nourish them.
Having thousands, or tens of thousands, of unread emails piled up in your inbox can be debilitating — it’s overwhelming to sort through and navigate and just the thought of doing so is enough to zap your energy, causing you to feel defeated before you’ve even begun. But it doesn’t have to be this way! You can gain back control of your inbox without spending hours and hours, sorting through email by email, or creating a complex filing system. In fact, a small investment of time can allow you to hit refresh near-instantly, without losing any critical information. Here’s how…
The word clutter often evokes a powerful image: stacks of newspapers, magazines, old mail, brochures, and leaflets piled high and littered about every surface; items shoved haphazardly into any available nook, crany, or crevice; closets overflowing with shirts and sweaters you haven’t worn in years; chaos, disorder, and mess as far as the eye can see. But what about the invisible clutter, the intangible clutter? Time clutter.
The moment we get busy, taking care of ourselves is usually the first thing to go as we put caring for others and job responsibilities first. Many of us take our bodies for granted, pushing ourselves to the limit, basically ignoring our physical and emotional needs until the body screams out and demands attention. But, what can we do to build healthy habits to go the distance? Here are three areas to focus on…..
Your energy levels have a profound impact on your effectiveness. Think about it. Amongst your circle of friends, you can see the differences: there is the friend who is up at the crack of dawn, to the one who always hits a workout after 7pm, to the one wide-awake working on proposals well after midnight. Harnessing your energy cycles isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” conversation. So how do you figure yours out?
You know that feeling when tasks have been sitting on your to-do list so long, that you deflate just thinking about them? One of the worst effects of procrastination is the energy drain; we spend too much time beating ourselves up for not accomplishing what we need to.
Time management is the art of accurately calculating how long things take, how to plan an appropriate amount of time for tasks and find more efficient ways to get them done. Wouldn’t it be great if your kids were good at it? Imagine the drama you can avoid by not having a nightly battle over homework, or a last-minute dinosaur diorama crisis, or a college essay deadline disaster…
Great figures in literature, philosophy, religion, science, and entertainment have considered for eons what it means to be in the moment. Whether it’s about awareness, clarity, a sense of purpose, mystery, or wonder, “the moment” is a state of being; one that is as elusive as it is rewarding.
Last week, I arrived at a small midtown cafe for a breakfast meeting with a prospective client. As I walked through the door, the host enthusiastically greeted me by name, (though I had never been there before), confirmed who I was there to meet (also by name), and escorted me with authentic familiarity to the table. His warm and engaging style made my prospect and I feel like old friends, and set the tone for an incredibly productive meeting...
My Slashie profile can look intimidating at first glance: Entrepreneur / Business Owner/Author/Speaker/Organizational Coach/Boss/Bae/Mom/Friend/Swimmer/Shower Singer. I’m used to wearing many hats and juggling numerous responsibilities with my clients, staff, family and friends. Though my to-do list is often lengthy, I enjoy the challenge and conquer my days by making every moment as productive as possible...
Several years ago Life Magazine conducted the Great American Weekend Study, and discovered that 47% of people wait until Thursday night or later to plan their weekends. I don’t even need to tell you what happens when we wait too long to plan — the weekend slips through our fingers and before we know it, it’s Sunday night, and we didn’t do anything fun or refreshing.
Interruptions are one of the most challenging aspects of working with others. Like everyone, you want to be reasonably accessible to the people you work with, and a true team player. But an over-the-top need to people-please can be a time trap; if you spend all day in helper-mode it's at the expense of completing more revenue-driven tasks.
"How do I find time to think?" is, without a doubt, the most common question I am asked by clients (and audiences) when I speak, train or coach on the topic of productivity.
Being all about efficiency--wouldn't it be nice to know that just ONE resolution can help you achieve all of your goals for the year? Below we'll explore the 6 most common resolutions and the science behind how getting organized can help you improve on each one!
My philosophy about time management is that every system must be designed from the inside out—based on the unique way you think, your natural habits and goals.
When we do studies of how people spend their time, we find, on average… a backlog of 32.4 hours of tasks. That means, on any given day, people feel like they’re drowning in work, like they’re never done, like they can’t ever relax.
As a productivity professional, clients and audiences often ask if I can recommend a great To-Do app. I’ve looked. I’ve tested.
It’s essential to choose a to-do list format that works the way your brain works. It needs to allow you to organize your tasks in a way that makes it easier to get things done.
There will always be more work to do than time to do it. The goal is to make sure you are doing the most important tasks, so you can leave every day with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
With great power, comes great responsibility. Twenty years ago, we may not have imagined a world in which every person could hold great power in the palm of their hand. And then came the smartphone… providing us with a whole lot of power, and a responsibility we may not have been prepared to accept. Ultimately, our devices have the power to allow us to connect or disconnect at will. And it’s up to us to decide how we use technology in our everyday lives — whether we allow it to lift or limit the quality of our social interactions.