Summer is an ideal time to enjoy a four day work week. Most businesses are a bit slower in the summer than during the rest of the year. Plus the weather is so beautiful that it’s great if you can take some three-day weekends and get out into nature. This can be really refreshing for you which ultimately makes you more productive. However, you don’t want to spend the summer being lazy. To make a four day work week work for you, you need to get enough done and also earn enough money to pay your bills even though you’re taking that fifth day off each week.
Most people will find that it is possible to accomplish as much in four days as you get done in five. There are multiple ways that you can achieve this. One is to work ten hour days instead of eight hour days. Another is to simply be more productive in the first four days of the week. To do this, simply set weekly goals that reflect what you would like to get done in the normal work week. Then organize the tasks for each week to allow you to meet those goals. Allow yourself the reward of taking Friday off if everything gets done before then. You’ll be motivated to stay on task and you’ll probably find yourself getting everything done in those four days. Continue reading ‘Make a 4 Day Work Week Work This Summer’
Your mobile phone is a powerful tool. Used correctly, it can significantly increase the amount of productivity that you experience throughout the day. Used incorrectly, however, it can easily distract you from the things that you need to get done. Use the following tips to increase your mobile phone productivity:
• Make use of Unified Communications tools. There are a lot of great tools out there that can link all of your different modes of communication together. This allows you to easily move between your phone and computer to share information in an efficient manner.
• Ask yourself what the most efficient method of communication is. Whether or not you are using UC tools, you should be consciously choosing the best method of communicating with your phone. Before placing a call, ask yourself if a text message or a voice conference would be more efficient. Conscious decisions lead to true productivity.
• Do not accept calls all throughout the day. Every time that you accept a phone call, you are accepting an Continue reading ‘Top Mobile Phone Tips to Increase Productivity’
If you want to increase productivity in the office then you need to make yourself and others accountable for using your time more wisely. The best way to do this is to create a system of daily productivity checks. You check in with yourself, you check in with others and you check up on others in the office. When this is done in an efficient and organized manner each day, it is successful in increasing productivity.
Set Daily Productivity Goals
The first thing that you’ll need to do is to set daily productivity goals. Most people find that it’s best to create a list at the end of the day to be accomplished the following day. This way, you know right at the start of the day what your goals will be. It is best if you organize these tasks by their contribution to your overall productivity. (See this Daily Productivity Planner for one example of how to do that.)
Determine How You’ll Do Check-Ins
Daily productivity goals work best when you hold yourself and your employees accountable for meeting those Continue reading ‘Start Doing Daily Productivity Checks in the Office’
Sometimes we all need a little bit of inspiration to stay motivated towards being more productive. One of the best ways to get that inspiration is to check out blogs and websites related to productivity. These offer easy-to-read bits of inspiration that can help us stay on task on a day-to-day basis. And most of them offer great tips for being more productive.
Here’s a look at the top ten websites that you might want to bookmark for productivity inspiration:
1. Zen Habits. This is perhaps the most well-known blog about productivity that exists and there is a good reason for that. It’s based on the premise that being productive can be done in a simple way. It offers great productivity tips and is one of the most inspiring reads on the web.
2. Online Organizing. This is a collection of blogs on organizing. What’s great is that there are multiple authors here so you get many different perspectives on staying organized and being productive.
3. Stepcase Lifehack. This one is an online community where you can discuss productivity issues with others. It also provides a great collection of articles that teach you how to do things more productively.
4. Ian’s Messy Desk. The posts on this website are really straightforward but also very motivating. Pleasant tips help you to get more joy out of each day while also getting more done.
5. Life Optimizer. This blog is all about how to live your life to the fullest. That’s what productivity is really all about. It provides suggestions for getting more out of each day by doing things efficiently and intelligently. Continue reading ‘Top 10 Websites for Getting Inspired to be Productive’
Employee monitoring is an important tool for many businesses. It allows business owners to make sure that the productivity in the office remains high. It keeps employees on track with their tasks and moves the company closer to meeting all goals. It provides insight into different problems in the office and allows for those problems to be corrected. The only drawback is that employees sometimes resent being monitored which can counteract all of the great benefits of using an employee monitoring system.
The good news is that employers actually have a lot of control over whether or not the employee monitoring is a positive thing. Employers who deal appropriately with employees who resent being monitored will be able to turn their mood around and make the monitoring a positive experience for everyone involved. This is done through discussing the goals of employee monitoring, soliciting employee feedback and working with a praise-based system.
Discuss the Goals of Employee Monitoring
The first thing that all employers should do to deal with disgruntled employees is to open up the doors of communication. Hold a staff meeting to discuss the reasons for employee monitoring. Focus on the goals of monitoring. These goals should include identifying problem areas in the office and assessing the usefulness of various technology and processes in the office. Note that “checking up on employees” is not on the list of goals. Continue reading ‘Coping with Employees who Resent Being Monitored’
One of the biggest wastes of time for many people is the time that they spend commuting to and from the office. In addition to the general commute in the morning and evening, many people make smaller commutes away from the office during the day. A lot of people have to book appointments during the normal work day. Getting to and from those appointments takes a huge chunk of time out of your day. Just think of how many times you’ve left the office a few hours early to make it to a late-afternoon doctor’s appointment. By locating services that are close to your office, you can avoid a lot of wasted time throughout the year. This increases your overall productivity.
The most common appointment that is going to take you away from the office is the doctor’s appointment. Annual exams, dental check-ups and other regularly scheduled doctors’ appointments must be made during normal business hours. In addition to your own appointments, you may be taking children or other dependents to their doctors’ appointments. By locating doctors that are close to your place of business, you can reduce the amount of time that you spend going to and from appointments. Continue reading ‘Stop Wasting Time: Use Services Close to your Office’
An online backup system is one of the most important investments that a business can make and yet a lot of businesses fail to go ahead and get this service. Reasons for this failure include concerns about cost, “never getting around to it” and a lack of understanding about the importance of using an online backup system. Those businesses that end up losing their data will realize the value of this type of system but unfortunately they often realize it too late.
The online backup system is simply a method of storing all of your computer’s files. You already store them on your computer (and perhaps even back them up on an external hard drive) but this isn’t enough if you want to keep your files truly safe. If you rely solely on on-site backup then you run the serious risk of losing your data. This loss may occur as the result of computer failure, theft or damage to the equipment in your building (such as fire damage). If you have an online backup system then you can still retrieve all of your files even though the original files may be lost. Continue reading ‘The Importance of an Online Backup System’
Unified communications is a business and technology trend that has been ramping up for a few years now. The term refers to the streamlining of all types of communications in order to increase the efficiency of sharing information. Any business that wishes to improve productivity should consider learning more about the tools that are available to unify communications.
Defining Unified Communications
Perhaps the phrase “unified communications” is, in and of itself, one of the best ways to define the idea behind this trend. This trend is all about connecting all forms of communication so that you can easily integrate them. For example, you may integrate your voice calls and email together so that you can receive a message in one form (ie voice mail) but easily respond in another form (such as email).
Examples of Major Tools for Unified Communications
There are many different tools and software programs available to create unified communications. Some of the biggest examples include:
• VoIP. One of the first tools to really begin unifying communications was VoIP service. This is phone service which is routed through the Internet. This method of communication allows for easy integration of online information with voice interaction. For example, with VoIP it is possible to easily access and send files to someone with whom you are speaking. Continue reading ‘How Unified Communications Is Increasing Productivity’
One of the most important things that you need to learn if you want to increase your own productivity is to find efficient ways of dealing with the tasks that you have to deal with on a daily basis. Inefficient methods of handling daily tasks are one of the primary causes of reduced productivity. Taking the time to learn how to do these tasks in a truly efficient manner will end up saving you a lot of time (and reducing your stress) over the course of your lifetime.
One of the tasks that people often deal with inefficiently is the task of handling email. Some people check their email inboxes ten or more times per day. They look at the same email messages again and again before responding to them. Try simplifying your approach to email and you may find that your productivity immediately increases.
Some of the top tips to follow for dealing more efficiently with email include:
• Set aside specific times to check email. There is nothing that comes into your inbox that needs to be dealt with the minute that it arrives. Instead of checking email again and again, pick one or two times per day that you’ll deal with email and ignore it the rest of the time. Turn off all email alerts and new mail notifiers.
• Immediately open all spam and unwanted junk mail. Find the “unsubscribe” button or mark it as spam so Continue reading ‘Tips for Efficiently Dealing with Email’
Many businesses know that monitoring their employees can offer a number of benefits to the company and yet they are hesitant to do it because of fears that employee monitoring will upset employees. There is certainly the risk of this when employee monitoring is done incorrectly. However, it is actually possible to use employee monitoring to boost employee morale. This allows the business to thrive not only because of the increased productivity that employee monitoring creates but also because improved morale around the office will naturally improve the company’s bottom line.
The main reason that employees don’t handle it well when new monitoring solutions are instituted is because they feel that they are being watched like children instead of being trusted to simply do their work. They resent this Continue reading ‘How Employee Monitoring Can Boost Employee Morale’
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