For most of us, the feeling of being completely stuck and overwhelmed by a giant project goes back as far as our middle school days – to right around that moment when we had to write our first five- or ten-page paper in what seemed like no time at all. The feeling carried on through [...]

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It’s tough to work under the gun, but it’s something we all need to do from time to time, either because we put a project off until the last minute, or because we had a heavy dose of work dumped on our heads. Regardless of the cause, however, developing the time management skill to meet tight [...]

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We tend to blame others when we can’t concentrate on a project, and there’s some validity in that.  After all, the average business person is interrupted about every three minutes.  Interruptions commonly stem from the telephone, email, or a colleague.  These are easy to pinpoint, but there is another one to add to that list.  [...]

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Executive Function: assessing, prioritizing, assigning mental functions, tracking multiple activities, reflecting These are all characteristics that a good executive performs daily. They are also the tasks that emanate from your brain’s prefrontal cortex. This region of your brain is the one that sustains the most damage from prolonged periods of stress. In our fast-paced daily [...]

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Continuing my response to the reader who requested advice for those who were on the “front lines” and didn’t have a project-driven day (see the original crisis management post), I’m going to address customer-driven jobs. If you were hired to answer telephones, such as in a call center, then obviously you cannot decide that you [...]

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“Where did this week go?” That common phrase can be interpreted in two different ways: It was a great week. I had so much fun/got so much done that it flew by. I don’t feel that I accomplished anything I had planned, and it is already the end of the week. It is not hard [...]

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“Your lack of planning should not be my emergency.” Have you ever wanted to say that to someone? Could you be guilty of frequently interrupting others with a “Now!” issue? There is no question that crises do arise from time to time, issues that require everyone to change focus. However they tend to occur much [...]

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51% of small-business professionals end up dreaming about their work. Of those 51%, 70% turn their work dreams into action items upon waking. The above study was commissioned by Staples, the office supply store. If you are one of those people who dream about your work, you might suddenly find yourself jolted awake at 2 [...]

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The simple checklist has been around for eons of time. Even Santa is depicted as checking off his work. However in so many cases, our hectic lives have evolved away from this tool. We move too fast to pause for planning out the steps and recording them. The dilemma is that as technology advances and [...]

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Cyber Monday: the Monday following Thanksgiving, the biggest online retail shopping day The term “Cyber Monday” came into being after computers penetrated the workplace. Employees used that first day back after the holiday to order their Christmas presents. While the need for this day is a bit archaic now that computers are also in homes [...]

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