Category — Productivity Improvement

If you are following blogs related to personal development or self improvement ,then there are remote chances that you would have missed to witness Steve Pavlina’s contribution to personal development space.

His blog stevepavlina.com is a dedicated destination for personal development articles.

I am one of his followers and hugely inspired by his writing and podcasts.

That’s why I decided to do a review post of his popular book Personal development for smart people.

Book, as expected is rich-content driven and though I can see that some of the part of the books actually already conveyed in his own blog (considering the blog has thousands of articles on personal development) . But that’s okey as book carries additional information on those  elements of personal transformation which are really helpful.

Steve shares his own story how he transformed himself over the years.

Steve devides the book into two main sections, namely..
 

• Fundamental principles
• practical application

In the first part- i.e fundmental principles, he writes about

Truth, Love, Power, Oneness,Authority, Courage and Intellgience

In the second half, he emphasizes on practical application covering elements such as

Habits, Career, money, Health, Relationships and Spirtiuality

Personal development for smart people,  is a book that can have a lasting impact on your life if you are looking for personal transformation, mainly because of the way Steve addresses the core elements of transformations at such a granular levels.

His insightful analysis about core principles create awareness within you and his practical advises instill actions insides you.

You will be more clear about your real purpose of life and about the set of  actions to bring upon a personal change and long lasting happiness.

Instead of revealing some more awesome features of the book, I leave it for you to go and checkout this outstanding piece of work by Steve Pavlina. You can also get it in Kindle format, if you are a digital reader like me

About Steve Pavlina and his blog: Steve Pavlina is one of the widely recognized personal development speaker and blogger. His website stevepavlina.com is hugley popular with thousands of articles published online. You can also listen to his podcasts

 We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them- Albert Einstein

Everyone faces problems. Sometimes simple and sometimes more complicated. Solving a problem is sometimes easy, sometimes difficult and many a times, seems impossible.

If you often find yourself in the situations where in, you are not able to resolve a problem effectively, then you need to revisit your approach towards problem solving.

This article will be more relevant to you and anyone who want to develop or enhance their problem solving skills. Note that problem solving not only require decision making ability and action taking, but it needs further efforts in other areas as well such as analyzing patterns and documenting the solution to avoid re-occurrence.

In this article, I am going through  life cycle of a ‘complex’ problem and we will see a step by step guide to solve it satisfactorily.

I have based this article not only upon my personal learning per se, but also collated information from learning from my friends, colleagues , corporate life, software engineering and of course by gathering information from various people who are good at problem solving.

So let’s begin with the problem itself.

So, you have a problem.

A problem which could be troubling you since quite sometime now, or a problem which has suddenly appeared in your life . It could be related to your work, family , health or related to any other sphere of your life.

What’s important here is the problem is for you. It’s now you who is responsible to address and resolve it.

What would be your approach? Wouldn’t it be nice if you were made aware of a checklist or a flowchart so that you can deal with the problem much effectively and bring upon more pleasant results.

Here we go.

Step 1: Accept that you have a problem

This is really important. Lots of people don’t accept that they have a problem. Note that knowing that they have a problem and accepting that , both are different things.Knowing about a problem will make you aware, where as accepting that you have a problem initiates an action towards it.

When you don’t accept a problem, there won’t be action from your side. When problem is not acted upon in timely manner, it often grows and multiplies.

By denying that you don’t have that very problem, you are fooling anyone but yourself and allowing the problem to grow.

Step 2: Are there anyone else having the same problem and can they help you?

This is a step most of us underestimate. There are chances that some of your friends or colleagues or anyone for that matter could have experienced the similar problem that you are experiencing now.

Just ask them and most of the time, they might have already solved the problem and pass on the solution to you.

This might sound as common sense to ask someone’s help, but it works and saves your time and energy.

People don’t utilize this simple method.Rather , they push themselves hard to solve the problem themselves.

Step 3: Start with basics and fundamentals

People often resort to random guesswork when they face a problem. Upon not getting quick solution, they enter the panic zone too early and panic curtails their ability to explore other solutions and take the right action.

Instead, always start with basic investigations. Check that fundamentals are still right. Are there any clues that fundamentals are disturbed? It could be an issue with some vital parameters.

Let’s take analogy of doctor and his process of diagnosing a complex disease. A good doctor would always start with basic tests and go up further. Many a times, problems are found in basic tests itself. A timely treatment cures the disease.

Step 4: If basics are fine, then look for the trigger that caused the problem

Once you are certain that basic investigations didn’t reveal anything obvious, then you may look for triggers or clues that would have created the problem.

To find out the triggers, you need analyze the patterns with questions such as,

• Did I do anything different last week, last month or last year?
• Did I ignored a minor clue thinking that it might not be a big issue?
• Did anyone else did something different to a system over the period of few days or months.
• Is there any trail?

When you start comparing the standard behavior with changed behavior at granular levels, you will surely find a trigger or clue.

That’s nothing but the root cause of your whole problem.

Identifying the root cause is important than treating the problem itself. Because people often treat symptoms instead treating the root cause.

Now, since you have identified the root cause, it’s time to think about an appropriate solution.

Step 4: Look the problem from a various angles and come-up with an optimum solution

Coming up with effective solution doesn’t just requires an immediate action,but analyzing the impact of the solution.

• What happens after 1 week of your solution implemented, one year and so on.
• Is this the permanent solution?
• Will this solution affect other areas of your life adversely in any way?

Think about all these and once the solution seems appropriate, proceed to action.

Step 5: Take action

Take concrete action immediately. Don’t delay further. We already know that problem often multiplies itself if unattended.It’s only your timely action, that eliminates problem from the root and your goal should be to avoid the re-occurrence of the same problem.

Step 6: Document your problem solving process

Why you need to document ?

Because, by successfully diagnosing a problem and resolving it, you have found out a working way to resolve this particular problem.

Document the steps somewhere . Be it on paper, ipad , diary anywhere which is easily accessible.

Documenting creates a knowledge pool of working solutions for you. It enhances your wisdom. You gradually become a trusted source for expert advice.

Hope you enjoyed this lengthy article about whole life cycle of a problem and the steps that are involved in solving it successfully.

If you found value in it, please share this post with your friends and relatives.

Also, let me know what did you feel about this post by adding comments

Till next time, take care.

Confusing? In fact the definition of minimalism and simple living itself has various versions. And what an iPad got to do with minimalist living and simple lifestyle?

Mind you, this article is neither a review, nor about sharing the excitement that I am feeling currently by owning this new device, iPad. Rather,this post is about how a gadget can actually help you to organize your life and free you from your involvement in various scattered devices. This post is how a non-minimalist and super cool gadget, if used  in right way can amazingly simplify your life .

Why did I buy iPad when I already had a laptop and that too at a stage of life where i am limiting my expenses and releasing myself from burden of unwanted things which I never used?

That’s exactly the story which I am going to share with you in this article.

Buying an iPad was never a spontaneous decision.And I am not one of those who are ‘upgrade’ hungry. I am not addicted to latest versions. I am not bothered to upgrade and I don’t need a latest version just because it is cool to have one.

Here comes the real reason behind my purchase of iPad. Since long time, I wanted to centralize and digitize all the aspects of my life. In fact , some years ago I even tried creating an application of my own in Visual Basic (mind you, I am a mulch-lingual computer programmer). I had named that application as Digital Life (I know it’s really a cool name). Unfortunately, I couldn’t really take that application further.

When I meant digitize my life ,I wanted to do things like below list

• Centralize all my various passwords at one place
• Keep record of my bank accounts
• Keep records of my assets and liabilities
• Keep records of my finances (investments and deposits)
• Digitize my professional records (This is no more required as LinkedIn works fine for me)
• Scan all my important documents and keep them in a central place. Believe me, I have tough time in finding important documents when they are really required (This is a new requirement)
• Keep record of important stuff like technical stuff and notes. I often write notes on a paper notepad and they get lost somewhere and not easily retrievable
• Capture instant ideas and store them for later viewing an actions. This one is big for me because, ideas are like bubbles on water. You need to capture them immediately and record them. You might not even remember what was this idea if you don’t document it somewhere. Papers are again bad in storing and retrieving information
• Read/write blog posts while i am on the move (This is a new requirement and believe me, a phone/ laptop didn’t meet this purpose)

Some of the requirements are my recent plans such as scanning and blogging were not in my original list when I was creating that app.

Enter the world of tablets and with iPad, I can say that most of the above requirements are met (I already found the suitable apps for my requirements and setting up things further).  I am writing this post from my iPad and is am typing faster than I type on my laptop, which is great stuff. I am using the app keeper for password management. Evernote for writing my blog posts. I use Flip board app for checking tweets and news related to blogging and technology. DocScan HD for scanning document and converting into PDF. I might use AudioMemos or Garageband for creating some audio files if I decide to do podcasts in future.

Other useful apps that I didn’t expect they even exist. They are Analytics for iPad, iSense and Mail chimp stats.

iBook and Kindle for iPad are great as well.

So far things have been great with iPad.

I am amused by the quality that Apple produces.

Price is a relative term. But creating a wonderful user experience is result of constant efforts towards innovation and research. Apple surely has put its heart in producing some of the finest products and iPad not an exception for that. I don’t think apple products are over priced. It’s only that their prices are over hyped.

Minimalism and iPad go hand in hand

Really.

Because iPad eliminates the need of multiple gadgets such as a laptop and desktop. It speeds up your productivity by offering rich apps. It makes typing a fun affair.

Only flip side to it is it can get you addicted if you chose to. And I don’t. Because as I said earlier, I am turning into a minimalist.

For me, minimalism is not stopping buying gadgets or things, it is reversing the habit of buying things which you don’t actually need. An iPad, in my experience so far, will help my life to become more organized and more manageable.

An iPad can manage your life digitally and it can be fun.

Over to you

What you feel about buying an iPad can simplify your life? Do you have an iPad and how are you using it primarily? I am eager to know

1. Admit that you have failed. Make yourself  a commitment to reverse those failures. Work on it. Start with below 19 tips.
2. Attach yourself with right people.
3. Don’t ignore small tasks. Unfinished /delayed small tasks often result in big problems.
4. Value time. No one cares your reasons for being late. Especially your boss.
5. Don’t underestimate yourself. You are important.
6. Do what needs to be done, right now. Procrastination is not just a problem, it can turn into a disease if you make it a habit.
7. Cultivate the habit of verifying your work. 5 more minutes of verification can save your hours of re-work.
8. Don’t judge anyone by their first impression. Instead, analyze the pattern.
9. Be honest. This tip might have been shared a million times, but there is a reason for it. It makes you great person.
10. Do smart work rather than hard work. Smart work is not shying away from hard work, but finding the real reasons why you are working so hard and automating/simplifying your hard work.
11. Don’t hurry to learn advanced topics. First,make your basics strong. Advanced topics are just extension of basics. If your foundation is weak, you might understand/relate things in a wrong way which is worst than not understanding the things.
12. Try not to push yourself too hard for achieving many things at same time. Just focus on one goal and put your quality efforts towards it.
13. Make your work environment less distracting. Clean your desk, put headphone, or put an away status in messenger. Do whatever it takes to give yourself a productive hour. A focused hour is much better than a 8 hours of distracted efforts.
14. Don’t put hopes on luck, instead have faith in your efforts. Luck is nothing but known outcome for your hard work.
15. Negative people are more attractive than positive people, because they speak lots of interesting non-factual things. Best way to deal with negative people is to stay away from them or make yourself immune to their thoughts.
16. Always validate your important achievements with your peers. You might surprisingly receive few valuable tips for improvements.
17. Be consistent in your efforts. Don’t expect results or appreciations overnight.
18. Don’t be a busy man. Instead, have proper work life balance. Being always busy robs your beautiful years from life.
19. Stop being a consumer always. Instead, try creating something of your own.
20. Personal development blogs won’t change you. They can only inspire you. What brings the real change is your determined action.

Photo credit: aloshbennett

A first impression is the last impression – If you fail to make a good first impression, then you are all set to come last in the race because you will never get a second chance.

This is what  I was taught during my schooling, colleges and even the same advice was passed on to me while taking up employment.

I believed this advice firmly and decided that I will always try to make a good first impression in order to succeed.

While this advice of making a good first impression pushed me to start my career with a bang , but the fact was I was not able to keep the momentum going.

I met with failures very soon and embraced frustration, found myself in clueless situation.

I was a teenager who jumped into information technology industry immediately after my college wrestling with keyboard and learning MS DOS and Word star (which were popular in those days) sitting in front of that monochrome monitors.

When I was trying to make a good first impression my job, I was forcing myself too much during the first few days of employment to make others think that I am the fastest learner and will do everything that was given to me. I was saying yes to every work coming on my way.

My bosses liked my super-charged attitude and  soon trusted me as a valuable player in the team. Their impression about me was that I had learned everything in a short period of time.

But, that image was short lived. I was no more a new employee and since I had set the benchmark high during my initial days (reason: to make a first impression), I was assigned multiple tasks and asked to complete all in stiff deadlines. Soon, my enthusiasm started coming down. Pressure was building up inside me to complete pending tasks.

I just couldn’t handle those. Advice of making a good first impression was working against me.

I failed. I couldn’t complete the tasks and ended up with silly mistakes. Because, I underestimated the value of time for learning the new system.

I thought I had understood everything (at least tried to show like that) .

The first impression thing screwed up everything. I failed miserably.

This was almost a decade back. Then, I was not aware how to progress in life. I didn’t know that the ultimate progress in life is learning things in correct way and implementing them in right way. What I was trying was to build a skyscraper with weak foundation.

Thanks to personal development, which opened my eye to my inner self.

When I took up a task of discovering myself and decided to fix myself, I started experiencing an exact opposite of what I was taught during schooling, colleges.

I realized that first impression is not the last impression. And judging the life based on a ‘first impression’ could bring me dangerous results. And allowing some one to judge me on my first impression would have the same effect too.

My experiences were not limited to my job or competitive areas, there were chunks of lessons in other areas of life such as buying habits, relationships and much more.

Lessons were pretty clear.

First impression is not the last impression.

You just need to be yourself , natural and practical.

Everything falls in the right place if you focus on creating a solid foundation.

Research is always accurate than trusting the hype.

I learned these lessons because I had reversed the popular belief called making a first impression.

Instead of trying hard to make a good first impression, I started involving in the new job as a brand new comer. I was humble, polite and hardworking. I started with smalls steps by putting my efforts into understanding each module of the job and slowly understanding the whole ecosystem of the work.

I was seeking information from seniors and thanked them for their inputs.I admitted my silly mistakes and corrected them immediately and kept going.

Surely, I was on the right path. I started getting more and more support and attention from seniors and the boss over the time. I didn’t focus on making a first impression, I just worked hard and focused on developing a strong knowledge base. I was slow but steady.What I was trying is to release my true potential.

A strong foundation was built.

Results were outstanding and I was appreciated for my contributions and that developed more confidence inside me. This is what I practice after those life changing lessons.

I hope you got the message in the above story.

So, don’t try hard for making a good first impression. You will be MISJUDGED. Because you look artificial when you try to make a good first impression. Instead, be natural, be hardworking and honest.

Nobody can (should) judge a person or a thing based on first impression

This is the core message I wanted to convey in this whole article.

Most of  first impressions are not real. They are either inaccurate, deceiving or fake.

Let’s look at your own daily life examples.

How many times you have seen a new person, and at first thought he looks like a baddy. However later after spending some time with him, you found that he is a humble and a good guy. A first impression about him was unreal.

How many times, you have bought a new phone by it’s first look and later found that it lacks some of the very important functionality? You would have surely surrendered yourself to aggressive marketing which would have created an urge inside you to get this new phone. A first impression of the gadget was worth a 5 star rating. But what you failed to notice is ,first impressions are some created to infuse a sense of urgency within you to buy the new gadget immediately whether you really need it or not. In the age of consumerism, you might have experienced this many times.

As a manager, how many times , you wrote off a new employee thinking that he is  ineffective because he failed to make a good first impression? You later surprised to see that he is doing quite amazing in some other team. First impression of the new employee again deceived you.

You can’t judge anyone based on their first impression because you are ignoring a simple truth that human behavior is complex.

This truth not only applies to human behavior but extends itself to other areas of our life as well.

The worst thing that can happen to people is they might get married to a wrong person if they judge him/her based on the first impression.

I hope you can imagine the consequences.

What is the right way to judge a person/situation/stuff then?

 

You need to have patience and thankfully, there are plenty of resources available for research.

You need to analyze the pattern over the time, instead of judging a person/stuff/situation instantly based on the first impression.

In fact, it’s no more optional. You SHOULD adopt this habit right away if you want to make RIGHT choices and handle the situations in a better way.

Stay calm and observe the variations over the period of time.

I am sure , you will come to an obvious conclusion soon which is far accurate than the instant opinion which was created based on the first impression.

If you are a boss, don’t judge a new employee on day one or even within a week. He might be misjudged. Instead, give him a month. Extend your support to him and expose him to valuable information. Offer constructive feedback for his silly mistakes. Appreciate his small accomplishments. Soon, he might do wonders for you.

If you are tempted to buy that new gadget by seeing it’s first look on TV or internet, don’t rush to buy it immediately. Instead, hold yourself back and wait for user reviews and feedback. After going through reviews, if the gadget still excites you, go and pick it up. But if user reviews are all negative, do you still want to take the risk?

If you see a business offer coming on your way which is too good to resist and offered with unbelievable goodies, be patient and step back for allowing yourself to do some research. You might even later find that the business offer was nothing more than a scam.

If you are a software programmer and the code you just wrote works perfect in it’s first run (by it’s first impression). don’t hurry to celebrate. Instead, observe the code behavior in the whole ecosystem of the project. Test the code in various scenarios and see that how other modules respond to your code. By doing so, you will be a better programmer. Real programmer spends most of the time in testing, not in programming.

I am sure, above examples showed you the consequences of exercising  judgement by first impression.

I am not saying that first impressions are always false, but they surely need a second look.

Don’t worry. Life will give you a second chance. Observe, analyze and work hard.

A long lasting impression is what you should be aiming for, not for the temporary first impression.

Your turn

How about you? Have you ever judged some one by their first impression? Or have you ever been judged by some one based on your first impression? I am genuinely interested in hearing about your experiences. Tell your story in the comments.

Photo credit : free digital photos

The sleeping fox catches no poultry- Benjamin Franklin

Procrastination is a serious disease that can slow down the progress of any person and prevent him from reaching his goals no matter how clever he was.

Procrastination can take many forms but one of its worst forms is waking up late or wasting a lot of time sleeping.

Your productivity during a day is governed by the amount of time you spend awake and so you if you gave in to bad sleeping habits then you will find that your progress in life slowed down too much.

So how can you become an early riser?

1.Break the cycle

If you have been waking up late for the past few days or weeks then you must break the cycle by waking up early one day even if you didn’t get enough sleep. Most people think that if they slept late then they have no other option but to wake up late. This is actually wrong. The only way to adjust your sleeping habits is to force yourself to wake up early one day so that you find yourself tired at the end of the day and so sleep early.

2.Do you want to wake up?

this sounds like a strange question but lets think about it. When you are about to travel to a new country for a vacation, don’t you find yourself eager to wake up even if you didn’t get enough sleep? Of course you do. And the reason is that you want to wake up. Sometimes waking up late is a kind of protest which the person unconsciously makes when he doesn’t want to face those uninteresting tasks he has to do throughout the day. If that’s the case then you need to examine your daily tasks and find out why they appear as burdens? Are you in a right profession or job?

3.Play around with your biological clock

we all know that the biological clock is the inner device that regulates our energy throughout the day. Good news is that you can control your biological clock to a great extent!! As soon as you wake up, try to get exposed to sunlight for sometime (by opening all windows for example) this wont only make you feel energetic but it will alert the biological clock timing in a such a way that will help you sleep better when the night comes. On the contrary if you didn’t get exposed to sunlight your biological clock wont be adjusted and you might not feel like sleeping at night.

4.Are you getting enough sleep?

Insomnia or the lack of the ability to sleep at night can be the reason you don’t wake up early. Insomnia has many causes but in most cases the reasons are psychological. If you don’t want to sleep because you feel that you didn’t get enough of that day then you might never be able to wake up early the next day. Find out the reasons that are preventing you from sleeping at night especially the psychological ones and after you deal with them you won’t have any problems in getting a good night sleep.

I hope you liked the techniques for becoming an early riser.

This is a guest article by M.Farouk Radwan from 2knowmyself. If you want to guest post on this blog, please check the guest post page for details.

“Ideas can be life changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea” – Jim Rohn.

Life is beautiful and actually most of the life’s challenges are simple. It’s we, who make them appear complicated by misunderstanding missing to see their details. If we pay attention to their details, we will discover that these challenges are actually simple and life can be easier. Life has so many wonderful things to offer us. It has success, fame and much more. It has hidden treasures. Life is beautiful. It’s just that we need to observe life’s details and discover the hidden treasures.

Unfortunately, most of the people don’t try to discover life. They just sail along with the life. They instead, create a layer of self limitation around them and try adjusting themselves to the situation.

They chase happiness but fail to recognize it when it is already in front of them. They live life in fear and their life lacks the most important ingredient of life, self satisfaction.

How can you discover the hidden treasure that life has to offer you then?
How can you be more productive at work?
How can you become rich?
How can you stay rich?
How can you accomplish more and live a content life?
How can you live a wonderful life?

Is there an answer for these questions? If so what is it then?

Answer for above questions lies in an idea. A winning idea is all it takes to unlock the hidden treasure that life has inside it. Once you unlock, magic begins and all treasure is yours. A winning idea can help us to realize our true potential. In fact just a bunch of powerful ideas can change our life.

What is an idea basically? How do we define and bring it into our life?

An idea can be a completely new concept for doing things or a new method of enhancing existing process. It can also be just a thought which acts as catalyst for other ideas. An idea can hit your mind in just a flash or it could be residing in your mind since decades. Your success or failure depends upon whether you implement that idea or not.

I have such 23 ideas written and organized into an eBook and explained the ideas chapter by chapter. eBook is short, yet easy on the eye with minimum graphics and printer friendly.

This book is all about couple of winning ideas. I tried to share few ideas which you can use,implement and experiment in your daily life and benefit. Most of the ideas are simple, achievable and amazing. Some ideas are innovative and some offer new way of doing existing things. In a nutshell, this book is all about achieving success and living a content life.

Below are the ideas that are discussed and explained in detail by chapter by chapter in the book.

1. Eliminate fear from your life

2.Discover your true passion: Let your passion enrich your life

3.Discover the potential of your talent and make your living life out of it

4.Have enthusiasm for learning new things

5.Learn effective communication

6.Create a habit of waking up early

7.Develop a habit of reading great books

8.Work when you are work

9.Relax

10.Don’t work for money

11.Meet and learn from people who run business of any form

12.Avoid getting trapped in debt

13.Honesty pays

14.Life is fast, its a myth. Take time to enjoy every moment of life

15.Remove stress from your life

16.Better late than never

17.Health is wealth

18.Visit museums and understand history

19.Donate

20.Experience happiness by creating something of your own

21.Develop a hobby and nurture it

22.Offer free service

23.Focus on 3 things: Learning, health and family

To get the eBook for free, you just need to provide your email address below and you will get the eBook sent to your email.

Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?” – Marcus Aurelius

Dear readers,
After writing about my experiences and reviews of two life changing books You can Win and Rich Dad Poor Dad, I am here to share details about another amazing personal development ebook called as Focus by minimalist guru Leo Babauta.

I read the complete book on my kindle, which allowed me to read the book at one go and note down points as much as I can.

Leo Babauta has been a wonderful motivator to the world with his tips for enhanced productivity and bringing simplicity to life.

Focus by Leo Babauta, discusses a very important tool for achieving anything tangible, focus. Book’s caption says  ‘ A simplicity manifesto in the age of distraction’.

So much true. Isn’t it the distraction, is the silent killer of productivity in modern world? There is so much noise around us in the form of television, news, online messages, mobile calls and so on.

Leo in his eBook focus, addresses the right issue with simple and amazing way. Be it clearing distractions or focusing on the essentials or on how working on one task at a time increases your productivity. Each chapter has to offer you valuable inputs for improving your life.

With this short introduction, I suggest you to grab this eBook (look at the end for the download link) right away.

Focus, the eBook by Leo Babauta has following amazing chapters.

Section i. step back
1: introduction
2: the age of distraction
3: the importance of finding focus
4: the beauty of disconnection
5: focus rituals

Section ii. clear distractions
1: limiting the stream
2: you don’t need to respond
3: let go of the need to stay updated
4: how not to live in your inbox
5: the value of distraction
6: why letting go can be difficult
7: tools for beating distraction

Section iii. Simplify
1: creating an uncluttered environment
2: slowing down
3: going with the flow
4: effortless action
5: three strategies for prioritizing tasks
6: letting go of goals
7: finding simplicity

Section iv. Focus
1: a simple system for getting amazing things done
2: single-tasking and productivity
3: the power of a smaller work focus
4: focused reading and research
5: walking, disconnection & focus

Section v. others
1: finding focus, for parents
2: the problem of others
3: managers transforming office culture

Download the Book here.

Are you one of those employees who are not happy with your career growth?

When I say career growth, I mean appreciation, job satisfaction and of course a well deserved promotion.

Before you shift to clueless mode and conclude that nothing can be done and it’s all because of office politics or your bad luck, I request you to listen to me because I want to help you. I would like you to try below 10 simple actions which might (I am sure they will) make a difference to your career growth.

Here I go.

1. Be Result-Oriented – Efforts are noticed, but results are rewarded. If you think that only putting lots of efforts will get you promoted, you are wrong. Efforts will surely move forward in the race but what matters is the right result. Always start with small and then achieve success in parts. Join the working parts and create the working model.
2. Adopt to Single-Tasking – This point greatly influences your time management aspect as well. Finish what you started instead of parallel working.
3. Be Proactive – Don’t wait others to come and tell you what to do. Instead, ask them ad get yourself involved.
4. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes – Try to learn from them. But make sure that you don’t repeat the mistakes. Repeating the mistakes make you appear dumb.
5. Commit to what you promise – Else don’t promise.
6. Increase your influence in the team -  Communicate effectively.
7. Stay away from negative people. Learn more about how to handle negative people.
8. Go to the extra mile – Don’t hesitate to attempt the new work. This is where you grow. But make sure that you take calculated risk.
9. Develop a sense of humor- Skip this point if you already have one
10. Practice above actions for at least 2 months for seeing a change in your career. Of course, by then you would not like to discontinue them since you would have gathered additional praise, rewards and a well deserved promotion

Sounds good? I want to hear from you. Drop me a line about your results.

We all are living in a world where complex tasks need to be done to make life simple. It’s all about simplifying the user experience and making life more comfortable. I hope I don’t need to give examples of such tasks since the list seems to be enormous in length and it applies to anything which involves creation, service or support.

Having said that, whatever may be the the nature of tasks and whatever the level of automation applied, there is a human hand/mind that actually drives these tasks ahead and only few people manage to achieve tremendous amount of success in tasks compared to others who often miss deadlines, produce poor quality results.

Why do some people perform more better than others? Is brilliance is the only factor that drives them to succeed? Two people can be equally brilliant but when it comes to productivity one may outperform the other. Why is this? There is something else that separates them from crowd, puts them on top performers list.

And that is ‘single-tasking’. Doing one thing at a time and doing it perfectly.

Single tasking might sound a strange or difficult word in this modern era where people are flooded with multiple tasks and carry the burden of simultaneous tasks.

Let me break the myths about multi-tasking. The myth that multi-tasking people are more productive. It’s wrong. They are busy, but not productive. Being busy is not same as being productive. Because, efforts are not rewarded, results are. A busy person may be putting lots of efforts without the results.

You see, when you do multiple tasks at a time,  you divide your time instead of devoting your time. That means the level of concentration needed for fulfilling the task is reduced. If your concentration/observation is low, means poor quality results. In fact, you may not achieve anything at all since you put yourself under pressure to complete the tasks. Remember, fulfilling the task is important, not just completing. Fulfillment is completing the task by dedicating quality time for it and finishing with devotion.

In multi-tasking, you create a pressure on yourself by which you are forced to attend multiple requirements that are crying for your attention. You will not be able to complete them in a satisfactory manner since your time and concentration divided. You spread yourself too thin.

By being a multi-tasking person, you miss the joy of working. You miss to see the details. You miss the joy of fulfillment.

How to improve productivity with single-tasking? What is the key for productivity improvement?

It’s Simple. Attend one task at a time. If you were assigned multiple tasks, make a list and prioritize them in order. Don’t try to work simultaneously.

If you feel you are overloaded with tasks, make sure that you say ‘No’ to some of them. Your reputation is built by the quality of work you do , not by the amount of tasks you accepted (with no results or improper results).

Involve in one task at a time and give each task complete attention and finish it to utmost satisfaction.

I can assure that this productivity improvement technique gives you a great feeling of accomplishment, peace of mind and a stress-free work life.

I want you to try this productivity improvement technique and let me know the outcome.

You might be interested in reading related articles on my blog.

10 Tips for Achieving Great Success in Your Job

25 Tips for Becoming Super-Performer in Your Job