Butterfly Soup? It’s How You Frame It

This morning as I was enjoying my swim, I was reflecting on how much I enjoyed the previous day’s speaking engagement (I presented “Multitasking Makes You Stupid” for the Redmond Rotary Club) — how much I appreciated the interest and participation of the audience, how grateful I am to be able to help and witness people learn… Read more

How Often Do You Check Your Email?

Our last post, and many of our conversations with people who are working on improving their productivity, focus on the harmful effects of multi-tasking and the benefits of “single-tasking”. There are many strategies you can implement to prevent the temptation to multi-task. A good place to start is to decrease distractions. For many people, email is one of their biggest… Read more

Do You Want to be More Productive? Stop Multi-tasking Now!

Actress Emma Watson once tweeted, “I just dropped my iPhone in my soup. I think it might be time to tone down the multi-tasking.” We’ve all seen countless job descriptions that describe the ideal candidate as someone who is good at multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is still often portrayed as a desirable characteristic and a skill that only… Read more

Give Yourself a Gift of Time

Could you use more time to focus on your goals and high priority tasks? What better time is there than right now to give yourself the gift of better time management? For the month of April we are offering a special “Shot of Time Management” mini-package which includes the following: The Simply Placed time log Debbie’s book, Six Word Lessons To… Read more

Organize Business Cards with CamCard

Do you have a growing stack of business cards from people you don’t even remember meeting? For many people, “paper pain” includes collections of business cards and those piles of cards are not just a result of attending trade or networking events. Even regular business meetings lead to a large accumulation of business cards – full of contact information that… Read more

Spring Forward with a New Habit

Connecting a new habit or task you want to do with something you already habitually do or are externally triggered to do is a good strategy for adopting a new habit. For example, if you are having trouble remembering to take vitamins you want to take but you always fix yourself a cup of coffee… Read more

Cue Your Daily Routine

Making a daily plan is a great way to get organized, but the plan alone is not enough; to be successful you need to follow it. If you are not already in the habit of making a daily plan, you may need a trigger to remind you to do so. A good way to cue a new… Read more

Establish a Daily Routine and Stick With It

Cleaning and decluttering your house and office is great, but really getting organized goes beyond buying storage containers or downloading a time management app. The key to being truly organized is to set up systems that encourage organized behaviors and productive outcomes like a daily routine. Getting organized starts with baby steps that build new habits. Adopting… Read more

Harness Your Focus to Stay on Track

Do you lose track of time, skip meals and stay up late because you are so engrossed in something interesting, then realize that you forgot an appointment, ignored a commitment or got sick? While focus is necessary to be productive and achieve goals, sometimes hyperfocus can be detrimental. When those with the tendency to hyperfocus (common for many people… Read more

Easily Distracted? Clamp your Goals to Increase Focus

Distraction is a challenge for many people with today’s fast paced life, pressures to multitask, and the abundance of information coming from so many sources. Computers, mobile devices, the internet and social media are useful tools, but also contribute to an increasingly higher level of distraction. The more distracted we are, the harder it is to focus… Read more

Too many passwords to keep track of?

Coming up with a new password every time you create a web login account that is strong and simple enough to remember is not easy. Many people put themselves at risk of being hacked by using the same weak password (like abcd/1234 or their names) for multiple accounts since it is hard to remember dozens of… Read more

Do you get Easily Distracted, Find it Hard to Focus?

Many talented people full of creative energy and innovative ideas find it challenging to focus, particularly on tasks they find uninteresting or tedious such as paperwork, filling out forms, filing, and other routine tasks. The distractions of the internet, media, more stimulating projects and engaging with others can pull people in lots of different directions, often all at once,… Read more