Do More in Less Time

The Benefits of Waking Up Early, Even When You’re Not a Morning Person

2013-10-11 By Monica 7 Comments

We all have the same 168 hours in a week, so why is it that some people seem more productive than others? How do some of the busiest people find time to workout and stay fit, spend quality time with the people the care about, and maintain a comfy, happy home while working full-time?

For many successful people, one of their major secrets is getting up early. In her book, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, Laura Vanderkam reveals why most successful people choose to get up early. I’ve never considered myself a morning person and getting up early has always been a challenge for me. However, I have found when I get up a little bit earlier and go to the gym before I start working that I’m more productive during the day, feel better, and am able to focus on other projects because my workout is out of the way.

5 Ways to Be Happier and More Productive at Work

2013-05-20 By Monica 2 Comments

“Life is not about making others happy. Life is about sharing your happiness with others.” ~Everyday Life Lessons

Do you want to be happier and more productive at work? Martin Seligman, a positive psychologist and author of Authentic Happiness, concluded that happier people get better performance evaluations and higher pay. Other studies have shown that happy people are more positive, creative, tolerant, constructive, generous and non-defensive. They also have lower medical costs and less absenteeism. Here are five things you can do to increase your happiness and productivity at work:

1. Focus on people and relationships: That’s really what it’s all about – good relationships with your family, your clients, and your co-workers. Take the time to connect with others and you’ll find more meaning in your career as well as improve your happiness.

2. Celebrate Often: Many people delay happiness until they reach a certain goal, close that big sale, or list that dream property. Studies show however that the happiness from these seemingly “big events” is short lived and that true happiness is more about frequency than intensity.

While it’s simply not possible to be happy all the time, research shows that people who are happy 80% of the time are the healthiest, most successful, and live the longest. To get to that 80%, you need to take time to celebrate the little things.

3. Feel and Express Gratitude: This is the single most effective thing you can do each day to increase your happiness. Simply taking the time to appreciate what you already have, the people in your life, and the opportunities that present themselves to you will significantly increase your happiness, even if you do nothing else.

4. FOCUS and Stop Multi-Tasking: While checking email while your on the phone or texting during a sales meeting might feel like you are getting more accomplished, multi-tasking actually slows performance, increases mistakes, and over time causes you to lose your ability to focus when you need to.

You will find that your happiest times at work may be when you are in the “flow.” Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. Interruptions and mult-tasking disrupt the flow process.

5. Be “Actively Optimistic” : Happiness is a choice and the whole concept of “Fake it till you make it” has been shown to work for increasing happiness. Take a few minutes to write down your best possible future, visualize it and feel it. Describe it in breathtaking detail, creating the full experience. Some of the most successful atheletes in the world use this technique because it works.

What are your techniques for increasing your happiness and productivity at work? Share your thoughts below.

Looking for More? You Can Also Read:

21 Days to Improving Your Happiness and Productivity

5 Ways to Include More Celebration in Your Life

A Simple Secret to Adding More Time to Your Day

2013-05-13 By Monica 4 Comments

Do you feel like you don’t have time to do the things you’d like to do?

Do you wish you had more time to exercise or take up that hobby you’ve always been interested in?

Do you wish you had more quality time with the people you care about?

The answer to these dilemmas may be in the middle of your living room. After work and sleep, TV viewing is the most commonly reported activity in the U.S., taking up just over half of all leisure time. In the U.S., people average about five hours of TV time each day. TV Watching:

Increases the liklihood of gaining weight, becoming overweight or obese,
Increases the risk of weight-related disease including heart disease, diabetes, and early death (1),
Leads to lower attention and poor brain development in children.

Need more reasons to stop watching television? Check out Kill Your TV.

About three years ago, I made the commitment to stop watching television, and for the most part, have been able to stick to that. For almost a year, I didn’t even own a television. While I will still occasionally watch a movie or catch a short clip of The Daily Show on my iPad, I no longer spend my evenings or weekends in front of the television. Not watching television has allowed me to focus more energy on:

Learning yoga and starting a yoga practice,
Going to the gym and working out on a regular basis,
Working on completing my Master’s degree,
Starting my own businesses and blogs,
Planting and working on my garden,
Learning photography and offering my photos for sale on two photo websites,
And perhaps most importantly, meeting and marrying my husband!

Enjoy Replacement Activities – What things would you love to have more of in your life? These may include:

Exercise – start a new activity, get a gym membership, train for a 5k, or just enjoy an evening walk.
Improve your relationships – spend time with friends and family members.
Start a new hobby or learn new skills– learn how to knit, sew, make candles, garden, or cook.
Go back to school – finish your degree, start a master’s program, or learn new skills such as graphic design, photography, massage therapy.
Organizing and decluttering your home or office – to simplify your life.
Start a blog and share your knowledge with others.
Join a Meetup Group – where you can learn salsa dancing, wine tasting, public speaking, computer skills, or just meet new friends.
Develop a spiritual practice – visit a new church, learn meditation, or practice gratitude.

What are your thoughts? Share below.

(1) Harvard School of Public Health Article

21 Days to Improving Your Happiness and Productivity

2013-04-06 By Monica 11 Comments

The field of positive psychology has been growing in popularity as people begin to recognize the correlation between happiness, productivity, and success. Developed by Martin Seligman in his book Authentic Happiness in 1998, positive psychologists seek “to find and nurture genius and talent” and “to make normal life more fulfilling”.

Seligman’s research concluded that happier people get better performance evaluations and higher pay. Other studies have shown that happy people are more positive, creative, tolerant, constructive, generous and non-defensive. They also have lower medical costs and less absenteeism.

While this seems obvious to many of us, finding that happiness can be a challenge in our society. In his popular Ted talk, The happy secret to better work, Shawn Acor says our culture has taught us that, “If I work harder, then I will be successful. If I’m successful, then I will be happier.” Putting happiness on the other side of success creates a moving target and your brain never gets there.

According to Acor, “If you can raise levels of positivity in the present, the brain experiences what is called the happiness advantage. When the brain is positive, it performs significantly better than when it’s negative, neutral, or stressed. When you’re positive, dopamine floods into your system which not only makes you happier, but it also turns on learning centers in your brain, allowing you to adapt to the world in a different way.”

Acor goes on to say, “It’s not reality that shapes us, it’s the lens through which you view the world. If you can change the lens, not only can you change your happiness, you can change your world.”

21 Days to Improving Your Happiness and Productivity:

Acor also provides a formula for increasing your happiness and productivity in 21 days, the length of time it takes to create a new habit. Most of them only take a few minutes but the combination has been proven to be very effective. Over time, the brain retains the new pattern, allowing you to work more optimistically and successfully.

Take LifeOhm’s Happiness Challenge and commit to doing the following things for the next 21 days:

Write three new things you are grateful for – This helps train your brain to scan the world for the positive things first, rather than focusing on the negative things. Gratitude has long been linked to increased happiness and it’s surprising how quickly your life can improve with this simple practice.

Journal about one positive thing that has happened in the past 24 hours, this process allows your brain to relive the positive experience. There are many options for journaling, online with sites such as Penzu or a hand-written journal. Writing by hand, rather than digitally, has been shown to increase learning, which might be helpful when you’re trying to change thought patterns.

Exercise for at least 15 minutes – exercise increases your levels of dopamine, energy, and helps improve your overall sense of well being.

Meditation – There are many documented benefits to meditation including reducing the negative effects of stress, mild depression and anxiety. According to Acor, meditation also allows us to get over our cultural ADHD, that has us focusing on more than one thing at once. It allows the mind to quiet and opens us up to new possibilities.

Random acts of kindness – In Acor’s study, he had participants write one positive email that praised someone in their social network, but there are many ways to perform random acts of kindness. Get creative and have fun, you will not only make someone else’s day, but it will improve your own.

What helps you improve your happiness and productivity? Are you participating in this challenge? Share your thoughts below.

Are You Struggling with Focus and Time Management? Try Pomodoro

2012-02-04 By Monica 3 Comments

“Lost time is never found again.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

At times, do you feel overwhelmed?

Does it feel like you have far more projects and tasks on your to-do list than you can possibly accomplish?

I’ve had days like that. Days where I’ve spent so much time thinking about all the things I need to do that I don’t get anything done. Sometimes even small tasks seem like giant mountains to be climbed. In truth, these projects may only take a few minutes to complete once you set your mind to it.

Over the years, I’ve read a lot of time management books and articles trying to find the perfect system, tool, or time saving trick to make myself more productive and able to accomplish more in my day. While I have picked up a few useful tips along the way, nothing has transformed my work day like the Pomodoro Technique.

My job allows me to work from home which means most days, I don’t have a boss looking over my shoulder. I’m judged primarily on the work that I complete. For me, that kind of freedom is crucial to my happiness. With that freedom, also comes responsibility. I’m far from perfect, but most days, I get up at 6:00 a.m. and go to the gym, getting back in time to be showered and dressed to start work at my computer at 8:00 a.m. The rest of the day, it’s up to me to stay focused and create and complete a wide range of projects.

The Tomato for Time Management

If I’m feeling stressed and overwhelmed, it’s hard to be fully engaged in what I need to do. That’s where the Pomodoro Technique comes in. The word pomodoro is Italian for “tomato”. The Pomodoro Technique was named after the tomato by Francesco Cirillo, its creator, because of the tomato timer that is often used.

Finding Focus in a World Full of Distractions

2011-07-08 By Monica Leave a Comment

“Our thoughts create our reality — where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go.” ~ Peter McWilliams

Finding focus may be the biggest challenge individuals face in our time. Information streams non-stop from our radios, televisions, computer, social media sites, and our mobile phones. With this almost never-ending noise, it’s no surprise that many of us feel stressed and overwhelmed at times, wondering how we will ever keep up with everything. The truth is, we can’t.

Pablo Picasso said it best, “Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” We all need time away from the noise, time to reflect and time to create. In Leo Babauta’s new book, focus he says, “Our ability to focus will allow us to create in ways that perhaps we haven’t in years. It’ll allow us to slow down and find peace of mind. It’ll allow us to simplify and focus on less — on the essential things, the things that matter most.”

In focus, Leo, author of one of my favorite blogs, Zen Habits, goes on to give ways to simplify your life and schedule, and find a greater focus. A few of these include:

Disconnect: Find time each day, and possibly for an entire day or week, to just disconnect from technology.
Separate your day into times for creating and times for consuming and and communicating, “and never the twain shall meet.”
Develop focus rituals such as morning quiet time or starting off the day by putting together a simple to-do list.
Clear distractions: remove unnecessary distractions from your work environment, and from your life. We got rid of cable television almost a year ago and have no regrets, we can still watch movies occasionally without a television being on all the time.
Only use email during pre-set times, constantly checking your email and responding to others is a time and energy drain. Establish set times for this task and communicate it to others so they know when you will respond.
Simplify, simplify, simplify – Just like Thoreau used to say, simplifying your life will make it easier, more enjoyable, and allow room for you to focus on the important things.
Do work that excites you – When you wake up in the morning, think about the things you need to do and allow yourself time to work on those projects that excite you.

What things do you do to help you focus? What are the challenges you face?

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