Category: Productivity

To excel in your career, some skills matter more than others. They put you in front of others, connect you to them, build trust and enhance your credibility. But building these skills is hard—unlike tasks that are assigned to you in which you’re expected to excel, no one gives the opportunities to practice these skills explicitly. The burden to learn and master them is on you. Build these skills and you won't have a problem standing out.

Personal Development / Productivity

5 Skills To Excel In Your Career

To excel in your career, some skills matter more than others. They put you in front of others, connect you to them, build trust and enhance your credibility. But building these skills is hard—unlike tasks that are assigned to you in which you’re expected to excel, no one gives the opportunities to practice these skills explicitly. The burden to learn and master them is on you. If you’re stuck in your career or putting in a lot of time and energy into your work, but not getting the desired results, spend some time building these 5 skills. You will not only achieve great success at work, but mastering these skills will bring a sense of pleasure and fulfillment that will make you perform even better.

You know what you need to do and yet you act exactly the opposite. Procrastination sabotages your chance of success—delaying or putting off important work robs you of the opportunity to do quality work and achieve excellence.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Stop Procrastinating and Get Down to Work

Procrastination is a silly habit—even when we know how important something is, we end up delaying or avoiding it. Procrastination wins when it over powers our sense of judgment—we know that not taking action is not right for us and yet that’s exactly what we do. Procrastination not only makes us fall through on our commitments, not being able to make progress on what we set out to do makes us feel powerless, helpless and ineffective. The constant guilt, shame and anxiety from not doing the work consumes us. We end up putting more effort and energy than it would have taken to do the work.

Emotionally charged conversations are often spontaneous—they come out of nowhere. When you’re caught off-guard and expected to navigate complex interactions in real time, without knowing how to handle them, you’re most likely to act in self-defeating ways—with arguments, debates or other negative behaviors that do not solve the problem at hand and only makes matters worse.

Communication / Productivity

How to Defuse an Emotionally Charged Conversation

Sometimes, for no good reason, conversations can get heated. Handling an unpleasant emotional reaction can trigger anxiety, cloud your judgment and make you react in unexpected ways. Losing your calm in such moments, reacting to the other person and saying mean things is a deadly mistake. You may not only lose the opportunity to bring the conversation back to normalcy and have a productive discussion, showing anger, frustration or judgment in emotionally charged conversations can potentially harm your relationship.

Pressure is inevitable when you’re trying to do worthwhile work. Reacting to pressure can put you at a disadvantage as you end up making poor choices and terrible decisions. Leading under pressure requires the ability to keep your calm and think with a clear head—being purposeful in the way you behave and act.

Leadership / Productivity

How To Stay Calm and Thrive Under Pressure

How can you bring your best to every situation when dealing with the pressure of high expectations? You know that you can’t screw up when doing something that matters to you or when you really care about the outcome, and yet high pressure situations make many people react poorly and lose their calm. It leads to poor choices, bad decisions and can sometimes even lead to inaction.

We take things personally because it’s easy to do—it’s the default setting hardwired into our brain that gets invoked most of the time without our conscious awareness. Taking things personally evokes a strong negative emotional response—we feel hurt, rejected, insulted, disappointed and let down. Left unhandled, these emotions create a downward spiral of negativity and rumination which takes a toll on our mental health and personal well-being.

Personal Development / Productivity

How Not to Take Things Personally At Work

Human mind which is capable of achieving amazing feats isn’t without its limits. Out of thousands of thoughts that run through our mind every single day, 80% are negative. This tendency to give extra weightage to negativity makes our mind, which is a meaning-making machine, attach meaning to things that don’t even exist. We start taking things personally even when it’s not about us.

Make the most of your todo list by turning it from a bunch of meaningless line items to a more meaningful action oriented list.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Make the Most of Your Todo List

Big or small, it’s impossible to remember everything you need to do. When you don’t actually write things down, it’s hard to prioritize complex, long-term, forward looking tasks over easy, short-term, time wasting activities. Not writing things down has another problem. Keeping track of all the unfinished tasks puts an unnecessary burden on the brain. To make the most of your todo list, you need to turn it from a bunch of meaningless line items to a more meaningful action oriented list.

Building credibility requires earning trust of people who work with you—your colleagues, manager, stakeholders and others. It requires more than just competence and knowledge. Being an expert in your domain or enthusiasm and motivation about your job can only take you so far when you lack credibility with your team and others.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Build Credibility at Work

What erodes credibility at work and what builds it? Most employees don’t think about credibility consciously which prevents them from taking the right steps to build it. They think that if they keep their heads down and keep doing the good work, someone will take notice and good opportunities will land their way. But workplaces aren’t designed to lift people with good intentions and good skills. Building credibility requires earning trust of people who work with you. It requires more than just competence and knowledge.

The human brain has this remarkable cognitive capacity to perform at levels far beyond what we consider as our natural abilities, but it’s not without its limits. The cognitive biases that enable the brain to prioritize and process large amounts of information quickly also gets in the way of our productivity. These mental shortcuts are the brain's way to conserve energy and work more efficiently. But they also lead to many thinking errors.

MentalModels / Productivity

4 Cognitive Biases That Impacts Productivity

The human brain has this remarkable cognitive capacity to perform at levels far beyond what we consider as our natural abilities, but it’s not without its limits. The cognitive biases that enable the brain to prioritize and process large amounts of information quickly also gets in the way of our productivity. These mental shortcuts are the brain’s way to conserve energy and work more efficiently. But they also lead to many thinking errors.

Meetings can be extremely stressful unless you know how to run them well. Sharing your ideas and making others lean your way is not easy. The biggest mistake we all make when trying to make our meetings impactful is to place extreme focus on ourselves and the content of the meeting without paying much attention to the process. To create an unforgettable impact during meetings, practice these 4 key strategies.

Communication / Productivity

How to Create an Unforgettable Impact During Meetings

Meetings can be extremely stressful unless you know how to run them well. Sharing your ideas and making others lean your way is not easy. The biggest mistake we all make when trying to make our meetings impactful is to place extreme focus on ourselves and the content of the meeting without paying much attention to the process. To create an unforgettable impact during meetings, practice these 4 key strategies.

The difference between high impact contributors and typical contributors isn’t talent, competence or skills. They’re equally capable, have similar potential and the urge to do well. Yet, impact players consistently find ways to add value while others are simply going through the motions.

Personal Development / Productivity

Master These 5 Behaviors to be an Impact Player

What makes some employees rise through challenges, tap into opportunities, find a way to break through and make an impact while others are taken aback by a difficult circumstance and don’t know what to do or how to move forward? The difference between high impact contributors and typical contributors isn’t talent, competence or skills. They’re equally capable, have similar potential and the urge to do well. Yet, impact players consistently find ways to add value while others are simply going through the motions.

Mental health at work should be everyone’s utmost priority. Instead of relying on organizations to offer a perfect work environment that caters to your well-being, stay mentally healthy by looking inward to your own behaviors and actions.

Personal Development / Productivity

4 Shifts in Behavior To Be Mentally Healthy At Work

There are definite benefits of being part of an organization that promotes employee well-being and work towards building a mentally healthy culture, but they’re not enough. What if it’s not the work culture but your own behavior that gets in the way? Most people look outward when it comes to addressing mental health challenges, without paying attention to their own behaviors and actions. Master these 4 behaviors to stay mentally healthy at work.

As important as it is to apply the right strategies to manage your imposter syndrome, equally important is to know what constitutes bad advice. Knowing what isn’t helpful will not only save you time, it will prevent you from applying advice that can amplify your feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt. #impostersyndrome #selfdoubt #limitingbeliefs #growthmindset #successatwork #unconsciousbias #ownyourgreatness #womeninbusiness #badadvice #lifelessons #productivity #mentalhealth

Personal Development / Productivity

Bad Advice for Imposter Syndrome

As important as it is to apply the right strategies to manage your imposter syndrome, equally important is to know what constitutes bad advice. Knowing what isn’t helpful will not only save you time, it will prevent you from applying advice that can amplify your feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt. Don’t settle. Don’t look for shortcuts or quick wins. Don’t go after the fake it till you make it, positive thinking and pushing on through advice.

When you’re having a bad day at work, your mind spirals into all sad things. It’s like someone dimmed the light around you and everything appears dark and gloomy. You’re more likely to lose your nerve or react poorly to even minor inconveniences. Healthy disagreements turn into personal attacks. Minor conflicts into major issues.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Deal With a Bad Day at Work

When you’re having a bad day at work, your mind spirals into all sad things. It’s like someone dimmed the light around you and everything appears dark and gloomy. You’re more likely to lose your nerve or react poorly to even minor inconveniences. Healthy disagreements turn into personal attacks. Minor conflicts into major issues. While it is difficult for you to look for the bright side of things when your mind is stuffed with negativity, there are specific things you must do to prevent a bad day from turning into a bad week.

Effective communication is a key ingredient to work together, advance your career and make work a happy experience. When communication breaks down at work, more time is wasted in filling gaps in alignment and expectations and less in productive work. Adopt this powerful framework to reduce communication gaps at work.

Communication / Productivity

Powerful Framework to Reduce Communication Gaps at Work

Effective communication is a key ingredient to work together, advance your career and make work a happy experience. When communication breaks down at work, more time is wasted in filling gaps in alignment and expectations and less in productive work. Instead of seeking a perfect work environment with 100% alignment between people and teams, adopt this powerful framework to reduce communication gaps at work.

As you grow in your career, the cost of not putting your time to best use is significantly high. Applying the makeshift tactics can get you through the day, but they also hurt your productivity in the long run. Use these 3 productivity frameworks to do work that matters.

Personal Development / Productivity

Struggling To Be Productive? Use These 3 Productivity Frameworks To Get Real Work Done

As you grow in your career, the cost of not putting your time to best use is significantly high. If you’re serious about utilizing your time well, use these 3 productivity frameworks to identify what deserves your attention and what shouldn’t be done at all, give life to your goals by utilizing the right opportunities and taking action, and staying focused by avoiding distractions when you actually get down to work.

Is your manager not paying attention to your work? Use this 3-step framework to break your manager’s default pattern so that they start paying attention to the things you need.

Personal Development / Productivity

What to Do If Your Manager Isn’t Paying Attention

Your manager should know about the areas you’re doing well, where you excel, your strengths and highlights. Keeping your manager in the loop is essential for your success and growth. But what if your manager isn’t paying attention? Should you keep your head down and keep doing the good work with the hope that they will take notice someday or can you do the work to get into the spotlight and make yourself visible?

Faking it by posturing, pretending to be confident, and ignoring those nagging feelings of self-doubts can offer some temporary respite from those feelings of self-doubt, but once you’re done putting on a show, being inauthentic to yourself negatively impacts your perceptions of yourself. Don't fake it till you make it, build genuine confidence through action.

Personal Development / Productivity

Fake It Till You Make It: Good Advice or a Setup for failure?

Faking it by posturing, pretending to be confident, and ignoring those nagging feelings of self-doubt can offer some temporary respite, but once you’re done putting on a show, being inauthentic to yourself negatively impacts your perceptions of yourself. Imitating confidence and competency has long-term implications. Don’t fake it till you make it, build genuine confidence through action.

What’s the one big difference between employees who stand out within the first few months of joining and those who struggle to fit in? New hires who do well at work stand out because they own their onboarding experience.

Personal Development / Productivity

7 Effective Practices to Onboard Yourself in Your New Job

What’s the one big difference between employees who stand out within the first few months of joining and those who struggle to fit in? New hires who do well at work stand out because they own their onboarding experience. Instead of letting the onboarding process in their organization determine where they end up, they get into the driver’s seat, buckle themselves up and get to work.

Busyness creates an illusion of productivity. Being caught inside the ‘busy trap’ makes it harder for you to see that productivity is not based on the number of hours you put in; it’s the time spent creating value.

Personal Development / Productivity

Are You Keeping Busy or Being Productive?

Busyness creates an illusion of productivity. Being caught inside the ‘busy trap’ makes it harder for you to see that productivity is not based on the number of hours you put in; it’s the time spent creating value. Instead of accepting busyness as a way of life, practice behaviors that will make work more meaningful and impactful without taking a toll on your mental health and personal well-being.

Instead of major victories with outsized expectations, target small wins. Small daily goals that give a sense of progress; work that moves you forward, is fulfilling and rewarding, where each step takes you closer to your destination.

Personal Development / Productivity

Instead of Those Lofty Goals, Go After the Small Wins

Big goals that are far off into the future can lead to procrastination, promote all-or-nothing thinking and provide momentary happiness without long lasting satisfaction. Instead of major victories with outsized expectations, what if you targeted small wins? Small daily goals that give a sense of progress; work that moves you forward, is fulfilling and rewarding, where each step takes you closer to your destination.

Out of hundreds of things a manager is expected to do, maintaining a healthy relationship with their people is just one of them. And it’s true that a good part of a manager’s job is to invest time in their people and their growth. But a relationship isn’t a one-way street. You can’t have a healthy relationship with your manager unless you are invested in your own growth.

Personal Development / Productivity

How To Create A Thriving Relationship With Your Manager

Out of hundreds of things a manager is expected to do, maintaining a healthy relationship with their people is just one of them. And it’s true that a good part of a manager’s job is to invest time in their people and their growth. But a relationship isn’t a one-way street. You can’t have a healthy relationship with your manager unless you are invested in your own growth. People who excel at work don’t blame a poor relationship on their manager. They’re willing to do the work necessary to make it work.

Imposter syndrome, though a commonly shared feeling turns out to be quite a unique experience. Its impact on each individual varies in not only how they feel, but also how they behave and act afterward. Look at these 5 types of behaviors to determine which one is your default strategy to deal with feelings of being a fraud. What type of imposter are you?

Personal Development / Productivity

What Type of Imposter Are You?

Although imposter syndrome is linked with feelings of inadequacy and thinking that nothing you do is ever good enough, how it plays out in your day-to-day life and impacts you varies from person to person. Acknowledging what you are feeling is important, but what’s even more important is to pay attention to the underlying behaviors and actions that such feelings tend to evoke. Your feelings of being a fraud can turn you into a procrastinator, perfectionist, overworker, people pleaser, or a self diminisher.

What’s the difference between people who end up loving what they do and those who are on an endless pursuit looking for the one thing that will fulfill them only to be left disheartened, dissatisfied, and unhappy? What matters more - progress or passion?

Personal Development / Productivity

Progress Not Passion is the Answer to Loving the Work You Do

What’s the difference between people who end up loving what they do and those who are on an endless pursuit looking for the one thing that will fulfill them only to be left disheartened, dissatisfied, and unhappy? Progress and not passion was the answer I was looking for all along. 3 strategies that have worked for me over the years to love what I do while letting my passion grow behind the scenes for me.

Effects of the role conflict can vary from person to person. While some learn to deal with the friction that comes with a role conflict and thrive by staying positive and seeking measures to counteract it, others stop functioning and stop being productive by choosing to stay with stress and resentment

Personal Development / Productivity

We Need to Talk: The Science of Productive Role Conflict

Effects of the role conflict can vary from person to person. While some learn to deal with the friction that comes with a role conflict and thrive by staying positive and seeking measures to counteract it, others stop functioning and stop being productive by choosing to stay with stress and resentment. Learn to increase your productivity and general well-being when dealing with a role conflict

How can you bring your best to every situation when you are dealing with the pressure of high expectations? Difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful one is their ability to mitigate the negative effects of pressure. Performing under pressure isn’t based on some innate talent. Anyone can learn to tackle the damaging effects that pressure can have on their performance. You can learn it too.

Personal Development / Productivity

Performing Under Pressure: 5 Mental Tricks to Do Your Best When It Matters Most

How can you bring your best to every situation when dealing with the pressure of high expectations? Performing under pressure isn’t some innate talent. Anyone can learn to tackle it. You may have all the expertise, skills and the knowledge to do well, but if you don’t know how to handle pressure situations well, pressure will make you do worse, and lead you to fail utterly

Goal setting helps us step outside of our dreams to execute in reality. It gives us guidelines and boundaries and keeps us on track. It gives us direction when we feel lost and helps us stay put and be resilient when we face challenges and setbacks

Personal Development / Productivity

Goal Setting: Get a Clear Fix on Where You Want to Go

Most of us have many desires at work. We fantasize about a positive future. But we are always too busy or too lazy to turn them into goals. Without defining what it is that we want, we let many opportunities slip by. We fail to make the best use of every situation and let distractions eat away into our mental energy and time. Goal setting mitigates the problem by helping us step outside our dreams to execute in reality

Work life balance is not a state you need to achieve, it’s a journey to make right choices every step of the way. Don’t push aside your life waiting for a magical day when it would all come to you, take control of it now. There will always be some obstacles, something more to be done to finally get the life you want, but knowing that these obstacles are also a part of your life can help you start now, this very moment.

Personal Development / Productivity

How To Make Work Life Balance Work

Are your actions inline with the life you want to lead? The problem of work life balance isn’t about more work, it’s about staying productive in what you are doing. There will always be some obstacles, something more to be done to finally get the life you want, but knowing that these obstacles are also a part of your life can help you start now, this very moment

After being stuck in a spiral of feeling frustrated, you panic about the situation, add stress and anxiety to your life, feel powerless with your situation and then do absolutely nothing about it. Instead of wasting time overthinking through situations that cause you frustration at work, know that you cannot get rid of them, but you can learn to respond to them in a healthy manner

Personal Development / Productivity

5 Emotionally Intelligent Habits For Handling Frustration At Work

What do you do to deal with frustration? After being stuck in a spiral of feeling frustrated, you panic about the situation, add stress and anxiety to your life, feel powerless with your situation and then do absolutely nothing about it. Instead of wasting time overthinking through situations that cause you frustration at work, know that you cannot get rid of them, but you can learn to respond to them in a healthy manner

Distraction not only impacts the quality of our work, but our life too. Being able to focus requires us to have a strong sense of the kind of distractions that rule our lives and the ability to control them instead of letting them control us

Personal Development / Productivity

How To Stay Focussed And Manage Distractions

How do you know if a distraction is good or bad for you? Distractions do not ask for permission, they have an autonomy of their own. Learn to design your own personal system to make your distracted identity collaborate with your desire for focussed attention instead of fighting against it

Is motivation a state of mind or a muscle we need to build. How can we kick off our motivation flywheel to help us achieve goals in the long run. Reading a great book, a blog post, watching a video, listening to podcasts are all prominent things to set our thinking in motion. But by themselves, they do not help us achieve anything. Each one of us can design our own flywheel by recognising that motivation is in action

Personal Development / Productivity

Put Your Motivation Flywheel To Action

Is motivation a state of mind or a muscle we need to build? Lack of motivation is not lack of information, it’s the lack of behaviour to put that knowledge to use. Only the act itself can set motivation flywheel in action. It can turn impossible to possible. We do not fear failure once we learn to find pleasure in trying.

Overcome overthinking by identifying the fine line between thinking and thinking too much. The constant chatter in our minds is a downward spiral, the more we feed it, the more it demands. By understanding why and how these thoughts originate and attending to them, we can stop overthinking and start acting which can help us move forward and be successful

Personal Development / Productivity

5 Strategies To Stop Overthinking And Start Acting

Do you tend to solve problems in your head instead of putting them to action? There’s a fine line between thinking and thinking too much. Overthinking can make us obsess about the problem instead of finding solutions, bind our mental frame to seek negative and get stuck in analysis paralysis with the desire to find a perfect solution

Imposter syndrome can help us find a new reality by questioning our ideas, knowledge and beliefs and confront our own feelings. Learning to deal with the inner self, its struggles and conflict and not put them aside can turn anxiety, unworthiness into a desire to do better and strive for more

Personal Development / Productivity

Why Imposter Syndrome Isn’t Bad: How to Conquer Self-Doubt

Can we be curious like a child without burdening ourselves with the image we have created. Imposter syndrome can help us find a new reality by questioning our ideas, knowledge and beliefs and confront our own feelings. Learning to deal with the inner self, its struggles and conflict and not put them aside can turn anxiety, unworthiness into a desire to do better and strive for more

Being productive at work requires managing the ever growing list of tasks and spending time on doing strategic planning, roadmap creation and thinking preventively to create a better future which has less crisis and more time to work on the opportunities. Employing eisenhower matrix can help prioritise work aligned with our goals and create winwin situations at work

Personal Development / Productivity

Eisenhower Matrix: How to Prioritise and Master Productivity

Are you solving the urgent or planning for the important. Do you think strategically and prioritise work that avoids tomorrow’s crisis or too busy solving the problems of yesterday that there’s no time to create a better future. Find out how to prioritise, master productivity and create win win situations at work by putting eisenhower matrix to use