Productivity

Anyone who works in an office knows how time-consuming (and frustrating) meetings can be. Even worse, they are often way longer than they need to be, thanks to distractions, poor planning and inefficient meeting management.

Email is an important task for most office professionals and business people. It can also be a very time-consuming one. While spending a certain amount of time on email is unavoidable, this is also an area where you can lose valuable time, in the form of time wasted on messages that are too long or ineffective.

• Your Employer is Probably Watching You [CNBC]
• Three Ways to Get Unstuck in Your Career [WSJ]
• What to Do When You’re Getting Nothing Done [CBS News]
• 7 Things That Can Help You Work Better [Lifehack]
• Six Signs You Should Quit Your Job [US News]

In a perfect world, we would all be at the top of our game every single day—and would totally impress our boss and co-workers alike. But let’s face it, in the real world none of us are at 100% every day. There will inevitably be days when you are worn out, distracted or just not feeling capable of giving your best effort. Often this will cause us to feel like we have “foggy brain” syndrome, where we are walking around in a daze.

If you are like many office professionals (and computer users in general), you probably use various Microsoft Office products on a regular basis. In fact, it may be nearly impossible to do your work without them.

Of course, these days you use many different types of devices to work and communicate. And that means you have to try and figure out how to access these programs when you aren’t near your computer.

We’ve all become very accustomed to doing a million things at once. And while juggling a variety of tasks and projects may be unavoidable (and perhaps even comfortable to many of us), there is lots of research showing the downsides of multitasking.

A much better strategy: try the “batching” approach. This means groups similar tasks or projects (or those that call for a similar type of mindset) together, and doing them in succession, allowing yourself to get in a nice groove.

• 5 Key Elements of Body Language [Ragan.com]
• Work-Life Balance and Choosing the Perfect Vacation [Forbes.com]
• Telecommuting: Steady Growth in Work-at-Home Culture [CS Monitor]
• Study Reveals Workplace Productivity Killers [Sys-con.com]
• What Your Manager is Thinking When You Ask for a Raise [US News]
  

Jobs within a company may involve different talents, responsibilities, and demands, but paths to finding success at any of them require similar behaviors. Today and tomorrow, we’ll hear from Daniel Steenerson -- founder and CEO of San Diego-based Disability Insurance Services -- who offers principles anyone can start using right now to achieve success:

Work with relentless urgency.

• Can Social Media Rescue Your Career? [Fox Business]
• 10 Tips to Master Your Time and Be Highly Productive [Psychology Today]
• 4 Ways to Supercharge Your To-Do List [Lifehack]
• How to Organize When You Hate to File [CBS News]
• Is Perfectionism Ruining Your Career? [CNBC]

At first glance, it might seem to make sense that eating at your desk would save time and help you get more done. But although it might seem counter-intuitive, many experts say that you will actually be more productive if you avoid eating lunch at your desk all of the time.