Productivity tip for #macOS users ⚡️
Instead of typing your full email several times a day, add a "@https://mastodon.social/@e" keyboard shortcut which automatically expands to your email address. System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements. Add more emails by varying the letter after the @ symbols.
Knowing how to learn is such a critical skill, and it doesn't get talked about enough. How to gather info, organise it, pick out what matters, recognise patterns, break big problems down into smaller ones, etc. If you can do those things, you can accomplish literally anything, it doesn't matter the topic or field.
Isabel Berwick had an interesting think piece in the FT yesterday bemoaning the fact the too little attention is paid to the impact bad/incompetent management has on the UK's #productivity (something I have mentioned here before).
She cites a study by the Chartered Management Institute that suggests nearly 80%(!!) of managers are 'accidental managers' - they have been promoted with little preparation or management training.
Too many workplaces are (as she puts it) 'run by idiots'!
"I come out of the woodwork to share some incredibly amazing productivity tools in a list I’ve been working on for the last 2 years, but have still narrowed down to the core tools that any entrepreneur, business owner, or agency should seriously consider adding to their toolkit."
I don't usually like lists but this one is excellent.
#Productivity Hack: "So, the purpose of this meeting is to get an answer you didn't supply via email" is a great way to get people to focus, and remind them the meeting is their fault.
I often fail to move tasks and projects forward because I don't want to start anything when I'm time-constrained. "I can't get anything done in just five minutes!" I tell myself.
But . . . if a hundred-hour project isn’t worth working on for just five minutes at a time, is it actually worth working on for a hundred hours?
The #productivity due to technological leaps is so outstandingly high already and is still growing if only humanity manages to NOT get Darwin-awarded while conducting it. #Business'es are going to be more and more based on artificial restriction of goods/services to adjust markets & prices.
Just watched a #productivity video about 7 things you can learn on your phone in the 10 minutes you spend browsing social media on the toilet. After all, X minutes a day adds up to Y hours a year. Just imagine what you could learn in those Y hours! Why are you wasting all this time?!
And I'm just sitting here thinking, this feels like very-not-good advice. A 10 minute break isn't a waste, it's - you know - a break.
Want my personal advice for what to do with your phone when you have a 10 minute break?
Put it away.
Let yourself be bored. Boredom is just another emotion, worth experiencing every now and then. Even if algorithms may try to convince you it's the enemy of all things good.
Allow your mind to wander. Process something you just learned: you might remember it better. Think about something new: you might have a good idea.
Disclaimer: I am a sample size of 1. I find this habit relaxing and helpful, objectively more valuable than a learning session I'd probably forget, but your mileage may vary.
Productivity Tip:
I find it's much easier on your conscience to split your tasks down into their component small steps towards achieving the overall big task.
This way, you don't feel so bad about not doing a big task, because you're only not doing small ones instead. #productivity
The only reason I still use Twitter is to keep up with the apps I use or am testing. I would love to see more of them move to #Mastodon to share their latest news and updates. Mainly the productivity apps I'm obsessed with.
Buffer, a social media management company, has adopted a four-day workweek since May 2020. The company says the change has improved employee well-being, productivity and retention. Buffer also shares its learnings and best practices with other organizations that are interested in trying out the shorter workweek.
Well, given their defunding of the #NHS & its now very clear effects on #longtermillness, costing the UK economy over £40bn a year in lost #productivity & economic activity, I think we can safely say they are not!... at least not when there is money to be made for their private sector chums (here in #healthcare).
Whatever its significant personal costs, long term sickness is emblematic of the UK's dysfunctional Govt.