What makes the difference between productive workers and those who simply think they’re productive? Doing vs. talking. Here are four quick tips on how to set yourself up for action: 1. Jolt yourself into action by trying something. 2. Prototype your ideas. 3. Replace update meetings with "huddles." 4. Create testaments to progress.
It’s 4:30 p.m., and one of your bosses has finally given you the documents you expected to receive that morning—the documents you need in order to wrap up a task by the 5:30 p.m. deadline. This is your biggest pet peeve—receiving things late (and without warning), but being expected to complete the task on time. What to do?
What’s the best way to solve a problem at work? Figure out exactly what’s wrong and fix it. Right? Not according to Marcus Buckingham. The author of Find Your Strongest Life says that’s an example of “Deficit Attention Disorder.” He says thinking in terms of the problem only amplifies negative feelings. He recommends this more positive, productive approach:
Projected starting salaries for administrative professionals could see a decrease by an average of 2.2% in 2010. The good news: If you’re good at adapting to unexpected situations and able to quickly learn new skills, you’re the sort of person who will still thrive.
Do you read the publications that your customers, suppliers and outsourcing vendors read? If not, you’re putting yourself at a critical disadvantage and inviting unpleasant surprises.
What does it take to reach the top of your game professionally? Women, at least, can learn much from a new book, How Remarkable Women Lead, by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston. The authors spent five years on research and 100 in-depth interviews with women leaders from around the world. They discovered that women who excel share these five qualities:
Stressed out, you say something you shouldn’t have. Or you overlook a detail that ends up dooming an entire project. If you’ve said or done something in the past year that jeopardized your career, you’re not alone. Here’s how to recover:
As the year draws to a close, think about what you’d like to accomplish in the first 90 days of the new year. What goals will you set, and what specific actions will you put in place to achieve those goals? What’s more, whom will you sit down with every 90 days to review your progress?
To concentrate single-mindedly on a single task, without diversion or distraction, keep asking yourself these questions:
Think like an inventor by looking for opportunity in failure. British inventor James Dyson says that in trying to develop a fine blade of high-speed air for another product, his team accidentally came up with new hand-dryer technology. “We saw, in that moment of failure, an idea that had huge advantages in another field,” he says.
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