Train Your Brain to Focus March 29, 2012
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in personal productivity, work-life balance.Tags: personal productivity, work-life balance
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While popular media and friends marvel at those who can multitask, a Bloomberg Businessweek Harvard Business Review article asserts that multitasking means more mistakes and an inability to retain information among other issues. Focus is better. The article presents a ways that anyone can train their brains to focus. Negative emotional distress can be tamed with good sleep, meditation, and exercise, for example –and this leads the brain to strategize more efficiently.
Head on over to Harvard Business Review to read the article.
Work/Life Balance is a Myth: Here is What You Can Do About It January 30, 2012
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in work-life balance.Tags: work-life balance
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Writing at FastCompany, Craig Chappelow contends that the work/life balance –of even scales between home and work –is an idealistic myth. It is difficult to manage work and home, but there are some things that can be done to make it easier. Those include getting help on relationship problems, and to quit complaining about work –even if you have reason to complain.
To read Mr. Chappelow’s article, head here.
What Happened to Downtime? December 19, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in work-life balance, workforce.Tags: work-life balance, workforce
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In the digital age, quiet time is becoming increasingly rare. Social networks, the internet, apps, smart phones – all of it proves distracting and keeps us in a constant state of motion. Because of this, we deprive ourselves of creative pause, or disconnection. To combat this, we must take advantage of times when we do not have to be connected, and choose to remain unconnected.
Get connected to the FastCompany article here.
The Creative Brain on Exercise December 18, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in personal productivity, work-life balance.Tags: personal productivity, work-life balance
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Exercise can free the creative mind, whether you are an artist, writer, or CEO. Haruki Murakami, famed Japanese novelist, is quoted in a FastCompany article where he talks about schedules of writing which involve exercise and running. Exercise helps handle anxiety, and relieving intense stress. Making time to exercise gives us more and better-usable time to work.
For the FastCompany analysis of exercise and work, head over here.
Six Strategies for Dealing With Workplace Distractions November 17, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in personal productivity, work-life balance, workforce.Tags: personal productivity, work-life balance, workforce
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In a Fast Company blog post, David Lavenda writes about ways that workers can deal with workplace distractions. He divides these ideas into individual and organization strategies. On the individual level, for example, workers can put their technology distractions to rest by turning off things like e-mail alerts. Organizationally, meetings can be made shorter, during which time cell phones and other devices must be turned off.
Check out these and other ideas for handling distractions here.
Call It Work-Life Choices November 17, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in work-life balance.Tags: work-life balance
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Jack and Suzy Welch, writing for Bloomberg Businessweek, demonstrate that it is possible for leaders to be top-performers while maintaining a work-life balance. Balance, say the Welches, depends on the person and what feels right based on what he or she wants out of life professionally and personally.
Check out their article at Bloomberg Businessweek here.
The Value of Monotonous Rituals February 21, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in personal productivity, work-life balance, workforce.Tags: personal productivity, work-life balance, workforce
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In the effort to improve personal and work productivity, to-do lists at home and at the office are once again becoming all the rage. It is important to differentiate between the thousand things that go through your mind each day, separating the trivial from the monumental. Writing them down on a list –and the rewriting the list as things are accomplished –helps prioritize.
Check out the Time Back Management blog post here.
You Can’t Multitask, so Stop Trying February 4, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in personal productivity, work-life balance, workforce.Tags: personal productivity, work-life balance, workforce
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The arguments continue to mount against multitasking, and Paul Atchley delivers the next one. Mr. Atchley contends that multitasking actually makes us less effective in our lives. Efficiency can actually drop as much as 40% when trying to multitask, and it takes an average of fifteen minutes to reorient from one task to another. Among the ways to counteract the bad effects of multitasking, Mr. Atchley recommends focusing on one task until it is complete.
Check out Mr. Atchley’s Bloomberg Businessweek article here.
My Most Important Productivity Tool January 22, 2011
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in personal productivity, work-life balance.Tags: personal productivity, work-life balance
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Mark McGuinness over at Lateral Action has posted a brief article about productivity with links to recent entries. One of them follows the rule that if it doesn’t fit on a Post-It Note, it doesn’t fit into your day. This, explains Mr. McGuiness in the article, forces him to prioritize.
Check out the post and the links here.
Worry Isn’t Work September 24, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in personal productivity, work-life balance, workforce.Tags: personal productivity, work-life balance, workforce
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Dan Pollotta, writing at Bloomberg Businessweek, explores the old idea that, anything fun cannot possibly be work; and anything unpleasant is. Mr. Pallotta explains that one has to separate oneself from work. Exercise, meditate, see a movie, go to church. In other words, one must relax if one is to be able to focus more clearly at work. Who, Mr. Pallotta wonders, will be the more productive contributor to a company -the “person who is healthy, rested, well-balanced, full of energy, and clear of mind, or the sleep-deprived, overweight, heart-attack-waiting-to-happen, psychologically unexamined, self-critical maniac?”
Head on over to read Mr. Pallotta’s article here.
The Real Effects of Workplace Anxiety September 24, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in work-life balance, workforce.Tags: work-life balance, workforce
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Susan Berfield has written an article over at Bloomberg Businessweek which includes part of her interview with Karen Sumberg of the Center for Work-Life Policy. The Center conducted a three-month long 2008 study called “Sustaining High Performance in Difficult Times.” The study looked at 200 employees identified by their bosses as having “high potential.” Because of the recession and worry over layoffs, for example, trust and loyalty in the company and in management had declined dramatically. The article also looks at effective countermeasures, such as allowing people to volunteer during work hours.
Check out the Bloomberg Businessweek article here.
How to Have a Great Life and a Great Business July 16, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in work-life balance.Tags: work-life balance
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A free 31-pae PDF report at Lateral Action by Brian Clark offers a personal account of the author’s efforts to begin an online publishing business, recounting both his failure and success –and how both made him miserable. Mr. Clark also examines what he calls the 6 critical components of smart entrepreneurship. For anyone interested in a thoughtful take on work-life balance in crazy times [that means all of us, I would suspect], this is a good read.
Check out the free report here.
Most Americans Sleep-Deprived, Study Finds July 16, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in personal productivity, work-life balance.Tags: personal productivity, work-life balance
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One in five Americans suffers moderate to extreme daytime sleepiness according to a study conducted by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Sleepiness is dangerous trend, especially for those in high-risk jobs where concentration and focus is important. For whatever reasons Americans curtail their sleeping habits, it is a mistake says Dr. Maurice Ohayon says.
Read the article here.
Why Change Is So Hard: Self-Control Is Exhaustible June 18, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in change management, personal productivity, work-life balance, workforce.Tags: change management, personal productivity, work-life balance, workforce
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Failure to change is written off as laziness. But Dan Heath at Fast Company says it isn’t laziness, but rather exhaustion. A study claims to prove it. Subjects left in a room with cookies and radishes were told to eat one or the other, and not both; and then were asked to solve a problem that had no solution. After an average of 8 minutes, the radish-eaters gave up; after an average of 19 minutes, the cookie-eaters gave up. Self-control is demonstrably exhaustible, which helps explain why one might snap at a spouse or have another drink after a long day at work.
Check out the FastCompany article here.
Becoming Who You Want to Be April 20, 2010
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in personal productivity, work-life balance.Tags: personal productivity, work-life balance
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Executive Coach Marshall Goldsmith has some encourage advice for anyone seeking to positively change their behavior. The created identity of people is what enables them to achieve things, but artificially limiting oneself inhibits change. Mr. Goldsmith notes that when individuals create an image for themselves, true or untrue, it becomes a reality. In the article, a story is related of a client who assumed he was bad at first impressions, so he simply didn’t try to be good at first impressions.
Check out Mr. Goldsmith’s article here.
How We Work Now: Seven Twists On The Home Office November 18, 2009
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in lean office, personal productivity, Workplace Design.Tags: lean office, work-life balance
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With millions of people working from home in the United States now, the need for home offices has never been greater. But space, construction permits, and utilities often plague the home-based entrepreneur. It is upon these problems that Fast Company has seized the initiative by putting together a collection of innovative and well-designed home office ideas. From the completely customizable L.O.F.T. workstation, to the Office Pod, to the Trunk Station, Fast Company has assembled seven unique home office solutions.
What will your home office look like in 10 years?
Check out the ideas here.
Experiences, Not Possessions, Lead to Greater Happiness March 2, 2009
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in personal productivity, work-life balance.Tags: personal productivity, work-life balance
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Can money make us happy if we spend it on the right purchases? New research suggests buying life experiences rather than material possessions leads to greater happiness. The study demonstrates that experiential purchases, such as a meal out or theater tickets, result in increased well-being because they satisfy higher order needs.”These findings support an extension of basic need theory, where purchases that increase psychological need satisfaction will produce the greatest well-being,” said Ryan Howell, assistant professor of psychology and head of the Personality and Well-Being Lab at San Francisco State University.
“People still believe that more money will make them happy, even though 35 years of research has suggested the opposite,” Howell said. “Maybe this belief has held because money is making some people happy some of the time, at least when they spend it on life experiences.”
Read the article here.
Don’t Let the Recession Overwhelm Your Staff March 2, 2009
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in work-life balance, workforce.Tags: work-life balance, workforce
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In a recent column in The New York Times, Dr. Gregory Berns explained his fascinating work using brain-scanning technologies to understand how we make decisions. He detailed one experiment in which he placed research subjects in an MRI scanner and administered a moderate electric shock to test the brain’s fear system. The key to the experiment, he wrote, was that subjects had to wait for the shock-and he varied both the strength of the shock and the length of the wait. He noted that in some subjects, the parts of the brain associated with processing pain lit up well in advance of the actual shock. His interpretation of the results? “Worrying eats up a lot of brain processing power that makes other mental tasks more difficult.”
When times get tough, it’s up to leadership to make sure employees are focused on the most important issues. Left to their own devices, those whose mortgages are underwater and whose 401(k) accounts have evaporated will probably spend more time fretting than they did during the boom years. Add to those worries declining revenues and potential layoffs, and a company can quickly find worrying eating up a huge portion of employees’ time. So what can a leader do to counteract employees’ worries?
Find out in the article here.
Six Ways to Manage Leadership Stress January 26, 2009
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in leadership, work-life balance.Tags: leadership, work-life balance
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Effective leaders know that stress can be a good thing. But stress can also be toxic, especially in the brutal economic environment we’re in. Article author John Ryan found that managing leadership stress comes down to a handful of critical elements: maintaining perspective, exercising, opening up, welcoming feedback, streamlining, and recharging.Read the full article here.
Work-Life Balance: How to Get a Life and Do Your Job January 11, 2009
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in work-life balance.Tags: work-life balance
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Some people seem highly competent when it comes to finessing work-life balance. These are the people of the tidy desks and tidy homes. The work-life super class. They don’t skulk in late like the rest of us. They don’t wear rumpled clothes, miss deadlines, or weaken before the vending machine. Are these people for real? Is work-life balance achievable? BusinessWeek asked its readers. Some responders groaned that, owing to a hypercompetitive workplace and the race for status, the answer was no. But more disagreed, having found ways to make their lives less chaotic when it comes to juggling what often feels like two full-time jobs.Read the advice of people who think they have found balance in their lives.
Find the article here.
Managing Stress Can Improve Company Performance January 6, 2009
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in work-life balance.Tags: work-life balance
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Many entrepreneurs say they thrive on stress, but there’s an important difference between healthy pressure and toxic stress. One keeps you motivated, and the other can be a disaster. Psychiatrist Edward Hallowell says anything that causes you to fall into what he calls an F-state (when you’re frantic, fearful, forgetful, frenzied, and frustrated) counts as the bad kind. “When you’re in an F-state the quality of your work declines, so this is very related to the bottom line,” says the founder of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive & Emotional Health in Sudbury, Mass. Not to mention that tumbling into toxic stress can make you vulnerable to illnesses such as heart attack, stroke, back pain, migraines, and gastrointestinal problems-none of which are exactly revenue enhancers.
This article in Business Week goes on to describe simple, common ways to combat toxic stress.
Read the full article here.
How To Find That Elusive Balance Between Work and Life November 16, 2008
Posted by Jeff Fuchs in work-life balance.Tags: work-life balance
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in his zenhabits blog, Leo Babauta provides some advice on achieving better work-life balance. Some of his advice includes:
- Realize that, to some extent, work is life
- Do what you love
- Create space for things in your life
- Balance the space you allocate for those things
The advice is general, but generally applicable. Read more here.
