Your best just got better

Videos, articles and more...all about workplace performance and productivity

Looking forward into 2009, we're going to be posting more and more videos, audio interviews and new products on our website. Stay tuned, it's gonna be great!

This topic - the psychology and sociology of workplace performance - has me working overtime to research, test, and write about the topics that are most interesting to people all over the place...how to manage it all, while continuing to create, engage and experience even more success moving forward into tomorrow.

Maybe it's the time of the year, but I'm especially interested in taking those dreams and finding ways to make them realities. Kinda reminds me of Jill Taylor's presentation at TED...

Work/Life Balance discussion with Joe Bruzzese of Thinking-Forward

Joe and I sat down to talk about "managing interruptions" as a way to refocus on the most important things. Here's the video!

When are YOU at your best?

Personal productivity is going to come down to just a few things on a consistent and sustainable level:

How much energy do you have to apply?

How much focus do you have to give?

Of course, it's easy for me to say...the author of this blog, and speaker to hundreds of people a week. "But, Jason, how do we get the energy we need, and utilize the focus we have?" That's a question that I hear often, and I like to remind people that it's not an accident.

Productivity - which I define simply as: Doing what I said I would do, in the time that I promised - doesn't just "happen." There is a lot that has to be in place for us to experience more productive days...more often.

I like to remind people (myself, really) that I need to start and end the day "right." What do you need to get your head clear and clean at the end of the day? What do you need to have done in the early part of the day to set yourself up for more success?

There is an activity we recommend all of our coaching clients go through (and sustain in the weeks following our work together) which we call, "I am at my best when..."

Every now and then (about once a month), I like to write a new list in my journal. I use that list for the next little while as a daily check in against my own productivity practices.

Off to the right of this post I've placed a digital picture of my own last list. I'm working with this inventory through until the middle of December. My goal is to achieve a 70%-plus self-rating...I'd like to do these things at least 70% of the days between now and then.

I keep it really easy...after I make the list, I review it for the first 4-5 days regularly. Then, from there I made it a part of my weekly debrief. That is, I stop once a week, and simply review the list of what it is I need to DO to BE at my best.

Notice, each one of those things is at least 5-% believable, and 100% in my own self-control (at least subjectively...).

The fact of the matter is: I can generally achieve EACH of the items off the list on a daily basis!

QUESTION: When are YOU at your best?

Presenting Yourself Powerfully, Part 2

Presenting Yourself Powerfully, Part 2: Learning Presentation Skills at Work

The topic of our "coffee-talk" one day recently, a friend of mine asked me about the effort it takes to stand up in front of people week after week sharing the information I continue to research and write about regarding personal productivity, workplace effectiveness and strategic team planning.

Above, a link to the second article in a series on "powerful presentations." Please see the other articles we've written for lifehacker.com here.

Tags: Publicspeaking, toastmasters

Keep innovating vis-à-vis "green-thumb" focus on opportunities

Keep innovating vis-à-vis "green-thumb" focus on opportunities

When I was a kid, I was introduced to the viral nature of innovation. To me, I define it as:

Putting two seemingly independent ideas together in a new and useful way.

Yup, as a kid, it was peanut butter and a chocolate bar. C'mon, you remember the TV commercial too, don't you? Yup, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! I remember those Reese's commercials to this day...

So, I read the article in today's (2 November 2008) New York Times by Janet Rae-Dupree with renewed interest in information leading to innovative results. The suggestion to "green-thumb" by Judy Estrin (former CTO @ Cisco) is awesome!

As I sit and think about how our work at The Womack Company addresses the "need for space" to be innovative, I am more inspired than ever! Just last week, working for on of our international bank clients, I was told, "Your information makes it easier to do what we HAVE to do, so we have the focus energy and time to think about other possibilities."

Very rewarding...

Are you presenting something in front of a large group soon?

A link to an article we had published: How to Present Yourself Powerfully

Attending the "Digital Oasis" later this afternoon (4:30pm - 10/17/2008)

I'm going to attend part of the Bioneers conference today...going to this session. Anyone there? I'll be following Twitter (click off to the right hand side of my blog to follow!) while I'm there...oh, and for anyone who knows anyone: We're offering TWO of our coaching packages for free to anyone presenting at Bioneers; who knows someone who is full of ideas and opportunities, and could use some coaching in getting set up to get those things done? Send them here...

Digital Oasis:
Online Networks, Blogging & Fast-Forward Change

How do you engage people in progressive change online? How do you create a socially constructive discussion online and translate discussion into action? Which activist tools are available online?

With: Peggy Duvette, director of the Natural Capital Institute and WiserEarth, an online platform that allows communities to connect and collaborate around social and environmental issues;
Russ Walker, executive editor of Grist;
and Ken Rother, president of TreeHugger.com and vice president of operations of Planet Green Interactive.

Conference Descriptions | Bioneers

Tags: bioneers, "executive coaching

Have you ever agreed to do something...and then forgot about it?

This is one of my favorite "Jodi-posts."

Write it down, or it doesn't exist!

Whether you work with your significant other/spouse or not, we all have had the experience of someone telling us they will do something, and then we have to remind them about that later on...not fun, not fair, and not sustainable!

Here's the beginning of the post. Click to read the rest!

Write it down, or it doesn't exist!

My husband and I agree that all requests that we make from each other in the business be made in writing. (like how I clarified “business”? :) You can imagine where this need came from, right? “Honey, would you follow up with Michael about the seminar logistics next week?” Although it sounds like a simple and reasonable task, unless it’s written down, the chances are pretty good that I won’t remember to do it. Especially if I’m in the garden, brushing my teeth or somewhere other than my computer.

Tags: marriedto your work

Are you giving your attention to the right things?

I’m a big fan of being able to “see it all.” So, over the years I’ve worked to find, maintain, and enhance some kind of “dashboard” view of my work, my agreements, and my interests.

Since 1993, I have been a fan of to-do lists, calendars, filing systems and other organizational tools, systems and methods to stay current with my areas of focus and goals for the future. It realize that without some kind of structure, I may over commit, under deliver, or unnecessarily stress out about having too many things to do at once.

Anyone who has attended one of our MWP (Mastering Workplace Performance) seminars knows I show people how to create their own daily dashboard. Whether they use Microsoft® Outlook®, Microsoft® Entourage®, Lotus Notes, or even “The” Google, I’ve found great ways to be able to “see it all.”

For more info, do let us know about coming in and sharing our productivity principles and programs with your organization. For those of you looking for ways to maximize your own systems, you’ll get a lot of ideas at www.OutlookDashboard.com.

And, here’s what it looks like in Google!

Where’s the ARROW in the FedEx logo?

There’s a small group of people in Lebanon, NH who will most likely smile when they see this picture.

For everyone else, I’ve got a question: Where’s the ARROW in the FedEx logo?

One of the myths we debunk in our Mastering Workplace Performance seminars is that major change takes major effort.

In the space of a few seconds we can show you new things about productivity, and in the span of just a few days you can easily implement new and improved productive habits that make it easier to get more of the right things done.

To continue the conversation, I invite you to share your one favorite “personal productivity” tip in the comment section below. How do you work on and complete the most important things each day?

If you can remember the FIRST time you saw the arrow in the FedEx logo, you have a reference point for this kind of instantaneous “paradigm shift.” By changing the way you LOOK, you will most definitely change what you SEE.