Archive for the ‘Work-Related Stress’ Category

Building renewal into the day

Thursday, November 17th, 2016

Business author Tony Schwartz has spent fifteen years looking at the American workplace, so he knows that engagement is always a struggle. But the latest numbers even took him by surprise.

70% of workers say they lack time for creative or strategic thinking. Two-thirds say they can’t focus on more than one thing at a time. And nearly as many say they never have time for the things they enjoy most in their work. The urgent, he said, overwhelms the important on a daily basis.

The solution is to take control of your boundaries. There are no finish lines any more in American business. We are going all the time. But research shows that being relentlessly “on” diminishes productivity, creativity, and focus.

Turn off your devices and don’t reply to emails in the evening or on most weekends. Encourage others to do the same so it becomes the norm at your company.

If you have control over your break schedule, short breaks every 90 minutes DRAMATICALLY increase focus and productivity, much more than a single long lunch break.

Do what you can to work smarter, not harder, and the results will speak for themselves.

Share Your Limits

Monday, October 10th, 2016

There’s always more work to be done….am I right? But one of the most productive things anyone can do is set definite limits on the work you bring home. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, and that’s fine. But when it becomes a norm to work through the evening, you are sapping your energy and reducing your productivity. And nobody wins that game.

Want some help keeping those limits in place? Share them with those around you.

If you’ve decided not to work after 7 pm, tell your wife or husband and the kids. They’ll hold you to it, believe me! And both your work life AND your home life, will be better for it.

Building renewal into the day

Sunday, March 8th, 2015

Business author Tony Schwartz has spent fifteen years looking at the American workplace, so he knows that engagement is always a struggle. But the latest numbers even took him by surprise.

70% of workers say they lack time for creative or strategic thinking. Two-thirds say they can’t focus on more than one thing at a time. And nearly as many say they never have time for the things they enjoy most in their work. The urgent, he said, overwhelms the important on a daily basis.

The solution is to take control of your boundaries. There are no finish lines any more in American business. We are going all the time. But research shows that being relentlessly “on” diminishes productivity, creativity, and focus.

Turn off your devices and don’t reply to emails in the evening or on most weekends. Encourage others to do the same so it becomes the norm at your company.

If you have control over your break schedule, short breaks every 90 minutes DRAMATICALLY increase focus and productivity, much more than a single long lunch break.

Do what you can to work smarter, not harder, and the results will speak for themselves.

Sweeping the Dirt Under the Rug

Sunday, October 21st, 2012

I remember it like it was yesterday. One of the jobs my mother asked me to do when I was a little girl was sweeping the floor. I was a typical kid, meaning I didn’t really want to do it all the way through.

So I swept the room fair enough…but I swept the dirt under the rug.

I still remember the little monologue that went on in my head: It’s not that big a deal. Out of sight, out of mind. Mom will never even notice.

And she didn’t notice—for a while.

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Get a Handle on Work-Related Stress

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Research at the Florida State University School of Business confirms what we already know: stress in the workplace is on the rise. More than 70 percent of survey respondents confirmed that the recession has significantly increased the stress levels of employees in their workplaces.
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