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Although most of us will go to a pilates studio, some of my clients prefer to do their own routine at home. If you’re one of those people, you’re going to need to invest in a pilates reformer machine. In this review, I will recommend some of the best machines on the market, for whatever your skill level may be. View the full article

Are you looking for a comfortable ergonomic chair that’s a bit more stylish? People that appreciate mid-century office chairs are probably familiar with their minimalist shapes, bold colors, and clean lines. Today we celebrate the period of the 1930s to 1970s with some of the best chairs on the market. We know looks aren’t everything, so we included pieces that are made well and have stood the test of time. View the full article

Leather portfolios are a convenient and stylish way to keep yourself organized at work. So which portfolio is right for you? In this review, I’ve listed some of my favorite portfolios on the market that are functional and high quality. View the full article

As a mother and occupational therapist, I’ve always been interested in children’s ergonomics and how little attention we give it. If it’s important how adults sit, why wouldn’t it be the same for our children? And to be honest, it’s not that difficult to set your child up with an ergonomic workstation. Apart from a comfortable ergonomic chair, a kid’s adjustable desk are probably the two most important factors. Below you will find my recommended lists of kid’s desks, and also some chair and desk sets. View the full article

Here’s a thought exercise: imagine you finally manage to beat the procrastination motivation monster for once. (For many of us, that would already be a fantasy.) But say you sit down to work, full of beautiful productive motivation, ready to take on the day. Then what? Surely you’re going to try to get some work The post Multiply your productivity with a few small changes appeared first on RescueTime Blog. View the full article

Whether you’re doing a job at home or at a worksite, chances are you’ll need a reliable step ladder. So which step ladder is best for you? Selecting the right ladder for the task at hand is essential for your safety. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the process of choosing the best step ladder. I’ll also review and recommend some of the best ladders on the market. View the full article

If you have a limited budget or just want something simple, a minimalist desk for the office will be perfect. In this guide, I’ll list some of my favorite basic desks that are ideal for home offices. View the full article

Here’s a little not-so-secret secret: we all miss the mark sometimes. Sure, we’re all trying our best. We all have things we want to accomplish with our lives. We have a goal we’re chasing, and we’re determined to achieve it. We think about how great it would be if we could just get it done. The post Get your act together with SMART goals appeared first on RescueTime Blog. View the full article

There is so much each and every one of us has to deal with, every day, to keep ourselves in check. To keep striving toward being healthy and accomplished. Sometimes it feels like, with all the things we’re supposed to do daily, there’s no room left in our mind for, you know, anything else. How The post Your default behaviors are under your control appeared first on RescueTime Blog. View the full article

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “Artificial intelligence would be the ultimate version of Google. The ultimate search engine that would understand everything on the web. It would understand exactly what you wanted, and it would give you the right thing. We’re nowhere near doing that now. However, we can get incrementally closer to that, and that is basically what we work on.” ― Larry Page, co-inventor of the Google search engine. Is there anyone in the Western world who hasn’t seen (or at least heard about) the Terminator or Matrix movie franchises? As much as we’ve loved our Tamagotchis, Furbys, and Roombas, we still worry our digital and robotic creations will grow beyond us so fast and so far they’ll learn to hate us or simply become indifferent to our presence, destroying us in the process. Even the late Stephen Hawking, probably one of the most intelligent people to ever live, worried it might happen. Hawking aside, those who fear technology typically do so because they don’t understand it. This has occurred throughout history. Some cavemen probably rejected that newfangled spear-thingy—until it proved itself in action. Consider weaver Ned Ludd, who supposedly destroyed two stocking-knitting machines in 1779, afraid they would take his job. Some alarmists in the 1800s thought riding trains would kill them, because the speed would rip them apart or cause them to suffocate; and parents in the 1920s refused to let their children listen to the radios for fear it would “enthrall” them. Those fears proved groundless. In the 1980s, many people thought computers would replace them, when in fact they just made most of us more productive. This type of mistrust has also hampered the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Computer scientists first proposed AI in the 1950s, though research stalled for decades starting in the 1970s, due to the fears so well illustrated by the abovementioned movies. Since the beginning of the 2020s, however, research in AI has boomed, with the resulting products now starting to revolutionize business… in a good way. Generative AI (GenAI), which can create new content based on prompts human users input, has proven especially productive. Consider these good reasons to welcome these handy programs. AI is easy to use. The hardest part is installing the program, and that’s not hard at all. When you’ve got your GenAI tool up and running, you can provide it with simple text prompts, telling it what to create or how to edit an existing text, image, song, or other “modality,” as the industry calls them. Some AIs can even convert one modality to another, like an image to a text. AI can automate repetitive tasks. The ultimate goal of GenAI—contrary to popular belief—is to make jobs easier, not to replace them. GenAI is a tool, just like your computer, printer, phone, or other software. If you have repetitive tasks you take care of every day or week, like standardized reports, spreadsheets, or other routine documents, you can use GenAI to handle them. It’s also great for data analysis, research (much better than search engines), and administrative tasks. It can even organize your calendar, take care of some email, or schedule meetings. AI works great for customer service. GenAI can offer customer service agents real-time recommendations on how to respond to customers during support calls. Such programs can also provide links to internal documents that explain technical issues. One study has shown that AI helpers can make customer support workers 14% more productive by it making easier to address customer issues. Less experienced and less-skilled workers saw even greater results from GenAI use, boosting their productivity by an average of 35%. AI can help coders write software. In one study involving 70 experienced programmers who regularly coded an average of nine hours per day, half used a GenAI tool to help them perform a specific programming task, while the others coded without using AI at all. Those who used the AI tool finished in an average of 1.2 hours, while the control group took an average of 2.7 hours. That means the GenAI tool helped its users complete their tasks more than twice as fast (126%) as those who didn’t use the tool. Imagine your workers producing twice as much in a single week, just because they adopted a simple-to-use software program! Moving Right Along You may be thinking, “Generative AIs seem almost too easy to use.” Maybe so, but it’s poised to take productivity to a whole new level. Not so long ago, fears of triggering apocalyptic scenarios hamstrung efforts to develop AI for benevolent uses. But the recent business benefits are impressive. Some alarmists still scream about the perils of chatbots and virtual assistants, and fiction editors hate AI, for good reason. But it’s proven profitable and safe in business contexts, and it hasn’t taken over the world. So far, so good. © 2024 Laura Stack. Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE is known as The Productivity Pro®. She is an award-winning keynote speaker, bestselling author, and noted authority on personal productivity. For 30+ years, she has given keynote speeches and workshops on increasing workplace productivity in high-stress environments. Stack has authored eight books, including the bestselling What to Do When There’s Too Much to Do. She is a past president of the National Speakers Association and a member of the exclusive Speaker Hall of Fame. To book Laura speak at an upcoming meeting or event, contact her at www.TheProductivityPro.com. View the full article

If you’ve spent any time consuming productivity content in the last few years, you’ve likely been exposed to “digital minimalism” rhetoric. It’s all these proclamations that claim to be the be-all-and-end-all of healthy ways to navigate a world increasingly uncomfortably surrounded by screens. Monitoring screen time like a hawk. Keeping your phone in your pocket The post Digital minimalism, again, for real appeared first on RescueTime Blog. View the full article

Growing up in New York, first in the city and then later in Albany, a young Herman Melville made frequent trips to stay with his uncle, Thomas Melvill, who lived on a farm near Pittsfield, in the Berkshire mountains of Western Massachusetts. In 1850, Thomas decided to sell his property. Melville, now with a young family of his own, arrived that summer for what they believed to be his final visit to the area. It was during this fateful trip that Melville learned that the Brewster farm, consisting of 160 acres abutting his uncle’s plot, was up for sale. Fueled by impulse and nostalgia, he borrowed $3000 from his father-in-law and bought the property. He would come to call it Arrowhead in reference to native artifacts he found in its fields. Melville’s plan for his time at Arrowhead was to write. He had recently published a series of bestselling adventure novels, drawing from the half-decade he spent wandering the Pacific as a sailor. He felt confident that his literary success would continue and the time was right to fully invest in this vision. A few days ago, I travelled down to Arrowhead, now preserved by the Berkshire Historical Society, to better understand the writing-centered life that Melville constructed. The original house is small, its second floor needing to fit Melville’s own family, as well as his mother and multiple sisters. He none-the-less claimed a sizable east-facing room for his office. Melville used a dining table to write, giving him ample room to spread out his books and notes. He pushed the table against a window offering a direct view of the hump-backed Mount Greylock in the distance: (Legend has it that the whale-like appearance of the mountain inspired Moby Dick. We know this can’t be true because Melville conceived the novel before moving to Arrowhead, but his orientation toward the mountain, both physically and psychologically, clearly marks it as an important source of poetic inspiration for his work.) Melville’s desk is flanked by bookshelves. A fireplace behind him boasts a poker forged from a whaling harpoon. According to the docent who led us on a tour, this setup, impressive as it is, was only temporary. Melville’s eventual plan was to raze the house and build a grander structure featuring a “writing tower.” How did Melville make use of these spaces? We can gain some insight into his daily routine from a letter he wrote to a friend during this period: I rise at eight–thereabouts–& go to my barn–say good-morning to the horse, & give him his breakfast…My own breakfast over, I go to my work-room & light my fire–then spread my M.S.S. on the table–take one business squint at it, & fall to with a will. At 2 1/2 p.m. I hear a preconcerted knock at my door, which (by request) continues till I rise & go to the door, which serves to wean me effectively from my writing, however interested I may be. . . . The thirteen years Melville would spend at Arrowhead, writing half of each day at his dining table desk overlooking the mountains beyond, were the most productive of his career. The works he completed at Arrowhead included, most notably, Moby Dick, but also Pierre, the Confidence-Man, and Israel Potter, not to mention some of his best-known short stories, such as I and My Chimney, Benito Cereno, and Bartleby the Scrivener. (Tragically, these works were largely critical and commercial failures during Melville’s lifetime, leading him to eventually fall into debt before returning to New York to take a desk job. They wouldn’t become recognized as American classics until the early twentieth century.) A couple weeks ago, I wrote a dispatch from the writing shed I was working from this July to help jumpstart a new book project. Melville’s Arrowhead provides a nice example of these same creative principles pushed toward a more notable extreme. Melville wanted to write, and knew that to do so at the level that could produce something of the caliber of Moby Dick would require great attention paid not just to what he was working on, but also where these efforts took place. #### In other news… On the most recent episode of my Deep Questions podcast, I explored small habits that can lead to big results in the quest to find depth in a distracted world. (watch | listen) Meanwhile, for those who are still curious about my new book, Slow Productivity, Big Think just published a useful video in which I explain the book’s main principles. The post Dispatch from Herman Melville’s Farm appeared first on Cal Newport. View the full article

I’m writing this from a rental property, on a hillside overlooking the northern reach of the Taconic Mountains. A key feature of this property is a small outbuilding, designed and built by the current owner as a quiet place for visitors to work. Spanning, at most, twelve feet square, it features a daybed, a heating stove, and a desk arranged to look outward toward the distant peaks. A ceiling fan moves the air on muggy afternoons. Here’s a view from the desk: This rental property, in other words, includes a canonical example of one of my all-time favorite styles of functional architecture: the writing shed. (Indeed, as the owner told me, I’m not the first professional writer to use this space for this purpose in recent years.) In my daily life in Takoma Park, Maryland, I don’t lack for interesting places to write. We designed the library in our house, which includes a custom-built Huston & Company library-style desk, specifically with writing in mind. (If you’re interested in what this looks like, the Spanish newspaper El País recently published a profile that includes a nice shot of me at my desk.) When I need a change of scenery while at home, I’ll also write on my front porch, where, during the grossest days of the DC summer, I’ll use a large floor fan to blow away the mosquitos and moderate the temperature. I also spend a considerable amount of time working amid the comforting din of our local coffee shop. But as long-time readers of this newsletter know, I’ve always felt that there was something particularly special about the idea of writing in a quiet shed nestled in a quiet piece of natural property, such as what was enjoyed by Michael Pollan, David McCullough, and, perhaps my favorite example, E.B. White: Which is all to say that I was excited, on arriving at this rental property, to spend a few weeks wrangling the early stages of a new book in a writing shed of my own. So what have I learned so far? Writing sheds don’t make the specific cognitive act of writing easier. It’s tempting to believe that the right aesthetics will usher in the muse and transport your efforts into a time-warping flow-state. But this doesn’t happen. Writing is still hard, requiring you to marshal multiple parts of your brain to work in synchronized and focused tandem toward the impossibly demanding task of producing well-crafted sentences. But these sheds do seem to improve many of the general factors that surround this act. For example, they’re wonderfully effective at dampening the siren call of distraction. These rooms are used for a single purpose, so they lack the associations with other activities or interests that can so easily hijack your attention. The calming, natural environment beyond their windows also has a way of lulling the parts of your brain uninvolved in the writing task at hand into a harmless quiescence. Meanwhile, the novelty of their setting seems to lower the energy investment required to convince your brain to slip beyond its cacophonous inner-chatter and enter a deeper state more conducive to focus. This all combines into a notable increase in mental stamina. Sessions that might have lasted ninety minutes at home can easily stretch to two or three hours amid the slow quiet of the shed. The writing is still hard, but it’s a more sustainable sort of hard. There’s a lesson lurking here that extends beyond just writing: when it comes to cognitive work more generally, psychological factors matter. Whether you’re writing a book, or crafting computer code, or solving a business problem, or analyzing noisy data, you’re attempting to coax sustained abstract focus from a human brain not necessarily evolved for such intensely symbolic processing. Of course elements like setting should really matter, as should other subtle elements such as how many total tasks you’re juggling, or the degree to which your day is necessarily fragmented by distraction. In knowledge work, productivity is about psychology as much as it is about tools and process. But we often ignore this reality. As I can attest from personal experience, as I sit writing this essay, watching the clouds of an early morning rain shower clear off the distant mountains: If you really care about producing quality work, these softer factors matter. The post Dispatch from a Writing Shed appeared first on Cal Newport. View the full article

Ah, Microsoft. What do you think of first when you hear that name? Word? Powerpoint? Bill Gates? Well, let us make the case for why your first thought ought to be ‘productivity’. Many of us knowledge workers have been using Microsoft for so long that all of the new applications and features added to the 365 suite over the years have gone completely under the radar. There are now a whopping 20 apps at your disposal, which contain hundreds of features to make you and your team’s working life more streamlined and efficient! The Reality Unfortunately, many of our clients describe using Microsoft applications as the opposite. We get it—tech tools can be overwhelming to learn, and new systems take time to be fully adopted by the team. But as we’ve found while delivering our Microsoft for Productivity Ninjas workshop, giving your team dedicated time to learn and connect these features can result in wonders for their collective attention and mindset. With that in mind, let’s go over a few of the Microsoft 365 applications and features we love to use to reduce overwhelm, provide clarity and foster team collaboration. To Do Before we begin ‘the doing’ at work, we need to know exactly what there is to do, right? Not to mention leaving our brains empty enough to do that work well. One of our core concepts and tools at Think Productive is having what we call a ‘second brain‘ – essentially an external tool where every single to-do is captured, so you don’t have to retain that information. The To Do app in the Microsoft 365 suite is an excellent tool for this, allowing you to set up groups with as many lists as you’d like, capturing individual tasks in detail with: Task title Multiple action points (if needed) Due date Whether you’d like the task to repeat Associated files Notification reminders What’s really powerful about To Do is its ability to capture tasks you’ve received in other Microsoft apps such as Outlook and Teams. Yep, you can actually send tasks received via these apps directly to To Do and organise them accordingly! You can also share lists with your colleagues, making for collaborative task management for projects with multiple team members. One Note One Note is an excellent tool for recording all your thoughts, ideas and notes in one place. You can create as many sections as you like, resulting in a digital, never-ending version of those notebooks with the colourful dividing tabs. It’s incredibly versatile and can capture your ideas however you wish to express them. You can insert: Typed text Handwriting Drawing (in various colours/thicknesses) Photos Hyperlinks As a cloud-based app, it allows you to take your notes wherever you need them, view them across your devices and gives you the ability to search for key details, so you always have the info on hand if someone asks a question. We particularly enjoy how your digital notes can easily be shared with your colleagues, making collaborative online work that much easier. Teams Teams is full to the brim with useful features to help streamline project work involving different teams and departments. It all starts with creating your project ‘Team’, deciding on your ‘channels’ (subsets of tasks or your team) and choosing exactly which tools you’d like to include. You can choose from hundreds of Microsoft and external tools to make the perfect environment for streamlined working, but here are some of our core favourites: Planner – create, assign and date tasks (this links to To Do) Chat – communicate and discuss important info Files – easier access to files stored on OneDrive PDF – immediate access to a core team document Onenote – quick access to your collaborative notes Forms – capture and submit essential info Teams is as powerful as it is overwhelming – it works best when you’re intentional about how you want your workflows to operate within your team and setting up the tools accordingly. We’re always happy to give suggestions on what that could look like for your team during your Microsoft for Productivity Ninjas workshop. Outlook Finally, one of the most used and most frustrating Microsoft tools from your day-to-day – Outlook. This essential tool is most likely at the centre of your organisation’s communication and scheduling efforts but is often misused as a catch-all – for planning, tracking projects, deciding the best times for meetings and sharing documents – which is precisely why we encourage participants in our workshop to learn about the first three apps on this list! While we’re sure you can already appreciate how To Do, OneNote and Teams are much better suited for your productivity needs when it comes to planning and tracking, there are also automatic functions in Outlook that can streamline communication and scheduling that are often overlooked, such as: Polls – tallying group results for multiple options (e.g. the best date for a meeting) Voting buttons – for simple yes/no answers (e.g. getting sign-off on a decision) Templates – create, save and use your own email scripts with a click Quickparts – add frequently used sentences or hyperlinks to your emails with a click Wrangling Outlook is an issue many of the teams we work with come up against, but it is possible. Making use of the automatic features Outlook has to offer will absolutely help you to start thinning out your inbox in a way that won’t lead to calendar clashing. What next? We don’t expect you to perfectly integrate all of these apps within your workflows. Rather, our goal is to show the psychological benefit of using tech tools to take the strain off of your team/s, illustrate different solutions to many of the organisational problems knowledge workers face, and encourage the use of Microsoft tools you’re already paying for. Even half an hour gained back by the use of an email poll is an excellent result in our book! For dedicated organisational support on how to use Microsoft for better productivity, consider our Microsoft for Productivity Ninjas training for your team. The post Microsoft 365 features to reduce overwhelm, provide clarity and foster collaboration appeared first on Think Productive UK. View the full article

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “The best laid schemes of mice and men/often go astray.” ― Scottish poet Robert Burns Sometimes, unexpected events occur that tear apart a carefully planned life. Hopefully this hasn’t happened to you, but if it ever does, your productivity is likely to come crashing down… and really, no one could blame you. But some people might anyway. You may even lose a job, especially in this gig economy where speed reigns supreme. This recently happened to a colleague of mine, who had been his mother’s primary caregiver for several years. In March 2023, they experienced a perfect storm of health crises, culminating in his mother entering her final illness. My colleague focused tightly on his mother’s health, to the point where he ignored his clients, and ultimately lost a few. His mother died in June and his best friend followed a few months later, sending him into a deep malaise during which his output tanked. After a difficult recovery, he finally began to rebuild his clientele and productivity. When life throws you curve balls, you can and must fond the strength to rebuild your work-life and productivity until you recapture your previous level of efficiency. Your only other choice is to give up. Here are a few suggestions on how to rebuild: Ponder the problem. Consider how you can rectify your situation, first determining where you want to be and how to get there. This may be different from where you were before everything collapsed; indeed, it may have to be, if your original work situation triggered the collapse, or if there are things you simply no longer care to do. Whatever the case, break your rebound down into smaller, easier-to-accomplish pieces and lay out a rough version of the path from here to there, while leaving enough room to make any necessary changes as you go. Just get started. This advice is standard (if unsaid) for any project, but it’s doubly appropriate in this case. When you’ve hit an emotional roadblock, getting back in the saddle may be the hardest part of rebuilding. But you can’t remain stalled for long or you’ll just sink deeper into the mire, and it’ll become ever harder to move forward. So push yourself to start working on the first step ASAP, even if it feels like you’re pulling teeth just to get anything done. A famous exercise for breaking writer’s block, for example, is to start by typing the word “The” at the top of the page, and then to push yourself to keep writing until things make sense. Don’t take too long. It took my colleague eight months to even want to pick himself up off the ground, and he’s not yet back to his old productivity levels as of this writing (late-April 2024), though he’s working on it. Give yourself time to recover from whatever struck you down in the first place; but the quicker you can get moving again, the easier it will be for everyone involved. Approach lost clients with offers they can’t ignore… and that won’t last forever. This assumes you still want to work for them. Keep in mind, however, that it’s often easier to mend a previously existing relationship than to rebuild your client list from scratch. A discount on the next project or a quicker deadline may prove attractive in these budget-conscious days, and might help you regain some of your clients or end-users if you have an otherwise excellent record. Speaking of which… Focus on quality. When you complete new products for your clients or end-users, focus on maintaining the highest level of quality as possible. Again, this is standard and usually goes unsaid, but it’s worth re-emphasizing. Give yourself extra lead times when you can, and be sure to review every part of the project before you turn it in. Don’t obsess (or you may never really get started), but give the project the time it requires to maximize its excellence. Don’t overdo it! Once you’ve started to pick up and rebuild, keep moving forward—but don’t take on more than you can handle. That’s another route to failure, especially if you over-promise and can’t deliver. Most clients can handle occasional slipped deadlines, as long as you maintain decent communication, and maybe one massive failure to communicate and/or produce, as happened with my colleague. But don’t expect them to accept it twice. Nor should they. It’s unprofessional once; twice, and you may find yourself starting over yet again. Got any other tips for recapturing productivity? Let us know in the comments! © 2024 Laura Stack. Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE is known as The Productivity Pro®. She is an award-winning keynote speaker, bestselling author, and noted authority on personal productivity. For 30+ years, she has given keynote speeches and workshops on increasing workplace productivity in high-stress environments. Stack has authored eight books, including the bestselling What to Do When There’s Too Much to Do. She is a past president of the National Speakers Association and a member of the exclusive Speaker Hall of Fame. To book Laura speak at an upcoming meeting or event, contact her at www.TheProductivityPro.com. View the full article

The time of disorganised, random meetings is just so over. Every single day, hours of company time and employee capacity are wasted by colleagues and managers sending calendar invites willy-nilly without an agenda, a set purpose, or, let’s be honest, even a title that tells you what the meeting is about. Well, if it isn’t that time yet, we at Think Productive are calling it! Say goodbye to time-wasting meetings and hi to the 4 glorious Ps of productive meetings. It’s time. What are the 4 Ps? The 4 Ps is a repeatable framework used to nail down the specifics of your meeting so that you can send an invite full of detail to the right people with purpose. It allows you to tell your colleagues why they need to attend, how they can participate and what the goal of your meeting is. Essentially, it’s you making decisions ahead of time to better facilitate a productive meeting. Hurrah! Let’s break it down… Purpose First, you need to decide the ‘why’ of the meeting to bring a bit of shape to things. Start by writing a purpose statement beginning with ‘By the end of this meeting, we will have…’ and think about what you’re looking to collectively achieve. Once completed, you can pop this in the meeting invited so all participants are on the same page. Use one of the following verb words to help you: Decided Discussed Resolved Learned Confirmed Plan Now that you have your meeting purpose, it’s time to move on to planning the ‘what’ and ‘when’. Start by deciding what information, if any, is needed to update the group before going on to discuss and eventually answer any relevant questions – this provides the basis of your agenda. From here, you’ll be able to determine who is responsible for each agenda item and if any other preparations for the meeting are required (e.g. powerpoint/handouts, a physical meeting space, timezone constraints). Protocol Think of protocol as figuring out the ‘how’ of your meeting by really digging into the details. Cycle through the questions below to determine your meeting protocols, making sure to disregard and/or add any questions that might be relevant to your industry or way of working: Where will your meeting take place? Will it be in person, online, or hybrid? What time will your meeting begin and end? Do phones/laptops need to be away for participants? Which interactive elements, if any, will be included in the meeting? (E.g. Q&A, voting) For online and hybrid meetings: What are the joining instructions? Do cameras need to be on or off? An important consideration for online or hybrid meetings is: How are your participants expected to contribute, if at all? Deciding and communicating this information is important for participants as it will allow them to choose their location carefully. If their contribution is to be via chat and typing, a noisy office with headphones on is fine. If contribution is expected via voice, they will need to be somewhere quiet. If any confidential discussion is involved, they will need to be away from other ears. In a hybrid world, making contribution information clear in advance is essential. People Okay, so most of the core decisions for your meeting have been made! Now it’s time for the final P, the ‘who’ – inviting people. It’s important to be mindful of how many people you invite and ensure you invite the right people. With direct contributors having already been decided when creating the agenda, begin by inviting anyone essential to achieving the meeting’s core purpose. Think carefully about this – don’t just invite an entire team on the off-chance that they may be essential. If you aren’t sure who would be considered essential, do your due diligence before sending an invite. Anyone non-essential that you feel may need to be included can be offered an invitation and informed that they are welcome to attend, but not obligated. What next? Do you have a meeting coming up that is already scheduled but could use some refining? Go through the above process and see if you can bring in some essential clarity before things kick off. Now that you have a repeatable framework for productive meeting, use it! It will save both you and your colleagues time, while also creating a standard for excellent meetings in your organisation. We love an early adopter! If you’d like to learn more about how to make meetings rare, fun and productive again, check out our Fixing Meetings workshop and bring meetings magic to your whole team or organisation. The post Plan the perfect meeting with the ‘4 Ps’ appeared first on Think Productive UK. View the full article

There are a lot of ways to work remotely. And that includes online part time jobs from home. Part time remote jobs offer additional flexibility for remote workers and make jobs more accessible for everybody. However, since most remote jobs are full time, it can be difficult to begin a part time job search. Here are some tips and tricks to navigate this unique job search. What counts as part-time? This is not an easy question to answer. That’s because the definition of part-time changes from one company to another. For example, some remote companies define part time as less than 29 hours a week: Others, consider part time to be under 15 hours per week: Even the United States Department of Labor does not have an official definition. However, most companies in the US consider part time to be under 35 hours weekly while full time is between 35-40 hours weekly. For insurance purposes (for remote employee positions only) the Affordable Care Act defines part time as anyone who works less than an average of 30 hours per week. Anything over 30 hours averaged weekly, and your employer must offer health insurance to you. In other words, online part time jobs from home vary widely – ranging from just a few hours to 30+ hours! Why work from home part time? Generally, part time jobs offer greater flexibility than full time jobs. Retirees, parents, students, and caregivers often find part time work appealing. It allows individuals to build an income around a competing priority like school or childcare. Additional reasons to consider part time work include: Earn extra income Fill a skills gap Increase work-life balance Gain experience There are both pros and cons to online part time jobs from home. Some of the drawbacks include: Minimal benefits Lower income Less professional development Reduced earnings Always weigh both the pros and cons before starting a job search. Who typically works part time? As of 2023, nearly 28 million Americans worked part-time. This amounts to 17% of the entire US workforce! Of those who work part time, 63% are women. 63% of part-time workers are women Although part time remote jobs offer flexibility, they might not be a good solution for everyone. Remember, part time jobs have limited working hours and often lack benefits like health insurance and paid time off. So, if you need health insurance, part time work doesn’t make sense. However, if you want a remote-friendly way to supplement income, then part time work can do that. Example Part Time Online Job Scenario Let’s say you’re a full time student. Your classes start first thing in the morning and end around 4:00 in the afternoon. You don’t have transportation but want to earn money to help pay for expenses like books, food, and entertainment. In this case, a part time remote job in the evening makes a lot of sense. You get to maintain your full time status as a student while earning supplemental income in the evening. Only you can take an honest assessment of the time you have available to determine if working part time actually fits into your schedule. Typically, part time remote workers include these groups: Students Caregivers Retirees Stay-at-home parents Individuals with chronic conditions I asked Loritza, an online English tutor, why she works from home part time: “After my partner and I had kids, we quickly learned how expensive daycare is! Nearly my entire paycheck would go to daycare costs. So, we decided I would quit my office job to be a stay-at-home parent. But, as the kids got older, I had more free time and wanted to contribute financially to our family. I got a part-time online job in the evenings as an English tutor. It doesn’t pay a lot but it helps cover food costs and gives me a sense of purpose in work.” Where can I find online part time jobs from home? The majority of part time wfh jobs are in career categories like: Education Customer Service Marketing Social Media Writing Project Management Administrative Support Medical/Healthcare Finance/Accounting This includes popular remote job titles including: Bookkeeper Virtual Assistant Customer Service Representative Copywriter Social Media Manager Digital Marketer Of course, these are just some of the most common part time industries and related job titles. In reality, there are hundreds of part-time remote jobs across all sectors. Remote Job Search Sites The best places to find real remote jobs include: Flexjobs LinkedIn Staffing Agencies Additionally, there are smaller remote job boards to consider like: WeWorkRemotely Jobspresso Remotive It’s purely personal preference which job boards or job search sites you use. It can also come down to budget. FlexJobs is a subscription service, and will cost you just $49.95 for an entire year of access to its exclusive job leads. I like FlexJobs because it guarantees all job leads on its site are 100% the real deal, so you never have to worry about scams. How to Land Part Time Online Jobs From Home? Step 1: Which job title are you interested in? First, determine which job titles you’ll want to apply for. Your work history and skills will point you in the right direction. If you’re stuck, try using the O*NET Interest Profiler for career ideas. A career coach can also assist you with identifying your ideal career and related remote-friendly job titles. Step 2: Create a target company list. Next, jot down a list of companies you could see yourself working for. Ideally, these companies will regularly hire workers in your preferred job title list. Additionally, these companies should also have part time online jobs from home. This requires a good bit of research on your part. Some examples to get you started include, BELAY, TELUS International, Kelly, and other remote staffing agencies. Step 3: Build your network. Strategically. Now that you have a target company list and job title, it’s time to build your network. Head over to LinkedIn and follow the companies on your target company list. Then reach out to current employees who work there. The goal isn’t to ask for a job – it’s to learn more about the company and what it’s like to work there. If a job opening eventually comes up, you already have a warm connection you can reach out to and ask for a referral. Remember, the majority of jobs are filled via networking not online applications. Step 4: Spruce up your resume. Before you apply for a single remote role, create a broad based resume. This will be the template you use throughout your job search. A good base resume includes your work history, a summary, work history, skills, and related experience. Teal HQ has a free resume creator that uses AI to make building your resume easier. Step 5: Scout out jobs. Now’s the time to start applying for roles. Regularly check the Careers or Hiring pages of companies on your target list and create job alerts on LinkedIn. These are great ways to streamline your job search efforts so you can spend more time optimizing your resume. Step 6: Apply to roles that interest you. Remember, only apply to roles that fit your career ideals. It’s tempting to start applying for every single online part time job from home you come across – but don’t. Job searches are more effective when you create a plan and stick with it. It’s helpful to give yourself a SMART Job Search Goal to stay on the right track. Step 7: Rinse & Repeat Finally, keep doing what you’re doing. It takes between 4-6 months to find a remote job. The more effort you put into your job search, the more you’ll get out of it. Plan to spend 2-3 hours a day, M-F, on job search activities for optimal results. Resources for Online Part Time Jobs From Home ONET Interest Profiler LinkedIn FlexJobs Teal HQ Need extra help? Gain free access to our Remote Resources Room filled with tons of helpful guides, checklists, and templates for remote job seekers like you. The post Online Part Time Jobs from Home: Your Guide to Getting Hired appeared first on Work from Home Happiness. View the full article

Since the pandemic, nearly 56% of US workers have a job that is remote-friendly. But, today, more and more workers are being called back into the office. If you’re one of them, you’re probably saying but, “I want to work from home!” And, you’re not alone. Roughly 26% of workers now work remotely, and enjoy the many benefits that come with it. Money Saved Remote workers save money. The average worker spends a whopping $8,466 each year on common commuting costs or about 19% of take home pay, according to Bankrate. By working remotely, those costs are slashed if not entirely eliminated. Time Saved Remote workers save a ton of time by not commuting. The average commute in America is about 27.5 minutes one way for a total of 55 minutes spent commuting every work day. That comes out to 275 minutes per week or 13,750 minutes each year! By working remotely full time, you can save nearly 230 hours annually. What would you do with all that extra time? Sleep in? Relax? Help get your family out the door in the morning? Exercise? The State of Remote Work In Buffer’s Annual State of Remote Work Report, 98% of respondents would prefer to work from home (at least partially) for the rest of their careers! Since you’re here, we’re going to guess you too want to work from home. Keep in mind, just because everyone wants to work from home doesn’t mean everyone should work from home. If you’re ready to call your home your office and your office your home, there’s some important steps you should take to turn your work from home dreams into reality. Question 1: What Kind of Work from Home Job Makes Sense for You? I get a lot of emails and Facebook messages that say, near verbatim: “I want to work from home, please help.” And, if you’ve ever taken the time to email me, you know I always respond and give the best advice I can — if I don’t know the answer, I’ll point you in the right direction. The problem with the general statement, “I want to work from home,” is it’s just too broad. Working from home is not a one-size-fits-all position. There are seemingly endless ways to make a living from home. Know Your WFH Type Once you know you’d like to work from home, the very next thing you need to do is decide which kind of work from home job is right for you: Do you need the stability and security of an employee position with benefits? Would you rather work part-time around your day job? Are you looking to start a scaleable side hustle? Have you been bitten by the freelancing bug? Do you just want to make a little extra money here and there? Your answers to those questions will go a long way in helping you have a more successful remote job search. As a reminder, work from home jobs can usually be divided up into six main types: 1. Full-Time Employee You’re hired on as an employee who just happens to work remotely. Most times, this entitles you to benefits and stable pay. Taxes are taken out of your paycheck for you. 2. Part-Time Employee Also gives you “employee” status which means you can count on greater stability. You may not be benefits eligible as a part-time telecommuter but you will have taxes taken out of your paycheck. 3. Independent Contractor As an independent contractor (IC), you provide your services to a company on a per-contract basis. This means, once your contract is up, you might not have any more work. Similarly, your contract may end without warning. There’s no guarantee of work and you’re responsible for your own taxes and fill out a 1099. 4. Freelance Freelancers offer their services for sale and choose which projects they work on and when. You’re in charge of finding your own work, setting your rates, and collecting payments. Freelancers are also in charge of paying their own taxes on money earned. Writing, virtual assistant, graphic design, and typist are all common work from home freelance careers. 5. Side Hustler Not everyone wants to work full-time or even part-time to make money from home — I get that. So, if you’re looking for a way to earn a few bucks here or there, you should look at extra-money making gigs. These typically don’t require a resume or application to fill out. Instead, you sign up on a site to earn extra money — surveys and usability testing are two popular examples of ways to earn extra money from home. 6. Home Business Anything you do from home — whether it’s a daycare business, flipping products for profit on Amazon, or launching a profitable blog are considered a home-based business. You’re completely in charge of running your home business as you see fit and your success will depend on how much you put into it. Apply to the Right Positions There’s no sense in applying to jobs that aren’t right for you. Save your time, energy and efforts going after the right kinds of jobs — not every and any work from home job or opportunity out there. If you need benefits, go for full time employee positions over contract roles. But, for those that need just a little extra here or there, try side hustles. Really, it all depends on what your ultimate career goal is. Question 2: Do you have a home office? Now that you (hopefully) know the type of remote employment you’re looking for, it’s time to take an honest look at your ability to actually work remotely. If you’re not properly equipped to work from home, you’re gonna have a hard time finding a job. Period. But, depending on the type of employment you’re after, your home office requirements will vary. Home Offices for Employee Jobs http://workfromhomehappiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/bigstock-d-modern-computer-workplace-93147662-1024x1024.jpg Let’s say you’re looking for full-time employment from home with a company that offers benefits. Great! There are a number of companies that actually want you to work from home and will pay you a competitive wage and offer some pretty amazing benefits. But, to land these jobs, you’re going to need a home office setup. Home Office Basics This doesn’t necessarily mean you need a full-size copier, fax machine, and laminator — but you should have the basic makings of a home office: High-speed internet (typically hardwired to your computer — no WiFi or satellite connections most of the time!) Well-maintained computer Quiet, distraction-free place to work Desk Comfy chair Basic office supplies — pens, paper, printer, etc. In some cases, you may need a landline. This is especially true for popular at-home customer service jobs. Does this mean you should run out and install a landline? No! But, it means you should be receptive to getting one and know ahead of time if you can actually have one installed in your home or apartment. It’s defeating, to say the least, to go through the application process, land an interview, and a soft job offer only to find you don’t meet the tech requirements or are otherwise incapable of maintaining a proper home office. Home Office Requirements Examples Most work from home companies are pretty good about listing their home office requirements before you even start the application process. For example, Sitel has an entire section devoted to their home office requirements: http://workfromhomehappiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sitel-screenshot.png U-Haul provides similar information upfront before you apply too: http://workfromhomehappiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/uhaul-screenshot.pngA screen grab of U-Haul’s home office requirements taken from their hiring page. So, when you come across an at-home position that sounds perfect, remember to check the home office requirements first. Home Offices for Non-Employees If you’re looking for a non-employee position, i.e., freelance, contract, or home business, you don’t have to worry about your home office as much. Remember, if freelancing is more your thing or you’re thinking of starting a blog, you probably won’t need anything more than a computer and internet connection. Similarly, if you want to start a side hustle as an Amazon FBA seller, you can get by with a computer, smartphone, internet and printer and make some pretty good money with this minimal setup. Again, it all goes back to the type of work you’re looking for. What you’ll need as an employee versus home office requirements as a freelancer/self-employed/home business owner are very different things! Question 3: Can You Handle Distractions? http://workfromhomehappiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/bigstock-Business-woman-working-from-ho-104254004-300x200.jpg I’ve been working remotely for a decade. And, I’ll be the first to tell you, distractions are going to happen. You’ll hit your stride on an assignment and, boom, the doorbell rings. Or, you’ll get frequent calls from friends and family who ask for a ton of favors during the workday because, hey, you work from home and must not be doing anything more than watching Netflix, right? Oh, and then there’s kids, pets, significant others, neighbors, and about a million other things that can make working from home difficult. Remote Work is Not a Substitute for Childcare My point is, you may not be able to devote the time and attention required to work from home, at least not full-time anyway. Let’s pretend you have kids (maybe you do) — they may or may not be in school (unless it’s summer, then they’re home). You’ll find it downright difficult to find a full-time work from home job if you have kids in your care during the day — I don’t care how great you are at multitasking — if you can’t provide a distraction-free, quiet home environment, you’re going to find it difficult to land a full-time employment. Impossible? No. But very, very, very difficult. Now, don’t get discouraged if you’re not in the ideal place to work from home — you just have to get creative. Help, My House is a Circus I hear you. I’ve got a homeschooled child, two golden retrievers, three cats, and a lot of Amazon deliveries. Yet, I still manage to work remotely in a variety of roles over the last decade. Don’t let a busy household stop you from making money from home — just figure out a way to work around your already busy schedule. This will likely mean freelancing from home, starting a side hustle, or working as an independent contractor. Transcription, proofreading, virtual assisting, and writing all are great options to explore — but really, you’re only limited by what services you’re willing to offer as a freelancer. Question 4: Will You Miss Working Outside the Home? I’m an introvert. And most introverts love working from home. But, if you’ve ever worked an office job, you know that office politics are just a part of going to work. And while working from home means you miss the bad stuff, it also means you miss out on all the good stuff, too. The camaraderie of coworkers, lunches out, impromptu happy hours, and other perks that come with a traditional office job don’t happen as easily when you work from home. If you hate the rat race but love interacting with coworkers, enjoy break room banter, and count your officemates as some of your best buds, you might find that working from home is lonely for you. Yes, it’s easier than ever to stay connected with chats and video hangouts, but it’s just not the same as being in person. I’ve heard of too many enthusiastic people start a work from home journey only to find they didn’t like it — and nine times out of ten, it was because they missed the daily human interaction an office job brings. You know working from home has its perks, and for some people it equals work happiness but it’s not for everyone. Seriously consider how much importance you place on working alongside others in an office environment — if you can’t imagine working alone (save for an office cat), you may want to reevaluate your work from home ambitions This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure statement for more information. The post I Want to Work from Home. Now What? Four Important Questions to Ask Yourself appeared first on Work from Home Happiness. View the full article

First, Amazon work from home jobs are real! The mega online retailer is just one of many remote-friendly companies out there. In fact, Amazon has an entire division devoted to its virtual workforce. So, if you’re on the hunt for real wfh jobs, Amazon should definitely be on your radar. Keep reading to learn more about the Amazon remote jobs and how to get hired there. About Amazon Before we dive into what it’s like to be a part of the Amazon work from home team, let’s talk about the company first. Amazon is one of the largest e-commerce retailers in the world. E-commerce is just a fancy way of saying buying and selling online. As of 2021, Amazon is the top online retailer according to Statista’s Top Online Stores Worldwide report. And because Amazon shows no signs of slowing between its ecommerce platform and subscription services like Amazon Prime Video, Audible, and Amazon Fresh there are plenty of jobs to be found. Amazon Remote Jobs In fact, Amazon has literally thousands of open roles available at any given moment. For example, there are nearly 10,000 available Software Development jobs at Amazon as I type this There are a lot of open jobs available at amazon like these 9,000 roles in software development! However, that’s just scratching the surface. Of course there are plenty more Amazon roles in their many in-person distribution centers. But, what about remote jobs with Amazon? Amazon Work From Home Jobs At the height of the pandemic, the majority of Amazon Corporate employees worked remotely. Today, Amazon is continuing to offer flexibility in where many of its employees work. In fact, Amazon’s Remote Locations Page states: We have a diverse workforce with talented people from all over the world. As our operations span across different countries and time zones, remote working is a key aspect of our business’ growth. With staff in remote locations in all corners of the world, we can serve our customers, wherever they may be. Amazon hiring page And the best part is, Amazon provides a variety of remote roles for professionals from different backgrounds (and locations!). For example, some of the top categories for remote location at Amazon include: Software Development Human Resources Sales & Account Management Customer Service Design Of course, this is just a small sampling of top categories. It’s a good idea to keep an eye on Amazon’s Remote Locations Hiring Page for a full list. Amazon Part Time Work From Home Jobs A common question readers ask is, “Does Amazon have part time jobs from home?” Yes, they do! Just filter by Job Type and be sure to check “part time.” From there, you’ll see a list of part time remote jobs at Amazon. The Hiring Process at Amazon Keep in mind, each role will have a slightly different hiring process. However, most remote jobs at Amazon follow a general application flow: Online Application Assessment Phone Interview Virtual Interview Thankfully, Amazon does a pretty good job of keeping applicants updated during the hiring process. So, you can check the status of your application at any time to see where you’re at. 1. Fill Out Your Online Application First, you have to find remote jobs at Amazon you’re interested in. To do this, head over to Amazon’s Virtual Locations page. From there, narrow search results using filters like: Job Type Category Country/Region After you find a role you want to apply for, you’ll create an Amazon.jobs account. Note: This will be separate from any personal Amazon shopping account you have. You will use this account to access your profile, fill out applications, and check on the status of your applications. make sure to fill out the application in full. It’s a good idea to have a copy of your resume and cover letter to fill in all the required details. 2. Assessment Next, Amazon uses online assessments for some of its remote roles. These assessments help Amazon get to know you better and to determine if you have the right skills to be successful. Typically, the two main types of assessments Amazon gives its applicants are: Work Style Assessment – This is a 10-20 minute personality-type test. It helps Amazon discover your unique working style. Work Sample Situation – These are specific to individual roles at Amazon. You may be asked to perform sample tasks you are likely to encounter if you were hired. Remember, assessments are pretty standard in the world of remote work. Additionally, many companies ask applicants to take work style assessments too. If you take one, try not to overthink it and answer the questions honestly. 3. Phone Interview After assessments, Amazon invites select candidates to a phone interview. Remember, you should always do pre-interview homework. And, at Amazon that should include reading its Leadership Principles. After all, Amazon evaluates all candidates against its unique Leadership Principles! Amazon evalutes all its applicants against its unique leadership principles. 4. Virtual Interview The final step before being hired is an interview. For work from home jobs, these interviews are done virtually. In order to attend the virtual interview you will need to download Amazon Chime and Google Chrome. Then your recruiter will give you a meeting ID# so you can join the session. Since this is a virtual interview always remember to: Have good lighting Test your internet connection Make sure your webcam and mic are working Additionally, prepare for your interview ahead of time by practicing answers to common interview questions! Amazon Seasonal WFH Customer Service Jobs Now that we’ve broadly covered all remote jobs at Amazon, let’s look at one of its most popular wfh roles: Customer Service. Each year, Amazon ramps up hiring during the busy shopping season. And, one of the roles it heavily recruits for is Virtual Customer Service reps. Keep in mind, these are often seasonal roles. In other words, your employment is only for a short period of time. However, there are chances to snag permanent Amazon work from home part-time and full-time gigs. Additionally, some seasonal workers are offered full-time roles in the future! What You’ll Be Doing As an Amazon Work From Home Customer Service Rep Your day-to-day responsibilities will involve taking inbound calls from Amazon customers. You may also respond to support emails or incoming live chats. Most interactions with customers will deal with orders — either questions about an existing order or difficulties when trying to place an order. But you may also help solve problems or provide support. Keep in mind, most customers contact Amazon by live chat or phone — so you’ll have to be quick when offering solutions to customers! Where Does Amazon Hire? Good question! Although the virtual customer service positions at Amazon are work-from-home, you still need to reside in one of the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. At the time I’m writing this, these are the only states Amazon currently hires virtual customer service reps. Now, if you’re looking for other virtual jobs at Amazon, be sure to read the job description from the Virtual Locations Hiring Page. Those jobs may or may not be location-specific. However, when it comes to their work from home customer service jobs, you will need to live in one of the states listed! What Experience Do I Need to Work From Home For Amazon? Generally speaking, Amazon likes to see the following experience for their virtual customer service reps: High school diploma (or equivalent) 1+ years in a service environment Basic typing, Internet, phone, and research skills It’s also helpful if you possess the following qualities: Customer focus Ability to prioritize customer needs Patience Conflict resolution Ability to assess customer needs & deliver appropriate solutions That’s it! This is a really great opportunity to use your real world experience in retail, hospitality or other service-based industry to snag a work-from-home job. What About Technical Requirements? What Will I Need? Like all work from home jobs, you will need to meet certain tech requirements in order to be considered for a position. And the Amazon work from home jobs are no different. The basic tech requirements needed for their virtual customer service jobs include: A Windows PC 64-bit operating system running either Windows 8.1, Windows 10, OSX 10.9 or higher Minimum 10 mbps download speed (test your speed over at Speedtest.net) No wifi — must be hardwired to the internet via Ethernet cable — sorry no satellite! Laptops are OK, but you must have an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse Windows Auto Update Windows Defender You’ll also need to be able to take phone calls. But don’t worry, you won’t need a landline! Once you’re hired, Amazon will ship you a headset for taking calls via Internet. You’ll also receive a Gemalto token, which will turn your PC into a super-secure powerhouse for both your protection and the customers you interact with! So Far So Good. What Will My Schedule Be Like? Your schedule will largely depend on demand. Sometimes, Amazon specifically hires work from home customer service agents just to handle calls during high-volume times. Remember, Amazon’s peak times run from Thanksgiving to mid-January. During those months you may be working full time or even overtime to meet the increase in online shoppers. During off-peak times, Amazon’s virtual support center is open from 3 a.m. to midnight PST. Your shift could fall anytime during these hours. And you’ll be expected to have a pretty flexible schedule to accommodate these hours. You may be assigned any combo of day, afternoon, or evening shifts. Most reps will work at least one weekend day with many working both Saturday and Sunday. You’ll also have to attend and complete paid training which may have a completely different schedule. Fortunately, your recruiter will go over all that information with you so you won’t be caught off guard when it comes time to train. What About Amazon Work From Home Salary? How Much Will I Make? For customer service reps, the Amazon work from home salary is the same: $10.00/hour (unless you reside in a state where the minimum wage is higher). This includes paid training while you’re learning the ropes! Virtual reps also have bonus opportunities that can boost their $10 hourly rate. Remember, Amazon has additional virtual work from home jobs available which will likely pay higher, but for customer service reps there is an across-the-nation pay rate of $10/hour. Additional Facts About Working for Amazon You’re probably an Amazon customer already and know about its Prime Membership and 2-day shipping. However, there are some interesting details about Amazon I want to share from an employment perspective. Amazon ranks number 14 on Forbes World’s Best Employers List Amazon ranks number 14 on this updated 2022 list! They will hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses prior to 2024 As part of their Upskilling Program, Amazon offers free skills training to US employees 400,000 new jobs were created in 2020 aloe Full time employees receive comprehensive benefits on Day 1 Its Amazon Technical Academy trains employees to become software engineers in just 9 months Feel free to browse additional Amazon Facts as you learn more about this company and how they work. Hint: It’s a good idea to know these things before applying and a definite must before an interview! I Want To Be A Part Of the Amazon Work From Home Team! That’s the spirit! Remember, Amazon has a lot of different work from home jobs available. They hire throughout the year for a ton of different roles from Software Development to Human Resources and more! Additionally, Amazon typically hires a group of seasonal remote customer service agents for the holiday season. As a remote job seeker, be sure to determine your career ideals before you start applying to different jobs! Whether you want to work from home temporarily for Amazon or grow your career there full time follow these steps: Search for opening on the Virtual Locations Career Page Create an Amazon Jobs Account Apply to positions using your resume and cover letter Complete any necessary assessments Prepare for a phone interview or virtual interview Need additional help? Let me know in the comments below! I’m happy to help you prep for your work from home job search at Amazon. Happily, Ashlee P.S. This post might have affiliate links. What are affiliate links? They’re a way for me to earn a little cash recommending products and services to you. Even so, I only suggest products, brands, and services I know, trust and use. Need to know more? No problem. I’ve written a disclosure statement you can read The post Work from Home Jobs at Amazon. Here’s What You Need to Know. appeared first on Work from Home Happiness. View the full article

Feedback is one of those icky subjects. At Think Productive, we’ve been on a mission recently to drive up our own feedback culture, as well as it being something we help many of our clients do too. This means getting savvy about both giving and receiving feedback. It’s never easy, but here are a few quick thoughts to make it a little less painful: The bigger picture matters Feedback is usually directed at an individual, but its’ purpose is collective. We talk a lot at Think Productive about eliminating “stinky fish” – this means tackling head-on those issues that start as a minor irritation but have the potential to derail the whole endeavour. I find that often the group-think temptation is to just ignore these things and hope they go away or get better on their own, but aligning feedback to the bigger picture, and being on a quest for clarity, is the less comfortable but more courageous approach. And a small but painful conversation now is almost always better than a bigger-and-even-more-painful one further down the line. The detail matters too It’s easy to give feedback based on generic statements, but being specific (and of course, tying your feedback to examples of behaviours or actions) really helps. Ultimately, you’re probably needing to change someone’s mind, so give them evidence that helps them question their current reality, and making it less of an attack on their entire soul obviously helps, too. Consistency beats intensity If you’ve read my How to Have The Energy book, you’ll know that we talk a lot about food habits and the idea that consistently eating well is actually much easier than following a harsh but rigid diet. It also affords you the ability to screw up or eat the odd cake with a sense of joyful abandon, because you know that you’re on the right track with all those other meals. Feedback is the same – little and often is much easier to take on board, and it means the feedback process becomes habitual and helpful (because there’s less of a barrier to positive reinforcement or small course corrections), rather than being reserved as a ‘big old slap in the face’ to be wheeled out only when something goes wrong. Stay curious, grateful and humble Receiving negative feedback is difficult for all of us. And I’ll preface this part by saying that of course, not all feedback is actually valuable – sometimes it comes from a misinformed or malicious place. But that aside, we all do well to remember to stay curious, grateful and humble. One of the questions I think about a lot is “what would it be like to be on the other end of me?”. Self-awareness needs some data points, and we should be grateful and humble in how we hold space for the people who show up to provide them for us. I feel like feedback is one of those personal growth subjects that we can never fully learn – there’s always another layer underneath, the more we dig deeper into it. So if you want to continue expanding your understanding of feedback, you can watch my latest free webinar on YouTube ‘Giving & Receiving Feedback‘. And if you want to start changing the culture of feedback within your organisation, check out our workshop ‘We Need to Talk‘, all about replacing fear with clarity when giving feedback. First seen on Rev up for the Week This post was first seen in Graham’s weekly newsletter Rev up for the Week. You can subscribe here for an upbeat idea for the week ahead directly to your inbox. The post We Need to Talk appeared first on Think Productive UK. View the full article

Do you find delegation tricky? When it comes to delegating more, do you find yourself using excuses like these? I don’t have time to explain it or track it. I might as well do it myself. I’m just a control freak. (It’s not you, it’s me!) I’ve been around the longest, so I’ll just know how to do it better than someone else on the team. I feel bad dumping my work on already overloaded colleagues. All valid reasons, but have you considered what message each of these excuses is sending your team? I don’t trust you to understand the assignment or to keep me updated. Also, I don’t want to waste my time investing in your growth. I just don’t trust you to do as good a job as me. I don’t believe that new ideas can come from anywhere, I’m not open to doing things differently and I may even feel threatened by you. I don’t think you can handle it. It’s time to reframe this messaging because delegating when done well, is WIN-WIN. YOU WIN You get to: 1. Show trust and build psychological safety. 2. Nurture a growth mindset culture where people are encouraged to learn, improve and innovate. 3. Give colleagues the space to safely make mistakes and to learn from them. 4. Reclaim some of your precious time back. 5. Demonstrate confidence in yourself (which creates security for the whole team). Ultimately you end up creating and leading a high-performing team. An organization of thinkers. Looking good my friend. THEY WIN They get to: 6. Prove themselves and build trust. 7. Think, problem-solve and figure things out for themselves. 8. Fail, learn, grow, succeed, learn, grow. 9. Experience your excellent delegation role-modelling and take those skills forward for themselves. 10. Feel empowered to innovate, suggest ideas, and experiment. 11. Feel good about themselves, more motivated and engaged. Trust, growth, innovation, engagement, happy people. And YOU, making the best use of YOUR time. What’s not to love? To learn more, check out our Free Skills Taster over on YouTube: How to Delegate Successfully with Think Productive. Happy Delegating (and, you’re very welcome)! Need more delegation skills support? Take a look at our brilliant inhouse “Delegate like a Productivity Ninja” Masterclass. Want to round out your own Manager skills to inspire brilliance in your team? You have just a few weeks left to apply to join Cohort One of The High-Performance Manager starting in April. Our Subject-Matter Experts and Coaches will take you through the fundamentals of good management, from Delegation, Giving Feedback, Time/Attention Management & Prioritisation, your personal style as a Manager and how to role-model Sustainable Productivity. All in the indubitable human-centred, fresh, authentic, thought-provoking, practical Think Productive style. There are only 20 places on this special Cohort. The post 11 reasons why delegating is a win-win. appeared first on Think Productive UK. View the full article

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “Don’t count the days; make the days count.” ― Muhammed Ali, American boxer. We’d all like to work less, wouldn’t we? It would be nice to take our retirement in installments, like John D. McDonald’s sleuth Travis Magee, but that’s not an option for most of us. One thing many of us try to do is arrange to work fewer days. This usually involves cramming the same 40 hours into fewer days, such as working four ten-hour days while taking Fridays off. But with “flex-time,” as it’s generally called, you still end up working 40-hour weeks, minimum. But how about shorter workweeks, period? Study after study has shown that workweeks of 32-36 hours tend to be more fruitful than their 40-hour counterparts. Here are four reasons why: Productivity increases. Obviously, there’s a point of diminishing returns, but salaried people who’ve tested workweeks of 32-36 hours tend to perform better and accomplish more than their colleagues who work a traditional eight-hour day, five days a week. And they do better than those who work longer than 40 hours per week. They’re more efficient and productive, with less wasted time — possibly because they’re quite aware they have less time they can Workers are happier. Happier, healthier workers more easily embrace their jobs and perform better. Pretty much self-explanatory. With shorter weeks, workers experience less job-related stress, get more rest, often have more pleasant commutes, and, for parents, experience less worry about childcare. They also have more time for themselves, their families, and their favorite pursuits. Add it all up, and it results in greater happiness. Workers are healthie We know that healthier people are more productive, even if they work fewer hours per week than the average bear. They experience fewer stress-related illnesses, take fewer sick days, feel better rested, display more flexibility, and are less likely to experience burnout. In the end, this results in less time lost to illness, which, again, can resulted in a greater percentage of productive hours than longer, stressful workweeks. Workers are more loyal. Happier, healthier employees are less likely to leave for greener pastures. Employees of the Millennial and Gen-Z cohorts don’t have the baked-in company loyalty their parents and grandparents had, probably because they’ve seen how corporate loyalty toward employees melted away after the dotcom bubble popped, especially during the Great Recession. Amazon just announced it is dumping 16,000 employees. Hence the lack of loyalty on the employee side of the aisle. A shorter workweek would be very attractive and make them not as apt to leave. Positive Feedback All four of these factors reinforce each other in the best productive sense. Workers prove happier and healthier when they work fewer than 40 hours per week; happiness breeds greater health and vice versa; loyal workers work harder for you because they’re happier and feel better, increasing the happiness and productivity all around… you get the picture. It’s a kind of positive feedback loop. We’ll never cut our work hours back to George Jetson’s three hours a day, three days a week, or Tim Ferriss’s optimistic four-hour workweek. But we can easily cut back our regular workweeks by four to eight hours, and according to the science, still get all our work done. © 2023 Laura Stack. Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE is known as The Productivity Pro®. She is an award-winning keynote speaker, bestselling author, and noted authority on personal productivity. For 30 years, she has given keynote speeches and workshops on increasing workplace productivity in high-stress environments. Stack has authored eight books, including the bestselling What to Do When There’s Too Much to Do. She is a past president of the National Speakers Association and a member of the exclusive Speaker Hall of Fame. To book Laura speak at an upcoming meeting or event, contact her at www.TheProductivityPro.com. View the full article

Technology is a fast-paced industry and the list of apps which exist to help you improve your productivity is ever-growing. That’s why we’ve put together a list of some of our tired & tested, favourite apps. Is your favourite on the list? Let us know in the comments! Task management apps Todoist – Think Productive HQ’s favourite second brain tool! We’re not supposed to have favourite second brains, but Todoist is very popular at TPHQ with the majority of our team choosing it for their second brain. Todoist can help you plan your projects, create to-do lists and set up recurring reminders. You can also send emails from your inbox straight to Todoist, to save you time capturing an action! On the free plan, you are limited to 5 projects and you lose features such as reminders & filters. If you’d like to give Todoist a try but not sure where to start, check out our video series ‘Getting Started with Todoist’ here. Trello is another very popular tool you can use as a second brain, and is especially useful when managing projects. In Trello, you can set up boards (your projects) and create cards (your actions) to visualise your project from start to finish. Our favourite thing about Trello is that you can easily move cards around, and you can put the stuff that you want to focus on at the front. I think that really helps keep the impactful things at the front and centre of your mind. In the free version, you can have up to 10 boards and unlimited cards. Trello offers quite a bit in their free plan! If you’d like to give Trello a try, check out our Introduction to Trello video series here. Toodledo is a productivity app at its core, helping you stay on top of your tasks and tick off tasks as you go along. If you are someone who likes to work in spreadsheets, this could be the app for you. What we like about Toodledo is you can add stars to tasks, this would be a great way of picking out which 3-6 tasks you’d like to focus on for the day. We also like that you can add attachments and photos to your tasks in their free plan, as this is usually a premium feature! If you want to give Toodledo a go, check out our video series on how to get set up here. Nozbe is another tool which is excellent in helping you manage your projects. You can share your projects with colleagues, delegate tasks, and communicate in the comments and it can be used on any device! It’s our Founder, Graham Allcotts, chosen second brain! To find out how Graham has set up his Nozbe (and to steal his tips) check out this video on our YouTube. Focus & Habit Apps Forest is one of our favourite focus and habit apps, and we recommend it in all of our workshops! If your phone distracts you, this is the app for you. You choose the length of time you want to concentrate for and during that time your tree grows. If you leave the app, your tree dies. So essentially it ‘locks’ your phone for a pre-defined period of time and gives you an incentive to keep it locked. There are different types of trees for different lengths of time. You can see your forest of trees (or dead trees!) for each day/week/month, and also chart your progress across a period of time. For every tree you grow, the founders of the app will also plant a real-life tree! Streaks is a todo list which helps you form and track new habits and break habits you want to get rid of. Each habit is represented by a circle in the app. You can track up to 24 habits and telling Streaks you have completed one is as easy as long pressing on the circle. You can also customise the days you’d like to complete a habit (e.g. walking to work, you can set this to Mon-Fri so you don’t lose your streak over the weekend). The only downside is that Streaks is only available on iOS. Pomodoro Technique – although not technically an app, we wouldn’t be able to share this post without mentioning it. The Pomodoro Technique was developed in the late 1980s by then-university student Francesco Cirillo. Cirillo was struggling to focus on his studies and complete assignments. Feeling overwhelmed, he asked himself to commit to just 10 minutes of focused study time. Encouraged by the challenge, he found a tomato (pomodoro in Italian) shaped kitchen timer, and the Pomodoro technique was born. You set the timer for 25 minutes and focus on your task at hand, then once the timer dings, you take a 5 minute break away from your screen. Repeat as often as you need to! Mindfulness Apps Calm is a popular meditation app with a wide range of options to help you achieve some Zen-like Calm in your life! You can choose one of 29 natural scenes with accompanying sounds (sunset beach, summer meadow, birdsong, waves and so on) as a background to your meditation. If you have the iPhone version, you can also meditate to music by composer Kip Mazuy. In addition, there are five guided meditations lasting from 3 to 300 minutes, plus the option to have a session of just sounds/music without the guide. We’d recommend Calm for anyone who is interested in an introduction to meditation and mindfulness or looking for an aid to help their daily practice for any number of reasons – which might be to improve focus or happiness, or for trouble sleeping or getting through a stressful commute. Brain.fm is an app using focus music to help you work better. Whether you’re trying to work more efficiently, take some time out to de-stress or are in need of a tool to help ease your sleep, Brain.fm has music that can aid you in all areas. The soundtracks are completely original, so don’t expect to hear songs you know, but they do work effectively. What are your favourite productivity apps? This list isn’t exhaustive, so we’d love to hear your favourite apps in the comments so we can give them a go! The post Productivity Apps Gallery appeared first on Think Productive UK. View the full article

by Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE “…A new generation is on the rise, and the first step to communicating with them is understanding they aren’t just another Millennial.” ― Pamela La Gioia, American business author. The post-Millennial generation of workers, born from about 1995 -2010, has now entered the American workplace in earnest. Some 74 million strong, this diverse cohort comprises about one-quarter of our population, and almost 40% of the workforce. They’re more plugged into the digital world than any generation before them and have never known any other lifestyle. Although Generation Z’s oldest members have worked steadily for a decade, some business pundits still don’t know what to think of them or how to handle them. And as with Millennials, many of the experts’ expectations regarding Gen Z have proven mostly wrong. The Entitlement Refrain It’s amusing, sometimes, to look at early opinions of changing business paradigms. As Millennials were still getting firmly established, older business generations often misconstrued their independence and lackluster corporate loyalty — fueled by the ways businesses treated their parents during the dotcom bust and Great Recession — as lack of focus and laziness. Some observers initially assumed the newest generation of workers would wind up acting even more entitled, self-indulgent, and self-centered than they thought the Millennials were. Fast forward ten years or so, and there’s still little consensus about what to expect of Gen Z overall. However, there are a few things that most observers agree on. It turns out Generation Z is more conservative than Millennials, moving back toward the Baby Boomer/Generation X idea of business, though they still have an entrepreneurial mindset. Some experts are disturbed by the perception that Gen Z’s devices seem grafted to their hands and think this will certainly diminish productivity, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Here’s what you can expect of Generation Z workers in terms of productivity: They’re not just a bunch of geeky kids. They’re just more tech-savvy than older generations, since they grew up with the technology. Some view their reliance on social media as distracting and isolating, though Gen Z members themselves see it as a way to connect with people all over the world. To them, it’s a form of global networking — which can become productive indeed as they make connections with potential business partners, the worldwide audience, and the global workforce. They often see their devices as extensions of themselves. All they need to do is harness and channel these interconnective tendencies to leverage them productively. Furthermore, they’re comfortable with digital data and analytics and tend to be creative and design oriented. In most ways, their digital competence serves as a strength; and smart managers, no matter their generation, will take this into account. They’re motivated to make contributions to the world, and by extension, to their organizations. If they get the feedback they crave, they’ll give freely of their time and energy. They enjoy volunteering and participating in community work the company gets behind. They’re more conservative than Millennials. Gen Z workers are more likely to follow older generation’s’ ideals of structured work and hierarchies than Millennials. Despite their digital orientation, they value the human connection with their teams and prefer facetime with their leaders, with frequent feedback. As a group, they’re less prone to expect validation, and view failure as a chance to learn — the old “fail forward” concept older work generations will find familiar. They’re also very competitive and driven by financial and career goals. They prefer personalized work experiences. In this, Gen Z workers do resemble Millennials. More than a third of them (fewer so far than Millennials) see work/life balance as a priority and take this into account when choosing jobs. While more are loyal to their employers, they still want to have things their way — and in many cases they can get that, with remote working and by leveraging the gig economy. They’re also quite entrepreneurial and like their “side hustles,” though perhaps less so than Millennials. They value independence, though prefer job security more than Millennials. Engage, Engage, Engage! For the foreseeable future, Generation Z will comprise a significant portion of the workforce, and within a decade, may well dominate it. If you can engage their drive to achieve and contribute, you’ll enjoy fantastic productivity from them… but isn’t this true for every generation? Business insiders suggest mentoring and managing them with Millennials, letting them try and fail if necessary, and encouraging them to think on their feet. Let them use their devices for research and connection and take advantage of their familiarity with technology in any other way than benefits your business. © 2023 Laura Stack. Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, CPAE is known as The Productivity Pro®. She is an award-winning keynote speaker, bestselling author, and noted authority on personal productivity. For 30 years, she has given keynote speeches and workshops on increasing workplace productivity in high-stress environments. Stack has authored eight books, including the bestselling What to Do When There’s Too Much to Do. She is a past president of the National Speakers Association and a member of the exclusive Speaker Hall of Fame. To book Laura speak at an upcoming meeting or event, contact her at www.TheProductivityPro.com. View the full article

You know how these posts are supposed to go. It’s usually something like “get up at 5am, drink a lemon water, meditate for half an hour, write my gratitude journal, hit the gym for an hour, come back for a protein-fuelled breakfast”… and on and on with the nauseating hustle porn until midnight. But there’s a reason the first words of my book, How to be a Productivity Ninja, are “Dear Human Being”. I don’t believe in perfection or striving to be a superhero. For example, here are several things that regularly happen in the first hours of my day: Being woken up too early and too tired, and putting a podcast on so that I fall back asleep for an extra hour Labouring over a decadent breakfast of scrambled eggs Too many cups of tea Doing the school run in my trackies Quordle if I feel like it (In the summer months, some of the above are also done simultaneously whilst listening to a baseball podcast) Some days I’ll go for a quick run, some days I won’t. It depends how I feel. Some days I push myself to do this, other days I’m kind to myself. When I do run, it tends to be a quick 5k to get the blood pumping (which the science shows us is more than enough to wake up a much greater proportion of our brains than without exercise). I’ll do longer runs at the weekend (Friday to Sunday) when I have more time. Knowing my own boundaries is important No two days are the same, but I do have a couple of rules. I don’t work past about 6pm, ever. I sleep better when I have the whole evening to decompress. I work Monday to Thursday – and don’t work at all on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays. I don’t break my rules very often, but of course, it does happen. I break the evening rule deliberately six times a year when I run my live evening class, 6 Weeks to Ninja each autumn/winter. That doesn’t even feel much like work to me, although I do go to bed later afterwards. And with weekends, it’s even more rare that I break that rule. If I do, it’s usually because I have a weekly email called Rev Up for the Week which goes our every Sunday. This is always written by close of play Thursday, but then a handful of times over the last couple of years doing it, I’ve ended up sat in my pants writing it over Saturday or Sunday breakfast. Sometimes on a Friday I might ‘emergency scan’ my inbox if I’m expecting something. I might even reply to a WhatsApp message or two. But generally, I hold that boundary pretty firmly. My other rule is about when I Create versus when I Collaborate In fact, I separate my entire calendar into ‘Create Time’ and ‘Collaborate Time’. For me, Create Time means being heads-down and focussed on the stuff that I can’t delegate and that only I can do. That’s things like writing articles or working on a book, reading someone else’s book for a podcast, delivering client work, recording something, or doing some other creative task. I also use this ‘Create’ time for coming up with plans and doing my Weekly Review. When I’m in ‘Create mode’, I deliberately block things like social media apps or certain websites from my phone, so that I don’t have the temptation to be distracted. I stick some music on, and try to get into a flow state, where I can feel totally immersed in what I’m doing. Stephen King says “writing is self-hypnosis”, which is a great way to describe how I try to operate in those times. I generally do this every morning between about 9am and about 1pm. Some days if I don’t feel sharp when I wake up, I’ll start work a bit later. Other days I’ll get hungry and abandon the Create Time at 12.30 for an early lunch. Maximising the minutes isn’t that important to me, the main thing is that every morning (since that’s the time I have my best energy and attention) for some period of time, I show up and work with no distractions. Collaborate time comes in the afternoon During this time, I’m not trying to accomplish much from my to-do list. If I’m managing my Create Times well then I don’t need to. So in the afternoons I do Zoom meetings with people, reply to emails, get on calls, and so on. When I’m in Collaborate mode my job is really to help other people to get their stuff done. Every Wednesday, I’m in dad mode from 3pm, which through the summer involves a lot of riding trains with my son (he’s obsessed with trains). It’s a nice break in the week, and is a good reflection point for me until the final push on Thursdays. I don’t work crazy hours When I’ve had book deadlines in the past, I’ve been through phases of starting at 5am, working in Create Mode until 9, then taking an hour off for breakfast before doing another Create Mode session until lunchtime. It can be a wonderfully productive time (and is much easier to screen out the distractions). But for me personally, sleep is always a very high priority, and getting up at 5am every day just doesn’t fit with all the stuff I like to do in the evenings. I’ve mostly worked a four day week since 2011 (although this went out of the window for a while during the covid pandemic, I’ll admit!) and I wouldn’t go back. I’ll sometimes clock off at 4pm if I’ve had enough. I always take lunch, although not always a full hour. Everyone is different It’s fair to say that some of this should not be taken as advice, and it’s important for me to say “you do you”. Your boss may not be happy with you starting late, or blocking out mornings as meeting-free. You may also just not like the sound of some of the things I do, or the way I do them. But I hope that you take away one small but important thing from this post, and it’s this: There’s no need for 70-hour weeks and a hustle mindset to be productive. When you have good habits, ‘Ninja’-thinking, some good tech and clear priorities, you learn to say ‘no’ to many of the things that otherwise suck up your time. Productivity isn’t about doing a hundred things, it’s about making space for what matters. And because it’s not so much of a grind, I enjoy (almost) everything I do at work, too. But productivity is a means to an end. Good productivity techniques help you achieve a lot in relatively small pockets of time, which in turn helps you to have the space in your life for everything else that matters outside of work, too. The post A day in the life of a productivity expert appeared first on Think Productive UK. View the full article