ResidentialBusiness

Accounting Skills – Which are the Most Important? The job market for accounting professionals is hot. But if you want to land the best jobs, you need to demonstrate the in-demand accounting skills that make you the perfect fit. It’s not all about technical accounting skills. Accounting managers can teach good people the basics of Excel, bank reconciliations, and software, but accounting soft skills may be more elusive. To ensure you’ve always got options, these are the top accounting skills you need to master: Information Technology Digital Competency Communication Decision Making Conscientiousness Being a Team Player Customer Service Digital Skills for Accountants Employers today are less concerned with how fast you wield a 10-key than they are with your knowledge of accounting systems, such as QuickBooks or Xero for small business or Sage, Oracle or SAP for big industry. Advanced Excel skills for accountants are also in demand, as accountants use spreadsheets in virtually every position, in every industry. Experience working with a particular product is great, but the ability to adapt to various software and systems demonstrates flexibility and technological aptitude. Basic Excel Skills for Accountants 1. Presentation and Formatting If you’re sharing your spreadsheet with someone, it’s important that all of the information is easy to digest and understand. Formatting the cells using colors, or font variations (bold, italic, etc.) can help communicate what you’re trying to express. For example, a conditional format could be applied to highlight all negative numbers in red, and highlight positive numbers in green. 2. Utilize VLOOOKUPs VLOOKUPs make finding specific data very simple. In the event that you need to pull all the entries (from one or more spreadsheets) that contain a specific piece of data, this is the tool that should be used. 3. Data Manipulation Having all the data in a spreadsheet is only the first step. An excellent accountant knows how to filter and sort any set of data to prepare a simple yet informative report without any unnecessary clutter. Business Intelligence to Provide Actionable Advice The ability to produce timely and accurate numbers is of course one of Read More » The post Top Accounting Skills You Need to Master! appeared first on Accounting Principals Blog. View the full article

Accounting Skills – Which are the Most Important? The job market for accounting professionals is hot. But if you want to land the best jobs, you need to demonstrate the in-demand accounting skills that make you the perfect fit. It’s not all about technical accounting skills. Accounting managers can teach good people the basics of Excel, bank reconciliations, and software, but accounting soft skills may be more elusive. To ensure you’ve always got options, these are the top accounting skills you need to master: Information Technology Digital Competency Communication Decision Making Conscientiousness Being a Team Player Customer Service Digital Skills for Accountants Employers today are less concerned with how fast you wield a 10-key than they are with your knowledge of accounting systems, such as QuickBooks or Xero for small business or Sage, Oracle or SAP for big industry. Advanced Excel skills for accountants are also in demand, as accountants use spreadsheets in virtually every position, in every industry. Experience working with a particular product is great, but the ability to adapt to various software and systems demonstrates flexibility and technological aptitude. Basic Excel Skills for Accountants 1. Presentation and Formatting If you’re sharing your spreadsheet with someone, it’s important that all of the information is easy to digest and understand. Formatting the cells using colors, or font variations (bold, italic, etc.) can help communicate what you’re trying to express. For example, a conditional format could be applied to highlight all negative numbers in red, and highlight positive numbers in green. 2. Utilize VLOOOKUPs VLOOKUPs make finding specific data very simple. In the event that you need to pull all the entries (from one or more spreadsheets) that contain a specific piece of data, this is the tool that should be used. 3. Data Manipulation Having all the data in a spreadsheet is only the first step. An excellent accountant knows how to filter and sort any set of data to prepare a simple yet informative report without any unnecessary clutter. Business Intelligence to Provide Actionable Advice The ability to produce timely and accurate numbers is of course one of Read More » The post Top Accounting Skills You Need to Master! appeared first on Accounting Principals Blog. View the full article

So you’re looking for advice to become a Digital Nomad? In this episode, Anne and Pippa share their experiences from traveling around the world to starting their businesses and living in Bali. Tune in to find out what advice they have for you to start your career towards location independence! Resources From This Episode: Pippa’s websitePippa’s official Instagram Let me know what you think of my new podcast on Instagram (@annes_nomadstory). Would you like to know more about what I can do for you as a podcast strategist? Feel free to look around here, at my website.

Every tax season is unique. It seems as though every year has a few new tax rules or technologies to navigate, but 2020 will likely go down in the record books due to its changing tax deadlines, new rules, loans, and stimulus payments. And if those challenges weren’t enough, companies were navigating all of it with a record number of employees working from home. What should we expect as we approach this new tax season? Here are some trends we’re seeing. Tax changes will make for an interesting filing season A few years ago, tax reform made sweeping changes to the U.S. income tax code, impacting virtually every business and individual and complicating the filing season as taxpayers and professionals adjusted to the new rates and rules. Expect the 2021 filing season to be similar. Pandemic relief legislation passed in 2020 will significantly impact income and payroll tax filings for companies in the coming year. Employers will need to navigate new retention credits, forgiveness on Paycheck Protection Program loans, and delays in payment of Social Security taxes. Many employees are now working virtually and could be residents of a different state than their employers, which can impact the company’s state income taxes, withholding, and unemployment insurance. Staying on top of these changes and preparing for their impact on 2020 tax filings is crucial. Flexible and remote work will continue The pandemic forced companies to switch to remote working virtually overnight. Although the migration went reasonably well, it will likely go on longer than many companies initially predicted. According to a survey from Willis Towers Watson, employers expect 19% of their workforce to continue working from home full-time post-COVID. That’s roughly half the percentage working from home in July 2020 (44%), but almost three times 2019’s figure (7%). Companies have figured out the tools and technology to make remote work successful in a structural way. However, many still need to adapt leadership styles to this new way of working. Employers also need to focus on employees’ well-being as workers continue to deal with blurred boundaries between work and home, juggling work with childcare and homeschooling, stress, and burnout. Technology Read More » The post How to navigate the upcoming tax season appeared first on Accounting Principals Blog. View the full article

Every tax season is unique. It seems as though every year has a few new tax rules or technologies to navigate, but 2020 will likely go down in the record books due to its changing tax deadlines, new rules, loans, and stimulus payments. And if those challenges weren’t enough, companies were navigating all of it with a record number of employees working from home. What should we expect as we approach this new tax season? Here are some trends we’re seeing. Tax changes will make for an interesting filing season A few years ago, tax reform made sweeping changes to the U.S. income tax code, impacting virtually every business and individual and complicating the filing season as taxpayers and professionals adjusted to the new rates and rules. Expect the 2021 filing season to be similar. Pandemic relief legislation passed in 2020 will significantly impact income and payroll tax filings for companies in the coming year. Employers will need to navigate new retention credits, forgiveness on Paycheck Protection Program loans, and delays in payment of Social Security taxes. Many employees are now working virtually and could be residents of a different state than their employers, which can impact the company’s state income taxes, withholding, and unemployment insurance. Staying on top of these changes and preparing for their impact on 2020 tax filings is crucial. Flexible and remote work will continue The pandemic forced companies to switch to remote working virtually overnight. Although the migration went reasonably well, it will likely go on longer than many companies initially predicted. According to a survey from Willis Towers Watson, employers expect 19% of their workforce to continue working from home full-time post-COVID. That’s roughly half the percentage working from home in July 2020 (44%), but almost three times 2019’s figure (7%). Companies have figured out the tools and technology to make remote work successful in a structural way. However, many still need to adapt leadership styles to this new way of working. Employers also need to focus on employees’ well-being as workers continue to deal with blurred boundaries between work and home, juggling work with childcare and homeschooling, stress, and burnout. Technology Read More » The post How to navigate the upcoming tax season appeared first on Accounting Principals Blog. View the full article

Tax season is synonymous for most accounting professionals with long hours and stressful days. For the willing, it’s time to change that reality! Here are’s five ways to see the light of day, and at the end of the tunnel, during Tax Season 2021. Here are five ways for work balance during tax season 1.Technology will keep your brain sane If you think data entry, manual address updates, or jumping in and out of databases is the bane of your tax season existence, then you’re probably right. That might sound daunting to some, but the good news is that should be a thing of the past. Not only has Tax Software gotten more affordable in recent years, but it’s also gotten a lot more efficient. Easily transfer K-1 data from Partnerships to the S Corp, to Trusts. Moving information from one return to another with one click is what awaits with one simple software implementation. 2. Flexibility isn’t just for gymnasts Make working from home just as effective as from the office by leveraging the aforementioned technology upgrades to establish a streamlined auto-scanning and paperless system. And a reliable VPN system makes it just as secure! The only real difference is, what pair of sweatpants will you choose today? 3. Walk the walk…literally Is it possible to feel just as good about the second half of your day as the first? Absolutely, you can do that by scheduling time to take a walk, even if it’s only for 15 or 20 minutes. This will help get your blood going and boosts your energy to enable you to finish the day strong. Staying still, absolutely will make your days harder and tax season feel longer. 4. Eat and Repeat, at least 3 times! Rosalie Moscoe, Registered Nutritional Consultant Practitioner, stress relief, and nutrition expert recommends eating three meals a day and having a protein at each meal. She suggests “keeping snacks on hand, such as yogurt, fruit, raw walnuts, pecans or almonds, to give you an energy boost when you need it.” Making time to eat means your energy will not deplete! 5. Read More » The post 5 Ways to Achieve Work/Life Balance During Tax Season appeared first on Accounting Principals Blog. View the full article

Tax season is synonymous for most accounting professionals with long hours and stressful days. For the willing, it’s time to change that reality! Here are’s five ways to see the light of day, and at the end of the tunnel, during Tax Season 2021. Here are five ways for work balance during tax season 1.Technology will keep your brain sane If you think data entry, manual address updates, or jumping in and out of databases is the bane of your tax season existence, then you’re probably right. That might sound daunting to some, but the good news is that should be a thing of the past. Not only has Tax Software gotten more affordable in recent years, but it’s also gotten a lot more efficient. Easily transfer K-1 data from Partnerships to the S Corp, to Trusts. Moving information from one return to another with one click is what awaits with one simple software implementation. 2. Flexibility isn’t just for gymnasts Make working from home just as effective as from the office by leveraging the aforementioned technology upgrades to establish a streamlined auto-scanning and paperless system. And a reliable VPN system makes it just as secure! The only real difference is, what pair of sweatpants will you choose today? 3. Walk the walk…literally Is it possible to feel just as good about the second half of your day as the first? Absolutely, you can do that by scheduling time to take a walk, even if it’s only for 15 or 20 minutes. This will help get your blood going and boosts your energy to enable you to finish the day strong. Staying still, absolutely will make your days harder and tax season feel longer. 4. Eat and Repeat, at least 3 times! Rosalie Moscoe, Registered Nutritional Consultant Practitioner, stress relief, and nutrition expert recommends eating three meals a day and having a protein at each meal. She suggests “keeping snacks on hand, such as yogurt, fruit, raw walnuts, pecans or almonds, to give you an energy boost when you need it.” Making time to eat means your energy will not deplete! 5. Read More » The post 5 Ways to Achieve Work/Life Balance During Tax Season appeared first on Accounting Principals Blog. View the full article

Ask Yourself, “Am I a Workaholic?” We often wear workaholism as a badge of honor in our culture. People who put in long hours, including evenings and weekends, are often seen as smart, ambitious and entrepreneurial. But a workaholic lifestyle has its downsides. Workaholics tend to take on more work than they can effectively handle and are more disorganized than people who can disconnect from work. Being committed to your job is a good quality, but there is a difference between having a strong work ethic and being a workaholic. Here’s how to tell if you’ve crossed that line with these telltale signs of a workaholic: You’re a Millennial You Have Trouble Delegating Work You Can’t Turn Off Your Life is Neglected You Don’t Feel Well You’re Part of the Millennial Workforce Members of the generation with a reputation for slacking off and not wanting to pay their dues are actually more likely to be workaholics than other generations. A 2016 study by Project: Time Off found that 43 percent of people who identified themselves as “work martyrs” were Millennials, compared to just 29 percent of overall survey respondents. They were also more likely to forfeit unused vacation days than Gen Xers and Boomers. What Causes Workaholism in Millennialls? In an interview with Harvard Business Review, a Senior Project Director for Project: Time Off theorized that cell phones and the internet are two of the reasons Millennials tend to be workaholics. This is the first generation that entered the workforce with both of those technologies available, and as such, the Millennial hiring process looks different than other generations’. Delegating Work is Difficult for You Workaholics tend to be terrible at delegation because they believe that nobody can do a job as well as they can. When they must hand off work to others, they micromanage. If you believe that you are the only one capable of getting work done, recognize that this is a trust issue. Many of your team members are likely just as capable. Some very valuable advice for workaholics is to start by delegating small tasks that can free you up to Read More » The post Top 5 Signs of a Workaholic: Do You Have These Workaholic Symptoms? appeared first on Accounting Principals Blog. View the full article

Ask Yourself, “Am I a Workaholic?” We often wear workaholism as a badge of honor in our culture. People who put in long hours, including evenings and weekends, are often seen as smart, ambitious and entrepreneurial. But a workaholic lifestyle has its downsides. Workaholics tend to take on more work than they can effectively handle and are more disorganized than people who can disconnect from work. Being committed to your job is a good quality, but there is a difference between having a strong work ethic and being a workaholic. Here’s how to tell if you’ve crossed that line with these telltale signs of a workaholic: You’re a Millennial You Have Trouble Delegating Work You Can’t Turn Off Your Life is Neglected You Don’t Feel Well You’re Part of the Millennial Workforce Members of the generation with a reputation for slacking off and not wanting to pay their dues are actually more likely to be workaholics than other generations. A 2016 study by Project: Time Off found that 43 percent of people who identified themselves as “work martyrs” were Millennials, compared to just 29 percent of overall survey respondents. They were also more likely to forfeit unused vacation days than Gen Xers and Boomers. What Causes Workaholism in Millennialls? In an interview with Harvard Business Review, a Senior Project Director for Project: Time Off theorized that cell phones and the internet are two of the reasons Millennials tend to be workaholics. This is the first generation that entered the workforce with both of those technologies available, and as such, the Millennial hiring process looks different than other generations’. Delegating Work is Difficult for You Workaholics tend to be terrible at delegation because they believe that nobody can do a job as well as they can. When they must hand off work to others, they micromanage. If you believe that you are the only one capable of getting work done, recognize that this is a trust issue. Many of your team members are likely just as capable. Some very valuable advice for workaholics is to start by delegating small tasks that can free you up to Read More » The post Top 5 Signs of a Workaholic: Do You Have These Workaholic Symptoms? appeared first on Accounting Principals Blog. View the full article

This edition of Accounting Illustrated provides the top ten tips for becoming a better finance or accounting manger. To get these tips, we polled entry and mid-level candidates to find out what they look for in an efficient, effective and successful manager. Watch the video below to learn how to become a more effective manager. How to Be a Good Finance Manager: 10 Tips Be sure to follow these ten tips to become a better financial manager. Improve communication skills and be transparent. To be the most effective manager that you can be, it is vital to have open lines of communication with your employees. Communicate your expectations clearly and often, consider the employee’s unique perspective, and encourage them to ask questions or voice concerns openly. Develop your own skills. If you expect your employees to develop their technology skills, expand their business knowledge and get certifications, you should lead by example. Your employees will admire your tenacity and dedication to continue to learn and better yourself. A good manager deals with conflict (not avoids it!) This is really important. Don’t put off approaching your employees to discuss issues or conflicts. The longer you wait and allow conflict to fester, the more credibility you lose in their eyes. Uncover the issues quickly, and come to a reasonable resolution as soon as possible. Set high, but realistic expectations. Challenge your people, but make their goals achievable. This will show that you really understand your employees’ skill sets and capabilities, and that you have confidence in them. By empowering them to accomplish more, your good employees will work harder, get better, and ultimately achieve success for the whole team. Be open to new ideas and new perspectives. As a manager you are privy to a variety of different perspectives and ideas. Tap into these. Use them as a competitive advantage. Definitely don’t expect others to conform to one way of thinking. Embrace these unique viewpoints – you could uncover ways to be more innovative or efficient. Take a break. Hey, sometimes you have to work through lunch. It happens. Just make sure Read More » The post 10 Tips to Be a Better Finance or Accounting Manager appeared first on Accounting Principals Blog. View the full article

This edition of Accounting Illustrated provides the top ten tips for becoming a better finance or accounting manger. To get these tips, we polled entry and mid-level candidates to find out what they look for in an efficient, effective and successful manager. Watch the video below to learn how to become a more effective manager. How to Be a Good Finance Manager: 10 Tips Be sure to follow these ten tips to become a better financial manager. Improve communication skills and be transparent. To be the most effective manager that you can be, it is vital to have open lines of communication with your employees. Communicate your expectations clearly and often, consider the employee’s unique perspective, and encourage them to ask questions or voice concerns openly. Develop your own skills. If you expect your employees to develop their technology skills, expand their business knowledge and get certifications, you should lead by example. Your employees will admire your tenacity and dedication to continue to learn and better yourself. A good manager deals with conflict (not avoids it!) This is really important. Don’t put off approaching your employees to discuss issues or conflicts. The longer you wait and allow conflict to fester, the more credibility you lose in their eyes. Uncover the issues quickly, and come to a reasonable resolution as soon as possible. Set high, but realistic expectations. Challenge your people, but make their goals achievable. This will show that you really understand your employees’ skill sets and capabilities, and that you have confidence in them. By empowering them to accomplish more, your good employees will work harder, get better, and ultimately achieve success for the whole team. Be open to new ideas and new perspectives. As a manager you are privy to a variety of different perspectives and ideas. Tap into these. Use them as a competitive advantage. Definitely don’t expect others to conform to one way of thinking. Embrace these unique viewpoints – you could uncover ways to be more innovative or efficient. Take a break. Hey, sometimes you have to work through lunch. It happens. Just make sure Read More » The post 10 Tips to Be a Better Finance or Accounting Manager appeared first on Accounting Principals Blog. View the full article

When was the last time you conquered that mountain-high list of tasks within an 8-hour workday? Can’t recall? That’s okay. It’s common to feel like you live in a place where time disappears into the abyss, leaving you downright frustrated. But burning the midnight oil and working long hours to accommodate for incomplete work doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a productive person. You’d be surprised to know that lots of folks get their work done in less than 8 hours. For example in Europe, German knowledge workers have been praised for only clocking in 35 hours of work each week, Finns work under an average 6.5 hours per day, and a typical Dane ends their workday at 4 pm. Despite reduced work hours, it’s possible to conquer your to-do lists within constrained hours or shortened workweeks. So, what gives? How can you achieve more in your workday without working around the clock? Turns out, time doesn’t always disappear into a bottomless pit after all. Enter the ALPEN method: the time management method that demands you work with carefully drafted to-do lists, buffer time, and scheduled breaks to plan your day in a productive way. What Is The ALPEN Method? The ALPEN method from a German time management expert and economist, Professor Lothar J. Seiwert. ALPEN stands for: A: Writing down tasks, appointments, and planned activities (Aufgaben) L: Estimating length (Länge schätzen) P: Planning buffer time (Pufferzeiten einplanen) E: Making decisions (Entscheidungen treffen) N: Following-up (Nachkontrolle) The idea is to prepare a timed to-do list including only selected tasks that should take priority. The ALPEN method also encourages you to work during scheduled time blocks and take pre-scheduled breaks. With time set aside to refresh and decompress, so you can really go heads-down on tasks during those working hours. So how exactly can you use the ALPEN method to make your overflowing to-do list manageable and why should you use it? Let’s dig in. How To Manage Your Time With ALPEN From the time you invest in planning your to-do list to reviewing your day’s tasks, the ALPEN method is key to keep your process effective, and importantly, easy. 1. Make A To-Do List Of Everything You Need To Do It’s easy to assume that a mental checklist is enough of a guide for the day. But the truth is, our working memory can’t hold more than four items at a time—which is what makes a to-do list useful. More importantly, the ALPEN method is a proponent of prioritizing a few tasks, which results in a doable list—not a never-ending one that keeps piling tasks on your plate. Start with putting all daily activities in a to-do list without bothering to keep it short. Just make sure to add every last task on your plate, no matter how small. Luckily, listing all your tasks is easy with Trello. Simply make a card for each task on your Trello board under your ‘To-do’ List and you’re done with step one: 2. Estimate The Time That Each Task Will Take To Complete Most to-do lists are frustrating (and feel impossible) to complete because they’re drafted with unrealistic expectations. Simply putting tasks in a list doesn’t render them doable. Instead, allotting time to each task gives a fair idea of what you can realistically accomplish in a day. Pro tip: Include an estimated time duration beside each activity you’ve listed. Doing so is a breeze on your Trello cards, thanks to the Custom Fields Power-Up To set it up, go to your board’s Menu to select Power-Ups, then pick Custom Fields to enable the Power-Up. Next, click the gear icon, then ‘Edit Power-Up Settings’ in order to create a ‘estimated time’ custom field: 3. Add Buffer Time To Your Schedule This may be difficult to swallow, but sometimes, you can be lousy at estimating the time needed to finish a task. There are two main reasons why: You aren’t making the right guess at how long each task will take because of planning fallacy which means you tend to underestimate the time it takes to do something. Unforeseen calamities like an urgent meeting can disturb your schedule completely. The solution to accommodate these common hiccups? Buffer time. “It adds in extra time to prevent task or appointment overflows from affecting your other plans. Which means less stressing and rushing when life doesn’t go exactly as you planned it,” as Micah McGuire shares in The Startup. Buffer time helps you make up for time when meetings eat up more of your schedule than allotted for, or when replying to emails take more time than planned. For instance, let’s say you estimate that completing market research for a project won’t take you longer than an hour. In reality, it almost always takes longer than what you assume. We often overlook complication-causing delays and assume tasks that took a long time to complete in the past won’t take as much time in the future. Stay on the safe side, add in fifteen minutes buffer time, every time. Ideally, it’s best to dedicate 40% of your work day to include buffer time. 4. Decide Which Tasks To Keep And Delete Now that you’ve got a task list with estimated and buffer times, you’ll see that the list looks awfully long. So, on to the next step: pruning your list by prioritizing tasks. Start singling out tasks according to their urgency and importance. The Eisenhower Matrix can help here. Divide your tasks into four quadrants and make your decisions accordingly: What’s urgent and important? Do this first What’s important but not urgent? Decide when to do it What’s urgent but not important? Delegate or set to mid-level priority What’s not urgent and unimportant? Delete it On your Trello board, you can execute this process by creating labels (look at the right of your card back to add labels) for each of the four quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix. Based on this, your labels should read: ‘do this first,’ ‘decide when to do it,’ ‘delegate or set to mid-level priority,’ and ‘delete it.’ Add one of these labels to each of the cards on your list and act accordingly. For instance, delete tasks with the ‘delete it’ label and settle on when you’d work on tasks with the ‘decide when to do it’ label. Finally, move your tasks/cards according to priority so you’ve got a trimmed list ready for action. 5. Follow-Up Or Take Notes On The Process This last step comes after you’ve test driven the ALPEN method and would like to give feedback on the overall process. The goal of following-up is to move any pending tasks into your ‘To-do’ list for the next day and reflect on how well things went. These moments of retrospective reviews will allow you to move mountains in the future. Did you need more buffer time? Does a routine task take more space than what you’ve given it in your schedule? Make notes and tweak your plan accordingly. “Without reflection, we can make excuses, create rationalizations, and lie to ourselves,” as James Clear observes in his book, Atomic Habits. This explains why the last step of the ALPEN method is praise-worthy. It encourages you to take notes of what your schedule looks like and how you can improve it by identifying what isn’t working and what you need to do more of. All this helps to improve your time management skills in the long haul. How Teams Can Plan Their Day With The ALPEN Method The ALPEN method is great for individuals looking to revamp their to-do list, but can the same be said for using it to organize your team’s tasks? Absolutely! Here are some adjustments you may need to make for total-team efficiency: Consider adding in buffer time to meetings and tasks on calendars to make up for daily unpredictability, which can topple a carefully planned day. It also helps to create a daily 30-minute slot for working on urgent (read: unplanned) work requests. Work jointly over lists to plan time for collaboration. The key is to create to-do lists together or share them with colleagues so they are mindful of when teammates are working on something important and shouldn’t be interrupted. Planning your task list together also means you can take breaks together. Encourage the team to create their to-do list for the following day before wrapping up the workday. This way, everyone has a structured day waiting for them and can dive into their high-priority tasks first thing in the morning. Trello makes it easy to collaborate on daily work lists. You can create a personal board and a work board to keep track of all of your tasks or keep them all in the same place and use labels to identify the task type. You can also use a checklist on the card to divide projects and big tasks into individual steps. By using Advanced Checklists, you can assign each task in the checklist to a person along with a due date. Finally, don’t forget to schedule a 15-minute meeting (this can happen asynchronously!) to review how everyone’s day and what they can improve the next day. Ready To Plan Your Day The ALPEN Way? Planning your day with this time management technique might take some, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll soon understand where your time goes (hint: it’s not into the abyss) and how you can make the most of your daily schedule and task list. Remember, the goal is to make deliberate room for focused work by moving aside other low-priority tasks that are often a time suck. The ALPEN method will help you tackle it all! Next: How To Create More Time: A Strategy For Finally Getting Ahead Of Your To-Do List The post Better organize your day with this time management technique appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

When was the last time you conquered that mountain-high list of tasks within an 8-hour workday? Can’t recall? That’s okay. It’s common to feel like you live in a place where time disappears into the abyss, leaving you downright frustrated. But burning the midnight oil and working long hours to accommodate for incomplete work doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a productive person. You’d be surprised to know that lots of folks get their work done in less than 8 hours. For example in Europe, German knowledge workers have been praised for only clocking in 35 hours of work each week, Finns work under an average 6.5 hours per day, and a typical Dane ends their workday at 4 pm. Despite reduced work hours, it’s possible to conquer your to-do lists within constrained hours or shortened workweeks. So, what gives? How can you achieve more in your workday without working around the clock? Turns out, time doesn’t always disappear into a bottomless pit after all. Enter the ALPEN method: the time management method that demands you work with carefully drafted to-do lists, buffer time, and scheduled breaks to plan your day in a productive way. What Is The ALPEN Method? The ALPEN method from a German time management expert and economist, Professor Lothar J. Seiwert. ALPEN stands for: A: Writing down tasks, appointments, and planned activities (Aufgaben) L: Estimating length (Länge schätzen) P: Planning buffer time (Pufferzeiten einplanen) E: Making decisions (Entscheidungen treffen) N: Following-up (Nachkontrolle) The idea is to prepare a timed to-do list including only selected tasks that should take priority. The ALPEN method also encourages you to work during scheduled time blocks and take pre-scheduled breaks. With time set aside to refresh and decompress, so you can really go heads-down on tasks during those working hours. So how exactly can you use the ALPEN method to make your overflowing to-do list manageable and why should you use it? Let’s dig in. How To Manage Your Time With ALPEN From the time you invest in planning your to-do list to reviewing your day’s tasks, the ALPEN method is key to keep your process effective, and importantly, easy. 1. Make A To-Do List Of Everything You Need To Do It’s easy to assume that a mental checklist is enough of a guide for the day. But the truth is, our working memory can’t hold more than four items at a time—which is what makes a to-do list useful. More importantly, the ALPEN method is a proponent of prioritizing a few tasks, which results in a doable list—not a never-ending one that keeps piling tasks on your plate. Start with putting all daily activities in a to-do list without bothering to keep it short. Just make sure to add every last task on your plate, no matter how small. Luckily, listing all your tasks is easy with Trello. Simply make a card for each task on your Trello board under your ‘To-do’ List and you’re done with step one: 2. Estimate The Time That Each Task Will Take To Complete Most to-do lists are frustrating (and feel impossible) to complete because they’re drafted with unrealistic expectations. Simply putting tasks in a list doesn’t render them doable. Instead, allotting time to each task gives a fair idea of what you can realistically accomplish in a day. Pro tip: Include an estimated time duration beside each activity you’ve listed. Doing so is a breeze on your Trello cards, thanks to the Custom Fields Power-Up To set it up, go to your board’s Menu to select Power-Ups, then pick Custom Fields to enable the Power-Up. Next, click the gear icon, then ‘Edit Power-Up Settings’ in order to create a ‘estimated time’ custom field: 3. Add Buffer Time To Your Schedule This may be difficult to swallow, but sometimes, you can be lousy at estimating the time needed to finish a task. There are two main reasons why: You aren’t making the right guess at how long each task will take because of planning fallacy which means you tend to underestimate the time it takes to do something. Unforeseen calamities like an urgent meeting can disturb your schedule completely. The solution to accommodate these common hiccups? Buffer time. “It adds in extra time to prevent task or appointment overflows from affecting your other plans. Which means less stressing and rushing when life doesn’t go exactly as you planned it,” as Micah McGuire shares in The Startup. Buffer time helps you make up for time when meetings eat up more of your schedule than allotted for, or when replying to emails take more time than planned. For instance, let’s say you estimate that completing market research for a project won’t take you longer than an hour. In reality, it almost always takes longer than what you assume. We often overlook complication-causing delays and assume tasks that took a long time to complete in the past won’t take as much time in the future. Stay on the safe side, add in fifteen minutes buffer time, every time. Ideally, it’s best to dedicate 40% of your work day to include buffer time. 4. Decide Which Tasks To Keep And Delete Now that you’ve got a task list with estimated and buffer times, you’ll see that the list looks awfully long. So, on to the next step: pruning your list by prioritizing tasks. Start singling out tasks according to their urgency and importance. The Eisenhower Matrix can help here. Divide your tasks into four quadrants and make your decisions accordingly: What’s urgent and important? Do this first What’s important but not urgent? Decide when to do it What’s urgent but not important? Delegate or set to mid-level priority What’s not urgent and unimportant? Delete it On your Trello board, you can execute this process by creating labels (look at the right of your card back to add labels) for each of the four quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix. Based on this, your labels should read: ‘do this first,’ ‘decide when to do it,’ ‘delegate or set to mid-level priority,’ and ‘delete it.’ Add one of these labels to each of the cards on your list and act accordingly. For instance, delete tasks with the ‘delete it’ label and settle on when you’d work on tasks with the ‘decide when to do it’ label. Finally, move your tasks/cards according to priority so you’ve got a trimmed list ready for action. 5. Follow-Up Or Take Notes On The Process This last step comes after you’ve test driven the ALPEN method and would like to give feedback on the overall process. The goal of following-up is to move any pending tasks into your ‘To-do’ list for the next day and reflect on how well things went. These moments of retrospective reviews will allow you to move mountains in the future. Did you need more buffer time? Does a routine task take more space than what you’ve given it in your schedule? Make notes and tweak your plan accordingly. “Without reflection, we can make excuses, create rationalizations, and lie to ourselves,” as James Clear observes in his book, Atomic Habits. This explains why the last step of the ALPEN method is praise-worthy. It encourages you to take notes of what your schedule looks like and how you can improve it by identifying what isn’t working and what you need to do more of. All this helps to improve your time management skills in the long haul. How Teams Can Plan Their Day With The ALPEN Method The ALPEN method is great for individuals looking to revamp their to-do list, but can the same be said for using it to organize your team’s tasks? Absolutely! Here are some adjustments you may need to make for total-team efficiency: Consider adding in buffer time to meetings and tasks on calendars to make up for daily unpredictability, which can topple a carefully planned day. It also helps to create a daily 30-minute slot for working on urgent (read: unplanned) work requests. Work jointly over lists to plan time for collaboration. The key is to create to-do lists together or share them with colleagues so they are mindful of when teammates are working on something important and shouldn’t be interrupted. Planning your task list together also means you can take breaks together. Encourage the team to create their to-do list for the following day before wrapping up the workday. This way, everyone has a structured day waiting for them and can dive into their high-priority tasks first thing in the morning. Trello makes it easy to collaborate on daily work lists. You can create a personal board and a work board to keep track of all of your tasks or keep them all in the same place and use labels to identify the task type. You can also use a checklist on the card to divide projects and big tasks into individual steps. By using Advanced Checklists, you can assign each task in the checklist to a person along with a due date. Finally, don’t forget to schedule a 15-minute meeting (this can happen asynchronously!) to review how everyone’s day and what they can improve the next day. Ready To Plan Your Day The ALPEN Way? Planning your day with this time management technique might take some, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll soon understand where your time goes (hint: it’s not into the abyss) and how you can make the most of your daily schedule and task list. Remember, the goal is to make deliberate room for focused work by moving aside other low-priority tasks that are often a time suck. The ALPEN method will help you tackle it all! Next: How To Create More Time: A Strategy For Finally Getting Ahead Of Your To-Do List The post Better organize your day with this time management technique appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

In this episode, I chat with Chelsea about how to live your dream life, what to do if you have NO IDEA what you want to do, and how a life coach can help you.⁠ Connect with Chelsea: Chelsea's websiteChelsea's instagramChelsea's Facebook group Let me know what you think of my new podcast on instagram (@annes_nomadstory) ⁠

Traveling the world and starting your own business is fun! But also stressful, exhausting, and shit sometimes. So I had a chat with my friend Natalie, who is a stress and mental health coach. She gives amazing advice for what to do when you feel stressed, how to avoid burnout and gives tips for working from home. Connect with Natalie: - Natalie's website - Natalie's Linkedin Let me know what you think of my new podcast on instagram (@annes_nomadstory)

Lauren McNeil has been living the digital nomad lifestyle for almost 6 years while working remotely. She recently started her own Youtube channel about personal finance and she is killing it! Reason enough to chat with her on my podcast. In this episode, Lauren and I talk about starting a Youtube channel, traveling the world as a digital nomad, creating an online course, and working a 9-5 remotely. Connect with Lauren: Hacking the Rat Race Youtube channelFacebook Hacking the Rat RacePodcast episode: 12 Ways to Sell Your Online Course Let me know what you think of my new podcast on instagram (@annes_nomadstory).

One of my favourite people to give me a peptalk is my sister Laura. We've been on a lot of adventures together, back home and when we were both living in Australia. In the first 'real' episode of Anne's Stories Podcast, Laura and I chat about finding your passion, making hard decisions and being flexible while traveling. Let me know what you think of my new podcast on instagram (@annes_nomadstory).

France is a secular country, but there sure is one religion that all French people share—food and eating. With its rituals, omnipresence, and etiquette, eating is a pillar of French culture and social interaction. It not only has an impact on how families interact and bodies are fed but it’s a central part of our professional lives, from closing deals to building strong team relationships. So besides helping us enjoy a glass of wine with some cheese, what can French eating culture teach us about the importance of taking the time to focus on interacting with each other at the workplace? The Value Of The Ritual In 2010, UNESCO declared French gastronomic meals a part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, officially highlighting the importance of French rituals at the table for the world. In their own words, “[t]he gastronomic meal should respect a fixed structure, commencing with an apéritif (drinks before the meal) and ending with liqueurs, containing in between at least four successive courses, namely a starter, fish and/or meat with vegetables, cheese and dessert. […] The gastronomic meal draws circles of family and friends closer together and, more generally, strengthens social ties.” They highlight that it “emphasizes togetherness,” which is a great tie to all the ways in which we try to build culture and connection as teams. As a French woman who has been living abroad for almost a decade now (and married to a Brazilian man), I have learned the hard way that my table rituals were actually not shared by everyone in the world. Although perfectly logical to me, spending long hours at the table may feel like a burden to non-French people. Nonetheless, I have come to appreciate, with a deeper understanding, what this tradition can bring to social interactions, whether at work or at home, as well as my wellbeing as an individual. Taking The Time To Take The Time “When the American sociologist David Lerner visited France in 1956 he was stunned by the inflexibility of the French regarding food,” says fellow sociologist Claude Fischler, head of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. “He couldn’t understand why they all ate at a fixed time, like at the zoo.” French people spent an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day eating in 2010, 13 minutes more time than in 1986, all while following the strict rule of a breakfast, a lunch, and a supper with almost no snacking in between. A good indicator of this schedule is the opening hours of restaurants in France—which most likely are serving food between 12:00 and 2:00 PM, then 7:00PM to 10:00PM. Even though it might seem a very rigid practice for outsiders, it actually brings a lot of benefits to those who live by it. Take A Real Break When everybody takes a break at the same time, they will most likely be focusing on actually taking a break and won’t try to work and eat, or drive and eat, or drive and work and eat, or… you get the idea. Promoting a culture of taking a real, lengthy break can help your team disconnect from work and spend valuable time together. A lot of productivity advice, such as the Pomodoro Technique, recommends that you break your day into different blocks and relax in between those blocks. Lunch is a very healthy, and easy, way to stop for at least 30 minutes to take a step back from the work you are accomplishing, helping to clear your mind and look at tasks from a different angle. Take Care Of Your Body, Eat Slowly A typical lunch break at work in France lasts at least 1 hour and is never taken at your desk. We value eating slowly and being seated at a table to do so. If you are having a “social lunch” with your team or a client, plan for a 2 hour break—or even more if it’s an important meeting. In that case, you’ll want ample time for socializing (and probably a more gargantuesque feast). The quality and quantity of food definitely varies with the importance you give to the people you are eating with. The benefits of slow eating include better digestion, better hydration, easier weight loss or maintenance and, of course, taking the time to really enjoy the taste of your food (bon appétit!). This is not necessarily about staying fit, it is more about the short term benefits: If you take the time to really nurture your body, you will improve your capacity to focus, think, and, most likely, enjoy the rest of your day. People Are As Fundamental As Food But why on earth do we spend so much time eating? Beyond biology and the fact that everyone loves some dessert, eating is actually just an excuse to spend valuable time with people. In the French culture, it’s not only a functional activity, it is first and foremost the place and time where relationships are developed. From bonding with your colleagues to closing business deals with clients, the table is where people interact in France. Spending time together fosters conversation, allows debates and brainstorming to flourish naturally, and encourages ideas to flow creatively. Culturally, French assign more value to their relationships with others than to time and money. We believe that getting to know someone outside the boardroom will help build a trustful relationship that will be valuable over time. French people are brought up experiencing this type of interaction from childhood. As Pamela Druckerman observes in her book, Bringing up Bébé, French children are taught from an early age to eat 3 times a day without snacking. At school, the lunch break lasts between 90 minutes and 2 hours, during which a four-course meal is eaten while seated. French etiquette recommends that everyone starts eating at the same time and leaves the table only once everybody is finished. All of these details are really strongly embedded in the French culture, making them second nature. Apply The French Mindset To Your Next Business Meal If you are not French, you can still channel these habits by being more conscious of the people you eat with, and how you interact with them during mealtime. If you currently don’t spend your lunch eating with others, you can start implementing sporadic lunch dates with people you’d like to get to know more. Eating at the table with others doesn’t have to be an everyday routine, but it could still be beneficial for you to build relationships and interact with others if you started doing it every month or every week. And, if by any chance you are doing business in France, remember that you will have a much better chance to build successful connections and close bigger deals if you take the time to take people out for (long) lunch or dinner. Save that 30-minute call for another time! Au revoir! Next: Boost Your Team’s Productivity With This Swedish Coffee Break The post À table! Take a better lunch break the french way appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

France is a secular country, but there sure is one religion that all French people share—food and eating. With its rituals, omnipresence, and etiquette, eating is a pillar of French culture and social interaction. It not only has an impact on how families interact and bodies are fed but it’s a central part of our professional lives, from closing deals to building strong team relationships. So besides helping us enjoy a glass of wine with some cheese, what can French eating culture teach us about the importance of taking the time to focus on interacting with each other at the workplace? The Value Of The Ritual In 2010, UNESCO declared French gastronomic meals a part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, officially highlighting the importance of French rituals at the table for the world. In their own words, “[t]he gastronomic meal should respect a fixed structure, commencing with an apéritif (drinks before the meal) and ending with liqueurs, containing in between at least four successive courses, namely a starter, fish and/or meat with vegetables, cheese and dessert. […] The gastronomic meal draws circles of family and friends closer together and, more generally, strengthens social ties.” They highlight that it “emphasizes togetherness,” which is a great tie to all the ways in which we try to build culture and connection as teams. As a French woman who has been living abroad for almost a decade now (and married to a Brazilian man), I have learned the hard way that my table rituals were actually not shared by everyone in the world. Although perfectly logical to me, spending long hours at the table may feel like a burden to non-French people. Nonetheless, I have come to appreciate, with a deeper understanding, what this tradition can bring to social interactions, whether at work or at home, as well as my wellbeing as an individual. Taking The Time To Take The Time “When the American sociologist David Lerner visited France in 1956 he was stunned by the inflexibility of the French regarding food,” says fellow sociologist Claude Fischler, head of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. “He couldn’t understand why they all ate at a fixed time, like at the zoo.” French people spent an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day eating in 2010, 13 minutes more time than in 1986, all while following the strict rule of a breakfast, a lunch, and a supper with almost no snacking in between. A good indicator of this schedule is the opening hours of restaurants in France—which most likely are serving food between 12:00 and 2:00 PM, then 7:00PM to 10:00PM. Even though it might seem a very rigid practice for outsiders, it actually brings a lot of benefits to those who live by it. Take A Real Break When everybody takes a break at the same time, they will most likely be focusing on actually taking a break and won’t try to work and eat, or drive and eat, or drive and work and eat, or… you get the idea. Promoting a culture of taking a real, lengthy break can help your team disconnect from work and spend valuable time together. A lot of productivity advice, such as the Pomodoro Technique, recommends that you break your day into different blocks and relax in between those blocks. Lunch is a very healthy, and easy, way to stop for at least 30 minutes to take a step back from the work you are accomplishing, helping to clear your mind and look at tasks from a different angle. Take Care Of Your Body, Eat Slowly A typical lunch break at work in France lasts at least 1 hour and is never taken at your desk. We value eating slowly and being seated at a table to do so. If you are having a “social lunch” with your team or a client, plan for a 2 hour break—or even more if it’s an important meeting. In that case, you’ll want ample time for socializing (and probably a more gargantuesque feast). The quality and quantity of food definitely varies with the importance you give to the people you are eating with. The benefits of slow eating include better digestion, better hydration, easier weight loss or maintenance and, of course, taking the time to really enjoy the taste of your food (bon appétit!). This is not necessarily about staying fit, it is more about the short term benefits: If you take the time to really nurture your body, you will improve your capacity to focus, think, and, most likely, enjoy the rest of your day. People Are As Fundamental As Food But why on earth do we spend so much time eating? Beyond biology and the fact that everyone loves some dessert, eating is actually just an excuse to spend valuable time with people. In the French culture, it’s not only a functional activity, it is first and foremost the place and time where relationships are developed. From bonding with your colleagues to closing business deals with clients, the table is where people interact in France. Spending time together fosters conversation, allows debates and brainstorming to flourish naturally, and encourages ideas to flow creatively. Culturally, French assign more value to their relationships with others than to time and money. We believe that getting to know someone outside the boardroom will help build a trustful relationship that will be valuable over time. French people are brought up experiencing this type of interaction from childhood. As Pamela Druckerman observes in her book, Bringing up Bébé, French children are taught from an early age to eat 3 times a day without snacking. At school, the lunch break lasts between 90 minutes and 2 hours, during which a four-course meal is eaten while seated. French etiquette recommends that everyone starts eating at the same time and leaves the table only once everybody is finished. All of these details are really strongly embedded in the French culture, making them second nature. Apply The French Mindset To Your Next Business Meal If you are not French, you can still channel these habits by being more conscious of the people you eat with, and how you interact with them during mealtime. If you currently don’t spend your lunch eating with others, you can start implementing sporadic lunch dates with people you’d like to get to know more. Eating at the table with others doesn’t have to be an everyday routine, but it could still be beneficial for you to build relationships and interact with others if you started doing it every month or every week. And, if by any chance you are doing business in France, remember that you will have a much better chance to build successful connections and close bigger deals if you take the time to take people out for (long) lunch or dinner. Save that 30-minute call for another time! Au revoir! Next: Boost Your Team’s Productivity With This Swedish Coffee Break The post À table! Take a better lunch break the french way appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

Motivational speaker and entrepreneur Chris Winfield struggled for years to make proper use of his time. After countless research, trial and error, facing sustained burnout, and a few bangs of his head against the wall, Chris has discovered that the key to living a permanently productive life is a 25-minute block and a simple timer. A little backstory: Desperate for a way to improve his productivity methods, resist distractions, and free up more of his time, Chris settled on the Pomodoro method. Invented by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980’s, the Pomodoro method maximizes efficiency by blocking out a 25-minute interval of heads-down work, free of interruption (also known as timeboxing), followed by regular breaks. Thanks to this time management technique, Chris cut his work week in half, transformed his career, and—most importantly—balanced his life. What Is The Pomodoro Method? Before diving into Chris’ story of major productivity transformation, here’s a quick video tutorial for timing your tasks with the Pomodoro method and a simple timer: Overcoming The Adversity Of Time Chris admits to being a former workaholic who often clocked 60-hour workweeks back-to-back. Despite the excessive hours he put into co-founding one of his companies, a marketing agency, things didn’t go exactly as planned. Many of Chris’ worst fears came true as an entrepreneur, and in his own words “the company completely imploded.” But the story doesn’t end there; in fact, it’s just the beginning. “Failing at something led me to look at it as an ultimate blessing because I realized I was completely miserable and inefficient,” Chris explains. Chris now cites this failure as one of the best things that ever happened to him, because it motivated him to make transformative changes in how he approaches not just his work, but also his entire life. “Looking back, I was so inefficient,” he admits. “I was spending 80 hours on something but not getting a lot done, because I really just didn’t understand how to work.” A Pomodoro Pact To Productivity So, if you’re in need of a personal productivity overhaul, you’re probably itching to try this method for yourself. Whether you’re a solo freelancer or a team of 100, everyone can make use of this method to help maximize their concentration. Here’s how this technique, pioneered by Francesco Cirillo, works: Choose a few important tasks you’d like to accomplish. Set a kitchen timer for 25 minutes (preferably, a tomato timer). Work on the task until the timer goes off. Take a short break — you earned it! This break should be about five minutes and marks the completion of one “Pomodoro”. Complete your next Pomodoro by repeating steps 1 through 4 in intervals. After every four Pomodoros, take a longer break, preferably one lasting 20 minutes or longer. Fun fact coming in hot: The name Pomodoro is derived from the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Francesco Cirillo, the movement’s founder, used while perfecting the technique. Chris started small by resolving to accomplish one Pomodoro session a day. He quickly found that his time management practice was missing a literal timed structure, and incorporating it forced him to focus in a way he wasn’t previously capable of. Chris began gradually increasing his Pomodoro method sessions each day, seeking to optimize his productivity and subsequently help him find more balance in his life. He now has a steadfast commitment with his timer for 40 Pomodoros per week, which equates to 17 hours. He asserts that he gets more done now, in 17 hours, than he ever did when he was regularly pulling 60+ hour work weeks. “When your energy is focused on just one thing, then you become more powerful.” – Chris Winfield Chris uses a Trello board kanban-style to break down big projects into small step-by-step tasks, assigning each as an individual card. Then when he is ready to “Pomodoro” a task, he moves that card over to an “In Progress” list, starts the timer, and goes heads down into ‘focus mode’. The Trello board also gives Chris a visual view of how many Pomodoros he has completed and how many more he has to go until he can take a break and clear his mind. While he uses another app for his Pomodoro timer, the Trello board has greatly helped refine his practice and manage his to-dos. Techniques To Challenge Low Concentration The Pomodoro method doesn’t take much time, but it also doesn’t come stress-free. Eliminating all distractions and dedicating time to one single initiative isn’t easy, and it takes practice. People spend an inordinate amount of time focused on why they don’t want to do something or worrying that the end product won’t be of a certain caliber. Chris realized the only way to get past his mind games was to give up on the finesse and use a timer to just start working. Chris explained: “Give up perfectionism. Just do it anyway. Once you get started actually doing something, you will wind up finishing it. And you’ll typically do a good job. Sometimes the hard part is just getting going, but he stresses that simply getting something down, anything, even if it’s just gibberish, is crucial for your momentum.” One book Chris cites as influential to his philosophy is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It discusses the idea that we tend to talk ourselves out of doing something, despite having the power to fight the resistance inside ourselves. For Chris, he battles his own resistance by staying disciplined with his daily tasks and sticking to a time management structure to get them all done. The Discipline Decision Two of the biggest questions that those seeking an effective time management method is 1) Does the Pomodoro technique truly work for the long haul? And 2) How can you stay disciplined enough to dial into this method? Chris’s advice is simple: ‘Yes, it works. Just start by flossing your teeth.’ No, seriously. Chris is the first to tell you that he didn’t come out guns blazing, tackling 40 Pomodoros per week at the onset of his productivity journey. He didn’t start as a morning person or dedicate himself to grueling work sessions. It started with a simple decision to better his life. For him, this began with a decision to floss his teeth regularly. “I timed it: it took me 53 seconds to floss my teeth. And I said to myself, “If I can’t spare 53 seconds to do something, then what hope is there that I can accomplish bigger things?’” Chris realized that it was all about flexing his habit muscle and building upon it. Now, he boasts 40 Pomodoro sessions a week, exercises regularly, spends ample time with his wife and daughter, and has more free time at the end of the day. Oh, and he flosses regularly. A special thank you to Chris Winfield for sharing his tips and advice. Read more about his journey to working less and accomplishing more here. The post How to use the Pomodoro method for a permanently productive life appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

Motivational speaker and entrepreneur Chris Winfield struggled for years to make proper use of his time. After countless research, trial and error, facing sustained burnout, and a few bangs of his head against the wall, Chris has discovered that the key to living a permanently productive life is a 25-minute block and a simple timer. A little backstory: Desperate for a way to improve his productivity methods, resist distractions, and free up more of his time, Chris settled on the Pomodoro method. Invented by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980’s, the Pomodoro method maximizes efficiency by blocking out a 25-minute interval of heads-down work, free of interruption (also known as timeboxing), followed by regular breaks. Thanks to this time management technique, Chris cut his work week in half, transformed his career, and—most importantly—balanced his life. What Is The Pomodoro Method? Before diving into Chris’ story of major productivity transformation, here’s a quick video tutorial for timing your tasks with the Pomodoro method and a simple timer: Overcoming The Adversity Of Time Chris admits to being a former workaholic who often clocked 60-hour workweeks back-to-back. Despite the excessive hours he put into co-founding one of his companies, a marketing agency, things didn’t go exactly as planned. Many of Chris’ worst fears came true as an entrepreneur, and in his own words “the company completely imploded.” But the story doesn’t end there; in fact, it’s just the beginning. “Failing at something led me to look at it as an ultimate blessing because I realized I was completely miserable and inefficient,” Chris explains. Chris now cites this failure as one of the best things that ever happened to him, because it motivated him to make transformative changes in how he approaches not just his work, but also his entire life. “Looking back, I was so inefficient,” he admits. “I was spending 80 hours on something but not getting a lot done, because I really just didn’t understand how to work.” A Pomodoro Pact To Productivity So, if you’re in need of a personal productivity overhaul, you’re probably itching to try this method for yourself. Whether you’re a solo freelancer or a team of 100, everyone can make use of this method to help maximize their concentration. Here’s how this technique, pioneered by Francesco Cirillo, works: Choose a few important tasks you’d like to accomplish. Set a kitchen timer for 25 minutes (preferably, a tomato timer). Work on the task until the timer goes off. Take a short break — you earned it! This break should be about five minutes and marks the completion of one “Pomodoro”. Complete your next Pomodoro by repeating steps 1 through 4 in intervals. After every four Pomodoros, take a longer break, preferably one lasting 20 minutes or longer. Fun fact coming in hot: The name Pomodoro is derived from the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Francesco Cirillo, the movement’s founder, used while perfecting the technique. Chris started small by resolving to accomplish one Pomodoro session a day. He quickly found that his time management practice was missing a literal timed structure, and incorporating it forced him to focus in a way he wasn’t previously capable of. Chris began gradually increasing his Pomodoro method sessions each day, seeking to optimize his productivity and subsequently help him find more balance in his life. He now has a steadfast commitment with his timer for 40 Pomodoros per week, which equates to 17 hours. He asserts that he gets more done now, in 17 hours, than he ever did when he was regularly pulling 60+ hour work weeks. “When your energy is focused on just one thing, then you become more powerful.” – Chris Winfield Chris uses a Trello board kanban-style to break down big projects into small step-by-step tasks, assigning each as an individual card. Then when he is ready to “Pomodoro” a task, he moves that card over to an “In Progress” list, starts the timer, and goes heads down into ‘focus mode’. The Trello board also gives Chris a visual view of how many Pomodoros he has completed and how many more he has to go until he can take a break and clear his mind. While he uses another app for his Pomodoro timer, the Trello board has greatly helped refine his practice and manage his to-dos. Techniques To Challenge Low Concentration The Pomodoro method doesn’t take much time, but it also doesn’t come stress-free. Eliminating all distractions and dedicating time to one single initiative isn’t easy, and it takes practice. People spend an inordinate amount of time focused on why they don’t want to do something or worrying that the end product won’t be of a certain caliber. Chris realized the only way to get past his mind games was to give up on the finesse and use a timer to just start working. Chris explained: “Give up perfectionism. Just do it anyway. Once you get started actually doing something, you will wind up finishing it. And you’ll typically do a good job. Sometimes the hard part is just getting going, but he stresses that simply getting something down, anything, even if it’s just gibberish, is crucial for your momentum.” One book Chris cites as influential to his philosophy is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It discusses the idea that we tend to talk ourselves out of doing something, despite having the power to fight the resistance inside ourselves. For Chris, he battles his own resistance by staying disciplined with his daily tasks and sticking to a time management structure to get them all done. The Discipline Decision Two of the biggest questions that those seeking an effective time management method is 1) Does the Pomodoro technique truly work for the long haul? And 2) How can you stay disciplined enough to dial into this method? Chris’s advice is simple: ‘Yes, it works. Just start by flossing your teeth.’ No, seriously. Chris is the first to tell you that he didn’t come out guns blazing, tackling 40 Pomodoros per week at the onset of his productivity journey. He didn’t start as a morning person or dedicate himself to grueling work sessions. It started with a simple decision to better his life. For him, this began with a decision to floss his teeth regularly. “I timed it: it took me 53 seconds to floss my teeth. And I said to myself, “If I can’t spare 53 seconds to do something, then what hope is there that I can accomplish bigger things?’” Chris realized that it was all about flexing his habit muscle and building upon it. Now, he boasts 40 Pomodoro sessions a week, exercises regularly, spends ample time with his wife and daughter, and has more free time at the end of the day. Oh, and he flosses regularly. A special thank you to Chris Winfield for sharing his tips and advice. Read more about his journey to working less and accomplishing more here. The post How to use the Pomodoro method for a permanently productive life appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

Did you know that when you first wake up in the morning, your brain is physically bigger than it will be when you go to sleep? It’s because our brains are the most hydrated after a period of rest. According to authors Dr. Robert Carter and Dr. Kirti Salwe Carter in their book, The Morning Mind, the best performing brain is a hydrated brain. So here’s the conundrum: If humans already have an inherent biological advantage to being morning people, why is it so (so, so, so) hard for so many of us to be chipper and productive at the crack of dawn? One way to channel your inner early riser is to mimic the habits of successful morning people: have a routine, meditate, exercise before work. But how do those habits get formed in the first place? They originate in that happy, hydrated, “morning” brain. Let’s take a look at how these early risers think and process their world—with enough science (and coffee), we might just unlock the mysteries of their productivity. Good Morning, What’s Your Chronotype? Personality psychologists have dubbed the difference between our early-to-rise or late-to-bed tendencies as “morningness” and “eveningness.” These two poles point to a person’s circadian preferences, or chronotype. Our chronotype is, in essence, how we prefer to organize our day for peak performance and rest periods based on underlying rhythms in our bodies built by biology (nature) and life circumstances (nurture). We might be a morning lark, a night owl, or a bird somewhere in between. As it turns out, our tendency for morningness or eveningness can affect our personality and behavior. A 2017 study published by CUNY psychologist Anastasiya Lipnevich et al. in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology combined the findings of samples totalling over 16,000 individuals to look at these two concepts in comparison with the Big Five model of personality traits: Conscientiousness; or, sense of duty Extraversion; or, receptiveness to social experiences Neuroticism; or, sensitivity to problems and threats Agreeableness; or, the desire to be friendly towards others Openness; or, enjoyment of new experiences Rather than being a part of these core five personality traits, morningness and eveningness are distinct concepts that affect how our personalities exhibit themselves. For example, the study found that conscientiousness is most strongly linked to morningness tendencies, while extraversion and openness are more strongly connected to eveningness. Want to know where you fall on the spectrum? Take a quiz! The Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), developed by researchers James A. Horne and Olov Ostberg in 1976, gives you insight into your “circadian rhythm type.” The questions determine a score ranging from 16-86, placing you on a spectrum from full-on night owl to extreme early bird. If you’d rather know your type, try this Chronotype Quiz from Atlassian that will help you optimize your chronotype for your workday. But only rarely do people fall squarely into either camp. Lipnevich told The Cut that as many as 80% of people fall somewhere in between. Scores between 42-58 indicate “intermediate” types of tendencies, which means you can lean towards either time of day, depending on motivation, required tasks, and energy levels. You’ll also waffle between the two poles as you age, being geared more towards eveningness in your twenties, and morningness in your fifties. Cracking The Morning Chronotype Code The role of chronotype on our behaviors and tendencies has been studied in various forms across the past few decades, and—to no surprise—different studies show different results. What is clear is that there is a significant biological factor that plays into chronotypes. Roughly explained, from your brain to your gut, you have various internal clocks that send out alarms throughout the day. These alarms don’t go off at the same time for everyone. Your body’s rhythms are personalized to your DNA and may or may not fit within society’s general structure of a 9-5 workday—creating problems for you (and maybe your boss) if you’re not naturally a morning person. All is not lost for night owls, however. If your life simply doesn’t permit you to build your own circadian-perfect schedule into the wee hours, there are some behavioral tendencies that morning people emit that you can build into productive habits—no matter your chronotype. 1. Staying consistent with what’s important Results from a large 2010 study in the European Journal of Personality showed that conscientiousness (remember that sense of duty thing?) is the Big Five personality trait most directly linked to morningness. Conscientious people are responsible, organized, hard-working, reliable, and able to control impulses to stay on track towards their goals. It’s a key factor for success, but often hard to master. If trying to mimic morning habits themselves feels difficult, maybe unearthing your sense of duty towards your most important goals might help. Waking up at 6 a.m. every day to workout might feel torturous on the surface, but thinking about your dedication to your health so you can feel energized to work on your passion project after you leave the office might give you the motivation to show up day after day. 2. Proactively tackling your tasks A 2009 study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology found that morning people were more proactive than night people. However, the researchers also found that folks with small differences between their workdays and free days were more proactive. So going to bed and getting up at the same time everyday (regardless of when that is) has the potential to help you take on tasks with less procrastination. You can also try “eating the frog,” another proven proactive technique—by tackling your top task first so that, no matter when you start on your deep work, you’ll be primed to accomplish your most important goal. 3. Aim to feel like you’re working at your best This is a trickier one because happiness can be a loaded concept, but researchers Biss and Hasher reported in 2012 that, in their studies, morning people reported higher levels of positive feelings and well-being than those who scored lower on morningness. When you feel happier, you perform better. A Fast Company article makes an excellent point that this finding may have something to do with the fact that our society often rewards people who perform well during the day, so evening types trying to conform to “strong daytime expectations” might struggle more, and be less happier as a result. The fact is, we all feel our best when we can work at our best. How can you build a happier rhythm into your work? The answer might lie in getting to know the hours during which you’re really dialed in. Finding Your Ideal Time For ‘Productivityness’ Being a productive person isn’t just about the hour at which you set your alarm. Learning about your chronotype tendencies then scheduling your day to best suit your behavior, is the optimal way to be at your productivity peak. You might still have to conform to a set daytime schedule, but how you organize your hours in the day will help you channel more of your inner morning person. Look at your ideal day and week planning, and see what you can move around to be really effective. You can start with small steps to build your schedule around your most productive hours: Open up a conversation with your team about schedules. Does every team meeting need to start at 8am? Switching things up might stop people from spacing out. If you’re in charge of an important meeting, try to schedule it in the afternoon, or when you feel at your best for collaboration and interaction. Plan to do your shallow work (tasks that don’t require full concentration) first thing. Block out your best two productive hours to tackle your biggest daily task, so that you don’t waste that time doing things you can do when you’re less alert. Why is there so much admiration for morning people? It’s not because they can wake up early with a smile. They attract a lot of praise because they’re able to stay committed to their goals, succeed consistently over time, and seemingly stay energized and upbeat along the way. So get inspired by their big outcomes, not their small habits. Taking a proactive approach to prioritizing what’s most important and making the most of your time—so you can accomplish more and feel good about your efforts—is, after all, the morning person way! Next: 7 True Stories Of People Building Incredibly Productive Morning Routines The post How to act like a morning person (even if you’re not one) appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

Did you know that when you first wake up in the morning, your brain is physically bigger than it will be when you go to sleep? It’s because our brains are the most hydrated after a period of rest. According to authors Dr. Robert Carter and Dr. Kirti Salwe Carter in their book, The Morning Mind, the best performing brain is a hydrated brain. So here’s the conundrum: If humans already have an inherent biological advantage to being morning people, why is it so (so, so, so) hard for so many of us to be chipper and productive at the crack of dawn? One way to channel your inner early riser is to mimic the habits of successful morning people: have a routine, meditate, exercise before work. But how do those habits get formed in the first place? They originate in that happy, hydrated, “morning” brain. Let’s take a look at how these early risers think and process their world—with enough science (and coffee), we might just unlock the mysteries of their productivity. Good Morning, What’s Your Chronotype? Personality psychologists have dubbed the difference between our early-to-rise or late-to-bed tendencies as “morningness” and “eveningness.” These two poles point to a person’s circadian preferences, or chronotype. Our chronotype is, in essence, how we prefer to organize our day for peak performance and rest periods based on underlying rhythms in our bodies built by biology (nature) and life circumstances (nurture). We might be a morning lark, a night owl, or a bird somewhere in between. As it turns out, our tendency for morningness or eveningness can affect our personality and behavior. A 2017 study published by CUNY psychologist Anastasiya Lipnevich et al. in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology combined the findings of samples totalling over 16,000 individuals to look at these two concepts in comparison with the Big Five model of personality traits: Conscientiousness; or, sense of duty Extraversion; or, receptiveness to social experiences Neuroticism; or, sensitivity to problems and threats Agreeableness; or, the desire to be friendly towards others Openness; or, enjoyment of new experiences Rather than being a part of these core five personality traits, morningness and eveningness are distinct concepts that affect how our personalities exhibit themselves. For example, the study found that conscientiousness is most strongly linked to morningness tendencies, while extraversion and openness are more strongly connected to eveningness. Want to know where you fall on the spectrum? Take a quiz! The Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), developed by researchers James A. Horne and Olov Ostberg in 1976, gives you insight into your “circadian rhythm type.” The questions determine a score ranging from 16-86, placing you on a spectrum from full-on night owl to extreme early bird. If you’d rather know your type, try this Chronotype Quiz from Atlassian that will help you optimize your chronotype for your workday. But only rarely do people fall squarely into either camp. Lipnevich told The Cut that as many as 80% of people fall somewhere in between. Scores between 42-58 indicate “intermediate” types of tendencies, which means you can lean towards either time of day, depending on motivation, required tasks, and energy levels. You’ll also waffle between the two poles as you age, being geared more towards eveningness in your twenties, and morningness in your fifties. Cracking The Morning Chronotype Code The role of chronotype on our behaviors and tendencies has been studied in various forms across the past few decades, and—to no surprise—different studies show different results. What is clear is that there is a significant biological factor that plays into chronotypes. Roughly explained, from your brain to your gut, you have various internal clocks that send out alarms throughout the day. These alarms don’t go off at the same time for everyone. Your body’s rhythms are personalized to your DNA and may or may not fit within society’s general structure of a 9-5 workday—creating problems for you (and maybe your boss) if you’re not naturally a morning person. All is not lost for night owls, however. If your life simply doesn’t permit you to build your own circadian-perfect schedule into the wee hours, there are some behavioral tendencies that morning people emit that you can build into productive habits—no matter your chronotype. 1. Staying consistent with what’s important Results from a large 2010 study in the European Journal of Personality showed that conscientiousness (remember that sense of duty thing?) is the Big Five personality trait most directly linked to morningness. Conscientious people are responsible, organized, hard-working, reliable, and able to control impulses to stay on track towards their goals. It’s a key factor for success, but often hard to master. If trying to mimic morning habits themselves feels difficult, maybe unearthing your sense of duty towards your most important goals might help. Waking up at 6 a.m. every day to workout might feel torturous on the surface, but thinking about your dedication to your health so you can feel energized to work on your passion project after you leave the office might give you the motivation to show up day after day. 2. Proactively tackling your tasks A 2009 study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology found that morning people were more proactive than night people. However, the researchers also found that folks with small differences between their workdays and free days were more proactive. So going to bed and getting up at the same time everyday (regardless of when that is) has the potential to help you take on tasks with less procrastination. You can also try “eating the frog,” another proven proactive technique—by tackling your top task first so that, no matter when you start on your deep work, you’ll be primed to accomplish your most important goal. 3. Aim to feel like you’re working at your best This is a trickier one because happiness can be a loaded concept, but researchers Biss and Hasher reported in 2012 that, in their studies, morning people reported higher levels of positive feelings and well-being than those who scored lower on morningness. When you feel happier, you perform better. A Fast Company article makes an excellent point that this finding may have something to do with the fact that our society often rewards people who perform well during the day, so evening types trying to conform to “strong daytime expectations” might struggle more, and be less happier as a result. The fact is, we all feel our best when we can work at our best. How can you build a happier rhythm into your work? The answer might lie in getting to know the hours during which you’re really dialed in. Finding Your Ideal Time For ‘Productivityness’ Being a productive person isn’t just about the hour at which you set your alarm. Learning about your chronotype tendencies then scheduling your day to best suit your behavior, is the optimal way to be at your productivity peak. You might still have to conform to a set daytime schedule, but how you organize your hours in the day will help you channel more of your inner morning person. Look at your ideal day and week planning, and see what you can move around to be really effective. You can start with small steps to build your schedule around your most productive hours: Open up a conversation with your team about schedules. Does every team meeting need to start at 8am? Switching things up might stop people from spacing out. If you’re in charge of an important meeting, try to schedule it in the afternoon, or when you feel at your best for collaboration and interaction. Plan to do your shallow work (tasks that don’t require full concentration) first thing. Block out your best two productive hours to tackle your biggest daily task, so that you don’t waste that time doing things you can do when you’re less alert. Why is there so much admiration for morning people? It’s not because they can wake up early with a smile. They attract a lot of praise because they’re able to stay committed to their goals, succeed consistently over time, and seemingly stay energized and upbeat along the way. So get inspired by their big outcomes, not their small habits. Taking a proactive approach to prioritizing what’s most important and making the most of your time—so you can accomplish more and feel good about your efforts—is, after all, the morning person way! Next: 7 True Stories Of People Building Incredibly Productive Morning Routines The post How to act like a morning person (even if you’re not one) appeared first on Work Life by Atlassian. View the full article

Explore construction project management, including the project lifecycle, roles involved, and tools used to support different construction workflows. The post Construction Project Management: Processes, Roles, & Tools Explained appeared first on project-management.com. View the full article

Alex Klein tells Jonathan Moules about his ambition to transform attitudes to computing with his kit to help people of all ages make their own and write the programmes to go with them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. View the full article