18, Jan 2021
Money and time are similar. We only have a limited amount of each, and we have to use what we have wisely. To manage our money, better financial advisors suggest we track our money spending habits. We can use this same technique and track our time spending habits in a… Read more
07, Dec 2020
An article in The New Yorker magazine entitled, “The Rise and Fall of Getting Things Done” summarized the personal productivity industry’s growth and development. The article concludes by recognizing the limitations of personal productivity and asking if there is a more effective way to accomplish our tasks. To clarify, the… Read more
09, Nov 2020
It sounds counter-intuitive that additional work can help us do our jobs better, but I recently read a study1 about how supplementary job tasks can increase productivity. Types of Job Tasks We can define a job as a group of tasks. The core task takes up the largest percentage of… Read more
13, Jul 2020
Task lists are useful because they help us get from ‘to-do’ to ‘to-done.’ While they keep us on track, we always add more tasks to them. The more we add, the more we feel like a hamster on a treadmill – doing, doing, doing. One way to jump off that… Read more
20, Apr 2020
Many of us have repetitive tasks to complete. Some tasks we do almost every day. When we are busy or distracted, we may forget certain steps in a process. Other tasks, we only do occasionally. While we certainly have the skill to complete the task, we can’t always remember every… Read more
25, Mar 2020
I recently had a lovely conversation with Rosemary Counter a journalist with Globe & Mail’s Report on Business Magazine. During the interview, she asked me about email management and how to get your inbox under control. As a result of this interview, the Ask the Experts column printed my advice…. Read more
17, Feb 2020
How many times have you received an email with vague instructions? It means that you have to reply and ask for clarification. Maybe you and the recipient will have to exchange several emails. Not only is it frustrating, but it is also time-consuming. Email best practices improve productivity. Concise, positive… Read more
20, Jan 2020
Deciding to delete specific projects can improve our productivity. By working on the “right” projects, we don’t feel overwhelmed by the endless tasks on our to-do lists. Professional organizing colleague Julie Bestry tweeted, “Fridays, weeks before holidays, and the end of the year are good times to declare bankruptcy on… Read more
16, Dec 2019
As the end of the year approaches, it’s time to think about some goal-setting in your work life. Those goals might be optimizing customer engagement, increasing conversion, and building better relationships with customers, suppliers, and colleagues. All of that will be challenging if your address book is a mess. It’s… Read more
18, Nov 2019
We’ve mentioned the 5Ds of Decision Making; Delete, Delegate, Do, Document, and Defer. One of the hardest things that many entrepreneurs and managers have trouble with is deciding to delegate tasks. They may be accountable for the results, but they may not have to perform all the tasks. Often, they… Read more
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Recently hired Out of Chaos to help de-clutter my kitchen. Now, everyday I enjoy working in my kitchen and have space to do larger cooking projects and I can find all my kitchen gadgets. I have more room in cupboards and it is easier to keep clean. I could not have cleaned it up so thoroughly or organized it so well on my own. Great investment.
— Sarah M.