Time Management Articles

Time management articles by Harold Taylor

Time Management Articles:

Technological distraction

Technological distraction

Oliver Berkeman, in his 2023 book, “Four Thousand Weeks,” says that surveys reliably show that “We feel more pressed for time than ever before.” He even mentions that a Dutch team suggested back in 2013 that busyness might be understated since many people are too busy...

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Rejections are the battle scars of writers.

Rejections are the battle scars of writers.

I think I would have been more successful in my writing career if I hadn’t had the grandiose idea of submitting material to the top paying publications such as Reader’s Digest, Saturday Evening Post, and Chatelaine. Few things are more de-motivational than rejection....

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Do you want to become a published writer?

Do you want to become a published writer?

I evolved as a time management speaker and trainer by keeping up to date with current knowledge as it relates to the use of time. By trying out different ways of working, and adapting what works best for me, I've also been able to evolve in my writing as well. I write...

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Develop your character.

Develop your character.

You can modify your personality. I indicated that in the previous blog article, and mentioned the comments of neurologists and others in an earlier blog article titled, “Are you a highly sensitive person?” The personality or character of leaders can help produce a...

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Are you a highly sensitive person?

Are you a highly sensitive person?

A Time Management Article by Harold Taylor I had never considered being a “Highly Sensitive Person” (HSP) until one day several months ago, while talking to Clare Kumar, a certified executive coach. She suggested that I might be one. Until then, I had never heard of...

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The importance of trust

The importance of trust

A Time Management Article by Harold TaylorTrust, like time, is one of the essential intangibles that everyone understands until it comes to define it and put it into practice. The Webster New World Dictionary defines it as “a firm belief in integrity, reliability,...

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Beyond time management

Beyond time management

A Time Management Article by Harold TaylorA few years ago, I self-published a book called How to grow older without growing old to suggest a set of new time management strategies for seniors that I referred to in other books as holistic time management. I define...

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Know how to say no.

Know how to say no.

A Time Management Article by Harold TaylorTo police your boundaries, you must be able to say no when appropriate. We hate to disappoint someone, especially friends and people we like and respect. And we do not want to appear uncooperative or selfish. We do not want to...

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Write it into your memory.

Write it into your memory.

A Time Management Article by Harold TaylorKeeping a diary, journal or logbook helps keep you in the moment.  If you use a paper planning calendar to record appointments, activities, and events, you are giving your memory a great assist.  When you write things down it...

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Ideas have no expiry dates.

Ideas have no expiry dates.

A Time Management Article by Harold TaylorIn one of my earlier blog articles I mentioned my love of books and my tendency to hang onto them. I have been criticized more than once for citing time management reference books that were over ten years old – as though ideas...

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How to Speak in Public

How to Speak in Public

A Time Management Article by Harold TaylorIf you present time management keynotes or other presentations, how you deliver the material is almost as important as the content. You want to keep the group’s attention and ensure that learning is taking place. Here are some...

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The principles of pacing.

The principles of pacing.

If you want to get the right things done in this digital age of speed, work slower, not faster. Your progress is greater when you do not undertake too many projects or tasks at the same time. Have you ever taken on several large projects only to realize that you have...

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How to become a patient person.

How to become a patient person.

In last week's article, I provided a dictionary definition of patience as “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.”  But more accurately, I should have just said that patience is the opposite of impatience.”...

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The 7-day work plan.

The 7-day work plan.

Do not allow your workload to accumulate on a long “To-do” list or you will be paralyzed by the weight of it all. Just the sight of it will prompt you to procrastinate. You will lose time trying to sort out the priorities and making up your mind which ones to do...

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Leave space in your life. 

Leave space in your life. 

Angela Watson, a motivational speaker for educators with 11 years of classroom teaching experience, in her book, Fewer Things, Better, uses the analogy of margins on notepaper to illustrate the importance of leaving space in your daily schedule. On most notepads,...

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The importance of hearing loss

The importance of hearing loss

I denied any hearing loss for years, accusing everyone of mumbling, or claiming that the TV interfered, or “I could not hear you because the water was running.”  As Mary Jordan suggests in her book, Coping with Mild Cognitive Impairment, it is sensible to have...

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Time to be a proactive person.

Time to be a proactive person.

Proactive people are action-oriented and start tasks before they are motivated to do so.  The motivation comes after they have already started.  They let their behavior drive their motivation to finish the task.  In this case, it is action before...

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Shop less, toss more.

Shop less, toss more.

The logical place to start when you decide to limit the stuff in your home or office is at the source – shopping. If you have a broken water pipe, you do not start by mopping the floor, you turn off the water. In the same way, if you can resist those needless trips to...

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Engage in lifelong learning

Engage in lifelong learning

Never be satisfied with a formal education.  The real learning starts upon graduation.  The usefulness of the information you receive before and after graduation is directly proportional to the number of years you spend in the workforce.  I believe this, because...

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Budget your time

Budget your time

To manage money, we budget it, allocating a certain amount to the different types of expenses that we must meet on a weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Without this control we may find we have no money left for some of the important items in our business or life. We...

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How to memorize and recall anything.

How to memorize and recall anything.

Jeff brown and Mark Fenske describe how our memory works in their book, The Winner’s Brain.  At about 18 months, toddlers learn and retain the meaning of up to 10 words per day, and by the time they reach adulthood, most recognize at least 60,000 words.  Plus,...

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The power of reframing

The power of reframing

Reframing is expressing a concept, idea, or product differently. When we change our point of view on any given situation, the facts remain the same, but a deliberate shift is made in how we see it. We are reframing when we see a problem as a challenge and can imagine...

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Pessimists seldom prosper

Pessimists seldom prosper

Lastt week’s blog article, as well as the next one, are based on my latest eBook, “A Positive Attitude that Gets Results,” soon to be published by Bookboon. Dr. Edward Creagan in his book, How not to be my patient, refers to research indicating that pessimists have a...

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The need for deadlines

The need for deadlines

The following article is an excerpt from my recent e-Book, Making Deadlines Work for You, published by Bookboon.com. “A deadline is a time or date before which a particular task must be finished or a particular thing must be done,” according to Collins English...

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The cost of a website

The cost of a website

A website is an integral part of any business When I ask people why they don’t have a website, the most frequent answers are the cost of setting one up, or the time it would take to set it up and maintain it, with a few saying they don’t think they need it or saying...

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An easy way to set goals

An easy way to set goals

If you want an easy way to set goals stop thinking of it as some structured process that takes a lot of work. It doesn’t have to be any more structured than keeping a “To Do” list. And you don’t have to be afraid of losing the spontaneity and flexibility of simply...

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Principles of scheduling.

Principles of scheduling.

In the last article, I discussed how you can get the important things done in a timely manner by scheduling those tasks and activities directly into your planner and using the “To do” list section of your planner for the less important activities. In this article, I...

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Packing life’s suitcase.

Packing life’s suitcase.

I heard a great analogy the other day comparing a suitcase to a person’s life and urging us to pack well for life’s journey. The point was to organize everything in your suitcase, take the right things, don’t try to stuff in too much, and take advantage of the space...

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How to be a top performer.

How to be a top performer.

Florida State University researchers found that more than one third of workers eat their lunch at their desks. I would imagine that at least an equal number of workers work on business related tasks and projects after work while on personal time and vacation time. And...

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Memory is declining as we age

Memory is declining as we age

Is memory declining faster than ever? There are many causes of dementia and memory loss declining faster as we grow older; but I believe the two main ones, both involving brain activity, are outlined below. In the past when we needed to know something or solve some...

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5 simple ways to save time

5 simple ways to save time

Time management doesn't need to be complicated... There are many ways to maximize the effective utilization of time, such as set goals, plan your day, schedule your tasks, delegate and organize your work area. But there are many other simple ways that you should not...

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History of Time Management

History of Time Management

The History of Time Management Dates Back to the Late 1800s People have always searched for better and more efficient ways of doing things, whether it involved a more effective way of trapping animals for food or a more efficient way of starting a fire with friction....

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Be an active listener.

Be an active listener.

B The most important thing you can do when facing a customer, or anyone for that matter, is to engage in active listening. There is no greater way of displaying respect than listening attentively to what people have to say.  Lean forward to show interest....

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How time is lost.

How time is lost.

Microsoft Corporation’s study of people working found that on average, they were interrupted 4 times per hour, and a distracted worker takes nearly a half hour to get back to and continue a task. 28% of a typical worker’s day is taken up by interruptions and recovery...

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Time Management Bulletin #4

Time Management Bulletin #4

Manage your email through self-discipline. Handling email is one activity that you must control if you are going to master technology. It seems to be increasing exponentially for most people. With the mobility of today’s workforce and work itself being more a state of...

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Time Management Bulletin

Time Management Bulletin

 How to Decide Mark McCormack, in his book, What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School (Bantam, 1984), gives some good advice on decision-making.  He claims that many times we actually make a decision without realizing it, even as we are still trying to come...

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Communicating via e-mail messages.

Communicating via e-mail messages.

Email, because of its speed, convenience and low cost, is now one of the most frequently used forms of business communication. A 2018 statistic revealed that the average office worker receives 121 e-mails per day. The volume of e-mail has increased by 2000 percent...

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A little empathy can go a long way.

Feeling empathy for another person is being able to know what the other person is feeling or going through even though you are not sharing the source of those feelings or emotions at that time. For example, when someone suffers a loss or injures their hand, you can...

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Print books are still alive and well.

Print books are still alive and well.

Not only did I buy a Kindle for e-books, I downloaded the app for my PC, iPad, iPhone and android. I thought for sure we were heading for a world of digital when it came to books, magazines and newspapers. I didn’t like the idea since I loved my hardcover books that I...

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Making time to sell

Making time to sell

In no profession is time management more important than in sales. For a salesperson, the greatest resource is the time available for customer contact. All the selling skills in the world are to no avail if there is not enough time to put those skills into practice....

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Reading this article could kill you.

Reading this article could kill you.

Not really. But it did get you to at least read the first line, didn’t it? And did I detect a sigh of relief as you did so? Some people’s curiosity exceeds even their fear of death. This illustrates the importance of a title when writing a book, article or promotion...

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Bringing you up to speed.

Bringing you up to speed.

27 years ago, I wrote the following article titled, “Don’t become obsessed with speed: save some time for the things you enjoy.” I thought I would reproduce it here in its entirety, complete with its outdated references to such things as speedy memos and videos. We...

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How to say no

How to say no

A small word like “no” can have a huge negative impact on our mental and physical health, energy level and the accomplishment of meaningful personal goals. Getting involved in business, community and social projects can be a great way to expand your personal...

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Got a problem? Sleep on it.

Got a problem? Sleep on it.

Do you find yourself mulling over problems and reviewing the day's activities as you try to sleep at night? You're wasting your time and depriving yourself of sleep. Your brain won’t start working until you're out of the picture. Once you are asleep, your brain can...

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How to handle the stress in your life

How to handle the stress in your life

Being able to manage stress is critical since it can weaken the immune system, raise cholesterol levels, accelerate hardening of the arteries, disrupt the digestive system, and lead to overeating and obesity. And according to Tiffany Chow, in her book, The memory...

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I'll never forget what's her name.

I'll never forget what's her name.

Back in the late 1970s, when I first decided to carve out a full-time career as a speaker and trainer, I experimented with management topics such as time management, delegation, stress management, leadership, motivation and creativity. I also studied memory training...

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How to communicate with the elderly

How to communicate with the elderly

The author of The Brain Training Revolution claims that two thirds of Americans older than 50 complain of memory problems. According to the Alzheimer's Association in Canada, where I live, over 747,000 Canadians are living with Alzheimer's or other dementia. Dementia...

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Growing old is optional.

Growing old is optional.

It’s important to get rid of the myth that you’re old when you reach retirement age. There's a difference between growing older and getting old. Old age is a destination. Growing older is a journey. I'm not old. I'm only 83, getting older all the time, and enjoying...

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Work never killed anyone

Work never killed anyone

“Work never killed anyone,” my mother used to tell me. No doubt her motivation was to get me to clean my room and finish the household chores; but basically she was right. Oh sure, overwork is harmful, and dangerous work might cut your life short, and distasteful work...

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A new broom sweeps clean

A new broom sweeps clean

Getting rid of the clutter. The logical place to start when you decide to limit the stuff in your home is at the source – shopping. If you have a broken water pipe, you don't start by mopping the floor, you turn off the water. You can resist those needless trips to...

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Purposeful living

Purposeful living

Having purpose in life refers to being dedicated to a cause that is bigger than you. One that you will never fully attain in a lifetime. Whereas goals are specific, measurable and have a deadline, purpose is general in nature, a way of living as opposed to a means of...

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The paradox of speed

The paradox of speed

Speed has become a valuable commodity for companies selling a product or delivering a service. In this time conscious age, where everything from same-day delivery and two-minute bedtime stories are in demand, faster has become synonymous with better. People seek...

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How to make good decisions

How to make good decisions

Slow decision-making wastes time, as do spur-of-the moment decisions, which frequently result in costly and time-consuming mistakes. But the worst thing you can do is to procrastinate on decision-making. Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, once conducted a...

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Life in the slow lane

Life in the slow lane

A preliminary report on country living. We have a definite link with nature, and the human brain is influenced by our environment – what we see, smell, hear and feel. The book, How the body knows its mind, by Sion Beilock reported that city dwellers are at a 20%...

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Positivity at work

Positivity at work

  Positively eliminate the negative Emotional well-being is when a person consistently reports more positive than negative feelings. And according to research reported in the November/December, 2015 issue of Scientific American Mind, we become more positive and...

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The return of the notepad

The return of the notepad

A simple notepad on steroids might be all you need Research shows that things left undone cause stress. And an expanding to do list, which never seems to empty, is a constant reminder of all the things left undone – important or otherwise. This is true whether it is a...

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Work smarter, not harder

Work smarter, not harder

Delegation is the greatest timesaver available to managers A school superintendent in Arkansas was accustomed to having the morning newspaper on his desk each morning when he arrived at 7:30.  A lady custodian who had the boring, routine job of keeping a few offices...

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The Best of Both Worlds

The Best of Both Worlds

How to use a paper planner in combination with an electronic planner (iPhone, iPad, Android etc.) I mentioned in a previous article that there are at least 5 ways a paper planner is better than an electronic one. Of course there are many ways digital is better than...

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Life is a trade-off

Life is a trade-off

You can’t have everything; but you can have anything It's a life of trade-offs.  If you pay someone to cut the grass while you work late at the office, you're trading one job for another.  If you're paid overtime, you might come out ahead in the trade. If you pay...

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Budget your time

Budget your time

Select your fixed and variable times Time management writers frequently remark that time is money. By doing so they hope to convey the importance of time. But of course, there is no comparison. Time is so much more valuable than money. It is life itself. And yet, some...

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Increasing the efficiency of meetings

Increasing the efficiency of meetings

  The 60-minute modular meeting & rule of seven  Deadlines make us more efficient without detracting from the effectiveness of our meetings. To minimize the impact of Parkinson's Law (activities expanding to fill the time allowed for them) try breaking all your...

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Be mindful of people

Be mindful of people

Spend more time with your "real" friends, not the ones online There is a common expression concerning mindfulness that suggests “wherever you are, be there.” In this age of technology, we should add, “And whomever you are with, be with them.” It’s interesting to...

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We are overwhelming our brain

We are overwhelming our brain

Does technology really make us more effective? Getting more things done faster is no longer limited by technology, but by our brain. Our brain has a limited capacity for processing information, and this limit is being approached and frequently passed by the...

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Where are you focusing your attention?

Where are you focusing your attention?

Can technology actually waste time? Regardless of what people may say about their priorities and what they value most, it is where they focus their attention that reveals whether they are really ‘walking their talk.’ Whether inadvertently or not, the Internet and...

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Poor memory or attention problem?

Poor memory or attention problem?

Is it poor memory or simply poor memory skills? Some of us have poor powers of observation. We may be uninvolved, passive, and inattentive or distracted, day dreaming or preoccupied with other things. We could be short-changed in a store and not even notice it. We...

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Go ahead and worry a little

Go ahead and worry a little

But don't dwell Most people would probably prefer a worry-free life. With little to worry about, we would reduce anxiety and stress, improve our relationships with others, sleep better, live happier, and increase our personal productivity. Worry normally refers to...

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Manage your energy

Manage your energy

Without energy your brain can't function properly Although managing your time is important, if you have no energy, all the time in the world will not get you the results that you want. Your brain needs large amounts of energy just to carry out its normal functions. It...

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We are not our brain

We are not our brain

Can you change your mind? Most neuroscientists believe that we are our brain, and that when our body dies, along with the brain, so do we. Through functional MRIs neuroscientists attempt to determine which parts of the brain, and even which neurons, are responsible...

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Eat a hearty breakfast

Eat a hearty breakfast

Increase energy and performance by eating a good, healthy breakfast Skipping breakfast frequently results in unhealthy snacking throughout the day and overeating at lunchtime. Skipping breakfast has been linked to health risks such as high blood pressure, unhealthy...

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Our brain has a mind of its own

Our brain has a mind of its own

Our unconscious mind is a powerful thing “There are times when the brain contains hidden wisdom that if monitored could help us in various ways, whether in marketing, in lie detection, or even in predicting daily stock market fluctuations. People might not ‘know’...

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Procrastination revisited

Procrastination revisited

Procrastination is your brain's fault When it comes to procrastination, it seems like our brain has a mind of its own. According to Esther Landhuis, writing in the January/February, 2015 issue of Scientific American Mind, you can trick your brain into meeting any due...

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The price of technology

The price of technology

Too much technology can harm our performance and even contribute to ADHD Technology helps increase our personal productivity, provides instantaneous access to information, answers any question we might have, and opens the world to us – everything from and products and...

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Simplify your life

Simplify your life

We are drowning in clutter and unneeded stuff! Simplifying your life by getting rid of a lot of the “things” in your life is an important step towards getting organized and gaining control of your time. We are complicating our lives with all the stuff we buy and...

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Action speaks louder than words

Action speaks louder than words

Our subtle actions can affect others Action speaks louder than words, and I mean even little actions like frowns, signs of frustration and grimaces of pain. Since mirror neurons were discovered back in the early 1990s, there has been a plenty of research proving their...

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Control your own life

Control your own life

Not feeling in control can cause stress and unhappiness People have a natural inclination to control events and make things happen. Losing control makes them unhappy and stressed. Stress can induce the release of cortisol, and excess cortisol impairs function in the...

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Keep your brain fit

Keep your brain fit

Keep your brain fit and reap many rewards If you want to fully take advantage of your increased lifespan, keep your brain fit. You can do that with physical and mental exercise, proper diet, and lifelong learning. We hear a lot about diet when it involves weight...

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Don’t rush needlessly

Don’t rush needlessly

Speed is the enemy of time management Just as gulping your food and rushing through meals takes the enjoyment out of eating while doing nothing for your health, so rushing through life has its consequences. If you can’t remember what you had for dinner last night, you...

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Plan for your retirement

Plan for your retirement

Planning for your retirement is not just about money It’s never too early to plan for your retirement. You don’t have to be preoccupied with old age, but recognize that you will be old someday – and it’s a lot better than the alternative. You may never want to...

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Reduce those self-interruptions

Reduce those self-interruptions

When the brain is underutilized, its activity turns to daydreams Stefan Klein, in his book The Secret Pulse of Time, reports that psychologist Leonard Giambre has documented our mind’s tendency to wander. He asked people to solve a puzzle. At random times he would...

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How to live longer

How to live longer

Most people want to go to heaven, but not many of us want to die. In fact we want to know how to live longer. Ephraim P. Engleman, a still-active, 104-year-old rheumatologist, when interviewed for an article on aging in the January, 2015 issue of Reader’s Digest,...

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The stressful cocoon

The stressful cocoon

The "cocooning" trend has been with us for many years - the tendency to hole up in our homes and send out for pizza, watch home videos, shop via phone or TV and even work from home. BrainReserve describes it as "the impulse to go inside when it just gets too tough and...

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Are you addicted to technology?

Are you addicted to technology?

You know something must be wrong when companies design 12-step programs to tackle email addiction or when psychiatric investigators in South Korea find that 20 percent of Internet-addicted children and teens end up with relatively severe ADHD symptoms or when people...

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Working in bed

Working in bed

From a holistic time management perspective, working in bed is not a good idea. An article in the November 17, 2012 Toronto Star reported on a survey by Infosecurity Europe in London that found that 70% of the workers surveyed spent at least a half hour a day working...

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Make time to think

Make time to think

Do you find that you are so busy that you have little or no time to even think about goals and priorities and where you are heading? Many of us used to have plenty of thinking time while we were waiting in a doctor’s office or going for our morning walk or sitting on...

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Time management myths

Time management myths

There are many misconceptions about time management. Here are five time management myths that may appear to be true at first glance. Myth number 1: We can manage time. We cannot manage time. Nor can we save it. Time ticks away relentlessly in spite of our efforts to...

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Have a purpose in life

Have a purpose in life

Having a purpose in life refers to being dedicated to a cause that is bigger than you are - one that you will never fully attain in a lifetime. Whereas goals are specific, measurable and have a deadline, purpose is general in nature, a way of living as opposed to a...

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Things left undone cause stress

Things left undone cause stress

The more things in your life that you think should be done but leave undone, the more anxiety and stress you experience. Seldom would a person think of a project they had completed or a meeting they had attended or a phone call they had made and feel stressed as a...

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Manage your anger

Manage your anger

It is important to manage your anger. Anger is the most damaging stress-related personality trait that precedes a heart attack. One out every three car accidents are caused by an angry driver, and 50% to 80% of all physical ills originate in our emotions. Having angry...

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Effective delegation

Effective delegation

Effective delegation may be impossible since many managers and entrepreneurs have limited staff, if any. In that case you might consider outsourcing the more repetitive and time-consuming tasks. Delegation ranges from minor assignments such as sorting through some...

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Brain health

Brain health

We hear a lot about diet when it involves weight control or diabetes or blood pressure or cancer or dozens of other possible afflictions. But we don’t hear nearly as much about maintaining brain health through proper nutrition. And yet nutrition as well as mental and...

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Make time for creativity

Make time for creativity

It’s difficult to make time for creativity in this digital age of speed. The latest books on creativity, such as Your Creative Brain (2010) and Imagine: How creativity works (2012) agree that we are all creative and every day we perform hundreds of creative acts. And...

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Planning saves time

Planning saves time

In everyday life, planning always saves time. Planning, according to Wikipedia, is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Whether the goal is to write a book or buy a head of lettuce, the same process of...

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Focus gets results

Focus gets results

We know that focus gets results; but it is hard to focus when your attention span is under attack. It has been estimated that about 13 million adults in the US have ADHD, and I would guess that almost everyone has an attention problem. With the amount of information...

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How much of your life is habit?

How much of your life is habit?

How much of your life is habit? Well, Charles Duhigg, in his book The power of habit (Doubleday, 2012), quotes a Duke University researcher who in 2006 found that more than 40% of the actions of people performed each day were not actually decisions, but habits. Hard...

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Exercise and the brain

Exercise and the brain

In the late 1800s, life expectancy was about 40 years. By the 1900s life expectancy had increased to 70 for men and 75 for women. According to World Health Statistics 2014, in Canada, average life expectancy for males born in 2012 is 80 and for females 84. You can...

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Death by sitting

Death by sitting

Tom Rath, in his book Eat Move Sleep,(Missionday, 2013) called sitting “the most underrated health threat of modern times.” So are we at risk of death by sitting? He claims that sitting more than six hours a day greatly increases your risk of an early death. An...

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Are we relying too much on technology?

Are we relying too much on technology?

Are we relying too much on technology to do our thinking for us? Is it making us lazy, addicted, uncreative or even sick? We still don't know the long-term effects of using technology. For example, research published by Kenneth Hansraj in the National Library of...

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Prioritize in advance

Prioritize in advance

Prioritize in advance and you can save a lot of time and grief in the future. And there’s little excuse for not anticipating many of the events that will occur. For instance, you know that the car will eventually run out gas. Similarly, you can bet your bank account...

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What to feed your brain

What to feed your brain

If you want to know what to feed your brain you might be interested in knowing which foods in particular have been found to be good for the brain. Proper nutrition can help prevent cognitive decline. For example, blueberries are believed to reduce the risk of...

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Exercise your brain

Exercise your brain

You can exercise your brain and keep your brain active as well as strengthen neural connections by learning new skills. You might start by doing everyday tasks differently. Use your left hand to control the computer mouse (if you're right-handed), or to brush your...

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How to manage email

How to manage email

If you don’t learn how to manage email, you will soon be controlled by it. Be specific and direct in your e-mails. Never simply ask for their “thoughts” or “suggestions.” Indicate what you think about it or are considering or have already been advised to do, and allow...

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The power of purpose

The power of purpose

I have seen the power of purpose in action where a dying person stayed alive long enough to see a loved one or witness an event. But I've yet to hear of one case where a person lived longer because they didn't want to die. It is not fear that motivates us; it is...

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How to run effective meetings

How to run effective meetings

To run effective meetings, you must control both the length of the meeting and the meeting itself. One executive claims she spends about six hours per day in meetings. Regardless of whether you spend one hour or six hours each day, there is considerable time savings...

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How to listen effectively

How to listen effectively

Not knowing how to listen effectively can waste time, cause stress, and generate costly communication problems. But there’s more to effective listening than meets the ear. It’s hard work. It requires an active participation in the communication process. It takes...

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The limits of technology

The limits of technology

What are the limits of technology?  Technology can reduce the time it takes to launch a new product; but it doesn’t tell us whether the new product should be launched. It may help us write a letter faster; but it doesn’t tell us what do say. It can provide unlimited...

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How technology impacts our lifestyle

How technology impacts our lifestyle

Technology impacts our lifestyle for better or worse. Too much TV for children under the age of two, whether it’s educational or not, might be partially to blame for the tenfold increase in ADHD cases, according to a January 10, 2009 article in the Toronto Star. Nine...

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Stress is contagious

Stress is contagious

It’s bad enough having to cope with the hazards of secondhand smoke; but now it’s found that secondhand stress can be hazardous to our productivity and health as well. The suggestion that stress is contagious is based on research that suggests a class of brain cells...

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How to have a healthier brain

How to have a healthier brain

The good news, according to statistics, is that we’re living longer. The bad news is that our bodies frequently outlive our brains. Dementia is on the increase. To gain time by living longer and healthier, we must look after our brain as well as our body. How to have...

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Sleep deprivation causes weight gain

Sleep deprivation causes weight gain

Research indicates that sleep deprivation causes weight gain and obesity. A CBS “60 Minutes” documentary aired on March 16, 2008, reported that four nights without sufficient deep sleep affects more than just performance, judgment and memory. It also presents a risk...

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How our memory works

How our memory works

A simple way of explaining how our memory works  is that we possess two separate memory systems – short-term memory or working memory, and long-term memory. Paying attention and hearing the information properly is usually enough to get it into our short-term memory,...

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We Should Limit our Use of Technology

We Should Limit our Use of Technology

Technology is a beautiful and wondrous thing. We can shop online, do online banking, send electronic greetings to our family and friends, download music, watch movies on our laptops, dictate to our computers using voice-activated software, and read electronic books on...

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What are the benefits of sleep?

What are the benefits of sleep?

Your body is programmed to spend one third of its life asleep – and to sleep in specific cycles of light sleep, deep sleep, and active brain sleep. Each cycle takes about 90 minutes and each has a specific assignment that affects thinking, memory, growth, your immune...

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Holistic Time Management

Holistic Time Management

The Best Things in Life are Free from Technology: A case for holistic time management. A heading of an article in the May 17, 2012 issue of the Toronto Star caught my attention – “Outsourcing Life.” It's true. We're outsourcing all the enjoyable, time-consuming things...

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Think before you act

Think before you act

Understanding response inhibition It would be great if we were all strong in the executive skills listed in last week's blog; but unfortunately few of us are. I have never met anyone who didn't struggle at times with self-control, patience, focus, time management or...

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What is Time Management

What is Time Management

What is time management? We should define time management and distinguish it from personal organization, because the terms are frequently used to describe the same thing. Both organization and time management as we know it today have their roots in the scientific...

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