Hey there? Would you like to be more productive, more focused, and communicate well? Of course you would! So for you (and me) I have three good links that can help you with that.
This link will help you give the best presentation of your life. And this one will help you be more productive. Finally, this will help you stay focused by helping you stay off certain apps on your phone.
Comments Off on Happy Monday! Would you like to be more productive, more focused, and communicate well?
Posted in work
Tagged communications, focus, productivity, publicspeaking, work
To be effective at work, give your best, and not burn out, you need to learn to say “no”. Now if it were as easy as saying “no”, you wouldn’t be reading this. 🙂 Given that, here’s some good advice on how to say no at work without saying no.
I’d add that you want to get to say “yes” as much as possible. However, you want to say “yes” in such a way that doesn’t cause you to be ineffective, burnout or quit. That’s no good for you or your employer. To do that, say “yes” in a reasonable context. Instead of starting by saying “no, I can’t do that this week”, trying saying “yes, I can do that next week / month / etc”. Saying “yes + better alternative” is one way to get to yes for both parties.
That said, sometimes you will have to just say no. Remember, when you say yes to One Thing you are often implicitly saying no to Other Things. Make those Nos more effective.
As an aside, you could always say Yes and then never do it, like Mel Brooks did! But I don’t advise that. 🙂
Speaking of say “no”, here’s a piece on bosses who promise jobs with a coveted perk: Boundaries. Two things on that. One, boundaries are a good way of saying No in advance. Two, boundaries are more common than the WSJ lets on. Your salary is a boundary. Your office situation is a boundary. Scope statements, terms and conditions in contracts, and agreements: all are boundaries. Boundaries are important for EVERY aspect of your work. Don’t let anyone tell you different. Boundaries make work better for everyone. Make sure the people you work with respect them. Go work elsewhere with other people if they don’t (thereby establishing a new boundary).
In other business links, here’s more on quiet quitting, which is a passive way of saying no. And here’s a very sophisticated mute button, which seems related. 🙂
(Image: link to page on Austin Kleon’s blog)
Comments Off on How to say “no” at work, why boundaries are important, and a very special mute button
Posted in work
Tagged austinkleon, burnout, business, communications, lifehacker, work, WSJ
You – yes you – can write better emails. To do so, first read this: How to Write Persuasive Emails: 4 Simple Tips to Turn Blah Into Crisp Writing
Second, write down those goals.
Third, practice with the next emails you send.
Maybe you – yes you – already write emails like this. In that case, try this as an exercise: look at the emails in your inbox and see how many of them meet these criteria. I’ll bet most don’t.
A word to younger people: you might think, I don’t write emails…I use Slack or Teams or some other form of instant communication. If that’s true, then you definitely need to read that and practice it. You cannot avoid email (yet) and when it comes to key communication, you need to write good email. So get going on that.
Good luck! Was this clear? I hope so.
With all the ways people can reach you, you may find that you spend much of your time responding to requests and less time doing work you consider productive. Being responsive is good but not at the cost of being unproductive. If that sounds like you, I recommend you read this: I’m Not Sorry for My Delay – The Atlantic.
Much of the time we respond quickly because we feel we must. Being able to comfortably separate the times we must respond quickly versus the times we can respond slower is a worthwhile thing to cultivate. Reading that article can help you get there.
Comments Off on It’s Monday. You want to be more productive. Maybe you need to be less available.
Posted in advice
Tagged advice, communications, Monday, mondays, productivity, work
Have you’ve been putting off sending an email to someone because you don’t know what to say? Well with canned emails, you have a good start. Simply go to this site: Canned Emails – a minimal site with prewritten emails. and search for what you want to say. Want to catch up with someone? There’s an email for that. Does someone owe you money? There’s another one for that. Want to cancel a service? That site has you covered.
Some people have a knack of knowing what to write in any situation. For the rest of us, canned emails can help us get over the hump and get that communication going.
Give it a try.
(Photo by Melinda Gimpel on Unsplash )
Comments Off on It’s Monday. You have some emails you want to send but don’t know what to say. This can help
Posted in advice
Tagged advice, communications, correspondence, email
An interesting development. Ocasio-Cortez is using Instagram in a way that may bring on the new version of the fireside chat. For example:
A few days before Thanksgiving, newly elected New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went live on her Instagram feed to cook dinner and chat with her hundreds of thousands of followers. She took questions on topics ranging from the challenges of entering Congress, to the specifics of progressive policy goals like the newly dubbed #GreenNewDeal, to whatever else came up. She made mac-and-cheese in her Instant Pot. The next day she used Twitter to thank attendees of the Instagram Q&A, but if you’d missed it, too bad: Instagram Live Videos are only available after the fact if the account holder chooses to save a replay and make it public. The same is true with Instagram Stories, which by default vanish from the site after 24 hours, unless the user saves them as a “highlight.” Right now, Ocasio-Cortez has only five of her many stories saved at the top of her account. If you want to keep track of the congresswoman-elect, you’d better stay logged in.
It will be interesting to see how this form of communication develops. For more on this: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Has Mastered the Politics of Digital Intimacy – Pacific Standard
Comments Off on Beyond Twitter, or how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Has Mastered the Politics of Digital Intimacy using Instagram.
Tagged communications, ocasiocortez, politics, socialmedia
How? By using: Free Fax • Free Internet Faxing. I haven’t used it, but you can send free faxes to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada, apparently.
If you are dealing with organizations that refuse email as a valid way to receive information and insist on a fax, this could save your day.
Comments Off on Want to send a fax without a fax machine? Now you can!
Posted in IT
Tagged communications, fax, government, Internet, IT, politics
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