Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. — Aristotle
Marietta — The EvE methodology is something I developed myself during a difficult and challenging project implementation for a large technology firm with a fast-growing Internet startup customer with huge hurdles to overcome.
I coined it, “Effort versus Effectiveness,” or EvE because we had over 100 tasks to accomplish in less than 48 hours! So I had the teams list the highest priority items in groups of ten. Then we took the TOP 10 and accomplished the top three first, then reshuffled the remaining seven until we were done, then moved on to the next ten items. We got it done on time and under budget. Have you heard the age-old rhetorical question, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is: “One bite at a time.” If you feel overwhelmed by lots of tasks and not enough time to complete everything, try the EvE method: Prioritize, Reshuffle, “Do It” and Move On to the next task list.
Shawn Achor, Harvard scholar and researcher and author, has provided valuable insight on how to improve your daily productivity, by simply decreasing the amount of unnecessary “noise” in your life. In his book, Before Happiness, Achor discusses the surprising rewards of that can result from simply decreasing 5 percent of the “noise” in our daily lives.
Specifically, there are 4 effective ways we can allot more room in our brains by eliminating the following types of auditory input:
1) Mute TV and Internet commercials
2) Turn off the car radio when talking to others
3) Leave the radio off for the first 5 minutes in the car
4) Remove news media links from your internet bookmarks
For more information on Shawn Achor’s book and career research, click the link below to be directed to his website:
A recent study conducted by the Forrester Research Group reveals that tablets and other mobile devices significantly improve employee productivity. Portable electronics such as the iPad, iPad mini, or Windows Tablet give workers the flexibility to seamlessly access files and continue working while commuting, traveling, or even in the comfort of their own homes.
Roughly 30% of Americans are using some type of mobile device as part of their daily work ritual, and an increasing number of corporations are starting to distribute these products to employees to ensure productivity outside of the office. American Airlines, for instance, now provides tablets to flight attendants to improve the efficiency food orders, flight updates, or any special passenger requests. Physicians often rely on portable devices to access patient records, take notes, or even write prescriptions. The Forrester Research Group has furthermore predicted that tablet usage will triple to 905 million by the year 2017.
So what’s the catch? As we all know, there are both pros and cons to most groundbreaking, innovative technologies. For starters, most of these items come installed with a multitude of applications, games, and savvy gadgets that can tempt even the most dedicated worker. Twenty minutes on a solitaire app in the morning turns into an hour or two of real estate browsing, stock checking, and Fantasy Football recruiting. The next thing you know, it’s 5 pm and you’re reading an article about employee productivity on LinkedIn.
ipads and tablets are not made for all jobs. Marketing Specialists or Sales Managers can use tablets to easily access presentations, client data, or social networks. However, positions such as Data Analysts or Software Writers require much larger systems with ample memory.
An ideal solution would require some form of compromise on behalf of the companies providing tablets to their staff. Perhaps a way to maximize employee productivity would be to restrict certain apps, games, or websites on company tablets, in an effort to eliminate the temptation to procrastinate. Company tablet usage could be limited to those tasks requiring little to moderate memory, with the understanding that functions such as data processing or spreadsheet usage should be reserved for work or home desktops.
What are your thoughts?
To access this article from Forbes.com and related information, click here:
Bryan E. Wilson 