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The fall is also the busiest season in my business, so it\u2019s a good time to focus in on productivity \u2013 but also make sure that I get enough down time to\u00a0replenish myself<\/a>\u00a0as well!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PRODUCTIVITY…<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I loved the concept of this TED Talk on \u201cTriaging your Crazy Busy Life like an ER Doctor<\/a>\u201d. It helps put productivity and prioritization into perspective! As Dr. Long says,\u00a0 But the flip side of this is that the quest for productivity \u2013 and the proliferation of productivity products and emphasis in our culture \u2013 can also lead to productivity guilt. There\u2019s no one right way to be productive. If you\u2019re a morning person (like me), getting up early to finish a project or work on something important might be the way to go. But if you (like my husband) are a night owl, getting up at 6am isn\u2019t going to make you more productive!! It\u2019s only going to make you tired. So we don\u2019t want to get caught in the one-size-fits-all productivity trap!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need to tap into what WE need\u201d according to Madeleine Dore in this podcast on Letting Go of Productivity Guilt<\/a>. For me personally, one of the key ingredients to my productivity is writing things down. Apparently, I am not the only one! There are loads of studies that show that\u00a0writing things down by hand<\/a>\u00a0(as opposed to noting them on a device) \u201cforces your brain to process information in\u00a0a more detailed way, which helps you successfully\u00a0load that information into your memory.<\/em>\u201d And I have found this to really be the case. Writing down my to do list, organizing my thoughts, seeing my own handwriting on the page \u2013 this has been really effective for my time management. I am a huge fan of using a paper & pen calendar and\/or To Do list for this [I am a long-term fan of the\u00a0Full Focus Planner<\/a>\u00a0for this myself]<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re not sure how you can be more productive, or need some ideas or suggestions, this article on\u00a0Achieving Peak Productivity: 15 Ways to get into the Zone at Work<\/a>\u00a0has all the intel. \u201cGet a PhD in Yourself\u201d sounds cute, but is actually a really integral part of productivity and energy levels. Self-awareness and self-management go hand in hand. WHAT I’M READING…<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Long-time readers will know that I\u00a0love<\/strong>\u00a0a good audiobook. And that I\u2019m quite picky about narrators.\u00a0\ud83d\ude00\u00a0The absolute best narrator, hands down, is Robert Glenister reading the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith. He is\u00a0incredible<\/strong>. It\u2019s like listening to an audioplay, but done by just one person. Every character has a different accent [Scottish, Yorkshire, London, Irish, Russian, American] and a different voice. You always know who is speaking, just by the sound of \u201ctheir\u201d voice. It\u2019s mind-blowing!! I\u2019m going to have to put my money where my mouth is productivity-wise over the next three months, as my calendar is FULL! This week, I had the\u00a0best<\/strong>\u00a0time behind the scenes at the Siemens Healthineers Global Communications Day as the Speaker\/Presentation Coach (one of my favourite jobs ever!). And I am facilitating multiple Leadership Team annual workshops coming up over the next several weeks too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cWhen we\u00a0are in what I refer to as Crazy Busy Mode, we are simply less capable of handling the busy. Here’s what happens: Your stress hormones rise and stay there, your executive function in the prefrontal cortex declines. That means your memory, your judgment, your impulse control deteriorate, and the brain areas for anger and anxiety are activated.\u201d<\/em>
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What I also found really interesting was that science shows us that the more options we have, then the longer each decision takes. And the more decisions we have to make, the more exhausted our brain gets and the less it is capable of making good decisions. Sound familiar?? This is the very definition of\u00a0Decision Fatigue<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Daria-Long-1024x985.jpg\")
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\u201cEverybody\u2019s putting routine on a pedestal, but then not sticking to it themselves\u2026there\u2019s more of a rhythm than a routine\u2026. If these people don\u2019t need discipline or rigidity or a perfectly ordered day to still get things done, maybe my higgledy-piggledy ways are fine as well.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ctrl-Alt-Delete-1024x919.jpg\")
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Productivity is about working smarter, not harder. Working harder leads to burnout. I loved this\u00a0TED Talk podcast on stress<\/a>. The two presenters discussed how important it is to learn the difference between\u00a0stress<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 which is your body\u2019s response to an event \u2013 and\u00a0stressors<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 which are the things that cause you to feel stressed. We also go through a stress cycle and we need to complete the cycle in order to use up the adrenaline and cortisol that our bodies produce when they are stress. My favourite quote was \u201cdealing with your emotions is a tunnel that you get through, not a dark cave that you get stuck in<\/em>.\u201d I like that visual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/TED-Business-1024x904.jpg\")
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So when the latest book in the series was released at the end of August, obviously I had it downloaded within hours of its release!!\u00a0The Ink Black Heart<\/a>\u00a0is the 6th<\/sup>\u00a0book in the series, and another delight. The story has many twists and turns and it\u2019s a great detective case, but it\u2019s really the characters that make this series so engaging. They feel like real people.\u00a0
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This book was so well-written and so incredibly well-read that once I\u2019d finished listening to the book, I felt bereft. I missed the characters, and the companionship of the narrator. So I am listening to it all again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jnhcoaching.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/The-Ink-Black-Heart.jpg\")
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