Notes of a Girl Whose Dad Owns The World
Have you ever paid attention to what makes one day fantastic and fulfilling for you, and what makes another the exact opposite?
No two days are the same, and there are often unforeseen circumstances, but there are key things that, when absent, can suck the productivity out of your day.
What is procrastination? It means deferring an action. It sounds simple enough, with no inherent negative connotations, so how did it get such a bad rap?
For as long as I can remember I have heard the advice, “do not leave till later what you can do now” from many authors and speakers.
It is certainly true that sometimes procrastinating can land you in a desperate situation where you’re struggling to finish something you should have finished long ago. However, I don’t believe procrastination is bad in every instance.
Whether you work for yourself or you’re an employee, if you have your heart set on success then you are already familiar with the benefits of time management. You also have been a victim of one or more pitfalls along the way. In fact, from the moment you wake up, several of them are waiting to bite a huge chunk out of your productivity, if not swallow your day whole.
There’s social media, for starters. You reach for your phone or tablet just to check your Twitter feed, and before you know it you’ve been drawn into a vortex of mentions, replies, DMs, and trying to find out where this hot topic actually started from. The same thing happens with Facebook and Instagram, depending on which ones have the strongest hold on you. Continue reading…
Self-described maid whisperer Ore Sonola holds a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ilorin, and spent 4 years as a relationship manager with United Bank for Africa before switching to her current career in 2015.
CN: What’s your job description as a maid whisperer?
I work to prevent maid tragedies from happening by creating enlightening resources that will help women all through the process of hiring a maid. My resources are also designed to improve employer-maid relationships and guaranteed to Train maids till they are Transformed and they Thrive. I currently run MAIDforME, a hub where women can find solutions to the everyday issues they encounter with their maids. Read the rest of the interview…
#COTW
It has been said that too much of everything is bad, and for the most part we believe it. Yet, work is such an honourable endeavour that it’s not so easy to comprehend “too much” of it. Is there really such a thing as being a workaholic? Yes there is, and here are 5 important things to know about workaholism.
One reason why many people set goals but fail to achieve them is that their goals are so big they’re unnerved. Where do I begin? When they eventually decide to “start from somewhere” they take a few steps and fall on their faces. This is why understanding the power of small goals often makes the difference between people who succeed and people who do not. Read more…
The first time I heard that multitasking is “so last century” I was shocked.
“Ability to multitask” was a huge thing not that long ago, and even had a prominent place on many CVs.
Alas, it turns out that the great multitasking, the skill of the chosen and the favourites, is actually a counterproductive practice that costs companies and businesses as much as 20% to 40% in term of potential efficiency. Trying to do more than one thing at a time often means that none of them is done with as much efficiency, precision and completeness as you are capable of. Read more…
When I first started using a to-do list years ago, I wasn’t all that impressed. I had heard so much about how it would improve my business and transform my life, and I couldn’t see the progress I had anticipated. Yes, my day was better, but only slightly so. What was I doing wrong?
What I didn’t realise then was that it’s not enough to write a to-do list; you must plan your day efficiently for maximum productivity. Here are few tips that have helped me do just that. Continue reading…
“How was your day?”
People get asked this question very often, and the answer is usually “fine”, “terrible”, “so-so”, and on rare occasions, “great!”
Many busy people are familiar with the dispiriting feeling of winding down at the end of the day without having accomplished anything significant. Yet, for most upwardly mobile, forward-thinking people, a bad day is the result of poor planning- the “busy doing nothing” syndrome. Yes; barring unforeseen tragic circumstances, the main reason why you feel unfulfilled at the end of the day is the absence of a sense of accomplishment, and this is caused by poor planning.
You start your day with a great number of things to do, and at the end of the day, find that you were only able to do three, and that out of those three you did only one well. You are not alone. Having so much to do and so little time to do it is something that everyone who is living a productive life has to deal with. If you have risen above the humdrum of living and working just to get by, and have truly begun building a meaningful career and a purposeful life, you will often find yourself wishing you had more hours in your day. This is as true for the manager as it is for the full-time domestic engineer.
However, there is a better way. By embracing one simple yet effective concept, you can get rid of the “wasted day” feeling. This concept is known as the MIT- Most Important Task.
Even if you are not a fan of lists, do yourself a favour; identify the one thing you absolutely must get done each day. When you’ve written it clearly, do it FIRST. Resist the temptation to do some other task before that, no matter how simple that task may be, because it’s easy to get lost in all the craziness of the day. When you succeed in getting your MIT out of the way, no matter how the rest of the day goes, whatever else doesn’t pan out, you can go to bed comforted by the knowledge that you made your day count for something important. It’s an empowering feeling that gives you the strength to wake up and face another day.
By taking this simple step, you not only get an essential task out of the way, you also set the tone for the rest of your day.
It is impossible to round off a work day with a sense of accomplishment if you let your day control you. Control your day. Don’t just let life happen to you; take the reins, seize the day. Live life deliberately, on purpose.
The MIT concept is about priorities. When you get your priorities straight every day, you get them straight every week, and every month. The result? A year well spent achieving important goals. It’s as simple and effective as that.
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