Productivity Tips: 5 More Tips for Incoming Email

In previous posts, we offered tips for handling incoming email and for organizing and filtering your messages.

Here are five more tips for streamlining your email experience:

Productivity: Completing Large Projects with “Next Actions” (Part 2)

In the previous post, we introduced the time management principle of using Next Actions to tackle large, overwhelming projects. The idea is to complete one small action at a time and to always decide the Next Action before moving on to other tasks. Let's look at another example of this idea.

Productivity: Completing Large Projects with “Next Actions” (Part 1)

Do you have a large project that you're having trouble getting started or moving forward with?

A common time management situation is to be faced with an overwhelming project that's not time-constrained or high-priority, but that's important to do eventually to prevent a crisis. Perhaps it's something that is slowly taking up more and more physical space, or something that is becoming obsolete, or something that requires increasing time and/or money unless you automate or eliminate it. The project is important, but not urgent.

Productivity Tips: 5 Tips for Avoiding a Reading Backlog

Many people let their reading material build up into a backlog. You may collect piles of mail and other papers or folders full of website bookmarks. Over time, it feels like your reading backlog is a black hole that things never come out of.

Here are 5 tips to help you avoid a reading backlog or take control of one you already have, whether online or offline:

Productivity Tips: 5 Office Organizing Tips

We may spend most of our time in a virtual workspace online, but we still need a physical workspace to use to access the virtual. We have mail and papers and other office supplies to organize.

Here are 5 tips for making your work area more functional, especially if you don't have much extra room:

Why Keep a Journal

Are you thinking of starting a journal, but aren't sure if you would benefit from the time spent? People keep journals and diaries for many reasons. Yes, you need to set aside some time for making entries, but overall, most find that it's time well spent.

You may decide to use an elegant blank book, or a cheap spiral notebook, or dedicated journaling software, or simply a text file on your computer. The process and benefits are basically the same in any format.

Productivity Tips: 5 Tips for Reading Concentration

As we rush through our piles and folders of reading, we can be left wondering what we just read. Maybe you're reading while distracted or just have so much on your mind that the content slips away soon after reading. Reading with purpose can help us understand and retain what we read.

Here are 5 tips for concentrating on your reading for better comprehension and retention:

Productivity Tips: Handling Interruptions

In a previous post, I gave some ideas for how to minimize interruptions, hopefully stopping them before they occur.

Sometimes, however hard we try, we get interrupted. Here are five tips for coping when it happens:

Productivity Tips: 5 Writer's Block Tips

Writer's block. Usually, it's just a temporary inability to write. The key to getting out of a slump is understanding why you're in the slump. Determine the underlying cause.

You may feel out of ideas. Maybe you're having trouble getting started. Or not interested enough in your current project. Or you're distracted by external issues. Or you're stuck on your project, unsure what the next step is. Once you understand the cause, usually addressing that cause directly can push you forward.

Here are five tips to help you get writing again:

Productivity Tips: Time Management

Time management is a vast topic. But don't put off good practices until you have time to research and adopt a whole life-consuming system. Here are 5 quick tips that can help anyone today: