Organize a Successful Tailgate Party

Sports fans everywhere are studying up on their favorite teams' starting quarterbacks, injury reports and expected totals for wins as well as losses, but that's not the only conversation circling around football.

Pregame festivities are the ultimate excuse to gather with friends for cornhole, crack open a cold beverage and fire up the grill. Maybe you are an ACC fan celebrating the season for your Demon Deacons, Tar Heels, Wolfpack, Blue Devils and Clemson Tigers or you're an SEC fan excited about the prospects for this year's Gators, Bulldogs, LSU Tigers and Crimson Tide; maybe you're an NFL fan who's eagerly awaiting the start of the 100th season coming up on Thursday. No matter what logo is on your jersey, chances are good you'll be tailgating soon.

Whether you're planning a football tailgate for tomorrow, next week or next month, here are some tools to make the process of planning your pregame festivities a little easier:

• Make sure you bring the right supplies. If you know right off exactly what you and your crew need, don't rely on your unreliable brain; capture the checklist for what to prepare, pack and bring within your Evernote account. If you are an Android user, you can use the already drafted list within the Tailgating Planner app, which is easily customizable as your list evolves and syncs between all your Android devices. If you are an iPhone user, you can create food and drink menus as well as collect attendees' fees from the Tailgate Nation app, making it easy to host the party.

• Efficiently answer your friends' "What can I bring?" question. Whether you update the list built into the Thing2Bring app on your iPhone or you use an event list from SignUpGenius.com, having folks choose from a list will better ensure all elements needed are covered without too many folks bringing the same thing. Ice is important, but you don't want everyone bringing only a bag of ice, just like too many desserts won't cover all needs.

• Be weather aware before and during your tailgate. Check the weather beforehand to be sure you dress appropriately as well as take whatever accessories will be needed for what Mother Nature is sending, like tents, jackets, umbrellas and sunglasses. Then, setup alerts from your preferred weather app to be notified when there are changes or a weather system gets nearby, whether that's via the app for your local TV station, what's built into your mobile device or from The Weather Channel.

• Ensure attendees painlessly find the party. The Map My Tailgate app on Android as well as iOS allows hosts to share exactly where the tailgate is, choosing to share that with invited guests or inviting anyone with the app to come share your fun. Alternatively, if you used the Tailgate Info app to plan who will be bringing what, it includes Point to Point Navigation for easily finding your precise location. Plus, whether stars, footballs or something else, a bundle of helium balloons from Dollar Tree will last a long time, giving great visibility for those roaming the lot in search of your tailgate. 

• Avoid FOMO by staying abreast of all the other games. You could use an app like ESPN or Yahoo! Sports to get notifications of all the others' scores and important plays. Or you could setup an actual TV in your truck tailgate to broadcast what's happening elsewhere.

Going beyond these basics, make sure to checkout BuzzFeed's 41 Tailgating Tips That Are Borderline Genius. These best practices are guaranteed to take your pregaming from great to amazing in the snap of your finger, and you will certainly say "Wow!" when reading at least one.

Once you have nailed how to organize a successful tailgate party, if you are in the state of North Carolina, consider submitting your next tailgate to the David Glenn Radio Show to win big prizes as the tailgate of the week or of the year via the Big Tailgate Tour. DG will definitely bring even more excitement to your already fantastic celebration.

What's your favorite way to prepare the ultimate tailgate? Which element is essential for your most fabulous tailgate?

Ways to Keep Productivity Soaring Throughout the Summer Season

With the hours of daylight super long this time of year, it's the perfect time to take steps toward boosting productivity as you enjoy this sensational season...

List out your goals. It's only by knowing what you want to accomplish that you can best integrate all elements of your life for your greatest fulfillment and summer productivity. Therefore, take a few moments to jot down all your must-do activities, projects and tasks for this season. Think of it like a bucket list but take into account your goals for work, home, society as well as your self-care via mind, body and spirit. Once everything is culled into one place, it'll be so much easier to assign time for each and work through your checklist.

Calendar the craziness! Line up calendars for the months of July, August and September on your wall so you can see everything at a glance. These might be wall-hanging paper or dry-erase calendars; the key is to have all three months visible at once. Then, add vacation details for you and your team members, holiday celebrations, impending deadlines and personal or family commitments, including swim meets and camp registrations alike. Include all elements of your life, considering a different color for each bucket. When you know what is coming, you can more proactively invest your time in achieving all of your desired results for each area of life and address "all the things" that matter most for the life you want to craft to achieve your highest priorities.

Establish your non-negotiables from the get-go. As summer schedules tend to become a little more erratic than normal, you and your team need to know which items have less flexibility than others. For me, I absolutely must maintain my weekly strategy session and daily wrap-up, but the good habits that keep each individual on track productively will vary from person to person. Do you expect your team members to have certain hours during which they always work in the office rather than operate remotely? Is there an expectation for how team members should request vacation time or notify the rest of the team about a hiccup related to impending deadlines, which can be especially vital with varying schedules for summer vacations? This would be a good time to communicate leadership's expectations to everyone. Be as clear, concise and transparent as you can. Then, when looking at your personal commitments, which can't be shifted as they help you energize, stay centered and maintain some semblance of sanity? Make sure those are highlighted on the calendars you've hung on your wall and communicate their importance to those who can help you keep them scheduled. Is it getting outside daily or going to the pool? Maybe it's a daily yoga session or movement? Whatever you need, be sure to ask for and commit to those fuel sources.

Focus your efforts on individual activities or tasks, not projects. It's not possible to check a project off your to-do list in one sitting. "Plan a party" is not a single action item; instead, there are many actions that make up that project. As you are mapping out the next three months, take time to break larger goals into smaller, bite-sized action items that can be completed as individual tasks. Make sure these are actions that move you forward with regards to goals in the areas of your life that matter most, avoiding the "shoulds" so you focus on your priorities. Start each task with a verb so as to fuel action, break each task down to as simple of a function as possible, estimate how long each action item will take to complete so you readily know those tasks taking 10 or 30 minutes, and assign a deadline for each task's completion. It is only in the instances that we assign a "when" for each "what" to be accomplished that we get more done so move your "someday" tasks to a specific date and time. Your future self will thank you for this emphasis on crafting the life you want to live.

Invest some time to reflect inward. With erratic schedules during summer, many companies have fewer meetings that would otherwise be held at normal intervals; this can be the ideal time to review and reset some of your organization's key elements. When was the last time your team updated its mission, vision, values, goals, processes and workspace organization? If it has been awhile, block out time during the dog days of summer to look them over, adjust as needed and, thereby, boost productivity for what really matters most. Maybe you'll want to freshen up clients' experiences, update what messages you are conveying across all mediums and put yourself in the client's shoes. Further, this can be an ideal time for a personal audit, where you assess what you have learned and achieved thus far this year, what priorities need attention in the coming months and what "someday" actions need to be scheduled so they move from to-do to done. Do your goals for work, home, community or self-care need to be adjusted, and how can you realign your actions to focus on achieving each?

Make time for fun and frivolity. If you block out time to truly enjoy the season, you'll be less distracted by what you are missing when you are focusing intently on getting things done. Brainstorm what cool things you can do to dive into summer enjoyment; then, once you've blocked off time for those activities, your mind will be less likely to drift from working towards wondering when you'll actually be able to celebrate summer fun. Plus, when you are taking time to enjoy all this season offers, you can truly take a break from everything else since you've planned for when those other goals will be addressed, boosting productivity overall.

What steps can you take today to get the ball rolling? With whom can you partner to hold each other accountable in creating your plan and, then, following through on that plan, even as things might need to be tweaked and your flexibility might get tested?

Does America Have an Unhealthy Focus on Labels?

Photo by Pro Church Media on Unsplash

Recently, I was an attendee at a non-profit gala; when I was unable to hear the speaker due to attendees talking and poor audio technology, I tapped my knife against my glass to get folks refocused on the speaker, hoping to not miss anything important being said. Unfortunately, by trying to wrangle in the crowd such that I could benefit from a little less background noise, I got labeled as a control freak, which surprised me. The person who said it was simply joking, but the experience did get me thinking.

According to a quick google search, control freak is defined as "a person who feels an obsessive need to exercise control over themselves and others and to take command of any situation." Likewise, the Learning Mind explains "10 Signs You Are Dealing with a Control Freak" as (1) They always correct people when they are wrong, (2) They always criticize and judge other people, (3) They are leaders, not team players, (4) They take full credit for their successes, (5) They will never admit when they're wrong, (6) They know what's best and try to change others to fulfill own agenda, (7) They spend a lot of their time trying to prevent bad things from occurring, (8) They never delegate tasks to others, (9) They always have to have the last word, and (10) They have no time for anyone who makes a mistake. I will happily admit that I do spend a good deal of time trying to prevent bad things from occurring, hence why I own a productivity consultancy, and I dislike wasting time with folks who consistently make the same time-wasting mistakes over and over again; however, there is a big difference between committing each day to making the world a better place and being a control freak.

Lately, in the media, there has appeared to be a movement toward "You do you", including an awesome book entitled You Do You that was published in November 2017 by Sarah Knight. Yet, as a business owner and community leader, I find it's important to be cognizant of others' perceptions of you because they directly lead to how those making assumptions about you will respond to your needs, initiatives or offerings. The tricky part is that no one can get inside another person's head, and human nature is to fill in the blanks of what's not been shared verbally or visually; usually, how we fill in others' blanks is not how those folks would fill in the blanks for themselves, but we can base our fill-in-the-blank answers on only our personal experiences, perspectives and thoughts. Similar to deeming someone to be a control freak would be the label of perfectionist or saying that someone lacks time management skills. They are assumptions, and we've all heard the saying about what assuming makes us.

Since humans can't get inside each others' heads, how do we know that our definition of perfect does or doesn't match someone else's definition of perfect, how can we determine if someone's longer hours working on a project are because they are trying to get it "just right" and aiming for perfection or simply trying to figure out how to get it done at all, how can we decide that someone is late because they have poor time management skills versus simply having had a more pressing priority pop up to deviate a timely arrival and who are any of us to determine another person's delegation skills if we don't know for certain who is actually getting everything done that we are attributing to that person?

Teams are made stronger, more productive and far better at achieving greater results by bringing together diverse individuals with varying experiences, perspectives and thoughts; however, the power behind including diversity within any group is limited by the communication skills of all team members. Are we subconsciously sabotaging our teams? How do we speak up so others don't make inaccurate assumptions about us? Or how do we ask questions to get others' true answers instead of filling in the blanks incorrectly?

When presenting a team-building workshop to a client earlier this month, we focused a good deal on embracing varying perceptions as we cling to the wisdom from Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" song lyrics that we can change only ourselves, not others. In other words, we have to be "starting with the man in the mirror", and I find the Serenity Prayer helpful in knowing how to react to any given scenario... "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Are the assessments we make of others helpful as we attempt to focus on what we can change about ourselves? Moreover, as humans, how can we reign ourselves back and stop making such assumptions of others? How does the human impulse to apply labels impact our success in teams?

Communicate to Collaborate for Greater Results

A quick Google search reveals that collaboration is defined as "the action of working with someone to produce or create something"; I contend collaboration is partnering with others to create something greater than can be produced alone. It is the very principle on which the team acronym of "Together, everyone achieves more" was created.

If we define team as "a number of persons associated in some joint action", we illuminate the importance of each team being results-oriented, focusing on achieving the desired outcome from that joint action and bringing complementary skills together in working towards a common vision. The trust, accountability and interdependence of a team depends heavily upon how well the individual members can communicate, meaning each must "impart or interchange knowledge, thoughts, feelings, opinions, information and ideas by speech, writing, gestures or signs" in order for all team members' differing contributions to combine for producing greater results related to achieving their unified mission.

Whether your team is everyone in the same department at work, a volunteer committee for a non-profit organization or the members of your family, there is always a need for optimal communication, and we must put effort into continually improving this skill.

Here are best practices for your team to improve communication:

• Use the right tools at the right times. Research found that only 7% of any message is conveyed through words, 38% through vocal intonation and 55% through non-verbal elements, such as facial expressions, gestures and posture. Therefore, carefully consider the pros and cons of each communication channel before choosing which is the best for sharing what message needs to be conveyed: text, chat, email, phone call, video conference or in-person meeting.

• Speak in the language your audience will best hear. I don't mean choosing between English, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, Italian or Portuguese. Instead, I mean choosing words that appeal to the way your audience prefers to take in information, process it and make decisions based on acquired information. Some people prefer to take in information by using their five senses while others go beyond what is real or concrete and focus on meaning, associations and relationships to take in information that they trust. Some people seek to experience the world, not organize it, while others look at the world with an eye for what decisions need to be made, utilizing a planned approach to meet the deadlines set for decisions to be made in a scheduled way. Some people make decisions based on impersonal, objective logic while others use their personal values to understand the situation, focusing on relationships and harmony. Some people make decisions based off reasoning while others focus decision-making on emotions, responding to their gut more than their brains. When you customize your message for the person to whom you'll be saying it, you better ensure the message is received.

• Avoid overload. The age of the Internet gives us instant access to knowledge and correspondence, making us constantly susceptible to an information avalanche. It's easy for any individual message to get lost amidst the clutter, no matter how important it is. Effective communication shares the right information with the right audience at the right time. Since less is more, keep your message simple, brief and to the point, sharing updates only when appropriate. 

• Help everyone stay away from making assumptions. Whenever there is missing information or we haven't been updated on the status of something, as human-beings, we automatically fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, we often fill those blanks with inaccurate or incomplete information. Focus on eliminating blanks in what you communicate to others, filling them in with what you want others to put in those blanks instead of what they'd assume from their own perceptions.

Are there certain folks with whom you struggle to communicate well? Which tactics from this list could you incorporate in communications with those people for greater effectiveness and to better achieve your desired results?

Make Meetings More Meaningful

When The Muse asked how much time we spend in meetings, the results were scary... "If you're a middle manager, it's likely about 35% of your time, and, if you're in upper management, it can be a whopping 50%." Considering most of us have no way to avoid meetings, it is important to make good use of all that time being invested in meeting with others. Here are steps we can take for a positive impact:

• Have a clear purpose. If your meetings are focusing on simply updating attendees, they are not respecting everyone's limited resource of time. There are plenty of alternative means for conveying updates that are less intrusive to attendees, such as email or project management tools. Instead, meetings are most useful when focused on one of two purposes... either discussion or decision-making. If your meeting's purpose is not one of these, could the goal be achieved in a more efficient way by using another method or implementing new technology?

• Schedule strategically. Be cognizant of vacation plans so meetings are not scheduled when many who need to attend will be gone. Likewise, avoid scheduling a meeting in the days leading up to a big deadline, especially if the meeting is unrelated to the project coming due, or during times when there will be too many distractions for attendees to be focused on achieving the desired results. Finally, as attendees can better plan the remainder of their day if each meeting includes an end time in addition to a start time, be sure to set and communicate a specific ending time for each meeting.

• Invite only the right people. Include those whose contributions are necessary for fulfilling the meeting's purpose: those with the authority to make decisions, those with enough pull in the organization to advocate for what's decided, those with the expertise needed to make informed decisions and those necessary for successfully executing decisions made. Still, the Rule of 7 explains how "everyone in a meeting over 7 attendees reduces your ability to make decisions by 10%", hence why it's important to not include more than those whose contributions are necessary for accomplishing the meeting's goals as too many attendees lowers productivity.

• Shorten how long you'll meet. Rarely do meetings require an entire hour, but we tend to schedule them for that length anyway. Try to end meetings at least 10 minutes before the next hour, like 12:50, 1:50, etc, or schedule your meetings in 15-minute increments, like meeting at noon to 12:45 or 12:15 to 12:45. Then, push yourself to accomplish everything on the agenda within that shorter duration by using a timer or having someone serve as timekeeper. Attendees will appreciate those spare moments before the next hour to return calls, run to the restroom, grab a snack or gather their thoughts.

• Utilize an agenda. Make sure the agenda is realistic, listing what you actually believe can be accomplished within the scheduled time. Start with the most important items, and indicate how much time you intend to allocate for each item listed. Seek input from attendees to ensure everything needed is included while removing lower priorities or unrelated topics.

• Prepare beforehand. Distribute supplemental items with enough time for attendees to review. If there is legwork that can be done in advance, completing it beforehand will help the meeting run more smoothly. As explained by Dana Manciagli in The Triad Business Journal, "proper planning prevents poor performance". Taking time to get your ducks in a row before empowers better discussion and / or decision-making.

• Clearly communicate expectations. How does the meeting's leader want those attending to behave? Examples include coming prepared, contributing to discussions, giving feedback, sharing insights as applicable, making sure to ask questions and limiting technological distractions. Those expectations should be shared in writing prior to the meeting or verbally at the start. Additionally, attendees need to know guidelines for participating within the agenda, like when to ask questions, how to join in brainstorming and at what point it is appropriate to share feedback during any discussions. Meeting leadership should think proactively about what situations might arise related to each interaction and be specific with standards set.

• Make notes. If you have the agenda beforehand, you can use that skeleton as a framework for filling in your notes from the meeting. Highlight what is important, whether via a different color of ink, a real highlighter or simply a block to separate the content that matters most from everything else. Designate each task that must be done as it arises in conversation; then, end your meeting notes with a recap of the highlights, action items and timing of next meeting. This reinforces your commitment to the topic, helps with paying attention throughout and enables more easily referring back to any items covered earlier.

• Push discussion of issues arising throughout the agenda. Rather than deviating down a rabbit hole and stealing time from addressing all aspects of the meeting's designated purpose, denote on a separate list any issues not on the agenda as they arise; then, if there is extra time at the end, address each item. Alternatively, consider scheduling time on a later date for discussing or resolving those newly discovered topics.

• Ensure accountability for what's decided. Each action item arising from the meeting's discussions and decisions will require a deadline for its completion, particularly as every what that has a when is more likely to get done. Ensuring each task gets completed is more likely when there is someone being held accountable for its completion and a way to track progress being made. Assign someone to the completion of each task resulting from the meeting and decide how you'll confirm follow-through by the person being held accountable.

With what aspects of meeting others do you struggle most? What issues have you faced in keeping your meetings on track? How do you ensure your meetings are productive? 

Limit Distractions

As you dive into your daily must-do list, do you frequently find your thoughts drifting? Do you get pulled in different directions all day, especially when time-crunched near deadline? Are there constantly different people, places and things needing your attention? If so, distractions might be depleting your efforts, and it's time to evaluate new solutions for limiting distractions' negative impact on your output.

A set of studies at the University of California found that workers are interrupted every 11 minutes at work. Research shows it can take 10 - 18 minutes to regain focus after a distraction, although some studies indicate it takes an average of 23 minutes for workers to return to a task after an interruption. I am not a mathematician, but my rough math tells me that doesn't leave much time for actually getting things done. Distractions rob us of productivity.

Here are strategies to limit the negative impact of distractions:

• Turn off tech-related notifications. Every one of those pings and dings jerks your thought-process around like a ping-pong ball. Stop the pop-ups that are designed to tell you when you get a new comment on social media. Deactivate previews of newly received email messages. When you need to focus, set your smartphone to silent and remove the vibrate that goes with silent mode. Schedule time for handling calls, social media and emails when it works best for you, and, for folks that do require an immediate response (like key account clients or your direct supervisor), make them VIPs so you can utilize Do Not Disturb on iOS and Priority Mode on Android.

• Wear noise-reducing headphones. Particularly when you need to focus on strategic thinking or creative production, it's imperative to block out all the excess noises around you. The tool of noise-reducing headphones can block out what's happening around you, even if you have no music playing and simply utilize the visual of you wearing headphones to discourage others from disturbing or interrupting you.

• Delete the clutter. Excess in your workspace, too many emails coming into your inbox, stacks of paper and the loads of documents saved on your computer's hard drive can all act as distractions, pulling you away from what matters most. Having less means fewer things to detract from your desired results.

• Schedule tasks that fulfill your goals. Burnout comes from actions being out of alignment with priorities, and being distracted can be a symptom of burnout. Regularly perform a time audit for optimum output, making certain your actions properly align with what matters most to your specific priorities.

• Focus on working intently for shorter durations. When you break projects into smaller, bite-sized actions, you can work to complete each of those individual tasks step-by-step. You'll feel empowered to achieve each task's goal in a single work session, thereby having more rewards for staying on track to succeed with wins for finishing each of these mini-milestones. 

• Utilize a timer. Some individuals or teams use a timer to simply get started, setting it for 15 minutes or so and capitalizing on the momentum created by that rush to keep pushing toward completion of the task at hand. Others like using a timer to stay on track, setting it for different intervals throughout the time required for a task's completion and making certain to still be working on the task at hand when the timer goes off at the end of each interval.

• Jot down unrelated thoughts as they pop up. Our brains are meant for thinking, not remembering; therefore, each time we attempt to use brain cells for remembering, it steals our ability to think better. Document those ideas, to-do items or brilliant thoughts so you don't lose them and they don't detract from your efforts to keep getting work done.

• Capitalize on your energy cycles. Output flows more easily and distractions are less impactful when we're in a groove and our most energized. Therefore, take a moment of self-assessment to decide when your energy level is at its peak and, then, schedule how to attack your most challenging work at this time of day when your abilities flow most freely. 

• Limit the impact of folks who drop by. If you have an extra chair in your office, make sure it has something resting in it to keep others from sitting down to chat or position it somewhere more difficult to access so it's less inviting for visitors to setting in and stay awhile. When someone comes into your office without an appointment, stand up and move towards your door, conveying to the visitor that it is not a convenient time. Keep an outbox near your office door so you can take those items down the hall as someone is coming to your office, always encouraging those that make unplanned visits to schedule an appointment for later. You want to help them, but it has to fit into your schedule for you to give that individual your undivided attention without negatively impacting efforts to do your work.

• Work remotely when needed. While a library might help, research suggests the sounds of a coffee shop act as "white noise", helping you block out everything around for the greatest uninhibited productivity. New surroundings can boost concentration. For an added increase in your productivity, leave your laptop's charging cord at work or home, and work more efficiently so you can accomplish everything requiring your computer before its battery loses all of its juice.

• Implement delegation and automation. If someone else can complete a task more efficiently or as effectively as you, cut back on the distractions from trying to do it all on your own by delegating those tasks. Likewise, stop worrying about getting done what you can program technology to do automatically, removing the distractions of trying to remember all those additional tasks by automating what you can.

• Resolve what's weighing on your mind. Problems, conflicts, issues and decisions to be made all take up space in our minds, adding a psychological burden and popping back up in our thoughts at the most inopportune moments. Once those are resolved, they stop coming back into our thought-processes, allowing us to better focus on what needs our attention more.

What distracts you most often? What tactics have you found most successful for keeping yourself organized, focused and productive amidst all of your distractions?

Invest in Self Care to Fuel Your Energy Reserves

In a society that is constantly focused on doing more, it is increasingly easy for our energy to become depleted and we get burnt out. It is imperative to act deliberately to take care of our mental, emotional and physical health via self-care practices which replenish our energy reserves. Only when we build up what we have within can we fuel our desired results.

As part of the Simple Change team, I am well aware of how diminishing or replenished energy impacts my productivity; however, like you, I often feel the pain of how challenging it can be to improve my energy level. There's a big difference between knowing you need to take care of yourself to have the energy needed for getting things done versus taking action to boost those energy reserves, right? Although each of us has unique requirements for ways to best boost energy, here are some ideas you can easily implement immediately for better boosting productivity through greater energy reserves:

• Listen to music. Maybe you prefer something upbeat. Maybe you prefer something calming. Maybe it's more about the beat of the bass. Get singing or humming or dancing to it.

• Create a vision board. Add something with vivid color or energetic imagery, conveying excitement and movement.

• Connect with those who matter to you. Sometimes, it can be in person, but, if not, consider a video chat, phone call, text message or sharing something on social media.

• Get moving. Take a brisk walk, especially if you can get out in nature. Physical activity oxygenates blood cells while breathing outdoor air while absorbing vitamin D is invigorating.

• Count your blessings. Gratitude is so powerful; taking time to document appreciation for what we have, who we are with and what lessons we've learned along the way fuels desire for more while energizing our belief that we can get things done.

• Laugh out loud. Find something you've done recently that was funny or watch online videos that you find humorous. Choose something that gets you giggling from down in your gut.

• Eat well. Healthy foods fuel our energy, especially with increased amounts of magnesium and antioxidants. 

• Stay hydrated. Keep a reusable water bottle with you at all times and drink from it frequently, especially when you start to feel your mind drifting or need to re-energize.

• Focus on something you have to look forward to in the near future. Whether you are planning for an upcoming vacation or bought tickets to a special event, that feeling of anticipation and excitement will be a great energy boost.

• Meditate. Sitting quietly and being intentional with your breathing will bring oxygen to each individual cell. Apps like Calm, Headspace, Buddhify, Simply Being as well as Stop, Breathe & Think make it easier to get started.

What kinds of things have you found help energize you? Are you feeling a little low on your energy reserves? If so, which of these can you give a try right now?

A Sunday Well Spent Leads to Productivity All Week

A solid foundation is necessary for building success. When you take time on Sunday to lay stable groundwork for the week ahead, you are more likely to successfully address what matters most with fewer distractions, less stress and greater efficiency. Balancing time to recharge, relax and refill your tank with investing in preparations for the week ahead can be challenging; here's a sample weekly prep checklist to guide your efforts and ensure nothing's forgotten as you get ready to start the new week:

• Complete your weekly strategy session. As our brains are meant for thinking, not remembering, it's imperative to document a clear, meaningful path for achieving your priority goals, specifying how to address tasks, team communications, time commitments and opportunities for development. Using both your calendar and running data dump of tasks needing your attention, create a game plan that can be used as a protective barrier, warding off time stealers and others' priorities like your own suit of armor.

• Create in your space a blank slate for addressing your priorities. Take away what physical distractions or hurdles will prevent progress. Return to their homes the items atop your desk that you have been using for work. Put away the papers and objects in your "to file" stack. Move into folders the random selection of documents downloaded to your computer's desktop. Return your email to the desired "inbox zero" status (or as close as possible). Give homes to what has come into your entryway. Move back to their homes what might have shifted throughout your home or automobile. Clear your clutter!

• Get a head start on what you can for the week ahead. Often, a good place to start is with marketing efforts... Can you draft, edit or add photos to what blog posts will go live? Can you schedule some of the content to be posted on your social media channels? If you have networking events to attend, can you check out the registration lists to see with whom you need to connect? Have you or your team placed what advertising buys are needed? Yet, don't stop with marketing efforts alone; consider what other projects or tasks could benefit from a head-start. Take action now to double-check what's up so you don't worry later about what might've fallen through the cracks.

• Plan from where your meals will come. We each need to eat regularly to stay alive, but waiting until we're hungry to figure out what we'll eat can be a recipe for eating unhealthy meals. Instead, take time to plan your meals, including options for using a slow-cooker or Instant Pot®, cooking mass amounts over the weekend for meals throughout the week, ways in which the same elements can be reused in different ways, pre-packing lunches and preparing breakfast the night before. Assuming you eat 3 meals each day, there are 21 opportunities for creatively streamlining, but you don't have to pre-assign each meal; you could create a list of options for the week and pick from the list in preparation for each next day.

• Lay out each day's outfit for the week ahead. Check the forecast, incorporate what you have planned and pick out the details for what will be necessary so you aren't scrambling in the morning. This should include what purse or bag to carry, what jewelry to wear and what undergarments are needed. It's an excellent opportunity to make sure everything in the your closet is hung or wherever it is supposed to be; an organized closet makes it so much easier to find what's needed for that perfect outfit you'll need at this week's big event.

• Connect with those who matter most. Outreach on social media to share content that might be of value to a friend, congratulate someone for a big accomplishment from the week ending or say hey to a contact you've been missing. Better yet, get together in-person or via video chat with someone who is special to you; spending time with people who know and love you will fuel your soul and re-enforce your identity. Then, talk through logistics with your team; since we all wear many hats, working through commitments with your spouse, kids or roommates will make sure folks get where they need to go with what is needed while managing how much stress is experienced. We don't want pre-school calling in a panic because someone got left behind, right?

• Wash and change your bed sheets as well as bath towel. There's a true joy felt when jumping into bed on Sunday night with clean sheets, even more so than another night of the week. It's such a quality way to create that desired foundation for the week ahead, signifying a clean slate and fresh start.

What steps do you take each Sunday to prepare for the week ahead? By when will you implement which of these steps into your weekly routine? Will this checklist help you be more proactive and, thereby, more successful?

Utilize Priorities as a Filter for Determining What To Do

Throughout the day, we are bombarded with items and people demanding our attention. Tasks come to us via email, calls, meeting notes and folks stopping by our offices in addition to the many, ongoing projects that need time to move towards completion. Amidst all the overwhelm, it's hard to know where to start, let alone how to get it all properly accomplished.

With all the attention on comic superheroes, it's easy to feel like Superman, Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel, but each of us is human and, therefore, can do only what's feasible within each day's constraints. Due to how many interruptions we face daily, it is realistic to plan 3 to 5 items that we intend on completing by the end of the day, leaving buffers for issues that arise.

To decide which of the many tasks on your running data dump of to-do items will make the cut for each day's must-do list, reflect on your top priorities. Which of the tasks on your list will fuel your success with your goals? Which tasks address what matters most for home, work, your community and taking care of yourself?

It's important to schedule your priorities rather than simply prioritizing whatever randomly falls onto your schedule. What you have established as your priorities should be what matters most, providing guidance for how you should best invest your limited resource of time. This allows you to proactively address the important things instead of reacting to others' priorities.

How many items are on your to-do list for today? If you're looking at a never-ending list right now, what steps can you take to focus on 3-5 items for this particular workday? What are your priorities, and how can you filter the never-ending list of what needs your attention through those to focus on what matters most?

Stop Depending on Remembering... Document Everything

Keeping track of our ever-growing to-do lists, resource materials, checklists, websites to reference and shopping lists gets progressively more overwhelming every day. The amount of information to be remembered is constantly increasing. How can we possibly remember it all, let alone take the actions necessary to respond to each request for attention?!?

No matter how we attempt to keep track of everything, we must keep in mind that our brains are meant for strategic and creative thinking, not remembering things. Our brains are less than ideal tools for keeping track of anything, and the biggest lie we tell ourselves is "I don't need to write that down; I'll remember it." How often does that actually work?

Get what must be remembered out of your head and document everything. Whether you choose a paper or electronic solution, do a data dump and collect it all in something other than your brain.

While you probably use a calendar for dates to remember, an address book for contacts' information and a task management solution for your must-do items, where do you cull together everything else that is overflowing your brain? Do you prefer a paper notebook, a mobile app or something accessible everywhere?

If you prefer a paper solution, I suggest you look at the Arc notebook system from Staples®. Once you choose which notebook size, style and color you prefer, you customize it with the type of paper preferred; then, you can segment the content to be retained with tab dividers, adjust the amount of paper that can be retained with expansion discs and move pages around by simply lifting them out and pressing them back into the rings however preferred.

I prefer to document everything in Evernote since it allows easy reference as I live, work and play on-the-go. This suite of applications allows me to use one username and password for accessing my information synced across all my devices (smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop as well as accessible via the Internet), it has unbelievable search capabilities to find exactly what I need when I need it, it allows for uploading an extensive amount of different content types in various ways, and it empowers me to easily share content with others to boost collaboration. Whether retaining typed text, web clippings, photos of handwritten notes, checklists, audio / video recordings, bills from service providers or files, I can easily add those to my Evernote database; plus, when adding content, there are so many ways to seamlessly accomplish it: manually, scanning from my phone or the Fujitsu ScanSnap, IFTTT, emailing, FileThis and many more options.

As an Evernote Certified Consultant, I often post about ways to implement Evernote for your greater success, how you can utilize Evernote to boost productivity and ways Evernote will help alleviate your stress as you achieve harmony through work-life integration. To find these many helpful hacks and tidbits, simply search Evernote in the top, left-hand corner of this blog.

Do you already have a tool you prefer using to remember everything? Are you trying to rely on your brain, do you rely on a paper solution or do you have an electronic option you prefer? Have you tried Evernote for culling it all together?

Is It Time To Simplify Your Life?

The first week of August is celebrated as "Simplify Your Life Week"; however, I feel confident that any time of the year can be ideal for streamlining. With a little effort, you can determine what matters most and develop razor-sharp focus of your resources on those priority goals; you can best invest your limited time in efficiently and effectively achieving the results desired.

Clutter is the greatest deterrent when working to organize for success. Whether the clutter is in your space, your mind, your technology or your calendar, beyond simply robbing you of precious time, it can be physically, mentally and emotionally draining. Clutter makes each of us overwhelmed, enhancing the difficulty of forward-thinking decision-making and creating a scenario where it is more challenging to best achieve your goals.

Taking time to simplify can tame some of this stress, making it easier to quickly find what you need and effortlessly know what needs to be done at any moment. Here are some strategies that can be implemented this month to eliminate the unnecessary:

- Deliberately choose how you invest your time. By developing habits for a weekly strategy session and daily wrap-up, you can map out a specific game plan to guide you throughout the week and, then, stay on track amidst the world's distractions.

- Stay true to your priorities. Yes, priorities can shift by the day, week, month or year; sometimes, there are shifts minute-by-minute. Yet, if you have a flexible game plan that can act as your protective barrier, you can shuffle how you invest your time accordingly, filling each day's 1,440 minutes with only what matters most and keeping your actions aligned with your goals.

- Respect the value of your space. Whether it's in your physical space, electronic files, email folders or calendar, keep only what is accurate, applicable, useful or bringing you joy. When anything not meeting one of those requirements is maintained, there's more to dig through, leading to overwhelm, distractions and stress.

- Be positively present. Try to live in the current moment instead of worrying about the future or what is outside of your control. Listen intently to others, focusing on understanding rather than planning how you will respond. Accept that none of us is perfect, and work to bring folks together rather than fueling divisiveness.

- Learn to say "no". What can you keep out of your space? What can be deleted in general? What tasks or time commitments can be delegated? With tips from mindbodygreen, it's easier to master the art of saying no, which eliminates what doesn't rank high enough in your priorities to earn space in your files or time on your schedule.

- Incorporate tactics for success from work-life integration. Through research by Wharton's Work / Life Integration Project along with my clients' best practices, yes, you can create harmony with goals for work, home, community and self complementing one another rather than competing with each other. Focus on outcomes over activities, and invest your time in activities that accomplish wins in more than one area of life at the same time.

What steps do you take to simplify your life? Will you try any new tactics for this year's Simplify Your Life Week?

Make Summer More Productive

Summer officially kicks off today, and you might be feeling a little more sluggish, laid back or easy going than during other seasons. When someone mentions summer, many folks' minds drift to being on vacation, hanging out by the pool or lounging on the beach with toes in the sand. Alternatively, you might reflect immediately on the rising temperatures and how difficult it is to concentrate in the heat. Yet, there are steps we all can take to make summer more productive. Here are a few ways to boost productivity this summer:

1. Calendar the craziness. Line up calendars for the next three months along your wall so you can see everything coming up at a glance. These might be wall-hanging paper calendars or dry-erase calendars; the key is to have the next three months visible at once. Then, add vacations for you and your team members, holiday celebrations, impending deadlines and family commitments, including swim meets and camp registrations alike. Include all elements of your life (work, home, community and self), considering different colors for each of those buckets. When you know what is coming, you can more proactively invest your time in achieving all of your desired results for each area of life.

2. Establish your non-negotiables from the get-go. As summer schedules tend to become a little more erratic than normal, you and your team need to know which items have less flexibility than others. For me, I absolutely must maintain my weekly strategy session and daily wrap-up, but the good habits that keep each individual on track productively will vary from person to person. Do you expect your team members to have certain hours during which they always work in the office rather than operate remotely? Is there an expectation for how team members should request vacation time or notify the rest of the team about a hiccup related to impending deadlines, which can be especially vital with varying schedules for summer vacations? This would be a good time to communicate leadership's expectations to everyone. Be as clear, concise and transparent as you can.

3. Focus your efforts on tasks, not projects. It's not possible to check a project off your to-do list in one sitting. "Plan a party" is not a single action item; instead, there are many actions that make up that project. As you are mapping out the next three months, take time to break larger goals into smaller, bite-sized action items that can be completed as individual tasks. Start each task with a verb so as to fuel action, break each task down to as simple of a function as possible, estimate how long each action item will take to complete so you readily know those tasks taking 10 or 30 minutes, and and assign a deadline for each task's completion.

4. Invest some time to reflect inward. With erratic schedules during the summer, many companies have fewer meetings that would otherwise be held at normal intervals; this can be the ideal time to review and reset some of your organization's key elements. When was the last time your team updated its mission, vision, core values, annual goals, processes and workspace organization? If it has been awhile, block out time during the dog days of summer to look them over and adjust as needed. Maybe you'll want to freshen up your customers' experiences, update what messages you are conveying across all mediums and put yourself in the client's shoes. Further, this can be an ideal time for a personal audit, where you assess what you have learned and achieved thus far this year, what priorities need attention in the coming months and what "someday" actions need to be scheduled so they move from to-do to done. Do your goals for work, home, community or self need to be adjusted, and how can you realign your actions to focus on achieving each?

5. Make time for fun and frivolity. If you block out time to truly enjoy the season, you'll be less distracted by what you are missing when you are focusing intently on getting things done. The "Fun Summer Activities Checklist" from Real Simple and "31 Totally Free Things to Do This Summer" from PureWow are excellent places to brainstorm what cool things you can do to dive into summer enjoyment; then, once you've blocked off time for those activities, your mind will be less likely to drift from working towards wondering when you'll actually be able to celebrate summer fun. Plus, when you are taking time to enjoy all this season offers, you can truly take a break from everything else since you've planned for when those other goals will be addressed.

What steps do you take to make summer more productive? Will you be implementing or attempting any of these here?

Is It Time To Stop Saying I'm Sorry?

There has been a buzz growing about the negative impact of saying "I'm sorry". Folks contend that it holds back career success, prevents stronger relationships and makes the person saying it appear weaker. As opposed to saying "I apologize", the phrasing of "I'm sorry" suggests you are claiming first-hand that you are a sorry human-being. In researching this phenomenon, I read about a study published in Psychology Science that had men and women journal how often they committed an offense as well as whether or not they subsequently offered an apology, which reported women committing more offenses and offering more apologies than men.

As I studied this, I became acutely aware of each time I used the phrase of "I'm sorry". Whether it was bumping against someone walking through a doorway, because I'd missed the other person's call due to being in a meeting or when I'm running a few minutes late arriving somewhere, I felt a twinge of "I shouldn't have done that" with each iteration. "Oh, no... What will they think of me?!?"

Although I want to be considerate of others, remembering we are all humans who put our pants on one leg at a time and regularly make mistakes, I certainly don't want others to view me as a lesser person due simply to my word choice. Therefore, I've been practicing two new habits: First, I choose carefully when an apology is appropriate or if I should be responding in a different manner. Then, second, I make sure to word each apology as "I apologize" rather than letting "I'm sorry" simply roll off my tongue. There is a distinction between those statements, and I want to make sure I'm conveying the appropriate message.

As I have made these resolutions, I've realized that breaking a bad habit is very difficult. I backslide from time to time, but I'm trying to be kind and understanding with my own shortcomings. I know that changing my words isn't about mind over matter; instead, it means I have to be thinking about it regularly until that thought process is simply inherent to my thinking. That's no easy feat.

I will keep at it, I will get better daily, and I am confident my efforts will make me a better communicator. Meanwhile, I will eagerly await the day that the Google Chrome extension for Just Not Sorry will be expanded to include the Mac Mail application.

Are you aware of how often you say "I"m sorry"? If so, what are your thoughts about that? How does it strike you when you hear someone else use that phrase? Which phrases bother you more?

Redefining Productivity for Greater Success - Work-Life Integration Is Realistic Way to Tackle What Matters Most

One of 6 tenants to productivity being "efficiently working at effectively achieving desired results" is how work-life integration is a realistic way to tackle what matters most. In January, I looked at what it means to "be productive" or "boost productivity"; today, I'll do the last of 6 deep dives into specifics for redefining productivity by providing ways to implement work-life integration.

People often refer to work-life balance; yet, I believe work-life integration is more realistic. In thinking about "balance", I see a scale or seesaw, forcing a perception of costs needed for success, but I do not believe my "work" competes with my "life", seeing how they regularly complement each other instead. Although balance would be static, life is certainly not and requires fluid solutions to address one's ever-changing priorities for work, home, community or society and the private realm of mind, body and spirit. I help my clients recognize how any element we choose to have in our lives adds value to each of the other elements and how harmony is possible. As the various elements of life are layers on top of each other, the emphasis needed for each element continually fluctuates, and each layer adds value to the others, making the total greater than any part.

Some people refer to it as "getting in the zone" while others call it "being on a roll". No matter what you call it, enabling all elements of life to better each other helps you benefit from greater effectiveness so you ultimately perform at your best. Research shows you can learn to get and stay on a roll by tweaking a few simple aspects of how you handle the various aspects of life.

Stew Friedman has been at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, since 1984 where he is the Practice Professor of Management and founded the Wharton Leadership Program. Known as the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project, Friedman's research focuses a good deal on the interactions between all the elements encompassed in life: work, home, community or society as well as our own minds, bodies and spirits. Whether in my own life or working with my clients, I've seen great validity in Friedman's finding that "you don't have to sacrifice, tradeoff or balance to have a sane, productive and meaningful work life and home life". The mashup of many layers in life may fluctuate over time, but addressing the priorities of those various elements leads to more successful results, focusing on the three core principles of what the Wharton School refers to as the Total Leadership Approach: be real, be whole and be innovative. As Friedman explains, "To be real is to act with authenticity by clarifying what's important to you. To be whole is to act with integrity by recognizing how the different parts of your life affect one another. All this examination allows you to be innovative."

Over the past few weeks, we've done deep dives on the importance of time being limited, being clear on priorities, proactively planning to best invest time, limit distractions and utilize all available resources; it is work-life integration that pulls together each tenant of productivity for your greatest success.

Looking at your own life, would you like to utilize this integration, harmony and efficiency to fuel more powerful outcomes? Here are a few simple steps to get you started:

• Plan for all elements of life in the same daily, weekly and monthly game plans. You are one person, whether at home, at work, volunteering in the community or taking time to care for yourself. You can't be in more than one place at the same time, and multi-tasking prohibits achieving the best possible results. Still, there are only 1,4440 minutes in each day, and you must allocate your investment of time as powerfully as possible to address the ever-changing priorities from all elements of your life. With a clear awareness of your priorities, you can include actions that address goals for all of those most important priorities, rather than segmenting your life, and you'll be able to focus on activities that will address your needs in multiple elements at the same time. Instead of compartmentalizing activities by individual elements of your life, schedule your priorities, and bring your priorities together so multiple goals can be accomplished simultaneously.

• Be creative with simple changes that address multiple priorities at once. With a clarity of which priorities are most important and urgent at any moment in time, you can plan actions to address more than one priority at once; as Friedman explains, aim for "4-way wins, (where there's) improved performance at work, at home, in the community and for yourself." Enhanced productivity and satisfaction come with small changes that are under your control while greater efficiency comes from addressing the priorities from multiple elements at once, which means achieving more of your various different goals concurrently. For example, walking your dog meets your goals to live a healthier life as well as take care of your pet; however, if you brainstorm a big pitch for work or listen to a recording of a book you're reading at the same time, you can accomplish even more via this work-life integration tactic. Likewise, attending a business conference is another excellent example for addressing multiple elements at the same time: you're learning new information, networking with other professionals and visiting new locations.

• Do great work. When you are good at completing assigned tasks, whether at work, at home or in the community, you better position yourself to do something for yourself or another element of your life as a complement, having those from whom you need buy-in be more receptive to your "why" because you were present and focused during the time they needed you to be in achieving goals related to them. When you perform well as needed, those around you are more understanding about how addressing other priorities will empower you to do even better work and better help the team in the future. As explained by Jennifer Dulski, President & COO of Change.org, "If (others) know they can trust you to deliver high-quality results... they'll be less concerned with when and where you get that work done", but you must prove yourself. Turnover, absenteeism and disgruntled workers are costly; therefore, when your work-life integration leads to the business achieving its goals, more options become available to you.

• Offer flexibility as a "temporary experiment". When you frame how your solution benefits the entire team, explain how it will be regularly evaluated and can be discarded if it just doesn't work out as hoped. Then, when you succeed, achieving enhanced productivity with greater outputs, everyone will support the continuation of the tactics in your solution.

• Acknowledge how the resources around you can help. As we discussed last week, it is imperative to utilize all available resources, whether streamlining your workflow processes, creating an organized workspace, hiring consultants whose expertise enhances what you already know or do, outsourcing what needs to be done but not necessarily by you, implementing boundaries or taking advantage of existing tech tools. When you can pull in resources that help address priority goals for multiple elements of your life, it's all the more efficient, effective and, therefore, productive. 

• Focus on outcomes over activities. Rather than doing things you think you are "supposed" to do, have specific goals mapped out for your week and incorporate actions that will drive those desired results. As I'm planning for all elements of life, I use my Weekly Strategy Session and Daily Wrap-Ups to create a game plan for what particular activities will fuel my desired outcomes and help me stay on track for successfully achieving the results I want or need. By focusing my actions on achieving my desired outcomes, I know whether I'm being successful.

• Control what you can control. Only you are the boss of you and can control the fate of your week. Life will throw you curve balls, but you choose how to react and with what attitude you face challenges. How much or how little guilt you experience in any element really is in your control, just as you control with what actions you respond to what occurs around you.

• Complete a regular audit of your time. Experiencing burnout is usually due to a misalignment between your goals, priorities or values and your actions. On a daily, weekly and monthly basis, make sure your actions are consistent with your values, supporting the fulfillment of your goals in whichever life elements are highest priorities currently. For example, are you attending meetings you don't really need to be in just so you can be seen there? If you have trouble staying on track alone, consider incorporating an accountability partner in your efforts, giving you someone to talk through situations where it is more challenging to align your actions with your priorities. Since our individual circumstances changes at different stages in our lives, the percent of each day that needs to be devoted to each element of life will vary, meaning we must keep our focus fluid, and regular reviews of how well you are aligning your actions with your priorities will aid your efforts. 

As you look at the various elements of your life, including work, home, community or society as well as mind, body and spirit, are you integrating those different layers into a mashup that drives harmony, satisfaction, greater outputs and better productivity? Are you pulling the various tenants of productivity (limited time, clear priorities, proactive planning, eliminating distractions and utilizing all available resources) together for work-life integration that fuels your desired results? If not, what simple changes can you make for more success?

Redefining Productivity for Greater Success - It Is Imperative to Utilize All Available Resources

One of 6 tenants to productivity being "efficiently working at effectively achieving desired results" is how it is imperative to utilize all available resources. In January, I looked at what it means to "be productive"; today, I'll do the fifth of 6 deep dives into specifics for redefining productivity, offering ways you can utilize all available resources for greater success.

When I refer to the resources or tools for your greater success, I never limit that discussion to technology. As you are filling your productivity toolbox, consider streamlining your workflow processes, creating an organized workspace in which you know where things are stored, hire consultants whose expertise enhances what you already know or do, outsource what needs to be done but not necessarily by you to employees or service professionals (including house cleaners and personal chefs), implement boundaries appropriate for your circumstances and

Still, in today's world, technology often plays a big role in how we get things done. Take time to evaluate whether paper or electronic tools might better meet your specific needs, taking into consideration your personality, your existing workflows, where you feel like you are losing time and the expectations of those with whom you work (your supervisor, your team members, your clients, your vendors, etc). Writing out meeting notes, tasks and time commitments on paper can aid in remembering those details; however, electronic alternatives have the benefit of automatic carryover, adding reminders and scheduling recurrences as needed, which can be beneficial for certain individuals. I also find the Time and Space Style Inventory enlightening when determining what sort of resources would be the best fit for any particular individual.

Although Three Dog Night claims "One is the loneliest number", I contend that one is the most powerful number for being productive. As you outline resources to implement, whether paper or electronic, keep in mind the power of one: one calendar for personal and professional commitments, one running data dump of all tasks that funnels into one daily to-do list, one address book for all contacts' information, one set of naming conventions for all files (paper, electronic, email), one place for all the information you must remember as well as reference and one strategy session to plan your week that is maintained with one daily wrap-up at the end of each day. Having one of each better ensures your content is kept up-to-date, you know what needs to be done when, nothing falls through the cracks and you don't get double-booked.

Consider what tools you are using to meet each of these needs and fill in what holes exist as you're working to get things done:

• How do you block out web and app distractions? When hopping online for research, writing or social media, it's easy to get distracted and lose time. Limit your access for greater focus and more efficient results by using tools like Flipd, GrooveOtter, KeepMeOut, RescueTime, SelfControl and StayFocused.

• How do you know what to do when? Use the Eisenhower Matrix to narrow down the endless list of tasks being thrown your direction. With this tool, determine if the task really needs to be done; if it must be done, by whom and how quickly. Then, organize tasks that must be done by you with reminders in a task or project manager like Any.Do, Asana, Azendoo, Carrot To-Do, iMeet Central, Convo, Due, Google Tasks, Mavenlink, Nozbe, OmniFocus, Pocket Informant, Producteev, Remember The Milk, Reminders, Teamwork, TeuxDeux, Todoist, Trello, Wunderlist, Wrike and Zoho.

• How do you simplify setting 1-on-1 appointments? When you are trying to reserve time with another individual and you send over a list of available dates, you either have to hold those slots until you hear back from that person or risk that individual picking one that you've since filled with another commitment. Eliminate emailing back and forth while ensuring better accuracy with a tool that provides real-time appointment-setting capabilities. Email a link to your schedule for folks to reserve a slot of your time with tools like Acuity Scheduling, BookedIN, Booking Bug, Calendly, Doodle's MeetMe, Meetin.gs, Pick-a-Time, SchedFast, ScheduleOnce, Schedulicity, Setster, Timebridge, TimeTrade, vCita, Vyte.in and YouCanBook.me.

• How do you make it easier to set meetings? If you are trying to pull together a group of people, every individual will have different requests for when and where to meet. Instead of opening dialogue with everyone to schedule a meeting, enter options that work for you and let those you want to attend vote on which option works for the majority. Choose from tools like Doodle or Vyte for what best meets your meeting setting needs.

• Are you able to seamlessly update contacts? People change jobs, email providers, mailing addresses and more; as we're inundated with information, make keeping up more feasible by automating updating your records via an assistant like EasilyDo, EverContact, FullContact or Sync.ME.

• How do you wrangle all your documents? As it is easier to find what you need when it is in a digital format, convert paper to electronic with mobile scanners like Doxie Go, Epson WorkForce DS-30, Fujitsu ScanSnap and NeatReceipts. Alternatively, the Scannable app provides an excellent alternative that can be accessible right in your smartphone or you can automate pulling monthly statements from your selected providers via the FileThis service. Then, keep those electronic files easily accessible via an online file repository like Box, Dropbox, eFileCabinet, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, OneDrive, SpiderOak and SugarSync.

• What do you use for cloud-based back-ups? Computers crash. Fires can destroy all your devices. Emergencies happen. It's not a matter of "if" but "when" your technology will die, but you can be prepared with automated remote storage. Simply "set it and forget it" with a tool like Backblaze, Carbonite, CrashPlan, IDrive or Mozy.

• How do you control an overflowing inbox? Email can be less time-consuming when you send fewer messages out, unsubscribe from those you are no longer reading and choose to process (rather than check) newly received emails; however, don't stop there. Implement tools to take better control of your email like Airmail, Boomerang, Contactually, Mailstrom, SaneBox, Sortd, Spark and Unroll.me.

• What do you use to store your passwords? As our list of passwords grows, it can become increasingly difficult to remember them all, particularly as components to include vary and with how often they must be updated. Auto-select, retain and autofill logins with a password manager like Dashlane, LastPass, RoboForm, SplashID and 1Password.

• How can you automate more functionality? Automation is a form of delegation where you delegate to technology and can massively expand how much you can get done concurrently. No one can do everything alone, especially all at once; however, automation tools let things get done while you put your efforts into other, hands-on tasks. Set what rules apply to your needs in automation tools like IFTTT, Podbox, Zapier and social media managers such as Buffer, Edgar, Falcon, Hootsuite, SocialOomph and Sprout Social.

• What can you use to delegate more? Even if you don't have employees on your team to whom you can delegate tasks, people want to help you do more. Consider finding support via Fancy Hands, Fiverr, GigSalad, Guru, Moonlighting, Task Rabbit, Thumbtack, Upwork, 99Designs or local concierge services, like Errand Girl, Metro's Other Woman, The Other Woman and Sweeps. Further, keep in mind options for delivery, like grocery options Amazon Prime Now, Instacart and Shipt.

Fill your productivity toolbox with the best tools for achieving specific goals and, then, be sure to utilize all resources available for your success. Are you more of a paper or electronic person? What tools do you currently utilize? What tools can you add to your productivity toolbox?