Get Productive! E-Book

Magdalena Bak-Maier

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 241

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Rewire your brain and overcome the 20 key time drains that diminish productivity

For anyone who's felt valuable time frittered away in checking emails or answering wrong phone numbers, or listening to a coworker giving you a minute-by-minute account of their previous night's date, help is finally here. Your time is, indeed, your own. And this handy guide, written by a leading executive coach, shows you how to retool your brain, reclaim your schedule, become a master of each minute, and make yourself more productive.

Using a method that is intuitive, easy to remember, and simple to use, this book will help you transform how you think, what you focus on, and what you do so that you can begin to create tangible results.

• Includes exercises that help you learn important thinking skills—essential to tackling important projects and attaining all those once elusive goals
• Features highly visual exercises that are quick to complete, allowing you to change your habits and see improvements right away
• Identifies the 20 key time drains that interfere with productivity and happiness

Full of creative, fun, and proven solutions to the common bugaboos of procrastination, feeling overwhelmed, and a general dissatisfaction with results, Get Productive! offers concrete steps toward rethinking how you work and reworking how you think.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

COVER

ENDORSEMENTS

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT PAGE

DEDICATION

THE PERFECT STARTING POINT (IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START)

1 FIND YOUR OWN PRODUCTIVITY BALANCE

SECTION ONE: HELP! I’M JUST NOT GETTING ANYWHERE

2 ASSESS YOUR ENERGY LEVELS

3 FIND YOUR ENERGY DRAINS AND ENHANCERS

4 IMPROVE HOW YOU CONNECT WITH OTHERS

5 SIMPLIFY UNNECESSARY COMPLEXITY

6 FIGURE OUT YOUR KEY PRIORITIES

7 OVERCOME YOUR PROCRASTINATION WITH ACTION

8 CREATE A ‘FEEL GOOD’ STATE

SECTION TWO: TO DO: GET TO KNOW SELF

9 EXAMINE WHAT’S IMPORTANT FOR YOU NOW

10 FIND YOUR KEY VALUES FROM SEEMINGLY RANDOM THINGS

11 DISCOVER YOUR NEEDS AND DESIRES

12 USE PAST FAILURES TO BUILD RESILIENCE AND STRENGTH

13 CLARIFY YOUR GOALS

14 BE PRODUCTIVE ACROSS ALL YOUR KEY PRIORITIES

15 WORK OUT WHERE YOUR ACTIONS ARE TAKING YOU

SECTION THREE: NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

16 FACE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY ALLY

17 USE YOUR EMOTIONS TO GENERATE POSITIVE RESULTS

18 UNLOCK YOUR PERSPECTIVE TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS

19 UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR BRAIN HELPS YOU TO BE PRODUCTIVE

20 TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR FEAR

21 FOLLOW YOUR WANTS INSTEAD OF YOUR MUSTS

22 USE THE POWER OF CRITICISM TO BECOME YOUR TRUE BEST

23 TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT YOU CREATE

SECTION FOUR: GET PRODUCTIVE AND JUST DO IT!

24 IDENTIFY YOUR PRODUCTIVITY BLOCKERS

25 THIRTEEN PROVEN PRODUCTIVITY STRATEGIES YOU NEED TO KNOW

STRATEGY 1: COMPLETION

STRATEGY 2: BULLSEYE PRIORITIZATION

STRATEGY 3: VALUE ADDED RIPPLES

STRATEGY 4: BIG ELEPHANT

STRATEGY 5: PERFECTION BREAK

STRATEGY 6: POWER OF OTHERS

STRATEGY 7: ENERGY CYCLE

STRATEGY 8: POWER OF FIVE

STRATEGY 9: IT’S UP TO ME

STRATEGY 10: WORKING WITH FACTS

STRATEGY 11: PLANNING

STRATEGY 12: BINS

STRATEGY 13: LYNCHPINS

26 DEVELOP PRODUCTIVE THINKING

27 DEVELOP PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS

28 ASK PRODUCTIVE QUESTIONS

SECTION FIVE: GET IN THE ZONE AND MAKE TIME COUNT

29 TAKE CONTROL OF THE IMPACT YOU MAKE

30 IDENTIFY HOW YOU ADD VALUE

31 UNCOVER YOUR SPECIFIC AND UNIQUE CAPABILITIES

32 GET RESULTS THAT ARE WORTH THE EFFORT

33 HONE YOUR KEY MESSAGE(S)

34 MINE YOUR PAST SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES

35 GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO SHINE

36 FIND THE TRIBE THAT WILL HELP YOU SOAR

WHAT DOES TRUE PRODUCTIVITY FEEL LIKE?

FINAL NOTE

FURTHER READING

THANKS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

‘Get Productive! by Magdalena Bak-Maier is far from a ‘time management’ book. Instead, the book focuses on you and your capacity to get and enjoy the results you really care about. Through original exercises, insightful examples and provocative ideas, this book will help you achieve the balance and results you want.’

Steven D’Souza, Executive Fellow, IE Business School, Author of Brilliant Networking, www.brilliantnetworking.net

‘This is the most practical book on productivity I have ever read. The thing I love most about it is the fact you don’t have to read it from the first until the last page to get the help you need. This book has a perfect set of exercises you can take at any point in your life to get organized, be more productive and generally get more out of your life. As a leader of a global organization, I wish I’d been able to read this book at the start of my term and run those exercises with my team to get the most out of each individual. No matter what you do, where you work or how old you are, I recommend this book for reading and exercising your productivity.’

Tetiana Mykhailiuk, President of AIESEC International,www.aiesec.org

‘A brilliantly practical step-by-step handbook for ultimate productivity. This book will boost your energy and time a hundred fold. A must-read for all those who want to live and work smarter, not harder.’

Suzy Greaves, author of Making The Big Leap and named as a ‘top ten guru to change your life around’ by The Daily Mail

‘Get Productive! is an excellent practical book that lives up to its stated objectives, namely how to become more productive within a holistic framework. By considering productivity in its many forms, the reader is given relevant exercises and understanding to develop the skills required to lead a more fulfilling and productive life whether personal or professional.’

Gladeana McMahon, FAC, FBCAP, FISMA, FRSA – UK Chair Association for Coaching

‘In her book, Get Productive!, Magdalena Bak-Maier has assembled over 30 techniques for improving an individual’s effectiveness that really work! She has used her background in neuroscience combined with her career experience as a consultant and coach to significant effect and will help readers gain valuable productivity insights. The producer and eggs; diamonds, gold and lead; goal clarifying; assumptions in conversations; the action funnel; bursts and lags are some of my favourite. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.’

Peter Childs, FRSA, FIMechE, FASME, PhD, BSc, CEng – Professorial Lead in Engineering Design and Innovation Design Engineering Joint Course Director – Imperial College London, Royal College of Art

‘Packed with simple, effective and easy to use tips, this is a book with the power to change the bad habits of a lifetime! So much more than good time management, Get Productive! will create powerful awareness through easy exercises and coach you to uncover your blocks. A small investment in time will see you acting immediately towards positive changes. The tips and tools can be easily transferred to support team performance, ensuring they focus on value-adding activities and maximise their impact on internal and external stakeholders.

There are lessons for life as well as work; encouraging and empowering us to focus on our WANTs over the MUSTs and effectively matching tasks to energy levels. We all have energy drainers in our lives, now we can identify and reduce them to increase performance, productivity and positivity!’

Karen Dempsey, Head of HR UK & Ireland for Air France KLM

‘Get Productive! is a powerful, practical toolkit for a complex, fast changing world. It coaches in a holistic and integrated way, seeking balance in everything that matters. Written by a master practitioner and based on proven experience in real businesses, I am using techniques from Get Productive! both personally and with my team to deliver results.’

Jon Tucker, Operating Officer, Imperial College Business School

‘Whatever you strive for in life, you are far more likely to achieve if you can use your time, your skills and your energy more effectively. Magdalena is a master at focusing ambitions, refining aspirations and making each re-energised step feel both possible and thrilling. Get Productive! distils her considerable insights and expertise in an easy-to-use format which will be a huge help in whatever you aspire to do. What shines through the book is that many of the obstacles that lie in our path are of our own imagining, and with this book in our hand, that need no longer be the case.’

Rob Hopkins, Transition Network and Author of The Transition Companion

‘Packed full of practical, insightful exercises, supercharging your energy to power through any productivity roadblocks.’

Guy Browning, The Guardian

This edition first published 2012

© 2012 Magdalena Bak-Maier

Author photo: © Phine Ka Photography

Registered office

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bak-Maier, Magdalena, 1977–

 Get productive! : boosting your productivity and getting things done / Magdalena Bak-Maier.

p. cm.

 ISBN 978-0-85708-346-3 (pbk.)

 1. Labor productivity. 2. Performance. 3. Time management. 4. Organizational effectiveness. I. Title.

 HD57.B28 2012

 650.1'1–dc23

2012022699

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-857-08346-3 (pbk) ISBN 978-0-857-08343-2 (ebk)

ISBN 978-0-857-08344-9 (ebk) ISBN 978-0-857-08345-6 (ebk)

This book is dedicated to those who value and commit to showing up in life with authenticity, courage and passion, those who want to share their skills/gifts with the world and to my parents.

THE PERFECT STARTING POINT (IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START)

TRUE PRODUCTIVITY

Imagine living your life’s purpose and experiencing results beyond anything you dare to envisage; a way of being in the world that allows you to create what you want and inspire others to do the same. It is possible to be very efficient and yet still not be very productive. You might have great ideas and plans but never get around to implementing them. You might appear to be an accomplished, successful person but still question your own purpose or cry on the inside.

Many people tend to think that poor time management is the ‘main’ reason why they are unproductive. However, good time management doesn’t always necessarily mean effective productivity – it’s not just about trying to get things done in less time. Personal productivity is a holistic concept that is far broader than time management. True productivity is about being effective across many spectra: personal organization, effective thinking and decision making, the ability to be creative, flexible and resilient, good time management, the ability to communicate and get things done, a high degree of self-awareness and the ability to learn.