You really need to stop wasting time on the Internet if you want to increase your productivity while working unsupervised. The Internet can be a great source of knowledge, wisdom, information, entertainment and useless shit and if you are on your own and if nobody is breathing down you neck, it’s very difficult not to waste your time browsing different websites and blogs and chatting with your online “buddies”.

Once you’re in front of your computer with a couple of opened browser windows you don’t realize how you’ve spent the past two hours randomly clicking links, checking updates, leaving comments, clicking on “Likes” and replying to a few emails. Everyday you decide that no, today you’ll focus just on your work and complete the client assignments, and everyday your resolve gets sidelined. You end up wasting time on the Internet.

Here are a few things you can do to

Stop wasting time on the Internet

• Prepare a task list for the next day. Have a list of tasks you need to accomplish the next day as soon as you switch on your computer. If possible, take a printout and put it or stick it somewhere you cannot avoid looking at the first thing in the morning. Since you’ll be knowing exactly what to do the moment you start working, there’ll be less chance of getting distracted and ending up wasting time on the Internet. You can use a service like Remember The Milk to manage your tasks and set your RTM desktop as your home page. Another good service is Tadalist. Of course there’s always the good old notepad.
• Block the websites that just waste time. Are there websites that contribute nothing but still you cannot help visiting them, the p**n sites, for instance? If it’s difficult for you to resist the temptation you can tell your operating system to block them. Read how to block certain websites from your computer. Of course you can unblock them whenever you feel like but this is a good deterrence for one of those quickies that turn into hour-long visual and intellectual orgies.
• Allocate time to different activities. Need to check emails? Need to spend some time on Facebook and Twitter? These activities cannot be avoided these days but don’t let them distract you. Set aside some time for such activities and stick to that allocated time frame. It’s understandable that you may need to check your email the first thing in the morning and send a few replies, but if you’ve decided that you’ll spend only the first 30 minutes on this then stick to it. You can decide that you’ll check email just 4 times a day and your social media profiles just twice a day, or whatever.
• Take someone into confidence. If you still find yourself wasting time on the Internet then you can take someone into confidence. Let someone close to you — your spouse, your girlfriend/boyfriend, your sibling, your close friend, your parent, or even someone on Twitter or Facebook — know that you have this tendency to waste time on the Internet and you need to be asked again and again how much real/important work you have done. This way you’ll be cautious of wasting your precious minutes.
• Punish yourself if you cannot stop wasting time on the Internet. No, I don’t mean commit harakiri, slit your wrists or gulp down a cocktail of coke and rat poison. Deny yourself your favorite food or beverage or miss your favorite TV show or avoid having a bath on a very hot day (and make people run away from you). Wasting time on the Internet should pinch you hard.
• Declare it openly. Putting yourself to public scrutiny can help sometimes. Let your Facebook and Twitter friends know that you are not to be seen exchanging messages on these websites at particular times.
• Disconnect the Internet. Why remain connected if you don’t need the Internet. Surely you don’t need to be online all the time. Make it difficult to get online by always disabling your network connection the moment you can remain offline for a while.

Wasting time on the Internet is a serious problem, and millions of man hours (or woman hours, or person hours) are being wasted by spending just a few minutes on this website and just a few minutes on that website. And this problem is going nowhere (unless we get bored of it) as more and more devices get connected to the Internet. We’ll need to learn to stop wasting time on the Internet on our own.

Although connectivity is available practically everywhere in the civilized world there might be instances when you need to read online content offline. If you’re wondering how you can access online content if you are already offline, this is not what I mean.

There are many utilities and software tools that allow you to save lots of online content offline so that you can go through it when you cannot connect to the web. It’s almost like accessing the actual website. But actually you can use your everyday tool to make this possible.

The first tool is of course, your browser. You can simply save an entire page — including images, scripts and even flash animation — into a folder and later on access it by double-clicking it: you don’t need to be online to access that page. Almost all the browsers let you save either the entire web page or just the text part of it.

There are some software applications that download the entire structure of a website — every link and image as they reside on the original website — and save it on your local drive and then you can browse it just as you browse the original website. One of such applications is HTTrack — both Windows and Linux versions are available. Personally I feel this can be an overkill and you should save the entire website offline only on rare cases.

Some note taking applications can also be used to store online content for offline reading. Evernote [read how to take notes online] for example is a great application for storing random pages. Select an entire page, copy it to the clipboard, and just paste it into Evernote and it appears there as it is. A good thing about using Evernote for offline reading is that you can synchronize all the content you have saved on various computers so that you can access them from anywhere.

Like Evernote there are many other applications that allow you to save random text both online and offline.

You can also email your web pages to yourself using ToRead. It installs a bookmarklet on your browser (you’ll need to submit your email the first time) and whenever you want to email yourself the text simply click the bookmarklet when you are on that page. The entire text of the page is emailed to you. Although you may wonder how you’ll access the material offline? Gmail allows you to access your emails offline — go to the Gmail Labs section to activate the feature.

And we’re talking about paper documents, not the digital documents that you can store in hierarchical folders. Over the years you must have gathered a big pile of documents in the form of memos, invoices, credit card bills, various certificates and even important brochures and flyers. Although you can keep postponing organizing them but eventually you’ll have to. Organizing basically means putting things in such a manner that they don’t create clutter, and you can retrieve important stuff as and when you want it.

In order to organize your important documents first of all you need to decide what’s actually important. As you keep stacking them up soon you cannot figure what you need and what you don’t need. There are some documents that you’ll always need like birth, death, medical and marriage certificates, your various school and college degrees, your tax returns, your various contracts and legal documents. Then there might be some documents you’re saving just because the information they contain (and that can be easily transferred to your computer or USB drive). Not organizing your documents doesn’t just mean you cannot access them when you need them, it also means they can get stolen and you won’t even realize that for a very long time, and by that time it’ll be too late. So before you begin to organize your important documents, get rid of those that are not.

You can start organizing your documents by scanning as many of them as possible. Although you’ll always need their paper copies, it’s a good idea to have digital copies of all your critical documents. If the task seems monumental, stretch it over a few weeks. Scan only 10-15 documents at a time. This can help if you just need to store information.

Read more at HowStuffWorks.

Image Source: Seth

Note-taking is one of the greatest organizational habits you can develop. They help you organize information and thoughts in a systematic manner so that you can easily retrieve the information in the quickest manner, when needed.

Whether you are preparing a draft, writing a report, working on a journalistic article or attending a meeting or a conference you can take down notes to go through important bits of information at a later stage. Since you find connectivity almost everywhere these days it’s better to use online tools for taking down your notes.

A good thing about taking notes using online note-taking tools is that you can access your notes from wherever you need to, provided you have Internet access. Another benefit is that all online tools and applications are platform independent so whether you are using a Linux, a Windows or a Mac machine, you simply need a browser to access and maintain your notes.

Not just PC, you can also synchronize your notes using smart phones such as iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android and BlackBerry. Almost all mainstream online tools these days give you an interface that you can use with smart handheld devices.

Some very simple ways of taking notes using online tools

• Use email as your note taking tool. If you don’t like intricate noting applications you can simply use your email account. It’s especially easy in Gmail as you can create threaded conversation and its search capabilities are faster too. Whenever you want to create a new note, create a new email, enter all the information you need to enter and email it to yourself. Then you can use labels to organize your notes. If you don’t want your notes to get mixed up with other messages you can create a separate email account just for storing and organizing your notes.
• Use GoogleDocs to create your notes. Using GoogleDocs you not only can create notes by yourself you can also collaborate with others by sharing your notes file. You can maintain a single notes file or you can create different files for different note taking requirements. Again, you can use labels or folders to organize your notes.
• Evernote. It is one of the most advanced note taking application with both offline and online versions. You can download the Evernote application and install it on your desktop. Then you can use the interface to create new notes and organize existing notes. The data automatically gets synchronized with your online account. From web pages to images to videos to simple text you can store everything using Evernote.
• Springpad. More than serious research-based note taking, you may use Springpad to save important bits of information you come across while surfing the Internet. You can do the same thing with Delicious, but it definitely has more features.
• UberNote. UberNote too, like EverNote, is an old online note taking applications. A good thing about this online note taking app is that you can add it as a gadget to your iGoogle page and maintain your notes quickly from there instead of going to the actual websites. Of course you can use other tools like email, Twitter and Facebook accounts and smart phone applications too to maintain your online notes.
• Yahoo! NotePad. It’s an application just like that abandoned Google Notepad, but much better. If you already have a Yahoo! account you can start using this application right away.

Basically there’s a plethora of applications on the Internet that let you take notes online but you should only use reliable services as you are going to store your valuable data there. Are you aware of some more trustworthy online note taking services? Please share them in the comments section.

Does it seem you are always busy and still achieve nothing much? Do you wish you could just stop being busy and enjoy life more? Are you missing all those beautiful and joyous moments of life simply because you’re always caught up with one thing or another?

Being busy is nothing but a state of mind. People who are actually productive rarely complain about being too busy. Yes, you are busy if you are conducting an open-heart surgery or trying to stop a plane from crashing, but in most of the cases, if you manage your work, you can have plenty of free time for yourself and your family.

Here are a few things you can do to

Stop being always busy

• Create a task list. It’s easier to do things if you know what all you have to do. When you don’t have a task list sometimes you go on doing things you don’t have to do and you end up skipping things that should have been done, creating backlogs. Use a simple notepad. There are many online tools like Tadalist and Remember The Milk that help you create and maintain task lists.
• Do difficult things first. We normally avoid difficult tasks and keep spending time on things that don’t need much effort. As a result, we’re really hard pressed for time by the time we get to the difficult parts. Since we’re not mentally relaxed and we’re running short of time, we cannot work in a relaxed manner…and so on. Postponing difficult tasks is the sure-shot way of being perpetually busy.
• Divide bigger goals into shorter ones. Bigger goals always seem daunting. Although we should always focus on the bigger goals, all bigger goals are made up of smaller achievements. Draw out a plan and allocated justifiable time to each smaller goal. For example, if you think by next Wednesday you’ll accomplish goal “D”, don’t jump onto working on goal “E” if you complete goal “D” early in the morning on Wednesday (unless it’s critical). This way you know you are making a progress and still you have a complete day to yourself.
• Don’t over commit. Take as much as you can do. Learn from experience. Even if you’ve been doing something for a few months you know how much you can handle in a given amount of time. Whether it’s household chores or some project work, never over commit.
• Learn to say ‘no’. Sometimes we just can’t say no. We keep accepting more and more work out of politeness, love or monitory compulsions and soon we’re busy doing work and nothing else. Communicate to people around you that you too have a life that’s beyond work.
• Don’t get caught up in the rat race. Rat race is a bad thing and on top of that, once you get caught up in the rat race, it’s very difficult to get out. Your colleague is aiming for the next managerial post? You want that post too? Are you motivated by the desire of your colleague or you can really benefit from getting that post? Sometimes we desire things simply because people around us desire them. Focus on what’s good for you and your loved ones, not what the others want.
• Shun excessive materialism. The same goes for materialism. Once you get trapped in the circle of want you cannot stop. Really want that iPad because the cool kid next door has got it? Do you know after a few months the same iPad will belong to obsolete technology? Your colleague has a Mercedes Benz and a big plasma TV? Big deal! Does he have enough time and mental space to enjoy his car and TV? Excessive materialism keeps you needlessly busy because you’re always chasing the next cool thing, and by the time you have got, you’re preparing to chase the next one. This way you never run out of things to chase. And you’re always running out of time.
• Set time-limits. Don’t work beyond a certain time, not matter what it is. Set a limit and stick to it. If you’ve decided you won’t work after 6 PM then stop immediately, and follow this deadline religiously. If you don’t want people to call during weekends then don’t accept calls during weekends. You can keep separate phones for your business and personal use.
• Re-think your priorities. What are your real priorities in life? Are you losing more in order to gain less? Are you earning money at the cost of your health and your family? What do you really want out of your life? Sit down and write it down. This will really help you re-prioritize your schedule and hep you get less busy.

How to do you avoid being excessively busy? Share your thoughts on the comments section.

Image Source: TheImageGroup

Having a productive brainstorming session takes conscious effort. A majority of brainstorming sessions amidst organizations remain unproductive because they are held just as a routine. They have a session and then they get back to their old stuff without tracking what they wanted to achieve and what actually happened.

Here are a few steps you can take to make your brainstorming sessions more productive

• Email the agenda to all participants. Let it be known that everybody should be aware of the background of the brainstorming session. All the participants must know what’s the agenda and in what light the topics are going to be covered.
• Make discussions visual. Use an overhead project if possible but if notes are being made, everybody should be able to see them and then get a copy at the end of the brainstorming session.
• Have a tangible end result in mind. Most brainstorming sessions fail because people have no idea of the end result. What is expected of the session? What’s the team trying to achieve? Make every member aware of the goal of the brainstorming session.
• Communicate ideas in a non-threatening manner. Most people find new ideas and approaches threatening. You need to sell them your ideas like a salesperson — what’s in it for them? Don’t make it into another office task to be get over it. Promote it as an opportunity.
• Be particular about the follow-up. Make sure that whatever follow up was drawn during the session, it is executed accordingly.
• Make people responsible for the follow-up. Things don’t just happen; people make them happen (and we’re not talking about mateor appearing suddenly). When people come out of the brainstorming session, each member should clearly know what he or she has to do within a designated time-frame.
• Keep in touch with the members. This is very important. There needs to be a constant contact after the brainstorming session in order to make it productive. The team members should know that it’s a serious matter and they are being monitored.
• Document the progress. When procedures and results are documented they are easy to track and people feel more accountable. Inculcate a habit among the team members of documenting their progress on a regular basis.

Go more ideas on how to make your brainstorming sessions more productive? Please share them in the comments section.

Procrastination is one of the biggest productivity killers. If you think you procrastinate more than the sane limits, you need to grab the proverbial bull by its horns and deal with this killer habit.

You experience procrastination when you are doing something you don’t really feel like doing it, for instance, completing that project report, and working on that module the client had asked for a week ago (and which can cost you a project), or working on that document requiring lots of number crunching. The habit of procrastination becomes so entrenched that it becomes very difficult to deal with it.

Here are a few things you can do to beat the habit of procrastination

• Learn to love your work. This is the best way of dealing with procrastination. When you love something, you want to do it. Even if you don’t love what you do, find the reasons to love it. What about your kid’s school fee if you complete this project on time?
• Train yourself to hate procrastination. When you really hate something you go to extra miles to get rid of you. Consider it like shit on your hand you immediately want to wash it. Think of it like your worst enemy and yours and your family’s life depends on you eliminating it.
• Do those things first that make you procrastinate. Do them first thing in the morning, no matter how much you hate them. Have no feeling for them. Don’t do anything else, if possible, don’t even check your mail. Simply start doing that work. It may sound like a robot, but after a while you begin to find this perfectly normal.
• Set a timer. If you know you’ve got only 30 minutes to finish a particular task, you’ll work faster.

Read more on how to deal with the habit procrastination on this Lifehacker blog post.

Since your business depends a lot on the level of productivity at your workplace you need to pay close attention to it. You constantly need to think about how you can improve the overall performance levels of your workplace.

It doesn’t just take hard people to perform well; you also need a conducive work environment, both in terms of physical and psychological. Is there enough space around various work stations? Do you have a roomy office? Can the air flow freely? What about the color of the walls? Studies have shown that white walls are actually depressing and tiring, so go for a color that is sooting but enervating. The same goes for light. Too much light and too little light cause stain. Natural light can be the best form of light you can get but too much of it can have an adverse effect. There needs to be a balance.

Even temperature can have a lasting impact on your workplace productivity. You’ll need to carefully monitor what sort of temperature improves your workplace performance and then maintain it that way.

Keep the clutter to the minimum. Lots of things scattered around can be a big distraction. It also makes it difficult to find important things when they are needed. This link tells you more about creating a high-performance environment.

If you want to improve your productively you need to be cautiously engaged in the activity. Many people don’t realize it, in order to improve your productivity you have to take well-targeted and planned steps, and this is more important when you work on your own and you don’t have tried-and-tested system to monitor your productivity.

In order to improve your productivity you first of all have to develop a routine for yourself. You must set some rules for yourself and you must adhere to them. Something like, set aside some time for checking emails and replying to them, and never check them at any other time. In the same manner, if you need to spend some time on various social media and social networking websites set aside some time and stick to that time.

There’s another way you can improve your productivity immensely: trace your most productive hours. We all have those (unless one is chronically ill or something). Schedule your most important jobs during those hours. Read more on this WebWorkDaily blog post titled Improved productivity: a 12-step program.

You want to make yourself indispensable at job? You want to duck the tide of lay offs during the time of recession? We are passing through hard times and instead of hiring, firing has become the norm for companies. So How to protect your job at this time? How to make yourself indispensable? Try to follow some simple steps.

Take Account of Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Making yourself indispensable at job requires you to make some analysis of yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. Taking stock of your strengths and weaknesses will help you narrowing down your area of expertise. And you will know for sure where you can excel and others can notice you too. Devise two plans for yourself, long term and short term.

Look for Broader Picture

If you are working for a company, make some changes in your attitude too. Instead of seeing things from a narrow perspective try to take into account the overall picture of your company. That will help you in taking right decision for the company. It will increase your understating and you can come out with right kind of solutions to your problems.

Update Your Knowledge Base

You are responsible for your career advancement. No one else come to do so during recession time. Develop your knowledge base that might prove beneficial for your company. Take part time courses to update your skills and knowledge base.

Develop Problem Solving Skills

Every company requires this skill. Normally employees fret and fume over problems or suggest ways how this problem can’t be solved. But instead going for this self indulgence, try to gather materials regarding the area you are working in. Read how other companies have faced similar problems and how they solved it. This will enrich your problem solving skills and you might find completely new solutions to the problems your company is facing.

Suggest Ways to Cut Down Expenses

This is an endearing quality of employees. Every company wants to minimize expenses and maximize profits. If you know of some ways to cut down expenses don’t keep it to yourself. Suggest it during meetings and give it in written to the concerned person.

Don’t Encroach on Others Rights

While enriching your knowledge base and self improvement you should not send out signals that you are out to do two peoples job. This will create negative feeling for you among your peers and rumor mongers can unleash their full force against you. Instead of sending feelers that you can do others jobs too, try filling the gaps that nobody is looking at or even aware that these shortcomings. If you deals with data, try to arrange it in such manner that even non-technical person can be able to find out what he is looking for. If you deal with recruitment, find out the efficient pool of candidates in less expensive manner.

Good Salesmanship

This need is required by everyone, be it an artist, self employed entrepreneurs or the president of a country. Don’t expect that you keep on providing excellent services and others will naturally take notice of you. You have to show the results of your hard work to the concerned persons. If your policies resulted in cost savings prepare a balance sheet and show it to the concerned person.

Be Good at What Your Boss is Weak At

Think of your boss’s weaknesses. He/she might be good at something but not at other things. Pay attention to his weaknesses and try to do that work yourself. Your boss might not be good at writing proposals but he might be good at pointing what is lacking in a proposal. To speed up the work, you can draw the first copy of the proposal and your boss will finalize it by pointing out what else should be incorporated in the existing copy. That will save time of the both.

Develop a Brand for the Company You Work

It doesn’t mean that you take over your brand manager. It simply means be your company’s spokesperson whenever the need arises. But your superiors too should know of your efforts.

Making yourself indispensable at the job is not difficult at all. You have to keep your eyes and ears open. You have the knack to sense opportunity and making the most of it.