Things have been a little quite here in WorkloadMaster land over the holidays. I took a trip to Texas to visit family which caused me to take a break from posting. But I’ve been busy behind the scenes. Between the holidays I had an opportunity to interview Chuck Frey, publisher of InnovationTools.com. Visit The On Target Podcast web site for the interview and show notes. Not long ago I posted a short video about using a mind map to...

Merry Christmas! I promised to take this week off, but I just found this article from Scientific American about multitasking and had to share it. Plus I needed an excuse to try out this new app that gives me the ability to post from my Blackberry. Here’s the link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=multitasking-mind. See you after the holiday. -...

I’m not talking about computer networking here.  I mean the kind where you meet people face to face.   Those local networking  functions where you’re herded into a room to  drift around listening to everyone rehearse their “elevator speech.”  I don’t know about you, but I find this painful. If you need to meet new local people for your business and you like golf, Florida based entrepreneur, John...

I can’t think anything that wastes  time and energy more than misinformation and maliciousness.  Just ask anyone in Washington. Here  is a little story I received by e-mail several years ago that gives us a practical way to filter the information we receive. The Test of the Three Strainers In ancient Greece, Socrates was highly reputed for his wisdom. One day someone came to the great philosopher and said to him “Do you know what...

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a post about gratitude. I saw a speaker the other day who said that scientific studies about happiness revealed that the the key is gratitude. I think she’s right. If we focus our energy on the good things in our lives then we use less on the not so good. Enough with that. Here’s a video of Conan with comedian Louis CK. It’s very funny and a little crude, but he makes a good...

Hey there masochists early adopters it’s official, the beta version of Microsoft Office 2010 is now available for download. All 684MB of it! Just start it up and go have lunch. I’m not quite ready to give it a spin, but I have to sooner or later to start preparing for  the latest version of Master Your Workload with Outlook.  The words Beta and Microsoft in one sentence make me just a little concerned. Maybe I’ve...

Using a mind map can help you overcome procrastination and indecision when you can’t decide what to do next. Earlier this week I discussed that our failure to visualize the end result of a project or task often causes us to become stuck when it’s time to take action. When this happens it is best to step back and take some quiet time to create a clear picture of what success looks like. One of my favorite tools for getting the...

The to do list can be an excellent tool to keep focused but it also has the potential to create extra baggage we don’t need. I teach this stuff, but keeping up and keeping on track is as much a struggle for me as anyone. Like many people I use a daily to do list (or task list) to keep focused on my important items of the day. But over time what should be a simple list of things to get done, begins to take on an emotional tone. These...