Work productivity, time management, organization, tools and tips

Being a college student is not an excuse to go party and get drunk. In the past, going to college was an option, and it as often seen as a privilege of the rich and the powerful. However, in today’s demanding and technologically-advanced times, college is a necessity, even a requirement. Today’s colleges, moreover, are no longer as easy to deal with as they were in the past: research and applications of technology are gaining greater and greater prominence in today’s colleges, and students are expected to know more and be more. In four or five years, students are expected to learn and make themselves ready for a career path – but how can they do this effectively?

The problem of time management becomes especially critical when students take part-time jobs or have fewer credit hours in their semesters in order to find ways to earn more money. Tuition and fees are particularly high, and in order to offset these, along with living costs, students have more on their hands than their homework. If students have no scholarship or fellowship as they go through college, they may end up incurring loans or simply not going to college at all. How can college students manage their time while still taking care of their finances?

There are many ways for college students to manage their time, say by keeping study schedules and by sticking to homework at a certain time of the night. However, there are still many efficient time management tools and methods that college students should know about. Here are the top three less popular ones that can still work for college students as they go about studying, building a career, and making ends meet.

Today’s technology and our ways of thinking, feeling, knowing, believing, and behaving are all tied together. Not only do we demand that things happen immediately and that we get what we want at the snap of our fingers (or the click of a mouse) but we also demand that people should be able to finish so many more tasks than anyone once could. This can lead people to multi-task: they will take on as many as ten tasks at the same time, and they claim that doing so saves them time and energy. However, can multi-tasking really work?

Studies show that multi-tasking is still not a good answer to the need for productivity in the workplace. Although studies also show that women are better multi-taskers than men, neither gender can still finish more than the required load at any one time by taking on many different tasks and expecting to get the job done. In fact, multi-tasking slows down work in that it can make people feel burned out easily: because people put too much work on their hands, they lose all the energy that they need when more work comes along. In effect, people can leave the workplace after being battered with work – and only because they took too much upon themselves in the first place.

So how can we solve the problem of multi-tasking? Prioritizing is the only way to go, it seems: instead of talking on the phone, finishing your report, writing your proposal, looking at your accounts, replying to your emails, chatting with a friend, checking on your children, and talking to your boss all at the same time, you can make a list of priorities. For instance, if all of these tasks are urgent, you can list your tasks from easiest to hardest to finish, so that you finish up many more tasks faster (and get a good sense of accomplishment at the same time). On the other hand, if the tasks are of varying urgency, you can go with the most urgent tasks first, and then move on to more tasks the next time around.

GTDInbox used to be one of my most favorite online productivity finds until I got overwhelmed by its email labeling feature a.k.a. actionable labels.

However, no matter how I tried to forget about my Gmail being stuck in GTDInbox mode, it found a way to update its version - a version which includes a simple yet amazing feature that I'm not sure Google has.

No, it's not about my dream feature that rids of having to learn how to setup an smtp for email forwarding. It's...

Everyone praises technology for the gifts and productivity that it brings. Never have offices been more connected through the power of instant messaging, and never has communication been more efficient than through the use of today’s email. However, technology can also bring with it a good deal of trouble, especially when people are so dependent on it that they can lose their sense of reality. The slightest power outage can cripple a company and even cause damage to its IT infrastructure that can be felt for weeks and weeks post-outage. There are times when Web 2.0 technology (such as social networks) can actually stand in the way of productivity, but there are certainly ways that you can get around these roadblocks.

Good humor is the kind that can get you through anything – even the toughest job.  It's been known to change perceptions, avert disasters and improve relationships.  It's also emerging as one of the most unlikely techniques to keep employees productive.  Make them laugh, keep them happy and they'll perform better.

How humor keeps employees productive
According to consultant Steven Cony, humor obviously works.  With humor, he says, the management is able to show employees that it cares about its workers.  That encourages people to show up for work.  With humor, they are much more relaxed and are more likely to work harder.

Humor is also associated with fun, camaraderie, something light and friendly.  It also takes away whatever aggressiveness is present.  As a result, employees don't feel threatened or bullied into performing. 

Many Internet marketers and bloggers alike do understand the value of social bookmarks in helping get the word out about their sites. However, submitting individual blog posts to dozens upon dozens of social bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, SlashDot, NewsVine, and many more, can be very much time-consuming.

What if you can make that task a lot more straightforward? Say you can now submit your linkworthy blog posts' details by just filling out one form then you can distribute it to your favorite social bookmarks by just a few clicks of the mouse? Lovely, isn't it?

That's what SocialMarker has been allowing to happen for many Internet marketers for quite some time now. SocialMarker is a site that has a tool that makes social bookmarking more of a breeze than tiring. 

So how do you use SocialMarker? 

Einstein was right.  Time, indeed, is relative.  Sixty minutes may seem too short for someone cramming to meet a deadline while it can be eternity for someone waiting for the train to arrive.  But for many of us, time is a commodity that we trade and bargain with just so we could complete all necessary tasks and cross out finished goals in our lists.  Need help handling all that time in your hands?  Here is one time management method that you might have not tried yet:

The Buddy system

Do you have someone you can trust and whose opinion about the way you manage your time matters to you?  It could be anyone – a colleague, a friend, even your mother.  Have a simple agreement with that person regarding your need for follow-up. 

Let's say you need to have a project completed.  Write a to-do list or a schedule of the tasks that need to be finished at a specific time and date and e-mail that to your buddy.  He or she can then send you alerts through e-mail or text to remind you of what you want to do.

Sweeten up the deal and agree on an appropriate punishment in case you fail to meet the deadline.  Stuff like agreeing to mow the lawn, wash the car or run errands can do wonders to help push you to perform.  If you want the punishment to hurt, use cash.  That should make sure you learn how to manage time more efficiently fast.

Do you think this will work for you? Why and why not? 

image credits to sxc.hu 

So you find yourself stuck in traffic once more.  Instead of just sitting there in your seat seething and berating yourself for not taking that critical turn earlier or for waking up when the alarm clock started ringing, why not do something that can actually do you good?  Here are top 10 of the most productive things to do when you're stuck in traffic:

1.  Eat breakfast.
So maybe you skipped breakfast to avoid the traffic jam and still got stuck anyway.  Big deal.  If you packed your lunchbox, why not take a peek in there and find some grub to fuel your day?  Breakfast, after all, is the most important meal of the day.  

2.  Check your voice mail and e-mail.
Now's the time to find out whose calls you missed and which e-mail messages got sent your way.  Got a phone call you absolutely have to make?  Do it now.  Is there a short e-mail message you need to compose?  Grab the opportunity.  That should save you some time later when you're day's as busy as you'd expected from getting stuck in that traffic.

3.  Strengthen your gray matter.
Probably the most productive thing you could every do when you're stuck in traffic and got nothing else to do.  Instead of letting your brain fry in the heat, practice it.  Solve some mind puzzles, do sudoku, learn a new language… you get the point.

Most, if not all, people find their respective workplaces a stress-inducing environment. That it’s so, however, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to let work problems get to you, does it? Learn the most effective ways to relax, and you’ll see your career grow more promising.

Stress Toys
They come in all shapes, colors, and sizes so just choose whatever appeals to you most. Don’t hesitate to use it as many times as you want. Rather than risk saying something hurtful or damaging, just squeeze out your stress through your little toys.

Pictures and Portraits
Whether you’ve your own office or cubicle, make your personal space a haven from stress by surrounding yourself with photos of your loved ones. There are times when you’ll question your reasons for continuing to subject yourself to stress. Whenever those doubt-inducing moments threaten to shake your composure further, focus on the faces of your loved ones: they’re your reason for working and for them, you’re willing to do a lot of thing, aren’t you?

Mementos and Souvenirs
At times, photos are simply not enough to help you think of a happy place and stay there while at work. At times, you’ll need something more concrete like a memento or souvenir of your best memories. Remind yourself that those memories might not have taken place if you hadn’t the financial security provided by your work.

While not everyone may need a higher-end motherboard or video card, almost everyone certainly wouldn’t mind to have more disk space. If you’re afraid that your HD is not enough to store your next batch of must-have-files and ensure that your PC does not slow down, here are several ways to free up much needed disk space.

Compress files.
There are two ways to compress files. Firstly, you can use the various compression tools like Winzip or Winrar to make your files smaller. Secondly, you can utilize NFTS compression. Just right-click on folders you wish to compress. Click on Properties, move to Advanced, then click on the box with the words “Compress files in the folder”. Click OK and you’ve got free disk space right away!