Archive for category: Productivity

Sometimes we face tough decisions that involve one or more unknowns. We can’t know in advance what the consequences of each alternative will be. This is especially true of big decisions like quitting a job, entering or exiting a relationship, or moving to a new city.

When faced with such a decision, what do you do? If you can’t figure out the consequences, can you do any better than guessing?

Usually what people do in such situations is freeze. Even when you don’t like what you have, you may worry that the alternatives are worse. In a way every decision involves a choice between maintaining the status quo vs. making a change. When we can’t be certain a change will work out for the better, by default we stay put.

Let me give you a very simple method of making these kinds of decisions. In most cases it takes no more than 60 seconds to evaluate any particular path.
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Virtually every time management system teaches that you must prioritize your projects to make sure you’re working on what’s truly important instead of getting caught up in minor things. However, few systems explain precisely how to do this. How do you decide which task is really the most important at any given time? Is it the one that’s most urgent, the one that will earn you the most money, the one that will produce the greatest long-term happiness, the one that will please your boss the most? If you don’t use an intelligent method of prioritization, you’ll lack consistency and bounce from one task to another with no rhyme or reason.

In this article I’ll share with you a simple and effective prioritization method adapted from the military.
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You have made the decision that you would like to move on, all that’s left is informing your boss. Should you write a resignation letter? If so, what exactly should go into it? Resignation letters can be intimidating, even when you are fully prepared to “high tail” it out of your job.

Fortunately, there isn’t much to writing a resignation letter outside of a few guidelines. We’ve prepared this simple guide to help point you in the right direction, complete with a few resignation letter samples!
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Your body may be resting, but your brain’s always at work. Studies show that people given a mathematical problem before they went to bed had higher chances of solving it the next morning. Also, if you’re studying for a test or preparing for a presentation, review the material right before you turn off the lights. “Since most memory consolidation happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more likely to be encoded as long-term memory.”