In the business world, where time management is always a priority, multitasking skills are expected, especially in younger workers reared in multiple media environments (i.e., computers, iPods, iPhones, TV, video games, online social sites, texting and instant messaging).

Beginning in 2005, however, studies began to show that distractions negatively affected productivity and efficiency. A study funded by Hewlett-Packard and conducted by the University of London’s Institute of Psychiatry found that “workers distracted by email and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers.”

A second study found that it took an average of 25 minutes for workers to recover from interruptions (phone calls, emails) and return to their original tasks.

On expert estimates that extreme multitasking and information overload cost the U.S. economy $650 billion a year in lost productivity.

The brain doesn’t handle more than one problem well. While we can certainly walk and chew gum at the same time, we cannot pay attention to multiple challenges. Instead, the brain must switch tasks, using up time and energy. And when task-switching is poorly executed, we waste time and make mistakes.

All the research in the world won’t discourage us from juggling more than one ball. So, if we’re going to multitask, how can we do it effectively?

This article gives 10 tips for getting more done.

—————————————————————-

This is a brief synopsis of a 1000-word article suitable for coach newsletters. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 1,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• The Art of Paying Attention
• Smart Multitasking
• 10 Tips for Getting More Done

——————————————————————————–

If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order link below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –

Debunking Multitasking Myths:
10 Tips for Getting More Done

To effect change, you must do something differently.

It starts with you. Do it right, and you’ll enjoy a snowball effect that helps your team, direct reports and even family members implement change.

While many books have covered organizational change, business school professors Chip and Dan Heath cover the patterns all successful change efforts have in common in Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (2010).

The Heaths avoid looking at the history of failed changes. Instead, they share stories of spectacular changes that worked because execution built upon prior achievements.

In researching significant social, educational, governmental, marital and organizational changes, what are the patterns that emerge that anyone can apply in real-world business situations?

In many ways, the first small steps you take to change your behavior are the most important. Once you initiate change, it seems to feed on itself.

Perhaps the famous Stephen Covey maxim, “Begin with the end in mind,” needs to be revised: Start with the beginning and the end in mind.

Here’s how to get started and unleash the snowball effect.

————————————————————————–

This is a brief synopsis of a 1000-word article suitable for coach newsletters. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 1,000 word article includes these important concepts:

•    First Steps
•    The Snowball Effect
•    The Problem with Problems
•    Follow Your Bright Spots
•    Start with the Beginning in Mind
•    Unleash the Snowball Effect

——————————————————————————–

If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 – Click HERE:

Snowball Effect – Start Change Now

Our quality of life largely depends on two factors:

1. How we experience work
2. How we experience other people

This is the conclusion of numerous studies on human happiness and meaning. One’s self is largely defined by what happens in these two contexts.

If we have optimal work experiences, we’re more motivated to do good work, which also benefits the organization and our coworkers. Our satisfaction is energizing and self-perpetuating, and it carries over into our home life because we’re in a positive frame of mind.

To improve the quality of life through work, two complementary strategies are necessary:

1. Jobs should be redesigned so skills levels and challenges are high. This contributes to a more cheerful and active workforce, improved concentration, and greater creativity and satisfaction.
2. Workers must define and develop self-directing, intrinsic goals. When we learn to recognize opportunities for action, hone our skills, set reachable goals, and immerse our concentration and focus in the present, we become more engaged at work and experience a state of “flow.”

Without these strategies, it’s easy to multitask on autopilot and miss opportunities to excel.

People at all levels report a need for challenges that create flow at work, according to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Challenges must stretch our capacity, without being overwhelming.

———————————————-

This is a brief synopsis of a 1000-word article suitable for coach’ newsletters. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 1,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Creating Flow at Work
• How to Create Flow Experiences
• 4 Steps
• Taking Control of Flow

——————————————————————————–

If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.
Order Links to purchase this article:

Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –
Click HERE: Finding True Flow

If you’ve been working hard for any length of time, in any field, chances are you’ve experienced at least one humiliating career failure. Career “hiccups” can kill your spirit and make it difficult to regain your motivation and drive.

Some of the “bad” things that happen to hardworking, well-meaning, capable people each day include:

• Missing the big opportunity
• Getting passed over for a promotion
• Getting demoted
• Losing a lot of money
• Getting fired
• Going bankrupt

What happens to us when our worst career nightmares come true? Career-altering events can happen to anyone — and they do. But when they happen to us, they seem incomprehensible, largely because we’ve worked so hard to be nice, dedicated and well-meaning.

But even when we can partially blame the economy, there comes a time when we must take a hard look at what we could have done differently. Despite faltering companies, imperfect leaders, coworkers who don’t like us and other external variables, we must eventually engage in private, honest introspection.

It’s time to ask: What part did I play in the events leading up to the career crisis? And how do I get my “mojo” back?

Historically, the word “mojo” has been associated with witchcraft and voodoo — specifically, the ability to cast spells. Over the years, it has become urban slang for personal power, magnetism and charisma. In business, mojo refers to the moment we do something purposeful and powerful — an act lauded by others.

For some, it represents personal advancement: moving forward, making progress, achieving goals, clearing hurdles, passing the competition — and doing so with increasing ease. Star athletes call this being “in the zone.”

In Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If You Lose It, leadership expert Marshall Goldsmith introduces the term “nojo”—the opposite of mojo. Nojo sufferers approach their work negatively. They’re bored, frustrated, dispirited and confused, and they aren’t shy about sharing their dissatisfaction with others.

Goldsmith lists seven professional mistakes that contribute to nojo in otherwise competent, successful and smart people.

———————————————

This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 & 1000-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials.

You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Defining Mojo
• Lost Mojo
• 7 Common Career Mistakes
• Over-committing
• Waiting for the Facts to Change
• Looking for Logic in All the Wrong Places
• Bashing the Boss
• Refusing to Change Because of “Sunk Costs”
• Confusing the Mode You’re in
• Maintaining Pointless Arguments
• Mojo Recuperation

——————————————————————————–

If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order links to purchase this article:

a. Text, 2000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $79 – Click HERE:

7 Career Mistakes that Turn Mojo into Nojo -  May10-101a — 2000-word article

b. Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 – Click HERE:

7 Career Mistakes that Turn Mojo into Nojo -  May10-101b — 1000 word Article

Most business leaders have lost sight of what motivates people at work. In fact, some companies haven’t updated their management practices in years, which means they’re incapable of creating high-performance teams.

Companies continue to ignore the obvious: Offering incentives and rewards is less effective than tapping into truly meaningful intrinsic motivation. Leaders operate on old assumptions about motivation despite a wealth of well-documented scientific evidence.

The old “carrot-and-stick” mentality may actually inhibit employees from seeking creative solutions, partly because they focus on attaining rewards instead of solving problems.

So, how can you successfully tap into workers’ inherent motivation and creative drive? How can you boost the number of actively engaged employees from the paltry 33 percent reported by the Gallup Organization? And how can you sustain employees’ enthusiasm after their first 30 days on the job?

In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, former U.S. Department of Labor aide Daniel H. Pink says businesses are out of sync with what scientists have been telling us over the last 50 years.

The hackneyed carrot-and-stick approach, now dubbed “Motivation 2.0,” encourages poor leadership practices, including Pink’s “seven deadly flaws”:

1. Extinguishing motivation
2. Diminishing performance
3. Crushing creativity
4. Crowding out good behavior
5. Encouraging cheating, shortcuts and unethical behavior
6. Becoming addictive or obsessive
7. Fostering short-term thinking

In fact, Pink holds Motivation 2.0 partly responsible for the economic chaos of 2008. Mortgage brokers, for instance, were so hungry for commissions that they made questionable loans, which helped bring the nation’s banking system to its knees.

———————————————

This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 & 1000-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Seven Deadly Flaws
• The Hawthorne Studies
• Scientific Management
• Freud, Skinner & Maslow
• The Third Drive
• Negative Impact of Rewards
• Open Source Innovations
• Unleashing Motivation
• Creating Flow
• Rethinking Management
• Rethinking Human Nature

——————————————————————————–
If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

a.    Text, 2000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $79 –
Click HERE: RethinkingMotivation -  Apr10-100a,  2000-word article

b.    Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –
Click HERE: Rethinking Motivation -  Apr10-100b  – 1000 word Article

In the national bestseller Flow, University of Chicago psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests two key factors determine our overall happiness:

• Our relations with other people
• How we experience our work

You can improve both areas by bringing humor to work each day.

Harvard Business Review (September 2003) reports that executives with a sense of humor climb the corporate ladder more quickly and earn more money than their counterparts.

A good laugh reduces blood pressure, increases heart rate, massages internal organs and reduces the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood. It boosts blood flow to your brain, which means you learn more, forget less and feed your curiosity.

While the advantages of a good sense of humor at work are many, there is a dark side that can backfire. How can you be funny without being a jerk?

———————————————-

This is a brief synopsis of a 1000-word article suitable for coach’ newsletters. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.
The complete 1,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Humor and Creativity
• Humor and Managing Change
• Motivation and Morale
• Humor Strengthens Teams
• The Dark Side of Humor
• How to Add Humor at Work

——————————————————————————–

If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –

Click HERE: Humor at Work: How to Be Funny without Being a Jerk

As knowledge workers in the 21st century, our success depends on having a healthy, functioning brain. What can leading neuroscientists teach us about stress, effective coping skills and peak performance in the workplace?

While you cannot completely eliminate stress, you can make it work for you to improve your brain’s ability to function. Your choices — and how you respond to stress — can make you smarter, stronger and wiser.

The Mind-Body Connection

Most people know that when they exercise, they feel better — but they cannot explain the connection. They assume they’re burning off stress, reducing muscle tension or boosting endorphins, all of which are true.

There’s more to it than that. The real reason you feel better lies in basic physiology: When you get your blood pumping, your brain functions at its best.

Today’s technology-driven tasks put us in front of a computer screen most of the day. It’s hard to remember that our bodies and brains were built to move. Our brains need physical activity and stimulation. We need to exert more energy than “keyboard calisthenics” allows.

Stress – It’s Everywhere

In a recession, with increased job stress, there’s no getting away from a nerve-wracking environment. Either you’re unemployed and struggling to cope, or you’re employed and doing the job of more than one person.

How can we harness the power of stress to our advantage?

———————————————-

This is a brief synopsis of a 1000-word article suitable for coach’ newsletters. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 1,000 word article includes these important concepts:

•    The Mind-Body Connection
•    Stress – It’s Everywhere
•    Word Stress
•    Stress Inoculation
•    How Stress Affects the Brain
•    The Wisdom of Stress

——————————————————————————–
If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –
Click HERE:
Healthy Brain Stress- Dec09-34b- 1000 word Article –