Strategy: The Latest Round Of LinkedIn Changes: What You Need To Know…You May not have Access to all these Changes Yet, But you Will. And this is Just the Beginning

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LinkedIn recently introduced a new look and feel to your home page and profile page, as well as additional features and a new pricing plan. The latter was designed to get more people to pay more – or pay at all (since most members are on the “free plan”).

LinkedIn

This is not surprising. LinkedIn is an ever-evolving platform with new features being added seemingly every month. Most of the changes enhance what you can do and how you can use LinkedIn’s tools. Even the most fervent users of LinkedIn have a hard time keeping up with the enhancements and modifications.

For more on the pricing plan, read this recent articleby fellow Forbes contributor George Anders. To help you navigate the recent feature changes, I’ve developed the following quick guide, with an emphasis on how you can make the most of these changes to enhance your personal brand.

But first, here are a few things you need to know:

–       LinkedIn is a business, and its leaders are always seeking ways to maximize their bottom line. Changes are ultimately designed to increase revenue. Most users don’t need to pay for LinkedIn services. Your presence and engagement translate into value for LinkedIn.

–       LinkedIn has been in the fast lane, moving from an online website and virtual networking tool to a comprehensive career management and personal branding platform. But unlike a lot of online platforms, new features do not roll out to everyone at the same time.

–       There are often different ways to accomplish one task in LinkedIn and different features you can access from your home page and your profile page (click on your face in the upper right corner to get from your home page to your profile page). Find the approach that works for you and stick with it.

The best way to maximize LinkedIn is to stay up on its latest developments by reading posts like this and trying things out to see what provides you the greatest value.

 

Overall, I think the new home page design is greatly improved and the other recent enhancements make it a more valuable tool. To help you maximize the latest features, I’ve divided these into three aspects of branding: Building Your Personal Brand, Building and Nurturing Your Network and Measuring Your Success:

Building Your Personal Brand

Adding Media

Being able to add media to your profile – documents, videos, presentations – isn’t new, but the recent changes make multimedia enhancements even more valuable to you. When you add media now, you can indicate where you would like it to appear by selecting a specific section. LinkedIn has also increased the number of providers from whom you can embed media. The complete list, now topping 300, is here.

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Share An Activity Update

This feature works the same as it did but has been renamed “What’s On Your Mind.” I’m not sure why this change was made. Perhaps they’re hoping that a question will spur more people to provide more updates.

Blogging

Using the LinkedIn long-form blogging platform is great for personal branding. You can share your thought leadership with a potential 330+ million people. And recent changes have made it even more valuable. Now, published posts are highlighted in individual search results. So if you aspire to be visible to people who are making decisions about you, and you want to be seen as a thought leader in your field, start using the long-form publishing feature in your profile!

SlideShare

There is now a direct link to SlideShare from your profile page. Under the Interests tab, SlideShare has been added to Companies, Groups, Pulse and Education. As you may know, LinkedIn bought SlideShare in 2012.

Building and Nurturing Your Network

You Recently Visited

Not all of the changes included additions. The You Recently Visited feature, which used to appear along the right side of your home page, has been removed. Personally, I think this is a loss of a great feature.  I liked being reminded of the profiles I checked out.

Stay in Touch

LinkedIn has made it easier to stay connected to your network members. The new Keep in Touch box – which you’ll find in the top right of the homepage – organizes your connections’ updates (including birthdays, profile changes, new jobs/promotions, anniversaries and mentions in the news) and gives you the option to comment, like or skip the update. This provides similar functionality to the LinkedIn Connected app. Your connections’ new roles – which used to appear in your feed – are no longer shown there.

People You May Know

This feature annoyed some – me for one – and it has been given less prominence in the redesign. That’s good news. People You May Know are shown after you go through your list of connections who have updates (see “Stay in Touch” above). But just to make sure you see it, they have added “People You May Know” to your activity feed as well. And you are still fed People You May Know after you accept a LinkedIn request. LinkedIn is going all out to make sure you add connections.

Searching

Free searches are now limited by a monthly cap – with the goal of driving more people to the premium versions. There is a work-around that will make it unnecessary for most people to subscribe for a premium version. After you have used your monthly limit of searches, switch from LinkedIn to Google for your sleuthing. If you are looking to find Marketing Directors at IBM, for example, type this into the Google Search window: IBM “marketing director” site:https://Linkedin.com/pub/ If you are in sales, however, the premium version and its search capabilities are a necessary investment.

Measuring Your Success

Immediate Stats

Right at the top of your profile page, LinkedIn posts your stats so you can see how you are doing. It’s a great way to measure your brand impact. In addition to showing how many people have viewed your profile (you can click on it to get all the details, just like before), you can see how many people viewed your latest update (now called  “What’s on Your Mind”).

The Only Constant is Change

As I said earlier in the post, you may not have access to all these changes yet, but you will. And this is just the beginning. LinkedIn will continue to enhance and change the platform, so stayed tuned.

Follow me on Twitter and check out my latest book, Ditch. Dare. Do! 3D Personal Branding for Executives.

Forbes.com | March 11, 2015 | William Arruda 

Leadership:Lazy People Often Make the Best Employees…Don’t Alienate your Lazy Employees, but Challenge them, Distract Them,& Put Them to Work

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At first glance lazy employees seem to be the worst ones to look to if you want to get a job done, but that may not be the truth.

Worst employee, lazy, bored, work

When they seem to be distracted, they may not have enough going on to keep them interested.

After all, it’s the lazy employees who know the shortcuts, the efficiencies, how to eliminate problems, keep things running smoothly, and save time.

Here’s how to get the most from them.

When they seem to be idle, they may have found a much easier way of doing things, or they may just have more highly developed skills than others. Learn from them and enlist them to help teach others.

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When they seem to be bored, they may be deep in thought. Find challenges that speak to them and give them higher-order assignments.

When they seem to be distracted, they may not have enough going on to keep them interested. Entrust them with projects that require multitasking and fast-paced work.

When they seem to be slothful, up the ante. Give them room to do more. Create challenges, targets, and goals and allow them to reach new heights.

When they seem to be slow-moving, let them find ways of being more productive in a shorter span of time in other areas. Helping your employees develop new skills lets them know you are committed to their success.

Remember, we’re not talking here about employees who don’t meet performance standards, but those who do so with little to no visible effort. Their laziness is real, but it’s a symptom of something bigger, and not giving them a chance to do more is squandering a great resource.

If there’s a hard job to be done, an assignment to be completed or a chore to be accomplished, give the job to a lazy employee and watch him find an easy way to get it done.

Don’t alienate your lazy employees, but challenge them, distract them, and put them to work. Let them teach you more about being productive, effective, and constructive.

 

Businessinsider.com | March 11, 2015 | LOLLY DASKAL, INC.

http://www.inc.com/lolly-daskal/why-lazy-people-are-the-best-hire-for-your-company.html#ixzz3U76Ib0Ky

Strategy: 20 Things High Achieving Employees Say to their Bosses…These are my Top Tips, but What are Yours? If You’re a Manager, What Would you Love to Hear your Employees Say More?

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Looking to make a good impression with a new boss or improve your relationship with your current manager?

Commanding respect

 

Bosses want to hear you say things like, “I’ll take the lead on that!”

Try adding a few of these powerful phrases into your conversations.  You can easily improve your standing with your boss without being insincere or being thought a brown-noser.

1. How can I help?

This is probably the number one thing managers like to hear. (The opposite would be, “That’s not my job.”) It shows you’re a team player and willing to pitch in, even outside your specific job duties.

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2. Not a problem.

When your manager asks you to do something, be positive about it. Make her feel confident that you’ll address the task without her having to micromanage.

3. I’d like to learn more.

Indicating to your boss that you’re interested in things outside your area of expertise is a great way to show that you’re serious about moving up in the company or your career. It shows ambition and even an understanding of your own shortcomings, which is appealing when you’re willing to address them.

4. How can I improve?

This is especially useful in performance reviews, but can be used any time. It shows that you’re open to constructive criticism. And if you take it to heart and make changes, even better.

5. I’ll take the lead on that.

Volunteering shows initiative and leadership skills, both things managers look for in valuable employees.

6. I love my job.

Now there’s something we probably don’t say enough! Even if you don’t love everything about your job, you can probably pick a couple of things you could mention to your boss. Who doesn’t like enthusiastic workers?

7. Here’s how we can solve that problem.

Solutions are powerful. If you come to your boss and say, “Here’s the problem. We can do X, Y, and Z to solve it, and I think we should do Z because…” you’re showing initiative and creative thinking. Even if your choice of solution isn’t the one he goes with, he’ll be impressed that you thought about it instead of just bringing the problem to him.

8. No.

It’s actually a good idea to set solid boundaries and say no every once in a while. Be polite, of course, but a good boss will respect that you are trying to maintain those clear boundaries.

9. I saw this needed to be done, so I did it.

I think this phrase is music to everyone’s ears! Bosses love people who are self-driven and don’t need a lot of micro-managing. In addition, if it’s not technically “your job” but it needs to be done — including everything from changing the toner cartridge to filing paperwork — you’ll earn extra points.

10. Here’s an idea…

A good manager will welcome new ideas, just be sure to pitch them at the appropriate time. A staff meeting where everyone is brainstorming new ideas? Great time. A client meeting where you’re presenting a proposal? Maybe not the best time.

11. I wanted to talk to you before I book my vacation.

Here’s something almost every boss hates: being told you’ve booked your flights to Aruba without talking to him first. Instead, go to her before you buy the tickets and let her know when you want to go and how you plan to have your workload handled while you’re gone.

12. Let me show you.

When describing a complex situation or problem, it’s great to have good visuals to make understanding simple. This is especially true with any data-heavy presentations you might need to give.

13. I’ll get that done by…

Specificity is definitely something bosses appreciate. If you can say exactly when and how you will deliver something, that’s very useful to the manager trying to manage expectations from her boss and other team members. Of course, be sure to keep your word, or this is meaningless!

14. What I hear you saying is…

This is an active listening technique where you repeat back what you understood from what your boss said to you. You may feel a little silly at first, but it demonstrates that you were listening and actually comprehended what is being asked of you — and bosses love being understood.

15. That was a mistake, but next time…

Managers appreciate an employee who not only owns his mistakes, but also understands how to make sure they don’t happen again. When admitting to a mistake, be sure to follow it with a comment about how to avoid a similar situation in the future, to show you’ve learned from the gaffe.

16. I could use some mentoring.

Managers are usually eager to be seen as experts, and most will be glad to give advice on how best to prepare to advance in the company or your career. Even just asking for the advice can make your boss feel valued.

17. I agree.

Everyone loves to have their ideas validated, even your boss. Don’t take this to an extreme and become a “yes man,” but when you do genuinely agree with your boss’ opinion or ideas, say so.

18. I see what you’re saying. I was thinking of it this way… 

When you do disagree with your boss, be respectful; don’t call him out and say he’s wrong (especially in front of other people) but don’t be afraid to make your ideas heard, either. Anyone is more likely to take dissenting views into consideration when they’re presented calmly and politely.

19. How’s your day going?

Don’t forget: your boss is human! She has good days and bad days, too. When appropriate, try taking a genuine interest in how she’s doing or how things she cares about — kids, hobbies, sports teams — are doing as well. Make a personal connection.

20. Thanks.

A good boss will thank his or her employees for a job well done, but who thanks the boss? If you’ve gotten help with a problem, good advice, or valuable feedback, say thank you! It might just make your boss’ day.

These are my top tips, but what are yours? If you’re a manager, what would you love to hear your employees say more? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Businessinsider.com | March 11, 2015 | BERNARD MARR, LINKEDIN

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20-things-your-boss-love-hear-why-bernard-marr#ixzz3U6zixqrS

Strategy: Psychologist says These 7 Critical Skills Predict Success…Developmental Psychologist Susan Engel Researched the Skills that Actually Predicted Success

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What skills do you really need to succeed?  In school, they taught us history and algebra and if we got good SAT scores they said we’d succeed. But are those the skills we really need?

young graduates millennials success

Collaboration is a critical skill.

Developmental psychologist Susan Engel researched the skills that actually predicted success. I’ll give you a hint — differential calculus isn’t on the list.

Here are the seven skills that are critical for success.

1. Reading

Of course, you can read. If you couldn’t you wouldn’t be reading this. Engel defines reading as follows: “It means having the ability to read an essay or book and understand it well enough to use the information in some practical way or to talk about it with another person.”

I’d like to ask a different question: Do you read? Do you apply what you’ve learned? Share it with others? People who read fiction, for instance, are more empathetic. That empathy can certainly help you be a better boss.

 

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2. Inquiry

If you’re running a startup, you probably already have this skill down. After all, the purpose of every startup is to either solve a problem that exists or convince people that they have a problem so you can sell them the solution. But, the question is, do you allow your employees the same level of inquiry?

Are ideas encouraged? If they are, are they encouraged at all levels of your work force, or are they welcomed just from your senior team? The process of inquiry is the process that will lead your company to success. Keep asking those questions.

3. Flexible thinking and the use of evidence

Sometimes we get focused on the solution we think is right, and we forget that there are many different angles for looking at each problem. When I taught political science courses, I’d have students write a persuasive essay on a controversial subject. Then, I’d have them write a second essay arguing the opposing viewpoint. There’s a good chance you had a professor that required the same, but do you do this now?

Have you really looked at your decisions from all sides? Are you looking at evidence or are you rejecting anything that doesn’t back up your predetermined conclusion? And when you find new evidence, you need to change your course of action.

4. Conversation

Engel identifies conversation as a way that children gain not only the ability to communicate, but also pegs it as a way that children actually learn. “Children living in poverty are much less likely to hear and be part of such rich exchanges at home,” Engel says.

Have you put yourself into such an environment? Not that you aren’t speaking with your colleagues daily. Of course you are. But, are you having rich conversations about a variety of subjects that expands your mind? If you’re hyper-focused on your business, you just may have given up the conversations that can actually help you.

5. Collaboration

Are you working together with others, or simply directing their work? Some people are natural-born collaborators and others of us prefer to sit alone. While the idea of the lone genius is interesting enough, you’ll find yourself better off if you work in a collaborative mode.

6. Engagement

How successful are you on a project that you hate and wish you could avoid? Not very, right? Do you have enough of interest going on that you can “immerse” yourself in work? Is there something that excites you?

What about your team? Are you making sure that employee engagement is high on your list of priorities? Because your company’s success isn’t just dependent on your engagement but on the engagement of your employees.

7. Well-being

Remember, you’re a human and your employees are human as well. It’s critical to know if you and they are happy. And if you’re not happy? It’s time to change that. The children that Engel studies don’t have a great deal of freedom in their own lives (after all, they are children), but you do. If things are not working out for you, you can change what you are doing.

Some circumstances we’re stuck with. If you have a chronic health problem, it’s not like you can just wake up one morning and say, “I’m not going to be sick anymore.” But, you can choose your friends, your job, your method for getting to work, what you read, what you watch on television, and how you treat your dry cleaner. If you’re not in a state of happiness, the best thing to do is to start making some changes.

 

Businessinsider.com | March 10, 2015 | SUZANNE LUCAS, INC.

 http://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/7-critical-skills-successful-people-have.html#ixzz3U0uZ8ziW

Your Career: 12 Times you’re Better off Without a Promotion…Moving up the Corporate Ladder Seems Like a No-Brainer, but There are Many Reasons Why you Might be Better Off Declining

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You’ve been with a company for years, and have received excellent performance reviews. You may even be due for a promotion. Maybe it will come with a bigger paycheck, a larger office, and a fancier title.

Man Head in Hands Thinking

Will you be better off taking the promotion or not?

But should you automatically accept a promotion if one is offered?

Moving up the corporate ladder seems like a no-brainer, but there are many reasons why you might be better off declining.

1. You Wouldn’t Be Doing What You Want to Do

You went into engineering because you really love using technical skills to build things and solve problems. But now you’re a manager, and you spend more time in budget meetings and strategy sessions than actually working on projects. Promotions can bring some extra money and influence, but what’s the point if you’re not doing something you enjoy — or worse, if you’re being derailed from your intended career path?

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2. Your Job Might Actually Become Less Secure

It seems a bit counterintuitive that a promotion would actually make you more vulnerable to a layoff, but it is possible. It’s often more cost-effective for companies to get rid of a layer of management than lay off workers in the lower rung. There’s also a perception — right or wrong — that middle managers aren’t as tech savvy, and are therefore more dispensable.

3. You Would Have No Real Authority, But Would Be Accountable

So you got that promotion and now have some employees reporting to you. But you may find it frustrating to learn that while you’re accountable for your department’s performance, there are outside factors that impact your ability to control outcomes. Before accepting a promotion, try to gauge how much input you will actually have on key decisions.

4. It Would Require a Relocation

You’ve been offered an opportunity to move up in the company, but there’s a catch: You need to move to Portland, Oregon. Now, Portland is a lovely city, but you’re from Baltimore, and so are all of your friends and family. Living in Portland may be a little pricier, and the city doesn’t even have a Major League baseball team! For some people, moving for work is a big fun adventure, but for many others, the change in location might not be worth it.

5. It Would Be a Promotion in Name Only

Some companies like to add “senior” to your title and give you a lot of extra responsibility. But does it come with extra pay or other perks? Is it really just a “lateral” move? If you’re being saddled with extra work and stress but aren’t being compensated for it, it may be the wrong kind of “promotion.” Occasionally, this is okay if you’re learning some new skills that will pay off down the road, but it’s important to make sure your employer isn’t taking advantage of you.

6. You Don’t Plan to Stay With the Company

Let’s say you’ve been fantasizing for years about opening your own gourmet donut shop, and are about six months away from having enough money saved for it. Then your employer calls and offers you a big promotion.

Do you accept the offer, knowing that you were on the verge of leaving to pursue your dream?

Taking a promotion when you’re a short timer is pointless — and is unfair to the employer. This is also good advice for someone who is considering leaving a company due to its shaky finances. If you weren’t confident in the company before, getting a new title and bigger paycheck isn’t going to change matters.

7. You’d Be Asked to Fix the Unfixable

I once had a friend who took a job to turn around a struggling division. He saw it as an opportunity to show off some leadership skills and execute his own vision. In a short time, however, he learned that the division’s problems were so deep that they were beyond his ability to repair.

Occasionally, higher-ups might give credit to an employee for making the best of a bad situation, but it’s often just misery with no happy ending. Don’t accept a promotion to “save” something that is beyond saving.

8. Your Work-Life Balance Would Suffer

Is this new job going to require longer hours at the office? Will you be on the road constantly? Will you constantly be on call? You may be at a point in your life when you need to be home more often to care for kids or an elderly parent. Or maybe you just want more time to pursue various interests.

CNBC last year reported on some dads who said no to promotions because they wanted to spend more time with their families. You should not be so reliant on that extra paycheck that you’re willing to sacrifice the quality of your non-work life.

9. You’re Not Qualified

It’s great to take on a new challenge, but it’s important to be honest about your own talents and experience. We may be conditioned to fight off a fear of failure, but there are instances when those fears may be valid. If you enter into a job without the right skill set, you could find yourself with no career at all.

10. The Only Reason You’re Considering It Is for the Money

A better paycheck is great motivation to climb the corporate ladder, but if it’s the only reason you’re even thinking about taking the job, turn it down — assuming the money isn’t really needed.

11. The Job Doesn’t Align With Your Values

If you’re a vegetarian, would you enjoy being in charge of a marketing campaign for the beef industry? If you’re a Quaker, could you be an engineer of a major weapons system? We all have values and beliefs that guide us, and working in any job that’s contrary to those beliefs can make us miserable.

12. It’s a Dead End

You may think that moving up the ladder is always good thing, but it’s important to also think of the next step. Do you see a potential path to other opportunities within the company? Does this new job really add anything to your resumé? If you lose this job, will you be able to easily find a new one in the same field?

Have you ever turned down a promotion? If so, why?

 

Businessinsider.com | March 10, 2015  |  TIM LEMKE, WISEBREAD

http://www.wisebread.com/12-times-youre-better-off-without-a-promotion#ixzz3TzmksHxY

Leadership:Focusing On One Task More Difficult In This Digital Age… Two-Thirds of the Respondents Reported that Listening had Become More Difficult in Today’s Digital Workplace

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Focusing on one task is becoming more difficult in the digital workplace, according to research from Accenture.

red-button

The research #ListenLearnLead which surveyed 3,600 professionals from 30 countries found that 80% of the respondents say they multitask on conference calls with work emails, instant messaging or reading news and entertainment. Two-thirds of the respondents reported that listening had become more difficult in today’s digital workplace.

The research also revealed that the majority of the respondents believe technology enabled leaders to communicate with their teams easily and quickly and almost half cited additional benefits such as flexibility for teams to work anywhere or anytime. However, there was a downside to this: 62% of women and 54% of men viewed technology as ‘over-extending’ leaders by making them too accessible. The top challenges facing leaders today were information overload (55%) and rapidly –evolving technology (52%).

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The research also highlighted differences between the emerging markets and developed countries when it comes to the leadership development of women. Globally, 52% of respondents reported their organization was preparing more women for senior management roles. However, for the UK this figure was only 39%. “Many emerging markets in the survey saw very high percentages which drove up the global average. India, for example saw 80% of respondents say more women were being prepared for senior management.

Other developed nations had a similar response as the UK to this question, commented Zahra Bahrololoumi, head of human capital & diversity for Accenture UK & Ireland. “There are a number of explanations for this: one suggestion is that developed nations have been on this journey for some time and therefore has less far to go. That said, it’s critical that the US, UK and other countries around the world don’t become complacent about this, particularly with the speed of change in developed countries.”

There were also clear differences in terms of generations in the workplace when it came to career progression, the research found. More than half of the Millennials (born 1979-96) said they had asked for a promotion compared to 52% for Generation X respondents (born 1965-1978) and 51% for Baby Boomers (1946-1964).

“People coming into the workplace now feel more confident in pushing for recognition and career progression than those before them. This is partly a result of them being newer to the workplace but also because the idea of self-promotion and creating a personal brand is more entrenched with this generation, meaning they aren’t afraid of pushing themselves forwards when they feel they deserve recognition. A contributing factor to this is that the younger generation have seen success happen in a non-linear way and we have seen a democratization of success rather than a hierarchical roadmap,” remarked Bahrololoumi.

Forbes.com | March 10, 2015  |

Karen HigginbottomKaren Higginbottom Contributor

I write about the junction between being human and the workplace.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Strategy: Here’s the Morning Routine that Experts Recommend for Peak Productivity…You Have 2-2.5 Hours of Peak Productivity Every Day. You May Actually be 30% More Effective at that Time

/in /by

What’s the best way to start your day so that you really get things done?  Laura Vanderkam studied the schedules of high-achievers. What did she find? Almost all have a morning routine.

philz coffee, phil jaber

Phil Jaber, founder of Philz Coffee.

I’ve interviewed a ton of top experts about their productivity secrets: Tim Ferriss, Cal Newport, Dan Ariely, Charles Duhigg, and others.  But you’re busy. You don’t have time to read all that stuff. You need a plan.

So many readers have written to me saying what my friend Jason always does: “I don’t have time. Eric, now that you’ve talked to all these people, what do you do?”

Okay, time to round up what the experts have said and build a roadmap.

1. Stop reacting.

Get up before the insanity starts. Don’t check your email or anything else that is going to dictate your behavior.

When I spoke to productivity guru Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” what did he say?

Here’s Tim:

I try to have the first 80 to 90 minutes of my day vary as little as possible. I think that a routine is necessary to feel in control and non-reactive, which reduces anxiety. It therefore also makes you more productive.

Most of us get up and it seems like things are already in motion. Gotta race to something. Emails coming in. We’re already behind.

So of course you aren’t achieving your goals. You immediately started with what the world threw at you and then just reacted, reacted, reacted as new things came in until the day ended or you were too exhausted to do what was important.

You need to wake up before the insanity starts. Before demands are made on you. Before your goals for the day have competition.

(For more from Tim Ferriss on what the most productive people do every day, click here.)

Okay, you’re ahead of the maelstrom. What do you need to do before things get thrown at you?

 

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2. Decide the 3 things that matter today.

Cal Newport is so productive it makes me cry. He’s a professor at Georgetown, cranks out academic papers, has written 4 books, and is a dad and a husband. And he’s done by 5:30PM every day. What did Cal have to say?

All tasks are not created equal. Most of us deal with two fundamentally different types of work, Shallow and Deep:

Shallow work is little stuff like email, meetings, moving information around. Things that are not really using your talents. Deep work pushes your current abilities to their limits. It produces high value results and improves your skills.

Shallow work stops you from getting fired — but deep work is what gets you promoted. Deep work must get priority.

In his book “The ONE Thing,” Gary Keller applies the “Pareto principle” to the workday:

Most of us get 80% of results from 20% of the work we do. So focus on that 20%.

What really creates progress vs treading water? What gives disproportionate results? Do those things.

And don’t be vague. Specify what you need to get done. Research shows having concrete goals is correlated with huge increases in confidence and feelings of control.

Via The 100 Simple Secrets of Successful People:

People who construct their goals in concrete terms are 50 percent more likely to feel confident they will attain their goals and 32 percent more likely to feel in control of their lives. – Howatt 1999

(For more from Cal on how to stop being lazy and get more done, click here.)

Okay, you know what is important. Now you need to think about when.

3. Use your “magic hours” for your 3 goals.

Just like all tasks aren’t created equal, all hours aren’t created equal either.

Dan Ariely is a behavioral economist at Duke University and the New York Times bestselling author of “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.”

Dan says you have 2-2.5 hours of peak productivity every day. You may actually be 30% more effective at that time. Here’s Dan:

…it turns out that most people are productive in the first two hours of the morning. Not immediately after waking, but if you get up at 7 you’ll be most productive from around from 8-10:30.

And Dan’s findings line up with other research. I’ve posted before that 2.5 to 4 hours after waking is when your brain is sharpest. You want to waste that on a conference call or a staff meeting?

Studies show that alertness and memory, the ability to think clearly and to learn, can vary by between 15 and 30 percent over the course of a day. Most of us are sharpest some two and a half to four hours after waking.

But does this really work? In studies of geniuses, most did their best work early in the day.

Those are the hours when you should be working on your 3 goals. Designate that part of your day as “protected time.”

Maybe you know that you’re a night owl. Fine, then protect those hours. The important thing is to do your key tasks during your key hours.

(For more on the schedule the most successful people use every day, click here.)

You know what’s important today and you know when your best hours are. But maybe you’re not motivated or you feel like procrastinating. How can you get going?

4. Have a starting ritual.

Charles Duhigg is a reporter for the New York Times and author of the bestseller “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.” What did he say about fighting procrastination and getting things done?

Finishing things isn’t as much of a problem as just getting started in the first place. Here’s Charles:

One way to use habits to fight procrastination is to develop a habitualized response to starting. When people talk about procrastination, what they’re usually actually talking about is the first step. In general, if people can habitualize that first step, it makes it a lot easier.

Maybe getting that cup of coffee is the signal that you’re getting down to business. Or do you have a spot where you’re usually productive? Go there.

Wendy Wood, a professor at USC explains how your environment activates habits — without your conscious mind even noticing.

Via Habit: The 95% of Behavior Marketers Ignore:

Habits emerge from the gradual learning of associations between an action and outcome, and the contexts that have been associated with them. Once the habit is formed, various elements from the context can serve as a cue to activate the behavior, independent of intention and absent of a particular goal… Very often, the conscious mind never gets engaged.

(For more on the fun way to be more successful, click here.)

Some days it just isn’t going to happen. You can’t get going on that #1 task. What should you do when all else fails?

5. Use “positive procrastination.”

Yes, procrastination can be a good thing — but it has to be the right kind of procrastination.

When do you usually get 1000 things done? When you’re avoiding that one thing that absolutely terrifies you.

If you know you can’t do that scary thing right now, do not turn to Facebook or video games. Tell yourself it’s okay to avoid it — as long as you’re doing the #2 thing on your to-do list.

Dr. John Perry, author of “The Art of Procrastination,” explains a good method for using this to trick yourself into massive productivity:

The key to productivity…is to make more commitments — but to be methodical about it. At the top of your to-do list, put a couple of daunting, if not impossible, tasks that are vaguely important-sounding (but really aren’t) and seem to have deadlines (but really don’t). Then, farther down the list, include some doable tasks that really matter. “Doing these tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher up on the list,” Dr. Perry writes.

A similar tip is described by Piers Steel, author of “The Procrastination Equation:”

My best trick is to play my projects off against each other, procrastinating on one by working on another.

Dr. Steel says it’s based on sound principles of behavioral psychology:

We are willing to pursue any vile task as long as it allows us to avoid something worse.

(To learn a Navy SEAL’s secrets to grit and resilience when things get hard, click here.)

I know what some of you are saying: Where are the bullet points? I need bullet points to follow! 

No problem. Here you go:

Sum Up

Here’s what we can put together from listening to all the experts:

  1. Stop reacting. Get up before the world starts making demands so you can figure out what’s important to you.
  2. Decide what matters today. You won’t get everything done, so what will move the needle? What will let you end the day feeling like you accomplished something? No more than 3 goals.
  3. Use your “magic hours” for those three things. Your peak productivity time is probably an hour or two after you wake up. If you know your best hours are at another time, fine. Protect your “magic hours.”
  4. Have a starting ritual. Go to the place where you get stuff done. Get your coffee. Anything that tells your brain it’s time to rock.
  5. When things go sideways, use “positive procrastination.” If you can’t tackle the super scary thing, do the pretty scary thing. Designating a super scary thing in advance as a decoy can make that pretty scary thing much easier.

We’re all trying to achieve work-life balance. You’re not going to get everything done. But start the day right and you can definitely accomplish what matters. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:

You can do anything once you stop trying to do everything.

Join over 175,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email here.
Forbes.com | March 9, 2015 | ERIC BARKER, BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE
http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2015/03/morning-routine/#ixzz3Tvi61Bu0

Your Career: LinkedIn Tags 10 Careers Where Job Networks Matter Most…These Fields Did at Least 26% of their Hiring from Existing Employee Networks

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How will you find your next job? Everyone wants a better strategy than simply clicking on an endless blur of hiring notices. A fresh study by LinkedIn highlights 10 types of careers where a strong personal network of contacts may pay off the most.

(Photo credit: Simon Cockell via Flickr/Creative Commons)

(Photo credit: Simon Cockell via Flickr/Creative Commons)

In a blog post published today, data analytics specialist Peter Rigano examined the range of LinkedIn contacts held by each member of the social network that got a new job in October 2014. His objective: to see what percentage of them — at least six months before switching jobs — had established at least one connection with an employee or manager of the company that eventually hired them.

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On average, he found, 16% of all hiring involved job candidates with well-established connections into their new employer. In some cases, Rigano writes, those connections may have led to formal job referrals. In other cases, candidates may simply have learned about job openings informally, through their professional network of friends, acquaintances and other contacts.Rigano’s analysis unearthed some wide differences among industries, in terms of how common it is for new hires to have existing contacts with their prospective employers. The most tightly networked fields, according to LinkedIn data, include computer games, computer and network security, venture capital/private equity and political organizations. As the table below shows, all of these fields did at least 26% of their hiring from existing employee networks.

(Source: LinkedIn)
(Source: LinkedIn)
At the other end of the spectrum, industries such as restaurants, freight delivery, medical practice and luxury goods conducted less than 10% of their hiring from existing employee networks, according to LinkedIn’s data.
(Credit: LinkedIn)

From what I’ve seen of game development, management consulting and private equity, LinkedIn’s suggestion that these are highly clubby, close-knot fields is probably correct. LinkedIn’s roster of more than 300 million users is famously comprehensive for such knowledge-intensive, high-profile fields.

But the full picture on restaurants and medical practices may be more complex. Such domains aren’t traditionally thought of as hotbeds of LinkedIn activity. It may be that people in those fields rely significantly on their networks of work contacts to help them find jobs, too. The low scores could reflect, at least in part, a lower percentage of such workers’ networks that are found within LinkedIn’s databases.

All the same, as Rigano points out, highly specialized technical industries are looking for people with uncommon skills, and a good way to find such people is to tap into recommendations by existing employees. Something similar is at work in relationship-driven professions such as finance and politics, where companies like to tap into employees’ existing networks to find people who are good at “closing deals and winning clients.”

 

Forbes.com  | March 9, 2015  |  George Anders Contributor

I write about innovation, careers and unforgettable personalities.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Leadership: What The Best Managers Do Differently…Only 34% can Name the Strengths of their Employees & Only 32% have Had a Meaningful Discussion about Their Employees’ Strengths in the Last 3 Months

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Could your manager name your top five strengths – you know those things you’re good at and actually enjoy doing at work? And if yes, have they sat down with you recently and had a conversation about how you can build on your strengths as you go about your job?

SheepHerder

If you’re shaking your head, you’re not alone.

The 2015 Strengths At Work Survey shows that when it comes to our managers, only 34% can name the strengths of their employees and only 32% have had a meaningful discussion about their employees’ strengths in the last three months.

But the managers who do are outperforming their peers.

Gallup research has previously found that the highest performing managers (based on composite performance) are more likely to spend time with high producers, match talents to tasks, and emphasize individual strengths in making personnel decisions. As a result, these strengths-focused managers nearly double their likelihood of success, and are 86% more likely to achieve above average performance levels than their non-strength focused colleagues.

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This newest data sheds light on just how these managers are delivering superior results. They have more engaged, more energized and higher performing employees. The reason is simple – when we are using our strengths, we enjoy what we do much more than when we aren’t using them. And when we enjoy what we do, we do it better! Michelle McQuaid, who co-authored this latest survey says, “It’s clear that focusing on people’s strengths is good for the employee, good for the manager and good for the organization .” You can watch a segment of my interview with Michelle about leveraging our strengths on RawCourage.TV below.

The survey results are illuminating both for us as individuals, managers and leaders trying to harness the full potential of those in our organization. For example:

  • 71% of employees who believe their managers can name their strengths report feeling engaged and energized by their work.
  • 78% of employees who report having a meaningful discussion with their manager about their strengths feel that their work is making a difference and is appreciated.
  • 65% of these employees describe themselves as flourishing (as opposed to functioning or languishing) and able to make things happen.

So, what can managers do to make the most of their employees’ strengths? Here are three simple steps to get started.

  • Discover your employees’ strengths – Start to pay attention to the moments your people are clearly engaged, energized and enjoying what they’re doing. What talents can you see them using? How are they acting upon the values they hold? What interests are they demonstrating? If you’re struggling, ask them to complete the free 10 minute strengths assessment at www.viacharacter.org and together explore how they’re putting these strengths to work.
  • Offer guidance on their development – Ask them how they’d like to be drawing on these strengths more as they go about their job. If they had the opportunity to do what they do best each day – at least for part of it – what would they be doing more of? How can this be aligned to the goals your team and organization are trying to achieve? What development support – on-the-job experiences, coaching or training – might they need to develop these strengths further?
  • Give strengths-based feedback – Start looking for the different ways your employees are using their strengths. Let them know when you value and appreciate the way they’ve applied a particular strength to get a good result. Help them to understand when they’re overplaying a strength and how to dial it back in these moments. Encourage them to stop underplaying specific strengths when you see them hesitating or holding themselves back.

Adopting a strengths-focus is a small shift that delivers big rewards for managers. Best of all it doesn’t require an organizational stamp of approval or any budget to execute. Managers need only to be willing to start looking for what their employees are doing best, and talking with their employees about ways to build up on their strengths.

Margie Warrell is a bestselling author of Stop Playing Safe and Find Your Courage.   Connect on Facebook and Twitter and or check out her new book BRAVE at www.TrainTheBrave.com

Strategy: 5 Simple Things Super Productive People Do on Mondays…Starting Monday Firefighting will Put You Behind Schedule for the Entire Week

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Monday can totally feel like a drag. You just had a great weekend of fun and play and now it’s back to the workweek. Even those who love their job can find Mondays a real buzz kill.

Clocks

But Monday can also be an exciting beginning. With the right approach it can stimulate efficiency and productivity for the entire week. It takes a strong constitution to start the week with focus and determination, yet, this is exactly what the most productive people do. Here are 5 key ways they use Monday to their advantage.

1. They start with a positive attitude.

So much time and energy is used up by a bad mood. Super productive people don’t like to waste any energy and they certainly don’t want the week to lag from a bad start. They focus their mind on joyful productivity from the moment their feet hit the ground in the morning. They revel in the excitement of what they can accomplish. Instead of lamenting going to work, focus on where you truly want to be and what will take you forward.

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2. They dedicate time for organization.

Starting Monday firefighting will put you behind schedule for the entire week. Super productive people understand that organization doesn’t happen magically on its own. Time is required to think things through and create process. Otherwise, a haphazard approach will create chaos and eat the very time you thought you might save. Block out an hour first thing Monday morning and get your ducks in a row.

3. They prioritize their objectives.

If you don’t have clear objectives on Monday, you will find yourself with a short week to get things done. Super productive people assess the entire week so they can manage their resources accordingly. That gives them the ability to meter out the week and adjust as necessary. Make your lists and calendar your time. It will free your mind for the week.

4. They anticipate obstacles.

Obstacles are an inevitable part of every project and work environment. Monday is a great time to focus on the obstacles of the week. Super productive people incorporate room for unknown speed bumps into their plan, so that when the inevitable happens, they don’t get tripped up.

5. They line up their allies.

People are busy and you can’t assume that they will use Monday to set up their own week. Super productive people take into account the human resources required and schedule appointments right away so they don’t have to chase people later in the week. A colleague asked early for help is much more likely to respond and act than someone who is jarred into action by a surprise S.O.S.

Businessinsider.com | March 9, 2015  |  KEVIN DAUM, INC.

http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/5-simple-things-super-productive-people-do-on-monday.html#ixzz3TttHjFEG