Jul19

5 Easy Ways To Be More Productive Today

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5 Easy Ways To Be More Productive Today

If you’re like us over here at The Help HQ, you probably have quite a full workday ahead of you and are thinking of ways to be as productive as you can with the little time you have. Here’s something we all know but have a hard time putting in practice: productivity is not about spending more time working BUT rather, it is working on things that matter to your work.

Here are 5 tips to improve your focus and be more productive today:

Scan your surroundings

If your environment itself is distracting, then you surely are going to be distracted. Take control of your surroundings so that you can focus on work that matters. If you work in an office, clear your desk of visual noise. If you work from home, have a dedicated workspace and try not to work on the dinner table. Remove clutter. All you really need is your laptop – or monitor, mouse, and keyboard, the rest are aesthetics. 

Try time management strategies

If you don’t have a favorite time management strategy yet, we’ve outlined 6 of the best time management strategies here. pick one and try it on for size. See which one works best with your work style.

Eliminate “busy” work

Busy work is doing tasks for the sake of being busy. However, these tasks do not add any value to your work goals. Some examples are: making copies, typing texts that can be copy-pasted, doing design work that can be created from templates, etc. We’re all guilty of doing this. You know which ones you’re guilty of. Do an audit of your daily tasks and eliminate those that are unimportant so that you have more time to get real work done. There’s no point in doing busy work for the sake of being busy.

Know your peak productivity hours

If you have the ability to schedule your meeting, schedule them in blocks around your most productive times so that you can take advantage of your peak productivity hours. If you’re more productive in the morning, schedule meetings in the afternoon and vice versa. This way you have uninterrupted time to focus on important work.

Say NO

If you’re overwhelmed with work, say NO. get into the habit of saying no to things, people, projects, favors, suggestions, etc that do not add value to your work goals. If you want to increase productivity, you must be clear about your priorities. Don’t say yes to things that will overfill your plate or do not even have time for right now. This isn’t about you not being a team player, this is about you having boundaries and focusing on your purpose. If you can’t say no, at least learn to say “not right now” until you learn to decline new work.

What are your top productivity tips that guarantee success? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Jul12

Get Your Best Work Done And Jumpstart Your Motivation With These Quick Wins

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Get Your Best Work Done And Jumpstart Your Motivation With These Quick Wins

Previously, we talked about how to get your best work done with 6 tried and tested time management strategies. In case you missed it, you can read the whole article here. If you don’t have a go-to time management system yet, you’re probably going to want to try the six strategies mentioned to see which one is a good fit for your work style. While you’re trying those approaches out, here are some quick wins to implement right away if you want to get started in improving your time management in the next 5 mins.

Get your workspace organized:

Remember your first day at the office? You were probably assigned to a clean desk with not much else but a desktop monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse. Ok, maybe a notepad and some pens as well. Over time, that desk will start to accumulate clutter – papers, books, sticky pads, cables, filing folders, etc. Visual clutter affects your productivity. Studies show that people who feel overwhelmed with “stuff” are more likely to procrastinate. Disorganized workspaces reduce concentration and focus and increase anxiety. 

Quick win: Take 5 minutes to organize your desk. Throw away papers that have long served their purpose. Corral your pens into a mug or pen holder. Gather your books with bookends. Organize cables with cable ties or bulldog clips. Stack your notepads together. Keep your table-top free of anything except for your keyboard and mouse.

Turn OFF notifications

Studies show that the average employee switches between 10 – 25 apps in a day. Your phone apps all bid for your attention which makes it harder for you to achieve deep focus. When you can’t focus on your work – it takes longer to complete.

Quick win: While you could keep your phone on silent mode to avoid the constant distraction from a ringing or vibrating phone, it is best to just turn OFF your notifications or use the “Do Not Disturb” mode. 

Work in batches

Each time you switch between tasks, your brain has to adjust and reset. Like when you find yourself having to gather your thoughts in order to proceed with a new task. Constantly switching slows you down in terms of productivity and increases your exhaustion factor.

Quick win: Group together similar tasks. You’ll spend less time context switching and more time streamlining your workflow.

Stop multitasking

As previously mentioned, switching between tasks slows you down and drains your mental resources. You might feel like you’re accomplishing more, but the multitasking myth has already been debunked. You’re spreading yourself too thin and setting yourself up for “decision fatigue.”

Quick win: Focus on one task at a time. This will get you in a “flow state”. You know this as getting “in the zone.” Feels good, right? You work more efficiently and accomplish more if you concentrate on doing one thing.

How about you? What are your productivity quick win tips? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Jul6

Adapting Healthy Habits in the New Normal

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Adapting Healthy Habits in the New Normal

In the new normal, we must never forget the behaviors we’ve learned to make sure that we and our loved ones are healthy and safe. Great strides are being made to make the vaccine available, but we are a long way off to getting everybody free of the COVID-19 virus. It is always good to constantly be reminded (and remind our friends and family as well) of healthy habits.

Here are 5 important tips to remember:

1. Take Vitamins and Eat Healthy

We can never get all the required nutrients from food alone, especially when you are admittedly eating more junk food than usual (we’ve all been there). That’s why we need to make sure to drink our supplements daily to make sure we get all the required nutrients and boost our immune system as well.

2. Don’t Forget Masks and Hand Sanitizer

I recite a short list whenever I go out. The list goes “phone, wallet, and keys.” However, face masks are still required in most places. So, it would be good practice to add that to the list of things to bring when you step out of the house. It’s also good to include a small bottle of hand sanitizer or a small spray bottle of alcohol just in case you need to clean your hands or disinfect high contact things like knobs, grocery carts, or elevator buttons.

3. Follow Social Distancing Protocols

Make sure to stay at least 2 meters away from other people to reduce the risks of virus transmission. The distance varies in each location though. You can always greet someone with a wave.

4. Avoid Touching Your Face

According to studies, people touch their faces approximately 16 times in an hour. That’s a lot of face touching that you probably weren’t aware of. Face touching could significantly increase your risk of infection to the common cold or flu, but the thing to watch out for is the deadly coronavirus. Make it a point to be mindful about your intentions to avoid touching your face. Avoid habits like resting your chin on your hand or scratching your eyes. Keep reminders like post-its or, better yet, keep your hands busy. Your hand sanitizer or alcohol bottle will come in handy here. Scented ones will be a big bonus as the smell will draw attention to where your hands are.

5. Wash Your Hands Regularly and Properly

Make sure to scrub all parts of your hands with soap and running water. Twenty seconds or the length of 2 “happy birthday” songs is enough to remove pathogens. You can even wash your hands to these songs too, bonus points for singing out loud:

  • Row, row, row your boat
  • Twinkle, twinkle little star
  • Shape of My Heart – Backstreet Boys
  • Mambo No. 5 – Lou Bega
  • Love on Top chorus – Beyonce
  • Jolene – Dolly Parton
  • Mr. Brightside – The Killers
  • Africa – Toto

What are your healthy habit tips for the new normal? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Jun28

Get Your Best Work Done With These 6 Time Management Strategies

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Get Your Best Work Done With These 6 Time Management Strategies

Time management is about managing your daily tasks in order to make sure that you are spending your time as effectively and as intentionally as possible. The best benefit of efficient time management is the ability to prioritize your day in order to have room for self-care. Here are 6 time management strategies that can help you get your best work done.

1. Timeboxing

This is a time management strategy where you aim to complete targeted goals within a ‘timebox.’ First, you have to figure out how long it’ll take you to complete a body of work. Then, you create a ‘timebox’ for the said task. For example, block 9am to 11am in your calendar to write a copy for the next social media campaign. Start working within the timebox and focus on the task until the timebox is up. Take a break once done. 

2. Time Blocking

Very similar to timeboxing, time blocking is also about setting aside a ‘block’ of time to complete your work but with one slight difference. In time blocking, you block off set periods of time in your calendar to work on tasks. For example, “Monday to Wednesday: work on the latest social media campaign.

3. Pomodoro

Pomodoro is a time management strategy that helps you complete tasks within short time frames and incorporate breaks in between. The breaks are a must. In Pomodoro, you set a timer for 25 minutes and focus on the task at hand, carefully avoiding distractions. Then, you take a 5-minute break after. Repeat. Know more about the Pomodoro Technique in this article: That Tomato Shaped Kitchen Timer.

4. Eat the Frog

My personal favorite time management strategy is Eat the Frog. This means getting the hardest stuff out of the way first before proceeding to complete the rest of your tasks. You would have to think hard about which tasks to prioritize. The rule is to complete the important AND urgent tasks first because those are usually high-value jobs. Learn more about Eat the Frog strategy here: Eat That Frog And Drink The Coffee!

5. Get Things Done (GTD)

In this time management strategy, the first step is to write down everything you need to do and then you sort them out in order of priority to find the low-value jobs and the tasks that you can delegate or even get rid of completely. Find out more about the GTD strategy in this article: How To Get Things Done.

6. Pareto Principle

This time management strategy is sometimes called the “80/20 rule.” The Pareto principle has one fundamental rule: you spend 20% of your time on 80% of your work. This is the reverse of Eat the Frog where you are encouraged to get the quick tasks out of the way in order to get quick wins as a motivation to complete the rest of your work.

Do any of these work for you? What is your favorite time management strategy? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Jun21

How SMEs Can Retain Top Talent When A Salary Increase Is Not Possible

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How SMEs Can Retain Top Talent When A Salary Increase Is Not Possible

Global lockdowns have affected a lot of businesses. Small to medium enterprises, Mom n’ Pop business, and Start-ups are among the businesses who took the hardest financial hit. Most of these organizations aren’t in the best commercial position to retain their top talent. However, they also cannot afford staff turnover and would need to increase retention.

Making sure that staff feels validated and rewarded for a job well done is an important part of keeping your best people. It is also a great way to attract top new talent as a good reward system improves your businesses’ reputation as a stellar place to work. When employees feel properly rewarded, they are happier and generally more productive. They also opt to stay with the organization for longer.

A salary increase isn’t the only way for your business to reward and retain your top talent. If traditional salary options are not possible in this financial climate, you can still reward your employees with non-monetary benefits. Here are a few examples of non-monetary incentives:

Work From Home Arrangement

In industries who can afford to allow their employees to work from home, this working arrangement has been mandated to help enable physical or social distancing. This helps quarantine the workforce and reduce the population of people who can be at risk of catching the Covid-19 virus. Once the restrictions were lifted, the workforce was allowed to go back to work and back to the office. For organizations who are able to allow their employees to work from home, this arrangement can be one of the non-monetary benefits used to reward top performers. 

Flexible Work Schedule

Allowing your top talent to manage their schedule, within reasonable limits, can also be a non-monetary incentive. For example, staff can be allowed to start work anytime from 6 am to 10 am as long as they complete the number of work hours needed for the day. Another flexible work arrangement is to allow employees the ability to start and stop work whenever they want within their daily schedule as long as the4y are available for team meetings and collaborative sessions. This could prove especially practical for parents who have young children at home.  

Medical Benefits

This one could arguably be a very popular employee retention benefit. Understandably, employees would want to receive the best health care. Employers could offer to cover an employee’s health insurance or at least subsidize a portion of staff’s private health insurance. Employers can even offer to extend healthcare coverage to an employee’s family members. 

Wellness Packages

Because of recent events, there is a growing interest in mental health and wellness programs. Employers can offer access to therapy or counseling sessions. They can even offer access to physical wellness programs like gym memberships, training sessions that are supervised by personal trainers online, massage sessions, chiropractor sessions, etc. Coaching sessions from financial advisors also count under wellness coaching.

Have you used non-monetary benefits to reward or retain top talent in your company? How did it work out? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp