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How Distractions At Work Take Up More Time Than You Think

February 13, 2020 by Blake Thorne 2 Comments

people-feet-train-travelling copy

Make an estimate on how many times are you are distracted during an average work day.

Now take that number and multiply it by 25.

That’s how many minutes of concentration you’re losing. It takes an average of about 25 minutes (23 minutes and 15 seconds, to be exact) to return to the original task after an interruption, according to Gloria Mark, who studies digital distraction at the University of California, Irvine.

Multiple studies confirm this. Distractions don’t just eat up time during the distraction, they derail your mental progress for up to a half hour afterward (that’s assuming another distraction doesn’t show up in that half hour).

In other words, that “30 seconds to check Twitter” isn’t just 30 seconds down the drain. It’s 25 minutes and 30 seconds.

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Free Guide to Company Culture for Startups

Practical examples from leading startups and entrepreneurs on how to make company culture into a competitive advantage for your company.

Filed Under: The Science of Productivity Tagged With: Creativity, Procrastination, Productivity

How To Solve The 8 Causes Of Workplace Conflict

December 20, 2019 by Blake Thorne Leave a Comment

Workplace Conflict Cover
The workplace is for work. You’re here to get things done, grow the business, improve the world and get better at whatever it is that you do.

It’s not a place for squabbling with coworkers, managers and subordinates. But that’s what seems to happen. Workplace conflict is everywhere, eating up productivity and taking precious time away from the things that really matter.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The causes of workplace conflict are recognizable. In separate articles on workplace conflict, psychologists Art Bell and Brett Hart identified eight common causes of conflict in the workplace. Think about the conflicts you’ve had in the workplace. You’d be hard-pressed to find on you can’t trace back to one of these root causes.
It’s important to see workplace conflict this way, as a symptom of a great structural problem.

That argument with the boss over coming in on Saturday isn’t really about coming in on Saturday. It’s about the misaligned expectations, structural problems, and poor communication that led you to have to come in on Saturday. In other words, the problem is bigger than the problem.

At best, it’s a symptom of a greater failure.

Thankfully, smart and innovative companies are changing the way we work — and eradicating the causes of workplace conflict at the source. Here’s a look at the eight causes and what great companies are doing about them.

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Free Guide to Company Culture for Startups

Practical examples from leading startups and entrepreneurs on how to make company culture into a competitive advantage for your company.

Filed Under: Company Culture Tagged With: Communication at Work, flat hierarchy, Management, Productivity

The 38 Best Productivity Software Tools of 2019

November 26, 2019 by Sasha Rezvina 41 Comments

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Productivity apps continue to pop up right, left, and center. If you’re trying to stay up-to-date, it can quickly begin to feel like you’re wasting time looking for the perfect software rather than actually working efficiently. At I Done This, we continue to improve our done lists and integrations to eliminate the need for meetings — but we realize that there are many more ways that you and your team can get more done in less time.

To spare you hours of Internet sifting, we’ve updated our collection of the 35 best productivity software tools for the New Year.

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Free Guide to Company Culture for Startups

Practical examples from leading startups and entrepreneurs on how to make company culture into a competitive advantage for your company.

Filed Under: The Science of Productivity Tagged With: Goals, Habit Change, Productivity, productivity software, Psychology of Productivity, Self-Improvement

Quiz: What Productivity Personality Are You? How to Maximize Your Productivity in 2019

November 15, 2019 by Kathryn Vandervalk 1 Comment

A habit is something you’ve learned, through repetition, to do without thinking. You know your personal habits—whether you do the dishes right away, or if you throw your clothes on the floor—but you aren’t always the same person at home and at work.

productivity quiz

We put together this Productivity Quiz to help you identify what your work habits are. At the end of the quiz, you’ll see your Productivity Personality, which gives you personalized tips on how to be more productive by capitalizing on your good habits and eliminating your bad ones. Simply tally up the number of As, Bs, Cs, and Ds you answer and we’ll decipher your productivity paragon.

Whether you schedule every minute or go with the flow, you’ll leave with actionable feedback on how to make the most of your workday.

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Free Guide to Company Culture for Startups

Practical examples from leading startups and entrepreneurs on how to make company culture into a competitive advantage for your company.

Filed Under: The Science of Productivity Tagged With: Goals, Habit Change, Productivity, productivity quiz, Psychology of Productivity, Self-Improvement

The Science of Stress Management: Your Brain on Cortisol

October 21, 2019 by Jonathan Figliolino 1 Comment

This post was originally published in 2017, and we’ve since updated it with new research and examples. 

You’re swamped with a huge project when your boss suddenly asks you to complete another urgent assignment that’s due tomorrow. Your heart’s beating a mile a minute, and you’re wondering how you’re going to get this all done. But, somehow, you’re going to try to make it work.

Too much stress will overwhelm you, but too little stress leaves you bored and unmotivated. The right amount of stress motivates you to succeed instead of making you crack under pressure.

Your tendency to thrive or choke under pressure is ultimately based on the Yerkes-Dodson Law: Moderate stress up to a certain point can actually improve your performance. But beyond that point, your performance suffers.

Stress management is built into your brain’s chemistry. Here’s the science behind your body’s stress levels, so you can maximize your productivity.

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Free Guide to Company Culture for Startups

Practical examples from leading startups and entrepreneurs on how to make company culture into a competitive advantage for your company.

Filed Under: The Science of Productivity Tagged With: Brain, Cortisol, Productivity, Stress

Why Your Brain Has a Negativity Bias and How to Fix It

October 15, 2019 by Blake Thorne 7 Comments

This post was originally written in 2015 and has since been updated with new research, examples, and advice. 

Pretend you’re a caveman.

You’re in your cave preparing for a hunt, but something outside seems dangerous. You hear violent sounds you don’t understand.

You have two choices: Skip the hunt, spend the night hungry, but live another day; or risk death and go outside.

Hold onto that thought. We’ll be getting back to that.

Now, imagine you’re driving to work. While getting off the highway, someone cuts you off. You slam on your brakes. You know the feeling that’s coming. A tense anger rises up. Your fingers clench the steering wheel.

It’s enough to make you feel horrible all day. You might be less productive at work and distracted during meetings. You might try to counterbalance the feeling with a quick shot of endorphins from junk food, mindless web surfing, or time-wasting YouTube videos. This only compounds the problem.

This is like taking short-term unhappiness and investing it in a long-term, high-yield unhappiness investment plan, ensuring belly flab and career stagnation for years to come.

So why does this one minor thing—getting cut off—have such a powerful effect on us? Why does one negative experience ruin an otherwise great day?

The answer has to do with our friend, the Caveman. Research shows that our brains evolved to react much more strongly to negative experiences than positive ones. It kept us safe from danger. But in modern days, where physical danger is minimal, it often just gets in the way.

It’s called the negativity bias.

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Free Guide to Company Culture for Startups

Practical examples from leading startups and entrepreneurs on how to make company culture into a competitive advantage for your company.

Filed Under: The Science of Productivity Tagged With: negativity bias, Productivity, Self-Improvement

16 of the Best Task Management Tools for Getting More Done

August 28, 2019 by Walker Donohue Leave a Comment

We’ve all got things to do. Tasks are a part of life — both at work and at home — and while to-do lists and day planners may work for some of us, they’re not a good fit for everyone, especially when it comes to managing tasks as part of a team.

Task management tools are everywhere these days, and they can be as simple as a pencil and notebook or as advanced as downloadable apps and project management software. There’s no shortage of options available to help you and your team work more efficiently and get more done, but the sheer number of choices can be overwhelming.

To make things simple, check out our top picks to find the productivity tool that’s the right fit for you as well as one that’ll help your team work together successfully.

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Free Guide to Company Culture for Startups

Practical examples from leading startups and entrepreneurs on how to make company culture into a competitive advantage for your company.

Filed Under: The Science of Productivity Tagged With: Productivity, Task Management, task management tools

The 20 Best Productivity Coaches and Experts to Follow on Twitter

July 23, 2019 by Walker Donohue Leave a Comment

Everyone is busy and everyone wants to do more, but we all only have the same 24 hours to split between work, sleep, and fun.

To meet this demand, an entire industry of productivity coaches, experts, and gurus have risen up to help us wring more time out of each day. Unfortunately, a good portion of these people are simply out to get your money. Since we all want to get more done, we’re all vulnerable to someone selling us a new solution.

To make it easier, we’ve gathered a list of 20 of the best productivity coaches and experts—people who are actually worth your hard-earned time. Your day is precious, so spend some of it finding out how to make the rest even more valuable. A small investment in new productivity techniques can pay off in massive returns over time.

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Free Guide to Company Culture for Startups

Practical examples from leading startups and entrepreneurs on how to make company culture into a competitive advantage for your company.

Filed Under: The Science of Productivity Tagged With: Productivity, productivity coaches

25 Jason Fried Quotes That Will Make You More Productive

July 12, 2019 by Walker Donohue Leave a Comment

There’s a lot of people out there trying to sell you simple solutions to productivity, as well as their advice, usually involving their latest book, podcast, or video series. They might not be millionaires, but they’ve found the secret to making millions — order now! Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp — a company that makes project management and communication software — is different. Fried is honest about what it takes to get work done and keep your sanity while doing it. He’s the author of several books, including It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work; Rework; and Remote: Office Not Required. Fried has earned the trust of many because of his straightforward takes on productivity and the unhealthy sacrifices some people make in an attempt to get more done. If you want to work smarter, not harder, listen to Jason Fried. Here are 25 of his best quotes on productivity, focus, and decision-making. Jason-Fried_Picture(Source) Continue Reading

Free Guide to Company Culture for Startups

Practical examples from leading startups and entrepreneurs on how to make company culture into a competitive advantage for your company.

Filed Under: Lifehacks Tagged With: Basecamp, Jason Fried, Productivity

Your Brain on Dopamine: The Science of Motivation

April 9, 2019 by Kevan Lee 52 Comments

Editor’s Note: This refreshed post was originally written by Kevan Lee in December of 2013, was revamped and updated for currency and comprehensiveness by Willa Rubin in 2017 — and again in 2019.Dopamine-representationI spent an hour on this opening paragraph.

The hour wasn’t time well spent, mind you. Sure, I was working — writing, deleting, tinkering with words here and there — but my one-paragraph-per-hour pace wasn’t out of indecisiveness as much as a lack of motivation.

I spent five minutes on email, ten minutes on Instagram, and fifteen minutes doing who-knows-what on Tumblr. (Just kidding, I know exactly what I was doing: watching cat videos.)

Sound familiar?

Motivation is a tricky thing to corral. Tricky, but not impossible.

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Free Guide to Company Culture for Startups

Practical examples from leading startups and entrepreneurs on how to make company culture into a competitive advantage for your company.

Filed Under: The Science of Productivity Tagged With: dopamine, Goals, Intrinsic Motivation, Productivity, science

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