Terris Tuesday Tip of the Week - July 25, 2023

 Great acts are made up of small deeds. - Lao Tzu

Productivity is not just about doing more, it is about creating more impact with less work. – Productivity & Working Hard Quotes

As summer progresses, we are trying to make the most of the days we have left. Vacations are occurring. Longer days of sunlight and heat mean opportunities to be outside or hopefully near water.

Thinking back to the creation of the 40-hour work week, history.com states that the Ford Motor Company was one of the first companies to embrace the 40-hour work week in 1926 in its automotive factories. Previously, they had the factories running 6 days a week, but Edsel Ford, Henry Ford’s son, decided that everyone needed more than a day for rest, recreation, and time with one’s family.

We all have heard that the employees get the most done the day before vacation because they do not want to deal with it while relaxing. In the same thought, over the next couple of weeks the author is going to provide some ideas to complete tasks daily so that evenings and weekends can be spent relaxing and with loved ones.

The first tip is to focus on what actually matters. Along the way, most people have taken on new tasks to complete because being busy is often thought of as productivity. However, as we all know, it is not. We should work on those activities that will have the biggest impact on our jobs or companies, etc. and also on the quality of the work that we are producing.

Stop focusing on the time our team spends in their seats and instead focus on the quality of their work and really defining what success looks like. – Tanya Dalton, This former CEO cut her 70-hour workweek down to 30 with 3 productivity hacks—start with ‘tossing your to-do list’

Additionally, we should focus on our goals. Even though we are relaxing, we can still read books, listen to podcasts to provide knowledge if only for short amounts of time daily. Remember that small amounts of work can add up to major impacts in life. 

The pandemic was hard, but many new ideas came about to delegate more tasks to provide more time to do other things.  For example, grocery shopping can be done by a store employee and then picked up by the consumer.

ACTION: What ways can you save time to spend focusing on what really matters and move you closer to your dreams?

Resources

·        https://www.geckoandfly.com/18617/quotes-office-job-occupation-working-environment-career-success/

·        https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/smallbusiness/this-former-ceo-cut-her-70-hour-workweek-down-to-30-with-3-productivity-hacks-start-with-tossing-your-to-do-list/ar-AA1dJe7C?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=7fd1f298718c443c94c5a165b1ce9df2&ei=14

·        https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/smallbusiness/3-productivity-tips-that-turned-me-into-a-multimillionaire/ar-AA1e1lVU?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=83e5628256e344ecadcd2784fbac8b70&ei=9

·        https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/smallbusiness/productivity-habits-trusted-by-the-world-s-most-successful-entrepreneurs/ar-AA1dECkT?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=efe5dd8122f24f3c992400e523aa54b3&ei=56

·        https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/laziness-isn-t-why-you-procrastinate-this-is/ar-AA16s7Uj?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=f4a60c0dd5ce4b8f80b4f33fc7129ced&ei=20

·        https://www.npr.org/2021/11/05/1052968060/how-the-40-hour-work-week-became-the-norm

·        https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ford-factory-workers-get-40-hour-week

·        https://strongmadesimple.com/blog/small-actions-and-big-successes

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Wek - July 11, 2023

 When work becomes play, and play becomes your work, your life unfolds. - Robert Frost

I don’t think of work as work and play as play. It’s all living. - Richard Branson

As we are in the middle of the year, Christmas is less than six months away and Texas is hitting 100+ degree temperatures, how did the reader fare on their mid-year goal review? Is goal achievement moving along or is the reader not where they expected to be at this point? Summers can be challenging as vacations are occurring. Work and goals are often pushed aside. How can we make working on our goals fun even when we know there is still so much time in the year?

Tom Sawyer is the answer. Think back to reading “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain. Aunt Polly punished Sawyer for another one of his mischievous antics and he had to whitewash the fence. As his friends continually came by jeering at him, Sawyer said it was fun and that he was not upset, and he was actually enjoying it. By the end of the day, Sawyer was paid for the opportunity to help paint the fence (pp. 26-27) 

In “Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us” by Daniel Pink, he defines “The Sawyer Effect” as “the practice that can either turn play into work or work into play” (p. 331). Tom learned he could sway a group into helping him by simply making work into play.

ACTION: As there may be days that are difficult to work on goals, how can you turn work into play to move you closer to accomplish your goals even during the summer months?

 

Resources

·        https://www.williamlanday.com/2010/08/02/the-sawyer-effect/

·        https://darrenkbourke.com/blog/the-sawyer-effect

·        https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-did-tom-get-ben-paint-fence-93809

·        Pink, D. (2009). Drive The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Riverhead Books. (electronic version)

·        Twain, M. (2012). The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Duke Classics. (electronic version)

 

 

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - July 4, 2023

 The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice; their choice! - Dwight D. Eisenhower

America. It is the only place where miracles not only happen, but where they happen all the time. - Thomas Wolfe

Today, we celebrate the 247^th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress.   As a quick history refresher, Richard Henry Lee put forth a motion in June 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain.  On July 2, 1776, Lee’s motion was approved by the Continental Congress and the Declaration of Independence was adopted and signed making America a free nation on July 4, 1776. 

Today is a remembrance of the dream of freedom our founding fathers had and the fight that our founding fathers had to embark on to provide our great country the freedoms we have today.

ACTION: Take time to read a book or an article or watch a documentary to remind yourself of what it took to accomplish this American Dream.    

 

Resources

·        https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/july-4th-quotes-inspiration-to-celebrate-independence-day-2023/ar-AA1dpEjb

·        https://dd.darrenhardy.com/a-symphony-of-freedom?utm_campaign=DarrenDaily&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=264871572&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Nw0eUcP3glgr-qgzL8q2krK_T7wJfTIMZTLKXzDc9qgCxaAy_GhLZ_nARnBUrdbahi7Kaz1nLoeHhtlwd2w4X6_QcHw&utm_content=264642512&utm_source=hs_email

·        https://www.rd.com/article/4th-of-july-history/

·        http://aguirrenglish.weebly.com/uploads/5/7/5/1/57511731/the_american_dream_of_the_founding_fathers.pdf#:~:text=Liberty%2C%20above%20all%20things%2C%20was%20the%20dream%20that,was%20their%20belief%20in%20equality%20and%20unalienable%20rights.