Recently, Tim Herrera, editor of the New York Times newsletter, Smarter Living, shared 8 tips for working smarter in 2020. Here are links to his advice.

1 | Find more happiness at work

According to Herrera, up to a third of United States workers say they don’t feel engaged at work. Sometimes, just small changes at work can be all you need.

2 | Use your strengths more wisely

Many people are so focused on improving their weaknesses, they don’t have the chance to do what they do best every day. That’s the opposite of what most workers should do.

3 | Track your failures and learn from them

When things go right, we’re typically good at identifying why they went right. According to Herrera, falling on our faces gives us the rare opportunity to find and address the things that went wrong.

4 | Avoid workplace drama

Gossip at work is common, as is the desire to be a part of a group. In a new work environment, this combination can be harmful if you fall in with colleagues who are known for being negative and wasting productive time. According to Jill Jacinto, a millennial career advisor, “it’s best to avoid gossip altogether.”

5 | Are you doing what you want to be doing?

It’s one of the toughest questions most workers will grapple with. “I’m a big believer in evaluating where you think you are in your life about once a year,” says Art Markman, author of the book Bring Your Brain to Work. “Don’t wait for a tragedy to strike before you’re willing to actually think about this,” he says.

6 | Learn to deal with jerks (without being one)

Workplace jerks are the people who demean and disrespect you. They might steal credit for your successes, blame you for their failures, invade your privacy or break their promises, or bad-mouth you, scream at you and belittle you. Here are some tips for coping with them.

7 | Be smarter about asking for advice

It’s a request experienced people of any industry often get: “Can I buy you coffee and pick your brain?” For a busy professional, unsolicited requests for a casual, informational interview can come off as entitled and presumptuous.

8 | Get better at job interviews

One survey reveals that 92 percent of adults have job interview anxiety. They worry that they won’t be able to express themselves clearly, or that we won’t look right. Here are tips for overcoming your interview fears.

Are you overwhelmed with too much to do? If you are an owner or manager of a small business, we know the answer: “Yes, but I need to do more.”  Rather than suggesting ways to do more, the Dropbox.com blog recently shared five ideas for doing less. While these suggestions are directed towards those who work in corporate team settings, perhaps they can inspire you to think of ways in your workplace to apply a “do less” approach for re-focusing how you spend your time.

1 | Stop editing your own presentations

Focus on the first draft. Don’t spend too much time on wordsmithing or formatting. Get your raw ideas down, then ask others to help you refine them. In the process of proofreading and revising your work, they’ll bring an important outside perspective that will strengthen not just the style, but the substance.

2 | Stop solving problems in hallway conversations

Management by walking around may sound like a good concept, but according to some studies, “drop-bys” from co-workers can take up nearly a quarter of a manager’s time. Establish a formal process for face-time.

3 | Stop attending meetings without an agenda

Beyond being a fast way to reach consensus on the key decisions that keep projects moving, team meetings help you build camaraderie and stay aware of what’s happening and what’s ahead. But without a specific agenda, that are a time sink.

4 | Stop answering instant messages

To prevent the back-and-forth of an IM conversation from derailing your train of thought, set a three-response limit for any text exchange. After that, suggest moving the thread to email (or better, a project management platform).

5 | Stop Checking email every minute

Dedicate blocks of time to check all your email at once. You might even add it to your calendar to let your team know this is how you’ll manage your email, so they have a clear idea of when to expect a response.

VIA | Dropbox Blog, “These are the 5 tasks you should stop doing today”

Do you have suggestions for things to “stop” doing? Send them to Tips@SmallBusiness.com.

Photos: Pexels

If you are up-to-speed on internet (or texting) lingo, you know that TLDR (or TL;DR) means “too long, didn’t read.” Today, having access to too much information (TMI) can be a serious drain on those whose work involves spending much of the day involved in projects and tasks that include researching and capturing information that is then transformed into understanding, wisdom and advice. Too often, some of that information gets misplaced or lost, which leads to researching and capturing information all over again. Sure, there’s Google to help you search for that lost information, but it is often locked up in a company’s own network, or on someone else’s computer. 

Sobering statistics about how much time we spend searching for information

13% | Increase since 2002 of an engineer’s time spent searching for information. (Source:  IHS Knowledge Collections Webinar )

8 | How many searches it takes a worker to find the right document and information. (Source: SearchYourCloud)

19.8% (1 day per week) | The time that is wasted by employees searching for information to do their job effectively, (Source: A Fifth of Business Time is Wasted Searching for Information, says Interact)

30% (2.5 hours) | The time each day a “knowledge worker” spends searching for information. (Source: Information: The Lifeblood of the Enterprise.)

60% | Percentage of executives who feel that time constraints and lack of understanding of how to find information were preventing their employees from finding the information they needed. (Source: Information: The Lifeblood of the Enterprise.)

Where information gets lost

Note: The following list of places information gets lost around the office is not the results of scientific research. It is based on my personal 30-year experience of not being able to find 19 percent of the information I needed, but couldn’t find. (Note: In a future article, we will focus on finding information on the web. The following is focused on information that’s in-house.)

In an email thread

Bouncing back and forth on an email reply thread can bury any information worth keeping (or losing). Even email that uses Google search is unfindable after 4–5 replies. Email places information in silos that are impossible for others to obtain. An email thread is where information goes to die until half of a sentence is needed to prove you didn’t do something you were supposed to.

In an email inbox

If someone has more than 100 email messages in their inbox, they may as well have 1,000. Email that is sitting in an inbox is email that will be lost, sooner or later, by one or two people. It’s silo information that can only be found via search, then, only if you are lucky enough to recall the exact words you need to find it.

In text messages

Like email, but worse.

On a server

In too many small businesses, a shared server on an office network turns into a big basket of confusion and chaos as people start making up their own filing conventions. One group will start filing information by project, another group with file things according to clients. Soon, some employees are filing photos in one file and documents in another, despite the photos and documents are both related to the same job.

How to cut down on wasted time spent searching for information

Create a company-wide convention for naming files and folders

Chances are, everyone in the office creates file and folder names using their own system. However, when two or more people are gathered around a project, a standardized filing format will reduce the time necessary to find something you need that was created by someone else. Such standardization should be a part of everything else on this list.

Train and be an example

Lead by example. This is a classic example of the weakest link syndrome: Your information management solution will be only as good as the person who doesn’t adhere to it.

Use cloud-based, office-suite software

G-Suite or Microsoft Office 365 are the leaders in the cloud-based office or productivity suite of software that includes spreadsheet, presentation, word processing and other work-related applications and features like email and file storage. (See project management, below, for advice on using office-suite software).

Use a project management software platform for all collaborative projects

There is software made precisely to solve the problem of organizing e-mail, texting, organizing and sharing digital information and the digital pieces and parts of a typical work-related project. It’s called “project management” or “project flow” software. There are several brands of project management software but the one we use at SmallBusiness.com is Basecamp 3.

Use Slack if you aren’t using Basecamp 3

Basecamp 3 and the office-communication platform Slack have several features and benefits that overlap one-another. Organizing various types of communication and collaboration around projects is the obvious similarity. However, if you use both, that overlap can quickly lead to confusing redundancies. Despite Slack having the lion’s share of hype these days, Basecamp 3 is a more robust project management platform. Slack is more focused on capturing and organizing communication related to a project, including audio and video conferences.

Instead of subscribing to email lists, use Feedly 

If you use a newsfeed organization software platform like Feedly, every time one of your important news sources publishes a new article (or podcast), it will go straight into a set of files and folders organized in whatever manner you’d like. (Here’s a good tutorial on how to use Feedly.)

Use Evernote

There’s nothing that comes close to matching the versatility of Evernote. For capturing and organizing information you want to file away for a later day, using Evernote’s filing and tagging features will enable you to find anything later.

Don’t use email to store any information about anything

It will take you twice the time it would take using project management software.

istock

Do you have tips for filing and storing things you’d like to find later. Email: Tips@SmallBusiness.com.

When it happens to them, authors call it “writer’s block.” Small business owners and managers may not have such a label for it, but we all know the feeling. It’s that inexplicable urge to organize your sock drawer whenever a big project is looming and you can’t quite pull everything together to get started.

Feelings of boredom and frustration can hold us back from taking the first step each working day, even if we know it becomes much easier once we find our flow. Rather than beginning what feels like yet another day’s work, splitting your work into separate tasks and defining today’s workload as a discrete project can create a feeling of purpose.

Recently, NetCredit developed an infographic that includes several scientifically tested ways for making yourself work when you are not quite into it.

Here are nine of our favorites.

1 | Tell yourself you are starting anew

Researchers found that new mental accounting periods can create new perspectives and improve motivation. Remind yourself of the goals and reasons behind it, and reconsider the best way to tackle it.

Dai, H. (2013). The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior

2 | Reward yourself before you begin. Perhaps a piece of chocolate cake?

Research has revealed that dopamine levels are important to self-motivation before you embark on a task. A little shot of dopamine levels will help motivate you. Start with a slice of cake or a short comedy video to break the procrastination loop.

Cell.com The Mysterious Motivational Functions of Mesolimbic Dopamine

3 | Start with a smile

Studies show smiling reduces stress and anxiety-levels, which in turn helps you feel better about the work you need to get done.

Kraft TL. (2012). Grin and bear it: the influence of manipulated facial expression on the stress response. nih.gov

4 | Strike a Superman pose

Sitting with an open, expansive posture can increase testosterone, decrease cortisol, and increase your feeling of power and tolerance for risk as you settle into work.

Harvard.edu, The Benefit of Power Posing Before a High-Stakes Social Evaluation

5 | Start small

Studies have shown that those who are successful at self-management break down their work into small, achievable, measurable tasks. No one builds a house. They lay one brick again and again and the end result is a house.

6 | But also remember the big picture

You are more likely to see your work is important if you think of the benefits it will have for other people.

Wright, B. (2004). The Role of Work Context in Work Motivation: A Public Sector Application of Goal and Social Cognitive Theories. oxfordjournals.org

7 | Make a contract with yourself

Commitment devices have been shown to be a great way to conquer a task you may be trying to avoid.

Rogers, T. (2014). Commitment Devices Using Initiatives to Change Behavior. harvard.edu

8 | Take a stroll

Researchers have found that going for a leisurely walk or using an exercise bike for 20 minutes can reduce fatigue levels by 65 percent and increase energy levels by 20 percent

EyeofJ via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Fahmy, S. (2008). Low-intensity exercise reduces fatigue symptoms by 65 percent, study finds. uga.edu

9 | Get some artificial regulation

Regular reminders of what you’re supposed to be doing can keep you on track. Use an app such as Be Focused Pro (formerly, Pomodoro Time). Click start and watch the seconds tick away until your next break can get you going.

Free, C. (2011). Smoking cessation support delivered via mobile phone text messaging, thelancet.com

Photos: iStock except where noted

SOURCE | NetCredit
VIA | LifeHacker.com

People who run small businesses often run out of time before running out of things to do. So we’re always trying our best to speed things up. But Mike Vardy, founder of Productivist, thinks there’s a better way to be productive than attempting to speed things up.

“Rather than spend time speeding things up for the sake of doing more, take some time to think about whether or not what you are doing is worth you doing it at all. Instead of checking off as many boxes as possible, check the boxes you have on your list and make conscious choices about them.”

Here is a 90-second exercise Mike suggests for helping you “Stop Doing Productive and Start Being Productive”:

1. After you’re done reading this, stop and do nothing for 30 seconds. It may help to focus on your breath and close your eyes while doing so.
2. Grab a piece of paper and a pen/pencil and write down everything you think you need to do, ought to do, or want to do. You should time this. Stop once the 30 seconds is up.
3. Take another 30 seconds to choose one of those things to work on today. Commit to working on it so that you can honestly say you made progress on it before day’s end.

And One More Thing: Don’t be Like Lucy

(via: Productivist)

“Completion bias” is a term used by business professors Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats to describe the natural tendency people have to overly focus on tasks that demand immediate attention rather than tasks that bring them closer to achieving their long-term goals. “Human brains are wired to seek completion and the pleasure it brings,” they write at HBR.org. “Completing simple tasks, such as answering emails or posting updates on your Twitter account, takes little time and allows you to check off items on your to-do list.”

The upside of doing mundane tasks first

While completion bias can distract you from making a dent in more important long term goals, research by Gino and Staats (and others) suggests that finishing immediate, mundane tasks can improve your ability to tackle tougher,more important things. “Your brain releases dopamine when you achieve goals. And since dopamine improves attention, memory, and motivation, even achieving a small goal can result in a positive feedback loop that makes you more motivated to work harder going forward.”

Their research included monitoring 500 employees from a wide range of industries. They found that those who started the day by first completing a couple of short tasks and then checked off more complicated tasks as they completed them were more satisfied with their jobs, felt the highest level of motivation, and, based on their records, had accomplished the most throughout the week. “Completing the first few tasks quickly, it seems, gave them the boost they needed to get through the rest of their work,” say Gino and Staats.

In addition, completing small tasks frees up the cognitive resources people need to tackle other activities. In fact, research has shown that not completing tasks occupies your mind: You seem unable to forget tasks you’ve started but haven’t completed, so you have a hard time devoting your full attention to other activities.

Take control of completion bias

Advice from Gino and Staats

• Don’t succumb to completion bias—don’t allow yourself to be sucked into the mundane and unimportant.
• Strike a balance between easier short-term efforts and tougher long-term goals. One way is to audit how you structure your workday and, if necessary, change how you plan your daily tasks.
• Know your priorities. Many people don’t identify their top three to five priorities—or fail to change how they structure their workdays when priorities change. Making priorities explicit will help you devote sufficient time to them.

(via: HBR.org)

One of our most popular boards on Pinterest.com/SmallBusiness (What? You didn’t know there is a Pinterest.com/SmallBusiness?) is dedicated to tips and tricks to help organize cables and cords. This one, however, tops all others. From the guys who put the sticky in sticky content at Sugru comes the discovery that Lego figures can hold several sizes of cables (shown: Apple lightning connector cable). Organized cables and Legos. We think it deserves a Nobel Prize.

(via: Lifehacker)

Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and an expert on how people develop or break habits, puts it this way:

“We’re told constantly that there is a right way to do everything. The truth is you need to know what fits you the best. Trying to force yourself to do something one way—the way you assume is the right way—may not line up with your personal preferences, personality quirks, and lifestyle. Other people might get up earlier and get extra work done, but for you, it might be better to stay up later and do extra work then.

Here is Gretchen’s advice when you find yourself trying to do something in a better way, but it’s just not working: “Flip it around.” As she explains, “People assume that one way is the ‘right’ way, even if they aren’t getting good results. Instead, it’s helpful to think — well, what I’m doing isn’t working, so I’ll turn it around.”

Here are some ways you might apply that in running a business:

• If something you’d like to do each morning (say, creating a “to-do” list) isn’t working, try doing it at the end of the day.
• If sending an email to someone isn’t working, try calling.
• If you can’t summon the discipline to go to the gym, find a physical activity that doesn’t make you think about the word “discipline” — say, riding a bike.

What are some things you’ve found that just didn’t work until you tried flipping them? Share them in the comments below.

(via Lifehacker.com)

How it works: Each time an InfiniteUSB is plugged into a port, a new USB port is created (see animated gif above). Instead of forcing you to constantly hot swap devices into that one port, InfiniteUSB keeps all your cables connected, with only one port from your laptop. (It’s a high-tech cousin of the way some plugs on holiday lights work).

Even though there is still a month left on its Kickstarter campaign, the InfiniteUSS, has already received triple its $10,000 goal (with a bullet).

And yes, our head wire hater put in his support.

(Photos: Vojotech)

(Want more SmallBusiness.com wire and cord organizational obsession?
Visit our Pinterest board on the topic at Pinterest.com/SmallBusiness.)

The desktop component of the collection is the Griffin Guide (starting at $29.99), a set of “building blocks” that include heavy steel bases that sit on your desk to which you connect magnetic u-shaped pieces corresponding to the types of cords you use. The cords are fed through the shapes and the steel base anchors everything sturdily to your desk.

Other products in Griffin’s cord organizing line include a cable sleeve organizer ($7.99) and a “car connections pack” for organizing audio input and mobile device cords ($39.99).

(Produced by Rex Hammock and Caroline Lewis)

(Photos: Griffin Technology)

What’s your dream gadget? Let us know on Facebook.com/smallbusinessdotcom or via Twitter: @SmallBusiness.