Ask the Productivity Geek: 6 questions, 6 answers

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Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in a periodic column where we’ve asked Matt Heinz, who has been writing an occasional column on productivity for GeekWire, to answer questions on topics related to productivity, work/life balance and time management practices.  If you have questions, email Matt directly or leave them in the comments below. When taking… Read More…

GeekWire Podcast: How to be more productive, and take control of your work and life

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Mobile devices, online services and persistent connectivity are overloading many of us with information and distractions. As the new year begins, how can we take back control, and become more efficient and productive in our work and lives? That’s our topic this week with our guest Matt Heinz, the president of Heinz Marketing in Redmond,… Read More…

New Years Resolutions: 11 ways to increase your productivity in 2013

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We have a specific, measurable set of objectives to drive our business in the New Year, plus I’ve developed with my wife a set of goals for our family in 2013. The 11 resolutions below sit somewhere in the middle. Most are work-related, but together they represent an effort to work smarter and more efficiently,… Read More…

How to keep your big business from acting like a startup

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Much has been written — including my last column on GeekWire —about why it’s important for new businesses and startups to keep from acting like big companies. But that doesn’t mean the startup environment is a model of efficiency and productivity. There are, in fact, several common startup characteristics that big companies should avoid to increase their… Read More…

How to keep your startup from acting like a big company

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The kind of big-company behavior we all hate – bureaucracy, slow decision-making, politics, stifled innovation – doesn’t just happen at big companies. It creeps into new businesses as well, with just a handful of people. If you don’t actively watch for it, proactively keep it out, and eject it immediately when you see the first… Read More…

7 ways to get other people to read for you

Photo Kevin Lim

Want to read more, but just don’t have the time? Let someone else read for you! It’s not crazy. There are a number of tools, most online and many for free, where someone else does the “heavy lifting” of reading everything, summarizing what’s most important and prescient for you. In just a few minutes, you… Read More…

Nine ways to make your morning more productive

Are you a snooze button type of person? Photo via Bigstock

How often does your morning live up to expectations? If you’re like me, you go to bed at night expecting great things and great progress by 10:00 a.m. Unfortunately, three snooze buttons later, with two different shades of blue socks on, the gym bag forgotten at home, rushing to your first meeting and already behind… Read More…

Eliminating meetings: 8 ways to tackle the biggest time-waster in your business

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You’ve heard it (or probably said it) many times before: “I can’t wait to get out of all these meetings so I can actually get some work done!” Meetings are critical to most organizations, but the vast majority of meetings you attend on a regular basis are too long, unfocused, unnecessary, or otherwise wasting your… Read More…

Productivity Porn: How to achieve ‘inbox zero’ in 60 minutes or less

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Whether you perpetually have hundreds if not thousands of emails in your inbox, or you’re coming back from a long weekend or true, “unplugged” extended vacation, you have a problem.  It’s not realistic to declare “email bankruptcy” and start from scratch, but the last thing you want to do is waste your entire first day… Read More…

Productivity Porn: 7 tricks for beating procrastination

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We procrastinate for a variety of reasons.  Fear.  Intimidation.  Laziness.  Distractions.  All reasonable obstacles.  But if you’re prioritized your tasks and projects correctly, the work still needs to get done. I’ve found that procrastination can be the single-largest hurdle keeping individuals at all levels from being more productive and getting more done. It’s a silent… Read More…