Tips To Be More Productive

2019-08-272019-08-27 by Steph

What’s up ? This is THE stephane ANDRE !!! I heard Olivier Roland’s tips and I learned some good stuff.

You know, sometimes I worked all day like crazy and at the end of the day, I felt like I haven’t progressed. Maybe you have already experienced this? That’s why I’m always learning new things to be as productive as possible. There are 2 books that help improve productivity and time management, it’s “Getting Things Done” and “Cut To The Chase” .

Here are tips from these 2 books to improve all this.

If a task can be done in less than 2 minutes, do it right away

Immediately make a task that requires less than 2 minutes has several benefits:

Adding a task on your To-do list requires less than 2 minutes, it’s the same number of minutes as for a task that can be done right away.
It’s more efficient to add the task that require more than 2 minutes on the To-do list, otherwise this list will be endless and unmanageable.
Don’t make a task that requires less than 2 minutes right away can have disproportionate consequences in relation to the time needed to achieve it (like sending a confirmation or cancellation message).

So remember, if this task takes less than 2 minutes, do it now.

Warning

Sometimes you have to plan moments to focus only on a task or an important project. These specific moments shouldn’t be interrupted, even by a task than requires less than 2 minutes.

Try it so you don’t have any insomnia

Insomnia reduce productivity. Often the source of insomnia is malaise, bad mood, stress, poor sleep hygiene, etc. Insomnia can have serious consequences in the relation with others and can also cause road accidents, drowsiness, memory loss, absenteeism and the list goes on.

For chronic insomnia, it’s advisable to see a doctor for treatment. For transient insomnia (up to 3 months), there is an tip to free your spirit of thoughts that obsesses you.

Put a paper and a pen next to your bed. When you have a thought that obsesses you, you write it on the paper and beside you write the action you have to do to erase this thought.

Here is 2 example:

If the thought is: “I have to send a quote to this client”. You note on the paper: “Client quote => Look for supplier prices”.
If the thought is: “I have to lose weight”, you note “Lose weight => Look for a personal trainer”.

As you write down your thoughts and the action you should take, you should feel more peaceful.

Have an attitude “Let’s go see”

Sometimes, going on the field can help you learn more than analyze data on your computer. So the next time there is a problem, go see for yourself on the field. This may allow you to have ideas for finding a solution more quickly.

Don’t use a foul language in the workplace

It may sound like grandparent’s advice but it’s common sense. When you use a foul language, you can offend a person without knowing it. A person who doesn’t feel offended in the workplace is a serene and productive person. An offended person doesn’t want to work and wants to find another job. Many entrepreneurs have lost talented people because of their foul language without knowing it.

Not using foul language avoids conflict and difficult situations to manage.

When you do something, ask yourself why you do it

Often we do things out of habit, without wondering if it’s worth doing. This can waste time and energy and it would be better to stop doing this task or delegate it.

So regularly, ask yourself this question: “What happens if I delete this task?”. If the answer is nothing, stop doing this task. If the answer is something else, look if you can delegate this task.

Do it

No matter what dream you have, do it realize in your life. Here is a quote from Goethe: “Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it”.

Close the loop

has anyone ever told you, “Well call you back if there’s a problem”. And 2 week later you have no news and you wonder if everything works well. I know there is this quote: “No news is good news” but it’s frustrating t be in uncertainty. When a person doesn’t close the loop, it leaves others waiting and this can complicate relations. Don’t be like these people, stay in touch to avoid complicated situations.

Don’t let your smartphone become your master

With new technologies, we can stay in touch 24h/24h. But that’s not a reason for every smartphone notifications to be a priority. Sometimes I see people, every time there is a notification, they take their smartphone as if it was the end of the world. No matter where they’re and no matter what they do.

Define time slots and limits for the use of new technologies. Turn them off when you need to be focused for a task or meeting. Let others know that you no longer look at your emails and messages after a certain hour or weekends.

With that, you create a clear border between the moment you work and your private moments. It allows you to destress.

Personally, I turned off the sound for notifications from my smartphone. It’s really cool to do that, I’m more serene.

Save your computer file regularly

There are 2 types of users:

Who often back up
Who don’t back up until the day they lose important data

Losing files on a job you’ve been working on for months is very annoying. So backup often and take advantage to make copies at different locations (such as an external hard drive). With Cloud, you also have access to Google Drive and Dropbox which are very effective. Better to save than not enough.

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-Steph

Become Insensitive To Haters

2019-03-242018-08-30 by Steph

What’s up ? This is THE stephane ANDRE !!! I watched an Olivier Roland’s video and I learned some good stuff.

To be successful, it’s really necessary to have the ability to ignore haters, especially on internet.

Beginners are unaware of the emotional impact that haters can create and it can also scare people who want to start their company online. When you develop your internet presence, avoid haters is impossible.

Hater

A hater is a person who feels the irresistible urge to send you a message by email, comment or tweet to tell you :

You’re the stupidest and ugliest person in the world

Your content is the most insignificant thing since the creation of the planet earth

That he/she hopes that you don’t make children to not spread the evil on the planet earth and that you die quickly

These 3 things are what say haters in general.

The truth is, you can’t avoid that. Select one of your favorite artists, athletes or actors, check out one of his/her video on Youtube and read the comments. You can see the quality’s level of comments and it makes people lose faith in humanity. And it’s not just haters, there are also people who tell a lot of bullshit and insult each other.

A hater is a person who is bored and has no purpose in life, so that person is trying to create trouble in your community and psychologically impact you in a negative way. Fortunately on social media, it’s possible to ban haters.

Don’t be afraid

I know many people who want to create a blog, a podcast or a Youtube channel but they’re afraid of having a bad buzz. I know a medical student who wants to create something to help students who are in 1^st year of medical school but he still doesn’t do anything. This is the same situation as people who never drive because they are afraid of an accident or people who never take a plane.

It’s important to understand :

It’s extremely unlikely

Even if you have a bad buzz, you’ll survive

In any case, you will build a community that will support you.

When you look at the biggest bad buzz in history, it’s rare to see that the sales falls caused the bankruptcy of the company (or maybe you know a case I don’t know). Sometimes there are people who have been a bit traumatized by a bad buzz but in the majority of cases, there is little damage.

The best revenge you can have for haters is to have a good life. To be afraid of the haters that make you afraid to act, that you’re paralyzing, it’s showing to the world that it’s you who are leaving intimidated by something that is very unlikely to happen.

Keyboard warrior

Haters are also called « Keyboard warrior » because generally haters allow themselves to make type of criticism about people on internet but they are unable to do in real life, face to face. They’re comfortable behind their keyboard because they suffer no consequence.

So don’t be intimidated by the keyboard warriors and what I recommend you to do, it’s to keep a bottle of champagne to celebrate your first hater. It’s important to know that having haters is a necessary step in your success. Having your first hater is a sign that you’re on the right track because you’re disturbing someone.

Constructive criticism

Among this ton of negative comments (95%), there are also critics who can help you improve. To identify these critics, you must ask yourself this question : « What is the intention of this criticism ? Do I feel that the person wants to help me ? ».

If you feel that the criticism of the person is to help you, you can analyze the criticism and see if you can do something that interest you. If not, you can ban the person. Unfortunately, you’ll see that the majority of critics are not made to help you.

Remember that about haters :

They’re inevitable
They’re a sign of your success. Everyone has haters, even the people you admire the most
They’re keyboard warriors. They say things that he/she doesn’t allow himself/herself to say in real life, face to face.
Keep a bottle of champagne for the day you’ll have yor first hater
To identify constructive criticism, ask yourself this question : « Is there a positive intention in this criticism to improve myself ? ».

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-Steph

Boost Your Charisma

2018-08-08 by Steph

What’s up ? This is THE stephane ANDRE ! I watched an Olivier Roland’s video and I learned some good stuff.

To increase my charisma, I discovered a completely counterintuitive trick. This trick is a state of mind. This is a trick that Seth Godin shares in his book « Tribes » . In this book Seth Godin explains the importance of internet. Internet isn’t just about doing business with customers/prospects, but it’s a real tool for building a tribe or community.

The principles for building a tribe or community with internet are to share quality content and to clearly explain your values to bring together people who share the same values as you. Seth Godin says something very interesting about charisma, he says that most people think that yow have to have charisma to get the idea when it’s the opposite. The simple fact of having the idea gives charisma. It’s deep right ?

In everyday life

I’m sure you’ve seen this situation :

There is a person who loses consciousness on the sidewalk Quickly a person must take responsibility for the idea of caring for the person who has lost consciousness

There is a car accident. Quickly a person must take responsibility for the idea of dealing with traffic to secure the area.

In situation where there is no designated leader, a person must take the initiative, without permission, to take responsibility for the idea of managing the situation.

As you can see, it does give charisma to this person and the others will naturally accept him/her as a leader and listen his/her orders, until the situation returns to normal.

The question, I’m asking you is : « In the project that is important to you, could you take responsibility for the idea of taking care of your tribe or community that shares the same values as you and to do evolve the project ? ». Tell me your answer in the comments section.

Subscribe to my newsletter and share this article if you think it can help someone you know.

-Steph