Comindware looks to help businesses become more efficient by streamlining the entire process.  From general management to the tracking on known issues, Comindware seeks to make project management easier, more efficient and generally less of a headache.

One reviewer from GetApp said it best when they looked at this product: “Comindware stands out from other collaboration solutions because it enables department and project employees to automate processes associated to tasks and projects, generating efficiency and productivity gains”.

In 2012 Comindware became a winner of Graphie Awards for its innovative graph database application. During his acceptance speech Max Tsypliaev, founder, president and chief executive officer for Comindware, Inc. “From project leads to CEOs, managers struggle to get real-time visibility and effective control of their co-minded work,” he continued. “Now, they can just open a web browser and start working collaboratively, with all of their tasks in a single place, automated with priorities so the right person is working on the right thing at the right time.”

What is Comindware

Comindware designed an innovative software; Comindware Tracker, for task management, issue management, project management, and online collaboration. Comindware Tracker includes eight pre-built solutions for different departments such as Human resources, Finance and Administration and the list goes on and on depending on your needs.

With Comindware ElasticData technology, any user can visually design, automate, and optimize nearly any workflow process, specific to their industry and department with ease.  The Software focuses on work-centric collaboration features which allows each team member to collaborate easily by adding comments, participate in discussions, share files, and more.

Teams can be virtual or in office.  Team members can work from anyplace and get progress reports, changes and other data easily and quickly.  This happens because of  an integrated task management system and a free add-in to synchronize the system with Outlook.

The program uses a web services-based API making it easy to integrate Comindware Tracker with any third party systems and services that you may already be operating ensuring a  seamless integration for users.

Top Benefits

When you use Comindware, you get the Comindware Tracker and Comindware Task Management Software.  These two systems run together to manage all aspect of a product and make tracking progress, problems and mitigating projected obstacles easier.

The software is not only familiar, but makes organization of complicated tasks easier and more efficient.  You always have all of the data about your project right at your desk top.

Other highlights include:

• The main dash board has a similar layout to Microsoft Office.  You get the same “Ribbon” design as Microsoft Office so this means the system will be more familiar to users.

• The far left column is the navigation column, the centre column is your list view, and the right column is your detail view of the highlighted item. It is through this that you are able to manage different tasks at once

• Tasks can have layers which are nested for easy management.

• Tasks can be given different due dates, and more.  Control in real time, every task.

• You can log the time spent on each task for proper allocation.  Know which tasks are taking the longest time easily.  Manage where time can be better spent and utilized.

• New tasks are added by simply creating a task through clicking one button.

• Tasks can be made personal or assigned, you can also prioritize tasks for individuals and teams which makes time management easier and provides accountability.

• You get the ability to create different work groups and work spaces for separate departments and teams.  You can run multiple departments from one place.  Each one is organized and easy to use.  No shuffling around.  It’s just right there.

• Optimize your Workflow with provided templates or create your own.

Downside to the Software

The only big issue is the price for the software.  I felt there were no downfalls with the operational aspects of the software and felt that it was one of the more easy to use programs.  The single-user license comes in at $375, with discounts available for teams. This is priced well above the market average for similar software (which, according to many is around $245).

One  way to make it  more affordable for smaller companies or a small team would be to purchase it as a Cloud subscription-based service rather than as a traditional software license. Both options provide exactly the same functionality one is just month to month.  A month to month service runs only $16.25 – $25 /monthly per user which is a reasonable fee for such a useful product.

The great thing is if you are not sure this software is right for you, you can try their 30-Day Free trial.  This is a great way to give the software a try and see if it will meet your needs depending on your current projects and business size.

If you need project management software, this would be an excellent choice and defiantly easy to integrate into your other existing programs.

Being your own boss is all about embracing the risk in order to reap the significant rewards that come with it with the only major compensation being that you’ll technically never be made redundant.

You can of course avoid some of the smaller risks that contribute to the whole delicate setup and the best way of doing this is to simply be fully aware of what it is you are up against and how you can mitigate these factors damaging you.

Taking on too much work and burning out

A lot of newer freelancers or anyone starting out on the self employed path will be surprised to know that it is very easy to take on way too much work and burn yourself out, trashing not only your reputation but possibly your health as well.

Your early months and maybe even years should definitely be spent trying to take on as much work as possible and increase your client pool as much as you can, but it is very easy to overdo this and burden yourself with an impossible workload.

How to avoid: Know your limits and expand gradually. Once you have a good idea of how long various tasks take, then you can ramp up your expansion accordingly, but a more cautious approach can save you headaches further on down the line.

Relying on a limited client pool

The opposite of over expansion, you can find yourself relying on a small number of clients which could affect you if one of these regular gigs disappears or decides to use someone else in the future. There will come a point where you need to cull down your client list a bit to focus only on those that are worth your time or even just those that you actually enjoy working for, but if that client list dwindles too much, you make your position much weaker in the process.

How to avoid: Never rely on just one client and ask yourself if you would be able to carry on if you were to lose any one of your regular jobs. If you feel you don’t have enough going to sustain you, then it might be time to make a more concerted effort to search for more clients again.

Mental instability

This heading is a little flippant, but being self employed can be a lonely life. You might escape the loneliness by having a lot of clients that require face-to-face meetings or if you are perpetually travelling to meet with other people, but if you predominantly work remotely, the lack of third party interaction can begin to wear you down and take its toll.

If you work from home and on your own, there is a temptation to sit around in your pyjamas and become increasingly unkempt as the week passes which might initially feel like a small victory for the home worker, but can eventually take a toll on your attitude towards your work itself.

How to avoid: If it is possible or appropriate, schedule in some meetings in person with your clients to touch base on the work that you are doing, or just to catch up and check that you are all on the same page.

Failing that, even picking up the phone to check in with your clients can satisfy an urge for human contact. As far as working from home goes, you might find it useful to treat it as you would going in to the office by setting specific times and dressing appropriately, but everyone works different and you might still benefit from a more free-form approach.

Professionalism

It is easy to slide into a state of un-professionalism. A lot of companies that hire freelancers on a regular basis can often look down on them as a group thanks to the actions of a minority of those that they hire.

Although freelancers often get paid a lot more than their full time counterparts, they can garner a reputation for turning up late, leaving early and leaving work assigned to them unfinished or completed in a haphazard manner.

How to avoid: This is as simple as treating a freelance work in exactly the same way as you would a full time job and then putting a bit of extra time and effort in. Unfortunately you will be fighting against a negative stereotype here, but this does mean if you do go the extra mile for your client you will be remembered and probably collect some further work a bit further down the line.

If you’re working in someone else’s office, they might be expecting you to be scruffy and sloppy in your work, so dress professionally and don’t live up to their expectations.

Negligence and public liability

The things that can affect a much larger company can equally affect you when you work for yourself.

If you offer a professional opinion as part of your work, you are susceptible to negligence claims if you fail in your duty of care, if you work on the properties of third parties or have a lot of visitors to your property you are susceptible to public liability lawsuits and no matter what you do there’s always the risk of your work-critical property or equipment suffering damage that can prevent you from working.

How to avoid: All of these things are very easily insured and premiums for small businesses will be smaller than those for large businesses, meaning your rates as a freelancer will scale down to the size of your operation. It’s worth checking just how much is covered by your home insurance if you work from home at all.

Procrastination

This is a patronising risk but a critical and devastating one all the same – the risk of not doing any work at all. We have all at some point experienced the frustration of one distraction cascading into another and before long the sun has set and the world has left the office for the day, leaving you wondering what happened to your time.

The worst thing can be when there is no subsequent retribution for you idling the time away and no major negative reinforcement to tell you off for doing nothing with your wasted time, potentially leading to a vicious circle of not getting anything done.

How to avoid: Identify your weak points and the things you are particularly susceptible to falling into and force yourself away from them through sheer willpower. If this is too much, then you could experiment with rewarding yourself with five minutes of distraction for every 25 minutes of work, or you could take the nuclear option of blocking distracting websites or disconnecting yourself from distracting devices to prevent your mind wandering too far.

A rewarding risk

While being self employed is a risk in and of itself what with the lack of a full time contract and the security that provides, your unfettered nature does afford you a huge amount of freedom in the long run and it is no mystery why so many people strive to be successful as their own boss.

Stay away from some of the smaller issues that contribute to the overall situation and you will have much less to worry about and will find yourself in a position to choose whatever you want to work on sooner rather than later.

How do you face the risks of freelancing? Share your tips with us below!

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It can be a tricky balance to manage — after all, not everyone has the budget to create a Google-esque office oasis — however there are ways to encourage a harmonious working environment and keep costs under control at the same time.

From simple mood enhancers to long-term perks, by increasing happiness levels, work satisfaction and productivity, you could even end up making more money in the long run. Here are a few handy hints and tips on how!

Encourage progression

If you’re in charge of a group of young employees, you’ll undoubtedly be looked upon as something of a mentor. If this is the case and you spot someone with potential, encourage them in any way you can — whether this is through personal tutoring, paying for a relevant qualification or conference, or simply words of praise – you’ll be surprised at how much of an impact you could have on somebody’s career.

As a result, you’ll probably benefit too; their growing knowledge and skill-set will only enhance the business in the long run.

Create a comfortable office space

A desk job doesn’t allow for the most pleasant working environment; offices can be stuffy, cramped and particularly claustrophobic at times.

So look for ways you can increase the comfort levels of staff; whether you invest in a few luxuries like a coffee machine, bean bags or just orthopedically-sound chairs, bringing a few home comforts into the office is likely to increase everyone’s general well-being and contentment.

If you’re worried about money or don’t have the funds to spare, try buying when the sales are on – John Lewis are particularly worth checking out, and you can get up to 30% off furniture at the moment.

Provide incentive

Whatever kind of business you’re in, team building days can be a fantastic way to improve morale and drive – so whether you can afford a day of paintballing, a theatre trip or just a working lunch, think of a treat to build incentive.

Better yet, if you set a (realistic) target, they’ll be more inclined to work hard to achieve it. If you don’t have the money to invest here, try to think of alternative ways you could help out your workforce – from sharing your own corporate discounts to encouraging time off.

After all, employees returning from holidays are proven to have a boost in productivity, especially if they’ve gotten up to 50% off summer holidays thanks to a tip off from the boss!

Celebrate the little things

Doing little things to lighten the office atmosphere is well worth a bit of time and expense. It’s important to make employees feel valued and worthwhile, and you don’t have to spend much to create a fun working atmosphere ­– from birthdays and anniversaries, to Christmas jumper days and sponsored silences – simply marking an occasion or having a themed day can be enough.

Who doesn’t love a slice of cake to help them get through a particularly dull Thursday afternoon?
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However you go about it, keeping your staff happy doesn’t have to mean spending over the odds. Just by taking a thoughtful approach, you’re likely to win friends as well as happy employees.

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Well, there is.

No doubt you’ve heard of the 10,000 hour rule. First espoused by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, the “10,000 hour” rule states that it takes 10,000 hours to master any skill. Or, translated into years, it’s about 10 years of consistent practice to achieve mastery.

Either way you look at it, that is a really long time.

But, what is often overlooked while talking about the 10,000 hour rule is two things:

1) It refers to 10,000 hours of rote practice

2) There are number ways those 10,000 hours can be shortened (often by about half).

These shortcuts can be applied to virtually anything you are interested in learning – from dunking a basketball to becoming a piano virtuoso to becoming a world-class copywriter.

Shortcut #1: Deliberate Practice

The saying is that “practice makes perfect.” And while that’s true, there is a lot more to those three words than meets the eye.

After all, what if you are perfecting the wrong thing? If you’ve ever tried to re-learn anything, you know just how hard it is to undo bad habits and re-learn the right ones. It’s simply so much easier to focus on the process from the get-go and learn it right the first time.

And that’s where the idea of deliberate practice comes in.

Deliberate practice is another term coined by Ericsson, and in a nutshell it means that rather than just going through the motions to say you’ve done something that you are quite intentional in doing the work. You focus on it and you pay attention to the process and the outcome (and how can you change the process to improve the outcome). You are definitely not just “getting your reps in.”

In the case of our copywriting novice, she would be using templates, writing out 50 versions of the headline, and making sure she was getting regular constructive feedback.

Shortcut #2: Study Before You Sleep

You know that sleep is good for you, but did you also know that sleep is when we process the information from the day and it’s when memories are created? And, that if you study right before going to sleep you are going to retain that information better than if you study earlier in the day.

Personally, I’m a night owl, so studying right before bed works great for me. But, if you are morning person, the idea of studying right before bed is generally not appealing. In that case, still study when you are the most fresh, but then you can either nap right after your study session or schedule a short review session right before bed so it’s the thing your brain can focus on overnight.

Shortcut #3: Play to Your Strengths

Is it raw talent or is it developed skill? Oftentimes you’ll find that those that are at the top of their game have spent years mastering their craft, but it’s also something they have a knack for.

Usain Bolt, if you don’t know who he is, is the world’s fastest man. He’s set numerous world records at the past two summer Olympics. At 6’5” tall, he’s not “supposed” to be a good sprinter – until he came along conventional wisdom dictated that anyone his height was too tall to be fast.

But, he had talent. And Bolt is Jamaican, which is a country that has one of the world’s best sprinting programs. So a combination of talent and skill development propelled him onto the world stage.

The net is that when you channel your energy towards something you already have a natural inclination for, plus a compatible base skill set in, you will get up the learning curve much faster.

In the case of our aspiring copywriter, if she hates to read and doesn’t enjoy writing or spending time at a computer, she might want to reconsider her career aspirations.

However, if she is an avid reader with a knack for research and clearly communicating ideas, then she can easily transfer those skills over to copywriting.

Shortcut #4: Study the Masters

No matter what anyone tells you, there isn’t a whole lot that hasn’t already been done before. Sure, no one has put quite your spin on it, but learn from the best and don’t reinvent the wheel.

The foundational principles are the foundational principles – right now we’re just iterating off of what the greats did generations before us.

By reading about and studying the greats – both their successes and their failures – you can accelerate your learning curve by not having to go down a path they have already gone.

Shortcut #5: Maximize Brain Shortcuts

Our brains are the world’s greatest supercomputers – they have to be to take in the insane amounts of information we process every second (our eyes alone take in the equivalent of 75GB of information every second).

That means that our brains have to be exceptionally good at filtering, literally at warp speed, to not only meet our base need of survival, but also to allow us to thrive.

Because of the insane amount of information we need to process every second, the brain quickly filters based upon:

predict = ignore

new/novel = pay attention.

What this means for the 10,000 hour rule is that to force the brain to pay attention we have to change things up, just a little bit, when we practice. For a pianist that may mean playing the piece more slowly than tempo, or for a copywriter it may mean that you read outside of your normal genre or practice writing something far outside of your signature style.

And then, when it comes time to bring your A game, that is where prediction is your friend. Large parts of your brain can go on auto-pilot because you truly own this skill, inside and out, and the brain gets to ignore what it already knows (which is most of it) and has more cycles to devote to doing your best work.

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By consistently implementing these 5 shortcuts, you will cut your learning time in half, leapfrogging others on your road to mastery.

What is your favorite shortcut to override 10,000 rule? Share with us!

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People learn how to effectively communicate with the general public everyday in jobs; however, very little time and effort is spent learning how to open up the lines of communication with the boss.

Develop Trust

A key aspect to developing a healthy employee-boss relationship is trust. This works both ways. You will earn trust and respect from your boss if you keep to your project deadlines, are a reliable member of the work team, and are prepared to go that extra mile.

Regard your boss as a fellow human being with feelings, and not as the ‘enemy’.

Avoid Trivial Matters and Gain Respect

Do not approach your boss with trivial matters. He is most likely a very busy man that will feel that you should iron out these issues by yourself. Running to your boss with the slightest of problems will also lead to a lower regard towards you and the notion that you lack drive, independence and initiative.

Exercise Tact

Sometimes it reaches the crunch point, whereby you know that you need to speak out. If done correctly you will not only keep your job, but also, possibly, earn some extra respect from your boss.

It’s essential that you exercise tact and adopt an appropriate tone of voice. Someone that is too simpering will be readily dismissed just as will one that comes across as arrogant. Be firm and sure of yourself.

In some situations, it might be that your boss has made a mistake. Don’t embarrass him in front of others, and don’t make demands. The right way to deal with this would be to show sensitivity towards his feelings and try to have a casual chat with him in a private setting about the matter in hand.

Timing Is Crucial

Some bosses have a confrontational nature, and don’t take kindly to what they regard as a criticism or a challenge to ‘their’ authority. It’s important to exercise a good judgement of appropriate timing for that all-important challenge with your boss.

If you ‘catch’ your boss at a bad moment, such as when his schedule is fully booked up or is clearly in a bad mood, then wait until a more suitable opportunity arises.

In a very busy working environment, it may be worthwhile scheduling a meeting with your boss in advance. This also prepares him for the idea of something new, rather than being taken by surprise.

Research Your Ideas Thoroughly

When preparing for a confrontation with your boss, remember to do your homework! This involves considering every aspect that you can possibly think of, and ensuring that there are no apparent flaws in your ideas.

Consider what type of questions might be asked of you, and mentally prepare for your answers. Back up your ideas with several sources of evidence, facts, and figures.

Be Sensitive

Remember that your boss will be more accommodating when he realizes that you are not attempting to threaten his position or authority.

Make it clear to him that you will not press this matter any further if it does not succeed within a reasonable and realistic deadline.

Your Duty

For those that find specific situations within their work environment unacceptable to the point that they are considering handing in their notice, you have a duty to yourself and other employees to speak out.

If your boss doesn’t listen – well, at least you know that you attempted to resolve matters.

Communicate

A company will thrive when communication channels are open, and a break down in communications can spell disaster. It’s important that the boss is able to take in new ideas; ultimately, if the company fails, it will be his actions and in-actions that will be brought to account.

It is important that you feel comfortable in your work place and are able to open up to your boss, and let him know your thoughts on a particular matter.

Understand the Issue

Keep a clear head, be rational, professional, and have a good understanding of what it is you’re challenging.

There is nothing worse than an opinionated employee who has clearly misunderstood the issues at hand. Do not allow the situation to become a heated argument.

Compliment Your Boss

From the outset, be friendly towards your boss. Pay him a few compliments about something that he has done that you appreciate.

Relax and reassure him, so that he understands that your intentions are well meaning.

Know When to Back Down

When fresh ideas are being taken on board, a company grows and evolves with the times. Remember, there are a time and a place for everything. Once you have made your challenge, it’s essential to back down and respect your boss’s final decision on the matter – unless you come up with further evidence for your cause.

If you fail to do this, you risk the chance of creating dissent within the work environment. It is reasonable and responsible to support your boss in order to create a sense of unity, and a harmonious atmosphere.

Listen

There might be aspects of your cause that you haven’t considered. When making your challenge, be prepared to listen to your boss’s reasoning, explanations and logic too.

Remember that your challenge is not about winning a ‘fight’ but about negotiating and understanding. Do not be overly defensive nor on the attack – exercise diplomacy.

While remaining true to your disagreement, it’s a good move to agree with your boss’s valid points, and this will further your own cause. Your boss will appreciate that you are a reasonable person, rather than an upstart.

Be Willing to Compromise

It’s important to walk away from your challenge and feel that you have accomplished something as opposed to being manipulated by the boss into backing down.

You may need to be willing to come to a compromise in order to reach an agreement that is acceptable to you and in the company’s best interests as a whole and not just a benefit to those with accounting jobs in the finance department!

Your Boss’s Preferences

Pay attention to the particular aspects of your plans and ideas that your boss has issues with, and take these factors into consideration when making revisions, and for future ideas.

Observe your boss, and take note of his preferred methods and routines. When you challenge your boss, ensure that you make him feel that he is in the driving seat, and ask him for his opinions, feedback, and any other comments.

Success

If you are able to challenge your boss successfully without gloating, he will feel more comfortable to approach you for feedback and further ideas. Your future opinions will be highly valued, and you might discover that your boss will go out of his way to seek you out specifically.

A sign of trust and respect from your boss will also help to further your career prospects, and he may be more inclined to recommend you highly for future jobs. This is a positive sign of a healthy relationship between the boss and his employee.

How do you challenge your boss? Share your tips int he comments!

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The thing is most days we hesitate to unleash our superpowers. We hold back because we are afraid of the backlash that might occur.

The more you hold back from expanding the trust within yourself the less great work that you will do. I’m not talking about letting your ego get out of control. I’m talking about having trust in your gifts or superpowers.

Personal Story

I was afraid of many things as I came out of college. I wanted a brilliant career filled with adventure. I ended up working for a valve company. Not exciting at all.

I floundered around trying to figure out how to connect my passions with my work. What was missing was my focus. I loved poetry, but it’s hard to make a living. I loved teaching, but not math or other government required material. I loved speaking, but I had to build my superpowers before I could make this leap. I wanted to thrive, not just survive.

I’d been writing something almost every day since freshman year of college. So I’ve been writing on a daily basis for over 18 years. When you write that much you pass the 10,000 hours mark and you gain a lot of skill.

My problem was it still wasn’t a superpower until a couple years ago. I realized that I needed to write about concepts that I was passionate about, could stay focused on and played to my strengths. That’s when writing became a superpower to change people’s lives.

I now coach people that need help with their career and consult with small business owners on how to make their employees happier, more engaged and productive. I’ve learned to incorporate teaching into my career. I run workshops and give presentations all around work happiness.

I know I couldn’t have reached these goals without understanding my fears and actually using them to develop my superpowers.

How to use your fears to your advantage

You have dormant superpowers that need to be unleashed. You just have to figure out how to discover, practice and harness your powers to do great work.

1. Drill Down

Many of my clients don’t take the time to drill down into their needs. They feel that they need to master their products and marketing before they master their needs.

When we dive into what makes them happy we find patterns that we can learn from.

The best way to drill down is to begin by asking yourself “why?” until you get to your core needs. Toyota likes to call this the “5 Why Method.” You may need to go deeper than 5 and if you do that’s a good thing. You’ll be uncovering your fears and desires so you can learn how to harness them.

When you notice yourself holding back from taking action try this technique.

Example: Why am I not taking action on this project? Take a moment to listen for the answer. You may need to give yourself some time because your resistance will be strong. Once you have the answer dig a little deeper and ask yourself “why” again. Keep doing this until you uncover the real reason you aren’t taking action.

2. Find Out What’s Holding You Back

Now that you’ve drilled down you have to decide what’s real. You may not think you are a good leader at work because you take things too personally, but this can be the awareness that you’ve needed to help grow.

You are allowing your fears to hold you back from what will make you enjoy your work.

If you take things too personally you have to be playful and allow yourself to open to the fun in breaking through some mental barriers.

3. Play with Your Fears

I believe many people take their fears too seriously. They see their fear as a protector instead of a limiter.

This is the worst perspective a person can have. It fuels their fears. Yes, your fears are trying to protect you. Protect you from being happy.

Let’s go back to the difficulty of being a leader.

People love to second guess the person in charge. This is natural, but if you want to move up in a company or leap out and start your own business. You have to learn to enjoy being a leader.

You have to learn to be playful with your fears. Don’t let them dictate your choices. If you are a manager that needs to convey a message to your team, you must try different angles that work. You can try doing it straight forward the way you always do or you can have fun with it by trying to show your team a clip from an inspiring movie then talking about your situation.

This small little change in tactics can help set them up for a certain idea that makes them more willing to listen and discuss with you. This idea might not fit your personality, but the idea is to try different ways of connecting with your people until you find a path that works for you and your team.

4. Use Your Superpowers Every Day

Once you understand what works well for you, it’s a superpower. You’ve unleashed a skill that aligns with your passions, focus and strengths.

That’s why being playful with your fears is so important. Most superpowers lay dormant because our “arch nemesis” (resistance) likes to hold us back from reaching our full potential.

Whatever you are afraid of might help you grow. Every day is a chance to explore your superpowers, so you can improve your value to others.

Putting it all together

You aren’t here because you like to be average. I don’t know anyone that would prefer to be average. The thing is you act average because you are afraid.

Don’t be afraid of your amazing superpowers. If you are you are letting fear dictate your choices you are limiting how far you can take your career. Use your fear to discover those superpowers that will bring you happiness, success, and stronger relationships.

What are your superpowers? Share with us in the comments!

Image by ^@^ina (Irina Patrascu)

How to Stop Fearing Your Superpowers

This is often one of the the biggest obstacles that many people face in their business lives, there are never enough hours in the day.

So how do ultra-productive people do it? There are a few skills these people have that help them to get a lot done. Let’s take a look at what these are so you can use them in your own life.

Use your experience

People who achieve a lot are often able to challenge the norm of how things are usually done in a particular type of business. They have often worked in different industries and can take a new approach to work from one industry to another.

Because they have this experience they look at new challenges from a different perspective and can use their experience to find the quickest and most effective route to success.

When you are about to start something new and feel like you are overwhelmed, try to think outside the box and see if you can find a new way of approaching the task.

Don’t waste time with unproductive meetings

Productive people don’t spend lots of time in meetings and if they do go to meetings they know exactly what the outcome needs to be and how long the meeting should last for.

Meetings are well known for being time drains so if you want to start to raise yourself to the levels of the ultra-productive, it’s a good idea to look at the meetings you are having and see if you can skip them or cut down on them.

Work isn’t everything

It’s easy to think that ultra-productive people must spend all their time working. But this isn’t really the case. Productive people do work hard but they make sure that they have lives outside of work.

Having activities outside of the office refreshes you to be able to approach your work in a better way. Taking time out gives you a new perspective on the tasks you are trying to achieve and can teach you new skills.

Substitute email for the phone or face to face communication

Email is easy but sometimes deceptively easy. You can ask a simple question by email that turns into a long string of correspondence that drains time.

Pick up the phone and speak to the person you want to contact or if they are in the same office as you walk over and speak to them. You will often get a far better response by phone or face to face and will develop better relationships with people.

Have good people around you

Having people around you that you can trust and that you can delegate tasks to is important. This can work if you are a CEO or are a one person freelancer. As a freelancer you can outsource jobs you don’t want to do yourself so you free up more time to do the jobs that you are good at and enjoy.

By doing the work you are good at you will do a better job far faster than struggling with the tasks that you don’t like.

Write to do lists the day before

At the end of the day sit down and write a list of everything you want to get done the next day. Start with the hardest tasks first so you can focus most of your energy on them at the start of the day.

Once the hardest jobs are done you will find that you are more likely to sail through the rest of the jobs on your list.

Review your performance at the end of the day

Just before you sit down to write your to do list, review what you achieved that day. If you haven’t completed everything you wanted, it is likely to give you the motivation to finish what you set out to do. This might mean staying in the office to get things done.

The more you do this, the more you will want to get to the end of the day having completed everything on your list. It will feel like a success, and small successes along the way can keep you motivated to stay the course.

Do one thing at a time

Focus is one of the best ways to be more productive at anything you do. If you try and do lots of things at once you are going to do a mediocre job at everything and probably complete nothing.

Focus on one thing at a time, do an excellent job at it and finish it so you are happy with what you did. You will find that your productivity will increase dramatically as you tick things off your to do list quickly.

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How do you become ultra-productive at work? Share your tips in the comments!

Image by FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

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Well that was just the beginning, now other businesses are thinking that might not be such a bad idea.

Schnatter, to his credit, backpedaled and apologized after a firestorm of bad press around his plans. Now though the movie theatre chain Regal Cinemas is doing the same thing that Schnatter threatened to do.

Regal claims it cannot afford to pay for insurance for every employee who works 30 hours a week, which is considered full-time under the Affordable Care Act. So they’re trimming hours and employees.

So how does does Affordable Care Act impacts your job search? Let’s take a closer look.

Closer Look at the ACA

Just to recap in case you don’t know. The Affordable Care Act is President Obama’s historic health care reform legislation passed in March 2010. The full regulations take effect on Jan. 1, 2014 and aim to provide coverage to America’s uninsured.

The key mechanism for insuring those people is the employer mandate. Any business that employs at least 50 full-time workers is obligated to provide them with health insurance or pay a penalty.

As you might have guessed, according to the Care Act definitions 30 hours a week is considered full time. So a vastly larger working population is now considered full-time and eligible for health benefits.

That has employers worried about how they will be able to afford to provide health insurance to their workers.

Adding to the issue is that the number of full time workers in a business is determined by totaling the number of hours that all employees work (including part timers) and then dividing that number by 40 hours a week. That means part time workers, depending on the number of hours they work, could add up to a full time employee or two.

The unexpected result of these definitions has been businesses, fearful of the cost of purchasing insurance for their workers, looking to cut hours or lay off employees to get around the mandate.

Businesses and Uncertainty

A case study of a small business published in the  New York Times in March perfectly illustrates the struggle going on for a lot of businesses when it comes to Care Act.

According to the article, the business, a commercial bakery in California employs about 90 uninsured workers who they would be required to provide health insurance for under the Care Act.

When the article was written the owners were trying to decide on a course of action that would keep them in compliance with the law and keep them solvent. Should they just bite the bullet and offer everyone health insurance? Or was it worth it to pay the penalty? Could they possibly get around the mandate if they cut hours and outsourced some jobs?

At the end of the piece there was no resolution to the company’s problem, just a hefty dose of uncertainty about the future. If there is one thing that businesses don’t like, it’s uncertainly about the future.

Conclusion

You can be sure that every business in America is having a similar debate, and the losers in all this are the workers and job seekers, the very same people that this law was created to benefit.

What are your thoughts on the impacts of Affordable Care Act on the US job market? Share in the comments!

Image by FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

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It is simply sad to see a good idea go to waste because they were just afraid to start.

With all the apps and tools available online, creating your first website has never been easier. Below is a collection of tools that could definitely help create and kickstart your online presence through a website.

Backgrounds

Websites have changed quite a bit over the past years and nothing is more important than a nice clean, no intrusive background. This also differs from site to site as we are all trying to sell different services and products. But for starters, a nice website background is key.

Service: SubtlePatterns

Like most good things, choosing the right background color, tone, style takes time. The website features an online collection of backgrounds submitted in by designers and is a great online resource amongst designers and developers. Designers submitting their backgrounds find it is a way of giving back to the next generation of designers/developers, therefore everything is free on the site.

Icons

Whether it be your logo or the small details on your site, icons have never played a more important role in websites. An image which is easily understood and in the end, eases navigation for your customers. Sometimes the perfect icon is all that is necessary. No text required!

Service: IconFinder | TheNounProject

For colored and more jazzed up icons, IconFinder plays the perfect role for your website. Search the site with specific keywords of icons that you are looking for and tada . . . it works like magic.

The Noun Project is also another decent site that I would like to recommend. With a very clean and clear way to project information, the site has created an online visual language for everyone to understand. A collection of symbols and icons to quickly deliver messages across. Great tool for websites in need of great user navigation.

Fonts

Have you seen a great website get killed just because of the font it uses? Too many colors seemingly blinking into your eyes? Most commonly used techniques to test this is through Photoshop or firebug, but this can be too work intensive and time costly.

Service: WhatFont Tool

The WhatFont tool has created one of the easiest ways to find out how certain fonts will work on your site. Simply click and download and you are done! Now go to your website and click WhatFont button and select any font you want.

Photos

The perfect photo on your homepage could make or break your website. So many have wondered why customers are staying on their website. Little do they know, first impressions are everything. It’s the same thing with advertising. A great advertisement has great pictures. Anything less, and users quickly become uninterested even though you have great content.

Choosing the perfect picture or uploading the perfect picture could also be risky. Have you ever gone to a website and it just simple takes too long to load? Most of the reasons are due to the large image sizes. People are still stuck to the fact that quality images means you need to upload a larger file sized image. This is untrue and is clearly explained by this service.

Service: JPEGmini

Their slogan ‘your photos on a diet’ helps reduce file sizes but not image quality. Play around with the slider on their homepage and you will spot that there is no difference in the 2 images even though the files clearly have different file sizes, thus lowering the time it takes to load up the image.

Load Time

Keeping on topic of website load times, this could potentially be a make or break for your customers. If keeping customers on your site is key, then load time is key. This is crucial both for your customers and for Google. Having a better load time means your website loads faster and is not stuck on loading some image, javascript or codes.

Service: Pingdom 

With an easy to use interface, users simply enter in their website domains and within a few seconds, they make complicated issues easy to understand. The analysis will show you everything form loadtime (in seconds), page size, performance grades, files loads etc.

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What other tools do you use for your website? Share with us in the comments!

Image by FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

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But when I set out to learn what others did to manage their goals, all I got was a bunch of corporate buzzwords that didn’t resonate with me. In this post I describe a useful analogy that helped me stay grounded.

Not long ago I started practicing triathlon. A typical race consists of three legs: first swim, then bike and finally run. I’m a pretty decent cyclist, and I can run if I have to, but swimming was a completely new discipline to me.

When I started training for my first race, I did laps on a pool practicing good technique, building up endurance and so on. But just a few days before the event, our coach took the whole team for a swim on the ocean in order to get the feeling for an open water race.

As it happened, the swimming leg of the race, in Santa Cruz, CA, took us around the pier for a total of 1500 meters (that’s almost a mile!), so everyone thought getting to know the course was a great idea.

And boy, was it ever! The experience was startling. Instead of nice, lukewarm water, we got freezing cold Pacific waters that made us shiver under our wetsuits. Instead of turning and pushing your legs with every lap, we endured a really grueling drill.

And most interestingly, instead of a straight, blue line on the floor, there were no obvious references to help you go straight.

Now, I have swum in the ocean before, just not during a race, so the conditions are very different. When you’re competing with a few hundred other people, going off course will literally put you behind the pack.

As I came off the water and listened to our coach give feedback on what went well and what didn’t, I realized that open water swimming is a powerful analogy for life’s challenges.

Most of the time, there is no straight blue line to follow and make sure you are going in the right direction. That is certainly true once we are done with our formal education. The decision of setting our goals and keeping them in the long term is one of the most important ones we can make.

Without long term, ambitious goals, we are adrift. Or worse, we might be swimming in the wrong direction.

Our coach proceeded to explain a simple technique to keep course and avoid wasting effort. Every 10 strokes or so, slow down, lift your head and try to locate a landmark on the horizon.

You might take a little extra time to look up and orient yourself, but it’s worth it if that prevents you from going off-route. In my case, I used the tip of the pier on one direction, and a tall building by the shore on the way back.

In order to put this analogy to practice, my personal advice is to create a routine by which you sit down at the beginning of the week to write down everything you plan to do. Then check whether those action items help you get closer to your stated goals, and decide if it’s worth your time working on them.

For bonus points, use a priority matrix to decide what really matters and delegate the rest. Think of each week as a swim stroke that will hopefully get you closer to the finish line.

Just like when swimming on the ocean, in life and careers it pays to regularly step back and check whether you are actively pursuing your goals, or just treading water fruitlessly.

Because if you are not careful to track your direction, you might one day wake up and realize you are nowhere close to the shore.

How do you set personal goals? Share with us in the comments!

Image by maureen lunn.

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