Team Taskmaster

So long, farewell, and happy trails to all of you!

CC Holland — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:14:59 +0000

Dear readers, Today marks the final installment of Team Taskmaster. I’ve enjoyed writing for you for the past year and a half, and as I’ve endeavored to share my insights and discoveries with you, I’ve also learned a lot along the way. I’ve seen that being effective at work is about more than making lists, that flexibility [...]

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Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:14:59 +0000

How to Make Your Meetings Better

CC Holland — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:30:24 +0000

My top pet peeve is wasteful or inefficient meetings, especially when they start stacking up like planes on a congested runway. Here are a number of ways to escape from meeting hell and many any confabulation more fabulous.

The Best Ways to Kick Procrastination's Butt

CC Holland — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:11:23 +0000

'm a fabulous procrastinator. In fact, that's probably at least in part why I chose journalism as a career: Without drop-dead deadlines looming over me, I'd never get any writing done. Since I recognize this tendency in myself, I'm also constantly on the lookout for ways to battle my "I'll get to it later" syndrome.

Hack Your Resume, Play Hard-to-Get, and Other Career Advice

CC Holland — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:49:30 +0000

Folks, I have an announcement to make: Team Taskmaster is taking its final bows this week. After a year and a half of sharing with you my take on productivity, leadership, and management, I’ve decided it’s time for me to move on. But I don’t want to leave you all high and dry, so for the [...]

Powermat: Efficiency Booster, or Useless Gizmo?

CC Holland — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:49:22 +0000

Gizmodo had a post today about Powermat, a wireless charger for up to three electronic devices. I heard the buzz on this product while it was in development and was interested to see what kind of press its debut has been getting. Gizmodo’s take? “Wireless charging is still in its infancy, but the idea is great: [...]

Why We're Wired for Procrastination

CC Holland — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:30:07 +0000

Food for thought: Your procrastination habit isn’t your fault. Your brain is to blame. That’s right — we’re hard-wired for it. That because our brains trick us into procrastinating, saysTimothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. Pychyl notes that five innate quirks of the brain (as described by David Rock, in a posting about why all self-help books sound [...]

9 Ways to Hack Your Brown-Bag Lunch

CC Holland — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:29:54 +0000

Bringing your own lunch to work can get boring, if not downright tedious. But it doesn't have to be that way. Here are some ideas on how to hack your DIY lunch so your meal is a daily treat, not a trial.

Downward Dog, Upward Productivity

CC Holland — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:43:29 +0000

If you see a co-worker in a neighboring cubicle contorting into a strange pose, relax. She’s probably not having a convulsion. Rather, it’s more likely that she has embraced the latest workplace stressbuster: yoga. A pilot study published in the journal Health Education & Behavior found that 20 minutes per day of guided workplace meditation and [...]

Are the French More Productive Than Us?

CC Holland — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:22:26 +0000

When it comes to our brethren in Europe, we tend to have a love-hate relationship with the French. I’m a Francophile myself, having lived in Paris once upon a time, but I have plenty of friends who jumped on the Freedom Fries train and consider the French to be rude, snobby, and generally insufferable. (Of course, [...]

9 Traits to Rocket You Through the Ranks

CC Holland — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:02:47 +0000

If you’re looking to get ahead in your career, you already know you need to bring solid skills and savvy to the table. But what really separates the go-getters from the complacent are the so-called soft skills: traits and qualities that make good people great. Amit Gupta, writing on Dumb Little Man, came up with a [...]