productivity Archives - Page 7 of 18

6 Tips for Merrier Christmas & New Year

6 ways to keep the holidays running smoothly

Have you finished your Christmas shopping? While most of our planning focuses on what gifts to buy here are some practical ways to get the most from this year’s holiday season.

1- Watch your calendar. With Christmas and New Years Day falling on Tuesday this year, you will need to move your most important actions and appointments on your calendar. Reschedule as needed before you leave the office today.

2- Set your email auto-responder. Create a short vacation reply for your holiday absences. It should include when you will be out of the office, who to contact in case of an emergency, and when those sending you a message can expect a reply.

3- Change your voicemail message. Just like your email set the expectation with those who may call your office during your holiday absence. Set a reminder on your calendar to revert back to your standard message when you return to the office.

4- Leave your work email alone. That’s right- don’t keep checking it repeatedly during your time with family and friends. Chances are most of your customers are taking time off from business matters as well. Any problems that may arise cannot be dealt with until your bank or lender opens anyway.

5- Remove the temptation. If you find yourself with an abundance of baked goods and holiday treats that you don’t want to tempt you- bring them to the office! They have a strange way of disappearing quickly in the break room. Problem solved!

6-Prepare your new year’s promotions. Each new year most find a sudden, albeit often temporary, sense of motivation to improve their lives. Seize upon this mindset to reach out to your potential borrowers on the opportunity to begin the new year with no monthly mortgage payments or increased monthly cash flow.

holidays productivity

10 Ways to Manipulate Time

Powerful time hacks you can start today

10 of the 20 time management tips we found on Forbes...

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Keep your routine

Personal & Professional Tips for the Holiday Season

Keeping your routine during the holidays has its benefits...

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Why we should embrace anxiety

Anxiety: Avoidance is not the answer

If one is honest they can admit that anxiety creeps in at the most inopportune moments. The easy route is to run from it. However, many have found that embracing anxiety is…

anxiety productivity

Blockers

Check for these 5 motivation blockers

Are you blocked, stuck, or in a rut? Join the club! With honesty being the first step to making meaningful change in our lives admitting when we are stuck is wonderful! Okay, it’s a good start. Here are five reasons we can lack motivation. Our challenge is to identify which are blocking us and target them for a confrontation.

1. They only see the negative when something happens. Unmotivated individuals sap their own strength focusing only on the negative aspects in a given circumstance which blinds them to the potential upside or creative solutions to the problem.

2. They walk away from opportunities. Yes, believe it or not many today are actually turning their back on realistic opportunities that would increase their success or wealth. The habit of saying no is toxic

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Bad Work Habits to Break

Target these 5 bad workplace habits

If we are even remotely honest with ourselves we all have some bad work habits we’ve developed with years of practice. Here are just a few to be mindful of. As the philosopher emperor Marcus Aurelius said, “the art of living is more like wrestling than dancing”.

1. A scattered approach- focusing on too many things at once…

habits productivity

Why you should video conference potential borrowers

Email & phone calls have their limitations

I was reminded last week when conducting a Skype video call how emails and even phone calls can fail to create a personal connection. Have you ever considered making a video call with your prospective borrowers or those going through the applicaiton process?

*There is no transcript for this week’s episode.

productivity sales

Why you need a morning routine

Practical tips for an effective morning routine

As much as you may dread the sound of your alarm clock each morning, nothing’s worse than chaos as you begin your day. When it comes to starting your day you want the safety of a routine that prevents your morning from crashing into mayhem. Even better, an effective morning routine generates momentum that will carry you throughout the day. With that in mind, here are several tips you can put into practice, several which I use myself.

Decrease your decisions. The fewer choices you have to make each morning the less stress you will feel. Many, myself included, eat the same breakfast each and every workday morning. Check your wardrobe and layout your clothes for the next day. Pack your briefcase or tote the night before. To avoid forgetting anything I’ve often put my car keys with my briefcase near the front door.

Get moving. Morning exercise is a great way to prepare your brain to learn and process information throughout the day. If you’re not a fan of exercise you could stretch instead. Find a good…

productivity

How to Get Your Edge Back

Using Occam’s Razor to Troubleshoot Your Reverse Mortgage Hurdles

Critical thinking is key for HECM professionals to overcome common issues in their business. Occam’s Razor may be just the approach you’ve been looking for…

problem solving productivity

5 habits at home that hurt workplace productivity

Here’s why what you do at home matters at work

Most American workers struggle to keep their home and work lives separate. Certainly there’s some validity to that point of view, yet the two are inexorably linked. How so? Consider that your bad habits at home may be setting you up for failure in the workplace? Here are a few examples and how we can change our habits at home to increase our success.

Lack of sleep
The vast majority of Americans suffer some level of sleep deprivation. Sadly this leads to a host of problems such as weight gain, health issues, poor focus, and depression. What can you do? First, if you use your phone as your alarm (sorry Alexa) set it across the room. This avoids the temptation to hit snooze. Also, understand that your sleep cycles are about 60-90 minutes long. This means every time you hit snooze and wake up 20 minutes later you are waking up mid-cycle which makes you feel groggy. Just as you schedule your activity at work try creating a regular time you go to bed. Your co-workers and family with thank you.

Skipping workouts
Many employers have realized that regular exercise results in increased work productivity and have chosen to…

Download the video transcript here.