Category: Professional development

Working with the Rhythms in Time

Pamela Ayuso January 20, 2020

Time is one of our most precious resources, and we often wish we had more. Often, it feels like it is slipping through our fingers like sand, and since we, unfortunately, cannot create more time, we instead must prioritize and focus on what matters most.

We each try to work as best as we can with the time we have. We all have our methods, which inevitably include schedules and building routines as well as hopefully, time off to rest and recharge. We may also try to be as productive as possible so that we do not waste any of it.

Balancing Life: The Importance of Having a Routine

Pamela Ayuso December 16, 2019

We all have routines. They can include everything from what time we get up to how we end our days are work . Routines provide a structured guideline to how we spend our days.

Thankfully, routines develop naturally, but if you decide to use your routine as a tool, they can help you ensure you get the most out of your day. The idea is to set routines up so that you are taking care of the activities that are most important to you in an automatic way. Once a habit is embodied, tasks that might be more difficult to accomplish happen without having to think about doing them.

When Something Goes Wrong, Try to Get Something Good Out of It

Pamela Ayuso December 2, 2019

We’ve all had to deal with situations that we would not have chosen. Failures or bad turns of events are uncomfortable, and the easiest thing to do is to solve them and then move on. However, there is always gold hidden inside these events, even if it is just a sliver. Whether we are responsible for the circumstances or not, if something unfavorable happens, we can always learn from it and improve our world in ways we may have not appreciated before.

The more uncomfortable the circumstance is, the more beneficial it is to try to find the silver lining. It can give the event meaning and can help you move forward more easily than you would have otherwise. Sometimes finding a positive outcome from a disagreeable circumstance can be a struggle because some things are simply unpleasant or even sad, but again, there is always something to be learned.

How To-Do Lists Can Boost Your Productivity

Pamela Ayuso November 18, 2019

When I was in graduate school, I put together my first real to-do list. It was not the type of to-do list where you write down all the assignments you have due in the next week or two. I had done plenty of those which included everything I had been procrastinating that needed to get done. This list was different. It didn’t just include projects for my classes but also personal items as well as commitments I had made in other activities.

As soon as I started writing everything down, I was astounded by how long it was. I hadn’t realized how much work I had been putting off or not even thinking about simply because I hadn’t written everything down. I learned a valuable lesson at that point – if there is even a slight hope that something will get done, I had to write it down first.

Get to Know Yourself and Understand Your Strengths

Pamela Ayuso November 11, 2019

There are many options are available today for getting to know your team and how to best work together. I think, though, that these exercises can be more useful for getting to know the person you will always have on your side: yourself. Sometimes it is hard to see ourselves as others see us and as we are, but these tests can help us see what we may have never understood before and to learn more about our preferences and how we act in different situations.

Understanding Professional Roadblocks and How to Persevere

Pamela Ayuso October 14, 2019

Along with the joy of starting a new project, job, or journey to achieving a dream comes the hard part: discipline, work, patience, and perseverance. The path is not all pleasant, as that’s just how the territory is. You can expect many highs as you see the fruits of your effort or marvel at discoveries. During the evolution of your project, however, it may sometimes look like nothing will come of what you are doing.

Nevertheless, if you are confident in your vision, keep going. The end goal may not happen exactly as you may have envisioned it, as the result may come from a different direction altogether. The only way to discover that outcome is to keep going and maintain the goal in mind.

Why Rituals in Your Professional Life Are so Powerful

Pamela Ayuso October 7, 2019

Rituals are a powerful practice that can help you both conserve energy and achieve your personal and professional objectives. With practice, the actions you take to achieve your goals can become automatic. As Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz write in their book The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal (public library), rituals are an effective tool that can help you get the results you want and mold your life the way you want.

Positive energy rituals are powerful on three levels. They help us to insure that we effectively manage energy in the service of whatever mission we are on. They reduce the need to rely on our limited conscious will and discipline to take action. Finally, rituals are a powerful means by which to translate our values and priorities into action—to embody what matters most to us in our everyday behaviors.

– The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

Getting the Most Out of Your Day

Pamela Ayuso September 2, 2019

There are so many ideas and projects that we dream about doing. Some may be more immediate plans, such as launching a project at work, while others are more long-term, like writing a book. In so many cases, there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day. The demands on our time, which include work and our personal responsibilities, are so many. It can often feel overwhelming, yet some people can do so much with the amount of time they have.

If we all have the same amount of time available in the day, then the only way to be more efficient is to make better use of the hours we do have. Efficiency will come from focusing on the work that will best give us the results we are seeking and from organizing your time as best as possible. This is not an exhaustive list of strategies for how to best organize your time, but they can help you start improving the impact of the time you have available.

Assess How Effective You Are at Delegating

Pamela Ayuso June 10, 2019

As you advance in your career, the ability to delegate becomes more important. By delegating, you will have more time to focus on the work where you can add the most value. You will also provide the space for others to get valuable training and move up in their careers. Take a moment today and assess your effectiveness in delegating.

To start, analyze your current workload. Some of the questions you can ask yourself are:

What are you doing today that you can delegate to free up time for yourself?
Is there a specific task that only you can do which you are neglecting to do something that another person on the team can do?
Can someone do part of the work you are doing more effectively (or efficiently) than you?

The Key Processes that Will Need a Three-Level of Review

Pamela Ayuso February 4, 2019

Before any critical document goes out both internally and externally at our firm, it must be reviewed by three sets of eyes. We have found that having different team members looking at the final product ensures that any errors are found. What one person doesn’t see, the next person probably will.

Three levels of review might sound like a lot, but all that it means is that the first person generates the document, the second performs a detailed review, and the third does a final overall check to ensure that everything makes sense. Having three separate points of view on critical documents guarantees that they will get different perspectives and be more accurate.