15th January, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments
Have you ever started to ‘process’ your inbox and instead just shuffled things around? Maybe you were thinking, “hmmmmm…I’ll do this later,” or “Uh, what is this?” or “Oh, good grief! I can’t believe I keep getting this ____.” For any and all of us who have done the shuffling routine, this practice is how our in-boxes (bins & buckets) tend not to get processed and instead are churning like a raffle ticket bin being twirled around. Read More
15th January, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments
My Franklin Covey planner page recently included this Yiddish proverb: “Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow.” Let’s think about habits in this article. If you’re reading this, I’m positive you have at least one bad habit (maybe more!) I know the person writing this has um, a few, um, bad habits. So let’s just figure we’re all in this together! Read More
11th January, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments
Those things that we schedule are more likely to get done. You would never make it to your hair appointment, a dental checkup, or to class unless you had those things scheduled. You won’t get your work done (and keeping the paperwork moving is part of your work) unless you schedule it. I’m not kidding. Read More
11th January, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments
Keeping your workspace clear takes strategic thinking, planning, and doing. Note: Part of your workspace is your brain, so you want to have a plan that allows you to keep all of your workspaces clear. This may include your mind, your desk, your lab, your car, your home office, wherever it is that you do work. While it may seem counterintuitive, to get ‘clear’ you first have to ‘collect.’ By that I mean, you need to collect everything that needs processing in a “bin” or “bucket” – more commonly known as an “In” box. Read More
11th January, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments
In some of my workshops, we have a ‘psychic RAM” (David Allen’s term) clearing. I hand out little pads of paper and have the professors and others in my workshops start mentally going through every thought and idea that is randomly running through their brains that has a ‘to-do’ attached to it. It’s a blast because as people are clearing out their psychic RAMs, you can actually hear it happening. This is because people after people around the room write on their little pads of paper, they then rip each piece off and throwing it into their “In” box. There is a constant sound as this is happening. Read More
11th January, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments
Think about it…what do you want your reputation to be? Do you want to be a widely-respected researcher? Do you want the esteem of students and colleagues because of your teaching expertise? Do you want to be making a difference in the world – either starting locally or globally? Whatever it is, get on with it! Read More
3rd January, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments
Establishing an agenda and a good lesson plan for each meeting should enable you to keep your class on target. However, unpredictable events sometimes affect even the best planning. To minimize their impact, and to provide you with the optimum amount of time to address your objectives, you would be wise to adhere to the guidelines shared in this article. Read More
3rd January, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments
Organizing your course materials is critical to achieving optimal student learning – and essential to keep you feeling peacefully productive, as well. Professors’ organizational strategies can be plotted along a broad continuum, from zero to exemplary. Three strategies will be shared in this article, which you can then take an modify to best fit your needs. Read More
15th December, 2008 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments
One of my favorite concepts for productivity, which I first learned when I was a professor, is to do only “what only I can do.” That is, I have particular talents, strengths, responsibilities, and aptitudes and I need to be doing ONLY those things that tap into these parts of myself and my life. Consider these 10 tips for refining your focus so that you are doing what only *you* can do. As a professor, it’s critical that you consider (and then implement) these ideas. Read More
15th December, 2008 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments
As a professor, it is essential to have one place in your office that is your “in-box” for all incoming physical items. For example, all your incoming mail, items to review from colleagues, letters to sign for students, paperwork to process for projects, etc. – all needs one and only one place to go (or be collected). The key idea to start with is that you need to designate and use limited locations (bins) for collecting the incoming items and then process daily what is in those bins. So, in this article, let’s talk about how to process (handle, deal with, etc.) your in-box – each day! Read More
