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Productivity & Organisation

7 secrets of the most productive people

Article written by Harry Welby-Cooke, (ActionCOACH Country Partner)

Like it or not, there are very few secrets left in the world. Google has already, for free, provided us with all the answers human beings know. So, why then are some people a lot more productive, and dare I say, a lot more successful too?

These ‘7 Secrets of the Most Productive People’ are already quite freely available.  Less popular though, and much more critical, is actually following the advice and implementing these secrets. Knowing isn’t enough and doing therefore becomes a much more important part of your success.

From experience though, I thought I’d share a summary of what we as ActionCOACH business coaches see as being critical success factors across our team of business coaches and their entrepreneurial clients. To get these secrets to work best for you try this: Read, nod, take action and repeat!

Deep Work: the new competitive edge

How much of your day is taken up with emails, meetings, social media, or internet browsing and breaks? And how much of your day is spent doing the work to build your business not just talking about it? In the book, Deep Work by Cal Newport, the author says that “The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy.” By being able to do deep work, you will be able to master hard tasks easier and you will become more productive.

A smarter way to work: Leading a streamlined business and an action-packed life

Article written by Colin Timmis (Xero)

Small businesses in South Africa are increasingly turning to technology to help automate and streamline processes, so they can focus on the most important things. One business doing this is NML, a software engineering company driven by the potential of intelligent, elegant design to solve business and social problems.

Paul Cartmel founded the business in 2007. After studying mechanical engineering at UCT in Cape Town, he started to realise how transformational the internet and other digital developments would be on businesses.

3 major killers of office productivity

Article provided by Avitus Software

What is productivity?

  • Productivity is using less to create more,
  • Productivity is working smarter, not harder,
  • Productivity is using time efficiently.

“Productivity is more than just the measure of how effectively resources are used to produce outputs. It is all about using less to create more – to work smarter, not harder. Productivity is a mindset that continuously aspires to better ways of accomplishing tasks and conducting business. At the heart of productivity is the individual. An organisation can only become more productive through continuous upgrading of knowledge, skills, discipline, effort and, collaboration” - (Productivity SA)

Debit orders save time

Article provided by Netcash

As a financial manager of a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME), you may find yourself fulfilling multiple roles at once. You oversee salary payments, customer invoicing and debit order collections. You also analyse and report on business earnings, expenses and the financial well-being of the company. On top of all of this, you are also responsible for making key decisions about business investments and financial resource allocations. It’s fair enough then that, on some days, you may wish there was more than one of you on your team. Duplicating yourself would help you get to things quicker and get them done more efficiently. The good news is that, in this day and age, you don’t necessarily have to clone yourself to optimise on work productivity.

How do you motivate yourself and others in a brand new year

Article written by Cindy Norcott

How do you motivate yourselves and others in a brand new year when you are out of oomph.

Many business leaders are entering 2021 feeling rather hesitant, concerned and uncertain. 2020 was challenging in many ways and I believe that many business owners and managers had the fight of their lives to keep their businesses afloat and to keep their teams focused, motivated and connected last year. There was a lot of gymnastics going on with everyone trying to be lean, agile, flexible, to pivot and roll with the punches all at the same time. At the end of 2020, many businesses consisted of exhausted leaders, tired teams, disconnected relationships and non-existent cultures.

How to stay productive during the COVID-19 lockdown

Article provided by PayFast

Life as we knew it changed at midnight on Thursday, 26th March when President Ramaphosa announced a three week country-wide lockdown in an attempt to flatten the COVID-19 curve. While people working in essential industries such as healthcare and food production were exempted, for the majority of us we found ourselves in an unprecedented situation where we weren’t allowed to leave our homes unless to stock up on essential supplies such as food and medicine, or to seek medical care.

While it’s true that unprecedented times come with unprecedented measures, as a human race we are quick to adapt, innovate and make the most of any situation that we find ourselves in. Being a tech company, we at PayFast were able to quickly adapt to the self-distancing measures by allowing our employees to work from home.

5 ways small business owners can get more done
Article provided by MiWay As an entrepreneur, free time is a rare luxury. There are nearly always tasks to complete and deadlines to meet. Realistically, you probably have between eight and twelve hours each day to get work done - maybe 14 at a push – and still, there never seems to be enough hours in the day for busy business owners. We have put together five practical ways in which you can add hours to your day.

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