Sleep is the hidden hero of sustainable productivity. Long hours and even all-nighters can get you through temporarily (usually when you're young) but you can't rely on them long term. And their costs increase with every year of your life. Sufficient sleep, on the other hand, boosts your effectiveness tremendously.…

Alan Brown, the ADD Crusher, suggests you ask yourself the following when you find yourself stuck at the beginning of a project… * Are insights more likely to come from “outside” the process or once I’m “in it”? * Do other people REALLY know how a complex task gets done…

If your CONSTANT availability to others' questions, comments and requests impairs your productivity, here are a few ways you might protect your time: Change your work hours...come in early before others arrive or stay late after others go home. Or change your location on occasion...work in a meeting room, coffee…

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues," Duke Ellington once famously said. Take a lesson from his playbook today. Casey's eTip: Channel Negative Energy into Positive Action You can "fight" negativity inside yourself or leaking out of other people, but that battle takes time and…

Research has shown that certain physical postures generate confidence and improve performance. The "power pose" increases testosterone and decreases cortisol (a stress hormone) and its effects continue for ten minutes afterwards. Casey's eTip: Strike a Power Pose to Boost Your Confidence Before answering your next call or attending your next…

It's no surprise that you might be asked today to take immediate action for a client, prospect, coworker or supervisor. The only questions are who, what and when. So plan for it... Casey's eTip: Make Room for the Predictably Unpredictable Don't fill more than half your day with meetings if possible.…

Yet another reason to walk, run, bike, skip, swim, climb, ride, row, dance, scamper and jump... Casey's eTip: Exercise your Decision-making Muscles You'll manage your tasks and time better if you exercise daily.* It just takes 20-30 minutes at moderate intensity (where you feel the effort and sweat but can…

Procrastinating on a task? Maybe that item on your list is a project, not a task. Or it's a task, but not a "next-action:" it can't be done until you take a (sometimes tiny) step first. Casey's eTip: Stop Procrastinating by Clarifying Your To-Do's Your task list works best when it…