Traditionally, work meetings last 30 or 60 minutes because most calendars allow those increments. Don't let calendars define you! Instead… Casey's eTip: End Your Meetings Early to Allow Buffer Time When you end your meeting 10 minutes before the hour, for example, you give everyone time to have a bio…

Personality and work-style assessments are perennially popular because they remind us that human brains and preferences differ significantly. When it comes to your workplace, be sure to... Casey's eTip: Make Space for the Introverts Introverts are not shy or socially challenged. They just need to be alone to recharge their…

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no human can work with complete focus and sharpest brain power for 8 or more hours a day. We are not machines. So... Casey's eTip: Do Interval Work to Boost Your Productivity Athletes improve their performance by alternating time blocks of…

Storing our data in the cloud seems environmentally friendly. It's the opposite. To protect our resources… Casey's eTip: Clear Your Digital Clutter Often Everything we keep in the cloud is actually stored in servers that use a lot of electricity and water. The noise from these server farms adversely affect…

Our phones are little computers with the bells, whistles, color and allure of an amusement park arcade. No wonder you check it all the time. Here's a strategy to reduce the temptation... Casey's eTip: Turn Your Phone to Grayscale Color acts as an attentional stimulant. Going to black and white…

A disagreement may seem like a threat to relationships (at work or home), but it's actually an opening to… Casey's eTip: Use Conflict to Improve Relationships To ignore friction is inviting--why risk an emotional scene or bringing dissension out into the open? In reality, disagreement is healthy and inevitable. Silence,…

Marie Kondo famously encouraged people to keep only those objects that were absolutely necessary, e.g., a hammer, or that sparked joy. You can apply this principle to time, too, in this new year and… Casey's eTip: Schedule Activities that Spark Joy Take a look at your calendar for the next…

January is often the time for goal-setting. Here's an approach that might benefit you and your team… Casey's eTip: Set CLEAR Goals This Year You are probably familiar with some variation of SMART goal-setting. It means making goals Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-oriented. This acronym can be helpful but…

Often people strive to work longer, harder and/or smarter in January to start the year productively. Maybe you'd perform more effectively if you… Casey's eTip: Resolve to Sleep More Deeply and Consistently Having sufficient sleep affects your physical health, energy level and mental state--in other words, your ability to work…

Spending your time on what matters is a lifelong iterative learning process. Here's one way to start 2026's cycle… Casey's eTip: Reflect on this Year to Make Next Year Better Spend a little time this week (even 10 minutes would do) reviewing 2025. Ask yourself some questions such as those…

Happy Hanukkah if you are celebrating it! As you move through the last weeks of the year, become an anthropologist. Pay attention to everything and… Casey's eTip: Use This Holiday Season to Plan for the Next December is often fraught with unrealistic expectations and social and familial "shoulds." Draw on…

Here's a gift you can give yourself this holiday season… Casey's eTip: Schedule Your Medical and Dental Appointments Caring for your physical health is essential for sustainable productivity. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Annual physical check ups, preventative testing (e.g., mammograms, prostate exams)…

Have you ever had everything seem to go wrong and you just wished the day would end? Why wait? You can... Casey's eTip: Start Your Day Over at Any Time Step into the present and treat it as if it were the first moment of a fresh new day. Once…

Thanksgiving is here and I thank you for reading my eTips! This holiday reminds us to be thankful. It turns out that you can… Casey's eTip: Practice Gratitude to Stay Honest Some research from Northeastern University suggests that gratitude might be a virtue that promotes other virtues, such as self-control…

Alan Watts once wrote that "Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone." This principle applies to emotions, too. Instead of fighting them… Casey's eTip: Use RAIN to Process Emotions Happiness, anxiety, fulfillment, resentment, satisfaction, disappointment, joy and frustration are just a few of the many emotions that may…

When you're experienced and kind, it's easy to become everyone's go-to resource. Eventually, they may ask you for answers instead of looking things up themselves. To stop this pattern... Casey's eTip: Teach Your Team to 1-3-1 Their Issues The 1-3-1 approach (which I believe was developed by Dan Martell) involves…

Here's an idea from Oliver Burkeman's wonderful book Four Thousand Weeks… Casey's eTip: Choose Where You'll Fail Allow yourself some areas in life to be terrible at (or mediocre at least) since there's no way to be the best at everything all the time. Be the OK cook, the do-the-minimum…

As children, we're told to follow the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." As adults, though... Casey's eTip: Use the Platinum Rule in Communications The Platinum Rule is to "Do unto others as they would have done unto themselves." This especially applies to…

October is Cyber Security month. To celebrate… Casey's eTip: Update Your Passwords! It takes some time to update old passwords, but a lot less time than recovering your stolen identity or money. Here are some tips for making strong passwords if you don't use an app that manages them for…

Dread, anxiety or uncertainty about a task often makes people pass to the next item on their list. It's emotional procrastination. To counteract this common tendency, lean in and... Casey's eTip: Work with Your Emotions about Tasks Pause and breathe as you contemplate a task. Feel the sensations in your…