Posts Tagged ‘productivity’

Cool Apps: Get it Done in 2012

By John Thompson | January 13th, 2012 0 Comments

With New Year’s Resolutions comes great accountability. Yeah, right. If that were true, we’d be the fittest, smartest, most motivated, wealthiest and generous people on the planet. We’d be nearly superhuman.

But really, why set goals or take aims into the future without intention to take the first and follow-through steps necessary to get there?

Try iDoneThis, a simple “accountability” app that simply asks you via email: “What’d you get done today?” then tracks your answers and tells you what you’ve accomplished. Seeing strides made yesterday can motivate you to forge ahead even stronger today and tomorrow.

What is this good for? iDoneThis can help you get things done. Simply.

A regular process of aim-do-reflect is the ultimate productivity weapon. By keeping track of what you’ve done, you can learn and build on it throughout the year. And let’s face it, New Year’s Resolutions are worthless clichés if not acted upon. That makes us human, but that also can separate the movers from the nonmovers.

To try this app, visit iDoneThis.com and create a login. You will see your calendar, which you can start filling up with things you accomplished today. Then at 6 p.m. Pacific time every day, you’ll receive an email asking you to respond by listing what you got done today. Both the accountability and the sense of accomplishment can go a long way in filling your list the following day.

Change your email settings if you want to set a different time of day and frequency for receiving your reminder emails. You can also set the time and frequency of your memory emails, which give you a roundup of the day/week/month’s accomplishments.

Another cool feature is that you can export your data as a Google Spreadsheet, Excel file or text file. This way you can access your data later (and if the website ever were to stop operating).

Olympic athletes train this way – tracking their workouts, drills and nutritional intake, then using the information to make informed improvements. This is a tactic that could be very useful in improving your business in 2012.

Check out iDoneThis for free online.

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Cool Apps: Kick Some Oomph into Your Social Media

By John Thompson | August 13th, 2010 0 Comments

You’ve sat through a few workshops about using social media in real estate. You may already be tweeting, Facebooking, Friendfeeding. You’re digging in, trying new things, seeing what sticks.

By now, you may be realizing that your tweets and updates can get lost online as quickly as a single raindrop disappears into the ocean. You’re thinking: OK, now I’m doing it, but how do I break through all this noise?

This may not be what you want to hear, but how about trying another app? One that allows you to schedule your tweets in advance, track keywords, automatically follow those who follow you. One that helps you make the most of social media while not sacrificing all of your time. See, the thing about social media is that you try, try, try again, but that you also test, see what works, test, see what works, test, see what works.

SocialOomph is an app that can help you organize your social stream. It might be that you’re tweeting the right things, but at the wrong time. Or it might be that your tweets are not connecting to the right conversations – i.e., that the right people aren’t noticing them because they lack hashtags or keywords.

SocialOomph offers a way to get some insight into your twitter activities. It can also help you build your following by auto-following those who follow you, and direct messaging new followers.

The free version allows you to schedule tweets, track keywords and click-throughs, and create an extended profile, among other things. (See the full list of SocialOomph’s free features at the company’s website.)

The professional membership offers, in addition to the free features, the ability to find friends using keywords. You can also find influential followers – which are important as most people agree that it’s better to have fewer followers who are influential than more followers who are not influential. You get automatic spam controls and the ability to bulk upload and schedule a large number of tweets.

So you see – it may seem laborious to use yet another app for your social media outreach, but SocialOomph can really help you get the most of your activities in less amount of time.

Then you can spend more time doing what you love – selling real estate! And hopefully have more clients to work with in the process.

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Thursday Thoughts: Leaders understand the importance of execution

By Gino Blefari | August 5th, 2010 0 Comments

In the book Jack Welch and the 4E’s of Leadership, Jeffrey A. Krames explains that exceptional leaders share four characteristics:

They have energy.

They energize. 

They have edge.

They execute.

Which do you believe Welch sees as most important? Yep, you guessed it:

“The first three E’s are definitely essential; however people who execute effectively understand that activity and productivity are not the same thing. The best leaders are action-oriented, focused on getting outcomes, and know how to convert energy into action and results.”

Extraordinary leaders who know how to execute and get the job done are the ones who ultimately fulfill their goal of building a competitive and successful organization.

The creation of the Ford Mustang is a great example of excellent execution. Lee Iacocca, then the general manager of Ford, was the powerhouse behind this new car. But before Iacocca could make the Mustang a success, he had to discourage Henry Ford II from developing a car called the Cardinal, which he was convinced would be a flop with a new generation of car buyers.

Eventually with his straight talking, Iacocca convinced top management to drop the Cardinal and clear the path for the Ford Mustang.

The company was still hesitant and did not want to be a part of a new-product disaster. Worse yet, managers feared that this new Mustang would lower sales of other Ford cars. Iacocca was undiscouraged and remained convinced that the car market would flourish with the release of the Mustang.

He put together a team to capitalize on his dream and vision. He pushed the team to design this car in just 14 days. The Mustang was released in April 1964 and Ford showrooms were flooded with people. In the first two years, Mustang generated net profits of $1.1 billion – clearly a stunning success.

“He pushed incredibly hard, making his vision a reality. And he succeeded beyond anyone’s imagination by delivering eye-popping profits (execution).”

We can see that this portrait in execution shows how a leader with a capacity for execution can make the right things happen.

So stop and take a look at yourself and your career. Ask yourself, do I want to deliver results? Am I a consistent performer? How hard will I work to get things done and develop an execution culture? Commit yourself to this and you’ll make execution a critical ingredient in your success.

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Monday Morning Mojo: The Circle of Success

By Tom Tognoli | March 1st, 2010 0 Comments

The key to achieving your dreams is making the choice to. The most common difference between those who have an AWESOME life and those who don’t are simply the choices they make every day.  It’s not their circumstances, the way they were raised, or their education.  Most people who are not accomplishing their dreams in life are those that have chosen not to. These people just aren’t willing to do what is necessary to have a life that good.

Think about your life for a moment, what do you want and what does it take to get it?  So, why haven’t you been doing what it takes to get it?

Before you start with all of the excuses, ask yourself – if you really had to do it, could you?  Let me make it clear how this is a choice – I don’t even like to think these thoughts, but it will help you understand that you can do it, if you want it bad enough.  If the person or people you care about the most lives depended upon it, could you do it? We both know the answer. Of course you could and would.  Life is a series of choices – I call them the Y’s in the road.  In most cases if you take the easy path – the one most people take – you will experience short term gain and long term pain. On the other hand if you have the courage to take the other path – the one most will not take – you will have some short term pain, but long term gain. So, make the right choice and have a life of pure magic!

Start by making the choice everyday to FEEL GOOD.  Because when you FEEL GOOD you are ATTRACTIVE. When you are ATTRACTIVE, you have AMAZING PRODUCTIVITY. When you have AMAZING PRODUCTIVITY, you have EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS. And when you have EXTRAORDINARY RESULT, you feel even better! It is the circle of success.

Make it a GREAT week and make the right choices.

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Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,      Categories: Discipline, Monday Morning Mojo, Positive attitude, Success