Tag Archives: work

Reworked – Let me tell you about the new book!

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Excited to be telling you that today (Friday 15th January 2021) the new book is out! Strictly speaking it’s a reworking of the other book – a remix if you like for the music people among you!

We wrote a book (myself, Lisa and Steph) and we aimed that book at Social Workers because we are all social workers and wanted to provide some sort of ‘toolbox’ to social workers to help them with their self-care, wellbeing, and productivity, because we knew for ourselves and from our social work friends that social work takes its toll.

But, what we and the publisher noted, as we were finishing the book and it was set for publication, was that the advice in it was relevant to so many more people than just social workers because many people in many workplaces experience work based stress and indeed many people experience the stresses of life overall. The book would work for everyone.

So, the publisher, Critical Publishing, had me re-write the book for the general market as the launch of their Business in Mind series – and there are more books to come in that series! Exciting!

So there are two ‘How to Thrive….’ books. How to Thrive in Professional Practice is the one aimed at Social Workers and How to Thrive at Work is the one aimed at everyone (and social workers would find it useful too). So buy one or the other – whichever suits who you are – but don’t buy both as they are very very similar.

I would say though there’s a very nice chapter in the How to Thrive at Work one on Rest which isn’t in the first one…. and even though I say it myself it’s a very nice addition!

Whichever you were to buy – I hope you get something from it!

Happy days!

The ‘Two Minute’ Rule

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2min

Being productive either at work or at home is a crucial part of being organised and being organised is essential to a happy and content life I feel ……All your ducks in a row so that you just get on with your day.

I live by the ideas in David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done” and by far the most effective, easy to implement, approach is the two minute rule. Simply put…. If it’s going to take you less than two minutes to do it just do it… don’t even think about it… just get on with it. This little productivity hack gets so much done in my world!

I find it most effective in dealing with email. As Allen points out your inbox is a collecting tool not a storage tool so your email inbox should be empty! How many of us can say that! The problem is once they disappear off the bottom of the screen you may as well delete them as they risk being forgotten about! The two minute rule is so effective at getting through the morning grind of ‘getting in to empty’, as Allen puts it, that my inbox is routinely empty (or nearly empty at least). It’s amazing how many things only take a small amount of time but how easily they all mount up and then become onerous. And once those emails disappear off the bottom of the page they get forgotten about…. You know they do… and then they eat away at you as you wonder what’s further down the inbox list! The beauty of emptying your inbox daily and doing something with the things you find there (diary it, delete it, delegate it, or put it into your ‘trusted system’ (more on this soon)) is that you know that, if you don’t get back to your email for the rest of the day, there’s nothing in there you don’t know about that’s more than a few hours old! That’s a great feeling.

The two minute rule works just as well in other areas! At home the dishwasher gets dealt with while I’m making a cup of tea, the bin gets emptied as soon s it’s full, the recycling gets put out, the cooker top gets cleaned while the coffees on… and on it goes…. Things just get done… and you feel so much better and have more space to do the important stuff. Simple.

SO what do you do if it’s going to take more than two minutes!? What’s this ‘Trusted System’ idea. Ah! That’s for another day…. Or do read the book!

[Stephen Mordue]