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When it comes to super-sizing your productivity, there’s a distinct difference between “multi-tasking” and holding a focus-to-finish mindset. While multi-tasking has become a modern-day work activity, doing too much will only set you back from accomplishing a single task very well.
And don’t you think you owe it to yourself and your work to focus on doing a good job, one task at a time?
I know there are more and less effective ways to think. However, here’s an example of one way I manage my distractions:
If I’m busy doing one task, like when I’m typing the draft of an article, I like to have a piece of note-paper off to the right-side of my desk. As I’m writing, if anything unrelated to my immediate task (such as an idea or thing-to-do) pops into my head, I’ll jot it down on this note-paper, so I can attend to it later. This way, I won’t have forgotten it later, and I won’t let it distract me at that very moment, either.
The same holds true when I’m having a meeting with a client. I like to have access to a white board, so I can draw out the ideas we’re discussing, but also jot down answers to search for later in a “parking lot” area for questions. This enables me to stay focused on the conversation at hand and follow-up on parking lot items for later.
Managing Distractions From Others
Are your co-workers to blame for endless disruptions throughout your workday? Here’s a tactic to help manage distractions to your workflow: Ask them to interrupt you “in about an hour,” with the things they think of between now and then. Personally, I’d prefer to get interrupted once with the things they need help with over the course of that hour, rather than get interrupted multiple times.
Think Now, About Then.
Open your calendar and look 5 days into the future. Between now and then, what will you need to have seen, heard and done? Make a list of things to do and to ask people, and see if you can get them done ahead of time. More Pro-Activity = Less Distraction.
If you’re thinking about buying a house or a car, your credit score is a very important number.The interest rate you’ll pay for the money you borrow will be determined, in large part, by this three-digit number that’s generated from the information in your credit report.
Most lenders have carved-in-stone rules about handing out the best terms, and those rules almost always place a major emphasis on your credit score. The best rates are usually offered to those with a credit score of 740 or higher. Rates will still be favorable for those borrowers with a score of 700. But if your score is a 698, those two points could cost you thousands of dollars.According to MyFICO.com, the consumer website of popular scoring model FICO, the interest rate difference between those two scores is about one-third of a percentage point.On a $165,000 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, that difference could cost you more than $13,378 in interest charges, assuming a 4.5 percent interest rate with a 700 credit score and a 4.875 percent rate on a 698 score.
Fall below a 660 and the rate goes up even more, if you can even get approved for a mortgage at all.Keep in mind that these are averages. Most lenders today practice tiered pricing, with interest rates rising as scores go down. Each lender chooses its own “break points” between tiers. Lender A may bump up the interest rate if a score falls below 700, while Lender B doesn’t charge higher rates until the score is 690 or below. So if you stick with one lender, and that lender’s break point is 700, raising your score from 698 to 701 can be vital.This underscores the importance of not only doing all you can to improve your score, but shopping thoroughly when looking for a mortgage.
From the perspective of a mortgage broker, who can choose among a sea of many lenders, there are no sharp break points. Consumers should do what a good broker does — look for a lender that offers the best rate for a specific score.But that’s jumping ahead of ourselves. First things first: You can take steps to improve your credit score. The number of variables that play into an individual score make it impossible to say that one particular action will increase a given score by a certain number of points. But there are some good guidelines.Keys to the best FICO credit score |
“The key to having the best FICO score possible is following three rules,” says Anthony Sprauve, senior consumer credit specialist for FICO. Pay all your bills on time every time. Keep your credit card balances low less than 30 percent of your available credit and only open new credit when you need it, he says.
Read More Click here> Tips to Boost Your Credit Score
End of Wright amendment a victory for free market Love Field neighbors’ group: After end of Wright amendment, trust but verify.
President Jimmy Carter signed the Wright amendment into law, George W. Bush signed the pact to end it, and Barack Obama is president on the day it finally ends. In fact, a person born the year Love Field flight restrictions went into place is now nearly old enough to run for president.
Are there any doubts that North Texas’ longest-running aviation drama was long overdue to be mothballed?
Today, all that is history. Southwest and four other airlines will be free to fly anywhere in the country to and from Dallas Love Field, without the government telling them where their planes can stop. Score a major victory for free-market competition, consumer choice and the North Texas economy. Count this newspaper among those saying thank goodness this day has finally arrived.
Few issues were as divisive as this Rubik’s Cube of a federal law limiting nonstop flights to and from Love to a fistful of states. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was barely 6 years old when the law took effect in 1980. Many, including this newspaper, backed it out of concerns that more flights from Love would cripple the new regional airport. Southwest liked being the big dog at Love. American Airlines wanted to protect its stake at D/FW. Love Field-area residents feared that noise from more flights would cause sleepless nights. Distrust and finger-pointing continued, with no letup for decades.
But then the 21st century arrived. In 2004, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly floated the idea of ending the restrictions, an idea this pro-free-market newspaper could get behind. The restrictions no longer made economic sense, and studies showed that both airports would be better off without these handcuffs. Two years later, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief, Dallas Mayor Laura Miller and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison overcame a mountain of obstacles to get business groups and both airlines to compromise.
It took eight more years, but finally the Wright amendment is no more.
The journey wasn’t pretty, but the region has ended up in the right place. D/FW Airport is prospering. Southwest is no longer a plucky regional airline, but a nationwide giant. American is on firmer financial ground, too.
And Dallas wins in other ways. Daily flights will increase from 264 earlier this month to 316 today to 352 by early next month. The city has a new 20-gate terminal at Love and the promise of increased tourism and convention trade to downtown hotels, restaurants and attractions. And we’re optimistic that noise won’t be a problem for Love Field’s neighbors, given noise-reduction policies and the fact that Love Field is prohibited from adding more gates.
We wish more airlines were flying from Love Field. Still, consumers have options that didn’t exist before, and for that, North Texans should cheer the demise of the Wright amendment.
This is a good thing
Move was eating Zillow’s dust for too long. As part of News Corp, the company (and, most notably, realtor.com), will get a shot of energy and talent that it needs very badly.
Put aside your Myspace jokes: The people at News Corp know how to run and grow media businesses.
Put aside your belief that the U.S. real estate market, just because it has an MLS, is forever and unassailably unique: The people at REA Group, the News Corp subsidiary that runs realestate.com.au, know how to make tons of money in online real estate.
Serious people — some of whom possess deep real estate experience — now own Move and operate realtor.com.
The online real estate category is going to get more competitive again, just as it seemed that Zillow might run away with it.
This is good for everyone — even, ironically, Zillow and Trulia, whose pending merger is still under review by the FTC. The argument that a combined Z and T will have unacceptable market power just got a lot weaker.
NAR is happy now, but …
In the future, they will have a diminished ability to dictate what realtor.com is and isn’t.
Yes, NAR could have effectively blocked this deal, but that wasn’t a realistic option.
Yes, News Corp is still bound by NAR’s realtor.com operating agreement.
But this is News Corp. This is Rupert Murdoch. Do you think he has time for trade association politics? Do you think he’s going to let Chicago dictate to him, whatever the operating agreement says? No, he’s not.
And this, too, is a good thing.
ListHub
ListHub is the squirrely little detail in this deal we should keep an eye on. The fact that Move owns the pipe supplying Zillow and Trulia with most of their content has always been a bit of a mind-bender. But things could get weirder. Steve Berkowitz and team were never willing (wisely, in my opinion) to blow up ListHub in order to hurt their bigger competitors. News Corp management may not be so even-handed.
The other possibility is that the FTC, in reviewing this deal, and taking into account Move’s recent acquisition of Point2’s syndication business, decides that ListHub really needs to be spun out on its own.
Either way, how listings get from brokers and MLSs to the big portals is, shall we say, in flux. This is going to ratchet up the already-intense portal battle for industry hearts and minds.
The long term
This deal, while big, is about companies that advertise homes, not sell them. And that may make you feel that this doesn’t really impact the agent on the street. And in the short term you’re probably right. But longer term, I think you’d be wrong.
News Corp buying Move, or Zillow buying Trulia, may seem like the distant dealings of rich people peddling ad impressions to Realtors, but these things shape how consumers touch, interact with and evaluate our industry in the digital world.
We have only just begun to see where that may lead us.
| AQUA at Pelican Isle, Naples :: Naples, Florida :: |
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AQUA at Pelican Isle embraces its fortunate residents with an impeccable array of luxury, personal service and recreational amenities. The acclaimed design team has created the most unique resort lifestyle in Naples. Amenities include a spa, fitness center, rooftop deck and sky lounge, and movie theater, all managed under the watchful eye of a full-time concierge. |
| Bella Terra :: Estero, Florida |
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A master planned gated community perfect for families of all ages and sizes offer villas, single-family and estate homes starting from the $100s. Bella Terra means “beautiful land” in Italian and that’s exactly what you will find here. It is nestled in a preserve paradise and inspired by beautiful northern Italian-style architecture. Set amid 1,000 acres with 100 acres of tranquil lakes and 400 acres of conservation preserves. |
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Job seekers frequently go into the job search process with assumptions about how to present themselves and what employers want to hear. Preconceived notions need to be challenged in order for a job search to be successful. Here are three things you should understand and act upon to make yourself an attractive candidate:1 Your resume isn’t your professional autobiography. Often, job seekers try to include everything they have ever done on a resume. Think differently! Consider your resume a marketing document that presents your most attractive features to the people who are most in need of the value you provide. Clear away the clutter of information, and keep your overall message focused. 2 Your LinkedIn profile shouldn’t just be an online version of your resume. When you cut and paste your resume into your online profile, you demonstrate a lack of knowledge about how social media works.Make every effort to complete all the sections of your online profiles and include rich information, such as PowerPoint presentations, portfolios of your work, skills, languages and more. 3 Your interview isn’t just about answering questions. You need to be prepared to answer everything from the standard strengths and weakness and salary questions to more thoughtful behavior-based questions. At the end of your answer to a behavioral question, you might turn the question around and pose it to your interviewer.
Listen to my last Radio Show Segment on the 10 Best & Worst States to live when you Retire.
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