12 successful people and their best productivity hacks

12 successful people and their best productivity hacks12 successful people and their best productivity hacksIf you find yourself getting easily overwhelmed by schmelzglass, struggling to keep your eyes open at your desk, or constantly getting distracted by coworkers, chances are, your productivity level isnt what it could be.The secret to working more efficiently isnt about working more or less, but smarter. Here, 12 successful people share how to do just that, compliments of their productivity hacks. Get ready to get focused1. VisualizeI always envision myself crushing it at my job, working with pristine integrity and keeping a gold standard. I have always envisioned myself being the go-to girl, the leader in my space, the golden girl in the Wellness space. Make an effort to pinpoint your success, and focus on YOU leading the pack. Clear the noise, dont worry about what everyone else is doing. Focus on yourself, your work and keep the focus on doing your very best, nothing less. - C andice Kumai, bestselling author of Clean Green EatsClean Green Drinks2. SimplifyBreak down an annual goal into daily activities. Then focus 100 percent of your energy on completing those activities. - Kevin Conroy Smith, Levo 100 honoree and founder of the Number Project3. UnplugI cant begin to stress how important it was to limit digital distractions during my workday. The best thing Ive ever done to improve my productivity was to check my inbox only three times a day. This allows me to really concentrate on whatever task I have at hand. Before I started doing this, I would constantly get interrupted and it would take me a while to get back to really focusing on what I was working on, which was a killer for my productivity. Sometimes Ill catch myself cheating by checking my iPhone inbox, but putting it on silent helps stop the temptation - Jude Al-Khalil, founder and CEO of BIKYNI4. Catch those ZZZsMy 1 productivity hack is getting 7 hours of sleep each night. I turn off the TV an d put away all my devices so I can clear my brain and sleep well To have an energy-full day, I prioritize getting a good nights sleep so I wake up rested and ready to go face the days challenges. I also really appreciate the Johnson Johnson Human Performance Institutes principles that lead to being your personal best at work and at home be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused, and spiritually aware to achieve your mission. - Janis Smith-Gomez, vice president, marketing for Ethicon, Inc.5. Distance yourselfClose the office door. I have an open door policy all the time. My office is open to every one of the 110 people who work for me. In fact, its unusual not to find at least one of my employees paying me a visit. However, when the rubber meets the road and I have to concentrate and get something done quickly, my office door gets closed. It has become a sign to everyone that when its closed, I am full steam on a project so I generally dont get interrupted. It s amazing what you can accomplish in an uninterrupted hour or even a half hour. - Linda Lightman, CEO and founder of Lindas Stuff6. Plan, organize, doI have a three-step mantra when it comes to being productivePlan it.I plan each day the night before and add them as actual tasks in my calendar. This gives you the creative space to do the work you need to do in the time required and ensures that you are realistic about what can be achieved. I prioritize the most important tasks and always allow time for inspiration and play being creative means you need time to be inspired, read an article, blog or just be on the pulse of whats happening.Organize it.I try to keep to Inbox Zero. I rule the mail, it does not rule me. I check it only three times morning, afternoon and at the end of the day. Being ruthless with schmelzglass means spending more time on the next step and less on organizing and sifting through endless emails. Honestly, if its really important, experience has taught me th ey either come and get you or pick up the phone.Do it.I get focused. Im not distracted, I dont check my email and I get in the zone to complete the tasks for the day. I often have post-it notes with each task on my desk and physically tick them off once a task is done. There is great satisfaction in actually completing something. Visually seeing these is also a great way to remain focused. - Resh Sidhu, creative director of Framestores VR Studio7. Check-In timesEmail is both a blessing and a curse a curse in that it often becomes a seemingly endless task. Each day, I set a time to check my email and address as much as I can.But I always set an end time, and stick to it. Of course, email is a blessing in that it keeps me on track. And I sort my inbox by subject, to be as efficient as possible (though I try to keep this trick a secret). - Julie Lee, managing director, Maxus Chicago8. Calendars and story timeThere are two actually the one at work my to-dos go right into my Outlook ca lendar, where I cant hide from them or transfer them to another piece of paper the reminders keep me honest and mindful, and the lack of scribbled, unreadable lists cluttering my desk is a nice plus one. The one at home reading to my kids its the blissful 30 to 45 minutes of my day thats never shattered or shared with anyone else, and puts me in a right zen mood. - Christine Stack, lebensgefhrte at Liberty Blue9. Google HangoutsWhile this may seem counter-intuitive as a productivity hack, Im in a creative business so talking through ideas needs the nuance of conversation and ideally seeing each others face. Hangouts helps our teams get together and have meaningful discussions rather than spinning in the nuance of how we phrased something in an email. - Jane Delworth, managing director at mono10. and 11. MeditationHeadspace 20 minutes meditation a day every day makes all the difference to my productivity. - Charlotte Smith, partner at Liberty BlueEven if its just 10 to 15 minutes a day. It centers me, keeps me focused on what matters right now, and helps me to stay calm under stress- which ultimately makes me more productive. Walking meditation is my favorite type of meditation. - Justine Bloome, EVP, strategy and innovation at Carat USA12. PodcastsMy favorite podcast is Ted Radio Hour. I love the diversity of interviews and content matter, which always expands my thinking in new and surprising ways. - Olivia Fay, CEO and creative director of Rallier

You love what you invest yourself in

You love what you invest yourself inYou love what you invest yourself inUntil you love something, youll never give everything you have for it.Passion fades. Love only becomes mora powerful, regardless of the outcome.Love is thehighest of all human motivations. The lower motivationsavoiding punishment/pain, seeking reward/pleasure, and dutyarent even comparable to the power of love.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreLove takes the attentionoff of youand places it on someone or something else. When you love something, you put it before yourself. Very few display this level of devotion, where youre willing to be and dowhatever is required.Where is your love directed?Give-Up Your Notion of AuthenticityIf you want to make improvements in your life, you need to fundamentally change as a person.The idea of changing yourself is off-putting to some. The desire to be authentic keeps people s tuck in unhealthy patterns. Said, David Heinemeier Hansson, author ofRework, Just be yourself is a terrible platitude for accepting the random attributes of character youve acquired thus far.According to psychologistCarol Dweck, having the belief in a fixed identity can interfere with growth. Your identity isnt fixed. Without the belief that you can growth and change, all of your choices would be meaningless and irrelevant.If you truly love someone, youll be who you need to be for that person. Your thoughts will be directed toward their happiness, not how they can make you happy. Your creativity will be towards creating meaningful experiencesfor them.If you love a particular cause, youll be who you need to be to bring that cause forward. You wont let your current deficiencies stop you. Youll get educated. Youll acquire skills. Youll develop relationships. Youll fail. You work. Youll look foolish.Its not aboutyou.Kierkegaard, Socrates, and Levinas all believed love is fundamentally d irected towardsomething outside oneself.An over-focus on yourself keeps you stuck in your head and worried about your own feelings, rather than out in the world doing good.Forget yourself and get to work. Become who you must be for the people and causes you love. It is only in devoting yourself wholly to something outside of yourself that you become self-actualized. It cannot happen is a self-absorbed and self-concerned manner.Being about something far greater than yourself is the most beautiful way to live.Completely Own Where You Currently AreIf you want a life more than you currently have, you must be more than you currently are. Said Benjamin Disraeli,Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men.Your circumstances are a reflectionof you.If your relationships are toxic, whos to blame?If your finances are a mess, whos to blame?If you hate your job, whos to blame?Of course, there are external factors at play, but life organically shapes itself ar ound your standards. Untilyou change,your circumstances wont. To quote Darren Hardy,To achieve what you have not, you must become what you are not. You have to grow into your goals.Whatever it is you want in life, you mustbe that personbefore you can have it. Until you become that person, you are delusional. You wont live your dreams until you become the person whocreates those dreams.Said Jim Rohn,Success is not to be pursued it is to be attracted by the person you become.This reality has recently become very apparent to me. To be blunt, Ive been living far beneath the results Im seeking in my life. The reason is simple. I havent loved deeply enough.I havent loved my family enough.I havent loved my clients enough.I havent loved my work enough.I havent loved my life enough.Because I havent loved enough, I havent been the person needed to make these things as great as theycould be.Im not crying over this fact. Im not depressed. Im just stating the facts. Ive been selfish.Love is the only thing powerful enough to overcome everything holding you back.Chris Chann, professional skateboarderLove is powerful enough to make hard and sometimes irrational decisions.Love is powerful enough to commit to something for the long-haul.Love is powerful enough to get you out of bed at 5AM and get to work.Love is powerful enough to learn things and acquire skills to benefit the lives of others.Love is powerful enough to change you into someone more and better than you currently are.Love is always directed outward.You Love What You Invest YourselfInPeople often askHow can I know what I WANT TO DO? How can I know what Im passionate about?These questions are misdirected. Theyre overtly focused on themselves and their own happiness. Happiness cannot be pursued, it must ensue as the unintended consequence of devotion to something or someone else.Viktor Franklbelieved this too, explaining it as the very reason for both survival in Nazi concentration camps and for success in life.Rathe r than worrying about what youre passionate about, invest yourself in something you believe in.You grow to love what you put your energy into. You lovewhat you do well. You love what youve sacrificed for. You love what youve changed for.If you work hard in a particular class, youll love that class.If you work hard on a project, youll love that project.If you work hard writing a paper, youll love that paper.If you invest yourself in a relationship, youll love that person.Love comes from work. Its not a feeling. Its committed action. And commitment is a byproduct of investment.What do you love?Ready toUpgrade?Ive created a cheat sheet for putting yourself into a PEAK-STATE, immediately. You follow this daily, your life will change very quickly.Get the cheat sheet hereThis article first appeared on Medium.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin F ranklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

How to Create Wordpress Bookmarks

How to Create Wordpress BookmarksHow to Create Wordpress BookmarksCreating hyperlink bookmarks for your WordPress site give visitors a way to jump to the section of the article they need the most, saving them time.If you Google how to create bookmarks in WordPress, youll come up with overly complicated ways of creating bookmark hyperlinks, but it is actually a rather simple process. Name the Bookmark First, you must create an anchor tag where you want the link to jump to on the page. It is what identifiessomething as a bookmark. When someone clicks on a link, their cursor will jump to the exact point on the page. Lets say youve created a list of FAQs. The answers are short, so you want to put them all on one page. Put a list of the questions that will be answered at the top of the page. When studying metrics, you will often find that web visitors will jump to the question they need to be answered, then reread the article from top to bottom. This maximizes time on the page. Cre ate the Bookmark Switch to text modeby entering the code in your HTML editor. Now location your cursor. Move it to the spot you want the link to jump to. You might want to create the bookmark a couple of lines abovethe actual place because some browsers will move the cursor a line or two below where you tell the cursor to go. Now name the bookmark to createthe beginning anchor tag. You can use numbers, letters, upper or lower case, but no spaces or symbols. Then create the end tag. You will notput display text between the beginning and ending tags as you normally would when creating a hyperlink. Heres an example. Your page should look like this when youre finished. Just change all the brackets to the left and right HTML brackets. In this example. a namebookmarknameBookmarkname/a Create the Hyperlink The next and final step is to create the actual hyperlink that will jump to the bookmarked place you just created when you click on it. Highlight the text you want to turn into a hyperlink to your bookmark. You can enter this in HTML or use the Visual editor and click on the little chain icon to create a hyperlink in the easy mode. Your hyperlink can be created one of two ways. You can use the full URL plus the bookmark name, or just the bookmark name. For example, lets say the URL on the page with the bookmark is www.domainname.com/mypage.html. If you want the bookmark to jump to mybookmark that you just named, you would enter this www.domainname.com/mypage.htmlmybookmark Oryou could also just put the bookmark, so the hyperlink simply is entered as mybookmark