Work Smarter Live Better

Swimming in the English Channel

You're probably wondering what I am doing in a wetsuit? I am still in England and the other day Jen, a friend of mine, asked if I wanted to go for a swim in the sea with her and a few of her friends.

We are currently in November and the sea temperature is 12 degrees. So, I thought thanks but no thanks.

And then I changed my mind.

I am very aware that research has shown the enormous benefits of having a cold shower every day can have on your health. I have been experimenting with a cold shower now for a few weeks, and I thought that for one day, instead of a cold shower, I could have a quick swim.

The Fine Line

In all the years working with many leaders, I have met quite a few ‘perfectionists. I have come to the conclusion that there is a real fine line between being a perfectionist and being a procrastinator.

By the way I can talk from experience about this because I'm a bit of a perfectionist myself.

A perfectionist will say: "I need to do this but I don’t have enough time to do it well now, so I will do it later.’ Suddenly you have drifted from being a perfectionist to being a procrastinator.

I suggest you change your mindset: don’t think perfection, think by draft.

Let's talk about X..

 It's not what you're thinking, X is just a productivity tool...

Cyril's tip for this week: don’t waste time searching for documents you already have. File everything in one folder and use a search tool to find very quickly anything you need.

Finish on a high

Cyril from Work Smarter Live Better talks about a very simple, but very powerful habit that made quite a difference...

Craving for quality time... with myself

Cyril from Work Smarter Live Better.

In this video, I would like to make a very simple suggestion which can save you time and improve the quality of your work.

Lost in the Pacific dream it plan it do it

"Do you do the same thing on your personal life?
Do you do the same amount of planning, thinking?
Do you have goals?
Do you do quarterly reviews?
Do you do weekly review?"

Most people say, "No, actually I don't." 

Cyril's tip is simple: apply the same rigor, focus, attention to your personal life, the same planning, the same goal vision to your personal life that you do in your business life. It will transform your life.

How to avoid slow but sure death?

What do you do to improve yourself? 

How can you improve your skills on the job and in your personal life? 

Watch Cyril's tip in this video.

How can they be both excited and relaxed?

"Try to remember Monday three weeks ago.  What did you do? How did you spend your time by batches of 15 minutes?

When I ask this question, most people mention they struggle to remember what they did yesterday let alone three weeks ago.

I am not asking you to have an amazing memory and remember everything you have done at work in the last few weeks or months. However, you should be able to know by simply looking at your calendar."  Cyril talks about the importance of once a week, stopping and planning your week ahead.

Nothing good comes from reply all

How many emails do you receive every day?

And how many are really relevant?

More and more people are inundated with emails and even more annoying, inundated with irrelevant emails. Managers are dedicating on average 2h30m per day on emails. This is massive.

In this video Cyril from Work Smarter, Live Better shares of few simple suggestions for you and everyone in your team to improve this. A few simple suggestions that can make a big difference.

One hour per day away

What do you do with emails when on leave: do you not checking them and come back to an inbox with hundreds if not thousands of emails? Or do you check your inbox regularly during your vacation, feeling guilty and annoyed of this work during personal time?

Here is one of the simple tips to manage your emails while away.

A fool with a tool is still a fool

(Microsoft Interview)

"The silver bullet…

If you are like most, you have probably tried many different tools and ways to organize time: Making a ‘to do’ list, writing things down, excel spread sheet, the latest app and so on.

And, if you are like most, you have found out that none of these tools is the silver bullet

Over the past 13 years of working with clients to help them to work smarter live better, I have found that there is no such thing as ‘The Best Tool’. The key is not the tool. It is the PROCESS. A fool with a tool is still a fool."

Too much to do

Cyril shares the first key step of prioritization: what do you do when you have too much to do.

Your obsession is becoming theirs as well

"A few months ago I was working with a group of leaders in the US. I challenged them not to check their email first thing in the morning. A few days after I received an email from one of them. A page and a half about the impact for her, her husband and her kids from this simple advice."

Here is a short extract:

Get rid of half of your inbox

In one simple rule you can reduce your email traffic by 70%.  

This video will explain how you can achieve this...

SMS my wife

Is it possible to fully disconnect while on leave?

For many people, the answer is no. Even when you take two weeks off away with their family, most confess to checking their emails from time to time. The issue is not only the time spent, it’s also and mainly the fact you fail to fully disconnect and recharge.

Cyril shares one simple advice to help you to disconnect.

Put some meetings on booster

In a survey published in the Harvard Business Review a few years ago, managers reported that more than half of the meetings they attended were either ineffective or highly ineffective. More than half. This is a huge amount of time spent for a less than average return.

Cyril shares one simple advice to make some of your meetings much more effective and how to put some of your meetings on booster. 

Interruptions

Cyril Peupion from Work Smarter, Live Better talks about a big time waster called “Interruptions”.  This video provides a simple framework to help better manage interruptions.

Be ruthless with nice to read

In this video Cyril Peupion talks about the practical ways to change your work habits and transform your life - Thought Leadership, Mentoring, Coaching, Training, Public Speaking. Author of 'Work Smarter: Live Better' - top 10 business books in Australia.

Book specific meetings with yourself

Cyril Peupion talks about one simple but important technique to manage your workload.

Script your mornings

Cyril from Works Smarter, Live Better talks about how you can start the day full of energy and how you can prepare yourself for a great day. 

Hide yourself

"Over the last ten years many companies have moved from offices to open plan, and now from open plan to activity based environment. Although great for collaborating and communicating, not always great to focus and concentrate. How often do you hear someone complaining that it is very hard to do any deep work at their desk?"  

In this video Cyril shares how to increase your focus, hence your performance. 

Life by design

In this video Cyrial discusses a very important concept: Life by Design…

"I'm in a special place. As you can see I'm not at my desk today, I'm in a National Park. I live in Sydney, and near where I live is this beautiful park called the Garigal National Park. And two to three times a week, I do a bike ride in it.

The reason I am sharing this is because of a concept I call life by design."