Productivity Tips From President Obama

Happy Presidents Day! There’s always a lot of buzz about how to get more things done in your day, so today we’re looking at the productivity methods of one of the busiest guys in the world: President Obama. He’s spoken to Vanity Fair and several other publications about how he stays sane and on top of his tasks. These are some of his best tips: Strategize to avoid decision fatigue. Have you ever wondered why it’s so hard to choose between catching up on GIRLS or Scandal at the end of a long day? It’s because the more decisions you make, the more your ability to make later decisions erodes. That means it’s crucial that you prioritize your decisions and try to minimize the unimportant ones. Obama explained this to Vanity Fair, saying, “You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.” Start your day the night before. You’re the most productive when you can work without any distractions. For President Obama, this is at night after his family has gone to bed. He’ll often stay up until 1:00 am working on a big task that will carry into the next day. If you’re not a night owl, you can still adopt this method; simply figure out at what point in the day you feel most productive and use that time to get a jump start on tomorrow’s tasks. Shut out critics. For President Obama, that means sticking to watching ESPN and avoiding news channels when at all possible. He said, “One of the things you realize fairly quickly in this job is that there is a character people see out there called Barack Obama. That’s not you.” So if you’re obsessing over that one negative comment that someone left on your blog, take a step back and try to let it go. You’ll be more productive if you worry less about other people’s perceptions. Exercise. The leader of the United States carves out 45 minutes or more each day to do cardio or weight training. Obama said, “You have to exercise or at some point you’ll just break down.” It might seem like a good idea to skip your yoga class to work on that big project, but you’ll actually get more done if you make time to workout. Exercise reduces stress, boosts your mood and gives you the chance to clear your head. Remember that your personal time is sacred. For the President, this means setting aside three separate times in the day: his morning workout, dinner with his daughters and the nighttime after his family falls asleep. As his schedule shows, it’s important to diversify personal time. If you use all of it to accomplish the same goals, your life won’t feel very balanced. Set aside times to do something for your health, have some social interaction and catch up on whatever major things you didn’t get to during the day.

How to Woo your Customers this Valentine's Day

The week of Valentine’s Day is finally upon us. If you haven’t made your Valentine cards or decorated the walls with paper hearts, you’re more than a little behind the game. However, it’s not too late to take advantage of the holiday and do some themey marketing. What better day is there to show your customers some love? Take a look at these last-minute ideas for sweeping your customers off of their feet: Make the most of social media. Social media is the procrastinating marketer’s dream. There’s no printing or mailing involved, so you can reach out to customers instantaneously. - Consider holding a contest on Valentine’s Day. You could have people tweet or post about their love stories or worst date experiences. Whether you appeal to emotion or humor, a chance to share personal experiences will get people engaged. - Tweet at other businesses that you have good relationships with, saying, “Happy Valentine’s Day, @insertyourfavoritebusinesshere! We love what you do!” Chances are, they will reciprocate your affection. - Come up with a fun Valentine’s Day-themed game. For example, find or make cupids of some kind (they can even be printed out pictures) and place them throughout your neighborhood or city. Instagram, tweet and post pictures of them in their different locations. The first person to find each cupid can return it to you for a prize. - If you’ve hopped on the Snapchat bandwagon, take a quirky picture of the people in your office and adorn it with hand drawn hearts and typical Valentine’s Day sayings. Your customers will appreciate your playfulness. Harness the power of email. It’s another method of immediate communication and is perfect if you’re going for a slightly more professional tone. - Send messages to your best customers. Thank them specifically and tell them why you appreciate their business so much. If you want, include a gift of some kind. - Send a mass email to all of your customers. Whether you make it fun and flashy or sophisticated and romantic, they will appreciate that you took the time to design a special Valentine’s Day greeting for them. It’s also a great opportunity to announce any sales or promotions that you’re having.

Why You Should Mentor and How to be Awesome at It

If you consider yourself at all successful (which you definitely should), chances are you can look back and identify a person or people who invested time in you, shared their wisdom, and helped you get where you are today. Having a great mentor is one of the keys to success, and if you’ve benefitted by being a mentee, it’s time to start paying it forward by being on the other side. Here’s what you need to know before you become a fantastic mentor: The Benefits - You’ll be recognized as an expert in your field. You’ve invested a ton of time and energy into developing your skills, and your mentee will be incredibly thankful that you’re willing to share your expertise. - You’ll be exposed to fresh new ideas, perspectives and approaches. Mentors can learn a ton from their mentees, and the meeting of generations will spark some innovative concepts. - You’ll be able to recognize young talent when you’re recruiting in the future. Who knows? Maybe your mentee will be the next rockstar employee at your company. The Requirements - Mentoring is time consuming, so you have to truly make a commitment to meeting regularly. Don’t promise more time than you’re actually able to give. - You have to believe in your mentee. Trying to help someone whose interests and goals don’t have anything in common with yours is a waste of both the mentor and mentee’s time. How to Be Awesome - Be open-minded and compassionate. Your mentee should be able to ask the “dumb questions” without feeling intimidated or judged. - Be accessible outside of your typical meeting time. Your mentee should be able to call you when problems or questions arise. If you let a lot of time lapse between speaking with your mentee, you’re not actually building a relationship. - Be honest. Keep things positive, but don’t be afraid to give constructive criticism or talk about the challenges that are ahead. No one has ever grown by having someone sugar-coat everything for them. - Listen with intent. Listening can be every bit as powerful as speaking, but you have to do so in a way that allows your mentee to think critically. If your mentee tells you about a problem that he or she has encountered, ask more questions, draw parallels to your own experiences, and help generate ideas for solutions. - Always focus on the goals of your mentee. Get to know what he or she hopes to accomplish in the short-term, long-term, professionally and personally. While you may hope that your mentee will join your company, put his or her interests first and help your mentee get where they want to go.

Why You Need to Start Doodling at Work

We’ve all been there. You’re sitting at a long table in a meeting, and that giant cup of coffee you just chugged is doing nothing to help your focus. Your thoughts begin to wander as the speaker’s voice slowly fades into the background. Pen in hand, you start to doodle. By the end of the meeting, you have a full page of random sketches. There’s a rabbit jumping into a puddle, two bumper cars crashing into each other, and the word “engagement” written repeatedly in various sizes and fonts. So doodling is only a childish distraction for people with short attention spans, right? Wrong. Quality doodling isn’t about zoning out, but rather processing information and thinking visually. With a little strategy, doodling can be an amazing tool for boosting productivity and creativity in the workplace. This is why (and how): The Benefits - It promotes immersive learning. Everyone has a different learning style, but drawing (kinesthetic) while listening to information (auditory) leaves you with a graphic record (visual) of your thoughts, making it a tool that’s useful for all kinds of learners. - It helps focus and memory. A 2009 study from the University of Plymouth found that those who doodled during a phone call recalled 29% more information than those who didn’t. Because doodling allows you to process information on a deeper level, you’ll be able to remember things more clearly. - It makes brainstorming better. Seeing your ideas on paper allows you to see connections you hadn’t thought of and expand upon your thoughts. The free-flowing nature of doodling will help you think outside of the box. The Strategy - Learn (or create) a visual alphabet. Developing recognizable symbols will give you some consistency and enable you to doodle more quickly. - Use words as well as pictures. If you’re trying to identify demographics of a target audience, write down a few key words and see what drawings they inspire. - Don’t get caught up in how it looks. You don’t need to be Picasso to doodle. It is a way of thinking, not an artistic method, so don’t stress about your misshapen stick figure. - Collaborate! Doodling is incredibly useful in business settings because you can do it as a team. Your coworker’s sketch might just spark a new idea for you. - Make sure you have the right tools. To implement doodling in a business, provide large whiteboards in meeting rooms and small ones for each employee’s desk. Even a pad of paper and permission to sketch freely is enough to get your team excited about thinking in this creative way.

Use Pantone’s Color of the Year in Your Marketing

Pantone is a company best known for its Pantone Matching System, which allows for standardized color reproduction and easy color communication between printers, designers, retailers and consumers. But Pantone has increasingly become a trendy household name. People love buying Pantone’s home goods in specific shades, and magazines and news organizations feature articles on Pantone’s Color of the Year. For 2014, Pantone’s chosen color is Radiant Orchid, which the company describes as “an enchanting harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love and health. It is a captivating purple, one that draws you in with its beguiling charm.” You may or may not think that a color picked out by a company has anything to do with your marketing, but incorporating Pantone’s Color of the Year shows that your brand is relevant (and has darn good style.) Here’s what you need to know about Radiant Orchid: How It Was Picked To pick the color, Pantone begins searching in the spring of the previous year. They look to high-end fashion brands, films that are in production, popular travel destinations, circulating art collections and other incredibly timely inspirations. The company said they chose 2014’s color because “Radiant Orchid encourages expanded creativity and originality, which is increasingly valued in today’s society.” What to Pair It With Believe it or not, Radiant Orchid is an incredibly versatile color. Pantone recommends pairing it with other vibrant colors, such as turquoise, teal, royal blue and light yellows. If these palettes are a little too outside of your comfort zone, consider tying it in with neutrals like gray, beige and taupe. Though a light pinkish purple color may seem inescapably girly, when used in small doses and paired with basic colors, it can have mass appeal. How to Use It You still might be thinking that Radiant Orchid has no place in your branding, but even the most masculine and minimalist of companies can find a tasteful way to use it. Try it out as a border on your next direct mail piece or promo poster. If you’re handing out promotional t-shirts, order some in the shade. Have you updated your social media profile photos lately? Play around with your logo to see if you can incorporate it in some small way. If you love to be up on the latest trends in design, you’ll probably enjoy figuring out how to use 2014’s favorite color. But if it’s not your cup of tea and seems a little unnecessary, remember that Pantone holds a lot of power, and one color can make your company seem modern and trendy.

Expect the Unexpected for Marketing in 2014

So what can you expect for the world of marketing in 2014? Unpredictability. There’s no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to business, so creating an accurate forecast of the next year is impossible. After all, who saw Snapchat’s crazy rise to success coming in 2013? There’s no way to determine what The Next Big Thing will be, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be anxious and unprepared. The only thing you can count on is yourself, so gearing up for the rest of the year will allow you to navigate the changes that lie ahead. Here are some ways to develop maximum marketing adaptability: Get your ducks in a row. You won’t be able to keep up with changing situations and trends if you don’t have a clear idea of what you’ve done in the past. What channels or campaigns have worked best? Do you have a system of tracking customer behavior? By organizing a history of your marketing efforts, you’ll be able to identify what will (and won’t) be effective in the future. Identify the story that you’re trying to tell with your brand. By now you might have an established narrative, but make sure that the storytelling concept is fully concrete. Outlining what your brand is and isn’t will allow you to make easy decisions when new trends and platforms emerge. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Perhaps in two months, an exciting new social media platform will become all the rage. Don’t hesitate to check out what the buzz is all about, but don’t feel like you have to invest all your time in energy in the latest social media fad. If its capabilities and reach align with your brand’s goals, then jump right in. But also know that there’s no point in letting something new (and not fully established) detract from your other marketing efforts. Have different team plans in place. As different options and campaigns come up, make sure you have different teams and team members who can handle various tasks. Marketing is reliant on timeliness, so you don’t want to waste any time trying to figure out who can do what. By appointing roles ahead of time (and knowing that flexibility will be required) you’ll be able to tackle issues and opportunities as soon as they arise.

Tell a Story With Your Marketing in 2014

“Tell me a story!” This typical refrain heard from children at bedtime also applies to your customers. When it comes to marketing, they don’t just want information. They want a story too. Scientific studies have shown that our brain activity increases and we become more engaged when there’s a narrative involved. As you go into 2014, be thinking of how you can make your business’s marketing all about storytelling. Here are a just a few ways to create an intriguing narrative for your customers. Infuse your personality. Personify your business to identify key personality traits. If your company were a person, what would they be like? How would they write? What values would be important to them? By fleshing out a unified set of characteristics, you’ll be able to create intriguing and cohesive marketing. Develop characters. This doesn’t mean you have to create a company mascot with a big backstory. It can be as simple as tying a loyal customer’s buying experience into your narrative. And don’t forget your employees. They are your best brand advocates. Make them a part of the story, giving customers a glimpse of the kind, interesting and passionate people who are the core of your company. Get visual. Images are always going to capture more attention than plain text, and recent updates from Facebook and Twitter make it even easier—and more important—for you to include them in your posts. Weave images into the overarching marketing narrative to enhance the storyline, or find visuals that tell a story on their own. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Create experiences. The best way to get customers talking about your business is to give them something to talk about. Create events that allow them to be part of your story. This doesn’t have to be on the scale of a YouTube-worthy flash mob, but think outside the box to interact with customers in unexpected places or bring them into your business. By doing something memorable and out of the ordinary, they’ll be excited to share their story (and yours) with friends and family.