For decades, remote work has been a concept reserved for freelancers, creatives, and tech professionals. Although companies allowing home offices for their employees was not a novel phenomenon, it wasn’t mainstream. A paradigm shift came with the pandemic, making working from home a necessity rather than just a benefit of the workplace. 

This rapid shift showed the benefits and challenges of remote working, affecting team communication and project collaboration. Nevertheless, it is safe to say that the home office is here to stay and many companies are adopting hybrid models. Upwork predicts that 73% of teams will have remote workers by 2028.

Digital collaboration tools (like the Zenkit Suite!) that promise better teamwork despite the distance compete for the limelight. With much software to choose from, it’s important for teams and companies to adopt tools that will complement team productivity, supporting their workflow within these new standard work models.

What’s the deal with New Work & Industry 4.0?

We live in the age of New Work and Industry 4.0. New Work defines today’s working society in the global and digital age. The integration of intelligent technologies under the term Industry 4.0 promotes a whole new concept of productivity and efficient systems. But what does all this have to do with remote work?

Well, depending on how you look at it, a little or a lot. The publication of the New York Times bestseller “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferriss is a good place to start making the connection. By demonstrating in his book how individuals can be just as productive in less time through process optimization, a stark contrast was created to the entrenched norm of the 40-hour workweek, initially created for production lines.

The appeal of flexible work hours and the nomadic freedom to prioritize work-life balance has only grown. Remote work and home office are the results of technological development enabling and demonstrating that work can be executed successfully without co-location. Flexjobs estimates that 4.7 million people were already working remotely before the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Collaboration tools support this type of lifestyle, where professionals work outside of a traditional office environment, yet going fully digital isn’t as simple as it seems. Besides the fact that having a stable internet connection is an imperative requirement, remote work complicates the integration of corporate culture, as well as team communication, and engagement within tasks and projects.

Whether working in an office or remotely, the art of effective team management and the importance of good workplace communication are key elements and indicators for successful team collaboration. 

Types of work models

With an increasing number of modern variations of working models, we’ve described a few of the most common types:

1. 40-Hour-Workweek, or, the classic 9-to-5

Initially instigated in the 19th century, from workers protesting against gruelling long hours and requesting a reduction, the 40-hour-workweek was created to regulate the working hours of the working class. Ford Motor Company advanced the idea in 1914, which led to increased productivity in the production line. Many companies soon followed suit and the popularized phrase of “8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, and 8 hours for what we will” was born.  

Today, most companies and organizations run on the 40-hour-workweek. Albeit, more out of tradition and habit rather than a deliberate decision based on employee productivity. With this knowledge and recent technological developments, individuals and organizations are reexamining the classic 9-to-5 working model. 

2. Hybrid Model, where Home Office is part of the deal

Hybrid models are usually known to be the best of both worlds. Organizations that have adopted hybrid working models allow employees the freedom to work remote or from home, and at times even to manage flexible working hours. This working model has become more popular in recent years as company infrastructure has developed. Owl Labs estimate that 52% of global employees work remotely once a week, and 68% do so at least once per month. Though hybrid models seem to be the answer for the future of work, only a selected range of job sectors can take advantage of these benefits, particularly due to job requirements and tasks.

3. Remote Work, work without co-location

Working with a view of the Swiss Alps in February, at a seaside hotel in Los Angeles in July, and from a coffee shop in downtown Sydney in October, is a dream come true for some. As much as this idealized version of remote work appeals to many, this type of work model is not exempt from challenges, particularly for the self-employed.

Working remotely gives employees the freedom to answer emails and write up project proposals from any given location, yet being able to support this lifestyle can often be quite challenging when working as a freelancer rather than being directly employed by a private company. Creative freelancers often work on a project-basis, which means that their professional and financial security is deadline-reliant. 

Employees working for fully-remote companies like Zapier and Buffer however, receive the benefits of working remotely while being fully integrated in a company. Although working with peace of mind of receiving monthly paychecks, working for fully-remote companies include challenges too. 

That being said, there’s always a list of advantages and disadvantages. What’s important is finding a style and process that fits and suits your needs best. 

4. 4-Day-Workweek, popular work-life-balance model

In short, the 4-day-workweek model is about reducing working hours from a standard 40 hours to just 32 hours for the same pay and benefits. This work model, adopted by various companies worldwide, focuses on achieving the same output as a 40h week, but in a shorter amount of time. Proven by employees and employers to be successful in optimizing use of time in correlation to productivity, the 4-day-workweek offers flexibility and enables individuals to concentrate on what’s important in their lives.

5. Coworking Spaces, the office alternative for professionals

Considering the progression of work models, there’s a good chance that there’s at least one coworking space in every major city. As hubs of productivity, community, and technology, coworking spaces offer an out-of-home office atmosphere and networking opportunities with others who work in a multitude of industries. 

Fun fact: The first official coworking space appeared in 2005 in San Francisco, USA.

6. Work & Travel, the best of both worlds

Desk jobs aren’t your thing and travelling the world has always been but a mere daydream for you? The work and travel model operates on short-term contract work often based on seasonal work such as during harvest time. Adventurers who enjoy taking each day at a time move location to where the work is. In this case, location is the objective and the type of work is the dynamic subjective.

7. Workation, let’s combine work and leisure

The terms ‘workation’ and ‘bleisure’ gained significant traction as a new market trend in light of the pandemic. A concept for travelling workers or working travellers, where work and vacation were combined in a single location. According to Dr Hayley Stainton, “A workation can be defined as a holiday, during which a substantial amount of time is dedicated to work.”

In Japan, the model was originally a way to realize a variety of work styles and promote creativity and networking opportunities in locations outside of the home and office. Today, various travel and tourism organizations offer workation packages for individuals as well as families. 

Currently, travel restrictions and guidelines are subject to constant change. This in-depth guide on how to practice responsible tourism during COVID-19, prepares any traveller for the journey, whether for travelling to holiday destinations or for business trips.

How have things changed?

Before the pandemic, the office was where millions of us spent about a third of our time. With the range of working models already being implemented by organizations worldwide, why would the pandemic be considered a compelling driver to advance the standardization of home office or remote work? 

Simply put, the conditions of Covid-19 affirmed the urgency of digital transformation in business, and brought an unprecedented shift, designating hybrid working conditions a necessity rather than a benefit. 

The mentality of remote working previously highlighted the benefits for individual employees. Today, home office and remote work is considered an asset for individuals as well as an advantage for company productivity and collaboration. 

From one day to the next, the world was required to adjust. Arguably, the potential of remote work has been realized. At the same time, the challenges and conditions in terms of the privilege interlaced with the arrangement were revealed.

Benefits and challenges at a glance 

+ Remote work is reshaping a future new world of work, popularizing modern working habits while disproving old ideas that working from home leads to low productivity with limited opportunity for collaboration. 

+ The office-to-home transition caused a breakdown of emotional and professional barriers, allowing colleagues and clients a more intimate view into each others’ personal lives.

+ Importance of soft skills have increased as working remotely solicits more intentional interpersonal interactions.

– The potential for remote work is determined by tasks and activities, not occupations. 

– Working from home draws a fine line in an individual’s work-life balance. A heightened level of responsibility and trust is required from managers and employees.

– Affecting more than just personal factors, remote work affects engagement, performance management, means less office space, and more.

Benefits of remote working

Workplace values have been redefined: the future of work is remote. Instead of planning activities in life around working hours, remote working enables individuals to incorporate the necessities of their life and work. 

The popular concept of leading a work-life balance lifestyle advocates for similar objectives, but with different intentions. Work-life balance is a concept referring to the level of prioritization between personal and professional activities in an individual’s life. What many early adopters have come to realize is that the work-life balance lifestyle is a cycle rather than a destination or an achievement. 

1. Flexibility: Remote work grants individuals the opportunity to develop a work-life balance due to the flexibility offered through the working model. 

Remote working or working from home grants employees flexibility where it matters, whether that is picking up the children from school on time or allowing the laundry to dry in the sunlight rather than using the dryer. At best, working from home should reinforce an individual’s work-life balance. 

2. A Healthy Balance: Employees are able to manage their health, tasks, and responsibilities better. Eliminating the commute and rigid routines can alleviate stress to allow individuals to do deep work and grow their creativity. 

The flexible lifestyle isn’t the only thing proving beneficial to remote workers’ mental health and likelihood of company loyalty. Working from home simultaneously requires and fosters individual time and task management, and responsibility. 

Cutting travel time and other forms of mundanity from life, employees are able to focus on work. With less time spent commuting for example, employees are able to manage their health, tasks, and responsibilities better. As a result, a silent expectation for employees to rise to the occasion by living up to their potential is present. 

Despite the expectation, swapping out the busyness of crowded train stations for a 30-minute walk in the neighbourhood park with the dog can cause significant changes to an individual’s health. Now, instead of attending company-run in-person team-building activities, some companies set aside time in the week to encourage employees to engage in activities that inspire and empower them for work and life. 

3. Time Management: Remote work possibly requires more management, however simultaneously allows an increase in creative flow and productive output.

What remote work advocates promote, such as Laurel Farrer in her working remote article, is that “work is something you do, not somewhere you go… For knowledge workers whose roles rely on mobile tools, location should be a daily choice, not a lifestyle commitment.” With the right tools and circumstances, work doesn’t need to be chained to an office desk. 

Granted, working remotely makes employee and task supervision more complex. But with less time lost moving from one office room to another for meetings, and no more lines for afternoon coffee, more time can be invested in getting work done.

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4. Cost-saving (for businesses): Reducing the need for office space enables companies to invest in other things, preferably to the benefit of employees.

With fewer employees in the office, businesses need less office space, decreasing rent cost exponentially. Instead, companies can opt to invest in supplying employees with the necessary work equipment or offering other benefits as an alternative to the cost of the canteen upkeep.

Challenges of remote working

While eliminating location from the equation brings flexibility, certain concerns are also key variables when considering if and how to implement remote work at a company. Working remotely requires high self-management, time management, and team management. 

Engagement is usually what suffers first due to the distance. Managers and colleagues working from home can’t simply walk over to ask a question about the financial proposal or spend time catching up with their morning brew in the office kitchen on Mondays. Instead, an increase of chat notifications, forwarded emails and dedicated meetings to discuss workflow best describe the workday. 

1. Team Culture: The objective to encourage teamwork and cultivate a team and company spirit remains, although the method to achieve this may have changed.

Team meetings over Zoom or Skype are certainly different from those held in the office meeting room. When working with distributed teams, distance should merely be considered a factor rather than an obstacle for team integration. 

The method for scheduling and conducting meetings may have changed, but the objective to encourage teamwork and team spirit remains. Managers as well as coworkers require and should actively seek interpersonal relationships within the workplace. Just like work isn’t tied to a location, company culture isn’t contained in a building. Rather, corporate culture is cultivated by the individuals that make up the company.

The responsibility and journey for cultivating a strong and effective team and company culture is an individual process. That being said, there are ways and certain remote team management mistakes to avoid to make the process easier.

2. Management: Using productivity tools to manage and regulate team, task, and time management is the answer.

Every company uses software for everyday business operations. With oodles to choose from, it’s the team and company’s responsibility to evaluate which tools best support both internal and external business operations. Some companies use Suites, while others mix & match; some even create their own apps for internal processes.

Either way, when it comes down to the wire, productivity tools and team management software is a growing billion dollar business with a mixture of advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, team management software can build stronger teams. At the same time, it’s vital to analyze whether a productivity tool is actually enabling team productivity or not at all.   

3. Party for the privileged? Remote work is only available for those working in sectors or jobs that are primarily made up of online tasks and activities.

Praised for all of the benefits, working remotely isn’t available as a viable option for everyone. Hospitals, supermarkets, hairdressers, and other services will necessarily continue to be in-person. Although technology has certainly enabled medical consultations and other services to be handled online, not everything can be solved digitally. Even with advancements in machine learning and robotics, it’s hard to envision massage parlours or operating rooms to switch to robot-only employees. 

Research into the future of remote work from McKinsey Global Institute indicates that the potential for work is determined by tasks and activities, not occupations. Professionals able to avail of remote work fall into categories of highly skilled, highly educated workers in various industries, occupations, and geographies. For those already working with digital and mobile tools, like those working in the IT, communications, and marketing sector, the option of home office is often already included in the contract.

Collaboration tools for the workplace: the tools that keep employees productive despite distance

One of the most impactful changes the pandemic brought was to the way humans work. Businesses switched to digital collaboration tools for team communication, project management, and more. The best collaboration tools facilitate effective teamwork for tasks and projects, primarily in a streamlined manner.

In this case, there is no ‘one software fits all’, since the tools companies require should strengthen and support individual business operations and the organizational structures.  A countless list of applications and their alternatives are available for any type of work and team size. We’ve listed a few categories essential for remote teams: 

Chat Apps

The most widely used mobile apps are chat apps, because communication is necessary to get any work done. Originally created to replace email conversations, enterprise chat apps are essential internal communication platforms for teams today. Every company uses enterprise messaging applications to facilitate and boost teamwork, communication, and collaboration. 

The most popular enterprise chat apps allow teams to not only communicate with one another but also on specific topics, projects, and tasks. Depending on the interface, chat apps for business include features allowing teams to create channels, categorize topics, use quick edits, manage tasks, share files, conduct export functions, and more.

Top 4 Chat Apps for Business:

1. 1. Zenchat
   2. Slack
   3. Chanty
   4. Yammer

Video Conferencing Tools

Remote teams don’t have the option of organizing a team meeting in the boardroom on a Wednesday morning. Instead, video conferencing tools are used for coaching sessions, the quarterly report, team-building activities like Friday mocktail hour, and the company Christmas party.

The pandemic certainly accelerated the future of video communication. Microsoft Teams received an increase of 55 million users within a 5-month period and the latest report of the conference call company, Zoom, shows an 88% year-over-year jump in revenue.  

But it’s not just the conferencing tool companies who have realized the advantages and profits video communication brings to teams. Switching to video conferencing tools allows individuals to participate in meetings from the convenience of their own home, supports the flexible schedules of working parents and ultimately influences company culture. Significant features of such tools include screen sharing, presentation mode, meeting annotation, and creating subgroups within a meeting.

Top 4 Video Conferencing Tools for Business:

1. 1. Zoom
   2. Skype
   3. Microsoft Teams
   4. GoTo Meeting 

Project Management Software

Managing projects is no simple job. Tracking deadlines, updating task iterations, and communicating the project status to stakeholders are tasks project managers need to handle on a daily basis. 

Project management software enables teams to manage individual tasks and resources within projects.  Built for agile teams, project management tools include features such as tracking project progress, task management, project view switching, and plenty of other collaboration features.      

Top 5 Project Management Tools for Business:

1. 1. Projects
   2. Asana
   3. Wrike
   4. Basecamp
   5. Zoho Projects

Knowledge Management Software

Knowledge management software are excellent tools for teams to manage everything from internal company processes such as onboarding information to managing a customer database. Primarily focused on the collection, storage, and organization of data and information, these tools help teams with all sorts of administrative tasks.

Top 4 Knowledge Management Tools for Business:

1. 1. Hypernotes
   2. Base
   3. Salesforce
   4. Pipedrive

Learn about the different types of knowledge management processes and find more alternatives in Knowledge Management Tools 2021.

Tools for Centralized Storage 

Shoot for the stars, but keep your files secure in the Cloud. Cloud file storage is a necessity for remote teams, permitting file access to team members, whether they live a 30-minute drive from the office or working remotely in another country. The best tools for centralized storage support all file types, sync across multiple devices, track document changes, and integrate well with other applications. 

Top 4 Business Tools for Centralized Storage:

1. 1. Microsoft Sharepoint
   2. Google Drive
   3. Dropbox
   4. Box

We’ve only listed a few tools useful for teams working remotely. Find more alternatives in 50 Must-Have Remote Working Tools And Apps.

Practical tips for a balanced home office routine

The right tools certainly help get the job done, but even with advanced tech running on artificial intelligence, humans still have to put in the work. These are our tips for a balanced home office routine: 

Get dressed

Overcoming the notion to stay in your pajamas all day is a good tangible step that helps you mentally prepare for the workday. Select a few outfits that are both presentable and comfortable, so you are prepared for the odd-chance when your boss unexpectedly calls for a meeting.

Establish boundaries

Distractions are bound to happen. To best navigate such situations, establish boundaries, whether that may be to set specific times to go on breaks, schedule packages to arrive only at certain times, or communicate your availability to your children and spouse. 

Tip: Turn off desktop notifications when doing deep work and set all applications settings on silent, especially when in meetings.

Stick to routines

The urgency of staying online and always being available increases when working from home. Just do as you would in the office: take time to get your coffee, spend a few minutes catching up with a colleague via chat, and respond to emails when you normally do. 

Home office allows more flexibility, however routines help in more than just sticking to a daily schedule. Some things to remember: Make sure to stick to your standard work hours, don’t skip the lunch break, and try not to work overtime.

Tip: Even with boundaries and routines, remember to stay flexible when things don’t go as planned. Humans aren’t robots and that’s a good thing. 

Get out and about (unless self-isolating)

Without the commute, we might spend most of our days enclosed in our houses. Make time for walks around the block, trips to nature parks, or even a quick drive to a local bakery for the morning coffee and breakfast fix. 

Additionally, fresh air and sunshine are great for both the mind and soul. Taking care of one’s health with enough physical activity and time for relaxation is perhaps even more necessary now when most of our daily interactions happen online.

Take regular breaks

Downtime is necessary for technology devices; the same goes for humans. Research states that brief diversions from a task can improve an individual’s ability to focus. When we take a short break from hours of deep work, we essentially reward our brain with a downtime. 

There are various techniques and systems on how to train yourself to focus. And though daily to-do lists are great, the essence of time blocking is to produce high-quality output within a specific amount of time. 

Check in with colleagues regularly

Because it’s not just always about work. Cultivating relationships help any employee to feel at ease and accepted within a company. Most of the time, we may not know what challenges our neighbor may be going through, even more so when we don’t work in back-to-back cubicles or a shared office space.

Even more reason to make it a habit to type your colleagues some greetings every now and then, or send them encouraging messages to make their day. That said, I hope you have a great day!

All remote work statistics are sourced from Review24’s Remote Work Statistics for 2021.

Image credits from Andrew Neel, Daria Shevtsova, Sarah Chai from Pexels;  AltumCode, Sigmund, and ThisisEngineering RAEng from Unsplash; and Giphy.

That’s a wrap! It’s exciting to see how much has changed in a short amount of time. What are your thoughts on the variety of modern working models? Our team has run on a hybrid model within the last year and have experienced the impact that digital collaboration tools have on team productivity and collaboration. We hope, as probably most other companies do too, to navigate back to more in-person meetings and workshops soon. How has your team navigated teamwork this past year? 

Cheers,

Jessica and the Zenkit Team

The post Home Office and Remote Work: How to Improve Team Collaboration appeared first on Zenkit.

The term ‘project management’ is increasingly trending however it isn’t a new phenomenon. Truth be told, the study of the history of project management is a relatively new development. The present version we have come to know and love was officially defined in the 1990s. However, the 1950s marked the beginning of the modern project management era and the craft is still evolving.

But What Is Project Management? 

“Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve goals and meet success criteria at a specified time.” – Joseph Philipps, project management expert and author of Project Management Professional (PMP) Study Guide 

Without a doubt, you clicked to read this article because you are interested in project management (just like us!), along with the methods and approaches in the industry. You understand that finding and utilising a specific method can help make or break your projects and your company. 

Alternatively, you may have posed the question of whether to use an online project management tool (like Zenkit) or continue creating charts and diagrams with standard pen and paper or even use a whiteboard and markers in your workshop!

No matter how big or small your company is, how simple or complicated your project may be, or the amount of resources you may have, finding out which project management method suits your needs best will truly help you stand out above the rest.

Project management can prove to be challenging for large corporations as well as medium-sized enterprises, startups, freelancers, and private citizens alike.

With the right project management method, your project process can be made much easier and problems can be avoided at an early stage. “But which project management method fits me, my company and my project best?” you ask. 

Does an Agile Method like Scrum, Lean, or Kanban offer the most flexibility? Or would a classical method like the Waterfall Method make more sense in my situation? Maybe a variation of the classics like the Critical Path Method might fit best? 

We have often asked ourselves these questions as well. That is why we have created an interactive quiz to help you figure out which project management method best suits your needs.

Take this quiz to find out which project management method is a perfect fit for your company or your individual projects. 

The post Project Management Quiz: Best Method for Your Project? appeared first on Zenkit.

Are there just too many tasks to do in a short amount of time? Don’t even know where to begin, how to organize it all, or what to prioritize first? Find yourself working at a clean desk, but with a cluttered mind? You’re definitely not alone. 

We live in an information overload society that is riddled with people, information, and tasks competing for our attention, making it extremely difficult to eliminate distractions and noise from our daily routine. 

Prioritization is the key. The answer to doing more better lies in how we design our time. 

Time management solutions are efficient tools to measure and foster productivity. And because we can’t make more time, we need to learn how to make better use of it. Instead of focusing on the number of tasks completed in a day, start prioritizing those that matter.

There are countless time and project management methods and techniques to boost your productivity and help you do your job more efficiently. A simple, yet powerful tool that does just that is the Eisenhower Matrix. The Eisenhower Matrix is an excellent task prioritization matrix for practising better time management. Even if you’ve never heard of the term, you have probably been using the method. 

It goes without saying that most successful people are adept time and project managers. As key skills in any industry, time and task management require focus, prioritization, and planning to increase productivity and achieve your goals. 

However, if we’re honest, staying organized and on top of deadlines isn’t always that simple. Keep reading to learn about how the Eisenhower Matrix can help you get things done…

What Is the Eisenhower Matrix?

The Eisenhower Matrix (also known as the Urgent-Important Matrix, Eisenhower Box, Eisenhower Method, and Time Management Matrix) is a decision-making method that helps you sort out tasks based on the criteria of urgency and importance. 

Although simple in its makeup, this prioritization matrix is powerful. Use it to eliminate the noise and time-wasting activities in your life, help you combat the “mere-urgency” effect (more on this later), and increase your mental legroom to make progress on your long-term goals.

This method is particularly useful for people who:

• Find themselves merely running around handling daily crises 
• Are busy but feel inefficient and ineffective
• Have long-term goals but no time or energy to make progress on them
• Have trouble delegating tasks or saying ‘no’

With oodles of time management strategies and tools to choose from, what makes the Eisenhower Matrix so noteworthy? It is remarkable because, despite its simplicity, it has outlived the trends (having often been repackaged and sold as new!) and continues to produce results.

Where Does the Term Come from? 

For those of us more familiar with US History, the name Eisenhower probably rings a bell. The term does indeed derive from the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Having served as a five-star general in the United States Army, better known as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II, Eisenhower had to continuously make tough decisions due to the nature of his job and responsibilities. 

“I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Fun fact: the method first became popular through its appearance in the genre-defining self-help book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The author, Stephen Covey, repackaged Eisenhower’s decision-making principles into a template to prioritize tasks, now known as the Eisenhower Matrix. 

How Does It Work? The Eisenhower Matrix Explained

The Eisenhower Matrix is an extremely effective way to prioritize and manage both your time and your tasks. Arranged into four categories, the decision-making method is based on two simple criteria: urgency and importance. 

The matrix is systematized with four quadrants, structured according to urgency on the x-axis and by importance on the y-axis. According to priority and urgency levels, the user organizes their tasks and activities into the following categories:

• Quadrant 1: Do first – get it done now
• Quadrant 2: Decide when – make a schedule, set a deadline 
• Quadrant 3: Delegate to – divide the workload 
• Quadrant 4: Delete it – eliminate unnecessary elements 

Why Everything We Know About Productivity Is Wrong: How to Decipher the Urgent from the Important

Being able to categorize your daily and weekly tasks into these four quadrants is a challenge and arguably the fundamental and most complex skill for utilizing this prioritization matrix. 

According to the Pareto-Principle, 80% of the planned results can be achieved with 20% of the total effort. Problem: most people often invest more of their time in miscellaneous activities rather than focusing on tasks that will produce the best results with the least amount of effort.

This is a consequence of “present shock” – a condition in which we lose our sense of the long-term narrative and direction, because of living in a continuous, always-on, ‘now’ moment. Research shows that we live in a pattern, dubbed the “Mere-Urgency Effect”, where we tend to prioritize tasks with deadlines over tasks without one regardless of the impact they can make in the long run.

It is, therefore, pertinent to be able to distinguish the urgent tasks and activities from those that are important. Urgent tasks are things that require an immediate attentive response such as a tax deadline, health scare, or scheduled parent-teacher meeting. According to Brett McKay, founder and editor-in-chief of the Art of Manliness, “Important tasks are things that contribute to our long-term mission, values, and goals.” Deciding which tasks you should or should not do becomes much easier when you are certain about what is important to you.

Rory Vaden, author and Self-Discipline Strategist explains that most people are trading their to-do lists for emergencies. In Procrastinate on Purpose, he describes most successful people as “time multipliers” who begin their day by posing the question: “What are the most important things that I can do today that would free up more time tomorrow?”

So instead of continuing your tiresome and likely unhealthy cycle of decision-making, begin making truly smarter, more conscious choices today.  Stop hustling without purpose.

Popular Youtuber John Green comments on productivity: “I would argue life is not about becoming the most efficient, problem-solving, value-creation machine you can become. To me, productivity is mostly a matter of recognizing that time is what we have and that it is imperative to be a steward of our most precious resource: time.” 

Start Doing What Matters Using the Eisenhower Matrix

1. Do first – Get it done now: Tasks that are urgent and important

Quadrant 1 tasks are inevitable, and characterized as urgent and important; they require direct and immediate attention. These tasks have a tendency to be more tedious and challenging consequently requiring more time and attention to complete.

Tasks that land in the first quadrant are often the direct result of procrastination. They should, however, be tackled first and completed as soon as possible.

Use Mark Twain’s Eat the Frog principle to master possible task paralysis. The term ‘eat that frog’ refers to getting your worst task out of the way first. Eating the frog implies you finish a task you don’t want to do, but know you have to do. These tasks ultimately give you a strong feeling of accomplishment once completed.

For those of us who work best under pressure or with clear deadlines, you can use the Pomodoro technique to help you focus on the task.

Types of Quadrant 1 Tasks include:

• Review a document for your manager
• Finalize the employee payslips
• Pick up the dry cleaning on Friday afternoon for the weekend event

2. Decide when – Make a schedule, and set a deadline: Tasks that are important, but not urgent

Not every important task has to be finished in one day. Tasks that are important, but not urgent are generally long-term projects or assignments that require sufficient planning and a certain amount of time to be executed properly.

Termed the sweet spot of personal time management, the second quadrant is the spot focused on personal improvement in terms of opportunities and growth. Quadrant 2 is the perfect location to write down a list of your meaningful goals. Remember to set realistic deadlines even for tasks that aren’t urgent.

Types of Quadrant 2 Tasks:

• Set up a marketing budget for the following year
• A restart of your fitness regimen
• Update your will

3. Delegate to – Divide the workload: Tasks that are urgent, but not important

Quadrant 3 is where the mere-urgency effect affects lives. Even if you and I were the best multi-taskers and extremely efficient in our jobs, we have to face the fact that we aren’t Superman.

The common phrase, “teamwork makes the dream work” isn’t famous just because it is catchy, but because it is true.

Good leaders and managers know when to do a task themselves and when to delegate the work to someone else. Sometimes it’s best to delegate a task you could do yourself to a co-worker knowing they might be the better person to complete the job.

Types of Quadrant 3 Tasks:

• Schedule a job interview
• Go food shopping
• Book flights for vacation

4. Delete it – Eliminate unnecessary elements: Tasks that are neither urgent nor important

Quadrant 4 is the quadrant of excess and immediate gratification. Tasks that are neither urgent nor important are to be placed in the trash, out of sight and out of mind. Depending on the situation, such tasks could reappear on your to-do list in a week’s time but do not need to be done yet and may even be considered a waste of time.

Types of Quadrant 4 Tasks:

• Buy a new coffee machine
• Renew magazine subscription
• Sort through junk mail

Best Practice Tips for Using the Eisenhower Matrix

• Add a splash of colour! Colour-coding helps give an overview of the categories and quadrants at a glance.
• Do not mix business with leisure! Create separate lists for your professional and personal tasks. This makes it easier to stay organized because you aren’t having to decide between scheduling a doctor’s appointment and booking an important business trip.
• Make it visual! Not a fan of the square layout? Why not organize the matrix Kanban-style! There are plenty of great tools you can use to do this. Here’s a template for implementing the prioritization matrix in Zenkit:

• Put a label on it! Labels are great ways to stay organized. This technique works especially well for tasks or activities that might fall in more than one category for a period of time. Alternatively, you can organize your tasks into the four categories using labels in the Kanban layout.
• Be environmentally friendly! Save paper. Go online! There are many online task and time management tools available nowadays that can help you to track your progress, whether for personal or professional use as a team. (psst! Zenkit!)

Convinced That the Eisenhower Matrix Is for You? Here Are Some Things to Consider

Advantages of the time management matrix:

• It’s free! It’s easily one of, if not the cheapest technique to use. The Eisenhower Matrix is a free resource and you need no special software or tools to get started. 
• UX approved! The method requires no previous knowledge or experience to use either. Since there are no predefined rules telling you what is urgent and what is important, you are free to decide which tasks go into which quadrant according to your preference. So, what are you waiting for? Give the method a try. 
• Designed for decisions! You will become better at making split-second decisions naturally because the method makes you consider the importance of your tasks and reevaluate what is urgent and what isn’t. 
• Review it! Tracking and analyzing your progress and habits after using the matrix helps you practice self-analysis and teaches better self-awareness.

Disadvantages of the Eisenhower Matrix:

• You only have two choices. The matrix is systematized based on two criteria: urgency and importance. It doesn’t take external factors like resources, complexity, or level of effort into account. 
• Not so easy does it. Like all good things, using the matrix takes work. On a daily basis, it can be difficult and time-consuming to categorize your tasks. The matrix serves as an aid to help you start each day with an action plan. Make sure that organizing your tasks doesn’t become the focus.
• No flex room. The grid can easily become overwhelming and quickly generate task paralysis when too many tasks are present. Limiting the number of tasks in each quadrant will keep the chaos contained.

Key Takeaways on the Eisenhower Matrix, Time Management, and the Universe

Staying organized in this time-pressured world can prove challenging due to overlapping commitments and spontaneous ‘urgent’ meetings. A recurring false pretence of urgency can also cloud one’s understanding or definition of an ‘urgent matter’. 

A common cause of stress and job burnout is improper time management. Utilizing this method helps you learn key principles of planning, prioritizing, delegating, and scheduling. The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple aid to help you increase productivity and complete tasks that matter. 

This prioritization matrix may not work for all, but it’s a great starting point. You can use it as a stepping stone to finding a more personalized, better-suited technique. So, what are you waiting for? 

1. Set yourself up for success.
2. Stop hustling without purpose.
3. Switch to prioritizing long-term goals over shallow task wins.
4. Start working on what matters.

Final Thoughts

We know that habits don’t happen overnight. Just like in sports, practice makes perfect. Sometimes it takes a little (or a lot!) of experimenting to find what system works best for you and your team. But the reward for finding the system that fits you best, whether for personal or business use, is incomparable. I think it’s safe to say that it’s more effective to invest enough time for the important but not urgent things now, rather than waiting until the frog has doubled in size. What type of productivity tools and time-saving methods are you using? 

Cheers, 

Jessica and the Zenkit Team

Image Credits: Carl Heyerdahl via Unsplash, fotografierende via Pexels, JESHOOTS.com via Pexels

The post The Eisenhower Matrix: A Task Prioritization Method appeared first on Zenkit.

Briefly explain who you are and what you do

I’m a productivity blogger and virtual consultant. I grew this business “on the side” while working full-time and now consult to companies all around the world helping them with tools like Asana, Pipedrive and Zapier. I also sell a few of my own courses and my website now receives over 100,000+ visits per month.

You earn a living by helping people be more productive, what inspired you to get into this field?

I’ve always been passionate about productivity ever since I was at school. For me, productivity is a vehicle to get more out of life, not just at work but in everything that you do. I love helping others to be more productive so we can live our best lives and achieve great things.

You’ve managed to turn your side-hustle into your full time job, what are your top tips for people out there trying to achieve the same?

Be patient and persistent. For me, it took a few years of learning and figuring things out. A lot of people give up too quickly because it’s hard or because you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Stick at it, work hard and keep trying new things and I guarantee you will find the success you’re looking for.

When you’re not busy blogging and consulting, what can we find you doing?

CrossFit! My wife and I love keeping fit and we’ve made some amazing friends at our local gym.

What trends in productivity do you see happening in the next few years?

More automation. Tools like Zapier make it easier than ever to automate processes and I only see this trend continuing. It will also be interesting to see how AI starts to play a role and do more of our work for us. I’d love to have my own Iron Man style Jarvis assistant one day but I think this is still pretty far away.

Interested in learning more? Go to PaulMinors.com to discover more on how to be effective with your time and how to optimize your workflows.

Alternatively, you can find further tips and insight on productivity on our very own blog! We also cover topics such as task management, team collaboration, and project management methodologies.

Who would you like to see interviewed next? Share your suggestions in the comment section and we’ll try our very best to get them on here!

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post Productivity Pros: An Interview with Paul Minors appeared first on Zenkit.

This blog post was written by a Zenkit partner. If you have an app that you think would make a great integration with Zenkit, get in touch with our partnerships team.

Why Dashboards?

A dashboard is a business intelligence tool (BI) that allows you to connect, aggregate, and visualize your data. One of the most valuable properties of a dashboard is its ability to build indicators based on how you want to aggregate your data. You can dig deep into your data and turn it into actionable insights, whether it’s for your project team or for your stakeholders. 

The best dashboards use data visualization indicators that keep users engaged, informs them quickly, and provide the metrics they’re seeking.

Pictures Tell the Story Best

Data visualization graphics and indicators offer ways to present data in picture, graphic, or infographic form. Transforming raw data into easy-to-understand graphical representations helps you see patterns in your data you wouldn’t otherwise see. They help you connect the dots from one metric to the next so you can make more-informed, more accurate, and more effective business decisions.

Of course, data visualization isn’t a new concept. It has been around since someone sketched the first pie chart in the 1800s. If you consider the maps that have helped us navigate the world, data visualization has been around for a very long time. 

But with the invention of the computer and the development of its profound ability to crunch large volumes of data, data visualization has become absolutely essential to make complex data easier to grasp, its trends more accessible, and its insights more valuable. From pie charts and bar charts to gauges, graphs, and pivot tables, visuals can deliver the bottom line of the data instantaneously.

Best Practices to Get Started with Dashboards

Here are the principles behind building the most effective dashboards:

1. Know your audience

There’s simply no point in spending time creating a dashboard if no one uses it. It’s critical to the success of your dashboard project to start with a conversation with your audience to set clear goals and define requirements: 

• What questions do you want to answer?
• Who is going to use the dashboard?
• How much experience do your users have with the presented KPIs?
• What result do you want to achieve with this project?
  • Make better decisions?
  • Increase awareness?
  • Responding to opportunities that are otherwise missed?

2. Don’t overdo the KPIs

The human brain is a wonder, but it has its limits, especially when it comes to processing data. We can only process four information chunks at the same time, according to the data visualization expert, Stephen Few. For that reason, too many indicators on the same dashboard will sabotage the very purpose of the dashboard—to get a clear understanding of project status, for example, or to monitor productivity. Bottom line: Limit the number of indicators to 10 or fewer per dashboard to maximize your results.

3. Explain the indicators

It is sometimes very valuable to add text to your dashboards—beyond the legends below the charts—to make things crystal clear for your users. Text can improve everyone’s understanding of your dashboard, for example:

• A glossary of indicators on the dashboard 
• A formula or description of how they’re calculated 
• Contextual help for certain graphics, for instance, describing where the data comes from, the period of time they’re looking at, or the filters that have been applied to the data can help users understand exactly what they’re looking at.
• Data refresh date. Help your users quickly see if they need to refresh the data in order to make reliable decisions based on it.

Project Management and Productivity Tracking

Let’s say you want to track your project status and team productivity in a single dashboard, you’d need to import data from a project management tool such as Zenkit and data from your time tracking tool to your BI tool.

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The dashboard categorizes your data by the department to identify overload or underutilization of resources. You can compare goals against achievements to identify if your projects and workers are on course to meet their targets and how efficiently they’re getting there. 

Project Resources and Costs Tracking

Now, let’s say you want to monitor your project status and costs. Here’s an example of a dashboard that lets project managers track monetary and resource budgets.

Data visualization indicators offer insight into the quickly and intuitively. They help people quickly compare actual performance metrics against pre-defined goals and compare demand and capacity over the timeline of a project. Gauge indicators provide clear and concise visualization of a metric’s progress to an endpoint. 

Collaborate Better with Online Dashboards

Accessible by anyone you choose, anytime

Cloud-based tools have proven themselves to be easier to use in both our personal and professional lives. Dashboards are no exception to this rule. 

When your dashboards are available online, important data and insights no longer need to be pushed by the product manager to the team or stakeholders during meetings, calls or conference calls.  You can distribute them to whom you want, when you want. Display them on your office television screen, check them on your browser, via a link or on your mobile, via an app, or even embed them into your own application. 

Online dashboards make it possible for everyone to check in on the data whenever they need to. They can prepare action plans, questions, or remarks for the following meetings. With everyone empowered and informed, project teams are more efficient.

Real-time data reporting and faster decision-making

When a dashboard tool is automated, it saves everyone in project management precious time. Start by setting data refreshes at the frequency that works best for you. Don’t spend any more time extracting data, creating static charts for PowerPoint decks, or doing manual data management in Excel. Besides, Excel is error prone and can cost you big time!

By connecting your dashboard tool directly to your data sources, you can automate data refreshes. You’ll never have to care about exporting the data, the version of the data, conflicted files, or errors in formulas again.

Automation will also help to keep you instantly informed whenever a critical threshold has been reached. You can set customized alerts for project spending, deadlines, resource benchmarks, underuse or overuse, etc. Stay informed like never before.

Getting Started with Zenkit and ClicData

If you don’t have an account with Zenkit or ClicData, you can sign up for free trials for both applications today. 

To get started with Zenkit, you can watch a short tutorial here.

Create your collection and add tasks to your to-do list, as in the example below:

In ClicData, create a data connection with Zenkit using our WebService connector. You will be able to select which data from Zenkit that you want to import to build your dashboard. 

Then, set up your data refreshes using the Schedule features.

Repeat these steps with any other data sources you want to incorporate into your dashboards.

Here’s a quick tutorial to get started on ClicData. 

In conclusion, the data visualization capabilities of great business intelligence dashboards give you and your team the ability to leverage the insights your data offers you. ClicData lets you combine data from multiple data sources into a seamless data warehouse, so you get the big picture like never before. With your Zenkit data, you can deepen, enhance, and streamline your project tracking and market reporting all at the same time. You’ll wonder why you didn’t get started sooner!

Guest author: Axelle Seifert is a Marketing Manager at ClicData where her job is to make sure every team makes smarter and data-driven decisions with their fully automated Business Intelligence platform.

The post Project Tracking and Business Intelligence Dashboards appeared first on Zenkit.

Welcome to 2020!

Not only is it a new year, but it’s an entirely new decade. With new beginnings, there’s always a desire for a fresh start. That’s why New Year’s resolutions are so popular among the masses.

However, New Year’s resolutions are a fickle topic. While making them isn’t an issue, it’s the whole “sticking to them” part that gets a bit tricky. We’re only midway through January and it would come as no surprise if more than half of your resolutions have already become unstuck. If this is the case, don’t be disheartened as 80% of new year’s resolutions fail anyways.

While I understand that a new year seems like the ideal time to get yourself into gear, there’s always an added pressure that comes with New Year’s resolutions, which is probably why so many of them fail.

This article isn’t going to be about tips on how you can stick to your resolutions (we did that last year). It will merely serve as a reminder to not worry if you do belong to the 80%, because self-improvement and being more productive shouldn’t be exclusively reserved for the beginning of the year.

Instead, we hope that providing you with a list of tried-and-tested productivity methods will give you more value.

Productivity Methods for Any Time of the Year

1. Getting Things Done®

Getting Things Done®, or GTD® for short, is a popular time management technique created by David Allen. The framework focuses on organizing and tracking tasks by forcing you to add context and structure to them.

GTD® banks on a collection of lists that you use to organize anything and everything that comes to your mind. The idea is that you capture and process these things following a workflow of 5 steps:

1. Capture: write down the things that have your attention. You can use anything from a note-taking app, an actual notebook, or even your email inbox.
2. Clarify: process what it means – is it actionable, do you have to do something about it?
3. Organize: arrange where it belongs, whether it’s adding it to your calendar or filing it away.
4. Reflect: review your lists regularly and make changes to accommodate your current situation.
5. Engage: now’s the time to do. The last step simply encourages you to take action of the task.

So, whether you need to improve task management in your personal or professional life, GTD® is a method that can help get you on track.

Want to get started with GTD® in Zenkit? We’ve got you covered.

2. Eat That Frog

If procrastination is your undoing then perhaps metaphorically eating a frog can help you. Brian Tracy coined the term “eat that frog” in his book, Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.

The term can be traced back to Mark Twain’s famous quote, “if it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

The idea is to tackle your biggest task first, as anything else that comes afterwards won’t seem as bad. The feeling of accomplishment you’ll receive once you complete your “frog” will spur you on to tackle all the other tasks in your list.

3. Don’t Break the Chain!

‘Don’t break the chain’ is a technique said to be recommended by comedian and actor, Jerry Seinfeld, to programmer and aspiring comedian, Brad Isaac who published it in Lifehacker in 2007.

How it works is pretty simple! Grab yourself a calendar and place it somewhere visible. For every day you complete the task you set for yourself—in Isaac’s case it was writing jokes—mark it on the calendar.

“After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”

The reason this approach works well is due to the effect of habit. When you repeat something over and over again, it becomes a habit. As they say, consistency is key. Also, the visibility of your progress (the marks on your calendar) serves as motivation to help keep you going.

Final Thoughts

That’s all for our first post of 2020. We wanted to keep it short and sweet. In the coming weeks, you can expect an assortment of articles including more project management methodologies, how to best use Zenkit, and an introduction to all the incredible new features and tools we have coming out this year!

As always, if you have any topic suggestions or questions, don’t hesitate to leave us a comment.

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post The Productivity Methods You Can Use All-Year-Round appeared first on Zenkit.

Productivity is the idea of doing more in less time. It’s about working efficiently but also effectively, and there are plenty of claims of how you can best achieve this.

After a year of reading our productivity insights, we thought ‘what better way to wrap up 2019 than to hear what others had to say on the topic’. So, without further ado, here are 10 predictions we should look out for in 2020.

Productivity predictions for 2020

1. AI becoming an office staple

“I believe 2020 may be the year when AI finally becomes a staple in increasing productivity in the workplace. AI is already capable of speech recognition, machine learning, as well as data processing. I think there will likely be a step up in AI virtual assistants that cover a large multitude of tasks. Even more administrative tasks will be eliminated, recruiting and onboarding will become easier, and processing and storing data will become faster. 

As a result, we’ll be able to focus our own attention solely on immediate, crucial tasks – without worrying about mundane, repetitive side-tasks of any kind.” – Marija Kojic, Productivity Researcher & Writer, Clockify

2. Extended use of self-service tools

“Today’s customer prefers to use self-service tools wherever possible, rather than having to get in touch with a business. This means that creating intuitive and accessible self-service tools can not only help improve customer satisfaction, but it has the potential to improve the productivity of your customer service team by reducing the number of inbound inquiries a business receives.

In 2020, I believe we’ll start to see extended use of self-service tools and articles – that is, the knowledge base behind these platforms – to help democratize information across the business and support the productivity of each agent.” – Ulrich Hoffmann, Director EMEA Central, Zendesk

3. A resurgence in analogue

“I see a resurgence in analogue and a reduction in the use of technology. Productivity isn’t about doing more in less time, but about knowing and doing the right things. Smartphones are incredible. They do things you could never imagine in the past. But more apps don’t mean you’ll become productive.

With a reduction in smartphone and technology use, people will start returning to analogue. By analogue, I mean paper. Journaling, index cards, etc. are back. I’ve never used any to-do apps myself, and my daily to-dos are written on a folded piece of paper.” – Si Quan Ong, Marketing Manager, Ahrefs

4. Single-tasking

“I think—or at least hope—that 2020 will be the year that it becomes normal to tell a colleague that you’re going offline for a while so that you can do some clearer thinking about an important piece of work. Research has long shown that we are smarter, faster and calmer when we are not continuously scattering our attention, and it’s been nearly 10 years since I first wrote about the productivity hit that comes from always-on multitasking at work.

I’m delighted to see more and more professionals now being thoughtful about ways to do more focused “single-tasking”, and being bolder about agreeing on team norms to enable people to look away from their devices occasionally. It feels as if we might finally be at a tipping point where this goes mainstream. Fingers crossed.” – Caroline Webb, Author of How to Have a Good Day

5. Having an organized digital life

“I think app usage—along with a greater focus on business automation—will continue to rise as CEOs and their teams search for ways to boost productivity and more effectively manage their time. Having said that, make sure you have your digital life in order. Delete any apps that you haven’t used in the last three to four months because if you haven’t used them yet, you probably never will.” – Deb Lee, CPO®️, Digital Productivity Coach, DAllisonLee.com

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6. Remote work making more of a notable impact

“Remote work is a trend that isn’t going away anytime soon. With more and more people expressing the desire to work remotely and research being done to prove its efficiency, I expect the impact of remote work to expand further than in the tech industry where we tend to see it the most.

In the year ahead, companies who offer remote work as an option must embed inclusive practices, like video conferencing and remote advocates, to foster a sense of belonging and set their teams up for success.”  – Anastasia Nelson, Senior Product Manager, Sprout Social

7. But also cementing traditional benefits to keep staff motivated

“Some of the best ways to retain employees and boost productivity is by offering traditional benefits, such as vacation days, pension plans, and insurance. This is in stark contrast to the employee motivation trends we have seen over the past decade, which have tended to focus on perks like office lunches, games, pets, and flexible hours.

These perks are attractive to job-seekers, but they aren’t long-lasting. There’s no longevity in lunches and gaming consoles. As a result, employees feel replaceable and demotivated. Traditional benefits not only promise employee retention but give people the impetus to work better and longer for a company.” – Ronita Mohan, Content Marketer, Venngage

8. Morning routines

“While the idea of having a three-hour-long morning routine in which you work out, meditate, work on your side-project, read, and do just about anything else you want to do in the morning may seem like an ideal way to spend the morning (for some!) for others the trick is in having a morning routine at all.

Being able to carve out five, ten, or fifteen minutes in the morning just for you is a huge accomplishment for many, and it is the platform from which a more engaged morning routine—which some may say is the best productivity ‘hack’ there is—will come from.” – Benjamin Spall, Writer & Co-Author of My Morning Routine, Benjamingspall.com

9. Being conscious of our access to info

“Thanks to the cloud, access to information has never been more convenient. We can access information from just about anywhere at any time. But this kind of privilege can be a double-edged sword. If we’re not careful, it can get distracting and divert our attention away from the tasks at hand.

As more and more people are becoming more aware of this, I think we’ll see, in 2020, people being more conscious of their information accessibility. They’ll learn which kind of information has value and which should be disregarded.” – Martin Welker, CEO, Zenkit

10. Not anticipating any changes at all

“Nothing is indicating that 2020 will be any different for the way we work and live compared to this year. Every year, we have to deal with more distractions, not less. Hence, the ability to focus becomes even more important.” – Darius Foroux, Author & Blogger, Dariusforoux.com

Do you agree with any of the 10 predictions? What kind of productivity trends do you expect to see in 2020?

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post 2020 Vision: What Productivity Experts Are Predicting for the New Year appeared first on Zenkit.

**Updated on 08.04.20 to provide instructions on how to import into Zenkit To Do**

Microsoft has finally announced when they will shut Wunderlist down for good. According to an article posted on Wunderlist’s blog this week, the app will be shut down on May 6th, 2020. They stated difficulty maintaining the app as it ages and an inability to guarantee that the app will work as it should, as reasons to finally pull the plug. In addition to no longer pushing updates to the app, it is now no longer possible to register for a new account.

What Does This Mean for Wunderlist Users?

Wunderlist users have until May 6th to move their data elsewhere, either by importing into To Do, or exporting it to upload to another app. The blog article states that –

“You can keep using Wunderlist while we keep supporting it. You’ll still be able to access your data – you can choose to export it, or import it into To Do. Of course, we’d love for you to continue your journey with Microsoft To Do.

After May 6th, your to-dos will no longer sync. For a period of time, you’ll still be able to import your lists into To Do. Starting today, we will no longer accept new Wunderlist sign-ups.”

The implication is that up until May 6th, users will be able to export their data to use in other apps. While they state that users planning to switch to Microsoft To Do will be able to do so after that date, there’s no guarantee that it will be possible to export data to other apps after this point. So, it’s up to you to switch over to a new tool before then!

Make the Switch to Zenkit To Do

For those of you looking for a Wunderlist alternative, you’re in luck! It’s super easy to move your Wunderlist data into Zenkit To Do using our direct import, and we’ve worked hard to pack To Do with many of your favourite Wunderlist features (like Favorites, subtasks, and that oh-so-satisfying chime when a task is checked off).

1. If you haven’t already, get your Zenkit To Do account (you can log in using your existing Zenkit login info)

2. At the bottom of the left-hand panel, click “Import from other apps”

3. Choose “Wunderlist”

4. Log in to Wunderlist if propted

5. Pick the lists you want to import.

That’s it! All your starred tasks, due dates, comments, attachments, inbox, folders and everything else will be imported and you can start working with them again right away!

Want to Try Zenkit Base Instead?

1. If you haven’t already, get your free Zenkit account.

2. Create a new collection and select ‘Import’, then ‘Wunderlist’.

3. Sign in to your Wunderlist account, then pick the lists you’d like to import.

4. Done! Continue using your lists in their brand-new home.

You can learn more about importing from Wunderlist in our Knowledge Base.

We’re always happy to welcome any new users on board, from Wunderlist or otherwise! If you ever have any questions about making the switch to Zenkit, please feel free to get in touch with our lovely support team via the chat bubble, or email service@zenkit.com.

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post Wunderlist is Shutting Down on May 6th, 2020 appeared first on Zenkit.

Being a student can be tough.

You have exams to pass, group projects to contribute to, a class attendance record to maintain, and social life to upkeep.

Trying to accomplish everything might seem impossible, but it doesn’t have to be!

This is where time management can be your friend.

The Importance of Time Management for Students

I know this isn’t the first time you’ve heard someone tell you how crucial time management is. Knowing how to manage your time well is a transferable skill that will not only get you through college, but it’s something that can help you throughout your life.

Time management can be difficult, it’s not an inherent skill for many people. However, it can be developed. (Especially with the help of templates and tips!)

The benefits of time management for students include knowing how to organize, prioritize, and coordinate tasks and activities so that you have enough time to accomplish everything you need and want to.

That’s right, time management makes it possible for you to meet study expectations and have a social life and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Don't let time management be a headache.
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How to Get Better at Time Management for Students

Visualize your studies

It’s no secret that a huge part of success in college comes down to studying. Whether it’s for an exam, a group project, or catching up on required reading, it seems never-ending. Having a study planner can ensure you have everything under control.

Studying can get overwhelming, but having a visualized plan in place can help you overcome any feeling of defeat and direct you toward your goals.

It can help you to track all of your tasks and provide you with the structure for your day-to-day life. You’ll know when to study for a certain class or when a particular assignment is due. It can also help to prevent procrastination as you’re aware of impending exam dates and assignment deadlines.

This Zenkit study planner template enables you to track everything you need from readings and quizzes to exams and projects.

Get the Study Planner template.

You can categorize your tasks by their type or which class they belong to. Including details such as a due date will keep you in check with your deadlines and ensures that you won’t miss anything important.

Outline your thesis

Writing a thesis or dissertation can be a very stressful time. Not only can it take up months of your life but the result of it can heavily influence your overall grade.

It involves collecting a lot of information which is why having an outline can help you to manage all the research, feedback, and resources you gather.

Get the Thesis Writing template.

Using a template to write your thesis can help you to stay organized from the outset until the very end. Having it all recorded on a thesis planner can help to ensure that you get everything you need to get done on time.

Plan your meals ahead

The stresses of studying and college responsibilities can lead to unhealthy eating habits. When you have a lot on your plate the last thing you want to worry about is what to eat. You grab whatever is easy and affordable and most of the time, those two put together don’t equate to a healthy meal.

As I’ve stated before, meal planning isn’t solely for mothers and health enthusiasts. If you spend a little time planning what you’re going to eat in advance, you could benefit from saving money, avoiding food wastage, and keeping a balanced diet.

Using a Zenkit meal planner template is a great way to organize recipes and write shopping lists. 

Get the Weeknight Dinner Planner template.

Keeping an archive of recipes can save you the effort of having to decide on what to eat for every meal. And as someone who’s had to cook for themselves for a while now, I can safely say that that’s what takes up half of your time. Knowing what you’re going to cook ahead of time also makes grocery shopping easier.

Time management for students doesn’t only involve planning and preparing for university. In order to ensure you’re able to perform at your very best, you have to be conscious of your lifestyle habits as well.

5 Student Time Management Tips

Being a student can get stressful, but effective time management can help alleviate some of that stress. Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re feeling under pressure:

1. Set realistic goals

I get it, you have lots to do, but if you set yourself more goals than you can handle, then you’re setting yourself up for failure. If you find that your workload is too big, then consider doing one less class this semester.

2. Write everything down

Even if you have superhuman memory, it wouldn’t hurt to write everything down. Having a record of everything means you will be less inclined to forget things, whether it’s a project due date or the name of an author you wanted to look up later.

3. Prioritize

You can’t do all your tasks at the same time (say no to multitasking!). So, to ensure you are using your time effectively, determine which tasks are the most important and complete them first. Use a checklist to arrange your tasks in order of importance and work your way down.

4. Get enough sleep

Relying on coffee and energy drinks to stay up so you can study more can actually be detrimental, not only to your health but also to your concentration. As well as taking regular breaks from studying throughout the day, ensuring you get a good night’s sleep can do wonders for your focus and productivity.

5. Use flashcards

Flashcards are a great way to study. You can brush up on everything you need to know for an exam at any time, whether you’re waiting for the bus, in the post office queue, or while waiting for your food to cook. Get your Zenkit flashcards here!

Image credit: Alexis Brown via Unsplash

Final Thoughts

While being a student involves a lot of studying, it’s not the only thing about it. There are lots of new people to meet, activities to partake in, and social groups to engage in. And in order to experience all of this—while getting awesome grades—you need to know how to effectively manage your time.

What’s your favourite time management tip for students?

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post How to Improve Time Management Skills for Students appeared first on Zenkit.

Time really is the most valuable thing we have. It’s something that isn’t replaceable, nor can we make more of it. Once the minutes go by, that’s it. We can never have them back.

It’s for this very reason you often hear people telling you to “seize the day”. Sure, while most of us would love nothing more than to do whatever we want all day, every day, reality seldom allows us the opportunity. Jobs, education, family, and other major responsibilities keep us from the spontaneity and liberation seizing the day requires.

This is why it makes sense for us to make the most of the leisure time we actually have.

In this article, we’ll discuss the significance of leisure time management and how making the most of your free time can lead you to better productivity. We’ll also reference James Wallman’s book, Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days to consider how spending your time in certain ways can bring you closer to achieving happiness and success.

The Importance of Leisure Time

We live in a society that places a huge emphasis on efficiency and alludes to the notion that if you’re not busy doing something, it means you’re not doing enough. This is why many people feel pressured to spend more time at work to try and keep on top of things.

But living a life based on work and no play won’t leave you feeling fulfilled. 

You already know our argument for idleness. How we believe that rest can play an important part in better productivity and quality of life. The same sentiment can be said for leisure time.

We’re convinced that if you spend your leisure time to its full potential, not only will you feel rested, but you will be recharged and ready for the responsibilities that lay ahead at your job.

But getting the most out of your leisure time may require some planning. That’s why managing your time should also be extended to your leisure time and not just the hours you spend at work.

Tips for Effective Leisure Time Management

While the concept of “time management” doesn’t solely refer to managing time at work, it is largely associated with it. Whenever most of us hear the term “time management” we usually think about planning and prioritizing tasks in the office. The idea of leisure time management is to remind you to plan, be conscious of, and place significance on your free time too.

Here are tips for better leisure time management:

1. Write it down

Writing down activities on your planner or digital task manager doesn’t just serve as a reminder to do the things you want to do, but according to research, it can actually help you to actually achieve them.

Write down and plan everything.
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2. Learn to say “no”

You wouldn’t say yes to the tasks at work that would weigh you down and waste your time, so the same should be applied to the activities you want to do during your leisure time.

3. Focus on the task at hand

Even if you’re the world’s best multi-tasker, to enjoy what you’re doing and to truly “live in the moment”, you want to focus all your attention on one task at a time.

4. Look after yourself

It’s no secret that eating healthy and regular exercise can do wonders for your body, but it can also benefit your mind as it enables you to think clearer and focus better.

There are other ways to ensure efficient leisure time management. For instance, you could implement a framework to determine the kind of activities you undertake during your leisure time. A framework such as James Wallman’s STORIES checklist can really help pinpoint what it is you want to do.

Time and How to Spend It

The research shows that if you spend your time in certain ways, you’re more likely to be achieve the three things most of us want: happiness, resilience, and success. This is not only about how you spend your leisure time but how you spend all of your time.

James Wallman is a Futurist, keynote speaker, and bestselling author. His book Time and How to Spend It: The 7 Rules for Richer, Happier Days explains how positive experiences can result in enduring, sustainable happiness. It talks about the issue many of us face of feeling like we have too little time and offers a checklist that the reader can use as a framework for selecting activities that lead to a happier and more successful life.

This said checklist is what Wallman calls a STORIES checklist. It stands for Story, Transformation, Outside & Offline, Relationships, Intensity, Extraordinary, and Status & Significance. Each of these can help you figure out which experiences are worthwhile and can add to your personal development. They can also ensure you avoid experiences that are empty and add no value.

A Breakdown of James Wallman’s STORIES Checklist

When you’re trying to determine whether an activity is worth doing, your first step is to ask yourself, “Will it add to my story?” A valuable and worthwhile experience is something that will add to your story.

The next item on the checklist is Transformation. If an experience isn’t going to change you, then how can you further your personal development? Evolving takes you one step further to leading a more fulfilling life.

Outside & Offline speaks for itself. In order to evolve, the kind of activities you should aim for are ones that occur outside in nature and away from your phone or computer.

Connecting with people and developing relationships is an important part of sustainable happiness. Studies have shown that loneliness is deadlier than smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Doing things that are challenging and worthwhile will get you into a “flow”. This is what the fifth item on the checklist, Intensity, is about.

Activities with “peak experiences” will be more Extraordinary. Peak experiences refer to instances that follow the peak-end rule, which is when no matter how irritating an experience is, if there is a peak, then you are likely to remember it as a good experience and forget about the annoying parts.

Your Status in life can play a significant part in how much happiness you feel. Status comes from education and accumulating wealth, as both open the doors for better opportunities, social participation, and improved capabilities. So, aim for activities that add to your education and wealth accumulation.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to making the most out of your free time, everyone is different.  The topic itself is subjective and we’re fully aware that everyone will have a different desire for the activities they want to do and the things they want to achieve.

By providing you with tips for efficient leisure time management and sharing James Wallman’s STORIES checklist, we hope to bring light to the importance of ensuring you actually take time off from work, school, or any other major responsibilities and spend it to its fullest. Doing so can help you towards better productivity, happiness, and success.

What’s your favourite way to spend your free time?

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post How to Make the Most Out of Your Free Time, as Advised by James Wallman appeared first on Zenkit.