Productivity

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Accountability: Leveraging Your Team

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | June 19, 2024 |

Have you ever thought about all the things you need to get done and felt a sense of dread, overwhelm, or resistance? Recently, I discussed with a friend this universal experience of holding ourselves accountable for tasks. We often feel we “should” do this or “should” have completed that by now. If you’re in the…

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Do You Overcomplicate Things?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | May 22, 2024 |
For this article by Jo Ilfeld, CEO of Incite to Leadership on overcomplicating things the images shows six post-its with chalk lines scribbled between all of them.

An edited version of this article appeared in Forbes Coaches Council Do you overcomplicate things? During a recent strategy session with a client, his mind spiraled the minute a strategy was mentioned. His thoughts went into overdrive, trying to formulate a complete plan ready to execute. This led to his next realization that he would…

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How to Get out of To-Do List Hell

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | April 24, 2024 |
For this article by Jo Ilfeld, Executive Leadership Coach on to-do list hell the image shows a yellow background with a empty list and a pen next to it.

In the midst of “to-do list hell,” it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and trapped in a never-ending cycle of tasks. Do you feel like you’re not making the impact you want as a strategic leader because your to-do list keeps giving birth to other lists? Well, I have a few suggestions to get you out…

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Are You Stuck in the Holiday Messy Middle?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | December 5, 2023 |
For this article by Jo Ilfeld, Executive Leadership Coach on the end of year at work the image shows a set of two arrows going in two directions

Between now and the end of the year, we are in that slog between Thanksgiving and New Year’s where everyone is either gearing up to close the year strong or starting to check out mentally. Depending on your industry, you might be wrapping up projects and tasks, or going into overdrive to close sales, meet…

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Plan Your Week for Success

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | September 19, 2023 |
For this article by Jo Ilfeld, Executive Leadership Coach on plan your week the image shows a calendar on a wall with a clock

Ever reached the end of the week and wondered, “Did I really get anything done?”  I used to feel the same way so when I read productivity expert, Laura Vanderkam’s book “Tranquility by Tuesday,” I was inspired by the valuable suggestion she offered. Use Fridays to plan your week ahead. While I occasionally do it…

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Is It Time to Reevaluate Your Context?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | July 19, 2023 |
For this article by Jo Ilfeld, Executive Leadership Coach on context and shifting priorities the image shows a woman sitting in front of a computer screen bored

Have you found yourself doing something without knowing why you’re doing it? Are you finding that the things that were important to you, no longer seem to have meaning? Recently I had a thought-provoking conversation with a fellow coach about how easily the context of our actions can shift without us even noticing. As circumstances…

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Big-Picture Thinking vs Tunnel Vision

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | June 23, 2022 |
For this article by Jo Ilfeld, Executive Leadership Coach on big-picture thinking, the image shows a woman creating a square frame with her fingers to look through.

Sometimes you need to put your big-picture thinking aside and adopt tunnel vision in order to give your complete attention and focus to a project and be productive. But what is the price you pay for that? What happens when your vision becomes so focused that you stop paying attention to what’s happening just on…

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The Cost of Zoom Fatigue

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | January 20, 2022 |
Jo Ilfeld | Executive Leadership Coach | The Cost of Zoom Fatigue

We all know that having the video on in Zoom calls is fatiguing to people.  But did you know that having the video led to people being less engaged in meetings and subsequently, in their work overall, leading them to speak up less in meetings and feeling less passionate about their job? It’s interesting because…

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What Are You Avoiding?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | September 28, 2021 |
Jo Ilfeld |Executive Leadership Coach | What Are You Avoiding?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how there’s always something we are avoiding but different types of people are avoiding different types of things. Are you a hard-driving, hard-charging personality? Then you might be avoiding rest or taking time for yourself. Or are you facing a really big task that seems overwhelming and you…

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What’s Stressing Out Your Employees?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | March 26, 2021 |
Jo Ilfeld | Executive Leadership Coach| What’s Stressing Out Your Employees?

Stressed employees are unproductive employees. Companies lose billions annually because of stressed-out employees who are unproductive and uninvested. A survey on workers under stress revealed that 41% felt less productive, 33% felt less engaged, and 15% felt compelled to look for a new job— all bad news for a business. Plus, they aren’t just employees,…

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