The Productive Woman

Productivity is about making a life that matters to us. Recently I was part of a panel comprised of women from three countries, all of us podcasters who focus on productivity. Priscille Livenais of France, Julie Sheranosher of Israel, and I had a great conversation about our different approaches to creating the life you want for yourself, whatever stage of life you might be in.

With so many options available, how do you know which task management tool is the best for you? Let's discuss some of the factors you should consider. The best tool is the one you'll actually use.

Business consultant and marketing coach Ling Wong manages her own life (which includes a husband and two young children as well as a thriving business!) and encourages her multi-passionate, multi-talented clients to avoid distraction and stay on track through clarity and discernment.

You might be surprised to learn that the most successful, accomplished women you know struggle with feeling like a fraud. It's known as Impostor Syndrome, and we're going to look at where it comes from, how it affects our productivity, and what we can do to overcome it.

We spent a lot of our time at work. Let's look at some of the barriers to productivity at work, and some suggestions on how to make our time at work as efficient and effective as possible.

Katie Floyd is a self-described attorney-by-day, geek-by-night. On top of a full-time law practice and pursuing a master’s degree in Law & Taxation, she is also the co-host of Mac Power Users, a weekly podcast focusing on getting the most from Apple technology. Let's talk about how she gets it all done.

Planning a project can be a daunting idea, especially when there are multiple components to keep track of. An organized approach can keep you focused and prevent a project from becoming overwhelming. Let's talk about turning a project into a series of manageable tasks, from beginning to end.

For those of us who have children at home, they have a major impact on the way we live our lives, including how we manage our time. In episode 59 of The Productive Woman, we begin a conversation about how we can be productive women and good moms.

Are you a working mom, wearing many different hats and trying to do it all well? Lawyer and mom Leann Guzman understands--she's right there in the trenches with you. Hear our conversation about how she manages a professional career, personal goals, and a family she loves--and her very practical tips for how you can get it done as well.

We get a lot of satisfaction from those days when we get a lot done & make progress toward our goals, but how do we respond to an unproductive day?

We know that overwork is hazardous to our health and to our productivity, yet 21st century women (and men) often let work fill our days, nights, and weekends. How much is too much, and how do we know when (and how) to quit?

Are your days so full of activity and noise that you can't find time to think about your goals, much less take action on them? Let's talk about some things we can do to create time and space for creative thinking.

Like a lot of us, novelist Jill Kemerer sometimes tries to take on too much. Listen in on my conversation with Jill about how she manages that urge while she juggles a full-time writing career and her family's busy schedule.

Sometimes the scariest thing in the world is letting others see the "real" us. But when we hide behind the mask of who we think we're supposed to be, we miss out on joy and deprive the world of the gifts only we can give. In Episode 53 of The Productive Woman podcast, we look at authenticity and how it affects our ability to accomplish what we care about most.

Getting Things Done, by David Allen, offers a framework for managing life in a way that lets us be both productive and peaceful. Let's look at how it works.

Trying to balance business and small children? Wife, mom, and media business owner Izabela Russell and I had a great conversation about the challenges of operating a thriving business (or two!) while raising small children.

How has the first half of 2015 gone for you? On The Productive Woman's milestone 50th episode let's talk about reaching milestones and figuring out what to do next.

Do you want to make a difference in the world, or at least in the world closest to you? I do. Let's talk about how, and where--and how to overcome the things that might stop us.

As hard as it is to believe, a full year has gone by since the first episode of The Productive Woman hit iTunes. I thought I'd share a few lessons I've learned over this past year about productivity and about life.

The Productive Woman goes international! Priscille Livenais--a French businesswoman and productivity blogger--and I chat about the challenges of business travel, the value and limits of self-sacrifice, and so much more

No matter how much we try to stay positive and productive, sometimes our emotions can interfere with our ability to get things done. If a bad mood is hampering your productivity, there are things you can do to improve it.

How we see our physical selves can have a huge impact--positive or negative--on our confidence, and therefore our productivity. Listen as I discuss body image issues with wife, mom, author, blogger, and speaker Heather Creekmore.

Change is inevitable, but it's also stressful and can wreak havoc on our productivity. So how can we manage our lives so that we can not only survive it, but come through it better than we went into it?

Productivity is a tool, not a goal. We want to manage our time and organize our lives better in order to have the time to make a life that matters. Productivity is not a one-time-do-it-and-done thing, but a process of growth and improvement over time. In this episode I'll share some of my favorite resources for learning how to be more productive.

How do you get off the 21st-century hamster wheel and make the meaningful life you've dreamed of? Vanessa Hayes is a podcast host, public speaker, and professional organizer, but she's also a busy woman just like the rest of us. In this episode she shares her tips for maintaining margin, living intentionally, and simplicity.

We've talked in the past about developing the habits that help us be more productive, but what are some things productive women don't do?

What drives us to do -- or try? How do you keep yourself moving on a task or project that's hard? Our motivation matters. So what is it, where does it come from, how do we lose it, and how can we get it back?

Monika Kristofferson is a professional organizer, but she's also just a busy woman like the rest of us. In this episode she shares her tips for managing a busy life as a single mom with two teenaged daughters.

Email is a great invention and can be a useful tool, but it can also be a distraction and a time suck. This week we'll look at some tips for managing email so it enhances, rather than inhibits, our productivity.

We've talked about the reasons and process for decluttering in previous episodes, but if clutter's getting out of control and you don't have time for an big clean-up project, maybe just a few quick and dirty tips will help.

It's easy--or maybe just easier--to be productive when things are firing on all cylinders and all's right in our world. But what happens when that's not the case, when in the midst of one of life's "storms" you get up in the morning and look at your schedule or your to-do list and think "I just can't even . . ."? Sometimes life throws us a curve. What do we do then?

A whole industry has been built up over the years around the concept of productivity. It's been the subject of decades of study and countless written words. Experts have identified the keys to productivity--rules that we're taught to follow in order to maximize productivity. But what if those rules don't work for you? Can you still be productive? Absolutely!

Many women feel isolated in their efforts to advance in their careers, learn the skills they need to accomplish their goals, and become the person they want to be. In this episode we'll talk about one solution: finding a mentor. We'll look at what mentoring is, what the benefits are (on both sides), how to find mentors, and some guidelines for successful mentoring relationships.

Very few of us have lives focused on just one thing. Most of us instead juggle multiple roles, and try to do well at all of them. Author, attorney, and homeschooling mom Cara Putman understands the challenges of a multifaceted life. Dubbed by a friend as the "Do-It-All Mom," Cara shares openly about the not-always-pretty realities of managing a busy life and a busy household, and encourages us to live our lives by grace, rejecting the temptation to compare ourselves to other women.

In an increasingly noisy world, one key to true productivity and to building a life of lasting significance and satisfaction is learning to identify and pursue only what's essential, purposely eliminating the nonessential from our lives to make room for what really matters. We can learn how by studying Greg McKeown's wise and profound book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.

If you're struggling to make progress on accomplishing the things you care about, if you start lots of projects but don't finish many, perhaps you're feeling the effects of a lack of focus. For some of us, the biggest challenge to productivity is the temptation to chase too many rabbits. One tool that can help us sort through the options and stay focused on what really matters is to choose a theme word (or words) for the year.

One of the keys to being a productive woman is having a system in place to track and manage all the things we need to do in each area of responsibility. The options for task management systems and tools are as varied as we are. Nothing works for everyone, but there really is something that will work for each of us.

Is the life you're living an accident, or the result of conscious, purposeful choices? This episode features a conversation with tech podcaster (and retired aerospace engineer) Allison Sheridan about how important it is for women to make conscious choices about their life, and to acknowledge that the choices are theirs to make.

Sometimes our best-laid plans don't pan out. Failure can either paralyze us or propel us into growth and new beginnings. This week we consider some thoughts about how to recover--and learn--from failure.

Much of the quality of our life, including our productivity, depends on the habits we employ. In this episode we look at how schedules, routines, and rituals can help us establish habits that let us be more productive, achieve our goals, and build the life we want.

Why is it so hard to get ourselves to do the things we most want to do? Few things in life are more exasperating than the way we sometimes sabotage our own goals. In this episode we look at some of reasons we block our own success, and offer some suggestions to address those issues, get past that resistance, and accomplish the things that matter most.

In celebration of reaching the milestone of episode 25, I'm sharing 25 great productivity tips--some from listeners, some from special guests, and a few of my own. Thank you so much to all those productive women who contributed their great tips and suggestions for this episode.

Writer Karin Beery joins me to talk about staying productive when facing health challenges and caring for family members. She offers great tips and suggestions. I especially liked her perspective on how to handle those days when everything gets away from you.

2014 is winding down, and 2015 is upon us. While we want to stay in the moment and enjoy the holiday celebrations, there's still a little time to give thought to the coming year and what we want to accomplish. In this episode we look at 5 important productivity principles to keep in mind as the new year begins, 6 simple productivity assignments for the last 2 weeks of the year, and a peek at what's ahead for The Productive Woman in 2015. (And don't forget to send in your favorite tips for the upcoming 25th episode celebration--info in the show notes--and maybe win an Amazon gift card!)

Tis the season . . . for giving gifts. In case you're still shopping for those last few gifts, or in case you're looking for ideas to give those who want to gift you!, this episode offers some productivity-boosting options for all the folks on your list, including gifts at a variety of price levels. And best of all? Every one of them can be ordered online!

Even new moms can get things done! This week business owner, horsewoman, and new mom Jamie Clark Samples joins me to talk about the challenges of running a small business while caring for a new baby. Jamie offers some great suggestions and encouragement.

When I recently put the question out on social media, asking listeners what topics they'd like to hear about on upcoming episodes, several asked for suggestions on productivity apps for smart phones. It's a question I often get asked by friends and colleagues, since I'm known to try lots of apps. In this episode I share ten(ish) of my favorites.

The holiday season is a time filled with family and friends and joy . . . and often, for those of use whose schedules are already busy, even more stress than usual. This week we're going to look at some steps we can take to minimize the stress, and maximize the joy, of the holiday season.

21st century life is cram-packed with activity, stress, and tension, and a lot of us have a hard time letting it go long enough to relax, rest, and recharge. Learning to do so, though, will reap dividends in our physical, mental, and emotional health, our creativity, our relationships, and ultimately, in our productivity.

Productivity is a good thing, but there are potential pitfalls we should be aware of in our pursuit of productivity. In this episode we look at seven of those pitfalls, and consider how we can avoid them and stay on track toward making lives that matter.