Beat procrastination

You can short-circuit your procrastination tendencies by making the future feel more real. Here’s how:

— Visualise. Take a moment to paint a vivid mental picture of the benefits of completing the task. If there’s a phone call you’re avoiding or an email you’re putting off, imagine the sense of satisfaction you’ll feel when it’s over.

— Pre-commit, publicly. Most of us don’t want to look lazy to other people. So dare to say, ‘I’ll send you the report by the end of the day’ — it can be just enough to make taking action more appealing.

— Confront the downside of inaction. Instead of telling yourself you can do the task tomorrow, force yourself to think about the downside of putting it off.

(Adapted from How to Beat Procrastination, by Caroline Webb)

Take on uncomfortable tasks to help you grow

Perhaps you’d rather swallow nails than make small talk with strangers at a networking event. Or maybe the idea of speaking in public makes you break into a cold sweat. But the reality is that even if you find these tasks unpleasant, they’re necessary to growing in your career. So start with small steps. Instead of giving a talk at an industry event, sign up for a public speech class. Instead of speaking up in the boardroom in front of your senior colleagues, start by doing it in smaller meetings with peers to see how it feels. You may stumble, but that’s OK. In fact, it’s the only way you’ll learn.

(Adapted from If You’re Not Outside Your Comfort Zone, You Won’t Learn Anything, by Andy Molinsky)

Create smarter return policies

Most companies impose restrictions to try to prevent too many returns. This is understandable, but companies should take a more balanced approach and be selectively lenient (or restrictive). Here are a few strategies that work:

— Be selectively lenient based on cause of the return. For example, Gap has a return policy of 45 days for any exchange but offers an unrestricted return policy for all defective products.

— Be selectively lenient based on time. Neiman Marcus offers 100pc money back for returns less than 60 days after purchase, 75pc back for 60-120 days after purchase and so on.

— Be selectively lenient for your most important customers. Sam’s Club requires a receipt (an effort-based restriction) for nonmembers but not for members.

(Adapted from How to Design a Return Policy, by Narayan Janakiraman, Holly Syrdal and Ryan E. Freling)

Use productivity apps

Many of us search for the latest app or the fancy new software that will finally help us manage our time. But even the most well-designed programme won’t help you unless you have a workflow management process, or methodology, already in place. So before you install that latest app, ask yourself, “How do I currently track tasks? How will this software fit into my existing process?” Then ask yourself, “What problems do I want the tool to solve?” There is no question that technology can improve productivity. But when investing your time in a new tool, focus first on your methodology so you know what will suit you best.

(Adapted from Until You Have Productivity Skills, Productivity Tools Are Useless, by Maura Thomas)

What to ask candidates who decline your job offer

The next time you get a ‘No, thank you’ call or email, explain that there are no hard feelings and dig deeper for more information. Focus on questions like:

— What did you see as the positive aspects of the role?

— What were your concerns about the role?

— What were the most important factors in the decision you made?

— What feedback do you have about your interviews, interviewers and the interview process itself?

— Can you provide feedback for the hiring manager, human resources department or the organisation overall?

These conversations might be awkward, but if you don’t solicit feedback from people you’ve interviewed, they may give that feedback publicly, like on a website such as Glassdoor.

(Adapted from Why You Should Interview People Who Turn Down a Job With Your Company, by Ben Dattner)

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, November 28th, 2016