4 minute read As the Government announces that anyone with a cough or high temperature should self-isolate for seven days to slow down the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), levels of home working in the UK are expected to increase significantly in the coming weeks. The impact on businesses This will have a significant impact on businesses across the UK. Although working from home is commonplace in many organisations (with over 4 million people now regularly working from home), this is often members of staff working from home for one or two days per week. It is much less co ..read more

  2 minute read This year I’m trying out a new productivity technique each month. January’s technique was Eat the Frog. Heard of it? It’s the idea that if the very first thing we do when we sit at our desk each day is something difficult (akin to eating a wriggling, squirmy, live frog) then gradually we cross off more and more of those tasks which have been hanging around on our to-do list looking unappealing. We also go in to each day feeling fantastic and productive, which gives us momentum to continue with the day. The metaphor runs that once we’ve eaten a frog everything else we have ..read more

  6 minute read. It’s quite a shock, having your first baby. As well as adjusting to the idea of yourself as a parent and getting very little sleep, there’s the dawning realisation (though you’re not quite sure why it didn’t occur to you in advance) that your time is simply no longer your own. Unless you make other (often quite expensive) arrangements, the default position is that little baba is with you or with your partner, 24/7. Sure, they might sleep sometimes. But as the days go on, it becomes clear that even that isn’t guaranteed! You know that having children is one of the most re ..read more

  4 minute read   It’s happened to us all: we end up chatting to someone who raves about how much work they get done when they work from home. The lack of distraction. The non-existent commute. The hours of productive work. For many, this is not the reality. These conversations loom in our mind as a reminder of everything we should be able to get done. We have ambitious plans and long to-do lists titled ‘when at home on Thursday’. But when Thursday arrives, things don’t go to plan. We struggle to knuckle down, we get distracted (The washing. The cat. The possibilities for endless to ..read more

  4 minute read I’ve always had busy jobs. Jobs where there’s too much to do and not enough time to do it. I love a big challenge and lots to do. In my last role, I was Chief Executive of the Sports Grounds Safety Authority. It was my busiest job to date. I was responsible for an organisation, accountable to the Board and to Parliament, and led a team working across the country. So, what did I learn as a chief exec about how to manage my time and get things done? Here are my top take-aways which you can apply to any role. 1. Know what you’re aiming for This is important whether there’s o ..read more

2 min read. I wrote a guest blog for the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers (APDO) about setting the right routines and habits for 2020. You can find the blog here ..read more

  4 minute read.   It’s a horrible feeling, the growing sense of dread as emails come in, phone messages pile up, and your to-do list looms by your side, and you know that you can’t get through it at anywhere near the rate that it’s coming in. We derive a great deal of comfort from being in control of what we need to do, and when things spin out of control, it can feel totally overwhelming. Unfortunately, this feeling is all too common. In 2018 one of the largest stress studies ever conducted in the UK found that 3 in 4 respondents had felt so stressed in the previous year that they ..read more

  2 minute read   Now, either you’ve heard about this idea or you haven’t. People who haven’t normally look at me like I’m suggesting they take all their clothes off. Don’t worry, I’m not. A streak is a habit creation technique where you commit to doing something every day, and see how long you can keep it up. As you log days, it becomes more motivating to continue because of the effort you’ve already put in and the satisfaction of the number of days increasing. I heard most recently about this idea from Laura Vanderkam, who co-hosts a podcast I enjoy called Best of Both Worlds. She ..read more

     When everyone is feeling under pressure, with too much to do much to do and not enough time to do it, it can feel counterintuitive to give everyone something else to put in their diary. But the right event can bring people together to address a shared challenge, help them get a new perspective on their work, and go away with simple strategies they can implement to help them cope with everything they have on more effectively. Getting the speaker right is crucial. The last thing you want is to book someone who wastes their time, leaving them feeling more overwhelmed than whe ..read more

     When everyone is feeling under pressure, with too much to do much to do and not enough time to do it , it can feel counterintuitive to give everyone something else to put in their diary. But the right event can bring people together to address a shared challenge, help them get a new perspective on their work, and go away with simple strategies they can implement to help them cope with everything they have on more effectively. Getting the speaker right is crucial. The last thing you want is to book someone who wastes their time, leaving them feeling more overwhelmed than wh ..read more