Marissa Brassfield

Google is finally getting into the list-making market with its new app, Google Keep. What is being described as Evernote’s biggest new rival, Keep gives users an easy way to make notes and create reminders for upcoming tasks.

Keep is integrated with Google Drive, extending the company’s cloud services. This allows you to make notes through the app on your mobile phone, or on the Web at drive.google.com/keep. The app also lets you record voice memos, which it automatically transcribes into text. You can also take photos through the app and edit them using Android’s features, and share them through email, text message or a myriad of social networks.

Google Keep takes note-taking apps to the next level by adding a search feature, color-coding, drag-and-drop, tap-in edits and widgets for your home screen to easily add notes when you’re in a hurry. One of the most exciting features of Google Keep is the ability to turn notes into checklists with checkboxes — a definite must for all us incessant list-makers out there.

The new app is currently only available on Google Play for Android users with 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or newer operating systems. It probably won’t be too long before Google Keep is available on iOS and Windows Phone as well.

You can learn more about Google Keep in the video below.

The first hire for any entrepreneur is essential: he or she must be the extension of you, your ideal complement. As far as efficiency is concerned, a 20-something is your perfect first hire.

Meg Jay, Ph.D., argues that our 20s are when we build a foundation that defines the rest of our life. And Colleen Sharen notes that a 20-something’s “secret sauce” is work ethic, citing a York University study examining the decline in work ethic.

Here’s why a 20-something is your perfect first hire, and a few key things you need to know to manage this age group.

1. 1. We’re hungry. Millennials are ambitious. Fueled by our parents’ encouragement, we grew up thinking we could do or be anything we wanted. Reward your Gen Y employees by challenging them, setting attractive rewards and supercharging career advancement for good performance.
2. We’re flexible. Most 20-something workers haven’t built up ingrained work habits, which means that we can adapt to nearly any situation. In today’s work environment, we won’t be frightened off by the prospect of wearing many hats — so long as we understand the significance of each role we play.
3. We’re cheap. Let’s face it: someone with a few years of work experience is going to cost a lot less in salary than someone with 20 years under his or her belt. Many of us are happy to be contractors, and will trade benefits for the freedom to choose our own schedule and work location.

Managers, listen up: micromanagement kills your team’s efficiency and will slowly drive you insane. I’ve prepared a simple four-step plan to help you stop micromanaging and thereby preserve your employees’ productivity.

1. Reset expectations. Many managers micromanage because they don’t trust their employees to do the job right. What training would you have to provide to ensure your employees have the skills to perform tasks appropriately? What checks and balances would you need to have in place to feel comfortable about letting go? Once you think about the answers to these questions, sit down with your employees and discuss your expectations of how you’ll work together from here on out.
2. Stick to the plan. If you decided on a daily check-in or weekly dashboard, let go and allow your employees to rise to the occasion. Resist the temptation to jump in as you might have in the past. If your team falters, counsel them accordingly; after all, they must hold up their end of the bargain to help you adjust to the new work paradigm.
3. Catch your team doing something right. Too often, those who micromanage only catch their employees doing something wrong, crushing morale and overall engagement. Instead, look for opportunities to praise your team when they’ve earned it.
4. Schedule regular check-ins. Those who are trying to stop micromanaging may veer off too far to the other side of the spectrum and pull away from teammates entirely. This isn’t the solution. You should still manage proactively: the difference is that instead of checking in on your employees’ work tasks, you’ll be checking on their engagement. How fulfilled, appreciated and motivated do your employees feel? Do they feel they have the support they need to do their best work?

It’s amazing how often I see these four points ignored in management, both in traditional office settings and in the virtual/telecommuting sphere. What tips would you add to help managers stop micromanaging?

Many jobs require people to sit at a desk for several hours at end, which can bring about issues like back pain if the office chair you are using is uncomfortable and inappropriate for extended use. What you do need is one of the below chairs, which comply with ergonomic standards and will give you a comfortable place to complete your eight hours of daily work. As an added bonus, these chairs have some really cool features.

Gesture

Gesture was created by Steelcase and designed specifically to cater to the many gadgets we use during the day, including laptops, tablets and smartphones. To properly design the chair, Steelcase actually conducted a study in 11 countries, studying the posture of 2,000 people. What they came up with was nine new postures that people need a chair to cater to.

The result was Gesture, a chair that provides support no matter what position you are sitting on. The back and seat are synchronized, the arms mimic the movements of a person’s arms, providing support while typing, texting, or swiping on a tablet.

Embody

Embody by Herman Miller is an office chair that was designed to keep not just your body, but also your brain feeling limber throughout the work day. The idea behind the chair is to keep creativity going by keeping a constant flow of blood and oxygen through movement.

The back of the chair is designed to mimic the spine, which adapts to a user’s movements throughout the day, keeping the lower back continuously supported. The back and seat are also created to evenly distribute weight.

Aeron

Another chair from Herman Miller, Aeron can be used as an office chair, a side chair or a stool to accommodate to all your needs. The chair also uses PostureFit technology, which supports the tilts of your pelvis so your spine remains aligned.

Aeron also has a contoured back that helps alleviate stress on your lower spine while sitting for hours on end. The seat is designed to promote blood circulation by taking pressure off thighs. It is also designed to allow natural movement in the neck, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles.

What really makes the Aeron stand out is its lack of any cushioning. This is a chair designed to contour to your body and relieve your pressure points. It cradles to your body to take the pressure off and decrease the usual office aches and pains.

Diffrient World

Humanscale designed the Diffrient World chair for increased lumbar support using mesh to hug the body. The mesh helps alleviate stress under the thighs. There is also an automatic reclining system that provides support no matter the posture you’re in.

Ergohuman

The Ergohuman is a futuristic-looking chair that provides support to all areas of your body. A headrest is available if you purchase this chair in mesh, but it is also available in fabric or leather without the headrest. The arms move with your body, pivoting and sliding back and forth to mimic your own movements. The back of the chair lets you adjust the tilt with four lock positions.

Typically, I embrace change, but I’m cranky about this one. I’ve used Reader since 2008 and in that time have taught several dozen editorial professionals how to use Reader to generally stay on top of the news and dramatically increase their productivity in research and story-digging.

What’s more, according to my Trends tab on Reader, I’ve personally used it to read 174,000 items. I’ve even configured a few IFTTT recipes that rely on Reader.

Google Reader users, what will your replacement service be?

Your next productivity inspiration might come from Charlie Sheen’s bosses, the producers of FX comedy “Anger Management.” The show was given a 10/90 deal — if the first 10 episodes of the series received high ratings, the network would ink a deal for another 90 episodes. But, there’s a catch. It all has to be completed in two years. 

Executive producer of “Anger Management” Bruce Helford is no novice to the world of sitcoms, but he has certainly never been tasked with producing so many episodes in such a small amount of time.

“Where a lot of guys probably would have been really daunted — and I think a lot of guys probably turned down the project because it seemed too hard to do — I was thinking, ‘How do I do this? How do I make this viable? How do I do this without killing everybody?’”

To top it all off, Helford was given a budget that is half of what he was used to on his past projects that include “The Drew Carey Show” and “George Lopez.”

Plan for Success

Part of Helford’s success is that he produced the first 10 episodes under the impression that they would get the ratings that FX required to sign on for another 90. Helfrod had to come up with a production structure that allowed all 100 episodes to be completed in two years, and a new episode to be aired almost every week during those two years.

Keep the Balance

Other shows in similar situations have chosen to shoot three episodes a week, but Helford decided two a week was best, with six-week shooting blocks followed by a six-week break. This still gives the actors ample time off and the writers an extra six weeks of nonstop writing time. Most sitcoms shoot one episode a week, but take up to five years to achieve the 100-episode mark.

“I totally believe that the old model of taking a week to do a show like the networks still do is absolutely a waste of time and I always felt that,” Helford said. “I always felt it was overkill. We overthought things, the actors were over-rehearsed for the episode and everything else. We just made the work fill the time, even though we felt crazy busy, it was just one of those things where it was an excess of time to produce it. That I’ve always felt. I had a belief that doing it faster would actually make things better because you have more spontaneity, which proved true.”

Creativity Thrives Under Pressure

In a traditional multi-camera sitcom, the week begins with a table read of the script. It would undergo changes, then rehearsals would begin and changes to the script would be made up until the end of the week when the episode would be shot. In the case of “Anger Management,” Helford says he doesn’t need all that time to make changes. A table read is enough to show where problems might lie and what changes need to be made.

“Anger Management” also doesn’t shoot with an audience, so they can shoot an episode for up to two days instead of one very long day.

“What we do now is literally we read at the table, we make adjustments that night, the next day or Monday or whatever, we have the director put a scene on its feet. We watch it again, we make changes, the actors go off and get into makeup, we all come back together when the cameras are ready and we shoot it and we throw that scene away. We’re done, we go to the next scene.”

This model has forced the actors to hone their characters, keeps a sense of spontaneous creativity on set and gets rid of all wasted time. The key to keeping this up is incredible organizational skills and a structure that cannot be tampered with.

Increase your productivity and stay on top of your tasks with the help of these five apps for Android. Each of these apps works great for managing to-do lists and making sure you never forget a task.

1. Remember the Milk

Remember the Milk is an online task management tool that lets you keep track of everything you have to do in one place. You can take the app with you on your Android phone, where you can add and complete tasks, organize your priorities and search through your notes. There is also a pro option that has widgets, notifications and auto-syncs with your online account.

2. Any.Do

Any.Do is a simple to-do list app with a nice interface that helps you stay on top of the many things you have to do. This app can sync across all your devices and gives you a little reminder when something is due.

3. Evernote

Evernote is the app that makes sure you never forget anything ever again. Keep track of your on-going tasks, take notes, capture and attach pictures, and record your own voice reminders. All your notes are searchable and you can sync your notes across all your devices.

4. Wunderlist

Wunderlist is the list manager of all list managers. This app comes equipped with reminder notifications, subtasks and notes to make sure you are always organized. The app syncs across all your devices and you can even use the app to collaborate with colleagues and friends.

5. Asana

Asana, the collaborative task management tool, has just released its app for Android. The app lets you create new projects and tasks right from your phone, as well as complete, re-assign and edit existing tasks. Asana’s big selling point is the ability to create several workspaces — one for each client, separating work and personal, or one to share with your friends.

A new study from Spain suggests there is a correlation between fitness levels and cognitive performance. By examining Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and how it changes depending on the cognitive task, the study found that fitness levels have a major effect on sustained attention.

“HRV is a simple and noninvasive measurement of interactions between the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the cardiovascular system,” the study reads.

To get their findings, the study measured HRV in two groups of participants that were at different fitness levels, group one being high-fit and group two being low-fit. These participants were given three different cognitive tasks.

The one cognitive test the high-fit group performed better in overall was sustaining attention. The participants who maintained a physically fit lifestyle were better able to focus than participants in the low-fit group. In short, this means that exercise can help keep your mind clear and on tasks at hand, rather than swimming with distractions.

This is also not the first study of its kind to get similar findings. A study published in the Journal of Pediatrics found that children who got exercise had better grades. The study found that elementary and middle school-aged children who did not get enough exercise were more likely to grade poorly in math and reading.

Researchers of the study found that students of higher fitness levels “were 2.4 times more likely to pass math tests and more than twice as likely to pass reading tests than those who were not aerobically fit.” They also found that being overweight contributed to grades, but not nearly as much as fitness levels did.

So, if you’re struggling to focus your attention while at work, it might be time to add some aerobics into your life. You might find you’re more productive and get more tasks done in less hours.

I use these hourglasses to measure out specific activities in my workday in an unobtrusive, soothing fashion. The 6-minute hourglass reminds me to get up, walk around and focus on mid-to-long-distance objects and keeps my longer breaks on track. The smaller hourglass helps me measure out Pomodoro cycles, email-checking periods, short breaks, and quick brainstorming sessions.

What productivity tools do you use? Do you prefer analog or digital solutions?

Let me back up a bit.

Kara Swisher posted the full internal memo sent to Yahoo employees last week. Here’s the part that irked me:

To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together.

Working in close proximity to team members definitely has benefits — sometimes. As a high performer, though, I detest that environment when I need to rally and crank out work. It’s like clockwork: the moment I need to focus on something, I’m interrupted by an innocuous question or a colleague’s conversation. And nothing irks a ridiculously efficient person more than being made inefficient.

On to management. A few ex-Yahoo employees have said that the new policy will hopefully weed out unproductive folks who were working on side projects while on Yahoo’s payroll.

Let me be clear: An effective manager can figure out whether his or her employees are doing what they’re supposed to be doing no matter where they are: in the office down the hall, at home or on vacation halfway around the world. That same manager can set concrete expectations for communication and availability, hire people who “get it” and fire people who don’t.

This isn’t a telecommuting issue. It’s a management issue. And if Marissa Mayer is going to focus on remote workers, she should also focus on her managers, the expectations they’re setting, and how they’re communicating with their teams.