My tips, which can now be found on the Google Workspace YouTube channel, cover everything from creating a Google Calendar event directly from Gmail to using images in a Google Form question. They’re meant to be small, helpful hints for saving time. I get hundreds of emails from people who have been following these tips for years, telling me how muc

What is the worst thing that would happen if I never do this? Is there any other way for this to get done without my doing it? Is there any way for me to half-do this and move on from it?

Productivity is 1) Defining clearly what you want to do, 2) Setting aside the (right) time and place to do it, and 3) Executing well within the designated time.

When dropping a current project or commitment, it can help to think of it as temporary. Try saying no to something temporarily in order to see if it’s the right decision for rebalancing your energy and schedule. Use the “launch and iterate” model:

Meetings Suck: Turning One of the Most Loathed Elements of Business into One of the Most Valuable,

We all know that time is one of our most finite resources, but why do we so often act like it’s limitless? You should ask yourself: Taking on a new project—what am I taking time from? New direct report—who or what will get less of my time as a result? New biweekly meeting—what would I have been doing instead during that time? If we maintain this tr

One of my favorite ways to start shaving things off my list is to do a brain dump of everything floating around in my head that I believe I can or should do (more on lists in the next chapter). Then I identify roughly a third of the things on the list that are lowest priority. Those are usually the things that have been in my brain to do for a whil

Opening a loop is having a great idea on your daily run about how to solve an issue for your team. Closing the loop is sending an email to your team about how to act on that idea. Your day is spent in the cycle of closing and opening loops. Many people get so bogged down in closing loops that they don’t make time for the new loops to present themse

Let’s say you host a meeting and you’re wondering if the meeting is too long or too short, too frequent or infrequent, or if participants feel it’s a good use of time. Instead of wondering—it’s easier just to ask! Send an anonymous survey or questionnaire for any meeting you own and see what people are saying “behind the meeting’s back.” Oftentimes