Productivity and Time management roundup for the week of Aug 13

Here’s a few productivity and time management articles that came up on our radar this week.

Re:Re:Fw:Re: Workers Spend 650 Hours a Year on Email

This article from the Atlantic is sad but true, and we see pretty much the same results (on average) for RescueTime users. Knowledge workers spend a LOT of time in email (around 28%). How much do you spend? (hint, there’s a report for that!)

The DNA Of Idea Execution: How Creatives Are Working Today [INFOGRAPHIC]

Behance polled their community of creative professionals about how they stay creative, manage distractions, and cope with the workplace realities like open floor plans and multiple input streams. The results are interesting, and are presented in an awesome infographic.

I’m Gina Trapani, and This Is How I Work

Among many accomplishments, Gina Trapani is the founder of LifeHacker.com. Here she is answering questions from the LifeHacker community. She touches on everything from her favorite apps, to how her workspace is configured, and what kind of music she listens to at work. It’s a really illuminating article, and one of a series that LifeHacker is doing. (here is another one with Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr)

Only 2% of People Can Multitask Successfully [INFOGRAPHIC]

More information about how multi-tasking isn’t the ubiquitous skill it’s made out to be. (Spoiler alert: it’s a skill you don’t want, avoid it at all costs!)

The Link Between Quietness And Productivity

Sometimes the people getting the most done are the ones that make the least noise, they’ve just got their head down taking care of business.

How to Focus and Stay Productive When You’re Expected to Always Be Available

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one. There are some good tips in here about managing distractions, but I wonder about the overall premise that “You don’t have the luxury of ignoring meetings and email, putting on headphones, and working uninterrupted”. I think, in most cases, people can put their foot down much more easily than they may realize. In fact, it may be that simply “don’t be always available” is a much better tactic than the options laid out in this post.

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