Self-directed work

More and more people are working entirely or partially from home and the ability to self-direct becomes more and more important. However, self-direction demands new things of you, like how you plan and execute your work assignments.

Self-directed work

THEME | In this theme we'll focus on self-direction and on how you can manage yourself or use the shares tips to methods to help your coworkers become (more) self-managing.

11 psychological hacks that helps you reach your goals

TOOL | We all know how important it is to be able to reach the goals we set for ourselves. But far too often it does not succeed. We give up halfway or before we actually get started. And it is not that strange that we often fail. Our brain is not always cooperative.

Use color on your notes to become a better thinker

TOOL | Are you the type that loves to take notes by hand? Do you like the sensation of the pen touching the paper or the freedom it provides to be able to draw arrows, highlighting or even drawings that illustrates your notes? But do you sometimes get the feeling that it is hard to maintain a clear overview of your many different notes. Do you have to read through all of your notes in order to find that one author or that single method you remember is in there somewhere?

Decision fatigue: Why you make bad decisions when you are tired

TOOL | Psychologist Roy F. Baumeister’s research show that there's a limit to the number of good decisions we are able to make during a day. The more decisions, small or large, we have to make, the worse they become. And at the end of the day all of us will typically decide on an infinite amount of things. Which drain our willpower.

Are you more productive just before deadline? You'll probably miss it

TOOL | Research shows, that those of us who prefer working under pressure jeopardizes the deadline of the entire team. But these three simple pieces of advice can help you and your team reach your goals.

Empty work. Are you bored at work?

TOOL | When I worked as a ticket seller at a public pool, I'd sometimes spend most of my time studying, playing solitaire or chatting to my coworkers. Sometimes, there simply wasn't enough customers to keep me occupied the entire day. And it seems, I am not the only one who've experienced this.

The Zeigarnik effect – you remember things better when you're interrupted

TOOL | Are you also still thinking about that thing, you didn't finish yesterday? And are you wondering, why you've been following the same stupid TV-show for the past four years? There's a reason for why you do these seemingly random things. It is called the Zeigarnik effect.

Why you don’t want to choose

TOOL | Why do students get less homework than earlier, why don’t you have the energy to find the cheapest phone company, and why are we less satisfied than previously? According to psychologist Barry Schwartz, the surprising answer is that we aren't able to handle the freedom of choice that we so eagerly strive for.

How you make your decision is just as important as what you decide

TOOL | Far too many executives are dependent on conventional economic calculation tools when they have to make a decision. For example, if they should develop a new product or expand into a new market. It works perfectly well in situations where the company has a clear view of their possible choices and the consequences that follows.

Decorate your office using Feng Shui

TOOL | Feng shui is an old Chinese philosophy of life regarding decorating and architecture, and the ground principle us that you have to live in harmony with your surroundings. By using feng shui you can decorate your life so that the energies have a positive influence on your life. And that also applies to the workplace.

Here's what almost everybody gets wrong about the 10.000-hour rule

TOOL | How deliberate practice, top-to-bottom thinking, feedback loops and flight of ideas are connected to success. And the explanation of why I'll never excel at French.

Efficiency (1/4)

VIDEO | Do you want to become more efficient? In these four videos René C. Larsen shows us how to become more effeicient. You can work on your personale efficiency, the way you prioritize, your company's meeting culture or use some simple tools to make your daily life more structured and thus more efficient.

2 surprising reasons that your work life balance is off

VÆRKTØJ | Everybody agrees that work life balance is important, and yet, many are still unsatisfied. So what is it that keeps working against us?

To do or not to do

VÆRKTØJ | Many Leaders use to do lists for prioritizing their work tasks and limited time. But these lists are a waste of time, if they aren't made and applied the right way. In the following you find 11 guidelines on how to make an efficient to do list.

The PVI Model. How to be more visible at work

TOOL | As an employee working from home, no matter if you work full time or part-time, you may sometimes feel that you've been forgotten by the rest of the organization. If this is the case, there is actually something you can do about it.

What is self-direction?

TOOL | Self-direction is the reality for more and more employees. Both in production, schools and hospitals more and more self-directing teams are created, and knowledge workers are expected to be increasingly self-directed.

The 5 choices for exceptional efficiency (1/3) - Act on the important, not the urgent

VIDEO | Become extraordinarily productive with three simple techniques that help you prioritize, balance and manage your tasks, roles and technology around you.

10 fundamental principles for effective virtual teams

TOOL | Team management is tremendously enriching and remarkably challenging at the same time. And the challenge does not become any smaller, if your team is spread over different addresses or even the whole world. Here are 10 principles that help you make your virtual team work.

What really happens when we push a deadline?

TOOL | The reason that you do not take advantage of extra time and how you can start doing so. Research shows that after we sigh with relief, because the pressure is off, we really don't know how to spend extra time in a sensible manner. That's why we end up battling the same problems again: The same stress, the same time pressure and the same feeling of not being entirely ready. But now another week or even another month or year has passed.

4 paradoxical reasons why you do everything in the last minute

TOOL | Do you sometimes feel powerless, too, when, once again, you procrastinate on that 'one' important assignment, you know you have to do? Then you are certainly not alone.

Middle manager: How to lead upwards

Did you know that out of all groups of employees in Denmark, the most stressed are middle managers? According to Annette Klausen Bengtson, who is the author of the book “Too Lead Upwards”, there’s a good reason for this. As a middle manager, you find yourself right in the middle of expectations from your employees and demands from your boss.