How to Stay Competitive in Today’s Economy

It takes an effort (a Herculean effort sometimes) to stay on top of the changing trends, breakthroughs, and happenings within your industry. This is a must-do, however, if you are to stay relevant as a ‘professional’ and continue to gain responsibilities, promotions, new assignments, and confidence.

One tip that I recommend is the ‘weekend brain dump’. As each week progresses, I run across 10, 15, sometimes 20 articles that I must read. I subscribe to ‘way too many’ Internet newsletters just for this reason. These articles could be interesting news stories, breakthrough trends in marketing, good press for our business, or just something that catches my eye.

I’ve created a folder in Outlook titled ‘PRINT’. When I find an article I like, I place it in the folder for ‘later reading’ rather than get distracted and dedicate 5-10 minutes to read the entire article. By the end of the week, I’ve placed a good number of relevant, timely, inspiring, and educational articles into the folder.

Before I leave for the weekend, I print off each article (Printer-friendly format and double-sided to save paper) for further investigation. When I can grab 5 or 10 minutes on the weekend, I’ll quickly grab an article and dive into the contents.

This technique helps me:

• Stay focused at work
• Stay up-to-date on my industry
• Get fired up for the challenges of the new week

  Try it – you just might like it.

  Do you have a productivity tip that you’d like to share? Leave me a comment.

Until next time,

Dan Naden
Naden’s Corner