Carson Tate - Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style

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First published in the United States of America by Portfolio/Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC 2015
First published in Great Britain by Portfolio Penguin 2015

Copyright Carson Tate, 2015

Cover Design: Karl Spurzem

The moral right of the author has been asserted

ISBN: 978-0-241-97220-5

C=arson Tate , the founder of Working Simply, is a renowned expert on workplace productivity. She serves as a consultant, coach, public speaker and executive trainer for a wide range of Fortune 500 companies and other clients. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family.

Visit www.carsontate.com

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We all work differently, and knowing ourselves is the key to effective time management. In this approachable guide, Carson Tate shows how to embrace your own style and get more done
Laura Vanderkam , author of What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast

The most important asset you have is time and you cant afford to waste it. Not only is Work Simply rich with solid, practical, grounded advice about reclaiming your time, its infused with heart, warmth and humanity to boot. Youll want everyone in your office to read it
Sonia Choquette , author of The Answer Is Simple and Trust Your Vibes at Work

A leaders most important resource is time. Work Simply helps leaders find that time, so they can maximize the contributions of others and strategize for the future. This book is an invaluable resource
Bill Timmerman , former CEO of SCANA

At a time when work has become overly complicated, with so many of us caught up in busyness, drowning in e-mails, interrupted, distracted and overloaded with information, Carson Tate has written a guidebook to sanity. Filled with imminently practical advice, this book can help us all learn to work simply and live fully
Brigid Schulte , author of Overwhelmed

To Andrew and EC

My hope is that this book can be a tool that supports you as you reclaim your life by using personalized tools that can make you more productive, creativeand happy.

To assist you as you read this book, I have included a road map of each chapter to give you an overview of the chapter contents and help you quickly determine the reading order that suits you best. By following the links from one balloon to the next, you can see how the ideas in each chapter are connected to one another.

You may find that the ideas in certain chapters quickly grab your attention because they relate so closely to challenges youre facing in your daily life and work. Feel free to jump from chapter to chapter as your needs and interests dictate. But I recommend you start by reading , Whats Your Productivity Style? to assess the root causes of your stress and to identify your Productivity Style. That style will be referred to throughout the book as you develop your personalized path to productivity.

It was December 26, 2011the day after christmas. It was also ten days after the first birthday of my beautiful daughter EC. And I was tired. Very tired. I am sure thats normal for the mother of a little toddler, especially in the midst of the busiest time of the year and a very special birthday celebration to boot. But I couldnt help wondering, How did I end up sitting on the floor, my bones aching, wondering whether I would be able to stand up again?

Andrew and I had waited a long time after marriage before deciding to start our familyeleven years, in fact. So when I got pregnant, it came as just another challenge for the two of us in the midst of two very rich, very busy lives. Our careers were well established, our friendships were deep, and we were heavily engaged in our community. I was running one successful business while making plans to sell it, launching a separate consulting practice, and working on a masters degree in organization development, all at the same time. Yes, it felt hectic at timesworking on airplanes, juggling homework and client conferences, saying good night to my husband by telephone from halfway across the country. Andrew and I loved our lives just the way they were, and we had every intention of keeping them intact, baby or no.

When the news of my pregnancy was confirmed, I promptly decided that nothing was going to change in my life. In the months that followed, I was true to my word. I did not slow down at all during my pregnancy. I did not cut back on work, school, family, social, and community activities. I even kept up my usual exercise routine, including outdoor runs, right through my thirtieth week.

EC was born on December 16, and the three of us enjoyed a wonderful holiday season as a family in our home in Charlotte, North Carolina. By the end of January, Id resumed work on my masters degree and was back on an airplane headed to Phoenix to work with a client for a few days. My total time off after ECs birth: less than six weeks. I told myself, After all, if I dont keep pushing to build my business and make it successful, who will?

I maintained this pace for the entire first year of ECs life. I finished writing my masters thesis, continued to work with clients across the country, and stayed relentlessly focused on building my consulting business. And of course there was the adjustment to motherhood and the joy of being with EC as often as my crazy schedule would allow. I am lucky to have a wonderfully supportive husband who filled in for me as much as humanly possiblebut, yes, it was tiring. There were a few too many nights when my hours of sleep numbered four or five instead of seven or eight; a few too many jet-lagged evenings when I smiled at friends or colleagues over dinner table conversation without really hearing a word theyd said.