MAJOR TIME SAVERS TO INCREASE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY: Part III

3. TOP 10 Time-Saver Destinations

Now let’s consider your destination. If you haven’t completed all of your tasks for the current year while traveling, and you haven’t been eaten by a mountain lion, you will have several other opportunities for work at many of the routine places you go every day. For some of these, such as the grocery store or bank, an article or paperback will be adequate; for others, such as a doctor’s appointment or the police station, you might consider packing everything. Kidding. You can leave your athletic club bag at home.

Here is a starter list of 10 opportunities. I’m sure you can think of other places to add to this list.


• Standing in line at the grocery, clothing, or any other store

• Standing in line for concert, theatre, or ballgame tickets

• Standing in line at the bank or post office

• Waiting for a license renewal, car registration, title, or anything else at the MVA (Motor Vehicle Administration)

• Waiting for your food in a restaurant if your colleague forgets to meet you

• Waiting for a colleague or student in the cafeteria or coffee shop

• Waiting for your car to be repaired, hopefully not overnight (Note: I’ve written a lot of material at Midas Muffler waiting for my midas to be installed.)

• Waiting in your car at drive-through banks and fast-food restaurants

• Waiting for your office or home to be repaired after a tree fell on it or a truck drove through it

• Waiting to be picked up on the remote, deserted country road in the fog and rain before being devoured alive by a werewolf or Hugh Jackman


This list will continue in my next blog with 10 more destinations where you can produce. Trying to keep my blogs within 300 words and terse, with the exception of my jokes and fooling around, is my goal. Maybe you’ll actually find this stuff useful. Please let me know. Have a blast this weekend.


COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC & Coventry Press

"No Laughing Matter": A response to Sharon Buchbinder's Blog

My jocular, but well-respected health leader friend, Sharon Buchbinder, just wrote a wonderful blog on the value and state of humor in health organizations (http://portfolio.jblearning.com/health/2009/9/17/no-laughing-matter.html). She summarizes some of the psychological and physiological research findings. Here is my response to her blog:



BRAVO!!! Rubber pig snout lady! Sharon, I'm sooo proud to see you entrenched in the humor lit. Great summary, especially Berk citations. The limitations of the psychological and physiological research findings are rarely acknowledged by humor practitioners. Even humor professionals often misinterpret or overgeneralize the findings. The old adage "Don't try this at home; leave it to the professionals" doesn't seem to apply in this case.

I would add 2 refs to your list: (1) Rod Martin's The Psychology of Humor (2007) by Elsevier Academic Press, and (2) Moi's Top Secret Tips for Successful Humor in the Workplace (2009) by Coventry Press (http://www.coventrypress.com/). The former extends Rod's Psych Bull review; the latter summaries the "institutional and relational benefits" of humor in the workplace based on tons of surveys. That evidence is separate from the more rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental studies of the "individual effects" cited throughout your blog.

Again, thanks for bringing this topic to the surface for your blog readers.


COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC