White Papers
Purchase White Papers (downloadable books in PDF format) from The ProductivityPro
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1. A Winning Mindset - The Secret Weapon of Powerful People
Powerful people exude the passion that commits fully to a course of action and sees it all the way through. Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, will teach you how to develop a winning mindset and maintain consistent, productive behaviors.
19 pages.
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2. Achieving Your Highest Vision of Yourself: Designing Your Ideal Life
What would make you happy? Creating a life in alignment with your values? Living up to your highest vision of yourself? So make your imaginings come true! In this eBook, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, will help you turn the dreams floating around in your head into actionable goals. You’ll learn how to divide your time among the various priorities and goals in your life and achieve equilibrium. You’ll feel like you’re spending your time in ways that are in alignment with your values. You’ll hear techniques to help you through the mindset shifts and behavioral changes you’ll need to make. Once set, your goals will act like a magnet—pulling you towards them.
21 pages.
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3. Apply 3-V Impact: Strengthen Your Visual,
Verbal, and Vocal Image
Professionals admire and often envy those who make
presentations with ease and confidence. If you present
in business situations where you need to motivate,
persuade, and hold the attention of a group, this eBook
will provide tested strategies you can learn and
practice to improve your skills. You’ll feel reassured
that you don’t have to be “a natural.” You’ll learn
specific strategies you can learn and practice to
improve your skills. And you’ll find out how to shine in
your next presentation.
19 pages.
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4. Becoming Self-Disciplined: Make Yourself
Do What You Should Do, Even When You Don’t Feel Like It
You are persistent in completing your high priority tasks
without getting sidelined by menial activities? Do you
work hard every day or only when you’re in the mood? Do
you have a set of “rules” for yourself that govern your
behavior and activity? You’ll learn to correct and
regulate yourself for the sake of continuous improvement
and personal productivity. You’ll exercise restraint
over your own impulses, emotions, and desires. And
you’ll realize that working on the right task doesn’t
always mean working on the fun task.
22 pages.
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5. Change is a Celebration - Approaching Uncertainty with Confidence and a Positive Attitude
Change represents the only constant in life today. You may try to understand and react to the changes in your work and personal lives in a positive and productive manner, but sometimes you can feel overwhelmed and confused. The strategies offered by Laura Stack will help you confront current and future changes with confidence and a positive attitude.
13 pages.
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6. Coaching and Mentoring Employees: Helping
Others Achieve Their Very Best
Mentoring has a significant beneficial impact on the life
of the protégé. How can you effectively be this
person for employees and help them achieve their highest
visions of themselves? You’ll feel more confident
to handle your role as a mentor. You’ll learn behavioral
techniques to walk you through an effective mentoring
process. And you’ll find out how to be the person that
your protégés will someday mention when telling stories
about their climb to the top!
20 pages.
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7. Communicating Effectively with Email:
Courtesies, Protocols, and Time Savers
Are you wading through email every day? Would you like to
reduce the amount of time spent in your inbox?
Communicating more effectively with your team members
and professional contacts will maximize your time and
avoid wasting others’ time. Email can be a distraction,
but it doesn’t have to be a time waster. When you know
how to use email as an effective communication tool,
you’ll avoid having your inbox monopolize your day.
22 pages.
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8. Controlling Your Day in an Uncontrollable
World: Maximize Your Personal Productivity
Do you plan your life as carefully as you plan your
vacations? Do you manage your time as well as you
manage your money? Do you miss deadlines, stay up late
at night, and encounter stress, crisis, and overload?
When you manage your time effectively, you will
experience results, recognition, free time, clarity, and
focus. With proper time management, you will feel a
sense of accomplishment each day, and you’ll increase
your productivity and efficiency at work and home!
19 pages.
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9. Creating a Time Management System that Works for YOU: Paper, Electronic, or Hybrid?
Being organized means controlling the paper, the e-mail, the reading material and the
inputs into and out of your office and your life. Organization is your ability to sort,
filter and process all types of information effectively. It’s how tidy your office and your
home look, inside and out. It’s how in-control you look and feel, inside and out. Being
organized will give you more control over your life and your time. You MUST find the
time and the self-control to achieve organization through proper systems.
17 pages.
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10. Creating an Effective Presentation: Preparing for Success, Controlling the Environment, and Overcoming Fear
Veteran professional speaker, Laura Stack, outlines the five steps to prepare for any presentation. She will teach you how to control your speaking environment through proper room logistics: seating, set-up, microphone, and audio/visual arrangements. You’ll learn to overcome fear and calm yourself down with myriad physical, psychological, and behavioral strategies. You'll be confident, competent, and composed for your next presentation.
19 pages.
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11. Digital Quicksand: Avoiding Social Media
OCD
Do you waste time checking your social media sites every
day? Is Facebook time sinkhole for you? Social media
can be a useful tool or an ‘attractive distraction.’
Learn how to make social media work to add to your daily
productivity, rather than kill it. You’ll learn to set
proper boundaries, so you don’t waste half your day on
social media sites. You’ll connect with your community
in a professional, efficient manner that will enhance
your internet presence and boost your productivity.
13 pages.
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12. Emptying Your Inbox: The 12 Best Practices
for Handling Email
Is your email your to-do list? Is it really keeping you
organized? Technology CAN increase your productivity,
if you use best practices for email. This eBook will
guide you through the 12 Best Practices for Handling
Email so that your inbox becomes your friend. Learning
to control your email is fundamental to increasing your
productivity. These skills will give you the foundation
you need to keep your inbox under control.
14 pages.
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13. Express Elevator to Success - To Heck with That Corporate Ladder!
If you're tired of climbing the corporate ladder, may we suggest that you take the elevator instead? SuperCompetent productivity habits can take you off that old rung-by-rung advance and push you ahead so fast that you won't even have time to notice that glass ceiling as you pass through.
12 pages.
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14. Focusing on Your Work: Maintain Your
Concentration in an Environment of Distraction
So many things compete for our attention in the
workplace—background noise, interruptions, drop-in
visitors, and email—it’s often very difficult to
concentrate. This eBook will teach you how to be
present, keep your brain sharp, and focus on the task at
hand? You’ll find out how to overcome distractions from
your environment, other people, and your brain.
20 pages.
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15. For Road Warriors: How to be Productive
While Working out of a Suitcase
Laura Stack flies over 100,000 miles a year as a
professional speaker and as the 2011-2012 president of
the National Speakers Association. Although not everyone
has the natural ability to live out of a suitcase or do
business from a laptop, with a little practice, you can
learn to love your travel time. In this eBook, you’ll
find out how to be at your productive best while
traveling. You’ll learn how to take advantage of
airplanes, rather than letting them take advantage of
you. And you’ll feel ready…and we dare say excited…for
your next trip.
11 pages.
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16. Get Rid of Stress and Burnout - Boost Productivity with Emotional Control
The nature of work today can intensify emotional reactions. As you face the pressures of more work, more interaction with coworkers, and more stressful deadlines, you're likely to find yourself in situations where it is critical to identify and control your emotions. Unmanaged stress not only destroys your productivity, but it can also destroy your health. Stress is a known factor in 70 percent of all diseases, so people must learn to boost their energy and reduce tension. This e-book examines the link between your emotions and stress and teaches behavioral techniques to help you productively manage your emotions, prevent out-of-control situations, and reduce your stress. This e-book will help professionals who are pushed to the limit everyday.
21 pages.
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17. How Parents Can Help Their Children: Get Organized and Learn to Be Productive
My three children started school and
have experienced many “firsts” over
the last few weeks: new schools,
supplies, teachers, classes,
friends, clothes, and schedules.
This is a universal time of change
for all parents of school-age
children. And though much has
suddenly changed in our children’s
lives, much has stayed the same in
some: disorganized bedrooms, poor
time management, lack of discipline,
and stress. As parents, it’s easy to
get caught up in the hustle and
bustle of settling our children into
the new school year and making sure
they’re comfortable that we forget
about the ongoing struggles our
children endure the rest of the
year.
17 pages.
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18. Important Components of a Time Management System: What You Need to be Organized
In this ebook, we’re going to be discussing the important components of a Time
Management system. Whatever method works for you – paper, electronic, or a hybrid –
there are still some pieces of everyone’s methods that are common to all. Everyone has
a way of tracking appointments or to-dos. Some people use paper while others use
electronic options. Rather than thinking of it as a good/bad or right/wrong decision, or
that there is one correct method, there are some principles that are foundational to
every Time Management system.
20 pages.
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19. Intense Focus - Where Successful People Get Their Direction
What you do with your day demonstrates the value you place on certain tasks and reflects the importance you give to your activities. Successful people have an intense sense of direction, which guides the choices that cause them to succeed in their goals. In this audio program, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, will teach you how successful people are driven by an intense focus on their priorities.
22 pages.
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20. Keep Your Job,
Your Family, and Your Sanity : Successful Solutions to Stress Less
My business mission is to help people become more productive. Why? With
productivity increases, you can get your work done more efficiently, so you can leave
the office earlier and get home to your life. Ultimately, that is why we work and that is
what our lives are all about: love.
21 pages.
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21. Leadership Strategies for the Four Stages of Change - Moving People to Commitment
Change is the only constant in life today. You may try to understand and react to the changes in your work and personal lives in a positive and productive manner, but sometimes you can feel overwhelmed and confused about how to assist other people. In this audio seminar, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, will discuss how you can help your employees navigate the upcoming changes they will face.
22 pages.
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22. Leave the Office Earlier: How to Strike a Balance Between Workplace Productivity and Employee Burnout
Burning the midnight oil is harmful to employees and employers. But deadlines loom, e-mail piles up, and your star employee has put in another thirteen-hour day. How can leaders keep key people producing at high levels but not leave the organization from overwork and stress?
22 pages.
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23. Maintaining Energy During the Day: Beat the Exhaustion and Be More Productive
It's hard to be productive when you want to put your head down on your desk and take a nap. In this eBook, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, author of The Exhaustion Cure, will guide you in making the behavior changes necessary to give you vitality and productivity every day!
29 pages.
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24. Making Teams Work: How to Create Productive and Effective Teams
It takes a lot of work and discussion to get a team to function productively and effectively. Tapping a team's creative power can only happen when team members recognize and value each other's contributions and strengths. You’ll realize the impact of your time management style on others. You’ll find out how to relate positively as a team member. And you’ll hear how to increase the circle of trust and understanding among your team members.
25 pages
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25. Managing Employee Performance: Motivation, Ability, and Obstacles
When an employee doesn’t perform up to par, a manager must evaluate why the job isn’t getting done and help the employee improve. In this eBook, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, will teach you how! You’ll determine the cause of performance problems, create a motivating environment where employees want to give their best, and criticize effectively when needed.
19 pages.
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26. Managing Your Time: Planning and Prioritizing for Success
Time Management is considered a management discipline. However, it’s not typical
management in the sense that you can control time. In other words, you can’t manage
your time so well that you can create a 30-hour day for yourself. It is, therefore, not
classic management, but instead what I like to call self-management. It’s about making
choices around time.
17 pages.
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27. Moving on UP - Changing Your Approach at the Managerial Level
When you make the transition to management, you'll find that while the basic principles that have guided your career thus far still apply, your approach to them must change. Things look somewhat different at the managerial level, and your duties and decisions are more significant and encompassing. Sure, the perks are better, but so are the responsibilities!
15 pages.
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28. Organizing Your Office and Your Life: Clear the Clutter and Your Mind
Do you have the “Depression Mentality”? Are you tidy but disorganized? Do you have your organizing system in your head? If so, you need the help of bestselling author Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®. Laura will help you truly get organized at work and home, so you can retrieve information quickly.
14 pages.
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29. Productive Reading Strategies: Organizing and Tackling Your Reading Pile
Do you have too much to read and too little time? You’ll benefit from these reading techniques designed to boost your reading productivity! Getting through your reading tasks more quickly will free up time for other priorities.
21 pages.
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30. Productivity Strategies for Executives - Time Management Issues Facing C-Suite Leaders
In my recent book, SuperCompetent (John Wiley and Sons, 2010), I identified and described six keys that anyone can use in the workplace to maximize their performance: Activity, Availability, Attention, Accessibility, Accountability, and Attitude. Recently, I've been considering how all six affect C-Suite executives—that is, upper-level executives like the CEO, CFO, CIO, Presidents, VPs, and Directors. What issues, concerns, and challenges do senior leaders face in these areas?
14 pages.
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31. Self-Promotion and Self-Presentation Skills: Marketing Yourself for Success
The ability to handle yourself properly at a job interview will make you stand out above the competition. Powerful self-promotion and self-presentation skills will help you enhance your perceived value to the hiring manager. Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, will teach you four techniques to market yourself powerfully in a job interview.
17 pages.
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32. Stop That Stinking Thinking: Shift Your Attitude and Regain Perspective
Being negative really takes extra energy¬---energy you could otherwise be channeling into your favorite pursuits. Instead, learn to approach life with a positive, can-do attitude! In this eBook, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, will teach you how to cultivate tolerance instead of impatience; optimism rather than pessimism; and gratitude over an ungrateful spirit.
16 pages.
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33. SuperCompetent Speaking - Lessons Learned After 20 Years as a Professional Speaker Creating Killer Presentations
In her monthly column at Training Magazine, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, has ranged far and wide across the subject of public speaking—covering everything from how to dress to how to break the ice, deal with hecklers, retain the audience's attention, and use stories to enhance individual talks. Learn the differences between keynotes and workshops, how to avoid presentation pitfalls, how to either cut or stretch a speech to meet your customer’s needs, and much more. Laura believes you'll find the following eBook, which includes 27 of my collected columns, to be insightful and motivational, whether you're just starting out or you've stepped onto the stage a thousand times.
63 pages.
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34. SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best
In this competitive economy, just being able to do your job is no longer enough. Competence is simply expected in today’s workplaces. But you can’t be simply competent; you have to be SuperCompetent® to get an edge. In this eBook, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, gives high potentials proven methods to reach peak performance and achieve breakthrough results. You’ll discover the six keys to unlocking your full potential.
19 pages.
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35. Tackling Timewasters: Pleasing, Perfectionism, and Procrastination
Do you have a case of the “got-a-minutes”? Can you say no to improper requests? Do you know how to recognize a timewaster when you see one? Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, is ready to help you recognize timewasters and eliminate them from your day.
18 pages.
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36. The 6-D Information Management System: Processing Paperwork, Email, and Voicemail
Do you process information quickly or let it pile up? Do you have piles of paper on your desk and piles of files in your computer? Bestselling author Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, will use her proprietary 6-D System to show you how to manage information. You’ll learn to quickly move paper, email, calls, and information through your system as soon as it crosses your desk.
18 pages.
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37. The Customer Bill of Rights: The Top Four Things Customers Want
SERVICE is SURVIVAL. We’re all competing for customers. If you don’t provide good service to them, they’ll go somewhere else. Laura Stack, who has run a successful speaking and training business for nearly 20 years, will teach you how to get new customers and keep the ones you have by practicing the four things all customers want.
18 pages.
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38. The Customer Code of Ethics: The Eight Beliefs of a Great Service Attitude
The study of ethics seeks to address concepts such as good and bad, right and wrong, justice, and virtue. As ethics apply to customer service, it’s your attitude about the way to treat customers, which has to stem from an inner belief that it’s the RIGHT thing to do. You’ll learn from Laura Stack, who has run a successful business for nearly 20 years, the eight beliefs of a great service attitude.
18 pages.
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39. The Five C's of Good Communication
Would you like to learn how to get decision makers to read your documents? Would you like your materials to be placed at the top of the stack? Now you can! Learn from Laura Stack, the author of several published books, as she offers sage advice for successful business writing. Whether you’re crafting cover letters, resumes, or emails, keep these five key communication principles in mind.
13 pages.
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40. The Greatest Gift of All: Showing Your Love by Giving Your Time
Never take your time with your spouse for granted, for tomorrow may never come. Treasure every minute with your beloved. Make time when none exists. Put aside your work to look into your spouse’s eyes and really listen. In this eBook, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, lets us in on some of the inside secrets of her successful marriage. She preaches what she practices: giving the greatest gift of all to your spouse: your time.
18 pages.
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41. The Performance Engagement Model - Managing the Five Personality Profiles in the Workplace
When you’re responsible for employees or teams (management/HR), you must manage two main areas for productivity impact: 1. EFFORT: Performance/Results/Work (WHAT THEY DO), and 2. EXPERIENCE: Engagement/Environment (HOW THEY FEEL). What are some of the factors that impact effort? What are some of the factors that impact the employee experience? Ultimately, the factors that lead to high PERFORMANCE and the factors that lead to high ENGAGEMENT are different. Being independent variables, I use a matrix to help managers assess an employee's levels of engagement and performance. If you combine high and low aspects of these dimensions, you can gauge your employees and teams composition.
17 pages.
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42. The Productivity TIP System: Organizing Your Time, Information and People
This Productivity Pro® TIP series focuses on improving your personal
productivity by organizing three critical areas: Time, Information, and People (TIP).
This series is written for anyone responsible for improving personal productivity—in
yourself or others. Whether you’re a corporate worker, a small business owner, a
government employee, or a stay-at-home parent, this series will help you improve your
productivity with specific, actionable, practical TIPs for success.
52 pages.
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43. The Six Laws of Approachability: How to Break Down Barriers and Get People to Like You
Would you like to get people to instantly like you and be drawn to you, without them even knowing why? Now you can! Bestselling author Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, presents her incredible Six Laws of Approachability.
18 pages.
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44. Time Management: How to Control Your Day in an Uncontrollable Workplace
Do you find yourself continually racing against time? Do you feel that you have so much to do that it's difficult to get anything done? Time management is much more complicated than making a list and checking things off. Managing time effectively is the key to managing your individual performance. In this eBook, Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, will teach you how to set priorities; focus on what's truly important; and schedule your day.
14 pages.
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45. Where Did I Put My Keys? Six Essential Skills for a Stellar Memory
Would you like to remember things more easily? Would you like to stop waking up in the middle of the night, suddenly thinking of something? Would you like to relieve your brain of the strain of tracking reminders? Now you can! Bestselling author Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, presents her six incredible keys to improving your memory.
18 pages.
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46. Your Household Budget: Juggling Finances on the Home Front
In the ongoing whirl of work, family obligations, social interactions, and all the other activities that make up our lives, it's easy to forget about domestic finances. Who wants to worry about bills on top of everything else? But effective handling of your household budget forms a foundation for your efforts elsewhere, and it's especially critical for busy Moms and Dads. So in this white paper, I'll discuss strategies for successfully staying on top of your home-front financials.
18 pages.
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