This is a guest post by Sarabeth Lewis, a freelance SaaS copywriter and UX writer based in Austin, Texas. Lewis regularly writes for AppSumo, a team of amazing folks who run insane lifetime deals on the best software tools in the world… while eating an impressive number of tacos.

Email. What a blessing (and a curse).

If you’re anything like me, you’ve let your inbox get away with far too many shenanigans. You want to take back control and organize your Gmail. But how?

At Process Street we understand that email is ubiquitous for working professionals. Despite its ubiquitous use, many complain email has a central flaw: a tendency to become your to-do list.

Am I wrong?

This usually occurs passively, inadvertently causing you to lose control of your own time.

When your day is commandeered by your inbox, it means that other people are controlling your calendar.

In this article, you will find out how to take back control and organize your Gmail. Click on the links below to jump to the relevant section, or scroll down to keep reading.

• Organize Gmail: Remove email distractions
• Organize Gmail: How to obtain inbox zero
• Organize Gmail with Kelly’s Gmail system, our 9 step process
• Organize Gmail: 2 more (optional) Gmail tips
• Organize your Gmail with Process Street
• Organize Gmail: Take it one step further with an automated email

Let’s get started.

Continue Reading

Modern technology is extraordinary.

After all, without the advancements that have been made over the last 50 years, you wouldn’t be reading this post!

This is exactly why, when asked what has brought the biggest improvements to our lives, four-in-ten Americans said “technology”.

But we’ve reached a critical juncture.

There’s so much technology now. I would dare to say there’s even too many apps, pieces of software, and gadgets we’re using.

From different teams in an organization all using varying project management software, to spreading important information that really should be hosted in one place across a multitude of platforms, using too much software in the workplace can make things incredibly confusing. Not to mention overwhelming.

In reality, we could all do with a digital declutter, using only the essential applications, and ensure we’re utilizing those applications (such as Process Street!) intelligently.

This, in a nutshell, is digital minimalism – and it’s what I’ll deep dive into during the following sections:

• What is digital minimalism?
• The authority on digital minimalism: Cal Newport
• The benefits of being a digital minimalist
• How to become a digital minimalist yourself
• Best practices for the digital declutter process
• Use Process Street – your all-in-one BPM solution

Ready to take back control of your work and life with digital minimalism, feel less like a robot, and even find a little zen along the way?

Let’s go.

Continue Reading

Career aptitude tests are powerful tools for both employers and employees alike. They can be used to gain insight into personal tendencies and make informed responses to career and hiring decisions.

Tests like these can differ in:

• Purpose (i.e. for career placement, selection, counseling, or training)
• What they measure (i.e. what they are designed to measure, be it personality type, skills, work approaches, values, or vocational interests)
• What they predict (i.e. performance, quality of work, management potential, career success and satisfaction, your next job)
• Format (online, paper form, in-person)
• Standardization and rigor (how subjective or objective are the test results?)

Some tests are highly structured, with definitive quantifiable outcomes; others are more flexible, and designed to be personally interpreted.

This article will look at six different types of aptitude test, broadly defined, and run through the process of how you can build your own aptitude tests using Process Street.

We’ll cover:

• What is a career aptitude test?
• How to build an aptitude test with Process Street
• The Myers-Briggs / Jungian Types Personality Test
• Free aptitude test template: Big Five Personality Test
• Free aptitude test template: Holland Codes
• Free aptitude test template: Leadership Tools
• Free aptitude test template: DISC Assessment
• Free aptitude test template: IQ Test
• Superpowered checklists

Let’s get started. Continue Reading

“To put it bluntly, goals are for losers… goal-oriented people exist in a state of nearly continuous failure that they hope will be temporary.” – Scott Adams, Scott Adams’ Secret of Success: Failure

Matching up systems vs goals might seem odd but the truth is that you should be using one and not the other.

Let’s be honest – we’ve all set goals that we’ve never met.

From broken New Year’s resolutions to a failed career as the next big rockstar, goals have a nasty habit of not being met.

Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert thinks much the same in his book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life.

He identifies that everything wrong with goals can be solved by instead applying a regular system to complete your tasks.

I scoffed at first but then realized that I’d done precisely that to lose 70 lbs in six months and learn the piano.

That’s why today I’ll cover:

• What are goals?
• What are systems?
• Systems vs goals
  • Systems replace motivation with routine
  • Goals are hard to follow up on
  • Systems are consistently rewarding
  • Goals carry a more negative mindset
  • Systems are more realistic and flexible
• Turning goals into systems
• How to build systems

Let’s get started!

Continue Reading

Think life coaching is mumbo-jumbo? A bit of social hocus-pocus?

It’s not. And it’s a rapidly growing market.

In the U.S., the personal development industry was worth just $707 million in 2011, but that quickly shot up to over $1.06 billion in 2016.

To boot, the International Coach Federation believes over 53,300 coaches are practicing their craft worldwide, with over 17,500 of those coaches operating in the U.S.

So if you’re wanting to break into the coaching industry and establish yourself as an authority figure, you’re going to need all the help you can get. And that means getting life coach certification.

Confused about what life coach certification is?

I’ve got you covered.

In this post I’ll define what a life coach is (useful for any non-life coach readers), give examples of prominent life coaches, clarify what life coach certification is and how to get it, then offer free Process Street-made templates to help you with life management. Just read the following sections below:

• What is a life coach?
• Inspirational life coaches
• What is an ICF life coaching certification?
• Which life coach certification road should you take?
• How Process Street can help you be a better life coach!

Now, take a deep breath.

We’re about to get started.

Continue Reading

Marie Kondo has managed the impossible. She’s rallied a large chunk of the population into getting excited about tidying up.

That’s right. Tidying up.

And there are clear benefits to decluttering – from being able to donate to thrift stores more to having improved mental health, to having better financial management and even boosted rates of productivity.

But how did Marie Kondo revolutionize the act of tidying?

With a simple process called the “KonMari Method”.

In this post, you’ll find out who Marie Kondo is, the science behind the lauded KonMari Method, why the method is beneficial for everybody, and you’ll even get your hands on a (free) KonMari Method checklist!

Read through the following sections to get the complete rundown on Marie Kondo:

• Who is Marie Kondo?
• What the KonMari Method is and how it helps with tidying
• Rules of the KonMari Method checklist
• Benefits of following the KonMari Method
• Use the KonMari checklist yourself to spark joy!

Now, let’s spark some joy.

Continue Reading

A to-do list is a written set of tasks you intend to complete, but it improves productivity only when it helps you choose the work that matters most. The best to-do list tips focus on priority, realistic capacity, and protecting time for one meaningful goal.

The following is a guest post by Jay Liew, who runs Great Big Minds. He shares practical ideas intended to help readers live with greater purpose and pursue what matters to them.

We’ve all been there. A letter icon on your phone has a five-digit number in the top corner and your apprehension at tackling it grows stronger every day.

You’re drowning in emails.

“In 1993 I didn’t need a system for doing email… and yet, today, I feel like the only way you’re going to succeed at a job… is figuring out how to deal with a high volume of email.” – Merlin Mann, Inbox Zero Google Tech Talk

Lucky for you, there’s a handy method called inbox zero which you can use to blast through your messages and stay on top of your backlog.

Say goodbye to email hell; your easy (and free) solution has arrived.

Continue Reading

Motivation is a massive factor to your productivity, but you can’t stay motivated without inspiration.

Hell, success comes from surrounding yourself with people who are better than you, so why not learn from the top of the heap?

To help, we at Process Street have put together 30 productivity quotes from the best of the best.

Continue Reading

It sounds like a miracle pill or silver bullet. Polyphasic sleep. How to rest for two hours a day with no ill effects.

Imagine everything you could get done with that free time! No more rushing for work deadlines, wishing you could read that book that’s been haunting your bag for a year, or trying to find time to just relax.

Unfortunately, as with most miracle solutions, polyphasic sleep has major associated health risks and little in the way of proven benefits. Most of its good press is down to urban myths and overestimating the positives.

We don’t sleep just for the hell of it – humans need solid rest to process the information gained in waking hours and properly order memories. Unfortunately, the idea of periodically napping throughout the day to replace regular sleep is consistently brought up in productivity discussions.

“An hour on the dream machine keeps me sane.” – Gustav Graves, a literal James Bond villain, talking about his sleep schedule and glowing light mask… thing

The idea is nothing if not persistent, however, and so below we’ll dive into the theory behind polyphasic sleep, the alternative sleeping schedules you can try, and what the best way to get more out of your day is.

Let’s get started.

Continue Reading