Time management is one of the most crucial skills you can develop to increase your efficiency and productivity, no matter what industry you’re working in. Optimizing your work style in the little things can lead to big changes for you and your team. That’s why we’re here to give you a few tips to help you work on your time management.

Schedule some regular short breaks. Many people looking to up their productivity have turned to tricks such as the Pomodoro Technique for decade. The Pomodoro Technique involves setting a timer to break your work into twenty five minute intervals, with five minute breaks in between. This can turn even huge tasks into manageable chunks and programs in breaks just long enough to reset and recenter yourself without losing your progress.

Be careful about multitasking. Multitasking can be very tempting when your to-do list starts looking a little long. And sometimes it’s even necessary. But more often than not, you’re better off taking a deep breath and taking down your tasks one at a time. Juggling too many things at once can shatter your focus and momentum. No matter how many fires it feels like you need to put out, sometimes it’s counterproductive to let yourself get pulled in too many directions.

Know your limits. Don’t bite off more than you can chew and get burnt out. Learn to say no when someone approaches you with a new task when your plate is full. You know best what you have time for. Learn how to politely decline tasks or delegate them to your coworkers in order to be able to handle your most important tasks efficiently and without wearing yourself thin.

Make a schedule and stick to it (if you can). Planning can help you keep on task and on schedule. Setting yourself up for success before you even get started can be key to working effectively. But then again, we all know that plans that sound great on paper don’t always work in practice. Have a structure, but don’t be rigid. If something urgent comes up, don’t sweat deviating from the plan too much.

Improving your time management means not only boosting your productivity, but also making sure you’re attending to your wellness. You can’t have one without the other when it comes to making your time at work count. Also, keep in mind that as a manager, you have team members looking to you for direction both concerning job responsibilities and concerning how best to manage those responsibilities. Set an example with your time management skills.

We all know that employee morale can have a huge impact —positive or negative — on the performance and success of an organization. But what you may not realize is that the overall attitude, satisfaction and outlook of a company’s employees rest nearly completely on the leadership skills of its executives, managers, and supervisors. In many instances, leaders don’t realize that they are contributing to a morale issue within their organization. Here are some of the biggest morale-killing behaviors to watch out for:

Discouraging constructive criticism

A lot of workplace leaders struggle with accepting unfavorable – but constructive – feedback from their subordinates. After all, you’ve likely been in this industry longer and/or worked for this company much longer than they have – why should you listen to someone with less experience and workplace wisdom compared to you?

Answer: because they may have valuable insight that you’d miss out on if they don’t speak up. If you want to truly develop an innovative workplace culture, then you need to follow through when you promise your employees that they can offer input when they have ideas or suggestions. All too often, bosses verbally encourage this, while their reactions to criticism suggest they’re not so open to feedback like they say they are. Make sure your words align with your actions and be willing to accept constructive criticism from those working closely with you.

Micromanaging employees

It’s hard to feel motivated to perform your job when you know more than half of your tasks will be intensely scrutinized and criticized by your boss later on. Micromanaging bosses tend to correlate with higher employee turnover rates because most people don’t want someone constantly checking up on them and making sure they’re doing their jobs correctly.

Micromanaging your employees can make them feel like you think they’re incompetent (even if this isn’t what you truly think), and most adults don’t want to feel like they’re children with overbearing parents watching their every move in the workplace. Many employees value at least an average level of independence to complete their assignments (within reason, of course), so do yourself and your employees a favor by learning to let go and trust them until/unless they prove themselves incapable of completing assignments on time and/or correctly.

Valuing efficiency above all else

If your only value is efficiency, then hopefully your employees are all machines and robots because human beings aren’t built for maximum efficiency, all the time. Sometimes, life just gets in the way, whether that’s a mental illness, physical sickness, issues with family at home, death of a loved one, financial struggles, or all of the above. Get to know your employees and do what you can to help them not only do their job well but to achieve some level of work-life balance. Have you made any effort to get to know your employees and their career and life goals? Studies have shown that helping employees with life goals —or helping to solve a problem they’re facing — can dramatically increase morale.

Rather than striving for efficiency above all else, take time and effort to display more compassion and understanding towards your employees. Just like you, they’re not perfect – but they’ll be much more willing to give you their best efforts if they feel like you genuinely care about how they’re doing.

In the business world, a strong personal brand is a highly coveted asset. If you’re seeking to create a memorable brand for yourself, here are three ways to craft not just a brand, but a reputation that can take you far and a leader.

Create a website and/or social channels that share your philosophy. When it comes to personal branding, you must be proactive or face the prospect of being branded by others in ways you may not want. Be sure to take active control of your personal brand on the Internet. Don’t let others define you. Work to create your own unique and positive image. On social media, share news and information that you find compelling and useful that also reinforce your brand.

Act in a way that reinforces your personal brand. Personal branding is also about reinforcing your image with your actions. A great example of that strategy: Vocalist Taylor Swift has mastered the art of crafting a brand of personal generosity by doing unexpected things for her fans. All you need to do is google ‘Taylor Swift generosity’ to get just a glimpse of what she’s accomplished. Are you branding yourself in part as an advocate or supporter of small business? It would mean so much more to personally advocate and assist entrepreneurs than to just say that you support small businesses.

Help your business network succeed. Helping those you know succeed can help make your personal brand memorable. Plus, it’s an awesome feeling to know you’ve helped others reach personal goals and a greater level of success. Others will respect you all the more when you put the focus on other people instead of yourself. Do you know of a job opportunity that someone in your business network may want to know about? Is there a board position that would be a perfect fit for a business associate? There is no better way to build those personal connections than by letting others know about opportunities that could benefit them.

Maybe you’re looking to move into a management position in a new company or maybe you’re trying to bring your career to the next level. Either way, the job search takes skill just like everything else you’ll do in your professional career.

If you’re on the ‘learning curve’ in a new job search because you’re back in the market after years of experience in a single position, or even after a longer employment search – then you’ll want to brush up on your hunting skills. Sometimes the easiest way is to learn from the experiences of others, so today we’re sharing a list of the most common executive-level job search mistakes.

Mistake #1: Your resume is ineffective. It’s either too long, too short, too formal, or just out of date. You want to create a resume that’s concise and is focused on your accomplishments and skills. Be sure also to update it with the links to your websites, portfolio, and social media profiles.

Mistake #2: You’re not helping employers to understand how your experience will relate to their needs. Good communication and “soft skills” are so critical for job searchers today. For every potential interview, you should know how your skills are relevant and will provide value to their organization. You should also be ready for interviews with a list of strengths and practice incorporating them into potential responses to interview questions.

Mistake #3: You haven’t checked your references. Only include references that you’re sure will be effective. Don’t use your current company email, phone, or computer for a job search. These common errors can put you in the awkward position of unexpectedly having to explain a job search to a current employer – and that’s not a good situation to be in if you want a positive reference.

Mistake #4: You haven’t searched yourself online. Don’t let an unflattering or non-existent online presence create a gap for hiring managers. A professional presence on social media or through a personal website will help to distinguish you from the pool of applicants.

Mistake #5: You’re not working your network. It’s best to establish good professional ties before you need them, but it’s never too late to reach out to potential contacts in your network of family, friends, former colleagues and peers. You can also accomplish this by volunteering, working on a side project, or freelancing.

Now that you know the common mistakes, you can get out there and land that dream position with all the right tools in hand!