Author Archives: Emma Bullen

Brainstorming is stupid and you should stop doing it

Image of people brainstorming from Shutterstock.

Research shows that brainstorming with a group of people is not the best way to come up with ideas. So why are we still doing it and how can we come up with stronger ideas, and still look like team players? Writer Emma Bullen has some suggestions.

Da Vinci didn’t do it, Shakespeare didn’t do it, Darwin didn’t do it. And I’m going to go out on a limb here and tell you that Elon Musk probably doesn’t do it either.

I am (of course) talking about brainstorming — the art of solving a problem by holding a spontaneous group discussion with your colleagues. Controversial this one. I’m sure a lot of you are reading this thinking, “what does she know, I brainstorm with my team all the time and we come up with GREAT ideas.” Continue reading →

Exhausted? 7 Pick Me Ups That Are Better than Coffee

Emma Bullen

Image of white desk with notebook from Shutterstock.

Can we all agree that there are days when coffee doesn’t cut it? Don’t worry — we’re not going to tell you to and give it up, or meditate, or even exercise! Writer Emma Bullen has seven things you can do to give yourself a boost when you’ve hit a brick wall.

Look, it’s not that I don’t like meditation, deep breathing, and going for long walks in the country. I actually like all of those things. But seriously, if one more person tells me I need to do some visualization to boost my energy levels, I’m going to throw my natural deodorant at them. Continue reading →

Want more success at work? Make friends

Emma Bullen

Image of friends working and sharing ideas from Shutterstock.

Experts say making friends at work not only increases work satisfaction, but it also increases your chance of success. It’s time to stop trying to keep our work life and our personal life separate and learn to embrace office friendships. Writer Emma Bullen shares the benefits of having a workplace buddy system.

When I first started managing a team, I had so much work to do that I made little time for my work friends. The more I skipped lunch to work harder at my role and the later hours I worked, I noticed something interesting start to happen. I began to feel lonely, demotivated, and crazy stressed. It didn’t help that I sat in an office by myself.

Gallup sites that having friends at work increases employee satisfaction and productivity. That’s good for business, but it’s also great for the success of your career. Continue reading →

Being productive is easy. It’s getting started that’s hard

Emma Bullen

Image of smiling businessman on phone from Shutterstock.

There are plenty of self-help books on how to completely revolutionize your life, but they take time, commitment, and a varying degree of effort that seems to range from medium output to forgetaboutit. Emma Bullen promises to help make you more productive with very little effort.

As human beings, we love habits. Whether it’s our route to work or the way we organize our emails, we do things time and time again because they work. What if I told you, you could be more effective by using your existing habits? Instead of reading dozens of self-help books that promise to revolutionise your lifestyle, you could make significant changes by building on your established routines. Sound intriguing?

Habit Stacking is a simple technique for getting more done by adding to our existing systems. How does it work? Continue reading →