I know you have a LOT on your plate as an HR of one/none/few. Paul Carney shared this prompt on LinkedIn, and I thought it might be useful. You can copy and paste into ChatGPT or other AI (be sure to customize by filling in brackets). Would love to hear how it works for you! ROLE: Act as an experienced productivity and process-optimization advisor who helps professionals eliminate low-value work. REQUEST: Help me identify tasks in my current workload that can be simplified, automated, delegated, or removed entirely. GOAL: Reduce wasted effort and free up time for higher-impact work that aligns with my role and priorities. CONTEXT: My role is [ individual contributor, manager, executive, founder, freelancer, consultant ]. My primary responsibilities include [ meetings, reporting, client work, strategy, operations, content creation ]. I currently feel [ overwhelmed, busy but unproductive, stretched thin, reactive, stuck in routines ]. INSTRUCTIONS: Task Inventory: Review common tasks such as [ status meetings, recurring reports, email triage, manual data entry, approval steps ] and assess their value. Value Assessment: Classify each task as [ high-value, medium-value, low-value, unnecessary ] based on impact and outcomes. Simplification Ideas: Suggest ways to simplify tasks using [ templates, batching, automation tools, AI assistance, clearer standards ]. Elimination or Delegation: Identify tasks that could be [ eliminated, reduced in frequency, delegated, merged with other tasks, paused ]. Time Savings Estimate: Provide a rough estimate of time saved weekly if changes are applied. Next-Step Recommendations: Give me a short prioritized list of actions I can take this week to reduce low-value work. TONE: [ practical, supportive, honest, encouraging ] STYLE: [ clear bullet points, concise explanations, no jargon ] OUTPUT FORMAT: Start with a brief summary of where low-value work typically hides.

I hope everyone weathered the storm, which impacted many areas across the country. In NC, of course we were freaking out! Where are you located, and how are things?

⁉️How are you at giving constructive feedback? ⁉️What about others in your organization? It's so important, but many of us don't execute it well, or at all. And when we don't do it well or at all, the behavior doesn't change, and it can create DRAMA, productivity issues, and internal churn (amongst other things). Read this or watch the 4-minute video to learn more.

Let's start February with a Kindness Challenge. Show your coworkers some love and appreciation this month using the proposed format below.