Accessibility helpSkip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footer
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
Open side navigation menuOpen search bar
Financial Times
SubscribeSign In
  • Home
  • World
    Sections
    • World Home
    • Middle East war
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • War in Ukraine
    • Americas
    • Middle East & North Africa
    Most Read
    • UK
      Sections
      • UK Home
      • UK Economy
      • UK Politics
      • UK Companies
      • Personal Finance
      Most Read
      • Companies
        Sections
        • Companies Home
        • Energy
        • Financials
        • Health
        • Industrials
        • Media
        • Professional Services
        • Retail & Consumer
        • Tech Sector
        • Telecoms
        • Transport
        Most Read
        • Tech
          Sections
          • Tech Home
          • Artificial intelligence
          • Semiconductors
          • Cyber Security
          • Social Media
          Most Read
          • Russian court approves scandal-hit Wildberries merger
          • AI-powered devices dominate Consumer Electronics Show
          • The uncomfortable truth about social media networks
          • Silicon Valley’s largest start-ups to shun IPOs in 2025
          • Musk calls on California and Delaware to force auction of OpenAI stake
        • Markets
          Sections
          • Markets Home
          • Alphaville
          • Markets Data
          • Crypto
          • Capital Markets
          • Commodities
          • Currencies
          • Equities
          • Wealth Management
          • Moral Money
          • ETF Hub
          • Fund Management
          • Trading
          Most Read
          • Climate
          • Opinion
            Sections
            • Opinion Home
            • Columnists
            • The FT View
            • The Big Read
            • Lex
            • Obituaries
            • Letters
            Most Read
            • Lex
            • Work & Careers
              Sections
              • Work & Careers Home
              • Business School Rankings
              • Business Education
              • Europe's Start-Up Hubs
              • Entrepreneurship
              • Recruitment
              • Business Books
              • Business Travel
              • Working It
              Most Read
              • American Airlines’ use of ‘ESG activist’ BlackRock failed workers, US judge says
              • Do you want the good feedback, or the bad feedback? 
              • The underwear brand that’s neither Victoria’s Secret nor ‘Bridget Jones granny pants’
              • Narcissist CEOs like risky insider trading and are bad at it: study
            • Life & Arts
              Sections
              • Life & Arts Home
              • Arts
              • Books
              • Food & Drink
              • FT Magazine
              • House & Home
              • Style
              • Travel
              • FT Globetrotter
              Most Read
              • HTSI
              MenuSearch
              • Home
              • World
              • UK
              • Companies
              • Tech
              • Markets
              • Climate
              • Opinion
              • Lex
              • Work & Careers
              • Life & Arts
              • HTSI
              Financial Times
              SubscribeSign In

              Personal productivity

              • Sunday, 5 January, 2025
                Miranda Green
                Duolingo’s nagging owl leaves us with nowhere to hide

                The language learning app has science behind its mascot, but cajoling doesn’t always make us more productive

                A cartoon owl flies after a woman, with words in various languages floating around them
              • Friday, 27 December, 2024
                Camilla Cavendish
                Modern life is drowning in a sea of verbiage

                Brevity and clarity have given way to a deluge of text from corporate ‘word salads’ to prolix presentations

                Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America, making his famous ‘Gettysburg Address’
              • Sunday, 27 October, 2024
                Jemima Kelly
                If you’re going to multitask, do it mindfully

                Doing more than one thing at once can feel overwhelming — but it can also be liberating

                Ben Hickey illustration of a witch stirring a cauldron while looking at a laptop and books floating around her head
              • Tuesday, 24 September, 2024
                ReviewNon-Fiction
                Over Work — have our jobs become too greedy for our time?

                Brigid Schulte makes a convincing case for a drastic overhaul of the way we earn a living

                A view from outside of two office floors at night. We can see a Christmas tree, one man sitting at a desk and two men gazing out of the windows
              • Sunday, 22 September, 2024
                Emma Jacobs
                The office is not the only solution

                Demands for workers to return full time have a rose tinted view of in-person work

              • Friday, 20 September, 2024
                Undercover EconomistTim Harford
                My biggest productivity mistake

                I often write about how to get things done but that doesn’t mean I always succeed

                Two wooden mannequin hands reaching upward, appearing to juggle three crumpled white paper balls, set against a solid yellow background
              • Sunday, 25 August, 2024
                Pilita Clark
                The science of saying no at work

                Researchers who put themselves under the microscope made some important discoveries

                Illustration of a person sitting at a desk with an open laptop surrounded by signs saying ‘No’
              • Monday, 24 June, 2024
                Anjli Raval
                Should employers monitor more than mouse clicks of remote staff?

                Bosses are encouraged to help employees manage clash of domestic and work responsibilities

                A laptop and notebook on a desk with an empty chair nearby
              • Friday, 8 March, 2024
                FT Magazine
                The life-ruining power of routines

                Habits don’t lead to personal optimisation. They lead to suffering

              • Friday, 2 February, 2024
                Camilla Cavendish
                The home-working revolution is harming younger workers

                Bosses who insist on a return to the office are demonised — but turning up is better for your career

                Illustration of office desks empty except for computer keyboards and screens  with various screen savers on - main one is an image of a perons hands and face pushing from inside the screen
              • Monday, 8 January, 2024
                ExplainerWork Watch
                Can schedule send save us from out-of-hours emails?

                Timing messages can aid flexible work but mask long hours

              • Friday, 29 December, 2023
                Grace Lordan
                Are you paying attention? Try these hacks to stop distraction

                Channelling your mental resources can improve wellbeing and productivity

                Image of a woman with her hands on her hips seen from behind facing a background full of app icons including email, whatsapp and a to-do Post-It note
              • Monday, 4 December, 2023
                Anjli Raval
                Why staff loyalty is not always a good thing

                Faithful workers are inclined to invest more time and effort in their jobs. But it’s not all rosy

              • Friday, 13 October, 2023
                Undercover EconomistTim Harford
                Why we can’t quit email, even though we all hate it

                Our inboxes contain news that ranges from the trivial to the life-changing, which is why they’re so addictive

              • Sunday, 8 October, 2023
                LexFlexible working
                Working week: four days is flawed way for most Premium content

                Krystal Hosting’s failed trial highlights challenges for customer-facing businesses

                Employees seen as silhouettes against their brightly lit offices with large windows
              • Friday, 1 September, 2023
                Future of work
                ‘Friday is just a dead day’: how a summer perk became a year-round staple

                More white-collar employees are clearing the decks at the end of the week after pandemic upended in-office work

                A jogger in New York City
              • Monday, 28 August, 2023
                Grace Lordan
                Starting the day like Jamie Dimon set me up for success

                Many CEOs rely on a regular morning routine, so I decided to experiment

                JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who likes to rouse at 5am and voraciously read for up to two hours
              • Monday, 10 July, 2023
                Employers wake up to the power of a staff nap

                Groups from law firms to the NHS are seeking help for the overworked

                A workman takes a siesta on a girder during the building of Radio City in New York in 1933
              • Tuesday, 13 June, 2023
                Working It17 min listen
                How to be more productive at work

                Productivity hacks to counter a world full of distraction

              • Monday, 24 April, 2023
                Anjli Raval
                Psychological tests can help firms hire better — but accuracy is not guaranteed

                Employers are using personality assessments to resolve disputes and diversify their workforce

                Montage image showing a person doing a Rubik’s Cube
              • Wednesday, 19 April, 2023
                Anjana Ahuja
                Automated stress detection might not be the office panacea it appears to be

                New technology intended for self-management could open the door to surveillance

                Andy Carter illustration of a stressed worker holding her head in her hands while sat at a laptop
              • Tuesday, 11 April, 2023
                Grace Lordan
                How to be a better leader in the new workplace

                Research tells us what works — and what doesn’t — in terms of engaging staff, at home and in person

                Illustration of people sitting at their desks looking at their laptop screens as they attend an online meeting with the people who are in the office with them
              • Tuesday, 28 March, 2023
                Sarah O'Connor
                We are all secretaries now

                Cost-cutting has left workers drowning in ‘self-service’ admin tasks — but AI might come to the rescue

                FT montage image showing a man working at a computer, with a clock and notifications for emails and messages hovering in the background
              • Thursday, 9 March, 2023
                FT Magazine
                How to work smarter, not harder, according to Cal Newport

                His strategies for stressed-out knowledge workers have sold 2mn books. What does he know that we don’t?

                A close up photograph of a man outdoors, with blue skies behind him. He is looking hopefully upwards. On top of the image a selection of cartoon stickers have been applied, including a cartoon brain, a computer, a ringing mobile phone, a calendar and chat emojis
              • Thursday, 9 March, 2023
                Special ReportThe Modern Workplace: People
                Spooks in your machine: rise in WFH monitoring drives dissent

                Surveillance of staff at home or in workplaces can be counterproductive, researchers argue

                Senator Bernie Sanders speaks next to Christian Smalls, founder of the Amazon Labor Union during a rally in the Staten Island borough of New York
              Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

              Useful links

              Support

              View Site TipsHelp CentreContact UsAbout UsAccessibilitymyFT TourCareersSuppliers

              Legal & Privacy

              Terms & ConditionsPrivacy PolicyCookie PolicyManage CookiesCopyrightSlavery Statement & Policies

              Services

              Share News Tips SecurelyIndividual SubscriptionsProfessional SubscriptionsRepublishingExecutive Job SearchAdvertise with the FTFollow the FT on XFT ChannelsFT Schools

              Tools

              PortfolioFT AppFT Digital EditionFT EditAlerts HubBusiness School RankingsSubscription ManagerNews feedNewslettersCurrency Converter

              Community & Events

              FT Live EventsFT ForumsBoard Director Programme

              More from the FT Group

              Markets data delayed by at least 15 minutes. © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2025. FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.
              The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.
              Edition:UK
              International
              Subscribe for full access

              Top sections

              • Home
              • World
                • Middle East war
                • Global Economy
                • UK
                • US
                • China
                • Africa
                • Asia Pacific
                • Emerging Markets
                • Europe
                • War in Ukraine
                • Americas
                • Middle East & North Africa
              • UK
                • UK Economy
                • UK Politics
                • UK Companies
                • Personal Finance
              • Companies
                • Energy
                • Financials
                • Health
                • Industrials
                • Media
                • Professional Services
                • Retail & Consumer
                • Tech Sector
                • Telecoms
                • Transport
              • Tech
                • Artificial intelligence
                • Semiconductors
                • Cyber Security
                • Social Media
              • Markets
                • Alphaville
                • Markets Data
                • Crypto
                • Capital Markets
                • Commodities
                • Currencies
                • Equities
                • Wealth Management
                • Moral Money
                • ETF Hub
                • Fund Management
                • Trading
              • Climate
              • Opinion
                • Columnists
                • The FT View
                • The Big Read
                • Lex
                • Obituaries
                • Letters
              • Lex
              • Work & Careers
                • Business School Rankings
                • Business Education
                • Europe's Start-Up Hubs
                • Entrepreneurship
                • Recruitment
                • Business Books
                • Business Travel
                • Working It
              • Life & Arts
                • Arts
                • Books
                • Food & Drink
                • FT Magazine
                • House & Home
                • Style
                • Travel
                • FT Globetrotter
              • Personal Finance
                • Property & Mortgages
                • Investments
                • Pensions
                • Tax
                • Banking & Savings
                • Advice & Comment
                • Next Act
              • HTSI
              • Special Reports

              FT recommends

              • Alphaville
              • FT Edit
              • Lunch with the FT
              • FT Globetrotter
              • #techAsia
              • Moral Money
              • Visual and data journalism
              • Newsletters
              • Video
              • Podcasts
              • News feed
              • FT Schools
              • FT Live Events
              • FT Forums
              • Board Director Programme
              • myFT
              • Portfolio
              • FT Digital Edition
              • Crossword
              • Our Apps
              • Help Centre
              • Subscribe
              • Sign In