In a world where time can quickly slip through our fingers, it can often feel a struggle to keep up with the demands of daily life. Balancing work, family, relationships, and personal well-being can feel overwhelming. But it’s important to remember that it’s okay to ask for help or take a break when needed because, after all, we are only human. Effective time management is crucial for productivity, setting limits, and self-care.
time management So, here, Gill Mahon, Chief People and Places Officer at Totalmobile Ltd, shares her five practical tips to make the most of your valuable time.
Gill proudly serves as Chief People and Places Officer at Totalmobile Ltd, making history as the first woman to join the Board in 2021. With a career steeped in leadership roles within recruitment and HR, Gill passionately champions authentic leadership. Her mission is simple: she’s dedicated to making HR more approachable by ditching traditional jargon and helping leaders achieve business success through their people.
Prioritise with Purpose: Try to start each day by identifying the critical tasks that align with broader goals. This ensures that energy is directed towards what truly matters, fostering a sense of accomplishment and progress. Don’t undervalue the significance of prioritisation.
time management The 5-Minute Rule: In a world inundated with “just a quick task”, apply the five-Minute Rule. If a task takes less than five minutes to complete, do it immediately. This prevents the ever-growing collection of minor to-dos that can sometimes feel overwhelming and will free up mental space for more time-demanding challenges!
Strategic Time Blocking: Time blocking is a cornerstone of effective time management! Start by carving out specific blocks in your schedule for focused work on particular projects or tasks that are on your list. This conscious approach helps guard against distractions, allowing for deeper concentration and heightened productivity. Utilising your emails insights can be a great starting point too!
Embrace the Power of No: In a culture that often glorifies busyness, I advocate for the liberating art of saying no. Recognise personal limitations and being selective with commitments is key. This not only prevents burnout but also ensures that time is spent on things that align with your personal and professional goals. There is enormous power in saying “No”. It can even lead us to new opportunities that wouldn’t have been achievable by saying yes. And, it also allows us to set boundaries – and they are always important to have!
Have a Tech Detox: Constant connectivity can be a double-edged sword. To enhance productivity, take an occasional tech detox! Designate specific periods without email, notifications, or social media, allowing for an uninterrupted focus on high-priority tasks or even some much needed you-time!
Mastering time management is an ongoing journey, and perfection is not the goal. Instead, it’s about cultivating habits that align with your individual strengths and objectives. By realising these five practical tips, you can navigate the intricate dance of time with strength and purpose. Give them a try!

Computer Science She then left having been inspired by a Harvard Business Review piece on play at work to start Playfilled which aims to bring the principles of play into the world of work. It is a platform used by Big Four accountancy firms, global tech companies and major banks and users report an uplift of up to 20% in mood and energy after just one 12 minute session.
I never wanted to go to university. I wanted to enter the world of work as soon as possible. However, because I had ambitions to be a leader in the City from my teens, the quickest and most certain route available at the time was to have a degree. Thankfully things are now showing signs of changing and more options are opening up with non-traditional career paths.
My choice of CompSci as a degree was inspired by my Dad who was a Computer Engineer and entrepreneur. He had a challenging upbringing and left school with no qualifications before successfully paving his own way in life. Not only was he an inspiring role model, he was a pioneer in instilling in me the belief that I could code – and do anything that I put my mind to. So it didn’t matter to me that I was one of two girls in my year.
Ultimately, I wanted to run my own business, so it made sense after uni to learn how the numbers worked too, and I trained as an accountant. I also sensed that being a conduit between IT and “the business” would put me in good stead. Turns out this was right; in every role I had, it was a solid foundation that set me apart. And today, we see these lines are more and more blurred, reflecting the diverse skill sets showcased by the 5 Female Researchers Shaping the Future of Computer Science.
Computer Science Fast forward to my mid-thirties and I’m the Chief Risk Officer of a $5bn insurance company. I’ve achieved what I dreamed of on paper, but something wasn’t working underneath the surface. Late one night in the office, I stumbled across an article about why we go to work. It framed our intrinsic motivators in a way that I hadn’t seen before:
Potential, where a role will take us; the classic story of why we go to work Purpose, the impact we have; which corporates were increasingly engaging in Play, the enjoyment of the work itself; the spark that ignited my change of path Given my CompSci brain, I immediately saw the possibilities for data and insights about what play is for each person. And how we could harness these to design better work spaces, problem-solving sessions, cultures and work allocation processes. When we think of play at work, our minds might jump to Google slides and playful innovation sessions. But for me, the most powerful example is a coder or actuary quietly losing track of time solving problems; something they deeply love and get all the benefits of play from.
So after working up the courage, I left corporate life at the end of 2019 and teamed up with my co-founder Tzuki to explore the question of “how might we bring the incredible benefits of play to the corporate world, in a way that is meaningful and helps deliver results?”. This is where my CompSci degree really came into its own. Its helped me:
Design the logic for various prototypes and MVPs – I might not be writing the code these days, but I have a solid understanding of what it entails Develop no-code prototypes to test the functionality and UX Confidently work with experts to build out our technical vision After several years of the test-learn-iterate loop-the-loop, we’re now launching our global Wonder Dates Club platform that helps people be happy high performers with 12-min creative speed networking on-demand. Since we started Playfilled, the technical landscape has seen a seismic shift in AI capabilities. I’d never claim to be an expert inside this black box. But that doesn’t matter to me. I’m more excited about unlocking the possibilities and have the confidence from CompSci to join the dots with the right team around me.
My go-to when seeking courage to pursue my audacious career and life ambitions is:
“You don’t have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.” – Michael Dell
CompSci enabled me to easily develop frameworks and have the confidence that – with a lot of help from my deep-expert friends – I can make all of my big dreams a reality. And we urgently need so many more girls and women to create frameworks and dreams so technology empowers us all, not just a few.

The NHS’s five steps to mental wellbeing can all be applied to a professional setting and provide a good place to start for businesses that are looking to promote wellbeing in the workplace.

Firstly, connecting with other people is recommended by the NHS as a way to be energised and stimulated by those around us. Our workplace offers an opportunity for meaningful collaboration, relationship building and personal emotional support

Physical activity is the second step on the NHS list, there are multiple opportunities to build these into the working day including walking meetings and ‘go, look, see’ practices, which are often seen in lean working environments, and which enable context-based observations and can identify practical improvements. You may also like to evaluate how much emphasis you place on input as opposed to output and to make sure you are as flexible as you can be, in recognition that people have different patterns/times of day when they are at their best.

Learning new skills is the third step, and one which can be easily transferred to a workplace setting. Professional development should be available and accessible to all, with managers playing a key role in identifying opportunities for their team members to explore different areas by allowing them time to develop.

Finally, mindfulness – paying attention to the present moment – is vital to mental wellbeing, according to NHS guidance. All too often I see overstretched colleagues rushing between tasks and juggling overwhelming workloads, leaving little time or headspace to focus on the here and now. By reviewing team structures and reallocating responsibilities, business leaders can free up their teams to concentrate on what matters most to deliver value and take pride in achievements.

Importantly, business leaders and managers should apply each of these stages to their own mental wellbeing. We know that leadership and management responsibilities can very often lead to overwhelm, which results in lower productivity and performance and this will most likely cascade into teams. In trying to meet the many responsibilities of running a business, many leaders put others first and neglect themselves. Instead, I advocate putting your own oxygen mask on first – taking care of yourself so that you can lean into your responsibilities with confidence, capability and capacity.

From e-commerce and banking to the arts and product design, AI-driven tools are enabling an explosion of information – both helpful and unhelpful – redefining the roles of human creators. But navigating, curating, and managing this vast sea of content presents a new set of challenges.

Recent data highlights the dramatic increase in AI-generated content. According to a 2023 report by Gartner, the number of AI-generated artworks and creative pieces has quadrupled since 2020, with AI-generated content expected to represent 30% of all digital content by 2025. Additionally, new research shows that AI systems risk collapsing into nonsense as more of the internet becomes filled by unchecked AI content.

Enter the AI curator, a solution poised to address the potential overload of AI-generated information. This bespoke system, which aligns with AI in the workplace: The benefits of ChatGPT, is designed to choose, organize, and display content in a meaningful way for specific audiences.

The Business Case for AI Curation
As the volume of AI-generated content skyrockets, the AI curator is a crucial mediator. AI curation offers a solution by leveraging machine learning and natural language processing to sift through massive datasets, identifying the most relevant and high-performing content for specific audiences. This not only enhances discoverability but also ensures that valuable tools and solutions do not get lost in the noise.

AI in Action: A Curated Partnership
AI curation is already making significant inroads in various sectors. News platforms like The Washington Post use AI to curate and recommend articles, tailoring content to individual preferences and keeping readers coming back for more. In the arts, museums grapple with the sheer volume of creative works, something AI curators can help with, providing new ways to engage audiences and uncover hidden masterpieces.

For instance, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has used AI to digitise and curate its extensive collection. The museum’s “Operation Night Watch” project employed AI to assist in the restoration and study of Rembrandt’s iconic painting. By analysing high-resolution images, AI provided insights into the painting’s original colours and techniques, guiding conservators in their restoration efforts.

Personalisation and the Human Element
AI curation can drive innovation by uncovering hidden gems and emerging trends that might otherwise go unnoticed.

The most effective AI curation strategies adopt a hybrid approach, combining the power of machines with the nuanced understanding of human curators. Such approaches can bring a more authentic and empathetic touch to personalisation, ensuring that the final output retains a human element that algorithms alone often lack.

Challenges and Ethical Considerations
Despite its benefits, AI curation is not without challenges. One significant concern is the potential for bias in AI algorithms, which can perpetuate existing prejudices and inequalities.

Furthermore, the reliance on AI for curation raises questions about the diminishing role of human judgement and the potential loss of serendipity in discovery. While AI excels at identifying patterns and preferences, it may overlook unconventional or avant-garde works that do not fit established trends.

The Future of AI Curation
Looking ahead, the evolution of AI curation is set to become increasingly sophisticated, with advancements in explainable AI and hybrid models that combine human and machine intelligence. These systems will not only enhance the accuracy and relevance of curation but also provide transparency into how decisions are made, fostering greater trust and acceptance among users.

1. STACK OVERFLOW
A popular question-and-answer website for developers. You can find solutions to a wide range of programming problems and participate in the community.

2. GITHUB
A platform for version control and collaboration on software development projects. You can find open-source projects, contribute to them, or host your own repositories.

3. MDN WEB DOCS
A comprehensive resource for web developers, maintained by Mozilla. It provides detailed documentation and guides on web technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more.

4. DEV.TO
A community-based platform where developers share their knowledge, experiences, and insights. You can find tutorials, and articles, and engage in discussions with fellow developers.

5. HACKERRANK
A platform that offers coding challenges and competitions to help developers practice and improve their coding skills in various programming languages.

6. CODEPEN
An online code editor and community where you can showcase your front-end web development projects, experiment with code, and find inspiration from other developers’ creations.

7. CSS-TRICKS
A website focused on CSS and front-end development. It provides tutorials, articles, and resources to help you learn and master CSS techniques and best practices.

8. SMASHING MAGAZINE
An online publication that covers a wide range of topics related to web development, including design, coding techniques, performance optimization, and more.

9. MEDIUM
A platform where developers and experts share their insights and experiences through articles and tutorials. You can find content on various programming languages, frameworks, and technologies.

10. DEVDOCS
A comprehensive documentation aggregator that provides quick access to documentation for various programming languages, frameworks, and libraries in one place.

These are just a few examples, and there are many more websites and resources available based on your specific interests and technology preferences.