How do you keep up with your laundry? I just heard from a reader who puts a load in before she goes to bed, throws it in the dryer on the way out the door to work, and uses the "touch up" feature when she gets home before folding. By doing this every day, she always keeps up with her laundry. She also recommended safety pinning socks together the minute she takes them off (she has a little basket in her closet), so she never has to search for and match socks. What little tricks do you have for staying on top of the skivvies? … [Read more...]
Pre-made shopping list
Posted on 11/28/2007 by ·
Ever want to buy healthy food at the supermarket, but you didn't have time to look in your recipe books and can't think of what to buy? Get tired of writing the same basic items---eggs, bread, milk---on your list again and again? Keep your kitchen well stocked by hanging a pre-printed shopping list on your fridge. Print a stack of copies at the Self magazine site. Stick one to your fridge each week and check off things as you run low on various items. Then use the list to trigger your thoughts on buying healthy foods for lunches and dinners for the week. … [Read more...]
Eliminate interruptions for better concentration
Posted on 11/06/2007 by ·
Interruptions abound—a co-worker drops by to chat, the phone rings, and your boss sends you an email to handle something, pronto—all at the same time. With a flurry of activity, you respond to these various demands. All prove to be low priority, and an hour later, you return to your initial task, your energy waning. You decide you’ll work on the project in the afternoon, when your energy picks up again. Of course, after lunch, there’s some crisis, and after fielding a volley of phone calls and unscheduled visits from co-workers, the day ends, and the project is yet again unfinished. You’ve lost your momentum. Much like your car has to work harder to accelerate from a complete stop, so does your brain. Although interruptions are a normal (and … [Read more...]
Handling vendor phone solicitation with a magic mailbox
Posted on 10/25/2007 by ·
A seminar participant shared a great trick she uses for those pesky salespeople who won't take "no" for an answer: << We had an extension set up that goes directly to voice mail so when I get a sales call asking for my boss (I can always tell it’s a sales call), I just say one moment (they think they are getting through), and they are immediately directed to our message that states “Thank you for calling (XXX) Medical Corporation. If you would like to mail us information regarding your company, our address is… or, if you prefer to fax your information, our fax number is… Thank you for calling…" I love it!! They may call me back but….they go right back into my magic mailbox. It works great because I don’t have to waste my time getting them off the … [Read more...]
Get Ready for Tax Time…in October?
Posted on 10/10/2007 by ·
“What? Laura, you’ve got to be kidding! You want me to start thinking about tax time in October? Halloween hasn’t even passed yet.” That’s precisely the reason. Once my kids’ third favorite holiday is over at the end of this month, all minds will be focused on the holiday season. Thanksgiving will come and go, then the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza season will go by in a flash, and then it will be the New Year. Once again, you’ll be stressed out and scrambling trying to get everything pulled together. Why not start getting organized for tax time now, before the flurry of wrapping paper hits? By putting yourself in tax mode nice and early, you can DRAMATICALLY reduce the amount of stress in your life down the road. Imagine kicking back with your refund already in hand (yes, the early bird … [Read more...]
Even Out the Underwork and Overwork Cycle
Posted on 10/09/2007 by ·
Some of the most unenergetic employees I’ve met in my 15 years of delivering personal productivity seminars are tax auditors in an accounting firm during the off-season. They are bored during most of the year and then worked to death during tax season. This constant bouncing back and forth between underwork and overwork has really sapped their motivation and desire to devote energy to their work. Conversely, the fall is the busiest time of my year, where there’s not much breathing space to be had until November. But I make sure to keep myself occupied productively when it’s slow; in fact, I look forward to those times. If you are experiencing a slow time, don't get bored or frustrated until things pick up again! Take advantage of it and even things out. … [Read more...]
Parents Want Help Helping Kids Learn Time Management
Posted on 09/26/2007 by ·
The back-to-school season is a time of change in a kid’s life. New schedules, new activities, new friends--both parents and children need to learn how to adjust to all the change. From the first day of elementary school throughout high school, kids have school assignments, sports, music and theater practices, social activities and home obligations thrust upon them with the expectation that they will magically know how to do it all. However, without the proper guidance and an easy-to-use system, it is easy for children and parents to get overwhelmed. In fact, in a recent DayTimers® survey on back-to-school resolutions, 72% of parent respondents said they wanted to improve their time management skills. And the best way to learn is to teach it. Teaching children time … [Read more...]
Setting and Succeeding at Back to School Resolutions
Posted on 09/24/2007 by ·
DayTimers Community productivity expert and author, Laura Stack, offers easy-to-achieve tips to help families succeed at making and keeping back to school resolutions. Back-to-the-Future. The first step in moving forward with back-to-school resolutions is to take a look back. What were the situations from the previous school year that could use improvement? Did your child often miss the bus? Did they have a hard time making the honor roll or even passing grades? Was everyone too busy to sit down for dinner together? Once you figure out what areas need improvement, it will help set goals for the upcoming year. Talk to your children. Whether your school-age children are in elementary school or high school, talk to them about areas they would like to see change, both personally and … [Read more...]
Have you become more productive or just learned how?
Posted on 09/20/2007 by ·
With all of the tips and tricks that we’ve discussed in this blog (including tons of great reader suggestions), we’ve all hopefully learned HOW to be more productive, personally and professionally—but have we BECOME more productive? I’ve come up with a few questions that you can ask yourself to see where you stand. Of course, there’s always room for improvement, so if you don’t like all of your answers you can always browse the archives of my newsletters for some inspiration. Are you productive -- or just busy? Watch out for this one, because it’s an easy trap to fall into. Everybody likes to look busy. Some workers make a career out of it while actually accomplishing very little in the average day. People zoom around the office, guzzling coffee and stomping back and forth to … [Read more...]
Use laughter to boost your productivity and reduce stress levels
Posted on 09/18/2007 by ·
Have you ever had a day that had so many things go wrong, that it eventually started to be downright funny? Your toast burned. Irritating. Your seven-year-old couldn’t find his other shoe, making him ten minutes late for school and you late for work. Irritating. You dropped your briefcase, and the quarterly reports you printed for this morning’s meeting fell in a mud puddle. Irritating. At lunch with a new client, you shake the mustard bottle, the cap comes off, and a big glop of mustard flies right into the middle of your forehead. Hilarious! This is the stuff comedies are made of! Your entire morning is fodder for a sitcom. I was giving a seminar at an environmental engineering firm and was told a story of an engineer … [Read more...]
