It always amuses me how many people get inspired to get organized come the New Year. It's as if 1/1 somehow had a magical connotation. What was wrong with 4/16 or 11/8? For whatever reason—POOF all of a sudden you're ready. But, hey, at least it's getting done, so bring it on. What you don't want to happen, however, is a massive shopping trip to buy bins, baskets, gadgets, etc., if you have no plan on how to use them and implement your system. Your new organizational tools can now create more piles and even more clutter. Clutter is not always a problem that can be solved by bins. That can make it even worse. Here's how I would systematically declutter an area. Get five sturdy boxes. Label them: 1. Put Away—items that are out of place and should be put away 2. Give … [Read more...]
Pre-made shopping list
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...]
Get out of your meeting—make your cell phone ring
This is hysterical. Have you ever been sitting in a boring meeting, wishing you had a reason to excuse yourself? Or on a disasterous blind date, looking for an escape? Before a potentially draining engagement, visit PopularityDialer.com. Schedule a free call to your cell phone at a designated time and specify a conversation: boss, cousin in need, friend, etc. The recording actually pauses for your end of the conversation. You'll be out of there in no time. … [Read more...]
Eliminate interruptions for better concentration
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
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...]
Jot-It: a Nice Alternative for Post-It Notes
I just received a sample product from Cocoa Living called Jot-It, a desktop writing board. Pretty neat concept. Takes the place of putting sticky notes all over the place. If you're the type that writes on scraps of paper, a corner of your desk calendar, or the bottom of the whiteboard hanging on the wall, this could work for you. It's essentially a whiteboard on an angled desktop frame where you write notes to yourself, things to do, a phone number to call, etc., and then erase them with the built-in Expo marker eraser when you're done. The clear top lifts up and allows you to put one of several lined templates underneath to keep things neat. While I wouldn't use it personally, since I capture notes in my DayTimer(R), it would be good for a … [Read more...]
Parents Want Help Helping Kids Learn Time Management
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...]
Time management joke on tracking time via time sheets
With my thanks for the laugh to Golden Jokes for this great joke on tracking wasted time on a time sheet: Dear Staff, In an effort to maximize productivity in our department I will be implementing a tool used in many industries. You will be tracking your time working on certain activities and sending me a time sheet weekly showing me how your time has been spent. Attached below is a sheet specifying a job code list based on some observations of employee activities. Please begin using this job code list immediately and let me know about any difficulties you encounter. Thank you. Your boss. Code Number Explanation 5316 Useless Meeting 5317 Obstructing Communications at Meeting 5318 Trying to Sound Knowledgeable While in a Meeting 5319 Waiting for Break 5320 Waiting for … [Read more...]
Believe you’re among the top performers in your office?
An article in last week's BusinessWeek magazine made me laugh out loud. In an online study conducted from June 28 to July 5, 2007, BusinessWeek asked 2,000 Americans in middle management and above, 25 years and older, "Are you one of the Top 10% of performers in your company? The amazing result? A whopping 90 percent of managers think they are in the top 10 percent of performers at their workplace. 97% of executives, 91% of males, and 89% of females said yes. Hello? Can you say "denial"? Obviously these ostriches have their heads in the sand. While I laud confidence and a positive attitude, most of these people are statistically wrong. So how would you KNOW if you were one of the top 10 percent of performers in your … [Read more...]
Workers’ Average Commute Round-Trip Is 46 Minutes in a Typical Day
The results from the Gallup Organization's annual Work and Education survey show the average American averages 46 minutes commuting to and from work in a typical day. If you take out those who work at home, the average increases to 48.1 minutes per day. However, if you have above-average income and work more than 40 hours a week, your commute is greater than the average, and so is your stress level. Since the advice "move, earn less, and work fewer hours" doesn't work, let me instead give you some ideas to make your commute more productive, efficient, and stress-free: Use the phone. Now I’m one of those people who get aggravated while people are chatting away on their cell phones while driving…generally because they’re not, well, driving. Many people have no idea how slowly they’re … [Read more...]
