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4 Easy Ways to Increase Your Productivity

Guest post by Ebonee

Recently featured on this blog were some tools that help keep your business organized that allow you to stay focused. To further the conversation, let’s discuss a few tried and true techniques that, when used alongside these tools, will increase your productivity.

Have Purposeful Space
Several studies have shown that our surroundings have a huge effect on our work habits and productivity. Try setting aside a specific workspace that is an optimal environment for keeping you focused. You can consider decluttering your desk, surrounding yourself with calming inspiration like art or music, and only having essential items nearby.

Make the Time
Even though our schedules can be full to the brim with daily tasks and errands to run, do yourself a favor and regularly set aside some time where you can focus on one thing. Scheduling time blocks for the most important things is a great way to be proactive and increase your productivity. Be sure to have this time be as focused as possible. For example, rather than blocking an entire afternoon for “writing articles”, schedule a half hour for brainstorming, a half hour for outlining, and two hours for writing. Don’t be afraid to schedule a little time for yourself as well. Perhaps you can finally finish that book you started or go outside and enjoy the weather.

 

Remove Distractions
There’s definitely technology that can boost our productivity, but there’s also technology that causes us to waste hours at a time. Our phones, Internet, and social media are a few of the biggest productivity hindrances out there. People getting distracted by Facebook alone has been attributed to a loss of $28 billion a year in workplace productivity. This is where only having the essential items in your workspace comes into play. Try using “do not disturb” functions for your phone or email, and you could even go all in on blocking certain websites that may distract you. There are even gadgets now, like this surround wifi system, that can do everything from blocking certain sites, to pausing the Internet.

 

Set Boundaries During Work Hours
For any of you that work in a busy office or work from home, it can be incredibly easy to get pulled in different directions, all of which are away from your work. Whether it’s your coworkers asking you to tag along for lunch, or that laundry list of things to get done around the house, it’s important to prioritize work during work hours. Scheduling time blocks, like the ones mentioned earlier, will help immensely. Try setting aside a few hours of work, and then a little bit of time to do something for yourself.

 

Today’s guest blog post is courtesy of Ebonee,a freelance writer committed to researching and helping others increase their own productivity, mainly through the help of new technology.

5 Tools To Keep Your Business Organized

Guest post by Jessica Kane, for FlexCon

When it comes to business, every single second counts. If you want to optimize your productivity to the highest level, then organization is essential. Staying organized allows you to have as much free time as you need to spend with your friends, family, and hobbies away from the business. On the other hand, being disorganized is the quickest way to invite disaster. Without organization, your focus and your strength are sapped away at the speed of light. The following tools can help you attain the level of organization that will ensure that your business is always moving in the right direction on all fronts.

 

Cloud Technology

The ability to store information via cloud is possibly one of the most helpful technological innovations that we have the privilege of using today. Once upon a time, a computer malfunction could potentially mean that a person lost all of their important files with no hope of ever getting them back. Today, with the help of cloud information storage, there is no need to fear that your information hangs in the balance of the sudden crash. Cloud storage allows you to store your information in either a public or a private cloud, instead of just having it locked into a hard drive.

 

Automated Social Media Posting Tools

Social media may not in and of itself be an explicitly business-oriented tool, but there is absolutely no denying that it has gained extreme merit as a business-strengthening resource. Even if keeping up-to- date with social media may seem as if it takes quite a bit of time, there are certain software tools that can automate your social media presence so you can stay connected on the go. You can save yourself tons of stress by investing in a social media software package that does the work for you, such as If This Then That (IFTT).

 

Things

One of the biggest tools to help businesses stay organized is Things, an Apple program designed to work in conjunction with David Allen's Getting Things Done productivity process. This program operates by taking very large tasks and breaking them down into smaller portions so that they immediately become more manageable. Everything from cleaning a room to managing projects at work can instantly be organized into small, manageable segments. The program can be synced across multiple Apple devices, including Macs, iPads, and iPhones. Users have the ability to establish a time limit so that all tasks and small jobs can be approached with the appropriate priority.

 

Expensify

This service enables the user to instantly import their credit card statements and keep track of all of expenses, including everything from lunch to travel expenses. Expensify allows the user to create reports for any kind of expense and upload the business receipts for viewing at any time. Certain events can be linked to different people for the purpose of accounting. There is a mobile application available for all platforms that allows the user to incorporate their data in an instant. It can be used for 10 receipts a month at no cost, and is just twenty cents for every additional receipt.

 

PressKing

With all the different online platforms that we have today, the potential to share press releases with thousands of people is infinite; on the other hand, reaching every contact all on every different platform can be very tiring. With PressKing, the user will be able to instantly launch any press release to as many as 200,000 people at a time. Press releases can be scheduled for release to email contacts and social network contacts alike. Business owners who are launching new products can instantly alert everyone in their circle and across different platforms with their announcements. 

 

Jessica Kane is a professional writer who has an interest in keeping things organized and in order. She currently writes for FlexCon, a leading vendor of corrugated plastic bins and boxes.

Evernote Tidbit #6: Keep Vital Info at Your Fingertips

In my work with clients to help them get their paperwork and information in order, we always create a hard copy folder called "Vital Documents." Inside this folder, we store physical originals or copies of important items such as birth certificates, drivers licenses, passports, Social Security cards, insurance policies and so on. This practice helps give my clients peace of mind that they can find this vital information if they ever need it. 

Holy moly we're six weeks into my Evernote Basics series already! We've covered the introduction, how to capture information within Evernote, how to annotate images and how to use Evernote to capture and share your favorite recipes. This week I want to share how easy it is to capture and store vital information and find it in an instant. 

Have you ever been on vacation and gotten a call that all was NOT well at home? Flood. Fire. Break-In. Emergency vet visit. Things can happen when you're away from home and although you may have hard copies of your vital documents and information in a fire safe in your house, they do you no good when you're away.

This is where Evernote saves the day.

Create a notebook called Vital Documents where you drop all the above-mentioned pieces of information, along with countless others that you'd want to have access to in a crisis. These could include hand written notes with bank account numbers and contact information, photos of your credit cards, scanned copies of powers of attorney, wills, trusts, business cards with doctors names and contact info, and your financial adviser's contact info just to name a few. If you have a spouse or kids, you can share the notebook (or only certain notes in it) with them too.

For additional security for your personal information, I recommend encrypting the text in these highly confidential notes as well as adding a passcode lock to your Evernote mobile app. Encrypting is EASY as pie too! On the desktop version of Evernote, simply highlight the text you wish to encrypt, right click it and select "Encrypt Selected Text." You'll be prompted to create a passphrase, and then type it a second time to confirm. NOTE: This is a special passphrase you'll use only for encrypting. This is not your Evernote password. If you ever forget your encryption passphrase, you're SOL, because Evernote CANNOT access it.

Having all your important information stored in Evernote will give you peace of mind that even if something should happen to your hard copies AND your computer hard drive, that you'll be able to access the information immediately via the web, your mobile app or your desktop client. 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links above and below the post. Thanks for sharing!

PPS: Links in the above post are affiliate links. I'll make a few cents if you click through and subscribe to a paid version of Evernote. There is a free option for everyone though!  :)

Evernote Tidbit #5: Create a Shared Task List

We're five weeks into my Evernote Basics series and you've learned a lot already! This week I want to tell you how you and your family, professional team or clients can use Evernote as a way to easily share and manage a common task or project list. 

Step One: Create a new note in Evernote by hitting the plus sign at the top of the page, and title the note Shared Task List. Or you could call it Stuff To Do. Heck you could call it Jimmy Stewart for all I care, but it needs a title.

Step Two: Begin typing a list of tasks, breaking up the tasks by person or by category, as in the example below.

 

Step Three: Highlight all the items on your list with your mouse or trackpad, as below.

 

Step Four: Click on the "Checklist" icon in the formatting toolbar at the top of the page. 

 

Step Five: POOF your text list becomes an interactive checklist!

Step Six: Share your note with other Evernote users using the "SHARE" button at the upper right. Now you will all be able to add things to the list and check things OFF the list as they get done.

Shared task lists are handy when you're collaborating with others on a project of any kind. What ways would creating shared notes be helpful to you and your personal or professional team? 

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links above and below the post. Thanks for sharing!

PPS: Links in the above post are affiliate links. I'll make a few cents if you click through and subscribe to a paid version of Evernote. There is a free option for everyone though!  :)

Evernote Tidbit #3: Annotating Images and Screen Shots! Woot!

Have you ever tried to explain to a friend (ummm or your parents) how to navigate a website or app? Perhaps you need to explain measurements to a contractor over email. Or maybe you just want to create a cute Internet meme. Describing something visual without using visual aids can be a challenge, so this week we're talking about one of my all-time favorite ways to use Evernote: Annotating Images!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, an annotated picture is worth ten times that in its efficiency of communication. For example, if I were to send you email instructions trying to explain how to upload a photo to Facebook, it would take several lines of text explaining where on the page to look for certain buttons and in what order to do things, and you still might not quite get it. But if were to send you an annotated photograph I don't even need an explanation in the body of the email for you to understand exactly what to do.

This is just one example of how annotating images makes life and business easier. I've used Evernote to annotate images for use in Powerpoint presentations, to illustrate training steps in an employee procedures manual, to create before and after photos of client projects for social media, to sell items online and a host of other things. Here are a few others I've created.

 

This item is one of many that a client was selling online. I took a photo of each piece of furniture, pulled it into Evernote, and added annotation to each one so those looking at the images didn't have to click to get complete information.

 

 

The image below I sent to a fellow who was interested in renting our mountain house for a weekend. He was concerned about whether he would have enough room to maneuver his boat trailer in our driveway. So I took a screen shot from Google Maps, pulled it into Evernote, annotated it and emailed it to him. (Yes I tend to use pink text but there are a lot of other colors too!) 

 

Ok, this next one I just wanted to make to send to my husband because he's a sucker for cute baby animals. What's not to love about that??

I could go on and on but I'm sure you can think of some great uses for image annotation using Evernote that will make your personal and business life easier! If so leave your ideas in the comments section!

 

Success & Simplicity,

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links above and below the post. Thanks for sharing!

PPS: Links in the above post are affiliate links. I'll make a few cents if you click through and subscribe to a paid version of Evernote. There is a free option for everyone though!  :)

Evernote for Productivity: Tidbit Two - Capturing Information

Last week I introduced you to Evernote which is a powerful app for capturing, storing and searching all types of information from documents and images to spreadsheets, audio notes and even hand-written notes. Last week's post was a basic overview and this week I'll show you how to get things INTO the app. 

Evernote is like many apps, in that there are two components: 

1. The web-based component, which lives at a "dot com" address online.
You go there like you would to any other website. You sign in, and you can view all your notes and notebooks. From there, you can upload information to your notebooks, create new notes and notebooks, as well as view notes, edit, share with others, and so on. 

2. The resident component, which lives on your computer.
This component is like any other piece of software in that you can access it even while you're offline because your data actually resides ON your hard drive. If you add or edit any notes or notebooks while you're offline, the resident Evernote app will SYNC ITSELF to the cloud version as soon as it gets an Internet connection. 

The first thing to learn is how to get information into your powerful new productivity assistant. Whether you prefer to use the resident app or the online version, (I work mostly on the resident app on my laptop), you can get information into Evernote in multiple ways.

 

1. Hit the PLUS sign in Evernote to create a new blank note. Then just start typing your content. (Screen shot below)

 

2. Drag and drop files from either Windows or Mac directly into Evernote. (Screen shot below)

 

3. Use the File > Attach Files command to attach a document to a new note. (Screen shot below)

 

4. Open a document, select Print, then select "Send PDF to Evernote." (Screen shot below)

 

5. Take a photo on your phone using the Evernote app. Poof! It's in Evernote!

 

6. Scan a document on your phone using the Evernote app. Poof! It's in Evernote!

 

7. Clip an article, image or entire web page directly from your web browser using the Evernote Web Clipper which is a little elephant icon that you embed in your browser bar. When you're on a website you want to save all or a portion of, just click the elephant and a window opens up. It asks you exactly what portion of the site you'd like to save, into which notebook and you can also add tags right then. (Screen shot below)

 

 

8. Send an email direct to your Evernote default notebook using your unique Evernote email address. (This feature is only available in the Plus and Premium versions.) (Screen shot below)

9. Select File > New Audio Note and record your voice using your computer or phone's microphone. (Screen shot below)

 

10. Select File > New FaceTime Camera Note (this is only on a Mac - Windows users can create a Webcam note.) (Screen shot below)

 

WHEW! There you go, TEN easy ways to get information into Evernote. Practice each one a few times so you can really get your head around it. Don't worry about what information you're capturing, just practice the navigation until it's easy to remember. Next week we'll delve into another aspect of Evernote, your personal and workplace productivity assistant!  

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links above and below the post. Thanks for sharing!

PPS: Links in the above post are affiliate links. I'll make a few cents if you click through and subscribe to a paid version of Evernote. There is a free option for everyone though!  :)

Evernote For Productivity: Tidbit One - The Introduction

Do you have a mental notebook?

I don't. Oh sure I used to years ago, but I learned that I couldn't trust it and Lord knows I could never find it when I needed it. My own truth is this... if I don't capture a thought, an idea, a task or appointment it's as if it doesn't exist. Maybe that sounds silly to you but I don't see the point in wasting valuable head space and my amazing brain thingy keeping track of things. Heck, a thirty-eight cent pencil and paper can do that. I'd rather keep my mental bandwidth free for important things like creativity, problem-solving, and coming up with great new ways to use basil. 

To that end, I've made Evernote my mental notebook and over the next several weeks I'll be sharing with you a whole bunch of ways to use it so you too can free up YOUR amazing brain thingy!

I can't tell you how many times I've mentioned Evernote in passing and the reaction from colleagues and clients is something like, "Oh yeah I've heard of that but I've never used it" or "I downloaded that a while back but I don't know what to do with it" or "Oh Evernote used to date my sister but they broke up last year." 

Ok, maybe nobody ever said that last thing.

But it does seem as if there are lots of people who have heard of Evernote but aren't quite sure what to do with it. I get it. It's like having an entire amusement park to yourself and all day to hang out. What do you do first? Cotton candy? Roller coasters? Carousel? Log flume?? OH THERE ARE SO MANY CHOICES!! 

To keep things simple and high level this week, I'll begin by saying that Evernote really is like a mental notebook in the cloud. Think of it as your own personal search engine. Except instead of searching the entire Internet, you're only searching information you've saved because presumably something about it warranted saving. 

The structure of Evernote's information management comprises notebooks, notes, and tags. That's it!

Think of a NOTEBOOK as a physical notebook. Spiral or three-ring doesn't matter. It's a big container for storing information.

Think of a NOTE as a page within a notebook. Again, pretty simple. You can have an empty notebook in Evernote just like you can in real life. As soon as you start writing on the pages of a physical notebook, you've made a note. In Evernote, as soon as you add ANYTHING to a notebook, you've made a note. Tags we'll cover later. 

As for what kind of notes you can create, Evernote accepts information in pretty much every format except vapor. And liquid. Outside of that, you should be good to go. 

You like to free-form type text directly into the Evernote app? Go for it!
Snap a pic of a hand-written page? Go for it!
Digital images? Drag 'em over.
Digital documents? Drag 'em over.
PDFs? Drag 'em over.
Spreadsheets? Drag 'em over.
Videos? Drag 'em over.
Audio notes? Record away!

Evernote's ability to accept virtually any format of information is in itself one of the features that makes Evernote such a powerful tool. It's like a giant cyber-bucket where you save anything and everything that's even remotely important to you.

And that friends, is a good stopping place for today. Next post we'll discuss the all important topic of HOW THE HECK DO I FIND MY STUFF once it's in Evernote and what to keep there? 

Good questions. Stay tuned! 

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links above and below the post. Thanks for sharing!
PPS: Links in the above post are affiliate links. I'll make a few cents if you click through and subscribe to a paid version of Evernote. There is a free option for everyone though.  :)

I Finally Became a Grown-Up

What's the old adage, "The cobbler's children have no shoes" or something like that? Well for years at my house, the organizer's office had no shoes either. And by "shoes" I mean my office was a thrown-together mishmash of whatever furniture I had brought from the last house and pieces I picked up used or had given to me by someone else. Until recently, I really didn't care much about how my office looked, as long as it was organized and supported my needs. I guess I just favored function over form. But something unexpected happened recently. 

I grew up. 

Much like the year I turned forty, when I said to myself, "Self, you're a grown damn woman. You deserve to buy a decent set of kitchen knives!" which was just before I took myself to Cook's Warehouse and did just that. 

Several months ago I was chosen by The Container Store to become one of their Contained Home Consultants. Now, I don't know if it was the trip to Container Store Intergalactic Headquarters in Texas or the full day training at the new Alpharetta location in Georgia, but like Bruce Dickinson, I HAD A FEVAH! And the only prescription (along with more cowbell) was an office makeover.

The old bulky desk? Gone.
The old bookcase? Gone.
The wooden TV tray (yeah I said it) that was holding my NeatDesk? Gone
The black plastic letter trays and desk accessories? Gone.

My grown up self wanted an office that looked and felt intentionally planned and pretty. I made over my space using mostly products from The Container Store (elfa driftwood desktop on platinum legs, three elfa 7-runner drawer units, an orange & driftwood Vario modular shelving unit, an aqua C-Table, an aqua Poppin storage cube and some aqua Poppin desk accessories). Two white Crate and Barrel leaning shelves hold books, photos and personal memorabilia and my Roost laptop stand plus an external keyboard keeps me ergonomically in line. 

Now I LOVE being in my office, which is a welcome change and further validates my long-held belief that your surroundings do have an effect on your mood and productivity. What have you done lately to change your surroundings for the better?

  

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Death To The Open Plan Office

Imagine this... you've just build a brand new house and your bedroom is a glass-walled enclosure without a ceiling, in the center of the house, surrounded by the kitchen and living areas. At first that might sound cool and different! But unless you live alone, it's not a great idea if you ever actually intend to sleep.

For most people, the state called SLEEP requires some environmental conditions -- namely darkness and quiet -- which are nearly impossible to achieve in the floor plan we're discussing. Glass walls allow light from the other rooms into the space. The open ceiling means you can hear people talking in other rooms. This complete lack of privacy would make even the most easy-going person uneasy. But hey, it looks cool! Such is the case in too many open plan workplaces. 

I started my organizing and productivity business in 1998 -- which by the way, is the turn of the LAST century -- so I'm no spring chicken. I've seen workplace trends evolve from private offices to perimeter executive offices surrounding a center cube-farm, to modern "pods" to large open tables that accommodate several work stations.

More than once I've been called in to a modern, fabulous looking office to help the employees actually get things done. The operative words in this scenario are "fabulous LOOKING" because there's not much else fabulous about an open plan office other than how it looks to the casual observer. It's like the glossy pages of a home interiors magazine. It looks pretty but you sure couldn't live there.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against offices looking cool, but the workplace has a very specific purpose. Unfortunately the open plan office most often doesn't support productive work, and in many cases it actually inhibits it.

How can you possibly carry on a conversation with a customer, prospect, or colleague when there are no walls to constrain your words? How can you make a phone call when you're in a room with seven other people who are also on the phone? How can you be expected to crank out your best work when you have to wear earbuds with white noise just to have a slim chance of staying mentally focused among the myriad visual and auditory distractions in an open office? And Heaven forbid you're an introvert whose very sanity requires being alone for large chunks of the day but you're forced to sit in the buzz of the crowd at work.  

Yeah yeah I know, I'm old. I'm a dinosaur, I'm against "progress" and I walked ten miles to school uphill in the snow, both ways. But hear me out. I believe there are ways to have your office look cool and trendy, to facilitate collaboration and employee "collision" (as one Samsung exec advocates) and still create space for your staff to be focused and productive.

If I were designing an office, I'd make it an environmental buffet where people could choose the space that fit their personal work-style, task and project-driven needs and everyday work functions.

Customer service or sales people who spend the majority of their day on the phone would get more private spaces where they don't feel they have to whisper. Creative types would be able to choose either a high-walled or low-walled cube to work in, or an open table, depending on whether their work that day requires solitary focus or collaboration.

I'd include ample group seating areas (that aren't TOO close to quiet zones) where impromptu meetings can happen, or where a person could come if their creative process requires external stimuli. For purely paperless digital workers, I would plan clusters of standing or adjustable workstations each surrounded by glass with a semi-sheer curtain to offer a bit of privacy when they need it. Sure, my plan isn't a detailed, but a big-picture example of how form should always follow function when designing a workplace that fosters worker productivity and contentment.

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Is Your Clutter Active or Passive?

"I can't believe I kept all this crap!" 

That's what a recent small business owner client as we worked together to process and organize several years' accumulation of old business papers. We went through box after box of client files, employee files, loose papers, financial statements and contracts. In the process, through my direction and experienced questioning and his sharp decision-making skills, we condensed nine full bankers' boxes to just two boxes and created new file categories in a single work session.

As amazed as he was with the speed of our work, he was equally shocked at the amount of paper he had held onto for so many years. I noticed him shaking his head a lot in disbelief, and a few times he remarked "How did I do this?"

I gently reminded him that first of all, everyone has clutter to some degree whether it's personal or business oriented. Secondly, there are two kinds of clutter: ACTIVE and PASSIVE.  

Active clutter comes is a build-up of things resulting from deliberately keeping items for a particular reason, or just because you're afraid NOT to keep them out of indecision, fear, or uncertainty. Active clutter is clutter you've actively decided to keep. Many people struggle with active clutter when it comes to making decisions about sentimental items, paper and children's items. Active clutter can be difficult to deal with because of the stories you tell yourself about the items and their value, real or imagined. 

Passive clutter is also a build-up of things, but rather than making an active decision to keep each item, passive clutter is a natural result of a busy life. Let's be real... sometimes things just accumulate because you're focused on other things. Passive clutter doesn't exist because you deliberately saved it, but rather because sometime in the past, you simply didn't make time to make a decision about it. You ignored it, boxed it, stored it, hung it, containerized it, or perhaps stowed it away "for later." Even the most ruthless anti-clutter people can have passive clutter. I'm not typically attached to physical items but when I cleaned out my home office last month I discovered a bunch of old business paper of my own that was no longer important to me, so I got rid of it. It was my passive clutter. I wasn't attached to it, I just had to be sure there wasn't anything important in the collection before I shredded it. 

My small business owner client's paper clutter wasn't active clutter. He hadn't kept it out of fear or uncertainty, it was just the natural build-up of information that happens when one manages a thriving business.

Regardless whether your clutter is active or passive, it still takes time and energy to sort and identify the items that are really worth keeping but it also feels great when you've done it!

 

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Honey I Shrunk The Office

In all my years in business I've never met a single person, client or otherwise, who doesn't have a space, a closet, or an entire Room of Mystery (AKA The Crap Room) where things tend to accumulate. Ours was the upstairs office. 

When we moved into our home in 2002, I claimed the third bedroom as my office and it worked great for a few years. When we installed WiFi in the house, I was no longer tethered to that room by an ethernet cable so I came downstairs and set up a roll-top desk in the family room. Free at last, free at last! 

At that point, my home office became nothing more than a storage area for my business files, supplies and a bunch of things relating to a side business that Christmas Boy had undertaken. We rarely went in there except to retrieve something from the closet.

Fast forward to 2015 and we've decided it's time for a change. We're moving next spring. But holy moly, how do we show the house with the dreaded Room of Mystery lurking just up the stairs?

We tore it apart. Everything came out. I consigned my desk, my office chair and other office furnishings with MoveLoot. We shredded and tossed garbage bags full of papers. We donated books and as much as we could of everything else. In the end, we got rid of most everything and the few things we did keep we stored elsewhere. 

Kablam! What used to be an under-used, low-value storage space is now our home gym! We moved our stability ball, Bosu ball, dumbbells, kettle bells, exercise bands and a free weight bar out of the living room and into what used to be our Room of Mystery!

My upstairs office closet still holds the same supplies it always did, but I shrunk my physical business footprint to just a desk in the family room and two boxes beneath it. Simply by evaluating, streamlining, decluttering and shifting things around, we added a gym to our home without spending a dime or sacrificing one thing. How can YOU re-purpose your home or office space this year? Not sure? Call me and I'll come help you figure it out! 

 

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It's National Organize Your Home Office Day!

Today is National Organize Your Home Office Day! Maybe you can't tackle the WHOLE thing but you can do one or two small things. Sort out a stack of business cards you haven't looked at in ages. Dump and organize a desk drawer. Clean out your office closet. Heck just taking everything off your desktop and giving it a good wipe down is a great way to reboot your mindset.

I pared down a few binders I was no longer finding useful and I consolidated the information inside them down into just ONE!

How will YOU take a few minutes to celebrate Organize Your Home Office Day today? 

 

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Back That Up!

If you're like many people, the new year brings grand ideas for decluttering your computer, organizing your digital data and photos, and getting your files backed up. Then before you know it, you're nearly into March and you haven't done a thing.((sigh))

To give you a jump start, here's a daily task calendar created by SingleHop, a cloud computing company offering enterprise private cloud hosting. (You can learn more about them here.)

Whether you're a teeny tiny solopreneur business or a big ol' job-providing corporation, this calendar is a good guide to help you know what to do, when to do it, and whether you've done it already. Just click the image to open it, then Save To Downloads (Mac) or Save File As (Windows)to use and share it.

 

 

 

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My Favorite Techno Life Simplifiers

Have you ever asked your mechanic which model car to buy or checked with your computer guru before downloading antivirus software? It just makes sense right? When you want good advice, you ask the professionals you know and trust what THEY use or recommend. Today I'll share with you my favorite tech-based life simplifiers. 

Carbonite.com, Mozy or CrashPlan (Web and Mobile)
Nothing makes you sleep better at night than knowing your data is backed up automatically. You just install one of these backup solutions on your Mac or PC, tell it which folders to back up and anytime something is added to a folder or changed within a folder, it gets backed up. A cloud backup system single-handedly saved my bacon when my four-month old laptop crashed in 2010. Whew.

 

Evernote (Web and Mobile)
This is my mental notebook! At first, it’s difficult to realize how much you can do with Evernote. Save web pages, links, images, create voice notes, snap photos from your webcam, upload images of receipts, business cards and more. Evernote also features seamless sync functions so your notes are always up to date on all your devices.

  

Mail 2 Web (Web and Mobile)
I love this one because even though I don’t use a web-based email client as a rule, I can still check my domain server email from any computer that isn’t mine, whether I’m at a hotel business center, a friend’s house or an Internet café. Mail2Web lets you sign into your own domain as long as you know your password. You can view, respond and delete from the free web interface as well. (The mobile app is $4.95 per month) Mail2Web offers real-time push email to all your devices, plus you can consolidate multiple email addresses into a single address too.

 

Send Out Cards (Web only)
When I first learned about SendOutCards.com I liked it so much I became a distributor. Whether you choose a distributorship or you’re a retail customer, Send Out Cards simplifies (and encourages) card sending. It’s ironic that technology killed the handwritten card and yet technology is bringing it back. Send Out Cards is an cloud-based, hard copy greeting card service that allows you to create a font out of your own handwriting, and send actual greeting and post cards directly from your computer to anyone in your SOC database. You can even create greeting cards from your own photographs. With Send Out Cards, I find that I send way more personalized cards in my own handwriting than ever before. 

 

CouponMom.com (Web only)
I admit it, I’m not a big coupon shopper. But I LOVE getting a great deal, which makes CouponMom the perfect site for me. Sign up for free and when you log in, choose to view your grocery deals by state, then choose your store. You’ll get a list of everything that happens to be on sale at the moment, regardless of whether you have a coupon. That’s my favorite way to use the site, because it allows me check the box next to each item I want then print my list. I love logging into CouponMom.com just before I head to the store because I can plan my entire shopping trip around only items that are on sale right now. Unless I desperately need a specific item TODAY, I never pay retail and if I do happen to have a coupon for an item that’s on sale, I just consider that extra bonus savings. 

 

Dropbox (Web and Mobile)
Dropbox makes it possible to easily and quickly view and transfer files between your own machines and devices, as well as with others who have access to your Dropbox folders. Just come back from a great vacation with friends? Forget emailing a hundred photos! Just set up a shared Dropbox folder and give your friends access to it. Then upload your photos, send them a link and they can go there and grab whatever photos they choose. 

 

Remember The Milk (Web and Mobile)
There are a zillion task list apps in the naked city and I’ve tried a few of them. Although I reserve the right to change my mind, so far, Remember The Milk is working well for me. Its interface is simple, intuitive, and lets me create custom lists and view my lists in various ways. I can see each list by name, or I can filter by due date, tags, or even by location according to what errand destinations I might be near at the moment. The free account limits the number of times you can sync your lists, while RTM Pro ($25 per year) gives you automatic sync.

  

ZipList (Web and Mobile)
This handy app for grocery shopping is great for keeping a running grocery list that’s always with you. It’s pretty robust, allowing you to input cost data but my favorite feature is the ease and the recipes feature. You can search for a recipe while you’re at the store and it will automatically add the ingredients to your list! ZipList makes it quick and easy to “jot” something when you’re on the go or anytime you think of it, plus it’s all in one place, sorted by category. No more tracking thirteen sticky notes around to find your complete shopping list. Another great feature of ZipList is the ability to create separate lists for your favorite stores. For example, you can keep a list for Lowe’s, Trader Joe’s, Office Max, and any other places you frequent and only view products you need from a particular store. 

What are your favorite cloud-based and mobile apps that keep you organized?

  

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Clear Your Mind Clutter

~~ Guest Post contributed by Susan Brennan ~~

Do you ever feel like your head is spinning with the enormous amount of activity that’s constantly taking place? It’s like your brain never gets a break, so you don’t feel like you can take one either.

Well, here’s where it stops!

Mind clutter is one of the worst offenders in the Family of Disorder, and it’s time we took it down, once and for all! Whether you’re tired of feeling tired, constantly losing your train of thought because you’re overwhelmed with too many things, or you just can’t seem to keep track of your To Do list because half of it never gets down on paper, you’re going to benefit from implementing these easy tips!

Here are some ways you can Clear Your Mind Clutter:

1. Get it out of your head! The very best way to clear clutter is to start by clearing it out. As soon as you think of something that is distracting you, taking up mind energy, or bogging down your brain space, take that first step to clear your mind clutter by getting it out of your head!

   a)  Write it Down – I always like to have pen and pad handy to write down any thoughts that come my way. Are you quicker at typing than writing? Email yourself that little nugget you just thought of, and save a tree while you’re at it. 

   
   

   b)  Audio Record it – I have a little recording device that I keep in my car for those moments of brilliance that come to me when I’m not at a place to write anything down. Most cell phones these days also have this capability.

2. Stop focusing on all of the things you have to do, and start focusing on the most important task in front of you. If you’re spending your time stressing over what is to come, you will have a hard time getting things done. Put that energy towards completing the project at hand, instead of racking your brain on all of the other things you could be doing.

3. Focus on one task at a time. Allow yourself to become totally immersed in that project, and put everything else off until you’ve completed it. For instance, when you decide that you’re going to spend time answering emails, turn off your phone, close your internet browser (stop checking Facebook!), and set your timer for 15 minutes. Once those 15 minutes of pure focus are up, you’ll be amazed at how much you were able to accomplish.

4. Allow yourself to take breaks periodically. They don’t have to be long breaks, but give your mind some time to relax, without heavy thinking, so it will be more apt to cooperate with you when you need to do some intense thinking!

Don’t be too hard on yourself. This is a process, and you already took the first step by reading this post! Now take some time to celebrate, and make a commitment to try this again next time you start to feel overwhelmed. Each time you work to clear your mind clutter, you’re one step closer to making it a habit! Wishing you all the success and happiness that comes with a clutter-free mind!

 

Susan Brennan is a speaker, personal assistant and productivity enthusiast. You can learn more about her and how she helps people Be Productive Vicariously, by visiting her website at www.consideritdonepersonally.com. 

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Give Productivity A Break!

Christmas Boy and I just came back from a Wine, Dine & Music Cruise and boy did we have fun! We sailed with rock and roll music legends for a week and enjoyed their performances nearly every day, ate delicious food and met some terrific new friends! That wasn't the only great stuff about our cruise, though. Turns out, Internet access is c-r-a-z-y expensive on a ship, so we did what any frugal and sensible couple would do.

We unplugged. 

Whaaaaat? Since when do we unplug on vacation? I know, I know, I'm the queen of staying connected. Heck, I've never even used an auto-responder, that's how connected I am when I'm away. Being forced to disconnect was slightly disconcerting at first but after a couple days I got used to it and actually found it liberating! I was, like it or not, forced to be in the moment with the people around us, rather than focusing on those who weren't there. (Ahem, like my Facebook and Twitter contacts)

Really and truly taking your mind off your work is one of the best ways to boost your productivity because it reinvigorates the other parts of your brain and heart that get neglected when you work all the time. Unplugging from technology and immersing yourself in something else -- anything else -- is a great way to let your mind rest, recoup and recharge. I find that when I do unplug for a little while I have more energy and am re-energized about my work when I come back to it, which helps my attitude and improves my results. 

So the next time you're feeling stuck and unproductive, take a break!

PS: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links above and below the post. Thanks for sharing! 

 

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Enter To Win the Day-Timer Products of Your Choice!

Enter To Win the Day-Timer Products of Your Choice!

 

Enter today to win the $50 prize of YOUR CHOICE from Day-Timer! Entering is super easy! 

1. Visit www.daytimer.com right now!

2. Choose your favorite item(s) valued up to $50.

3. Come back to my Facebook Page and leave a comment under the original contest post, including the item(s) you'd like to win, the item number, what problem it would solve for you and how the item would help YOU get organized at home or at work!

4. Get an EXTRA contest entry automatically when you SHARE this contest on your own Facebook wall but be sure to do it from within Facebook so we can be sure to give you credit for sharing! 

The winner will be drawn at random on November 30th so enter today!

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links above and below the post. Thanks for sharing!

6 Simple Productivity Boosters

As tele-commuting has become a viable option in crowded metros, professional office suites are available by the day or month, and more home-based businesses have emerged, the concept of "the workplace" has evolved. No longer is "the office" exclusively a corporate space provided by an employer. Many workers and business owners have a corporate office space but also keep a home office where they can choose to work in the comfort of their robe and slippers. Others work exclusively from home. Heck, I work naked in my family room sometimes.

Here are six fundamental concepts taken from my book, Organize Your Office In No Time (Que Publishing) to help you get organized and maximize your success, no matter where your office may be.

1. Be Consistent
Business success depends on developing effective habits and processes, and using them consistently. Use only one planning tool for scheduling meetings and appointments and use it consistently. Handle your administrative processes the same way each time. File information the same way from one day to the next. Identify places for all your items and always store them in their homes so you can find what you need quickly and stay focused on business.

2. Handle Small Tasks Now
When faced with a task -- any task -- you have a choice. You can handle it now or handle it later. If you can take care of something in less than a minute, it’s often better to handle it then rather than putting it on a list. However if it requires thought, planning, research or can't be handled in a minute, put it on your "later list" to do another time. Remember that anything you put off now you'll have to do sometime, so taking care of things in the moment will help keep your "later list" manageable.

3. Create Catch-Up Time
Even if you normally handle quick tasks in the moment, when you're working on something really important, rather than interrupt your work, keep a running list of tasks to do later. Schedule a half-hour of "catch-up time" each week to focus on handling these items so they don’t pile up indefinitely.

4. Zone Your Space
Mentally divide your workspace into "zones" to ensure you can find what you need easily. Zone One is the area you can reach when you’re sitting at your desk. Zone One is for frequently accessed items such as your stapler, pens, computer and phone. Zone Two is a closet, walls or the credenza behind you. Zone Two is for storing items you refer to regularly, but not every day or even every week. Items in Zone Two might include printer paper, software discs, and reference manuals. Zone Three is out of your office -- a basement, central supply closet, or storage facility. Use Zone Three for archival information, extraneous furnishings, historical items and bulk storage of marketing or promotional materials. The items you keep will depend on your industry and work style, but the key to choosing the most appropriate zone is to evaluate how frequently you access each item.

5. Guard Your Minutes
Hours are made of minutes, and lost ones add up quickly! There will always be people who seem to have nothing better to do than steal your time by calling just to chat, or standing in your office droning on about their weekend while you're trying to work. Be as productive as you can by guarding your time and setting boundaries on how you'll use it. Close your door if you have one, to signal others to give you privacy to work. Cut phone calls short with windbags, or better yet, let them go to voicemail unless they're of an urgent nature. Time is your most valuable resource, so guard your minutes to make every hour count. If you don’t protect your time, who will?

6.  Clarify Your Priorities
When choosing how to allocate your time each day, it's important to know which tasks and projects are your highest priorities, so you don't waste time on unimportant things. If you're not sure what should take priority, ask a superior, a co-worker or decide by evaluating the consequence of delaying each task. When you complete your tasks from the highest priority to the lowest, you accomplish what is important in a timely manner and increase your effectiveness and success.

PS: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links above and below the post. Thanks for sharing!

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Quote: You're The Only One

"It's not enough to be the best at what you do; you must be perceived as the only one who does what you do."

 

Jerry Garcia 1942-1995, Musician

 

 

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links above and below the post. Thanks for sharing!

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