A holistic approach to increasing your get-up and go, from the productivity expert whose previous books showed people how to Find More Time and Leave the Office Earlier. If you want to be productive but are just too tired all the time, you need to read this book! Laura Stack combines invaluable insights and practical advice in this guide to becoming more energetic and more productive in every area of life. Stack describes the factors that contribute to low energy (the "energy bandits") and explains how to reduce their effects and build up or renew sources of positive force (with "energy boosters").
Find More Time. You can't add more hours to the day, but Laura will help you make the most of the time you have and get things done. Available now from Amazon.com.
Leave the Office Earlier, Laura shows you how you CAN get more done than you ever thought possible and still get home to your real life sooner.Available now from Amazon.com.
Each month, we'll be conducting a
one-question productivity poll. The following month, we'll report the results
and ask the next question. Please join in the conversation! Your input will help
us all become more productive. To suggest a question, email
Laura@TheProductivityPro.com
"Never confuse motion with action. " - Benjamin Franklin
"The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense." - Thomas A. Edison
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." - Peter Drucker
Where in the World
is Laura?
If you're interested in bringing Laura to your organization to present a training seminar for your employees on the day prior or the day after one of these engagements below, please contact John Stack for special "piggyback" pricing.
It's springtime! For most, that means throwing open the windows and doing some serious spring cleaning. It's also a great opportunity to catch up on much-needed spring organizing...attacking the organizational backlog that may have piled up over the last few months.
Here are some tips on doing away with the two most pervasive and frustrating forms of clutter: paper clutter and electronic clutter.
Tackling paper clutter
A BusinessWeek article called "The Office of the Future" gives a promising glimpse into the future of office productivity, including the paperless office. The article was originally published in 1975. Anyone out there working in a paperless office yet? Quite the contrary. Most of us are saddled with more paper than ever. So much for the paperless office!
How often have you been on the verge of pulling your hair out because you can't find a particular piece of paper? How much would it reduce your day-to-day stress level if you didn't have to look at stacks of unorganized stuff all week? This is a great time of year to grab one pile at a time and get every piece of paper where it belongs.
Some hints to accomplish this task:
You don't have to do anything. When it comes to cluttered inboxes and crowded desk space, the number one offender are items that you need to handle eventually, but don't have time to do right now. When you are getting organized, it isn't the time to get involved in a bunch of individual projects or tasks.
The only things you should actually do on the spot are the ones that can be completed in a few minutes (sign a form, prepare something for the mail, that sort of thing). Everything else can be addressed at a later date. If you can't do it right away, file it in your tickler file (click here if you don't have one), or make a note in your planner that indicates what you need to do, when you need to do it, and where you'll find the information you need.
You don't have to keep everything. Be realistic. How much of the stuff on your desk is just trash that is continually shuffled from place to place? Don't look for reasons to keep stuff, look for opportunities to get rid of it.
Do you have a records retention policy in place? If you do, be sure to follow it, keeping what you need and actively purging what you don't. If you don't have a policy in place, take some time to decide what needs to be kept and what can be purged regularly. Be ruthless--paper versions of documents you have electronically, reports you'll never read, notes you'll never need--most of this can probably go.
You don't have to read everything. If there was something tremendously valuable in that reading pile of yours, wouldn't you have gotten to it by now? Instead, there it sits, not only taking up space but also discouraging you from reading the things that matter.
Have you considered just starting fresh? Don't be afraid to send piles of reading material to the recycle bin if they aren't worth your time and attention. Then you can keep up with your reading as it comes in. Once you've cleared the backlog, you'll feel refreshed and motivated to keep up with the day-to-day filing and management of paper, which ideally should take place at least once a week.
Tackling electronic clutter
Have your computer files become so messy and scattered that even the handy Search tool struggles to find what you need? It's very easy to get in a hurry and simply drop an electronic file on your computer's desktop or toss it in the My Documents folder.
Then you do it again. And again. The next thing you know, you've got a sea of icons cluttering up your screen and you have to squint your eyes and hunt for the one you need.
By putting an electronic filing system in place, it will be much easier to know where to save files as your receive or create them. Because tackling an electronic mess can be more intimidating than tackling a physical one, here are three straightforward steps to getting your electronic files in order:
1. Create your system. You want all of your files to live in a single master folder that is broken down into many subfolders. That can be your My Documents folder or anything you like. This centralizes your information and makes backups a breeze.
From there, find a sensible way to categorize your files. Maybe you'll start out by creating a subfolder for business files and a subfolder for personal files. Then keep drilling down, until you are creating individual folders for projects, clients, or whatever makes sense.
Keep in mind that much of the time you'll be building your system as you go. With each new file or folder, you'll have to use your judgment to place the information at the best spot in the hierarchy.
2. Round up those files. This is usually the intimidating part, especially if you have out of control folders full of vaguely-named files. If you can't stomach tackling the whole mess at once, then do it a bit at a time. With just five minutes of effort, you'll be amazed at how many files and folders you can have renamed and where they belong. When you have a few minutes to spare, sift through a folder or get through a handful of desktop files. I assure you that each session will be easier than you think!
3. Keep up with it. Once you have a clear desktop and no orphan files running around without homes, it's just a matter of filing things correctly day by day. It only takes a few seconds to label and file things appropriately as they come up. Don't give in to the temptation of letting the chips fall where they may and cleaning up later.
Once you've caught up with your paper and electronic filing, you'll find that keeping up with it is a piece of cake...provided that you are committed to maintaining the effort. Just remember, it is easier to put something in the right place in the first place than it is to play catch up.
Happy organizing! Make it a productive day!(TM)
(C) Copyright 2009 Laura Stack. All rights reserved.
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All Articles (C) 1999-2008 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. This information may not be distributed, sold, publicly presented, or used in any other manner, except as described below.
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Publisher
Messages from Laura
Outlook virtual training series. Attend "live" training with Laura Stack, a Microsoft Certified Specialist in Outlook, from the privacy of your home or office via Internet. Laura will present ten modules covering various aspects of Outlook step-by-step. This isn't just computer training. It's real-world, reality-based workflow processing that helps you actually be MORE productive with Outlook, instead of wasting hours every day playing with it. The series has started, but don't worry, because the recording will be sent after the session (so it's just like being there). You can watch whenever it's convenient, even if the "live" session doesn't fit your schedule. Each seminar is very affordable at $39 per person. If you attend all ten, the price is discounted to $349 per person. You'll receive a workbook to accompany each webinar, with detailed screen shots, so you can duplicate what is done in the seminar. Laura will share her desktop and show her computer screen LIVE using her actual Microsoft Outlook software. This is not PowerPoint! It is a real-time demonstration, where you'll follow along with your workbook step-by-step and then go implement the skills on your system. Click here for more information or to register.
Webinar series a big hit! Next webinar April 20, 2009 at 9:00 AM Pacific/10:00 AM Mountain/11:00 AM Central/12:00 PM Eastern. Focusing on Your Work: Maintain Your Concentration in an Environment of Distractions. Virtual webinar using PPT and webcam: it's almost like Laura is right there in your office (scary!). Only $29 per person! (You can still buy the discounted package of all ten: you'll get a link to the recording of those that have past. For more information and to register, click here.
To be featured in this section of our newsletter and get a free eBook with our thanks, send your productivity tip or trick to Becca@TheProductivityPro.com with "Tips and Tricks contribution" in the subject line.
1. Got a Nanosecond? Capturing the Attention of a Generation with Little to Spare. Ever catch yourself annoyed at how long it takes to fast-forward through TV commercials? Or get antsy in the middle of a real-live conversation because your cell phone is buzzing in your pocket? It's no great revelation that our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Our ability to focus on one thing at a time has been decimated by technology and an onslaught of media that is omnipresent. And while you and I may have been forced to gradually adapt to the insane pace of this go-go-go world, Generation Why grew up in it. They've never known anything else. Read more...
2. To quickly determine the best topic for your next blog, maximize your blogging online potential, and dominate the first page of search results, take a few minutes to research a great keyphrase. Type in a keyword (e.g., a television retail company might type "best television to buy") and the tool will give you keyword ideas and search volume. For this example, The Google external keyword tool shows only 720 searches for "best television to buy," whereas "best tv to buy" has 9,900 searches. Obviously "best tv to buy" is a better keyword and would make a better blog post. Then all you have to do is use the exact keyword in the title of your post, as well as a few times in the text, and you will be organically ranked under that keyword. Check out www.lutzeconsulting.com or email nmarlett@lutzeconsulting.com with questions or to learn more about how to get your website working for you! The first three people to email us and mention this tip will receive a free audio CD of Heather Lutze's new book: The Findability Formula, the Easy Non-Technical Guide to Search Engine Marketing, a $129 value!
Convince The Boss That You Should Telecommute. Forbes, NY, USA
Laura Stack, a productivity expert, says the best candidates are people who are disciplined and self-motivated: "When your boss says, 'Here's a project, figure it out by this deadline,' do you get it done?'"
Have Laura speak to your company, conference or organization. How do you know if Laura would be perfect for your next event, meeting, or training? View the "Laura Stack Is Perfect For This Group" fact sheet.
