Productivity Cafe

Friday @ Five – Print Some Photos

 

How many thousands of digital photographs do you have on your computer? Most people today have more photos than they could view in a week. So, we don't look at them at all. Yet, images of special people, memorable events and other good stuff are the #1 way of keeping the memories vivid. In fact, a marriage counselor advises keeping a photo album of your shared life on the coffee table as one of the best ways to reinforce the good times and keep a marriage strong. That practice must work for families too: a collection of the 'good times' readily viewable bonds a family.

So, this weekend, make a carefree selection of 10-12 favorite photos and have them printed at an instant photo place. Pick your favorites. Sit with your kids or parents or spouse and view a few with the sole purpose of selecting some to print. Limit your time to 30-60 minutes so this doesn't become a consuming endeavor. The choices don't have to be a 'best of the best'. In fact, it's advisable to simply grab those that make you smile.

Copy the photos to a memory stick or disc.

Go to a photo shop, a drug store, or even some grocery stores and print the photos.

Mount them on the fridge, paste them to a piece of foam core board, or slip them in a photo album.

Show off those photos. Tell the stories behind them. Bask in the pleasant memories the pictures represent.

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R & R (rest and rejuvenation) are the intentions behind the Friday @ Five entries. Often these are inexpensive and low key because you recharging your batteries can be more easily achieved without running around and doing, doing, doing. Many Friday @ Five entries are geared to do with your family or friends.

Friday @ Five – Print Some Photos

How many thousands of digital photographs do you have on your computer? Most people today have more photos than they could view in a week. So, we don't look at them at all. Yet, images of special people, memorable events and other good stuff are the #1 way of keeping the memories vivid. In fact, a marriage counselor advises keeping a photo album of your shared life on the coffee table as one of the best ways to reinforce the good times and keep a marriage strong. That practice must work for families too: a collection of the 'good times' readily viewable bonds a family.

So, this weekend, make a carefree selection of 10-12 favorite photos and have them printed at an instant photo place. Pick your favorites. Sit with your kids or parents or spouse and view a few with the sole purpose of selecting some to print. Limit your time to 30-60 minutes so this doesn't become a consuming endeavor. The choices don't have to be a 'best of the best'. In fact, it's advisable to simply grab those that make you smile.

Copy the photos to a memory stick or disc.

Go to a photo shop, a drug store, or even some grocery stores and print the photos.

Mount them on the fridge, paste them to a piece of foam core board, or slip them in a photo album.

Show off those photos. Tell the stories behind them. Bask in the pleasant memories the pictures represent.

=================

R & R (rest and rejuvenation) are the intentions behind the Friday @ Five entries. Often these are inexpensive and low key because you recharging your batteries can be more easily achieved without running around and doing, doing, doing. Many Friday @ Five entries are geared to do with your family or friends.

It works!

You know how when you buy a new car - all of the sudden you see all the other cars of that model on the road? Something about knowing the car more intimately heightens our awareness and we enjoy being part of that circle of car owners. Pretty cool. That must be doubly so for Harley Riders. Something about being part of that H.O.G. club is vivid!

I wanted to tell you since I read and wrote about the book Never Eat Alone and then included Scott Ginsburg in the article about learning names I made an unexpected connection to Scott in person. That happened because I was Eating Not Alone with Avish. I was eating with Avish because he and I are on a board of directors together and we met to get to know each other a little better (network). We hoped that we might both grow, enhance our ability to work together, and ultimately support each other. Well, as Avish and I were sharing stories he asks me if I have heard of his friend Scott Ginsburg.  Light blub moment there. And a brief conversation centered on the 3 of us as the link between me, Avish, and Scott was made. Wow, 1 degree of separation there!

Any success for you in the realm of making connections? I strongly believe such connecting will lead to a multitude of other success for you.

Learn Names to Increase Effectiveness

Have you watched someone seem to sail through a busy checkout line? Was a waiter attentive to a nearby table while you did everything short of serving yourself to keep a meal moving? Does the guy at the garage explain what's been done to the car or simply hand you a bill?

One of the keys to getting your stuff done is to motivate those who can either grease the wheels of your effort or take some of the load. Those who receive help and attention have brought others into their sphere of supporters. To begin getting cooperation you should learn the names of the people who can help you whether your banker, dentist's assistant, or HR representative.

Dale Carnegie, Oprah, and most successful people note that "The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be recognized and acknowledged." And the sound of our own name is one of the quickest ways to begin that acknowledgement. A genuine smile and short relevant comment would reinforce your connecting with those you learn the name of.

Expert on Approachability-Scott Ginsberg

Staying on the idea of learning names, let's first explore a few ways to learn the name of someone or get the name of some we've been introduced to but forgotten.

• Offer your name and ask the person theirs simply saying, "My name is Autumn, what is yours?"
• Look at their nametag! Often a mechanic's uniform, and server's name tag or banker's desk has their name on it. Look around and use their name. For example, "You always give great service, Bill. Thanks for that. Would you explain the charges on this service order to me?"

Is it Time to Hire a Virtual Assistant?

Say you've been thinking that your time is not very well spent when you're inputting the contact information for a dozen people you met last week. You've decided that you like Card Scan but even that isn't a good use of your time. Yet, you're not ready to hire an assistant that comes to your office because you're not certain that you have enough work to keep an assistant busy, you don't have office space for an assistant, or you would like to try before you commit.

Consider seriously hiring a virtual assistant.

What is a virtual assistant? According to the Alliance for Virtual Businesses:

And VA networking.com defines

 

Some of the services that VAs offer (some of which surprised me) are:

• Proofreading & editing
• Website maintenance
• Form creation and completion
• Scheduling and appointment management
• Quickbooks setup or data entry
• Polish powerpoint presentations
• Pay bills
• Event planning
• Word processing and spreadsheet development
• Desktop publishing
• Research (as recommended by Keith Freazzi in Never Eat Alone)
• And more

Benefits of using a VA are

• You pay for what you use ~ if you need a lot of support one week, you employ the VA for many hours. When you have a light week or on vacation, you don't use the VA
• A VA becomes familiar with your business and a knowledgable ally
• Delegate the things you don't like to do or are slow at doing or haven't learned to do yet
• Many VAs have extensive work experience and training that you benefit from immediately
• Constant availability if you're regularly traveling and would like a person to be answering your phone
• You don't have to purchase the equipment or software for another (part-time)person
• There are no snow days when the VA can't make it into the office

You can find a Virtual Assistant at either of the websites quoted above. They both have 'find a VA' buttons. Or, ask around. You might be surprised how many of your associates don't do it alone anymore and consider thair VA their secret key to success.

Friday @ Five – Stress Reduction “I forgive you”

Last weekend Mike (age 56) told Darla (80) that he's basically raising his granddaughter (Shannon) because his son and the son's x-wife are not able to do so. Darla's gut reaction, "You must hate that." And, she actually said it to Mike. Well, the wind was obviously taken out of Mike's sail. He got quiet for a while and the color in his complexion was whiter than his normally ruddy skin tone. It was a tense moment.

One thing that causes a lot of stress for many of us is lingering resentment, hostility, or anger. We replay a situation where we were offended and get upset all over again. Our blood pressure rises, neck muscles knot up, and our feelings are flooded with negativity. The look on our face is usually not so pleasant so we start impacting others in a less than favorable way.

Sometime the slight is smaller like Darla's insensitive reaction. Sometime the offense is whopping like a relative notifying you that they won't be repaying the $5,000 loan that you gave them. Ow.

Deciding to forgive these offenses is possibly one of the healthiest things you can do. Difficult!? Yes, absolutely. (If it was easy you'd have forgiven and moved on already). Is forgiving worthwhile? Well, I'll let you decided. Here are a few factors when considering your decision on forgiving or harboring resentment:

• You will live longer if you have less stress in your life
• You will be happier while you're alive when you focus on good things
• The situation is history, the future is a mystery, and today is a gift

So the Friday @ Five activity for this weekend… Write a brief summary of something negative someone did to you that has been lingering for a while. And, if you need to get it all off your chest, write a long summary. But, don't get up until you do steps 2 & 3: write the benefits of forgiving and moving on then write, "I forgive ________ for _________." Sit with that for a while and embrace the forgiveness. Finally sign it.

If you have a spiritual disposition you might want to burn the document as a symbolic release of your negativity.

Me, I need to let go of being slighted by a relative ~ I was totally ignored during a 1½ hour visit as if only my husband & Dad existed. How 'bout you? Share your success in this one by commenting with your suspect subject and/or resulting feeling of freedom.

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R & R (rest and rejuvenation) are the intentions behind the Friday @ Five entries. Often these are inexpensive and low key because you recharging your batteries can be more easily achieved without running around and doing, doing, doing. Many Friday @ Five entries are geared to do with your family or friends.

Never Eat Alone - Book Review

Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi illuminates what I didn't learn attending public high school, the local swim club, a selective college or even in my first couple of jobs. He starts with the premise that who you work, network, and play with will impact your happiness and success in life (his emphasis is on the business success side of that statement). And, Keith continues, making connections so that your life is rich, productive professionally, and contributes to community can be done consciously, purposefully, and with class. In fact Ferrazzi supports that networking should be done as a deliberate and structured part of career and life development.

My opinion briefly: "Read this book – it's a quick investment of time with a long-term payoff." Like our favorite, Getting Things Done by David Allen, the concepts in the book are easy to grasp yet challenging to implement and develop into a robust practice. It will take time to get networking a natural and routine.

Keith Ferrazzi is a living implementation of his recommendations. He's his word in action – not theory untested though reasonable. That alone gives it kudos from me.

Post-it from your phone – jott it down!

When do you get your best ideas? Many people say in the shower. Others have flashes of brilliance while exercising. And, an untold number have great ideas while commuting. All the locations have 'inconvenience' in common. Since these are 'best' ideas capturing them would be valuable. Jott.com offers a great way to write yourself a reminder email from your phone. You leave a message, similar to leaving a voice mail message, and jott.com converts it into an email. The process is easy, quick, and results in an email to you. To remind you of the great idea – whether it is to get the car tuned up before too long or a project that will move you toward the next promotion at work – jot yourself a note. By the way, Jott.com is free – at least for now.

Here are the easy steps to using jott.com

1. Sign up for an account
   1. Be sure to give jott.com all your phone numbers – cell, office, home because it will send your emails based on the phone number from the jotter / caller id (you)
2. Call 1-866-jott-123 (1-866-568-8123) and leave yourself a message up to 30 second long
   [Jott converts this into an email using voice recognition software verified by a human somewhere labor is inexpensive]
3. Sign into your email and read the message you've sent yourself
4. Act on your reminder [drag and drop to your calendar, make a phone call, etc.]

Why would you use jott.com rather than a piece of paper or the record function in your phone?

• You can jott a message to more than one person. Perhaps you need to tell your business partners that an urgent situation needs to be handled. By programming a list called 'partners' you could reach all of them with one short message you speak to jott.com en route.
• You save yourself the time of transcribing voice mail messages to yourself
• Emails are searchable
• Emails can be filed
• Emails don't expire
• Emails aren't little slips of paper that become pocket trash or purse pollution
• You can program jott.com into your speed dial and be much safer driving and making notes

Friends told me about this service this weekend. They're my 'tech buddies' and always have something they're experimenting with. This they've used for a while. I've played with and think it's a handy tool that you might find useful.

If only we could doodle on jott.com too.

 

Friday @ Five – White Out!

You might wonder if we're having a snow storm here in Eastern Pennsylvania – no, too warm for that. White Out weekend is to use a bottle of White Liquid Paper or roll of Wite-Out Correction tape, or the Delete Key on your keyboard to take a meaningful step toward improving your energy which will improve your productivity and give you more of the outcomes that you want. The White Out activity for this weekend is to remove some of the drains on your energy. The drainers I'm talking about are people whom you find tiresome because they rarely have uplifting things to say, complainers who have loads of negative to say and are always right, or users who take take take from you and don't give back. These are probably people you stay in contact with because you 'should'. Something in the past has made you feel obligated to stay connected, even if remotely. And, they do nothing to help you be positive, have a good life, or contribute.

Take that correction tape and white them out of your address book. Hit that delete key and confirm the deletion from your contacts list with conviction. Get rid of the gray cloud that these people represent. To make this a quick exercise, remove just 10-20 of the top people you feel trapped with.

In my experience, hanging out with and spending time with negative people is like taking a dose of poison. That dose of poison is toxic and too much of it or repeated exposure can hurt you in direct as well as indirect ways. There isn't any reason for you to be around toxins. Replace them with people you like for whatever good reason you like them and watch how much easier work, responsibilities, and 'the good life' become.

 

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R & R (rest and rejuvenation) are the intentions behind the Friday @ Five entries. Often these are inexpensive and low key because you recharging your batteries can be more easily achieved without running around and doing, doing, doing. Many Friday @ Five entries are geared to do with your family or friends.

How Do You Do That?

Are there steps that you regularly take to accomplish your job? When someone new joins your team or group how much one-on-one instruction is needed to bring them up to speed? Do you feel like you have to repeat yourself a lot when working with others in the office?

In a step toward productivity, I suggest you identify the steps you take repetitively throughout a day and throughout the week. Raise your awareness on those things that are part of your routine. Notice what things have a pattern in your schedule. You might receive helpful insight if you ask your peers what they do routinely and see you do routinely.

Some of these tasks you might like to do such as return phone calls. Others might be things that you feel you just have to do such as collection calls for outstanding bills or process 100 emails.

As you recognize those things that happen repetitively make an entry on a page in a notebook dedicated to this effort. The idea is to capture things that you can document so that you have clarity about them. The clarity is meant to give you information so that you can be more productive by

• Eliminating things that are unnecessary. You might walk to the vending machine a couple of times per day and one trip purchasing two things could be a better way to do things as you get in long conversations on each trip.
• Pass activities on to others who have responsibilities more in line with the type of activity it is.
• Group like actions together. Rather than return phone calls as you receive them, have a time of day when you return all calls. Perhaps a morning and afternoon segment for phoning is usefully in your schedule.
• Document your standard procedures. By writing them down step-by-step you will get clarity about your day and have a manual to offer those joining your group on how some standard tasks are accomplished. They can get introduced to the tasks via your manual and you can fill in updates, special situation, and other exceptions rather than having to start from square one.

Something I encourage all my entrepreneur and small business clients to do as an example of this is to process bills weekly or bi-weekly. We set up a file for bills to be put in as they arrive. The unopened bills are dropped in the file as the mail is processed daily. Just one day per week, usually the same day each week, the bill file is open, the accounting software is open, and bills are paid in a batch, checks are written, envelopes are addressed, checkbook balance monitored, etc. When creating a procedure manual, or chapter actually, on bill paying we can list the steps from holding the bills to filing the paid bills for tax purposes. Then, as the business grows this procedure can easily be picked up by the new bookkeeper or multi-function assistant.