This is it, the first work day of 2010. “Get Organized” makes the top 10 list of New Years Resolutions every year. Is it on your list? I am not a fan of resolutions because they are usually to big, too vague, and have little accountability. What I am a fan of, and think you will find useful, are a limited number of guidelines. Use these guidelines to determine whether the things you’re doing will contribute to your peak performance in 2010.

1. Did you eat well?
   Food is the energy you need to perform. It must be constantly ingested (don’t skip breakfast) and of high quality (whole foods, little process, no white sugar, syrups or flour)
2. Did you plan?
   A weekly plan that includes a review of the last week is unmatched in setting you up for peak performance. Plan in alignment with your priorities then work the plan.
3. Simplify.
   Get rid of excess possessions, activities on your schedule, and responsibilities. Focus on your core responsibilities and roles. Ask yourself, “Is this vital or just nice?”
4. Learn.
   At the pace of information expansion and work today, if you aren’t learning new things, you are missing opportunities and actually getting behind. Pick something to read, a skill to enhance, and a conversation to have with someone who knows more than you about a topic (they don’t have to be a world expert). Be curious.

While getting organized and productive you will have to start saying, “I’d love to but cannot. . . ”

Complete the sentence with

• Work on the committee
• Chair the efforts of the fund raiser
• Take on one more responsibility
• Be at the game
• Do my kid’s project for school… I mean assist my child in doing her school project

When the guilty feelings start creeping in your psyche counterbalance them with your own mental affirmations that highlight why saying “Sorry, No.” is a good thing. Here is a short list to get you started on your own (do write your own list. . . it’s hard to think of these things under pressure):

• I’m giving the things I value most my time
• It’s obvious there isn’t enough time to do everything so I’m going to save and allot  my time for my family
• Taking care of myself will allow me to take care of others better so I have to keep time for the gym and a run
• Leaving the office and staying ’signed off’ will all me to really refresh and work at an optimal pace tomorrow

Keep Highest Priorities in Mond

October 24 is Take Back Your Time Day. Take Back Your Time Day is a movement toward social change. The sponsors offer ideas so passionate and ground-breakting  that it made even me take a step back and second look. That’s a good thing. Sometime we have to step way out of our comfort zone to actually move to even a slightly new perspective. Take a look at some of their posters to shake up your thinking about time, free time, and non-work time.

What will you be doing with your time this weekend?

This initiative is promoted by The Simplicity Forum.

What is “The Bling Thing”?  Simply this – “bling” refers to that little sound that most e-mail programs make when a new message is received.  And “the bling thing” is the almost comical and highly predictable response many professionals have when they hear that “little bling sound” – they immediately drop what they are doing, give up their focus, and check their new e-mail message.

A recent study found that 25% of office professionals are checking their e-mail 20 or more times per day. That frequency can be one of the biggest productivity destroyers for a business professional.

A recent study at the University of London’s Institute of Psychiatry found those constantly checking e-mail were suffering tangible 10-point hits to their short-term I.Q.!  That’s like missing an entire night’s sleep. (Source:  Yoga Journal, ABC News)  If you feel like you are in a fog and are having a hard time focusing, perhaps it is because you are checking your e-mail too much.

I recommend you turn off sound notifications for new e-mails received.  Second, if that little Microsoft Virtual Assistant figure pops up to let you know a new message came in, right click on that little guy and select, “Do not notify me in this situation.”  Third, go into your e-mail’s Options tab, go into Mail Setup, and click on Send/Receive.  Then, change your “Auto Send/Receive” settings to something more than 5 or 10 minutes (try 90 minutes for a huge productivity gain) –

Try it for a while and comment here with how it goes.  Good luck taming that “Bling Thing”!

Guest post by: Randy Dean a popular speaker and trainer on time and e-mail management. http://www.randalldean.com

Drake was a little irritated with my suggestions to help him claim some time for personal activities. He resisted my ideas by justifying why he does what he does – even though what he does wastes a meaningful amount of time. “I’m a smart guy,” he says.
My reply, “All of my clients are smart – and in many cases brilliant. And, they’re not experts at productivity and neither are you.” This was a little like an athlete expecting to be world-class at golf, billiards, and hockey. Impossible.
You or Drake being great at one thing doesn’t mean you will be great at another. Since you’re reading this blog on productivity I will project that you’re not advice adverse. Nonetheless I want to urge you to stop for a few minutes and examine what tips & suggestions you’ve tossed out or read right over because it doesn’t fit you. Take a second look. Try one thing before you write it off. Try another. Be open.

Some of the folks that backtrack and reconsider suggestions previous rejected have said things like
• Wow, that was easy.
• I waited long enough to try this. It’s so useful I’m glad I didn’t wait longer.
• Hey, I’m getting good at this. I’m going after your job soon!
For you smart people out there – leverage productivity coaching and implement then practice. You’ll soon have another hour per day for yourself!

The Productivity Cafe is your source for ideas on getting things done, being effective, reducing stress and having some fun. To get the most out of the Cafe:

• Sign up for future posts to be sent to you via email. Simply fill in the block to the left then click ‘Email Me’.
• Read the latest productivity posts below this one by scrolling down.
• Share this website with your colleagues and friends.
• Implement one idea every week!

Let’s Chalk One Up for our Country. This Memorial Day weekend you will probably see family or friends with kids – or have more time than usual with your own. To recognize the holiday and make a fun memory, grab a bucket of sidewalk chalk and a kid (or 3) and draw your own themed mural. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• A soldier

• A Flag
• The Liberty Bell
• An American Eagle
• Uncle Sam
• A president (see the head-side of a coin)

Be sure to take a photo in case the rain washes it away soon.

And, write here or send photos to me of what you did so I can post them for all our readers (and they can use the idea for July 4^th!).

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R & R (rest & rejuvenation) are the intentions behind the Friday at 5:00 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. Your productivity is rooted in your energy being high. Your energy being high is rooted in recreation!

Streamlining, saving resources, and simplifying are some of the foundations of being productive. Printing more efficiently is one of the ways you can do all three things – simplify the paperwork you have to manage, save the resource of paper and all the elements that go into its production and streamline your systems.

Naturally the first consideration is whether you need to print an electronic document in the first place. A local company appends this to the end of every email:

Save a tree! Please don’t print this e-mail unless you really need to. 

A client prints every PowerPoint just before she races off to meetings because she’s so overbooked. Until we get the booking issue streamlined, here’s a hint for printing more effectively that will work for her and perhaps for you – print 2 pages per piece of paper. This practice also saves time – printers are only so fast so printing 2 pages per sheet of paper will print in half the time!

Here’s a sample – click on the thumbnail to see a full-size version.

You’ve probably seen it before but haven’t bothered to figure out how. So, here’s a Productivity Café ‘how to’.

When you’re ready to print, open the Print Dialogue box (start printing) with ctrl-p (we love shortcuts…) or click on file, print, print. Match your dialog to the sample below, select your ‘page density’ or how many pages will go on each sheet of paper and print it in the ‘zoom’ area in the bottom right of the dialog box. Print, read, and enjoy being a greener printer!

The third part of this series on having your estate in order we’re going to look at some resources that will contribute to being proactive and thereby, productive. In Part 1 we looked at the whole idea of getting our heads out of the sand and collecting the information on the things that we should handle in our will and trust. In Part 2 A&B we look at the conversations that need to be had within a family and with experts. Here we’re going to overview the resources that could help you a lot and how to locate them.

The short list of resources that should be of value to you are:

• A couple of good books so you become educated
• An Estate Lawyer
• A Tax Accountant
• A Friend or Family Member to be your executor and trustee.
• A Financial Advisor
• A Great Filing Cabinet & Filing system (that’s covered in Parts 4 & 5)

On why they’re important and where to find them:

Books  Book learning is vital to you being prepared because there is so much to learn that a professional would be outrageously expensive and

A former employee may receive hundreds of pieces of bulk mail for up to 5 years after leaving your company. This costs you and your organization whether you pay for a mail room, an employee to handle mail or recycling of the pieces received. A timely service is established to stop bulk mail being sent to your company. EcoLogical Mail Coalition works with marketing companies to curtail the flow of marketing mail for your former employees.

It’s easy for you – you register your company and the names of former employees. Once. In less than 5 minutes. Then EcoLogical Mail goes to work and the flow of mail dwindles until it stops.

The cost… FREE! Click on FAQ in the bottom right of their home page to read how they can offer this service to you for zero dollars.

If you use EcoLogical Mail services the benefits are:

• You save time, and time is money, handling mail that is probably useless
• You save trees – better than recycling is preventing waste from starting
• You save frustration – don’t you get enough mail as it is?
• You have an immediate ROI – invest a few minutes and start saving on the spot
• It’s the easiest cost-reduction program you can start this year
• You join a long list of ecologically minded companies so you’re in good company

Note: use this service when employees transfer to a new location or job as well as leave the company.