How do you remember the things to do you think of after you’re already in bed? Do you throw something from the nightstand in the middle of the floor so your memory is triggered when you step on it in the morning? Do you write it down? Do you tell you partner, "Remind me to _________ in the morning"? I’ve done all these things. The first and last tend to have spotty success. I’ve thrown things off my nightstand so often I forget which thing I’m supposed to remember – was it to call Dennis O or to change the furnace filter?

Write the action or idea down to get a good night sleep because your mind will be free from reminding itself to remember that important thing all night long. Put a small pad of paper and a pen right next to the bed in a place you can easily reach. Consider a book light or lighted pen so that you can scribble in the [almost] dark. You can purchase a pen with a light in the tip here: Night Pen Link.  Book lights are available at all the big name book sources online and retail. These are appreciated items to put on your Christmas or Holiday list to help others give you something you’ll actually use.

Interruptions can drive our attention so that at the end of the day we ask ourselves, "What did I do today?" Being dedicated to getting things done I offer today’s tip for intercepting interruptions. Stand up! When someone approaches you in your office stand up to give the person your full attention and establish a position between you. You might even take a step toward the person to indicate you’re listening and not multi-tasking. By standing eye to eye you’re positioned for a good exchange that you control.

When you’re ready to get back to the project at hand you can give a silent signal about your intention to end the conversation by stepping back and moving toward your desk. To be vivid in your visual message sit back down. As a final conclusion, if the person ignores your visual cues you might say, "Ok, I need to get back to what I was doing, thanks for coming by."

For an earlier post about interruptions click here: Interruption interceptions # 2.

We have our new colors, our new logo, and our new subtitle. Take a look. Heidi Frieder of Arthead (click here for Arthead website) worked to make this design reflect our mission and style. The purple and green core colors remind me of Wimbledon, e-trade, and my grandma (purple was always her favorite). The simple and clear images reflect how we aim to live – streamlined and with a vision. Our timepiece expresses our interest in the Productivity Cafe being a place to spend some quality time while enjoying a pause in a busy day. Finally we hope you’ll be energized with something new so you feel good about how you’re spending your time. Let us know what you think.

Filling in forms on the web can be time consuming and it is boring typing things such as your name and address over and over. Those of us who shop online will be more vividly aware of that as holiday shopping begins.

Autofill on Google’s tool bar makes completing forms online a one-click operation! You download the toolbar from Google’s Toolbar Link, let it learn your details, have it highlight the fields it knows the information to complete it, click on autofill and viola… your form has the basic information inserted.

Since Google is top of the heap for searching the web, you will probably like that the toolbar includes a Google search box too. This means you do not have to go to Google.com to do a search. You simply type your search words into the Google box and the search is on.

By downloading the Google tool bar you get constant access to two useful productivity tools!

Use alt-tab to move from one task to another in Microsoft Windows. Try it now. Hold down the alt key then tap the tab key. Notice how an icon for each window you have open appears.  You are able to move through your windows and switch applications without leaving the keyboard by continuing to hold down the alt key and pressing the tab key again for each move forward. That’s a streamline operation compared to moving your hand to the mouse, navigating to the correct taskbar button, click, return hand to keyboard. Speed keys will help you get through your projects at the keyboard rapidly.

Sending Thanksgiving Cards may be better than Holiday, Hanukkah and Christmas cards. Since many readers have client relationships as well as friendships and professional relationships to honor at the upcoming holiday time, Thanksgiving cards may be the best card to send.

This is the cover of my Thanksgiving cards for this year – it’s on handmade paper yielding the nubby texture:

Here are the reasons why these cards are valuable to send:

• Thanksgiving cards are the first of the season to arrive – they will actually get noticed
• Thanksgiving cards are unusual and stand out
• Thanksgiving cards are the perfect way to say Thanks for your Business, Thanks for your friendship, I’m thankful for your friendship, etc. That’s something we often mean to say and don’t or don’t say often enough
• Thanksgiving cards can be prepared before the rush of other holiday activities and commitments
• Thanksgiving cards have staying power – a thanksgiving card is likely to stay out all the way through the end of the year when people change seasons
• Thanksgiving cards bridge to all religions and races

It’s not too early to start buying and writing your Thanksgiving cards – you’ve got a month!

To streamline emptying your email inbox, reply immediately when only a few words are needed. Put those few words in the subject line then finish with a cue that everything is in that line. two common terminators are (EOM) = End of Message and (end) = end of message.

Here’s a sample from Kelly:

SUBJECT: RE: do you have a garage? (THANKS SUSAN, I THINK I’LL SIGN UP!! EOM)

When people know your entire message is in the subject line you’re saving them time too!

Contributing to other’s success in being organized and productive is core to the Productivity cafe’s mission. We’re gratified that we’re reaching over the Atlantic already and helping in the Netherlands. Our reader there writes (unedited):

Hi Susan,
Recently, I subscribed to your Blog – Productivity Cafe and I have been receiving all your new posts by email ever since.
I would like to let you know that I really enjoy reading your blog. These are truely valueable tips and tricks!
Some of them are definitely new to me, while reading other posts will give me a "yeah, I do that!" excitement, telling me I’m pretty much on my way to getting / staying organised myself just a little bit (more)

Keep up the good work!
Groetjes!
Ruud S.

Order your Christmas cards now for a double win – cards are heavily discounted at this time of year and you’ll have part 1 of a holiday tradition completed (part 2 is send them). Yes, it’s not even Halloween yet and that is a great advantage for us. Just like traveling during shoulder or off-peak makes travel more relaxed and cheaper, beginning the Christmas Card effort now is efficient and economical. This suggestion applies to other holiday cards such as New Year, Thanksgiving, and Hanukkah – I write Christmas because many people search on that.

An example of photo cards is at Snapfish Holiday Card Link. I received the 50% off on my order coupon via email. You’re hearing about Snapfish because they’re handy – I make no money if you

Our brains can act a lot like computer memory – when it’s too full our brain can slow us down, stress us out, and wreck havoc with our time management. Below is an article from Time Design that might help you free up some mind space. It’s a rather clever analogy that speaks to the geek in me, and maybe you.

Is Your Brain Getting the “Memory Full” Message?
5 Ways to Free Up Room on Your Brain’s Hard Drive

Lynn was tapped to head up the project team for a major company restructuring. She began her first team meeting by delegating steps and due dates to the various department heads. That’s when she noticed that one member, Bob, wasn’t writing anything down. Lynn knew Bob was a competent guy. Yet, given the importance of this project, his casual approach concerned her.

So after the meeting, she pulled Bob aside. “I don’t want to tell you how to do your job,” Lynn