So you just bought a new computer with a terrific large flat screen, the software is installed and your data is transferred. You’re ready to rock-n-roll with your new workhorse. Meanwhile, you now have a ‘boat anchor’ sitting somewhere in your office. The massive old CRT is taking up a few square feet of prime real estate. The old CPU is soon going to be a plant stand – unless you get rid of it.

Oh, you didn’t get a new computer you simply decluttered and now you have a file cabinet to spare? (well done!) Whatever miscellaneous extras you have around your office or home is probably there because you don’t know where to take it or it’s too big to move. Excess Access is a not-for-profit that links surplus with needs. You have the surplus, they know organizations with needs. For just $5 per year you list your items and are matched with someone who needs that and will come and pick it up! There is an 81% match rate so you can be pretty confident your items will be recycled, repurposed and rerouted away from a landfill for next to nothing.

You have until midnight tomorrow to submit your entry to win the free copy of the ebook Manage Your Email and Paper mail, a Step-by-Step Guide To Getting on Top of Your Mail! authored by yours truly. Introduced last Monday in Save $3,173 worth of time next year you can have this action item done in 2 minutes. (So you GTD fans, that means do it now!)

You enter by commenting on this entry or emailing me (susan.sabo@productivitycafe.com) addressing any three of the following:

• Three useless email subject lines you’ve received
• The best email composition format you’ve seen (number of paragraphs? of sentences? look & feel?)
• Describe what you’ve seen others do in email that makes you crazy
• How to request action from your email and get a response

One winner from all entries received by Tuesday July 31, 2008 @ midnight will receive a FREE copy of my ebook: Manage Your Email and Paper Mail A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting on Top of Your Mail. This is a $37 value.

In early September we will embark on a full series on writing email – the do’s and don’ts.

*The fine print: the winner of the free ebook will be chosen at random from all entries. The winner will be notified via email (email address must accompany entries). By submitting you agree that your content may be used in future work created by Productivity Cafe or Susan Sabo.

This weekend plan your time off for the rest of the year! It’s nearly August and perhaps you’ve taken a week or two of vacation and still have some vacation time credited to you by your employer. Americans typically do not use all their vacation time whether it is only two weeks, or three, or four weeks per year and a fraction of what a typical European, Aussie, or Kiwi gets each year. What is up with that?

Are you too busy to plan your fun? Do you keep days ‘in the bank’ just in case you might need them for a family emergency? Do you know you’ll end up with 0 days left in the vacation bank? Using all the vacation days you’ve earned is a key to sanity

The Long Tail by the editor in chief of Wired magazine, Chris Anderson, is a gem! Anderson highlights the impact of the digital age on creating, selling, and distributing products. His observations and research are presented clearly so that I found myself saying, "We’ll that’s obvious once you put it that way! Thank you, Mr. Anderson!" The key premise in the Long Tail is that the digital age is moving the world from a big hit society to a multiple hit one. In other words, more selection for more people with more access. The Long Tail is literally the area in a demand curve that is beyond the head. In Mr. Anderson’s illustration, it’s the yellow part of this curve:

Anderson supports his assertions with an abundance of stories from familiar companies including Google, Rhapsody, and Lego. When he makes his points and links them to these recognizable enterprises they are driven home. The bottom line to me: choice and opportunity abound beyond any time in history. 

People who will find this book interesting include: marketers, consumers, bloggers, internet marketers, business leaders and manager, those interested in economics and generally curious readers.

So you hear yourself saying, "If I only had 25 hours in a day," or " What I wouldn’t give to have time to sit and read a book." Hopefully you have a bit of a bargain maker in you so that you are willing to trade something for that hour. This deal might be out of your realm – you might not be able to make the deal. You might not have the thing to exchange for an hour of free time. But, if you’re anywhere near the average American, you do have the element of the deal.

Here’s the deal so you can get to your ‘If I Had The Time’ list.

You have to trade for the hour.
You have trade an hour of television time for an hour of free time.

If you’re a ‘typical American’ you are in front of the television or other screen-based diversion for 4 1/2 hours per day. That’s more than half a work day playing video games, surfing, shopping, and emailing (personal) on the internet, and/or watching television. So, it sounds simple but will probably be very difficult for you to make this deal for an hour per day. Can you do it?

Turn away from electronic leisure activities and turn to the things on your list list.

This means have the t.v. off – don’t have it on in the background where something interesting might grab your attention. This means you consciously celebrate getting to the ‘pending things’ by choosing them over vegging to relax after a stressful or busy day. It means your day is more your day! I hope you make this deal if you have the bargaining chip.

Reading my July/August issue of Fast Company Magazine the article Email is Dead… caught my eye. Doug Beizer subtitles this article, But Communication Isn’t. This resonates because at times we have all wished email would just evaporate off our computer so we could get freed up. And since we know that email isn’t going away we wish that people would make it easier for us to use email. Maybe they’re thinking the same about me!?

Speaking of freed up… this article quotes Capital One as estimating "11 workdays per employee per year is saved by their workshop which teaches how to reduce email strain by writing better messages." 11 days… 88 hours… or $3,173 worth of time for a $75,000 / year employee.

With your help, we are going to start the first Productivity Cafe Email Workshop so we can help each other write better emails and create our own Productivity Savings. Here’s how you can participate – write a comment to this message or email me (susan.sabo@productivitycafe.com) addressing any three of the following:

• Three useless email subject lines you’ve received
• The best email composition format you’ve seen (number of paragraphs? of sentences? look & feel?)
• Describe what you’ve seen others do in email that makes you crazy
• How to request action from your email and get a response

One winner from all entries received by Tuesday July 31, 2008 @ midnight will receive a FREE copy of my ebook: Manage Your Email and Paper Mail A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting on Top of Your Mail. This is a $37 value.

In early September we will embark on a full series on writing email – the do’s and don’ts.

*The fine print: the winner of the free ebook will be chosen at random from all entries. The winner will be notified via email (email address must accompany entries). By submitting you agree that your content may be used in future work created by Productivity Cafe or Susan Sabo.

Here we are in North America with summer full-on.  It’s a great time to be outdoors and playing with Frisbees is an activity everyone can do. Did you know there are teams of college kids who compete just like other sports teams? Do you remember tossing a frisbee with your sister in the backyard? Do you think you could hit a target 100′ away?

Whatever it takes to motivate you to dig that frisbee out of the garage and give it a whirl – go for it! Maybe one of these reasons will send you disc searching:

• You can play frisbee golf – checking in recreation departments and parks where they have ‘holes’ set up.
• You can play with your dog (if your friends are all unavailable)
• You can teach your kids
• You need just a little open space – a quiet street in the city, a beach, or a field/park
• It’ll take you back to your college, high school, and fun days
• It’s a workout hidden in fun

For a little inspiration view the video at Wham-O – makers of the original Frisbee. And for a refresher on the the throws visit: The Freestyle Disc Association.

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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. And most Friday @ Five entries are geared to do with your family or friends.

So you’re working at home part time or full time. Fully fourteen percent (14%) of America’s workforce works from home at least 2 days per week. (Business week, Feb. 12, 2007) So the question is: How do you dress when you’re working from home? Are you barefoot and in your pajamas until lunch time? Would you walk down the driveway to get the mail in your getup? How long would you have to devote to getting ready should a meeting be required immediately?

The ‘dress for success’ guidelines for working from home are evolving continually. Just as the suit and tie that were customary in offices a decade ago are replaced with ‘business casual’ today, the business casual wear for working at home is being redefined. I suggest that you take a good look in the mirror when you work at home and ask yourself, "Do these clothes support my professionalism?" Do they put you in the right mind frame to interact with your peers, clients, customers and regular contacts? This issue is about the impression you leave with yourself rather than the impression you leave with others when you dress to work at home.

A great way to be productive for those on the road is to stock your car with items you use to avoid repetitive stops for minor items. Minutes spent running into the convenience store a couple times per day or week add up to time that you could enjoy other ways. Additionally, if food stops are a regular with you, having good food choices on hand will give you continual energy and keep your weight steady.

Here is a list of things to consider having neatly stocked in your car:

• bottles of water
• energy bars
• quarters
• spare pair of reading glasses
• standard forms
• your favorite snacks
• and empty & clean travel mug for refills
• a kitchen towel for your lap while you drive & eat, for the windows to give them a buff, and for emergency use

This is geared toward business people –think how you can extend this to the next car trip with the family.  (kid snacks… maps…)

When you’re driving on a two lane road with a double yellow line "no passing zone" and come upon a slower moving vehicle, say a bicycle, what do you do? If you’re in a business meeting and things are not moving too well what do you do? These two situations are surprisingly close and offer another productivity tip.

Most of you will say, "When you come upon a slow moving vehicle, go around unless there is oncoming traffic." Yeah! Great answer. And, I want to add that you should cross that double yellow line and go way into the other lane. What not to do: squeeze by the rider while attempting to stay on your side of the road or run the rider off the road. Since you’re the only car around you are not going to get a ticket from the police for giving the rider wide berth. You are also going to keep from scaring the rider.

This applies to your work, too. When there is a snag at work in the form of a person who is holding things up, go around unless there in ‘oncoming traffic’. The key here is to use your sense of the situation, just