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Tag: productivity tips

Managing your email inbox – Part III

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Some say empty your inbox every day, some say set a limit to how many emails you’re comfortable with. My limit is one screen (i.e. no scrolling). My inbox is limited to things I need to do right away or that are so important I want them staring me in the face until they’re done. After you’ve cleared your inbox, it’s time to deal with the ones you need to act on or to keep for reference. First, we’ll set up easy to remember folders in your inbox. Create as many as you like. This is just one method for… read more »

Managing your email inbox – Part II

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Yesterday’s post talked about the power of deleting emails. Today’s post is about doing your emails. There’s a great rule which basically says if you can do this in 2 minutes or less, do it now. That’s because it will take less time to finish the action in 2 minutes than it will take to park it somewhere else for later and go back to it. So just get it over with—it’s a great feeling! If the task is really important, needs to be done now, but will take more than 2 minutes, keep it right where it is in… read more »

Managing your email inbox – Part I

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In today’s world, we are bombarded with information at a much higher rate than in years past. One of the biggest culprits is email. If you’re honest with yourself, probably 80% of what lands in your inbox can be deleted immediately or after a quick scan. Imagine if you get 50 to 100 emails a day, 40 to 80 of those can be deleted in a few minutes! How would it feel to have only 10 to 20 emails you need to really think about each day? Here are some guidelines to use for deleting: Junk, spam or chain letters:… read more »

Where did I put that email?

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When you stop to think about how much time you waste (lose) searching for things, and the amount of stress it causes, you will understand the value of taking the time to get things organized. You will gain back the time you spent getting organized in no time, and you will save lots more time and stress on top of that! These days we all spend alot of time on the computer. How many times have you wasted valuable time looking for documents that you know are on your computer, somewhere? It is important to set up your electronic filing… read more »

I’m a “Do It Yourself-er”

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I have always been the type of person that would prefer to do things myself. I like the feeling of accomplishment I get when I do things myself and I like the challenge of figuring out how to do it on my own. In all honesty, I think one of the biggest factors that played into me being a do-it-yourself-er was that there was never an excess amount of money that I could use to hire others to do it for me. Well, I can tell you that my opinion of not having enough money to have other people help… read more »

It’s a constant battle

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Junk mail is a real problem. Unless you keep a good handle on it, your mailbox will be full of it every day. I work with so many clients that are completely overwhelmed by their piles of paper and mail. Junk mail is my biggest pet peeve so I am extremely proactive about stopping it. Even though I have taken all of the steps to stop junk mail that we share with our clients, I have been bombarded with a bunch of junk mail the last two weeks. Probably because of the upcoming holidays. I had received about 15 different… read more »

Suffering from email overload?

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Go through ALL of the emails currently in your inbox, one by one, and decide what you need each email for. Create folders in your inbox with the following names and move each email into the appropriate folder once you make the decision on each of them. Reference: Is this something that I don’t necessarily have to see as it comes in but I need to keep it for future reference? Action: Is this something that I need to do something with or take action on? Pleasure: Is this something that I subscribed to because I am interested in reading… read more »

Perfectly productive

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Look at the dramatic difference in this after picture from our Messiest Desk Contest. Imagine how much more productive the client will be now that they are organized and not distracted by all of the visual clutter. Here are some simple tips on how to set up a productive, stress-free work environment: Keep the things you use the most within fingertip reach. Keep the things you use often within arms reach. Keep the things you use rarely the furthest away. Everything on or in your desk, and in your office, should be assigned a home based on it’s use. Don’t… read more »

It’s hump day

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Happy Wednesday everyone! Today is a great day to review the goals and plans you had for this week (hopefully you jotted them down somewhere—and can find them) and see how you’re doing on them. Take the time to mark off those tasks that you’ve completed. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment to mark things off your list. Several of the things on your list may have already taken care of themselves. If so, cross those items off too. Looking over the things still on your list, decide which items are the most important, or most difficult, for you to… read more »

Make a plan

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If you take the time this morning to map out a plan for the week, you’ll be amazed at how much more productive you’ll be. It will only take you about 15 minutes. Think about what goals you want to (need to) accomplish this week. Then schedule or plan time in your calendar to get those things done. You will be the most successful if you tackle the toughest things first. It’s also good to plan a reward for yourself such as telling yourself after I work on this project for 2 hours, I will get my favorite coffee from… read more »

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