It happens all the time. You just want to get some brief information to someone but when you call you get sucked into a long conversation. Sometimes you don’t WANT the person to answer their phone – you just want to leave a voicemail. It’s nice to catch up, but what if you just need to pass on some information and get to the next task? Well friends, someone has come up with a solution for this problem! Check out www.slydial.com. It lets you just leave a message – simple as that. It is a free service, and they do offer some premium services for a fee. It is well worth checking out.
While on the subject of voice mail - here’s a quick tip. Before making a call, jot down the bullet points you want to cover. This way you have an outline for the call, or if you do get voice mail you have a simple list of what you need to cover. It will save time and help avoid rambling messages.
I’m the Day-Timers community expert on productivity. So I asked them to put a brief survey on the Day-Timers Web site, asking, “When you think of something that you need to do, what do you usually do?” In this day and age of technology, the surprising answer was overwhelmingly “Write it down.” To date, 55% of respondents chose this option over others. This demonstrates that even with Blackberries, Outlook, cell phones and web based to-do lists, we still need and use paper and planners.
Picture this…you’ve dutifully put all of your information, appointments, phone numbers etc. into your Outlook and synced the information with your handy-dandy Blackberry. All is well. You hop on a plane for a business trip, Blackberry in hand. You’ve arrived at the Miami airport and whipped out your electronic device. The problem is, you forgot to charge it and the battery is dead. What is the client’s phone number? What was your hotel confirmation number…and was that appointment at 2:00 pm or 3:00 pm? The beauty of a paper planner is that paper doesn’t crash. Better yet, it’s much easier to jot down a note on a daily to-do list than pull out your handheld, turn it on, click around, and type a note on that tiny keypad with all those little drop-down boxes.A Day-Timer is a tried and true tool that won’t let you down. Try my own line of Productivity Pro® branded Day-Timer for handheld users.Even if you write things down temporarily, you can always enter the data when you’re back at your computer.Much easier than tapping.And it’s much more organized than having little scraps of paper and sticky notes all over the place because it’s too difficult to use your handheld for data entry.
Don’t get me wrong, I think technology is terrific. I use it on a daily basis, but I won’t be caught anytime soon without my Day-Timer. It only takes one crash or glitch to realize how useful paper can be.
People love their Blackberries, no doubt.A recent study confirmed this, according to this article on WCBSTV.com.They may be terrific productivity tools for some, but at what cost?The article by Scott Rapoport states “The study of 6,500 traveling executives says 35 percent of them would choose their PDA over their spouse.”Wait a minute – people would choose a communication device over a loved one?If this is true, where have we gone wrong?
It is important to keep track of your business, be connected to your co-workers, clients and employers.Blackberries certainly have made this easier, particularly for those who don’t spend most of their time in the office.With this easy connectivity, are people losing the ability to know when to turn it off?It would seem that technology is not only helping us be more productive, but is also blurring the lines between work time and off time.Is it really more productive to have one foot in the working world and one foot on the home front at the same time?I’m not so sure…
If we are always “available” via Blackberries, email, cell phones and pagers, are we truly focusing on our loved ones when we are allegedly “off” from work? Can we really let loose and play if we’re always poised to answer the next email or text message?Unless your connection to work means life or death, you CAN and should turn off and tune out when the work day is over. Are we working to live, or living to work?
Would you be more productive by taking a day off each week from emails? Some companies have tried to implement no-email days and have received mixed feedback. This story from ABC News tells of co-workers who discovered that they were across the hall from one another rather than across the country. It takes time to adjust, but taking a break from email can actually boost productivity and enhance your business relationships.
While it may seem quicker to dash off an email, taking the time to pick up the phone to contact a client or walk down the hall to see a co-worker personalizes the contact. In this era of “crackberry” communication, it seems like a rare thing to have actual conversations with people. What would your office be like if everyone took the day off from email and just talked to each other, or picked up the phone to contact clients and vendors? Are we so addicted to electronic communication that it would hinder our ability to do our work, or would it be a welcome break and boost to productivity. Give it a shot and tell me what you find!
There are many terrific blogs on the Web that I enjoy reading. However, it’s easy to waste a lot of time book marking each individual blog in your “favorites,” and then visiting each one individually when you have time to do some reading. It can be even worse if you have numerous email subscriptions clogging up your inbox. When you have more than just a few blogs you like to read, make it easy on yourself and try a free, simple solution like Google Reader.
Google Reader allows you to organize your favorite blogs and read them all in one place. When you subscribe to the RSS feed of a blog, instead of opting to receive emails, select Google Reader as your method of delivery. You can organize your feeds into folders much like your favorites or bookmarks in your browser. That way you can quickly scroll through your subscriptions to see which posts you want to take the time to read. You can also elect to share your favorites with others. I’ve found Google Reader to be a big time saver. Give it a try!
Have you ever found yourself trying to make plans with a friend, just play with the kids, or do something fun for yourself, only to find your planner so full that “maybe next month” is the best you can do? If so, you probably have that old Ado Annie syndrome…you’re “just a girl who cain’t say no.” We all want to feel like great parents, accomplished at work, and like we’re giving back to the community. It is human nature to want success and to please others. It’s good to feel that way – to be ambitious, to be busy, and to get things done. But how much is too much? “Yes” is a good thing – in moderation.
Productivity doesn’t mean filling every moment of every day with tasks that further some agenda. Prepare yourself for upcoming burnout if your schedule is so full that there isn’t time for family, friends and yes – YOU. Because you are good at what you do, people will always ask for your help and your input. They want you to join another board, sew the costumes for the school play, or write the homeowner’s association newsletter. Just because your calendar has a blank spot, it doesn’t mean you have to say “yes” when someone wants to fill that time.
Look at your priorities and take the time to set boundaries for yourself so that you only take on the tasks and activities you truly can and want to complete. What activities on your task list can you outsource? What can you eliminate completely? You know you’re going to get a call or email soon saying “will you…?” Be prepared. Take a deep breath and say it with me – “No.” See – it wasn’t that hard, was it? Well, it may take some practice, but you CAN do it!
It’s OK to say “no” without guilt and without apology. Give yourself that permission right now. Your time is valuable. You simply have to leave some of it for yourself to enjoy those things in life which bring you pleasure and joy. That’s the kind of time that is the juice which “recharges your battery” so that when you are on task you can be productive. Give yourself the gift of some time. You’re worth it.
(C) 2008 Laura Stack. All rights reserved. www.TheProductivityPro.com
A recent article in the June/July edition of Working Mother magazine pointed out that “Men contribute more to household work and child care than they did 45 years ago – by a large margin.” While this may be true, a recent study, Married Parents’ Use of Time, 2003-06, posted by the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that there is still a gap.
The study shows that married fathers spend an hour more at work than married mothers on average. Married mothers had increased likelihood of providing care to the family’s children than married fathers by 21%. On an average day, married mothers working full time are 25% more likely to spend time on household activities like cooking, yard care and cleaning than the married fathers working full time. There is also an imbalance of leisure time among married men and women who work full time. On average, the men got close to an hour more of leisure time per day than the women.
What does this say about how men and women use and place value on their time? Many complain about the uneven division of labor, but some are proactively trying to change it. The Web site Equally Shared Parenting authored by Marc and Amy Vachon who have been featured in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Today Show and NPR. In reading their site and various articles on this theme, a common thread is some women’s challenge with letting go and letting their husbands do things their own way. Hmmm…there might be some truth to that. Maybe you just need to decide – is it more important for the time to be more equal or more important that the laundry is folded “just so” or that the dishwasher is properly loaded? What standards are you willing to shift in order to make time spent on the business of raising a family more equal between partners?
Will everything ever be 100% equal? Probably not. The key is that both parents continue to work together to find the right fit for their family. Not happy with the division of labor? Keep talking!
(C) 2008 Laura Stack. www.TheProductivityPro.com
We’ve all been there at some point—you look back on the week or the month—feeling that too much has been left undone. You say to yourself, “Where did the time go?” It’s a common lament. If this sounds like you, it might be useful to try a time log for a week to discover your patterns. Time logs can help uncover wasted time that can be turned into productive time. They can also show you when you tend to be most productive, so you can organize your days to take full advantage of those productive times. You’ll quickly so who is interrupting you the most. You’ll discover your bad habits and see where you let pleasurable activities take over high-priority tasks.
There are numerous logging software tools available for download on the internet. These can be useful for those who spend their entire work day at a desk in front of a computer. If you frequently travel or spend time out of the office, using the old-fashioned pen-and-paper method works well because you can easily slip it into your planner. On my site at http://www.theproductivitypro.com/FreeStuff/Time_Log.doc, you’ll find a simple template with instructions that you can use to log your time. Give it a shot. You might be surprised at what you discover!
When was the last time you de-cluttered your computer? Our computer desktops can become just as messy as our physical desks if we let them. When computers are bogged down with out of date or useless information their performance suffers – and so can yours as you slog through your hard drive trying to find the documents you need. The recycle bin on your computer is your friend – use it!
Your computer filing system should resemble physical filing system as much as possible in order to easily retrieve documents. If you’re like many people, when you create documents or download documents from email or the Internet, you allow the document to be filed in the default location and leave it at that. This can leave your My Documents folder or your Desktop in a state of confusion and disarray.
Here’s an easy fix: In Windows Explorer, select the My Documents folder. Under the File menu, select New and then Folder. The new folder name is highlighted. Give it a broad umbrella name, such as “Personal” or “Business” or “School.” Then within each folder, create any number of folders appropriate to your organizational method. For example, under “Personal,” you could have folders named Finances, Kids, Legal, House, Recipes, etc. Under your “Business” folder you might have folders such as Clients, Projects, Contracts, or Reports.
Once your folders are set up, save documents in the appropriate place when downloading a file from the Internet or email. When saving, you can also rename the file to make it easier to find later. I have found that many files have names that are not easily recognized when searching for it months later. It is not useful to have folders full of files named “report” or 6238484b.pdf. Better to take the extra second when downloading to rename it to “August 2008 Bank Statement” or “HP ScanJet Instructions.” This will save time and headaches down the line.
As for the clutter currently on your computer, set aside some time to go through your files. Depending on how long it’s been since you’ve been through your hard drive this could take fifteen minutes or an hour or more. If you have hundreds of files to peruse, break up the task into a few half-hour chunks, so you don’t get overwhelmed and give up. Take the files you need for future use and place them in the appropriate folders. Delete the files you no longer need. Believe me, it’s as fulfilling deleting the junk out of your computer as it is clearing the clutter from the garage!
