Putting Together Our FAST Planner

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In my last post, I talked about creating a document to track our progress on a long term goal using the FAST method which includes… 1. Focused work means working on one thing at a time. You turn off all distractions such as e-mail, web browsers, and close your door if possible, and focus on [...]

Note Taking System

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I am a kinesthetic learner by nature and I find that if I take notes during a meeting, the hands-on activity of note taking helps me retain more of what I have learned. To make note taking even more effective, I’ve done some research into note taking systems and developed a template that helps me [...]

Toastmasters Is Like Fried Chicken

When I was a kid I loved to go to my grandmother’s house. She was affectionately known as Mo-Mo and walked through her little ranch style house with a walker. She grew up on a small farm in the south, and she always watched out for her grandkids. She just seemed to know how the [...]

Five Minute Calendar

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My wife was messing around the other day with a sample of a five minute flowchart that I had printed out. She moved it around on the desktop and tried it in different formations. She came to one conclusion… “You need to make this into a weekly calendar,” she said with a smile. I thought [...]

The Agony of Clutter

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There is a dirty little secret that most people have. Hidden behind doors, and piled high in closets and garages is a stack of clutter. Clutter that sometimes defies description. Dear readers, I hate clutter. I have a daily personal battle with it. It comes in the form of junk mail, impulse purchases, free gifts, [...]

5 Quick Tips For Word 2007

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When you first open Word 2007 for the first time, you’ll probably be surprised by the changes that Microsoft made to the user interface. Instead of the usual icons and menu selections, you are presented with their new fluent interface, called The Ribbon. This is a totally new way to get things done in the [...]