Archive for the 'Time Management' Category

I hate junk mail! It comes by the bushel full every day. I’ve tried to get my name off of mailing lists, subscriptions and I have even written letter to companies to get them to stop. But the volume is still unbelievably high and it causes real problems in my life. Everyday I throw most of it away… but it’s the unmarked stuff that causes real problems.

Is this yellow envelope junk or is it a legitimate envelope from a state agency?

Is this free offer real or just a come on to get me to a time share presentation?

Questions like these are a daily occurrence.

When I get home at the end of the day I’m usually tired and really don’t feel like opening a stack of envelopes to find out if they are really legit or not. What usually happens is the obvious junk is thrown away and the other mail is stacked on the counter or put into an in-box on my desk. Unfortunately after a few days the stack gets pretty high and sometimes gets mixed in with bills and other important items.

Now I have an unsightly mess.

Now I really don’t want to deal with this stuff!

Yet the stack continues to grow until it gets so big that something must be done.

Let me put one more piece on the top of the stack… oh no.. the stack has fallen on the floor.

Arrggghhh… another 3 hours on Saturday going through this mess?

There must be a better way…

The original strategy came from the popular organizing books by Julie Morgenstern and Donna Smallin.

The idea is to …

Handle Only Once: Put a trash can next to the front door or next to the desk or counter where you usually open the mail. Handle each piece of mail only once. Put Bills into one stack and all other important mail in another. Everything else is opened and thrown away. Put a sign or card saying Handle Only Once where you can see it.

While this cut down on the size of the piles it didn’t go quite far enough. I still ended up with a stack of mail that I had to do something with and the stealth junk mail often went unopened.

Here is the plan…

Daily 12 Minutes: Set aside a daily time period to deal with the inbox. Pay bills as they come in. Answer correspondence when it comes in. File statements in a notebook on the day they arrive. Most bills and other important correspondence really don’t take very long to work with if you set aside a daily work period to focus directly on your inbox.

I usually have two 48 minute work periods back to back in the morning separated by 12 minute breaks. Why not make one of these breaks a time to focus on the in-box on my desk? Most days there will only be a few items to deal with. Anything that isn’t handled one day stays in the box to the next. This cuts down on the overwhelming pile that often exists at the end of the week and makes sure things get handled on a regular basis.

Deliberate Action: I’ve purchased a two tier inbox and will give this plan a go over the next month. I’ll report back at the end of September how well this daily strategy works for me.

Technorati Tags: organization, gtd, clutter

I spend a lot of time in front of a computer and when I find something that can save me time I like to implement it into my daily schedule. One of the best things I’ve found is using hotkeys with different programs. With just a quick key combination I can do things that would require many more steps with a mouse.

Some of the hotkeys that I’ve found have really revolutionized the way I work. I use the popular Control-C for copying files and Control-V for pasting almost without thinking. These keystrokes are ingrained in my memory and they work in almost any program.

The big problem I have with hotkeys is that there are so many of them. Given the number of choices they can be hard to remember and I usually find myself searching the menus of my programs to refresh my memory. To overcome this I put my favorites on printed business cards and keep them on my desktop for quick reference.

I put the 5 most common for each program that I use regularly, so that with a little use they will lodge themselves into my long term memory.I usually have two or three under my monitor for quick reference.

Three of the ones I’ve recently discovered that have been especially helpful are…

Control-Enter in Internet Explorer or Firefox. Just put the name of the site you want to go to in the address bar of one of these browsers and hit control-enter. Viola… the browser automatically adds the http://www to the front of the name and then adds a .com to the back.  The site name plus control-enter = http://www.site.com. This save so much tedious typing and works well as long as the site you are going to is a dot-com.

Control-P in Powerpoint: Open your PowerPoint show and go to a slide that you want to expound on. Hit Control-P and the cursor turns into a pen. You can doodle and highlight things on the screen with just the flick of your mouse. Right click to change pen size, tip shape, and color. One very handy tool. Just click the ESC key to go back to your show.

Windows Key and E: This quick combination opens up Windows explorer (My computer) and is a quick and easy way to copy and move files around. I like this key combination because it opens explorer with all the folders closed which makes navigation quick and easy.

To give you a quick start remembering these popular hotkeys, I’ve put together a free download of the most popular ones in a Microsoft Word Template. Just download the file and print them out on Avery business card stock. Break them apart and keep them by your computer for quick reference. You can easily modify the template and add additional hotkeys as you discover them. You’ll soon be amazed how much time you save each day with these quick keystrokes.

Instructions for use:

• Download the Hotkey Cards Template for MS Word
• Open the template and modify as necessary
• Print out on Avery business card stock (10 Card)
• Break cards apart
• For portability, stack cards in order and clip together with mini clip
• Transport easily in pocket or purse
• Add to your Walleteer organizer

Please note these cards have been tested on WindowsXP and Microsoft Office 2003 applications. They may not work on older windows or Office versions and will probably not work on the Mac.

Technorati Tags: hotkeys, microsoft office

I’ve been a fan of the Getting Things Done methodology for some time now. The idea of working with “Next Actions” works well for me. I usually use Outlook and the GTD Outlook plug-in from David Allen to categorize my action list.

While this works good in most cases, when I get really busy my next action list is buried in small print in Outlook. Unless I’m looking directly at it, it can disappear with different e-mail and calendar views. I’ve come up with different solutions over time that help with this situation, including Next Action business cards and a daily actions sheet on my desk.

The main idea is to keep next actions where I can see them. I realized the other day that a GTD screensaver would work well to put these next actions up in view when the computer is not being used for a few minutes. I put together three different slides in PowerPoint, one for each of my common actions that I do at work, and made it so that it could be modified in just a few minutes.

I saved the slides as bitmap files and used the built in screen saver function in Windows XP to make it work. The resulting screen saver shows my next actions at the computer, on the phone, and errands I have to run. It’s quick to setup and it jogs my memory when I need it most… when I’m really busy.

Since it works so well, I put together a copy for you to use on your own computer. It’s a quick download and you can have your own Next Actions Screensaver up in just a matter of minutes. This version is designed for PowerPoint 2000 and later and Windows XP.

Here are the instructions.

Download the Next Actions Screensaver for PowerPoint.

Unzip the file and save it in a folder on your computer.

(Note: There are two versions of the file included, one uses plain text for the actions and is quick to setup, the other uses WordArt for the text and the resulting text will have a cleaner look when presented. Give each a try and see what works best for you.)

Open the file in PowerPoint and edit the three next action slides as necessary to include your next actions for the day. Just click on the text and modify. When you are done save your slide or presentation as a .bmp file

Open the PowerPoint presentation. If you want to save a specific slide, select it in normal view.

On the File menu, click Save As.

Select an empty folder or create a new empty folder in which to save your presentation or slide.

Please Note: If you use the default My Pictures folder under My Documents, make sure it is empty.

In the Save as type box, click Device Independent Bitmap, and then click Save.

Give your presentation a new file name.

Click Every Slide or Current Slide Only, and then click OK. (In PowerPoint 2000, click Yes to export every slide.)

Your presentation or individual slide is saved to the folder that you selected. After you close your PowerPoint presentation, you will use Windows XP to open the presentation or slide as a screen saver.

Close your PowerPoint presentation.

Step 2: Create the screen saver

Instructions for Windows XP to perform this procedure.

Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Display, or click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display.
On the Screen Saver tab, click My Pictures Slideshow, and in the Wait box, set the amount of time you want to elapse before the screen saver is displayed.
 
Under Screen saver, click Settings.

Under How often should pictures change?, set the slider at the interval you want between pictures. try different settings to see what works best for you.

If you are making a single slide a screen saver, move the slider all the way to Less to avoid a distracting flicker on the screen during the transitions.
 
Under Use pictures in this folder, browse to the folder in which you saved the presentation or slide.
 
If you saved a single slide, make sure to clear the Use transition effects between pictures and Allow scrolling through pictures with the keyboard check boxes.

Note: The screen saver transition effects in this screen saver option are preset and cannot be modified.

Click OK.

To preview your new screen saver, on the Screen Saver tab, click Preview.

Enjoy Your Next Actions All Day!

Powerpoint Resources:

How To Do Everything With Powerpoint

Kingston Wireless Presenter

Portable Powerpoint

Other Powerpoint Posts:

Powerpoint Made Simple

Powerpoint that Sticks

Five Must Have Tools For Powerpoint

Do You Make These Mistakes With Powerpoint?

5 Quick Tips To a Better Powerpoint Presentation

Technorati Tags: Powerpoint, GTD, Productivity

I picked up a great audio book over the weekend, entitled “Eat That Frog,” by Brian Tracy. Many people have told me that this little book has changed their lives. From the opening chapter, Brian is an unpretentious host. His humble background and day laborer school of hard knocks lays an interesting foundation. This guy is the real thing.

Brian starts off with the premise that there never is, or will be, enough time to do the things we have to do. In this modern world things come at us fast and furiously. He lays it out simply… “get over the notion that you somehow can get it all done… you can’t.”

His main point in the book is to take the ugliest task that you have and do it first. This is based on a quote from Mark Twain…

“If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of your day will be wonderful.” -Mark Twain

He paints a simple but effective picture. Eat your Frog first. This advice will help you overcome procrastination and become much more productive. Last time I looked, Frogs are really ugly which makes this a real challenge. Mr. Tracy goes back to Mark Twain again for another quote…

“If you have to eat a frog, don’t look at it for too long.” -Mark Twain

This simple picture really brings the concept home. Brian has 21 points throughout the book to challenge you and help you with your daily task list. I found the book to be a great addition to my productivity toolbox. While there is nothing new or groundbreaking here, I found it to be a great reminder to do the unpleasant stuff first.

If you are a follower of the “Getting Things Done,” methodology by David Allen, you may find prioritizing lists a little arduous but the concept of finding the biggest frog works well for getting you started on your next action lists.

This is a great book to help you visualize why you procrastinate.

I am looking at one ugly frog… oh well… here goes… gulp…

Hey that wasn’t so bad after all!

Technorati Tags: procrastination, setting goals, time management

With the new year coming up soon, it’s time to start thinking about planning out next year’s goals. Sometimes our modern calendar really bugs me. I’ve been trying to lay out the coming year in pieces that make sense for goal planning. I like things that are uniform and fit well together and many of the components of the 365 day year just don’t fit. For example let’s divide the year in half and we get 182.5 days… not exactly a number that exudes confidence. Lets take the math a little further…

365 divided by 4 = 91.25 days per quarter

365 divided by 12 =  30.416 days per month

365 divided by 7 = 52.142 weeks per year

365 multiplied by 24 = 8760 hours per year

None of these numbers are uniform and each one would make yearly goal planning a mess. When we look at setting up an easy to follow goal management system we must find some time periods that work. I like numbers that divide easily and are easy to remember.

Lets take a look at some numbers that seem to work better for planning.

Lets take a 364 day year

Divide it by 7 and we get our usual 52 weeks

Divide 52 by 4 and you get 13 week quarters

The number 13 is a stumper. Since it is a prime number, it doesn’t divide into anything usable. So where do we go from here? I like the week as a planning model, since they are uniform. Months can vary from 28 to 31 days so they make planning inconsistent at best.

Here is an idea that seems to work for me.

For Goal Setting, let’s divide the year into quarters of 13 weeks each.

Start each quarter with a planning week.

Set the remaining 12 weeks to accomplish our goals.

Now we have a number that works well and is easily divisible into planning pieces.

One half of our goal is reachable in 6 weeks.

One third of our goal is reachable in 4 weeks.

One fourth of our goal is reachable in 3 weeks.

Twelve weeks is ideal for so many goals. It works well for weight loss, financial, and productivity objectives. Twelve weeks is enough time to see real results without becoming discouraged. If we have shorter duration goals we can put multiple ones on the time line. Longer term goals work well when broken up into 12 week increments.

In my life I have had great success with 12 week goals. For example, I lost 25 pounds using the 12 week, “Body for Life” program. I was able to set milestones along the way to see how I was doing. I knew that it was realistic to expect a one to two pound weight loss per week. Multiplying 12 weeks by two pounds, it was pretty easy to see that 24 pounds would be a reachable 12 week goal.

The nice thing with the 12 week time period is that you can achieve 4 major objectives in a year’s time. If you have goals in different areas of your life you can overlap 2 or 3 of them at a time.

Setting aside 12 Weeks, with a planning week at the beginning, can easily be a major building block for personal change. Using this basic element we can design some simple yet powerful paper based goal planning tools that will help us on our road to success.

Stay tuned…

Technorati Tags: goals, goal setting, productivity

I’ve been reading Sally McGhee’s book, “Take Back Your Life!” and I have found some of her organizational ideas to be fascinating. She has developed a productivity solution similar to David Allen’s “Getting Things Done.” Her track has taken a little different twist as she has added the concept of meaningful objectives to the mix.

You can think of meaningful objectives as important and measurable goals. Having goals at the top of the list is really important for focus. Sally Explains…

Meaningful Objectives are your North star, your guiding light, and your reference point for success or failure. Without meaning, objectives become dry and nothing more on a to-do list that you might (or might not) look at every now and then. You won’t be motivated to work on your objectives, but you’ll feel guilty if you don’t.

I took Sally’s idea of meaningful objectives and incorporated them into a simple work flow idea that seems to work well for me.

1. Start with a goal or meaningful objectives. These need to be measurable and actionable with a due date.

2. Divide the Goal into logical projects

3. Incorporate the idea of a focused 50 minute work period to accomplish project tasks

4. Divide the tasks into their most simplistic form… next actions

Let’s put this idea into practice with an example.

1. Our Meaningful Objective. Write a 150 page book on productivity solutions in 3 months

2. Our projects: Table of Contents, Forward, Acknowledgments, 15 chapters, Index

3. Sample Accomplishment: Take 50 minutes and write a chapter

4. Individual Actions: 1.Chapter Title. 2.Main body. 3.Wrap Up 4.Illustrations

While this example is over-simplistic, the idea of Goals, Projects, Accomplishments, and Individual Actions has worked very well for me. We’ll take a look at some paper based solutions later this week that will take this process and make it simple to implement.

Technorati Tags: GTD, Outlook, Productivity