December 2004

Greetings Philosophers,

Personal Update
looking back, looking forward

Those of you who've been readers for a while know that in my personal life I've had some interesting times in the last year. My mother unexpectedly passed away last fall, I got married in July, my father passed away in September, and I ran for public office -city council- for the last six months. As the holidays approach and I'm dealing with many different aspects of all these things, from estate organizing to future plans, as always, I find bits of wisdom and ideas to share. Thank you to everyone who's sent condolences.

***
Goal setting
write down the vision

Don't let life just happen to you. sit down, write out the ideas about your life you'd like to see happen. These of course, are often changing, sometimes crazy, but an important aspect of spending your time consciously is to have things you are working on. Do this with your partner(s), both business and life partners, and apply it to business, life, health, family.

***
Habit
Plan for tomorrow at the end of the day

This is not the first time I’ve promoted this habit, but I am constantly telling my new clients about this key part of living efficiently. Especially if you are new to an organized life, you need to begin to create task lists that encompass your minute by minute work, and this is the way to start.

At the end of your day (right before you’re going to hot sync your PDA!) take a 5 minute planning break. Start by centering yourself with a few deep breaths, fix your posture, then:

- glance at your schedule for tomorrow to understand your available work time

- think about your “big” goals and projects. What’s the next (and only the 1 next) thing to do on those? Make a task

- think about what got done today, and what comes next from that work. Make a task

As you do this a bit every day, you’ll start to gain an understanding and perspective about your real work, and your true capabilities. The only way to find out if it works is to do it.

***
Suggestion for organization
Gather serial numbers

Someday, sometime, something bad is going to happen to your stuff. One way to be ready for that event, whether it be theft, hurricane, earthquake, or cocktail accident, is to have back up information at hand. Take a quick inventory of your ‘important’ stuff: computer, TV, stereo, piano, whatever, and gather the serial numbers off these items and keep them somewhere smart (like your PDA, which is backed up, of course)

***
Radical ideas

Move closer to your job to cut down on your commute time

Kill your television

Look at email only once a day

‘Run’ your errands. Take a backpack and jog to the store, instead of driving

Thin down your wardrobe to the point where there’s not enough options to slow down the dressing process

Walk away from your job at 5pm, then 4:55, then 4:50 and work faster to get the same amount done.

***
Think Globally, Act Locally
SERVAS

My wife and I are hosts in the SERVAS organization. This is a great little organization that promotes friendship throughout the world by connecting travelers with hosts. Check out www.usservas.org and join up. We've made good friends this way, and we intend to travel with servas soon. Spread the word, get involved.

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Give Love, Not Stuff
Here come the Holidays

Remember to try and use the holidays to promote non-materialism and organization, as well as family time. Tell your coworkers, your friends and your family you don’t want any *stuff*… if you give something, make it consumable, or memorable, not dust-able. Food, wine, tickets to events, *time off* to your employees, *extra time* with family members who could simply use some companionship. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

***
Resources
Product Update

The Idea Mountain resources page www.ideamountain.com/resources.html has been updated and has some new things on it. Check out the recommendations, and the best prices I could find.

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Non-Trick
Sometimes, you can’t do everything

I get a lot of reporter requests for interview and article leads asking for ‘best new tricks for saving time’… and while readers know I have a lot of opinions and ideas about such things, I often have to end up telling these folks that sometimes, you can't do everything. We call this stuff ‘time management’ but you know, it isn’t managing time, it’s managing our work and our plans. Everyone gets 24 hours in a day, from Ben Franklin to Martin Luther King to George Soros, time moves forward in exactly the same way. Choose what you focus on, manage that, and your work. Get better at what you do.

Keep in touch, take deep breaths, practice mindfulness
Happy holidays,

Tys

Greetings Philosophers

Here again is the monthly installment of the newsletter from Idea Mountain, designed to give you something to think about, some tricks for saving time, and to be easily read in two or three minutes and filed away.

As I announced last month, I'm in the process of running for office here in San Francisco, for what we call Board of Supervisors… most people call it City Council. In the last two weeks, I've been on the streets about 9 or 10 hours a day, talking to people to get their signatures for my candidacy. So I haven't felt very 'creative' when coming back to my desk after those long days. I have gained a lot of insights though. Some are included below, and much of my thinking has been revolving around politics. I hope you don't mind the references.

Quote:
"Only time and effort bring proficiency" - Chinese Proverb

I was doing some research for my campaign, and I'm looking to distinguish myself by pointing out that I've been involved for a long time. This quote was one I was thinking about including in my literature. I've come to realize though, it applies to many aspects of life. I've worked with clients who have purchased a palm pilot or some other organizer and thought that suddenly, they'd be organized, and be able to work that system without effort. Or worse, some people will bring in organizers or cleaners and expect that without changing habits, they'll suddenly be better at keeping their house or office in order.

I often reference martial arts, actually any art form, along these same lines. Practice until you get things right, enjoy the practice. Focus on the task until you know you can do it well, then add to it. It's a lot like living life well.

Way of Doing:
Recording mini-projects

Many of us struggle with the different aspects of types of projects. There's big projects, like buying a house, and there's medium-sized projects, like designing a website. Then there's mini-projects, like making meeting plans with an important person. Each one of these can be handled in different ways for organization. Here's how I handle mini-projects (that always end up taking longer than you think, right?):

1. decide there's something to do and create a task in my Information Assistant (Outlook task and/or Palm to-do) Call it 'get a meeting with the big client'

2. Assign a date that it's due. I base this on knowing what is generally on my plate for that week or day.

3. When that time arrives (perhaps it's *right now!*), I take the obvious action. In this case, calling the client's office. But I get the assistant, who tells me the big client is out until Monday.

4. I write in my notes field (again Outlook/Palm) 'called 6/4/04, Debbie the assistant says the client is out until Monday. Call again. And I'll probably put the phone number right in the notes, unless they're in my address book already.

5. Then I *don't* mark it complete, I change the due date to next Monday.

6. Go on to the next thing that's on my list.

7. When Monday comes, up this mini-project pops, and I call again. Etc. etc.

What this does is keep track of a little project, give you simple action steps, and allows you to have all your facts straight when you do get to the next step.

An Old Standard
Prioritization

The simplest way to feel like you're getting more done is to make a list of those things you have to do, decide which of those are most important, and do them in order. Perhaps you won't get through the whole list, or even more than one or two, but at least you've worked on what's most important.

Most often, we get distracted by the most interesting, the easiest, or the most urgent looking. This only leaves you chasing the latest fires, never getting the most important thing done.

This of course, is not a new idea. But we all need to hear this again and again. Further, the best time to do this is the day before the work you're prioritizing. If you take 5 minutes at the end of the workday to make your list for tomorrow, you'll save yourself time, effort, and energy. Try it for a week, and see what you think.

A Way of Doing:
Commitment

I've come to realize that sometimes, a lot of time is wasted trying to figure out a better way to do things instead of just doing that thing. As I've often pointed out with my 'if it takes less than minutes, do it now' philosophy, many times we spend time thinking about deciding, or deciding about doing, rather than simply doing it.

Currently, I'm gathering signatures for my political campaign. This consists mostly of getting yourself into a high traffic area and trying to get people's attention and get them to sign the petition. What happens, almost immediately, is you start to wonder if you're in the best spot. It's exactly the same sensation I used to feel when I sold stuff door to door. You run into a bit of difficulty, and you immediately start to think the you should move to a different area. I see clients do this with decisions, with projects, and with the clutter of their desks and offices. We wait for the situation to change, or we want to wait to decide something, or just want better choices. Waiting around for the perfect situation generally just slows you down. Sometimes it's just better to make the commitment to this project, this decision, this sales territory, and just get to work. Make the commitment to get stuff done.

Trick
Notes in Meetings

With my PDA (palm pilot) and fold up keyboard, I take notes in my meetings in the note field of that appointment. If, during the meeting, someone says something smart, makes a commitment, or asks me to get them my info, some number, whatever it might be, I set up an email right then and there from my old Palm Vx (that doesn't have wireless connections) email program.

Then, when I get back to my desk and my next 'hot sync', the email goes out without me having to remember any of it.

Take care, stay informed, and take a deep breath,

Tys

April 2004

Greetings Philosophers

Here again is the monthly installment of the newsletter from Idea Mountain, designed to give you something to think about, some tricks for saving time, and to be easily read in two or three minutes and filed away.

First, some strange news:

I've decided to 'throw my hat in the ring' in a local political race, as a candidate for District Supervisor (San Francisco's version of city council member). This is going to take up a lot of my focus for the next 7 months, and while I'm going to be continuing my work with Idea Mountain, my goal, of course, will be to win, and thus start a new career. When that happens, I'll probably need to put Idea Mountain 'on hold' until I can handle doing both things or my term is over. Anyway, it's going to be a wild ride, trying to bring efficiency to government.

***

Trick/Rule:
Don't have too many folders

When saving documents on your computer, don't allow your number of folders to get out of hand. If you find that you can't see all your folders on the screen at once, you probably need to reorganize them. Try to go for bigger categories, and to combine things when possible. I'm not saying lump everything together, but simply spread it out. Don't have 50 folders inside one folder, have 5 inside 5, inside 2.

***

Philosophy
Balance is Success

I have a very close Italian friend who has lived in the US and now lives in Sweden. I asked him recently how he defined success, and if he thought it was different than the way Americans define it. His answer was extremely insightful. He pointed out that the general European idea of success was one of balance, of doing well in all areas of your life, while American success seemed focused more on being the best in one subject, to the detriment of all else. In Italy, one can't be a success simply in business while ignoring family life or personal health, or vise versa. In the US, being content with your relative success in many areas doesn't seem as important as being called the best in one 'important' category. Donald Trump is considered a success, even though his family life is a mess. Kind of hard to call him a renaissance man.

***

Rule to live by:
Over Communicate

As I work with more and more businesses as clients, I often end up dealing with some fundamental issues. Making decisions, figuring plans, and communicating with coworkers, clients, and staff. The rule for today: over communicate. Repeat yourself by saying things in different ways, talk and talk about goals, plans, ideas, next steps... especially if there are any problems. I don't mean drone on and on, but just make communication your every minute goal. Does your staff know you want to be more efficient? Do they know the long term goals of your department? Here are some good phrases to start with:

- You know how we're trying to reach X goal? I think this project could help by...

- Is there anything you need me to go over again?

- Is there anything else we should talk over before moving on?

- You know how I'm focused on ___? Well, here's what I'm going to do about...

Not surprisingly, this rule applies in all aspects of life. In relationships, at work, on teams, on vacation... The better people feel they know exactly what's going on, the better they can concentrate on their own goals.

***

Product:
Organizing Elders

After learning a few things from my own mother's death, and by taking a class at the university, I've put together a booklet that helps you get ready for the inevitable. Whether you're the child or the parent, this booklet can help you get the house and finances in order. Do it now, before you have to.

Organizing Elders

***

Fun Tool:
Life lists

Many of us have talked about this concept, but have you actually sat down and made one up? What's on your 'list of things to do before you die'? Write it out, see where your imagination takes you. What sort of things are they? Why not get started on one right now? If you're in a relationship, find out what's on your partner's list.

***

Commentary
Bottlenecks

Often in work, whether personal, corporate, or volunteer, a project will hit a ‘bottleneck’, something that slows down the whole workflow that can’t be taken out of the process. These bottlenecks can be many different things, but more often than not, they have to do with someone not being able to be as efficient as the process calls for. The DMV makes you wait *forever* because their process hits a bottleneck of only so many people can be helped by the few workers there. A whole team works on a project to meet a deadline, only to discover it then sits on the bosses desk for two weeks gathering dust. What can be done?

First, identify the potential bottlenecks in any situation. Second, decide if it’s worth trying to fix it. If you see a bottleneck forming when you are traveling with Grandma and you know she’s going to want to stop at every shoe store along the way, is it really worth it to try and get her to quit? Or if you know the problem is your supervisor at work, do you have the clout to point that out to the boss?

If it’s worth fixing the problem (and of course you know I generally think it is worth it) you have a few options. One, communicate the issue to everyone involved. Let everyone know (including the bottleneck themselves) about the time each step in the process will take, including the estimated slow down at the bottleneck. Two, plan and build that bottleneck time into your schedule. Three, and most productive, is find a solution to the bottleneck. Really examine what it is, bring it up with others in the most helpful ‘teamwork’ way possible, and see if you can find a solution. If you can’t imagine what that solution might be, see if you can do some research on similar situations, or bring in a consultant. To determine if it’d be worth bringing in a consultant and paying them to solve the problem, simply determine the amount of money (or time, which can be the same as money in many cases) you’d save if that bottleneck was gone. Then find a consultant who’s price would be less than that amount.

Old Trick:
ABC
Always Be Closing

Remember the “Glen Gary, Glen Ross” movie, about the salesman? They talked about ABC, always Be Closing; the deal, that is. It works in efficiency as well. Always push things forward. When you talk to your coworker, ask them what the next step is. When you meet with that client, get a specific time for the next meeting or project launch. When you talk to your spouse, make those little decisions: ‘you pick up the wine, and I’ll cook’… don’t leave things hanging. See how many ‘deals’ you can move forward this month. It’s as simple as ABC.

Remember, smile more, breath deep, and have fun,

Tys

March 2004

Greetings Philosophers of Efficiency!

Here again is the monthly newsletter about time management and effectiveness from Idea Mountain. Designed to be read in a quick (but thoughtful!) 3 minutes, so you can read it, forward it, and file it.

Tip:
Plan a bit of Tomorrow

Here’s an easy way to get started on the planning of your work, without the hassle of actually forcing yourself to do anything right away. At some point in your day (many find that right before the end of the workday, before going home) pick one thing, one goal to accomplish the next day. ‘send off that proposal’, ‘buy the supplies’, ‘throw out those files’ …whatever it might be, and write it down. Ideally, you will have taken my advice in the past and gotten a PDA and you could put it right into your tasks list, but if not, at least put it on a post-it note and leave it where you’ll see it tomorrow. When you get in tomorrow, do that one thing for sure, and whatever else comes up. Slowly, you’ll start to see yourself moving forward in planning, and accomplishments.

***
Philosophy
It’s about decisions

As I work with clients around the country on time management training, and talk to team members where I’m asked to help make things run more smoothly, I keep ‘drilling down’ to the problem, and it usually ends up being about making decisions. It’s not that some people take so much longer to do something, or that they have some technological quagmire they can’t get through… it’s that they are unwilling, or unable to make some decision about the next step. What’s even more frustrating is that often, once I point that out, I’ve seen people jump forward in their work, and move at lightning speed. So it’s not even the information or the debate itself that’s the problem. They aren’t ‘torn’ with the possibilities, they just didn’t seem to want to ‘step up to the plate’ and take a swing. Once they did (to keep the analogy going) they easily rounded the bases. So, get in there, swing for the wall.

***
An Idea Mountain mantra
The 4 Ds

The 4 Ds have become something I end up pointing out to my clients, over and over, so, sorry if you’ve heard this one, but here they are again:

Do It Now- if something takes less than 2 minutes, do it now rather than put it off

Digitize - don't print anything out that you could put into your PDA (that’s Personal Digital Assistant aka a Palm Pilot)

Do a Weekly review - check over what you've done, plan what you're going to do. stick to it.

Don't be the library - don't hold onto things that can be found elsewhere, on the internet, in company files, etc.

***
Philosophy
The same 24 hours, or as my mother used to say, ‘he puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like you’

Everybody has the same amount of time in a day, 24 hours. Yes, some need a bit more sleep than others, some have more obligations (kids being a great example, but it’s not like other folks don’t). Why is it that some people seem to be able to get more done? Well, some just spend that time doing things differently than others.

As I said above, time management usually comes done to decisions and priorities, not tricks. What 'philosophers of efficiency' should be striving for is doing the right thing, at the right time, with the right focus.

As I’m talking with business people who are struggling with having enough time, I see patterns. Here's where I see people spinning their wheels:

1. Being unfocused. Not doing something meaningful or consciously. (Ever stare at a project that needs doing, do nothing, then tell people you worked all day and didn’t get anywhere?)

2. Doing something that doesn't need doing. The classic example is hw so many people spend extra time ‘tweaking’ a design, or thinking about ‘their brand’ that they don’t actually get out and do any work.

3. Rushing: Trying to do something in less time than it takes. Gotta point out how people think that driving faster to work somehow makes them more important or something…

4. Going too slow: Spending too much time on something. This to me, is hiding behind ‘gathering information’. It’s really just not making a decision and moving forward.

Examine how you work on your different tasks. Are you spending the right amount of focus and time on something? We’ve all got plenty of time, if you do what matters.

***
View of work
Task vs. Appointment

I believe in having a list of things to do in a day, not in having a series of appointments to work on stuff. Some of us have jobs and lives that need to be tied specifically to the clock… that absolutely task A and task B need to be done by X time of day… but I don’t. And, I would argue, that not many of us do. Yes, we all have places we need to be at certain times, but when it comes down to what we want to accomplish today, I feel it’s better to look at a list of tasks than to say, ‘I have from 10:20 to 10:30 to call Bob.’ Think about this in your work… do you have a series of places to be, or a list of stuff to do?

***
Eek
Be careful what you hold onto:

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/12/30/man.trapped.ap/index.html

***
Reminder
Bring Idea Mountain into your workplace

As I’m building my business of consulting and training on time management, I’m hoping that all you ‘philosophers of efficiency’ will spread the word about Idea Mountain, especially to your coworkers and managers –and HR training departments!-- My mission is to get the whole world working more effectively and spending time on what matters… and you can help me help your company.

***
Work well, breath deep, and have fun,
Tys
February 2004

Hail Hail Philosophers of Efficiency!

Here again is your monthly does of time management philosophy, organization and efficiency ideas...sent to clients and friends of Idea Mountain. As always, this is designed to be read in 2 or 3 minutes, then filed, deleted, or better yet, passed on to others. If you know someone who should be on this list, you can also send me an email and I'll add them. All privacy guaranteed, of course.

***
Reason
Learn - can't just do...

Someone asked me the other day, "Why should I get organized? Why can't I just hire an assistant or cleaning help when things pile up?" I had a long winded, self-justifying answer for them, but the reason I bring it up here is to point out that 'being' organized is different from sometimes organizing, in the same way being in shape is different than exercising every once in a while.
You're whole mode and focus change when you've learned to be organized and when you understand the importance of managing your time and energy wisely.

***
Realization
I'm NOT organized myself!

Every so often, I am painfully reminded that, contrary to how I feel sometimes, I wasn't born organized. When people asked me how I got into time management training and consulting, I would say 'it's just my personality'... but I've realized that isn't true. I forget things, lose things, have to go back and expend energy on something a second time --probably not nearly as often as some-- and when I look at how it happened, I see that I failed to use the tools and tricks I have in place to catch these things. After thinking for a while about how this could be, I realized that my 'sense of urgency', my impatience' drives me, and only because I've learned how to keep track of things am I as organized as I am. Realize that everyone can learn how to be organized, it's not about personality.

***
Trick
All your worries like sand…

If you're feeling like there's a lot of 'what ifs' keeping you awake at night, or keeping you from acting on a project, make a 'worry list'. Once they're on that list, you can get on with the important things, like sleeping. And, it turns out, not much of this list actually happens, and it sure helps clear your mind.

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Testimonial

"Working with Tys has been great. We have fun, we laugh, we get so much done. I've gained a sense of space, freedom and lightness, and learned more about how to better use technology and my PDA than I thought possible. I've used other organizing systems, but never got this far before."
- Dolly Sarlo, Activist and Grandmother
***

Philosophy and Book Review
Don't just do something, sit there:

I'm slowly reading Peace in Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk. This fantastic little book is a compilation of his long life of teaching and writing, and is set up in little bite-sized thoughts. His ability to take centuries old Buddhist thought and apply it to today's hectic society is fantastic.

One message that I wanted to mention here seems to be in direct contrast to my general advice of action. He writes a lot about realizing how happy you are in every day life.
An example is when you have a toothache, you are keenly aware of how nice it is *not* to have a toothache, but when you don't have a toothache, you are unaware of how nice it is. When you're fully organized and working at an effective level, you should be able to stop, and be in the moment, enjoying all the aspects of life. Many people only feel productive when they are working furiously, but often they aren't actually getting much done. "Don't just do something, sit there!"

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Offer and Definition
Who are my customers?

As I'm working with so many different sorts of businesses and individuals these days, I'm finding that across the board, whether leaders in large offices, small biz owners, or individual homemakers, people have a lot of the same issues with time management and organization. Since I've had such a good response to my free '30 minute efficiency assessment' for small businesses, I'm expanding that offer to any size business or individual, but only to readers of the newsletter, and only through February. So, if you're wondering who works with Idea Mountain, and whether you'd benefit, email for a free 30 minute assessment discussion… I work with people like you!

***
Examination
Firefighting

If realize that a lot of your time management issues are that you are always 'putting out fires', ask yourself:

Why did it occur?
What can be done to prevent its recurrence?
If it does recur, how can I handle it better next time?

***
Trick
No Flat Space

Except for your desk, try and remove any flat surface from your office where stuff would pile up. It will help force you to deal with the stuff more regularly.

Instead, use your task (to do) list to remind you to deal with that thing that used to be piled up somewhere.

***
Quick Habit change
It's the little times that life is made of...

Figure out little ways to do bits of exercise. Walk, take the stairs, stretch during a meeting, a phone call... This practice, as you do it regularly keeps you healthy, saves time, and reduces fatigue... all of which help you with focus on life and work.

Work well, live better, smile for no reason,
Tys

January 2004

2004 is upon us, and it'll be a great year to use every minute the way we want to use it. Here again is the quick monthly newsletter designed to be read in 2 to 3 minutes and give you tricks to work better and philosophies to help you live better. Please pass it on to whomever you think might benefit. It's my mission to get the world to live more efficiently, effectively, and in a sustainable manner...through technology and close examination of philosophy.

Idea for the New Year
Dear Me.

When I was a senior in High school, my fabulous English teacher, Mrs. V, told us all to sit down one day and write ourselves a letter. She then kept the letter for the year most of us were off at college, and then mailed them back to us. What an amazing perspective changing exercise! I suggest that at this dawning of the new year, you do just that; sit down and write yourself a letter, then put it away until next New Year's Day. Write what you've accomplished this year, some important milestones, and what you'd like to accomplish in the next year. Any advice for your future self? Put it in there.

Not only will this be fun to read next year, but the review now helps give you perspective on what you want to set goals to accomplish this year, and what's important to you.

Emergency Budget Preparedness
Financial Fire Drills

A lot of being organized and feeling less stress is about being prepared, being ready for whatever comes along. A big part of life's details are connected to our finances. Individuals, and even more important, small to medium sized businesses need to go through the process called a 'financial fire drill'. This means looking at your current situation (income, expenses, plans) and honestly looking at what would happen if some negative things happened.

Questions you should ask -
On the business level:

- what would happen if we lost our biggest customer? Our 5 biggest customers?
- what if we had damage at our office/factory/lab? Could we stay open for business, or just collect insurance and go home?
- what if our CEO/leader/product designer got hit by a bus?
- what if our computer system crashed? Do we have everything backed up properly? (ok, that's the organizer in me talking)
- what other possible negative things might affect your financial future?

On an individual level:
- what if I lost my income --due to injury or layoff? How long can I go without finding a new job?
- if I had a major financial set back (job loss, health crisis) what would 'give' to support that? Would I move into a smaller place? Would my spouse go back to work?
- if I had to buy a new car/house/computer, how would I manage that?

Another key part of this exercise is of course, to communicate these thoughts with those around you. Your spouse should understand and agree with your perspective, and your coworkers should understand what the steps might be to in an emergency like those above.

Article
Side note

Backing up my thoughts on organization and finances, here's an article:
Financial-Planning.com

Questions
Best and Worst

As more and more people sign up to receive this newsletter, I’m wondering what the answer would be: what’s the best trick/tool that saves you time in your day? What’s the thing that takes up the most of your time? Email me and let me know.

Directive for the New Year
Organizing your ‘Branding”

To allow this bit of advice to work for both individuals and businesses, I’ll keep it to the term ‘brand’, as in ‘your image’, how people perceive you and what you do.

We’ve all heard the numbers: it takes saying someone’s name 3 times before you can remember it later, it takes 5 sales calls before the customer says yes, it takes 7 contacts with a reporter before they run with a story… to make an impression, we need to be consistent, and repetitive. Whether this is in a potential romantic situation with someone you want to impress, a new boss, or if it’s with a new slice of market-share you want get into… we need to express ourselves consistently. And being organized is a great way to do that.

Use your IA (Information Assistant, like a palm pilot or planner) and mark down repeated things you want to do to make an impression. “send flowers” every week, “write a thank you note” every 3 days, “email the relatives” once a month, “schmooze the finance guys” once every two weeks, whatever it is that you want to start to do with consistency. It doesn’t need to be such a strong pattern that others notice, in fact, that might be a bad thing; break it up so that the boss doesn’t see you coming every Friday at 2pm.

Free Offer
Small Biz Assessment

I wanted to remind everyone that in the month of January, Idea Mountain is offering a free efficiency/effectiveness assessment to any small business with 5 employees or less. Maybe you feel the company is pretty well organized but might need one or two tweaks, maybe you don’t know where to start, or even if you have anything resembling an organization. Email if you’re interested.

Trick
think info, not paper

Still, many of my business clients fall into the typical 'paper-centric' trap of printing things out and/or filing stuff, just in case we might need that sometime. When organizing your home or workplace, try and move away from saving the piece of paper, and think about the information on it. Even if you don't save things digitally, do you really need that file/paper/binder/magazine? Or is it just a few key ideas that could be written/stored somewhere else? In fact, if you save it, it might confuse things further, as there’s probably something just like it in the files already.

Trick
Email that to me

When on the phone away from your computer or a piece of paper, instead of scrambling to figure out how to write down some info or get it into your PDA, simply ask the other person to email the pertinent info to you. That way, when you get back to your computer, you can simply drop the information into the right spot; your calendar, your task list, etc.

My Andy Rooney moment:
Ja ever notice… you’re often more tired from what's not done than what you did

As I often talk about, I wanted to again touch on the idea that it’s not all that we work on and finish that drains our energy, it’s all the stuff that we haven’t done that really weighs us down. After a long hard day of good solid work, what one feels isn’t just ‘tired’…it’s a satisfaction, a sense of a job well done. Similar to after a workout, it’s a ‘good tired’.

When we actually feel spent and lethargic is when we feel that there’s actually too much to do and not enough time to do it in. Or when we go through a day and it doesn’t feel like we’ve accomplished anything.

The solution? Figure out a way to plan your work so you get something done, and get the rest onto your task list and calendar so you don’t have to think about it. If you plan out your day so that you can actually get done what you want, and then feel confident that the rest is accounted for on another day, you will feel more relaxed and able to tackle work on a regular basis.

Take care, Work well, smile more,
Tys