Tag Archives: Technology

Off the Office Hamster Wheel in 5 Easy Steps

29 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by in Business, Office, Organizing, Planning, Stress, Time, Work Space

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Hamster in Orange Wheel

The definition of a hamster wheel is when someone just keeps running in circles (and making the same mistakes) instead of progressing.

A bit of planning can get you off that wheel and help you to feel better about your mornings.  Review again at the end of the day and organizing is just as important.

Here are 5 easy steps to get control and off the wheel: . . .

Emails – Instead of phone calls (unless it’s an immediate need), send an email.  This will help you AND others to save time.  In addition, I color-code emails to clearly see the status.  After sending an email with a request, I move it back into my “Inbox” and tag it with GREEN.  When receiving an email with a request, I tag it in RED and it shows as an outstanding item.

Voicemail – Unless you’re in customer service, you probably don’t have to answer every call. If possible, block out time to let calls go to voicemail so that you can concentrate on specific projects or tasks.  Even better, close your office door and cut other distractions.

Reducing Paper – A multi-page scanner is a great investment.  Scan correspondence, invoices, receipts, contracts, etc.  You will save filing space and it’s a faster way of sharing information with others.   Make sure you have a logical filing system on your computer or server to find what you need later and don’t forget to back up the files!

Task Lists – These are necessities.  If you don’t have a structured system, develop it now.  If you have one, ask yourself “How effective is this?”   “Can I clearly see the priorities?” “Do I have due dates and times associated with each task?”

End of Day – set an alert to sound 1 hour before the end of your work day.  This will give you time for the following:

  1. Find a good “stopping place” for what you’re currently working on.
  2. Review unchecked voice mails and emails and add them to your task list by priority
  3. Tidy up your desk and physical surroundings for the next morning.

The hamster called, he wants his wheel back and you don’t need it anymore.

Hamster Wheel for Sale

For Busy Business People – Google

20 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by in Business, Organizing, Personal, Planning, Time, Work Space

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Google - all appsDo you use Google?  Do you use it to its maximum potential to save you TIME and increase Communication AND save Money?

Google - contacts to cell

 

Contacts – Add co-workers, clients, or vendors for immediate auto-dialing and texting.

Email Groups – create “Groups when adding contacts and send one email to multiple people for faster, clearer communication.Google Mail

Multiple Emails – set up multiple email accounts to respond by business entities/divisions (or even personal).  Switch back and forth between email addresses and they stay separate.

Google Calendar Image

Multiple, Integrated Calendars – these are automatically color-coded and can be viewed separately or integrated.  Have office meetings, projects and deadlines in one location with pop-up reminders sent via email to all those involved. Reduce the confusion and increase the accountability!

Google Drive 2

Cloud – upload files to Google Drive and create access for everyone to review and types of documents whether agendas, meeting notes, spreadsheets or PDFs.  (No reason to open a laptop or even a tablet!)

What does this mean to you? 

Integration = Efficiency = Time Savings = Focus – All the information you need is at your fingertips to make decisions on the spot

Here’s Google’s mission, shouldn’t it be yours?Google - Mission 2

If you need help or training with any of these features, feel free to phone or email!

 

Homepreneurs & Solopreneurs

22 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in Business, Office, Organizing, Personal, Time, Work Space

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More than half of all U.S. businesses are based at home and an estimated 6.6 million home-based enterprises provide at least half of their owners’ household income.  Together these “homepreneurs” employ one in 10 private-sector workers.

So how do we separate our home life from our business life?

Having a ‘separation of states’ for managing information (appointments, tasks, email, etc.) is a good beginning. If you can manage it, have a room designated as a home office and let your family know that if the door is closed, you’re not available at that moment.  You can even put a “Be Back in 1 Hour” sign on the door! If you don’t have a spare room, consider a corner of a room and use an attractive room divider so that you have private space to work and think.

Conversely, we need to integrate our work and home life with as little confusion as possible – which is why Google is so popular.  Personal calendars and business calendars can be linked and viewed independently or jointly (each calendar is a different color).  When adding an event, view the combined appointment calendars to reduce the chance of double-bookings.

Google also offers cloud computing and on-line collaboration.  If you’re working on a Word document or Excel spreadsheet, but have to leave the house, just upload it to the cloud and later you can access it from your smartphone to make changes and add content. Additionally, business and personal email accounts can be linked so you can ‘toggle’ on your phone to access each one separately even when you’re out of the office.

Cloud computing, email, calendars and smartphones have accelerated the trend of independently working from home.  But if we want to be successful, we must stay in tune with both the big picture and details jointly for home and work.

If you have questions, need assistance in setting up an account or would like more information about the benefits, feel free to email me.

If you have any tips or favorite planning applications, I would love to hear from you!

If you would like to receive my Blogs, click the “Follow” box on the left side of the screen above the calendar.  I always enjoy tips and feedback!