May is National Move Month

Is moving day fast approaching? Based on the Employee Relocation Council, moving to a new residence is the third most stressful life event (after dying and divorce or separation). To ease the disruption, try these tips to help make your move easier.

1. Think about “staging” your home. This approach to neutralizing, decluttering, organizing, and beautifying helps prospective buyers to imagine themselves residing inside your home by touching on their emotions and thoughts. Staging also begins the “letting go” process for the sellers, as they adjust their much loved home to a more neutral-looking house. Staging will help you sell your home fairly quickly, at the best possible selling price.
2. Schedule your move date at a minimum of four to six weeks in advance. Typically the most popular months for moves include May through September and the very beginning and end of each month. So if you’re contracting a moving company, get in touch with them soon.   Connect with family and friends for reliable moving company recommendations. 
3. Begin packing up seldom-used belongings now. Check with your grocery market to get cardboard boxes for you. Pack heavier items in smaller sized boxes and less heavy items in bigger boxes. 
4.  Organize your boxes. Number each box and label which room it belongs in. Keep a separate list indicating the box number and its contents. You can create this list in MS Word, Excel, or The Paper Tiger. When you get to your new place, unpack everything as soon as possible. (Paper Tiger users, create a new database!) 
5. Complete change-of-address forms at the post office or online. And be sure to update vital records and documents including your address and phone number (e.g. driver’s license, checks). If you still have physical phone books with notes all over them, bring your existing phone books to your new home in case you will need get in touch with folks in your old town. 
6. Transport valuable items personally. Irreplaceable family pictures, heirlooms, and financial and legal documents should be packed and moved by you preferably instead of the moving company. 
7. Mail out postcards to family and friends with your updated address and phone number, along with a photo of your new home! My recommendation is to automate it using Send Out Cards.

If you are in the metro Phoenix area and need some help organizing your move, call me now at 480-442-2014.

The Physical Space of Our Offices Affect Productivity

Squeezed into a corner?

Maximize whatever space you have.

Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings; thereafter, they shape us.” How true, not just for hotels but for our offices as well.

Studies have found that the physical space in which we work affects satisfaction, productivity, and even learning. Yet few of us take time to strategize and organize our workplaces or our homes.

Imagine an office where you show up every day and feel excited each day to get started because your desk is inviting you to sit down. Your chair is ergonomically correct, you have all the latest technology, and you have comfortable seats for your guests. When your office is right, you will feel comfortable and energized. When you check into your office each morning, you will have the right keys for being organized.

Here are a few keys and a few simple steps, ranging from the right workspace system to ergonomic-friendly products that can help businesses boost employee productivity and ease.

Be ergonomically correct

• Keep a massage ball handy to free your hands from stress. People performing repetitive activities on a keyboard or an adding machine can injure their hands. A stress ball will help you exercise your hands in new ways, rather than just typing.
• Position your computer monitor twenty-four to thirty-seven inches away from you with the screen at or below eye level to reduce strain on your neck and shoulders.
• If you are on the phone a lot, use a headset or a quality speakerphone so that you can listen and write notes at the same time.

Create an at-home workspace

• Designate a spot in your home to do your business and money activities such as Internet research, writing thank-you notes, managing your schedule, and paying bills. 
• Always do work activities in that space and only that space.  Then you’ll always know where everything is.

Arrange your main office

• Arrange your office furniture for maximum use of the space.
• Create a specific location for specific things, such as client files, supplies, books, calendar, briefcase, and appointment book.
• Place your most frequently accessed files nearest your work desk.
• Place peripherals and hardware where you can reach them without crossing the room.
• Secure cables off the floor. Label them, so you always know what they are and to which equipment they connect.

Work anywhere

• Wherever you are, keep your works flowing.  

Create a portable officeHave an “on the go” system ready to roll whenever and wherever you go. Even at a moment’s notice, you can always have your schedule, work plan, and appointments list handy—in the car or however you travel.

Get set up for mobility

• Keep your critical information at hand by using a PDA (personal digital assistant). These devices have the functionality of a computer but are compact enough to throw in a briefcase, handbag, or pocket (e.g., iPhone, Galaxy). This mobility can also be done with a laptop or tablet, which can be set up so you can work offline on your email, and once you hook up to the Internet it will synch, send, and reconcile your email.
• Through Microsoft Outlook, you can synchronize your task list, calendar, and address book to your home computer using Microsoft Exchange.   However, assess your true needs before you purchase. Keep it simple.

Use the same organizing methods

Unclutter your brain. Let organizing do the work for you…so you do not have to try to remember what you were doing or where you put something.  

An inefficient workspace is seldom life threatening, but it still hurts us on the job. Studies show that each year 1.8 million workers develop injuries related to ergonomic factors.

That translates into an annual productivity cost of more than $60 billion. The personal cost is even greater. A messy office hampers our job performance, robs us of our confidence, and prevents us from spending valuable time with our family and friends.

In 1982, there was a criminology theory called “broken windows theory.” The theory was about the effects of urban disorder and vandalism on crime and anti-social behaviour. You know—park a car in a nice neighbourhood and chances are no one will hurt it. Throw a brick through the windshield, however, and the car is likely to be vandalized. That’s the broken window theory. And that’s also the power of image and respect.

What about your workplace? What message are you sending out about your office? That you’re competent and efficient? Or that you’re disorganized and out of control?

Credit and Source:  This blog post is an excerpt from Anne McGurty's book, Lost In Your Own Office, available on amazon.com.

http://www.strategizeandorganize.com  480-442-2014

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Fill Your Time with Purpose and Productivity

Time Management

If time is evaporating, do it now––right now!

When you waste a moment, you have killed it in a sense, squandering an irreplaceable opportunity. But when you use the moment properly, filling it with purpose and productivity, it lives on forever. ~Menachem Mendel Schneerson

American workers are in a time crunch––and yet we’re wasting time. We spend at least ten hours per week just sifting through paperwork. We waste hours looking for lost and misplaced items. The cost in terms of lost productivity? Nearly $150 million per day.

We’re spending more time working––at the office, at home, at night, and on weekends. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, that means we’re putting in about forty-nine hours a week on the job––three hundred fifty hours a year more than most Europeans, seventy hours more than the Japanese. Since the 1970s, leisure time has declined by 37 percent. Our workweek has increased a full day.

What’s going on here? Seems like we’re running twice as fast, just to stay in place. If working longer isn’t the answer, what is?

Let’s get organized with these tips to work smarter so that the time you spend on the job counts for more. Work smarter so that you can check out of the office on time and go home to the life you deserve.

Check in with yourself each morning

Print out your daily schedule each day first thing in the morning.

Quickly respond to any emails that came in overnight, schedule time for those that will take more than just a couple of minutes,

Review your to do list.

Do the most important task(s) before 11:00 a.m.

Complete your most important task of the day. Get it off your mind and off your desk.

Immediately do tasks that take two minutes or less

Create the habit of completing a task or thought when it occurs to you.  Otherwise, you have to remember to come back and when you do come back to it, it’ll take you another minute or so to reorient yourself, wasting time.  Plus, how often do you forget to return to it or recall your thought process. 

Follow the 10 percent rule

An adequate job takes 10 percent of the time it takes to do something perfectly. Keep moving forward. Do not try to be perfect at everything. Striving for perfection only when a task or a product is crucial to your goal.

RSVP

As you are going through your mail, voice mail, or email and you get an invitation with a specific date, or if you have a deadline for a conference you wish to attend and you must RSVP––Do it now. Right now. Get it out of your head and off your plate. Get it into your Outlook, scheduler, or tickler file—now.

If you cannot make the decision to RSVP, put it in your tickler file on a date when you can make the decision.

Keep up with voice mail and messaging services

Check phone messages at least once every two hours. While this may compromise productivity, it will ensure you do not lose business because calls are not returned.

Make notes while listening to the messages so you do not have to listen to them again.

As you hear each call, delete it immediately to save going through it later (unless it is critical information to be saved for future action).

Prepare your responses so when you return the call you know what to say. The average time for an unprepared return call is twelve minutes, but a planned call is seven minutes.

Schedule time to return all phone calls at one time: during normal business hours and within twenty-four hours.

Schedule time on your calendar for any messages that cannot be returned immediately.

Keep your voice mail messages for incoming calls short and concise with a promise to return the call as soon as possible or a specific message indicating when you will return calls.

If you are a frequent traveler, forward landline phone calls to your cell phone so you will retrieve and respond to messages only once.

Use a daily appointment book

Keep track of all projects and work goals––everything! It is easier to work with a full page for every day. Highlight the special tasks for the day, either on paper or computer.

Use a planner

A paper or computer planner—does not matter. Just plan. (Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange seamlessly synchronize with a Blackberry.)

Plan 60 percent of your time

Plan only 60 percent. Leave the other 40 percent for the unexpected. It will show up…and it could be a good thing. You would not want to miss out because you did not leave flex time in your schedule.

Calendar everything. When you put all your projects and tasks on your calendar, you take away the stress of having to decide what to do next. Use your calendar to schedule appointments, deadlines, work time, and personal commitments. This practice will let you see, at a glance, when you’re headed for trouble. And allow you time to make a midcourse adjustment if anything changes.

Set aside specific times during the day when you focus just on email. Do the same with telephone messages. Rather than answering email each time the computer dings, set aside specific times during the day when you reply.

Delegate!

If you are too bogged down to do a particular task (or do not want to), hire a specialist.

Virtual assistants rock! In this global communications world, there are entrepreneurs out there who do virtually anything—administrative, creative, and technical support.

Spend your time making money!

Rely on the written word

Writing down your business goals crystallizes them in your memory, so you do not have to try to remember every detail. You can always refer back to your notes if you need to.

Also, the written evidence of your expectations helps you to stay focused on your plan.

Analyze time sheets

Track activities for yourself and each worker. Identify what each person actually does.

Look for patterns in what is done and how much time is spent per activity so you can identify time-wasting activities.

Use a meeting agenda

Write an agenda in advance to identify what you want to accomplish in a meeting and to track any possible follow-up actions.

The average time consumed by meetings is 70 percent longer when unprepared than when planned.

Back up computer files

Computer files can disappear in an instant. Losing data is costly in both time and money.  Computer techs are expensive, both online and at the repair shop. Repairs are not fast, either; they can take days.

Many online backup services are available today, and they are more cost-effective than repair shops.  Check with your spyware or high-speed service for your backup options.

Once set up, your backup system works continuously in the background. All you have to do is select the files (all or part) and the days and hours you want your default system to save everything.

Backing up on flash drives or CD-Rs, or both, is also a good idea for documents you need on the go.

Deluged by Commitments? Eliminate that overwhelming feeling with a few different keys.

Work step by step

Big projects get done one step at a time…one phase at a time. Baby steps are okay. It still gets done—and without all the stress.

Take a personal skills assessment

Identifying your weaknesses and strengths helps you to know where you need outside help so you can focus your creativity and attention. (DiSC profiles four personality styles: Disciplined, Influencer, Steady, and Conscientious.

By knowing your personality type and those of your coworkers, you can be clearer about each other’s responsibilities and make the best use of everyone’s talents.

Check your feelings

If someone doesn’t make you feel great, that’s not a person you want to work with.

Check out of each work day

Take a few minutes to write tomorrow’s work goals to keep you on track. Institute a closed-door policy so that you can work, free from interruptions, for ten to fifteen minutes at the end of each day.

Once a week, set weekly goals. Once a month, set monthly goals.

Keep in mind that you may not complete your goals for each day, week, and month. That is okay. Cross them off as you do. Carry them forward to your new list if they are still relevant.

Reserve time to plan as a routine habit. Use this time to review your progress, prioritize projects, and set your schedule for the next day. Give yourself time to clear your desk––and your mind. That way you will be ready to check out and go home.

Spending time at the end of the day to get organized offers another important benefit. It allows you to start your day focused and ready to get to work. In fact, studies show that investing just ten to fifteen minutes to map out your schedule each day can save you as much as six hours per week of unproductive time.

Get organized. Think about how you work each day. When you understand why you feel like you’re always running but never getting ahead, you can change how you use your time. When you do, you’ll be able to check out of the office, feeling like you’re in control and on top of your job.

Credit and Source:  This blog post is an excerpt from Anne McGurty's book, Lost In Your Own Office, available on amazon.com.

http://www.strategizeandorganize.com  480-442-2014

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Post by Anne McGurty.

What to do with all those business cards

Contact Information

Who are all these people?

Making use of all those business cards and scraps of names and notes!

As people checked into our hotel, they filled out a little registration card. We would enter their names into our register, which logged their names into the rooms they were assigned.

For years, we would hang on to the registration cards and register for each year, referring back to them each winter for our annual holiday card mailing and each spring for our peak season reminders. Occasionally, we would sort through them to send out a special card or reminder to invite people to visit us again for a specific event.

Even then, we knew that maintaining good relationships with people was critical to our business success. I do wonder, though, how many opportunities we lost because we didn’t have any capturing systems for people who just called in and asked for rates or for those visitors we had to turn away when we were filled to occupancy. Be that as it was, it was through this manual and rudimentary system that we maintained our database. Today, there are much more sophisticated systems.

Here are some keys to managing all of your contacts, which can help in managing and nurturing your client database and personal relationships.

Keep everything in one place

Organizing your contacts keeps your mind free to think, create, and innovate. Tools can hold the details for you (e.g., MS Outlook, ACT!, Goldmine). A manual or electronic database with a space for addresses will work.

Know where you put those names.

If you require multiple databases to organize your contacts, schedule regular or automated synchronization between them.

Clear inactive names

Clear out inactive names you no longer need. If you cannot picture the face of a contact, delete from your database.

Keep in touch with contacts

Stay in touch with your contacts. This shows them you are reliable and they can count on you. If hand-writing notes all the time does not work for you, use an automated web-based program that helps you select a card, write your message from your keyboard, and send it (e.g., www.Sendoutcards.com/5117).

File business cards

A small card binder is easy to carry and provides ready access—wherever you go. Or scan the cards and incorporate the data electronically (e.g., CardScan).

Stay up to date

With your contact lists current, you can always find that important person. Microsoft Exchange seamlessly updates your Blackberry database and synchronizes with your computer. This prevents time-wasting duplicate entries (e.g., www.sherweb.com).

Employees running amok? As time went on and I started to sense that our guests were picking up on a chaotic work environment, I knew there had to be a key to help us run the hotel more efficiently. A better, easier way to grow our business.

That’s when I joined the Chamber of Commerce. I was hoping to learn something that would help. At sixteen, I was the Chamber’s youngest member.

My fellow hotel owners were generous with their time and advice. They gave me a crash course in hotel management. That’s when it finally registered: I had a talent for strategizing and organizing.

You can use these key tips for improving your relationships––whether it is for your internal customers, your colleagues, or your customers and clients.

Communicate

Encourage employees for their input, and listen. Each employee needs to take time to listen to ideas as well as instructions.

Put everything in its place

Can you and others find what is needed when it is needed? Maybe it needs its own place—physically or electronically or both. Labels help.

Pool resources

Sometimes it takes more than one brain to figure out what works for everyone. Brainstorm!

Make a computer file index

This is an efficient way to track what everyone is doing, because each project has its own process and work phases (e.g., Excel, SharePoint, or The Paper Tiger.)

Write an office procedures manual

Write one—or reorganize and rewrite your old one. A written document keeps your mission statement and work goals clear. These outlines of guidelines and practices helps employees know what to expect of their jobs, what is expected of them, and company practices.

Make personal work spaces

Allowing employees to personalize their work spaces gives them a comfortable working environment and helps them feel they belong. Happy workers are the most productive.

Allow personal desk lighting

Natural or full-spectrum lighting helps people focus on their work and reduces eyestrain, which increases productivity and enhances innovation. Good lighting also creates an inviting work space.

When you have the right key, the right systems, for maintaining relationships and managing processes, physical and emotional clutter disappears. And when it does, it becomes much easier to manage your time and energy.

This blog post is an excerpt from Anne McGurty's book, Lost In Your Own Office.  Available on amazon.com

http://www.annemcgurty.com  303-881-0174

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Taxes Are Finally Over!

Too many #paperfiles these days.   A great #dcoumentmanagement system saves the day.  
Get your #filesorganized.  #MyScottsdaleOrganizer

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480-442-2014

Organization on the GO

6 Travel Accessories and Connected Devices So You Can Get Up and Go https://insidersguide.vzw.com/home-and-family/0012-travel-accessories/

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Gotta GO!! Get Organized on the Run

Connecting on the Go
Being able to make a quick call or check email while you wait is an efficient use of time.  A smartphone, couple with Gamil and Google calendar, always synchronization across multiple devices.  Google Drive also allows you to pull up forms quickly and easily. You can respond to emails and your electronic files in seconds.

Gmail/Google Calendar - be sure to synchronize your calendar and email to your smartphone.

Skype or GoogleHangout  The voice and video chat services make it simple to remain in touch.

Go to Meeting / Instant Teleseminar - incorporate these whenever you want to train or brainstorm with your clients, teams, or colleagues.

Devices on the Go
Laptop check for one that's durable enough to travel or even day to day client meetings.   Check out cnet.com for recommendations.

Tablet - Made famous by the iPad.  Not always the most practical solution.  However if you are only needing web-based applications, it's helpful.  (Internet access is required for this to be a viable option.)

Internet access - Critical basic is wi-fi or mi-fi mobile.  (wi-fi accessed through a compact, personal wireless router or smartphone, usually available as an optional fee.)

Source:
Strategize & Organize




Smartphone - check with your phone service provider for the best rate on a data plan.

Closet inspiration

Tour A Colorful, Organized LA Closet http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/organize/catt-sadler-closet-elle-decor?spr_id=1451_52327683&src=spr_TWITTER

Be a Creative Writer -- Quickly and Easily

Version 1:

Be a Creative Writer - Quickly and Easily

Chimp ReWriter is a product that I have come across that helps me to open my vocabulary while writing.

I often write and it gets a little dull sometimes.  With this software program, I get ideas of better uses of language as well as have more advanced tools to rewrite, or spin my content.

If you want to be a better writer, check it out here.  Have fun!

Become a Imaginative blogger -- Fast and Easy

Version 2:

Chimp ReWriter is a solution which I came across that is helpful to be able to widen my vocabulary while article writing.

I frequently blog which becomes a little monotonous.  With this particular software application, I will get recommendations of improved uses of vocabulary in addition to much more innovative approaches to spin and rewrite, or spin my articles.


If you really want to become a much better blogger, check this program out here.  Have fun!

Ok, so again.. how cool is that!  Let me know your thoughts.. Do you prefer version 1 or version 2?

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Strategize & Organize

 

What does it take to fill your calendar with clients?

Yvonne , Anne  and Shannon
 Enlighten Studio, Scottsdale, AZ

It was New Year's Eve day, 2013, and I had an appointment at a Scottsdale hair salon.  Mind you it was actually the last day of the year, I imagined it might be significantly busier for the big last night of the year. As I got to the salon and no one else was there, I was wondering  aren't most people having their hair done with a super up do or a blow out.  Perhaps not.   I personally, just needed to get my hair cut and colored, a long overdue visit.  Thank goodness to Instant Barter, I found the option for an alternative beauty and hair salon to check out without needing to dip into my personal cash.

Seeing that the salon was kind of quiet, being an analytical business person, I was strategizing with my new friend and shop owner, Yvonne, about her business.  She's been working on hair a long time and this girl is absolutely talented.  I had to wonder though why she was there by herself on what i would have believed would be a highly lucrative day.  The answer was she was undertaking all the tasks, clients, and maintenance of the shop completely on her own.  Have you ever been there, doing everything by yourself, thinking you can manage it all?

All that I could suppose in reaction was simply, Yvonne will need to hire another person.  Do what you do best and delegate the rest!    Hire someone to come in and clean the shop, organize the shop, and beautifully merchandise products.  I encouraged Yvonne to  create the space to focus on what she loved -- hair!

Being the  bright business woman, Yvonne jumped on it and started looking for help. Our conversation, had not been news to her, she knew what to do, she just had not made the effort at this stage to get it done.

Today, I was going to be back in her shop for a long overdue appointment.  It actually took a couple of weeks to get it worked on both of our now busy calendars.   She looked great!  Yvonne looked refreshed and happier.  She boasted about how she had been up since 5:30 am and had taken a workout at the gym!

The most interesting component is the fact that I arrived early for my scheduled appointment, no surprise there, I'm often early.  But the interesting thing was that Yvonne now needed to juggle me with another client. What was different is she now had "Shannon" to wash my hair and get me started with a blow dry.  How cool is that, Yvonne hired someone and was effortlessly delegating part of the task with my appointment to a helper.  I was so delighted for Yvonne simply because not only did she take action to be more efficient, but she managed it like a pro.  Virtually anyone observing might have thought she'd been operating the shop for a very long time by doing this.  By the way, it happened to be a packed shop when I left.  Imagine that change, a  Wednesday morning in April, no special occasion.


I made certain that I reserved my next appointment before I walked out the door.   An entrepreneur with that sort of natural talent (you can see how great my hair looks in the picture), as well as business savvy is sure to be sought-after and filling up her calendar for weeks in advance.

Source:
Strategize & Organize