Is Your Day Planner Friend or Foe? 10 Quick & Simple Tips to Effective Productivity

Last week I received my 2014 planner in the mail.  I do not know about you but one of my favourite things to do is crack open my new planner each year and begin mapping out all the important dates and events.   

In 2014 my eldest daughter Jasmine will be getting married, I need to block the week before her wedding of to help with last minute details, and I need to block the week after off for what I anticipate will be much needed “me” time.

 

A couple of years ago I gave a talk at a woman’s retreat and was asked to come up with one word that spoke to where I was at in my journey.  The word I chose was “Content" my life was in a state of peace and I was completely content.    Having to come up with one word was a challenge but it something I have adopted each year since.  

 Last year it was "Adventure" and my word for 2014 my word is: "Create".    

The word goes at the very beginning of my planner to remind me over my overall goal.

 Here are a few tips for was to maximize your planner usage and ensure that if is being used effectively

1.     Take it everywhere, put everything it and refer to it multiple times per day.   It will not work if you do not open it, read it and use it.

2.     When mail comes in the door, write bill payment dates, write appointments, and invitations dates into your planner

3.    Don’t stop there!  Put addresses, contact names and phone numbers into the planner as well.

4.    Stop the “sticky note insanity”.    Gather all your “sticky notes” and put the details into your planner. 

5.   Keep all your notes, phone details and comments in your planner – if you need to call someone back in a week, write in your planner.    If you are just too in love with your post it’s, use them in your planner.   Eg…if “call John on Tues 27 555-5555 “is the post it not and John was not in, make a note on the 27^th that you called and move the post it to the 29^th in your planner to try again.

6.    Add your grocery and shopping lists to your planner.

7.    Contact information – keep client numbers in your planner.   If you are stuck in traffic and running late, you want to be able to let them know.

8.    Use colour to chunk out and separate activities.   I always highlight my categories in colour.   An example would be…client bookings in “green”, family in “orange”, social media activities in “purple”, and networking events in “pink” and bills to pay in “red”.       At a glance I can see what is happening in my week and the ratio of family to work time.   It helps me keep my priorities in line.

9.    Have a way for your family to know what is happening with your calendar.   Online calendars can be shared.  I use a paper calendar for all of my appointments, and transfer the details to a family wall calendar at home.    I have an online calendar my clients and family can take a peek at to see what time slots remain open.   The kids have actually booked me through my client booking system on occasion to make a point if I have been working too much.

10.                     Let’s go back to #1!   If you do not use it, it will not work for you.   Develop the habit of checking, re-checking and adding to your calendar.

If you would like assistance ensuring you are making the most of your time, space and information, please contact us today for a complimentary phone conversation to see how we can help.    I look forward to hearing from you.    Bless others with your abundance, Jennifer

3 Simple Ways to Increase Your Productivity

An increasing number of our clientele are solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and those with network marketing businesses.     

These clients have unique challenges.  The bulk of their time is spent managing the day-to-day reality of building their client lists, serving their client needs and managing their case loads.  These small business owners often have little or no office support, as a result, the paperwork often backs up and over time things often become unmanageable.   The age-old organizing question arises “where do I start”?       

Here are 3 simple strategies to help you manage your information your time.

1.    Start by dealing with today’s mail.

Get a handle on the plethora of papers by dealing with the incoming of today.  As Barbara Hemphill of, Taming The Paper Tiger, fame often states “Today’s mail is tomorrow’s pile”

A simple way to begin to get your paperwork a.k.a. “Today’s Mail” under control is to start with a 3 folder system, 

• Mark Folder One:    “To File”,

• Mark Folder Two:    “To Pay”,

• Mark Folder Three:  “To Do”

There is very little that would fall outside these three categories and if they do, the recycle bin would likely be the appropriate file folder for them.     

2.   Stay off your email and social media sites for the first hour of your day.   

Set your agenda for the day and control your time.   By responding to email and Facebook posts as soon as you start the day, you are allowing other people’s agendas to run and control your day and you will get side-tracked.   

  

Consider setting your email auto responder to read something like “emails are checked at 11 and 3 each day and we give you our full attention at that time”.

3.    Have a planner and use it! 

The number one absolute to having an organized business life, home life, student life, is having and using a good planner.   It does not matter if you use a paper planner or a digital planner but whatever the choice, use it to it’s fullest function.   Hundreds of Post-It it notes all over the monitor get forgotten and become part of the background noise – put those notes into your planner or use programs like Evernote,  or Workflowy and keep all your information in one place.  

For more productivity strategies or information on how we can help with your paperwork management strategies,  please contact Jennifer at Adventures In Organizing.

Simple Steps for Sorting Printed Photos

Simple Steps for

Sorting Printed Photos

The ABCs of Photo Organization

Deciding what to keep can be overwhelming. Following a few simple guidelines can make this process easier and I rely on the ABCs of photo organizing to stay on track.

A Stands for Album

These photos are the most important and belong in an album. It’s important to understand that not all photos need to go in an album. The ones you choose are often the most personal, and cherished. Less is more!

B Stands for Box

Photos that are important enough to keep should be stored in archive quality boxes for long term storage, or backed up thoroughly if digitized.

C Stands for Can

These photos can go in the ‘trash can’ or your delete file. Toss duplicates, blurry or unflattering photos, excess scenery photos, etc.

S Stands for Story

This is the most important part. Does the photo tell a STORY! Keep any photos that clearly tell a story.  An old blurry photo may have your Dad’s first car in the background! Be careful you aren’t tossing history.

Sorting Photos

Our natural tendency is to sort chronologically, but with today’s high volume of photos it can be

overwhelming. Whether you are organizing printed or digital photos, the process is always the same.

Choose to organize in themes that represent your life.

Weddings, Vacations, Sports, Heritage, By Child, Pets, School, Christmas, Birthdays

These are just a few examples, and themes will vary from one family to the next. Themes can

also be sorted in chronological order for easy access.

Safeguarding your photos

With today’s rapidly changing technology, protecting our photos continues to be a challenge.

The experts recommend that you back up photos in 3 ways.

2 Computer Sources

Besides the computer drive that your images are stored on, you should have an external hard drive where your photos are backed up regularly.

Two computer locations will ensure your photos are safe in the event of a computer crash, and easily restored.

CD/Picture Keeper Backup

Schedule a monthly backup reminder and store images on Archival CDs. These types of disc are high quality and designed for long term, stable storage. The likelihood that disc’s will be readable 10 years from now are high. Even today, we are transferring obsolete media into current readable forms easily.

Picture Keeper is a space saving device that has built in software that intuitively seeks out your digital images from your PC or MAC. This USB flash drive is small enough to store in a safety deposit box outside of your home.

Online Storage

Appo recommends storing your ‘A photos’ with an offsite service, known as cloud storage.

I can recommend a cloud based storage system that offers the security you need plus the added advantage of unlimited photo storage and accessibility from many devices for easy, private sharing.

Print your photos

This is by far the safest and most reliable form of back up. Getting your printed photos into albums, or printed photo books is the best way to ensure that your photos will survive technology changes and cloud storage. Everyone will still have ‘eyes’ 50 years from now, but technology will be vastly different.

If photo organizing feels overwhelming to you, or you simply don’t have the time, Adventures In Organizing, a proud member of appo.org can provide this service for you. 

We can recommend products for you to use and have several photo organizing packages that may suite both your needs and budget.

Check us out at:

www.adventuresinorganizing.ca  

email us at adventuresinorganizing@gmail.com

or call 613-668-6306

Original content from APPO    www.appo.org

Q is for Quiet - Finding Quiet Amidst the Chaos

                                         

When was the last time you just sat in the quiet.   No television, no Facebook, no radio, just quiet?

I live life at a pretty frantic pace these days and do not take as much time as I would like to just “be still” and listen for the glory and peace that can be found in silence.

Personally,  I find that time just being still relaxes me and allows me to focus in on what is really important.   I use this time to try and push away all the nonsense that the day, the week, the month or the year has thrown at me and re-prioritize.   

Sometimes, we just have one of those years where life just seems to hammer away at us – having a quiet time helps to refocus and relax amidst the chaos of day-to-day living.  

For me, being the spiritual gal that I am, having a dedicated quiet time allows me the opportunity to be alone with God and quiet myself to see where he may lead me through the day.    I tend to get wound up in the details and often find being still helps me take in the "big picture".

Try finding just 10 minutes in  in your week this week, to “be still” and listen to what your inner voice is telling you.   If you are not in the habit of finding time to absorb the quiet,  I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the calm that can be found in just doing nothing, being still and absorbing the quiet.

Jennifer

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

Much like many others in the world, I tend to spend New Years Day refelecting on the year past, where I have been, what I have accomplished and where I want to go in the New Year.
This years successes - spending lots of time playing and enjoying time with my husband, children and friends. 

I finishing writing my LVSonline course, registering for some new classes to take in the January, ensured the house is running pretty much clutter free and completed several Professional Organizer and Home Staging courses.   Life long learning is extremely important to me.

Goals for this year include:

• getting the final details of registering my business completed,
• continuing my education, teaching more organizing classes,
• moving to cash rather than credit for everything humanly possible...keeping my finances as organized as my home - and ensuring I live a debt free existence. 

Most of all my main goal is being the best wife, mother and friend I can be.

Showing kindness to those that are less than lovable and remembering that we are all creatures of God.  He died for even those I find unlovable at time - this is a challenge for me at times and one I have to constantly remind myself of.   I want to be the human being I was created to be.

Tomorrow's project:

•  list of all my expenses each month and determine how much extra I can allot to paying down debt
• set of files for all the 2011 bills
• move all 2010 bills to the back of the cabinet

We do not have a huge amount of debt but it still stresses me out none the less.  I want 2011 to be as stress free, as debt free and as organized as humanly possible.  The choice is up to me, the decisions I make during the year will either help me or hinder me, and I am excited about all the possibilities that lay before me!  As a household we are going to follow the Dave Ramsey program and see what kind of change that creates in our financial freedom.   Want to join along? 

• http://www.daveramsey.com - Get REAL debt help: Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Plan