Top Tips

I have officially turned into my parents. I had the conversation last week in the car with my kids - you know the one - telling them all about what I did not have as a kid. Just like my parents told me that they didn't have TVs in their homes when they were growing up, I explained to my kids that we didn't have cell phones as children. To my surprise, my kids asked, "Then how did you talk when you were in the car?"

It made me profoundly aware of how our world has changed. Our children see us as being able to talk to anyone at any time via phone, e-mail, or text message. Sometimes we end up talking more to people across the country from us than our neighbors!

Why are we always so busy? Why are we working even after 6pm and on weekends? Why are we working even when we are driving our kids to their lessons or practices? How can we utilize our time more effectively when we are working so that we are able to have more quality "down time" with those that we love?

Here are my top tips on how to do just that:

• Just don't answer it. How many times have we said, "Oh, I'm just going to answer this call really quickly and get right off" only to find out that the person on the other end uses up several minutes of our time that we had scheduled for something else? Get your important tasks completed first and then take time to call that person back.
• Put everything away. Sometimes we procrastinate and decide that we just "don't have time" to file that piece of paper right now. Then we end up making several calls to get the number or information that we would have had on our desks if we would have just put it back in the correct file.
• Don't make someone else's emergency your emergency. Just because someone feels that they need you at that very moment doesn't mean that you have to stop everything to help solve their problem. Five minutes or an hour later may be just what you need to get your top priorities accomplished.
• Get caller ID. Decide who you want to talk to and when. You are in control of your phone…don't let the phone control you.
• Find things fast. Set up systems in your office to allow you to find information quickly. Don't waste precious minutes looking for a file when you could be using your coffee buzz to crank on that project that will help grow your business. If finding paper is difficult, try a system like the Paper Tiger (www.organize2optimize.com/pt). If electronic information is difficult to find, try something like Microsoft desktop search (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/desktopsearch/default.mspx). Both index your files and guarantee you can find anything in seconds.
• Put it on your calendar. Make a list of the people that you need to call and schedule time during the day to do that. Sit down and make all of your phone calls one after the other so that they are not bogging you down all day.
• Make time for the things you love to do. Commit to a day or part of a day to work on your hobbies or be with your friends and family. Make time for the things that "fill you up" so that you are not "empty" for everything else....

Have a wonderful month,

Nicole