Surveys repeatedly name “too much e-mail” and “too little time” as two of the biggest stumbling blocks to accomplishing your work and enjoying your life. The two go hand-in-hand, for sure, but the question is whether you are the victim or the culprit!  In my experience, the answer is usually “Both!”  One of my favorite definitions of “organization” is “controlling the things you can control, so you can cope with the things you can’t.”  While you do have limited control over the e-mail you receive, you have total control over how you mange it.  Consider these possibilities:

When Sending E-Mail:

1. Use the e-mail subject line to clearly describe the purpose of your e-mail. For example, “Proposed Itinerary for Chicago 12/15/10 – CONFIRM by 6/18/10.”
2. Include only one subject per email message. This eliminates the possibility of the receiver reacting to the first issue, and missing the second, and it makes filing and retrieval much simpler.
3. If your e-mail requires action quickly, put URGENT or DECISION in the subject line, or use the “urgent” notation provided by your e-mail program.  (Caution:  Don’t overuse, or you will be like boy in the old fable who cried “wolf” too many times!)
4. When replying to e-mail, attach enough of the old message for the recipient to remember the content of the original e-mail, but delete unnecessary information or duplication.
5. If you are composing a lengthy or complicated e-mail, create the e-mail in your word processing program and then copy to your e-mail.  If you have an e-mail glitch during the sending process, you can easily retrieve your message!
6. Avoid sending e-mail attachments whenever possible. Receivers are becoming more reluctant to open attachments due to the increasing prevalence of viruses that can come through attachments. (One precaution is to send an e-mail alerting the receiver that you are sending a file in a subsequent e-mail.)
7. Avoid communicating other people’s e-mail addresses without their permission, e.g.: 

• When sending an e-mail to multiple addresses, put your e-mail in the “To” line and the recipients in the “BCC” line. 
• When forwarding an e-mail, delete the addresses automatically included in the body of the forwarded e-mail.

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January was Get Organized Month, and hopefully you spent some time getting rid of clutter and bringing order to your home or office. February is designated as American Heart Month, so this month you should be working on removing the clutter from your heart. We think of men, when we hear heart disease, but it is the number one cause of death among women. The great news is that heart disease can be prevented.

Some of the things the American Heart Association suggests you can do to keep your heart clutter free are:

•Get regular check ups.
•Get moving: Become physically active at least 30 minutes a
   day.
•Know your numbers: Cholesterol (LDL and HDL), Blood
   Pressure, and Triglycerides.
•Limit your salt intake to 2300 mg of sodium a day.
•Eat a heart healthy diet, including more whole grains, fish,
   fresh fruits and vegetables.
•Limit food high in saturated fats and dietary cholesterol.
•If you smoke, stop smoking now.
•If you drink alcoholic beverages, drink in moderation.

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If you don’t know what you want, how do you know how to get there?

When you get into your car you know your final destination and you know how to get there; you don’t just get in your car and follow everyone in traffic, hoping they will guide you in the right direction.  How do you want to go through life?  Do you want people and circumstances lead you in life, or do you want to take control of your own destiny?  Your goals are your roadmap to where you want to go in many areas of your life, like:

• Finance
• Business/Career
• Education
• Spirituality
• Health
• Relationships
• Contribution
• Hobbies
• Travel

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If you didn't get around to making resolutions in January, or if you have already forgotten them...you have a second chance. The Chinese New Year starts on Feb 14th, and it just happens to be the Year of the Tiger...let's make that the Year of the Paper Tiger.

What: Maybe your resolutions have always fallen flat, and like me you just stopped making them. You do, however, need to set goals in order to know where you are heading and how you are going to get there. You can’t just punch this in your GPS and expect to get directions, so you’ll have to do a little work.

So What: Once again, get a piece of paper, we are going to write this down. When we are working with a client on organizing, we first start with what we call the Productive Environment Process™. I made a few modifications to the regular steps in the process  to make it work for my goal setting.

1. Design Your Vision: Where would you like to be by the end of the year, or whatever your time frame may be?
Be as broad or specific as you like, because you can break it down later.

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How are you at making or keeping New Year’s Resolutions? I’ll admit I am not good at either one. I guess I just stopped making resolutions, when I had such trouble keeping them.

Well, the other day I was helping my sister, get her second grade classroom back in order during their recent teacher workday. I came across a worksheet that caught my eye, “New Year Reflections”. Now, I thought that sounded like something I would like to do and maybe a bit less intimidating than writing out ‘Resolutions’ (After all I found it in a second grade classroom.).

Try it with me. Get a piece of paper and a pencil and write the answers to the following:

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Many of us approach our workday with the same fears that Dorothy and her friends (the Scarecrow and Tin Man) had upon entering the dark forest. Somewhere, lurking among the shadows -- "Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my!" We, too, look at the myriad of memos, post-its, periodicals and lists and we are certain that there is something in there that's going to sneak up behind us and take a bite out of our...well, you know...

And then -- the lion strikes! Dorothy, et al. race around in fear, trying to avoid certain disaster. Mortal peril! What shall we do???!!! Suddenly, Dorothy turns and confronts that lion and finds out that he is, in fact, a coward, unable to stand up to her scrutiny with any power.

That clutter on our desk is the same. We build up an imaginary scenario in our own minds in which we are eaten alive by deadlines that we've missed and looming projects . We find ourselves confronted by a lion in the form of a memo we were supposed to respond to weeks ago. We race around in fear, trying to avoid certain disaster, knowing there are other lions and tigers and bears waiting to pounce...!

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" You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read".

Taking literary license and a spin towards the business owner;  I suggest that "Your business/career will be the same in five years as it is today except for the people you meet and the books you read".  (Let me qualify "books you've read" to include all avenues available to learning, whether they be books, trainings, educational courses, etc.)

Given the above, I venture into the blogosphere following a theme; speaking to the books I read or the people I meet.

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The New Year is all about new starts. Most of us, whether we admit it or not, make at least one resolution or goal of some sort. We like the idea that the new year is a blank slate. In fact, we look on the beginning of the month, the beginning of a week, even the next day as being a better day to handle things. In the words of Scarlett O’Hara, we choose to “think about it tomorrow” – “it” being whatever difficulty we are currently faced with and desperate to avoid.

I fell into that trap on December 29.  I was feeling discouraged and tired. Kind of the antithesis of “New Year” feelings; I was acting and thinking more like the worn out “Old Year”, or really, to be honest, a lame duck. My thought process: “Why bother calling clients tonight; it’s almost 6:00 p.m.? Most of them probably aren’t home or have company. I’ll start fresh on January 1. Well, not on the first because everyone will be sleeping off New Year’s Eve. And not the second or third because that’s a weekend. So first thing Monday, January 4, I’ll work my business!”

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I’ve been thinking about the difference between “planning” and “preparing” a lot lately. 

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You may think of your calendar as only a time management tool, but it is also an important organizing tool. Barbara Hemphill, author of “Taming The Paper Tiger at Work”, teaches an organizing method called the Magic 6™, which we use at Living Orderly. The calendar is number three of her Magic 6™. You can eliminate a lot of incoming paper and computer files by using your calendar. 

When you are going through your inbox or email, the key is to take the information you need from a document or email, enter it in your calendar, and ditch or delete the original. If there are details, that are too much to enter into your calendar, keep it but file in a Pending File, Action File or a Tickler File. (I will write more about using a Tickler File later. I use a Tickler File called the Swiftfile, and it is absolutely one of my most essential tools.) Depending on your filing system, you may want to note on your calendar where you filed the document with the details.

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