Startup Toolbox

Archive for January, 2010

There’s a popular online retailer whose tagline is “It’s all about the O.” That is very true when it comes to working smarter, not harder. “O” being – Organization. Being organized makes you more efficient and appear more professional, decreases stress, and increases your effectiveness.

Besides just the downside of the benefits listed above, being disorganized also severely impacts your productivity, costs you time and money. Let’s estimate that a bit to put it in real world terms. Experts estimate that the average worker spends an hour a day looking for misplaced items. Say your income is roughly $60,000 per year. That hour adds up to almost $150 per week. Almost $600 per month. And over $7,000 per year.

That’s $7,000 a year flushed. Gone. Buh-bye.

I know, I know, being organized is a PAIN! It takes discipline and follow-through, but how much pain does it cause you to lose $7,000 a year?

What could you have done with that $7,000?

Tips for getting and staying organized

1. Clean the slate. You’ve seen those organizational shows where they pull everything out of the house and make the people go through and sort it, right? To stay organized, you need to get organized.

2. Create Stacks. Once you have that stack of items piled up in front of you that you’ve been putting off dealing with, go through it and put it into 4 stacks:

Trash, Shred, File, Action Needed

The trash part is easy. Throw it away. Be careful not to throw anything away that has personal information, even if it’s partial like credit card numbers, birth date, medical information, etc. You’re better off to shred it. Better safe than sorry. You’ll be surprised at how much of the stuff you can just toss.

Shred – easy, peasy. If you don’t own a shredder, this is one of the best investments you can make. And get a cross cut shredder. The old style strip shredders are pretty useless. It might take some time, but anyone who is patient enough can patch those strips together and have any information you thought was protected.

File – I have an ongoing file stack. I have some of those nifty stackable trays and one of them is specifically for filing. Then every Friday, before I close the office for the day, I file. It usually takes all of 10 minutes and then everything is in its place. If it’s not in the file, it’s in the tray. How easy is that? And 10 minutes is WAY doable…I don’t care who you are.

Action needed – I’ve found that this stack is usually fairly small. Either write them down in a list, or sort them in order of priority and schedule time to deal with them.

3. Make a to-do list. Taking a few minutes to write down the to-do’s of the day will help you to stay on task. You’ll also get a sense of accomplishment by checking items off when they’re complete.

4. Stay on top of it. I know, it may take an extra 2 minutes to sort through the mail as soon as it comes in, but those 2 minutes will save you having to repeat steps 1 and 2 again. Over and over.

5. Use your calendar. If you start using a calendar to schedule your time, you will be surprised to find out how much time you can find. I subscribe to several magazines and have time for reading them slated into my schedule.

There you have it. A few simple things followed consistently and your work world will be a much more organized, productive place, which for me, makes it a happier one, too.

Now…what can I use that $7,000 for?

I’m usually pretty quick to hit the delete button on email forwards but today I was sent one that I thought was relevant to sharing with everyone. Simple but profound. Enjoy!

HANDBOOK for 2010

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2009.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead, invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t over-do. Keep your limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time w/people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.