September 2007

Fall is here - and finally some cooler weather. The kids are back in school, the summer festivities have ended - ahhh the smell of leaves turning and football games. As we enter the harvest season, I am always reminded of the bounty of the tools we have available to us to make our day-to-day lives a little easier. This month our ezine is all about remembering some of these tools. Have a great month!

Best regards, Anne


Process - Getting Out of E-mail Jail

Treat your email like you would any other "thing" that would pile up and crush your productivity. Just like paper or other clutter, email can take your inbox hostage. However, if you apply these four principles to each email you receive, you can lighten the load instantly. When you receive email you can:
Do it! - if it can be done in less than 5 minutes - do it now.
Date it! - put it on the calendar with a date to attend it or attend to it.
Delegate it!
Dump it!


Looking ahead!
What if I told you I could help you:
stop using your email inbox as a never-ending to- do list
extract the important information from your emails and turn it into specific, scheduled, measurable tasks
maintain and update your scheduled work


"White collar workers waste an average of 40% of their workday. Not because they aren't smart, but because they were never taught organizing skills to cope with the increasing workloads and demands of the modern workplace" Wall Street Journal, 2005


Could your employees be more effective and productive by being more organized? One of the biggest causes of wasted training dollars is ineffective methods. Too often, companies rely on lectures ("spray and pray"), inspirational speeches or videos, discussion groups and simulation exercises.

While these methods may get high marks from participants, research (ignored by many training professionals) shows they rarely change behavior on the job. Knowing isn't the same as doing; good intentions are too easily crushed by old habits.


Another way of wasting dollars is failing to link training with organizational strategies and day-to-day management behavior.


Most personal organizing skills training initiatives these days have four significant problems, delivering mixed results:
Ineffective Training
Burdensome Change Required
No Technology Support
Indeterminate Results


In January 2008 I will be offering special training for all Microsoft Outlook users. Stay tuned for more information.


People

We have all found ourselves in this position - a friend or family member or even a colleague is going through a difficult time and we are paralyzed by not knowing what to say. Our intentions are good, as we drive in the car we formulate the words, but we just never quite get around to picking up the phone or sending the card until time passes and it becomes too late.


Some of you know this, others may not, but this year it was my turn to go through a difficult time. Earlier this year I lost my brother and a couple months later my dad, and most recently I was involved in a bad car accident leaving me injured with a good whiplash, frustrated with medical apointments and a car replacement. During these times people emailed me and admitted they did not know what to say to me. But at the same time I was receiving some heartfelt and much needed greetings by mail.


I was always the detached person, afraid of what to say to others when I saw them grieving or suffering. Suddenly it was me and I saw how healing kind words are. And now I am making it a point to send a card a day - to someone, maybe because they need cheering up, or to recognize a milestone or just to simply say hi.


To make this goal of mine possible, and I am proud to say I have successfully done this now for a few months, I am using Send Out Cards - which makes the process as easy as checking my daily emails. Click below if you would like to find out how I do it. You can get two free cards to send immidiately - and I bet you know exactly which two people in your life should have a card - RIGHT NOW! In the meantime, thank you for all those cards, emails, and thoughts.


Paper

Records Retention Overview - You know you need to keep records in case the IRS decides to audit you and you also know that you need to establish a system to weed out your old records. But how long do you actuallly need to keep papers? Below you will find some general guidelines for records retention.


Airline ticket stubs and boarding passes if you don't need them for tax purposes, throw them out once the miles are on your frequent flyer account. You do have one, don't you???
ATM receipts: Toss them after the withdrawals appear on your bank statement
Monthly bills: You can toss phone and utility bills as soon as they are paid
Credit card statements and receipts: Once the purchase appears on your statement, throw out receipts for anything other than big ticket items or tax deductible expenses. Save credit card statements for 3 years, in case you are audited.
Paycheck stubs: Once you have your w-2 forms and there are no mistakes, you can toss these
Tax records: after 3 years you can toss receipts, canceled checks and monthly bills that back up deductions. Keep copies of your completed tax forms and your w-2 forms for six years.
IRA contribution slips: Never throw out receipts for deductible and non-deductible IRA contributions.
Bank Statements: Keep for 3 years, canceled checks not needed to back up tax deductions for 1 year.
Warranties and receipts for big ticket items: Keep for as long as you own the item.
Investment Information: For as long as you own the investment and just to be safe, six years after you have sold it.
Home improvement information: As long as you own the house keep receipts and canceled checks.

Need a Speaker?

Anne's keynote speech gets people energized about the benefits of personal productivity and the readiness for corporate change.

What Others Are Saying:
Anne’s presentation of “What’s Going On Here?” as a training was one of the best seminars I have ever attended. She provides practical solutions for organizations. Her personality makes the program delivery exceptional.
Angela Long, COO
Sextant Technologies
Commerce City, Colorado
Learn more and book Anne for your next event.

Pass It On

You may pass this information on - Please feel free to copy in whole or in part, any of the information provided in this newsletter only when the following statement is included in its entirety:
"Founded by Anne McGurty in 2002, Strategize & Organize (www.StrategizeAndOrganize.com) is a business process consulting and professional organizing company specializing in systems to improve paper management, people's behaviors, and business processes. We offer Assessments, Training/Seminars, Coaching, and Organizing to help individuals and businesses become organized and work more efficiently. Anne McGurty is also available as a Keynote Speaker. Copyright 2007 Strategize & Organize. All rights reserved."