February 2008

Paper
Scanning Options

All too often people buy a scanner or an all-in-one machine, and then you wait painfully to find the time to scan all your documents, because after all, you are still in pursuit of the paperless office.

Don't give up though - there are scanners that can make a pile of papers "dissapear" into PDF files in record time. So when shopping around, be sure to find out how fast the scanner works.

Check out options here.


People
Time management is really self-management


Although time is not adaptable, people are.

Managing time means adapting ourselves to its passage in some satisfying manner. It means managing ourselves. If time seems to be out of control, it means that we are out of control.

To bring ourselves back under control, we must lean new, more appropriate habits.

Find out how!


Process
Don't answer your email at your most productive time of day.

For me, (and for many others, I suspect), my most productive work time is the morning. If I start my work day by checking my email and allow my email to dictate my day, I lose the time that I'm at my most creative. If I'm needing to create a strategic productivity solution for a client whether at home in my office or at a client's location, it tends to take longer it in the afternoon or evening than it would in the morning, when I feel fresh and alert.

Answering email, on the other hand, isn't usually a task that calls for a great deal of creativity. So by ignoring my email until the late afternoon, and answering it then, I get the dual benefit of saving my most productive time for other more demanding tasks, and not continually interrupting whatever other tasks I'm trying to accomplish.

What time of day is your most productive? Scheduling less demanding tasks such as checking, reading and answering email outside of your "best" working time will help you make the most of your working day - and that's good email management.