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Detox Your Inbox!

Krista Green is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur and one of our all-time favorite "Ask the Expert" speakers. Her first company, Organized for Life, went on to become the first professional organizing franchise system worldwide – and the first employer in the industry in Canada with three locations – in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. Krista is a Speaker and Coach in the organizing industry, and a co-creator with Julie Anne Jones of the brand new "Chaos to Clarity – Office Organization Edition," a Step-by-Step Solution to Office Organzation product (on sale this month! Learn more here.)

Krista will be kicking off our "Ask the Expert" calls for 2010 this coming Wednesday, January 21st at 9:00 am Pacific/12:00 noon Eastern time. Click here to reserve your space now!

Are you frustrated and overwhelmed by all of the emails in your inbox? Do you have trouble finding information when you need it? Are you frequently scrambling to get something done at the last minute because the email got buried in your inbox? Do you spend too much time drowning in emails and not getting things done?

The amount of email we receive has increased exponentially over the past few years, especially if you have your own business. And we are expected to read every single message! I have heard of people declaring email bankruptcy, but that’s really not an option (and it doesn’t really address the problem either).

Here are just a few things to help you make the shift from email overload to email under control…and maybe even inbox zero.

• Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.- Albert Einstein
• If you don’t make any changes to the way you look at, review, think about and act upon (or don’t act upon) your email, then how can you expect different results? Open your mind to a new way of thinking about your inbox, when to check it and how to process it. Consider that finding the perfect system can sometimes be about experimentation and tweaking.
• Set up a system. I am sure you have all heard what SYSTEM stands for…it is a process or set of steps that can Save You Stress, Time, Energy and Money. It doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, the simpler and more repeatable it is the more likely you are to be successful with it.
• Streamline and update. Technology changes…and quickly. But it’s actually the technology that is slower to change that we have a more difficult time recognizing and changing.

Email folders are the prime example. How much time are you spending moving your emails into separate folders so you can access them later? And do you still have difficulty finding what you need? Why spend so much time on maintaining something you are not likely to use? I am sure you have heard of the 80/20 rule (Pareto’s Principle) which infers (loosely translated here) that you will only refer back to 20% of what you file. That means 80% of what you spend time categorizing and moving around will never be referred to again.

This is just the beginning…If you are interested in learning more on how to tackle your email overload, join Krista Green for our Detox Your Inbox FREE Ask the Expert call this Wednesday, January 21st at 9:00 am Pacific/12:00 noon Eastern time. Click here to reserve your space now!

Delete, Defer, or Delegate

During my live organizational training, I do a time management exercise with the audience. I invite them to figure out how much time they need for their business and how much time they're actually spending. Often, people will find that the various activities they identify require more time than they actually have to give their business each week. 

When that happens, I encourage them to either delete, defer, or delegate some of their tasks, especially if they aren't income producing. Here's an example of what I mean by that, in case you find yourself needing to do the same thing.

Delete – What's on your list that you really don't need to do? It may be something you've always done that isn't really serving a purpose any more, but it's a habit. Break it and dump it!

Defer – Are there items on your list that you don't need to do right now? Can you put them off for a few weeks or months, until you're not quite so busy? If so, make sure you get them (and any evidence of them) completely out of your space and filed away in a safe place until you're ready to tackle them.

Delegate – This one is my favorite. I can tell you from experience that there are many, many tasks in your business that you think only you can do that someone else could, with very little training, do for you. Sorry, but you're not indispensable. Make a list of all of those little things (filing, putting labels on catalogs, even retrieving messages off of your voice mail) that take up your precious time and find someone (or a few people) to delegate those tasks to. Does your neighbor or friend love your product? Barter with her for a few days a week in your office for product. Do you pay your kids allowance? Increase it a little bit and put them to work on simple tasks. Get creative and you'll find someone. I promise.

The most important part of this process is to look at the bigger picture. It's easier to keep doing things the way you've been doing them, but for most of us, it's not contributing to a more balanced, peaceful life. Take some time, get rid of some of your tasks, put off a few others, and find some support to complete what's left. That means you'll have time to focus on whatever activities actually make you money. And more time to spend with your family and on yourself.

Julie Anne Jones is a success language consultant, a direct sales coach and trainer, and the CEO of Julie Anne Jones, Inc. She is known for her authentic and easy-to-use scripting and specializes in specific language and tools for success in direct sales. To learn more about Julie Anne and her products and services, visit her at www.julieannejones.com or check out her blog athttp://julieannejones.com.

10 Great Ideas for Taking Your Live Party Online

Today’s blog post is written by our “Ask the Expert” speaker for November, Diahana Barnes. Diahana specializes in online content development. She is the President and Chief Learning Coach for LearnEase, LLC and has over ten years of experience in building training and leadership programs from the ground up. She has written an e-book called, “The Online Party eBook” and developed a 3-week Web Seminar series on how to offer your parties live and online.

1. What do you like about what you currently use?
2. What don’t you like about what you currently use?
3. What would you like to see enhanced or improved?

Don't Chase That Squirrel!

This summer my boys and I saw the movie "UP." (If you missed it, be sure you rent it. It's a great family movie). In the movie, the villain equips his dogs with devices that allow them to talk. One of our favorite scenes in the movie comes just as one of the dogs is explaining that his master has given him this collar and now he can talk. While the humans look at the three talking dogs somewhat stunned, one of the dogs yells "Squirrel" and all the rest of the dogs immediately turn their attention at once and shout, "Where?"

It's a hilarious moment that's repeated a few times in the movie and it has become sort of an inside joke in our family. Whenever someone's attention seems to be wandering (as in "are you listening to me?"), the speaker will say "Squirrel!". It's a great way to bring the listener's focus back in a humorous way (and we always crack up!)

I was thinking about this yesterday as I was working. It's hard to stay focused in the virtual world. I'll be working on a project in my shopping cart and then discover that there's a typo I need to fix on my website (which I accessed for my original project). Then while I'm on the page fixing the typo, I'll notice that my photo needs to be updated (I got new photos taken in June and am still discovering a few places where they need to be replaced). As I'm locating the new photo to upload to the page, my Outlook will message me that I have a new e-mail and I'll flash over to read it. Before I know it, I've completely forgotten where I started. "Squirrel!"

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? If so, let me recommend a few ideas that have really supported me in keeping the distractions to a minimum so I can keep my focus on one project at a time:

• Turn off the instant notification on your e-mail. This is simple (you can do it in the "Tools" and then "Options" tab in Outlook) so you're only receiving e-mails when you're ready to process them.
   
• Create a master list on Sunday evening of all of your projects for the week (I call mine a Master Manifestation list). List your goals for the week and then break down your actions by day (Monday – Friday). Even though I use the calendar and tasks in Outlook, I find having this visual piece of paper on my desk keeps me on track each day.
   
• Schedule out blocks of time on your schedule for certain tasks and stick to it. An easy way to stay disciplined about doing this? Pretend someone is paying you by the hour to work on whatever the project is upon which you're currently working. If you don't keep track of your time, you won't get paid.
   
• Use an egg timer to keep you conscious of how much time has passed. You'll be amazed at how fast an hour goes when you stay conscious of the passing time.

I can't guarantee that these tools will completely eliminate the lack of focus you sometimes feel as you work, but I can promise that the more you become aware of the squirrel chasing you're doing, the less you'll be tempted to do it.

So, tell us what tools you use to keep yourself focused. I'd love to know.

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Julie Anne Jones is a success language consultant, a direct sales coach and trainer, and the CEO of Julie Anne Jones, Inc. She is known for her authentic and easy-to-use scripting and specializes in specific language and tools for success in direct sales. To learn more about Julie Anne and her products and services, visit her at www.julieannejones.com or check out her blog at http://julieannejones.com.

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