Organize your E-Mails.
I have 2 personal e-mail accounts and 3 business e-mail accounts by necessity. How can you keep what's in your inbox to under 50 e-mails when you might get 100 e-mails in one box in one day ?
TURN ON THE SPAM FILTER
So, many people I know are afraid to turn on their spam filter to the highest level which is delete anything that looks like spam. Everyone is all afraid that they are going to lose that all important e-mail. Then what happens? You keep saying you review the "possible spam" and you never do and you have 687 e-mails in the "possible spam" folder. Look, it just doesn't happen.... people do not have time to review their spam folders. Just set it up to delete them... that one e-mail a year or even a month that gets deleted will be resent to you or that person may just pick up the phone to call you !
LEAVE ANY UNRESOLVED ISSUES IN YOUR INBOX
Do not move any of your unresolved issues to a folder even if it is a "to do" folder. Again, you think you will look in that folder and you won't. If you leave any unresolved issues in your inbox, you will see it staring at you everytime you log in.... this way it will not be forgotten in a folder.
FIRST, READ YOUR MAIL BY "UNREAD" MESSAGES
Go through your unread messages fast. Is it a file it now, act on it later, act on it now ? Only deal with what you have to deal with now. Set aside time every couple days to clear out the act on it laters.
SECOND ROUND, READ YOUR MAIL GROUPED BY SENDER
If items are grouped by sender, it is easier to sort through them and file them in a folder or group delete them. I receive many offers a day from book sellers, coffee companies, my vendors with specials. I keep only the current offer and delete the rest. Sometimes, if it is an extended offer or coupon I will file it in a folder marked with the company name like "Barnes and Noble" and then when I am heading to the bookstore, I can pull up the latest coupon fast.
SET A GOAL TO START OF ONLY 100 EMAILS IN YOUR INBOX OR LESS
This doesn't seem like a serious goal, but it is. Given the amount of e-mails we receive a day, this will give you a little time to play catch up every couple days if you get busy and can't manage your e-mail for a day or two.
Showing posts with label Time Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time Management. Show all posts
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Turn Off your Business After School
Turn off your Business After School until Bedtime !
My business shuts down from 3:45pm until 9:45pm everyday. I was reminded of this promise and pledge I made when I didn't honor it this week. I was on the phone with Yahoo Tech Support about a web-site issue for one of my merchant sites. I was on this phone call for about 45 minutes from 4:45-5:30pm. This was a bad idea. I should have made this call after the kids were in bed. I did not honor my promise to perserve the 3:45pm to 9:45pm time and it made for a rough evening in our house... rushing to do dinner... rushing to do after school activities.... not even being present when they got home from school to ask them about their day.
If you are a mother entrepreneur that has the good fortune of being home when your kids get home from school - STOP EVERYTHING - and be there for them. Help them unload those heavy backpacks and often heavy thoughts and feelings from the day. Remember everything is larger than life to them and something that happened on the playground often overshadows anything they learned academically in school that day.
You need to be there and be present to help them unload and download their day with you. We take off the backpacks and take their lunchboxes into the kitchen and empty them out and wipe them out and grab a snack. Sometimes we eat that snack at the kitchen table or we go to the couch and chill out and watch some mindless tv for a half hour. I let them choose whatever they want to decompress. So, I sit there and watch SpongeBob or Pokemon or Miss Spider with them.
I have the kids do their homework at the kitchen table while I prepare dinner. This way I can be there to answer any questions, look over their homework, and just hang out with them. I know there is all this talk of quality time vs. quantity time. I believe in lots of quality time... quality face time... many hours where they see my face vs. the computer face, the tv face, the gameboy face. I could plug them in after school while i prep dinner, do laundry, etc... but I chose to be present and have face time with them.
When I coach other mom business owners, I always remind them that family has to come first ! I do understand that you may go away for an evening each week or a weekend each month for your business. However, you need to be present and make sure that your family has priority over your business on a day-to-day basis.
My business shuts down from 3:45pm until 9:45pm everyday. I was reminded of this promise and pledge I made when I didn't honor it this week. I was on the phone with Yahoo Tech Support about a web-site issue for one of my merchant sites. I was on this phone call for about 45 minutes from 4:45-5:30pm. This was a bad idea. I should have made this call after the kids were in bed. I did not honor my promise to perserve the 3:45pm to 9:45pm time and it made for a rough evening in our house... rushing to do dinner... rushing to do after school activities.... not even being present when they got home from school to ask them about their day.
If you are a mother entrepreneur that has the good fortune of being home when your kids get home from school - STOP EVERYTHING - and be there for them. Help them unload those heavy backpacks and often heavy thoughts and feelings from the day. Remember everything is larger than life to them and something that happened on the playground often overshadows anything they learned academically in school that day.
You need to be there and be present to help them unload and download their day with you. We take off the backpacks and take their lunchboxes into the kitchen and empty them out and wipe them out and grab a snack. Sometimes we eat that snack at the kitchen table or we go to the couch and chill out and watch some mindless tv for a half hour. I let them choose whatever they want to decompress. So, I sit there and watch SpongeBob or Pokemon or Miss Spider with them.
I have the kids do their homework at the kitchen table while I prepare dinner. This way I can be there to answer any questions, look over their homework, and just hang out with them. I know there is all this talk of quality time vs. quantity time. I believe in lots of quality time... quality face time... many hours where they see my face vs. the computer face, the tv face, the gameboy face. I could plug them in after school while i prep dinner, do laundry, etc... but I chose to be present and have face time with them.
When I coach other mom business owners, I always remind them that family has to come first ! I do understand that you may go away for an evening each week or a weekend each month for your business. However, you need to be present and make sure that your family has priority over your business on a day-to-day basis.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Mom Entrepreneur? Work at Home? How to Manage Your Business Time
Do you Work at Home? Are you a WAHM, Mom Entrepreneur, or Mompreneur?
I try and work on my business at least 4 hours a day. I set a timer and work for 45 minutes and then take 15 minutes to do a household related task like throw in a load of laundry, run up and make all the beds, clean one bathroom, wash the kitchen floor.
I have tried to do just business for hours, but the household stuff is screaming at me. I am mom first before I am a mom entrepreneur. I don't believe my family, laundry, and dinner should suffer because I have a business. It's about priorities and family has to come before business.
So, I have found that setting a timer is important - you can get a digital kitchen timer from all the dollar stores - I have two. One is for the 45 minutes of work time and the other I clip onto myself when I am doing my 15 minute household task.
Try it ! Pick a work task like checking all e-mail boxes and doing a few tweets on Twitter for 45 minutes and then do a household task for 15 minutes, then come back and do Blog posts for 45 minutes and then do a household task for 15 minutes, then come back and work on things to grow your business like press releases, posting articles to ezines, working on a proposal for a potential client for 45 minutes, then do a household task for 15 minutes.
See how good you will feel about coordinating your at home business time with your home and its responsibilities - the dishes, laundry, and dirty floors do not magically disappear because you have a business !
I try and work on my business at least 4 hours a day. I set a timer and work for 45 minutes and then take 15 minutes to do a household related task like throw in a load of laundry, run up and make all the beds, clean one bathroom, wash the kitchen floor.
I have tried to do just business for hours, but the household stuff is screaming at me. I am mom first before I am a mom entrepreneur. I don't believe my family, laundry, and dinner should suffer because I have a business. It's about priorities and family has to come before business.
So, I have found that setting a timer is important - you can get a digital kitchen timer from all the dollar stores - I have two. One is for the 45 minutes of work time and the other I clip onto myself when I am doing my 15 minute household task.
Try it ! Pick a work task like checking all e-mail boxes and doing a few tweets on Twitter for 45 minutes and then do a household task for 15 minutes, then come back and do Blog posts for 45 minutes and then do a household task for 15 minutes, then come back and work on things to grow your business like press releases, posting articles to ezines, working on a proposal for a potential client for 45 minutes, then do a household task for 15 minutes.
See how good you will feel about coordinating your at home business time with your home and its responsibilities - the dishes, laundry, and dirty floors do not magically disappear because you have a business !
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