Loosely Speaking

OCTOBER 9, 2009

These’ll getcha, just like a change up in baseball. Kids home for the summer or holidays. RSS Comments RSS Subscribe in a reader Copyright 2004. And next thing you know, you’re out. Extended visit from family or other house guests. Illness or death. Get Loosely Speaking Products. Loose Ends. All Rights Reserved.

2004 100

2004 Holidays 2009 Calendars 100

Ian's Messy Desk

NOVEMBER 10, 2010

With increased commercial activity during the holiday season of the year, it is a good idea to be extra careful to guard againstidentity theft. Follow up with creditors if bills don’t arrive on time. Six of the tips are for consumers and the other six for merchants. Six points for consumers : Ask how personal information (eg.

Credit Card 100

Credit Card Holidays Policies Ergonomics 100

Ian's Messy Desk

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

If you want to reduce the stress associated with the holiday season, get an early start on holiday planning. To reduce holiday stress this year, create a holiday checklist to make the season go smoothly. Take a stock of your pantry and fill it up with necessary items.

Gifts 100

Gifts Holidays Stress Ergonomics 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 25, 2010

Read: The Best To-Do List You’ll Ever Make Crumple up your to-do sheet and throw it away. Do the third task. Cross it off. There is something very satisfying about cross ing off to-do’s and tossing the completed list.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health Gifts Holidays 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 18, 2010

Schedule tasks appropriately – After lunch is not the best time to read the long, lulling policy eport. Try a “pick-me-up&# – Listen to high-energy music, so long as it doesn’t disturb co-workers or workflow. Are you staying up too late at night, watching television in bed or do you have a sleep disorder.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health Policies Holidays 100

Ian's Messy Desk

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

You don’t fire up PowerPoint and start creating slides. The audience is giving up work or personal time to listen to you, but it’s because you’re going to have something to say. When Preparing for Public Speaking The boss e-mails and says you are going to be training employees on the features of the new software roll-out.

PowerPoint 100

PowerPoint Ergonomics Health 2007 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 24, 2010

Some of the commonly held myths and the corresponding reality checks are as follows: Family-Friendly policies are soft HR issues, mainly for women. Many companies offer their work-life balance policies to employees at all levels. Participation in family-friendly policies is a career-limiting move. Management will lose control.

Policies 100

Policies Health 2010 Telecommuting 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 25, 2010

Make an appointment - Don’t just hope you find the time to clean up, set a calendar entry and stick to it. Home About Contact Me Links Sitemap 8 Tips to Help You Clean Off Your Desk Posted by Ian McKenzie Written on May 25, 2010 If youre new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Calendars 100

Calendars Ergonomics Filing Health 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 21, 2010

Lighten up… if you can – Humour can go a long way to keeping the listener’s attention. Make sure it’s worth saying – Record your speech and play it back. After each key point, ask yourself, “does anybody care?” If the answer is “no”, change what you will say. However, if you can’t tell a joke or aren’t particularly funny, skip it.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health 2010 2007 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 26, 2010

You don’t want papers to build up to the point where you look at it and you get discouraged. The easiest way to avoid that is to keep up to date. If you do keep stuff, keep it in a way so that it doesn’t jam up your life and you can find it again. If the amount is small, three times a week may do.

Management 100

Management Filing Ergonomics Health 100

Loosely Speaking

DECEMBER 4, 2008

Or I could share my heartfelt excitement over working into the wee hours, creating homespun (handknit) holiday gifts. Happy Holidays! Maybe we can catch up with one another in March, during which I make the drive back and forth from here (Prescott) to Tucson often! Yes, I can see that we’ll have to meet up in March.

2008 100

2008 Holidays 2004 Keyboards 100

Ian's Messy Desk

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Too many objects add to the clutter and eat up valuable work space. Set up a good filing system. Don’t allow things to pile up. Be reasonable about what you really need to keep out. Don’t go overboard with personalization. Use a daily planner. Transfer all your notes and personal reminders to one, organized place.

Filing 100

Filing Ergonomics Health 2010 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JULY 16, 2010

The Quotations page ( pop-up alert ) – The oldest quotation site on the Web, with more than 25,200 quotations from over 3,000 authors. When I am looking for quotations , these are 10 sites I have bookmarked: Wikiquote – A wiki of quotes from the Wikipedia family of reference. Famousquotations.com – quotations, quotes and proverbs.

2006 100

2006 2007 PDF Ergonomics 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JULY 14, 2010

In the run-up to the launch we worked closely with some of our favorite blogs and publications to launch the new Notebooks category. Not only is it, in essence, an app store for Evernote, it is a place to distribute content to users.

Twitter 100

Twitter Ergonomics Health Gifts 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JULY 12, 2010

Louis found that people who sleep after storing a memory end up following through on their intentions much more effectively than people who jump right in without sleeping. New research suggests, when planning for tomorrow’s to-do’s, sleeping on it will make you more likely to get things done. Researchers at Washington University in St.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Agenda Health 2010 100

Ian's Messy Desk

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

The following is an excerpt from the book The Milkshake Moment: Overcoming Stupid Systems, Pointless Policies and Muddled Management to Realize Real Growth by Steven S. April 2008;$19.95US/$21.99CAN; 978-0-470-25746-3 Copyright © 2008 Steven S. Most managers simply get up and do what they want to do.

Policies 100

Policies 2008 AT&T Copyright 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 10, 2010

This handbook automatically leaps ahead of other Notes/GTD options available as it takes you through setting up a GTD system using a basic Notes installation; no need for add-ons to make it work. A 35 page step-by-step manual for optimizing Notes as a personal productivity tool.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Calendars Health 2006 100

Ian's Messy Desk

APRIL 14, 2010

Those personal distractions can eat up a lot of time. Just write down for a day every little thing that distracted you and whichever one took up the most time get rid of that first. Turn off the television – there’s not much worth watching anyway. Block interruptions – close the office door. Let the telephone go to the voice mail.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health 2010 Gifts 100

Ian's Messy Desk

AUGUST 27, 2010

The process of thinking up the images and making the connection will fix them into your memory. Let the name invoke a visual image you can link with the person’s face. Small uses the example : If Mrs. Beatty has broad lips, imagine Warren Beatty kissing those lips.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health 2010 2007 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JULY 26, 2010

Suck it up. It can be as simple as going to a new restaurant for supper, but more likely to be as terrifying as taking up sky-diving. Follow these four steps and pretty soon you’ll unleash your creative thinking and making others sit up and take notice. Creativity leads to more creativity. Learn from the example of others.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health Restaurants Gifts 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JULY 6, 2010

Planning really enables focus, and saying “No&# frees up time to actually do what was planned. Which is the most valuable? I think that (1) make a daily plan and (6) learn to say “No&# are two that stand out.

Management 100

Management Ergonomics Health 2010 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 28, 2010

Test you telephone skills with this simple quiz: How quickly should you pick up a ringing phone? Set up your voice mail to answer after the third ring. Get the information up front. While forms of technology are making inroads into the communication process, the telephone is still an important source of contact with people.

Etiquette 100

Etiquette Ergonomics Phones Health 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JUNE 28, 2010

In their book, Listen Up : How To Improve Relationships, Reduce Stress , Barker and Watson say that trying to top the other person’s story is one of those irritating habits that interferes with our ability to listen well. as if the listener has made up his mind. while pointing to his wooden leg. Saying, “Yes, but.,”

Skills 100

Skills 2010 2009 Ergonomics 100

Ian's Messy Desk

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

Or, you have someone you need to follow-up with on November 22nd. You forward it to, for example, tuesday@nudgemail.com. On Tuesday, it forwards the message back. You forward it to 11222010@nudgemail.com. Nudgemail forwards it back to you on November 22nd. It’s simple.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health Email Holidays 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JUNE 9, 2010

Make meetings effective – Managers can spend an average of 17 hours a week in meetings, and that doesn’t include preparation and follow-up time. If you’re holding a meeting, draw up an agenda and circulate it to the staff attending beforehand. Archive Files: store in a filing cabinet or an off-site location.

Filing 100

Filing Ergonomics Cubicle Agenda 100

Ian's Messy Desk

AUGUST 25, 2010

Round up your papers. Tighten up current household systems. Be prepared before you head out. Assess what the kids have, what they need, what can be handed down and what needs to be thrown out. Then, with list in hand, hit the stores. Eliminate last-minute searches. Determine what documents you need for school registration.

Clothes 100

Clothes 2007 Ergonomics Calendars 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 14, 2010

Speak up : Greet you co-workers as you meet them through the day. Shut up : Listen more than you speak. Know your own weaknesses : Don’t get caught up in gossip. Tearing down another to prop yourself up is a huge waste of time. Here are ten steps you can take to make sure you’re not the source of conflict at work.

Gossip 100

Gossip Ergonomics Health 2010 100

Ian's Messy Desk

AUGUST 4, 2010

Take productivity courses online and read up. Others carry on self-directed learning in recreational arts and hobbies, matters of health, family and community, or simply to increase their intellectual resources. Attend brown-bag lunches, trade shows and conferences. Ask them for the ideas, tips or secrets to their productivity success.

Telecommuting 100

Telecommuting Ergonomics Health 2006 100

Ian's Messy Desk

AUGUST 2, 2010

Don’t: Don’t give up right away if your protégé initially resists your help. .� Be prepared for the relationship to end. The successful protégé -mentor cycle requires that the protégé move on and the relationship either ends ortakes a different form. They may not recognize the value of what you have to offer.

Mentoring 100

Mentoring Ergonomics Health Holidays 100

Ian's Messy Desk

OCTOBER 14, 2010

Make sure you have a working pen and a back up. Before you hang up, read the message details back to the caller, to make certain that they are correct. Have a common location for the pick up of message or place it in a location where it will be seen. Make sure there is lots of space on the message pad. Thanks for the reminder.

Phones 100

Phones 2010 Ergonomics Health 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JUNE 23, 2010

They conjure up all kinds of nightmare scenarios as a result of their stage fright : What if I freeze? Now comes the difficult part, standing in front of a room full of people and giving the speech. Some people would prefer to dive over a cliff than make a speech. What if the audience hates me on sight?

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health Gifts Holidays 100

Ian's Messy Desk

AUGUST 9, 2010

Find ways to express yourself through your strengths. You will increase your self-confidence when you share what you know to others.

Self Esteem 100

Self Esteem Ergonomics Health Gifts 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 7, 2010

Come up with an argument that is reasonable. Make sure you have a clear purpose in mind so that the audience will respond in the way you want them to. Search for other sources of information. There might be more materials available for you to make your speech more colorful. Add structure to your message.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health Salary Gifts 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 5, 2010

I work to understand the underlying causes for procrastination, then come up with strategies to overcome them. I recognize that procrastination is a habit. As with any bad habit, I need to replace it with good habits. I conquer procrastination by working on tasks and my environment. How do these three steps play out in practical ways?

2007 100

2007 Ergonomics Health Gifts 100

Ian's Messy Desk

OCTOBER 11, 2010

There’s a lot of common sense wrapped up in these steps. Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky , of the University of California, has conducted considerable research in the area of personal satisfaction. The following eight points summarize her findings. Unfortunately, our calendars and to-do lists often get in the way of common sense.

Mentoring 100

Mentoring 2010 Health Ergonomics 100

Ian's Messy Desk

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Comments Hey Ian, I’m definately linking this up at blogs4God.com for geek reasons … but also I have to comment I found this article a bit amusing in that many of the techniques mentioned I had already learned … while training/studying for an opera singing career.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Keyboards 2001 Health 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JULY 7, 2010

You pull up the spreadsheet , print off your boss’s e-mailed comments, dig out your notes from the last meeting and settle down to work. Stand up for visitors. If a visitor comes into your office, stand up to greet them and don’t invite them to sit down. Or, if you prefer, you can subscribe to my blog posts by e-mail.

2007 100

2007 Ergonomics Health 2010 100