Ian's Messy Desk

NOVEMBER 10, 2010

Image by d70focus via Flickr On the first day of Christmas , the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner gave to me… 12 tips for protecting privacy. Six points for consumers : Ask how personal information (eg. Information on your computers should be password protected with adequate safeguards.

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Ian's Messy Desk

JUNE 28, 2010

with 7 Tips for Effective Email There is something about e-mail that fosters poor communication habits. For many organizations, e-mail has become the preferred means of communication, both formal and informal. Your signature should include your name, job title, contact information, and company name. Respond efficiently.

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Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 26, 2010

Don’t keep routine memos or anything that gives you information you already know or have. Record meeting information on your calendar, then toss the memo. Leave a comment Subscribe to blog posts by Email The Essential Motivation Handbook The Zen Habits Handbook for Life! Make sure you really need it before you keep it.

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Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 28, 2010

What information should your voice mail message contain? Don’t sacrifice information for the sake of brevity. If you have to leave a lot of information, start by letting callers know which key to push to skip the recording. Get the information up front. How should you put someone on hold or transfer a call?

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Ian's Messy Desk

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

You are passing on information that benefits the listener. In what kind of setting will they receive this information? Leave a comment Subscribe to blog posts by Email The Essential Motivation Handbook The Zen Habits Handbook for Life! Keep in mind, from the start, the audience is the beneficiary of your communication.

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Ian's Messy Desk

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

5) Do I have all the information I need to organize my time effectively? Yes No 1) Is managing my time a priority for me? 2) Do I have goals and a plan to meet them? 3) Do I set deadlines for getting things finished? 4) Do I avoid procrastination ? 6) Do I set priorities for all my tasks? 7) Do I work from a to-do list or a written plan?

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Professional Assistant Blog

JULY 7, 2010

Here are the 4 easy steps to do this: Highlight the information you want to change from vertical to horizontal or vice versa, depending on which way you need to change the information. Give it a try yourself and see how quick it can be to manipulate information from vertical to horizontal and vice versa. Click Transpose!

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Ian's Messy Desk

NOVEMBER 11, 2010

You will find Books of Remembrance here, songs that were popular during war time, information on WWI and WWII and so much more on the history of war and Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day 2 Learn about how the first Remembrance Day in Canada came to be and who initiated this holiday.

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Ian's Messy Desk

JULY 26, 2010

Take time every day to absorb new knowledge and information: read, listen and watch. The point of absorbing new knowledge and information is not to churn out copies of what has already been done. Creativity leads to more creativity. Learn from the example of others. If you want to be a painter, go to museums and galleries.

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Professional Assistant Blog

JULY 10, 2009

Do you try to "go green" by not printing e-mails or other documents that you could be e-mailing to others that you want to share this information with? You really have to be careful with these, as pertinent company information could leak out into the wrong hands. We are in week 3 now and cannot get rid of our recycling.

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Professional Assistant Blog

NOVEMBER 14, 2007

By The Professional Assistant on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 Filed Under: Ergonomics , Productivity D o you find yourself typing too much? Click on the picture to find out more information. Home About Me Advertise Hands Hurt From Typing? Using the mouse too often? Until next time, Take care - of your clutter!

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Ian's Messy Desk

OCTOBER 20, 2010

The encoding stage refers to the process of putting information into memory. The storage stage refers to retention or maintaining information in memory. The retrieval stage refers to recovering information from memory. Think you can successfully study the details of a report while talking on the phone and reading your horoscope?

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Ian's Messy Desk

AUGUST 4, 2010

It is a continuous process, often informal, and an important factor in lifelong learning. Leave a comment Subscribe to blog posts by Email The Essential Motivation Handbook The Zen Habits Handbook for Life! These benchmarks should be established on small scale to avoid being overwhelming. Comments No comments yet.

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Professional Assistant Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2007

Do you have confidential information that you need to send to someone, but want to make sure that it gets treated like registered mail? For more information, visit www.reditag.com. If you would like more information on keeping your documents safe, take a look at the "How Safe Are Your Documents?"

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Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 19, 2010

When someone fails to provide all the information she needs to do her job, she explains: “I understand that you need this report by tomorrow. One colleague always submitted incomplete information for a monthly report. To do that, I need last month’s sales figures from you.”

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Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 7, 2010

Search for other sources of information. Learn Public Speaking Leave a comment Subscribe to blog posts by Email The Essential Motivation Handbook The Zen Habits Handbook for Life! Anticipate response from the audience. Make sure you have a clear purpose in mind so that the audience will respond in the way you want them to.

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Ian's Messy Desk

OCTOBER 6, 2010

You can provide needed information, support, data and resources without your boss asking for it. Instead, offer solutions when you inform her of problems. Review last year’s calendar to determine what may come up in the next few months, then meet with your boss about what she hopes to accomplish. Present solutions rather than problems.

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Professional Assistant Blog

OCTOBER 15, 2008

Your manager asks you to create a report of some sort and wants you to send it to a client, but making sure that they cannot manipulate the information. Also, keep in mind that you don’t want anyone to alter the information in your report. This will enable you to create a PDF-like file where no one can manipulate information.

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Professional Assistant Blog

NOVEMBER 20, 2009

Posted on 21 November, 2009 10:51 PM Anonymous If you send an iCalendar as a follow up to a meeting request, do you have the option of updating your calendar or is it just for passing on updated information (or as you suggested possibly adding an agenda)? Thanks, Richard Posted on 4 January, 2010 11:32 AM soruba Thanks for the information.

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Ian's Messy Desk

JUNE 30, 2010

It doesn’t matter whether you use an electronic document system like Eric Mack , or a shoe box in your closet: if you can’t retrieve the information when you need it, the system is not effective. She understands the first measure of an effective productivity system: 1) You can find things that need to be found.

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Professional Assistant Blog

OCTOBER 27, 2008

There are over 200 articles of information so far and growing. If you feel that you want to remain anonymous, please note that I never disclose any personal information such as your name, company, etc., I have been running this blog for just over a year now and it has grown quite a bit, as you can tell.

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Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 14, 2010

Don’t listen to what others say about you : The person making comments about you may not be fully informed. Comment by Frank on May 17, 2010 @ 9:59 am Trackbacks Leave a comment Subscribe to blog posts by Email The Essential Motivation Handbook The Zen Habits Handbook for Life! Think about other people’s feelings before you poke fun.

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Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 13, 2010

If you know you’re going to need information from Nancy and she’s in a meeting at a client’s office, let the requester know. . &# I suggest we move the deadline for the widget report to Wednesday. That way, I can complete your presentation today.&# Point out any issues that might interfere with finishing a rush job.

Management 100

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Ian's Messy Desk

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

Make some general introductory comments, such as, “I’m pleased to be here today to provide some information. Comment by Ian McKenzie on July 1, 2008 @ 2:02 pm Trackbacks Leave a comment Subscribe to blog posts by Email The Essential Motivation Handbook The Zen Habits Handbook for Life! Tell them what you are going to tell them.)

2008 100

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Ian's Messy Desk

OCTOBER 14, 2010

When writing the information, make sure to ask for correct spellings. Comment by Ian McKenzie on October 14, 2010 @ 4:21 pm Trackbacks Leave a comment Subscribe to blog posts by Email The Essential Motivation Handbook The Zen Habits Handbook for Life! The date and time of the call is essential. Note whether the message is urgent.

Phones 100

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Professional Assistant Blog

JULY 17, 2009

Would you prefer the client to calmly and rationally give you information on their issue? Now put yourself in that persons shoes. Imagine that you were on the receiving end of the conversation. How would you feel? Most Recent Questions How to Deal with Inconsiderate Co-Workers Administrative Procedures Manual - Does Your Department Need One?

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Professional Assistant Blog

JULY 14, 2009

Some of you might already know the answer to this, but I thought that Id give the information here anyways, since I was stumped in the beginning as well. They forget to do their own flight check-in and dont have time, so they call you up and ask you to do it. You scratch your head and wonder how this can be done.

2008 100

2008 Google Docs Cubicle 2007 100

Professional Assistant Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2007

Does your boss come up to you and ask you to find information on an e-mail that youve received and needs it yesterday? A new window will pop up with results that will populate as the system retrieves this information. You can even specify who sent the e-mail, who it was addressed to, date fields, etc.

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Professional Assistant Blog

JANUARY 29, 2008

If someone else needs to access information, they can just click the "Read-Only" button. But if they need to change information, this could cause a problem. So the next time you know you will be leaving your desk for a long period of time, please make sure to close any files that are shared among your staff.

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Professional Assistant Blog

NOVEMBER 5, 2008

Creating a filing system can be tricky, as you need to know exactly how to file your files and what type of information you would need to be able to access quickly. Your boss could ask you for something at a moments notice and you are expected to find the information within minutes. as you mentioned in your question.

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Ian's Messy Desk

APRIL 9, 2010

It feels great and my desktop and internet cookies are so clear when I’m done Comment by Richard | RichardShelmerdine.com on April 29, 2010 @ 5:04 am Trackbacks Leave a comment Subscribe to blog posts by Email The Essential Motivation Handbook The Zen Habits Handbook for Life! But humans have a definite edge on computers.

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Professional Assistant Blog

AUGUST 25, 2007

If you chatter away in your e-mails and are trying to get your point across, this information will be quite juicy for your fingertips. Write out all the main points that you want to convey in the message (but be careful – ask yourself if the message should be formal or informal). Click send!

2008 100

2008 Cubicle 2007 Google Docs 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JUNE 9, 2010

Disorganization is so prevalent in the workplace that the Professional Organizers in Canada estimates a typical office worker wastes 150 hours a year – almost one month – searching for misplaced information. For someone earning $50,000 a year, that translates to a loss of $3,842 a year. Comments Trackbacks Weekly Cheat Sheet! |

Filing 100

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Professional Assistant Blog

NOVEMBER 25, 2009

One of my readers asks: Ive been reading your blog for the past few months and really appreciate all the information and tips you provide! Theres always someone that annoys us and tries to make our lives more difficult than it already is. Try as I may, but she annoys the heck out of me. Having Trouble Planning A "Non-Religious" Office Party?

Cubicle 100

Cubicle Gossip 2008 Google Docs 100

Professional Assistant Blog

NOVEMBER 18, 2009

Most Recent Questions How to Deal with Inconsiderate Co-Workers Administrative Procedures Manual - Does Your Department Need One? Having Trouble Planning A "Non-Religious" Office Party? Retrieve Your Files with Ease Is You Boss Not Giving You Enough Work?

Microsoft Excel 100

Microsoft Excel 2007 Google Docs Cubicle 100

Professional Assistant Blog

JANUARY 4, 2008

I have been updating my firms website stats for quite some time now and wanted to share some tips on getting the information correct - the first time. By The Professional Assistant on Friday, January 04, 2008 Filed Under: Productivity A re you being asked to check your companys website stats? Do you have software in place for it?

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2008 Google Docs Cubicle 2007 100

Professional Assistant Blog

OCTOBER 8, 2009

If its your boss thats asking for this information, make sure to read the e-mail right away. The "Broken Record" Approach The best way to combat this is using the "broken record" approach. Keep telling the person that you will get to it as soon as possible. Everyone else falls into the queue afterwards.

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2008 Cubicle Google Docs 2007 100