Ian's Messy Desk

OCTOBER 20, 2010

Home About Contact Me Links Sitemap Memory Makeover: Tips to Spruce Up an Absent Mind Posted by Ian McKenzie Written on October 20, 2010 If youre new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. So hang up the phone, find a quiet place and focus. Stay organized. Or, if you prefer, you can subscribe to my blog posts by e-mail.

UPS 100

UPS 2006 Keyboards Ergonomics 100

Ian's Messy Desk

APRIL 9, 2010

Home About Contact Me Links Sitemap 5 Ways to Free Up Room on Your Brain’s Hard Drive Posted by Ian McKenzie Written on April 9, 2010 If youre new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Lynn was tapped to head up the project team for a major company restructuring. “I Thanks for visiting! Lynn was hardly reassured.

UPS 100

UPS Filing Holidays Health 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. Organize Your Gift List Sit down and review you gift list at the beginning of November.

Gifts 100

Gifts Holidays Stress Ergonomics 100

Ian's Messy Desk

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

An organized desk — at school, home, or in your private office — will help you relax and become more productive. Too many objects add to the clutter and eat up valuable work space. Transfer all your notes and personal reminders to one, organized place. Set up a good filing system. Organize your desk drawers.

Filing 100

Filing Ergonomics Health 2010 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 21, 2010

Organize a simple outline – Some variation on the following three points will always form a coherent presentation: This is where I was. Once you have the material, organize it into the outline. Lighten up… if you can – Humour can go a long way to keeping the listener’s attention. Thanks for visiting! This is where I am now.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health 2010 2007 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. Organizer ( paper or electronic) to enter to-dos, addresses or calendar data. Use the right tools: Set a timer for the length of time you have decided to work on this project. Boxes or storage containers to use for sorting.

Calendars 100

Calendars Ergonomics Filing Health 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. Comments Trackbacks Personal Organizer | Ians Messy Desk Leave a comment Subscribe to blog posts by Email The Essential Motivation Handbook The Zen Habits Handbook for Life! Do the third task. Cross it off.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health Gifts Holidays 100

Ian's Messy Desk

MAY 10, 2010

Lotus Notes is the groupware of choice for my employer and GTD is my system of choice for keeping organized (however poorly implemented). 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.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Calendars Health 2006 100

Ian's Messy Desk

JULY 16, 2010

The brainy quote – thousands of quotations organized by topic, author and type. The Quotations page ( pop-up alert ) – The oldest quotation site on the Web, with more than 25,200 quotations from over 3,000 authors. Quotelady.com – An old-school style web site focussing on inspirational quotations organized in dozens of categories.

2006 100

2006 2007 PDF Ergonomics 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

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. If you’re holding a meeting, draw up an agenda and circulate it to the staff attending beforehand.

Filing 100

Filing Ergonomics Cubicle Agenda 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

Ian's Messy Desk

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010

Total up the number of times you answer yes and see below. 5) Do I have all the information I need to organize my time effectively? Complete this short self-evaluation checklist to assess your time-management skills. Yes No 1) Is managing my time a priority for me? 2) Do I have goals and a plan to meet them?

Skills 100

Skills Management Ergonomics Health 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

MAY 18, 2010

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. Schedule tasks appropriately – After lunch is not the best time to read the long, lulling policy eport.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health Policies Holidays 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. If yours is an organization that encourages less-formal communication, you may find people dropping by to discuss anything from last night’s big game to next week’s big presentation.

2007 100

2007 Ergonomics Health 2010 100

Ian's Messy Desk

OCTOBER 6, 2010

That’s why it’s important to position yourself as a valuable employee in your organization. Here are two areas where you can increase your value to your boss : (1) Be a problem-solver Problems crop up all the time in business. Pick up on subtle cues from your boss’s behavior and adopt appropriate behavior.

Stress 100

Stress Ergonomics Health Medical 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

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

I’m sure your e-mail is constantly getting bombarded with e-mails all the time, Nudgemail helps you organize those emails and put “productive procrastination&# into practice: no new workflow no new plugins no new tools Let’s say you have an e-mail in your inbox that you need to respond to, but not until next week.

Ergonomics 100

Ergonomics Health Email Holidays 100

Ian's Messy Desk

SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

If you know how to organize your thoughts, and you know your job, you’re most of the way to giving an effective impromptu presentation. You can effectively respond by taking the following steps: Stop and think : Take a moment to organize your thoughts. Any topic can be split up into components.

2008 100

2008 Ergonomics Health Holidays 100

Ian's Messy Desk

AUGUST 4, 2010

Take productivity courses online and read up. Ask for advice Look around and identify those who seem to have their lives productive and organized. Others carry on self-directed learning in recreational arts and hobbies, matters of health, family and community, or simply to increase their intellectual resources. Research on-line.

Telecommuting 100

Telecommuting Ergonomics 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

MAY 7, 2010

Come up with an argument that is reasonable. Organize your ideas so that the audience will not have a hard time following and digesting your ideas. 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

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

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 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

MAY 12, 2010

We expend energy rushing through the day trying to keep up with ourselves. Look for ways to free-up time. A few minutes saved here and there can add up to a significant portion of time. Or, if you prefer, you can subscribe to my blog posts by e-mail. Thanks for visiting! When you enjoy what you are doing, it reduces stress.

Management 100

Management Goals Ergonomics Agenda 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

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

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 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

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

Furthermore, I work for an organization that I really believe provides a valuable service to the community, so doing my job well serves more than just myself. Keep your workspace organized, but don’t waste all your time getting organized. Personally, one of my core values is being helpful to others.

Management 100

Management Ergonomics Health 2010 100