The benefits of Planner Pad:

• Monthly view
• 2 pages weekly view
• Different sizes calendars to choose from
• Space for roles, tasks, and appointments
• Room on the weekly pages to capture bits of information
• Designed to make all aspects of your life funnel into each week, in one place

Click here to See the Planner Pad video

As I speak to different groups, there is always questions asked about how to manage paper (at home or at work).

There are many systems that I can recommend and, as you know, not every system works for everyone.  Today I am showing you how to set up and use an Action File system. I have used this system myself for over 6 years and it works beautifully. This Action File system is one that will work for you in conjunction with what you are doing already OR get you started towards better organization.  When it comes to paper, knowing where we can find it again is key.

Try this and leave me comments about how it is working for you.  I’d also love to hear what kind of tabs you add to personalize your Action Files.

To create this binder, you will need a 1.5″ -3 ring binder with dividers and a few other supplies that I have listed here.

Supplies needed
Binder
Business card page protectors
5 + dividers
3 binder pockets
3+ page protector
12 pages of monthly calendars

Begin to build your binder based on the needs of your family. Here are some suggested divider headings: You may think of others that pertain to your family’s individual needs.

Sample Headings
Calendar
Phone Directory
School Info
Sports/Dance/Scouts
Menu Plan/Shopping
To Do’s
Current Project
Emergency Info

Starting with the calendar section you will want to print out monthly calendar pages and write down your family’s commitments there. That way the information is accessible to everyone. Be sure to include minimum days and school holidays! You may even want to use a color coding system for easy identification. For example, sports commitments are in blue, work commitments in red, etc. Place the calendar pages behind the Calendar divider.

Then continue to build this binder with content for each of your divided sections. It is important to keep it updated weekly and purge regularly.

Click on the word below to see and hear this topic!
Planning (Don’t leave home without it!)
For quicktime, click here: Planning

Planning goes a long way in helping your productivity. Whether you use a paper planner or a digital one, such as a PDA or a new iPhone is not the issue. You should use what works for you because you like it, not because everyone has one. The real benefit of having a planner of any type is actually using it to plan.
Set aside a time weekly that you can look forward into the next week to 30 days and review your appointments and assign your tasks. Making a giant to-do list, is not planning. After the to-do list is made, you will then need to assign a date or time frame to them. Without a deadline, how can you be accountable to completing a task?
Time blocking is a helpful tool to being more productive. Time blocking involves consistently setting aside a set amount of time for the high priority activities. For example, if you need to make sales calls, you would set aside a block of time each week, where you make those calls. This time should be uninterrupted. Let your emails go unanswered, close your office door and focus on the task at hand. Some may even find it useful to use a timer.

Join me for Organize Your Office Day – virtually. This is a virtual event where we will work using email and targeted phone sessions that day to get your office in shape for the New Year. If you want more information on how this class works, jump on my website to register for the free preview call!

Christmas is the day after tomorrow. I have taken the rest of the week off, after working 12 hours yesterday. I am, however, very relaxed. Everything is done, the grocery shopping, the gift shopping, the gift wrapping, the winter concerts, the parties – it’s all done. As I look back on the last 30 days, I realize that I did a few things to simplify this year which have all helped me to feel so relaxed today. Here are a couple of simplification ideas I implemented:

1. I only went to parties I wanted to attend, not because I felt obligated to go.
2. I reduced the number of people that I bought gifts for. I talked to certain people and we mutually agreed not to exchange gifts, our friendship is more than sufficient. I also chose not to participate in the gift/ornament exchanges. Every year prior I did it because I did not want to be singled out for not “playing”. This year I did not play, and I was just fine.
3. I did not bake. I purchased sugar cookies “chubs” and cut out the cookies and baked them. Then I left them to the teenagers to decorate. I did not make chocolate as I normally do every year. I had my 18 year old son follow the fudge recipe and it worked! I purchase chocolate covered Jo Jo’s from Trader Joes and gave those to the teachers this year – ahhh, easy!!
4. I had friends over to dinner, but I did not make anything gourmet or experiment with new recipes. We had ham and played a few games -easy!
5. I wrapped gifts as I purchased them, so no more 1am Christmas Day wrapping frenzies!
6. I did simple photocards from Snapfish. I created a family blog and had the url printed on the photocards, thereby eliminating the drudgery of creating a Christmas letter.
7. I invited my husband to take part in the Christmas preparations. He took 2 days off in December, did some of the errands and did the major grocery shopping for the month – very easy!!

I know that everyone has different things they do during the holidays and my traditions are not yours. But reflect on what it is you do each year during these holidays. Step back and see what you can simplify. I don’t know about you but there’s about 36 hours to Christmas and all I have to do is read my new book!

Merry Christmas!

Have you heard of TimeBridge? I stumbled upon it this month and have opened an account. I love it and there is no fee! It’s at www.timebridge.com.

TimeBridge is an online calendar where clients, friends, and yes – even family can see your availability to schedule time with you. It doesn’t matter if you use Outlook or some other calendar software on your computer to capture your appointments, TimeBridge will work with it! TimeBridge shows your availability, not your business… the other person just sees shaded areas that are marked “busy”. You can send them an email and give them 1 – 5 dates/times that work for you and they then confirm through TimeBridge. They do not need to be an end user of TimeBridge to use it. You receive an email confirmation of the appointment, but that’s not all. The day before said appointment, you BOTH receive a reminder email, automatically.

What does this mean?

• For me it has eliminated that phone tag, trying to book an appointment or meet with someone, only to go back and forth trying to find a good date/time match. For a meeting, I can list the conference call number or the address where the meeting will be held. It even has a map feature, when you type in a physical address for the meeting.
• For my family, they can see when I have evening appointments and can then guestimate the time I should arrive home.
• For my clients, they can go to TimeBridge to book their next laser coaching call or see my availability to book another appointment with me. Since I must confirm any appointment made, the client is certain that I got the information.

I have added this link to my email signature so that anyone and everyone knows how to schedule with me. So go to www.TimeBridge.com and check this out – remember it’s free!

Happy scheduling!

http://www.timebridge.com/mytime/natalieconrad

Well, I haven’t posted in a few days (make that over a week now).

I have just had carpul tunnel release surgery on my left hand. Thank goodness I’m right handed, right? Wrong! I need this left hand to type on the computer and do all the organizing that I do! If you could see how many mistakes I’m making just typing this, you… well you wouldn’t be able to read it! So to keep it short here are just a few quick tips:

1. Use a business card holder in your purse or tote bag to hold all those java punch cards, discount cards, and gift cards you have to use up.
2. If you have a place where you store your gift bags and wrapping paper, why not add a pair of scissors and tape? When it’s time to wrap, it’s all right there and saves you time.
3. Don’t let flyers with upcoming events clutter your life. Write the information in your day planner, calendar, or pda as soon as you get it and get rid of the paper!
4. Have a few “kitchen only” cleaning rags. Write “kitchen” on them with permanent marker so your loved ones don’t use it on the car or the toilet.
5. Store your seasonal clothing in your suitcases… they’re empty and taking up space, right?
6. Use towel hooks in the bathroom instead of towel bars, the towels will be hung up more often because it’s quick and easy.