I am speaking on the topic of being organized for successful networking this week.  I equate networking to going on a blind date.  Just like a blind date, there are lots of unknowns at each networking event – who will be there, will I be able to find clients or strategic partners, how will the event flow?  It can be pretty scary.

But like a blind date, you do have a few things you can control.

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The “U” in FOCUS stands for:

Use a planning tool

Dwight Eisenhower said, ” Plans are nothing, planning is everything.”

In other words, it’s not about what you are going to do, it’s about what you have planned to do.  So set up some type of planning tool.  There are many varieties to choose from: white boards, wall calendars, paper planners, pdas and smart phones just to name a few.   Use what works for you.

Set aside time each week to plan your schedule, not just your time sensitive appointments but time allotted for your projects, your family and, most of all, time for yourself.  Make sure to leave margins in your schedule too. These are gaps of time that allow for things like travel time, meetings that run late, and last minute errands. Remember we have already discovered that you can opt out of a few things…. To be productive also think in terms of time blocking.  This means using chunks of time for similar tasks.  For example:

1. Run all your errands on the same day instead of going one or two different places each day.
2. Set up a specific amount of time to spend checking email and being on the internet.
3. Make all your phone calls in one chunk of time, instead of spreading them throughout the day.

If you need help finding a planner or learning how to do weekly planning, I’m here to help!

Are you tired of not keeping up? Do you feel like you walk into your office and it resembles a construction zone instead of a work station? Do you feel like you never get enough done each day? Are you worried you’ll forget a meeting or appointment? Are you inundated by an avalanche of emails? If you have made these comments or you feel you just can’t seem to get ahead these days, then this is the teleseminar for you!

The focus of this call is to give you tips to help you be more effective in your work environment. Did you know that when managers were surveyed, 49% felt they are often unable to handle the volumes of information received, 38% wasted substantial time trying to locate information and 47% said that the collection of information distracted from their main job responsibilities?

• How to set up your work area to be more efficient.
• How to control your email, rather than your email controlling you!
• Discover a simple tool to help you be more effective during your work week.

The format of this teleseminar will be interview style. Barbara Davis, life and business coach, of www.uncoverbrilliance.com will have a one-on-one discussion with yours truly- Natalie Conrad. To register for the teleseminar please go to http://www.uncoverbrilliance.com/teleclasses.htm.

We use recipes to cook food, GPS tools to map the routes to businesses, yet we don’t have a plan for our week! The most overused excuse is “If I had more time, I would….” I believe that if one wants some control over their 24 hour day, they must plan! Planning does not mean having to take the Franklin Covey course and hefting around a 5 inch binder or becoming tech savvy and purchasing an iPhone.

Planning your week does not need to be complicated. In fact, planning your week can be liberating! I like to call the time I use to plan my week a “Brain Dump”. I sit down on Sunday afternoons and write down every thought, idea, have to, want to, need to item that is flying around in my brain. This is similar to brainstorming. A free flow of information out of my head and onto paper. No time constraints set, no due dates established, just capturing the thoughts and actions first. I like to use categories as I do this exercise as a way of helping me keep my life balance in perspective. You can make up your own categories, I have listed mine just to give you food for thought:

1. Personal
2. Family
3. Friends
4. Speaking
5. Business
6. Marketing
7. Networking
8. Service

Once I have written down everything I can think of for each of these categories, I then take a look at my scheduled appointments and commitments I have already made for the upcoming week. I would then write down any other timed commitments that need to be made as a result of my brain dumping exercise. What’s left? Essentially a task or to-do list.

Again, looking at my calendar, I begin to assign a day to the remaining tasks. The date assignment depends on several things: proximity to a needed location (running an errand for example), availability of non-appointment times (in which to complete the task), and the level of urgency or importance. Taking these factors into consideration I begin to funnel the tasks into each day of the week. One day may be heavy with tasks because I have few scheduled appointments, another day may have less tasks because I am busy with appointments.

In the end, the important things to remember is to plan your week, every week at the same time each week. I plan on Sunday afternoons, but you may want to plan on Friday mornings. This exercise works with a Franklin planner, a Daytimer, Outlook, a PDA or an iPhone. How you choose to capture the data is up to you, the point is to capture it and plan it out weekly!