Last month I blogged about email deletion from an overloaded IN box (see July 2010)

Some people have been asking what to do about the emails you want to keep or the ones you need to take action on.

Emails to keep – no action step
If you need to save emails that have no action steps, move them into a file folder. It is your choice to keep more file folders in your email program or copy the information onto your hard drive. When you copy to the hard drive, only copy the relevant part of the email onto a document and file it in a category on the hard drive.

Emails to keep – needs action steps
These emails need to be put into a tickler system.
A tickler system is a system that will “tickle your memory” (remind you) that you have something to do.

There are 3 types:
1. 7 days of the week: maybe 1% of people do not shuffle from Mon to Tues to Wed, etc.
2. 43 folder system: 31 days + 12 months - still shuffle from 15th to 16th to 17th, etc.
3. Take Action File: file by next action step (instead of date)

If you want to find the backup of your To Do List – whether it is paper or emails, purchase the Take Action File System manual to get both papers and emails organized. Click here: http://everythinginitsplace.net/products/take-action-file-system-tickler-system/

PS There is a student version too that is two systems in one, it includes a student file system. http://everythinginitsplace.net/products/take-action-file-student-file-system/

Emails, emails, everywhere and too many to read.
Like most people, I get too many emails and spend too much time on them.

I have separate email accounts for friends, general business, newsletters and speaking, which makes for too many emails.

This past week my husband asked me to clear my emails by Sunday.
I just finished a six part teleconference course that pushed me behind.
Then we were gone for 12 days to see family this month, and the emails piled up.
On top of that I have been making some financial changes that have taken quite a bit of my time. More emails piled up.

My husband suggested just blatantly hitting the delete key and completely emptying the email boxes. He says anyone who wants to talk to me will contact me again.
But my business emails are not social.
Most of my emails will keep coming unless I unsubscribe. They are newsletters or blogs. Deleting will not stop the deluge.

How do you get out from under?
The only thing that has worked for me is to decide that a handful of people get to remain.

Here are my steps:
1. I sort the emails by name instead of date. to make both reading and deleting go faster.

1. I unsubscribe from those I don’t really care about or don’t need to read.

2. I delete those I can skip reading for now.
   Maybe next month I’ll read their newsletter.

3. I determine who are the better experts or have something that resonates with me? Those I read and delete. The rest are unsubscribed too.

If you have some good tips for keeping your email box low, please add a comment.

Eileen

Do you forget things?

Have you gone through the whole day and then remembered something that really needed to be done that day but you had forgotten about it?

Did you miss a teleconference call?

Did you miss an event you wanted to attend?

Did you miss sending an important document to someone?

Did you miss a major deadline?

You ‘re frustrated.
You’re aggravated.
You’re stressed.

because You FORGOT.

Should you take a memory course?
Should you get hypnosis?

Want a simpler remedy –

Make a LIST.

Creating a To Do List helps you stay focused
on what needs to be done that day.

How many times have you gone to the grocery store without a list and forgotten to buy something?

The same thing applies to work To Do’s.
A list keeps you on track so you do not forget.

In fact, when you empty your brain –
or do a “brain dump”, you will relax.
Your mind says “I can find it.”
It is okay to stop thinking and thinking and thinking about it.
You wrote it down.

Stop clogging your memory with tons of information.
Write it down!

If you need a place to keep all the lists
or hard copy of things you need To Do –
click here: Manual: Take Action File System

School is out in Arizona and probably almost out everywhere else. It is summer time.

While some people feel that is the time to be lazy, it is a great time to spend time with your children.

Put together the past year’s photos, school papers, artwork and cards in a memory book.

I know — it is not just last year’s, it’s the past five or ten years!

You do not have to be an avid scrap booker to put together a simple album your child will cherish for a long time.

Have your child do it with you. They will enjoy it! Shop at a scrapbook store or craft store together Let your child choose some fun scrapbook items to make the pages even more exciting.

It will be fantastic.

Focus

Have you ever decided to do something and gone after it with determination? I mean really determined? Have you noticed that when you really put your mind to something, it can, it will happen?

That is what focus is all about. No matter what is going on around you, Staying focused on what you want to do.
I made some decisions a few months ago, and despite everything else going on around me, I was determined to follow through.

Now in the past six weeks it has been very hectic. First my husband’s car radiator broke. Then the renters added 2 more problems – first it was the water heater - and they didn’t notice the leak, so the garage wall had to be repaired too.

Meanwhile the handyman checked their reverse osmosis (cleans the hard water) and there was a small leak in the kitchen, for a very long time. Needless to say the cabinet shelf has to be replaced, it’s got a large dip, (think skateboarding hills in miniature.)

Then it came back to us - during the holiday dinner with 10 guests and 30 pieces of china plus silverware plus glasses, our sink backed up. And once that was fixed we paid $90 for a second service call to tell us the dishwasher died at the same time.

Things happen that cannot be helped. We had no choice but to tie up the car for the radiator, get a new water heater, repair the wall and cabinet shelf, buy a new dishwasher.

Life does not stand still, and if you let distractions keep interfering with moving toward your goals, nothing will happen.

So with all the distractions that come with life – Are you focusing on a project?
Is it moving forward or are you letting distractions get in your way?

What can you do to get back on track and move ahead on your roadmap?

March included Organize Your Home Office Day.

How is your home office?
Is it organized?

From my PLACE acronym – follow the L – Like with Like.
Keep items together that go together.
Use drawer dividers or purchase separate containers
in your small supply drawer for pens and pencils vs. markers or highlighters.

Keep rulers, scissors, and letter openers off to the side as they are longer and larger.

Put paper supplies in another drawer.

Get ready - 2 two new products almost finished. Coming soon.

Happy Holidays

Meet our new lovebird, Kelly, for kelly green. She is only 3 months old.
Kelly is learning new things, like any new baby.
She is still exploring and testing climbing.

Learning takes 3 stages:

First, you need to have KNOWLEDGE.
You might say you have learned something
because you have read something.
But that is all you have - knowledge. That is not enough.
Just having knowledge doesn’t mean you can do it.
Kelly has the knowledge that she can climb with her beak and feet.

Second, you need to turn the knowledge into a SKILL.
You have to do something with the knowledge.
Kelly found an artificial tree in a wicker basket.
She had to figure out the parts of the wicker basket that intertwine
and where she could grasp it to climb up to the tree.

Third, you have to turn the skill into a HABIT.
You can do this by repeating the skill over and over.
Kelly is still working on this. Everyday we let her out,
and she goes over to the wicker basket to climb to the tree. She studies the intertwined wicker.
One day she will climb fast when she knows what to grab.
(I cannot get a picture because her green color hides her in the tree.)

Here’s another example. Think of learning the times table.
When you go to the store,
you don’t think 3 items at $5 each is $5 + $5 + $5.
You know 3 x 5 =15.
It comes to you quickkly and automatically – that is a habit.
This is true learning, when you use the knowledge automatically.

What are you learning for 2010? Have you chosen something new to learn how to do? If not, you will get what you always get, the same result.

One of my key goals for 2010 is to create learning products – how to manuals. To help you learn new things. To help you save time by being more efficient.

Based on the survey, some of you like to read, and some like to listen.
So we are starting with 2 reading products and then some webinars.
The Take Action File is going through a revision and is almost complete.
It will be ready in March.

If you have piles in your IN BOX, physical or email,
you are going to want this. It is going to organize your IN BOX.
Wouldn’t that be nice!

As they say in the movies ….coming very soon.

This month we look at another lesson from our lovebird, Sky.

Sky’s cage was only closed at night. All day it was open. First thing in the morning, I would open her cage door. She would climb out and sit on a bird exercise perch.

As soon as she heard the water running, she knew one of us was in the bathroom shower.
She would make her way down her ladder to the kitchen floor And walk or fly to the master bath. (Her wings were clipped, so she mostly walked through the house. She could fly about a foot off the ground.)

The closets in the master bath area have two long mirrored doors. First, Sky would stand by the doors and talk to her mirror image.

After awhile, Sky would go over to the shower and sit on the ledge in front of the shower curtain (see picture) until we got out of the shower. Then she should return to the mirror while we got dressed.

About six months ago her curiosity peaked. Sky would push the edge of the shower curtain open and peek into the shower.
If too much water sprayed her face, she backed out.

A few months later Sky started finding a place in the center of the curtain where it would fold into the shower and leave just enough space to jump down to the floor, get a drink, and jump back on the ledge with the curtain still protecting her from the running shower water.

Finally Sky took action. She ventured completely into the running shower (with Don, not with me) and got wet.

What can we learn from Sky? Two things: Sky knew the water was going to get onto the floor of the shower. If she wanted more to drink, she had to get it before the water was off.

First, she had to take action. She ventured from watching to drinking after the water was off, to drinking in front of the curtain, to fully getting in.

Second, Sky learned how to get drinks taking it step by step.
Each time she risked just a little bit more. You can grow by taking things step by step.
If you set goals for New Years, take action by taking them step by step. Take one step at a time, then go on to achieve another step. Eventually you will reach your goal.

For more organizing tips, listen to the recording I did with Dr. Sheila Forman in her show archives on www.healthylife.net

Happy New Year 2010 - make it your best year ever!