There is one definite inevitability in life and that is, of course, death. Not usually a topic that most people want to talk about or frankly think about, but, nevertheless something that we cannot escape. Personally, my consideration of the concept is something that has given me an incredible amount of strength thus far. Whenever I have a desire to do something there is the almost immediate reaction from my mind. Sometimes it tells me why I can’t do it, sometime why I shouldn’t, sometimes it just laughs at my plans. I’ve heard many theories about why this happens, why do we get in our own way, why would we stop ourselves from giving something a try? We shouldn’t! We have to go for it!

When I watched the below video I was further convinced. The man on the video has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only months to live. In this, his last lecture, he gives a moving, practical, matter of fact speech about how and why to live a life in pursuit of your dreams. There is no time to put things off – we have to pursue those things that we have a desire to!

A version of Randy Pausch’s last lecture as seen on Oprah

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

Experience, hard word and talent are not enough to succeed in today’s workplace. You need to also focus on building a network that will bring you the success you want. Your career will likely span multiple jobs and fields and the best and fastest way to get where you want to be is having a network of people you can call on. Building an effective network takes time, planning and intention. Here are 5 rules that will help you out:

1. Talk to strangers. You never know who is standing behind you at Starbucks.
2. Build a network with intention; create a plan of the types of people you want to meet and work the plan.
3. Give as much as you get; don’t be stingy about looking for ways to help others out. This will repay itself many times over when you need a helping hand.
4. Reach out to people long before you need anything; do not be that person who only ever calls when they need something. That is not networking – that is using people and you will not be appreciated for it. Stay in touch regularly with the people in your network.
5. Ask for what you want, not what you think you can get. The simple act of asking will get you a lot more than you can ever imagine.

Remember: success does not come to those with a low tolerance for risk or those who are led by fear. Start talking to people – you will be surprised what you learn!

Fiona Walsh, CEO, FM Walsh & Associates Inc., www.fmwalsh.com

We don’t always appreciate what we have, whether at home or at work. That angst that fights against complacency is actually a good thing – the sense that the grass is always greener on the other side is what makes us jump into new opportunities. That said, making a team work together with real synergy is not an everyday feat. Learn to spot the successes in your collaborations, so you can replicate that synergy elsewhere.

Does your team actually seem to enjoy working with each other? Happy people are productive people. If you find yourself actually looking forward to seeing the people at your office every day – well, that’s no small thing.

Then there’s the skill set. With an optimal balance where everyone is assigned tasks and workload according to their talents rather than which person has the smallest stack of projects on their desk, you’ll get real productivity.

Next, look at how your group talks to each other. If discussions are fluid, with plenty of back and forth, engaging ideas, and everybody listening to what other team members are saying, you’ve got something special. Far too many groups are dominated by someone with a forceful personality rather than expertise in all areas that the team has to work in. Freedom of speech and thought are not just good for civil society – they make businesses work better.

If you do recognize your team is functioning very well, analyze what it is about this group that works well. Often, it is based on good habits rather than some innate ability to work well with others. Try to transfer these habits to your other collaborative activities and watch your successes add up.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

Productivity and disorganization don’t mix. I’ve been recommending and training clients on the GO System to help their operations remain organized and competitive. In tough times, telling your employees to just “work harder” isn’t an inspiring message – but providing them with simple, specific recommendations to decrease workplace stress and frustration will pay dividends.

Employees already come with project management skills and some effective organization and time-management habits (otherwise, why did you hire them?). But that doesn’t necessarily provide cohesive organization across a company. Without training in procedures, two employees working right next to each other in the same room, even doing similar kinds of work, may organize files, projects and effort in very different ways, making collaboration challenging.

Throughout your organization, all members of your team stand to benefit from standardized processes that can be adapted to your particular organization. You’ll want to focus on things like processing incoming items, prioritizing, rational time management, understanding personality and psychological issues and more. The GO System is particularly good at covering off these points.

For more information, check out the GO System at www.thegosystem.com/ or get help from a professional organizer.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

In my last post, I emphasized the importance of using your time according to the 80/20 rule, where you focus your efforts into your most profitable efforts. But how do you know which efforts are really paying off?

You’re going to have to log all your activities and how much time you spend doing non-productive work. For that, you’re going to need a spreadsheet.

Put together a simple Excel grid with two columns showing time range and the type of activity. Start recording the actual work that you do, going into some detail as to the types of tasks involved. This will help a lot later, when you’re not just focusing on what activities provide the most benefit, but also how efficiently you’re doing them. There may be ways to reduce the number of steps to produce virtually the same output.

If you’re being interrupted, record that as well – who’s doing the interrupting, who called you on the phone, who instant-messaged you, why you left your desk and so on.

Do this for at least one day, though if your week varies significantly, you may need to do this exercise for the entire period. This will also help you to arrange more consistent routines.

Finally, you get to the most important part – go through the logs you’ve recorded and note the activities that are providing a real measurable benefit to your business. This can also be the hardest part. You may want to consult with a business coach or time management expert to provide feedback on the best use of your time that you’ve recorded.

Now you’re on your way to designing a better time management system that you can use for the long term. You know what to do. There’s no time to waste.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

“I want to do it myself!” is the chant of every four-year old.  You have to admire their enthusiasm, but the end result doesn’t work so well for them a lot of the time.  As a business habit, it’s not so hot, either.

Our clients outsource because they know they can’t do everything themselves, and entrepreneurs need to recognize this about themselves. Particularly for those of us offering business-to-business services, we can have a habit of not taking our own advice.

We can’t wear all the hats and still feel passionate about our businesses. For instance, I outsource bookkeeping and some other administrative functions so that I can focus on the work that I’m passionate about: helping people and organizations by providing the tools and teaching them the strategies to stay de-cluttered, stay organized and manage time effectively.

Remember the 80/20 rule (organizations typically get 80 per cent of their results from 20 per cent of their efforts) and organize your tasks accordingly, ensuring you spend more of your time on the really productive work.

For small businesses in Canada, the future is looking a little brighter these days (CNW Group) and I’m definitely hearing anecdotal evidence about people (some of them recently handed pink slips) starting new businesses. It’s important for those new entrepreneurs and the experienced business owners among us to not attempt to wear too many hats.

Do what you love, spend your time on the high-impact activities and leverage off the activities you don’t like (but have to be done).

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

Looking back on your business campaigns over the past quarter, you get a cold feeling in your gut. The numbers don’t look good. All that effort…and for what? The returns are so meager that you may not even show a profit. Don’t get discouraged.

In any kind of business, there will come times when the returns just don’t measure up to what you expected. I’ve felt this. Everyone who stays in business long enough goes through it.

Often, the problem is external – just as a rising tide floats all boats, the reverse is also true. Few types of businesses are recession-proof.

If your analysis shows that the downturn for your own business was related to overall business conditions, and those conditions appear to be alleviating, then the answer is clear: you have to go back and replant those seeds of growth.

Go back to your customers and remind them about the value you’re offering. Relaunch your campaigns, get your business cards out, meet and greet the connections that can lead to bigger opportunities, and keep doing the things that helped your business grow in the first place.

Keep your workspace organized, manage your time effectively, and don’t forget to breathe – you can’t afford to burn out just as the upturn in the economy gives you a chance to make good your losses.

Times may seem tough right now, but very few people go into business with a get-rich-quick mentality. You’re in for the long haul, and that will mean riding out some rough patches. Cultivate your business, focus on those long term goals and your harvest time will come.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

Automating scheduled business functions like bookkeeping, filing, follow up calls is critical to profitability.

If you’re running a small business, you may be handling many of those administrative tasks on your own. These can distract you from your real work, providing the products or services that earn you income. But these things must be done.

Multitasking is a tricky art. A study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance (Vol. 27, No. 4) indicates that multitasking may actually be less efficient. Shifting the kind of work that you do requires extra energy and focus; doing so multiple times a day can be draining. If you’re always “putting out fires”, you’re not going to get as much accomplished.

As performance expert Adam Fraser notes, “what we have to do is start to control our environment and minimize distractions – turn the technology off, set aside times of the day to focus on work, and practicing being present, even in conversations.”

The trick is to schedule certain tasks at regular times of the week or month, so you get it all done in the same work session. For instance, you might schedule your invoicing to be done for the middle and last days of every month. Schedule regular filing for the third Tuesday of every month, and follow-up phone calls to contacts (new and old) for two hours twice a week. Whatever the activity, it doesn’t really matter when you do it, so long as it becomes a regular, easy-to-remember part of your schedule so you can’t procrastinate.

Building these kinds of time management systems into your business will help you be more productive and also allow you to keep better track of employees’ time as your business grows, since you can pass on tried and true practices to them.

The first step in developing your schedule is defining the measurable priorities and tasks that you must do for your business and coming up with reasonable time estimates to plug into your calendar. If you need help with that first step, make it your first scheduled task to consult with an expert to make it happen.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

On the West Coast, in Vancouver BC, summer is well upon us and even though the sun has been shining 5 days out of 7 for the past 2 months, there is still a looming knowledge of what is coming…rain, maybe snow, grey, cold damp…yuck! We live here for the summer: sun, blue sky, outdoor activities galore, beautiful beaches, scenic mountains for hiking and biking, golf, water sports. And yet, entrepreneurs everywhere are glued to their laptops and pda’s unable to peel themselves away from their business. The very reason they left the corporate world is holding them hostage to the same habits. Working 8, 10, sometimes 12 or 14 hours a day. A slave to their business. And worse yet, the summer is passing quickly by. How can we change this? And quick?

Cease all multitasking immediately. Instead, do 1 thing at a time, focus your attention on the task at hand until it’s complete.

Start this week by shaving 2 hours a day off of your work schedule. If you normally work from 9 – 5, for the rest of this week, leave at 3pm. 

Starting next week, take one whole day a week off to enjoy the summer weather and accompanying activities.

Tasks will expand to the amount of time we give them. If you give yourself 6 hours to get done what you normally would in 8, trust me, you can get it all done. If you give yourself 4 days to get what you’d normally complete in 5, this too can be done. Think back to the last time you went on holidays. Did you accomplish an insane amount of work in your last week, especially on your last day? Take this ’sense of urgency’ approach to your work this summer and enjoy more days by the beach, on the water, on the golf course, or wherever it is that you’d rather be then in front of your computer.

Enjoy some fun in the sun!

All the best,

Heather White, CEO 2020 Communications Inc.

In the summer, it can be awfully challenging to focus on the work at hand. People are out at the park, on the beach, hanging out at the cabin, and you’re hard at work. Maybe all those people have hit on something you might not have figured out: even the most dedicated entrepreneurs needs a little time off to ensure that they’re productive when they’re doing the work that pay the bills.

A recent study found that 56 percent of the work force does not take advantage of all their vacation time (MSNBC). “And when they get away, 35 percent of managers check in with the office frequently, often daily; and 14 percent of non-managers do the same.”

It’s a common problem, but people typically need more than just a long weekend to recharge the batteries after several quarters of slogging through. Make taking time off easier by following these steps:

1. Schedule your time off in advance to ensure you’ve got plenty of time to do all the essential work you need to do before you go.

2. Ensure your partners, colleagues and employees know you’ll be away, so they all finish what they need to get done before you leave and while you’re gone.

3. De-clutter your office before you go. When you get back, you’ll want to return to an organized setting that lets energy flow.

4. When you’re taking time off, don’t think about work. Enjoy the other things you’re passionate about. The work will be there when you get back, when you’re ready to dive in.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca