Image: Creative Commons License

I LOVE wine tasting.  It’s probably what I miss most about living in California and Washington.  Sadly, there are no vineyards in South Florida.  I love the ritual of going from vineyard to vineyard and tasting wines, meeting the owners, talking to them about their business.  My favorite tasting rooms always have some crackers and/or cheese to nibble on.  Yes, you probably know that I do love cheese… and this adds to the whole experience.  But, the cheese and crackers add an important element to the wine tasting experience.  Their purpose is not to fill patrons’ bellies.  Their purpose is to cleanse the palate.  The cheese and crackers serve to give your tastebuds a rest, a break, between wines.  This is so that you can fully experience and taste each wine independently.  I love all of this wine tasting ritual!

What if we applied this process of cleansing the palate to our work and personal life?  What if we implemented something in our day to introduce a break between our work time and our personal time?  What if we had a habit of doing ________ to signal the end of our work day and the beginning of our personal time, our family time, our relaxation time?

When I had a studio outside of my home, this “cleansing ritual” was as simple as my drive home.  The 20 minute drive allowed my mind to wander into all sorts of different places.  Once I got home… voila!  New perspective!  However, these days, with my office now in my home, I don’t have a ritual of doing something to completely BREAK myself from my work day.  This is the peril of a) having an office in your home, and b) having technology only a few fingertips away.

But, I’ve been giving great thought to this lately.  I am going to find something I enjoy doing… and do it every day for 15 minutes between my work day and my personal time.  This can be as simple as reading a gossip magazine lazily on my sofa, going for a walk around the block, or sitting in my backyard.  I’m going to work on cleansing my proverbial “palate” every day… so that I can truly enjoy the time I spend in the evening with my family.

How about you?  What are you going to do to cleanse your “palate”?

Image Courtesy of Red Stamp

Yesterday, I asked you to reflect on your days… how are you truly spending your time?  There are days where we are working to a MAXIMUM.  And, there are also days that we seem to be working a full day, but have not done so.  Why do we sit at our desks “working” when we are not always WORKING?  Is there better way to spend our time – and why do we feel like we should be sitting there from 9 to 5?

Working the 8 hour day in 4 hours

Lately, I’ve noticed something about myself.  There are days when I’m “working” for 8 hours or more, but in reality the output is worth less than that.  I’ve been trying to figure out how this has happened.  When I look back on the last several years, I became much more efficient when I gave birth to my daughter.  It is in this time that I learned how to smash 8 hours worth of work into 4 hours.  I didn’t work any less than before, I just worked smarter.  In fact, in her first year, I co-founded Get Hitched Give Hope in addition to running my invitation business.  (In hindsight, this was insane… but somehow it all got done.)

Since my daughter started school 6 months ago, my “work time” is much more consistent and I’m not having to squeeeeeeeeeeze in my work into a short time frame.  I have much longer “work hours” while she is in school.  But, when I take a hard look at my days, I’m not always accomplishing a great deal more with the 8 hour days than with the 4 hour days.  There are certainly “full throttle days”… but there are also days that I worked 8 hours but the output is only 4.

This also happens during busy season.  We work full days and then on weeks where we have down time, we continue to sit “working” even though things are slower.  We are accustomed to the pace of a very full 8-12 hour day… and even when our day is not as full, we continue to “work” for 8 to 12 hours.

So, what to do?

There are 2 questions I have…  One has to do with productivity.  And, the other has to do with work-life balance.  The first: do I need to fill my 8 hour day?  The latter: do I accept the 4 hour day when I have it?

Do I fill the 8 hour day?

Are we being as productive as we need to be?  There are so many distractions these days that sometimes it feels like we are working, but we are not.  We spend time on social media that is not always “real work”.  We spend time multi-tasking so we feel busy… but in reality, we are doing a lot of little nothings.  (Make sure to read our post on the perils of multi-tasking.)  Are there “business things” we should be working on?  Do we need to be better about filling our 8 hour day with 8 hours of work?  Do we need to be better at focusing?

If the answer to these questions is “yes, yes, yes, yes, yes” then you may be wasting time.  I recommend you truly start journaling your time.  Right down how you spend your days to truly see where you are losing time.  (Chic Wedding Geek, Terrica Skaggs, has some great time tracking tools for this.)

This is sort of like dieting: journaling what food you put in your mouth is helpful in knowing the “extras” that your body does not need (and are not so good for you).  Seeing how you spend your time can be very eye-opening at learning the “extras” that you do not need in your business or your personal life.

Do I accept a 4 hour day?

What if you feel that you are accomplished in your work day?  OH SURE – a business owner’s work is NEVER done!  It’s true.  But, truth be told… it is not every day that we “work” 8 hours and have 8 hours of output.  What happens if you only work those 4 hours instead of 8 from time to time?  What if – instead of sitting at your desk from the obligatory 9 to 5 – you WORK only from 9 to 1 and call it a day?  What if you spend some of that extra time on yourself or your family?

I know some of this is CRAZY talk… especially during busy season.  And, I know that so many of us are maxed out these days, unable to accomplish our to do lists in an 8 hour day (or even a 12 hour day).

However, I want you to be honest with yourself about your time… and how we spend our days.  We have the freedom and flexibility as business owners to spend our time how we WANT to.  So, take time into your own hands… no one is forcing you to sit there from 9 to 5 (or 9 to 9).  It’s OK to work a 4 hour day, as long as your business needs are being met.

Thoughts?  Are you OK only WORKING 4 hours from time to time?  Or, do you feel guilty?

Image: Creative Commons License

Over the last few days, Kelly and I have had the chance to meet with DC and Baltimore wedding pros.  We had the pleasure of speaking on mission statements at the Baltimore NACE meeting and I also had a casual breakfast with some of The Simple Plan DC graduates.  One thing is clear: it is summer and people are BUSY. There are weddings to be planned and executed!

We also commiserated with a lot wedding pros on how we become so busy and why we are so busy.  (Kelly has been reading The 4-hour Workweek which prompted some great conversations.)  There are certainly days where we all work at full speed and full capacity.  These are days that we all know: 8-12 hours of full throttle, high-speed, heavy productivity.  But, there are days that are full “just because” we feel they should be full.  We are filling our days because we feel obligated to do so.

Being Honest With Time

I think tracking your time is EXTREMELY important to determining your costs and understanding your pricing.  We talk at great length about this in our education about profitability.  And, I think you need to know how much time you spend working on each wedding, each project, each product.  (Chic Wedding Geek, Terrica Skaggs, has some great time tracking tools for this.)

Today’s post, however, is about your time in the grand scheme of life. We are programmed to sit at our desks from 9 to 5 because we feel like we should in order to be responsible business owners.  But we aren’t always working during those hours and we are doing ourselves a disservice.  It’s not fair to us, to our business, to our families, to our souls.

Be Honest with Yourself about Time…

In the last few weeks, I’ve been finishing my day reflecting about how I spent my time.  I haven’t tracked my hours.  I haven’t journaled my activities.  (Again, this is a must for determining costs.  This is a personal reflection.)  I simply have ended my day with the questions, “What did I accomplish?  How much time did that take?  How did I fill my day today?” There are days, where I could confidently reply, “I filled my time well.”  Other days, “Wow.  I could have gone to a yoga class rather than the 2 hours I was spinning my wheels on a project that didn’t advance.”  Do you see where I’m going with this?

Do this…

So… I want you to do this for the next couple weeks.  When you finish your day, shut down your computer, stop for a minute and reflect:

What did I accomplish today?

Did I accomplish the work things I wanted to accomplish?

Did I have any time for myself, personally?

Did I spend time with my family?  (Real time.  Not time on a smart phone while your family played around you.)

How much time was I “working” where I wasn’t really working?

Could I have spent that time on myself or my family?

You don’t need to write this down, or track it.  This is only for you to have a better gauge – in your heart – of how you are spending your time.

Image: Creative Commons License

There are days where I feel like my mind is so full that it might just burst.  It weighs me down, causes me to feel heavy, and ultimately affects my productivity.  And, during these busy season months is when I most start to feel full… full… of thoughts, of things to do, of people to please, of places to go, of obligation.  And, it gets hard for me to see what “the big picture” is… in my business and in my life.  Things start to get fuzzy as I try to just survive each day.

BUT – I don’t want to live like this.  I need clarity.  I need peace.  And, I need to lighten up my load.  I know that I cannot function in a fuzzy state of mind and that I can’t drag around so much weight.  I know that this weight prohibits me from doing BIG things.  And, while there are ways to cope with busy season, some times I just really need clarity.  And, this need for clarity is usually more important than all of my obligations.  Having this clarity, this peace, this lightness, allows all the other things to run so much smoother.

I’ve been trying to be lighter… have more clarity… here are some ways I’ve been able to achieve this:

5 Ways to Gain Clarity

1 – Clean Your Desk

I’d say that having a messy workspace is probably the easiest way to feel overwhelmed.  And, I tend to let my desk grow into a forest of craziness.  (Hey – if you’re a stationer, you’ll understand how this can happen!)  By cleaning my desk, I instantly feel 1000 lbs. lighter.  Give it a try!  Here are 7 Steps for a Clean Desk.

2 – Find a New Workspace

And, sometimes you just need to escape the madness and focus on one thing.  If you have an office, this can simply mean shifting to another desk or couch.  If you work from home, this can be accomplished by heading to a coffeehouse for a couple hours.  The shift in scenery can do wonders for your soul.

3 – Sit in Silence for 15 minutes

I love this one.  It is sooooo challenging for me to be silent.  And, even if I’m silent, it’s challenging to stop the voices in my head.  Yes, you laugh at that… but, you know it happens to you too:

(silence)

head: Oh shoot, we need more milk.  Don’t forget to buy milk.  Geeeee… I wonder what Lili is doing at school.  Oh crap, I better pack up her suitcase for the trip before she comes home.  I just remembered, I haven’t heard back from Sarah about the samples, I better email her right now.  Oh, hmmm… what should we have for dinner?

Yes, we all do this.  And, it is making us crazy.  So, we need to be silent – even if for a short time.  Sit outside for 15 minutes, or in another room (anywhere away from your desk and computers and PDAs).  And, just sit in silence… concentrate on your breath (or bird chirping outside) if it helps to stay SILENT.  Any time you feel your mind floating away, bring it back to center.  (By the way, if your head is crazy with thoughts, it may be helpful to make a list of all those thoughts before you sit down in silence.)

4 – Go “Social Media Free” for a Day

OK – I’m going to be honest.  I haven’t done this one, unless I’ve been on vacation… in which case, I’ve been extremely successful.  But, let’s face it… I’m a social media junkie.  But, I really do want to do this.  And, I want to do this in the middle of the week.  Why?  Because I know that the constant back and forth between me and my social media apps definitely contributes to the lack of clarity that I have on some days.  How do I stay off social media?  Well, it’s simple.  Make a choice to keep off of it and do it.  But, the first part is making the choice.  So, I am going to choose next Thursday to do this.  OK – people… I know you’ll keep me to it.   And, I think the second part is to find something else to stay completely focused on.  For me, that will be the Paper Carnival, a project I’m working on with other stationers.

5 – Change Your Routine

I like change and it keeps me energized.  On days where I feel like I’m just trudging through, trying to accomplish all of my “tasks”, I feel weighed down.  And, the perfect solution is to change things up.  If  I typically write in the morning and work with clients in the afternoon, it feels good to start the morning filing papers and at a coffeehouse writing in the afternoon.  This change in routine shakes me up, and lightens me up.  I think it’s because I feel more in control of my job.  We became business owners because we wanted greater control of our careers, yet we get into a pattern of behavior that is not unlike the one we had working for “the man”.  Mix it up.  Keep it fresh.

What do you think?  How do you gain clarity and peace in your work day?

Image: Creative Commons License

June 15th!  That’s today!  This could only mean one thing: SUMMER is almost here!  And, in the wedding industry that means it’s busy season.  Busy season means we are all running around maxed out.  Our weekends are full of weddings, and our weeks are full of preparing and processing those weddings.  With all the “busy-ness”, it’s a miracle our heads don’t explode.

Today, I want to share…

5 Ways to Cope with Busy Season in the Wedding Industry

1 – Start the Day for YOU

Before you start your day, spend 30 minutes doing something that is going to make you feel better.  This is a great way to get focused and centered.  It may mean that you read the newspaper, go for a walk, or sit outside with a cup of coffee.  Or, let’s face it… this might mean 30 minutes organizing your workspace or creating a to-do list.  But, before you do anything for anyone, do something for yourself.  Before answering that client’s email or fixing your kids’ breakfast, spend 30 minutes doing something to start your day out right.  Having these 30 minutes helps you start the day with clarity.  I guarantee your day will go a lot smoother if you start with YOU in mind.

2 – Set Work Hours

Even though it is busy season and your workload may have just doubled (or tripled), you need to set work hours of some kind.  I do understand that you have a lot more to do: a lot more email to answer, a lot more coordinating of clients, a lot more details to keep tabs on.  But, give yourself “busy season hours”.  This may mean that you shut your computer off at 8pm (instead of what I think is an appropriate time: 6pm).  But, if you don’t shut it down at 8pm, you’ll be working til midnight “just because”.  Trust me, no “good work” is getting done between 8-12.  Furthermore, answering client email after 8pm just opens you up to the expectation that you’ll be available at all hours, and you must learn how to set your client expectations.

3 – Schedule one “selfish” thing each week

When times are busy, we often don’t allow any time for ourselves.  And, on the off chance we actually take a lunch break – let alone anything truly indulgent – we feel guilty about it.  “Oh, I really should be working right now.” WHY?  Yes, we are busy.  But, we signed up for a life of business ownership and self employment because we want to do more for ourselves and our families.  And, it seems like it’s the first thing we compromise.  So give in… schedule one “selfish” thing for yourself each week. Meet a non-wedding-industry friend for lunch, schedule a pedicure on Wednesday morning, watch a world cup match on a Thursday afternoon, take a Monday off.   You are going to put in the hard hours this summer… there is no doubt about it.  So, make up for it in some other way each week.

4 – Plan a summer break

I don’t care if it’s only a 2 day staycation at home, but plan some sort of “summer break” for yourself.  And get it on  the books NOW before the summer has evaporated.  In my previous life in the kids’ clothing industry, summers used to be VERY busy with tradeshows.  It was not uncommon for me to work straight thru from July through August.  And, before I knew it, my summer had evaporated with little to show for itself.  I spent 4 years without much of a summer because I was working so hard.  And, I know wedding pros can experience the same.  So, before summer evaporates before your eyes, schedule a few days off.  And “days off” means: no clients, no computer, no work.  (And, no excuses!)

5 – Say No

It’s OK to say “no”.  There is no way we can do it all.  People who appear to “do it all” are actually good at prioritizing.  And you must become good at that also.  When you are feeling maxed out and your list is a mile long pick SEVERAL things from that last that you are simply NOT going to do.  I know it might sound CRAZY, but you must do this in order to gain control and balance.  There are a number of things that we all work on, that we really don’t have to do.  We are busy for the sake of being busy.  Yet, we continue to do them.  CHOOSE, PRIORITIZE, SAY NO.

What are your thoughts?  How do you cope with busy season?

Photo: Creative Commons License

Everyone goes through phases where they face the challenge of keeping focus on getting the job D-O-N-E.  There are many reasons that this happens.  We’re pulled in too many directions.  We’re tired.  We’re burned out.  We’re bored.  We’re procrastinating.  Whatever the reason, we have work we NEED to do.  We HAVE to reel in our wandering eyes and FOCUS.

Here are 5 Tips that help me to focus:

1. STOP RESISTING
   I know that when I’m totally out of focus, and playing on social media too long, it’s because I’m burned out.  I need to stop resisting what my body is telling me: I NEED a BREAK.  And sitting at the computer web-surfing isn’t going to make me feel better.  Taking a 30 minute walk, going for a cup of coffee, or laying down for half an hour is a better use of my time.  Stop resisting the need for a break and do it.
2. DRAIN THE BRAIN
   When you have a gazillion things running through your head, you need a place to capture all of these thoughts.  It sounds so simple, but making a list does wonders!  Or, if a mile-long list will only add to the confusion, then simply write it all down in a journal.  Get all of those wandering ideas, brainstorms, challenges, fears onto paper.  It’s amazing how refreshed you’ll feel when you are done.
3. GO OUTSIDE
   I don’t know about you, but I definitely don’t go outside enough.  This is even more CRAZY because I live in Miami.  I have this work ethic that makes me think I have to be at my desk from 9-5 at a minimum, with meetings as the only exception.  WHY is THIS?  Why can’t I work outside… or take a deep breath outdoors… or lay on the grass for 5 minutes?  Why must I be chained to this desk?  It’s amazing how a little change of scenery can quickly re-inspire you.
4. TAKE a REAL LUNCH BREAK
   I met a friend for lunch yesterday.  I actually got into my car, drove to meet her… and she isn’t even in the wedding industry… and we had a LOVELY two-hour lunch.  I know this might sound nuts to some of you.  But, it is something I definitely don’t do often enough.  This is particularly true when I’m in the middle of my busy season… or in my case this week, trying to wrap up loose ends before leaving town.  And, you know what?  I came back SUPER-FOCUSED.  Talking with her about non-business things, having a great meal (outdoors!), and taking a REAL lunch break recharged my batteries.
5. CHOOSE ONE THING
   Some days, there are simply too many things to do.  This makes it hard to focus on just one thing.  So, we try to focus on many things… and end up focused on nothing.  (See my post on the Perils of Multi-tasking.)  So, choose ONE THING to do.  Commit to getting only that one thing for the day.  Which is the most time critical?  Which is the most important?  If you  get it done, and want to do another, then do it.  But, focus on that one thing ONLY and see how far you get.

How about you?  What do you do to help yourself focus?

Image: Creative Commons License

I love multitasking!  I love the feeling that I’m juggling a lot of balls at the same time.  A gazillion years ago in college, when I was a barista at Starbucks, I loved having twenty drinks in my queue.  I love simultaneously heating milk in one jug, foaming milk in another, while grinding beans into a fine espresso roast, while pulling a shot, while pumping cocoa.  I loved all of that busy-ness and action.  And, thus set out my life-long love affair with doing a multitude of tasks ALL at the SAME TIME.

And… thus set out some very bad habits that I try hard to break every day. The primary bad habit is an inability to focus on a project for very long.  I have a modern-day-multitasking-technology A.D.D.  This isn’t clinically diagnosed ADD… just a variety that I think many of us have in this day and age.  We do something for 5-10 minutes and quickly need to move on to the next thing.  Ultimately this back and forth, working around in circles, juggling many balls – MULTITASKING – is unproductive.  It also makes us less effective in our work.

MULTITASKING = LACK OF PRODUCTIVITY

A few month’s ago NPR Radio did an interview with Dr. Clifford Nass of Stanford University who had conducted a study on people who multitask.  The results were astounding.  He was interested in researching “chronic multitaskers” – people who cannot do one single thing in a given time.  These people must be watching TV while reading, checking email while chatting on the phone, and so on.  In the interview, Dr. Nass observed that multitaskers think they are good at multitasking, but often they are not.  Their work suffers on account of multitasking.  The study also found that chronic multitaskers were surprisingly weak in the following three abilities:

• Filtering Information
  “The ability to ignore irrelevant information and focus on relevant information.  Multitaskers are suckers for distraction and suckers for the irrelevant, and so the more irrelevant information they see, the more they’re attracted to it.”
• Manage Working Memory
  “Imagine having very neat filing cabinets where you carefully and quickly place things in the right cabinet, and when you need the information, you immediately know which filing cabinet to go to.”  Chronic multitaskers have a  hard time keeping this organized.
• Slower at Switching Tasks
  Chronic multitaskers are worse at switching tasks than other people.

In a nutshell, Nass’s study goes on to show that multitaskers are actually not good at multitasking and that it actually works against many of the skills that you think a multitasker has.  This is a fascinating interview… I highly recommend listening (or reading) all of it here.

TRAINING YOURSELF TO FOCUS

In Julie Morgenstern’s book, “Never Check Email in the Morning”, she addresses the inability to focus on the task at hand.  Her tip?  Work at increasing your focus and attention span.  You may be so accustomed to switching tasks every 5 minutes (GUILTY!) that it’s going to be challenging at first to focus on something for 2 hours.  So start small.  Start working on something, completely uninterrupted and focused for 10 minutes.  On day 2, increase your focus time to 15 minutes… and so on.  You’ll find after time, that you are actually accomplishing a LOT more when you can work on one project or task for large chunks of time.  And your ability to filter information, utilize your working memory, and switch tasks will also improve.

JUST DOING…

I came across this post yesterday from Zen Habits blog: The Zen of Doing.  There is a zen proverb that says, ““When walking, walk. When eating, eat.”  Zen Habits’ author, Leo Babauta, writes, “Focus on doing one thing, right now. Just choose one thing, and clear away all other distractions. Seriously, clear it all away.”  He goes on to explain that “By focusing on the doing, we drop our worries and anxieties, jealousies and anger, grieving and distraction.”

So… my challenge to all of you is to join me in breaking this habit of multitasking.  This is a bad habit that I have to correct every few months.  And, then I fall off the wagon (like dieting) and I have to jump back on again.  While I wrote this blog post, I only checked my Twitter account once.     Baby steps…

Flowers are more exciting than accounting!

This week, we are going to tackle the big UGLY A word: Accounting.  Now, before you turn off your browser and hide in the corner in fetal position, let’s set some boundaries.  These are my HUGE RULES for teaching people accounting:

• You are not an accountant and that is OK.
• I don’t expect you to become an accountant.  (I went to school for 4 years, took a gazillion exams, wrote a trillion case studies, and worked in the field for 3 years to have a small expertise in accounting.)  You do not need another career.
• Accounting math is not difficult.  Accounting involves 4^th grade math: addition, subtraction, very little multiplication and maybe some division.  The math is not hard.  Open your mind.
• Accounting terminology can be challenging.  It is a new set of words, ideas, and language.  But who said you can’t learn a new language?  My goal is for you to have a “tourist fluency” in this language.
• If you can swing it, hire someone to do your accounting.  However, educate yourself enough to understand “the big picture” of your business finances.
• You MUST learn the NUMBERS to your business in order to truly understand what your business is doing.  Without knowing the numbers, you cannot truly gauge its success.  (Are you making money, honey?)

People often shut off from understanding “the numbers” of their business because of a traumatic school experience with math.  The truth is that math is a small part of accounting for your business.  It’s also not as exciting as the “pretty” things in the wedding industry: flowers, paper, love, music. But, keep this in mind: you have a business above all the “pretty” things.  So, I’m going to set you straight.  We are going to start off this lesson in accounting from the VERY beginning.  Today we are going to get you organized!

Knowing your Numbers Step #1: Get Organized

I haven’t done any hard research on this, but I’m going to guess that most small business owners who do not know their numbers don’t have this first step down.  You must get yourself organized.  Without this first step, none of the other steps will work.  Find a system that works for you.

Here are my tips for getting organized:

• Set up file folders to hold your receipts for the entire year: one month per folder.  (I organize mine by month, but you might have different needs.)  Keep it simple.  Label 12 folders: January 2010 through December 2010.
• Use a labeler to label your folders. (I love my Dymo labeler.)  This is SOOOO silly.  I read it in David Allen’s Getting Things Done book.  It’s something psychological about seeing them neatly labeled.  I don’t get it.  But it works!  Don’t use the computerized/printed labels because you won’t want to set it up every time you need another file folder labeled.  (Trust me – I’ve done it the other way – handwritten or computerized – and failed at this system.)
• Label a 13^th folder: Accounting Inbox.
• As soon as you get a receipt or an invoice, place it in the accounting inbox file.  (No need to file immediately.)  Just get it out of your way; get it out of your distraction.  You can do this for client invoice copies and bank deposit slips too.
• Use fun folders.  If this floats your boat, do it.  I tend to get tired of patterns quickly, so I stick with boring manila.  I also hate when a pattern is discontinued and then I have discombobulated/mismatched files.
• Keep these file folders out of view but accessible.  You must be able to file things away quickly and refer to them when needed.
• Pick a day in the last week of every month.  It can be the last Monday of the month if you like admin work on Mondays.  I like the last Friday of every month because I like the finality of it.  I like to “wrap things up” before starting a new month.  Now – write down “Accounting Day” on your calendar for the next 9-12 months out.  You will be using this day each month to process your “accounting inbox” file.  (More on that later this week.)
• Maintain. Your system is only as good as you use it.  Find a system that works for you and that you can maintain.

That’s it!  You are now organized!  You are one step closer to KNOWING the NUMBERS of your BUSINESS!  I love it.

Creative Commons License

I talk a lot about working on HUGE projects in chunks of 30 minutes per day.  My rationale is that you can do ANYTHING if you piece it into small bites.  I like to set a timer so that a 30 minute project doesn’t swallow my entire day by becoming a 5 hour project.  Lately I’ve been thinking of all the things – small and large – that you can get done in 30 minutes.  There are also little tasks that can make a big difference when you only have a small amount of time.  (I suffer from not wanting to start a project if I have a phonecall in 30 minutes.)  So, here is my list of small and large projects you can get done in 30 minutes – broken down into small challenges and large ones.  Pick only one of these to do each day and commit yourself to 30 minutes.

Small (quickie) 30 minute challenges:

These are the quick little projects that’ll make you feel just a little bit better about yourself and your biz.  These are usually one-timers that can be done when you have a small chunk of time where you are waiting for a call or an appointment.

1. Clean out a file drawer.
2. Make a coffee date with someone you want to know better in the wedding industry.
3. Wipe down your desk and computer screen.
4. Call your mom.
5. Pay 5 bills.
6. Clean your thing-a-majigger draw (you know, the one with the paper-clip explosion).
7. Write a blog post (idea: the thing that excites you most about your business).
8. Take a 30 minute walk to clear your head.
9. Write down 5 things that make your business different.
10. Read a business article in a magazine, blog, or book.
11. Send a thank you note to someone who has helped your business.
12. Take a nap.
13. Read your goals for 2010.
14. Give.  Find a charity or non-profit and donate $5 to their cause.
15. Sign up for a networking event.

Large (long-term) 30 minute challenges:

These are the HUGE projects that when broken up into 30 minute chunks, you can accomplish over time.  These are the items that you’ll repeat every day, 30 minutes at a time, until you are done.

1. Clean out your email inbox.
2. Work on one piece of your business plan.
3. Write a book: one page at a time.
4. Organize a large pile (or box) of denial.
5. If you have months of receipts, input them into your accounting software.
6. De-clutter: Grab a bag and find 10 things to throw away in your office.
7. Redesign your website: one page at a time.  (Work on the concept and the flow if you are not the designer.)
8. Organize inventory
9. Write down systems and procedures for your business: one process at a time.
10. Design a new collection, a new product, or a new division of your business.
11. Create a database of every person you’ve ever done business with.
12. Clean out your computer files.
13. Organize an open house for your business.
14. Plan for the next wedding show (that you attend as an exhibitor).
15. Train an employee on a new responsibility.

Do you notice how none of these items included “check facebook” “talk on twitter”?  (Yes, I do a lot of that too.)  The point is that if you really commit yourself to spending time on something – even in little increments – you can accomplish a lot.  Are you short on time?  Or, are you short on commitment?

Creative Commons License

Email consumes so much of our daily attention and business energy.  We spend so much time reading, responding, sorting message.  And, we waste time re-reading them also.  Think of your daily routine.  Do you find yourself combing through emails trying to find that one email pertaining to a client?  Do you find yourself reviewing an email for the 34th time unsure of what to do with it?

Here are 5 Easy Tips for Email Maintenance:

1. Wait one hour before checking email in the morning.
   Unless you have something time critical (pending orders) in your email inbox, wait until mid-morning to check your email.  Why?  Because it allows you to get WORK done.  It allows you to get something critical done before the barage of correspondence that consumes us every day.  I’ve had days where I sit down to answer email and don’t get up for several hours because they keeeeeeep coming.  Give yourself time to do WORK.  Here’s another related post on waiting to check email in the morning.
2. Set up folders to help you file and archive email
   If you don’t have folders set up yet, do so.  And, make them easy for you to work with.  I keep them broad enough so that I don’t have too search to hard through hundreds of folders.  I have about 20-40 folders (depending on the inbox.)  It can be as simple as “Colleagues” “Clients” “Personal” & “Travel”.
3. Auto-filter email
   Set filters on your email so that email on specific subjects or from certain senders automatically go to one of the archive folders.  For example, any email from one of the officers at Get Hitched Give Hope automatically goes to a “GHGH” folder.  These are typically not urgent and I can respond to them when I have a little more time.  Also, if you have newsletters that fill up your inbox, but you do enjoy receiving them, set up a filter that sends your messages to a “READ THIS” folder.  Then you can read your newsletters in one sitting.
4. Start a HABIT of reading each message only once
   A few months ago I realized that I was probably reading most messages 2-10 times.  This is because they would sit in my email inbox and I would revisit them until I was ready to respond.  I thought, “How much more efficient would I be if I took action on every email as soon as I saw it?”  And, so this became my mission: read a message, act on it, and archive or delete it.  This is a huge challenge to do.  How did I do it?

   - I set times in my day to only work on email.  Therefore, when I’m reading email I have the time to respond.
   - Ask yourself: What do I need to do NOW to act on this email and clear it out of my inbox?
   - If the email requires that I take some action at a later time, I add it to my to-do list.  Then, I file the message.
   - I archive or delete everything that is done with.
   - Any email that needs additional follow-up (these are usually messages that I can resolve within a day or two) stays in my inbox as “unread”.  Having it “unread” is a trigger to me that I need to act on it soon.
   - Keep my inbox to a maximum of 20-30 messages (MAX) with an ideal amount of 0-5 messages.  (HAHA!  This was hard to do… see my next point.)

5. Clear out your inbox for 30 minutes a day
   About a year ago I had ~879 messages in my main email inbox.  These were mostly messages of old “important” things that I felt I needed to have access to.  The funny thing is that in a sea of 879 messages I never accessed them.  They were mostly personal emails from friends/family that I wanted to read or keep.  Or, they were newsletters that I wanted to dig into.  Some of them were suppliers that I didn’t carry but “might” be interested in carrying down the road.  It was a little nutty.  So, I decided I was going to take on this behemoth and clear it out.  I committed myself to 30 minutes per day of only inbox cleaning.  During the 30 minutes I focused solely on old email only (nothing that just came in).  I wanted to archive or delete those  messages from 2004.  And, little by little, I did it.  About a month ago I was able to get to INBOX ZERO!  This is the first time in 5 years I have a clean inbox.  And, it has made the BIGGEST difference in the maintenance of my inbox… and my productivity in general.  The clutter was bogging me down.  It’s amazing what you can accomplish in 30 minutes a day over a long period of time.

So, there you have it… my quick-n-easy email tips for you!  How about you?  What are your email secrets?