Are the tools and processes you are using helping you reach your goals or keeping you from being productive? The start of New Year is a great time to review your current tools and decide if upgrades or changes are needed. You may already have new tools at hand, but haven’t implemented changes yet. For instance:
Smart Phones: The new generation of phones can be the basis for your calendar, tasks, organizing notes, and contacts. Set aside the time to review your phone’s capabilities, as well as reviewing the features of the next generation of phones. Look into syncing your smart phone with PlanPlus Online software. You’ll have one source for all your information, instead of having some information on your phone and some on your computer.
Email filters: Most of us are swamped with email, much of it unsolicited and not necessary for our business efforts. Take time to learn how to set up filters for your email account. Consider filtering by sender or by subject, prioritizing message types and senders so the most important messages are at the top of your inbox. Make it a weekly priority to review and discard email of a less important nature.
Think time: One of the most important tools you will ever have is the ability to plan out your goals and the steps you will need to accomplish them. Don’t overcrowd your schedule, leaving you no time to work on planning your next tasks to goal completion. If there isn’t time scheduled to review short and long term planning as well as tasks accomplished, it’s easy to lose sight of the original goal. Remember when reviewing what has been accomplished to evaluate the resources and time needed for that particular step. Was it worthwhile? Will that step continue to help you towards realizing your goal? Looking back at what you have accomplished can help you better plan for the tasks ahead of you.
