One useful tool for managing time and getting work done is time boxing.  No, there won’t be any violence here.  Think of the geometric shape of a box, instead of the ring and fighting gloves.

For some tasks, you might spend five hours completing each one.  Did you need five hours or did you spend that time getting it perfect?  Between breaks, your mind wandering, and other distractions, you might only have worked half that amount of time on the project. 

Time boxing is a concept mostly used by software developers, but it can be adapted for other projects in the workplace and in personal use at home.  It involves assigning necessary tasks a certain measure of time in your day.  Within those time constraints you accomplish what you can and then move on to something else.

For the office, time boxing helps you whittle away at a task list that might be long.  Usually a long list brings on the pangs of procrastination.  Since the task is so large, anxiety sets in that can keep you from wanting to do any work at all.  Time boxing takes care of anxiety that leads to procrastination and perfectionism.

Here’s what you do…

Decide what needs to get done.  It could be on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis depending on deadlines for your projects.

For daily tasks, you can set aside time for each task throughout the day.  The time period allotted may be enough to complete the job or it may not.  If it is not, allocate more time later on.

On a weekly basis, projects with priority can have a longer stretch of time.  Work on a large project for a couple of hours a day.  Keep using allocated time each day until it is finished.

Time boxing works for open-ended projects that have a deadline, but no other milestones in between.  Tackle a large project in small chunks so that everything is ready for delivery by the due date.

Time boxing allows you to focus on the task at hand.  For 30 minutes or an hour, you are working as hard as you can to get the work done.  After that, the project sits until its turn comes around again.

Utilizing time boxing increases productivity.  Instead of going from task to task aimlessly, you have a purpose throughout your day and adequate time to make a dent in your work.  At home, doing chores can actually take less time with this technique.

Are you interested in time boxing?  Give it a try when managing your home life, as well as for work projects.

Let’s begin by looking at the basic or ordinary places you can place your logo:

- Your website. This is kind of a no brainer. If you don’t have your logo on your website then where to you use it?  Your website is quite often the first place people become aware of your business – it’s their first memory and your first opportunity to brand your business.

- Your blog. Again, this is a chance to link your blog brand with your website brand.

- Your business cards. Business cards are becoming less and less common however you still don’t know when you’re going to run into your next great customer.  Keep a few up to date business cards in your wallet and make sure they have your logo on them.

- Your product packaging. If you ship any products then include your logo on the packaging.  This doesn’t have to be elaborate; it can simply be included in your return address.

- Your letterhead. Okay if you have an online business chances are you’re not communicating via snail mail too often however even if you’re emailing an agreement or a proposal it can have your logo in the header.

- Your invoices too can have a header with your company logo.

- Direct mail pieces. If you utilize direct mail like postcards or even long sales letters, there are many opportunities to include your logo.

- Your company newsletter. Your logo can be used in your newsletter’s graphic header to unify your brand.

- Promotional giveaways like Frisbees or pens.

Now let’s explore some of the not so ordinary locations to place your business logo:

- On your car. Many business owners have taken to painting their car as a rolling advertisement.  While you don’t have to go so far as to make your car look like a rolling billboard you can have a magnet created to stick to your car when you feel like doing a bit of drive by advertising.

- Twitter, Facebook and other social media often allow users to upload avatars or images to represent their business or themselves. You can use your logo as your avatar or image.

- Email signature. A little creativity and you can include your logo in your email signature.  This way each communication helps increase brand awareness.

- Sponsor a team or organization locally and place your logo on promotional tools like t-shirts or hats.

Have your logo travel with you.  If your business is represented anywhere your logo can tag along.  It doesn’t matter if it’s something as simple as a business card or more advanced like your social marketing avatar.  Just don’t paint it on your dog!

When you’re browsing online Google Notebook makes it easy to clip and paste you’re your notebook.  You can even categorize them by vacation, business research, pet training, and recipes – whatever you want.

To get started you’ll want to get a Google account if you don’t already have one.  To do that simply visit Google and click on “Get Started.”  Note that if you already use Gmail, AdSense or AdWords then you already have a Google account.

You can also visit https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount to create a new account.

Once you have a Google account installing Notebook is easy. Just sign into your account.  At the top of the page you’ll see a whole host of Google applications, click on more and it’ll take you to a page where you can download myriad applications.  Find Notebook, click on it and follow the instructions to download the extension.

Next you’ll need to restart your browser.  You’ll see a little blue notebook icon in the bottom right hand corner of your browser window.  To use Notebook all you need to do is click on this icon and it’ll open a mini notebook.

As you browse if you see clippings or sites you want to add, right-click on the text, image or link and click “Note this” from the menu. You can also highlight text or images on any webpage, and click on the star button in your mini notebook.

You can also clip Google search results by clicking on the “Note this” link at the bottom of any search result.

If you want to add comments to the clipping, click the “Comment” option which is located below the new note.

You can organize, label, and name notebooks to make your information easy to access and easy to understand.  Imagine if your vacation notes were mixed up with your research notes for a project which were mixed up with your recipes.

You can export your notebooks into Google docs for collaboration, you can share your notebooks giving unilateral access or restricted access and you can access your notebook from many mobile phones.

Google Notebook is an effective and efficient tool to organize your online projects.  Whether you’re researching your internet competition, planning your next vacation or collecting craft projects Google Notebook can keep you organized and help you make the most of your time online.

Mastermind!

Wondering what is that? Masterminding is when we connect with family members, a group of friends, or other writers to brainstorm or throw out ideas or make a game plan. When you mastermind, you get real feedback from those who want to see you succeed and reach your goals.

Brainstorming with others is a wonderful way to beat Writer’s Block.  When you are stuck, make brainstorming fun.  You can sit and just start throwing ideas out or make a game by putting ideas in a hat and then passing it around to read or act out.

We call this a “mastermind” session.

And you’d be absolutely amazed at how productive it can be.  Folks throw out ideas that you never even thought of.  They offer opinions that you weren’t even close to considering.  Why?  Because they think differently than you do.  And that can be a good thing.

Are you having trouble with generating ideas for your eBook , or expanding upon what you are already writing about?  Get a group of folks together (or even ONE person is a wonderful start) and ask questions.  Explain what you are writing about and ask for suggestions, ideas and opinions. Voila — you’ve got more ideas and a fresh perspective to write from.

Want to go uplevel? Want to reach for your dreams? Mastermind!

Grab a book…a magazine. Grab a cup of tea and dig into something fresh.

An excellent way to get the writing juices flowing again is to read.  Dig into a new book just for you. Grab a magazine. Enjoy the fresh ideas.  Often times, an article will be well written but it might only touch on a portion of a subject that you love. Just reading will fire you up again.

An example might be that you open up an interior decorating magazine and spot a wonderfully written article on making quilts.  The article talks about things that a quilt could be used for and some basic instructions on how to make one.  However, without plagiarizing that article, what other things about quilts could be written about? Grab your Idea Notebook and brainstorm.  Perhaps historical information could be added, or locations of museums.  People might be interested in knowing the best type of fabric to use.  Many people start a good article but only cover a small portion of the subject matter.

One of my favorite things to do to generate ideas for my writing and to overcome the dreaded writer’s block is to spend a few hours in my favorite bookstore.  I love to browse through books and look for ideas.  Again, we’re not talking about stealing someone’s content, we are talking about finding ideas which you can write your own original content.

Visit a bookstore.  Or a library.  Or a magazine stand.  Or the internet. Just browse through materials relating to what you are interested in writing about.  And you are almost certain to find some great ideas to write about. If you are like me, once your cup is filled back up, you are ready to slosh everywhere and on everyone.

Want to be a great writer? Read. Read. Read.

One young man started writing as a tribute to his loving parents who through unbelievable challenges had raised him with unconditional love and full support.  As a way to thank them, he decided to write a book, hopefully have it published, and present it to them for their 50th wedding anniversary.  Not only did he get his book published and completely surprised his loving parents, but he went on to a full-time career in journalism.

He had a purpose, a real purpose that drove him to succeed.  Keeping your objective in sight is much easier when you’re excited about your work and strive to succeed at your goals.  The great thing is that you’re never too young or too old!

Why not get started tonight? Reach for that purpose!

WRITE IT ALL DOWN!

Another one of our secrets to success here in our home! Actually, this one needs to become a lifestyle thing. Let me explain!

The past few years have been very, very different for me. I have had a plan for getting things done. It has worked!

I began 2006 with a bit of frustration. I had so many dreams…so many desires…so many goals…so many to-do’s. In fact, I had had those dreams,desires, goals, to-do’s for many years. Each year, I would dreamily resolve to “go for it” yet again. And…again the next year. Know what I mean???

Well, 2006 was a year of change for me. Looking back, this was one single factor that really made the difference!

I took some time during the last week of December 2005 to just brainstorm anything and everything that I really wanted to do and accomplish. Oh! You should see the poor journal that housed those dreams, desires, goals, and to-do’s! Such a treasure as I walk into a new year! I just kicked back and spent the time to get everything out of my brain and into the journal. When I woke up in the middle of the night and something was on my brain, I got up and wrote it down. As I ran errands and thought my GREAT thoughts, I didn’t lose them. I wrote them down in my little journal. I kept the journal close for the whole week.

I wrote out everything–the little things that I just could not find time to get wrapped up…the projects that seemed to never fit into my schedule…the business goals that I had…the financial goals (including how much money I owed on my debts–remember 2006 was my attack year on my debts and I ended the year with ALL of them paid off!!! WOoohooo!)…the dreams that just seemed a bit out of reach.

I wrote down everything that came across my mind. I compiled them in the journal as “to-do” lists for different areas of life–the financial page listed each bill I owed with the amount I owed. For my writing goals, I listed books I wanted to finish and project ideas that were on my heart. I even wrote out my dreams for an online radio show–YEP! That far-fetched dream became reality as I began Mom-to-Mom Radio Show in January of 2006. Only a dream. Just needed focus!

Want to know the fun part about this? I reached ALL of my dreams, desires, goals, and to-do’s that I wrote down in January BY MAY!! I had to sit down and begin a new journal then with the same format, except I was much more bold in my dreams, desires, goals, and to-do’s. Of all of the years of my life, 2006 was record-breaking! Since then, I have not gone back! I have made this a discipline in my life. In fact, I just spent the weekend away a few weeks ago going through my old “little black book” transferring the few things left over into my new “little black book.” I brainstormed. I brain dumped. Now, I am off and going strong again. More dreams. More desires. More goals. More to-do’s. More focus!

The past three years have been our very best ever for me and for my entire family. We have dared to reach for bigger things than we could have ever imagined just 3 years ago. As a family, we reached for greater things and grasped onto them! We dared to go for all of the “impossible” things with focus and determination. It made all of the difference in the world to have it all written down. To mark off each accomplishment was priceless!

Yep! This was another secret for staying focused. Why not try it today? The year is still young! Just give it a try and see how it works. Watch things begin changing!

Why not try making a list?

Try something that helps me when I am stumped and struggling with a writer’s block. Grab your pen and paper. Make a list!

Don’t think about writing. Don’t think about how the content of your article will come together. Just grab a cup of tea, settle in for a bit and start writing out a list.

Just start writing down different words associated with the subject you want to write about and in most cases, when you finish this exercise, you have quite a bit of information that you hadn’t considered before. Best of all, you will probably have plenty to write about.

How do you do this?

1. Decide on your topic.
2. Start jotting down a list of things you could include.
3. Review the list, other ideas will pop into your head. Jot them down.
4. Dump all of the things that cross your mind into your list.
5. Don’t worry about pulling it all together. Instead, just brainstorm.

What do you list?

1. List steps.
2. List things you need to know.
3. List things your reader would be interested in knowing.
4. List related words or topics.
5. List a timeline.
6. List terms.
(Yep! This was a list–keep listing things that you can list.)

It doesn’t matter if some of them don’t make sense — write them down anyway. As you look back over the list, those seemingly unfitting ideas might launch into other related ideas that you CAN use.

Write down everything you can think of, and then decide what you can use. You’ll almost always find 10-15 new ideas to write about — which can turn into a lot more content.