Let's Talk Organizing

Time to Get to Jazzing

2008-10-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Karl and I did a podcast on Jazzing Up Your Contacts by including pictures in your Outlook contacts. Since then I have been having a ball putting pictures inside my contacts. It's so nice to see Marcia and Dion's smiling faces in front of the Stirling Jail every time she emails me. So, now I think it's YOUR turn to add pictures to your emails!

So here you go! You can 'Right Click' on my picture, select 'Save As', file it away and label it 'Crazy Organizing Girl' and then go into your Outlook contacts, open up my contact card...which you should have! :) Click on the empty photo spot and add my lovely picture. :)

Every time you get an email from me you will see me smiling up at you. Isn't that nice?!

Then I want you to come back and tell me how many of your contacts now have been jazzed up with photos! Of course, I am going to do the same.

I'm going to do another lovely tag to some of my favorite people and invite them to do the same and let us know how many picture contacts they now have!

Marcia
Vicki at Dinky Baby
Krys

What I Found in My Self Audit?

2008-10-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

Well, here is my VERY colorful uCreate notebook in all of its highlighter glory! I wish I could report that I was extremely proud of myself, but alas I cannot. I am quite the slacker!!! Or the poor planner, not sure which one I like better yet!

What I did is actually get a new notebook and start writing the list of all of the To Do's I hadn't finished in my last notebook. There were things in there from APRIL that I hadn't done yet...oh ya, BAD.

What you see on the Left is page two of the monster list. The page on the Right was the first day I did this exercise. Not too bad. The purple highlighter is for Day 1, the orange was Day 2, the blue Day 3, and the violet color is Day 4....hmmmm. Of course, we won't talk about the ones that haven't been crossed out yet.

However! What I have figured out in all of this madness is that I have a tendency to write down everything that needs to be done that I HEAR on a specific day. For example, I will write down "Go grocery shopping" on today's date. When in all actuality, I am not planning on going until Friday...maybe Saturday morning. So when I look through my folder, I have this feeling of self doom because my grocery shopping to do is not in the color it should be in.

One question...why in the hell am I putting myself through this self degradation?

I will tell you why, because I am a jack ass. What I need to start doing is putting the actual "Go grocery shopping" to do on SATURDAY so that way it's on the day of the week that it needs to be done and not on the day of the week I THOUGHT about doing it.

My ego is much to precious to let this foul behavior last much longer. So when in doubt...change it!

How is your self audit doing?

Technology Bitch List

2008-10-07T12:27:00.004-07:00

I love technology AND I hate it! There is nothing more wonderful then when it works and nothing more irritating then when it doesn't. For example; my stupid website wasn't popping up this morning and I couldn't get my emails and it was TERRIBLE! I had no clue what to do or how to fix it and it pissed me off to no end.

Apparently, something to do with my DNS server and I needed to "reboot". I HATE that. Something so simple as turning things off and unplugging cords. Sheeesh.

Then Marcia commented how she can only open some pages in IE and not Firefox. I have have had the same issues only in reverse. I couldn't open pdf files in IE, but I could in Firefox. The great mysteries of the universe.

Well, I figured since I have at my disposal the Great Oz of Technology, I would take the key and open up the box to the Mysteries of the Technology Universe. I am sacrificing him for the good of the technology challenged. That's right the Westside Gadget Guy, unbeknownst to him, is going to answer all of your most frustrating and annoying technology questions. (He's actually pretty darn good, too!)

Even if it's something as simple as not knowing which headset to buy to record podcasts, Karl D. Susman is your guy. Ask that man some questions! He is a fountain of information and needs to be tapped into.

Can't remember what you named a file and you can't for the life of you find it? Ask Karl. He can tell you how to find it.

Starting up a podcast of your own, but don't know where to start, how to do it, what you need? Ask Karl. He tells me all the time what I'm doing wrong! :)

Leave your questions in the comments and I'll have Karl do a blog post, record a podcast, or send you the answers telepathically. :) Well, it's worth a shot!

Happy Organizing!

Using Google Reader Stars

2008-10-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

Do you know what I absolutely hate, other than big bugs and onions? I hate knowing that I read a great blog post that I want to link to and reference in my blog and I can't remember what it was or who wrote it. You have no idea how many times I do that and then I have to go through and try and remember who wrote it and what it was that I liked! 95% of the time I just give up and forget about it. It isn't worth the search.

Now, I'm not sure what you all do, but what I have started doing is using the Star feature in my Google Reader. Every time I read a post that I want to link to, I put a little star next to it and then as soon as I link the post in my blog I clear the Star!

This way it's not cluttering up my Star Section and it also reminds me that I have something to blog about!

How do you keep track of the blog posts you want to link in your blogs?

This time I am tagging Marcia! Along with Janet, Allison and Ariane. :) I just love you too much not to pick your brain.

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne

To Twit or Not to Twit

2008-10-04T12:33:00.002-07:00

Do you know when I was 13 I had a boyfriend who broke up with me because I called him a Twit? Chad Palmer, you are such a twit! :) Nooo, I am not bitter about the whole thing in the least bit! Well, this isn't about my eighth grade boyfriend but it is about a "twit" or Twitter to be precise.

I have known about Twitter, I have friends who Twitter, I know the idea behind Twitter, but I haven't become a Twitter Twit until today. (Well, I did last year, but I can't remember who I was so it doesn't count!) I can't really have much of an opinion, because I just started but I do have a little thought. Not an opinion, but a thought and I would LOVE some feedback from some of you who Twitter.

I like the little Facebook updates and I do update that quite a bit, but I feel a bit more comfortable being silly with my updates on Facebook because I know almost everyone in my friend list. A few unknowns have made it on there, but not enough for me to actually CARE about they think of my crazy shinanigans.

Sooo, my question for those of you who do both or just one, do you post your crazy shinanigans for the world to see or do you hold back to just professional tidbits?

Of course, if you want to add me on either go ahead, but if you are a Facebook junkie, be sure and tell me how you know me, because I will probably decline you if I don't. :o) Ya, not a friend whore like some people I know...MIKE!!!! Mr. 647 Friends

Seriously though, what are your thoughts?

What's Been Going On This Week?

2008-10-04T07:57:00.002-07:00

Holy Cow, Suzanne has been busy this week! For a girl who enjoys being lazy I sure have kicked into high gear over the past few days. Of course, during this little "Sue-Nami" (Thanks, mom) I have completely forgotten WHAT it is I have done!

So I figured I would do a little update on all of the new blogs and podcasts we have been working on outside of the Let's Talk Organizing spectrum. Besides, you may find something useful when you cross pollinate in blogs!

Admin Answers Blog Posts

Ask Devyn: Contact Quick Add (Have you met Devyn yet?)
The RED Binder (Fun and silliness!)
Dress for Success (Humiliating ancedotes on Suzanne)
Professional Ways to End a Letter (Could use some help on this one!)
Ask Devyn: Making Things Accessible
Office Supplies I Can't Live Without - Label Maker (Not your hand held one, either!)

Let's Talk Organizing & Admin Answers Podcasts

What Is An Admin? (AKA Warm Fuzzies!)
Effective Meeting Minutes (How to manage all of those annoying meeting notes!)
Measuring Your Time (How much do you spend on a specific project or client?)
Look, No Hands! (This is a PERFECT solution for all of those driving down the road thoughts!)
More Than a Signature

What have you been up to this week?

Check and see what some of my other favorite bloggers have been doing this week!

Ariane - Oooh, she has fun goodies to give a way!! She just needs a new name!
Marcia & Janet the Wonder Twins! - They have been collaborating to save the world from evil!
Ms. Kelly - So frikken CUTE!!!! Makes me want to bake.
Pam - Finish that book, woman! I want to come play with the babies soon!

When Was Your Last Self Audit?

2008-10-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

We all have days, weeks, months, years that feel like you have gotten NOTHING accomplished, you don't remember if you even put on deodorant this morning let alone if you sent out the latest proposal or not. Although taking a step back and letting yourself breathe is a good thing, but what about an actual audit on yourself? What HAVE you been doing? When do you actually get things accomplished? How long is it taking you to do what needs to be done?

I have been having "one of those months" and yes, I went out yesterday and I think I forgot to put on the old deodorant. (Sorry if I was stinky yesterday!) So, after that little embarrassing debacle and having my sons teacher calling me and accusing me of being an "unfit" mother (he meant it nicely, of course) I decided I needed to have my own little self audit and figure out what the hell was going on!

Now, I already use my pretty uCreate notebook to write down all of my To Do's and I LOVING this system so I am going to continue to use it with one little change for my self audit. Here's my thought, I like color. Color makes me happy. I am already in a pissy mood so I don't want to do something that won't make me happy. Instead I need to psyche myself out and pretend what I am doing is fun! Shh, don't tell myself that though. So I used this little self audit as an excuse to head down to Staples and buy some more of my favorite highlighters in the cool carrying case. :)

The Sharpie Liquid Accent highlighters are my FAVORITE! The colors are vibrant, the barrel is comfortable to hold on to and they have a ton of colors! Which is where the fun part starts!

I am going to check myself for the next two weeks and see how long it takes me to do everything on my list, how much I procrastinate, and see what I actually accomplish in a day. And I am going to use my new highlighters to help me out!

The Sharpie pack comes with 10 colors and my two week work week audit has 10 days. I am going to designate one Sharpie color for each day of the two week period. I'll keep a legend in the front of the book so I know what color goes with which date.

Red will be for 9/29
Pink will be for 9/30
Salmon will be for 10/1
etc.
etc.
etc.

Everything that I get done on 9/29 I will use the Red highlighter to mark through the To Do. On Tuesday, I will only use the Pink highlighter.

What this is essentially doing for me is:

Telling me when I get things done
How long it is taking me to do them
Where the majority of my time is being spent
Pushing me to get the items that are over due done
Hopefully put my day and time into perspective so I don't leave the house smelling like a sewer again.
And it makes my notebook pretty!

In two weeks, I will definitely do up another post to see where I am in my little Self Audit! Since I don't like doing these things all by myself, I think it would be a nice idea if you guys did it with me! Although I am tempted to challenge my dear buddy Marcia, I figure I'll be nice and we'll see who volunteers to join me!

Be sure and let me know and I will be more than happy to share your own little Self Audit stories!

Happy Auditing!

Stinky Suzy

Pretty Storage!

2008-09-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

I love hat boxes! Primarily because my mom had all sorts of fun hat boxes that she used to store anything except hats in! It was almost like a treasure hunt around the house, what would we find in the hat box next to the couch? Remotes, her knitting, my brothers G.I. Joe guys, what would it be?

So imagine my delight when Target started carrying these nifty containers in the gift wrap section! Instead of wrapping or putting your gifts in a bag, they now have all sorts of gorgeous containers that you can put your present in.

Although giving them away as gifts is always nice, I am way too selfish to let it go so I kept it! It now is perched very nicely on my desk and tucked into my smaller version of the hat box are my cords to my iPod, camera, and the headset I use for my podcasts. It works out perfectly!

Then I took it one step further and used the square "hat boxes" I found at IKEA for our DVD's in the living room. I don't have an entertainment center and I hate looking at rows of movies, so I separated the movies out by kid movies, PS2 games, chick flicks and regular movies. The box size was PERFECT for the DVD's and they fit in with the spines facing up so we can quickly see what movies are in the box and find one to watch. Plus, I don't have to look at them!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne

Managing Emails with the Color Flag System

2008-09-28T19:21:00.003-07:00

COMING SOON!!!

Our first virtual workshop is almost complete! By virtual I mean, little ol' me doesn't have to be there to give it. Woo hoo! Not that I don't WANT to see all of your smiling faces, but I can only be in so many places at one time. Now you can listen to my chipper voice at any time of the day, whenever you want and life is good.

In Managing Emails with the Colored Flag System Workshop, we show you my signature email system that I have used for years with executives I supported. Needless to say, this workshop is for Administrative Assistants. To hear a snippet of what you are going to get, please take a listen!

The workshop contains the audio PowerPoint presentation, eBook, mp3 files, worksheets, completion certificate, and shopping list. Due to the size of the files, this kit will be snail mailed out to you. As soon as I have it completely finished I will let you know!

Until next time,

Happy Organizing!

Organizing for Halloween!

2008-09-27T14:54:00.003-07:00

I LOVE Halloween! I like all of the costumes, the cute little kids, stealing candy from my little monsters, and the weather! What is really not to love?

Well, the older kids who like to smash pumpkins, steal Halloween bags from the little kids, and still trick-or-treat without wearing a costume is down right annoying. Other than that, I love it!

Just like any other holiday, though, there are a few things to keep in mind when you are getting ready to send out the ninja's, Iron Men, Princesses, trash bags (yes, my son was a trash bag last year.), and vampires.

A few tips to help you get your little monsters ready for the big night!

Strong bag with handles for Candy!
Reminders to the little buggers NOT to eat the candy before you have a chance to inspect.
Glow sticks to attach around their neck, around their bags, around their wrists and any other body part.
Make arrangements for your animals. The last thing you want to do is scare the piss out of kids with a barking dog at the door. Talk about a mess to clean up!
Buy costumes now! You really don't want your child dressing up like a trash bag.
Find trick-or-treat buddies. A lot of families, mine included, come from divorced homes. So find out now if you are going to have your children and where their friends are going to be. You will save on tears the night before if you do this now.
Start checking out the scary homes. As you drive through your neighborhood, start checking out the houses. Who is decorating, who isn't, which houses may be too scary for your little people, and which ones are just scary enough. You can then plan your infiltration of the good houses.
Stock up on your candy.
Set down the ground rules for candy consumption! - Don't eat until you check, no eating all of the candy in one night or you'll be puking, and throw the nasty ones away!
Also set down a time limit to keep the candy. Can you believe I found a whole bucket of candy from last Halloween in my sons room 5 months AFTER it was over?
Don't forget to leave your light on if you want little trick or treaters and remind your children that the houses with no lights means no candy!

What other fun tips do you have for a happy and safe Halloween?

Happy Haunting!

Suzanne Babb

Delete by Conversation

2008-09-27T08:37:00.002-07:00

During my presentation on "Taking Control of Your Inbox" at the ASCNet TenCon conference, we discussed a couple of quick ways to clean up your inbox. My favorite along with Marcia's favorite is to simply create a new folder and put all of your email into it so you can strart fresh and clean. Essentially it is the same as shoving everything under your bed to clean your room. :) Nothing wrong with that! (Just don't tell my children.)

However, you still need to go through the mass amounts of email that has accumulated over the last decade. The quick and easy way to get rid of space stealing emails is to sort your emails by "Conversation".

Simply "Right Click" where it says "Subject"
Hover over "Arrange By"
Select "Conversation"

This takes all of your emails and categorizes them by conversation strings. You can then delete all of the old one and only keep the latest and greatest emails!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne Babb

Admin Answers!

2008-09-25T22:16:00.003-07:00

Wow, a girl gets a new computer and she suddenly thinks she is Wonder Woman! It could also be that sometimes you just need a change of scenery to get the old creative juices flowing, which is exactly what I am doing.

Today launched the beginning of Admin Answers! a new newsletter, blog, podcast and a new addition here at Let's Talk Organizing. You can read all about Devyn at Admin Answers, but suffice to say she is actually going to be doing most of the work. :) Shh, just don't tell her yet!

Our newest little endeavor is designed strictly for administrative assistants. Great products, organizational solutions, how to make you look like a million bucks, suggestions on how to maximize your time and a slew of other wonderful tidbits of information.

Don't worry too much, I am not leaving the Let's Talk Organizing blog. As a matter of fact you will probably be hearing quite a bit more from me!

Our new podcast schedule will be as follows:

Organizing with Suzanne and Karl on Monday

Admin Answers! Podcast on Wednesday

Let's Talk Organizing Podcast on Saturday

Of course, for all of my organizing buddies out there, if you have suggestions, tips, or helpful tidbits for administrative assistants, please feel free to shoot either myself or Devyn an email and we would be more than happy to link back to you. :)

Devyn (at) LetsTalkOrganizing (dot) com

Suzanne (at) LetsTalkOrganizing (dot) com

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne

My New Little Computer

2008-09-25T13:55:00.003-07:00

Well, after 13 hellish hours, Staples employees arguing with me, and a 6 pack of Coke later (not bad on the Coke part!) I am back up and running!!! I can even surf the internet, check emails and listen to music without the stuttering! How exciting is that?!

The saddest part of my little adventure of getting a new computer is my little store manager at Staples, Mike, is no longer there. Talk about total devastation and then add a terrible experience at my favorite store, I just about had a breakdown! Ripped from my psyche was the complete faith I had in Mike's computer knowledge, the warm fuzzy feelings I had in the comfort of his support was suddenly replaced with disdain and 5 employees who actually said I was lying. Oh ya, not a happy camper! Just in case anyone is REALLY wondering, yes, the Dell SP2008WFP monitor DOES come with a USB cable. If I have one more Staples employee tell me it does not, I am going to clamp jumper cables to their testicles.

BUT after 5 trips to two different Staples stores and 13 hours of loading, unloading, returning, and reinstalling, I now have a pretty snappy new computer. In the meantime, I learned several valuable lessons.

IT people do NOT get paid enough...GIVE THEM MORE MONEY!
I miss dealing with a Store Manager and employees who actually CARE about their customers and don't call them liars.
It's AMAZING how much work I can get done with a fast computer!
:) And my computer matches my printer in pretty white and silver colors!!! It makes me so happy!

So barring any other mishaps with the new computer, I shall be back up and running with new podcasts, more blog posts, and I am even revamping the website content! All because I CAN! I just may listen to some Bon Jovi while I do it. Woo hoo!

Happy Organizing!

Glam Your Office Contest by uCreate

2008-09-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

You have read my reviews on some of my favorite products, you have tried out some of ideas I have for using them, you are green with envy because I have some cool stuff, now how about winning a fun Organizing Goodness box of your own?

Yep, uCreate, is having a wonderful contest to win some of their Eye Candy or Simply Chic products. All you have to do is:

How to Win

Submit your own tip for staying organized.

The 10 most original and creative entries will be featured on the Carolina Pad and Paper Web site and will win:

- Complete Eye Candy or Simply Chic office system

- $100 gift card

- 1000 Best Quick and Easy Organizing Secrets by Jamie Novak

Good luck and Happy Organizing!

Suzanne Babb

Jazzing Up Your Contacts

2008-09-22T10:33:00.002-07:00

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words or in some cases a picture is easier to spot than just a name. In today's podcast, Karl and I explore some fun ways to jazz up your contacts, jog your memory on people you have met, and quickly finding a contact amongst the thousands. We also touch on how to get the answer for your "Dumb Question of the Day" and solutions in lieu of throwing your computer out the window.

Take a Listen!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne Babb

PS ~ Feedback would be more than appreciated!

Another Type of Back Up

2008-09-22T06:57:00.002-07:00

"It will never happen to me. I don't need to worry about it now, it's not that old. I don't have time right now, I'll do it tomorrow. Shoot, how do I back it up again?"

Well, we have all heard it and said it and if it hasn't happened to you yet, it will...soon. So back up your computer and that is all I am going to say about that.

However, there is one more little tidbit of information you need regardless of whether or not you decide to back up your computer or not. Can I just say "registration numbers?"

A lot of times I am not really in the mood to run down to Staples , so instead of throwing on a baseball cap and jumping in the car in my jammies, I run out to the product website and download the software that I need. It doesn't take long, I don't need to brush my teeth or get dressed and I have my software downloading while I get myself another Coke. It's so wonderful!

Except when your computer crashes and you don't have the start up disks because you downloaded the software and you don't have the registration codes, because it lives inside your computer. Well, there goes thousands of dollars right down the tubes!

Case in point, it happened to me and let me tell you I missing my Office 2007 more than you can possibly imagine! As far as the rest of my registration codes go, well thank God I had a lot of them written down.

Several months ago I received a wonderful package in the mail from uCreate with a slew of their organizing products so I could play with them and write reviews, one of the items in the box was this cute little hard bound light green journal and I just had to do SOMETHING with it. So, I labeled the first page "My Computer Back Up" and started writing down some of the registration numbers for my software downloads, mostly the new ones. I also included the registration numbers from the software packages that I had purchased at the store, Lord only knows what a pain it would be if I packed them away and couldn't find them, but at least I had the code.

I also included the smtp and pop3 information for setting up my email, I am always forgetting which information goes where and it will take me at least an hour fiddling around with it before I find the correct configeration, not any more! :o) It's all in my little "Compute Back Up" notebook.

So when I came back from speaking in Anaheim and I noticed that my computer had committed suicide while I was away, I shrugged, said a foul word, and collapsed into bed. Although I am mourning my dearest friend who has not been revived from the dead, I had most of files backed up, some of contacts, none of my emails, most of my software registration codes written down and I was able to restore them from their respective websites, and no Office 2007. (THAT is traumatizing!)

So do yourself a favor, back up, back up, and write down your software registration numbers.

Oh, and if you have sent me an email and I haven't responded, it's because I don't have the email any more and there is a good chance I don't have your address. So you may want to send it again. : )

Happy Organizing!

Why Waste Money on Ink and Paper?

2008-09-20T14:07:00.004-07:00

Last year I was asked to review a product called Jot-It from Cocoa Living. As much as I loved the concept of Jot-It, it just wasn't 100% clicking with me. It was bulky sitting on my desk, storing it was a pain, and I just wasn't feeling the love. However, the idea of using a whiteboard marker and writing over the templates was so much fun!

Then I saw a recommendation from Janet Barclay on how she uses page protectors. Things started to fall into place when I realized one of my favorite organizing tools could fill in nicely!

The presentation folders or what Marcia so appropriately dubbed, the Flip File, is PERFECT! It's not necessary a "file" so to speak, but a nifty little notebook that are page protectors sealed into it's own book. I can slide a Master To Do List, shopping list, calendar or whatever else I need into the pages and write on it to my little hearts content AND I get to use white board markers. Once I am done, I just erase and keep on writing. I'm not wasting ink on reprinting my calendar every time I mess it up, nor do I need to print out new lists.

I have also started using a Flip File for edits. I didn't want to destroy the original document, so I slid the pages into the folder and went to town with my red marker. It was SO fun!

Stuart Preston over at My Business-Advisors, does this nifty assignment with all of his clients called a Dashboard. He typically has them use a whiteboard, but what if they don't have room? Well, now they can just as easily use the Flip File for each month and keep their Dashboard up to date that way!

Plus, they have these nifty whiteboard markers with the erasers on top so it doesn't have to be a pain in the butt to have markers and erasers around.

So, if you are a paper-list-maker, consider using an alternative to save you on wasting money on ink and paper!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne Babb

Living With the BlackBerry

2008-09-19T09:18:00.003-07:00

I make no bones about not really "loving" the BlackBerry Pearl, but I have one and quite honestly I struggle with it every single day! Oh how I long for the days of my Palm Treo!! Alas, those days are gone and there is no going back so I must move forward...with my heels dug in and screaming until I have lost my voice.

One of the things I have been struggling with on the BlackBerry is trying to manage my emails when I have to do something. As soon as I open an email on the Pearl it shows it as "Read" on my webmail so when I get back to my computer I have no idea what I have to do and what I have responded to (because there is no trail). I have been dropping the ball, forgetting to reply or doubly responding because I forgot I already did! (I'm getting old, too!)

I must not be the only person who has this problem so I figured I would do a couple of things; 1) tell you my latest quick fix and 2) beg for more suggestions! I am not too proud to beg.

I have an email account that is not set up to the Pearl, but I do have it linked into my Outlook. Now when I have emails that come through that I have to do something with when I get back to the office, I forward it to my other email address. Everything that is in that Outlook Inbox is from my work email and I know I need to create a task for it. It's a bit redundant, but I haven't dropped the ball once this week! I just started copying myself on the emails that I respond to from my BlackBerry that are important (not every single one of them), this way I know what I said and I have a record of it in my Outlook. We'll see how that works out, right now it's working out fairly well but only time will tell!

I know there has got to be a better way of doing this, but since I am not a lover of the BlackBerry I am just not motivated enough to dig in and find a better solution so this will have to do for now.

If you have any suggestions, please share!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne

Meet Karl - Email2Task

2008-09-15T09:44:00.004-07:00

Last week when I was in Anaheim doing my little shindig on Organizing in Outlook, this guy quipped up telling us all about this nifty little add-on he created for Outlook. Now, I love gadgets, I love Outlook, and I love Tasks...therefore, the random guy in the back just made "hero status".

Imagine my delight when I got an email from the Task Hero on Wednesday morning! It was almost as exciting as the dish of strawberries the bartender at the restaurant in Anaheim gave me after the show! (Alexander made my afternoon with those strawberries! Yummmmmmm!!)

After a few emails back and forth with Karl the Task guru, we decided that a weekly podcast on tips and tricks using Outlook would be in order starting with the Email2Task feature. The best part is you can download the script to add to your Outlook on our podcast page. Woo hoo!

Not to mention, it looks like I will be back to doing my podcasts on a regular basis again! Yeah!!!

So be sure and meander over to our podcast page, take a quick listen, and download the script. I am loving it!

Happy Organizing!

Are you one of my missing persons?

2008-09-11T09:25:00.002-07:00

Over the last sevearl months I have been asking for feedback on how many emails you had in your inbox and what your biggest email pet peeves were to include in a presentation I was giving on "Take Control of Your Inbox".

I first want to thank everyone for all of their of wonderful suggestions and for those of you that contributed and I had email addresses for, you should have received your special thank you. However, there are quite a few that I am missing contact information for. :o(

I would LOVE to get you the link for the kit, so if the following people will please "come forward" I would be more than happy to send it to you. Just go ahead and click on the Leave a Tip link on my website and let me know "who" you are and I'll be sure and send it over to you.

Thanks again!!!

My Missing Persons are:

Joseph Workman
Hautemama
Melissa
Heather
Charlene
Renee, Miss 26,325 Emails!!!!!
Jeri Dansky
Fruitful Words
Kim Smith

I'm a Jack Ass

2008-09-10T15:15:00.004-07:00

Well, as a lot of you know I have been having some major issues with my beloved PC and yesterday while I was in Anaheim, my darling computer decided to commit suicide and is no longer. The semi good news is that I tried the new back up software from Microsoft called SkyDrive and not a moment too soon I may add. My documents and most of my pictures...not all, are safely living in the Microsoft Heavens. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about my .PST files from Outlook or the software that I have purchased online...and didn't write down the little "codes" for.

ANYWAY, if you have sent me an email in the last several days, you may want to resend it because, quite frankly, I didn't get it NOR do I have a lot of peoples email addresses any more.
:o( So, you may want to send me a bunch of little "Suz, you're a dumb ass" emails so I have your email and contact information. I do have quite a few that were backed up, but not all.

Pictures of strawberries, comfort food, or a guillotine would be great too! OH! and if you have voodoo dolls lying around or bad karma energy you are dying to unleash, you can always feel free to direct it to my neighbor upstairs. If I have to listen to the unknown hipppos on parade music any longer I just may lose it entirely.

Love ya!

Take Control of Your Inbox - It's FINALLY Done!

2008-09-07T19:58:00.003-07:00

Oh my gosh it is done!!! I have locked myself away all weekend living on cheese crisps and Coke, I haven't showered (eewwwww!), I haven't done laundry, or make the bed. I have been engrossed with finishing the "I Am In Control" kit for my seminar on Tuesday in Anaheim.

The eBook is done, the audio accompaniment is recorded, the website pages are in place, now all I have to do is send out the eBook to those of you who helped me out by sending in your inbox mail sizes and pet peeves. Yeah!!!! So definitely look for those in your inbox later on this week.

If you are curious about what you missed or what you are getting, go ahead and take a quick listen or check out the webpage on what all the "I Am In Control" kit entails.

Until next time,

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne

Duplication of Efforts

2008-08-27T15:21:00.003-07:00

One of my biggest pet peeves is having someone ask me to do something and then either do it themselves or have someone else do it. I HATE THAT! Not only because it's rude, but nine out of ten I have already done the necessary plotting aka put it on my list of To Do's.

It's a total time waster, it's an unnecessary duplication of efforts, and it's flat out annoying!

So, how can you eliminate these sanity robbing misfits from your life? Well, you could super glue their finger tips to the key board and then duct tape their mouths shut. The visual alone is enough to make me smile with glee! Of course, it very well could get me into trouble. =( Bummer!

Instead it may be wiser to either just strictly tell the person, "I have this task please do NOT have someone else work on it." OR you can nod your head, "yes" and then completely ignore them because you know that they will end up doing it themselves. This makes me sigh with relief.

Although it may look like you don't follow through, you could back it up by logging in every time the Dipstick of Duplication asks you do something and then does it him/herself. Why waste your time on something pointless when you have a hell of a lot better things to do?

Unfortunately there are always exceptions to every rule, (I still like the idea of using duct tape and glue!). During a previous "life", the department I was in was NOTORIOUS for doing this. It would drive me absolutely batty until one day during a meeting I exploded. (Did I ever mention I used to bring a wooden spoon with me to work?) A report needed compiled, graphs presented, and it took 4 days to put the whole thing together. What I did not know is that the lady who asked me to compile it had done it as well and she didn't "need" my report. Her excuse? She wasn't sure if I was going to have time to do it so she just took it upon herself to do it instead.

A couple of things made itself perfectly clear during my little outburst, 1) "What's her face" did this to EVERYONE. 2) Communication between projects could be a lot better. 3) Suzanne doesn't ALWAYS laugh.

The end result was, "Numb-Nuts" needed to knock it off and our team started utilizing Outlook Tasks to keep everyone in the loop as to where we all were with certain projects. It worked out PERFECTLY! No more duplications of effort and no more Suzy Outbursts...well, almost! :o)

Regardless of whether or not you are Dipstick Duplicator or the Duplicatee, try figuring out another way to do things as to not waste your time or the time of your co-workers. You will all be a heck of a lot more effective and less stressed!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne

Living Up to the Expectation

2008-08-17T19:56:00.002-07:00

Imagine you are driving to your favorite Irish pub and you are craving fish and chips and an Irish tune or two. You have this wonderful warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing that when you get there you are going to be transported to another place. A place where locals gather after a hard days work, stories are told under poor lighting, and a lively tune is playing on the radio or maybe even a live sesion. Talk about melting your stress away!

Now you walk into your favorite establishment only to find rap music blaring over the radio, not a fish and chip meal to be found and they serve Pepsi. (Ok, fine there are only two real choices, but STILL!) Not only was I extremely disappointed, but so were my kids. We were expecting our usual fun atmosphere with Raul style wings, grilled salmon sandwiches, Tim Finnegan playing on the radio, and the "regulars". What we got was far from anything Irish. We ate our meal in silence...with no Raul style wings and no grilled salmon sandwiches, and listening to music that even made ME blush! (And that takes A LOT!) Needless to say, a dinner we were anxiously anticipating turned into a virtual nightmare.

So is true with anything in your little life. Since this is an organizing blog we will apply it to the art of organizing. You buy a book full of promise of tranforming you into an organizing diva, you watch a TV show that makes decluttering 25 years of shit seem like a 60-minute walk in the park, you hire a kitchen organizer to help you stabilize your office. Expectations are EVERYTHING! Especially if you have an end result in mind.

Now, what I was expecting to get this evening was simple. I was going to an Irish Pub, I was expecting Irish music, Irish food, and I was hoping for Coke. I would have been content with two out of the three, but what I got was shiit! ;o) Now, if it had been Joe's Bar and Grill, well then, I wouldn't have been disappointed it would have been unsuspecting and it would have been ok. I would have had no expectations.

When you hire an office organizer please let it be to organize your office and not your kitchen. If you have specific expectations of what your end result SHOULD be, then be sure and tell the organizer what it is. Kind of like Joe's Bar and Grill, your organizer may not KNOW what you expect of her or him. If you tout yourself at being a Classroom organizer than by golly, be a damn good one!

Whatever the case, be what you say you are and do what you say you do. Live up to the expectation of what other people perceive. Or change the perception you want others to think of you as. And for goodness sake, play Irish music at an Irish pub! ;o)

How Many Emails in Your Inbox?

2008-08-15T09:49:00.004-07:00

Next month I am going to be speaking at a technology conference in Anaheim on Taking Control of Your Inbox. A couple of months ago I asked for your email pet peeves and the feedback was wonderful! The book accompaniment for the show will be finished next week and for those of you who participated, you will be receiving your complimentary copy!

Now I have ANOTHER request for you and I need some "email" help. I would like to know just how many emails you have in your inbox. I don't care if you have 2, 200, 2000. I would just like to get an idea of what the average person has living inside their computer. :o) Next Friday, August 22, I will go ahead and pull from the magic hat one person who will also receive a copy of the ebook, "Taking Control of Your Inbox".

Thanks so much for baring your inbox soul to the world and can't wait to see just how many you all have!!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne