Did you know that one of the worst things you can do from time management and productivity perspective is to coming to work in the morning and start checking and answering e-mails before planning your day! When you come into work and the first thing you do is log on and start checking e-mails, you put yourself in a reactionary mode to the rest of the day. Would you like to better manage your e-mail and not be so reactionar? If you answered yes I have some great news; I can offer you some ideas and suggestions to take back control of your inbox.

That’s why I have put together my new book called “The E-mail Manual“. It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

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Have you ever taken stock of how many minutes or hours a day you are spending answering e-mail? The average worker in Australia spends around 1/2 to 2 hours a day using e-mail. That really is a significant amount of time. Here’s an interesting question. How many e-mails out of every 10 that you receive are really critical and important? How many e-mails must be answered immediately? When asked this question in my Zero Inbox seminars the answer is usually one or 2/10 are critical. That’s why I have put together my new book called “The E-mail Manual“. It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

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What would you do if you were able to find an extra 30 minutes to one hour a day of extra time and productivity, simply by managing your e-mail and your inbox better? What would you do with your time? I’m sure like most of us, there are more important projects and tasks that we have to undertake. While e-mail is an important tool, many professional people had never learnt the strategies in managing their inbox.  That’s why I have put together my new book called “The E-mail Manual“. It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

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Who do you know that is really well-organised when it comes to managing e-mail and their inbox? I believe that success leaves clues and that one way of becoming more organised regarding your e-mail is to find out what other successful people are doing in managing their inbox and look for ways to emulate that behaviour. Amazingly, it’s quite easy to get a grip on managing your e-mail and reducing the size of your inbox. All it takes is a basic understanding of the principles of managing e-mail.  That’s why I have put together my new book called “The E-mail Manual“. It is the book you should have received when you first started using e-mail. I think if everybody had a copy of this book on their desks and read it before they started using e-mail, there would be a fewer problems and issues with using and managing e-mail. Please enjoy these 5 email strategies. Be on the lookout for my other articles on how to better manage your e-mail and reduce the size of your inbox.

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Is it possible that you can still get something from nothing? Well on the Internet, there are hundreds of sites that have really cool products and services that you can use free of charge.

I’m including a list of sites that I came across recently at http://www.theworkathomewoman.com

I’ve had a look at quite a number of these sites myself and the once I had visited look fantastic. I suggest you take a moment (in your downtime) to have a look at some of the sites and see which ones might be of interest to you.

Developing your “work smarts” also means that you use technology to your advantage. Just because something is free doesn’t mean it is going to be any good. However, from time to time you will come across a website that is going to be very useful and allow you to increase your personal productivity.

Whether you are able to manage your time more effectively, or simply do things in a more efficient manner, developing your work smarts is important in order to you to get ahead.

Enjoy the sites and do let me know if you come across something that you find particularly useful.

1. Productivity Flourishing: Free planners, month action, productivity heatmap, productivity planner series, productivity jumpstarter, blog post planner and calendar and freelance worksheet.
2. Cozi: Free online family organizer.
3. SCORE: Free business templates: business plan, financial forecast, supporting documents, business planning tools for non-profit, projected balance sheet, bank loan request, cash flow statements, financial history, competitive analysis, profit & loss projection, sales forecast and startup expenses.
4. Practical Spread Sheets: Free spread sheets for personal and business use. Personal budget spread sheets, income statement and grocery list.
5. Open Office: Productivity suite, including word processing, spread sheets, presentations, graphics, database – all free of charge. No need to purchase Microsoft Office.
6. Google Docs: Create documents for free, word processing, spread sheets and presentations.
7. Dim Dim: Free webinars and conferences.
8. Free Conference: Free conference calls, up to 96 people for free.
9. Hot Recorder: Record calls for free, great for phone interviews.
10. Vista Print: Free business cards, 250 for free, just pay for shipping and handling.
11. Cute PDF: Create Portable Document Formats (PDF) for free.
12. PrimoPDF: Another site to create Portable Document Formats (PDF) for free.
13. faxZERO: fax documents for free, up to 3 pages, two times per day.
14. Dafont: Free fonts, over 9000 to choose from. Great for creating e-books and website and blog logos.
15. Snap Pages: Free 5 page website, 1GB storage, contact from, customizable themes and free hosting.
16. Skype: Free call, video call  and instant message for Skye to Skype members.
17. Gravatar: Free globally recognized avatar, helps to create brand identity.
18. Shrink Pictures: Resize pictures for free.
19. Random.org: Randomly choose winners for your giveaway and contest.
20. MadMimi: Free email marketing up to 100 contacts.
21. Free Press Release: Submit your press release for free.
22. Craigslist: Free advertising.
23. My Own Business: 16 free online sessions that provide the basic do’s and don’ts for starting a business.
24. Small Business Administration: Free resources for planning, starting, managing and for getting out of your business.
25. Mikogo: Free desktop sharing tool, ideal for web conferencing, online meetings or remote support.
26. Google Chat: Talk with family and friends over the internet for free.
27. Dreamstime: Free stock images and photos.

According to a report that I was reading recently, one in every three adults suffers from moderate to high levels of personal stress. With so much bad news in the papers and on television, uncertainty about the economy and the pressure of daily life, is it any wonder more of us are feeling stressed.

• Every year nearly something close to 50,000 Australians are admitted to hospital due to stress-related disorders.
• Stress requires more people to take time off work than any other health condition or disease.
• The total cost of Australian workplace stress is more than $1.2 billion per year.

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Whether you’re the CEO of a multi-million dollar business, a manager of a large team, a supervisor or a hard working employee, chances are there’s someone in your working life who will try to load extra things onto you. These ‘extra tasks’ are often called the ‘monkey on our back’.

Even in your family or personal friendships you can probably think of people who are good at trying to throw monkeys onto your back!

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Do you ever sit in traffic on the way to work listening to the radio, only to be bored by a over-the-top DJ rambling on about something stupid? Or maybe you find yourself staring out of the window of a train or bus wishing it would hurry up so that you can get to the million and one things you need to do today?

According to some interesting statistics that I was reading recently, the average worker spends at least an hour a day travelling to and from work, with some people spending more than 8 hours a week commuting. That’s an entire work day every week! Believe it or not, commuting on public transport or travelling to and from work can actually be one of the most productive times of your day.

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Do you ever find it hard saying “no” to colleagues? Sometimes saying “yes” seems like the easier option, however by saying “yes” to extra work, you could be setting yourself up for added stress and possible failure. There are only so many hours in your day and you can only get so much work done. Saying “yes” when you mean “no” can be dangerous. Who would have thought that “yes”, that little three-letter word could cause such trouble?

Learn to ignore the guilt

Guilt is a huge part of why many people say “yes” to colleagues or clients when they really want to say “no”. Guilt is not a pleasant feeling so we all try and avoid it as much as possible.

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You are on the phone talking to a customer when your manager walks into your work area. He needs you to do something for him. Now the fun starts as you desperately start searching for a piece of paper to start scratching down notes. In my travels I am always amazed when I observe so many managers and employees still using paper scraps and sticky notes to write down important information.

I suspect the ‘hunting and pecking’ for something to write on is a common scene in so many workplaces. Jotting notes on loose pads of paper, using sticky notes for phone numbers and scrawling a customer reference on the back of an envelope or business card are all symptoms of poor personal organisation.

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