Ever wondered what it takes to improve one’s personal efficiency. Is it your tools, work ethic or it is the culmination of both? What kind of work ethic does one require then? Are there any tools that one could actually use to improve their efficiency? How much do the tools cost? Do we already have these tools? This article will try to answer these questions as briefly as possible.
According to Kerry Gleeson the most effective way to improve one’s effectiveness is by doing all the work that you need to do at the moment that it comes up. Do not let your work pile up otherwise it will be very difficult to finish and meet certain deadlines. Furthermore your desk should be organized. I am certain at one point we have gone into offices and seen desks with trays with in, out and pending labels. These trays help one sort out the work that is still outstanding and work that has been completed and has been filed.
This is all so obvious to most people as we have attended a course or two that taught something along these lines. The past decade has seen a rise in use in many electronic gadgets for communication and processing and storage of information. Such gadgets include computers, smart phones, PDAs and so on. Just going around you will find more than half of the people with excellent gadgets but unfortunately only makes use them for limited functions. These gadgets can be used to further increase one’s personal efficiency and eventually an organisation’s efficiency and productivity.
Here are some tips on how to make more use of your gadgets in your daily activities:-
- Make use of your emailing client to help you keep track of the tasks that you are supposed to do on a daily basis. For example Microsoft Outlook has a tasks panel that you can use to keep track of your tasks and your team members. You can simply send them a task via email and when they are done on the task you will be notified.
- Make sure the folders on your computer are organised. For example if you have got documents on a specific client, create a folder with the name of the client and put all the documents that relate to that client’s in that folder. This will make it easier to retrieve the documents when you need them.
- If you have got a smart phone synchronise it with your computer and you can download emails to it and some documents on to it and view them when you are away from the office.
- Set alerts for upcoming task deadlines (do not ignore the alerts as this will not help).
- Make use of the internet and e-banking to avoid wasting time in long queues. Extend this concept to all other business you conduct and services you have to pay for. Use solutions such as Quick Money and Microsoft Money to do your budgets as well as your bank cash reconciliation.
- Make use of SKYPE or other VOIP based telecommunications networks to make and receive calls. This will help you not to miss important calls when you are out of the office or in a pace that has limited network coverage. It could also help to have one of those CDMA telephones as they are quite handy.
- Set your email to send notifications when you are not able to reply to the emails as soon as they get to your computer. You could be on holiday and have left your laptop in the office.
- Make use of instant messaging (MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, AIM) within your organisation and all the people you talk to.
- For large organisations whose employees are geographically dispersed you may consider making use of internet work spaces for meetings.
- Instead of making use of the famous yellow notes and sticking them on your computer and desk which can be messy at times, use the notes found in your email client and stick them onto the desktop of your computer
To get hands on practice of these tips call us today and enrol for the Personal Efficiency Program. Call Princess on 04 799626 – 8 and book now.
