How a CEO With a Seriously Messy Office Got Her Mojo Back
28 February 2017At the conclusion of a day’s time management training for Suzanne and her staff of 20, although we’d achieved a lot, she asked for more assistance. ‘Robyn, can you come and help me sort out my office. I don’t know where to start. It’s so bad that I get a pressure headache when I walk […]
How To Save Reading Time
5 June 2013Smart people don’t retain information they have no immediate need for. In a coaching call once with Ross Richards, he said, ‘I’d like to work on my planning techniques now. I don’t feel I have good management in that area.’ ‘Do you remember what I wrote about in the April and May issues?’ I asked. […]
An office survival tactic I don’t recommend!
28 September 2012Here’s a novel way of managing an overloaded desk – clogged with debris, paperwork, files ….. a town tip, in other words. Last night, as I was speaking to the Canterbury branch of NZ Organisation for Quality, member Ailsa Milner shared this story. ‘I once worked for a man who had terrible paper management habits. […]
Replying quickly to email is bad time management
15 June 2012If you’re replying immediately to every mail as soon as it arrives, you’re also sending an invisible message that could be interpreted as: ‘I’ve got nothing too important to work on. That’s why I’m sitting here sending you an instant response.’ Email is my top priority.’ If so, why? And what are your real priorities? […]
More on how to declutter and organize – reduce the space available
10 April 2012I’ve finally completed a declutter task that’s been nagging – and nagging – and nagging! The Easter break was fun, doing lots of fun things with friends and family. And – in the gaps I did something I often help others with. I ruthlessly attacked my most regularly-used office files. They’re now cleaned out, pruned, […]
Are your possessions slowing you down?
5 April 2012Top blogger Leo Babauta of Zen Habits was my interview subject for this month’s GettingAGrip Inner Circle audio programme. He blogs in a really interesting and very practical way about a number of the things I also focus on. Time magazine listed it in their Top 25 blogs for 2009 and it’s now read by […]
Easy Steps To Cleaning Up The Mess!
18 July 2011Does your desk breed paper every time you turn your back on it? Layer upon layer of miscellaneous paper, magazines, newsletters, invitations to this and that, reports, files and vital tasks you mustn’t forget to attend to? Every couple of weeks, with grim determination and fired by a sense of desperation, do you approach this monstrosity supposed […]
Battery People: The Dark Side Of Open Plan Offices
11 July 2011Do you find that interruptions are the constant companion of an open plan office? If you’ve been one of my ‘family’ of readers for a while, you’ll possibly already know my thoughts on unmoderated open plan environments, but in case you’re new, or missed my previous comments, here’s the snippet from‘Getting a Grip on the Paper […]
Stop Unwanted Material At Source
27 June 2011A key question for the problem of space and information storage and management is ‘do I really need it?’ And following that, ‘what can I prevent coming into my space?’ Faxes: Get off fax lists of unwanted information. First port of call is to contact the offending company and politely request removal. If they choose […]
Don't Do What Someone Else Can Do
15 June 2011Who opens the mail? Who does the filing? Do you find yourself constantly getting bogged down with tasks somebody else could do? Over lunch some time David Eddy, Project Director of a great First Time Principals programme via Auckland University, shared the following tip. It was given to him by a colleague early in […]