Exercise and Increase Your Productivity

Many of us are aware that during the night we have a rhythm to our sleep – light sleep, deep sleep . . .  however did you know that during the day our bodies also have a rhythm?

Take note as to how you work during the day, once you commence work do you find you can get going but later in the day between 2.30 to 3.30 you start to feel sluggish. Well that is your body rhythm telling you that it is fatiguing.

It is during this period of time when you are start to lose concentration and you will know because of the signs and signals your body gives you such as fidgeting, self-distraction, hunger, thirst, looking for easy distractions, not doing the work you really should be doing. Why not take a walk! Just 10 minutes can make all the difference.

After your walk you can come back to work and you will be ready to go again. Rather than persisting and not really being productive taking a break will allow you to come back refreshed and “on” task. This will increase your focus and concentration. If you had not got up and walked away from the desk then you will continue to work slower, make more mistakes, and procrastinate on decisions because you are not clear. So go for a walk and increase your productivity. You will notice the difference.

About Us
LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based professional organiser and lifestyle management consultancy. We are all about saving you TIME. We conduct workshops on ‘Managing your Time’, ‘Systemise Yourself to have a Productive Day,’ ‘DeClutter and Take Back Control’ and Mind Clutter.’ We work with individuals and businesses to help them create a better life.

For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Michele on 0437 311 802.

Time for Reflection

For the majority of people this time of year is consumed with decorations, celebrations, gifts and shopping lists however as we approach the end of the year it is also a time of reflection. Reflection on what we have achieved this year and what we would like to achieve in the New Year.

New Years Resolutions

Whilst New Years Resolutions are a great idea I recommend thinking about goals that you would like to achieve in the future.

It is worthwhile investing time now in really considering what is important to you. What do you value as an individual and will your values tie in with your goals?

Goals
Goals provide us with a direction on where we are heading and we can identify the steps to achieve our goals.

Give yourself time to sort your goals and a way to start is to consider the following areas of your life:
1. Family
2. Career / Business
3. Health
4. Money
5. Relationships
6. Personal Growth
7. Fun Time
8. Physical Environment

You do not have to set goals in each area but at least reflect on the areas to see where you can make changes to gain better balance.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” list so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

Tackle Clutter in Small Steps

Sometimes the thought of tackling the clutter is overwhelming however it does not have to be that way. The following are some small steps which will help you work up to the bigger more overwhelming projects.

Small steps:
§ Pick a cupboard – just one and start there and only there
§ Start in one room – an easy room
§ Throw out 5 things a day, this adds up over time:
o 25 items a week
o 155 items a month
o 1,825 items a year
§ Pick up things off the floor
§ Clear a surface
§ Toss old magazines
§ Dump junk mail immediately as it comes into the house, flick and throw
§ Put things away – a place for everything and everything in its place
§ One book shelf
§ One draw
§ The pantry – toss anything expired
§ Pile of paperwork use “the 4 D’s” – Do it now, dump it, delegate it or date it

I hope if you have been struggling with where to start clearing the clutter, these tips will assist you get started on your clutter. A little bit every day helps.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” list so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

DeCluttering Excuses!

Taking the time to declutter is not always easy but at times we can actually talk ourselves out of even starting with the following excuses.

Have your ever heard or said yourself:
“It’s alright for you to be organised but I live in a small house.”
“I don’t have the money to buy the boxes and containers to declutter”
“I don’t have the money to redo the room so everything fits”
“I need to buy another book case to fit everything in”
“I don’t have anywhere to put …”
“It’s going to make a mess”
“I don’t have enough cupboard space”
“I don’t have time"
“I don’t know where to start”
“The job is too big so I just haven’t started”
“I have young kids I have no time”
“I’m too busy”
“I’ll do it next week”
“I want to clean up first then I will …”
“I have too much stuff”
“I might wear it one day”
“It will be great for a dress up one day”
“I might lose weight and fit into it again”
“It might come back into fashion”
“I’m keeping it for the holiday house”
“I’m the only one that can do it”
“I have to go shopping to buy what I need first”
“I have all my stuff because I might need it one day”
“Its memories that I don’t want to let go of”
“I can’t get rid of my stuff; it’s worth a lot of money”

What other excuses have you said?

Decide to take ACTION rather than let the excuses distract you from getting yourself organised.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” list so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

How to find the energy to declutter?

> Take a deep breath
> Are you an early bird or night owl? Work at the right time of the day for you
> Know your limits – sprinter or marathon runner
> Eat healthy
> Music is a great motivator

Understand that the hardest part is getting started so:
> Put all your focus on getting started
> Just spend 15 minutes
> Know what you are going to achieve
> Start with a small task to get started
> Make it easy to get started
> Have a rubbish bag and recycling bin ready

So take action and start decluttering, one small space at a time.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” list so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

Clearing the clutter

Did you know that clutter can bring you down? Think about how you felt last time you cleared out a space that was bothering you. It is a real sense of freedom whether it is a whole room, wardrobe or desk. It is worth investing the time in clearing the clutter.

What is clutter?
Over time our homes, have a tendency to accumulate and collect all kinds of treasures, gems and keepsakes. Now we all know that one person's trash is another person's treasures, but our homes can only hold so much!!!

Our motto is “Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful”.

Of course, this process will not be done in one day, after all it took years (or if we are really good, months) to make it this way.

Start slow and take the time needed to follow through. You will find that decluttering is not as hard as you thought it would be.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

Declutter your Mobile Phone

Too often we leave the organising and decluttering until the end of the year – which is a busy time with celebrations and shopping. Or the start of the year – which is a good time for planning so why not schedule your decluttering gradually throughout the year? This means that it is not a massive job when it comes time to declutter.

Rather than tackle a whole job such as the office at once it is great to continuously work on smaller areas such as your mobile phone. What you say? Declutter my mobile?

Believe it or not there are many areas that do get decluttered in your mobile.

Contacts

Delete all temporary numbers.
Delete any numbers belonging to people that you don’t know.
If you are like me I always save numbers when clients / potential clients contact me so that I can wow them the next time they call by saying their name.

Photos / Video’s

If you don’t need the photo’s then delete them.
If they are worth keeping perhaps download them to your computer and print them.
If they are of friends send them to the person / persons that are also in the photos. Make their day and show them you are thinking of them.

SMS/ text messages
Delete all your old text messages from your:
Inbox
Outbox
Sent
Drafts
Even check the saved area and delete ones you no longer need.

Depending on your phone you may have other options such as:
Memo’s

Check your memo area on your mobile phone; do you really need all those old memo’s? Surely you have acted on them by now!

Tasks
Do you have old tasks that should be deleted? Now is the perfect time to delete them.

This task should only take 15 minutes but it is another job done and like everything when it is organized it saves you TIME in the long run.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” or “wish list” so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

Office Organising Tips [Part 4]

Conquer Your Filing
In an idea office environment we should be able to find anything that we need the instant we need it. So why is it that we can not always do this? The answer is in whether we have invested the time to establish a filing system that we understand. It is easy to file items however the objective of filing is to find the filed items quickly.

By creating a filing system where we can retrieve documents when we need to find them we can save ourselves hours a day.

Steps to conquer your filing.

Purge what you do not need!

Put like items together in broad categories such as a main category, then a sub-category. For example, the main category is financial, sub-categories include bank accounts, shares, cash flow, profit and loss etc.

Keep a file index [a master list of file names].

Always check your file index prior to creating a new file or when deciding where to put new documents.

Keep the most recent papers in the front of the file. When you open the file the most current information will be on top.

Set up new files when you need then, this way the paper is dealt with and you have completed your task. It only takes a couple of minutes to keep everything in its place!

Create a filing system for your electronic documents that mirrors the system you have for your paper documents.

Remember . . .
Throw out papers you do not need. The 80/20 principle applies to filing as well. We only refer to approx 20% of the documents that we keep filed. So next time before you spend the time filing a document ask yourself whether you really need to keep it. If the answer is yes, ask yourself whether you are placing it in the most logical spot to find it when you do need it.

About Us

LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” or “wish list” so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to

www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

Office Organising Tips [Part 3]

Tips to Save You Time when you Communicate
Everyday at work we communicate too many people such as colleagues, clients and suppliers. We communicate in many different ways such as email, letter, quotation, telephone, verbal and non-verbal. Just as taming your desk saves you time so does clear communication.

Phone call
Before making a phone call take the time to write down the points you wish to discuss. Ensure the person you are talking to has the time to speak to you before you even commence your discussion, this way they will be fully focused on the conversation and you will both save time by not having to cut the conversation short and then have to repeat the conversation later on.

Follow up
If you need to follow up on something after your discussion make a note into your diary immediately so you know when you have to follow up by. This serves three purposes, firstly it will not be forgotten, secondly, it frees your head space to focus on other work and thirdly, your colleagues, clients, suppliers etc know that you are a person of your word and always follow up on what was agreed. This in turn, ensures that they will follow up with you as they know you have made a note of the discussion outcome.

Leaving a message
When leaving a message whether it is voicemail or with another staff member or even sending an email, be clear about what you are expecting from the other person including when, where and how. This way a full response can be provided back to you, even if they can not reach you directly.

Just a few small improvements every week will add up to a great deal of time saving over a year which allows you to be more productive.

About Us
LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” or “wish list” so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

Office Organising Tips [Part 2]

Organise Your Desk
What does your desk look like? Are you happy with the way it is set up? Do you even stop and look at your desk and analyse whether it is working for you? Your desk can be a key factor in your productivity.

A cluttered desk can affect you as follows:
§ It can waste your time
§ It occupies space
§ You can lose things
§ Money is wasted on extra office furniture and storage to hold all the extras you are keeping
§ It can affect how others see you
§ It can appear that you are out of control
§ It can be difficult to prioritise your work when you can not find what needs to be done

What to do:
§ Keep only supplies that you need on a daily basis on your desk
§ Ensure the top draw closest to your desk holds your "office tools" that is the stapler, pens, pencils, paper clips. It is close by but not occupying space
§ Create a paper flow system for your incoming documents so they do not accumulate in your in tray
§ Use your in tray for items that have not yet been placed into the paper flow system
§ Avoid looking at document and putting them back into the in tray or on your desk, it is wasting valuable time

The act of maintaining your desk is one step on the way to be more effective and profitable. Remove the clutter so you can focus on the important areas of your business.

About Us
LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do” or “wish list” so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.

Office Organising Tips

Empty your mind
Empty information from your brain and organise it. That can be done by using a diary, a notebook, a planner, and your computer or specific software packages that are available. By doing this it gives your brain space to think about what you should be focusing on because you have the prompts you need to deal with tasks or appointments when they occur.

Reoccurring tasks
Do you have reoccurring tasks that you have to do? It may be checking office stationery supplies [weekly, monthly etc] or paying insurance premiums [annually]. Place these tasks into “Microsoft office tasks” and it will remind you when you start up your email program of the jobs that have to be done. They can be set up as reoccurring tasks so that they remind you when needed.

Give yourself time
Try and leave some space within your day to focus on a project or key action items. This allows you time to deal with tasks that have to be done.
Do you know that we underestimate how much time it will take to complete a task? It is a habit that we all do until we fully track our time and have an educated understanding of the time tasks take. Think about when you check emails and how long you think that will take you. How often are you surprised when time has just slipped away? Therefore whenever you think about how much time something is going to take allocate twice as much time. This accommodates for such things as interruptions or further research that may be required to complete the job properly.

Conquer large projects
When you are feeling overwhelmed by large project take a few minutes and break the project down into small, sequential steps. Then start from the end task and schedule these steps into days and approx time each task would take. This way you will have it completed on time. So long as you stay on track with your time line you will feel that you are making progress and not be overwhelmed.

About Us
LifeStyle Refocus is a Melbourne based personal assistant, corporate concierge and lifestyle management consultancy. They are all about saving you TIME. By taking care of your “to do or wish list” so you can spend time doing the things that are truly important to you. For more information go to www.lifestylerefocus.com.au or contact Silvana on 0417 595 744 or Michele on 0437 311 802.