Geoff Colvin’s book, “Talent is Overrated,” argues against the idea that talent competition among humans centers on their genetic inheritance.  Instead he believes you can train your child to be a prodigy.  Of course, that involves a huge amount of commitment on your part.  (Think Earl and Tiger Woods.)

Most parents want the best for their children and sacrifice a great deal to achieve this.  Yet few have the time or drive to push for the relentless practice that would produce the next violin virtuoso or top-seeded tennis player.

However there are still skills to impart at an early age.  Colvin suggests that business acumen or musical expertise be developed early.  I would like to add on to these areas and say that teaching young children organization skills will serve them well for all of their lives.  Whether they become  Fortune 500 CEOs or sports stars, there will always be schedules to keep, documents to find, and projects to manage.

I am not saying that you need to be relentless in pushing organization of the playroom, but this is a great opportunity to start early.  Involve your child in how things are set up and then in keeping them maintained that way. 

Early Childhood:

• Have enough shelves and containers.
• Put a picture on the container for quick sorting.
• Create simple box schedules.  Use pictures on the chart for chores and events.
• Plan the night before.  Clothes can be put out for school the next day.

High School:

• Have a system for dealing with their own basic files. 
• Give them a say in how and where their things are located. 
• Be sure they write down homework assignments and chores.
• Guide them in maintaining a printed or electronic schedule that would include the above.

Your part is two-fold: 

1. You have to model organized behavior.
2. You have to be consistent in your expectations. 

The busier your family is, the more need for organization.  Do your children a favor and help them get a head start in their careers and their lives, regardless of what paths they take.  If you do not feel that you have the skills to do this, take a break and seek time management training for yourself.  Not only will it help you, but it will lead to a more relaxed and successful family lifestyle.

You know about productive workspaces and productive systems, but how about productive clothing?  Most of us are familiar with the idea of Feng Shui in building and decorating.  However Feng Shui principles also extend to wardrobe in the use of colors.  For Feng Shui practitioners, clothing is very important.  To generate the right energy for the right circumstances, you need to choose correctly.

In this sphere, clothing can also be positive or negative, providing success-focused energy or draining energy, giving added meaning to “Dress for Success.”

Here are some of the basic energy-matching colors:
1.  Want to accomplish a lot with few distractions?  Use neutrals.  They held you blend in quietly.
2.  Having a very active, upbeat day?  Pick out the bright colors.
3.  Need to display control?  Wear dark colors with a fitted design.
4.  Working at a more leisurely pace?  Loose fit with light colors for creative energy and interaction.
5.  Need confident energy?  Select black to absorb all energy.
6.  Secure in yourself and want to be noticed?  Red gives out that message.
7.  In sales?  Green is money energy and earth tones help you connect.
8.  High stress days?  Blue is calming.
9.  Social situations?  Now is the time for prints and florals.  These should stay out of the workplace because they show out-of-control energy.
10.  Low energy?  White is draining, so just use it as a contract color.

The test is at the end of the day is to ask yourself if:

• You felt good about yourself
• You accomplished what you had wanted to do

If something seemed out of alignment, could it be a clothing mismatch?

As we quickly work our way through the summer months, have you been tempted to take a day off just to enjoy the beautiful weather or go on a spontaneous jaunt?  If so, you are not alone.

39% of workers admitted they have called to take a sick day during summer vacation time (Harris Interactive for Kronos).  This has even been given a name:  “Seasonal Disorder Syndrome.”  Can you guess what days SDS is most likely to strike?  Of course, Monday and Friday.

Many workers in the U.S. are literally starved for breaks.  See my article on Vacation Deprivation and the Workaholic Mindset.  It is important, from a time management and productivity angle, to be sure that you do have breaks and vacations. These allow you to come back to work refreshed and recharged, actually getting more done than if you had just plugged right on through. 

A problem develops when there is no plan or advance notice.  Companies are left short-handed, colleagues have to pick up the slack, and overall productivity, along with morale, suffers.  To counter this, businesses may need to build in more flexibility so that you have an option of taking some days without negative results.

Could your laptop, a symbol of productivity because of its portability, actually be hindering your time management efforts?

Many companies are now giving their employees laptops instead of desktop computers.  The smaller machines give you more flexibility.  After all, the same machine can work at the office, at home, in the coffee shop, and on the beach.  That is a strong selling point.

Yet the negative is that laptops are not ergonomically designed for long-term use.  Consider two elements in a good setup:

• Keyboard at elbow height
• Monitor about eye level

A laptop can meet neither of those.  If you just place your laptop on a desk or table, over time incorrect technique can seriously affect your anatomy:  pain in the neck, back, shoulders, and arms, headaches, TMJ, carpal tunnel.

If you are using a laptop for extended periods, look into items that allow you to work at the right levels and minimize discomfort.

• Laptop stands.  You want to raise the level of the monitor.  Books under one would also work.
• External keyboards.  The best angle is sloping away from you.
• Wireless mouse.  Keeping the mouse close to you is better than putting pressure on your arm by continuously reaching.
• Docking stations.  You can attach separate a separate monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
• Keyboard trays so that you can maintain a 90 degree angle between upper and lower arm.

Without stopping to make changes in how you use your laptop, you could be creating short-term and long-term roadblocks to improving productivity.  No one is as productive when they are hurting. 

J. Paul Getty:  “The individual who wants to reach the top…must appreciate the force of habit and must understand that practices are what create habits.  He must be quick to break those habits that can break him and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habit, that help him achieve the success he desires.”

One of the excuses I often hear from people is, “I tried to get organized once, but it didn’t work.”  In this scenario there could be two factors to consider:

1. Did you really “get organized”?  In other words, did you actually create new systems or did you just clean up?  There is a difference.  Developing systems and processes means that when new items come in you know what to do with them.  If you just cleaned up, you tossed out stuff.  However when new items came in, they did not have a home and the same unorganized situation developed again, requiring another faux organizing session.
2. If you did get organized by implementing new systems, did you keep up your efforts to develop these processes over time?  We are naturally resistant to change.  It can take three to four weeks to get into the habit of using these systems. 

I am often asked about how effective time management training is.  Do people really keep up?  This is especially targeted to individuals with whom I have worked directly in setting up office processes for managing their paper, email, and space.  There is no easy answer.  It comes down to how committed an individual is in wanting to become more productive.

A person could have the perfect filing system for them, yet the papers do not just jump in.  For daily work flow, a decision has to be made on each item and then placed accordingly.  This does not take much time, but it does require the development of a habit.

Yes, time management training does work.  (See the previous post regarding sleep and training for how to get more out of your learning.)  Both audiences and individuals leave with a sense of control and feeling of relief that there really is hope.  Then it becomes a journey.  It is about making progress day by day.

According to Bruce Greenwald and Judd Kahn, job losses due to increased productivity greatly outnumber those lost to globalization.  That is certainly a far cry from the typical lament that says we can protect our workers by keeping jobs at home.

In Greenwald’s and Kahn’s book, “Globalization:  The Irrational Fear That Someone in China Will Take Your Job,” the authors base their premise on research from the Commerce Department which estimates that 65% of job losses in manufacturing between 2000 and 2006 were due to productivity increases; only 35% of job losses were due to overseas sourcing.

Yes, secretaries and office workers were replaced by computers.  Yes, robots took over jobs in the auto industry.  Yes, call centers moved to India.  However this does not mean productivity increases only relate to technology.  It does mean that we have to constantly redefine productivity.  With fewer people working in an area, more is expected of each one.  New jobs arise with new technology.  In this economic turmoil, companies will be reformed.  Personal productivity will never be out of style.

The book was written before the end of year drop for 2008 so we of course have additional worries now.  More than ever productivity is in vogue.  When you are worried about retaining your job, you want to show your value.  This is the time to apply every time management technique you have learned.  If things are slow, use that period to reorganize your documents and your space.  Read pertinent articles and sign up for classes to add another skill.

Making productive use of your time will help distract you from worrying.  You will feel accomplished, and your efforts should pay out as things right themselves.   

We’re over a month past that dreaded April 15, the time of year when you vow that “This will not happen again next year.”  So, how’s it looking so far?  Do you have a new system in place and no stray receipts laying around?

If you are still looking for “your” perfect solution, there are lots of options.

1. Scan in your receipts with a scanner like NeatReceipts, for about $199.  You can also categorize as you scan so that everything is already divided up according to tax codes.
2. Have someone else scan in your receipts with a service like Pixily.  With this document-management website, you use a prepaid envelope to mail in your documents, and they do they scanning.  Prices start at $14.95 per month.  Another possibility is Shoeboxed, starting at $9.95 a month, which also provides statistics and exports receipts to Excel or Quicken.
3. Online budget management tools from your bank will categorize purchases.  Wells Fargo has “My Spending Report” and Bank of America offers “My Portfolio” where you can see all accounts, including those from other institutions, on one page.
4. Paper filing is never out of style.  It is actually quicker at the beginning.  The trick is to make sure you have the appropriate file categories already set up.  You might combine this with Quickbooks or Quicken for tracking your payments and generating an end-of-year summary report.

Whatever method works for you is fine, as long as there really is a method.  If you haven’t done so yet, take the time now to get organized, setting up a system.  You can start with new items, keep up with those, and then gradually catch up with the backlog.  Do not feel it all has to be done at one time, or it will overwhelm you and keep you from getting started at all.

Watching my brother and my husband get ready for their multi-week backpacking adventure along the Appalachian Trail, I reflected on the time management techniques that were being used.   Having the basic time management training skills that help you be effective in the office also helps with home projects and even for vacation planning.

The top two things they managed in order to even be able to consider this were:

• Uninterrupted block of time–It is not easy to even block 1-2 hours per day for focused work.  Here they needed weeks.
• Freedom from multitasking and distractions–When you are climbing over big rocks and watching for small dangers while you enjoy the beauty of the surroundings, you cannot be concentrating on a cell phone conversation or texting.  Plus, the signals are weak and battery life is precious when there are infrequent stops to recharge.

No matter how good a planner you are, you may not be in a situation where you can schedule multi-week breaks.  However, no matter how long or short your vacation might be, it still requires some planning.

1.  Determine your goals
2. Schedule an uninterrupted block of time
3.  Limit distractions
4.  Research possibilities
5.  Plan out the week(s)
6.  Gather needed supplies
7.  Prioritize each day
8.  Cut back on the stress of multitasking
9.  Do not overbook activities
10. Analyze results

Do not just leave those work skills at the office.  Use them in your home routines for greater productivity, and you may find more time for vacations. 

For more detail about using the ten steps listed above, read the article, 10 Steps to a Successful Vacation.

You have been hearing about the importance of body language for decades.  With the rise and increase of technology use, you cannot afford to forget the basics.  Email, voice mail, and even direct telephone conversations cannot fully capture what goes on in a business.

Dr. Alex “Sandy” Pentland has written a book, “Honest Signals,” that should be on the reading list for business owners, executives, and managers.  There are two points that especially struck me, both for business and personal relations:

1.  It is your tone.  You can sell an idea when you are committed and excited.  This has more impact than the facts, so if you have a point to get across, be prepared and even rehearsed.  Believe in yourself and your idea, and make sure the enthusiasm and passion comes across.

2.  Much of communication in the office is not recorded.  It is complicated, and it happens face-to-face.  Even the telephone can’t quite make up for the power of the personal interaction.  Yet this type of communication does not ever get recorded.  You have email records, meeting notes, and memo summaries.  While all are important aspects, they are not the complete picture.

This is not to say that the basic time management skills of managing email, paper, and dealing with interruptions like the telephone are not important.  If you neglect these, you will not have time for the needed personal interaction to be effectively put to use.  You will also be more stressed, not appearing in control, and that is not something you want to be communicating nonverbally.

The four signals that Dr. Pentland focuses on are activity, interest, mimicry, and consistency.  If you want to get ahead and stay in the loop, take the time now to become more aware of how you can use these.

It is almost chic to say you hardly have time to sleep, but that is not a good advertisement for your effectiveness.  Many of us are functioning with a huge sleep debt.  If you are a business owner or manager, it is to your advantage to have employees who get enough hours of shut-eye each night.

A 2008 study at the University of Chicago demonstrated that learning is reinforced by sleep.  Consider the differences in this group:

Morning training results:

• +8% for those who were tested immediately after
• +4% for those tested that evening
• +10% for those tested the next morning

Sleep will help restore what was forgotten at the end of the day and cement longer term learning. 

Good companies are always looking for effective training to help build employee skills.  It is the reason they have me come in to do training on time management techniques for increasing productivity.  One of those techniques needs to include ensuring adequate sleep.

Working right up until lights out is not the way to do this.  The mind is still racing and can refuse to settle down for the required rest.  Instead companies might start encouraging employees to halt all email after 8 p.m. so that both senders and recipients can have some down time.  It will pay off the next day when they are recharged and working at a productive pace.