Must Have Solutions

Okay, I don’t believe in time management at all. I know we have limited time. In addition we each must manage the time that we do have. However, don’t you find that something always comes up that is outside of your control? Therefore you can’t manage it. For me, being efficient and organized are truly my secret solutions. I have a few things that I do that help minimize distractions and keep my day-to-day time in check.

Email Rules

If you use Outlook and don’t use Rules, stop what you are doing right now. You must start using this wonderful feature. We all get email that we want, but really don’t want. These include the emails that you only want when YOU actually want them.

For example, in my case, that is shopping, travel, property listings, and recipes. When I want to shop, I click on my shopping and coupons folder and all of my shopping emails are right there. I am never distracted by them when they arrive. They automatically go into a specific Outlook folder. Too often, that folder gets very large and I empty it about once a month.

To set up a rule in Outlook, make sure you have a folder already set up. This will be the location that you want every email from a given sender to go. Next, when you’re in a specific email that you’d like to move, click on Rules>Create Rule. From there you can make sure that emails from that sender go into a designated folder that you can create in the same left-hand bar under your inbox folder. For instance, I have everything from North Face going right into the Shopping folder.

Email rules save you time. Your inbox is much more focused . In addition, you are less distracted when that perfect hiking coat pops up in your inbox.

Waze

If you aren’t using Waze, you are really missing out. Waze is the must-have smartphone app on my home screen. It is not just a GPS.  It doesn’t simply tell you where to go and how to get there. It also warns you of police, obstacles on the road and traffic. Because Waze is crowd sourced,  the information is real-time.

In our office, we find it very valuable. We use it every time multiple employees are traveling to business meetings from different locations. One of us sends the route to the group. Next,we can see each other en route to the same location. And it is in real time!

I have used this app around the country and it works great. I have also connected it to my calendar. As a result, it automatically updates my future drives based on my next appointment. I then get notifications when to leave if traffic is building up.

For more information please enjoy https://www.waze.com/. Yes, Waze is a solution that can save you a lot of time and aggravation.

Wunderlist

This is my go-to list manager. Why is it different from all of the other list managers, you might ask? It allows you to share with others. My family and I share the grocery list. Although lucky charms always magically appears! In addition, our teams at the office share to-do lists for projects. It also has an extension available within Outlook. That way,  when an email needs attention or a follow up, it is easily added to Wunderlist with one simple click. I can easily access it from my phone or computer.  It is a great list tool for both home and work.

I am hoping at least one of my ideas will help just a little with making your next year little more efficient. Cheers!