Practice the Power of One

Although Three Dog Night might've wanted to convince folks that one is the loneliest number, I believe wholeheartedly that one is the most powerful number for productivity. There can be power in the masses, meaning a team collaborating in harmony makes greater progress than an individual; however, when it comes to certain organizing tools, it's more impactful to practice the power of one. When you have one place to look for information, one place to update content and one place from which data feeds, it is easier to quickly find what you need when you need it, keep content updated as it changes and verify information is processing correctly. Here are a few examples:

• Address Book - For contacts' names, phone numbers, emails and snail mail addresses as well as any notes gathered via interactions with that person, keeping everything centralized within one system better enables it will stay up-to-date and be quickly accessible whenever or wherever needed, rather than having the business card left elsewhere or the phone number locked in another tool. It is best to have your solution sync across devices, meaning you don't have to manually enter details' changes on computers as well as mobile devices.

• Calendar - Whether it's paper or electronic, a single place to track all time commitments (personal and professional) makes it less likely that appointments will be forgotten or you'll double-book yourself. If you choose an electronic option, you can still benefit from the power of one principle with various calendars for different elements of life, like one shared with your spouse, one shared with folks at work and one for volunteer commitments, as long as you have a viewing option to see everything at once, letting conflicts be visible easily.

• Cloud-Based, Automated Back-up - Computers crash. Fires can destroy all your devices. Emergencies happen. It is with an automated, remote storage of all data from your hard drive that you can truly be prepared for anything. There is a difference between an online file repository and a cloud-based, automated back-up, which means both are necessary, and it's important to be strategic in managing electronic files. Unlike a hard-drive that you attach to your computer for backing up data, a cloud solution isn't at risk of natural disasters in your physical proximity, doesn't require you remembering to hook it up for activating the back-up and has multiple points at which your data storage is duplicated as well as protected.

• "Data Dump" of Information - Human-beings are inundated daily with information, like meeting notes, ideas, reference articles, checklists, process steps, voice mails, blog posts, emails, texts and inspirations. Since our brains are meant for thinking, not remembering, it's important to document everything. Keeping it all in one place limits the places you must check when trying to find whatever's needed. 

• File-Naming Structure - Whether paper files, electronic documents or saved emails, having each folder and individual file follow the same naming conventions will allow you to know what goes where and more easily retrieve each item later. If you have to ask "where should I file this?" when assigning a home to newly received or created content, how will you ever be able to find it later? Make sure you have enough folders for all the content to be retained while not having so many folders that any one item could go into more than one; then, keep your file-naming structure simply while avoiding "miscellaneous" so it's easy to replicate across the various retention platforms.

• Password Manager - There's no doubt that our list of websites and software solutions requiring logins is continually growing, and we must protect ourselves with better password management. Listing all usernames and passwords in one place saves time as we're frantically trying to get logged in, and an electronic solution is more secure, allows easier access while on-the-go, creates more secure passwords, can alert you automatically when any site has been hacked and works cross-platform so you always have the right login information, no matter which device is being utilized to access your account.

• Strategy for Attacking Priorities - Proactively create the direction in which you will proceed each week rather than living in reactionary mode by completing a weekly strategy session to develop a game plan for tasks, communications, time commitments and development opportunities in advance. Use your weekly strategy to ward off time stealers and others priorities since knowing where you're headed helps in getting there. Then, implement a daily wrap-up to stay on track throughout the week, avoiding deviations from curveballs that life will throw your way while addressing what matters most.

• To-Do List - When jotting tasks down in different notebooks, on meeting agendas, using sticky notes atop your desk or on the napkin you grab in the drive-through line, it's more difficult to know what needs to be done when. Alternatively, keeping all the action items needing your attention in one place makes it more likely they'll get completed, aides in prioritizing and allows for divvying out must-do items across each day of the week. If you opt for an electronic task manager app, it adds reminders, easier carryover, recurrences and useful integrations.

Where do you see the power of one boosting your productivity currently? How can you streamline your toolbox to have one tool for each listed function? 

Get Clear For The New Year Week #3: Organize Your Calendar and Contact Systems

As we talk about steps you can take now to make the new year your best thus far, we are empowering you with the optimal tools to drive your desired workflow results, which must include your calendar and contacts’ list. While many might contend that “one is a lonely number”, when it comes to your productivity, I say that one is a very powerful number. With that in mind, I highly recommend you address your productivity toolbox like you are one human-being, not a personal you versus a professional you, which means...

One Calendar: A single planner enables tracking all commitments in one place, making it less likely to forget anything. Having business and personal showing at once will allow scheduling for you as one full entity and better ensure that nothing falls through the cracks while you avoid any double-booking.

One Place for All Your To-Do Items: Keeping all action items that need your attention in one running list allows you to easily pull 3 - 5 items for each day’s must-do list, making it more likely all will get done, aiding in prioritizing and empowering you to assign each “what” a “when” so time is scheduled for its completion.

One “Data Dump”: Our brains are designed to think, not remember, but we fill them with more and more each day; keeping all that we’d like to remember in one place (such as in your Evernote database) ensures meeting notes, ideas, phone messages, inspirations and the like are easily accessible from anywhere.

One Address Book / Contact Relationship Management (CRM) Tool: For contacts’ names, phone numbers, emails and snail mail addresses as well as any related notes, keeping everyone’s information centralized better ensures contacts’ data is kept up-to-date and accessible. When updates must be made in numerous places, they’re less likely to get done.

One “Weekly Strategy Session”: As we discussed last week, dedicating time each week to creating a game plan for the upcoming week means more gets done and keeps you on the right track, especially pared with a morning jumpstart and end-of-day wrap-up. With this trio of tools, you stay in control of your actions.

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To elaborate on steps you can take right now to prepare for your greatest successes in the new year, here are a few calendar-related items to consider and incorporate in your actions:

- Whether paper or electronic, make sure your one calendar solution for 2015 is equipped with the holidays, birthdays, important events and reminders that are most important for you. If any are missing, add them now; plus, if your solution is electronic, add alerts as appropriate to keep you on track.

- Get in the habit of documenting all activities; rather than depending on your brain or a running list of events, let your calendar do the heavy-lifting for all date-specific commitments.

- As you become more comfortable with your weekly strategy session, morning jumpstart and end-of-day wrap-up, you’ll view your calendar solution as a bigger and bigger part of your productivity toolbox; with all the options available, there is guaranteed to be a good fit for your specific needs. Test out what options exist until you find a good fit for your needs, whether paper or electronic, daily or weekly or monthly view.

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Likewise, to further elaborate on steps you can take right now to prepare for your greatest successes in the new year, here are a few contacts-related items to consider and incorporate in your actions:

- Whether paper or electronic, make sure your one address book or CRM tool is filled with all your contacts, whether personal or professional, including clients, team members, vendor partners, friends, family members, neighbors, industry contacts, networking connections or referrals. 

- Double-check that each person’s record includes the most up-to-date information for contacting that particular individual, including that person’s current phone number, email address, job title, place of employment and pertinent notes. If you are looking for a technological tool to shortcut this process, consider apps like EasilyDo, Humin, Sync.ME, Brewster, EverContact and FullContact.

- Determine what will be your system for continually inputting updated or additional information as it is brought to your attention. While this may be resolved via one of the aforementioned apps, if someone mentions her new job to you when you’re meeting face-to-face, you’ll need a specific process to document the associated updates and, then, add them to your contacts’ solution. You might want to document them in your “data dump” and schedule one block of time weekly to transfer the updates.

- If you would like a solution that does more than any address book can complete, consider a Contact Relationship Management (or CRM) Tool. With a CRM tool, you remember everything about each individual with whom you’ve connected and you make sure no opportunities fall through the cracks. As you are searching for your best option for a CRM solution, determine whether its ease of use, accessibility, customization and integration with other tools all meet your specific needs; then, make sure you test drive the product before making any short- or long-term commitment. Options that deserve some consideration are ACT!, Infusionsoft, Insightly, Nimble, OntraPort and Zoho CRM.

Speaking of CRMs, as these provide structure for walking prospects through a sales process, they empower leaders to hold team members accountable, measuring each team member’s success rate as they move prospects from step to step of the sales process. Be sure that each team member is aware of what consequences exist for not utilizing the designated sales process, provide resources for improving conversion rates and hold each team member accountable for trying to improve. Via structure, customer relationship management boosts success.

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ASSIGNMENT: Visit here to see a video related to this blog post; then, this week, clarify what you’ll use as your one calendar solution, one place for all your to-do items, one “data dump”, one contact management solution and one weekly strategy session. Then, make sure your calendar solution includes alerts for any applicable holidays, birthdays and important events, starting to develop the habit of documenting all activities in this one calendar solution. Finally, verify you have the most up-to-date contact information for everyone in your database and choose a tool and / or process for ongoing maintenance of contacts’ data.

Where has “the power of one” proven most helpful for your productivity? Do you prefer a paper or an electronic solution for your calendaring tool? Alternatively, do you utilize any apps to help maintain your contacts’ information? Further, are you using a paper or electronic address book or do you prefer a CRM tool instead? What do you find as strengths and weaknesses of paper versus electronic for any of your current productivity tools?

How Mobile Professionals Sync Email, Contacts, Tasks & Calendars Across Devices to be More Productive

Busy professionals in today’s workforce are expected to be available 24/7, and mobile devices make it possible to work on-the-go. Whether at home, in a vehicle, working from the airport, in a coffee shop, meeting with a client, staying at a hotel or somewhere in between, a mobile worker needs to be able to deliver the same level of customer service and quality work at all times, which involves heavy phone usage as well as reliable access to the Internet, your email and what resources are available in your office. Still, whether you prefer Android, Blackberry, iPhone or Windows for your smartphone, it is valuable only when you sync your email, contacts, tasks and calendars across your various devices, which can be rather challenging, particularly for those using Outlook as the central hub for email, contacts, tasks and calendars.

There are two standard email protocols for pulling your email from the email server to whatever tool you are using to manage your messages: POP (Post Office Protocol) simply downloads email to your computer and, usually, deletes the original message from the remote server. When using POP across more than one device, you have to delete or file each individual email on every device; plus, none of the folders created on one device show on any other devices. Alternatively, IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) allows users to store their email on remote servers, which is a two-way protocol that allows for synchronizing email across multiple devices. A simple search of “POP versus IMAP” on your preferred Internet browser can outline the numerous differences. Yet, the conundrum related to syncing your email across devices, including Outlook, can be resolved simply by switching your email account from POP to IMAP, and you can find step-by-step instructions to walk you through this process online at http://www.pop2imap.com/how.php.

When talking about options for syncing, that related to contacts and calendar requires a different approach. If you are using exclusively Apple tools, meaning you are syncing between a MacBook laptop, iPhone, iPad and Mac desktop computer, all of your contacts and calendar events will sync seamlessly by using iCloud; however, if you are syncing any of these Apple iOS mobile devices with Outlook on your MacBook laptop or Mac desktop computer, it will require a third-party tool. One excellent option for syncing Outlook with your iPhone, iPad and iPad Mini is Sync2, and you can learn more about how this works as well as download the tool by clicking here. Another excellent option for syncing Outlook with your iPhone and iPad is CompanionLink, and you can learn more about what this will sync between devices as well as how to set it up by clicking here.

To sync contacts and calendar from an Outlook account to your Android, Blackberry or Windows device or between various PC computers can be a little more complicated than using iCloud for Apple-only devices. Until August 1, 2014, you might’ve been using Google Sync to complete such data transfer; although that is no longer an option, there are several third-party tools that can help… 
- CompanionLink syncs Outlook data wirelessly through Google’s services or via a WiFi network through the DejaOffice suite of apps. Private records may be password protected and encrypted, providing the highest level of security available, and updates are free for life.
- Sync2 synchronizes your Outlook calendar, tasks and contacts with Google calendar, tasks and Gmail contacts, which, then, can synchronize with your Android device’s calendar and contacts, and Android users add a Google account when first setting up the phone. 
- Funambol Sync offers open source options. From this site, simply download whichever client applies to your tools and devices; then, once install is complete and the Funambol Outlook Sync Client opens, configure your sync settings under Tools and Options.
- HyperOffice provides a powerful alternative to Microsoft Exchange… While it can include many other collaboration tools, HyperOffice can sync documents, calendars, contacts, projects and tasks for teams or individuals alike. Compare its pricing options by clicking here.
- The Missing Sync from MarkSpace connects your Android, iPhone or Palm smartphone with your PC or Mac computer. For Android, it is exceptionally robust, including Outlook, Address Book and iCal, providing options via Bluetooth, WiFi or USB to transfer and sync data.

While the aforementioned tools of CompanionLink, Sync2, HyperOffice and MarkSpace offer options to sync your tasks from Outlook across various mobile devices, there are also plenty of task-focused apps available to help. First, remember a project is a compilation of tasks that are necessary for achieving a major undertaking while a task is a clearly defined piece of work for which a specific individual is held accountable. Second, the benefits of tracking tasks electronically include (1) automatic carryover for any items left incomplete following their scheduled due dates, (2) reminders that pop-up to nudge you in completing the action required and (3) easily scheduling completion of the designated task to recur at specific times in the future. With that in mind, applicable tools for syncing tasks across devices include Any.Do, Remember The Milk, Pocket Informant as well as Wunderlist. Applicable tools for syncing projects include Asana, Mavenlink and Teamwork PM. See which option best meets your needs and implement fully.

Alternatively, if you are looking to sync Outlook between two computers (like between your PC and that of your assistant, your spouse or your business partner), CodeTwo Outlook Sync enables you to sync Outlook calendars, contacts, tasks, email and documents between those two selected computers. If you are looking to sync Outlook calendars, contacts and tasks with the iCloud system on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, CodeTwo Sync for iCloud works well. Still, if you are looking to sync tasks from Outlook to your Android phone, SymTasks offers a great option for bridging data; adding SymTasks Outlook Sync to your computer will sync your Microsoft Outlook Tasks over to a SymTasks app on your Android device.

One word of caution… If you are on an exchange and, thereby, need a tool for syncing only tasks (not calendars or contacts), please pay close attention when establishing your settings, making sure to check off tasks for activation while not checking either contacts or calendar. Each tool that covers all three of those options will allow you to pick and choose which of the syncing tools you’d like activated; just be clear upfront about what you need from the set-up.

Finally, before you download and install any of the outlined options, review the associated privacy policy, making sure you are comfortable with what it outlines and that it meshes with what your company has outlined for records management or confidentiality guidelines.

Have you better optimized your productivity by syncing email, contacts, tasks and calendars across your various devices? If so, with which have you had the most success?

Using One Address Book to Organize for Success

For contacts' names, phone numbers, emails and snail mail addresses as well as any notes related to that connection, keeping everyone's information centralized within one system makes it easier to keep contacts' data up-to-date and to access those details quickly whenever they are needed. However, how do you make an address book really operate as a tool to encourage your great success? Read on for tips to best utilize your address book...

1. Use what works for you. Test different options to see if your personality and specific needs mesh best with a paper or electronic option. With smartphones that sync with cloud technology as well as small paper options, either can be as mobile as needed to update contacts' information as you are out and about, but there is no "right" or "wrong" option; just select whichever option is best for you.

2. Be clear and honest with yourself about what you consider a "contact" you'd like in your address book. This would preferably be someone with whom you plan to interact regularly or with whom you'll do business... Not everyone from whom you collect a business card will qualify as a contact to go in your address book. However, since you still want access to the contact info for those that do not make the cut, I recommend scanning their business cards into your computer with NeatDesk and, then, uploading those scans into a "Networking" notebook in your Evernote account, allowing you to easily search for their information should it be needed down the road.

3. Update the information for those contacts in your address book regularly, especially as the details of their information change. The most useless tool is one with out-of-date data, like the saying of "garbage in leads to garbage out". Therefore, it is vital to be proactive and stay up-to-date. At least once each quarter, purge contacts you no longer want in your address book, especially if there's no longer a valid reason for them to be there, and, then, review the accuracy of remaining contacts' information.

4. Know upfront what is your goal for using an address book. Choose whether you want to simply manage contacts and their information OR if you want a Customer Relationship Management tool that can add in history of communications or retail trade-cycle management functionality. Do you want a record of interactions you've had or projects that you have worked on together? Do you need to schedule follow-up with this person? If you are fully aware of your goal, you can better use your selected address book tool for achieving it.

5. Utilize all the bells & whistles that come with your address book. Some address book options allow you to connect each contact's record with his / her social media profiles, which is a great way to see what important events might be occurring in that person's life. Some address book options allow you to print labels, which is a great way to alert clients and business partners about important happenings for your company or in your life. Yet, it is very important that you do not get distracted by all the current bells & whistles... Your address book is a tool, and successful use of this tool depends on keeping that in mind whenever you're using it.

What techniques do you use to maximize your address book's effectiveness? Please share in the Comments section below.

The Power of One

As Three Dog Night explains in the lyrics of their 1969 hit, one can be the loneliest number. Sometimes, there is power in the masses, meaning a group makes more impact that just one; however, when it comes to certain organizing tools, one can be a very powerful number. It can be very important to "practice the power of one". Here are a few examples:

- One Calendar... Whether it's paper or electronic, a single planner enables tracking all commitments (personal and professional) in one place, making it less likely that appointments will be forgotten or that you will double-book yourself.

- One To-Do List... Are you jotting down reminders on multiple sheets of paper, in various different notebooks or via sticky notes posted all around your office? If so, how many of those actually get completed?!? Keeping all the action items needing your attention in one place makes it more likely they'll get completed and aids in prioritizing.

- One "Data Dump"... Our brains get filled with more and more information each day; keeping them in one place ensures meeting notes, ideas, phone messages, inspirations and the like are not lost and are easily accessible, regardless of whether that one place is the paper option of a spiral notebook or an electronic option, like Evernote or OneNote.

- One Address Book... For contacts' names, phone numbers, emails and snail mail addresses as well as any notes related to that connection, keeping everyone's information centralized within one system makes it easier to keep contacts' data up-to-date and to access those details quickly whenever they are needed.

Are any of these areas in which you can streamline? And, if you have ideas for other items that are more powerful when you have just one of them, please share those in the Comments section below.