Organize a Successful Tailgate Party

Sports fans everywhere are studying up on their favorite teams' starting quarterbacks, injury reports and expected totals for wins as well as losses, but that's not the only conversation circling around football.

Pregame festivities are the ultimate excuse to gather with friends for cornhole, crack open a cold beverage and fire up the grill. Maybe you are an ACC fan celebrating the season for your Demon Deacons, Tar Heels, Wolfpack, Blue Devils and Clemson Tigers or you're an SEC fan excited about the prospects for this year's Gators, Bulldogs, LSU Tigers and Crimson Tide; maybe you're an NFL fan who's eagerly awaiting the start of the 100th season coming up on Thursday. No matter what logo is on your jersey, chances are good you'll be tailgating soon.

Whether you're planning a football tailgate for tomorrow, next week or next month, here are some tools to make the process of planning your pregame festivities a little easier:

• Make sure you bring the right supplies. If you know right off exactly what you and your crew need, don't rely on your unreliable brain; capture the checklist for what to prepare, pack and bring within your Evernote account. If you are an Android user, you can use the already drafted list within the Tailgating Planner app, which is easily customizable as your list evolves and syncs between all your Android devices. If you are an iPhone user, you can create food and drink menus as well as collect attendees' fees from the Tailgate Nation app, making it easy to host the party.

• Efficiently answer your friends' "What can I bring?" question. Whether you update the list built into the Thing2Bring app on your iPhone or you use an event list from SignUpGenius.com, having folks choose from a list will better ensure all elements needed are covered without too many folks bringing the same thing. Ice is important, but you don't want everyone bringing only a bag of ice, just like too many desserts won't cover all needs.

• Be weather aware before and during your tailgate. Check the weather beforehand to be sure you dress appropriately as well as take whatever accessories will be needed for what Mother Nature is sending, like tents, jackets, umbrellas and sunglasses. Then, setup alerts from your preferred weather app to be notified when there are changes or a weather system gets nearby, whether that's via the app for your local TV station, what's built into your mobile device or from The Weather Channel.

• Ensure attendees painlessly find the party. The Map My Tailgate app on Android as well as iOS allows hosts to share exactly where the tailgate is, choosing to share that with invited guests or inviting anyone with the app to come share your fun. Alternatively, if you used the Tailgate Info app to plan who will be bringing what, it includes Point to Point Navigation for easily finding your precise location. Plus, whether stars, footballs or something else, a bundle of helium balloons from Dollar Tree will last a long time, giving great visibility for those roaming the lot in search of your tailgate. 

• Avoid FOMO by staying abreast of all the other games. You could use an app like ESPN or Yahoo! Sports to get notifications of all the others' scores and important plays. Or you could setup an actual TV in your truck tailgate to broadcast what's happening elsewhere.

Going beyond these basics, make sure to checkout BuzzFeed's 41 Tailgating Tips That Are Borderline Genius. These best practices are guaranteed to take your pregaming from great to amazing in the snap of your finger, and you will certainly say "Wow!" when reading at least one.

Once you have nailed how to organize a successful tailgate party, if you are in the state of North Carolina, consider submitting your next tailgate to the David Glenn Radio Show to win big prizes as the tailgate of the week or of the year via the Big Tailgate Tour. DG will definitely bring even more excitement to your already fantastic celebration.

What's your favorite way to prepare the ultimate tailgate? Which element is essential for your most fabulous tailgate?

Top Ten Favorite Tools for Communicating Remotely

Organize for Success® Turns 10 

In honor of 10 years of business for Organize for Success®, I will be posting a "top 10" list to this blog each day through Wednesday, May 31st. Each Sunday, my team will randomly select from those who commented on the prior week's "top 10" blog posts for a gift card giveaway and free download of one eBook at OrganizeForSuccess.biz/shop. The grand prize for celebrating Organize for Success, LLC's 10 years will be awarded on Thursday, June 1st, randomly selecting from all those who commented on any of the month's "top 10" blog posts as well as those who have subscribed to my eNewsletter for a winner to receive downloads of all 5 eBooks, a pass for my Stress and Time Management online video course as well as a 60-minute video productivity consultation.

Today, it's my top 10 favorite tools for communicating remotely:

10. UberConference - Make conference phone calls for free without ever needing to enter a PIN. Participants choose whether to call in for themselves or have the conference line call them; then, all folks on the conference line can see on their screens whoever else is on the call, be alerted as to who is speaking at any point in time and easily connect to participants' social media profiles. Plus, if you are leading the meeting, you can seamlessly share your screen with all those on the call, adding a visual element, too.

9. Voxeet - Using technology it calls TrueVoice, these conference calls pride themselves on superior sound quality, including "No garbling. No static. No dropped calls." Whether connecting via your Firefox or Chrome on your computer or an app on your mobile device, you can join a call without ever needing to enter a password or PIN. This tool integrates with Box, Dropbox and Google Drive, offering powerful group messaging to collaborate during the call via voice, text, photos and documents. Each call's host can easily record the meeting or presentation for later sharing and replaying. Further, this tool integrates with Excel, PowerPoint and Word to launch presentations for participants.

8. TeamViewer - There are three instances where this screen-share technology is the ideal solution: If your tech support personnel needs to take control of your computer to solve issues remotely, if you need to access your own computer securely from a distance without using a VPN or if you need to share your computer screen content with folks collaborating remotely who need to view images of complex details. Its powerful security features allow private data, private conversations and private meetings to remain private. Although there is sometimes a delay in moving the mouse versus when you see the cursor move or type, it's a shorter delay than comparable alternatives. Finally, it's free for personal use.

7. Google Hangouts - If you have a login for Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive or any other Google product, you get complimentary access to this tool for video calling, phone calls or messaging others. It is easy to login via an Android app, an iOS app or your Chrome web browser. Whether a one-on-one conversation or a group chat, this tool's messaging allows for sending emoji, photos, GIFs and maps; plus, those conversations can be synced between devices via your Google login. Further, my favorite feature is turning meetings into video conferences with just one tap, where I can see up to 10 participants on-screen at once.

6. GoToMeeting - Subscribers can host unlimited meetings for web audio, screen sharing, a dial-in conference line and HD video conferencing, but there are tiered prices for how many individual logins can participant in each meeting. Those higher tiers also add features like tools to draw on the screen, the ability to record each call, a personal meeting room for participants to chat, mobile apps as well as keyboard and mouse sharing. This is the only solution integrating with Outlook, Gmail, HipChat, Zapier and Salesforce.

5. Skype - This tool allows you to make free video or voice calls to anyone in the world that has a Skype account. Up to 12 participants of group video calls can be seen on-screen at once or you can choose to use this tool for instant messaging that can include emojis, photos and video messages alike as well as regular, ol' phone calls. Plus, Skype calls offer the addition of screen sharing to give great presentations or display step-by-step instructions.

4. Viber - Many families utilize this tool for secure communications with students studying aboard, particularly as it offers cheap international calls and messaging from computer desktops as well as phone apps. This tool enables free text, calling, photo messages and location-sharing between users with no registration, aliases or invitations required and instantly integrates with your contacts.

3. Tango - Video calling via this mobile app is viewed as the best quality available for free. Additionally, it offers free international and domestic calls to any number in the U. S., Canada, Mexico and India as well as low rate calls to anywhere else worldwide. Like Snapchat, this tool offers the ability to paint atop what images are created; meanwhile, you can send stickers, add filters and play games while on a call. Further, its messaging offers the ability to send and receive text, stickers, photos, video and location messages both one-on-one as well as in groups.

2. ooVoo - This free tool lets you video call one-on-one or with up to 12 contacts, recording calls and sharing your screen as you desire. Alternatively, you can choose to message within ooVoo, sending text, pictures and video messages. Choose between Amazon Fire Phone, Android phone, Android tablet, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac, Windows phone, PC and Intel® RealSense™ devices for your device on which to use it, and be aware that ooVoo normally has the best quality among similar tools.

1. Zoom - Whether communicating via video conference or simply sharing your screen images, companies love this tool for its ease of use, flexibility and high quality. Adding cross-platform messaging and file sharing, it makes collaboration easier. The free option offers a robust range of features; however, there is tiered pricing to add features like larger meeting sizes, reporting and recordings.

Bonus - FaceTime - This video conferencing tool is included with purchase of any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch as well as any Mac computer or laptop. If you are a fan of Apple products, before delving into the many cross-platform options available, consider whether this built-in tool might work well enough.

What are your favorite tools for communicating remotely? Are there any on this list you'd like to try implementing? Do you prefer communicating in-person, over the phone, through email or via video conference?

Get Top Tech Tools for Rocking It at Work and in Life

One of my most popular workshops is coming up in Raleigh next week, and I know you don't want to miss out on reserving your spot for 6-8pm on Thursday, April 20th or 10am-noon on Saturday, April 22nd if you are local to the Triangle in North Carolina. If you feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done and you might be losing time that you'd like to get back, technology could help. Don't waste your time searching all over the Internet for the tech tools to perfectly fit your needs; I have done the research and heavy-lifting for you, saving you time by sharing the best of the best. Adjust how you approach work, home, community involvement and taking care of yourself to organize for greater success so you better achieve your goals, quickly find what you need when you need it and always know what must be done. With what you learn in this workshop, you will be able to take full advantage of available software, apps and tech tools to achieve enhanced efficiency, greater productivity, larger profitability, an organized workspace and better harmony across all aspects of your life. Space is limited so hurry on over to http://bit.ly/NCLearning, select which of the two offerings works best for your schedule and get registered.

February 1st is Change Your Password Day

No matter how diligently you plan for your financial future, chances are pretty good that you put your future at risk every day. If you are like me, you have online accounts that run the gamut, including logins to download music, purchase clothing, pay bills, communicate on social media, share documents or information and much, much more. Back when the Heartbleed security bug exploded in early 2014, we all had to take stock of our online accounts to change passwords for all the infected sites, and I realized how long my list of accounts had gotten. Couple the vast number of accounts with password security ranging from horrible to somewhat mediocre, and our risk is very scary.

According to CNN, half American adults were hacked in 2013 alone, and evidence indicates that situation is not slacking off. Looking at the list of biggest data breaches in 2016, there are some big names that can invoke real fear for those of us dependent on the Internet. A plethora of databases (from the U.S. Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service to LinkedIn, Yahoo!, Weebly website design, Cisco and Wendy's) are all included. Yes, I did say Wendy's the restaurant chain, and there's no telling what 2017 has in store.

Back in 2012, Gizmodo declared February 1st to be "Change Your Password Day", which I think is a pretty good idea. Using a password manager can increase the security of your passwords by having them created via the technology itself rather than your brain and secures those passwords electronically; however, even if you choose an alternative method for keeping track of all your online accounts, it's probably been awhile since you've refreshed your passwords. Take action today and change your passwords!

How do you keep track of the logins and passwords for all your online accounts? Will you take time today to assign each online account a new, more secure password?

Prepare Your Business For Data Issues

Companies and individuals are more dependent on technology than ever before, and that dependence grows daily. As such, computer viruses, data leaks, system hacks and other technology-related issues can pose real emergencies. While the thought of something bad happening is difficult to consider, it is vital to take steps to protect yourself, your team, your clients and your overall business.

Here are a few items to consider now to support your preparedness when any potential data issues arise:

1. Make sure your business uses a hosted exchange server. Moving your exchange server offsite ensures your company email, calendar sharing and contacts directory will work, even when your physical office space is unavailable. Plus, moving it offsite removes the cost and complexity of managing the hardware yourself.

2. Utilize hosted VoIP for your business' telephone needs. Moving the brains of your phone system to an offsite solution ensures you can still send and receive calls amidst whatever disaster impacts your area, even when your physical office space is unavailable; plus, this ensures you can transfer calls to anywhere at any time, and each team member will receive voice mail messages as emails to whichever email address he or she prefers.

3. Download apps from the web. Applications installed to your computer by a CD or by the manufacturer of your laptop / desktop require manually upgrading to the latest version. Alternatively, using cloud-based software applications will ensure all team members are always working on the latest software from anywhere on any technological device. Plus, this option provides tools that are more reliable and more easily accessible, enabling your business to function from nearly anywhere.

4. Save important information to a cloud storage solution. Both paper and electronic documents can be damaged by natural disasters when saved locally. An onsite server is subject to local emergencies, especially fire and flood. Having vital data saved in one place leaves you susceptible to viruses and "disappearing" content. However, when you choose a cloud storage solution, such as Backblaze, Carbonite, Crash Plan or Mozy, your information is encrypted and saved in several places, making it much safer and more secure. Convert paper documents to an electronic format and, then, store them remotely, making all your information easily accessible AND safe from harm. Here are some items to include:
- insurance policies and contact phone numbers
- business licenses, permits, articles of organization and EIN
- bank account numbers and representatives' contact information
- deeds to properties
- service contracts for all your products / tools and the contact numbers for those overseeing their maintenance
- inventories, both of items in office space as well as items to sell

5. Create and implement a cybersecurity strategy. For my clients, I recommend a consultation with Bianca Montes Jones of justotech; however, no matter with whom you consult, it's important to make sure your company has appropriate virus protection, is not susceptible to hacks and maintains appropriate restrictions for team members' use of the Internet.

A little bit of risk management up front can lead to saving a good deal of money, headaches and heartache over time. Click here for a video overview of steps you can take to prepare your business for potential data issues, and please share successes in the comments.

What steps will you take now to boost your preparedness?

Surviving The Information Avalanche

 The majority of us are on information overload. We are constantly inundated with emails, news, texts, articles, feeds, tweets, blogs, calls, reminders and much more, not only in our professional lives but our personal lives as well. Digital storage space is much less expensive than ever before. Regular folks, in addition to companies, are contributing online content, which has multiplied the amount of content being generated. Our tech tools do much more than ever before, and mobile professionals are “on call” for working 24/7. It can be extremely overwhelming!

To take control, it is important that we address these 5 different challenges:

•        We must capture and cull together all the relevant bits of information.

•        We must organize those contents, grouping like with like and, hopefully, indexing the details for later searching.

•        We must make sure we have enough space to adequately store and manage the contents being retained, not worrying if we’ll go over imposed limits.

•        We must address privacy concerns by verifying what we keep is stored safe from theft, loss or damage.

•        We must plan for quickly locating what’s needed later so we see the contents in an understandable way, being able to share what’s needed.

In addressing the immense challenges of surviving today’s info avalanche, there are action items we can implement immediately. For busy professionals to wade through all the information with which we’re bombarded, the first step is to turn off all the pings and dings of our various notifications; this empowers us to be in control of when we handle information, not whoever is sending that information out in our direction. Then, it’s important for us to be very clear about our personal and professional goals so we’ll know upfront how we’d like to use whatever useful information we receive, which will allow for a much clearer focus in on what information is applicable, thereby blocking out what is really not needed. Such tweaks to how we address the info avalanche can make an immediate and noticeable difference in how we survive.

When evaluating the info avalanche and how we can best handle it, email is a place where we can get overwhelmed until it’s all a blur; however, there are tons of great techniques for clearing the clutter in our email. First, send fewer emails to get fewer emails back. Obviously, if you need something documented, you’ll need to stick with sending an email, and, if you need to send the information to multiple people at once, email is the best option; however, if a phone call will suffice, give that a try. Next, unsubscribe from eNewsletters you are not reading. While it only takes a second to hit the delete key, those seconds add up if you are continuing to delete the same eNewsletter regularly; instead, take a little extra time upfront to unsubscribe so you save the accumulating time of deleting with each receipt. On the other hand, consider culling those subscriptions you do want to keep receiving into a “roll-up” by using Unroll.me’s website or The Swizzle’s email tool. Third, master the art of creating reference folders within your email management tool. You can more quickly locate a message for later reference when you have enough folders that everything to be kept can have a home while you limit the number of fodders so nothing could be appropriate for more than one of those existing. Within your reference folders, utilize automated rules to sort emails into their appropriate homes, whether to highlight what needs time-sensitive attention or to cull items for reading when convenient for you. Finally and probably most importantly, shift your mentality related to email from “checking” your email to “processing” it so your Inbox is no longer a holding zone, you don’t repeat time and effort of reading any original message and what you’ll reply doesn’t weigh on you continually between receipt and finally responding. Tasks that take less than 5 minutes should be completed with the message asking for them to be done is initially received. Any task that will take longer than 5 minutes to do needs to be added to your running tasks list. Appointments should be moved to your calendar, retention items should be moved to your personal folders and anything not needed should be moved directly to Trash.

When processing and maintaining your email account, please remember the “delete” key can be your friend. There’s no need to hold onto whatever is no longer accurate, applicable, useful or bringing you joy. Likewise, there is a big difference between junk that you should never bring into your space to begin with and trash that you can delete after reviewing. Most importantly, though, when determining what to save, ignore or delete, consider what can be easily located online later. There’s no need to clutter your space with what you don’t need or can just as easily get online.

Further, even though much of the daily overwhelm comes from electronic, paper can be a problem, too. To clear the clutter with regards to paper, we must first acknowledge that it’s easier to find what’s needed in electronic form; therefore, convert what paper you can to electronic files. There are such powerful scanning options from Doxie, Fujitsu and Neat, but many folks simply take a photo of the paper to be converted to electronic using their phones so it’s important to keep in mind how many options can turn paper to electronic. Beyond that, as with email, consolidate what paper comes into your space via an Inbox, empowering you to address what’s most important when convenient for you. Create naming conventions to mirror between paper and electronic and, then, schedule time regularly to edit the contents of your retention files. When any piece of paper is no longer accurate, applicable, useful or bringing you joy, get it out of your space, whether via recycling or shredding. Finally, utilize a fireproof safe for those most important papers, especially what needs to be accessed quickly in the event you die or are incapacitated.

There are excellent tools currently available for our mobile devices to aid in easily storing what information we will need later without it turning into another form of clutter. Using MorningCoffee for Android or Firefox, Morning for iOS or Flipboard that works across the various platforms, you can determine which communication or news channels cross into your space. Then, you can more easily save what will be needed later into a “Read It Later” app, like Pocket, Instapaper and Readability. Likewise, for any blog or website that posts content in a stream, you can pull its RSS feed into an RSS Reader, like Feedly, FeedReader, NewsBlur, and RSSOwl. While Pinterest has been pigeon-holed into being just for planning DIY projects, pulling fashion ideas or planning your home renovation, Pinterest can be a great tool for storing the information facing us daily, allowing you to create an image board for any project or client. Alternatively, Twitter can be a great tool for storing the information onslaught we get with sweet Tweets, making them easier to locate again later. Lastly, lest we not forget my all-time favorite tool for storing information that we’ll need later without creating another form of clutter, I recommend a self-made database in Evernote, to which you can send emails so each is better retained for later. See which best meets your needs and enhances your toolbox.

Meanwhile, although there are tons of useful apps to boost your productivity and enable sharing information with your team, you don’t have to log into each individually each day; many of these tools talk to one another so you can get information from several of these tools by logging into just one app. You can cull together documents from various online file repositories with CloudCube on Android and Citrix ShareFile QuickEdit on iOS. Quip Business lets a team combine shared documents with messaging about related projects, all in one place. Further, both Catch App and Hojoki App merge data from multiple different apps for quicker response and easier understanding of all that’s happening. As your team grows and evolves, always be thinking about how tech tools can help you be more efficient.

Streamlining can be vital in clearing the clutter, and there are two other tools I’d like to bring to your attention to aid in your attempts at streamlining the info avalanche. First, although it’s important to have the right message in front of the right audience at the right time to grow your business, you can’t be everywhere at once, which makes a social media manager very valuable. Options include Buffer, Hootsuite, Postling, SocialOomph and Sprout, but find the one that best meets your unique needs and test it before committing. Second, since our brains are meant for thinking, not remembering, a Customer Relationship Manager helps remember the details of previous interactions as well as when each contact needs follow-up. I recommend looking at Infusionsoft, Insightly, NetVibes, Nimble and Zoho.

As many people claim that one is a lonely number, I’ve found it to be very powerful for boosting folks’ productivity. In my work with individuals and corporate teams, I’m continually reminded that each of us is just one person, not a work person and home person. With that in mind, these are 5 tools I’ve found to be most helpful when you use just one for all segments of your life:

•        One calendar for both work and personal items encourages you to not double-book yourself and leads to fewer items falling through the cracks.

•        One running tasks list that funnels into one daily to-do list for each day means you more easily know what needs to be done at each moment and allows you to better focus on the 3 to 5 action items most important for your current day.

•        One “data dump” that enables your brain to think, rather than remember details, allows you to search just one location for all your notes, research and references.

•        One address book for both work and personal contacts empowers you to better maintain contacts’ most current information.

•        One weekly strategy session that is supported with one wrap-up each day allows you to have a game plan for attacking what absolutely must be done each week as well as those important items that are not urgent.

On a related note, though I do believe work / life integration is replacing the impractical concept of work / life balance, I also feel it is vital for busy professionals to set limits on our availability to customers, vendors and other team members. There’s no right or wrong answer about how accessible you should be, but it’s important to set guidelines based on what works best for you and the unique needs of your business. Tools and software can mesh with the way you need to communicate day to day, but it’s also smart to step away for a while from time to time. Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, it’s important to incorporate downtime into your routine and to disengage from electronic communications by building some much-needed quiet into your day. This can be for reflection, for progressing towards goals, for re-energizing or whatever meets your needs, but its value is beyond measure.

Even though it might seem impossible, you can certainly survive the information avalanche in today’s society, but you must be focused in your efforts and fully utilize the available tools to help you. Click here to view a recent interview of me addressing this topic with Julie Coraccio of Reawaken Your Brilliance, and think about how these tools and techniques can apply to your specific needs. Don’t hesitate to ask for help and keep evolving as the available tech tools continue to develop around you do.

What tools and techniques do you employ in surviving the info avalanche?

Smartphone Battery Letting You Down? Here's Help!

In today’s society, from fast-typing teenagers to busy professionals working on-the-go to grandparents staying in touch with their families, everyone is highly dependent on our technological devices. With all this use, it is very normal for our smartphone batteries to let us down. Have you noticed your cell phone battery lagging and dwindling down before your workday is even halfway through? With these few minor changes, you can preserve battery life and squeeze a little more life out of your ailing phone.

- Determine which apps are running in the background and taking up the most space; then, close those not currently in use and delete those no longer needed. On an iPhone, visit Settings > General > Usage to see which apps are providing the biggest pull on your battery; then, click the > on the right-hand side and tap Delete App to remove those apps hogging your phone’s power which you no longer want. Daily, double-click your home button to get a horizontally scrolling list of running apps, and flick up the screen image of each app you’d like to close down.  On an Android, visit Settings > Battery to delete the apps using too much battery that are no longer needed, and, at the end of each day, visit Settings > Apps to shut down those apps you no longer want running in the background.

- Verify that your operating system as well as all installed apps are running their latest versions. On an iPhone, you can confirm your operating system by visiting Settings > General > Software Update; likewise, on an iPhone, you can make sure your apps are up-to-date by visiting App Store > Updates. On an Android, in Google Play, hit the menu key, go to My Apps and verify that all updates have been done.

- Turn off Location Services completely or disable the Location Services associated with certain apps one-by-one. On an iPhone, visit Settings > Privacy > Location Services; if you tap the circle beside Location Services towards the top, the green will disappear, which turns Location Services off for all applications. Alternatively, you can tap the circle beside any of the apps listed below Location Services to make that app’s green disappear, turning off Location Services for that particular app only. On an Android, visit Settings > Location and uncheck the box associated with apps not needing this data. While it’s great to keep Location Services active for your weather, navigational and Find My Phone apps, it’s not necessary for web browsers, social media apps and file repositories so be selective.

- Turn off Wi-Fi. As your smartphone continually searches for open Wi-Fi connections, it is oozing power. While it’s important to keep Wi-Fi activated as you’re using a navigation-related app so you can get the most accurate directions possible, you generally know when a Wi-Fi connection is necessary rather than relying on your cellular connection. If you don’t need Wi-Fi, on either iPhone or Android, swipe from the bottom or top of nearly any screen to bring up a limited settings menu, from which you can single-tap on the Wi-Fi icon for activating or deactivating this.

- Turn off Background App Refresh completely or disable the Background App Refresh associated with certain apps one-by-one. On an iPhone, visit Settings > General > Background App Refresh; if you tap the circle beside Background App Refresh towards the top, the green will disappear, which turns Background App Refresh off for all applications. Alternatively, you can tap the circle beside any of the apps listed below Background App Refresh to make that app’s green disappear, turning off Background App Refresh for that particular app only. 

- Turn off Bluetooth unless it is in use. Just as was the case for Wi-Fi, when your phone is not paired with Bluetooth devices like ear pieces, keyboards and headsets, having the Bluetooth option turned on means your smartphone is continually searching for available devices, which drains power recurrently. On either iPhone or Android, swipe from the bottom or top of nearly any screen to bring up a limited settings menu, which includes an option to single-tap on the Bluetooth icon for activating or deactivating this feature. 

- Switch the manner in which you fetch emails from “Automatic” to “Manual”. On an iPhone, visit Settings > Mail, Contacts and Calendars > Fetch New Data and make sure “manually” is selected. On an Android, under email settings, just make sure checking for new messages is set to “manual”, not fetch or pull. Constantly checking for new data can be a real drag for your smartphone’s battery, but squashing that neurosis will certainly help.

- Utilize Airplane Mode strategically. Airplane Mode is a setting to turn off cellular connection, Wi-Fi, FM radio and Bluetooth simultaneously while continuing to use other apps that don’t require a connection. When you’re in a low coverage area or just want to preserve your battery without powering down your smartphone, switch to Airplane Mode. On an iPhone, Airplane Mode is the first option under Settings. On an Android, visit Settings > Wireless & Networks > Airplane Mode to check the box for activation. This is particularly helpful when you’re napping since it will still work as an alarm clock but not leak power.

- Turn down brightness. On an iPhone, visit Settings > Wallpapers > Brightness to slide the level of brightness down and tap the circle beside Auto-Brightness to make the green disappear, which turns this feature off. On an Android, under Display Settings, slide the level of brightness down and turn off Automatic Brightness.

- Adjust the time for your screen to timeout to the shortest duration with which you are comfortable. On an iPhone, visit Settings > General > Auto-Lock to choose your desired time limit, whether 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes or Never. On an Android, visit Settings > Display > Screen Timeout to choose the time limit you want, whether 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 10 minutes or Never Turn Off. If you choose either “Never” option, you must manually lock your phone for the screen to go to sleep. More battery power will be used on longer timeouts or if you forget to lock the screen when you’ve selected “Never"; however, there’s no issue related to timeouts while charging.

- Turn off as many Notifications as possible. On an iPhone, visit Settings > Notifications to see what notifications you are currently receiving; choose to deactivate some notifications completely while deactivating the way in which you receive other notifications. On an Android, visit Settings > Device > Apps to turn off whichever notifications you no longer what to have popping up for you.

- Complete a hard restart. Sometimes, there’s nothing that works quite like shutting down completely. On an iPhone, press and hold the Sleep / Wake button on the top of your device until the red slider appears; then, drag the slider to turn your device completely off. Alternatively, to reset your iPhone completely, press and hold both the Sleep / Wake and Home buttons for at least 10 seconds until you see the Apple logo. On an Android, it can be as simple as holding down the power button (not just tapping it to lock the phone); however, if your phone isn’t responding to powering off the phone with the power button, you might need to pull the battery out, count to ten and, then, put the battery back into your phone.

Please keep in mind that, if many of your clients are in areas with low cellular signal, as you are traveling to those locations, your phone will work harder to connect. While you can’t avoid going through such locations, try using your phone more when signals are better and less when in areas of weaker cellular coverage. This is particularly useful for calls and texts.

While each of the aforementioned techniques will conserve your phone’s power, all mobile devices must get charged from time to time. Putting your phone into airplane mode will charge it twice as fast. Further, be sure to completely drain your smartphone’s battery monthly and, then, charge it fully. As a bonus, to make charging your phone easier while traveling, note that many hotel TVs have handy USB slots in the back that will more easily charge most smartphones from in your hotel room. Alternatively, if you’d like a backup plan for when your phone is dying as you’re out and about, consider an external battery like any of those from Mophie or a professional bag that includes a portable charger like those from Urban Junket. What techniques do YOU use to extend the life of your smartphone?

Is It Time To Re-Start Your New Year's Resolutions?

 This year was going to be different, right? Yet, now that we are a few weeks into the new year, are you struggling with your new year’s goals? Might you be backsliding a bit? Have no fear… You can restart at any time! Take a moment to check out my “Apps, Websites and Tech Tools To Move You Towards Your Goals” post at http://wp.me/p3M0SC-2h8 for tech tools that can help you veer back onto the right path for your resolutions. Meanwhile, there are additional steps you can start this week to be more efficient, waste less time and open space in your life for achieving the goals and resolutions you set for this new year. Here are a few ideas:

•          Streamline your calendar system with (a) one place for all your time commitments, (b) all activities documented and (c) starting the habit of regularly reviewing that planner to start as well as end each day.

•          Schedule your weekly strategy session as a repeating event on your calendar, giving you the opportunity to outline your game plan for attacking each week’s to-do items, appointments and opportunities for personal / professional growth.

•          Organize your paper and electronic filing solutions with (a) a purge of outdated contents or overstuffed files and (b) a verification that everything in your workspace has a home as well as that each item is in its assigned location.

•          Systematize your “drop zone” upon entry and exit of your home and office so you aren’t scrambling to find your car keys as you’re running out the door.

•          Consolidate your contact system into (a) one address book, (b) updated information included for each person’s record and (c) starting to build a foundation for your system of continually inputting updated / additional contact information as it is brought to you by your contacts.

•          Make certain you have a tax folder easily accessible to hold incoming documentation for the year that recently ended; then, create another file for tax-related items coming in for this new year, too. 

While all of these action items in one list might seem a bit overwhelming, think of how you can break them into bite-sized portions to do each one throughout the remainder of the month. Alternatively, is there someone to whom you can delegate any of these items? Or is it time to pick which one is most relevant to your needs and bring me back in for a “check-up from the neck up” on that particular area of focus? No matter which path to productivity you choose, take time to act now because you can make a difference.

What did YOU resolve for 2014? Have you had success? If not, which of these techniques can you implement this week to open up time for moving you towards your goals? I look forward to our dialogue with your comments below.