**December 2010 Update: I have since moved on to an iPhone AND I’ve unplugged for the greater part of a weekend. Aren’t you proud of me? ;)

A funny thing happened  last week.  Actually, it wasn’t exactly funny as much as it was annoying.  I got mad at my BlackBerry. The source of all my information, the one gadget that I don’t think I could live without was annoying me. It kept buzzing and blinking and just making a ton of noise.

It was so annoying that I turned it off…sort of.  I put it on quiet mode…no ringing, no buzzing every 5 seconds, every time I got a text or an email.  It was silenced…not a peep…nothing, nada, zilch, zippo. It was great! I didn’t think I would feel so relieved.

It’s not that my Blackberry doesn’t ever make noise. It does all the time. It’s just that on this particular day, it bugged me so much that I could have run over it with my car.  Instead of being helpful, it was intrusive and interrupted the very important business of writing a blog post.

I couldn’t hear myself think…actually, I couldn’t think.  It was messing up my writing mojo.  I kept picking it up to see what else I had to add to my “to do” list.  It made the whole process of writing tedious and I wasn’t being productive.  So, I pulled the plug for 3 hours and it was fabulous!

Alright, so this isn’t new news, right? When you’re working on an important project, you need to focus and not answer the phone and check email…or fiddle with your BlackBerry.  We know this, but we just don’t do it.  Well, friends, we should.  One organizer I know, Monica Ricci, suggests that we unplug for a weekend.  Three hours I can do.  Three days, not so much…but I might give it try.

What say you?

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Photo Credit: Google Images

Yesterday, I was the guest blogger on The Home Office Organizer and I shared 8  tools that every entrepreneur should have handy. Here are snippets of two of my favorites, but be sure to check out the entire post to get the other six.

5. Get Lazy. Well, you’re not really getting lazy, you’re just taking a break or two. If you start feeling mentally overwhelmed, it helps to step away from the project for a while to regroup… 

8. Get Perspective. You’ll have good and bad days, so expect a few ups and downs.  Keep it all in stride, and don’t…

A week ago, I heard about a new way to bank on Twitter (where else would I get breaking news?).  With all the things we have to do in a given day, stopping off at the bank to make a deposit is just one more thing on our “to do” list.

Well, what if you could make the deposit at home…or at the beach…on your phone…sorry, iPhone.  I’m a big BlackBerry fan, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to find out more.

It turns out that USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company, will soon offer this option to users with their app for iPhone.  They would require customers to photograph both sides of the check with their phone’s camera.  Basically, by sending the bank an image of the check, the customer sends it to the bank and it arrives just as any typical check would.  The good news:  you won’t have to mail the the original check.  The whole process will be done electronically.

“Mobile is going to be a bigger part of how people do commerce and how they interact with their financial institutions. The great value that we see is the time savings.” ~Wayne Peacock, a USAA Executive VP

Ok, so does this sound fantastic and super efficient to you?  …or are you ok with driving to the bank and doing it the old fashioned way? Take picture…drive to the bank…take picture…drive to the bank…hmmm…

What say you? Need more info?  Check out this video…

Related Articles by Zemanta

• Bank Lets Customers Deposit Checks With iPhone Photos [IPhone] (gizmodo.com)
• Bank Lets Customers Deposit Checks by Taking Pics with an iPhone [Downloads] (lifehacker.com)
• Hands on with USAA’s iPhone check deposits (macworld.com)
• The Future of Banking? Deposit Checks via iPhone (mashable.com)

“In a recent survey of 200 executives of 1,000 of the nation’s largest companies, respondents were asked: ‘What percent of time do executives waste because they or their assistants can’t find things?’ The median response was 4.3 hours a week, based on a 40-hour week.”

[When Time's Money, Organizing Pays Off · Penny Singer · New York Times · November 29, 1992]

Image Credit:  Google Images

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I discovered a cool new thing at the local Giant supermarket in Waldorf, MD on Sunday. They are offerring a new way to shop more efficiently and it’s a little gadget called Scan It! It’s described as one of their new In Store Shopping Tools that can help you get in and out of the supermarket quickly. Scan It! is a hand-held scanning device that you activate when you first enter the store using your Giant Bonus Card or keytag.

Then, take the scanner with you as you peruse the supermarket aisles and do your shopping as usual. The really cool thing is that it gives you a running total on how much you’re spending and how much money you’re saving. You can bag your groceries while you shop with (those not so good for the environment) plastic bags provided on the Scan It! station, but Giant does offer an eco-friendly option as well. You can buy reusable shopping bags in the store for just $.99 each or an insulated bag for $1.99. Once you’re finished shopping, go through the checkout lane, scan your Bonus Card at the register, follow a few simple instructions, and return the scanner. That’s it. Your puchase is completed quickly and efficiently. No mess, no fuss.

I must say that I’m pretty impressed with this new technology, though I still think you should carry a list with you so that you are prepared to buy what you need and decrease your chances of overspending. I can see how it might be a little tricky to hold your list and the scanner and bag your stuff all at the same time, but with a some pratice or an extra set of hands, you should be able to get the hang of it.

Unfortunatley for me, I didn’t discover Giant’s new gadget until I was LEAVING the supermarket!! Anyone wanna try it out and let me know what you think?

So you know how I asked for your vote of confidence that I will actually write one blog post every day in the month of November (in honor of NaBloPoMo)? Well, one reader did just that. Here’s what she said:

“Deb Lee, I need to know how to organize the work flow in my office. It has been such a challenge. I have decided to move my desk to the opposite wall to see if that will help. Daily Blog you can DO IT!!!Kathleen.” November 6, 2008 3:53 PM

Yay! She has faith in me and I, in return, have information for her and everyone else out there who’s in “spot of bother” (feeling a little British right now) with not being as productive as they would like to be in their office. Here’s my take on this issue…10 steps to a more efficient you…

1. Figure It Out. Think about all the various things you need to accomplish on a given day so that you can create a plan of attack. Examples:

• Client Calls
• E-mail & Voicemail
• Regular Mail
• Reports (expense, mileage, ROI, client data, etc.)
• Meetings
• Urgent Projects
• Long-term Projects

2. Have It All. Once you have an idea of all the tasks you need to accomplish on a daily basis, decide what items you need to help you get them done. Be sure to have everything you need (e.g., garbage can, shredder, file cabinet, industry specific tools, etc.). This is true whether your office is in a building in the city or in your home.

3. Get Closer. Keep the things that you use frequently very accessible. If you reach for documents in your file cabinet often, it should be as close to your desk as possible. If you’re a paper clip fanatic, be sure there’s a (neat) stash on your desk. When the items you use often are far away, you’ll have to keep getting up to, well, get them. You might increase the number of steps you take along with your heart rate, but you won’t make much of a dent in increasing your efficiency.

4. Get Comfy. Is your office chair comfortable? It should be since you’ll be spending some quality time with it on a daily basis. By the way, be sure your desk fits you, too. Check out the various shapes (L-shape, U-shape, etc.) to see which one suits you the best. The right chair and desk gets you ready for the day ahead.

5. Clear It Up. Keep your desk or work space clear and clutter free. Sounds obvious but when you start multitasking, things can go haywire and so can your brain cells, er, your productivity. If you have sufficient room to work, you’ll have a greater chance of successfully completing your projects (and remaining sane for another day).

6. Move to The Top. Prioritize and rank your duties in order of urgency. Urgency is usually dictated by time and/or money. If that big report is due in two days, that task should jump to the top of your list. If your boss expects that report in 1 hour, I’d say that’s pretty urgent and should take the #1 spot on your list. If you are the boss, well, maybe you have a little wiggle room.

6a. Don’t Get Sucked In. One more thing, choose specific times to read/respond to e-mail/voicemail. This one’s tough, but you can do it. Work on your priority projects when you’re feeling the most alert and handle the e-mails during brief, designated times.

7. Get FAT. No, it’s not lunch time, but if you use FAT, you’ll lose a lot of paper clutter.

• File … your “must haves” for future use
  
• Act … chop, chop, do something about it
  
• Toss … say goodbye, adios, seeyalata, babye
  

I learned about FAT from professional organizer Barbara Hemphill’s Taming the Paper Tiger at Home. Aren’t organizers wonderful?

8. Be Exclusive. Try to finish one thing before starting another and give your attention to one thing at a time. I have trouble with this one sometimes. Do you notice that you lose focus when you try to attend to more than one thing, or say 20 things, at one time? Yeah, it happens to the best of us. When in doubt, see step 6.

9. Time It. Decide how much time it should take to complete each task and stick to it. Set a timer or the alarm on your phone or have a friend call you so that you know when your time’s up. Your friend may get a bit tired of calling you, so that should probably be a last resort.

10. Know Thyself. Some of us keep things visible so we can remember them. Sometimes, we need to read and hear directions before we can master a task. Maybe you prefer talking on the phone instead of using e-mail. Personally, I love the color red. What’s this have to do with your office? If you can figure out your learning style (e.g., visual, auditory, kinesthetic) and what appeals to you aesthetically, you can achieve greater success with maintaining order, increasing productivity, and have a great time while you’re at it.

P.S. Thanks, Kathleen, for giving me a topic to blog about. Do you have a burning organization question? Leave a comment!