“Today is the first blank page of a 366 page book. Write a good one.”

Do you know what I love about that quote? The word ‘blank’ in all its clean, refreshing glory. Because after the well-needed rest over Christmas shut down, I couldn’t wait to get back to the office, clear out my workspace (which looked like a bomb hit) and get my work-life in order to set the tone for a fresh and tidy start to the new quarter.
I figured I can’t be the only one who does this, so I’m sharing the 5 tips I keep in mind whenever I’m getting myself organised:

1. The one year rule

If you haven’t used it since January 2015, chuck it or donate it. This goes for the clutter on your desk, those drawers full of expired biscuits and that one closet in every office where 90s keyboards go to die. If nobody needed it in the past 12 months, I’m willing to bet that they’ll still be there in 2017.
Sub-tip: If you come across a note or business card that you think you may need for reference some day, take a photo of it. Store it in the cloud or send yourself an email – you’ll be able to find it quicker, and you’ll have one less item cluttering your space.

2. Tame your inbox

Once your physical workspace is clear, it’s time to tackle the digital one. Email inboxes are a super personal space and everyone’s got their own system, but there are a few things which could help you keep things under control week after week.
You can reduce the number of emails you get each day by unsubscribing from newsletters you no longer read, or create specific folders and labels (with filters to match) to have non-essential emails sorted automatically without interrupting your daily flow.

3. Just say no… To irresistible freebies

I added this to my list a few months ago when we returned from yet another conference with bags full of freebies. Piles of magnets, stickers and pens that don’t write the way you like them to. They never survive the January purge, so next time, just say no.

4. Schedule calendar time for your own work

This is a new one for me, and I’m hooked. If you and the rest of the office use Google Calendar, you probably know that colleagues can add meetings to your schedule depending on whether you’re free at that time or not. That’s great, except for when you sit down to work on a Monday morning and find that you’re booked solid for meetings until Friday afternoon, leaving no time to get your own work done.
Problem solved – Set aside time for the work by actually scheduling it into your calendar. This way, your colleagues will know that you’re busy that morning and pick a later date for the meeting. Your calendar will still look pretty full, but this way you’ll know that everything that needs doing will get done.
(PS: Thanks Mel for the tip!)

5. Create 2 work zones

There’s computer work which, well, needs a computer. But then there’s other work that will probably happen a lot more efficiently if you’re not in front of a screen. Think time, sketching or poring over the latest reports for instance. Whether in another room or on the same desk, allocate a space where you can move away from the screen and let your mind work without constant interruptions.
It’s not a fool proof guide and it might not be for everyone, but taking a few minutes to clear up with these 5 steps has helped me keep sane on even the busiest of days at the office. If you have anything to add to the list, I’d love to hear it – drop me a line in the comments!

The post Getting Organised For The New Year in 5 Steps appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Stop. Take a minute and think.

Like my old man always said ‘if you really want to, you can do it – having no time is just an excuse!’
As we grow we start to understand that multitasking and time management can help us juggle a million things at one go – it’s okay boys, you wouldn’t understand the multitasking part – don’t worry, with all our nagging you’ll get there eventually 😛
The trick to it all is planning ahead and being positive! The worst thing you could do to yourself is to fall into a monotonous routine and regret the decisions you have made in the past. Every second you spend is  an experience to learn from and a memory to treasure!
Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier to make time for breakfast and kick start your day on a positive note!
Have a positive can do attitude and you find that any task you need to complete is done in a shorter time because you didn’t spend half of it complaining about how busy you are or about how impossible it is to get the job done.
Spare five minutes and call your parents, an old friend, or an ex colleague. If you think you have no time for that – do it while you’re in the bathroom, just make sure to flush after you hang up and not while you’re on the phone; having to reply to the question ‘what’s that noise?’ can be a little embarrassing – true story!

Spend 30 minutes cooking some healthy chicken and yummy salad for dinner instead of queuing up at a fast food restaurant. Do your grocery shopping once during the week instead of having to go to the store everyday – draw up a shopping list and plan your meals in advance, it’s not rocket science!
Find a hobby, pick a sport, go out for a short walk and stay active instead of dumping yourself on the sofa watching useless TV programs.
With all that’s been going on over the past few days you stop and realise that you’re here today and gone tomorrow.
What I am trying to say is that we all have the same amount of hours at our disposal – what we do with this time is what makes us happier or angrier, what keeps us sane or stresses the living hell out of us.
Can’t believe I found the time to write this in my busy schedule – and no, I’m not on the loo – or am I? 😉
Until next time! (ha ha)

The post Make Time for Time appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

1. Ignore your emails

Most of us in the office get pop up notifications whenever we receive an e-mail. This means that we’re constantly stopping whatever task we’re doing to check an e-mail. This can interrupt your work flow and it can be hard to get back into the zone. So sometimes we just turn the pop ups off! We don’t suggest you do this for a long time because you might eventually get back to your inbox to find ” IMPORTANT URGENT ANSWER ASAP” casually sitting there from 4 hours ago. But turning off notifications for an hour or two won’t hurt!

2. Track your time

Plan how much time something should take and then do your best to stick to that slot. We use Paymo to track how much time we spend on projects – eventually we figured out more or less how long something should take us which makes planning our day so much easier!

3. Keep things close at hand

Working on a variety of projects means a variety of specifications and needs. Create lists of the different things clients need and keep these close at hand. Some of us tape lists to the wall, others write them on a big sheet of paper stuck to their desk, and two of us have turned their work area into a post-it-note hangout! Call us old school, but it works!

4. Plan, plan, plan!

Busy days don’t just drop out of the sky (okay, sometimes they do!). Plan your week and make sure you make time for everything you need to do. If you’ve got a relaxed day use it to do some behind the scenes work which would simplify things for you in the future. Whether it’s stock image hunting or creating titles for future blog posts make sure that you use those quieter days to their full potential.

5. Have resources

Speaking of stock imagery, we’re always working to improve our database of beautiful royalty free images. But whenever we’re really stuck in a jam we like to use one of the many sites on this great post over at BeeWits. It’s been a lifesaver more than once!

6. Set reminders

Schedule in reminders to remind you about things at intervals (1 week before, 2 days before, on the day). We’ve got a weekly reminder for our 10 Before 10:00 posts, and other reminders for our newsletters. This combined with numerous post-it-notes, and verbal reminders from members of staff ensures we never miss anything!

7. Hold regular meetings

You can’t spend 8 hours a day staring at your monitor isolated in the digital world! Sure you can communicate on Skype, but nothing beats sitting down at a table with a mug of coffee and a notepad. Having regular meetings not only helps you plan work strategies- it also increases team dynamics. So if you can’t remember the last time you had a team meeting it’s about time you have one!

8. Get yourself a whiteboard

We’ve got a white board at the end of the room and we’re proud to say it’s quite a beast! It’s got our marketing strategy fully laid out and whenever we’re in need of some inspiration we go through the (never-ending) list. It provides us with a great visual on the aims and motives behind our work. (Plus who doesn’t love a whiteboard?) If you really can’t get a whiteboard go ahead and write on the glass. Just make sure you don’t use a permanent marker and wipe off any joke comments before client meetings!

9. Lose yourself in background sounds

While we’ve got a very sociable office environment each one of us has a pair of headphones. Sure most of the times we can still hear what’s going on in the room but the music does drown out the office sounds. If music doesn’t work for you why not try rainymood or coffitivity? Sometimes a thunderstorm combined with coffee shop murmurs is just what you need!

10. Feed your brain

We’re massive foodies and over time we’ve learnt that you can’t focus on low fuel. While we advise you to stay away from a giant plate of carbonara, we do recommend that you stop for lunch and have something yummy to recharge your bodies and keep you going. There are many great recipes out there dedicated entirely to feeding your brain so why not carry out a quick google search?
All in all how you work depends on your own personality – are there any tools you find indispensable, or do you have some sort of secret which helps you get through things quickly? Let us know!

The post 10 things to do to maximise work efficiency appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

There is a lot of potential for exposure without capital outlay, but do keep in mind that it is not completely free. Your time is valuable, and part of the power of social media stems from the fact that it has a very nasty habit of being addictive.

Sometimes even if you log into Facebook, Google+ or Twitter to manage your business page, there always is another new gadget popping up, another cruel joke that you have to forward to your friends or another meme that you just have to read – “it will only take a second”. Next thing you know an hour has just flown by.

So what should you do? Should you close all your accounts and go back to living in the age of cavemen at the expense of being well-networked? Definitely not – you still need to have a voice out there, you just need to make sure you are doing it well and making the best of the time you spend online.

Set time aside for social media

No, unless you’re running a 911 service by Twitter, your clients are not going to die if you do not answer them within five minutes. Sure, they will be impressed if you do, but they will be far from impressed when you fail to get their server back up and running in the timeframe you had promised because you spent all your time checking your 20 social media feeds.

I encourage you to actively engage with your customers, but don’t get lost in it. Set an hour or two aside for managing your social media and do not dilly dally. When you get online, do what you have to do and move on quickly. If needs be, set alarms and stop when your time is over. There are apps on every platform to help you do this. If you want to go back for leisure feel free to do so – it is perfectly OK as long as it is outside your working hours (whatever they might be) or in self-designated breaks.

At all other times your social media tabs should be closed. Not in the background. Not minimized. Closed. Do not even think about them. Let your notifications gather, remember: you are not running a 911 service.

You Gotta Keep’em Separated

Open a new account for your business presence online. It might be hard to build a new set of followers, but once you do you get two major benefits.

The first is that all your following is there for the right reason. Your great-aunt (once removed) probably won’t be of much use if you’re promoting the latest blade servers.

The second major advantage is that if you decide to respond to mentions of your brand immediately and want to set up alerts of all contact and mentions of your business name, then you can do so without worrying that you’ll be disturbed the next time your brother’s wife has done her nails.

Formulate a strategy

Now that your time online is limited you are going to have to take a long and hard think about what you want to achieve from social media. If you offer on-site service in Denver, Colorado, it would be useless having 10,000 followers from all over the globe. 100 business owners from within 100 miles of your business would be far more valuable and much more likely to react if you posted a special offer from one of your suppliers online.

Think of who you need to engage with and work hard on that audience. Find out what they like, what they want, what they need and give it to them. Also decide on what you want out of them. Do you want them to become loyal clients or are you after one-off customers who, however, might suggest your business to an acquaintance? Act accordingly.

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