200 WAYS to Be More Productive in Life, and in Business

Article from The Entrepreneur

The Challenge Begins Now

If you're an entrepreneur--whether you're working solo or with employees who share the load--time is your most valuable commodity. There simply aren't enough hours in the day to stay ahead on the job, let alone have a personal life. The answer isn't to work harder--chances are, you're already putting in 50 to 60 hours a week--but to work smarter. And that means doing what you do in a more productive way.

We're going to show you how.

Starting today, Entrepreneur presents 200 Ways To Be More Productive in Life ... and in Business--a nine-week challenge aimed at getting your business to run more effectively and efficiently, and at giving you more time for life outside of work, too.

We've gathered a panel of experts to offer 200 concrete, real-world pieces of advice, and we've focused on the areas that you've told us are the most critical "pain points": Time management, technology, mobile technology, money, leadership, work space and work/life issues. Each day you'll get a few more tips--challenges, if you will--sent to your e-mail, RSS feed or Twitter account. You can also find them posted right here on our website or on Entrepreneur.com's Facebook page.

All you have to do is make some honest assessments about yourself and your workstyle and be committed to putting new energy into the places that need it. Yes, this will take some time and attention. But, we promise, it will be worth it.

How will you know? Today's challenge--know who you are and know what you want--includes a short quiz. Answer the questions and hang on to them: These are your goals for the next nine weeks. At the end of our program, we'll look at how far we've come together. Now, let's get started.

1

Know Who You Are And Know What You Want

Entrepreneurs are notorious for a "ready, fire, aim" approach to business. As a result, they often end up misfits in their own ventures because they simply let the vagaries of their business define them, rather than making sure their business serves their motivations, talents, personality and desires. 

So before you set your sights on specific productivity goals, give some thought to what you're good at and what you're not, what energizes you and what drags you down and what you want out of your business and what you don't.

Ready, aim, fire.

2.

Stop Thinking Of Time As An Unlimited Commodity

Essentially, just as a closet is a limited space into which you must fit a certain number of objects, a schedule is a limited space into which you must fit a certain number of tasks. When you realize the actual limits of your time, you become much more selective about what you put into the "closet" of your day.

3.

Create A Time Map

Subdivide your day into three blocks of time--morning, midday and afternoon--and decide what category of work you will tackle during each chunk of time. The regular structure creates mini-deadlines throughout the day that keep you focused on your goals and priorities. Here's how:

Set office hours: Say, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you like to jog or eat a leisurely breakfast, wake up early so that you can be ready to hit it by 8.

Divide your day into three parts: An example would be serving existing clients, marketing for new clients and taking care of administrative tasks. If you feel you have all day to do all things, you'll be less productive.

Keep a schedule:For example, devote 8 a.m. to noon to existing customers, 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. to marketing, and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. to tasks such as printing invoices and updating your contacts list. Look at it this way: In the morning, you're working to make money. In the afternoon, you're selling your business.

Dedicate 10 or 15 minutes at the end of each day to planning: Specifically think about what you will do in each of the three parts of the next day. Break projects into small steps: One morning can be devoted to polishing up Project A and getting halfway done with Project B.

Create three-day plans: Once you get used to planning a day ahead, start looking further down the road and update those plans at the end of each workday.

4.

Group Similar Tasks

Batching your to-dos will allow you to build momentum and boost efficiency as you repeat each action. For example, doing a series of prospecting calls in a row saves time. With your sales "hat" on, your spiel gets clearer and sharper with each consecutive call. If you have several proposals to write, it's more efficient to blast through them sequentially rather than switch to financial activities in between. 

5.

Don't Write To-Dos In A Million Places

Scattering your tasks and reminders between a variety of Post-its, notepads, planners and applications is a recipe for confusion. Hours are wasted transferring information, second-guessing what to do next, and living in fear of what might be forgotten. Commit to one single, consistent system. Once you get into the habit of writing everything down in a single location, you'll stop worrying that you're forgetting something and will be able to concentrate on getting things done

6.

Spend Your Money Productively

Too many businesses waste money on things that make them feel successful rather than investing it in things that will make them so. Expensive office furniture, a company car, and even fancy business cards are never going to bring a dime of income. Before every purchase, ask yourself, "What will this add to my bottom line?"

7.

Shop Every Purchase

If you spend $1,000 for something you could have bought for $800, you'll need to produce an extra $200 to make up for it. Make this easy on yourself by using a standard form to solicit bids on purchase over a certain amount. E-mail it to at least three vendors, with a tight deadline for their bid. You'll be surprised how well this works. I once saved more than $4,000 on a car purchase with just this method. Even better, I saved hours of time I would have spent driving to each dealership and dealing with the whole sales pitch hassle.

8.

Avoid The Paralysis Of Analysis.

You can spend hours, days, and even months preparing spreadsheets and tweaking assumptions about something you know in your gut will or won't work. This is not to say you should just go with what feels good, but there comes a time when more analysis is just a waste of time. Make a decision and get on with it. 

9.

Automate Your Bill Paying

No one, not even a financial nerd, likes to pay bills. To make the time you spend on this necessary evil more productive, pre-schedule as many payments as possible.

Most accounting software and bank services allow you to schedule payments for a later date. The next time you pay your bills, schedule payments for the next three to four months for all the bills that are typically the same from month to month. Even if the payment isn't exact, schedule an amount you're sure will cover the bill. I pay all my utility, telephone and loan bills this way. I even send what I know will cover any minimum payment on my credit cards so I never have to pay a late fee.

Another method is to allow companies to direct debit your account for what's owed. I'm not a fan of this method because it's out of your control. But when you pre-schedule them on your own, you can easily cancel the payment before the payment date if something changes. 

10.

Track Expenses

If you're using a computerized accounting system (and you should be), take an hour or a day (or whatever it takes) to set up income, expense, asset and liability categories. Then train it to automatically categorize expenses. If you write a check to Verizon, it should automatically assign it to your telephone expense category.

This will not only save time on repetitive tasks throughout the year, but it will also make it easier to train someone else to pay the bills. And it will save you a ton of time when you prepare your taxes.

11.

Stay On top Of E-mail

Today's smartphones make it easy to check e-mail, so there's no excuse for having an overflowing inbox. But if you're just starting out as an entrepreneur, there's a good chance you're using a consumer-oriented "POP3" e-mail service, which can become a headache as your business takes off.

Here's why: Short for "Post Office Protocol 3," POP3 downloads messages to your device's e-mail client, such as Outlook or Entourage, and then deletes them from the server. So if you check messages from multiple devices--say, a laptop at home, a desktop in the office and a smartphone in between--each of their inboxes is different.

It's more efficient to use an e-mail system based on Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), which keeps all of your devices' inboxes in sync by giving each one a copy of your messages but still preserving the original on the server. That means, for example, that you can read a message on your laptop in the morning and review it again in the afternoon from your smartphone.

Ditto for messages you've sent, deleted or moved to a special folder, because every time one of your devices connects with the server, it gets an updated snapshot of your whole account. With POP3, you'd have to update each device individually and manually--a huge waste of time and a great way to get yourself in a position where an important message is on your desktop, but all you have is your smartphone.

Not all e-mail providers charge extra for IMAP. For example, Google's free Gmail uses IMAP and works with most major e-mail apps, such as Outlook, and smartphone operating systems, such as Android, iPhone and Windows Mobile.

12.

Never Run Out Of Power

There's no excuse for your laptop or smartphone running out of juice. For starters, buy a spare battery for each must-carry device. For a smartphone, expect to pay $30 to $50, while laptop batteries go for $50 to $150. The biggest price factor is the battery's capacity, which usually is measured in terms of cells and hours. Shop around because some e-tailers--such as Seido, in the case of smartphones--always have a sale going.

Now for the important part: Keep your batteries charged. A dead spare is counterproductive. Many smartphones come with a charger that can juice up the spare by itself, even as the phone is charging.

One caveat: If you frequently use your laptop at your desk, pull the battery after it's completely charged and run your machine directly from the outlet. The alternative--charging the battery, unplugging from the outlet and then plugging back in when it runs low--wears out the battery faster.

For added insurance, buy a power dongle for your smartphone, such as Energizer's Energi to Go or Duracell's My Pocket Charger. These use one to four AA batteries and plug into the same port that your charger uses. Expect to pay around $20.

13.

Multitask Your Mobile Devices

Sometimes having a camera, camcorder or audio recorder can be a real productivity booster. But buying them can easily add up to a few hundred bucks--and far more if you've got multiple employees who need them--and then you've got to worry about them being lost.

A more efficient strategy is to leverage your smartphone. Most have a camera for still photos and video, and some--such as the new HTC Incredible from Verizon Wireless-- have resolutions of up to 8 megapixels (mp). That means the convenience of using your phone as a camera doesn't have to come at the expense of image quality.

Even a phone with a 3.2 mp camera--a resolution common today even in entry-level smartphones--is good enough to boost productivity. For example, use your smartphone's camera to photograph PowerPoint slides and other presentation materials, and jot down only what's not in the slides. This frees you to focus on what the presenter is saying, so you can ask questions as they come to mind, instead of hours or days later when you're reviewing--and when the presenter might not be available.

For recording phone calls (check the laws first) and face-to-face conversations, use your smartphone's audio-recording app (such as Windows Mobile's Voice Recorder) instead of buying and carrying a standalone digital or microcassette recorder. Afterward, sync your smartphone with your Mac or PC to transfer those recordings for transcription, archiving or e-mailing as an attachment. If your cellular service is fast enough, you also can e-mail the audio files right from your smartphone.

One tip: In your phone's settings, you should have several options for voice quality. Experiment to find the one (44,100 Hz, 16 Bit, Mono (86 KB/s) is a good choice) that provides the quality you need without creating audio files so big that they're a hassle to e-mail.

14.

Find Your Way Fast

There are plenty of navigation applications for smartphones, and they're a handy way to avoid wasting time trying to find an address. There are two main types: free and fee.

The fee category includes apps provided by your wireless carrier, such as Sprint Navigation and Verizon Wireless' VZ Navigator. Expect to pay about $10 per month per phone for unlimited usage, unless you've got one of those rare wireless plans--such as Sprint's Simply Everything--that includes navigation as part of the base price.

One of the best-known and most useful examples of the free category is Google Maps, which is available for most smartphone operating systems. One caveat: Although the app itself is free, you'll still have to pay your carrier for the data that the app uses, such as downloading traffic information. That's another reason why it's worth considering a smartphone plan that includes unlimited data.

Regardless of whether you go the free or fee route, this two-fer strategy minimizes the chances you'll waste time getting lost, and it saves the cost and hassle of carrying--or equipping your employees with--a separate navigation device. Bonus: You can copy addresses from your contact list into the navigation app instead of reading them from your smartphone screen and typing them into the GPS unit.

One bit of advice: If you need to use navigation while driving, find a car kit or some other gadget that will position your phone on your dashboard. That way, you don't have one hand holding the phone while driving, and the on-screen map is right where it's most convenient. Plus, the dashboard location gives the phone a clearer view of GPS satellites.

15.

Get Your Passwords Organized

You probably have about 147 of them by now and have to hunt for 146 of them every time you need access to an account or service. Spend a few minutes to get them all in one secure, accessible place.

Our choice: Use your smartphone to keep track of all of your login and password information with apps such as eWallet and SplashID. Bonus: Because your smartphone likely is something you carry at all times, these apps also can store your logins, passwords and codes for your PC, secure doors, etc. Some solutions include the ability to scan the front and back of credit cards so you don't need to carry those.

So what happens to your passwords if your smartphone is lost or stolen? When comparing solutions, look for security features such as the ability to lock out an unauthorized user after a certain number of failed attempts to access your repository. For an additional layer of security, check with your smartphone's manufacturer or your wireless carrier to see if they offer a service where you can remote lock and erase the memory of a phone that's been lost or stolen. (One example is the Palm Pre.) There are also apps you can buy, such as Corsoft Warden and Sprite Terminator.

16.

Avoid The Speed Trap

When was the last time you sent an e-mail to someone you didn't want to have get it? Or called someone and forgot who it was you called? Rushing is the standard pace of the workplace today, and it's all based on a false urgency that drives stress and mistakes that make you want to catch the next flight to Timbuktu. The medical world calls it time urgency, because it's a heart attack risk. Time urgency makes you think every minute of the day is an emergency. It jacks up impatience, annoyance and anger, which fuels stress and clogged arteries. So be aware of when you're racing and catch yourself by taking a deep breath and slowing down. You'll get the job done with more attention and less stress when you can shut off the false panic of time urgency. It's not life or death. It's only work.

17.

Check E-mail At Scheduled Times, No More Than Once An Hour

If you have your e-mail on autopilot, checking every five minutes, that's a potential for 96 interruptions in an eight-hour day--and preparation for a bit part in the next zombie flick. The average information worker loses 2.1 hours of productivity a day to interruptions. Researchers say checking e-mail four times daily, once when you get to work, before lunch, after lunch, and before you go home is the most productive way to handle e-mail. The more control (i.e., self-management) you can exert over task practices, the less stress and chaos there is, and the more attention you can give to the job at hand.

18.

Don't Be An Overworked Martyr

In the knowledge economy, it's not about how much punishment you can take but how fresh your brain is. MRI scans of fatigued brains look exactly like ones that are sound asleep. Don't get caught up in the self-defeating bravado of "My Ulcer's Bigger Than Yours." Driving yourself to the edge isn't heroic; it's stupid. Spending excessive time on tasks drives stress, mistakes, and lousy decision-making. It's not the quantity of hours but the quality that drives productive performance and influences how much attention and energy you can bring to the task. Hypertension and mistakes triple with chronic 12-hour days.

19.

Find A Hobby

There's no better way to get the stress down and life on the calendar than finding a passion or pursuit you can indulge on a regular basis. No, checking tweets doesn't count as a hobby. Identify an activity you have an affinity for, maybe something you always wanted to do, and sign up for a class and get out there and do it. Studies show a clear link between frequent participation in leisure activities and life satisfaction and stress reduction.

20.

Create A Buffer Zone Between Work And Home

To ease re-entry back into civilian life each night, you need to decompress from the day's pressure cooker. Like a deep-sea diver, you can't come back to the surface of regular life too quickly or you'll explode all over the home front. You've been in one mode all day--aggressive, competitive, objective-oriented--none of which works in your private life. Find a transitional space to bring the pressure down. Go to the gym, meditate, read, or find some calming space that can bring you back to life. Try to take at least 30 minutes for the wind-down, but even 20 minutes can help.

21.

State and Restate the Mission of Your Organization

Ensure that everyone understands it and sees how their individual work fits into attaining it. If employees don't know where the company or the leader is headed, then confusion, ambiguity and even chaos reign. Bad news for everyone. The mission needs to be concrete and future-oriented. It must describe where the organization wants to go and what it wants to do. It must be motivating enough so that employees will want to work hard to make that mission a reality. Each department, team, unit and individual must clearly understand why the company exists: to make money, to do good for the community, to create a quality product and so on. Once the mission is clear, and once everyone understands it, then they can create goals that strive to fulfill the mission. All goals, all behaviors and all policies will then be geared toward organizational success. 

22.

Get Out Of Your Office

Walk around, meet your employees face-to-face and get to know them. Unfortunately, many leaders and managers stay within their comfort zone in their office or cubicle. It's easier that way. They work on their projects without interruption, they don't have to deal with "difficult" employees, and they don't have to answer challenging questions or resolve unusual issues. These are loser bosses. When bosses don't walk around, they miss out on a chance to get to know the employees, understand their difficulties, remove obstacles in the way of success and boost morale. And the employees miss out on an important opportunity to make contact with their leader. They don't see the boss as approachable, available to answer questions or there to resolve problems. This lack of interaction creates a serious gap. Productivity, employee satisfaction and morale all suffer. Inevitably, the employee soon learns that the boss doesn't really care about their job or them. And if the person in charge doesn't care, why should they?

23.

Set Specific, Measurable and Attainable Goals

The boss needs to be very clear about what the goals are for each department and each individual employee. And all of those goals need to address the mission. There are several key ways to accomplish this. The major issue is clarity.

The goal needs to be specific so the employee knows exactly what is acceptable and what is not, and how to be successful. A goal of "Go out and do a good job" is not specific enough to be meaningful. Do you mean "Be at work on time"? "Have reports in by 3 p.m."? "Work more collaboratively with others"?

The goal needs to be measurable so that both the employee and the boss can evaluate if the goal has been met. "Increase sales this quarter" is a nice idea, but it's useless as a goal. Do you mean "Boost sales by 10 percent, 25 percent or 75 percent"?

The goal needs to be attainable. This is where new employees, eager to be successful, often fall short. The boss needs to work closely with each employee to ensure that goals are within reach.

24.

Recognize Effort and Success

And make sure to share that news with others. Someone once said, "Feedback is the breakfast of champions." Providing feedback and letting employees know how much you value their work is a key source of motivation. Everyone, including the altruists among us, wants and likes feedback. Find opportunities to spread good news. Everyone will benefit--especially the people whom you are identifying and praising. And others will benefit because they will strive to be recognized by you. Consider:

Sending an e-mail congratulating the individual. In addition, personally meet with that person and tell him/her how you value and appreciate the accomplishment (and even the attempt).

Sending an e-mail to other people on the team, in the unit or in the company announcing the success, even if it's a small success. Little successes ultimately lead to bigger ones.

Clearly mentioning the accomplishment at the next team, department and company meeting.

Putting a note in that person's personnel file.

Making sure the employee's manager realizes the success and remembers to write it in his/her performance appraisal review.

Putting a notice in the company newsletter.

Sending an announcement to the local newspaper.

What other ways do YOU have to recognize success? Share them with us on Twitter.

25.

Observe and Ask

There are many theories on how to motivate employees and even more about what actually motivates people. The best way is the simplest: just observe and ask!

Ask what kind of tasks the person likes best. Challenging? Easy? Complex? Creative? Repetitious? Concrete? Abstract?

Find out if the employee prefers to work alone or with a team. And in which scenario is he/she most productive?

Determine what you as the boss can do to remove obstacles in the way of ensuring high performance.

Observe how effective and efficient the person is with different kinds of tasks, individually and on teams.

Determine the person's level of accuracy and productivity with different kinds of tasks and with different individuals.

Ask if the employee needs/prefers intensive guidelines and feedback or works best with fewer directions and responses.

26.

Pick the Right Spot

It sounds obvious, but if you want to get a lot done at work, you need to choose a workspace conducive to your line of business and your place of business. 

Work at home? Then consider a space with a door or divider that you can "open" and "close" for business each day, or that is in a separate wing or section of the home where others know not to disturb you during work hours. Privacy, however, shouldn't trump comfort. Just because a basement, attic or backyard shed offers you work-alone space doesn't mean you'll work effectively, especially if extreme temperatures, mold or dust send you flying back to the climate-controlled air of the den. Before moving to an unusual nook or cranny of your home, ask yourself whether the space is (or can become) comfortable enough to keep you productive throughout a full workday.

Work in a borrowed office? Many startups and solo acts sublet space from another business. That's fine, but before you sign on, make sure you've got your own discreet workspace, storage space, mailing address, and access during normal office hours, and that you've got adequate cell phone reception. Also, make sure you can perform your job functions in the sublet's environment. If you've got an open-air cube but need to make sensitive calls, or if you need to host business partners but can't borrow a conference room, you won't get far. Think through a workday before you sign, and make sure you can accomplish these tasks in the sublet.

Work in your own office? Lucky you! As you grow and change your business, chances are your job description will morph, too. If you started out solo but are now hiring, think about how the office layout communicates and facilitates roles within the workplace. If you're the boss of this enterprise, do you want to sit off in the corner or behind a door--or do you want to sit in the center of the workspace, interacting with all the great wear-many-hats contributors you've hired? As you add staff, make sure that where they sit, and the equipment they can access, makes sense. 

27.

Think About The "Third Place"

Not every entrepreneur needs to work from home or from an office building. Depending on the size and stage of your enterprise, chances are you might benefit from working in a so-called "third place"--a collaborative area that offers more social interaction than a home office but less structure than the four walls you'd rent in an office building, and where a nascent sense of community offers inspiration and networking potential. The term "third place" was coined in the late 1980s by Ray Oldenburg in his book The Great Good Place and refers to community spaces that are neither home-based nor office-based, and where affordable and informal meeting and social spaces are available. Third places can include community centers, libraries and, most especially, the corner coffee shop with wireless internet access. While third places aren't necessarily intended as offices, for many idea-driven entrepreneurs they provide informal yet stimulating environments for early-stage working. In addition, a new breed of third place--known as co-working spaces--has emerged in recent years. Co-working spaces are designed for people who don't want to work alone from home or exclusively from an office. Ideal for telecommuters and entrepreneurs, these workspaces offer flexible workstations, office amenities (coffee, fax, printer, photocopier, wireless routers, storage), as well as informal gathering spaces like first-come, first-serve conference rooms, beanbag chairs, and mingling spaces. The goal is to offer a "creative community," which can be a plus if you're looking to brainstorm or recruit or barter services. Typically, you can use these spaces on a drop-in basis for a flat day rate or become a member at varying levels (20 hours per week, 24/7 access) for varying prices. Should you work from a "third place"? Think seriously about it if:

You need to hold informal meetings with less than a handful of people at a time.

You need to get out of your house but don't need the formality of a regular office.

You're comfortable--even energized--working with background noise and bustle.

You're at the research or pre-launch stage of your business.

You enjoy interacting with other solo acts and entrepreneurs.

You don't always spend a full workday in one spot and mostly need "touch-down" space.

You can afford to spend about $15 per day on coffee--or "rent" at a co-working space.

28.

Get Rid Of Clutter--Daily

Yes, yes, a messy desk is a symptom of a busy worker--and that's good, right? But if you spend as much time looking for those papers or that file as you do actually dealing with its contents, you need to institute a de-cluttering schedule. Ideally, you should organize your desk both daily and weekly, developing a home for various workplace tools (pens, pencils, chargers) and a system for managing paperwork. On a daily basis:

Stack and sort. What do you need first thing tomorrow? Assemble the papers, documents and collateral necessary. What do you need later in the day tomorrow? Bunch relevant material in bundles, so you have materials necessary for each project/meeting handy and at least clustered together.

Leave at least one or two square feet of working space empty on your desktop so you feel you've got a clean slate when you start work in the morning.

Toss it! If you've doodled numbers or notes, input them in your contact management software, computer or mobile device and then toss papers. If you've doodled brainstorms or follow-up ideas, put them in a folder assigned to "brainstorming" and review it weekly. Look to see if they belong in a digital calendar or organizer or in a big folder of "general ideas" you revisit periodically.

On a weekly basis:

Stack and sort. What can you stow for later? What needs to remain handy for re-use?

Stow expense receipts or other paperwork you'll need to save for taxes or other purposes in an out-of-sight/out-of-mind folder.

Clean off any write-on/wipe-off or bulletin boards containing outdated events, contacts, meeting notices or invites.

Digitize any business cards or other contact information you've culled during the week.

Fill an "idea" folder--stash any notes, scribbles, articles, etc., that grabbed your eye during the week in here. Then, go through the folder once a week for action items.

29.

Rethink Your Interiors

It's surprising how many offices create such an unpleasant environment that people aren't productive. Consider the following steps:

Replace glaring neon or overhead lights with ambient lighting or energy-saving sensor-based lighting that shuts on and off as workers enter or exit a space. Wattstopper (www.wattstopper.com) makes models for both residential and commercial spaces.

Get fresh air via open windows instead of relying on indoor air. In buildings that lack operable windows, consider using a portable air purifier (available at most office superstores) or periodic duct cleaning through a professional service.

Spruce up space with work-appropriate paint. It's amazing how negatively grimy, putty-colored walls impact morale. How about painting the place and cheering people up a little, or choosing a color that relates to the company's mission or industry? Color theory can tell you what types of colors create what types of moods. For instance, warm hues (red, yellow and orange) are stimulating and assertive--perfect, perhaps, for sales, advertising or creative businesses. In contrast, blue, green and violet are all calming colors, better suited for eco-friendly, healing and natural professions. Pantone offers an interesting discussion of color theory here: http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=19382&ca=29

30.

Sit Up Straight!

Amazingly basic, but if you're sitting in an uncomfortable chair or have grown accustomed to using your laptop on a varying assortment of coffee shop tables, borrowed desks or airplane tray tables, you're probably paying the price with a sore back and crunched-up neck. If you work solo, go to a better office furnishings store and ask them to show you how to adjust your chair to the proper height for your body. If you work with others and can spring for it, have an ergonomic guru assess office furnishings. If you've got an adjustable chair or desk and want to work effectively, try these tips from the Centers for Disease Control:

Choose a chair with lumbar support and sit upright in the chair so your lower back and shoulders both touch the backrest.

Chair height should allow for feet to sit flat on the floor. (Use a footrest if this isn't possible.)

Thighs should parallel the floor, with knees at hip level.

There should be 2 to 4 inches between back of knee and seat.

Allow 2 to 3 inches between thighs and underside of desk or work station.

31.

Identify Five Things You're Spending on That Aren't Contributing to Your Bottom Line And Eliminate Them

Do you really need that water cooler service or bottled water? Studies show that most tap water is as good or better.

Do you pay fees on your checking account? There are plenty of no-fee accounts available. Before you go to the trouble of changing banks, pay a visit to your branch manager and see if they'll waive the fees--most will.

Do you have a separate fax line that you rarely use? If so, cut the cord and use an online fax service or combine the fax line with your standard phone line

Do you pay long-distance fees? If so, make those calls free via Skype.

Is your telephone, internet access and cable with different carriers? If so, look for a deal that combines all three.

It's amazing how much you can save when you set your mind to it. The above changes are probably worth between $1,800 and $2,400 a year. Skip that morning latte, and you'll save another grand. You can buy a good home latte machine for less than half that and still get your morning caffeine fix. Your turn. And please, share the wealth--let us know what you did and how much you saved, and we may make you the poster child for our wrap-up column.

32.

Identify Five Metrics

Look for ones that make it easy to know how your business is doing without being buried by numbers. For example, figure out what the conversion rate is on website visitors. If 10 percent of them turn into orders, all you have to track is web visits and make sure the conversion rate doesn't change, and you'll have a pretty good estimate of your income.

33.

Raise Your Prices

If your gross profit margin is 25 percent, a 5 percent price increase would allow you to sell 20 percent fewer units and still make the same profit. For example, if you sell 500 items for $100 with a cost of $75, your revenue will be $50,000 with a gross profit of $12,500 (that's $25 per unit, or 25 percent gross profit margin). Now let's say you raise your price by 5 percent to $105 per unit, but in so doing you sell 10 percent fewer units. Your sales will be 450 units (500 minus 10 percent), your revenue will be $47,250 (450 units at $105 each), and your cost is still $75 per unit. So your new gross profit is $30 per unit ($105 minus $75), and your gross profit margin is 28.6 percent ($30 divided by $105).

That means your gross profit is actually $13,500. That's $1,000 more than it was originally, in spite of the lost business. By the way, it doesn't work the same way in reverse. A 5 percent price cut means you have to increase sales by 32 percent just to stay even. Let your competitors play the price war game while you reap more profits from less work.

34.

Retain Customers

The cost of finding a new customer is always higher than retaining an existing one.

Offer incentives for repeat businesses (e.g., loyalty cards or coupons for their next visit).

Establish referral relationships with related businesses.

Continually educate your customers about the other products and services you offer.

Create categories of customers based on loyalty (silver, gold, platinum).

Keep them from wandering off with a best-price guarantee.

Accept all competitors' coupons.

35.

Reduce Bad Debt.

Nothing is financially less productive than selling a product or service and having to chase down or write off bad debt. To avoid this:

Evaluate customer creditworthiness before extending credit.

Require and check credit references.

Establish and enforce credit limits.

Inform new customers of credit policies.

Require personal guarantees, stock pledges or collateral on questionable accounts.

Require cash on delivery for questionable accounts.

Periodically check on customer credit standings.

Produce and use regular accounts receivable agings.

Establish and enforce late-payment penalties.

Immediately follow up on slow-pay accounts.

Stop selling to customers who owe you .

Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Hound your bad debts.

Consider legal action or collection agency services for bad debt.

36.

Maximize Your Phone's Battery Life.

Simple steps such as shutting off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when they're not needed, lowering your backlight settings and closing apps (as opposed to leaving them running in the background) can make an enormous difference--and leave you with that extra drop of juice when you desperately need it.

Bonus: Shutting off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi reduces your vulnerability to a variety of security hacks. Sure, most phones let you adjust your Bluetooth and Wi-Fi settings to maximize security, but unless you like getting down and dirty with minutia buried seven menus deep, it's easier to just shut them off when not in use. 

37.

Stop Wasting Time Looking for Wi-Fi Hotspots.

Get a portable router, such as a MiFi, which gets internet access from the cellular network and then spreads it around to up to five nearby devices. There are at least five more advantages: 

You don't have to pay extra for Wi-Fi service, such as from Boingo.

You don't run the risk of getting hacked while looking for a free Wi-Fi signal.

You and your colleagues can share a connection, such as during a pow-wow before a client meeting.

You don't have to buy a cellular modem and broadband service for each laptop.

Wi-Fi-only devices, such as iPads, can get connected.

MiFi is available from several major wireless carriers, including Sprint and Verizon Wireless. Although it lists for about $300, sometimes it's available for free after rebates if you sign up for a data plan, which typically runs $40 to $60 per month.

One alternative to MiFi and similar devices is to look for one of a handful of smartphones that can double as a Wi-Fi router, such as the forthcoming HTC EVO 4G from Sprint. Another alternative is to see if there's an app for your smartphone that turns it into a Wi-Fi router. One example is WMWifiRouter, which costs about $20 and works with Windows Mobile handsets.

38.

Set Up Mobile Data Access.

Focus on plans that let a number of smartphones share a "bucket" of data megabytes or gigabytes, instead of forcing you to buy a separate data package for each handset at $30 to $45 apiece. 

Tip: Small businesses shouldn't overlook consumer-oriented plans, such as Sprint's Everything Data Family with Any Mobile, Anytime, which provides voice, unlimited data, unlimited e-mail (including BlackBerry), unlimited text and unlimited navigation for $30 to $40 less per phone than AT&T's and Verizon Wireless' comparable plans. Why such a difference? Partly because Sprint's plan lets multiple phones share a data bucket. 

39.

Don't Wait for Files to Upload.

When you're out of the office, do you upload files as often as you download? If so, when comparing cellular services, ask about their upstream speeds. They're almost always significantly slower than downstream, but some carriers offer faster upstream connections than their competitors. That means less time waiting for a big e-mail to send or when uploading to an FTP site. Faster upstream connections can also boost productivity by making mobile videoconferencing more practical. 

40.

Consolidate Text Messaging and E-mail.

Do you really need text messaging? Having only e-mail on your smartphone doesn't mean you can't communicate with clients, employees and others who text. Use Outlook or another e-mail app--on your PC or your phone--to send text messages to multiple employees at once, instead of pecking them out individually from a phone. Have employees' text messages sent to your e-mail address so you've got everything coming to a single inbox.

Bonus: Besides saving the cost of a monthly text package, you save time having both e-mail and SMS in a single inbox.

41.

Be in Two Places at Once

Recapture some of the time and money lost when you travel by using low-cost, PC-based videoconferencing services such as iVisit, SightSpeed and TokBox. If you own a Mac, don't overlook the built-in iChat software. Another option is entry-level hardware and/or software from vendors that are best known for videoconferencing products that cost four to six digits. One example is Polycom's PVX, which runs about $150, depending on where you buy it. 

42.

Upgrade Your E-mail

Sure, it's important to stay in contact with employees and business partners, but e-mail isn't always the most efficient way. One alternative is "enterprise microblogging" services such as Socialcast, Yammer and WizeHive, which create a central point for sharing messages and, in some cases, files. Most services now have a smartphone app, so you don't need to be at a PC to check in. Prices typically start at free for versions that are bare bones but still useful. 

43.

Minimize Commuting

Is your commute 20 minutes each way? That's more than three hours a week that could be spent making money and building your business. Recapture that productivity by working from home one or more days per week, or go a step further by giving some or all of your employees that option. The ability to telecommute also can be a perk for attracting and retaining employees. But don't compromise security in the process. Instead, consider a virtual private network (VPN), which is hardware and software that secures an internet connection, including ones running over cellular. Prices and products are all over the map, and the choice often depends on the number of users and whether you want to own the gear or get the VPN as a hosted service. Companies with VPN solutions include vendors such as NETGEAR and telcos such as Verizon.

44.

Spend Less Time Writing

Consider speech-to-text software to minimize manual transcription and, in some cases, use speech for controlling your computer. The productivity benefit? Most people type about 40 words per minute but speak 120 words per minute, says Nuance, one of the best-known vendors in this space. Products include Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking and MacSpeech Dictate. Prices start around $200, not including the headset that helps improve accuracy. Tip: Check several reviews of each product you're considering because accuracy varies. Also, these products often do a better job of transcribing a single person, as opposed to a meeting full of people.

45.

Bundle!

Buy multiple telecom services--such as wired and mobile broadband, and voice--from a single provider. Not only does bundling trigger hefty discounts, but it also gives you a single neck to wring when there are problems, so you and your employees don't waste time dealing with multiple operators' finger-pointing. Your provider also should be able to offer productivity-enhancing converged services that would be difficult or expensive to cobble together from multiple operators.

46.

Give Employees a Sense of Achievement

Most management consultants would agree that feeling a sense of achievement is a very powerful motivator. Leaders can help motivate their employees, improve employee satisfaction and increase productivity by setting up programs that will allow that to happen. 

Work with your employees to set up attainable and realistic goals. If the task seems too large, too complicated or too overwhelming, the employee will most likely feel disappointed, and so will you. 

47.

Create Opportunities for Employees to Grow and Develop

Most employees soon tire of repetitious tasks. This inevitably leads to poor work quality, employee dissatisfaction, lowered productivity and poor morale--a negative situation all around. By offering training sessions either internally or externally, leaders can stimulate and motivate their employees. At the same time, the workers become more curious and creative, learn new techniques and procedures, and improve on the old ones. 

A dividend: They can then mentor their peers.

48.

Make People Feel Important

Get out of your office! Walk around and get to know your employees. Ask them questions about what they like about their jobs and what they don't. Find out what really fires them up, and then ask if their current job does that. 

In the process, ask them what makes them feel proud of themselves and others in their department. Determine if you can adjust their job description to ensure that they are working on tasks they like and that make them feel important. If not, try to adjust job responsibilities so your employees feel excited and positive about the job, themselves and their colleagues.

49.

Meet With Employees in Small Groups

Successful leaders want to hear their employees' complaints and compliments. So in addition to informal chats, they get together with them regularly in the main office or a conference room. The goal of these sessions is to demonstrate your interest in listening to both the positive and negative views your people hold. In so doing, you are showing them that you care about their work, their end product--and them! When employees see and appreciate this, they are more willing to be frank, offer first-hand views on what is really happening and work with management to improve situations. 

50.

Review Your Policies, Processes and Procedures

Form small teams to look at how your company's policies, processes and procedures can be streamlined to increase employee satisfaction and productivity. Most employees like to work on teams, especially ones that report to the boss. It provides them with a sense of importance and better self-esteem. If they trust their leader, they will offer specific opinions on what is happening in the organization.

51.

Rethink Your Office's Layout

Sometimes you've got everything you need right where you are, but you've arranged it the wrong way. Consider hiring an "interior space redesign"consultant or a feng shui professional--someone who won't force you to buy new stuff but will rearrange what you already own. These professionals use a mix of practical and aesthetic priorities to create an environment where you can maximize your productivity. They'll double-check your office's flow (how easy it is to walk around among desks and furniture), assess overhead and area-specific or task lighting, whether your most-needed tools are accessible from your desk, and the aesthetics of color and furniture arrangement. One common change that borrows from feng shui: Rather than shove a desk up against a wall and work with your back to the room, turn your desk to face the room and work with your back to a wall. This way, you're more likely to face a doorway (and visitors) or a window (and sunlight), which puts you in what feng shui calls the "command position." 

52.

"Restack" Your Office

When larger corporations reconfigure existing office space or hunt for a new lease, they frequently enlist facilities specialists to discuss how employees use the existing office space and its many features. As an entrepreneur, you probably don't have the time or money for such an endeavor, but a quick e-mail poll or one-week survey can help you and colleagues quickly spot patterns. Indeed, such research often leads businesses of all kinds to realize that what they need isn't more space but better use of existing space--what's known in office design circles as a "restack."If you're considering expanding, rearranging, or introducing new equipment or functions to your office space, poll colleagues first. Here's what to ask:

1) How many hours per week do you spend at your desk vs. working externally? 

You might be surprised to learn how little time some workers spend in-office vs. out in the field or in meetings elsewhere. Often, such workers can get by with much smaller workstations and less in-office equipment.

2) Where do you conduct meetings? If in-office, is space sufficient? 

Do you need a full-on conference room or a corner with a few sofas? Have you hit a tipping point where employees are spending entire workdays at Starbucks because they can't talk to clients and contacts in the office's overbooked or insufficient meeting area?

3) How often do you use your landline phone vs. a mobile phone? 

At work, as in home life, many small businesses are going all-mobile, all the time. If workers have one single phone number where they can always be reached, they may save time not having to check so many phone lines. Bonus: Going all-mobile may save major dough.

4) Do you have to wait for certain equipment? Which equipment? 

Do you need a second fax machine? Do you need another printer? (Maybe you need a color-dedicated printer so that slow presentation jobs don't clog up quick-and-dirty black-and-white contracts?) Do you have a clunky photocopier that only one person knows how to operate? The wrong equipment can waste lots of time.

5) What room, space or feature of the office do you never use? If no one uses the beanbag corner, the lockers in the kitchenette or the reference book shelves in the corner, chances are you could develop a dozen more useful spaces with these regions of the office--like a seat for an intern or a new colleague! 

53.

Don't Overspend on Mobility

So you've got a sales guy who works remotely but nonetheless pops into town now and again, needing a place to hang his hat and get some reports done. Does he really need the same size workstation as the rest of your workers? And a landline and file drawer? Chances are, the answer is no. Every office needs a guest or "hot desk" space for its intermittent workers. Think of these workstations as akin to guestrooms in your home, small touch-down spaces where someone might work, at most, a full day. Sure, you need a (desk and chair), task lighting, a writing surface, and a Post-it with the network's login codes. Beyond that? Little else. These spaces can be smaller, tighter, more open and less "decorated."You don't want that on-the-road worker to settle in--they need to get back out there. 

54.

Create "Collaboration" Areas

The days of the modern-day conference room are mostly kaput. In a small business, meetings are quick and casual. Break up banks of desks with small seating areas--a few chairs or a sofa and coffee table, for instance--so workers can confab amongst themselves while working on projects or brainstorming. Or place pull-up seating (chairs on rollers or other flexible furniture) at the end of banks of desks so colleagues who need to huddle at one desk or another can grab a chair and hunker down.

55.

Keep Your Space Flexible

If your business is growing and changing, your ought to reflect that. Periodically look at how well your functions for your staff. Ask yourself if workers have enough space to accomplish tasks, if it offers clean air, water and light, and if the space can rapidly adjust to accommodate temporary workers who might pinch-hit on tight deadlines. Can you use flexible room dividers or other materials to create temporary privacy or soundproofing for key project teams? Is your space's temperature adjustable? Is network connectivity available consistently and remotely? Does the workplace create a sense of place that's linked to your company's mission, and does that sense of place evolve alongside your business?

56.

Don't Let Your Smartphone Kill Productivity

They do so much--browsing the web, showing streaming video, hosting apps--that it's tempting to waste time playing with them. Take a hard look at how many of your employees really need a smartphone to stay productive. For those who don't, downgrading to a "feature" phone--basically any model that's not described as a smartphone--might make sense. Many feature phones--a category that includes what's often called messaging phones--can support a basic e-mail app. If "push" e-mail is a must-have, check with your carrier to see if they offer a service that works with feature phones, or consider a third-party solution, such as Synchronica's Mobile Gateway Enterprise Edition. Feature phones and their data plans tend to be significantly less expensive than their smart counterparts. The upshot: Low-cost e-mail connectivity increases productivity.

57.

Upgrade Your Smartphone--If It Makes Sense

If there are things you want to do or apps you want to use that your current model can't accommodate, it's probably time to invest in a new model. The good news: App developers and wireless carriers frequently support models that are a generation or two old, such as Windows Mobile 5.0 (circa 2005), so an old model might be just fine. And don't overlook the network technology factor. For example, if a new smartphone means you now can do web conferencing from the field--such as with AT&T's Connect Mobile app for the iPhone and BlackBerry--that productivity gain could make a business case for upgrading.

58.

Guard Against Prying Eyes

What happens if you or your employee loses a smartphone full of contacts, files and other sensitive information? For starters, use the keypad lock that most smartphones include. Sure, requiring a passcode to access the phone won't stop a determined hacker, but it's highly effective against casual prying eyes. Next, check with your smartphone's manufacturer or your wireless carrier to see if they offer a service where you can remotely lock and erase the memory of a phone that's been lost or stolen. (One example is the Palm Pre.) There are also apps you can buy, such as Corsoft Warden and Sprite Terminator.

59.

Use Apps to Avoid Procrastination

They can be a highly effective way to maximize what otherwise would be downtime, making your office time more productive, too. Some examples:

Mobile receipt software--such as Mitek Systems' $4.99 Mobile Receipt--uses your smartphone's camera to scan paper receipts and then enter the information into your expense report.

Track billable time from your smartphone using apps such as AT&T's AIRTIME Manager and Responsive Software's Time Logger.

60.

Reduce Paper and the Waste That Comes With It

For example, instead of spending time deciphering handwriting or typing in handwritten notes later on, look for apps that convert paper forms to digital so they can be filled out in the field from a smartphone. Two examples are Skysoft Systems' inForm and TrueContext's ProntoForms.

61.

Stop Catering to Problem Customers

The time you spend with cranky customers, slow payers and penny pinchers could be spent more productively building relationships with your good customers or finding new ones. Besides, life's just too short and, after all, you're the boss. 

62.

Reduce Customer Returns By Improving Quality Control

I don't know about you, but I hate giving back. It's so unproductive.The first part of any quality-control solution starts with information. Why are items coming back? 

Let's say you're a clothing manufacturer with a high level of returns. Are there flaws in the fabric? Maybe you need to find another supplier. Or maybe something in your assembly process is damaging the material. Is the fit wrong? If so, and a number of people seem to have the same problem, perhaps your pattern is wrong. Did the garment wash up poorly? If this is a sporadic problem, an inaccurate fabric treatment mix may be to blame.

A strategy for lowering your returns might include better inspection of raw materials, preventative maintenance on machines, improved operator training or regular finished goods sampling.

63.

Don't Be Someone Else's Venture Capital

Wait until new products, services, advertising opportunities and the like are tested by someone else before you give them a try. They all have a great story about what a deal whatever they're peddling is. If it's that great, it still will be in a few months. If it's not, they won't have learned their lesson on your nickel. Remember, the pioneers take the most arrows. 

64.

Get Free Advertising

Think about sending newsworthy stories to the local press or offering charitable donations that will provide your company with visibility. A single public relations stunt can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in free publicity.

Any business, no matter how boring, can be made newsworthy with a little dose of creativity.

Suppose you own a Wisconsin-based accounting firm.No one, except maybe CPAs, are titillated by trial balances, captivated by contribution margins or enthralled with EBITA. How could you hope to land a spot on the national news?

Well, thinking outside the balance sheet,you could offer to doAlicein Dairyland's taxes, for free--she's the state's most recognizable spokesperson. You could send out a press release about tax credits for sequestering bovine emissions. It would make a great piece for Got Moo-la, the state's annual business assistance directory. An advance press release, photos included, will ensure a herd of reporters will be standing by. I won'tmilk the concept any further. I think I've made my point.

Not a week goes by when I can't come up with some news tie-in to one of my books. High fuel prices allowed me to pontificate on the amount of gas the nation could save if those who could work from home did. The swine flu offered the possibility of stories on how telework reduces the spread of disease.Earth Day allowed me to pitch the green benefits of telecommuting.The Google Cash scheme gave me the opportunity to crusade against thework-at-home job scams that bilkmillions from consumers every year. 

PR is something you can do on your own, with very little training. 

65.Optimize Your Inventory Running out of raw materials or inventory costs you . So does having too much. You need to find that "just right" middle. To do that:

Monitor your stock with a system that automatically deducts items as they are sold and alerts you when it's time to restock.

Reduce the amount you keep on hand. The cash-flow impact of reducing your inventory from 60 to 30 days is about $8,000/month for every $100,000 of inventory.

Be careful not to overstock just because an item is on sale. Today's good deal may become tomorrow's stale inventory.

Don't fall in love with a product; it's your customers who have to love it.

Sell off stale inventory.

Investigate just-in-time inventory options with your suppliers.

66

Delegate One Big Job

Knowing how to delegate effectively is one of the most important and valuable time management skills anyone can develop. Delegating tasks is not something you do to avoid your responsibilities; it's a technique you use to fulfill them. Moving tasks off your plate frees you up to focus your energies where you can make a unique contribution. It may not be in your nature to depend on anyone but you. Break the habit and the irrational belief that you are the only person who can do things right. It's time to discover that other people can offer fresh and wonderful ideas. Focus on the fact that, like you, most people are responsible and enjoy making a contribution. It can be difficult to know what to delegate, and how to do it in a way that saves, rather than costs, you time.  There are two categories of tasks that can be delegated:

Noncreative, repetitive tasks are done regularly (generating regular reports, crunching numbers, answering phones, routine correspondence, preparing packets, confirming meeting attendance).

Special projects, onetime or infrequent tasks (creating a brochure, launching a new initiative, planning an event, designing a product, researching and acquiring a new computer)

Choose the right person for the job. Whether delegating to an assistant, a direct report or an outside consultant, be sure to match the skill set of the person to the task. Recognize that there are three levels of delegatees to choose from, and each requires a different investment of time on your part. Consider to whom you are delegating, and plan accordingly.

Expert: Giving the task to someone who can do it better or faster than you is an instant time-saver because it requires the least instruction and supervision from you. If there is no expert in-house, consider hiring an outside expert.

Equal: Giving the job to someone who is just as qualified as you reduces the time you must spend explaining the task to a minimum and offers a high likelihood that the work will be done adequately--even if the person on the project approaches it a little differently than you would.

Beginner: Giving the job to someone who is not as skilled as you requires the largest investment of time to teach and guide, but you may develop a loyal helper who feels grateful for the opportunity to learn.

One of the greatest benefits of delegation is that it promotes a healthy interdependence among people. Delegation isn't about burdening others but giving them a chance to make a contribution and provide value to the team.

67

Quit Multitasking

The Journal of Experimental Psychology found that it takes your brain four times longer to recognize and process each thing you're working on when you switch back and forth among several tasks. This means that if your day is a random free-for-all in which you hop from task to task, your work will literally take much longer because of the real time you lose switching gears.            Think about it: If it takes you 10 minutes to get oriented to a new task every time you switch gears, and you switch gears 10 times a day, that's over 1.5 hours of wasted time. Not only does multitasking have a quantitative impact on your day, but it can also damage the quality of your work. Managing two mental tasks at the same time significantly reduces the brainpower available to concentrate on either one, ultimately damaging the quality of your final product. Severe multitaskers experience a variety of symptoms, including short-term memory loss, gaps in their attentiveness and a general inability to concentrate.     Avoid multitasking by grouping similar tasks. Create a simple schedule--such as quiet work in the morning and people activities in the afternoon. Or, you could organize your day around your core responsibilities, setting aside two hours for creative work, one hour for financial tasks and five hours for people management every day. You could even organize your schedule by day--devoting Mondays to marketing, Tuesday through Thursday to client service, and Fridays to finance. As an entrepreneur, you have maximum control over your schedule--and you should take advantage of that freedom to organize your time in a way that brings out your peak performance. --Julie Morgenstern     

68

Break Your E-mail Addiction

E-mail is the biggest source of distraction in the workplace. We interrupt ourselves every five minutes to check our inboxes, hoping for something more interesting, more fun or more urgent than whatever we're working on in that moment. Continuity in our thought process and, not surprisingly, our productivity plummets as a result. E-mail has created what I call a staccato work environment--where everything has to be "now, now, now!" We assume people expect immediate responses, because an immediate response seems possible. But just because messages arrive instantaneously in your inbox doesn't mean that you have to respond immediately. I have clients who consciously choose to WAIT before replying, even if they see an e-mail right away, to avoid training people to think they are always available. Not everything is urgent, and not everything is e-mail---some projects, requests, decisions and correspondences take time and thought. Years ago, it may have been impressive to get back to someone the moment they sent a request. But today--if someone answers your e-mail within minutes of your sending it--what is your reaction? Don't you wonder why that person is sitting there with nothing more important to do? Three ways to kick the e-mail habit:

Completely avoid e-mail for the first hour of the day. E-mail is addictive. It interrupts continuity in our thought process and steals productivity. If you can fight off e-mail the first hour of the day, you can control yourself all day long. Instead, use that hour to focus on your most critical, concentrated task.

Keep your e-mail alarm off. Check e-mail at designated times of each day--e.g., 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m. If an issue is that critical or urgent, someone will find you!

Stop "just checking." Process e-mails fully during your e-mail sessions. Read, respond and immediately delete or file e-mails that can be answered in two minutes or less. For e-mails that require more thought or research before responding, schedule a specific time later in your schedule to deal with them.

By devoting your first hour to concentrated work, the day starts proactively instead of reactively. It's a bold statement to the world (and yourself) that you can take control, pull away from the frenetic pace and create the time for quiet work when you need it. There's no safer hour than the first to be "off e-mail" because you have the rest of the day to catch up to anything that's sitting in there. And truly--what's so urgent that cannot wait 59 minutes for you to tend to it?  Develop your muscles of resistance one day at a time. The first day or two will be the hardest, but each successive day will become easier as you realize how little you are actually missing and how much your productivity improves--when you proactively carve out time to think. --Julie Morgenstern 

69

Tackle Tough Tasks When You Are At Peak Energy

You'll get them done in a fraction of the time. The morning is best for many people, but if your brain doesn't kick into gear until later in the day, you may need a different time. Attempting to concentrate at a time of day when you're sluggish is highly inefficient. 

Your energy levels can have a profound impact on your effectiveness. Pay attention to your natural energy cycles when you tackle tasks. If you've been doing mentally taxing work for too long and begin to tire, try switching to a group of physical tasks to restore your energy.       

If you're not tuned into your natural energy cycles, you may be trying to tackle  your most challenging activities when you're feeling sluggish and wasting your peak energy on less demanding tasks. Study yourself. Clues to your energy cycles and preferences lie in the way your days operate. For example, if you keep promising yourself that you'll wake up at 6 a.m. to exercise but haven't made it to the gym even once, it's probably a safe bet that getting up with the early birds doesn't jibe with your body.            

Understanding your natural daily rhythms gives you a point of negotiation--you might not always be able to do things at your optimal time, but if you're aware, and willing to make the effort, you can pull it off more often than not. Take the time to create a schedule that provides your ideal balance. The best way to do this is to learn how to make a Time Map for yourself. --Julie Morgenstern 

70

Define Your Goals and Activities

To feel nourished, energized and balanced, you need to define big-picture goals and activities for each category of your life. Many people set career or financial goals but neglect to set goals for other critical areas of their lives. If your life feels out of balance, think about where you are spending the majority of your time. Chances are that your time is being spent in those areas of your life for which your goals are clear-cut. For each of your major life or work categories, write down your big-picture goal. Consider your deepest values and ask yourself "What would make me happy in each of these key areas? When all is said and done, what am I working toward? What do I dream of attaining?" Let's define the difference between goals and activities.

A goal is a destination. It's what you want to achieve.

An activity is how you get there. It's the specific means to your higher goals.

            For example, "exercise three times per week" is not a goal. The question is why do you want to exercise? Perhaps it's to maximize your health. "Maximize my health" is a goal. Exercise is the activity that gets you there. Activities take up space in your schedule and can change from month to month and from year to year. Goals define the reward you are seeking. 

Big-picture goals are based on your core values, and they tend not to change much over the course of your life. For example, warm and loving relationships, well-adjusted kids, financial security and wealth, expertise in a particular area, an inviting and comfortable home, and a sense of connection to your community are all values you are likely to hold onto throughout your life. Keep your big-picture goals simple and heartfelt. Once you know what your big-picture goals are, choose two or three specific activities that will help you achieve those goals. There are many ways to achieve any one big-picture goal. But to keep your schedule in balance, limit yourself to no more than three activities per goal at any given time. Think about it: Six life categories multiplied by three activities each is 18 activities you will need to fit into the "closet" that makes up your week. You can revisit and change your activities monthly, quarterly or annually. But two to three activities per goal is plenty for now. --Julie Morgenstern 

71

Dedicate The First Hour Of Your Workday To Your Most Critical Task

Too often, we spend the first hour or two of our day checking e-mail and seeing what everyone else needs from us before getting to our own critical to-dos. The problem with that is if you postpone your most important task until you take care of everyone else's needs, the burden of the unfinished task hangs over your head all day, weighing you down with dread and guilt. If you knock it out first thing in the morning, the relief buoys you up all day long, energizing you and boosting your productivity as you tackle the rest of the items on your to-do list. Decide the night before exactly what you are going to tackle during that hour. Ask yourself, if tomorrow flies out of control, what one task (not two or three) would I be excited to get done--what can I do to generate revenue by 10 a.m.? Deciding the evening before will give you a chance to mull it over in your sleep. Once you arrive at your desk in the morning, you can hit the ground running instead of wasting half of your precious hour figuring out what you should do. Try it. Turn off your e-mail alarm, turn on your voice mail, and begin your day with a single focus--completing that critical task. The energy you'll get from accomplishing it will fuel you all day long.

72

Create a Golden Nugget Binder

As entrepreneurs, we are constantly in search of professional development. We attend seminars, lectures and trade shows, and along the way we amass tons of handouts and research that can quickly turn into a disorganized mess. We need to learn how to select the most important information from all the papers we collect and apply it to our work.  As you sift through all of your research and handouts from meetings and seminars, transfer all of the tips, facts and information that are new and useful onto a single sheet of paper. Then place the sheet in a loose-leaf binder (or appropriate topic file) marked "Golden Nuggets." In addition to saving on storage from having tossed all the non-nuggets, writing all those Golden Nuggets down has another benefit: It will help you retain the information, making you more likely to apply it. 

73

Choose Paper or Electronic for Your Contact Entries

If you keep your calendar on the computer but find yourself making appointments when you are at a meeting and scribbling them on paper, enter them on your computer the minute you get back to your desk rather than relying on the written record. If your database of business contacts is on the computer and you collect a business card at a conference, enter that information in your computer's Contact Manager, and toss the card. Alternatively, if you prefer to keep all phone numbers in an old-fashioned Rolodex, and someone e-mails you his cell phone or other contact information, automatically transfer it to your Rolodex. Remember: There should be just one place to look! If it's hard to motivate yourself to take the time to put things away, change your outlook. You're not putting things away; you're positioning them for their next use. Remind yourself how great it will feel to look for the phone number of an important business contact, and voila! It will be right there in your database, the first time you check. --Julie Morgenstern 

74

Mark Your Spot When Getting Interrupted

According to a study by the Institute for Advanced Management Systems, it takes at least 20 minutes to get back to the level of concentration that had been attained before the disruption. Leaving a "Next Action" Post-it can eliminate that reorientation time completely. If you need to stop in the middle of a project, make it easier to pick up where you left off by writing yourself a little "Next Action" note. On a brightly colored Post-it, placed directly onto the document, indicate where you left off and write down the very step you need to take next. For example: "Need to read last three pages, write summary, highlight changes, check address, draft closing paragraph." Investing a minute to mark your spot before you stop will save you time currently lost to getting reoriented. --Julie Morgenstern 

75

Determine Your Concentration Threshold

How long can you ignore all distractions and give 100 percent of your attention to one task? Ten minutes at a time? Thirty minutes? Two hours? Four hours? We each have a different concentration threshold. Find out what yours is. How long can you give one task your undivided attention before you begin to feel saturated, distracted or antsy to take care of something else? Study yourself--you may be surprised by what you learn. At the height of your threshold, there's an enveloping feeling that anything would be better than what you're currently doing. It's like your skin no longer fits your body; you're jumpy. Or you feel the pull of checking in with the "outside world." You need to move around, check e-mail, check voice mail. For some, focusing for even 10 minutes on just one task can be pure torture. Others delude themselves, believing they can concentrate for two hours, but upon closer inspection they realize that they actually interrupt themselves every 30 minutes by checking voice mail and e-mail and filing their nails. In many cases, the environment around you may be buzzing so furiously that a 20-minute break in the action is the most time you'll ever get. Once you know your threshold, begin to build up your tolerance. If you start at 10 minutes, add five minutes, then five more, and five more, increasing to 20, then 30 minutes. Your goal is being able to focus for a full hour. There's no easy way to do this--it's simply a matter of forcing yourself to hang in there, postponing curiosity and satisfaction for just five more minutes. You'll be amazed how much you can actually get done in a full hour of complete focus.

76

Don't Answer the Phone

Consider a PBX with auto attendant, such as Cisco's SPA9000 or TalkSwitch's 244vs, or a hosted service, such as Jazinga (jazinga.com) or RingCentral. The auto attendant can make your company sound professional and big, and features such as find me/follow me call forwarding minimize time wasted on phone tag. 

77

MinimizeTrips to the Bank.

One obvious, easy way is by asking your clients if they offer direct deposit. And thanks to the Check 21 Act, passed in 2004, it's now easier than ever to deposit checks without actually going to the bank. This law enabled what's known as "remote deposit capture" (RDC) products--such as Mitek Systems' ImageNet Payments Remote Remit--which scan paper checks to create digital copies that have the same legal and financial clout. A growing number of RDC products use cell phone cameras, such as NCR's APTRA Mobile Passport. Many banks now provide RDC devices and services for small-business customers, so check with yours. The hardware often is free, with a flat monthly fee for using the service. Examples include Bank of America's Small Business Remote Deposit Online and Wachovia's Remote Deposit Capture.

78

Cut the Cord

Use your cell phone frequently but still have a wired desk phone? Consider replacing your desk phone with a femtocell, which routes your cellular calls over a broadband connection. Examples include Verizon Wireless' Network Extender and Sprint's AIRAVE. Wireless carriers frequently offer rate plans that enable unlimited calls for a low, flat rate when you're connected to the femtocell, which typically covers a few thousand square feet. One exception is Verizon, which charges $200 for the femtocell, with no service fees. Bonus No. 1: Because the signal is stronger, femto-enabled calls usually are more reliable and have better audio, so you'll feel comfortable talking longer. Bonus No. 2: A single phone number makes it faster and easier for clients and colleagues to reach you. AT&T, Sprint and Verizon currently market their femtos only to consumers, but that will change, judging by the number of vendors developing business versions. In the meantime, they're a viable option for SOHOers. 

79

Don't Lose Power

Eventually, the electrical grid will fail you, so prepare for it. Get an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to keep your computers running during brief power outages so time isn't wasted retyping lost information. Manufacturers include APC, Liebert and Tripp Lite. Consider a bigger battery backup or even a generator if you can't afford to have an ice storm or hurricane take down your business for hours or days. 

80

Scan Business Cards

Use a business card scanner--such as DYMO's CardScan or Neat's NeatWorks--so you don't waste time manually typing information into Outlook, Lotus or Entourage. Or step up to a model that digitizes other types of documents, too, for additional time savings.

81

Dare to Look Beneath the Surface

It certainly is easy and ideal to believe that everything is working out well in your organization, especially if you hear nothing to the contrary. However, if you dare look below the surface, you may be surprised.

Most employees are evaluated annually during their performance appraisal interview, so why not do the same for your organization? Have an external company audit of your employees' satisfaction levels: their views on what's positive, what's negative and what simply needs to be changed, modified or adjusted. Make sure you leave room on the form to list new ideas and other suggestions. The results may be painful, but like going to the doctor, it's better to find out that something is wrong sooner rather than later. 

82

Create Employee Satisfaction Teams

Once you've surveyed your unit, team or organization to determine what works and what doesn't, its strengths and limitations, don't rely on consultants or your senior management team to devise solutions.

Empower a wide range of employees to meet to streamline or improve employee job functions and improve morale. After all, many of these people are on the front lines of what is happening in your organization. Who will know better than them exactly what isn't working?  When employees believe that they are part of the process of improving or changing a system, task, policy or procedure, they will be far more interested in helping others carry out and implement the findings. And other employees will value changes more because they will see that their peers have been involved in improving the situation. 

83

Expand the Job Responsibilities of Individual Employees

They will feel better, gain skills and do a better job. Partially because we live in such a fast-paced society, individuals often get bored doing the same job over an extended period of time. They seek to do something else, but often they may not have the skills, motivation or opportunity to move up the ladder. 

In these cases, one excellent method of improving an employee's outlook and output is to expand his/her specific responsibilities and tasks. 

84

Cross-train Employees

Most employees are interested in learning new skills and responsibilities. It motivates them and stimulates their interest, curiosity and dedication. It also makes them more valuable to the organization.

Start by asking the employee what additional jobs he/she would like to learn. Then find a mentor to assist in the training. Assure this teacher that his/her job is not on the line; in fact, you should also ask this teacher to become the student of someone else in the organization whose job seems interesting. It's a clear win-win situation for everyone. 

85

Share the Good News

Bad news spreads like wildfire, and this was true even before e-mail. But how about good news? Many leaders dismiss the idea of giving people compliments, falsely believing that individuals should know when they do a good job and shouldn't need someone else to tell them. NOT TRUE.

Almost nothing goes further in making an employee feel good, feel motivated, and feel worthy about the job and themselves than receiving positive feedback, especially from the boss. But don't let it stop there. Share this information through the intranet, voice mail, posting on a bulleting board, and stating it in staff meetings. Employees will see management in a more positive light and will want to strive harder to gain similar acknowledgment. After all, recognition is a key source of motivation, and besides, it simply feels good.

86

Use Your Smartphone for Dictation Tasks

Apps such as WinScribe, Philips' Dictation Recorder and Nuance Communications' Dragon Dictation let you speak what you'd otherwise have to type so you can compose e-mail or brainstorm aloud while driving. How much of  a time-saver is that? Nuance says it's about five times faster than typing. Some dictation products are available for specific industries, such as health care. One example is PortNexus' TelAssociate, which some wireless carriers offer under their brand, such as AT&T. 

87

Use Your Smartphone for CRM

Apps such as Nice Office CRM and SAP for BlackBerrys let you work on these tasks from the field and during what otherwise would be downtime, such as riding in a cab. Look for apps that sync the work done on your smartphone with your PC, such as via a server, so you don't have to update everything manually once you're back in the office.

Bonus: Smartphone CRM apps can make you more responsive to your clients' needs, a potential market differentiator. 

88

Sync Your Smartphone With Your PC

It's easy to sync your calendar, tasks, contacts and e-mail when your smartphone and PC use the same operating system (OS), such as Windows or Mac. But what happens when they're running different OSes?  Enable interoperability between devices with different operating systems--such as syncing Entourage's calendar, contacts and tasks on your iMac with your Windows Mobile smartphone--using software such as CompanionLink and Mark/Space's Missing Sync. Expect to pay about $40. Bonus: This strategy gives you more flexibility in picking a smartphone because you're not locked into a single OS, but with no productivity trade-offs because you still can easily transfer all of your must-have info and files. 

89

Stay in Touch While Traveling Abroad

One option is to get a phone that uses GSM technology--such as those sold by AT&T and T-Mobile--but be sure to get a version that supports multiple bands because many countries use different spectrums than North America. Another option is to rent a phone once you've landed. Both of those options can be expensive in terms of roaming fees or the international long-distance charges that your clients, colleagues and friends pay when calling your rental phone's number. Enter a third option: a global, mobile voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service such as Truphone Local Anywhere, 8x8's MobileTalk or Skype so you and the people trying to reach you don't have to pay through the nose. Check whether the VoIP service can be used over cellular networks, too, or just when your smartphone is connected to Wi-Fi. You'll still have to pay a roaming fee to the wireless carrier, but you won't have to pay international calling charges on top of that or hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot just to make a call. 

90

Stop Lugging Around a Projector

Do you often need a projector, such as for sales presentations? Instead of buying and lugging a full-size one--a huge drag on your shoulder and one more thing to unpack and repack during the airport security gauntlet--consider a pico projector, which is pocket-sized. Several models are available from vendors such as Microvision, Optoma and 3M. Some can get their content from a smartphone, potentially freeing you from carting a laptop, too. Prices start around $175. Keep an eye out for a new breed of laptops and smartphones with built-in pico projectors.

91.

Sound-proof

If you're making workers do more in less space, make sure they can hear themselves think. Sound-proofing is a better alternative to earplugs and headphones--although, that said, there's nothing wrong with workers electing to pop them on when they're concentrating on a tight deadline or cranking out a crucial report.

Start with the small stuff: Use wall-to-wall or area carpets and curtains, along with other fabric décor, to buffer sound's ability to travel. If you're in a new office and are investing to get the space properly configured, investigate sound-proof foam or sound-proof panels, which can be mounted on (or within) walls as well as on ceilings. 

92

Do Double-Duty With Open Spaces

You don't need a big conference room to convene an all-hands-on-deck meeting. These days, more and more offices are using lobby areas that double as meeting spaces for impromptu gatherings and stand-up (read: quick but important) meetings. If your enterprise is big enough, you can use a building atrium as a space where workers can attend or at least view the main event taking place on the ground floor. Open spaces aren't just for meetings, though. Lobby and other open space areas do great double-duty if your company is hosting a neighborhood, chamber or local industry event or lecture--and can allow you to not only make connections in the community but also convey an impression of your brand to guests. (Decorate carefully!)

93

93. Do a Stand-up Job

Gone are the days of slow sit down meetings, where long-winded debates and meandering conversations wander off-topic. Modern meetings are fast, frequent, and may call for just a handful of people at a time. Aside from quick desk-side huddles, many businesses are using quick, short stand up meetings and making more space to facilitate them. Consider standing-height tables in collaborative areas, offer write-on/wipe-off materials on walls, and make standing-height tables available in kitchen/coffee stations (in addition to regular tables) so workers can spread out while sipping a cup of joe or nibbling on a sandwich. Wouldn't it be nice to see them collaborating and bonding rather than slumping back to a desk and computer screen? 

94

Make Walls Flexible

Many teams and sub-teams working on high-priority projects need their own temporary war room environment. Consider using moveable walls on casters or sliders to create cordoned-off areas where workers can hunker down together and use a combination of collaborative workspaces, tables, workstations, sitting areas, and write-on/wipe-off walls for quick modeling and decision making. If moveable walls aren't an option, curtains, shelving or other dividing systems can help create a sense of dynamic, temporary space where a team can burn through a deadline. Having the capacity to make an ad hoc in-office environment can help communicate a sense of mission and urgency, and spur motivation among the workers driving important projects. 

95

Consider Low Cube Walls

Traditional 6-foot-tall cubicle walls are isolating, but having no separation whatsoever between workers' desks can lead to a perceived lack of privacy. Many companies now use low (4-foot-tall) cubicle walls to create a sense of separation between workspaces but allow enough visibility among workers so they don't feel isolated. In addition, lower cube walls tend to allow for eye contact between those sitting in their workspaces and those circulating within the office--meaning that passers-by will self-regulate their inside voices out of respect and acknowledgment for the fact that cube-dwellers are hard at work.

96.

Plan Your Vacation At Least Three Months In Advance And Take All Of It

Vacations are as important to your health as watching your cholesterol and getting exercise. An annual vacation can cut the risk of heart attack in men by 30 percent and, in women who take more than one holiday a year, by 50 percent. Studies also show that vacations cure burnout, increase positive mood and boost productivity when you return. If you don't take vacations seriously and plan ahead, they either don't happen or you wind up with a last-minute substitute, like puttering around the house. Start planning at least three months in advance. Do your homework, and you'll have a chance to craft the best times of your life. 

97.

Set Rules For E-mail use

The average corporate user gets 133 e-mails a day, according to research firm The Radicati Group. That adds up to 100 days a year doing nothing but reading and answering e-mail. The problem is that electronic messaging is unbounded. We just let it avalanche without any restraints. For optimal performance and a lot less stress and fewer interruptions, you have to set the rules of engagement. Create a list of interruption management rules that include manual checking of all messages at set times, limited reply-all mail, resisting the temptation to send unless it's important, and no e-mail on weekends.

98.

Get Out Of Denial

The bravado workplace makes you think it's wimpy to admit you're stressed. The reality is that real wimpiness comes from not admitting it, because what happens when you don't deal with stress or communicate about it is that you think about it. You ruminate, which is the worst thing possible, since that's what accelerates the stress spiral and the catastrophic thoughts that come with it. Listen to your body for the stress signals--fatigue, insomnia, irritability, anxiety, lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, neck pain, back pain, irritable bowel syndrome. And then find out what's causing the stress--and resolve it. 

99.

Think Of Yourself As An IPod

After three straight hours working on a task, the brain has reached its limit, and you have to get off task to recharge your mental batteries, researchers say. We're no different than cell phones or iPods. Take two 10- to 15-minute breaks in the morning and two in the afternoon to recharge yourself. Use the time to get away from the work mind and tap in to things you enjoy. Listen to a favorite album or inspirational podcast. Plan your weekend. Breaks interrupt stressors and rejuvenate harried brain cells. Consider these pauses in the onslaught opportunities to pump up your day and prevent repetitive motion injuries and mental brown-outs. 

100.

Don't Buy Work Guilt

Work guilt is another stressor you don't need. It's not even real guilt in the first place. You haven't punched anyone in the face or poured coffee on someone's keyboard. Psychologists call work guilt unreal guilt. It's just a projected anxiety foisted on you by what you think others think you "should" be doing. You can opt out of guilt by not following what the manipulators want and making the decision yourself. Now you're in charge, not the "shoulds" in your head. If your family wants you to join them for an outing on the weekend, but you feel guilty not working, tell yourself that you'd rather work but your family needs you, so you're going to skip the office. You won't feel resentful this way. If you decide it's critical that you work, find the reason why, and if it's an important situation and you make that choice for that reason, you won't feel the guilt. Make a conscious choice, and you can opt out of this unnecessary stressor.

101.

Measure marketing results

The method that produces the highest profit for the dollar spent wins. That's a pretty easy concept. But how do you actually put it into practice? Let's say you sell a pool-cleaning service for $300. You place an ad for $900 in a local monthly magazine. Sell to three customers and you break even, right? Wrong. What we're talking about here is return on investment (ROI). If your hard costs to deliver the service (staff, supplies, etc.) total $100, you're only making $200 per customer (67 percent on each sale). So rock bottom, you need to make $1,343 per ad ($900/67 percent)--or about 4.5 customers ($1,343/4.5 customers). But that only gets you to break-even. It doesn't help cover any of your overhead costs (vehicles, rent, loan payments, taxes, etc.), and it doesn't leave you any profit. If that one ad had to cover all your fixed expenses (let's say they total $3,000 a month) and leave you with a 10 percent net profit, you'd need $5,263 in sales or 17 to 18 customers from that one ad. 

[Fixed Expenses ($3,000) + Ad Cost ($900) / [Gross Profit Margin (67%) - Desired Net Profit Margin (10%)] 

That's: $3,900 / .57 = $6,842 or about 23 customers ($6,842 / $300 each) or a 7.6 times return on your ad investment ($6,842 / $900) Any less, and you're contributing to the magazine's profit, but not your own.

102.

Establish a preventative maintenance program for buildings and equipment

Sudden stoppages due to broken equipment can be very costly. Be sure to have unique spare parts on hand so that minor problems don't become major ones. Develop a network of owners of similar equipment that you can call on for advice or loaner parts. Keep a database of where to buy essential parts and keep it up to date. 

103.

Compare your expense ratio and other ratios against others in your industry

Suppose you found out that your chief competitor makes 10 percent more on each sale than you do. On $200,000 in revenue, that's $20,000 they're taking home--or reinvesting in the business--that you're not.

I'm not talking about corporate espionage here; I'm talking about financial benchmarking. It's perfectly legal, and in most cases the data you need is available at no charge. A summary of the best sources of data is available at FindingMoneyAdvice.com .

If you learn that your gross profit margin is lower than average, you'll want to figure out why. Are your prices too low? Are your costs too high? What do they know that you don't?

104.

Ask employees for cost-saving ideas

If you really want to encourage participation, offer a percentage of the first-year savings to the creators of the ideas that are implemented. According to Jim Leddy, public information officer for Sonoma county in California, they saved $7 million using ideas submitted by their employees. Some of the suggestions listed on their website include:

Stop food and beverage catering for management meetings.

Stop providing bottled water; variations: drink tap, tap with faucet filter (cost split with employees).

Create a hotline to confidentially report administrative waste, fraud and abuse.

Reduce janitorial services to two days per week as opposed to three.

While there was no financial incentive in last year's program, prior programs awarded $5,000 for the best idea.

105.

Consider the use of contractors vs. employees

Contractors generally cost 30 to 40 percent less than full-time workers--savings derived largely from not having to pay benefits or employment taxes. Other benefits of a contract labor force include easy scalability, being able to better match talent with specific projects, and access to a broader talent pool. Before you decide to expand your contract labor force, be sure you understand how the IRS determines whether someone is a contractor or an employee. Misclassification can be very costly. An agreement stating that a person is a contractor doesn't make them one. You can read more about the contractor/employee debate in an article I wrote here, or get it from the horse's mouth at IRS.gov. Be sure to check with your state taxing authority, too. Many have rules that are even stricter than the IRS's.

106.

Revitalize your Windows PC

After about a year, Windows PCs typically develop a sort of electronic sclerosis, where apps take longer to launch, and everything seems more and more sluggish. If you don't mind opening your desktop or laptop, or paying someone to, adding a RAM can be a fast and cheap way to improve performance.

Another option is to reinstall the operating system. The process will take a few hours, but you'll recoup that in spades by gaining a faster, less buggy machine.

Bonus: Backing up your files before the reinstallation also ensures that you won't waste even more time someday when your hard drive crashes.

107.

Put Your desktop in Your Pocket

Access files on your computer from your smartphone using apps and services such as Ovi File, Soonr and WebEx's PCNow. No more wasting time--or your client's time--having to go back to the office to get an important document.

108.

Don't Lose Your Laptop To Overheating

Install a free app, such as Core Temp or MobileMeter, that monitors your laptop's internal temperature. Sure, your machine will automatically shut off it overheats, but by then, the damage can be done, such as a fried motherboard, which can take a week and several hundred dollars to replace--plus lost productivity.

109.

Ditch The Crapware

Uninstall all of the superfluous software--sometimes called "crapware"--that comes with a new PC, particularly laptops. It bogs down performance. Better yet, if you're custom-ordering your machine, tell the vendor not to install it in the first place.

110.

Power Up While Driving

Buy a power inverter, which converts your vehicle's electricity to the kind that laptops, cell phones and iPads can use. Then you can charge while you drive or, if someone else is behind the wheel, get some work done.

Power inverters are available from a wide variety of retailers, including Walmart and Office Depot. Prices start around $11 and increase based on features such as the number of devices the inverter can power simultaneously. But once you get into the 150-watt range, start considering a model that hard-wires to your vehicle's battery.

Tip: If you'll be using it in a rental car, be sure to ask for a vehicle that has a cigarette lighter or power port. Not all do.

111.

Personalize Your Space

Do you have a detail-oriented job and need extreme focus? Are you a creative who needs to relax in order to let the juices flow? Not every in an office needs to look cookie-cutter identical. Set a tone in your own space with plants, a few art objects or personal items. Or let an entire team redefine its area based on job function, perhaps letting them paint their region of the space a certain color or encouraging them to doodle and noodle on their area's whiteboards. 

112.

Make It Homey

More and more large corporations are nixing the "corporate" feel of office furniture and using functional but comfortable sofas, arm chairs, and conference tables more akin to Pottery Barn wares than to the Steelcase catalog. When workers feel they're "at home," they feel more at ease to bring all of their faculties to the table with respect to brainstorming, communicating, and bringing their whole selves to their job's thought process. While your office need not look like a den or a Starbucks, there's nothing wrong with incorporating homey elements in some departments or within spaces of certain departments to communicate to staff that they can curl up in a comfy chair and still get good work done. 

113.

Choose An Inspiring Neighborhood

If you're establishing a new office or planning a move, consider carefully what the neighborhood you choose says about your business. In most major cities, there are entrepreneurial districts of town--the neighborhoods where, by association, you're staking a claim on hipness or situating yourself with bigger players in your industry. Keep in mind that work neighborhoods are a major unspoken ingredient in the recruiting process. If you plan to grow and want to hire top talent, new college grads and twentysomethings will want to see how you've positioned the company among similar businesses. In other words, choosing the right address helps with HR productivity and marketing. 

114.

Factor In Fitness

Few startups offer fitness programs, and most send mixed messages about work-life balance. (You can have a life--except when we're on deadline!) While the dotcom days of in-office foosball tables and Friday beer pong may have fallen by the wayside, that doesn't mean you can't encourage your staff to stay fit. You can always negotiate an employee discount rate at a neighborhood gym, but better yet your office space can offer bike racks (or bike parking), a shower, lockers, and other minimal amenities that help staffers who bike-commute or steal some workout time at lunch to keep fit despite long work days. 

115.

Make It Nontoxic

Keeping employees healthy is one key to productivity. After all, if they're out sick, they can't work. How your workers take care of themselves is largely out of your hands, but you can make a difference at the office by ensuring that your work environment isn't contributing to poor health. By making sure your office is cleaned regularly, that your indoor air quality is clean, and that water is pure, you can make sure you're not compromising workers' health. Interview any cleaning services that you use carefully, and if you're eco-conscious, discuss whether or not they're using nontoxic cleaners. Additionally, consider hiring an eco-consultant to help "green" the office, reducing any noxious materials, chemicals and products and replacing them with healthier alternatives.

116.

Set Stop Times

Entrepreneurs have more work than they can get done in a given day, so it's easy to fall prey to the "just one more thing"syndrome. One more e-mail. One more call. Before you know it, it's 9 p.m. Keep yourself in check with stop times. Pick a day--say, Tuesday--and choose a time when you will put the day's work to bed no matter what. At 6:30 p.m., you're done. Choose your stop times, and you can avoid defaulting to the "one more thing" syndrome and burnout. 

117.

Get At Least Four Hours Of Exercise Every Week

It's a vicious cycle. You're exhausted by the end of the workday, so you go home and crash on the couch, which only makes you feel more sluggish. Resist the urge to vegetate; instead, get energized with a regular exercise routine. After an hour of the gym, Pilates, yoga, or whatever is your preferred activity, your body and mind are revitalized and refueled for more life and the job tomorrow. Studies show that aerobic exercise doesn't just do wonders for your cardiovascular system and reduce your stress, but it also enhances brain function and memory.

118.

Set Realistic Deadlines

If you think you can get things done faster than you can--and Type As, I'm talking to you--make sure to stop and reassess before you promise a delivery date you can't meet without imploding. Things always take longer than you think, and chronic over-promising is a huge and needless stressor. Build in time for scope creep, an extra 25 percent or more, and visitations of Murphy's Law. Realistic deadlines mean saying no sometimes and proposing alternative scenarios. Your goal should be a time frame that is feasible for effective performance. 

119.

Tell Yourself A Different Story

It's not the boss or the deadline that's stressing you out. It's you--or rather, your reaction to it. It's the story you tell yourself about the stress that makes it stressful. Work stress is not a matter of life and limb, but your caveman brain interprets it that way. The first thought after a stressful event is a distortion by the panicked brain, the amygdala. It's a false alarm. When the stress goes off and the emotions rage, step back, take a breath, and reframe the event with a different attitude. Tell yourself you're not buying the panic of an ancient brain default. You're going to stay neutral in this situation, not let emotions run you, and dispute the stress with the facts of the situation. 

120.

Get More Sleep

High performers in any field need to be fully rested to be at the top of their game. Sleep is a critical engine of productivity that's often overlooked in the bravado of the workplace. If you don't get enough shut-eye--seven to nine hours a night for adults--the key tool in the knowledge economy, your brain, will be compromised. Sleep is essential to remember things, to connect data, and to help restore the body. In one study, lab rats deprived of sleep couldn't remember the routes through mazes they'd taken before. Some people can get by on seven hours of sleep, but others may need up to nine quality hours to reach their basal sleep need. When you're not getting enough sleep, you build up a sleep deficit that has to be caught up to restore peak alertness. To improve your chances, try removing the stimulants from your bedroom--TVs, computers, video games, and Red Bull.

121.

Keep an Eye on Your Physical Health

Caffeine, sugar, power bars and the pure will to concentrate can compensate for lack of sleep and poor nutrition, but nothing substitutes for genuine physical health. Sleep, exercise, a proper diet and regular checkups are important for maintaining your physical health. This is a basic, essential priority, which provides the well of energy from which you draw the strength to accomplish everything you need to do. Some people neglect their own health for so long that they forget what it feels like to be healthy and rested. Making the commitment to your physical health will have an immediately visible effect on your productivity. Take the following steps:

Monitor how much sleep you currently get, and then increase your sleep time in half-hour increments. Studies show that getting the same amount of sleep every night is healthier for your body than trying to run on five hours a night during the week and then sleeping 10 hours on the weekends to catch up.

Choose bedtime reading materials carefully. Try reading only fiction or poetry before sleep; nonfiction, self-help, business books, and the newspaper tend to rile you up rather then settle your brain.

Discover a form of exercise you love. Try Pilates, yoga, aerobics classes, biking, rowing, softball--anything that you enjoy and that takes your mind off the torture of exercise! Start small and don't be overly ambitious. Exercising three times a week is just fine.

Listen to business tapes while on the treadmill or out for a walk. Combining the two can make you feel that your exercise time is for your work, not a break from it.

Buy a pedometer--and walk everywhere instead of taking the elevator or the car. Keeping track of how many miles you trek a week, month or year can motivate you to keep on truckin'.

Take a multivitamin. You'll be surprised what a difference it makes. Replace your afternoon energy booster with something more organic than sugar or caffeine--an energy bar, juice, jumping jacks, a walk in the fresh air.

Establish a personal relationship with each of the doctors on your core team. Know each of their receptionists--those personal connections are key to swift appointments. Aim for morning visits--doctors fall behind later in the day--so you can get in and out fast. Try to bunch all of your annual checkups at the same time of year--autumn and springtime usually present the fewest scheduling problems.

122.

Articulate Your Personal Vision

Your career is a major part of your life. What drives you to be where you are? What, beyond this moment, keeps propelling you forward? What is the vision that inspires you? Take a minute now to articulate what drives you personally. State clearly what you are working toward. Developing a vision can be a little overwhelming, but it doesn't need to be complicated. What does your gut tell you? What do you want? What's making you wake up every day to get started on your work? Don't feel pressured to articulate your one-year, five-year, and 10-year goals. Vision is often as hard to describe as feeling an impulse, a wish or a desire. You may be driven to learn as much as you possibly can about your industry, or to develop a reputation as the best in your field. Maybe you want to be a role model for others or become wise. Often, your vision is a dream, a hope, or a belief in yourself and the unique contribution you can make to the world through your work. Whatever compels you, articulate it--it will grow stronger and more inspiring as you acknowledge and embrace it. Don't be shy. 

123.

Combat Procrastination

Do you procrastinate on everything or only on some things? Some people procrastinate primarily on big projects; others tend to avoid the small, boring or annoying tasks. The worst part about procrastination is how much time we waste on meaningless tasks and doing anything to avoid the dreaded project. 

Combat procrastination in the following ways:

Break down overwhelming projects into smaller tasks. Break down large, intimidating tasks into a series of half-hour to one-hour steps. Each day you have some time to work on your project, tackle one step at a time for a sense of true accomplishment.

Start in the middle. If it's hard to get started on a project, try jumping to the second or third step to ease into the water. For example, when writing an e-mail letter to customers, the opening paragraph may be the most difficult to craft. If you're stuck, try jumping to the body of the proposal, outlining the bullets you want to cover first. Get that out of the way, and the introduction may come easier.

Focus on the payoff. By taking your eye off the particular task and focusing on the happiness and success you'll gain from completion, you can often keep yourself moving forward. For example, when writing a proposal, think about the benefits to your business that might arise from your well-crafted proposition.

Set time limits on difficult tasks. Setting aside either too much time--or not enough time--can make you procrastinate. If you are setting aside an hour to do expense reports, minimize the torture by shrinking it down to 30 minutes and get as far as you can. Trying to plan a meeting in 30 minutes and can't get started? Try giving yourself an hour and see if that does the trick.

124.

Make Use of Your Travel Time

Whether commuting, shuttling your kids from one after-school activity to the next, or taking a business trip, make a conscious choice about how you want to use that travel time. Travel time should never be lost time. Listen to music to escape. Talk to your kids to strengthen your connection with them. Listen to business books on CD to enhance your work. Also, choose the best mode of transportation for whatever you're planning to do. A cross-country car trip is a great way to build relationships; public transportation offers plenty of time to sleep (physical health), read or watch movies (escape), and concentrate (work). 

125.

Focus on the Joys of Completion

Gallup surveys have shown a direct correlation between job satisfaction and achievement. People who accomplish a lot are driven by a certain joy of completion--the thrill of crossing things off their to-do list. It's often what keeps them focused when the going gets rough on a particular task--they have their eye on that glorious feeling of crossing it off. An adrenaline high gets triggered when things are finished. That sense of accomplishment is highly energizing and keeps you tackling one task after another all day long. Here's the key: Once you know your concentration threshold, break your tasks down into the increments of time during which you can concentrate. This way, you can enjoy the sense of finishing things in the time allotted. You can get something done--actually completed--during your period of focus.

126.

Don't Waste Time Playing IT Help Desk

Look for smartphones, laptops, netbooks and other devices where the carrier or manufacturer can configure and update them remotely over a wired or cellular internet connection. There are plenty of companies--such as InnoPath and Microsoft--that sit behind the scenes to enable these services, but small businesses generally get them from carriers and vendors. 

These services can preload a new laptop or smartphone with software so it's ready to go out of the box instead of requiring you or your employees to spend hours on set-up. They also can automatically push out patches and other software updates instead of requiring employees to bring in their devices. 

127.

Minimize Your Phone Bill

Look for telephone providers that offer hosted PBX solutions that can be extended to your employees' mobile phones, enabling PBX features such as extension dialing when they're out of the office. Examples include Verizon's PBX Mobile Extension and AT&T Mobile Extension. 

128.

Review and Edit on the Go

If the manufacturer or wireless carrier didn't already include it in your smartphone, look for apps that let you view and edit files in common formats such as .doc, .pdf and .ppt. Examples include DataViz' Documents to Go, Cerience's RepliGo Professional and Byte2's Office2. Although they won't let you replace your PC with a smartphone for these tasks, they're still a useful way to work on things that are urgent or while you're waiting in line. 

129.

Stop Playing Phone Tag

Check out Google Voice and similar services--some from telcos--that ring multiple phones simultaneously. That boosts productivity by, for example, eliminating the phone tag of calling a colleague's desk phone and then her cell phone. Bonus: Cell phone bills can be lower because you now won't try her cell phone first in hopes of reaching her immediately. 

130.

Stop Hunting Down Employees

Need to know where your vehicles, equipment and other assets are at all times? Use an app such as Xora's eTrace to track their whereabouts from your smartphone or computer instead of wasting time and money calling around town. When picking an app, don't overlook consumer-oriented offerings, such as Sprint's Family Locator, which can be a good, inexpensive (around $5 per month per phone) fit for some small businesses.

131.

Streamline Social Networking

Social networking can be a useful business tool, but you can also spend enormous amounts of time sifting through messages from irrelevant people and companies. Consider a service such as Ning or SocialGO, both of which let you create and control your own private social network. Bonus: Admittance can give clients and business partners the impression of white-glove service. 

132.

Archive Your E-mail

Don't want to spend hours every month deleting old e-mails and worrying that you may have discarded some you might need later on? Consider a product or hosted service that compresses and archives messages, rather than forcing each computer to handle that task. Fewer old e-mails on your computer means there's less chance that Outlook or Entourage will crash, forcing you to retype messages or restore its database. 

Hosted services include everyone.net's one_archive and LiveOffice; these often are bundled with other services, such as a hosted Microsoft Exchange server. If you prefer to own the hardware, one place to start is Exchange's archiving features.

133.

Make It Easier for Prospective Clients to Find You

Bone up on search engine optimization (SEO), which is basically a broad range of tactics--and, if you're willing to spend the money, consultants--for driving more and better traffic to your website. Instead of spending time getting your message out, or hoping that people Googling for someone with your expertise will come to your site, SEO increases the probability that potential customers will find you. 

134.

Stop Calendar Tag

Use a service such as Tungle, Google Calendar or Microsoft Office Online so you're not wasting time with back-and-forth e-mails trying to find a time when everyone is available for a call or meeting. 

135.

Collaborate Efficiently

When multiple people collaborate, lots of problems can crop up, including missed deadlines, multiple versions of a document floating around via e-mail and to-do items that fall through the cracks because no one is quite sure who's responsible.  Software and services such as Basecamp and Sharepoint minimize those problems by creating a central point for things such as storing the final, approved version of a file, assigning tasks and automatically issuing reminders, and automatically sending alerts when new files are posted. Version control alone is a major time-saver, but efficient collaboration--both internally and with external clients and partners--makes your business come across as highly professional.

136.

Consider a Shortened or Extended Workweek or Shifts, Flex-Time, or Remote Work Programs

This will improve productivity, reduce costs, eliminate overtime, reduce turnover and absenteeism, and reduce the need for overstaffing. Research shows that companies can save an average of $10,000 per year for each half-time teleworker. 

137.

Be Suspicious of Employee Theft.

It's sad to say, but employee theft happens all too often. Here are some ways to prevent it:

Hire honest people; do this by performing background checks on all hires.

Train staff in how to spot fraud and make it easy/anonymous for them to report fellow workers.

Have employees sign a code of ethics that spells out the penalty for violations.

Make oversight obvious by installing surveillance cameras, performing surprise audits of expense accounts, and periodically having employees spot-check one another's work.

Require all employees to take vacations at least once a year--this is when many such problems are discovered.

Put checks and balances in place to prevent theft. For example, the person who does the bookkeeping should not also sign checks. --Kate Lister

138.

Tie Employee Performance to Profit or Cash Flow

For example, pay salespeople based on receipts, not sales, so they'll worry about the creditworthiness of the customer. You also might want to reflect customer discounts in sales commissions. That will encourage them to keep the prices high. 

139.

Identify Five Things You're Spending on That Aren't Contributing to Your Bottom Line and Eliminate Them

Do you really need that water cooler service or bottled water? Studies show that most tap water is as good or better.

Do you pay fees on your checking account? There are plenty of no-fee accounts available. Before you go to the trouble of changing banks, pay a visit to your branch manager and see if they'll waive the fees--most will.

Do you have a separate fax line that you rarely use? If so, cut the cord and use an online fax service or combine the fax line with your standard phone line.

Do you pay long-distance fees? If so, make those calls free via Skype.

Is your telephone, internet access and cable with different carriers? If so, look for a deal that combines all three.

It's amazing how much you can save when you set your mind to it. The above changes are probably worth between $1,800 and $2,400 a year. Skip that morning latte and you'll save another grand. You can buy a good home latte machine for less than half that and still get your morning caffeine fix. 

140.

Set Up Income, Expense, Asset and Liability Categories in Your Accounting System

If you're using a computerized accounting system (and you should be), take an hour or a day to set up income, expense, asset and liability categories. Then train it to automatically categorize expenses. If you write a check to Verizon, it should automatically assign it to your telephone expense category. This will not only save time on repetitive tasks throughout the year, but it will also make it easier to train someone else to pay the bills. And it will save you a ton of time when you prepare your taxes.

141.

Don't Overdo It

It's not easy, but it's mandatory in a 24/7 world. Sometimes you have to say no. You can't get it done when the customer wants it done. You can't do the bookkeeping and bring in the business, too. Stretch yourself too thin, or get bogged down in low-value tasks that take you away from creating the revenue your business needs to survive, and you can wind up being undermined by your own work ethic. You can't do it all effectively. 

142.

Take Time for Think Time

Don't think you have to be in output mode every minute of every day. Your business depends not just on output, but input, too. You have to have think time to set priorities, take in important information, and just plain think about what you need to do to improve your business. Set aside 15 minutes every day to prioritize your most important tasks of the day and plan ahead. Turn Friday afternoons into an input zone, where you catch up on journals, get new data, and search for new ideas. You'll cut down on the chaos, come up with critical ideas, and get more done in less time so you have more time for your life.

143.

Learn to Delegate

What starts out to be a quest for freedom for the entrepreneur can become a prison if you wind up having to do everything yourself. Life starts coming back into the picture when you can trust your staff enough to delegate. If you have good people, they will rise to the challenge, and that will free you up to do the important tasks and get time for a life outside the office. Take the time to train new people. Time spent now getting new staff up to speed can save you profits and sanity later. 

144.

Create Focus Zones

Nonstop interruptions can prevent you from having the space to concentrate on your most important tasks. Sometimes the only time you can get anything done is after everyone has gone home. That's a prescription for burnout and life-denial. Create a focus zone for yourself every day. Take an hour or two and block them off with no interruptions, and take care of your high-concentration work during this period. Set the auto-responder on your e-mail to let people know you're on a project or a deadline for the next hour. Most people find the first hour or two of the day the best time for focus zones. 

145.

Crosstrain Your Staff

A great way to build trust and team spirit--and improve the health and commitment of your team--is to crosstrain your staff. Make sure everyone knows how to do bits of others' jobs, including yours. When someone's out or on vacation, that job can get done by someone else or a couple of people. The same is true for you. Company owners who use this system swear by it. It allows even your work to be getting done while you're on a holiday. Crosstraining builds incredible teamwork and allows you and your staff to take real vacations or see a kid's play while the job is still getting done.

146.

Form Quality Improvement Teams

The quality movement has been around for quite some time. Unlike many new management concepts, quality seems to be here to stay, fortunately. The Toyota debacle certainly ensured that fact! Quality involves change: Looking at processes, policies and procedures takes effort. Most people do not like change because it involves them having to do something differently, like learn a new skill or technique, move to a different office, or interact with different people, software or machinery. However, when employees truly understand the need to investigate and improve the quality of operations in an organization, they are usually willing participants, interested, and even excited about the change, as long as they can see the benefit of it.

Although the interest may be there, the knowledge and skill base may not. This is a wonderful opportunity to stimulate the growth and development of some of your employees. Form quality teams to investigate any of a variety of aspects of your company. In fact, empower the people who will be on the team to decide what aspect of organizational life to look at. Then, either send them to an external seminar or hire an expert to come in and teach the basic quality improvement methods to the team. Then set them loose on your organization. You are almost guaranteed to see an increase in enthusiasm for the job, morale, self-esteem and productivity.

147.

Ask Employees What Will Make Them More Proud of Their Work

Most people come to work to have their self-esteem reinforced. They enjoy coming to work. They enjoy being productive. They enjoy taking pride in their accomplishments. Pride, progress and productivity can almost always be improved. If the goal is to increase individual satisfaction and pride in one's accomplishments, then many employees would work earnestly to do so. They just might not be sure how to increase their pride in the workplace. 

Create a "Pride Development Team" to look at various job functions and help determine what can be done by management and by individual employees to improve pride in the work. The key here is to look at how easy it is for employees to see the direct or indirect impact they are having on the outcome of their work. When the work is done well, when an employee feels he/she had an impact on the outcome, pride follows. 

148.

Create Mentoring Relationships For Employees

There are many advantages to creating mentoring relationships in organizations, especially for new employees. "Learning the ropes" can be a daunting and time-wasting period; usually, it takes months or even longer, depending on the complexity of the job description. New employees often learn by "On the Job Training" that is replete with errors, omissions and compromises. There is a better way.

Pair up a mature, experienced individual with a new employee, but make sure there is no direct reporting relationship between them. The role of the long-term person is to educate the new employee by providing informal guidance and direction on how things work. (What are the unspoken norms, processes and procedures for accomplishing a certain task? Who are the key people to get to know; who are the ones to avoid? What does the new employee have to do, learn and experiment with to become a success?) 

149.

Create an Effective Performance Appraisal System.

We need to know how we are doing on the job. This most likely comes from being evaluated so often in school, by our parents and by friends. So why should it be any different in the workplace? Employees need to know when to continue performing in a certain way and when to stop or change. Management has the distinct opportunity and responsibility to make that happen.

First, the manager or the leader needs to agree with the employee on exactly what the specifications are for the job description. Then they need to set up goals and objectives for how the job will be performed and what the markers are for success.

Ideally, once each quarter the boss and the individual need to meet for an evaluation of the progress toward accomplishing the goals. Unfortunately, in reality, this process usually only occurs once per year. The value of the more frequent meeting is to provide more timely feedback and advice on how to maximize employee performance. Prior to this information session, both the manager and the employee need to fill out the performance appraisal questionnaire and evaluation form. This way, both parties are prepared for meeting and can share their perspectives. Finally, the tenor of this meeting needs to be positive, not punitive. That is not to say that negative or incorrect performance should not be discussed; it should. It is to say, however, that performance appraisal needs to be geared toward learning and improvement.

The end result is that both the leader and the employee will know exactly how well the latter is doing on the job, what improvements, if any, need to be made, and how far along the route toward completion and success the employee is.

150.

Go Out and Find Someone Doing Something Right

We are all social animals. We need and like to interact with others--some more, some less. And during this process, we need to receive feedback. Am I liked? Am I doing good work? Am I doing the right thing? Do I need to change my behavior in some way? Should I be working with a team or continue independently?

These pertinent questions and others can easily be answered both informally and formally. You as a leader create positive morale when you simply Manage By Walking Around (MBWA). As you stroll though your building, stop and ask people how they are, what obstacles are in the way of getting their work done, what works well, what does not, and what their successes are. When you ask these and other questions, be sure to identify something positive that the individual is doing; in fact, make a definite point of finding something good to say, and be clear when you state it to your employees. You will certainly see a smile on their face. First, they will probably be surprised that their leader found something good to say about their work, and second, they will feel an increase in self-esteem. Both are clear motivating factors that also improve morale.

151.

Pick the Right Portable PC

If you or your employees spend much of the workday out of the office, there's a bewildering array of PC choices, from netbooks to the iPad to laptops. Each choice has its own set of productivity considerations.

For example, netbooks are inexpensive because they typically have less processing power and memory than laptops, particularly business-class models. As a result, netbooks can undermine productivity if their performance is sluggish or they frequently crash. 

A laptop might be a better choice if high performance is a key consideration, but the trade-offs can include price and weight. An iPad, meanwhile, can get you through airport security faster because it doesn't have to be unpacked, and its roughly 10 hours of battery life let you stay productive even on long flights. One downside for some users is the lack of a physical keyboard, which can slow down typing.

158.

Get a Smarter Browser

Need to surf the web on the go but hate the browser that came with your smartphone? Check out free alternatives such as Opera Mini and Skyfire; the latter is one of the few that supports Flash, so you can watch, say, an instructional video posted on a site.

One caveat: Even the best mobile browser doesn't always deliver a satisfying experience. That's a major reason why smartphone apps were created--and why they're so popular. So if switching browsers doesn't help with the sites you've got to have on the go, check to see if those sites offer an app.

159.

Use Social Networking to Keep in Touch with Clients, the Media and More

Depending on your industry, social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook can be more effective than e-mail for spreading the word about new products, promos and press releases. Most of those services now offer smartphone apps, which means you don't have to wait until you're at a PC to post something.

To save even more time, consider apps--such as Pixelpipe and ShoZu--that let you upload to multiple sites simultaneously from your smartphone.

160.

Control Obsessive Anxiety

Entrepreneurs have to be very good at withstanding risk, which basically comes down to tolerating ambiguity. The profit picture can be very hazy for a long time, and entrepreneurs have to be able to hang in there with all the vagaries. Withstanding uncertainty requires an ability to regularly get the anxiety down. One of the best tools for this is the relaxation response, also known as meditation. It's a fantastic tool for calming the mind and eliminating obsessive thinking, and it's used in thousands of clinics, hospitals and homes throughout the country. All you have to do is sit quietly for 15 or 20 minutes and repeatedly think of a phrase in your mind, letting thoughts come and go as they will but always returning to the phrase. You'll be amazed at how this practice can cut down on anxiety. Pick up a copy of the classic on this technique, The Relaxation Response, written by Dr. Herbert Benson, for an easy introduction. 

161.

Avoid Burnout

The same traits that can drive you to success can push you over the edge into chronic stress and the last stage of incessant anxiety--burnout. When you're burned out, your gas gauge is on empty. All your resources have been depleted. It's a three-way shutdown--emotional, physical and mental. It's a serious condition that needs to be fixed immediately before it leads to the likes of stroke and depression. Changing schedules, reducing workload, increasing support, and making sure you get regular recharge time can keep burnout at bay. Recognize the signs of burnout--no sense of accomplishment, depersonalization of others, lack of enjoyment, nothing left to give, depleted emotional resources, physical exhaustion and cynicism. One thing that has been shown to fix burnout: a vacation, which regathers crashed resources--but it takes two weeks for that process to occur. So you need a real vacation.

162.

Find Employees Who Are Under-Performing

How often does your organization complete performance appraisals? Many executives say never; others say only once a year. Ideally, they should happen every quarter to ensure optimal performance and growth for both the company and the individual.

Let's take a look at the company, perhaps yours, that evaluates its employees only once a year. That means for the overwhelming majority of the time, you are not providing employees with a check on their goals, their performance or their progress. Some may be working off-target, innocently diverted onto ineffective pathways. Others may be repeating errors or omissions. Yet others may not be working up to speed for a variety of reasons, usually rooted in uncertainty and fear of making mistakes. Your task, as you "manage by walking around," is not only to find people who are doing a good job, but also to uncover those who are not. They probably won't come up to you to ask those so-called "dumb questions" out of fear. But these are the very people you need to find. You need to ask them specifically what their task is and how they are progressing. You need to create the positive atmosphere that encourages them to speak up and honestly share their progress and approach. Only then can you determine if they are effective or not. And if they are not working at an optimal rate or they're not on the right pathway, then you need to provide immediate feedback and guidance to help them improve. After all, when they succeed, you succeed.

163.

Improve Working Conditions

No one enjoys working under sub-par conditions, and certainly no one works optimally in poor conditions. What are they? Take a good look around, and do it with a small group of employees from various levels in your hierarchy.  

What could be improved? What needs fixing? Here are some questions you and your Working Conditions Improvement Team can ask yourselves:

Is the desk lighting optimal? How about the overhead lighting?

Do the size and shape of the desks leave enough room for working, or is the workspace too crowded?

Is the machinery up to date? If not state-of-the-art, is it at least well-maintained and clean?

Could the walls use a new coat of paint?

Are there any interesting posters or works of art on the walls?

If purchasing or leasing something new could improve productivity and employee satisfaction, what would that be? How soon can it be ordered?

Do all employees have the materials they need to perform at the highest level? You may not know the answer, so ask the individuals you greet as you walk around.

Are the floors clean, or are they cluttered or dirty?

If you have a cafeteria, is the food appealing, yet reasonably priced?

Answering these questions and taking action on them will have a direct impact on improving working conditions, employee satisfaction, morale and productivity. 

164.

Follow Up on Your Directives and Actions

Often, leaders are so busy that they cannot keep track of all of the tasks they have assigned to others. Many executive colleagues wrongly believe that if the task doesn't come back to them, then it must have been completed.

This is a serious error in judgment for several reasons. First, employees do not always check back with the boss, especially if they do not exactly understand what the task involves, what they must do with it, or if it is too difficult or complex. Rather than appear stupid or incompetent, they simply put the task off, hoping the boss will forget about it. Second, if you do not go back to the person you delegated to, that person may correctly or incorrectly assume that you do not really care about the project, or that you do not care about the employee. If an employee thinks that, the reaction often is "If the boss doesn't care about it or about me, then why should I care?" To increase your effectiveness and your employees' productivity and morale, when you delegate a task or a responsibility, be certain to go back and check on its progress and outcome. Don't forget to provide specific feedback on the success or failure of the effort.  And certainly, praise the person's efforts in accomplishing the task or at least attempting to accomplish it. --David G. Javitch 

165.

Provide Encouraging Advice When Something is Not Going Well

One of your main goals as a leader is to establish a positive rapport with your employees.  This means delivering both good and bad news, but in a positive manner. Most employees are accustomed to hearing negative feedback from their bosses. The usual result is that this news creates a large chasm between boss and employee.

While not all feedback can be positive, negative information definitely can be conveyed in a way that people will accept. Here's how:

Be convinced that providing feedback, whether positive or negative, can have an encouraging effect.

Be certain not to raise your voice or come off as yelling or highly annoyed. All this accomplishes is that the employee shuts down, disregards your diatribe and becomes angry. Sometimes this results in the employee looking for ways to sabotage you and your efforts.

Be specific and helpful.

Find something good to say about the employee. This allows the recipient to open his or her ears to receive you message.

Continue with a clear but not lengthy statement about what is wrong.

Be encouraging and optimistic about finding a solution.

State how you think the situation can be improved.

Ask the employee how it can be improved.

Offer to work with the employee to jointly devise a solution.

What other ways do you have of sending your message?

166.

Identify Conflicts Between Individuals and Departments

Conflict is all around us. Whether it's a minor or major difference, a mini-competition to get the next taxi, a disagreement as to who can be served next in line, large or small, we all experience it.

But conflict does not have to be negative. When defined simply as "neutral tension that may become negative," it takes on a new meaning. It does not have to be difficult or irritating. In fact, some degree of tension in the workplace is definitely positive. Low to moderate levels of stress, disagreement, discrepancy and disparity can actually lead to creativity and innovation. One of your tasks as a leader is to identify the sources of tension, decide if it is positive or negative, and then work with the parties to iron out an agreement or resolution to the conflict. Demonstrate how these issues, when left unaddressed, detract from the organization's goals, productivity and culture. Ensure that all parties involved try to find the positive aspect of their seemingly negative interaction. 

Follow these steps:

State how conflict can be seen as neutral and even positive for the reasons previously stated.

Emphasize the importance of all parties working out their differences.

Identify aspects of the conflict that all parties have in common.

Ask each person to state how the other person sees their viewpoint.

Correct any misunderstandings.

Ask each party to suggest a resolution that the other party can live with.

Find similarities on each party's view.

Agree on a solution that meets each party's requirements.

Review the final solution and garner commitment to work toward implementing the agreement.

167.

Reduce the Strain on Your Cash Flow by Requiring Customer Deposits to Cover Upfront Costs

Offer incentives for your customers to pay early. Collect progress payments on large jobs. If you're using subcontractors, have the customer pay them directly--it may cost you a bit of profit, but if cash is tight, it's worth it. 

168.

Develop and Use an Effective Financial Reporting System

Look for one that tracks income and expenses, gross profit margins (by product or service), operating expenses, cash flow, current ratio, quick ratio, accounts receivable agings, account payable agings, inventory agings, debt-to-worth ratio and trend data (e.g., comparisons to last month, last year, etc.). Make sure the information is timely. It won't do you any good to know that your cash flow was more of a cash trickle three months after the fact.

169.

Take Advantage of Trade Discounts

If you can borrow at less than 37 percent in order to take a 2 percent discount and pay 20 days early, you'll save money. I know that doesn't seem possible, but the fact is you're earning 2 percent for a 20-day investment (paying 10 days instead of 30). Annualized, that really adds up. Here's the math if you care to check it out for yourself. 

170.

Consider a Cash Management Service

If you operate multiple locations or receive a large number of checks, consider using a cash management service that consolidates the balances from multiple locations into one account (cash concentration account), automatically deposits incoming checks via a lock box, and automatically sweeps excess cash into an investment account.

171.

Shrink Tasks To Get Them Done Faster

When time is limited, you need to find the quickest way to your goal. Finding shortcuts is not about "cheating" or taking the easy way out--it's about becoming more efficient. For you perfectionists out there: Remember, it's usually preferable to have something completed (even if it's imperfect) than never done at all.

For each item on your to-do list, ask yourself: Is there a quicker way to get this done? Skipping certain steps can shrink one-time projects. Writing a proposal or thank-you note? Instead of starting from scratch, use a previously accepted proposal or thank-you note as a template, and just change the details. 

172.

Focus on Completion

Tackling items on your to-do list can be a daunting activity when you don't focus on the payoff. Whenever you sit down to tackle items on your to-do list, ask yourself "What can I finish?" rather than "What can I start?" Break large projects down into smaller, completable steps. Energy and sense of accomplishment come from getting things done.

173.

Empower Your Subordinates

Having a team that works for you can take a huge chunk off your workload if you delegate properly. However, if they do not feel confident in their roles, they will be unsure about the work they are doing. If you're supervising people, empower them to make decisions so you're not constantly inundated with tiny questions. Next time someone comes to you with a problem they could handle on their own, turn it back around. Try these responses: "Can you make that call? I won't be able to get to it for two days" or "Come up with a few solutions, and then let's meet and talk about them." 

174.

Use the WADE Formula to Manage Your Time

One of the most common mistakes people make when creating their to-do list is generating an endless inventory of everything in their heads--which is not particularly practical for getting things done. The secret sauce is creating what I call an "intelligent" to-do list, which goes way beyond just asking "what" we need to do; it addresses how long each item will take, and when we are going to do it--so that we can make realistic plans for each day.

The WADE formula is a practical plan for sorting through your to-dos, making wise decisions and feeling the unbeatable sense of accomplishment that comes with checking things off your list. Plan your to-do list intelligently and realistically so you feel excited, rather than overwhelmed. Try it: 

W: WRITE IT DOWN. Record every meeting, appointment, to-do, call, and project in your planner, utilizing the monthly calendars, planning pages, and/or accessory notebooks. Once you get into the habit of consistently writing everything down in a single location, you'll stop worrying that you're forgetting something and will be able to actually concentrate on getting things done.

A: ADD IT UP. Estimate how long each task will take. Is there enough room in your day for all that needs to be done? If you only have four open hours but have scheduled six hours' worth of tasks, you need to make a few adjustments.

D: DECIDE. In most cases, once you add up your tasks, you'll discover that you have many more tasks than you have time for. When you reach the limits of your time, you need to make some strategic decisions. Use the 4 Ds (Delete, Delay, Diminish, Delegate) to create a more doable plan.

E: EXECUTE YOUR PLAN. "Plan your work; then work your plan." There's no point to making a plan if you aren't going to implement it. This means referring to your planner frequently and completing the tasks you set forth on the days you decided to do them. Once you've assigned each of your to-dos a place in your schedule, you are free to focus on the moment. 

175.

Make a Master Travel Checklist for Business Trips

When you prepare for a business trip, it is important to spend time planning your work rather than making sure you have everything you need in your suitcase at the last minute. Make a checklist of everything you need for travel. Include on the list categories such as clothing, tickets, passports, files, medicines, toiletries, etc. You can customize quantities and garment weight according to the length and climate of each trip.

176.

Keep Your Office Stocked

Small businesses often run a tight ship. But many fumble on an alarmingly simple task--keeping the office stocked with the necessary supplies. If workers don't have sufficient pens, paper, paper clips, toner cartridges, battery chargers, mobile device accessories, and so forth, that can seriously slow down the flow of productivity. Every office needs a central supply of oft-used items so that workers don't face slowdowns due to a lack of resources. Whether you have a walk-in closet or a single lockable drawer in an accessible credenza, make sure your office manager or de facto office manager keeps your inventory stocked with the necessary goods to keep the team on task. Warehouse clubs and big-box office supply stores will deliver, so consider a standing order. 

177.

Provide Tools for Visual Collaboration

Ideas and brainstorming are central to the evolution of any small business. That's why many smaller companies introduce write-on/wipe-off boards or even plastics/glass wall surfaces. Teams can create living diagrams, team leads can spec out how a product or plan will evolve, and on-the-spot brainstorms can all emerge when there are both space and tools available to visualize and draw out how an idea might work. Think of it as "back of the napkin" space in your physical office. Sure, at some point these ideas will need to be committed to the screen, a list or a mobile device--especially if office housekeepers might erase them during a zealous cleaning--but offering write-on/wipe-off space encourages workers to hit the drawing board, and then go back to it, again and again.

178.

Choose Where to Communicate

Small offices are noisy, and even with the best noise-baffling materials and technologies there's no denying that workers will need to talk one-on-one and in groups. As the discussion gets more productive or animated, the decibels rise. And then there's always that person who talks in a booming low voice just because that's their disposition. If you're running the business, create a communications culture by using electronic shortcuts for small talk and leaving live conversations for more important matters. While it may seem cold or unproductive to encourage workers to use instant messenger programs, when used mainly for the little things ("Coming to the meeting in five minutes?" or "Do you know if so-and-so is working from home today?"), it cuts down on a lot of chatter about little things. Likewise, the occasional group e-mail with updates and notes that workers may want to reference later is a useful way of side-stepping the need for a long meeting. Still, there are obvious times when one-on-one communication or group meetings are best. One-on-one is best for disciplinary, difficult or awkward chats. And group meetings are necessary when delivering extremely good or extremely bad news. (You can e-mail follow-ups, if need be, once the news has broken.) 

179.

Discipline Squawkers

A small office is often full of single-minded workers bent on hitting their numbers, meeting their deadlines, and landing new clients--and it's also often full of big egos and people who are highly invested in their jobs. They may forget that others are working around them, and this can be a shame--especially if these workers like to put their calls on speakerphone and then leave the door open, or convene Skype meetings without using headphones or microphones to cut down on noise. Create rules about noisy devices and choices like these, so other workers aren't driven to distraction. Alternatively, encourage workers who must use "open air" Skype or video chat calls to do so in an enclosed room--and make the necessary tools available so they won't disturb colleagues. 

180.

Keep the Client in Mind

Do clients come to your office for meetings? Who's coming? Is it prospective accounts you might service? Vendors you're interviewing to hire as subcontractors for a project? Investors who might fund your technology? Depending on your business's life stage, your office design needs to take into account who may be coming to visit. Is there a waiting area--at least a comfy chair and table with some magazines or company literature--near the front door? Is there a meeting table or room? And, if so, how is that meeting table arranged? Is it a classic conference table? A casual dining table? These minor-sounding distinctions send subtle messages to potential business partners about how you'd interact with them once a contract is signed. Will you be a communicative, equal partner--or a domineering dictator? An investor might not mind seeing your office bursting at the seams (what a sign of productivity and expansion!) and taking a meeting by the coffee pot, but a potential client interested in hiring you for graphic design or an event plan might worry that the space is so chaotic, no one can get work done. Consider your office as seen from an outsider's eyes. Better yet, ask an objective friend who's never visited to drop by and then ask them their impressions of the space.

181.

Turn It Off

The verdict is in. Technology is addictive, say the researchers, and answering and checking messages incessantly can drive impulsive behavior and stress. You need to control the devices, instead of the other way around, to be able to bring full attention to your work and decisions and clear space for your life. Turn off the BlackBerry and check it manually. Don't check e-mail at home. Make sure you have daily disconnect time to remove yourself from the fray. Send less mail. Ask before you click: Is this message critical? Does it rise to the importance of a phone call? Are you sending the message because you can? Congratulate yourself on how many messages you resist sending each day.

182.

Get Organized

Entrepreneurs are great at action and the big picture but not so good at keeping piles of junk at bay. Invest in a smoother, less stressed operation by bringing in a professional organizer or by taking a Franklin-Covey or "Getting Things Done" course. Let go of stuff that's bogging you down and cluttering up your desk and thinking. File, act, or toss, as organization guru Barbara Hemphill puts it. Getting organized frees up clarity and vitality that can increase your performance for the tasks that are the most important and may be getting sidetracked by the jungle of low-priority chaos.

183.

Let Employees Make Their Own Choices

Many leaders wrongly believe that they have to control everything that happens in their organization. After all, they are ultimately responsible--to themselves, to their board, to their stockholders and to their stakeholders--for the outcomes. But total control curbs enthusiasm, decreases morale, diminishes independent thought, and ultimately squelches productivity--the exact opposite reaction leaders are looking for.

An effective approach to turning around these negatives is to offer employees choices. When that is done, they usually feel more ownership of what they are doing, they are more interested in the process and product, and they are happier and more motivated.

At first glance, you might fear that anarchy will reign; but it probably won"t. Here"s what you can do: When assigning tasks, instead of assigning a particular task to a particular individual, offer that person a choice between two, three or four activities. The one selected will be the one he or she is most interested in, and the task will probably stimulate and challenge that person to be more productive.

The same process can be used with teams. First, suggest several possible teams for employees to join. Again, their interest will lead to motivation. Then, given the topic and goal for the team, have them devise effective and hopefully creative approaches to addressing the challenge. Rest assured that the ultimate result of the tem effort will be far more creative and powerful than the status quo.

What kinds of choices have you offered your employees? 

184.

Create Opportunities for Community Service

Many companies have found that when their employees give back to the community, they are proud of themselves. So it makes perfect sense to encourage employees to get together and volunteer. This will help build teams, camaraderie and pride in your own organization. 

185.

Be Sure Job Descriptions Are Accurate

Sometimes the most embarrassing moment for a leader comes when an employee shows up for a performance review, is criticized for not fulfilling a certain task or responsibility, and the employee simply responds "That"s not in my job description."

The job description is a key component of any performance review. It"s the legally binding contract between you and your employee, and it provides clear guidelines for what the employee needs to do and how--or it should. It is not unusual for that contract to either omit certain tasks the employee currently performs or include ones that the employee is unaware of. 

As an exercise in honesty, accuracy and effectiveness, you need to perform a regular review of what each employee is supposed to be doing, matching up reality with the job description. This process will also tell you whether or not you have the necessary human capital to effectively carry out your mission. 

186.

Make Sure Employees Have What They Need

You can"t drive your car if it has no gas. Musicians can"t play without instruments. And employees can"t perform their jobs effectively if they do not have the correct materials in the correct amounts.

Leaders usually see their employees busily doing their jobs, but what accommodations and adaptations are they making because they do not have what they need to be even more productive?

As a leader concerned with productivity, employee satisfaction and morale, you need to find out. You can conduct a formal survey or simply ask each person about their needs and requirements to fulfill their responsibilities. The results may be a real eye-opener. 

187.

Investigate the Compensation System

Everyone wants to be paid as much as possible. But do you know how your compensation system compares with other companies of equal size, product and output? There"s a good chance that some of your employees know the answer--the ones who are thinking of leaving your organization to work with a competitor. The cost of a noncompetitive pay-and-benefits system is very high in several respects. Underpaid employees do not produce at top levels. They tend to be unhappy and undermotivated. And they kill office morale by complaining to other employees, who will then also be concerned about their own pay and benefits. 

They want the system to be different but they are unable to effect any change. They spend company time thinking about other jobs, often researching and applying for them on your time. 

As costly as it may be to your bottom line, it is well worth your time to make certain that you have created an equitable compensation system for your employees. 

188.

Know What It Takes to Be Successful in Your Organization

What are the specific attributes of your organization"s culture and of its employees that lead to success or failure? Many leaders are unable to answer that question. But it must be answered if success is your ultimate goal, however you define success.

Achievement looks very different depending on where you are in the hierarchy. Front-line workers may simply want to do their jobs. Managers may want to ensure that their workers are in fact doing what they are supposed to be doing. And leaders like you may want to ensure that the organization"s revenues exceed its expenses.

Assemble a team of employees up, down and across the hierarchy. Define a goal of identifying which traits, characteristics and factors lead to the accomplishment of the organization"s stated goals, and which ones are obstacles in the way of attaining success. This will take time, so be patient.

Then empower them to identify specific improvements in policies, procedures and norms. This multifaceted team will certainly find sources of success (and failure) that you were not aware of.

189.

Cut Your Workday by 30 Minutes

You will get more done. A deadline forces you to eliminate all the little time-wasters (silly interruptions, procrastination, perfectionism). Just because you can work all the time doesn't mean you should. If you work in an office, stick to your scheduled hours. If you work at home, set an alarm to end your workday, and dedicate evenings and weekends completely to your personal life. 

190.

Define an Outcome for Every Meeting

Identify a topic and outcome for every meeting, and send it to all participants a minimum of 24 hours beforehand so that everyone comes prepared. Well-run, useful meetings provide enormous value--they can solve problems, generate ideas, save you time, clarify direction, tighten work bonds, build teamwork, and reignite passion for projects. 

191.

Reduce Paper Clutter

Eighty percent of what is filed is never looked at again. Before saving any document, ask yourself whether you would trust that the information is up to date next time you look for it. If not, it's time to pitch, shred or recycle. For printing, use duplex printing to generate fewer pages. When it comes to printing information from web pages, consider using software such as Canon Easy-WebPrint EX--and print only the information you really need. 

192.

Create Templates

As entrepreneurs, we write many proposals, thank you notes, customer e-mails and press releases to various contacts. However, there is no need to write from scratch every time. While you don't want your correspondence to sound like a form letter, writing every letter from scratch is an enormous waste of time. Creating a template for every document that must be sent more than once opens up your schedule for other work. Just be sure to customize your template based on the contact to whom you are writing. 

193.

Set the Due Date

No matter how much room you leave for creativity in the delegation process, never be vague about the due date. If you leave the due date vague, other priorities will usurp your delegatee's focus, or not leave you enough time to correct the work, if necessary. 

Leave enough of a cushion so that if the work doesn't come back as you'd hoped, there is enough time to correct it before the real deadline. It's sometimes helpful to give the person an estimate of how long you think the task should take and how long you want them to spend on it. Put a reminder in your planner to follow up the day the task is due.

194.

Become the High-Value, High-Price Provider

Let your competitors fight over the pennies while you slip off with the dollars. Customers are willing to pay more for perceived value. They don't buy designer clothes because they're going to last longer; they buy them as a status symbol. Find a way to set yourself apart from the competition by offering better customer service, better image, better packaging, a green advantage, a good citizen image, etc. 

195.

Focus on the Cash Cows

It's easy to waste time and on things that offer very little return. In other words, don't lose a $600 sale with a 50 percent profit margin to a $12 T-shirt. 

I learned this the hard way when I had a vintage airplane ride business. We found that we spent a ton of time fussing with our T-shirt inventory--having them designed, finding printers, keeping all the sizes in stock, and so on. That time would have been much more productively spent marketing our $600 WWII airplane rides.

196.

Develop Strategic Alliances or Joint Marketing Relationships with Larger Companies, Customers, Distributors and Even Competitors

A truly symbiotic relationship will result in higher productivity levels for both of you. For example, if you have a new iPhone add-on, approach an established provider about distributing it for you. If you sell shopping services to house-bound adults, join forces with someone who offers reliable home repairs. 

197.

Expand Your Business

Think about offering new products to the same customers, or the same products to new customers, or new products to new customers--and think about it in that order. The least-risky, highest-payoff opportunities generally lie in doing business with your existing customer base.

198.

Encourage Employees to Take Risks

"Be careful." "Don't make any mistakes." "Errors can be costly." "Your job is on the line." This is what employees hear in their own minds and from their bosses. The result is that people become gun-shy and don't take a chance for fear of reprisals. In the current economy with employees being terminated, furloughed or laid off, it's no wonder that they are reluctant to take risks. 

But an effective leader needs to encourage appropriate amounts of risk-taking because it leads to growth, change, improvement and innovation. Without it, organizations remain stagnant and therefore behind the competition.

But how do you stimulate risk-taking without encouraging catastrophes? The answer lies in taking "appropriate" amounts of risk. First, you as leader need to model to your employees that you believe in taking a risk--a middle-range risk. If you are successful, you are encouraging others to do the same. If you fail, admit it: Analyze what went wrong and what you will do next time to ensure errors are not repeated.

This is what you as a responsible risk-taking leader need to do. Then encourage employees to look at possibilities--things that do not yet exist but could with a little effort and forethought. Nothing new will come about without people stepping out of their comfort zone.

To ensure that employees do not take on enormous risks inappropriately, encourage them to brainstorm with colleagues or bosses to get a second opinion, though not necessarily permission. The key here is encouragement. Or support them in trying something new in small amounts or with a few teams before launching their new venture on the entire department or company. 

199.

Provide the Correct Amount of Direction

A key source of motivation for leaders is the opportunity to respond to questions from their employees and provide assistance and guidance. The providers feel a sense of importance, a sense of being able to help others, and a pride that they knew the answer or the "right way" to do something.

But how much direction is really needed or wanted? Often, the easiest way to resolve an issue is to ask for help. Then, the leader can step in, offer the "best answer" and let the employee implement the solution. But has the leader really helped that person? Probably not. What the leader has accomplished is to encourage dependency.

Instead of resolving issues, leaders need to challenge employees to figure out the situation on their own. That is not to say that the leader ignores employees. Rather, the leader asks the individual to try to devise a few solutions and then come back to discuss them. In that way, the employee learns self-reliance yet still benefits from the knowledge and experience of the leader. 

It's also important to think about how much feedback is necessary. Some individuals simply need a few guidelines; others need more detailed responses. Giving too little input to someone who needs a lot leads to frustration and inactivity; giving too much to the individual who needs little results in an employee who feels overwhelmed and underappreciated or undervalued. 

So size up the issue, size up the individual, and make sure your guidance and direction fit the situation.

200.

How'd You Do?

Nine weeks and 199 tips ago, we started by asking you to set some goals. We asked you to reflect on what you wanted in your work and your life. We then challenged you to target areas where, by increasing your productivity, you could make the most of both the time you work and the time you play. 

And then we delivered six experts--in time management, leadership, technology and mobile tech, money, work space and work/life balance--to give you 200 concrete pieces of advice to help you be more productive. Now it's time to revisit your goals and see how you fared. 

As we said when we introduced this series, "200 Ways to Be More Productive in Life, and in Business," it's critical that you chase the right rainbow--one that will make you happy, fulfilled and energized. It's easy to fall into the trap of either chasing the wrong one--one set by your family or your peers, or one you just happened see--or not giving yourself credit for the successful steps you take along the way. That's why your goals should be specific and measurable, and the process should be ongoing.

So how'd you do? Go back to the goals you set on day one, Tip No. 1: Know Who You Are and Know What You Want. Did you accomplish all that you set out to do?

If you did, give yourself a great big pat on the back, keep up the good work and, by all means, be an inspiration to others by sharing what you've learned with other entrepreneurs via Twitter or on our Facebook page. 

But if you haven't quite made it yet...well, you're probably not alone. Dr. David Javitch, our leadership expert, offers these ideas to help you get back on track: 

1. Rethink your goals. Do an objective assessment of what you intended to accomplish. Ask yourself these questions: Was I shooting too high with my aspirations? Am I capable of meeting those goals? What went wrong? Do I need more resources--people, time, money and/or equipment?

2. What will my revised goals look like? What can I do differently to ensure that this time I will make it?

3. Ask someone you trust to give you some insight into what went wrong.

4. Set interim goals to check your progress on your new or revised ambitions. That way, you can redirect your approach before the deadline arrives.

Finally, never stop looking for inspiration. During the course of our productivity program, we heard great comments from so many of you, including @NikaStewart ("Remember that good enough is good enough and just get something out. Fight perfectionism and get so much more done!") and @Wabisabibklyn ("Set a timer and alternate 40 minutes on different tasks: computer, noncomputer. Good for work--and blood flow!").

We're all human, and it will always be easier to do nothing than to do something--to cling to the familiar rather than try something new. But if you want to lead a happier, healthier and more productive life, you need to be on a constant quest for ways to work smarter, not harder.

By the way, our tips aren't going to disappear. Feel free to read and reread them. Follow other productivity gurus, too. You can't go wrong with Lifehacker.com and Makeuseof.com. What are your favorite productivity sites? Sharing is good. 

In the meantime, we hope to see you poolside, or at the gym, or on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine if your goal is to achieve that level of success.

Article from The Entrepreneur