Tips for Getting Organized, Time Management, Technology. This Webzine views best with Microsoft Internet Explorer.

FOR BUSY PEOPLE

CLEAR - ORGANIZED - PRODUCTIVE - EFFICIENT

PEGGY
DUNCAN Editor

JAN-MAR 2006 Subscribe > Archives > A FREE ZINE Ask Peggy > Training My Web Site >

MISSION
To provide busy, worn-out, stressed-out people with information they can use to get things done.

Bottom page borders don't print in Word

If you've added a page border to your Word document (Format menu, Borders and Shading, Page Border tab), and everything is printing except the bottom border, the following tip will sometimes clear up the problem.

Click the Tools menu, Options, Print tab.
Tick the box next to Allow A4/Letter paper resizing.

If this doesn't work, the problem could stem from limitations of your printer. Try a different printer to see if the problem clears.

Make your Excel spreadsheet fit on the page

Click the File menu, Page Setup, Page tab.
Change page orientation to Landscape if you have more than 20 columns, or less depending on how wide the columns are.
In the Scaling section of the dialog box, click Fit to.
Use the arrows to choose the pages wide and tall by number (if you're only concerned with the width, leave the tall box at 1).
Click the Print Preview button to check your results.
Click the Zoom button (100%) in the Print Preview window. If you can read the worksheet on your screen, you'll be able to read it on paper.

WORD CHOICE-Tip Barbara McNichol www.barbaramcnichol.com

Averse, adverse – “Averse” means having a strong feeling of opposition or repugnance.

“Adverse” refers to unfavorable or antagonistic circumstances.

“I am averse to putting myself in adverse weather conditions.”

LINK-Tip
Site(s) containing great information to help you get through the day.

www.noslang.com
Great site if you run across terminology on the Internet you don't understand.

How Long Should
I Keep It?

Click Here
to learn how long you should keep certain files and papers. Then PURGE!

Business Cards Piling Up?

I travel a lot and collect business cards. The first thing I do when I return home is purge the stacks. Then I turn those business cards into digital contacts with my business card reader (Card Scan). You'll love it as much as I do. (Use it to quickly and accurately turn business cards into easily sortable, searchable records on the computer, PDA, or smart phone.)

Turn Text on a
Page Into Digital Contacts.

The first time I selected text on a page and hit my hotkey, I couldn't believe it when anagram(TM) turned that text into a Contact in Outlook. You will use this technology every day to turn text on an electronic page into a digital contact (or calendar item, task, or note).

Download a free trial today!

Did you know that if you pay the minimum each month on a $10,000 credit card debt at 18 percent interest, it will take you about 58 years to pay it off. In that time, you will pay $28,930.64 in interest. Instead of buying more stuff, take a class that will improve your skills. Better skills lead to building a better business or a job promotion.

TECH-Tip

Have you wondered what this is? RSS feeds in a nutshell
by Peggy Duncan

(Note: Please feel free to use this article on your Website, in your newsletter, etc. I only ask that you include my byline and a live link to my Web site.)

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Entities that frequently publish content, such as news sites, magazines, or blogs, offer RSS feeds you can subscribe to. Once you subscribe, every time the information on the site is updated, you’ll receive a notice of the newly-published content.

How to Receive a Feed
If you want to receive feeds, you’ll need to download software that processes them. This software is called a feed reader (or aggregator). I tried different ones. Two products, Attensa (free for now but hurry) and intraVnews ($24.95), are Outlook Add-Ins that download the feeds into Outlook folders that are created during the download. (You can change folders later.)

Note: It's been reported that the next version of Outlook will include an aggregator.

The other product, Awasu (free), downloads the feeds into a browser format. There are others so "Google it."

Stay Productive While on Travel

How to Subscribe to a Feed
The symbol or (or similar ones) indicates that an RSS feed is available for that site or page. When you click the button, you’ll be taken to a page written in XML (Extensible Markup Language). Ignore the gibberish. All you’ll need is the URL. Copy it to the Clipboard.

Order any of my books right here on this Website.

Special Combo Price Limited Time Offer

Available Here

In the Awasu aggregator, you can add a subscription by right-clicking on My Channels and clicking to add a new one. You’ll see where to paste the URL as you normally would. In Outlook/intraVnews, click the Subscriptions toolbar button, and press the INS key on your keyboard. You’ll see where to paste the URL. Once you do this, anytime a site is updated, you’ll receive a notification.

You can also subscribe to a feed by right-clicking on the RSS button.

Find Web Sites with Feeds
The quickest way to find Web sites with feeds is to use your aggregator's search feature. You can also check out Web sites such as newsisfree.com to find more.

Subscribe to My Feeds
Once you get your aggregator installed, come back to this page and consider subscribing to my feeds. Every time I add more hot tips, update my training events calendar, or company news to my site, you'll be notified. You can subscribe to each one separately (click any link to subscribe).

Create Your Own Feed
If you want to receive notices when a site updates, but that site does not have RSS set up, you can create your own feed at www.FeedFire.com (or create feeds for your site). To read a brief document on how I created feeds for certain pages on this site, click here).

Unsubscribe to Feeds
Finally, you can always Unsubscribe to any feeds. After a couple of days, I realized I was spending too much time reading feeds instead of staying focused on more important work. They were coming in every day, so I deleted all but two. (When you subscribe to my feeds, they will not come in that often.)
_______
Peggy Duncan is a personal productivity expert. She travels nationally presenting tips like this to business audiences. Visit her Web site at www.PeggyDuncan.com.

Office Makeover
Peggy gets Anna Scott organized!
Click here for Before and After

Need Help Getting Organized? Check Out Our Filing System in a Box. We'll create your filing system and ship to you ready to use!

“[Peggy] You were FABULOUS. I so enjoyed your presentation, and I laughed and laughed as well as learned. Thank you for your insights, your information, your energy. ... you have my appreciation, my awe, my thanks.
I look forward to working
with you again.”
Dr. Betty Spence, President
The National Association for Female Executives (NAFE)

MY-Tip
Help for your organization, time management, and other challenges is right here. Let me know how I can help you too.

Wasting time at work
by Peggy Duncan

Recent studies are proving what I've been saying the last ten years: the biggest time management mistake you make is not realizing how much time you waste.

Instead of getting some real work done, here is what's happening.

In a personal productivity study of 38,000 people in 200 countries, Microsoft found that one third of employees' time is spent unproductively.

According to a survey by America Online and Salary.com, the average worker admits to wasting at least 2.09 hours per 8-hour workday.

And can you believe that Salary.com calculated that employers spend $759 billion per year on salaries for which real work was expected, but not actually performed. Read the full report (it made me scream).

What are people doing instead of working?

Personal Internet use, socializing with co-workers, personal phone calls, instant messaging, running personal errands, planning personal events, running side businesses (on the cell phone), and more.

Another study found that 25% of the US work force reads blogs during business hours, and 75% of those blogs have absolutely nothing to do with work. In fact, the average amount of time people spend reading blogs during the week is 3.5 hours.

Years ago, studies proved that disorganization costs workers one to two hours a day...time lost from digging through piles looking for something.

If you add the time it takes to backtrack to get something you forgot, helping other people find what they need, and looking for files on your computer, add another hour or two.

On the other hand:

According to a study conducted by Life magazine, close to half of Americans (46%) take work home with them.

Another study showed how email overload made people work an extra hour a day, either at work or when they get home.

This is crazy. On the one hand, you're wasting time. Then on the other, you're eating into your family time. Going forward in 2006, make a commitment to reduce the hours you spend at the office and reduce the amount of work you take home.

Make the commitment to put in a good, solid day's work, stay focused on what's important, and figure out ways to work smarter. You'll get more done, and I guarantee you'll be happier.
__________________
Peggy Duncan is a personal productivity expert. She travels nationally presenting tips like this to business audiences. Visit her Web site at www.PeggyDuncan.com.

EVENTS & NEWS

Breakfast and a Workshop

PowerPoint All the Way
Manage Time with Outlook
Get Organized at Work

See SCHEDULE for Dates/Details.

Teleseminars

eSeminars

EVENTS LIST

Peggy Duncan will present a time management workshop at Black Enterprise magazine's inaugural Women of Power Summit,
February 1-4.

Peggy Duncan will present time management coaching sessions at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference, February 17, Baltimore Convention Center.

Media Mentions

January - Black Enterprise Magazine's ezine published in conjunction with the Women of Power Summit. Article on managing email.

February - Guest columnist for CURRENTS magazine. Article is on managing email.

February - IDEA Fitness Journal. Tips for making the fitness professional's personal/work life better.

February - PINK magazine. Article on life after Corporate America.

February - Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Managing email overload.

March - Health Magazine. Tips on getting organized.

March - Positive Thinking magazine. Getting out of the house on time.

Free Calls from Your Computer!

I didn't believe it until I tried it. These Internet calls are free and as clear as a traditional land line. You can also record interviews with an add-in product called Pamela. Read a brief article I wrote about Skype, or click the bubble below to download and try it.

Featured Products

I love gadgets. The first place I go when I have that itch to buy something new is buy.com. They have the inventory I like, great prices, rebates, and free shipping on a lot of items. Product reviews from actual users will help you make good decisions.

PayPal
I accept all major credit cards on this site with PayPal. I had a traditional merchant account, but the paperwork drove me crazy. Not so with PayPal. And now with their Virtual Terminal, I can accept payments for phone, fax, mail, and in-person orders–even from customers who don’t have a PayPal account. I can send money to my son too! And all record of transactions is online-no paper!

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