At the Cobius booth

This past month was very busy and a LOT of fun! I held the first ever TimeSpa on October 6-7. It was wonderful! The women who attended were great and I enjoyed every minute with them. They walked away from the weekend with their vision laid out for the next year along with a 30-day plan to start making changes right away.

TimeSpa was worth its weight in gold! I was inspired to not only set my goals but now know how to accomplish them. Pam Schram, Ponca, NE

I found the power within me to move mountains of clutter by planning, preparing, and following through. Carrie Hauser, Yankton, SD

I was feeling very overwhelmed with my mess at home and embarrassed. I was at the point that I couldn't deal with it. The interaction with others at TimeSpa made me feel not so alone and with all the wonderful teaching from Elizabeth I now feel ready to get the job done! Judy Finnell, Lennox, SD

If you're ready to change your life, then TimeSpa is for you! Please plan on attending my next TimeSpa on January 12-13, 2007. Visit www.ElizabethHagen.com/TimeSpa to find out more and to register today! I'm limiting the number of guests to 20 so I hope you register soon!

View from our room

After TimeSpa it was on to Denver for two days to be a spokesman at the Cobius Healthcare Solutions booth at the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) expo. What a great experience! Along with speaking to the attendees two of the highlights were meeting two incredible women. Rhea Cook of Exmachina DxM and Libby Gill of Libby Gill and Company. Be sure and find out more about them at their websites.

I was home for a day, spoke at the ND Credit Union League conference, and then my husband and I went to Puerto Rico for a long weekend! Oh, my goodness! What a beautiful place. We stayed at the El Conquistador. My husband had meetings to attend and my job was to relax – which I did! I spent a lot of time outside and at the pool.

I have to admit that it was hard to come back even as much as I love my work! When I got back to my office I started thinking how I can keep that feeling of vacation going and that is the subject of my article this month.

We all know that vacations are fun and extremely worthwhile. And we all know that it can be a lot of work getting ready for a vacation! This is usually the time when most people work like crazy to get their filing caught up, e-mail inbox cleared out, and all to-do's caught up. Then they are too exhausted to go on their vacation! Of course, my advice is to MOO - Maintain Office Organizing everyday. But that's not the subject of this article - perhaps another time!

I want to share with you how I kept the feeling of being in Puerto Rico going after I got back from our trip.

• I took one of the pictures overlooking the ocean and made it my desktop picture. Anytime I feel under pressure I go to my desktop, look at the picture for few minutes and I'm ready to get back to work.
• I purchased a cute mug in Puerto Rico that is very 'islandish' and I have it on my desk with pens. Fun to look at and it brings back great memories.
• I had a lot of time to think and plan in Puerto Rico. I had taken along bright colored 3x5 cards and I put one thought/idea on each card. When I came back I have a number of fun ideas to implement and I don't have to think, "Now, what was that idea I had?" I then put the cards in my Vital File System and will be reminded at the correct date when I want to work on that idea. This idea just isn't for vacations! Always keep a number of 3x5 cards on your desk and in your purse to capture those great ideas!
• Right away when we got home we set a date for our next trip and put it on our calendar. This way we'll keep our schedules clear and have fun looking forward to the next trip.
• Give yourself mini-vacations. Plan a monthly pedicure or massage, spend a night at one of the cool hotels in your city, or get dressed up and go out for dinner with someone special.

Please don't do what I did this past year and just take one small vacation! It is so important to take time for yourself. You will come back renewed and revitalized so you can do all that you need and want to do.

Web designer (and my virtual assistant), Leslee Beldotti of va-lab designs, sent out this great article about dealing with all your e-mail and I thought I couldn't have said it better myself!

Email has become the most prominent way of communicating in our work lives. This is for good reason—email lets us think through our communications before sending them, provides a record of what's been communicated, and lets us communicate when we're ready to rather than when the phone rings or when someone walks into our office.

However, email has its challenges as well as its benefits. Most of us receive dozens upon dozens of emails every day. It's important to develop good email habits to help keep all that information under control. Here are some tips to help you out.

Answer email at a scheduled time each day.
Curiosity killed the cat and it will kill your productivity if you check each email as it comes in. Schedule time each day to answer email. If once a day isn't enough, schedule a second time.

If you have Outlook set to notify you whenever an email comes in, you're tempting yourself unnecessarily. To turn Outlook email notification off, follow these steps:

1. Go to Tools>Options.
2. Click the Email Options button.
3. Click the Advanced Email Options button.
4. Uncheck all the items under When a new email arrives in my Inbox.

Don't answer email at your most productive time of day.
Personally, I'm at my best first thing in the morning when I sit down to work. It's tempting to dive right into the inevitable stack of morning email. However, when we're at our best it's important to focus on our toughest and most important projects. If you're expecting an important email, it's fine to scan your inbox, but resist the temptation to answer all those emails right away!

If you are a morning person like me, ignore your email until you've spent your good morning energy on the work that matters most. If you're an afternoon person, then great, dive right into email first thing in the morning.

Process each email as you read it.
Don't use your email inbox as a storage system or a task list. Do you leave your snail mail in your mailbox until you deal with it? I doubt it! Like paper, you can do one of four things with an email: file it, refer it, read it, or take action on it.

File it. You can create separate folders in Outlook by going to File>New>Folder. Organize your email into folders that make sense to you. I create a folder for each email list I'm on as well as a separate folder for key work partners whose email I need to pay special attention to. You might create a folder for each of your clients.

Emails can also be saved to your My Documents folders as well. This is a great place to save project-related emails with important information. However, when you reopen that email after saving it in a My Documents folder, it will open as an html page, not an email in Outlook. Your information will still be readable, but you won't be able to reply to the email at the click of a button.

Please note that to save an email in a folder under My Documents, the email needs to be open, not just being viewed in the preview pane. When the email is open, you can save it by going to File>Save As.

Refer it. Once you've referred an email to someone else, delete it if it requires no further action from you!

Read it. Try not to keep things to read later. Most of the time you won't go back to it.

Take action on it. If you encounter an email that requires further action from you, get it on your To Do list. If you use Outlook's Task List, this is easy to do. Simply drag the email from your Inbox and drop it on top of "Tasks" on your folder list. You can then specify settings for the task, including priority, a due date, or a reminder.

Don't be afraid to delete emails.

If you are not the person in charge of keeping the information contained in the email, then you don't need to keep it.

Help each other keep email inboxes under control.
Learn to resist the urge to impulsively let fly an email when a thought you would like to communicate hits you. Your colleagues will appreciate it. Save those thoughts and put them together into one cohesive email when you have time to do them justice.

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>> Special Opportunity
     Your Chance to Spend Time with my Business Coach!

I am so excited! My business coach, Mark LeBlanc, is coming to speak in Sioux Falls, SD at the Holiday Inn Express on November 13, 2006 from 9:00am-12:00pm. He will be presenting "Growing Your Business When You Are the Business!"

If you live anywhere near Sioux Falls and want to grow your business incredibly in the next year you must come hear Mark speak. I guarantee you will be SO glad that you did! The cost is only $49 if you RSVP and pre-pay and you will receive a copy of his book "Growing Your Business". To sign up call Mark's assistant, Sherry, at 1-800-690-0810. I hope to see you there!

Please call me at 605-357-8767 if you have any questions – you do not want to miss this!

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TimeSpa
Simplify Your Life and Make Every Moment Count!

Would you like to spend a fun weekend learning all that I have discovered not only on the beach but in the past 25 years so you, too, can be more focused, have more confidence, be more balanced, and have more time?

I would like to cordially invite you to do something extraordinary for yourself!

This incredible event will be held January 12-13, 2007 in Sioux Falls, SD. You will enter the TimeSpa at 3:00pm on Friday and leave totally refreshed and with an action plan to have more time in your life at 4:00 pm on Saturday.

This event is the first of its kind anywhere and I am THRILLED to present it to you.

This weekend is for you if you:

• Feel swamped by piles of paper
• Have more work to do than hours in the day
• You can never find what you need when you need it
• You have stacks of paper on the kitchen counter and your desk and you have no idea what is the best use of your time
• You feel totally overwhelmed at the office and home and you know it's preventing you from what you want to achieve in your life
• You are not spending your time you'd like on what you really enjoy
• Know change has to happen but don't know where to begin

After the weekend you will:

• Have an action plan with doable tasks.
• Leave with an increased sense of "I can do this" and feel really great about yourself.
• Feel pampered.
• Have fun!
• Meet other wonderful women who you can reach out to after the weekend is over for support.

For more information and to register please visit www.ElizabethHagen.com/TimeSpa today! If you think this is right for you - and I hope you do - please register soon as I have 15 seats left.

Take ACTION TODAY!! Call me at 605-357-8767 or register at www.ElizabethHagen.com/TimeSpa.

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Save the Date!

Save the date of November 20 for a special presentation I'll be giving in Sioux Falls!
More information coming soon.

See my upcoming speaking engagements at www.elizabethhagen.com/speaking_training.html

I'm in the process now of booking fall/winter speaking engagements. If your business or organization would like to start off this fall being more focused, organized, and productive please visit the Speaking page on my website.

It's time to make your life easier!