Welcome to The Simplifier, brought to you by…

Contents:

1.  A Note From Lance
2.  Our Featured Quote
3.  Article: Why Systemize?
4.  Your Simplification Tip
5.  In the News & On the Web
6.  Featured at ProjectSimplify.com
7.  Keep Smiling

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1. A Note From Lance

Fall is falling upon us, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere, and as our quote from Sue Grafton below indicates, that always seems to bring about a certain kind of feeling. Maybe we’re imitating the leaves that are tumbling through the air and rustling around our feet; maybe as the autumn winds kick up, they stir up currents of fancy within ourselves. Or maybe the cause is more mundane—the fact that summer is over and the school year is beginning, or the new fall TV season being underway. Perhaps it’s that the end of the year is now in sight.

Whatever it is that causes this time of year to bring about certain feelings of restlessness and renewal, we welcome it! Hopefully we all don’t need an excuse, or a cue from Mother Nature, to inspire self-reflection and bring about a fresh perspective of what’s possible, or what’s best for ourselves. But it’s almost always good to get a motivating kick in the fanny every now and again—and we should all be so lucky to have that “kick” come in the relatively painless form of a cooling breeze and some browning leaves.

So enjoy the coming new season—make the most of it! And we hope you also enjoy the cooling breeze that is this edition of The Simplifier. :-)

Co-editor,
Lance Brown

2. Our Featured Quote

“I’ve never known anyone yet who doesn’t suffer a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around… We’re all eight years old again and anything is possible.“

-Sue Grafton

3. Article:  Why Systemize?

By Shawn Tuttle

Imagine if every evening when it started getting dark, you had to pull wires from the junction box and run them to your lamp for light. After 20 or 30 times you’d be pretty fast, surely. But… aren’t you glad you don’t have to?

Instead, you have a hard wired system that efficiently and reliably achieves the goal of delivering usable electricity to not one, but all the lighting sources in your home. Why did you bother setting this up? Because you have a desire for light at night, yet it isn’t something you want to have to fiddle with daily. You want it easy. You want to be able to flip a switch and enjoy the result.

Imagine if you never wrote down a phone number. Like the ancient Romans, you’d take the time to memorize every single one you needed. You’d just add it on to the list that you’ve already spent hours memorizing. Then when you needed a phone number, you’d recite your memorized list until you got to the one you wanted. 

Ridiculous, yes? You want a phone number at your fingertips when you need it, minimal hassle or time spent retrieving. 

The key pattern in these simple scenarios: results are accomplished when driven by a compelling goal. Whatever your compelling goal is, systems will support their success.

What are the typical excuses for not setting up a system?

• don’t have the time
• don’t know what would work best
• don’t know where to start
• don’t know how, don’t want to figure it out, I want help (but then no one called)
• the system I have works for me well enough (but no one else would be able to use it)

These all result in no action taken.Without that compelling goal, you lack the the impetus to change your behavior.

If your contacts information is scattered—some in your email program, some in your address book, some in an excel program, some on slips of paper scattered here and there—would the goal “I want easy access to my phone numbers” compel you to change your behavior? Probably not. You are busy, you know where to find a number when you need it, and it doesn’t take that long. “It’s an adequate system,” you claim. “I can find a number when I need it.”

Reality check time. Do you have plans for growth? Do you still want to be doing everything you are doing now, or would you like to delegate some of it so you can focus on something else? Do you want your business to keep going while you go on a much needed vacation?  In 5 years, do you want your business to be as it is now? Because continuing to do what you are doing will continue to produce the same results.

One of the primary casualties of inadequate systems is your mind. Your brain, being the resourceful, self-preserving organ that it is, compensates where your systems lack. However, when you are spending time doing unnecessary actions and “recreating the wheel”, what are you not doing? In other words, imagine what you could use your valuable time and brain juice for if you had efficient systems: marketing strategy and execution, more client/billable time, networking and making strategic alliances, planning and growing, or even relaxing (wow!).

In fact there are many benefits to having systems in place:

• peace of mind knowing that supporting business activities are getting done
• relief from the weight that something needs to get done
• freedom from unnecessarily storing a lot of information in your head
• decreased time dealing with “stuff” (i.e. boring and unbillable time)
• setting up for successful delegation
• time and mindset for higher level activities (the interesting stuff!)
• you can take on more client work since the accompanying work for each client is easier

You can see the benefits are varied and widespread. They truly are part of the foundation of your success. From billing and invoicing, to managing your ToDo list, to client communications, and everything in between—efficient systems create the support for your desired situation. You don’t need to waste your valuable time being run by your business.

In my next article, I’ll take you step-by-step through setting up a system: what to watch for, what to take into consideration, and how to determine when it’s “good enough”. In the meantime, think about a “trouble area” in your daily functioning that could be simplified by a system.

—
Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify

4. Your Simplification Tip

Tracking pending items using your email program

Considering the prevalence of email communication, it stands to reason that your email program should help you track your ToDo items. This is an easy system that relieves you from tracking pending information and leaves you reassured that follow-up won’t be forgotten.

1. set up a folder in your email program called Pending
2. every time you send an email in which you are requesting, or will wait for, a response, “Bcc” yourself
3. when you receive the message in your inbox, move it to your Pending folder
4. depending on the frequency and urgency of your email requests, establish a regular day, or days, of the week on which you check your Pending folder and follow up as necessary
5. delete the emails of completed requests so the folder stays fresh and current

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5. In the News & On the Web

If you know of something in the news or on the web that should be featured here, let us know!

The Headline Gods were kind to us this time around…these article titles speak for themselves. :-)

In The News

Now is the ideal time to get kids, parents and calendars organized  (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/efdfe    

Study rooms: Space management for students (Toronto Star)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/rtz6n 

Garages: Give car a space alongside clutter (Contra Costa Times)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/qbg5d  

On The Web

Time management: Tips to reduce stress and improve productivity (Mayo Clinic)
URL: http://tinyurl.com/mn49d  

6. Featured at ProjectSimplify.com

Our Articles Section

Our Articles section has grown from its humble beginnings (when it could have been more accurately called our “Article” section). It now includes over a dozen original articles. All of the Project Simplify articles from previous Simplifiers are there, as well as some guest articles that we’ve only published on the web.

To save you some clicking, here are links to all our current articles. You can see them listed along with excerpts by visiting our Articles section.

You can find a link to our Articles section under Blog Sections in the site’s sidebar.
Here is the URL: http://projectsimplify.com/sections/articles 

7. Keep Smiling

Sidewalk Drawings

The “sidewalk art” of Julian Beever is really impressive—especially his ability to simulate 3-dimensional objects and perspectives. It’s so well done that it’s hard to believe that it’s just a drawing, or that there is just a sidewalk there, even when you know that’s the case. (This Coke bottle picture continues to boggle my mind.)

You can view his website with all of his astonishing pictures here. We don’t want to tread on his copyright, so we’re only using the one photo as a teaser, but trust us when we say there are a lot more that are just as cool or cooler, and you should visit his site and check them out!

 Photo copyright Julian Beever

 

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Thanks for reading – see you next week!

Publication Information
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The Weekly Simplifier is published by:

Project Simplify
P.O. Box 597
Nevada City, CA 95959
phone: 530.205.5775
web: www.projectsimplify.com
e-mail: newsletter@projectsimplify.com