There are many things you can do to keep your head and your heart clear, centered and focused at work. 

One of them, of course, is to become a member of Fancy Hands and delegate your small, tedious chores to our team of assistants. Our clients are amazed at how much time they save by outsourcing phone calls and research to us.

It’s also helpful to approach your work day in an organized, efficient manner. Jacquelyn Smith offers these steps to get off on the right foot. 

1. Arrive on time.

This may be obvious to most people—but some don’t realize that showing up late can not only leave a bad impression, but also throw off your entire day. “Getting in on time or a little early helps your mindset for the day and helps promote a feeling of accomplishment,” says Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant. 

2. Take a deep breath.

“Literally,” says Michael Kerr, an international business speaker, author and president of Humor at Work. “And do something to focus in on the here and now.”  Many people come into work harried because they don’t leave enough time at home to deal with “home stuff,” he says, “they’ve barely survived another horrendously stressful commute, and then they dive into the madness.” Slowing down, taking a moment to pause, and creating a routine around centering yourself can work wonders.

3. Take five.

After the deep breath, give yourself five minutes to get settled in, says Michael “Dr. Woody” Woodward, PhD, organizational psychologist and author of The YOU Plan. “This is a good way to set the tone of the day. Don’t allow yourself to be bum rushed by frantic co-workers lost in their own confusion.” It’s not unusual to wake up to a long backlog of e-mails just screaming for your attention, he adds. “The challenge is taking a moment for yourself before diving head first into your day.”

4. Start each day with a clean slate.

You may have to attend to projects or discussions that rolled over from the previous afternoon—but try to treat each day as a fresh one, says David Shindler, an employability specialist and author of Learning to Leap. “Leave any crap from yesterday behind, tap into what’s happening at the outset of the day, get organized and ready or hit the ground running, if that’s what is needed,” he says.

5. Don’t be moody.

You’ll want to pay attention to your mood and be aware of its effect on others. “First and last thing in the day is when emotional intelligence can have the greatest impact,” Shindler says. So if you’re not a “morning person,” try to suck it up and have a positive attitude when you arrive at the office. Grab a second or third cup of coffee, if that’s what it takes.

Kerr agrees. “Your first hour at work can set your ‘attitude barometer’ for the rest of the day, so from a purely emotional point of view, I think it’s an important part of the day,” he says. “One morning grump can infect an entire team and put everyone on the wrong footing.”

6. Organize your day. 

The first hour of the work day is the best time to assess priorities and to focus on what you absolutely need to accomplish, Kerr says. “Too many people get distracted first thing in the morning with unimportant activities such as diving right into their morass of e-mail, when there may be a whole host of more important issues that need dealing with.” Make a to-do list, or update the one you made the previous day, and try to stick to it. However, if your boss has an urgent need, then it’s OK re-shuffle your priorities within reason, Taylor adds.

Anita Attridge, a career and executive coach with the Five O’Clock Club, a career coaching organization, says when you prepare your morning to-do list, determine what must be done today and what can be completed tomorrow, and prioritize accordingly. “Also determine your peak working time and plan your schedule accordingly,” she says. “Use your peak time each morning to do the most important tasks.”

7. Be present.

Even if you’re not a morning person, you need to be awake when you get the office. Especially if you’re in a leadership position, it’s critical to be present, mentally and physically, and to communicate. “One of the biggest office pet peeves I hear from employees is about how their immediate supervisor just blows by them in the morning without so much as a smile,” Kerr says. “Taking the time to connect with your team members is essential, and doing the seemingly small things–making eye contact,  smiling, asking them about their night,  and checking in on what they may need help with–helps you as a leader take the pulse of the team, and helps set the tone for all the employees.”

8. Check in with your colleagues.

“A quick 5 to 10 minute team huddle can also be an effective way for many people to start their day,” Kerr says. Make it a short meeting, with no chairs, have everyone share their top goal for the day, and share any critical information the rest of the team absolutely needs to know, he says. “Doing the huddles helps people focus and more importantly, connects everyone with the team. And by sharing your goals for the day publicly, the odds of achieving them rise substantially.”

9. Ensure that your workspace is organized.

Clearing off the desk and creating a neat workspace sets a tone for the rest of the day, says Alexandra Levit, the author of Blind Spots: The 10 Business Myths You Can’t Afford to Believe on Your New Path to Success.

It can also help avoid confusion. “While most communications are through e-mails and texts, if your boss or co-worker stopped by looking for you and left a sticky note about a last-minute meeting occurring in ten minutes, and it’s sitting on a mound of mail or papers, you’re already behind the eight ball,” Taylor says. “Also, for many, it’s difficult to think clearly, easy to forget important reminders, and just plain stressful if you feel you’re fighting the battle and the tornado of mail or paper is winning.” Ideally, you’d clear whatever you can out the night before so you can have a fresh start before you even turn on your computer in the morning. But if not, make sure clearing your desk takes precedence over things like checking e-mails and chatting with co-workers in the morning.

10. Don’t be distracted by your inbox.

This one is difficult for most people—but the experts agree that you shouldn’t check your e-mail first thing in the morning. If you do, only read and respond to messages that are urgent. “Priority-scan your inbox,” Taylor says. “Not all e-mails were created equal. Hone your ability to quickly sift the wheat from the chaff and address what must be answered on an urgent basis.”

Attridge agrees. “Only respond immediately to the urgent messages so that you control your morning activities.” There will be time during the day to respond to the less urgent e-mails.

Why must you put off checking e-mails? “For far too many people, e-mail and the web can serve as huge time-wasters and distracters, particularly in the morning,” Kerr says. “Once you start checking e-mails, it’s a click away from watching the funny video someone forwarded you, which then sucks you into the abyss: checking the sports scores on line, the news headlines, the stocks, et cetera, and before you know it you’ve been watching a cat play the drums for twenty minutes and, like a poorly planned Oscars ceremony, your entire schedule is already thrown off before you’ve even begun your day.”

11. Listen to your voice mail.

Most people jump on the computer and ignore their phone. “While office voice mail is indeed becoming antiquated as people rely more on personal cell phones, Blackberrys and e-mail, some people do leave voice messages, and if you ignore them, you could miss something important,” Levit says.

12. Place important calls and send urgent e-mails.

If you know you need to get in touch with someone that day, place the call or send the e-mail first thing in the morning. If you wait until midday, there’s a greater chance you won’t hear back before you leave the office. “There’s nothing more frustrating that trying to complete something and not having access or answers from people you need because your day time hours were lost on other matters,” Taylor says. “If you have your questions ready and your e-mails fired off during early peak hours, by the end of the day you should have what you need.”

13. Take advantage of your cleared head.

“Many people feel that their brains function best in the morning, and that morning is when they are most creative and productive,” Kerr says. “Consider whether you are making the best use of your brainpower and plan ‘high brain’ activities in the morning.”

14. Plan a mid-morning break.

“This is the time to assess where you and take time to revitalize yourself so that you can keep your momentum going,” Attridge says.

If you’re stuck in a routine that doesn’t include these must-dos, it may be worthwhile to re-examine your habits and make some changes for enhanced career development, Taylor says.

“Habits are created out of having regular cues that prompt a routine, which then eventually become our habits,” Kerr adds. The morning is the perfect time to create some critical habits that will, over time, become routine and help you be more focused and productive.

“I know my morning routines are critically important. They help me focus and build momentum,” he says. “I’m a big believer in thinking about the start of your day the night before.”

How many times have you been one of the people below in a meeting; daydreaming, complaining, or missing it altogether because you were so sure that it was a waste of time? 

Company meetings can cost time and money without resulting in any positive result for the employees or their employer. 

Here's how to make the best impact on your team: 

• Conduct short meetings; 30 minutes or less.
• Only have a meeting if it's necessary; cancel a recurring meeting if there's nothing much to report. 
• Create an agenda and allow everyone to follow along. People pay more attention to your words when they have a visual guide to follow.
• Open the meeting for discussion and questions only at certain times. Allowing everyone to speak whenever they'd like to is a surefire way to send the meeting schedule off the rails. 
• Have one clear meeting leader, and if others are epxected to speak, be sure that they're prepared before addressing them. 
• Create direct action items and let people know what the expected outcomes are from the information exhanged. 
• End the meeting on a positive note and a laugh. 
• Follow through with team members after the meeting to be sure that you've achieved your desired result from them. 

(Cartoon by Doug Savage, Infographics from Atlassian and Crunched) 

Rachel Eakley's a busy girl. As a trained chef, psychology grad student, blogger, dog owner, and girlfriend to David Karp, the founder & CEO of Tumblr, she's got a lot to juggle. 

She shared how she manages her days here:

Semi-solicited Observations on Time Management

A few people have asked about my time management. Since I’m getting ready to start a new semester, I’m at my most organized. I thought I’d share a few things.

Schedule. 

I have to make a schedule to fit everything in. It is important for this schedule to be realistic, which took me a long time to learn, otherwise I get really discouraged around Wednesday when I start to have a lot of left over stuff pile up from earlier in the week. Living by a well set schedule does not have to be boring. On my schedule I have standing dates with my two closest every week. We usually have dinner and watch TV but we see plays, go to the movies, go bowling. But it’s on the schedule and I make sure to set that time aside each week. 

I schedule my chores. Monday I go to the grocery. Every Monday. No matter what. It’s annoying but not only do I always have groceries, I don’t spend my actual free time feeling guilty that the laundry or other errands need to be done. There is a designated time for all of that. I also keep a day, this semester it’s Friday, mostly open to catch up with anything I fell behind on. Obviously things come up, but the idea is to stick to the plan as much as possible. 

Prioritize.

I can’t always do everything I want in a day. But I know what my perfect day would look like and I try to get close to that. School work and fitness are at the top. So since I have a lot more class time, homework, and a couple grizzly commutes this semester, I’ve had to cut down on the hours I make available for my lab. I write all my homework and exams into my schedule at the beginning of the semester. If my week isn’t that busy or if I’m caught up with school and work then I might schedule more “fun” stuff that week. 

Make time.

I get up early at 6 or 7 and get a lot done before I leave for school. I go to bed around 10 or 11. I could sleep in but that time in the morning is so productive. If you’re a night owl, maybe this would be reversed for you, the point is to take advantage of the time you’re the most productive. 

Find Time.

I actually wrote this as I waited as four L trains went by that I couldn’t fit on and then as we were held at 3rd ave because someone was sick on a train ahead of us and then while waiting for another train when the first one I was on was taken out of service! Making what seems like an inconvenience into an opportunity is a good way to maximize time. I’m going to be late anyway at this point I might as well use it. And it also helps you not get as angry as some of your trainmates about a situation that is out of your control. The same works for waiting at the DMV and waiting for, lets say, your boyfriend to finally show up to dinner! 

Use all time as fully as possible.

I’m getting better at this and it’s really been helpful. Multitasking usually makes you do a mediocre job at both things (thanks, Ron Swanson and also science!) but if done right it can be really great. I catch up with my mom and dad on my walk to the subway. I listen to pre-lecture pod casts on the way up work. I watch TV while I run at the gym (this is currently my favorite thing ever!). I went grocery shopping with my friend this week so we could cook dinner together. But I also did my weekly shopping then. It was Monday. No matter what! Necessary thing + social life is a great way to make that necessary thing something to look forward to. 

All this planning adds up so that, hopefully, I have no responsibilities on the weekend. I haven’t mentioned Karp in all of this time planning. David is super busy and travels a lot so we don’t get to see each other that much on weekdays. I’m trying to pack more stuff into the weekday and leave weekends alone. He’s pretty spontaneous (nearly my polar opposite scheduling-wise) so if I’ve managed to keep my weekend free it lets us get out of the city or at the very least, enjoy it more. 

Do you spend 2.7 hours a day using your mobile phone?

Is that time well spent, or are you mindlessly staring into the Facebook abyss?

What would you do with that time if you weren't on the phone?

Were you more productive or less productive before the age of cell phones? 

If you're not sure how much time you devote to your cell on a regular basis, try keeping track for a week, and then ask yourself these questions.

Maybe it's time to scale back some of this phone stuff. 

At least, that's what I wondered to myself as a girl ran into me on the street last night while walk-texting...

Gregory Ciotti created this great video based on his scientific research about productivity. 

Here are the bullet points:  

1. Get Started. Studies indicate that getting started is the biggest barrier to productivity. However, once we've begun a project, we're compelled to finish it. This is called The Zeigarnic Effect - when we don't finish a task, we experience discomfort and intrusive thoughts about it. 

2. Focus deliberately. Work in "packets of energy" (recommended: 90 minutes) and then take a break (recommended: 20 minutes). Don't rely on willpower to work, rely on habit and disciplined scheduling. 

3. Create an accountability schedule. Write down what you intend to complete in your 90 minute work session before you start, so that you clearly understand what your goals are. For example: "9:00am - 10:30am: answer and file all necessary emails, then shut down email program until late afternoon to complete other work." Which leads us to...

4. Stop multi-tasking. Studies show that multi-taskers are much less productive than those who focus on one job at a time and work until that one job is completed. 

Don't be this guy! ---->

Fast Company's Erin Schulte asked some highly successful people for their secrets to being productive, and here's what they had to share:

Keep Email From Crushing You With "OHIO"

That stands for "only handle it once"--a technique that's espoused by productivity expert Bob Pozen and practiced by Huge CEO and Fast Company contributor Aaron Shapiro.

"No 'I'll respond later' is allowed," Shapiro says. "Responding later means you take three times longer to get through your email than taking care of it the first time, because responding later means you have to waste time finding and rereading that email... or even worse, the time wasted reminding yourself over and over to get to that message."

Chuck Your To-Do Lists
"I'm following the advice I give my own clients. I'm no longer creating to-do-lists, which seem to go on forever," says Roberta Matuson, president of Matuson Consulting. "Anything worth doing goes on my calendar."

Restrict Your Social Media Diet
Ekaterina Walter is a global social innovation strategist at Intel, so if anyone has an excuse to glut on social media, it's her. But even social media pros have to set parameters to avoid being sucked in.

"I am very active socially, which means daily interactions on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other social networks," Walter says. "Couple that with keeping up with all the news around social business and the activity can take up a chunk of your daily routine. So I set a timer for those activities to ensure I am on track with everything else and don’t spend too much time on a specific task."

Never Enter The Kitchen Empty-Handed
Kaihan Krippendorff, author of Outthink the Competition, uses a lesson from his days in food service to keep his days flowing smoothly.

"I waited tables for four years in college and may have captured more useful lessons there than I did in my thermo-dynamics or option-pricing classes," Krippendorff says. "For example, my manager drilled into my head to never enter the kitchen empty-handed. If you see your hands empty, ask 'Is there a dish I can clear or food I can bring out?'"

This way, he says, every motion counts....twice. This year, he put that habit to work in his daily routines.

"When I look at my priorities, decide which I should prioritize and which I should just not do, I look specifically for opportunities to kill two (or better yet a flock) birds with one stone."

Get Tough With Self-Imposed Deadlines
David Brier, chief executive at DBD International, looks for bottlenecks in his work--incessantly bothersome tasks like email (there it is again!).

"Determine the amount of traffic you get (could be emails, or whatever) in an area that bottlenecks, then decide on a 'cut-off' period for that traffic," he advises.

For example, if you have non-urgent emails that you've left for later, determine a time period after which you toss them--be it days or weeks.

"If it didn't warrant an immediate response and now has zero impact, recognize it's not vital to your existence or input, toss it and move on," he says. "Or as Shark Kevin O'Leary says, 'You're dead to me.'"

Make Sharing Easier
Dayna Steele has one word for a more productive year: Dropbox.

"No matter where I am, I can send a client, potential client, speaker agent, meeting planner--anyone--a file they need to keep my business moving forward," says Steele.

Tilt At Windmills
"There's no app, productivity technique, or idea that can be more effective than a crazy huge challenge and a short time to deliver against," says John Boiler, CEO of 72andSunny. "High pressure. High stakes. High expectations. That's what motivates and focuses productivity."

Get A Dog
"Adopting a dog from the Buffalo City Animal Shelter was actually the most productive thing I did in 2012," says Kevin Purdy, Fast Company contributor and former contributing editor at Lifehacker.

"He takes up time, sure, but forcing me to take short-leash training walks--the kind that don't lend themselves to phone staring--also forces me to think about what I'm doing that day, what I did yesterday, and visualize how things will work when I act on them."

Here's to a productive 2013! 

The average person spends two days a year on hold! One of the things that Fancy Hands does best is handle all of those calls to customer service (should be called disservice, really). 

Here's a year-end wrap up infographic about how Fancy Hands assistants helped our clients this year. If you're not one of our clients yet, imagine the possibilities...

No more listening to bad hold music while you feel your life slipping away from you. Ever.

Are you making New Year's Resolutions?

Only 19% of us will succeed in keeping them!

Click to enlarge.  

We all know how to Google...but do you Google like the pros? NOW you do! Click to enlarge.

In honor of 12/12/12, the last repeating date we'll ever see, here are

12 tips for time management:  

1. Spinach first. Your mom was right. Always tackle the most difficult task on your plate first thing in the morning when your energy and concentration level is at its highest. Get to the hard stuff as early as you can. The longer you put it off in favor of easier, lower priority matters, the bigger that mound gets (and the worse it tastes). Keep the main thing the main thing.

2. Think sprint, not marathon. We are not designed to "park it" at a desk for eight hours at a stretch and get all of our work done. Short, uninterrupted bursts of concentration are the key to knocking out good work. Get a kitchen timer or stopwatch. Set it for 45 or 60 minutes, and don't stop until you hear the buzzer. You'd be amazed at what you can accomplish in one good uninterrupted hour.

3. Be selfish. Once you have prioritized your to-do list, you must put that ahead of all others' lists. When you are able to get your own work done, you are in a much better position to support others with their projects. But your work comes first. Always.

4. Date stamp your expectation. Whenever you request a deliverable from someone, do not simply ask for it, but also inquire when you can expect to receive it. Things tend to happen much faster when there is an explicit deadline. Similarly, if someone asks something from you, ask them when they need it by. Then write it in a calendar.

5. Touch it once. With the never-ending onslaught of email, it's crucial that you have a good filing system in place. My rule is "read it once" -- then decide what to do with the information, then do it. Same thing with other incoming requests. Touch it once, do something with it, then let it go.

6. Group like items. Organize your week into specific days for similar tasks with allotted timeframes. For example, on Mondays and Wednesdays, focus on face time -- seeing clients, making sales, etc. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, reserve the time for writing, emailing or working on strategy. Friday morning is for overflow and Friday afternoon is free. Knowing what your week looks like in advance makes it easier to be in the right mindset when the time comes.

7. Face time saves time. Don't try to figure out what someone meant in a confusing email; go straight to the source and ask. This saves on time, energy and mistakes. Asking for, and giving, clear communication is key.

8. Delegate. Learn to delegate more of the work. When you actually do this, you'll notice how your role and work output will transition to the next level. Know what parts you do well yourself, and then give to someone else whatever parts you feel do not play to your strengths. Then let go.

9. Track it. If you can't figure out where the week went, it's time to take a closer look at it. Track your time hour-by-hour for one week: everything that you're doing from the time you get up until you go to bed. This is sobering! You'll likely see where the holes in your calendar are. You may find that you need to rearrange your life (and calendar) accordingly.

10. Move it. With so much head work, we can often neglect our bodies (without which our heads do not work). Regular vigorous exercise will help you blow off steam, give you more energy, greater concentration and a better night's sleep. Not a bad return!

11. Slow down to speed up. Sometimes we need to slow it right down in order to get good work done. By minimizing distractions, and focusing carefully on one task at a time, we can actually speed up our overall work rate. Mono-tasking is the way.

12. Lighten up. Nothing is so serious that we cannot laugh about it. One good belly laugh each day is essential for defusing tension, and yes, getting our work done. Work is work, but that doesn't mean we can't have a laugh once in a while. Even at our own expense. Even when the chips are down.  

We really hope that you don't waste 36% of your time on annoying co-workers!

Harvard Business School boldly suggests a 3-Day Rule! 

Can you imagine only letting your to-do list tasks stay active for 3 days before doing them or getting rid of them altogether? Considering some of our 2012 New Year's resolutions will be carried over to 2013's New Year's resolutions, maybe we should pay attention to this advice! 

"A to-do list is only useful if you cross things off as often as you add tasks on. If something’s been on your list for more than 3 days, do one of the following: 

-Do it immediately.

It may take you less time than you think.

-Schedule it.

Find a time slot on your calendar when you can get the task done. If it’s important enough to have on your list, then commit to doing it at a specific time and day.

-Let it die.

If you’re not willing to do something immediately or schedule it for later, you won’t ever do it. Accept that it’s not really a priority and take it off your list."