The Costco Connection

WHEN PEOPLE HEAR the term “work-life
balance,” they think about trying to spend an
equal amount of time in all areas of their
lives. “The problem with that is that almost
no entrepreneur can actually achieve that,”
says Ivan Misner, founder and chairman of
BNI.com, a global networking organization
and a Costco business member. “While life
can’t be fully in balance, it is possible to create
a life that is in harmony with your vision.”
Misner offers some simple techniques to
approach balance in your own life.

Wherever you are, be there. If you are
at work, don’t be thinking about the time
you didn’t spend with the family the night
before, or what you should be doing with
your significant other right now. When you
are at home, don’t be thinking about the
work you have to do at the office.

Be creative (about how you manage your time). If you have a big project at work that has to be done and you want to spend time with the family one evening, get creative. “I used to spend the evening with the family, and when everyone went to bed I sat down to write my first book,” Misner says. “I finished the book without taking any time away from the family.”

Integrate various elements of
your life. For many years, Misner spent
a couple of weeks or more working
remotely from his lake house. Now, he
brings his staff and management team
for short retreat/work days. The last week,
he takes off completely and spends time with
the family. By integrating the two worlds he
creates a sense of harmony.
Practice “letting go” and “holding on.”
Unfortunately, life
involves making
choices. Practice
understanding what
things to say no to and
then letting go of them.
At the same time, think about the
things that are truly important in
your life and hold on to them with all
your might.

For more of Misner’s advice, go to businessnetworking.com and click on “Blog.” C

HOW MANY EMAILS should you have in your inbox? How many times per day should you scroll through them? How many times a day should you check your email?

The answers are zero, zero and three. Surprised? Read on and I will explain a process that will allow you to completely empty your inbox.

Shortly after I started my productivity business, email became widespread and changed the way that people do business. Like many others, I began my workday at 9 a.m. by sorting through emails. At 10: 30 a.m. I was still going through them. I was able to empty the inbox on my office desk in five minutes using the organizational system I invented, so why couldn’t I achieve the same results with my email?

Finally it dawned on me: I was handling my electronic inbox the same way I used to treat the one on my desk. I was reading, replying to or working on my emails while I was going through them, instead of making decisions and categorizing them. I could never get ahead!

Today, many people are caught up in an endless
loop of processing and producing. They can never
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FRESHviews

FROM THE Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy ( www.sba.gov/ advocacy) come these revealing statistics.

• About half of all new establishments survive five years or more and about one-third survive 10 years of more.

• The numbers of openings and closings of firms with employees were up in the most recently available data.

• Non-employer firms have turnover rates three times as high as employer firms, mostly because it is easier for non-employers to start and stop, as they tend to be smaller than employer firms.

• Business bankruptcies numbered 33,212 in 2013, a decline of about 7,000 over the previous year. Note that not all firm deaths are business bankruptcies, and many business owners file personal bankruptcy instead of business bankruptcy. C

How many businesses open and close each year?

finish emptying their inbox because they are working on emails rather than making decisions about them. Processing consists of deciding, categorizing, prioritizing and sorting. Producing is accomplishing work and creating output.

Everything in your office and your computer should be either an “Action” item or a “Support” (save) item. Keep Action items (tasks to do now or in the future) in Outlook or in your email program. Keep Support items (reference information you have no intention of doing anything with) in Windows Explorer or your shared drive.

Starting from your electronic inbox, there are four places or options for an email: forward, action, delete and support (FADS).

• First, you can forward email. Click the Forward icon and send the email on its way to someone else. Limit your message to a few words.

• Second, you can drag email to an Action folder such as Call, Read, Reply, Pay, Review, etc. You can set up these folders in the left window of your computer.

• The third choice is one of my favorites. Hit the Delete key and say, “See ya.”

• The fourth option is a Support folder. Drag an email to one of 12 or fewer Support category folders in Windows Explorer, broken down by subject, to save it. The Support categories are your information storage system.

The only emails you want in your email program are the ones that need action. This way, everything you need to work on is in only one spot—and not mixed in with Support (reference materials).