Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Claude Paris/AP/Press Association Images

Kickstart January with these great tips to get organised

Back to work today and have great intentions for 2016? Here’s what you need to do to get what you want.

WHAT DOES IT take to get what you want? Some say hard work and perseverance; others say you have to know the right people.

What a third group understand is you have to be clear about what it is you want in order to be able to go out and get it.

At this time of year everyone is talking about goals and New Year’s resolutions.

January is dominated by talk of how to get what you want. But what if you don’t know what you want, what if your mind is cluttered and your life so disorganised that you find it difficult to figure out what you want, never mind make a plan to go out and get it.

The first step in the grand plan to get more of what you want is to get organised.

Getting organised helps you to gain more clarity, it will help create the space for you to focus on the right things.

Here are three things that you can do straight away in January to help you clear the clutter and gain a better perspective on where you are and where you would like to be moving forward.

Learn how to plan like a pro

Organised people use their calendar. They plan out their days, make upfront decisions about how they are going to spend their time each day. Leave it to chance and chances are it won’t happen. Start to use your calendar as if your life depended on it.

Write down all the things you need to do or would like to do in the next month. Then one by one make a decision about when you are going to do it. Make an estimate about how long it will take you and put it into your calendar.

If you come to an item that is low priority and you feel resistance around putting it into the calendar don’t put it in. Put it into your task management system (see below) so that it is captured and not forgotten about and you can address it again later when it becomes a higher priority for you.

shutterstock_276208211 Shutterstock / chrisdorney Shutterstock / chrisdorney / chrisdorney

Master the inbox zero technique

When it comes to email there are few people in this world who don’t cite it as a source of wasted time. We all receive too many emails and need to win back some of the time we spend processing them each week. The first thing to do with your email is to unsubscribe to the email newsletters that you receive that you no longer read.

Ryanair, Groupon, Marks and Spencer’s, you really don’t need to know what their latest offer is. Go to these websites when you decide there is a need, not when they decide they have something to sell to you.

Process your email each day with Barbara Hemphill’s F.A.T method: File, Act or Trash. If you want to keep an email for later use, file it in a folder. If you have no use for the information in the email delete it and if you need to act on the email you can do one of three things.

1. If it will take less than 2 mines to answer the email or to complete the task it holds, act on it straight away.

2. If you need to do the work in the email on a particular date or time, schedule the task into your calendar.

3. If the email information pertains to a particular project or needs to be acted on at a later stage you can either schedule it for further down the road or put the task into your task management system for later retrieval and action.

shutterstock_156687308 Shutterstock / sergign Shutterstock / sergign / sergign

Make a task management tool your ally

What’s a task management system? A task management system is a tool that stores all of the things you need to do in the future. It outranks a To Do list as a task management system categorises the things you need to do into different projects or areas of work.

The benefit of this is, if you are working on Project Cobra you don’t need to be thinking about the things you need to do on Project Viper. A system that categories the work you need to do helps you to focus.

There are many programs out there, apps for personal use like, Todoist, Remember the Milk or Wunderlist and others for team use such as Asana, Teamwork or Trello.

Whatever system you choose you need to commit to using it every day to make it work for you. Do yourself a favour and get organised in 2016 to make it one of your best year’s yet.

Ciara Conlon is The Productivity Coach and founder of LeadwithProductivity.com. Her latest book Productivity for Dummies published by Wiley will be available early January. Go to her blog www.theproductivityblog.com to get a free goal setting guide for 2016. 

Read: Small business owners ignore social media at their peril>

Read: ‘Women need to know the truth. Fertility takes a plunge after age 35′>

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
13 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Philip Nolan
    Favourite Philip Nolan
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 12:34 PM

    As a very frequent traveller, I have used the scanners in US airports and could care less to be honest. I’ve seen people more exposed in their photo albums on Facebook. The queues for the scanners are much quicker than the standard queues, the person instructing you how to stand can’t see the scan anyway (the images are monitored remotely) and it’s not like they’re going to discuss your naked form with anyone you know! In Schipol recently, I was subjected to a pat-down that would have been classed as a sexual assault in the real world and I was livid about it. I’d rather have been offered the option of the scanner.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bertie SirCastic
    Favourite Bertie SirCastic
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 12:28 PM

    Guy in the xray could do with a Steak sandwich or two!

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert LYNCH
    Favourite Robert LYNCH
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 11:48 AM

    Great…NOT!!!… Dublin yet again are going to follow the example of London Airports it would seem… I personal have a problem with the level of intrusion and the general feeling of being treated like dirt that flying by plane has become. I am flying via London in a couple of weeks, but since I have now found out that this full-body scan is now mandatory there, I will no longer fly in our out of London unless it is my destination. As for the effectiveness of these scanners (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millimeter_wave_scanner), I have serious doubts in general that any of this treatment like cattle is improving anyone’s safety.

    38
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gain & Sustain
    Favourite Gain & Sustain
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 12:28 PM

    Clearly you have something to hide, I think this system is great

    46
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute stephen corrigan
    Favourite stephen corrigan
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 3:47 PM

    1 question, bomb or scan?? Even drugs can be found so whats the problem.

    22
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert LYNCH
    Favourite Robert LYNCH
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 3:51 PM

    Maybe I do. However what I have to hide is not going to bring down a plane, e.g. prosthetics including breast prostheses, and other medical equipment normally hidden, such as colostomy bags are all things that someone may not want the people around him/her to be aware of. I am sure you can think of a whole range of other things that are the private business of individuals and of no concern to airport authorities. However all these things will be viewed and displayed by this machine with little if in any improvement to airport security.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Terry Connolly
    Favourite Terry Connolly
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 12:30 PM

    love the belly button!

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute EM
    Favourite EM
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 12:47 PM

    If the image is as per the picture above then i’d have no issue with this tbh as it’s not particularly invasive.

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Denzer
    Favourite Denzer
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 1:33 PM

    Id be more concerned with the potential radiation effects. Had a quick look through the literature… There is Very little peer reviewed information supporting it as non genotoxic- as claimed by manufacturers. May not be a concern for those who take a couple of flights a year but there could be legitimate concerns from frequent flyers with prolonged exposure to the technology.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute starflyergold
    Favourite starflyergold
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 2:08 PM

    Germany trialled these in Hamburg and the machines produced an staggering failure rate. 61% of pax passed through without a problem, 31% had to be padded down (hard). In 54% of cases a false alarm was recorded. Result: significant delays in processing passengers.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maura Murphy
    Favourite Maura Murphy
    Report
    Sep 1st 2011, 1:25 PM

    Germany has abandoned plans to use scanners at its airports and will not reconsider until the technology is more reliable and meets “high security standards,” interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said Wednesday

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aidan M
    Favourite Aidan M
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 12:02 PM

    Stupid.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall Carson
    Favourite Niall Carson
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 5:06 PM

    What bunch of sheeple we have become. These are dangerous microwaves. Seriously read into this a bit more. There have been many problems with this in America. Not least the TSA agent who shot his colleagues because they made jokes about the size of his penis after a training scan.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute bob_mac_E
    Favourite bob_mac_E
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 1:55 PM

    Are xray machines not cancerous? Do the guards hide behind lead walls like a nurse at the hospital?

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute hjGfIgAq
    Favourite hjGfIgAq
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 2:06 PM

    @Bob – When I spoke to DAA earlier they were keen to stress that they’re not “x-ray machines”, in that their intensity is much lesser than a standard booth.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fred FedUp
    Favourite Fred FedUp
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 2:09 PM

    Yep, they are cancerous…No, guards not behind lead walls, just eating up the radiation like it’s good for them and getting cancer..From Chicago, TSA heads now have cancer from operating these type of machines.. http://healthland.time.com/2011/06/30/did-airport-scanners-give-boston-tsa-agents-cancer/ So, we’ve option A – groping and pat downs to make sure we’re not “dangerous” or option B – an invasive scan that will shower you in radiation..Just great…This is 1984 people…

    19
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute hjGfIgAq
    Favourite hjGfIgAq
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 2:24 PM

    @Fred (and Bob): The machines that TIME article refers to are a different type of ‘booth’-style scanner than is being considered in Dublin.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute gareth byrne
    Favourite gareth byrne
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 6:38 PM

    Jesus.These scanners are on TRAIL for 18 months in staff areas.Not been used in public areas.Which mean they are not coming in at dap untill ALL tests are carried out.What does it take for people to cop on.These are the times we live in.get used to it.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paddy O'Reilly
    Favourite Paddy O'Reilly
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 9:13 PM

    Looks like milimeter wave scanners only penetrate the clothes and are stopped by skin. So why not just tape a load of contraband to your leg, then wrap it in pigskin (the most common human analog from Mythbusters). Sorted.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Oil Foster
    Favourite Oil Foster
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 8:14 PM

    Thank god for the Internet, giving people totally accurate and factual information.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bertie SirCastic
    Favourite Bertie SirCastic
    Report
    Aug 31st 2011, 3:09 PM

    Would be hilarious seeing Hugh Hefner pass through one off these the morning after…

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick Halpin
    Favourite Patrick Halpin
    Report
    Sep 2nd 2011, 7:45 AM

    Hh

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds