One of the best goals to have is to create effective work habits, and your interest in wanting to find out how to achieve this is a major positive step already. So if you want to be more effective at work, here are some tips to help you out: 1.    Have proper motivation. With most resolutions, a major deciding factor to your success is a healthy motivation. It's best that you have a good and constructive reason that will truly push you to succeed. And your motivation shouldn't be about what others think, or about "proving yourself" to others. Try to be motivated instead to be the best person that you could be. 2.    Practice time management. The chunk of having effective work habits has something to do with time management. Think of it this way: time is even more valuable than money, since you can earn back money even if you lose it, but you can never take back wasted time.  There are many methods for effective time management; it's really a matter of finding out what works best for you based on your personality, your type of job, and your preferences. It isn't any good to lay out a time management plan and then just give it up soon after because it doesn't suit you. Effectively managing your time can start simply by having the right tools where you can take note of your deadlines and responsibilities. Then, you could visualize how long it will take for you accomplish your tasks and plan your schedule accordingly. The whole point to this is that you'd have better control of your work time, and there'd be fewer chances of you missing deadlines. 3.    Don't hesitate to break your tasks into chunks. This is related to tip number 2. Many people have a tendency to want to do their tasks in one sitting, usually the day right before it is due. It's really time to take a different perspective - got an extra 30 minutes on your hands? Check your task list to see which tasks you've got pending, and experiment how much you'd be able to accomplish in that short amount of time. 4.    Have a role model and mentor. It's a great idea to have someone at your workplace who understands your work situation and will know how to guide you to get where you want to be. This person will have to be someone you look up to and who is very effective at work. Ask guidance from that person; chances are, he'd only be too happy and flattered that you'd ask his help. 5.    Resolve to have work-life balance. Just because you're bent on being more effective at work doesn't mean you'd neglect your personal life. In fact, having a life outside of work gives you motivation to do better at your profession. And again, practice proper time management so you'd have time to balance both 6.    Be consistent. Habits form when they are done consistently for about 3 weeks. Be disciplined about adopting effective workplace techniques and you'd find that you'd start doing them automatically. There you have it! These are highly doable ways for you to start creating effective work habits. Remember, it all starts with the proper motivation, and the consistency to carry it through! Good luck! Source: How To Do Things

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Email is an extremely convenient mode of communication; perhaps too easy, as it seems to invite people to contact you for sometimes barely any reason at all. And with all that email coming in that needs attention, it can be hard to get anything else done. So how can you get a grip on your business emails before it gets its grip on you? Getting Control Of Email Success in small business relies on discipline, focus and good time management. Often, however, necessary tasks like checking, reading and responding to emails can start to overtake productive work time and decrease your productivity - and in turn, your profitability. That is why it's important for you to be managing emails, rather than letting emails manage you. Here are some pointers from the experts:

• Schedule time for checking emails; this can be once, twice, or three times daily at times that fit into your schedule. Block out time and when the time is up, move on to other pressing matters.
• Do not use email for emergency contacts; inform clients and business associates that you are not available immediately via email, and that they should phone or contact you via instant message or mobile phone for pressing matters. This makes it possible for you to handle emails in chunks rather than constantly throughout the day. Be careful who you give emergency contact information to, though, so that it is used for its intended purpose.
• Turn off automatic alerts, both audio and visual, so that you are not tempted to immediately respond every time a new message comes in, breaking into your productive work time.
• Deal with emails during your 'down time'; do not schedule your most creative and productive times of day for organising emails. Put email management into your schedule where it makes sense - those times of day when you need to slow down, or that do not take away from more complex activities.
• Use tools for organising emails; get to know the features of your email client and use them to prioritise emails. For instance, separate emails into folders according to priority levels, clients, or subjects, or use settings to automatically send emails to appropriate folders or locations.
• Respond to emails when read; many people will read all emails before responding, and then go back and start with the most important ones. But this only multiplies the time it takes to get through the lot. Respond to emails as they are read, and you will not have to begin all over again sifting through them.
• Separate business and personal emails; do not give out business email addresses to friends and family that do not have a business reason to contact you.

Email is a very useful and important business tool, but if you don't learn how to efficiently manage your emails they will begin to take over your business life. Put into practice these and other tips to put email in its rightful place. Source: EzineArticles

Email etiquette is essential to help save time and increase productivity in an office environment. Many times a simple phone call as the question that is being asked can be handled quickly and effectively when discussed verbally. More complex topics need more details that can easily be given over the phone. Below are some tips on how to maintain proper email etiquette so you can have a smoother functioning office and avoid the needless fluff that can come across our work systems.

1. Email should be concise and to the point. People lose interest quickly in lengthy topics, deliver the vital information and press send.
2. Avoid open ended emails. As the sender, you need to answer questions before they are asked to avoid numerous questions being asked and increasing email volume.
3. Grammar is essential. Most email programs can check your grammar and spelling. Use it.
4. Respond quickly to questions. Instead of putting an email off, answer it once you receive it. If you need to research a topic let the sender know. This gives them the common courtesy of knowing their email has been received and is being worked on.
5. Only add important attachments. People are mistrusting of most content sent through email. Unless you are sending a vital document, don't attach anything to your message.
6. High Priority means it is urgent. It shouldn't be used on items that aren't due in a short period of time. This can be a rude way of delivering messages. Also, never use URGENT or IMPORTANT in the title of your email.
7. Capitals are shouting. A vital part of email etiquette tells us that when we talk in caps we are shouting. Refrain from shouting at people unless you intend on them responding offended.
8. Use Reply. Don't start a new message for the same topic. Continue the original topic so individuals can see the progression of information. Don't ever hit reply all unless it is your intent to send it to everyone.
9. Read the email before sending. If it sounds strange to you or leaves you with questions, it will have the same effect on others.
10. Chat Lingo and Emoticons are Rude. This is a business being run, not a friendly correspondence. Unless you know the person and the email isn't for business don't use these common references.
11. Chain letters need a broken link. Don't forward chain letters or funny jokes. While you may enjoy receiving them, most people don't. There is also no validity to any chain letter, no one has ever won money or died suddenly.
12. Never use email for confidential information. Email can be easily read if it is left open, and can be hacked by some people. Don't ever give out confidential information in this manner.
13. Never put in any offensive material. No one wants to hear your offensive, sexually explicit, or racist remarks. Curse words also have no business in an email.

These are the basics of email etiquette. As you continue to learn more about email, you will find there are other things that aren't proper. Take some time to learn all you can before you send messages that people find offensive, or poor in context. Source: EzineArticles

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1. Cut Your Workday by 30 Minutes You will get more done. A deadline forces you to eliminate all the little time-wasters (silly interruptions, procrastination, perfectionism). Just because you can work all the time doesn't mean you should. If you work in an office, stick to your scheduled hours. If you work at home, set an alarm to end your workday, and dedicate evenings and weekends completely to your personal life.

2. Define an Outcome for Every Meeting Identify a topic and outcome for every meeting, and send it to all participants a minimum of 24 hours beforehand so that everyone comes prepared. Well-run, useful meetings provide enormous value--they can solve problems, generate ideas, save you time, clarify direction, tighten work bonds, build teamwork, and reignite passion for projects. 3. Reduce Paper Clutter Eighty percent of what is filed is never looked at again. Before saving any document, ask yourself whether you would trust that the information is up to date next time you look for it. If not, it's time to pitch, shred or recycle. For printing, use duplex printing to generate fewer pages. When it comes to printing information from web pages, consider using software such as Canon Easy-WebPrint EX--and print only the information you really need. 4. Create Templates As entrepreneurs, we write many proposals, thank you notes, customer e-mails and press releases to various contacts. However, there is no need to write from scratch every time. While you don't want your correspondence to sound like a form letter, writing every letter from scratch is an enormous waste of time. Creating a template for every document that must be sent more than once opens up your schedule for other work. Just be sure to customize your template based on the contact to whom you are writing. 5. Set the Due Date No matter how much room you leave for creativity in the delegation process, never be vague about the due date. If you leave the due date vague, other priorities will usurp your delegatee's focus, or not leave you enough time to correct the work, if necessary. Leave enough of a cushion so that if the work doesn't come back as you'd hoped, there is enough time to correct it before the real deadline. It's sometimes helpful to give the person an estimate of how long you think the task should take and how long you want them to spend on it. Put a reminder in your planner to follow up the day the task is due. Source: Entrepreneur.com

No matter how much planning, preparation, and winnowing of your schedule you do, there are still times when responsibilities can wreak havoc on your to-do list. Whether at work or at home, there will be days or weeks when a lot of things just have to get done. How you face and perceive these challenges, though, will determine your stress and anxiety levels throughout this process. 1. Maintain perspective. Now is the time to remind yourself of the big picture and of the temporary nature of this stress. Why are you taking on these responsibilities? What is the goal of all your hard work? Looking at the end result reinforces the temporary nature of your current condition. 2. Don't lose sight of the details. Be sure every vital to-do item is written on your list and methodically work your way through these items. If an important action is not on your list, you'll worry about it unnecessarily. Also, remember to get done the most important work first. 3. Embrace some of the stress. A little bit of stress (what is known as short-term, fight-or-flight stress) can be a good thing, especially if it helps to push you through your work. Use any stress you're feeling to your advantage to give you a boost of energy to get many items checked off your list. 4. Take breaks. Research shows that you'll be more productive if you alternate between mindful and mindless work. You're more likely to finish all of the items on your list if you take a short break for mindless work for at least five or 10 minutes every hour. 5. Manage expectations. Regularly check in with the people who are waiting on the completion of your to-do items. The more they know about where you are in the process, the better they can anticipate and plan their to-do lists. How often and how detailed your updates need to be will be determined by the type of responsibilities you have. 6. Don't extend the stress. Now is not the time to take on a new project. Schedule appointments to talk about new opportunities for a few days or weeks down the line. You don't have to say, "no," you just need to say, "not right now." 7. Celebrate. When you're finished with your massive to-do list, or at least the extremely weighty parts of it, take time to celebrate. You don't need to go on a vacation (although, vacations are nice), but a reward of some kind is definitely in order. I'm quite fond of a walk to the ice cream shop. Image Courtesy businessweek Source: unclutterer

Time is your most precious resource when you work from home on the Internet. If your Internet connection goes down or your computer blows up, the situation can be remedied but if you waste time, it is gone forever. If you fail to develop effective time management techniques you will all too often find that the hours you had intended to use productively have evaporated without trace. Time, although free, is valuable and it is irreplaceable: every second is unique and should be treated as an important asset. You will only manage to save time if you plan and employ your own personal time management strategy. We all have different demands being made upon our time, so managing to save time will be achieved in different ways by each of us. There is, however, one sure way anyone working at home online can manage to save time and that is by modifying the way we treat our email. The trouble with working online is that your email is always just a click or two away at any time during your working day. If you were running an offline business from home, your day would be centered away from your computer and you would have to make a conscious decision about when and how often to check your email. When you are already sitting at your pc and connected to the Internet, it is just too easy to forget all about time management techniques and develop bad email habits. If you use the following time management strategy, you will maintain control of your working hours and find that you can easily get more done in less time. 1. Set an email schedule for yourself. Make it a rule only to check your inbox two or three times a day and set a strict time limit (ten or fifteen minutes per session is about right) on how long you spend dealing with email. 2. Don't check your email as soon as you power up your computer at the start of any work session. You will be at your most alert and creative during the first hour of work. Use this time to complete more complicated or difficult tasks. 3. Don't have your email alert permanently on to notify you as soon as an email hits your mailbox. This will serve to distract you while you are working and tempt you to abandon the schedule you have planned. 4. Deal with each email as soon as you read it. Flagging an email and going back to it to send your reply makes double the work. The only time you should permit yourself to do this is if you need to do some research before you reply. 5. Use your bookmark function. You are bound to get emails that contain a link to a website. Maybe you have subscribed to interesting online news letters or they could be offers of useful ebooks or tools. The time you have allocated to your email session should be used solely for reading and replying to emails. Bookmark any of the sites that appear worthy of further investigation and schedule time for a visit. This is the most dangerous part of dealing with emails: all commercial emails will have a “hook” with which to catch you, drag you into a black hole and make your time disappear. You must be alert to this so that you can unhook yourself and visit these websites at a time you decide is best for your schedule. Developing good time management techniques is not difficult. You do, however, need to be constantly on your guard against temptations which might make you forget your time management strategy. Developing good habits and curing bad ones is the foundation of effective time management techniques Source: e-bizdir.com

In a world of burgeoning media and 24-7 communications, we are constantly bombarded by messages and distractions that ultimately compromise our ability to perform efficiently on the job. Email, texting, Facebook, Twitter, etc. all play a part in taking our focus  away from the task at hand. Here are some simple but effective ways to increase your productivity: Set aside a block of time Compartmentalizing your time gives you the ability to create and absorb instead of reacting to communication stimuli. This is probably best scheduled in the morning when you are freshest, and serves in part, as a time of meditation when you get the proverbial mental juices flowing. These quiet moments can ease you into our day -- fully engaged and ready to accomplish great things. Create a clean workspace If you want to be most efficient, you need to be aware of your work environment. Organized files and desks sans clutter go a long way toward a work-conducive environment. Perhaps soft background music will help you focus and limit outside noise. Also, something as simple as shutting the office door, or 'holding all calls' for a specific amount of time will sharpen your focus, enhance your creative thinking and help you reach your goals quicker. Only dummies decline to delegate For those of us with a highly developed sense of responsibility, it can be easy to over-manage every task and project that comes within our radar. Perhaps you fit into this category and easily find yourself adding more and more to your workload throughout the day, by convincing yourself, 'this shouldn't take long.' Eventually, the sheer number of these tasks will overwhelm even the most productive person, endangering long term goals. Be able to trust that your coworkers are competent and capable of handling projects and meeting crucial deadlines without your constant monitoring/micromanaging. Prioritize tasks into "now" and "later" When overwhelmed with projects and communications, try to prioritize tasks using two types of lists: 1) urgent tasks to be completed that day, and 2) future goals. With this game plan, projects on a strict deadline will get your immediate attention, while any time left over will be put toward achieving the goals you've made for a later date. In this same vein, if you make lists on a weekly, monthly, and yearly time-line, you will have a bigger picture of where you're going, and what needs to be done, taking baby steps to accomplish future goals. Block out time for correspondence If you have an overabundance of daily work emails and phone calls, it may be best to set aside a regular time dedicated to responding to those communications, perhaps an hour or two out of the day. This way you can respond to everyone effectively, without having your entire day peppered with hastily answered calls/emails in between other job responsibilities and deadlines. Decrease "insecurity work" Insecurity work describes the activities performed throughout the day which don't have any bearing on positive outcomes. In plain English, busy work stemming from neurosis. Checking and rechecking information. Unconsciously, we've all become accustomed to constantly checking online media -- such as email, stocks, credit information, and breaking news, throughout the work day without really being aware of the time it steals from our schedule. Rather than compulsively peeking every few minutes, set aside a block of time, perhaps 20 minutes, to keep abreast of important information or headlines without monopolizing a huge chunk of your day. Your work environment will always be somewhat chaotic -- dealing with co-workers and clients and others make constant stimulation and distractions inevitable. Being aware of the entire process, taking it all in, prioritizing time and enhancing the quality of your environment, will help you become a more important and effective part of the team without going crazy in the process! Source: California Psychics

If you're an entrepreneur--whether you're working solo or with employees who share the load--time is your most valuable commodity. There simply aren't enough hours in the day to stay ahead on the job, let alone have a personal life. The answer isn't to work harder--chances are, you're already putting in 50 to 60 hours a week--but to work smarter. And that means doing what you do in a more productive way.

Photo via Entrepreneur.com

1. Stop Thinking Of Time as an Unlimited Commodity Essentially, just as a closet is a limited space into which you must fit a certain number of objects, a schedule is a limited space into which you must fit a certain number of tasks. When you realize the actual limits of your time, you become much more selective about what you put into the "closet" of your day. 2. Create A Time Map Subdivide your day into three blocks of time--morning, midday and afternoon--and decide what category of work you will tackle during each chunk of time. The regular structure creates mini-deadlines throughout the day that keep you focused on your goals and priorities. Here's how:

• Set office hours: Say, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you like to jog or eat a leisurely breakfast, wake up early so that you can be ready to hit it by 8.
• Divide your day into three parts: An example would be serving existing clients, marketing for new clients and taking care of administrative tasks. If you feel you have all day to do all things, you'll be less productive.
• Keep a schedule: For example, devote 8 a.m. to noon to existing customers, 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. to marketing, and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. to tasks such as printing invoices and updating your contacts list. Look at it this way: In the morning, you're working to make money. In the afternoon, you're selling your business.
• Dedicate 10 or 15 minutes at the end of each day to planning: Specifically think about what you will do in each of the three parts of the next day. Break projects into small steps: One morning can be devoted to polishing up Project A and getting halfway done with Project B.
• Create three-day plans: Once you get used to planning a day ahead, start looking further down the road and update those plans at the end of each workday.

3. Group Similar Tasks Batching your to-dos will allow you to build momentum and boost efficiency as you repeat each action. For example, doing a series of prospecting calls in a row saves time. With your sales "hat" on, your spiel gets clearer and sharper with each consecutive call. If you have several proposals to write, it's more efficient to blast through them sequentially rather than switch to financial activities in between. 4. Don't Write To-Dos In A Million Places Scattering your tasks and reminders between a variety of Post-its, notepads, planners and applications is a recipe for confusion. Hours are wasted transferring information, second-guessing what to do next, and living in fear of what might be forgotten. Commit to one single, consistent system. Once you get into the habit of writing everything down in a single location, you'll stop worrying that you're forgetting something and will be able to concentrate on getting things done. Source: Entrepreneur.com

"Did you get that email?" This question can strike fear in our hearts if our inbox is flooded with unread emails. Email is a quick and easy way to communicate but the downside is that we receive so many of them that critical information is easily lost. We may not see an important message because it is buried in a long list of unread mail. There are several simple strategies you can do to keep your email down to a manageable stack:

• Use a filter. Email programs come with an option to filter out unwanted mail.
• If you need to save emails, file them in folders. Again, programs come with an option to create files or folders. That way information is easily accessible but not cluttering up your inbox.
• Make use of the sort command. On most email programs if you right click on the headers (From, Subject, or Received) you can sort the information in ascending or descending order.
• Take five minutes each morning to declutter your inbox. Decluttering every day will help you see urgent emails more quickly and you'll start your day with an accomplishment.

Another time-management technique for email is to limit how frequently you look at it. For some of us browsing email is just a way to procrastinate. It is easier to spend time checking our email than it is to begin that tough project we were assigned. Sometimes you can't avoid having to check it because people call you and want to know if you received it. If your email is organized you'll be able to respond more quickly which will enhance your reputation and save you time. Source: Ezine Articles

Prioritizing skills are your ability to see what tasks are more important at each moment and give those tasks more of your attention, energy, and time. You focus on what is important at the expense of lower value activities. C. Ray Johnson, in one of the final chapters of his book CEO Logic: How to think and Act like a Chief Executive, summarizes: "Prioritizing is the answer to time management problems - not computers, efficiency experts, or matrix scheduling. You do not need to do work faster or to eliminate gaps in productivity to make better use of your time. You need to spend more time on the right things..." Too many things to do we all have many things to do, and we never have time and energy to do them all. We don't have time and resources to do them equally well either. Many things will be left undone, no matter how hard you try. Prioritizing is a way to solve that frustrating problem. One key reason why prioritizing works and works well, is the 80/20 Rule. The 80/20 Rule states that 80 percent of our typical activities contribute less than 20 percent to the value of our work. So, if you do only the most important 20 percent of your tasks you still get most of the value. Then, if you focus most of your efforts on those top value activities, you achieve much more than before, or you will have more time to spend with your family. Prioritizing is about making choices of what to do and what not to do. To prioritize effectively you need to be able to recognize what is important, as well as to see the difference between urgent and important. The important or high priority, tasks are the tasks that help us achieve our long-term goals or can have other meaningful and significant long-term consequences. At first glance, many of the tasks we face during a day seem equally urgent and important. Yet, if you take a closer look, you will see that many of the urgent activities we are involved are not really important in the long run. At the same time, things that are most important for us, like improving ourselves and our skills, getting a better education, spending time with family, often are not urgent. With good prioritizing skills, you finish as soon as possible all the important urgent tasks, the ones that would get you into a crisis or trouble otherwise. Then, you focus your attention and try to give more and more time to those most important, but not urgent tasks, the ones that are most rewarding in the long run. Prioritizing principles can be applied to both planned and unplanned activities. For planned activities, like the ones included in your to do list, you can mark each of your tasks with "A", "B", or "C", depending on its importance. The "B" tasks should be done only after you are finished with all the most important "A" tasks, the ones that just must be done. If you have time after you are finished with the "B" tasks, you can move on to the "C" ones. When you set priorities in to do lists, also keep asking yourself if any of your tasks can be eliminated or delegated. When you prioritize unplanned activities, you often need to make quick decisions, and you don't have time to analyze the situation in full. It is best just to keep in mind your goals and rely on your instincts. Your effectiveness in such situations depends very much on the clarity of your goals. Source: Time Management Guide