Your time and energy are the two most precious gifts that you have. Evaluate each month where you are placing your time and energy. Here are some ways that I have used to help me honor where I place my time and energy:

Place a yellow sticky note on your telephone answering machine that says “Is this phone call the most valuable use of my time and energy?”

Find who you are on the inside and begin to live your life in accordance with this truth.

Where you place your time and energy today determines who you will become tomorrow.

Learn how to nicely say NO without feeling guilty. Try “Well I’m planning to do _______ then. Would you like to join me?”

Meetings are often a waste of time and energy. Whenever you add a meeting to your schedule, DROP at least one of your other ones.

If you have more than three (3) meetings scheduled throughout the week, get rid of at least one of them as soon as possible.
Begin to notice which people and events drain energy from you and begin to decrease the time you spend with these people or doing these activities.

When you’re spending time with someone or at some event, be aware of how often you look at your watch. If you look frequently at it, you probably would have more fun doing something else. This principle applies to your job as well.
Stop watching the evening news. It is often more upsetting than informative. It usually has very little to do with what really matters in your life.

Try giving up TV for one week. Read a book, write letters, catch up with friends and family, bake a cake, etc. If a week is too long for you to go without TV, don’t watch it during the weekend.

Don’t act in the dramas others create for themselves.

Review your last month, week, day and hour. How did you spend your time and energy? If you could redo your last month, week, day and hour what would you change?

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Bill Austin is a spiritual healer and teacher based in St Petersburg FL. He has assisted hundreds of people around the world in gaining the clarity they need to realize more of their full potential. To find out more about his healing practice, please check out his web site at http://www.HealingHolograms.com

Bill Austin is also the author of Transform YOUR Relationship with Money: A Step-by-Step Guide for Financial Empowerment. For more information about this guide, please check out his web site located at http://TransformYourRelationshipWithMoney.com

Each day, a typical distributor ships hundreds of products to its customers. For each delivery, tow copies of the receipt are provided - one is left with the customer, while the second, a “proof of delivery” copy, is signed by the recipient and retained by the driver.

In some cases, at the delivery point, shipment notations are handwritten on the document and include corrections of quality, condition of goods, the printed name of the recipient’s phone number and department.

The document is then returned to the distributor’s office for filing, and oftentimes, filed manually. So far, so good.

But, then a couple of weeks pass and the invoice for goods comes due. Curiously, it remains unpaid-prompting the credit department to call the customer for payment. The customer disputes the invoice, claiming that payment will not be made until a proof of delivery is provided.

So, the distributor hunts down the signed proof of delivery document and provides it to the customer. Days later, the customer remits on the invoice. All’s well that ends well, right? Wrong. If the distributor is cash starved, the DSO is affected by these disputed sums. Often, lines of credit are hampered and the rates distributors pay for credit lines increase.

But what if the proof of delivery document hadn’t been located? What if it has been misfiled, lost, or damaged? These things do happen occasionally, and when they do it can negatively affect average days outstanding - and the bottom line.

There is a better way.

Unstructured documents (that is documents that are not generated from a billing and inventory management system) or documents that are hand modified once generated from a billing and inventory system pose a great challenge for control and management.

Proof of delivery receipts, signed sales tax forms, customer purchase orders, customer fax releases/orders, customer-provided specifications, and request for quotation are critical documents in the distribution trade.

Digitizing these hard copy documents - via multifunction devices that automatically scan and convert documents- can save an organization time, reduce losses, improve productivity and speed cash flow.

For example, delivery personnel returning from a route can scan proof of delivery documents into a multifunction document processing system that routes the paperwork to a designated folder. A document imaging system can post process the file, capture the shipping document number, shipping date, invoice number, and customer purchase order seconds after the document is routed. Once processed, the entire organization has access to the documents.

Digitized proof of delivery documents can then be stored in a network folder and indexed by the distributor’s invoice number. In advanced implementations, proof of delivery can be forwarded to a client with a matched invoice and a copy of their purchase order, completing the three-way payment approval match.

All hard copy documents can be captured and tied to a specific transaction. Systems are available that can be implemented to capture documents relating to title to goods and group them in a searchable document library. These systems track documents at the point of print. A database captures and catalogs document content. Once printed, cycled, and scanned, documents are captured and combined electronically with other non-structured documents. All valuable working papers can then be organized by customer, supplier and employee.

Incoming faxes can also be captured, organized and automatically processed as part of the strategy. Faxed orders can be routed to different departments simultaneously-to sales, customer service, and credit - enabling faster shipments and improved business controls for distributors.

A decade ago, systems that processed documents were not practical for small-to-midsize distributors - but today’s technologies make it possible for virtually any size distributorship. For under $4000, two strategies can be readily deployed: the capture of proof of delivery copies and the automation of inbound faxes.

For a complimentary checklist of unstructured documents that can be captured with an automated document processing strategy, email goharman@sbcglobal.net.

Harman, a technologist and consultant in Austin, Texas, has 30 years experience in distribution, manufacturing, health care, and financial service channels. Reach him at goharman@sbcglobal.net or by phone at 512.560.6682.

Picture yourself standing on the bank of a river watching a rowing competition. Carefully watch the crews. Crewmembers dip the oars and bring them to the surface again and again in a carefully orchestrated rhythm. Crewmembers are working together to realize their common vision of a first place finish. Every team member is clear about the mission - complete the race in the fastest time.

Everyone is working hard to pull in the same direction at the same time. They are focused on the desired end results.

Now picture a nonprofit organization coping with increased competition. Funding is a constant struggle. Conversations with board members and staff paint a picture of people operating with different definitions of the purpose and future of the organization. The organization is adrift.

Is your organization rowing or drifting?

Organizations that are drifting suffer from three common problems. Staff and board members develop programs, services or products based on their own version of the organization’s mission; it is hard to identify the underlying strategies and the core programs. In addition, staff and board members chase dollars to support activities. Finally, staff and board members have no standard upon which to base decisions. At times, one option seems as good as another.

These actions lead to disjointed programs, decreased funding and poor decision-making. If any of these problems sound familiar, you can take steps to solve them.

First, develop a clear vision statement that provides staff and board members with a sense of direction. Second, define the mission of your organization in terms of that future. A clearly defined mission allows each person in the organization to understand why the organization exists. Third, define your measures of success. Measures of success help everyone understand what you are trying to achieve.

Start pulling in the same direction and focus on the end results. Taking action now can put you on the path to becoming a more effective organization that creates greater impact in the community.

Judith Rothbaum’s passion is helping nonprofits thrive. Through her monthly e-newsletter, she offers practical management, fundraising and communication solutions for bold nonprofits on the move. She gives seminars, workshops, presentations and coaching programs nationwide for nonprofit professionals and volunteers. Visit http://www.datafordecisionmaking.com to learn more.

1. Create a filing system with broad categories such as “Insurance” and then break those categories down further into sub-categories (i.e., car, life, medical), alphabetizing them along the way. Devote one file drawer to each category (if possible) and use a different color for each category.

2. Create a file index for you and anyone else needing to access your files. A file index is basically a user-friendly guide to where each file is located. So if you are looking for an insurance claim, the entry in your file index may look like this: (I call it my Bible-do not lose!)

Insurance Claims- Insurance (I-10)

3. To minimize interruptions of your own time and others, schedule a 5-minute meeting somewhere during the day with the people you most often need to speak with. This prevents the frequent knocking at your door you may experience! Let others know when you are available to meet with them, perhaps between 3-4 PM, for example. Ask your boss for 5 minutes of his/her time everyday to go over any questions you may have, eliminating the need for constant interruptions. (Tip-this works great with spouses also! No more, “Honey, can I just ask you to do this one thing?” Or calling him/her at the office to find out when to pick up the kids. Daily meetings are much appreciated by all!)

4. Resist the need to answer your phone every time it rings. Use your voice mail when you are working on something.

5. Prevent phone tag and wasted time on the phone. When returning phone calls, gather all the information you need BEFORE you make the call. See if there is another person who can answer your question, instead of having to wait around for a response.

6. Sort your incoming paper daily and decide what you need to do with each piece of paper. Set up a tickler file to corral these to-dos. A tickler is a 1-31 file with dividers for each day of the month and months of the year. So, if you have a memo with a phone number of someone you need to call back, put that paper in the tickler on a day you can return the call.

7. Use templates and forms anytime you can. So if people come into your office often to borrow something, instead of having them leave a note, keep a stack of “Borrowed Item Forms” for them to fill-in-the-blank and leave for you in a designated location.

Rebekah Slatkin is a professional organizer dedicated to getting people organized through hands-on decluttering sessions, teleconferencing, coaching, and her website http://www.best-organizing-products-superstore.com Visit http://www.best-organizing-products-superstore.com and subscribe to Organewz, her ezine dedicated to organized living and get organizing tips- free