If your desk is a mess, listen up!
Issue #2563
- WEALTHY: 2 simple rules for picking good dividend-paying companies (Andrew Gordon)
- HEALTHY: A fat-loss lesson that you’ll like (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Harry Truman on self-discipline
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- If your desk is a mess, listen up! (Michael Masterson)
- When’s the last time you did something selfless? (Suzanne Richardson)
- It’s Good to Know… about Google Scholar
- Add “gadabout” to your vocabulary
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The Dividends That Don’t Stop
Getting steady income from dividend-paying stocks is getting harder. During the entire year of 2007, only seven companies in the S&P 500 cut their dividends, and only three did away with them entirely. 2008 was a different story. 39 companies cut their dividends, and 22 suspended them. 2009 promises to be just as bad.
That means you have to be careful to pick dividend-paying companies that have the best chance of continuing to give you at least the same amount of money as they’ve given previously. So…
- Don’t fall for the highest dividend yields. A high yield doesn’t automatically mean the company is in danger of cutting its dividend – but with money so tight, the more cash a company hands out to shareholders, the more difficult it is to keep their generous cash payouts going.
- Look for companies with little debt and steady (if not growing) cash flow used to fund their dividends. My own standard is that dividends shouldn’t take up more than 80 percent of a company’s cash flow for any given quarter.
At finance.yahoo.com, you can look up a company and find its cash flow by clicking on “Key Statistics” or “Cash Flow.” “Key Statistics” will give you the company’s cash flow in the last 12 months. “Cash Flow” will show you a cash flow chart of the company, either by year or by quarter. You want the quarterly chart. What you’re looking for is to make sure there’s been no deterioration of cash flow in the last quarter or two.
With the steep drop in today’s markets, it’s a great feeling to get regular checks from dividend-paying companies. (They can pay you at least twice the interest you’d get from your savings account.) To avoid getting less money (or no money) from the income stocks you buy, simply follow the above two rules.
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“In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves… self-discipline with all of them came first.”
Harry S. Truman
How to Create a Perfectly Organized Office
What does your office say about you? That you are orderly and businesslike? Messy but creative? Hopelessly overwhelmed?
Whatever your current habits are – sloppy or neat – you’ll get more done and have less stress while you work if your office is intelligently organized. All kinds of studies have proven this to be so.
I’ve added at least an hour of productivity to my day by planning and organizing my work. A big part of that has to do with the physical organization of my office.
Here are 12 things you can do to make your office work harder for you.
1. Provide yourself with a range of lighting, from subtle to very bright.
You will need three or four separate light sources. I recommend fluorescents (overhead or indirect) to light up the room brightly when you’re feeling tired and need to wake yourself up. A second light source should focus on your desk. You can do that best with an overhead spot. A lamp, either on the desk or standing on the floor, will give your office a warm and friendly feeling when you entertain visitors. And natural light, shuttered with blinds, is great if you can get it.
If possible, have all your lights on rheostats (dimmers) so you can control the amount of light you need. And have them all switch on and off from the same place – preferably by the door.
The lighting in your environment may seem unimportant if you are not used to giving it any attention, but it has a direct effect on your energy and your mood. Use the best-quality lights you can afford.
2. Make the space workable.
Your desk and credenza should be tailor-made to fit your working style. Don’t shortchange yourself here. Give yourself sufficient room, but not so much that you will accumulate more stuff than you need. Make sure the files and equipment you use regularly are within easy reach. And position the furniture so that you can easily move from desk to credenza and back.
Put your computer on the credenza, not on your desk. That way, when people come in to meet with you they won’t feel like your attention is half on them and half on the computer.
3. Keep all regular reference and inspirational books handy – preferably within a step and a grab from your chair.
This can be done inexpensively by furnishing your office with store-bought bookshelves.
4. Invest the time and money to find and purchase a great chair.
From a personal productivity standpoint, your office chair is the most important thing you own. It is more important than your house – even more important than your car. Just think… on a typical day, you may spend eight to 10 hours in that chair. Your chair is also one of the first things people notice when they step into the room. So make sure it looks good.
Adjust your chair so that your trunk meets your hips at 90 degrees, and tilt your computer so that the top line of the text is five degrees below your eye level. (That way, you don’t have to move your head up and down to read.) Your keyboard should be positioned so that your hands lie flat. Set down a hard plastic mat on the floor beneath your chair so you can roll freely.
5. Keep an egg timer on your desk.
Use the egg timer to make sure you are never seated for more than an hour at a time. (I block my time off in 30- and 60-minute increments. I’ve rarely needed to go beyond that – even for important meetings.) Each time the timer rings, stand up before you turn it off. And once you are standing, get moving. Do something physical for five minutes. I stretch or do squats and push-ups. Sometimes I walk around the office and chat up my colleagues.
6. Get rid of the mess.
You may think it works to your advantage to have everything you could possibly need piled up around you, but it doesn’t. It just shows the rest of the world how unwilling you are to take control of your life.
“A place for everything, and everything in its place.” That includes holders for pencils, pens, and reading glasses – separate and easily within reach.
7. Use two inboxes and two folders.
The first inbox is the one that other people put stuff in. The second inbox is for you. Go through the first inbox every morning and select from it any important work you intend to do that day. Transfer that work to the second inbox. Take the rest of the stuff in the first inbox and file it in one of two folders.
You need one folder that has 31 pockets, one for each day of the current month. And you need one with 12 pockets, one for each month of the year. As you go through your first inbox, decide (specifically) when you will attend to each item. If that date falls in the current month, file it in the first folder – in the pocket that corresponds to that date. If it falls in a future month, file it in the second folder – in the pocket that corresponds to that month.
Make sure the second inbox (your inbox) is cleaned out by the end of the day.
8. Have one or two drawers for everything you might need in case of an “emergency.”
In one of my drawers, I keep all the tools I might need at the office. Small screwdrivers (even a jeweler’s screwdriver that fits the tiny screw that holds the arms to my reading glasses), WD-40, duct tape, etc.
In another drawer, I stash some back-up clothing (two laundered shirts and two ties) so I can look good for an unanticipated but important meeting.
As it happens, I have my own bathroom at the office where I can stock a toothbrush and toothpaste, bandages, ibuprofen, hand sanitizer, cuticle cutters, etc. But these items can easily go in one of your “emergency” drawers.
9. Hang a clock on the wall that your visitors can see.
Nod at the clock at the beginning of each meeting as you announce exactly how many minutes you have to solve the problem at hand. (Do NOT use the egg timer for this!)
10. Set up an old-fashioned bar.
Stock it with Scotch, vodka, and rum for those moments when kind words aren’t enough. A humidor for cigars is optional for some, but not for me. If drinking is not your thing, try a Chinese tea service. I have a bar on one side of my office, a tea service on the other. They both come in handy.
11. Bring some life into your office.
A live plant breathes back oxygen into the environment. It softens the hard surfaces too. Select a big green plant, if you have room for it. Care for it on a few of your five-minute “egg timer” breaks.
12. Decorate your office with signs of who you are as a complete person.
Put up your family photos and your business awards. The walls and spaces of your office are gazing grounds for your visitors. Make sure the message they are getting is the one you want them to get.
And make sure there’s at least one thing in your line of sight that makes you smile – maybe an inspirational quotation. Keep it there to work its magic until it loses power, and then find something new to replace it.
Invest in a sound system, too. You don’t need anything fancy – just something that puts out soft background music.
One final thing that I won’t put on the list because it may be too much to ask for until you are the boss: a daybed for a power nap when you really need one.
[Ed. Note: A well-organized office is the first step toward creating a more productive lifestyle. To get dozens more easy-to-use productivity techniques, success secrets, motivational strategies, and powerful advice on how to make your dreams come true, click here.
As a special thank you to our best customers, Michael has started a new VIP service in which he gives insider business-building advice usually reserved for his private clients - a twice-weekly newsletter called Ready Fire Aim: The Michael Masterson Dispatch. If you have bought an ETR product or attended a conference and are not receiving Ready Fire Aim, please let us know by sending an e-mail to Michael@ETRfeedback.com.]
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The $10 Billion Coat
The sun was shining, the sky was blue. And the bare-chested young man walking down the street looked like he could have been on his way to the beach. Except… it was two days before Christmas in Northern Montana. Even worse, it was 17 degrees below zero.
Sitting at a stoplight, all I could do was stare. Was this guy off his rocker? On drugs? Or just severely down on his luck?
But what happened next warmed my heart. A man in a pickup, two kids on the seat beside him, pulled up next to the shirtless man, rolled down his window, and handed out his own thick winter coat.
The young man gave a half-hearted wave of thanks and continued on down the street.
Who knows how much the coat had cost this Good Samaritan? Maybe it was a Kmart special. Maybe he’d shelled out a few hundred bucks. Perhaps he’d picked it up for a couple of dollars at the local Goodwill.
It could have cost $10 billion or 10 cents. That’s not what mattered. This generous man reminded those of us who’d witnessed his act of kindness just how easy it is to be selfless. He proved to his kids that some things are worth more than money. And in weather like that, he may have saved a life.
It’s easy to be thoughtful around the holidays. But don’t let the lack of a “reason” prevent you from giving. I’m not talking about donating money – although that is one way to help. I’m talking about donating a little of your time and energy to people in need. Helping the frazzled mother of four carry her groceries out to the car… holding the door for the gentleman in front of you at the bank… giving blood.
Roman philosopher and playwright Seneca said, “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” There are thousands – probably millions – of ways to spread generosity and goodwill. Do something kind today.
Have Fun, Lose Fat
On Sunday morning, I was reviewing my daily motivational quotes when I stumbled across this one: “Enjoy life. Treat it as an adventure. Care passionately about the outcome, but keep it in perspective. Things are seldom as bleak as they seem when they are going wrong – or as good as they seem when they are going well. Lighten up. You’ll live longer.”
I’ve translated that into a fat-loss lesson for you. Here’s what I believe…
If you hate running, don’t do it! If you hate lifting weights, find an alternative! If you’d rather be swing-dancing than tread-milling, start swing-dancing!
I find that too many people hate their workouts. They stop trying hard, see fewer results, and they quit. That’s just one of the reasons I created a fat-loss lifestyle program that requires only three short (45-minute) but intense workouts per week. And I encourage my clients to stay active with activities they enjoy the other four days of the week.
You don’t have to stress about going to the gym to do 60 minutes of cardio on a boring machine when staying at home and playing with your kids will accomplish the same thing. And you’ll remember those minutes a lot more than you will remember another hour on the dreaded cardio machine.
[Ed. Note: Enjoying what you do can not only help you lose weight, it can help you build a second income. Discover how to turn your hobbies, passions, and areas of expertise into a cash-producing business right here.
Get a head start on your 2009 weight-loss goals with fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program. Learn how you can get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week right here.]
It’s Good to Know: Google Scholar – Another Research Resource
Whether you are writing advertising copy or editorial content for your website, interesting facts and statistics add credibility to your message. Often a plain old Google search or trip to the library – sifting through a glut of information – can eat up more time than you have.
Enter Google Scholar (scholar.google.com). It allows you to target your search to publications and journals produced by universities, trade groups, and professional societies. If research has been done on the subject, you will quickly find articles, studies, and/or peer-reviewed papers.
(Source: Google)
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Word to the Wise: Gadabout
A “gadabout” (GAD-uh-bowt) is a person who flits around, aimlessly or restlessly, in search of amusement or social activity.
Example (as used in The New York Times): “[J.D.] Salinger hasn’t been photographed in decades now and the neighbors have all clammed up. He’s been so secretive he makes Thomas Pynchon seem like a gadabout.”
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Copyright ETR, LLC, 2009
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