Reclaim More Than 30 Minutes of Your Day by Doing Less!

By Lindsey Unterberger

Pick out your clothes the night before. You would think that choosing your outfit would take the same amount of time in the morning as it does at night. Not so, says Julie Morgenstern, author of When Organizing Isn't Enough: Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life. "You actually take less time deciding the night before because you're not as stressed. I think when we're stressed, we freeze, we get paralyzed, we can't think, we start making mistakes and keep repeating them." She recommends going as far as hanging the planned outfit -- down to underwear and jewelry -- outside your closet.
Find your go-to outfits. You probably have a go-to LBD in your closet that always makes you look and feel fabulous. Morgenstern suggests you find a few more fail-safe fashion choices that work for daytime, too. "Invest a couple of hours one weekend or one evening coming up with four or five standard outfits that you know always work," she says. "You do that for work outfits, and you should do that for going-out outfits as well."
Curb your addiction to e-mail. One of Morgenstern's mantras: Break the mindless e-mail habit. So basically, stop checking e-mail every 10 seconds! "Every time you're bored, every time you're facing something difficult, you're like 'Let me just check my e-mail first.' You're using e-mail and even the Internet as a kind of procrastination device. If you can eliminate that habit from your day, I guarantee you will regain a minimum of an hour of productivity a day. Minimum." To kick the habit, she suggests setting regular e-mail check times, as well as not checking your e-mail for the first hour you're at work, when possible.
Organize your home by the way you think. Organizing your mess of a closet can save you at least a half hour per day, but that doesn't mean you have to color-code your clothing like your type-A friend does. "You should organize your clothes in the way you reach for them, the way you think," says Morgenstern. "Not everybody thinks the same way, and I believe the zones of your closet should reflect your unique association. When some people go to get dressed, they think in terms of garments; others think of their clothes more by occasion: work clothes, weekend clothes, dress-up clothes." For more tips on organizing your closet, visit juliemorgenstern.com.
Buy nice hangers. Your closet is a reflection of you, says Morgenstern. "It's where you start and end your day, and you want to feel good when you reach for something and when you put it away." In her own closet, she uses slender wooden hangers. "I think they bring an elegance to your closet that makes it exciting to open your closet and motivate you to hang things up again."
Create a last-minute checklist. There are few things more satisfying than ticking off items on your to-do list. Get that feeling every time you leave the house by creating a cool-looking checklist to keep right by the door. On it, put all the things you need for the day: wallet, gym clothes, phone charger, iPod, etc. It will save you time trying to remember everything and running back every time you forget something, says Morgenstern. Plus, once you've mentally crossed each thing off, "you'll leave feeling like a million bucks and full of energy."
Go to the digital supermarket. If you can, order your groceries online so you don't have to go food shopping, says Morgenstern. "It will cut time from your weekly errands and chores, and the program will save your shopping list -- a big, really helpful time-saver for the household stuff."
Make your coffee to go. Pay attention, Starbucks addicts. "We waste a lot of time going and getting coffee somewhere," says Morgenstern. "If you invest in a coffeemaker with a timer, you can set it the night before and wake up to the smell of coffee." Stock up on a few cute refillable travel mugs and you'll save time by avoiding that coffee-shop line . Or, if you always forget your mug at the office, consider buying to-go cups and lids to keep at home.
Leave work 30 minutes early. This tip is going to sound counterintuitive for those of us trying to get more done each day, but Morgenstern swears by it. "Shorten your workday by 30 minutes and you will achieve as much as, if not more than, you currently do." By leaving early, you'll have that feeling of being on a deadline, when you don't have time to spare on perfectionism, procrastination and interruptions.
Set aside time for social networking. Assign yourself time to check your Facebook, MySpace, Linked In and other social networking sites. They are tremendous procrastination devices, as well as easy entertainment. "But they're like TV," says Morgenstern. "You turn it on and three hours pass, and then you're like 'Where did my day go?'" By carving out set times to spend on them, you'll be more productive when you're focusing on other tasks.
© Courtesy of MSN, All Rights Reserved.

good 1st impression in 7 seconds

A man named Roger Ailes, a media strategist, famously said, "You have just 7 seconds to make a good first impression." And he was pretty much right. Our primitive ancestors needed to be able to size up a situation quickly and decide if they were faced with a friend or a foe. And we do the same thing today.

According to Yale University psychology professor Marianne LaFrance, 90% of a first impression is based on appearance, posture, facial expressions, and tone of voice. So here’s how to put your best foot forward.

First, know this, when you meet someone new, your hair style will get noticed more than your facial features. Long hair says, "My looks are important to me". Short hair says, "I’m confident and successful". And shoulder length hair says, "I’m intelligent and level-headed".

Next, your handshake matters. The Yale study found that people who make eye contact while offering a handshake that’s firm, dry, and vigorous – as opposed to clammy, limp, and wimpy – not only makes a better impression, but makes people believe you possess the qualities associated with your grip. Also, here’s something just for women.

Your instincts about other women are more accurate than your instincts about men. Why? Because women are programmed to want to make a connection with a man, so your opinions aren’t as harsh. Chemistry throws off your radar.

Now, what about charm versus cheekbones, which goes further? A good looking face or a charismatic presence? Charisma wins over beauty. If you seem confident, open to new experiences, and interested in others, you’ll get better marks than the good looking guy next to you.

But here’s the one thing you need to remember – a first impression is less about you, and more about making the person you meet feel good.

Want to go further? Check out the book "First Impressions: What You Don’t Know About How Others See You". © The Tesh Media Group 2006-2008, All Rights Reserved.

Food Mistakes

So you've decided to start eating healthier. Great! Know this: There are some food mistakes that even healthyeaters might make. Here's what you need to know, courtesy of MSN. For example:

You might think it's healthy to choose snacks that are "made with real fruit." There might be pictures of fruit on the package and the labels might claim that there’s real fruit inside, but don’t think you can count these snacks as a serving of fruit. Since current law doesn’t require labels to specify how much fruit is in the product, manufacturers can brag on their packaging that food is made with "real fruit" if it contains only small amounts of fruit juice! Also, few of these snacks provide any fiber and some faux-fruit snacks even contain small amounts of artery-choking hydrogenated fats! Plus, they often have as many calories as candy – almost all from sugar. The fix? Save these snacks for an occasional treat. The next time you want a serving of fruit, eat a piece of REAL fruit.

The next food mistake: You grab a granola bar for a quick breakfast. Here's the problem: Many of those seemingly healthy breakfast bars that are so great for eating on the run are basically candy bars in disguise! That’s the word from nutritionist Christine Gerbstadt. For example, a top-selling granola bar contains nearly the same amount of sugar – 14 grams – and FEWER nutrients than a strawberry Pop-Tart or a slice of chocolate cake! So what’s the fix here? You need to eat a proper breakfast. If you’ve gotta grab something on-the-go, choose a bar with less than 11 grams of sugar and no partially hydrogenated oils - that's code for "trans fats."

The final food mistake involves milk: If you’re buying it in glass or translucent containers, you may not be getting all of the nutrients you should be. Although calcium in milk is relatively stable, Vitamins A, B2, C, D, and E – and amino acids – all break down gradually when milk is exposed to light. In fact, a study at Cornell University found that levels of Vitamin A fell as much as 32 percent when milk in plastic containers was exposed to fluorescent light for just 16 hours! So buy your milk in opaque containers.
© The Tesh Media Group 2006-2008, All Rights Reserved.