• Where’s Ann Michael? – Preparing for two upcoming presentations -- to a group of professors from a local university and for the local chapter of International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP). Also pulling together resources for Helen Kim's (Your Money Relationship) Hay House Radio interview with Julie Morgenstern and enjoying the final days of the children's summer vacation.
• Feature Article – What's With That?
• Ann Michael Recommends - Unplugging - totally unplugging for the Labor Day weekend. You read correctly! Turn off the mobile device, power down the laptop, and unplug. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the break. Let me know how it feels.

Ever have one of those days where you just shake your head in disbelief? You look around and wonder how we manage to get through the day without doing each other in? And it's one of those days where it happens over and over again, and you finally succumb to the craziness of it all -- and before you know it, you find yourself laughing!

You could be driving along a road with no one behind you, yet as you are about to pass an office park, a car pulls out right in front of you. Or, you are in the grocery store, the day before a major holiday, and people leave their shopping cart in the middle of the aisle as they stroll half way down the aisle in search of the item on their list. Then, as you depart the store, several people have stopped smack-dab in the middle of the shopping cart traffic exiting the store to check their receipt. Next, there is the person at the stop light who is too busy texting to notice that the light has turned green until it's about to turn yellow...there you sit, only the third car in line, and you don't make it through (and they continue to text!).

Are we so overwhelmed with all that we have to do that we've stopped looking at the bigger picture? Are we so busy being busy that we forget we are connected to something bigger and that we play an important part in that bigger picture? Will you arrive later at your destination if you wait until I pass you as you pull out of your parking lot? You won't park your car in the middle of a two lane road, please don't park your shopping cart in the middle of the narrow aisle. And how did we ever survive all of these years without the ability to text while we drive? What's with that?

Recently my friend and colleague Lillian Coury invited me to participate in a tele-summit entitled 5 Strategies for Winning at Work. The tele-summit featured Lillian having a conversations with five different experts sharing insight into how you can dramatically impact your performance at work.

Lillian guided the lively and informative 45 – 60 minute interviews giving attendees ideas and techniques that they could use immediately to improve your life forever.

The speakers included:

• Pamela Moss, PhD. - Self-discovery and clarity through visioning
• Annamaria Poluha - Body health and powerful presence
• Kathleen Lorden - Building relationships for success
• Ann Michael Henry - Mastering your tech environment
• Helen Kim - Relationship with money and prosperity

The interviews have been recorded and are available to you - complements of Lillian. To receive the recordings and add them to your success library, click here.

What's With That?

Another day comes to a close and you wonder where it went. It seems that you were busy all day and yet you didn't get done what you needed to get done. How many days this week do you head home feeling more defeated - that you have so much hanging over your head - instead of feeling vitalized and proud of what you had accomplished?

Take a moment to reflect on your day. Rewind the "video of today" and be an observer. What do you see? Could it be that you...

• Checked your e-mail dozens of times during the day?
• Surfed the Web multiple times looking for those back-to-school deals, ski vacation holidays, or the odd news story that you heard on the radio during your drive into work?
• Socialized with cubicle mates and colleagues about weekend plans, the latest reality TV show or office gossip?
• Texted with each of your children multiple times an hour about what you needed to pick up at the grocery store on the way home?

Now, take a look at your top 2 or 3 work-related priorities for the day. How does excessive e-mail checking, Web surfing, socializing, and texting help you complete your priorities? Chances are they don't. So, when there are more important things to be done, why do you default to low priority activities? What's with that?

Step back and take a hard look at all of the activities that keep you busy yet prevent you from achieving your goals. E-mail is designed to serve you, not the other way around. Minimize your e-mail, turn off the notifications - both audio and visual - better yet, close your e-mail so that you can work uninterrupted. Surfing the Web at work - seriously, is that what you get paid to do? Where do I sign up! Save it for home. Socializing is great at lunch, it's actually a nice break - one that you should take to help you refresh. And constant texting? Don't loose sight of the bigger picture. If you aren't getting your top priorities done, how is that impacting the rest of your team, department, and company? If an activity isn't directly tied to your top priority simply don't do it.

MS Office 2007 Document Conversion

With so many people using Microsoft Office 2007 now, you may occasionally receive a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document from a colleague and not been able to open it if you have version 2003 or earlier. There are two solutions to this issue:

1. Ask the person who sent you the document to save 2007 documents in an earlier version, such as 2003.
2. Or (a much better solution) is to get a free software fix for the "older" software to read the newer version. Just go to this Microsoft page to download the compatibility pack.
   

TIP: Microsoft Office 2010 is now launching so if you don't have 2007 yet, you may want to jump right to 2010!

Ann Michael Henry is the Founder and The Productivity Chef for Mise En Place -- an organization and productivity consulting firm devoted to working with clients to discover the right ingredients for managing e-mail, digital data, paper, and workload so that they can "get cooking" at work and still have time to satisfy their appetite for life.

Her personal philosophy...let's get the work done so that we can go out and play is what motivates Ann Michael. If you liked today's issue, you'll love Ann Michael’s productivity tools, products, and training designed to help you improve your focus, organization, and productivity at work so that you have time to experience all that life has to offer.

Having the right ingredients – tips, tools, and proven techniques – to accommodate an individual's work style is what makes the difference. This is where Ann Michael thrives! Her ultimate goal is to find the recipe that works for you!