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GETTING IT ON THE BOOKS. Don't Just Plan It, Schedule It!
GETTING IT ON THE BOOKS Don?t Just Plan It, Schedule It! Do you know the difference between planning and scheduling? Planning is deciding WHAT needs to be done and scheduling is deciding WHEN to do it. Planning without scheduling is nothing more...
New Year's Nots
'Tis the season ... for New Year's resolutions. Some of us are
actually successful with these resolutions, but I have read that
the majority of us break them within 24-48 hours of making them.
This, of course, doesn't need to happen to you.
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Organize Your Time
Most people want to start a home-based business to make more money to supplement their income. The issue though, is finding the time to make this happen.
Most people are busy, with family, an existing job, and the general feeling that there...
Organizing Your Day
One of the hardest things for most individuals working from home is to stay focused. One of the best ways to stay focused is organization. In addition, being organized will help your time management skills. The two are very much intertwined.
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Presentation Pitfalls Series: Top 10 Content Mangement Mistakes
Here, David Letterman style, are what I consider to be the Top 10 most common mistakes presenters make when organizing and preparing their content:
10) Not setting the stage.
An introduction should be more than just "Hello. Today we'll...
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Tips for Using and Personalizing Templates
"Why reinvent the wheel?" your boss may ask. "Use a template
instead. We're running a little behind schedule, and we need
that thing up right now."
These lines may irritate many creative workers. But the fact
still rings true. You do not have to reinvent the wheel. If a
template exists build on it.
Remember that your creativity is not stifled by templates. In
fact, they provide a basis for your creativity by freeing you
from the tedium of organizing the needed structure. You can now
focus on content instead!
However you still have to be careful of your use of templates.
The improper use of such will definitely make your work
substandard. Here are a few tips to help you avoid this
occurrence.
Choose the Right Template Choose the right template for your
work. To accomplish this you must have a clear understanding of
the output you wish to achieve. After this, choose a template
that outlines or resembles that output you visualize. Using such
a template will take care of most of the menial work involved in
drafting a document.
If you cannot find a document template that matches your desire
output, find the one that most closely matches your document.
And after you finish working on that new document, don't forget
to save this new document in a template form.
Make Your Changes
Some people do no change a single thing when using templates.
This will make your document bland and generic. Make sure you
incorporate your 'personal' touch. Use your desired font, and
make your desired changes to spice up and improve the current
document template.
Also, remember to document the changes you make to a template
and save different versions of the template.
The ideal for a template is for it to multiply, and evolve into
a better product. You can
help in this regard.
Use Templates for Inspiration
The template also acts as a creative or academic sparkplug when
you run into a writer's block. It is always more soothing for a
writer or document drafter to look at a document that has all
the proper structure and organization. With sufficient input,
the writer may then work on fleshing out or spicing up the
document.
Do not solely depend on the template for your document needs.
Templates can sometimes offer the convenience of being a
fill-in-the blanks form.
However, this sort of writing stifles the creativity and
professionalism of most documents. For documents and forms that
need to be done in a hurry, filling in the blanks on a template
may be the best solution.
Save, Save, Save
Whatever work you do, remember that it is of value. Save it! You
may get to use it again someday. Saving each version of your
document also serves to help you monitor the development of your
document and evaluate your writing skill.
Take note of the diversity and the uses of your documents. If
your documents now address a new need, it would do best for you
to save that document as a template.
The Verdict
Templates are a handy tool to have in a word processing
environment. Some people will argue that these tools make
document drafters lazy and less creative.
On the contrary, it may sparkplug those who have hit a creative
block and help reduce redundant work. This will help the writer
focus on content development instead of repetitious content
organization.
About the author:
James Monahan is the owner and Senior Editor of TemplateStuff.com and
writes expert articles about templates.
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