Tag: Sunday

Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More…

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Since it is Monday we will start with a great tune from the Allman Brothers:

Last Sunday mornin’ … the sunshine felt like rain…Week before … they all … seemed the same…With the help of God and true friends … I come to realize…I still had two strong legs … and even wings to fly…And oh I … ain’t-a wastin’ time no more…’Cause time goes by like … hurricanes … and faster things…Lord, lord Miss Sally … why … all your cryin’?…Been around here three long days-uh … you lookin’ like you’re dyin’…Just step yourself outside and look up at the stars above…Go on downtown baby … find somebody to love…Meanwhile I … ain’t-a wastin’ time no more…’Cause time goes by like … pouring rain … and much faster things…You don’t need no gypsy to tell you why…You can’t let one precious day slip by…But look inside yourself …and if you don’t see what you want…Maybe sometimes then you don’t…But leave your mind alone and just get high … oh, yessuh…Well by and by way after … many years have gone…And all the war freaks die off … leavin’ us alone…We’ll raise our children in the peaceful way we can…It’s up to you and me brother…To try and try again…Well, hear us now … we ain’t wastin’ time no more…’Cause time goes by like … hurricanes…Runnin’ after subway trains…Don’t forget the pouring rain

Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More The Allman Brothers

In this fast paced world we live in, the one thing that has not changed is time.  We are all trying to do more, but in spite of all the technology and advancements in productivity, we are challenged to maximize our daily impact by many things that are out of our control.  I came across a great infographic this weekend about wasting time at work.  The culprit turns out to be the technology and productivity tools that were put in place to improve this situation.  In an 8 hour day, here are the time sucks for a knowledge worker

  • 74 minutes a day trying to contact customers or colleagues
  • 67 minutes a day trying to find key information
  • 39 minutes a day duplicating communications
  • 33 minutes a day attempting to schedule meetings
  • 29 minutes a day sifting through unwanted communications

So if we add that up, it comes to a total of 242 minutes a day or approximately 4 hours.  So half of the 8 hour work day goes to this stuff.  The infographic goes on to talk about how cloud based solutions can improve this situation.  We have covered cloud based applications a number of times in previous blogs, but this one is more specific to a unified communications cloud based implementatioon.  Here are the findings from the study:

Technology can always help but it is most important for each of us to stay focused on what is most important.  Measure what you are doing everyday and eliminate as much “noise”as possible.  Focus only on the deliverables that are going to have the biggest impact on the business and on your development.  These are the only things that matter.  Focus on changing the game and not just playing the game.

The infographic can be found at http://mashable.com/2012/04/13/wasting-time-work/.

Please let me know what works for you so that we can share with our community.

All the best.

Webman

Getting the Deal – Part 1

swebman3 Comments

Ah, the coupon.

As consumers we are always looking for a deal.  When the economy was better, many of us were not as diligent as we could have been and might not have been actively seeking coupons as a part of our everyday lives.  Given the downturn and the hardships faced by many of us today, a growing number of folks have made couponing an integral part of stretching our budgets and making ends meet.

Managing Your Budget

On TLC, there is a show called Extreme Couponing where people have made this their full time job.  They really take this seriously and some folks are saving hundreds and even thousands of dollars a month.  Can you believe it?  A televised show on extreme couponing as well as the supporting web-site http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/extreme-couponing, tips, social communities and other advice on how to maximize our savings through the use of coupons.

We are all very serious about saving  money. The days of paying bust out retail are past.  Regardless of how much money we make, our society has been transformed by the economic conditions, our lack of confidence in leadership and the ever changing global political landscape that impacts our daily lives at the gas pump, grocery store and overall cost of living.

Coupons can be found everywhere.  Coupons have been distributed through newspapers forever and can be found everyday in the printed paper as well as the traditional FSI‘s (free standing inserts) found in your Sunday newspaper from companies such as Valassis and NewsAmerica.  Many of us receive a weekly package in our mail box from Valassis/Red Plum, Val-Pak and other companies that provide us with grocery and neighborhood coupons.  When you check out at a grocery store, you are often presented with a receipt that is loaded with additional coupons from the retailer, the product manufacturer or local businesses.  These coupons are provided to you by Catalina in many cases.

Upon entering a grocery store we are bombarded with ways to access coupons or use new technologies to save money or be presented with deals on products we may or may not be interested in purchasing.  We can join a loyalty club, swipe our card and get money off automatically without showing any coupons.  We can use in-store scanners to be presented with coupon alternatives on products we have purchased or on related products somewhere else in the store. When we choose an item from the shelf, many times we are presented with an option to grab a coupon right there for that or other products.  There are also many other kiosks that can be used to access in-store coupons.

Digital coupons are also very prevalent.  We can  go up to any number of sites to download coupons.  Some of these sites are www.coupons.com, www.savingstar.com, www.savings.com, www.couponcabin.com and many, many others.  All of our favorite retailers provide coupons on their sites. We can access deals from companies like GroupOn and LivingSocial that provide smoking hot deals, provided the minimum number of participants are met.

When we purchase on a web-site today, we are always presented with the option of entering a promotional code.  If e do not have one, we can quickly search for one on-line, plug it in and get a discount on that purchase.  This has become just a standard part of our purchase process on-line.

Most of the in-store retail coupons still require a paper coupon for scanning.  The reason for this is that most scanners cannot yet effectively read the bar code from your smartphone.  One retailer, Starbucks, has created an application that enables you to use your smartphone to pay for your coffee.  In order to make this work in-store however, they needed to replace all of their scanner technology.  It is a great app and demonstrates where we are going with mobile payments and convenience.

Tomorrow I will give you a peak at what is happening with couponing on your smartphones.

Let me know what you think about this blog by providing your feedback below.

Have a great day.

Webman