S stands for SAVE

Do you save everything on your hard drive?

Do you know how to save/file your computer documents properly, efficiently, and effectively?

Do you have a hard time locating documents after you’ve saved/filed them?

Most likely whenever you *create * something on your computer you’ll want to save it.

So before * SAVING * anything, ask yourself following questions:

WHO needs it? WHAT use is it? WHEN will I use it? WHERE will I find it? WHY do I want or need it? HOW long do I need to *SAVE * it?

Just like your * paper * files, you should save/file your computer documents into folders. Your folders on your computer SHOULD mirror your * paper * file folders, thus causing less names to remember, and less confusion on where you saved/filed something.

Microsoft automatically sets up a folder for you titled * MY DOCUMENTS * where you can save/file your documents. It isn’t very efficient if you save/file ALL your documents in this folder UNLESS you create YOUR own folders within * MY DOCUMENTS * folder.

Look at it this way; say you have a file drawer where you keep all your * paper * files and you call drawer * MY DOCUMENTS *. If you open drawer and have no folders, subfolders, or systems in place, how on earth are you going to locate document you need? You stand there staring at a drawer full of documents, scratching your head wondering if you can locate document before lunch! How will you know where to put NEW document you just created or received that you MUST keep?

HOW TO CREATE NEW FOLDERS

~~ Click Start (Usually located on left bottom of your screen) ~~ Place Pointer on Programs ~~ Place Pointer on Windows Explorer and Click

You have now entered/opened your electronic file cabinet. Here you can "see" every document, file, and program that is on your computer.

We're going to create subfolders (or interior folders) in MY DOCUMENTS folder... not really mine but yours:-)

~~ Locate and move POINTER to MY DOCUMENTS ~~ Double Click on MY DOCUMENTS

You will be presented with a list of all folders you have saved/filed in MY DOCUMENTS and/or any folders that you may have already created INSIDE MY DOCUMENTS folder.

Notice MY DOCUMENTS folder is highlighted, which means ANY folders you create during this exercise will be located * INSIDE * MY DOCUMENTS folder.

~~ Move POINTER to File and CLICK ~~ Move POINTER to NEW ~~ Move POINTER to FOLDER and CLICK ~~ Type in name of your new folder and Press Return/Enter

WA LA!! You have a new folder!

To continue making new folders, move your pointer back to MY DOCUMENTS, CLICK to highlight and follow above steps.

You can even create new folders within ones you just made. Why would you do that? Let me give you an example:

© 2002 Elena Fawkner

Allow me to let you in on a little secret you're probably already wise to anyway. As often as not, inspiration for article topics comes from struggles with my own personal demons. Writing about them is my way of giving myself a good talking to (a.k.a. kick in rear end). And so it is with this one - personal discipline demon.

It wasn't always like this. There was a time when I could and would happily sit at my computer for hours at a stretch. Doing this, doing that. Reading email, reading e- books, doing research for articles, writing next issue of AHBBO. It used to be fun, something to do in my off-time. A break from grind, if you will. But now that it's my official job two or three days a week it's not so much fun as it is work.

So, what's changed? Quite simply, my online business has gone from something I always *wanted* to do to something I *have* to do. And that, alas, is my demon. As soon as I *have* to do something, I start playing same mind-games that I played back in school when I wouldn't start an assignment until absolute last minute. I told myself it was because I worked well on deadlines. What it really was, of course, was procrastination. With a capital P.

Does any of this sound familiar? If not, perhaps you're just one very focused, very self-disciplined individual. Good for you. Now go away.

Or maybe you just haven't been doing this for long enough yet. You can stay. Think it won't happen to you? Maybe not. But if you're reading this at work when you really should be doing something else, like what they pay you for, you may just want to entertain teensiest possibility that it might.

So, for those of us mere mortals with actual lives and who start businesses out of our homes for quality of life reasons, you'd better get a handle on this demon and quick about it too. Because if you don't, it will slowly but surely bring about end of life as you know it and you'll be back to 9 to 5 grind at your J.O.B. before you can even *think* about turning on The Young and Restless. (Just for background noise, of course.)

OK, so, enough about what can happen and why and on to what you can do to make sure you get to keep best of all possible worlds. Here are six tips for getting job done:

1. SET A SCHEDULE

If you approach your business with attitude that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, guess what happens? You do whatever you want, whenever you want. And stuff that needs to be done but which you don't particularly feel like doing doesn't get done. Ever.

Lesson #1 - there's no such thing as being able to do what you want whenever you want all time. It's a fact of life that sometimes we have to do that which we would prefer not to do. The best you can hope for with your own business is to choose time for doing.

So, instead of seeing your days as a big, blank canvas, ready for you to paint as and when you feel like it, decide which hours of day you are going to allocate to working in your business. And stick to it. Of course, huge advantage you have in running your own business over working at your J.O.B. is that you get to choose what those hours shall be. Want to start at 6 am and finish at 2 pm? No problem. Want to start at noon and finish at 8? Go for it. But do it.