A daily journal will save you time, reduce stress and make you more productive.

Several months ago, I visited office of a million dollar producer. I was shocked to find that although he was in charge of an extremely successful practice, his office looked like it had been hit by a tornado. His desk was covered with client statements, yellow note pads, phone messages, post it notes, and two calendar books. In fact, every flat surface in his office was covered with stacks of paper and files.

He loved activity, but couldn’t keep track of his commitments and information because he was drowning in paper. Happily, I offered him a solution to his problem.

Handing him a wire bound notebook, I said, “From now on, this is your daily journal. Each day, I want you to record all commitments you make, your client discussions, ideas, meeting notes, and names and phone numbers. Anything you write down during day that’s not on a form will go into this book.”

I explained to him that he should start a new page every day, date it and use it for all his notes. The following day he’d start a new page, allowing him to keep all his notes and lists in one place in chronological order.

“No more notes on back of business cards or phone messages,” I told him. “No more legal pads or scraps of paper. No more floating paper – period!”

A few weeks later, this successful advisor told me that my suggestion made a huge difference in his daily productivity. He said he felt more in control, less frustrated trying to find important information, and less distracted now that there was no longer paper cluttering his desk. He asked me for more ideas that would bring “sanity” to his day. He said there’s just never enough time in day to get everything done. I told him that he just identified his problem – he thinks he should do everything.

Six Sigma is a management philosophy. Six Sigma means recognizing value of defect-free business processes. Fewer defects mean lower costs and improved customer loyalty. The lowest cost, high value producer is most competitive provider of goods and services.

Six Sigma is a business improvement strategy. It seeks to identify, reduce, and eliminate defects from every product, process and transaction. It uses a structured systems approach to problem solving and strongly links initial improvement goal targets to bottom-line results. Six Sigma is a way to achieve strategic business results.

Six Sigma is a process. Six Sigma is a robust continuous improvement strategy and process. More than a "quality" program, Six Sigma is a business initiative that helps every area of an organization meet changing needs of its customers, profitably.