Other FAQs:
Is RegainYourTime.com a Professional Organizing Company?
No. Most “organizers” work with individuals in a personal or home-office environment. At RegainYourTime.com, we work primarily with teams inside companies, or one-on-one with executives, but primarily in a professional setting. Also, most organizers will help you clean up and assist you with storage solutions to help prevent clutter in the future. Our training offerings teach a systematic workflow management process that prevents you from getting disorganized in the first place. As a by-product of your training, you will become very organized, and you will learn a system to remain organized. But our training goes way beyond “getting organized.” We teach you an entire workflow process where organization will naturally result. Also, we “don’t do” kitchens, garages, attics, closets. We’re not about organizing your rooms. We are about teaching individuals and teams a process to better manage the details of your life and your work. “Organizers” typically organize your stuff. The Empowered ProductivityTM System from RegainYourTime.com organizes how you work. However, if you’d like to call for a recommendation to a personal organizer, we’d be happy to point you in the right direction and make some recommendations for you.
What is the Empowered ProductivityTM System?
The Empowered Productivity System is a workflow management process, based on a “Kaizen” or continuous improvement model, which incorporates the management of all the details necessary in the service of your life: your calendar, to-do list, projects, contacts, paper, email…all of the commitments, communication, and information that enters your life on a daily basis. We call our system “ Empowered Productivity,” because it is about putting YOU back in the driver’s seat of your life and your work, rather than letting your life and your work control you. Empowered ProductivityTM means turning chaos into control. For more details on what it means to be “empowered” over your productivity, click here.
Do you offer Microsoft Outlook® training?
Not exactly. Just like we are not personal organizers, but organization is a by-product of our training, the same concept is true here. We don’t offer “Microsoft Outlook training,” we offer training on the Empowered Productivity System, which we then teach you to apply to whatever tools you are using, including Microsoft Outlook, Mac tools, Google tools, plus smartphones and tablets. We help you bridge the gap between behaviors and technology, so proficiency in Outlook, or whatever tools you’re using, is a by-product of our productivity training. We teach the principles of peak productivity. We believe that your brain is not the best place to manage the details of your life, so you need a support tool. We are very fluent with most PIM applications (personal information management) and can typically train you on your tool of choice, or we can help you select the one that’s best for you. Since Microsoft Outlook is so prevalent, this is the most common support tool that we incorporate into our training. However, most other PIM tools can be accommodated, including Mac and web-based tools. We are one of the few training companies in the country who offers productivity training for Mac users as well as PC users. At RegainYourTime.com, we teach a methodology that incorporates the management of email, voicemail, paper, to-do’s, commitments, projects, responsibilities, and the inevitable barrage of information that is thrown at us every day. Anyone can show you the mechanics of Outlook or other PIM applications, it’s the why and when of using Outlook’s features that makes our system so powerful. Proficiency in Outlook (or your PIM of choice) is another by-product of our productivity training programs, but we don’t offer “just” Microsoft Outlook training. For more on this, you might find this page helpful.
Do You Teach Time Management?
Sort of. The concepts we teach are commonly referred to as “time management principles.” However, it is our belief that “time management” is an outdated concept that has far outlived it’s usefulness. In the 21st century, how you spend your time is only relevant to the extent that you also devote your attention. So our approach is attention management: the ability and skills to control your attention from all of the constant distractions, so that you can stay focused on getting the things done that are most important to you. We believe that the secret to controlling your life is to control your attention, and we teach this through a workflow management system called the Empowered Productivity System. This includes the effective management of email, voicemail, paper, to-do’s, commitments, projects, communication, responsibilities, and information. Learn more about “attention management” here, or listen to me explain it in about two minutes, here.
Will You Tailor Your Training to My Work Style?
At RegainYourTime.com, we have researched the productivity field for over 15 years. We are very familiar with most “time management” systems and techniques, and have learned that the ones that work are very specific. It’s our informed opinion that the true principles of peak productivity are the same regardless of your work “style.” If you were to take flying lessons, your pilot trainer wouldn’t say, “let’s see how you like to fly the plane and then we’ll tailor the lessons to your style.” It’s the same with dance, or sports, or any other skill. The underlying principles are the same for everyone. As you become inherently productive, you will develop your own, more advanced techniques which will suit your personal needs and situation. It’s the basics, however, that must be mastered first, and this is what’s covered in the Empowered Productivity System TM – the foundational principals of peak productivity. Now, having said that, if you are interested in on-site training for your organization, we will discuss your organization’s specific challenges in detail, to ensure that we do, in fact, cover the areas that are most relevant to your organization’s needs. There is more explanation of this belief in a blog post, Kaizen for Personal and Team Productivity.
How do I know the Empowered ProductivityTM System will work for me?
The system we teach requires a behavioral change. For peak productivity, you must unlearn your old, unproductive habits, and relearn those that will make you the most effective. This is not easy. But because we design our training with this in mind, informal polling of past clients indicates that better than 80% are still using their new system a year later, and almost everyone is still using at least part of the System. Participating in scheduled follow-ups and certain other critical success factors will be identified in our work together.
Do You Train Mac Users?
Yes! You have come to the right place for productivity for Mac users! We are fluent in a variety of PIMs (personal information management) tools for Mac users, such as iCal and Outlook for Mac (formerly Microsoft Entourage), and we can customize a powerful suite of tools for you to manage the five components we believe are necessary in any tool: calendar, email, contacts, to-do list, and notes. AND, we can help you sync it to your handheld tool of choice, or help you pick one.
What if I Want to Use Paper, Instead of an Electronic Solution?
Our system can be adapted to paper, and if you choose to manage your life with a paper-based system, we strongly recommend only one, offered by Time/system International. If you prefer paper, this is the best on the market. The Time/system paper-based planner is quite sophisticated, to match the complexity of your life, and we do not recommend purchasing it without training. Advice is always free, so call us to discuss whether paper or electronics are the best solution for you.
What if I’m Switching from PC to Mac?
If you’re in any kind of transition: from paper to electronic, PC to Mac, or Desktop to Cloud, this is the perfect time to get help managing your life in your new environment and is a specialty of RegainYourTime.com.
