When you’re on your own time, the choice to turn off your cell phone is entirely yours. When it comes to using your cell phone at work, however, you have to be mindful of your co-workers and your boss, not to mention your own ability to get your job done. Here are some rules you should follow if you have your cell phone at work.

• Turn Your Cell Phone Ringer Off During Work Hours 
  • If you have your cell phone at work, it shouldn’t ring. If you don’t want to turn off your cell phone completely, at least set it to vibrate! The sounds of different ring tones going off all the time can be very annoying to others. In addition, you don’t want your boss to know how often you get calls.
•  Use Your Cell Phone Only for Important Calls  
  • If you have your cell phone at work, you should only use it for important calls. What should you classify as an important call? The school nurse calling to say your child is ill, your child calling to say he’s arrived home from school safely, and family emergencies that you must deal with immediately are important. Your friend calling to chat, your child calling to say the dog had an accident, or your mom calling to tell you your cousin Tilly is engaged should NOT be considered important.
• Let Your Cell Phone Calls Go to Voice Mail
  • While you are at work if you are in doubt about whether an incoming call is important, let voice mail pick it up. It will take much less time to check your messages than it will to answer the call and then tell the caller you can’t talk.
•  Find a Private Place to Make Cell Phone Calls  
  • While it’s okay to use your cell phone at work for private calls during breaks, don’t stay at your desk. Find somewhere else to talk, where your conversation can’t be overheard, even if what you’re discussing isn’t personal. You may be on a break but your co-workers have a job to do! It is distracting to hear loud personal calls from another room while trying to concentrate
• Don’t Bring Your Cell Phone Into the Restroom … Ever
  • This rule should apply to using your cell phone at work or anywhere. Why? Well, if you must ask — you never know who’s in there; the person on the other end of the line will hear bathroom sounds, e.g., toilets flushing; it is an invasion of your co-workers’ privacy.
• Don’t Bring Your Cell Phone to Meetings
  • Even if you have your cell phone set to vibrate, if you receive a call you will be tempted to see who it’s from. This is not only rude, it is a clear signal to your boss that your mind isn’t 100 percent on your job. All calls can wait until your meeting is over or until there is a break. Remember, there was a time before we had cell phones.

Your Signature

• Use your email program to create an email signature block that will automatically attach to all of your outgoing messages. It saves you the effort of including your contact information every time you send a message and brings a professional touch to your communications.
• You might simply include your name, business name, contact details and website or you might also include a sentence or two about your business or even a favorite funny or inspirational quote.  

Reply Quickly

• Because of its immediacy, people expect fast replies to emails. A response within 24 hours is probably as long as most people would consider appropriate. Your email practices will educate others about what to expect from you in email communications; if you respond quickly, people will expect that you’ll always respond quickly; if you set a 24 hour or less benchmark, likewise people will learn what to expect from you – but of course there will always be those emails that do require your immediate attention.

Spell Check

• Always, always re-read your emails before you send them to make sure they make sense and to fix any spelling or grammatical errors. Set your email to automatically spell-check for clarity, tone or correctness, as a colleague to look over the content for you. It might be inconsequential to you, but a poorly worded email that conveys the wrong tone and is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors can destroy your credibility.

• Air Dry Beach Towels
  • Using a beach towel to dry off after a refreshing swim does not mean the towel is dirty.  Instead of throwing it into the laundry, toss the towel over the porch railing to air dry.  Beach towels are much thicker than regular towels and therefore require more energy to dry.
• Take Shorter Showers
  •  We have all heard this one a million times but it really does work.  Taking a shorter shower means less hot water you will be using which means less energy used to heat the water for an extended period of time. 
• Unplug Your TV
  • All plugged in electronics constantly suck energy even when they are turned off.  A simple solution is to plug all electronics into power strips and turn off the power strip when not being used.
• Get Rid of Old Refrigerators
  • Refrigerators each year keep getting more energy efficient, which is great!!  The problem is instead of recycling the old refrigerator we tend to move them to the garage or basement; this is now using twice the energy. 
• Turn Off Your Computers
  • Sleep mode does not mean your computer is turned off.  If your computer is plugged in it is using energy no matter what mode the computer is in. Turn off and unplug your computer completely!!
• Weather Strip Your Doors
  • If you want to keep your air conditioning inside your house make sure that all windows and doors have the proper seal.  More important, keep all windows and door closed when the air is turned on.
• Get Your Water Heater Checked
  • Have your water heater set to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. (Most homes are set at 140)  Lowering your water heater by 10 degrees can save you 3 to 5 percent in energy cost.

Contact Sokolis Group and let us know what you are doing to save energy. www.Sokolisgoup.com or 267-482-6155.

The paperless desk:

Remove all paperwork from your desk – create files for your projects, reference folders for information you need to access regularly, a reading file for articles, reports, journals and FYI documents and a daily files for administrative, miscellaneous and day specific tasks. Keep your files on shelves or in drawers. The only thing on your desk at any point in time should be information relating to the task or project you are currently working on.

Stationery drawer:

Keep stationery in desk drawers rather than on your desk. Get rid of all clutter and keep your desk clear for essential items relating to the current piece of work you are doing.

Inspire yourself:

Surround yourself with positive images. Keep a photo or phrase that motivates you in view to remind you of and motivate you toward continually striving for your goals.

What are some of the things that work for you? Share with us…

Things you will need:

• A new food attitude: Carbs are not the enemy. Neither is fat. Eliminating certain food groups may help your waistline, but it will hurt your brain functioning.
• A stash of snacks: To keep your brain well fueled, you can’t let yourself get too hungry. Have a ready supply of trail mix, peanut-butter crackers, or Snickers bars at work. The combination of carbs and protein in these snacks will stabilize your blood sugar, fill you up, and keep you energized.
• Some willpower: Big meals actually reduce the supply of energy to your brain and leave you feeling sleepy for hours. Eat half of what you order, and take the rest home.

1. Balance What You Eat, Whenever You Eat

Today, nutritionists talk about a different set of food groups —proteins, carbohydrates (which produce glucose), fats, and fiber — and a different way to combine them. Instead of having a few helpings from each group every day, they recommend having something from each of the four groups every time you sit down to eat. And, yes, that includes carbs, which certain popular diets restrict. Why? Because the combination of carbs and protein (and to a lesser extent, fats and fiber) regulates your glucose levels and keeps your mood and mental ability on an even keel. Moreover, each food group brings unique brain-boosting benefits to the table. Cut back on either group and you’re missing half the benefits that food can offer.

2. Neglect Carbs at Your Own Peril

The research here is clear: Cutting carbs may shrink your waistline, but doing so will shrink your brainpower, too. In a 2008 there was a study conducted, dieters who lowered their blood-sugar levels by cutting carbohydrates from their meals immediately performed worse on memory-based tasks than those who simply reduced total calories by the same amount. When they started eating carbs again, their memory skills quickly rebounded.

Brain cells require twice the amount of energy needed by other cells in your body because they never rest. And high-carb foods like pasta, bread, fruit, and rice produce the brain’s favorite fuel — glucose. It can burn protein if it has to, but it’s like trying to run a gasoline engine on diesel.

If you are on a low-carb diet, we’re not suggesting you go out and eat a loaf of Wonder Bread. There are plenty of “good” carbs (such as fruit, vegetables, and brown rice) that will supply your brain with all the fuel it needs.

3. Pack in the Protein

Proteins such as meat, fish, dairy, eggs, beans, and nuts slow the absorption of glucose so your brain gets a long and steady flow of fuel, rather than the brief blast you get from eating carbs and sugary foods (fats and fiber also help with this). And protein also brings its own set of brain boosters to the party. The amino acids found in meats, poultry, fish, and eggs help produce the neurotransmitters — serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine — that keep us focused, energetic, and upbeat.

4. Eat Smaller Amounts, and Eat More Frequently

If you want to keep up your energy and performance levels, the last thing you need is a three-course lunch (or a three-egg cheese omelet for breakfast). The same thing goes for big dinners if you’re working late. Too much food — even if it’s well balanced — is going to make you drowsy because it introduces too much glucose for your body to handle at one time. When that happens, your liver reacts by storing the glucose, and your brain actually gets less fuel than it needs.

5. Fat Is Beautiful … for Your Brain

You probably know that omega-3 fatty acids are good for your heart. But they’re great brain food, too. The fats found in salmon, walnuts, and kiwi improve learning and memory and help fight against mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia, and dementia. The fats support the synapses in the brain where much of our cognitive functioning occurs.

6. How to Keep Things in Proportion

In addition to controlling your carb intake, portion and proportion play a big role in regulating glucose. Some recommend a highly sophisticated tool for measuring food amounts — your hand. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, the portions are the same: your fist is the size of the carbs; your palm is the size of the protein. Make an OK sign with your thumb and index finger, and that’s how much fat you should have. Open your hand as wide as it can go; that’s the amount of fruits and vegetables. That’s going to be a well-balanced mix.

Informative Materials

• Use electronic informative materials instead of printed. Download files to USB keys or make files available on your website
• If you must print, choose vegetable or soy-based ink and print double-sided on consumer recycled paper
• Design brochures, hand-outs and collateral that can be re-used (no dates or event specific information)

Promotional Items

• Choose non-toxic and recyclable materials
• Choose food or drink samples
• Choose reusable and long-lasting items (stainless steel water bottles, 1,000 hour LED flashlights)
• Choose items with minimal packaging or no packaging at all
• Choose items that encourage sustainable behavior (reusable shopping bags, refillable pens)

Booth Designs

• Choose a re-usable design (aesthetically long-lasting, no dates or event-specific information)
• Choose recycled or organic materials (recycled plastics, organic fabrics and dyes)
• Choose ENERGY STAR certified light fixtures and other appliances
• Install LED or CFL bulbs in light fixtures
• Uses rechargeable batteries

Transportation

• Transport essential materials only
• Consider sourcing materials locally rather than shipping
• Ship in bulk to reduce the number of deliveries and amount of packaging
• Avoid pallet-wraps and other non-essential packaging
• Favor transportation carriers that have green practices

Booth Tear-Down

• Reuse as much of your exhibit as possible
• Reuse print materials
• Donate unwanted promotional items to your own local charities.
• Recycle everything possible (packaging, displays, electronic waste)

1. Draw a line. Keep yourself from blurring work and personal time by maintaining separate sites.
2. Determine the goal. Know what you want to accomplish with social media, so your not wasting time and effort on unrelated activities
3. Schedule the task. Put short time blocks on your calendar for updating your social media connections. This will keep you from popping on them too frequently or following tangents because you don’t have time to log off.
4. Write in advance. Draft a package of blogs or tweets in one setting and then post them over time.
5. Automate updates. Take advantage of applications that will ease managing your accounts. Ping.fm allows you to update dozens of types of social networking sites simultaneously. Hootsuite.com allows you to load messages and set later posting times.

Check out how Sokolis Group stays connected at www.sokolisgroup.com. Or you can view under News and read about it. Let us know how you stay connected! Everyone can learn from one another in all of the different ways that you stay connected.

Organizing, sorting and systemizing information is not something that most of us have ever been taught how to do – so it’s hardly surprising that we struggle to find order among the chaos. Effective information management is essential to your efficiency and productivity, introducing simple systems and inventing just 15 minutes per week can put you back in control of your information.

• Decide how you will allocate your space to make it easiest to locate your files.
• Look at the type of files you have and decide how to logically divide them into categories.
• Keep your files clean; less clutter the better. If you have past data in them and don’t need those months anymore b/c they are in the computer, get rid of them. Keep only the important data in a file for easy access. 

Email Filing:

• Set up folders in your email to file important information that you have read or auctioned and want to keep for future reference. These folders might mirror your hardcopy files to make it easy for you to cross reference printed and online information. Some examples are: Fuel Management; Fleet Fueling or even your Fuel Consulting Company like Sokolis Group.
• Establish rules for incoming email to help you sort the legitimate messages from the spam, jokes and junk. Your email software can help you to send spam messages directly to your trash or to send newsletter that you subscribe to directly to a READING FOLDER.

At Sokolis Group we make sure all of our emails and clients paperwork is nice and organized for quick response and proper audit is completed. From filing invoices to retrieving downloads of your fuel transactions. Let us help you on your fuel program and help with one aspect of organizing your fuel program. You can reach us at: 267-482-6155 or on the web at www.sokolisgroup.com.

At Sokolis Group we t try to treat all fuel management team players this way.  We know if they feel good, then they will provide better fleet fueling consulting to our valued clients. What does your company do? Share your ideas with us and let us know what works best at your company.

The phone is a tool for your convenience.  We have all had the experience when someone is clearly busy, distracted, frustrated or in a rush answers the call – it puts both people in an uncomfortable position and it would have been fairer for them to allow us to leave a message and to respond at a more convenient time.

Answer the call by introducing yourself clearly. We all have had the phone call where we couldn’t understand the other person on the call so lets now allow that to be one of us.

If you decide to answer the call do your caller the courtesy of paying attention. Disinterest or lack of attention can very easily be heard in your voice – as can the typing that you continue to do while making all of the right ‘aha’ sounds. Stop what you are doing and pay attention, or tell the caller you’ll call back later it’s not a convenient time.

SMILE: It is a proven fact that a smile can be “heard” on the other end of the phone. Your callers will appreciate your friendly approach. 

Always end your call by thanking your caller for calling and/or their time.