Top Seven Tips to Increase Office Productivity

We are getting blessed with a lot of rain in Oklahoma after our long drought of almost no rain...Thank You Jesus...Prayer changes things! :)

I've included "The Top Seven Tips to Increase Office Productivity" in this issue because too many of us who work in the church or business office today as a secretary or whatever our position might be are letting too many distractions keep us from doing our work (I'm speaking to myself too). Read below.

Are you finding yourself overwhelmed in the office? Shepherdbase will save you a lot of time in your church office. Shepherdbase - Church Membership Database will track memberships (unlimited), contributions, attendance and much more for ONLY $34.99 so Hurry & Enjoy these Savings!

Contents-At-A-Glance

Top Seven Tips to Increase Office Productivity
Mothers Day Brunch Flyers
Bible Study Flyers
FreeChurchForms.com New Web Pages with New Forms
Shepherdbase (Church Membership Database
FCF (Free Church Forms) CD
Church Office Package – Special Limited Offer
Free eBook - ”Top 10 Tips on How to Organize Your Office”
FreeChurchForms.com Table of Contents

Top Seven Tips to Increase Office Productivity

Home office workers reduce their commuting time to zero, don't have coworkers to distract them and can schedule work to best fit them, but their work is often distracted with their children, errands, and other distracting comforts. These tips should help you no matter where your office is located such as:

• 1. Create a Secluded Work Space if Possible - Make sure your office is secluded with no distractions besides the business phone if possible to be able to focus on your work. If it's not possible to alleviate all noise or distractions then check into having a door put in your office that can be closed to block out any outside noise such as children screaming, loud TV, etc. because this gives clients a negative impression of your business or organization. If you work in a co-working space, wear headphones (listen to music) because this signals to other coworkers that "I can't be disturbed right now." and creates an indicator of busyness. It's great to talk with your coworkers, but there is a time to talk and there is a time to work. Also, remove as many papers off your desk as possible because it is proven fact that just one piece of paper will distract you at least five times a day.
• 2. Always Take Your Breaks Out of the Office - Don't ever eat lunch in the office if at all possible. Use your lunch break as a time to relax, re-energize and refresh your mind by getting out of your office chair and completely out of the office.
• 3. Increase Your Self-Discipline - If you have to chain yourself to the desk, make sure you don't let every distraction side track you from your work. Here are some examples: 1) Turn off your personal cell phone until your personal breaks then you can check your calls/texts - only answer the business phone(s). 2) Set certain times (every hour, etc.) throughout your workday to check your emails and DO NOT check them until the set times - checking emails can distract you and end up wasting huge amounts of your time. 3) Do not get on any social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Etc.) during your workday unless your business requires you to or you are on break - this is huge time trap. 4) Write down everything that distracts you throughout your workday and then try to eliminate the ones you can to where you will have times throughout the day where you can work on a project and not be distracted at all, except for maybe the business phone. 5) Make a "To-Do-List Today" in a notebook and prioritize the list from most important to least important task, and make it your goal to get everything done on your list by the end of your workday.
• 4. Plan Your Workday First - Take the first 30 minutes of your day to plan and organize what you will be doing the rest of your workday and devote the final hours of your workday to some of your least-pressured tasks. Make a list of the important tasks you need accomplish today and then stay focused on these items. Organizing your day first will help alleviate spending the first half of your day responding to emails and reading. It will also help you to set goals to finish tasks so you can mark them off of your list as done.
• 5. Create a Positive Relaxed Working Atmosphere - If possible, surround yourself with the right people who are positive, smart and have work styles similar to you. Also, keeping your office organized will lower the stress tremendously by giving you a peace of mind and saving you many hours of wasted time searching for documents and files. Some people like to listen to music while doing their paperwork to give them a less stressful, calming effect while working.
• 6. Don't Be Afraid to Ask Questions - Many people during their workday wastes a huge amount of time by trying to figure out how to do a project or task by themselves because they do not want to ask anyone how to do it. If the project you're working on requires some skills that are outside of your immediate field, see if your coworkers might be interested in working with you on the project or at the very least help answer your questions. Don't be afraid to ask because if they don't know they might know someone who does. If you work at home alone, use the internet to help answer your questions or locate phone numbers for support.
• 7. Create Time-Savers to Help Simplify Processes - I saved this one for last because this is one of the most important lessons you will learn to save yourself time and increase your productivity in the office. If possible, keep everything electronically on your hard drive and you can keep a hard copy also if desired. If you're working from a coffee shop or in an airport, the last thing you want to do is shuffle papers around in a little space.
  

  Learn how to take notes in PDF documents and get used to reading documents on your computer. It will be a challenge at first, but it will be worth it in the end. You can carry a small notebook for notes and memos. If possible, get High Speed Internet if your job relies solely on the internet or if you are on the internet very much at all. Organize your computer files (My Documents folder) to easily find the project you are looking for in a small amount of time.
  

  Create forms or databases to make your work tasks easier such as the church membership database I created - Shepherdbase - for me to use in my church office. Before I created Shepherdbase I was putting my church member's contributions in an Excel spreadsheet which would give me a running total of contributions per member when I needed it but at the end of the year it would take me days to get all these contribution totals into Annual Contribution Letters and to send IRS Contribution Statements out also. Once I created Shepherdbase, I could easily merge my church member's contributions at the end of the year into the Annual Contribution Letters in a matter of minutes and also print the member's IRS Contribution Statements easily. Shepherdbase can do many more church tasks easily such as generating a monthly member's birthday or anniversary report, member's directory report, and much more.
  

  If you have tasks in your church office that you do over and over again every day then try to create solutions to simplify these tasks by increasing your knowledge in some programs such as the Microsoft Office, which has great programs (Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, Etc.) to create forms and databases. There are many more great programs and software available that can make your work tasks easier and save your precious time. These programs will help increase your productivity in your church or business office no matter where that might be.

Mothers Day Brunch Flyers

Give your mom the gift of Church and a delicious Brunch, all at the same time! Just plan this special event in your church for Mothers Day to invite the children, their moms and family, etc. You can even have the men of the church volunteer to fix this special Brunch for Mothers Day if you have enough volunteers. After the Brunch, you could even plan to take pictures of each mom with their children and later you could make a bookmark or even a small magnet to give to them at a later time.

I have three different Mothers Day Brunch Flyer Templates available for free below which includes the Brunch Menu and a couple of Mothers Day Brunch Recipes.

Click Here for the Free Mothers Day Brunch Flyers, Menus and Recipes.

Bible Study Flyers

Even if you are just simply planning a Bible Study Event, these Bible Study Flyer Templates (2) are designed for these type of church events.

If you have questions, the Bible has the answers! In Christianity, Bible Study is the study of the Holy Bible by ordinary people as a personal religious or spiritual practice to further their understanding, knowledge and Faith in God.

Click Here to download the Free Bible Study Flyer Templates.

FreeChurchForms.com New Web Pages with New Forms

• Mothers Day Cards (A Mother's Heart & Best Mom in the World)

• Mothers Day Brunch Flyers/Menus & Recipes

• Church Employment Application #2

• Blank Check & Deposit Slip Templates

• Proof of Marriage Letter Sample (From Pastor)
• Church Cell Phone Use Policy & Check Request Form
• Bible Study Flyer Templates (2)

Shepherdbase (Church Membership Database