I've received numerous tips over the past few weeks regarding how to be more efficient with our most precious commodity -- time. The first one I heard was related to the ever-beckoning, ever-important email. We all know that we don't have to respond to email immediately upon receipt but there's a complusion among many of us to do so. By having email running in the background all the time, you are constantly interrupted by it. Your best bet is to turn it off and only respond to it a couple of times per day. You may even add to your email and/or voicemail that you check email at particular times during the day and will respond to any emails during those times. The second bit of email advice is to wait until 10am or so to check your email in the morning... this is painfully difficult for many of us but if you consider what else you might be able to accomplish during that first quiet hour (or two, depending on how early you start) in the morning, it's worth putting off email for an hour or so. Again, people don't expect you to respond immediately.
It was also suggested to me to read "The 4-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferriss... it is touted as a great read with lots of valuable tips.
As we begin a new year... well, as we move forward in a new year, remember to plan for your tax liability. It's easy as a small business owner to think that the amounts you're paying yourself aren't significant but if you don't pay as you go or save for the taxes, you'll end up with a hefty bill come January and your business cash flow may not allow for you to pay such a hefty amount in one lump sum. The same planning should go into savings accounts and 401K plans -- rather than waiting until the end of the year to contribute the full amount, put aside the amounts each month so that the cash flow impact is lessened.
The Family Medical Leave Act has been amdended to provide for family care to service members. The Act now provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave for family members of active duty and national guard soldiers for a "qualifying exigency" when these soldiers are called up for active duty or deployment. The Department of Labor is working on clarifying what a "qualifying exigency" is. The Act now also provides up to 26 weeks paid leave for family members to care for a soldier's combat related serious injury or illness.
The day after Super Tuesday seems perfect to bring forth the way the primary and caucus system in Washington is structured. It's confusing yet so important to understand. First, the state holds both primaries and caucuses. The caucuses are held this Saturday, February 9 and the primaries are held on February 19. The Republican party has chosen to have 1/2 of its delegates determined based on the results of the caucus and 1/2 of its delegates determined based on the results of the primary. The Democratic party, has opted for 100% of its delegates to be assigned based on the caucus. This means that the Democratic primary has no significance when it comes to who Washington delegates will vote for at the Convention. If you really care, you must attend the caucus and there are required steps for how to be invited to the caucus. For those unfamiliar with a caucus, attendees vote in rounds for their candidate. As a candidate loses a round, he or she is eliminated until one candidate remains (Note: this is an oversimplification). In West Virginia yesterday, the caucus rounds resulted in a three way tie. in order to ensure that Romney did not win, McCain supporters threw their votes to Huckabee, resulting in Huckabee's West Virginia win. Not what we typically think of when we envision our voting system, but many states hold caucuses instead of primaries and it's important to understand what that means... and to make your vote count.
For more information on voting in Washington visit: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/
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