NAFE Enewsletter

Today in history: The 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Prohibition) took effect in 1919. It was enacted largely due to the efforts of women’s temperance groups, but later repealed via the 21st amendment in 1933. Germaine Greer (1939) and Oprah Winfrey (1954) were born on this date.

$99 Banners and Skyscrapers: Want to promote your business? For NAFE members, a banner or skyscraper ad in one issue of the NAFE E-Newsletter will cost you just $99.00. (Regular rate is $150.00.) Contact newsletter editor Paula Damiano to place your ad: paula.damiano@nafe.com. [Note: you must be an active NAFE member to receive this special rate.]

Nominate an Outstanding Woman NOW! NAFE Women of Excellence Awards for 2009. It’s that time again… time to nominate an outstanding female executive (a friend, colleague or yourself) for the 2009 awards program. Submissions will be accepted via US Mail or by fax. As always, nominations will be accepted in five categories:

Woman of Achievement - A woman who has attained a high rank at her company and has utilized her position, stature, and expertise to break down gender bias and effect positive change for women
Outstanding Entrepreneur - A woman entrepreneur who not only strives to build a great company, but also contributes to the success of other entrepreneurs
Mentorship Award - An individual who serves as an example of hard work and effective management and provides assistance to help advance other women
Community Service - An individual who is changing the face of neighborhoods through initiatives to provide services that benefit women
Rising Star - An up-and-coming female executive with less than 15 years at a company or an entrepreneur in business for less than 5 years

Click here for more information. There’s a link on the page to download the application form. Deadline is February 28, 2009.

NOTE FROM NAFE PRESIDENT BETTY SPENCE: THERE'S A NEW DAY COMING FOR WOMEN AROUND THE GLOBE, AND YOU CAN PARTICIPATE. Start on International Women's Day, March 5, by seeing this inspirational movie made by CARE about women triumphing over hardships in three areas of the world. Celebrate International Women's Day 2009 with "A POWERFUL NOISE" – Live. Plan to join CARE and more than 120,000 people gathering in 450 theaters across the United States to celebrate International Women’s Day 2009. Visit http://www.apowerfulnoise.org/guides.html to download a step-by-step planning guide for how local women's groups can participate in this exciting event. Tickets go on sale online January 27th. To learn more about the film, or for theatre and ticket information, visit www.apowerfulnoise.org.

Free Webinars on Obtaining Grants. The Foundation Center, that highly-respected granddaddy of fundraising advice, is now offering a series of free web seminars. Topics range from “Proposal Writing” and “Proposal Budgeting” to “Foundations and Their Role in Philanthropy.” The library of the Foundation Center is also an amazing resource. Its Reference Guides are a wealth of information, for web users as well as for those able to use the center’s Fifth Avenue/New York City physical facility.

NAFE Discount on Whirlpool Products. Through a special arrangement with Whirlpool, NAFE members can reap big savings on Whirlpool appliances, accessories and other Whirlpool items. You and your family can purchase up to 12 products a year under the VIPLINK program and get substantial savings on everyday retail pricing. Go to the NAFE website to sign up for the discount program – just click on the Whirlpool banner at the top of the NAFE home page.

Dr. Anne-Renee Testa made two recent TV appearances: on WCBS-TV and on Fox Channel 5. She spoke about a new study indicating that wealthy men making better lovers (CBS), and with New York City teenagers about the presidential inauguration (Fox). Dr. Testa is the author of The Bully in Your Relationship: Stand Up to Emotional Abuse and Get the Love You Deserve (McGraw-Hill, 2007)

NAFE member Ardice Farrow has a new book out: Wake Up Women: Be Happy, Healthy & Wealthy – A Guidebook (Global Partnership LLC, 2008). From the best-selling series Wake Up...Live the Life You Love, Wake Up Women is sure to energize every part of your life with insights from this exceptional network of women. The more than 50 life coaches, doctors, actors, authors, executives, entrepreneurs and investors represented in this book have made it their life's work to help women take their lives to the next level.

5 Tips for Managing Your Time Wisely

Karen Porter is president of The Effective Admin. She provides practical information about improving job performance and attaining career success and job satisfaction to today's office professionals – particularly administrative professionals, but also to the managers and executives they directly support.

Effectively managing your time aids in your job performance, production, and career success. Here are five tips to guide you in being more effective in the workplace through your time usage.

1. It's not necessarily about getting more done in less time.
It's about getting the right things done within your current time allotment. Doing more of less important things isn't effectively using your time. Plus, picking up the pace sometimes results in more mistakes and rework. Work smarter. Streamline processes and create systems for routine tasks. Delegate when useful. Eliminate low value tasks. Plan each day the night before. Act
more; react less.

2. Accept that interruptions and distractions will happen.
Whether you work in an on-site corporate environment or from your home, you'll have nonproductive hours in your working day. That's a fact. Even if you're alone on an island, you'll be distracted by thoughts and the view. Interruptions are outside influences - people who visit without appointments or ringing telephones that must be answered. You can learn ways to minimize interruptions and distractions, but never eliminate all of them. Estimate your daily working hours and then subtract as much as 40% for interruptions and distractions, plus breaks and lunch. What's left is the amount of time you really have to work with.

3. Prioritize so you work on what's important. If it's urgent and important, do it now. But if you do this all the time, you're just "fire fighting." Put your focus on what's important but not urgent – because the fires start when you ignore those tasks. Put what's urgent but not important lower on your priority list.

4. Be productive, not just busy. Busy is defined in the dictionary as "engaged in action, not idle." When you look up “productive,” it talks about "the act or process of producing." You can be busy and productive. That takes planning. Just getting busy isn't being productive. Activity isn't progress.

5. Add value to your schedule. "Busy" equates with quantity. "Value" equates with quality. Value is meaningful results from your productivity. Periodically evaluate your
actions during the day to determine if you're adding any value with your tasks and actions. What are the expected outcomes of those tasks and actions? If they don't add value as you define it, stop and regroup and refocus your actions.

What are YOUR views on the upcoming presidential election, the possibility of our first female VP, etc.? Let the world know what you really think. Connect with others; learn and share. Have YOU blogged today? Visit the NAFE blog page today.

Are You Taking Full Advantage of Your Membership?
Click HERE to view the complete list.

NEW BENEFITS – check the NAFE website!

Note: Because of the business liquidation of Circuit City, the discount offered by that firm is no longer available to NAFE members.

For a complete list of events, see our online Calendar!

Baltimore, MD
January 31, 2009
The WE Network invites you to attend a Testimony Tea. It’s your time to shine in 2009. The event will include business strategizing and making memory boards of your goals for the new year. Lunch and gift bags included. Click here for all the details.

Washington, DC
February 12, 2009
Plan to attend the monthly meeting of the Greater Washington Women's Network. The February evening event is titled “Be Your Own Valentine: The Balancing Act to Self-Care” and will feature a dynamic panel discussion. Follow this link for more information.

New York, NY
March 18, 2009
The winners of the 2009 NAFE Top Companies for Executive Women will be honored at a Gala Awards Luncheon at the legendary Cipriani’s venue in Manhattan. This is it - the highest-ranking female executives from America's top corporations: all in one room, all at one event.

Go to the NAFE website to view our ever-expanding Calendar of Events for opportunities around the country. The new Search function makes the Calendar even more useful and accessible.
Use the Event Submission Form online to let us know about events in your area. Events submitted for the website will also be considered for the NAFE E-Newsletter - twice the exposure for one listing!