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Time Management Information
Schedule Time for Interruption
One of the most challenging situations people face when planning their day is how to stick to their schedule when they are constantly being interrupted. Just when your activities are organized, someone else?s emergency seems to get in the way. A client has a crisis, co-workers are in a jam, your boss is breathing down your neck, a friend calls, or any of the dozens of other interruptions you face on any given day.
Find The Time -- Before Its Too Late!
People always seem to be in such a hurry, everywhere I go.
Use Your Time Wisely!
When I was small, I have never considered the importance of time.I would just laze around, watch TV, lie in bed, and play videogames. As I grew older, I thought about the things that I haveachieved. To my surprise, I haven't accomplished a lot.
Balancing Your Work, Family and Social Life
Balancing Your Work, Family and Social LifeBy Gene Griessman, PhD Many of us have an image of personal balance as a set of scales in perfect balance every day. But that?s an unrealistic goal. You are in for a lot of frustration if you try to allocate within every day a predetermined portion of time for work, family and your social life. An illness may upset all your plans. A business project may demand peaks of intense work, followed by valleys of slow time. Balance requires continual adjustments, like an acrobat on a high wire who constantly shifts his weight to the right and to the left. By focusing on four main areas of your life ? emotional/spiritual needs, relationships, intellectual needs and physical needs ? at work and away from work, you can begin to walk the high wire safely. Here, drawn from my conversations with many high successful Americans, are ten ideas for balancing all aspects of your life:1. Make an appointment with yourself. Banish from your mind the idea that everyone takes precedence over you. Don?t use your organizer or calendar just for appointments with others. Give yourself some prime time. Regularly do something you enjoy. It will recharge your batteries. Once you?ve put yourself on your calendar, guard those appointments. Kay Koplovitz founder of the USA cable television network, which is on the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. Koplovitz ran the daily operations of the network for 21 years. For more than two decades, there was always some potential claim on her time. Therefore she vigilantly protected a scheduled tennis match just as she would a business appointment.2. Care for your body. Having a high energy level is a trait held by many highly successful people. No matter what your present level of energy, you can increase it by following these steps:Eat. Don?t skip meals. Your physical and mental energy depend upon nourishment. Irregular eating patterns can cause a frayed temper, depression, lack of creativity and a nervous stomach.Exercise. Over and over again, highly successful people mention the benefit of exercise routines. Johnetta Cole, president of Bennett College for Women and former president of Spelman College, does a four-mile walk each morning. She calls it her mobile meditation. The benefits of exercise are mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. If you are healthier and have more stamina, you can work better and longer.Rest. A psychologist who has studied creative people reports that they rest often and sleep a lot.3. Cut some slack. You do not have to do everything. Just the right things. Publisher Steve Forbes taught me a lesson: ?Don?t be a slave to your in-box. Just because there?s something there doesn?t mean you have to do it.? As a result, every evening, I extract from my long list to-do list just a few ?musts? for the following day. If, but three o?clock the next day, I?ve crossed off all the ?musts,? I know that everything else I do that day will be icing on the cake. It is a great psychological plus for me.There is nothing wrong with pushing yourself hard, disciplining yourself todo what needs to be done when you hold yourself to the highest standards. That builds up stamina and turns you into a pro. At time, though, you must forgive yourself. You will never become 100 percent efficient, nor should you expect to be. After something does not work, ask yourself, ?Did I do my best? If you did, accept the outcome. All you can do is all you can do.4. Blur the boundaries. Some very successful people achieve balance by setting aside times or days for family, recreation, hobbies or the like. They create boundaries around certain activities and protect them. Other individuals who are just as successful do just the opposite. They blur the boundaries. Says consultant Alan Weiss, ?I work out of my home. In the afternoon, I might be watching my kids play at the pool or be out with my wife. On Saturday, or at ten o?clock on a weeknight, I might be working. I do things when the spirit moves me, and when they?re appropriate.?Some jobs don?t lend themselves to this strategy. But blurring the boundaries is possible more often than you may think. One way is to involve people you care about in what you do. For example, many companies encourage employees to bring their spouses to conferences and annual meetings. It?s a good idea. If people who mean a great deal to you understand what you do, they can share more fully in your successes and failures. They also are more likely to be a good sounding board for your ideas. 5. Take a break. Many therapists believe that taking a break from a work routine can have major benefits for mental and physical health. Professional speaker and executive coach Barbara Pagano practices a kind of quick charge, by scheduling a day every few months with no agenda. For her, that means staying in her pajamas, unplugging the phone, watching old movie or reading a novel in bed. For that one day, nothing happens, except what she decides from hour to hour. Adds singer and composer Billy Joel, ?There are times when you need to let the field lie fallow.? Joel is describing what farmers often do: let a plot rest so the soil can replenish itself.6. Take the road less traveled. Occasionally, get off the expressway and take a side road, literally and figuratively. That road may take you to the library or to the golf course. Do something out of the ordinary to avoid the well-worn grooves of your life. Try a new route to work, a different radio station or a different cereal. Break out of your old mold occasionally, with a new way to dress or a different hobby. The road less traveled can be a reward after a demanding event, a carrot that you reward your self with or it can be a good way to loosen up before a big event. Bobby Dodd, the legendary football coach at Georgia Tech, knew the power of this concept. While other coaches were putting their teams through brutal twice-a-day practices, Dodd?s team did their drills and practices, but then took time to relax, play touch football and enjoy the bowl sites. Did the idea work? In six straight championships games!7. Be still. Susan Taylor, editorial director of Essence, sees to it that she has quiet time every morning. She regards it as a time for centering ? for being still and listening. She keeps a paper and pen with her to jot down ideas that come to her. The way you use solitary time should match your values, beliefs and temperament. Some individuals devote a regular time each day to visualize themselves attaining their goals and dreams. Others read, pray, meditate, do yoga or just contemplate a sunrise or sunset. Whatever form it takes, time spent alone can have an enormous payoff. Achievers talk about an inner strength they find and how it helps them put competing demands into perspective. They feel more confident about their choices and more self-reliant. They discover a sense of balance, a centeredness.8. Be a peacetime patriot. Joe Posner has achieved wealth and recognition selling life insurance. Several years ago, Posner helped form an organization in his hometown of Rochester, NY to prepare underprivileged children for school and life and, he hopes, break the poverty cycle. You may find some equally worthy way to give something back through your church, hospital, civic club, alumni association or by doing some pro bono work. Or you may help individuals privately, even anonymously. There are powerful rewards for balancing personal interests with the needs of the common good. One of the most wonderful is the sheer joy that can come from giving. Another reward is the better world that you help create.9. Do what you love to do. As a boy, Aaron Copeland spent hours listening to his sister practice the piano because he loved music. By following that love, he became America?s most famous composer of classical must. When I asked him years later if he had even been disappointed by that choice Copeland replied, ?My life has been enchanting.? What a word to sum up a life. By itself, loving what you do does not ensure success. You need to be good at what you love. But if you love what you do, the time you spend becoming competent is less likely to be drudgery.10. Focus on strategy. As important as it is, how to save time for balancing your life is not the ultimate question. That question is, ?What am I saving time for?? Strategy has to do with being successful ? but successful at what? If others pay your salary, being strategic generally means convincing them that you are spending your time in a way that benefits them. If there is a dispute over how you should use your time, either convince the people who can reward or punish you that your idea about using time is appropriate, or look for another job. The ?what for?? question should also be asked about the life you live. It is truly a comprehensive question and gets at the question of wholeness. So what makes for a successful balance life? I can think of no better definition than the one given by Ralph Waldo Emerson: To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because I have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Handling Procrastination
?TIME CANNOT BE ?MANAGED.? THE WHOLE CONCEPT OF TIME MANAGEMENT IS A BIT OBSCURE. THE ONLY THING THAT CAN BE MANAGED IS YOUR ACTIVITIES WITHIN THAT TIME.?
Doing Things We Dread
As I sit here in front of the computer I am breaking through on something that I have been tolerating for weeks now? actually sitting down to write this newsletter. I wasn?t blocked for ideas ? I had a list of them. I simply couldn?t (yea right? wouldn't) sit down and put my thoughts on paper. The irony, of course is that I coach people through these very same issues and my clients have great success. Ohhhh coach heal thyself! Well the breakthrough came the other night when I was using a wonderful miracle of modern technology? The George Forman Grill! Let me explain. I love to cook. It is an amazing creative experience for me? and let me give you some advice? remember presentation is everything. A meal can go from fair to fantastic simply by arranging the food on the plate? you sort of fool people into thinking it is actually better than it is? the French have known this for years. But I digress? So I was in the mood to make a nice meal but didn?t want to go to a lot of trouble. Enter the GF Grill. Its very fast and the food turns out great. BUT I HATE TO CLEAN IT. Trust me, it is NOT hard to clean, but it is one of those things that I dread. After previous uses I have let it sit there unclean for a full day simply because I ?didn?t wanna!? This time it was different, however. After the meal, I simply got up, did the dishes quickly and then took the 4 ½ minutes it actually takes to clean the grill so it can be put away. As I was doing this I realized that I wasn?t dreading it. What was that about? I usually piss and moan about it and work myself up into a frenzy. Then I realized what was different. I didn?t think about it I just did it. I knew I didn?t want to wake up to a filthy kitchen, I knew it would take all of 5 minutes to do? and I did it. I was actually grateful that I had used such a simple machine and was so happy when it was all done. Perspective. I had wasted so much energy with the dread of the action that the cost of not doing it was 10 times more expensive than the 5 minutes of the unpleasantness ? which, by the way was nowhere near as unpleasant as I was making it in my head. From this lesson I today now sit down and write my newsletter. I was dreading the time it would take; would it be good; all the what if?s; all the mind games; the I CAN?Ts; all that crap. Instead? it is simple? I will or I won?t. My choice. (By the way? this newsletter took about 25 minutes to write? hmmm? much less than I imagined!) A Call to Action and a How to. 1) Realize how much energy avoiding things we ?don?t wanna? do is costing us energetically. 2) Realize that these things almost always seem bigger in our headsw than they actually are. 3) Switch from victim mode: go from ?I Can?t? to ?I Choose Not to.? As Yoda from Star Wars says? ?Do or do not. There is no try!? 4) Eat That Frog. There is a book on over coming procrastination called ?Eat That Frog.? A premise of this book comes from the old saying, if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that it is the worst thing you'll probably do all day. Identify the important tasks that you are dreading and just do them? right off? first thing in the morning and look forward to the freedom you will experience the rest of the day. 5) Make your ?To Do? list specific. Vague goals engender anxiety and feel big and overwhelming. Make them specific and measurable. For example ?Organize my life? vs. ?Spend 20 minutes every morning sorting and filing the papers on my desk.? See the difference. 6) Categorize your to-do?s by the resistence factor. Separate them into one of 4 categories; a) have to do / Want to do; b) Have to do / Don't want to do; c) Don't have to do / Want to do; and d) Don't have to do / Don't want to do. Do your tasks in this order: b,a,c. 7) To change your attitude, change your perception. Make a game of it. Create a chart and put up gold stars for every item you complete. Feel good. Play. Is it all REALLY THAT important? 8) Get support. A friend, a coach, a group. Don?t face things you dread alone. 9) Be kind to yourself. One step and one thing at a time. It doesn?t all have to get done at once. 10) Celebrate. For each accomplishment ? no matter how small ? celebrate. Plan it beforehand and make it great!! So what things have you been dreading that you will now choose to take care of? Go ahead. Eat that frog. I dare you to do one thing? just one. Right now. It will feel great. Go get ?em, Tiger!
Is the Goal to Reach the Goal?
In this fast and crazy world, we want to multi-task at every given moment. After all, how else can we accomplish all that needs to be done in only 24 hours? We?ve been taught that if we reach all of our goals in a day, week, month, or year, we are successful. What we haven?t been taught when achieving goals is that quality counts and so does the amount of effort exerted.
Whats Keeping You At The Office (9 Tips To Get Home Quicker)
"Work smarter, not harder" is a cliché that has darted in and out of the workplace for years. But it's still as true as ever. And it's often overlooked advice that truly works. "Working smarter" means think strategically about how to improve your productivity. For starters, think about how you spend a typical day. Then eliminate the time robbers. How? Like this...
Time Mastery vs. Time Management - Knowing the Difference
How much time do you spend on Mastering Your Time? I don?t mean managing time. There is quite a difference between managing and mastering your use of time. The goal of managing your time is to be more efficient, to squeeze more productivity out of your day. There are a lot of benefits to being a good time manager, especially in a rushed and frenetically paced culture.
Living Life In A Time Starved World
Recently I saw an advertisement for a time management booklet: "Shorter deadlines, competing priorities, endless meetings, interruptions and even higher quality expectations are just some of today's time challenges. And yet the number of hours in the day remains the same."
The Ultimate Time Management Tips: 5 Steps To Reaching Your Goals With Minimum Work
Would you like to know how to get 10 times more done in a day than most people do in a week, with less work?
31 Ways to Get An Extra Hour Out of Each Day
How can you get an extra hour out of each day? For many small business owners this is a daily challenge.
How To Better Handle Your Mail
Letters, magazines, bills, flyers, what to do with them all. There should be only two responses to every piece of mail or e-mail, do something with it, or toss it!
9 Proven Principles for Increasing Productivity, Profit and Peace of Mind
Do you feel guilty about all the publications you purchase but never read -- or the articles you read with great ideas or opportunities you never implement? Are you spending time recreating marketing materials because you cannot find what you wrote the preceding month or year? Do you run out the door for an appointment at the last minute because you could not find your keys or the directions you needed to get where you are going? Are you frequently feeling tired and overwhelmed? Do the people you care about express frustration at your disorganization or want to spend more time with you? If so, ?getting organized? should be high on your priority list!
Tips to Save One Hour Per Day
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