Time Management Tools

Robbed of Time Time to Manage

2009-03-23T05:29:00.001-07:00

Robbed of Time, Time to Manage
By Michael Bens

If you are robbed of time, it simply means that it is time to learn management skills to get ahead. Most likely your plans are off balance, your goals are not centered, and your organizing skills are outdated. If you are pressing for time, it is time to set yourself some goals that work, and work to enforce the goals, by staying organized and up-to-date.

The basic guidelines for planning is to take a look at your long term and short term goals and decided which strategies can help you to achieve these goals. Your next step is working to accomplish your goals by applying action and putting it in full force.

Looking at the broad outlook on the goals can help make a difference in your time management scheme. What is it you want to accomplish? If you want to start your own business in the next couple of years, then you know you have to set back cash to obtain this goal as well as maintaining a stable credit rating.

You also will need to evaluate the marketplace to determine which businesses are more profitable and can benefit your future. You will need to decide if you need additional skills, education, or brush ups to start the type of business you start up. Once you get all your priorities in order, the next step is putting the plan into action. In addition, if you plan to start a business, then you will also need to practice organization skills and learn more about managing your time, since starting a business is never easy.

Organizing

To start organizing, you should evaluate again your situation, and learn your own habits. When you go to work, do you complete a task before you move onto another task? Or do you simply put one task off and then work your way through a series of tasks? If your habit is to put off tasks, then you can start your organizing strategy by handling the primary tasks first and then move onto the smaller tasks. Is your desk chaotic? Do you come to work searching your desk looking for that important document you should have turned in yesterday? If this is true of you, you are robbing your self of time, and time management is out in left field.

You can start by cleaning up your desk, sorting through the papers, tossing the outdates, and storing the important papers in a filing cabinet. Once you are finished you motivation will increase, your self-esteem will improve, and the excuses you make everyday will move on to the next person that is robbed of time. When you are at work, do you fail to communicate with your co-workers, or boss? IF so, then you need to cultivate a communication skill that works effectively and efficiently, and eliminating confusion, which takes up a lot of time. Finally, what do you do when you are not working? Are you lying around on the couch watching television?

For more great free resources on how to manage your time visit Gabae Time Management.

Also for more informative articles on time management visit Gabae Time Management Articles.

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The 15 Minute Wonder Your Timer and You Getting Things Done

2009-03-23T02:15:00.001-07:00

The 15 Minute Wonder, Your Timer and You - Getting Things Done
By O Quinn

A few weekends ago my husband and I had a whole house full of family over for dinner. Once they were gone we were dismayed at all there was to clean up even though the majority of the dinner dishes had been done. There was several items of reading material, baby toys and couch pillows all over the livingroom. The dining table was covered with leftover glasses, crumbs a dirty table cloth and odds and ends of cutlery (I know some call it tableware). And the kitchen still had a number of pots to be cleaned and messy counters all around.

At first I flipped my hand at the whole mess and said Ill do it in the morning. But then I remembered my lovely timer and the things I had been able to accomplish in a few minutes. See my timer keeps me from burning cookies, dinner. It keeps me from being sidetracked and it tells me when I need to move on to a new task. Ive had this timer for over 10 years and I have used it all of those 10 years. My husband actually uses it for his alarm clock but it hasnt been until the last year that weve used it to remind how little time it takes to right the wrong. Or the messy.

So I said to my husband. Lets at least set the timer for 15 minutes and do what we can in that amount of time. Really that late at night the tasks looked insurmountable. He was not ready to give in but I pressured and he caved.

For 15 minutes we wiped, and straightened. We moved and ordered. And then we were done, but the timer wasnt! My husband was flabbergasted but I was pleased. We had cleaned up what I would have sluggishly tried to in the early morning. We sleep well knowing that the 15 minute wonder, the timer and our work had done well.

O Quinn. Is a stay at home mom who is always looking for ways to automate her life. She loves cats, kids, and perfume but not necessarily in that order.Visit her at http://www.homemakingorganized.com

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Time Management Time is Money

2009-03-23T01:59:00.001-07:00

Time Management - Time is Money
By Bill McRea

Working 14 hour days trying to figure out how to develop and launch a new product or service is not uncommon for most internet marketing professionals. But do you really understand the value of your time? I did not!

Ask any part-time employee and they will tell you their time is worth $12.00/hour or whatever. Hourly workers know the value of their time. Most successful commission sales personnel know the value of their time, and successful salaried workers know the value of their time.

But what about you? It's a different story for the online business owner! You probably work more than eight hours, day and night, and then think about your business even when you are not sitting at your computer working on it. If it's a passion of yours then it is even more challenging to figure out the value of your time.

Maybe you don't know the value of your time. Many people don't, so you are not alone. But knowing the value of your time will help you manage your scheduled and make more profit.

To figure this out take your income and divide in to your total hours worked. It's not a perfect calculation because it doesn't account for the hours that you spend thinking and it doesn't account for your expenses, but you are busy enough that a rule-of-thumb calculation is provide you with enough information.

It's probably a good idea to make this calculation based on a week or maybe even a month time frame. This will smooth out the fluctuations that occur in your schedule and in your customer's buying patterns. This calculation will require you to monitor your work time for a week, which a good exercise to do regardless.

For most new entrepreneurs the value of their time will be just a few dollars an hour, or even less. Don't feel bad if that is the case with you, it will rise quickly once you learn what works and does not work.

Now you have a baseline from which you can measure your progress. Improvement in time value will be more objective and less subjective. Time Management is the key for improving your bottom line, and spending more time with people you love.

Bill McRea is the publisher of Knowninfo a premium website dedicated to providing Information, Marketing Strategies and Quality eBooks. Visit our site daily for updated information, and unique products.

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Time Management Mastery

2009-03-22T02:03:00.001-07:00

Time Management Mastery
By Chris Widener

From Potential to Performance

One of the great things about life is that we can realistically be or do anything we choose to. This includes being a good time manager! We must believe that we can be a good time manager - that we have the potential. Unfortunately, many people say, Well, I am just a poor time manager, as if it was ingrained in their DNA. The truth is that anyone can be a great time manager, if they choose to go from potential to performance.

So, how do we do this? Here is a simple 7 part process:

1. Believe that you can become a good time manager

2. Inventory where your time is currently being spent

3. Determine what your life values are - what do you view as important, what do you want to accomplish?

4. Set time priorities that will move you toward living out your values

5. Develop a system of scheduling that works best for you, not a time management conglomerate

6. Learn to say o to things that are not part of your priorities moving you toward your values - exercise your power to choose

7. Do what is in your new schedule

These simple steps, if you apply them, will take you from having the potential to be a good time manager to true time management mastery and performance!

About The Author:

Chris Widener is a popular speaker and writer as well as the President of Made for Success, a company helping individuals and organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their dreams.

To see Chris live at the upcoming Jim Rohn Weekend Event as he speaks on the subject of Secrets of Influence go to http://Chris-Widener.InspiresYOU.com/ or call 800-929-0434.

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Out of Place Out of Time

2009-03-22T01:50:00.001-07:00

Out of Place, Out of Time
By Aditya Naidu

One may think of it as dubious, but it was an ethereal experience waiting for the post office to open. I never expected it to open at 9AM but had woken up early with nothing much to do, so armed with If tomorrow comes which was thrust upon me by a good friend and with the guilt that I was still not done with it I reached the post office to be enlightened that they generally open at 10AM.

With not many people around I felt out of place. The weather was perfect. A cool winter morning but without the crowd and hence the morning blues of a Going fast nowhere Mumbaikar. I sat on a platform very near to the main door, so that I get an advantage in getting to the counter first typical of a Mumbaikar. Reading the novel and holding the important letter, I could see the burgeoning traffic of Mumbai and hear the associated drone from a short distance.

The place outside the post office compound had changed radically over the years the road changed from tar to concrete, the traffic signals that were not used due to sparse automobiles were put to work, illegal shops had come and gone thanks to the rare upright people who amazingly reach the top. But inside the compound things were static just as they are at Wimbledon, still better maybe. As if change was frowned upon. Cement pealing off from walls, the rickety wooden furniture from grandpas generation, wires dangling from the ceiling with cobwebs.

The facade of the post office was not all that welcoming, yet I was intrigued attracted would be the right word, just like a wary tourist when he sights an old monument. And not just because of it being out of place but also due to it being plausibly out of date. It - and at a larger level the whole of India Post - has weathered the test of time. The local company after which the post office was named had changed its name. But true to its ethos a post office never changes its name. The post office is a bigger land mark than the other mortal artifacts around. There is no plastic coated paper, no sales persons wearing a tie too eager to help, no air conditioning, no management gurus working there, no jazzy advertisements. But still the post office stood strong. The first thing that came to my mind was an SBI advertisement that read Our 8999 branches didnt make sense to the tired, wary Indian solider in Ladhak, so we opened a branch there. But India Post is one up on SBI. It is for the masses, the ubiquitous common man of India who exists today, who cant be served by courier services that charge a bomb and lets you track your letter on the internet.

It had been an enlightening wait. As long as the common man exists India Post will remain in all the out of place and out of time surroundings. Whether my important mail reaches its destination which in all probabilities will - is a different matter.

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Too Much to Do? Too Little Time?

2009-02-27T06:48:00.001-08:00

Too Much to Do? Too Little Time?
By Aurelia Williams

Hey - Did someone press the FFW button?

Have you ever felt like someone just pressed the Fast-forward button on your day and before you know it the day is over and you are sitting there wondering what you've accomplished?

I love to organize and with working Part Time outside of the home and FULL-TIME at home with my business, 4 children and Husband I really rely on a schedule and many time management tips to keep my sanity (ok, so some of you think I am already insane, I won't argue with that) but at least I am organized ;)

Here are a few of my favorite Time management Tips:

1. Meal Planning: Try planning 1 - 2 weeks worth of meals at a time and write them down on a calendar. Do your shopping accordingly and prep tomorrows dinner today. You will be AMAZED at what a time saver this is.

2. To-Do Lists: I know most people HATE them but they actually do work. Just take a few moments out of your day (either in the morning or in the evening) to make a list for that day or the following day. Be sure to only put down the items that you MUST finish on this list.

3. Delegate: Do you have friends, a husband, children that can pitch in and do a few things for you? If so, be sure to use all of your resources.

4. Morning Rush: Scooting the children out of the door can be a huge time eater! Be sure to prepare lunches, lay out clothes and plan your breakfast the night before. This will make your mornings run a tad smoother.

5. Just say NO!: Such a small word that carries a might punch! If you truly can't fit something into your schedule and it is not urgent, just say No!. Keep a list of non-urgent things that you can do on hand for when you do have some down time.

Well, those are just a few of my time management tips. I personally set aside about 15 minutes a night and sit down with my Palm Pilot and make a short TO-DO list for the following day and it is amazing at the time this save.

Also be mindful of your own body. Are you a morning, afternoon or night person? Try to schedule your most time consuming tasks when you have the most energy.

Take Care!

Aurelia Williams is the mom of 4 busy children, a Personal Life Coach and the owner of Real Life Solutions, which is an informational site that also offers products, low cost advertising and a great newsletter. You can visit her site here: http://www.reallifesolutions.net

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Time Management Secret Gold Time

2009-01-12T23:53:00.001-08:00

Time Management Secret - Gold Time
By Lynnelle Bianco

As you probably know, the success of your business isnt just about the plan; it is about getting the results expected from executing the plan. But knowing and doing are two different things. Effective time management is a large part of making this happen and success in managing your time effectively works much the same way - Focus on the results ...not on being busy.

Were used to the frenzy of the work day and if were not literally in motion we feel were not being productive. The funny thing is that so much of what makes your business (and life for that matter) successful has little to do with motion or being busy and everything to do with results. The Pareto Principle (also known as the 80-20 rule) applies here; 80% of unfocused efforts account for only 20% of the results achieved.

So, how do you solve the Pareto problem? Focus on the Gold Time; the time you spend on important but not urgent activities. Gold Time activities focus your attention of the results that will bring about the biggest improvement or that are most important to you and/or your business.

For example, lets consider doing your taxes (ugh) and having to get your business receipts together, organize and summarize your mileage and auto expenses, make sure you have all your bank statements in order, etc. As I write this it is late February. Would you consider this to be urgent now? Probably not. However, can you see how these activities could become urgent, quickly? You turn around and its April 12 (March depending on your deadline). If you hadnt started doing this record keeping chore, how do you feel, what is your stress level and what does this do to your schedule for April 12 and possibly 13, 14 and possibly 15?

Exercise and eating healthy can also be important but non-urgent activities. From my own experience, you can easily put off exercising because Ill start back as soon as . You fill in the blank. I have a zillion reasons and Im sure you have one or two as well. After so long (too long) I turned around and its 10 pounds, 2 inches and a wardrobe later. Urgent? You betcha. At least I didnt wait until my heart told me it was urgent. I listened that old pair of jeans to get the message.

Yes, unexpected issues come up during the day that need addressing; there are changes in schedules, phone calls that throw you off. The challenge is having the discipline to do the important, non-urgent activities before you focus on the crisis activities. Those important and urgent activities HAVE to get done. They WILL get done and generally 1 hour wont make any difference.

BEFORE you check your email, before you return the irate customer call, before you go for that second cup of coffee and before you tell everyone how great that Marcia Ball concert was, spend just one hour focusing on an important long-term results or an important but not urgent task.

Making this change usually involves changing your behavior which isnt easy and takes persistence and patience. Over time however, practicing Gold Time Management you will:
Be more in control of what you do;
Be more productive and effective;
Have less stress;
Enjoy your work more; and
Have more quality time to relax and enjoy life outside work.

As Goethe said, Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. Focus on results, not tasks; and focus on the most important result first.

Bold Vision Consulting, Inc. helps helps independent professionals, business owners and organizational groups achieve breakthrough results by providing the learning experience combined with the system needed to bring about the real changes needed for sustainable and breakthrough performance, year after year.

Lynnelle Bianco, president of Bold Vision Consulting has over 25 years experience as a leader in sales, marketing, client service and in the effective planning and execution of strategic plans and projects.

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Lynnelle moved to Portland Maine from New York City in 2003 after a successful 15 year career as Vice President in JPMorgans Worldwide Securities Services division.

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Tools for Managing Time

2009-01-12T23:33:00.001-08:00

Tools for Managing Time
By Steven M Hall

No, I am not going to tell you to purchase monkey wrenches, hammers, nails or other mechanical tools to manage your time. Rather, we are going to talk about tools such as, persuasive writing, which is a part of communication. Persuasive writing and communication skills are great tools for time management in the sense it brings forth successful results.

Today, specialists are required to use the power of manipulation positively to get results in business development. When we use persuasive writing and communication in our daily lives we are manufacturing effectual communications skills in our voice, emails, proposals, and other forms of documentation that we frequently adhere to daily in our business. If you have problems with communication upfront and in person, then you will need to learn accuracy, information dialect, organizing skills, and corporate communications, which means reading between the lines.

When you are sending emails, promotional materials, or creating a website for your company, you will need effective communication skills. The world is filled with advertising slicks, and often the slicks are highly enticing, so if you are not ahead of the game, your messages might rank at bottom.

Stress is another problem many of us face today due to the face pace changes in our daily lives. Managing stress is important since stress affects our health, also it can affect others in our lives. Time management will help reduce this stress if the proper tools are used. You want your co-workers to listen when you talk, and if you show signs of stress, your co-workers are going to focus on you and not what you are saying.

In time management, we also have to consider evocative conferences since most businesses have meetings regularly. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that over half of the businesses spend the majority of their time in conferences. Therefore, to manage your time you will need to learn practical skills that will benefit you in a meeting as well as outside of your business. Practical skills include taking notes before a conference begins, and learning how to write persuasive proposals and plans.

Another helpful idea for time management is including tools that support and help you with time and precedence organization. When you are in a business that requires multitasking skills, and the business is in constant change, then learning yourself and managing your time is essential to achieve.

We also have to consider our customers in business, our family at home, our friends, and others that touch our lives. Quality customer service is important to any business. I will be the first to tell anyone that the first thing I look for at a business is customer service. If the reps of the business are making any mistakes, trust me, I deal with them, and rarely return. I am a human being and refuse to be treated ill, so learning effective communication and customer service skills is vital to time management.

Motivation is also a helpful tool that helps us to manage our time. Stay focused, motivated, learn communication, plan, strategic, and manage your time well.

Steve Hall is the owner of http://www.your-official-guide.com, your one-stop location for getting the information you are looking for on a wide ranging and ever-growing list of subjects.

Need to get more time? Try the Soundview Executive Book Summaries.

Learn to Manage Your Time Effectively ==>Click Here

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Time to Wake Up Notice the Awakening

2009-01-12T23:32:00.001-08:00

Time to Wake Up, Notice the Awakening
By Jeanie Marshall

Every morning you wake up. Unless, of course, you have not slept all night or have a non-ordinary schedule.

Some days you may wake up grumpy. You may even stay grumpy all day. Sometimes, perhaps, you even enjoy your grumpiness or find familiarity in it. It is much better to be grumpy with intention and style than to be grumpy unconsciously. Notice, just notice. If you notice your grumpiness now, you will notice the awakening more easily when it comes.

Some days you may wake up and want to get back under the covers. On those days, even if you choose to leave the bed, you may act all day as if you are still under the covers. Everything is muted or distant. As you try to notice inside and outside yourself, you may find that you are not sure what you are unsure about. Just notice what you can.

Some days you may wake up and want to roll over and return to sleep or touch the snooze alarm until noon. If you do get up on days like this, you may feel that you are rubbing sleep from your eyes until it is again bed time. Everything is foggy. It is hard to notice anything clearly. Notice the noticing.

And then there are those days you wake up as if you are as powerful as the sun, bright and shiny. You feel a bounce in your walk, a laugh in the ready-to-go state, and a kind word for everyone. It is easy to notice that the world is filled with magnificence. On these days, when you find your attention lands momentarily on something you do not want, you find it easy to shift your attention to something you appreciate. Notice the magnificence.

This is an age of awakening. It is a time of steady and strong expansion of consciousness. It is a time to wake up to who you truly are, and to awaken with vibrant energy to aliveness. This is not the best time to roll over and go back to sleep, although you have the freedom to do just that.

As you awaken to the power within yourself, you lift in consciousness. Each day that you touch the inner parts of your self, you can view and embody a greater level of consciousness. You are empowered when you embody greater consciousness. You are empowered when you wake up consciously, with intention, with appreciation for life. You are empowered when you recognize your magnificence.

How did you wake up today? How will you wake up tomorrow? How do you want to wake up each day? What do you want to notice as you move through your life more awakened?

Copyright 2006 Marshall House Jeanie Marshall, Empowerment Consultant and Coach with Marshall House, produces Guided Meditations on CD albums and MP3 downloads and writes extensively on subjects related to personal development and empowerment.Voice of Jeanie Marshall, http://www.jmvoice.com

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May You Live In Interesting Times

2009-01-12T20:04:00.001-08:00

May You Live In Interesting Times
By Karen Hall-Foster

There is an Old Ancient Chinese Proverb: May you live in interesting times. This is supposedly seen as an extremely wicked curse, when actually it represents the complete opposite. The idea is that as humans we all naturally resonate to a humdrum life of routine habits which pacify our soul/sole existence. However lurking somewhere deep within us all, there is a desire to feel alive again.

This desire is unconsciously pursued through what seems to be opportunities which are simply either too good to be true or temptations almost impossible to resist. All of which come under the banner of a 'life test' sent in disguise to snap us up out of our complacent approach to the people we have become. Whilst the experiences in themselves reveal the true value of the test at hand fairly quickly, the side effects can send our stress levels soaring as everything we ever believed in, comes crashing down into a reality we never knew existed.

Opening up a new chapter to our life can therefore, often mean closing a previous one, and sometimes this feels as if we have just opened up Pandora's box. It hurts, it always does and it always will. Most times during these periods it is found that we are completely unequipped to cope. Due to this we are forced to dig deep down into the very core of our being in which to bring forth some of our rawest instinct and courage, in order to adapt, if we are not to be ripped apart.

Life has a peculiar way of making us all shed our alien skin now and then; even when all appears to be be contented. By continually living a life that is always warm and fuzzy, we become dull, lifeless and unsympathetic to the sorrows of others and certainly detached from them. Unfortunately, It is in this state of unconsciousness that we dissolve our purpose for living; to the point that we simply end up not caring anymoreafter all life is good to usand when was it exactly when we just stopped caring?

My attitude towards change, whether good, bad or just damn right ugly, is that it disturbs our present comfort zone in order for us to question what we have in order to re-evaluate it and then appreciate it more than we had done previously. This then creates anxiety because it represents having to face up to times of complete uncertainty and in this uncertainty we shine as individuals because we have never felt so alive.

So, with all this in mind it is usually through those things that seem to be negative by comparison, where we are really able to find true contentment, inspirations, hidden creative talents and new found skills and abilities even if it means having to start all over again from scratch. By breaking free from the chains of our constraints, we do indeed experience far more 'interesting times' for which, in turn makes us far more interesting people.

It is said that during these supposedly absolute dire catastrophes of our life, we fundamentally not only learn to survive our trips to hell and back, but find out who we really are in the process in order to bring out the parts of ourselves which have faded into the background of stagnated hopes and dreams.

Ok, so we need a little friction to upset the apple cart occasionally, if we are going to question anything at all in life. If you can see past all the blood, sweat and tears you will realise that you have changed in some way and truly moved one step forward towards evolution.

If you understand this and embrace the challenges as a test of spirit and know that with faith and understanding you can achieve a life of purpose, you will never have to become a victim to your circumstances because you have acknowledged that the illusion of Fear is in Fear itself.

Everything changes, nothing changes and in the end everything is the same. The only thing permanent in life is Change.

It is with this that I point out to you now that if anybody ever says to you May you live in interesting times know that they are actually wishing upon you the Gift Of Life and that true insight is really only born out of trauma.

I am a Professional Numerologist and have been studying this metaphysical science for almost two decades. Most importantly of all I am a philosophiser of life and people and strive to find the answers to the mysteries found behind human nature. I am on an adventure trail to find the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow, although my pot is not filled with Gold but insight, revelation and true enlightenment of which, can only be truly found from the real experience of life and living.

Karen Foster
AstroStar Numerology
http://www.astrostarnumerology.co.uk

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Coaching Prime Time

2009-01-11T07:04:00.001-08:00

Coaching Prime Time
By Andrea J. Lee

An awful lot of fantastic coaching has been coming out of Hollywood lately, have you noticed?

Whether it's Morgan Spurlock's feature film debut Supersize Me...

Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 also on the big screen...

Or the immense coaching breakthrough moments in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy...

Tears of joy and newfound confidence in What Not to Wear...

And ABC's lifechanging Extreme Makeover, Home Edition...

It's undeniable. Coaching has come, and found it's place in what I consider to be some of the very best work coming out of Hollywood.

And that's not even mentioning the more obvious Starting Over and other reality TV shows that revolve around the idea of changing lives for the better through Life Coaching.

Pretty darned cool stuff especially when you consider the limitless reach of television and film in our lives. Will video games with a coaching theme be next? Well if those things have to exist, I can only hope.

Question for you.

Seeing as we're talking about movies and such.

If you were the last coach on earth, and it was up to you to save the world from its impending doom, who would be the 10 people you would do ANYTHING to coach.

In other words, if your coaching skills were the only thing between survival and certain death and destruction...what 10 people would you choose, out of all the people you know, or maybe who you currently coaching, to coach like a fiend, and save the day?

I know, it's a pretty funny premise. And no I don't think any studios will come a-knocking, but I do have a reason for asking.

I strongly believe that coaching has a large role to grow into, to coach those in the public eye, whether that be actors, directors, studio executives, station owners, news programmers, journalists, politicians at all levels of government.

In fact, Ill call it a responsibility of the coaching profession going forward.

These are the people who through coaching, can be said to have a level of influence that has the potential to spread the effects of coaching to the Nth degree.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing small or unworthy about coaching clients who aren't in the public arena.

But it was Archimedes who said Give me a lever long enough and I will move the world.

Andrea J. Lee coaches entrepreneurs and online business owners. As Thomas J. Leonard's General Manager, she helped build and manage the largest network and trainer of personal and business coaches in the world. Now the CEO of Andrea J. Lee Group of Companies, she writes, speaks and consults on Marketing, Internet and Business systems. This is an excerpt from the her NEW BOOK - Multiple Streams of Coaching Income, http://www.multiplestreamsofcoachingincome.com

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Success is a Just a Matter of Time!

2009-01-11T06:40:00.001-08:00

Success is a Just a Matter of Time!
By Ricardo Leal

Time is not on our side! As a matter of fact from the day we enter this world time is ticking against us. To put it another way, from the very first instance we fill our tiny little lungs with air, from that very first breath we take at birth; we are already dying!Its a grim perspective, but it is one that will improve the quality of your life, and really allow you to see how precious time really is. In essence, life is just time! So, my question is, How will you spend your time?

If we are to enjoy this life of ours, then we must have goals, we must want to achieve something, anything. This is a prerequisite for living, and an essential part of your life experience. Once you know what you want you can begin to plan how you will get it. Remember there is no time to think about excuses, only solutions. Success takes action. The word impossible must not live in your vocabulary. You dont have the luxury of procrastination. Today is here, if you wait until tomorrow you will be no closer to your goal; instead you will be closer to dying.

Hey, I know how this works. Right now there are about 20% of readers who will completely ignore this advice, call it stupid, make comments about how you should be positive and not think about the end of life! Blah blah blah blah! And then go and sit on the coach and watch their favourite soap. Enjoy!

60% of readers will agree, life needs to be lived, enjoyed. These people understand that you have to try to get the most out of life. They will read it, think about a goal and probably even think about making it happen, but not really do anything about it! Life will be good, but setbacks and failure to truly succeed will always be blamed on external factors, and bad luck! Tick Tick Tick

19% of readers will get it! They will begin to think about the future and how they would like to live it. They will right down their goals. They will generally be happier then the other 80% because they have purpose in life. They are doers and probably have already set and planned goals previously. They have a vision of the future and they want to do what they can so that it will become reality. They will succeed at reaching goals, and will enjoy the journey as much as the destination.

1% of readers will know how important time is. They value each and every minute of life. They set goals, they plan, they visualise the future, and they succeed! All because of a simple change of perspective. They are generally the type of people who also have great jobs, and loads of money, or they have a great family bond and true friends. Of course there are many other important factors to live an inspirational life. Love, laughter, compassion, passion; with these added in, you will live an extraordinary life!

So my question to you is How will you spend your time?

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.Helen Keller

R.Leal Ricardo Leal was born in Portugal in 1974 on the dawn of the Revolution. He immigrated to Canada with his parents at the age of 6 and studied in Canada. He obtained a Business college Diploma in Finance and Marketing and launched his first business at 22- Conquest Productions, an Event Planning and Production Company. He then opened his 2nd Business at 25, a nightclub called'Mambo Bar & Grill'. He sold his share in 2001 and moved to London, England. In england he has worked with large Leisure Companies and has coached and produced great Managers and Leaders for a wide variety of Businesses. He is currently writing his first Non Fiction Book, and has recently launched 2 new businesses, Tappy Toes, a childrens Dance/Movement Business, and his first Internet Venture still under construction. Check out his Success tips at http://www.thesuccessproject.blogspot.com

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Top Ten Ways to Manage Your Time

2009-01-09T06:16:00.001-08:00

Top Ten Ways to Manage Your Time
By Rose Zappa-Jehnert

1. Have a FINE day - Formulate a plan before you start your day make a list of what needs to be accomplished, Implement your plan with energy and enthusiasm, Navigate through your day with flexibility and patience, and Evaluate your day, because there is always chance for improvement tomorrow!

2. List the tasks that need to be accomplished and rank them in order that you will accomplish them using an ABC method. A must be done; B should be done; and C would be nice if it gets done. Check off all that you accomplish. Not only does it give you a visual of what you have accomplished, but also it helps you map the next days tasks.

3. If your task list includes errands, make sure that you review the route you will take and create a mapping to get to each location in a timely and efficient manner, while also saving gas!

4. Make your information hub a constant companion. Whether you utilize a palm pilot or a paper planner, have your weeks tasks and phone numbers with you at all times in case changes need to be made, or you need to contact someone to let them know of a change in plans.

5. Take busy work with you whether it is a book or magazine to read, sewing, whatever is portable that will fill the empty time when you find you must wait in a doctors office or for a late running appointment. It will reduce your stress and help you get the stuff done you dont have time for otherwise.

6. Realize your limits dont take on more tasks or volunteer assignments then you have time for or can handle. People dont know what is on your plate if you accept more than you can do, you do others and yourself a disservice.

7. Multi-task. Many times you can do more than one thing at a time. For example, while preparing dinner, open and sort the days mail. Get a headset for your phone and you can accomplish other tasks while talking.

8. As much as possible, limit interaction with time-thieves. People who want to talk for an extended amount of time, constantly ask you to do favors for them, etc.

9. Set a regular time to do certain tasks, such as paying bills, filing of papers, grocery shopping, etc. This allows you to be aware of the empty spaces in your day to schedule other appointments.

10. Set an appointment with yourself. You will find that you can accomplish much more with less stress when you schedule Me time. Whether its a bike ride, a yoga class, or even a stop at Starbucks to sit, drink coffee, and read, it is important to take care of yourself each day!

By: Rose Zappa-Jehnert,

President

Get It 2Gether Organizational Services

http://www.getit2gether.com

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To Find Out More About Yourself Spend Some Time Alone

2009-01-09T06:03:00.001-08:00

To Find Out More About Yourself, Spend Some Time Alone
By Keith Renninson

I remarked to my Dad a few days ago how everywhere you look you see someone talking on a cell phone. I use mine a lot too, but its generally for business, setting a meeting, following up with a prospective client or checking my answering service for messages.

It seems as though many people use their phones just to talk to friends or text messages back and forth. They do it walking, driving, sitting in restaurants, libraries, and bookstores, or while shopping or banking. Some people cant even order a hamburger at McDonalds because they are on the phone. With all of that constant communicating when do you spend time just with yourself?

Developing a life philosophy can only be accomplished after you have made life decisions for yourself which you check in on periodically to see what is working and what isn't. That philosophy will grow with you, but it cant be developed without time alone to actually think about what you want out of life.

Alone time is so important to reflect on your past, present and future, to discover how you really feel without anyone elses input, and most importantly, to realize that you can depend on yourself to make good choices for your life. I dont care how old you are, teenager, twenty-something, middle-aged or a senior citizen you need time to listen to your thoughts, compare ideas, see what sounds exciting and what is just someone elses idea for you.

So often people never spend enough time alone in deep thought to really know who they are, they rely on what teachers, the media or family and friends tell them. Early in life we depend on our parents, close family and friends to help us evaluate how our lives will go, but at some point we have to take control of our thinking, formulate our lives around a plan that we alone design.

The whole world has bought into the idea that you have to be in touch with someone all the time; to that extent Europeans spend even more time on their cell phones than Americans, if you can imagine that.

Dont get me wrong, I love to talk as much as the next guy, stay in touch with friends about getting together, talking politics, bicycling, skiing, etc., but to do it constantly has got to have its drawbacks. Unfortunately, its also addictive, the more time we spend in contact with others, the more we become insecure about being alone; you dont have the perpetual personal reinforcement you need to feel good about yourself.

Feeling good about who you are comes from the confidence in knowing you will do the right thing for yourself and for others; that through practice you can accomplish life on your own terms.

You dont have to be a Buddhist monk, practice yoga daily, sail around the globe alone or be a hermit to have alone time; it does help to plan it though. I take time each morning, before I write, to take stock of how things are going and answer some basic questions: am I pleased with progress in my work, if I'm taking a course, am I keeping up with the demands of my class and achieving the level of grade I desire, am I making enough money to keep me happy, is my social life living up to its potential, is my physical fitness where I want it to be for the upcoming bicycle racing season?

If I can realistically and truthfully answer these questions, Ill know where I am in my life plan, the changes that need to be made will be obvious and then its up to me to make them. We all have to make mid-course adjustments in life; you cant drive a car in traffic with out making constant adjustments in your lane position, speed, checking the rearview mirror, etc., life is the same only more serious.

Time spent in your car is the perfect opportunity to think about how you feel about you. Dont play the radio or your latest CD, dont talk on the phone, but mostly dont just sit there like a bump on a log. Use the time to bolster your ideas, make exciting decisions, and get stoked on what you are accomplishing and how great your life is right now because you pay attention.

Occasionally, Ill ski or ride my bike alone to be free to think and appreciate life, nature and my abilities. You could take a hike, go canoeing, a walk in the park, or meditate it doesnt matter, just do it alone occasionally.

In our fast paced global life, we sometimes lose track of where we are because we become so busy, and sometimes we intentionally make our lives busy so we wont have to think about the tough questions. This is the insecurity I spoke of earlier; we lack the confidence to think for and about ourselves constructively.

Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect and practicing to take charge of your life through time alone is just a matter of planning and executing it. To get started make it a game that you play with yourself; pretty soon it will become clear that you have taken charge, and you will actually enjoy planning many more aspects your life.

Sometimes when I plan to do some thinking about my life, Ill have paper and a pen handy so I can make notes of decisions, changes or ideas that might enhance what Im trying to accomplish. In the past, Ive also used a notebook that Id set beside my bed and write these notes upon waking in the morning, that way Im rested, thinking clearly and the clutter of the day isnt in the way yet.

All of this can be summed up in two thoughts: 1) pay attention to who you are and where you are going, and 2) take time to be alone, to let life be quiet and thoughtful. Try it you might just like it.

Anyway you look at it, its just on mans opinionmine.

Keith E. Renninson is a motivational speaker and co-author of the popular parenting tool and illustrated storybook ooch the Pooch, My Best Friend. Through the 1990's with much self-examination, academic study, bicycle racing, and mountain climbing, he discovered a renewed zest of life, which included a love of metaphysics, philosophy, humor, and writing and speaking. As Keith says, Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue...it's all in what you make of it. You can read more about ooch the Pooch or contact Keith to speak at: http://www.zoochthepooch.com

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Time Management Time Well Spent

2009-01-09T05:44:00.003-08:00

Time Management - Time Well Spent
By Paul Lemberg

Many entrepreneurs and executives play the role of Chief Cook and Bottle Washer on the job. They feel that it is their responsibility to do everything and anything to expand their business. Although this is often appropriate in start-ups, there comes a time when the CC&BW approach to running your company will hold it back.

At a certain stage, your company needs a Chief Executive - a CEO. What is a CEO? My definition, pieced together from assorted dictionaries, is that a CEO is the person of the highest rank, with the power to determine or settle issues, and chargeable with being the source of the management and direction of the business.

Role of the CEO

I've compiled the following list of activities which comprise the role of a Chief Executive:

Craft the company vision and strategy

Communicate the vision to insiders and outsiders (this includes executives, managers, individual contributors, customers, partners, vendors, shareholders and the public).

Make the big decisions

Inspire people with the vision and strategy

Delegate the work, then hold people and teams accountable for the results

Develop new leaders

Foster key relationships with vendors, customers, partners and government.

Making the shift Making the shift from CC&BW to Chief Executive requires three transitions.

Understanding your highest value contribution to your company and focusing on that role.

Recognizing your position as a leader and owning the job.

Delegating everything else, and holding others accountable. Without apology.

In this article we will focus on Transition One.

Understanding your highest value contribution

As CEO, you make the highest value contribution to your company's growth by acting consistently with the list defined above. Providing leadership inside and outside of your company is an act of great leverage in the truest sense of the word. Through vision, strategy, enrollment and inspiration, you provide energy and the direction to expend that energy - dramatically multiplying the effectiveness of your team.

In your organization, you may hold other roles in addition to CEO, such as head of sales, or technical guru. Such roles exist outside of the CEO role and as soon as it is cost-beneficial, you will give them up. For now, it is important to distinguish the CEO role.

Time for a bit of introspection. Considering all your roles, make a list of your top priorities. Limit the list to no more than seven. Your list could include priorities such as developing new leaders, coaching middle level executives, closing key sales, and working with the board. Ask yourself this, What am I directly responsible for and what actions do I take, which make the most difference?

Review your list and test it - are the priorities you've listed 1) important, and 2) practical? Make sure the priorities you have defined are consistent with your values. Then ask yourself this key question: If everything I did, all day long, was something related to this list, would that move the company forward faster?

If the answer is yes, then 1) you've created the right list, and 2) why are you working on anything else?

Find out how you really spend your time.

What do you do all day long? Most executives think they know but in fact do not. Are you ready to find out?

Keep a time log. Commit to a two-week program. Carry around a small stack of 3x5 index cards or a small spiral notebook. Every fifteen minutes or so, make a note of what you've been doing. At the end of the day, sum it up. At the end of the week, sum it up. At the end of two weeks, sum it up again.

You will probably find the results surprising. Your time will fall into three categories:

Things inside the scope of your priority list. Keep doing these things. Find ways to allocate even more time to them.

Things to delegate. Find someone in your organization to do these things, or outsource them to a professional services firm or contractor.

Things no one should be doing. You will know these things as soon as you think about them.

There are two special categories of items which may show up on your list:

One is called Things I Do Best. Look closely and examine if this is true. Is there someone else in the organization who might do this thing just as well? Maybe it is time to train someone. Maybe it should be outsourced. Regardless of how well you do this thing, if it is not on your list of priorities, get rid of it.

If there is something your company counts on you, and only you, to do, particularly as part of day to day operations, you are a bottleneck. And if you are out on the road, or out with a client, or meeting with The Governor - that thing, whatever it is - will not get done. Get out of the way.

The other special category is called Things I Like To Do. These are things you really enjoy, but even you know could best be done by someone else. Give them up. At a certain stage in your company's development, you simply have to stop debugging programs, or handling every customer complaint, or ordering supplies. Treat this category similarly to things you do best. Stop doing them.

Use your priority list to evaluate how you spend your time. If a contemplated activity will not forward one or more priorities, do not do it. Delegate it to someone else. Period. If there is no one to give it to, don't do it.

The bottom line.

This sounds like time management. What does it have to do with being Chief Executive?

Everything! As Chief Executive, your primary role is source of the management and direction of the business. Your priorities should support this role. You are like an enzyme or an accelerant. You help other people make things happen. You are, in the words of General Colin Powell, a force multiplier.

When you act in the role of CEO, things speed up. When you don't, things slow down or stand still. You are the true leverage in your organization. And you can't be that if you are debugging a program or writing checks to suppliers.

Discipline yourself to spend a few weeks in Transition One. You won't go back. You're company won't let you.

Transitions two and three will be covered in future articles.

Note for professionals or solo entrepreneurs: Everything said above about CEOs applies to you as well. The only difference is you will delegate to people outside of your organization. For everything you do outside of the list of highest value contributions, consider the following: If you were to hire an assistant, a contractor, or a professional services firm, while you spent your time concentrating on your highest value activities, would your net income go up or down?

Paul Lemberg is the president of Quantum Growth Coaching, the world's only fully systemized business coaching program guaranteed to help entrepreneurs rapidly create More Profits and More Life for entrepreneurs. Guaranteed.

Learn about our Business Coaching Franchise.

Visit Paul's Website for help with your Business Development Strategy?

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Time Savers

2009-01-09T05:44:00.001-08:00

Time Savers
By Lael Johnson

I'm sure that you as a business owner, have discovered the value of using your time wisely. When it comes to running a business, time is money. Your work, time and resources should be directed toward increasing revenue in a balanced schedule. Your time should be spread among the following areas: planning, taking work breaks, celebrating and reflecting. The following list of time-savers addresses each of these areas. These ideas are designed to encourage saving time, by balancing the use of your time.

Write your to-do list. Remember to include no more than five items. You can always remove or add items, as your schedule permits. The purpose of this time-saver is to establish a specific focus for your work day.

Choose the highest priority project. LIst all actions that are necessary to complete that project. Choose one action, complete it and continue through your list. The purpose of this time-saver is maintain the focus of your work day.

Use a timer or other device, so that you can focus on completion of your project. Remember that you can also listen to a tape, CD or a radio or television program. Choose the device that is least distracting to you. The purpose of this time-saver is to keep your focus on completing your actions.

Use your calendar to schedule time for each project (action by action), as well as for your work breaks and other regular appointments. Give yourself ample time to complete your project. The purpose of the calendar is to clarify priorities, direct long-term planning and increase productivity.

Find a work buddy. Call this person, before, during and after you complete a part or all of your project. Share your process and your success.Small business owners greatly benefit from interaction with one another. It's helpful to socialize, problem-solve and celebrate The purpose of this time-saver is take care of your support needs.

Reward yourself after each task is completed. It's important for you to give credit to yourself for what you have accomplished. I've put stickers on my to-do list. I've eaten snacks, made a short phone call or sent an email. I've also looked out my living room window, to rest my eyes and enjoy the view. This time-saver is designed to encourage you to care for your individual needs.

Schedule breaks between tasks. Don't wait until you have finished your project.. Break your project into a series of actions. Schedule your breaks after completing at least two actions. Working without breaks promotes low productivity and increased errors. The purpose of this time-saver is to promote indivdual renewal and balance.

Finally, keep a notepad nearby. Remember to record the following: 1) Actions that you would rather take than working on your project. 2) Reminders, random thoughts or anything else that isn't immediately relevant to your current project. 3) Any interruptions. 4) Any other distractions. The purpose of recording this information is to look for hidden time-wasters. You can use this information to help increase your productivity and decrease your errors on future projects.

Please note that implementing any or all of these time-savers will increase your efficiency. Choose and implement one for a month. Track your results and see what improvement occurs.

Lael Johnson, owner of Writer's Eye Advisory Service, offers creativity coaching services and additional writing resources. For more information visit: http://www.writerseye.com

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Time Management Basics

2009-01-08T07:40:00.001-08:00

Time Management Basics
By John Watson

At my back I always hear time's winged chariot hurrying near.

Time management begins with the realization that without some thought and planning, we are likely to waste a great deal of time in the future and have already wasted a huge amount of our life span in the past.

Wasting time is folly since time really does have wings and our lives pass very quickly. By using proven methods we can make the most of whatever time we have.

Billy Connolly, the great Scottish comedian, describes the speed of time in his own vivid way:

A year in my life goes like this:

'Should auld acquaintance be forgot'

'Happy birthday'

'Jingle bells! Jingle bells!'

He also tells a time related story. I've cleaned the language up a bit:

Two men were standing having a chat. The first man asked the second man:

What would you do if you knew the world would end in 3 minutes time?

I'd have sex with everything that moved, replied the second man and then he added a question: What would you do?

I'd stand perfectly still, said the first man.

This story has a lesson. With 3 minutes to live we will tend to do what we really want to do whether it is having sex (or avoiding it!) or eating chocolate or telling our family and friends that we love them. Yet too many of us spend our lives not doing what we really want to do.

If we imagined the world was about to end soon we might finally be able to discover what we really want to do in life. Of course we still need to have the courage to do it.

The time management basic of all this is that life is too short, even when we have 30 more years and not just 3 mins to live, to waste on doing things we do not really want to do.

The number one essential of time management is to discover what we really want to achieve in life and then get on with it.

A second basic is that we don't even have enough time to do all that we really want to do. We have to choose. I found out the hard way that you cannot learn several different musical instruments well unless you are a bit of a genius.

In my twenties, I decided I wanted to learn the bagpipes, the drums, the banjo, the guitar, the blues harp and the tin whistle.

I never got round to the tin whistle and only learned to play the other instruments at a pretty basic level. It is wiser to focus on one key goal at a time in each key area of our lives.

Set goals that are achievable, unlike mine, and then take massive action to attain them. Set SMART Goals - specific, measurable, attainable, results oriented, time based e.g. Do twenty pushups a day for a month. Count the pushups. Do an easy version of them if necessary (i.e. keep your knees on the ground). You feel and look stronger. You do the pushups for one month.

If one of your goals is to learn a skill like copywriting, decide to spend an hour a day for 6 months improving your copy writing. Use a spreadsheet to measure out 180 squares and cross them through after each one hour session. If you wish to learn 3 skills in 6 months, you will obviously need 540 squares.

A third basic of time management is to follow the famous advice which Charles Schwab paid $25,000 for i.e. make a list of about 6 things you want to achieve tomorrow.

Sleep on it overnight and your subconscious will provide you with the drive and the wisdom to make a good stab at achieving those 6 things in the next 24 hours.

In the morning start on the most important of those 6 things and get as far as you can. If you have anything left to do. Put it on your list for tomorrow.

I won't take up any more of your time with this article as you are doubtless keen to make your list of 6 key things to do tomorrow.

About the author

John Watson is an award winning teacher and martial arts instructor. He has recently written two books about achieving your goals and dreams.

They can both be found on his website http://www.motivationtoday.com along with a daily motivational message.

The title of the first book is 36 Laws To Ignite Your Inner Power And Realize Your Dreams Now! - Acronyms, Stories, And Pictures...Easy To Remember And Use Everyday To Grab Your Life And Soar With The Eagles

The book can be found at this URL

http://www.motivationtoday.com/36laws.php

The book uses acronyms, stories and pictures to help readers remember 36 laws that can gradually transform your life if you apply them.

You are welcome to publish the article above in your ezine or on your website so long as you do not alter it and keep in the words about the author and the 36 Laws.

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Time Management is a Symptom of a Greater Problem

2008-12-18T04:57:00.001-08:00

Time Management is a Symptom of a Greater Problem
By Leanne Hoagland-Smith

First, time management is an oxymoron since no one can manage a constant that being time. There will always be just 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to an hour and 24 hours to a day. Now that we understand that time management is more about us and less about time, we can begin to separate the symptom from the problem.

Next, the question needs to be asked Why do we want to or need to manage time? By looking to this answer helps us to truly understand how people continue to label time management as a problem.

The reason we need to manage our time is because we have a desired end result or a goal that needs to be achieved. Without results or goals, there would be no need to manage or even care about time. Ideally, we could live each day moment to moment, not worrying about the passage of time. Unfortunately, today's world demands that we make the most of each minute.

So now that we know the real problem, the next question is How can we refocus our behaviors and become better goal achievers? Solving this problem begins by identifying the beliefs that support as well as hinder consistent goal achievement.

These beliefs range may include some of the following:

I work well under pressure. (Note: This belief is otherwise called procrastination.)
I can mentally remember everything and don't need a written list or plan.
I can multi-task with the best of them.
I don't have time to learn something new.

After belief identification has been accomplished, you may need to begin to change those beliefs that drive counter-productive attitudes demonstrated by our behaviors about the real problem -- goal planning and goal achievement.

Then take some time to assess your life to truly learn where you are so that you can achieve balance and build the future that you desire. Using a simple life wheel to taking a formalized assessment can assist you. Now, it is time to construct an action plan that is supported by written individual goals. Once these goals are formalized and put into action, not only do you become a better manager of yourself and therefore time, decision making is now much more proactive instead of reactive.

Finally, all goals from making daily appointments to building sales should be written down and monitored on a consistent basis. To do this requires blocking a specific amount of time each day for planning the next day's actions.

After all the years of executive coaching my small business, entrepreneurs or school clients, I am truly amazed at the number of people who continue to focus on time management as a problem and not a symptom of poor goal planning and goal achievement. Success or sustainable change can be yours if you infuse a consistent goal achievement process into your daily beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. And your current time management issues will become a thing of the past.

Leanne coaches individuals, small businesses and large organizations to double performance in warp time. She freely shares the Secrets of Success and provides a free monthly newsletter. Please feel free to contact Leanne at 219.759.5601.

If you truly don't believe doubling your results is possible, read some case studies where individuals and businesses took the risk and experienced unheard of results.

One quick question,if you could secure one new client or breakthrough that one roadbloack, what would that mean to you? Then, take a risk and give a call at 219.759.5601 to experience incredible business.

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Time and Time Again

2008-12-18T04:31:00.001-08:00

Time and Time Again
By Stephen Kaye

There will always be sceptics, cynics, and debaters who demand proof of life's more intangible things, proof which will somehow never be sound enough no matter how well presented.

The subject of past lives is no exception to this phenomenon and time and time again the debate is resurrected to challenge our present-day reality, subjected to some banal argument or university testing procedure, always controversial and always inconclusive.

HISTORICAL CREDENCE
Sensitive people, various native tribes and others close to nature have believed in the existence of earlier lifetimes for longer than record. The Aborigines in Australia, the Hopis of North America and others in Africa and Central and South America all hold such beliefs. The thinker and the philosopher alike have considered and decided in favour of past lives since the earliest writings. Plato and his followers, Leonardo da Vinci, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Goethe, Blake, Freud, Jung... all these and many more believed in the validity of past lives.

The truly religious have found it impossible to totally divorce their beliefs from reincarnation no matter how hard they try. Both the Hindu and Buddhist religions believe in the existence of past and future lives as foundations of their doctrine.

Even the man in the street who doesn't believe to any degree in past lives is becoming less and less common. There are many who doubt and Can't be sure but feel there is something there. The percentage of people who believe that we live only one lifetime are definitely in the minority.

BODIES
Some people have a real difficulty with their bodies. Often these problems are related to gender. A person of one gender feels female, yet has a male body. The problem persists and unable to gain any real help from therapy or psychology, study or colleagues, undertakes a gender-change operation.

Yet it could be suggested that past life identities were bearing down and there was an alternative way to address the problem. Perhaps there was some unfinished business back there?

Many of today's therapies give credit to past trauma. There are many which venture their efforts on resolving issues surrounding the client's birth and childhood, following the beliefs of their authors that all trauma and ability began there. The most courageous of these will even go so far as to prenatal experiences to explain character ups and downs. But it is still uncommon for a therapy to seek answers outside of this lifetime.

Our abilities and disabilities are attributed to the complexity of the Human brain, yet far more information exists about past lives than has ever been directly linked to the working of the neuron-synapse.

Often debunked and dismissed as impractical reasoning and illogical thought, the subject of past lives has yet to gain respectability within the world today.

PAST AFFECTS OUR ACTIONS
It is accepted by therapists from various persuasions that the past can affect the present and that trauma of the past can to greater or lesser degree affect actions and behaviour long after the trauma has taken place.

Scientifically it is proven fact that emotional and physical trauma can create an effect long after the incident has occurred and that depression can stem from purely psychological causes. The death of a loved one, for example.

Chronic pain, it is now acknowledged, can have its roots in past physical or mental injury. It is agreed by most psychologists and counsellors that upsets, feelings and memories can be carried forward by the individual to affect them adversely in the present.

Past life therapy is dabbled in by many, used as a sideline by others. Those who dare to take it on seriously (and there are some) and work with people to address real issues achieve startling successes unrivalled in many other therapies.

CONSEQUENCES
We are still children in many ways, and like children, we find it hard to remember or recall our errors because we don't like to re-experience those feelings, neither do we like to think too much about the consequences of our actions upon our future. We certainly don't like to think about ghosts, to say nothing of the thought of being one.

ACCEPTANCE AND RESPONSIBILITY
The acceptance of Past Lives brings us problems, however:

If we take on an acceptance, belief, and a willingness to experience past lives, then it must follow as surely as night follows day, that we have something to do with the way things are today. After all, we were here before, weren't we? Do you really want to take responsibility for that? Isn't growing up, growing old, and getting through the week enough right now?

I'll bet you that acceptance of past lives would be far higher if the world today was a rosy Utopia.

The other side of that same coin is this: If we accept past lives, we must accept there will be future lives, and the future will bring what it has always brought - the consequences of today's actions. And that can be very frightening for the many.

If we have lived past lives and will live future lives, then we are more than just bodies, not just a brain or pieces of meat. Past Life authenticity means answering the question: Who am I?

It means that there really is more to life than eating, TV, clothes, football, sex and making lots of money.

It means the weirdos are probably a lot more right than they've been given credit for.

The subject of past lives raises many issues. It raises the issue of personal responsibility to a level where it becomes un-ignorable and undeniable.

And responsibility, like past lives, is a reality which we so often like to escape from.

Stephen Kaye is an Author and Businessman. He owns www.kaymexdirect.co.uk .

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Time-and-Time-Again&id=104301

Become A Time Management Master

2008-12-15T07:02:00.001-08:00

Become A Time Management Master
By Cassandra Mack

How many times have you waited until the last minute to study for a test or work on an important project, only to feel rushed and pressured by having to do so much work in such a small amount of time? If you are like most people who procrastinate you probably even make excuses for your last minute antics by saying things like, I work better under pressure. But the truth is we do not, because if we are trying to throw things together at the last minute worrying about whether or not we can pull it off, then we are not working at our best potential.

I know what youre thinking. Youve got a lot of things on your plate and there is no way that you can manage it all. Believe it or not, managing your time makes life easier. Why? Because managing your time and setting priorities can help you do all the things you need to do and still have time left over for yourself. The better you organize your life, the more youll be able to do with it. This means more time for friends and family, more time to devote to your schoolwork and more time for you to do the things that you enjoy.

In order to manage your time more effectively, get yourself a planner that organizes your time weekly and daily. Take fifteen minutes on Sunday or Monday morning to plan your week and write down the important things you need to do each day. Once youve planned your schedule for the week, you can adjust it each day as needed.

The great thing about a planner is it will help you remember important things like: appointments, telephone numbers, email addresses and friends birthdays. The bottom line is successful people take control of their time by planning their schedule. The more effectively you manage your time, the more time youll have to do the things that you truly enjoy.

Excerpted from Cassandra Mack's book, Young, Gifted and Doing It: 52 Power Moves for Teens.

Cassandra Mack is CEO of Strategies for Empowered Living Inc., producer and host of The No More Drama Hour of Power online radio show and the author of six books. To contact Cassandra go to: http://www.strategiesforempoweredliving.com

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Great Marketing/Time Management Tips for Coaches

2008-12-14T05:04:00.001-08:00

Great Marketing/Time Management Tips for Coaches
By Leelo-Dianne Bush, PhD

Do you feel you are squeezed for time? You do all the time-management you know how to do, and still there are not enough hours in the day?

Well let me suggest something that might help. I know it helped me. As I became busier and busier with my personal practice and academy administration, I started seeing the value of every activity I participated in whether paid or unpaid. I started looking at how to do more of what I loved to do and less of what I didnt enjoy as much. This caused me to delegate what I could, but I still needed more time.

Then one day I received an email suggesting I dont do anything unless there are a minimum of 3 ways to benefit from it. This was revolutionary to me. This meant that if it was worth using something in three ways, I only had to do it once. Wow, how cool is that?

Ok, so how does one really implement something like this?Here are some ideas:

Look back at the emails you have sent to your clients. If they are substantive and long enough, turn them into articles. Then you can submit these articles to publications or online-ezine content sites. Each time the article gets read, you get the credit, your credibility rises and there is a potential new client.

Organize your articles by topic and turn them into books, CDs, or ebooks.

Your books, CDs and ebooks can then become sold separately or as a package. They can also be offered as a special or as a gift with purchase!

See what I mean?

Next time you do a speaking engagement, have it recorded. Then you can sell tapes or CDs of the event. You can offer them as a bonus with purchase of another service or product.

In this way, you can make the most of everything you do. And next time you consider an activity or project, ask yourself, Can I use this 3 different ways? If the answer is yes, then go ahead. You will be surprised at how much more time you have, when you activate this plan.

Dr. Leelo-Dianne Bush, PhD is one of the world's leading Christian Life Coaches aswell as President and Founder of The Professional Christian Coaching and Counseling Academy, the first ever Fully Accredited Christian Coaching School. Email her at drldbush@pccca.org or visit her websites at http://www.pccca.org and http://www.coachbush.com.

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Time Management Software

2008-12-13T06:26:00.003-08:00

Time Management Software
By Michael Bens

Sometimes we need software to help manage our time. Many small business owners invest more time thinking about how to spend the money for profit, and invest less time in how they will spend their time. Since time is money and money is time, a strategy needs to be active to get the most out of your time management scheme. If you do not have plans, goals, and putting them both to good use, it is likely your business can fail.

An effectual business owner will pensively construct a plan that determines how his or her outlook in business and life will return. Most likely, you already have a budget plan, but to manage your time you should re-evaluate the budget plan to make sure you did not overlook important details. The most effectual way to balance your budget is to include time, since it is essential for saving money. Priorities should be in order at all times if possible. If you havent already done so, it is time to cultivate a timetable based on a concise list of main concern, with a short and long-term goal in view.

One of the best solutions for creating lists, keeping inventory, important customers records, invoices and so on, is to store your information on software programs that provide the tools for maintaining company records. The software available helps you to manage your files, which increases your time to spend on your business. Many software programs are inexpensive, unless you have a larger business, which then the prices are subject to more expense. This is because larger companies have more data to store than the smaller companies and often require addition tools than the smaller businesses.

Small business owners need to keep records of their spending habits, and profits received. If you have been in business for some time, you will know that software can benefit your business, but sometimes we need the Top-Selling programs for accounting that simplifies our account records. QuickBooks, Microsoft Outlook, Windows, Mac, and NT are all top-selling programs that provide the right tools for any business owner. The software programs are full featured accounting and payroll package that enable you to store important information on its program.

Many of these programs have features and reports that support small business needs, including Internet and e-commerce features. Most of the programs are multi-user ready in case you have other individuals working at your business. The prices are often affordable and the investment is often rewarding. Time management tools make it easy for us to focus on the bigger picture, while we handle the smaller tasks. If you are advertising your business via Internet, but have difficulty maintaining your site or even building your site, there are software programs that direct you so that the task becomes easier. Anytime you find simplicity and ease, you are managing your time wisely. Why make life more complicated than it already is?

For more great free resources on how to manage your time visit Gabae Time Management.

Also for more informative articles on time management visit Gabae Time Management Articles.

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Self Care Taking Care of Yourself to Increase Reserves of Time Money Energy & Love

2008-12-13T06:26:00.001-08:00

Self Care - Taking Care of Yourself to Increase Reserves of Time, Money, Energy & Love
By Dr. Iris Fanning

Take care of yourself daily. It's like putting money in the bank so that you have a reserve of time, energy and love.

Let's take a look at the areas where you will create self care for the next 30 days.

STRESS

First you need to reduce your stress because stress is one of the biggest energy drains we have. Let me give you some action steps to reduce your stress.

1. List 10 things that you have committed to that are not essential. Now, go back to the person and respectfully decline doing those 10 things. This can include baking cookies for your child's class, filling in for a co-worker, or loaning money to a family member. As Oprah says, learn to say no to many things so that you may say yes to what really matters.

2. If your job is causing chronic stress then create a way to retrain, change jobs or transfer jobs within the company.

3. Learn relaxation or meditation. You can go to the library and check out a couple books from this area. Herbert Benson wrote the book The Relaxation Response. You can also purchase relaxation tapes. Bellruth Naperstek has a great series.

ENVIRONMENT AND FAMILY

We are a product of our environment and our family. Take the following survey to see if your environment is peaceful or stressful. Check each item that is true.

I live in a nurturing home environment.

My computer is backed up weekly.

My pets add energy to my life.

My partner adds energy to my life.

My children add energy to my life.

There is no clutter/mess in my home.

Everything is fully organized in my office or home.

I'm aware of my physical environment and draw energy from it.

If something goes wrong, I learn from it and move on.

If I don't like something, I fix it or let go of it, now.

PLEASURE

List ten things that give you pleasure. You can include intellectual, spiritual, relationships, entertainment and physical pleasures. Now, commit to doing these things this month!

HEALTH AND EMOTIONAL BALANCE

Make sure you've had a physical for the year. Commit to exercising at least 3 times a week. Are you eating healthy foods? How's your posture? Are you using any addictive substances? If so eliminate those.

SUPPORT/EXPERTS

Are you working with a Personal Coach to move toward your goals? If not, what is holding you back? Do you need to develop a team of experts in several fields such as an accountant, physician, chiropractor, personal trainer? Do you have a friend or loved one who is unconditionally positive with you? List your support system and experts. Is anyone missing? List the steps you'll take to gain support.

INGESTION - OPEN MOUTH INSERT EXTREME SELF CARE

Check all that apply.

I drink at least 8 glasses of pure water daily.

I take my vitamins daily. I do not smoke.

I rarely or never use alcohol or drugs.

I use sugar only in very small amounts.

I treat my body as the temple that it is.

APPEARANCE

Review the following questions and take action to change what needs changing. Is your hair exactly the way you want it? Do you look attractive and well groomed? Is your body in good shape, do you have energy? Are your teeth cleaned regularly? Do you take good care of your skin including sunscreen daily?

The steps listed above can seem overwhelming. So, you have my permission not to be perfect. Choose 3 of the items and focus on those items this week. Then choose 3 more the following week and so on. Each step builds momentum. Enjoy the process!! This is not another o do list. You are starting to build a life of your dreams by learning to take care of yourself. Be gentle and have fun!

Free Newsletter with up to the minute coaching on business, networking, marketing, self empowerment and successful living. http://www.irisfanning.com

Dr. Iris Fanning is a Nationally recognized Success Coach. Dr. Fanning is a graduate of Coach University, Honorary Doctorate in Divinity, M.A. degree in Psychology, Counseling & Guidance and a B.S. degree in Psychology. Additionally Iris is the self published author of Change Your Life Right Now c 2006 and Do What You Love & Get Rich c 2006. Dr. Fanning is also an in demand public speaker. Individual and group coaching is also available. Contact: coachiris@hotmail.com Please place Coaching in the subject line.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Self-Care---Taking-Care-of-Yourself-to-Increase-Reserves-of-Time,-Money,-Energy-and-Love&id=230924

Time Management Controlling

2008-12-09T06:54:00.001-08:00

Time Management - Controlling
By Johannes Nefischer

In order to manage anything that involves our self it is required to have control of our lives and self. Indeed it is impossible to control over anything, but we all have a degree of control over most things that involve us. When we are strategizing a time management scheme, we have to factor in all details of life because all things in life affect us in some way.Albeit many people think that it is so, time management is far from a quick process. You will notice this, once you start your calculations. Especially when you are alone in time management the road can be rocky.

For this problem time management has its own stop, go, and yield signs. In order to start a time management plan you need to calculate and analyze your plan carefully to weed out flaws, evaluating where your time is spent.

The beginning process of controlling time management is to calculate time with factors like family and work. Moreover you have to calculate problem areas like troubles with your computer that may arrive. You regard this by calculate large and small disasters into the equation of time management. But when you have done this the process, you have not finished for a long time yet.

The fact is that there is no end to managing time, because we have to include personal factors. When we calculate time management, we must include details such as, entertainment, relaxing and everything that makes us who we are. If you are spending too much time in one area, you can cut back time by spending more time in important areas.

For example, if it takes you a long time in the morning to get motivated you have to think about why is it taking me such a long time? In the majority of cases this is caused by a desideration of preparation. Now, to win back time you will need to think! Why is it taking me so long to get dressed in the morning? When you are searching through your closet trying to find a suit the solution is taking a few minutes each night to pick your suit fore the next day, so that when you get up in the morning you only need to dress.

If you are spending for example 45 minutes dressing, you are wasting time. If you do not waste time, we can subtract at least 30 minutes from dressing and move forward to other areas in our life where our time is either spent well, or wasted.

The question coming up is: What are you doing at work? Are you chatting online with someone, or standing around drinking coffee? If your workday looks like this, you are not only wasting company time, you are wasting your time. As long as you do not have a goal in mind, this is not a controlling way in time management.

Johannes Nefischer is a successful Business Consultant and publisher of TakeAction101.com He provides more information onTime Management System on his website.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Time-Management---Controlling&id=245831

Transformation A Time for Change

2008-11-27T20:11:00.001-08:00

Transformation - A Time for Change
By Bonnie Moss

At one point and time in life, we go through amajor transformation hopefully mostly for the better. It can be a conscious choice, it can be from a crisis, or a totally unexpected change.

A major change in life can bring an important message worth paying attention to. Some cansay their life will never be the same.

What brings about these transformations?Relationships, career changes, family mattersfrom happy times to sad times, illness, grief,material difficulties, an accident, unfulfilled dreams, bottled up frustrations that finally decide to pop the lid. A winfall can do it in a big way. A traumatic experience can trigger an extremetransformation.

It is said that dramatic changes in life happen for a reason. At the moment of confusion, this is hard to comprehend. Some would cry why me?

It's unfair. Guilt , anger and fear obscure the vehicle for transformation.

Most people will strive to rise from the fall and move on. Some recognize the opportunity forspiritual growth. This can be a major transformation. It actually can bring about a major lifestyle change. Some would embrace this opportunity.

Some see the chance to pursue their dreams and why not? At this point, what else have they got tolose? They are the troopers who find opportunity when problems come their way. To them, it is a stepping stone to greener pastures. Armed with the experienceand knowledge theyve gained, they explore andexpand their horizons. They are able to re-invent themselves. They accept the challenge and walka new path through transformation

After facing and surviving a life-changing crisis, one must move on. There are some who may not findthe way. This is most unfortunate. It seems like they dig deeper into the mire. Tragic, but it happens.

This is a critical time, a time to seek counsel. A time to reach out to someone. Consider seekingassistance from community services if there is no family to turn to.

But please dont think that the world is cruel. Amazing and true, in very trying times, hearts open, hands reach out from total strangers. Dont feel that youre all alone. Youre not.

It is important to step back and think your way outof a dilemma. It is not the time to make hastydecisions. Consider the options carefully. Treasurethe nuggets of insights, the lessons learned whenlife presents us with major transformations. And onto the next chapter of life.

The sun always shines brighter after a storm.

Bonnie Moss writes to inspire and to motivateher readers to explore the depths of their heart andsoul. She draws from personal experience and her interest in the New Age Visit her website =>http://goldencupcafe.tripod.com

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Understanding Grief and Loss in Times of War and Disaster

2008-11-27T17:01:00.001-08:00

Understanding Grief and Loss in Times of War and Disaster
By Jan Maizler

There are many different kinds of losses we can experience in our lives. Indeed, loss in human beings has its beginnings in the birth process that separates the infant from the comfort and security of the mothers womb into a world where survival is conditional and predicated on individual responsibility. The presumable final loss is the end of the human life cycle caused by death. There are many losses in between those polarities that relate to the developmental and aging process in each life. All of these losses are expectable losses and our bereavement and mourning of these losses are colored by their expectability

Losses can be understood and processed more effectively when they are placed in a meaningful theoretical framework. Here are some examples:

1.Normal (expected) losses versus abnormal (unexpected) losses.

2.Universal losses versus special losses.

3.Chronic losses versus acute losses.

4.Mild losses versus severe losses.

5.Replaceable losses versus irreplaceable losses.

Unexpected losses, by definition cannot be anticipated or prepared for, and therefore impact people with a rapid challenge. Adjustment to an unexpected loss is difficult because of the suddenness of the demand to the persons psychic and emotional economy. Unexpected losses can be acute or chronic. A diagnosis of Alzheimers Disease is unexpected, but it is a chronic loss that may feature many years of gradual decline for the patient and their loved ones for adjustment. Sudden death of a loved one through war, and natural disasters like the recent Tsunami are quintessential examples of acute unexpected losses, and place upon survivors the most severe adaptational demands.

Losses are considered to have more impact on people when they are irreplaceable, which means that they cannot be somewhat undone. Loss of your car through theft may indeed be potentially replaceable - obviously, the loss of a loved one is not.

Therefore, understanding grief and loss in war and disaster means realizing that these are some of the most terrible losses experienced because they are unexpected, special, acute, severe, and irreplaceable. The symptoms of these losses can be understood just as much as a post -traumatic stress disorder, as they are a part of bereavement.

THE SYMPTOMS OF TRAUMATIC LOSS-

Understandingand bearing the grieving process of traumatic loss is easier when you are aware of the symptoms that will be experienced. Traumatic loss can call forth:

1. Shock

2. Disorientation

3. Severe preoccupation

4. Hysteria

5. Acute suicidal feelings

6. Inability to function

7. Flashbacks

8. Amnesia

9. Severe phobic reactions

10. Startle reactions

11. Motor restlessness

12. Anxiety and Panic

These are certainly in contrast to the crying, sadness, preoccupation, anhedonia, and sleep disorders found with milder, more expectable losses.

STAGES OF GRIEF IN MILD AND TRAUMATIC LOSS

Denial. One can expect that traumatic losses will trigger some level of denial. Nature has provided people with the neuropsychological equipment to provide themselves with soothing body-based opiates that accompany denial and shock. This creates a stop-action, freezeframe period to buy the time involved to readjust.

Preoccupation with the Loss. Opening up to that which has been lost will involve various degrees of preoccupation with the loss itself. Many clinicians believe it is not the passage of time that heals but the rearrangement of ideas that are involved in the passage of time. Further they feel that the affect of sadness favor the slowing of mental processes which bring about more reorganization of ideas.

Griefwork or losswork is painful. It requires energy and expends energy. The bearing of emotional pain, physical symptoms, and the shifting of previous habits or thinking which now demand reorganization, frequently cause personal exhaustion and the normal challenges of life may be too great at this time.

Another aspect of the preoccupation stage of loss represents what Kubler-Ross referred to as bargaining. In part, This term describes moments and sequences of the mental reorganization process, where the wish to return to the pre-loss stage is felt or expressed. The broad sweep of optimal adjustment will hopefully dictate that this interlude will become a simple double-check which points out that, in fact, what is lost is lost and will stay that way, and the mourning process proceeds.

The Tree of Loss. People undergoing loss may experience the return of previous losses, both resolved and unresolved. Clinicians are familiar with this phenomenon and remain aware that this presents an opportunity for additional resolutions. Each person has their own special tree of loss, which is based on the losses they experienced in their life from birth up until the present moment.

Completeness of the Mourning Process. How well the person proceeds from the preoccupation stage to the withdrawal of energy from the loss stage depends on how completely the griefwork has been done. Essential to this completeness are the confronting of painful feelings, dealing with unfinished business and guilt resolutions.

People may require some help to tie up their loose ends (unfinished business) from another human being or a trained professional when it seems they are unable to move on. This may involve revisitations of old emotional scenarios and events, which keep the person stuck in the past.

The presence of guilt (the personal belief that one has done something bad as regards to their value system) is sure to retard the resolution of loss. Again, it may be necessary to seek professional help when the trauma of the loss or guilt is severe.

Withdrawal of Energy and Acceptance. When all of the above has occurred, the grieving person will slowly withdraw the old emotional investment in that which was lost (decathexis). This may initiate a reworking of the previous stages in miniature, with an ultimate arrival some time in the future of acceptance of the loss, a sure sign that resolution and moving on has occurred.

Reinvestment of Energy. The final stage of this process, reinvestment of emotional energy may take a very long time to reach after the previous stages. Many people that have experienced a traumatic loss may never reinvest their emotional energy out of a fear of further loss or because they remain somewhat emotionally disorganized. If the previous stages have been poorly resolved, the chances of optimal reinvestment may be slim to none.

Many people remain stuck in a pre-reinvestment state, haunting the interpersonal world, but never getting truly involved: they are like ghosts too frightened to move on. Other people remain stuck when they idealize the traumatic loss of their loved one and subsist on the bittersweet fruit of martyrdom.

Others who are more fortunate realize that loss is inevitable and decide that they are too unwilling to settle for a life crippled by fear of further loss. These people reinvest their emotional energy and take their chances in lives hopefully enriched by a deeper understanding of the many dimensions of loss.

Shermin Davis helped edit this article. She is private practice in Miami, Florida and can be reached at Srdavis@prodigy.net

Jan S. Maizler is a veteran therapist and writer practicing in Miami. He has authored over 100 articles and 7 books. He can be reached at http://www.relationshiphandbook.com, and http://www.transformationhandbook.com

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Understanding-Grief-and-Loss-in-Times-of-War-and-Disaster&id=10832

America's TV Addiction: It's a Matter of Time a lot of time

2008-11-27T08:03:00.003-08:00

America's TV Addiction: It's a Matter of Time, a lot of time
By Katherine Westphal

In September 2005, Nielsen Media Research, Inc. reported that Americans watched an average of 4 hours 32 minutes of television per day. Amazingly, very few alarm bells went off in America, warning of the potential consequences of this insane amount of time.

Thank about what that little fact means.

4 hours 32 minutes per day.

4 hours 32 minutes EVERY day.

4 hours 32 minutes EVERY day for 365 days per year.

Lets add that up. Maybe 4 hours and 32 minutes does not seem like that much time at first. However, per week that adds up to 31 hours 44 min. That is 31 hours 44 min. EVERY week. For adults, that is starting to get close to a full time job. For children, that also means they are being educated by their TV sets more than they are being educated at school.

Per month that adds up to 136 hours, or 5 days 16 hours. The average American spends five and 2/3 solid days every month watching TV.

Are these numbers starting to look a little alarming yet?

Lets look at the time one average American spends watching TV every year. 365 days at 4 hours 32 minutes every day adds up to 1,655.8 hours every year. That is 69 days, or over two solid months every year. Over a lifetime of 72 years, that adds up to over 13 years. That is a lot of time, and that is just for one person. Consider the effects on society as a whole.

Using the CIAs statistics for the US population (295,734,134), 4 hours 32 minutes adds up to 1.33 billion hours devoted to the tube EVERY day. It is 498.67 billion hours per year. Try to imagine that many hours of flickering TV sets.

Forget all the studies that link excessive TV watching to the obesity epidemic. Forget the studies that link excessive TV watching to ADHD symptoms and other attention problems. Forget about all the problems with violent content and the 18,000 TV murders that kids witness before they turn 18. Forget about the sexual content and the fact that sexual references on TV have doubled over the past 8 years. Forget about the studies that showed viewers slip into a hypnotic alpha brainwave state when they are watching TV. Do not even think about the fact that EACH hour of TV has about 32 commercials.

Just think about how much time you have spent watching TV over the past year and what else you could have accomplished with that time.

Think about how much time your family has spent watching TV over the past year and how that time could have been better spent.

Think about all the time that is being sucked into the TV sets throughout America every day and every year, and how many of society's problems could have been solved with that amount of time.

Then imagine what could happen if you, your family, and the rest of the country suddenly stopped watching TV.

Source:
http://www.nielsenmedia.com/newsreleases/2005/AvgHoursMinutes92905.pdf

Katherine Westphal is the founder of Trash Your TV! and the author of a revolutionary e-book system, The TV-FREE System. Get in control of your TV watching and create the life you want, whether it is to create the body, the mind, the business, the family, or the community of your dreams. Receive free sample pages of the TV-FREE Workbook, when you become a member at Trash Your TV!.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=KatherineWestphal
http://EzineArticles.com/?Americas-TV-Addiction:-Its-a-Matter-of-Time,-a-lot-of-time&id=211617

America's TV Addiction: It's a Matter of Time a lot of time

2008-11-27T08:03:00.001-08:00

America's TV Addiction: It's a Matter of Time, a lot of time
By Katherine Westphal

Thank about what that little fact means.

4 hours 32 minutes per day.

4 hours 32 minutes EVERY day.

4 hours 32 minutes EVERY day for 365 days per year.

Per month that adds up to 136 hours, or 5 days 16 hours. The average American spends five and 2/3 solid days every month watching TV.

Are these numbers starting to look a little alarming yet?

Just think about how much time you have spent watching TV over the past year and what else you could have accomplished with that time.

Think about how much time your family has spent watching TV over the past year and how that time could have been better spent.

Think about all the time that is being sucked into the TV sets throughout America every day and every year, and how many of society's problems could have been solved with that amount of time.

Then imagine what could happen if you, your family, and the rest of the country suddenly stopped watching TV.

Source:
http://www.nielsenmedia.com/newsreleases/2005/AvgHoursMinutes92905.pdf

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=KatherineWestphal
http://EzineArticles.com/?Americas-TV-Addiction:-Its-a-Matter-of-Time,-a-lot-of-time&id=211617

Automatic Brain Works Overtime For You

2008-11-23T07:39:00.001-08:00

Automatic Brain Works Overtime For You
By Andrew Abernathy

Use all of your brain to be your most effective.

Running on Automatic is what I call the ability to visualize what you need to have happen. Automatic because the part of your brain that gives us most of our solutions is working all the time. When you are asleep or not. Most of us call it our subconscience. This part of your brain is processing what your awake aware or cognitive part of the brain is telling it is going on. Our subconscience is not aware of any rational or philosophical system. It just helps us process the stuff we see, feel, smell, taste and hear. It is the core of our intuition. And most of all it can be exercised and controlled.

When we understand how to feed our subconscious so it will work out our problems and help us get to where we need to be there is nothing you can't achieve. Didn't your mother tell you There's nothing you can't do, if you just set your mind to it. Listen to your mother, she was right. In fact she gave you the best advice you will ever get about how to get ahead in this world. If you can see it, you can do it.

Now you say 'Andrew, that sounds all fine and good, but have you ever got this thinking stuff to work?'

Yes I have! In fact the reality of this web site is the result of my imagining what could be done and then seeing all the parts in place and how they will fit together. At this time it is not complete, but I know what I want to see in place and how I will get it done. It is something I did with my brain, but the results will be with my hands.

Limber Up The Neurons

Let's do a very simple exercise so you can try it out for yourself. Look around the room you are in. Find something that someone made. Take a wooden chair for instance. Go back in your mind and see the tree that was growing in the forest. All green and beautiful. A trunk straight and tall. Then a lumberjack comes along with his or her chain saw and goes about cutting it down. Later a large piece of equipment comes along and gathers up the tree trunk that has been trimmed to a log and takes it to a lumber mill. At the mill the tree is cut into boards with a huge circular saw sorted, stacked, graded and finally the boards are placed in a kiln to dry the wood.

Heated steam dries the wood and then it is taken out, packaged by grade and then shipped to a furniture maker. At the furniture factory there are people who receive the materials from the trucking company that brought the wood to them and then again the lumber is inspected, sorted and then each piece goes through a manufacturing process. The legs, back, bottom supports, and back slats are all made by individual workers. At the end all the pieces come together and a worker assembles the parts and gets the chair ready to be finished.

Another worker applies the finish coats of varnish or paint to preserve and bring out the beauty of the chair design. Finally the chair is packaged, put on another truck and shipped to a furniture store where you see it and think, 'That would look great in our living room. Let's get it and have it for this evening.'

You might not have ever imagined all that about your chair. But something similar did happen to make that chair appear in your home. Relax and go back over each step as you see it happen in your mind. In a little while you will see each of the machines that you imagine created the chair and finally you will see the truck that brought the chair to your house.

Practice...Practice...Practice

Try this exercise for three or four days in a row and see if it doesn't get more real each time you do it. As you do the reality of the chair becomes something that you can believe in more and more. Just as the chair becomes more vibrant and real in your mind. Any other thought can do the same. A famous 19th century scientist Nikola Telsa the inventor of the elsa coil that makes your hair stand on end with static electricity, once said he made no invention without first seeing the entirety of his experiment in his mind working as he knew it would. Mr. Telsa knew the power of using his mind to work out the problems he sought to solve. He actively employed his conscious and subconscious mind to solve these problems by seeing them as final solutions before he ever tried to perform any of the work for the project.

Now that's mental power. But all of us have the same capability. All we have to do to make it work is to use our minds regularly and purposefully.

Write and let me know how you are coming along. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

In the next segment I'll share the secret to focused thought. How to keep our thoughts on track. Until then, don't just sit there...

Let's Get Started!

Andrew Abernathy

Founder, Put It iN Thought

About The Author

2004 All rights reserved to Andrew Abernathy and PutItiNThought.com. Your may reproduce this article without permission if the entire article, including this information tag is included. For other articles like this one visit www.aeautomation.com/newsarchives.htm

Mr. Abernathy presents a creative and clear body of work that is based on experience, scientific research and common sense. He created the PINT Web Workshop to train others in the practical use of proven neuroscientific discoveries that reveal how you can change your life. See www.PutItiNThought.com for a ten day introduction to the PINT Web Workshop.

andrew@putitinthought.com

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Find The Time Before It's Too Late!

2008-11-22T19:37:00.003-08:00

Find The Time -- Before It's Too Late!
By Sylvie Minson

People always seem to be in such a hurry, everywhere I go.

Always rushing to get to the next thing, as if someone is holding a stopwatch over their head, timing them to the second.

When I lived downtown I expected it, but here, nearly 50 miles from the city, I kind of thought life would be a little slower, and a little more forgiving.

Recently, on the Fourth of July, my neighbor was coming in late, around 9:30 in the evening, with her two children (who are just lovely, I might add). As usual she was rushing them along, trying to keep everything in order, and seemed as if she was held inches above the abyss by a very thin string.

Her children, of course, being children, had stopped to watch the fireworks display they were putting on at the park down the street. Her son, about three or four, kept saying, mommy, mommy, look at the fireworks! His voice had the excitement that only a four year old's voice can contain.

She scooped him up quickly, and rushed him inside with a 'come on, sweetie, it's late,' and never even turned for a moment to enjoy the wonderous display in the sky, not even for a couple of seconds.

I felt so badly for her in that moment, my heart just broke. I said to myself, but you're missing the best part!My neighbor adores her children and would do anything for them, but she never seems to find the time to just enjoy them, to see the world through their eyes, and how beautiful it really is.

I also realized that I see this happening to people everywhere I go.

We, all of us, need to find the time to enjoy our lives. Living is not all about working, and making dinner, washing clothes and dishes, checking homework and the million other things we have to do every day.

The important things are the brief, passing moments of pure joy, like watch five minutes of fireworks with your son, and that beautiful sunrise before the long, grueling commute to work in the morning.

Too often in life the things we think are the most important leave us empty, and stressed out -- stretched thin and ready to snap like a rubber band stretched to its limits.

The things that really are important, the ones that make life worth living, and stay sweet in our memories when we grow old, go completely unnoticed until it's much too late.

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Great Quotes: Sometimes You Have To Go A Long Distance Out Of Your Way

2008-11-22T19:37:00.001-08:00

Great Quotes: Sometimes, You Have To Go A Long Distance Out Of Your Way
By Dr. Gary S. Goodman

How did you see your path in life so early? Ive been asked, a number of times.

If I have, or if it seems I have, its probably because I read widely, and various insights and quotations stick with me, and Ive used them for guidance.

One of them comes from the Edward Albee play: The Zoo Story.

Jerry, a key character, is lecturing someone who is sitting on a bench in New Yorks Central Park.

Suddenly, he blurts out, Sometimes you have to go a long distance out of your way to come back a short distance, correctly.

While this notion may not seem earthshaking on the surface, I promise you, if you review your own life, youll appreciate the wisdom in it.

For instance, on more than one occasion Ive left a job, or even a major career focus, only to return to it later. The second time around, my eyes are wide open, and Im seeing and appreciating things that I just didnt catch, at first.

Perhaps I wasnt ready for the task, initially, or I just wanted to go back to discern if my judgments about it were correct, initially.

Anyway, it seems like an offbeat way of living, but theres satisfaction in it.

What about those souls who hop from job to job, seemingly without focus, yet something happens to them and they see a thread in their experience, something that unifies it and gives it coherence.

Many public speakers have had this occur in their lives. They were just moseying along when something special happened, perhaps a UFO abduction, or an epiphany came to them.

And then, they just had to tell the world about it.

Observers ask them, Why didnt you just go into speaking straight away? or Imagine how much better off youd be today if you had launched your oratorical career, earlier!

Or, think about the person who grows up in a small town, cant wait to leave for the big city; does it, spending the better part of his life there, yet returns in middle age to the place of his roots.

Life doesnt always work neatly, in a linear way.

Sometimes you just have to go a long distance out of your way to come back a short distance, correctly!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable, published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com. For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to =>http://www.customersatisfaction.com

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Allow Time For Germination

2008-11-22T18:52:00.001-08:00

Allow Time For Germination
By Rachelle Disbennett-Lee

There is a concept in coaching called seed planting. It means that it takes time for new ideas and suggestions to be embraced. There are clients that take hold of a new idea and run with it, some take a little more time to allow the idea to grow while others can take years before the idea sprouts. Still some clients will never grasp the idea. It will simply lay dormant. It doesn't really matter what the client does with the idea. The purpose is to plant the seed and the client can do with it what they will. Sometimes the idea just needs time to germinate.

A counselor once told me that not to make a decision is a decision. She said not to choose was a choice. I thought she was nuts and went on with my life. It was five years later when I was in the middle of a situation where I was avoiding a decision that her words hit me like a ton of bricks. I literally said out loud, I get it. It took years for that seed to germinate in my brain until one day it sprouted and grew into a concept I understood. I was finally ready to get it. I wasn't able to hear it before, but with time, I had evolved enough so the concept made sense. New ideas can take time to get used to. When we first hear the idea we may not be ready for it. That is fine. When you are ready the idea will sprout and grow and be there for you.

The other side of this is not to force your ideas and suggestions onto other people. By all means share them, but leave it at that. Seed planting isn't an aggressive act; it is gentle and done with love and compassion. All you can do is plant the idea. What happens to it is up to the individual and what they are ready to hear at that very moment. The idea may sprout right away or it may take years. That isn't your concern. Your job is to plant the seed and move on.

Everyone is at different places in their lives. Sometimes you will understand the new idea right away and perhaps even take action on it in the moment. At other times it will take a while. Don't beat yourself up when you don't get something right away. It just means the idea is in germination. When you are ready the idea will sprout and grow and be right there to support you. Until then don't worry about it and go on with the ideas you are ready for. There will be plenty of idea seeds sprouting at any given time to keep you busy.

Coach Rachelle Disbennett-Lee, PhD, is a Certified Master Coach specializing in working with business owners and professionals in being more profitable and productive while staying sane and balanced. Coach Lee is the publisher of the award winning e-zine, 365 Days of Coaching. Her first book, 365 Days of Coaching Because Life Happens Every Day (Universal Publisher, 2004) was named a finalist for Best Book 2004 by Publish.com and has a five star rating on Amazon.com.

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Adult ADHD: The Magic Egg Timer Trick

2008-11-21T16:11:00.001-08:00

Adult ADHD: The Magic Egg Timer Trick
By Tellman Knudson

For people with Adult ADHD, focusing long enough to get even a small task done--if it is boring--can seem almost impossible! Heres what I do when I have to focus on something that I really don't like to do, especially sitting at my desk.

Adult ADHD makes it hard to try to sit still and do something--but now and then you just have to. Here's a couple tricks I've learned to get boring tasks done.

First, when I come in and get started, I've trained myself to immediately have a certain pattern of activity that happens. My brain automatically associates that pattern of activity with, Now we're going to sit down and do something. Its simply a habit. If you have Adult ADHD try this sometime you have to do paperwork or organize something:

What I do is I come in and I have two candles that I light. I have a certain kind of music that I listen to, classical music. I turn that on. I turn on a little water fountain. It is important for people with Adult ADHD to make sure to engage all the senses, it really helps because it keeps the Adult ADHD brain active and able to focus.

Whenever I do that sequence, I can sit down for a short period, not forever, but for a short period, and actually get something done that I don't like to do.

I can organize a pile, or try to prioritize something, or something that might be hard as well. Another advantage to getting all those senses involved is the brain is at least doing something else and not focusing on being bored.

Theres nothing worse for the Adult ADHD brain than focusing on how bored you are.

There is second method that I use, and that is to set a self-imposed deadline.

Often people with Adult ADHD say they work best under pressure when they have a deadline--and some people with Adult ADHD even say they can't get anything done at all if they don't have a deadline. What happens to Adult ADHD people in that case is, they perform well at work (where deadlines are imposed) but things fall apart at home.

So here's the other trick I've learned, using an egg timer. See if you can do this. Make it like a game. Hey, lets see if I can get through this pile in 15 minutes. I'll set a timer This is one of the best tricks for us people with Adult ADHD.

I have two egg timers around my house and I use them all the time. I test myself. Lets see if I can file this pile of paper in 10 minutes. I set the timer and go. Now, we've just invoked the real kicker: to focus. It works like a charm.

So, you're kicking it into high gear, working on mea-speed, and most of the time it works, but what if...you don't finish it in 10 minutes? Then what?

Well, then I look at that and say, Do I want to go for another 10, or do I want to do this later? Thats what I do. Either way, I got a whole bunch done in 10 minutes that wouldn't have been done otherwise.

That brings me to one more thing people with Adult ADHD will benefit from doing. We're so forward thinking that we're always onto the next thing, and the next thing. Those with Adult ADHD tend not to look at what they do accomplish and feel good about it.

If you take a moment to say, Look what I just did in 10 minutes, and actually reflect on, Hey, I got something done, versus going through to the next thing immediately, you'll feel a lot more motivation on a continuing basis.

If you'd like to get more great tips for how to focus with Adult ADHD, using common things you find in your everyday environment, see below!

Tellman Knudson can help you learn to focus, beat distraction and accomplish your goals. Learn more about ADHD Symptoms and pick up your free newsletter of ADHD practical tips and techniques to make your life better today!

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How Much is Your Time Worth?

2008-11-21T15:48:00.001-08:00

How Much is Your Time Worth?
By Thomas Murrell

So you've had it with office politics, working for a bad boss and making someone else rich.

You decide to quit and set up your own business.

Before you do, you need to work out what your time is worth.

Take this typical job in PR as Communications Manager for a major company in a big city.

Here's the headline of the job in the weekend paper.

Corporate communications role, big office near a major park, full-time staff position with salary of $145k+ super

This is the job description when you first applied.

Our new communications function plays an important role in the management of internal/external communications, reputation risk and providing expertise in community relations.

Reporting to the General Manager, Business Development, your responsibilities will include coordinating internal and external communications initiatives, including publications and the intranet; media relations, assisting in the implementation of external stakeholders strategies; providing counsel to projects in the management of community engagement; preparing speeches and presentations on behalf of senior management; and maintaining an emergency and crisis communications management plan.

Essential skills and experience require ideal candidates to have proven experience in delivering enhancements to internal and external communication. Minimum 5 years experience in external stakeholders relations is essential as is oustanding written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills.

So let's take this fictional role and compare it with what you would need to earn if you ran your own PR business.

One of the speakers I most admire, Matt Church CSP provided the inspiration, insight and permission for the basis of this article.

Don't give up your day job, well not unless you value your time correctly, Matt says.

He says the focus is on how you value your time if you run your own company compared to working for someone else in the job mentioned above.

What do you need to earn for the year? There are two figures to consider here; Your annual urnover'' from fees and your specific ake home before tax. As a simple rule of thumb, those of you comparing your income equivalent in a day job should look at an annual turnover at least double your potential professional salary. In most cases it needs to be double plus 25 per cent; the 25 per cent factors in lean running costs, Matt says.

You should then divide the grossed up figure by 100 days and you get close to your day rate. As you play with this you can start to get clear on what you need to earn as a benchmark each time you sell what you do.

Let's look at an example: Pauline the PR professional!

Pauline can earn $145,000 a year working as the Communications Manager in the above example.

Double her day job equals $290,000 in fees (2 x $145,000)

Lets then add the 25 per cent (25 per cent of turnover) for a lean operation running costs.

She now has a calculated budget turnover of $362,500

Divide this by 100 saleable days a year equals a day rate of $3,625.

Now here is what usually happens according to Matt!

Pauline or any other professional moves out of her day job as advertised above and starts to think all she needs to do is replace her salary. Matt reckons this is a seriously bad move!!

They then divide this by around 220 days a year. That's a lot of hard work for very little money.

In Pauline's case she would have a day rate of approx $650!

Now, I've even seen PR jobs advertised as low as $19.50 an hour! Why is this so low compared to a lawyer four years out from law school who earns at least $400 an hour?

I argue an effective corporate communications professional will add more value to a business than a lawyer any day!

Don't let anyone tell you that your day rate when compared to an employee is way too high. The on costs and base costs in a business will smash you every time. As an aside, smart doctors share resources to drive down the base costs, Matt says.

According to Matt, if you don't value your time correctly 3 things will happen;

1. You will find yourself earning lots and taking home nothing.

2. You will work way too hard and not have any time to develop new business

3. You will constantly think you should go back to a day job!

In a practice based income business model, take-home is king not turnover! So pay yourself first and don't sell yourself cheap!

This is really valuable advice for people wanting to run their own PR, media or management consulting practice.

And how do I know? Well, over the past eight years of running my own business, I've been there and done exactly what Matt says you shouldn't do.

I was so tight for cash flow at one time, I spent the weekends renting my office carpark to football fans just so I could survive.

Fortunately, I've learnt and been able to turn my business around through fair and value-based pricing.

And of course that's the value of having a mentor or coach. Someone who has been there before and can advise on all the pitfalls.

My thanks to Matt Church CSP for his insights and I highly recommend his Thought Leaders website - http://www.australianthoughtleaders.com/

Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries. You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com

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It's Not About Time

2008-11-21T15:47:00.001-08:00

It's Not About Time
By Nan S. Russell

With mounting to-do lists, big projects with short delivery dates, consuming workloads, growing obligations and festering unfinished tasks, it's no wonder in this what-have-you-done-for-me-today world we often feel time deprived. Work-life flows to home-life, balance becomes imbalance, and goals and dreams get relegated to a closet shelf.

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. In a recent Winning at Working reader survey, the most commonly articulated work problem was related to time. Overwhelmed. Overworked. Overstressed. Too much to do and too little time to do it.

But here's the reality. No matter how much we do, we will never get everything done. There isn't enough time for all that needs doing, all we want to do or we'd like to do or we should do. There never will be, even with the most sophisticated productivity, organizational and time-management approaches. Sure, they're helpful, but thinking the chaos and stress in life is caused by not having enough time is an error.

You see, the problem is not a time problem. We all have the same amount. It's a choice problem. The choices you make determine whether you're running your life, or your life is running you. And you do have choices. Sure there may be consequences to saying no, establishing boundaries or reordering priorities. But there are also consequences if you don't.

All tasks are not equal. All commitments are not equal. All responsibilities are not equal. All clients are not equal. All people of personal importance to your life are not equal. Yet many of us operate as if they were. You can do fifty things today and get little, if any, result for having done them. Or you can do one or two that bring a big return, be it emotional, financial, physical or psychological. People who are winning at working know the difference and operate accordingly.

They see time as life's currency and how it's used as a choice. Choices shape your results and your life. You get the same twenty-four hours each day as your co-worker down the hall. But use differs. Practice the piano eight hours a day and you'll be better than people who don't. Practice and hone your workplace talents and the same applies. Or spend time getting ready to work, shooting the breeze, surfing the web, fiddling with email and you'll complete the day having traded your time for minimal results.

How you spend your time puts value on what you're spending it on. For years, I never had ime to exercise consistently until a health issue caused me to re-prioritize my choices. Funny how I managed to find the hours when I had to. Choosing to eliminate an hour of television created 365 found hours a year. That's nine weeks.

People who are winning at working know this secret: there is always time for what matters to them. So, they allocate their time carefully, understanding their life as a reflection of their choices. They make time for the people they love, the passions they have and work that uses their uniqueness. They focus on the results, goals, and life-dreams they desire, rather than accepting what comes their way. They do, while others talk of doing. They plan their day, while others let their day plan them. And they motivate themselves, while others wait for someone or something to motivate them. For people who are winning at working, it's not about the time they have; it's about the choices they make in how to use it.

Receive a copy of 21 Winning Career Tips (a free download) at http://www.winningcareertips.com Nan Russell has spent over twenty years in management, most recently with QVC as a Vice President. She has held leadership positions in Human Resource Development, Communication, Marketing and line Management. Nan has a B.A. from Stanford University and M.A. from the University of Michigan. Currently working on her first book, Winning at Working: 10 Lessons Shared, Nan is a columnist, writer and speaker. Visit http://www.nanrussell.com

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Time Management Feel Like Scrambled Eggs

2008-11-19T05:39:00.001-08:00

Time Management - Feel Like Scrambled Eggs
By Bill McRea

Some days I feel like a plate of scrambled eggs. All messed up and with the strange feeling that despite my best efforts nothing really got accomplished. I felt like time was not on my side at all. Despite working 14 hours a day I was making very little money and was exhausted.

I needed a change so I implement these five simple steps to give me more personal time:

1. Simplify Your Schedule

Things that can be done less or things that can be done once instead of twice are those things that will help us save a lot of time. Clean your house once every ten days instead of every 7 days you can do that, its normal and the house wont get dirty in those three extra days. Make a work report every six week not every four weeks if possible. Keep meetings to inform yourself on ongoing projects twice a month not every week. And the list of things that can be done fewer times can go on forever.

2. Challenge yourself!

Watch the clock and settle to finish an activity by a certain hour. Focus, get rod of anything that could distract you and work more efficiently. Work to accomplish one thing at a time, and finish the project 100%.

3. Ask more out of 15 minutes.

Can you find 15 minutes a day that you could use more efficiently? Is there lost time in your activities? Or maybe a less important activity you can give up on? If you manage to save 15 minutes every day, you will win in fact 91 hours every year!

4. Do a list of little activities that dont take you more than a couple of minutes.

Of course, we usually want to deal with the important problems first. But when we feel tired, stressed, in a bad mood, we find it hard to concentrate and we lose our time forcing ourselves. A list of simple activities will help you finalize something and push up your productivity. And obviously it is always better to know you did something, even is it is small, than to realize you havent even started anything. Sometimes even a small task done completely will set you sailing through the rest of your more complicated activities.

5. Make Large projects more time manageable.

On LARGE projects, it is better to tell yourself: I will work on this for 2 hours and see how much I can get done during this interval. Focus and try to do all you can during that two hours. This is excellent advice to solve problems, and make progress on projects you avoided lately.

These are some simple steps that help me prioritize my day and get more done. I now have a more profitable day and spend more time with my family.

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Achievement Part 3 How Much Time Do You Have in Your Time Bank?

2008-11-14T20:02:00.001-08:00

Achievement Part 3 - How Much Time Do You Have in Your Time Bank?
By Jim Hart

So far in this mini-series we have discussed a variety of issues related to personal achievement through creating a wish/want list and applying your mind to think about those goals to determine the steps you should/could take to start moving towards their achievement. I was contemplating todays article to determine the next course of action for those who are reading and participating in this discussion and I decided to focus on the importance of time and time management.

You see, time is a measuring tool, just like a ruler. In fact, just as there are 12 inches on a ruler there are 12 months in a year. This is important if you want to wisely analyze your time to achieve certain goals and objectives within certain time parameters. First, you should understand that everybody has 24 hours per day in their time bank and you will spend those 24 hours whether you like it or not. You cant save time or make timeall you can do is spend time. How you spend it is what determines personal accomplishment. You can waste timeor you can use it wisely. Nobody knows for sure how much time we have stored up in our time account here on planet earth (except God) and we should be very aware of our time and how we are spending it. The key is to get your mind around your goals and objectives and then create a way to analyze and measure the application of your time.

I have a simple way of setting over all goals I take a ruler, a pencil and a piece of blank paper and I draw a straight line across the top of the page so that each month gets an equal amount of space. Then I segment that line with the title of each month written in the appropriate area under the time line. Then I start to think I write down everything I know about the next year, birthdays, holidays, etc and I mark them on the time line. This gets my mind moving in the right direction and helps me see roadblocks over the next 12 months. Then I ask myself questions: What do I want at the end of this time-line-year? I write it all downeverything these are the big goals then I ask my self what do I have to do to achieve this over the next 12 months? What do I have to do the next 6 months? What do I have to do in the next 90 days? What actions do I have to take in the next 30 days? What are the actions this week? What do I have to do today and each day of the week? Only in this way (or some similar method) can a person begin to account for the application and use of time from their time bank.

This whole time line/goals and objective analysis is a critical first step to getting your mind wrapped around task analysis. How will you know what to do if you dont know what you want to do? You may be a sharp thinkerbut you would be surprised at the number of people who dont study time and set goals and objectives. Many people just flounder from one circumstance to another not really sure of where they are going or how they are going to get there. Time lining and goal setting wont guarantee success but it sure beats the alternatives! It all goes back to chaos or control. Which do you choose? And then there is today today is nothing more then one square of the 365 day-path you will walk this year. Like box cars on a train, each day will pass by whether you like it or not, whether you use it wisely or not and one thing is for sureonly you will know whether you are wasting time or spending it wisely.

My most productive days are realized when I make a checklist of the tasks I want to accomplish the night before. That is, at night, I always write down everything I want to accomplish the next dayI analyze my time and how I will apply it the next day in the morning, afternoon and night. By doing this, I can accomplish more by noon than most accomplish all day. And whatever I dont finish, I carry over to the next days things to do list and I keep records of each day. I play a gameI put a little hand written box in front of each task and when that task is accomplished, I check it off. I love checking off boxes! Why? Because its one less thing I have to do! Work is workand setting goals and objectives creates work but there is a sense of satisfaction when you analyze your time and plan your day tasks and get them done and at the end of the day, the month, the year, you can say to yourself job well done.

If you are want some really cool, high quality worksheets to help you through this mini-series on goals and objectives, click the email link below and send us an email requesting them and well ship them out to your email addressFREE! As always, this is an Ezine exclusive! Until next time

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Time Backwards is 'E M I T'

2008-11-10T05:23:00.001-08:00

Time Backwards is 'E M I T'
By Ina Bliss

To the manifestation of the law that is no respecter of persons, or the loaves and fish diet, emission of your 0-100% faith is all that matters, then be yourself and leave the rest to God (be -- lieve). When Jesus The Christ, our senior exemplifier, re-activated any perfection from sickness, lack, or death, He displayed to our Father, without whom nothing can be done, 100% faith. NOTHING depends upon time. Any theory relying on time is hereby disproved, and the opposite established.

The diet of bread & wine however, is different, and only those who were pre-determined, just like the actors in a play, will perform their role in Gods plot, as the scriptures correctly describe. These persons, who were called and drafted to lead humanity, had to receive Grace from God in order to be able to UNDERSTAND HIS WISDOM AND ENACT IT, in the same way Jesus The Christ demonstrated.

Only those who have been given the initiation from above (as Jesus The Christ told Pilate) can possibly hold true God-power, the power that cannot be bought with money. They also have been given the understanding to GIVE GRACE to all others by overriding and superseding their incurrent situation of lack, old age and 'sickness'. However, that is not all they must do. They also must completely forget about themselves, their boils and bruises, and require nothing for themselves, just as the New Testament prophesies, for most of the events there described have yet to happen.

The word evil backwards is L I V E. Yes, death will be overcome, right here on earth, by re-imagining, or animating dead people, because their image never dissolved. Their image, substance, or essence had been created, before the world was. It is here to stay. However, when they laid down their lives, assuming there was another place to which they had to go, but right here, where the

o m n i present God

is, and from where He has never left, they LOST THEIR OWN VOICE. They did not consider that God IS the coffin, God IS the mourners, God IS the worms that supposedly eat us. He IS also the consuming fire. All commensurate with WHAT one believes.

The Nigerian pastor, whose wife remembered Hebrews and wives will receive their husbands back, was resurrected before a large audience after 48 hours had passed, upon the destruction of his body in a car accident. How? The wife re-imagined him alive. What was resurrected in perfect condition? His image, with his unique likeness (contradicting ANY idea of re-incarnation into another, whatsoever).

Nothing dies in perfection, which should be obvious, b e c a u s e otherwise, the perfect would NOT be perfect.

To BE is to CAUSE, thus the perfect Creator, who created everything in the first 6 days, could only have created perfect images. And, as any (movie) director, He knew the OUTCOME, before He begun the plot.

In the diet of bread and wine, a selection is being made according to spiritual facts. As long as an individual is still not fully aware of God-power and in accordance with this unawareness

(1)Accumulates money

(2)Prepares larger plans for earthly events

(3)Wants and desires to get more and more

(4)Thinks of getting rich, even though we already OWN everything in Abraham

(5)Believes in elsewhere, although the bible only speaks of the H E R E after

Etc.

simply to suit himself, he or she cannot possibly be part of the last generation and follow Jesus The Christ. There is no room for such in the book of life, which contains the whole image of those who advance human awareness of perfection.

The outcome of Gods plot is now in the process of being fully revealed, and will soon no longer be a mystery. Most importantly, the book of Esther will be literally enacted, in a spiritually factual fashion.

The second resurrection is now possible, as the first human has acquired the true understanding of the scripture, and is applying it in the way of Job and Jesus The Christ, by giving grace to all and accumulating God-power in return, to the full degree of possibility and rising.

What would any one give me, when I have materialized Washington, Einstein and Emerson for a quiet afternoon talk of enticing memories? Their 'weight' in gold...

Dr. Ina Bliss is a pioneering possibility thinker, who was drafted without prior awareness and even certified in writing to lead humanity into eternal life, by application of true scriptural wisdom & its instant manifestation. http://www.telechurch.org

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A Year's Worth of Character Training to Last a Lifetime

2008-11-08T19:56:00.001-08:00

A Year's Worth of Character Training to Last a Lifetime
By Kate Hufstetler

Ever wonder why some kids are the way they are? Ever wonder why some kids seem to lack the basics in true inner character? Well, just exactly how did we think children would ever get character without being taught character. Long gone are the days when whole communities worship weekly. Long gone are the days when everyone in our small societal circles subscribe to the same exacting morals and principles to guide life and living.

I remember when my son was young we made a move to a new state. We left behind a community within a community. We left behind a large group of people (friends and neighbors) that subscribed to similar ethics and standards of behavior. Everyone we knew, predominantly, up-held the same guiding principles that our family lived by. Then that ever fateful day. It was during the first week at his new preschool & playing with his new neighborhood friends in our new state. My son walked in the house and I made a simple statement because that is how we do it. To which my son replied well, Mikes family doesnt do it that way and they dont even care about that stuff. UGH ! We had come to another milestone in parenting: awareness of diversity within family styles and values.

The reality is that kids DO learn through osmosis; meaning, they will assimilate and become what they see around them. However, what is it that they see around them? Aside from home-schooled children (or those that attend private academies) children today are away from their families up to 12 hours a day in some cases including before and after school care. Being gone either 8 hours or 12 hours a day leaves precious little time for a family to model all the appropriate qualities they wish to instill within their children. Not to mention, these hours are relegated to EARLY morning hours (barely awake time) and late evening before bed hours (barely coherent time again).

Over a lifetime our children will spend the majority of their time away from us. They will be witnesses to their friends, their friends families, movies, worship communities, television shows, video games, scouting troops, music, sports teams, camps & conferences, etc. There will be an excess of information coming into your childs awareness and all of it leading to who your child becomes.

There are many many places your child will observe character, some of it good and some of it not good. Besides what type of character-- which attributes will your child randomly be exposed to? And will your child be able to identify them, understand them, and discern how to incorporate them in such a way to be a wonderful adult?

Here is a list of 52 qualities of internal character. You can take one item a week to fill up a years worth of character training within your own home. You can design the curriculum, buy the curriculum, or hire someone to work with your family to tailor content that reflects the lessons youd like your child to learn along the way in life. As I said before, long gone are the days when parents can just trust that throughout the day their child is taking in the right information to become a responsible, highly functional, & happy member of society. Take the list. Tweak it to fit your lifestyle and preferences. Have fun with it. And enjoy knowing you are not leaving your childs character up to chance.

Accountability

Caring

Character

Charity

Compassion

Credibility

Desire

Determination

Diversity Awareness

Diversity Respect

Duty / Responsibility

Empathy

Excellence

Fairness

Flexibility

Following directions

Friendliness

Frugal

Fun

Generosity

Gentleness

Giving

Global awareness

Happiness

Helpfulness

Honesty

Honor

Hope

Humility

Imagination

Integrity

Judgment / reason

Knowledge / education

Logic

Loyalty

Obedience

Openness / privacy

Patience

Peace

Perseverance

Politeness

Respect

Self-control

Sharing

Sportsmanship

Strength (internal)

Team player

Tenderness

Tolerance

Trust

Trust-worthiness

Uniqueness

Until next time--- all the best,

Kate

About The Author
Kate Hufstetler is a well established personal life coach and spiritual facilitator who has helped many individuals like yourself. Her clients come from both the United States and overseas. She offers coaching services via email and phone consultations Her specialty is to cut through delusions that keep people living a mediocre unsatisfying life, to get them to engage reality, initiate changes in order to propel them to the life they truly desire. http://www.comedreamwithme.com

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A Time to Rest A Time to Heal

2008-11-08T19:45:00.001-08:00

A Time to Rest, A Time to Heal
By Bonnie Moss

Life is not always a pleasant walk down the garden path.Who has not known pain and anguish? Who has not suffered the wounds of a relationshipdiscord? Problems are challenges life casts our way.

We navigate through the detours and face dead-ends in our journey. We set sail, aware of the possibility of stormy weather that can develop overnight. But we are determined to ride outthe storm and not get lost in it.

At times, we take more than we can handle. We arecaught up in giving ourselves to the call of duty. Wetend to justify the demands on our time and energy.We forget that the world will go on, with or without us.

Life goes in cycles - sometimes the cycle is up, then it goes down, like the spokes of a wheel. Sorrow and grief comes to everyone sooner or later.

A grieving heart affects the mind, body and spiritdeeply. Sometimes the pain is buried so deeply where no one can reach it, much less touch it.

Frustrations, failures, relationship issues, career and family concerns, financial issues, health problems and having too much on the plate all add up to stress.

Do you listen to the signs your body sends toslow down or take a much needed rest? There isonly so much pain or suffering one can bear.There is a limit to human endurance.

Peace becomes elusive. Perspective is notas sharp, there is too much clutter in the mind.

It helps to get away from the source of conflict to gain a better perspective and to re-groupyour thoughts.Take a vacation. If this is not feasible, a day away from it all will probably do.

But take a breather. This is not running away, woes are still hovering over and waiting. Taking a respite from it all paves the way to healing the accumulated emotional and mentalstress.

Anxiety and worry cloud anyones judgment. Perhaps, there is a need to cut some slack for now. What would you change if you werefaced with the same situation?

Take the time to re-evaluate and re-assess yourpriorities. It is a time to step back and look after your needs. Relax, catch your breath,even for a short time, because you have to takethe next step. The battle is not over.

Plan the next stage, for lifes problems do not dissipate into thin air. Pull yourself together, empower yourself so that your thoughts and actions are in harmony with your highest truth of who you are. Validate your beliefs.

Deep wounds need healing and this takes time. Retreat is a good start- retreat from all that is worrisome, confusing and aggravating. Quiettime and time alone to reflect is a good way to clear the mental clutter and move on.

This is the time to recharge your energies. It is a time to heal, mind, body and soul. It is a time to recognize the chaos and confusion thatcan cause illusions or delusions and make peaceso elusive.

Forgive what needs to be forgiven. Forgivenesscan be liberating.

Healing takes time, allow yourself that. Remember,time is a great healer, if you let it.

Bonnie Moss writes to inspire and to motivateher readers to explore the depths of their heart andsoul. She draws from personal experience and her interest in the New Age .Visit her website :http://goldencupcafe.tripod.com

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Use Your Time Wisely!

2008-11-08T19:28:00.003-08:00

Use Your Time Wisely!
By Michael Lee

When I was small, I have never considered the importance of time.
I would just laze around, watch TV, lie in bed, and play video
games. As I grew older, I thought about the things that I have
achieved. To my surprise, I haven't accomplished a lot.

I resolved to myself that I will do things that will contribute
to the benefit of mankind. I studied very hard and learned a
lot of lessons from my experience. I lack self-confidence
before, so I want to help other people overcome this predicament.

I became obssessed with self-improvement, so I started a
newsletter. I'm also working on an ebook about persuasion as
I'm writing this. I want to help anyone in need because it
feels so good to solve other people's problems.

I urge you now to make the most use of your time. It may be
joining a fundraising organization. You may also learn new
skills or crafts. Create a goal and go for it!

Don't be a couch potato. Don't just sit around and be contented
with the monotonous patterns of your daily activities.

Do something nice and give all your best to the fulfillment
of a worthwhile endeavor. It will give you a very deep sense
of happiness and satisfaction.

Some people complain that they don't have enough time to take
action on their goals. They have to go to their 9 to 5 job,
then when they go home they feel so tired all they can think
about is watch TV, relax, and sleep.

I'm not saying that leisure is a no-no. In fact, everyone should
take time out once in a while to recharge and revitalize their
energy. The key is to have a balanced life. Set aside a
fraction of your time to carry out your dreams and ambitions.
Reserve some time to establish healthy relationships.

Ok, I hear you. You're saying that you really just can't budget
your time?

Don't panic. Here are some time management tips.

1) If possible, do more than one thing at the same time.

Exercise while watching your favorite TV show. Listen to
educational tapes while waiting for the bus.

Be forewarned! Never do this if it puts you at risk or in
danger; for example, don't text while driving.

2) Don't do something later if it can be done concurrently with
an activity at present.

If you're going to the market to buy some eggs, think of the
other things that you have to purchase so that you don't have
to return again.

If you have an appointment with the dentist today and you also
have to go to the bank (which is near the dentist's clinic) at
any day, schedule the two activities on the same day.

3) Be organized in everything that you do.

Put labels on bottles. Put similar files on one folder. Make a
list of things you have to do for the day.

You can also use your mind to organize things you have to
remember. Studies have shown that you could only retain
information that fit between 5 to 9 categories at a time.
This is the 7+-2 rule of Neurolinguistic Programming.

If you have many things to do, try to group related things together.
You can combine activities such as reading books, listening to
educational tapes, and watching training videos into a category
such as Education. Then you can group swimming, playing
basketball, and paying fees for the gym in a category called
Fitness. Get the picture?

Time is one of our most valuable resources. Once lost, it can
never be reclaimed. We must use time wisely for our development
and advancement; so that when we are old, we can look back and
recollect the pleasant memories and deeds that we have achieved.
Time well spent is worth much more than gold.

Michael Lee is the author of How To Be A Red Hot Persuasion Wizard, an ebook designed to fully improve your relationships, multiply your profits, win negotiations, and help you attain all the desired freedom and power you could ever dream of. Go to http://www.20daypersuasion.com now and grab a sample chapter.

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A New Approach to Time Management

2008-11-08T19:28:00.001-08:00

A New Approach to Time Management
By Nowshade Kabir

In todays hectic life style it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage time effectively. There are so many things to do, and so little time! Internet is supposed to be the ultimate means for bringing efficiency to your life. The information that you need, the business tool you use, everything is now at your finger tip thanks to ubiquitous access to the Internet. But did it make your life easier? Most of us will tell probably not. On the contrary! Easy access to virtually any information lures us to spend way too much time on the Internet. How to regain total control of our precious time?

Time is a relative concept

In the physical world time indeed is a relative matter. In Einsteins Special Theory of Relativity times relative value was exemplified in the paradox often referred to as Paradox of Twin.

Consider that in a not so far future time there lived a pair of twins Rob and Mary somewhere on the Earth. Mary decided to visit a star eight light years away, stop there for a while and come back. The technology at that time allows her to travel at a speed of 80 percent of the speed of light on a fast spaceship. She made her trip and came back to the Earth. What will she see? While by Earths time 20 years have passed since she left, she has aged only 12 years and definitely looked younger than her twin.

Maybe we dont see this relative physical characteristic of time in real life, one thing we all know is when we are busy with things that interest us, we feel that time passes faster and when we are engaged in a boring or dull job, we feel that the time is passing slowly.

Before we try to manage our time effectively we should have a better perception of our own time and how we spend it. The following exercise will help you get a better picture of your own time:

For three consecutive days write down everything you do from the moment you woke up and till you go to bed. Keep your pen and paper always handy. If necessary set alarm for every two hours to remind you so that you dont forget to log. The idea is to get a thorough picture of your daily activities. After three days take a look at your logged data and on a separate list write down how much time you spent in an average day on each activity like sleeping, commuting, reading, working, socializing, etc.

Spending time on important things onlyNow take a look on all your activities from a different approach. Assign each of the activity to one of the following groups: Urgent and important, Not urgent but important, Urgent but not important, Not urgent and not important.

Urgent and important: These are the priority number one tasks. Making your sales call, preparing for tomorrows exam and paying bills due today these are some examples of urgent and important works.

Not Urgent but important: There are works that are not so pressing, but you understand by procrastinating them you are impairing your growth. These are the tasks on which you should emphasize your efforts most. Setting goals, planning your activities, and writing your business plan are examples from this group.

Urgent but not important: We spend a substantial amount of time on works that are pressing but does not have any real impact on achieving specific objectives. You have to chair a meeting that your colleague has requested as he is sick is an example of this type of activities. Often tasks from this group are requests from others or workloads you have willingly taken but deep in your mind you know that these tasks really dont carry any personal value for you.

Not urgent and not important: These are the real time wasters. Reading junk mails, browsing through the Internet aimlessly, making unnecessary calls to friends are some of the common activities that should be avoided.

Since in the core of effective time management lies the idea of doing things that are important to you, you have to figure out how to select those tasks.

Goal setting

Goal setting is an absolute necessary method for personal planning. The process of goal setting gives you the real picture of your life what you are now and what you are planning to be in the future. To understand which tasks are really important to you and will help you achieve success you have to set long term goals and then subdivide them to short terms goals. Once you did this, write all the things you have to do to reach these goals, steps you have to take and time span necessary to act upon them.

Use a planner

Move all these necessary activities to a planner. Identify the milestones. These should be your sub-goals. Specify how much time you will need to reach those milestones. Insert the tasks from the list you have created to the planner. Make weekly to do list based on your planner. Choose no more than three to four tasks for each of your goals in a week.

Develop daily to do lists

Your daily to do list should incorporate one or two most important activities from your planner. Your daily to do list should be scheduled loosely. Make sure that you dont spend too much time on work related tasks. Over working will burn your enthusiasm quickly and bring you back to your previous life style.

In the beginning you might feel overwhelmed with the quantity of tasks you plan to do. To build your self confidence and manage time efficiently choose five not so difficult tasks each day and promise yourself that no matter what you will finish these five tasks. If you continue this for three weeks, it will become a part of your daily habit and build your self trust.

Every time during the course of the day if you have to do a task which is not from your list, ask yourself this question, Is this really important to my goals? If the answer is Yes! then go for it, if not get back to your list.

Time Management strategies help us to stay motivated and create a balanced lifestyle. The above mentioned methods are effective when followed scrupulously.

Nowshade Kabir is the CEO of Rusbiz.com, a global B2B Portal, which helps companies build web store, buy and sell products and services using eMarketplace, eCatalog and other features. Rusbiz also offers website development packages: http://www.rusbiz.com/designpackage.html

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Using Simpleology for Effective Time Management

2008-11-08T17:29:00.001-08:00

Using Simpleology for Effective Time Management
By Guy Lecky-Thompson

Introduction

As entrepreneurs, we all suffer from lack of time. Those just starting out have it the worst, if only because they need to dedicate time to an active professional life as well as any entrepreneurial activities they might also be doing.

It's very easy to do the math. If a person is working 8 hours a day, and has a family life, there will be very little waking time left to dedicate to that third pillar of their existence. They can not, however, turn it off. It is always there, probing our consciousness and begging for attention.

Based on the assumption that it is simply not going away, and that we will eventually use our entrepreneurial sprit to succeed, it makes sense to try and use the 2 hours per day we can dedicate to it in an effective manner. Managing this time appropriately will ensure we get the most out of it.

On top of the scarcity of our entrepreneurial time, there is the probability that we will be dedicating ourselves to it at a time of day when we typically have little energy left (early morning or late evening). For those that fall into the small percentage of people for whom this does not present a problem, imaging giving yourselves an instant boost at this critical time of day!

What is Simpleology?

To explain this, I'll borrow a phrase from Simpleology creator, Mark Joyner. He states that it is the 'simple science of getting what you want'. It is a methodology, rooted in a system of rules, processes and empirical measurements.

The key is in understanding that it works on different levels. Each person is free to apply it on different levels, depending on their goals. Bear in mind, though, that the true power lies in applying all aspects of Simpleology, and only then will you get all the benefits. Not everyone, however, needs all the benefits, because we all have different aims.

So, the true entrepreneur, geared towards making a substantial income from these activities, and seeking to empower themselves to achieve this in a relatively painless and very structured fashion needs to embrace Simpleology in its' entirety for it to take them there. This also takes a dedicated person, with time on their hands.

If you don't have that time, then it can still help.

If I do this, am I doing it?

Let's just be clear. Simpleology is great. Mark Joyner has created something which really does work. If you do what I point to here, you're not doing Simpleology. Perhaps one day you will, and you will almost certainly gain great benefit from doing so. As I do.

For example, Simpleology is based around a 15 minute daily ritual, which I have reduced here to the bare essentials required for time management. Some of the techniques I have taught in the past crop up again in this method, others do not.

Most of the Simpleology items have been removed; mainly those aimed at increasing your Time and Money powers. These powers are part of a trio (Time, Energy, Money) which can be increased by defining those decisions which make them weaker, and replacing them with ones that make them stronger. It sounds simple, but it involves some deep soul searching that we'll not go into here.

Simpleology Time Management

For those who don't have the time to go the whole hog, concentrate on using those 15 minutes to set your mind to the task. Three simple pieces of paper are all that you need - one to list everything that's on your mind at the outset, one to list everything from that first list that is a vague idea with no concrete action, and a final sheet to hold everything that has been farmed out elsewhere.

Spend 5 to 7 minutes clearing everything out of your brain, and putting it to paper, safe in the knowledge that this way it will be dealt with. Then cross out everything that you can not influence, and copy the items to the second paper that need more thought.

Finally, copy all the delegated items (things that must be done, but not by you) to the third sheet, and put it somewhere safe along with the second sheet. Then do all the items on the first sheet, and throw it away.

As a last action, after you've finished your allotted entrepreneurial work time, copy the items to delegate to the 'things to do sheet' for the next session. Delegate the tasks, being sure to specify when you expect the delegated to report back, and put their name next to the task.

This one simple routine, part of Simpleology, will have a profound effect on your working time. And, they're not even paying me to say that.

Summary

So, Simpleology is a great help in time management, proving a little more structured than traditional techniques. As such I'm glad to have found it, and integrate it in my own business practices, and pass it on to others.

At the very least, it takes away an 'energy leech', another Simpleology term meaning something which saps your energy, and helps to dispel a 'time leech'. Considering that it will also help you to perform at your best when you might not be feeling it, it is to be applauded and applied.

Guy specialises in helping clients get the most from the written word - be it copywriting, summarised research or company material. He also helps in a consultancy role dealing with quality, effectiveness and acts as a disinterested third party in joint venture matchmaking.

Guy W. Lecky-Thompsonhttp://www.lecky-thompson.net

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A Lifetime In Love

2008-11-07T01:43:00.001-08:00

A Lifetime In Love
By Ken Austin

We let ourselves love but are afraid to say I love you.We constantly allow our emotions to run deep but why do we hold back on our sweet sensations and tingling feelings?

Sometimes although it hurts so bad we cry out for more.Is this what love is meant to be like?

There are times when special moments become favourite memories but we findsolace and comfort within, without saying a word, without expressing our true feelings, justliving life as it comes.

One day it will all begin to fade away and the question will be asked:

Where did I go wrong to make it like this?

Where is the love?

What can I do to turn back the hands of time?

The feelings were there but you grew apart. Now you have awakened from your dream with a broken heart.

Too late to say who is to be blamed. Oh what a dreadful shame.

Always share your dreams and grow together, making simple moments in life the biggest things ever.

Out of the blue say I love you, whether there is joy or sorrow. Love knows no boundaries and no distance so why not let love continue to be boundless.

Why continue to place obstacles in the way of love?

Once is a lifetime, forever in love. Make it truly a lifetime in love.

Ken Austin
Online Discount Shopping Guide,
Roses and Rose Gardening

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=KenAustin
http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Lifetime-In-Love&id=13519

Time Management Training

2008-11-07T01:27:00.001-08:00

Time Management Training
By Josh Riverside

To become a 'successful' individual in the traditional sense of the term, it is essential to manage one's time well. There are individuals all around us who go wrong with their Time Management, day in and day out. It is not only a working professional who might be in a desperate need of developing Time Management skills. It is also important to develop such skills for domestic and personal purposes.

Time Management Training is available in a variety of forms. There are workshops and seminars that initiate the individual into the right mode and make him aware of a number of things that are mandatory for proper Time Management. Time Management self-help books are always in great demand, and book sellers often find them flying off the racks, faster than hotcakes.

Besides, there are official programs that might help one to develop and hone Time Management skills. Both seminars and programs may at times prove to be a little tough on the pocket. However, inexpensive programs are also available that train the individual online.

The main skills that one is taught are: learning to set one's goals, both long term as well as short term; learning not to pay too much attention to details; learning to prioritize and thus finish the more important tasks first; learning to do more than one activity at the same time, learning to ignore or lessen interruptions (visitors, telephone calls) and so on.

On the one hand, training may be had professionally, with one's teammates and colleagues. On the other hand, there may be individuals who prefer self-training, and this may be done in a number of ways (internet, offline seminars, official diploma programs, self-help books etc.). The key idea is to reduce unnecessary time wastage and make one do his tasks and chores in an organized and neat manner.

Time Management provides detailed information about time management, business time management, personal time management, time management programs and more. Time Management is the sister site of Free Job Descriptions.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=JoshRiverside
http://EzineArticles.com/?Time-Management-Training&id=145040

Managing Time in a Fast Paced World

2008-11-07T01:10:00.003-08:00

Managing Time in a Fast Paced World
By David Chandler

Managing time in a high-paced world is never easy, but when we have the right tools, it certainly is obtainable. If stress is getting you down, you are not alone. Many people today are suffering stress because of the fast pace. Although stress is an obviously problem, it does not have to be. We can manage our stress levels by focusing on time management. We can enjoy a busy schedule while finding time to relax. Stressors are leading causes to stress and include changes in an environment, family, business, et cetera. Dealing with everyday struggles, can cause stress if we are buying a new home, preparing for marriage, or changing careers. Some of us have to deal with multiple stressors at the same time, and it makes our life more difficult to handle. Multitasking between the struggles is never easy, so relaxing seems to be outdated.

Many of us are overwhelmed by the constant changes in technology, which includes computers, phones, fax, E-mails, cell phones, and other devices. How can we ever get ahead of the game if someone is always changing the plans? Stress is the leading cause of heart attacks, high-blood pressure, stomach tension, tightened muscles, and other health related pains and aches. Our hormones when pushed beyond the limits often respond in a negative light. Managing time is essential for dealing with stress. If you work, attend classes, and go home to a family every night, you understand that time is vital to maintain. Work is part of an everyday life, and most of us get up early in the morning and head out the door. Some of us skip breakfast, exercise and other healthful tasks, not realizing that this is part of managing time.

If you are taking care of your body, your body will take care of you. Life does not have to be hard; rather it can be a trial and error in soothing lights.

Time management starts with a plan. If you have plans you know that goals often following the plan. Once we set a plan in motion, we must act on it accordingly and sufficiently to make the plan work and reduce our stress level. After we have a plan in motion focusing on our goals, we must find an organizing scheme that works best for our person. Some of us make lists, which are very helpful for putting a plan in motion. Lists are common tasks that we are required to obtain. Getting the most important tasks completed first is part of a time management plan that works most effectively. Once we move the bigger tasks out of the way, we find more time after the little tasks are finished.

Changes are going to happen, and the world is constantly moving, so managing our time is the solution for reducing stress and obtaining goals. Managing time and stress in a fast-paced world is never easy, but the right tools sure can make the load lighter.

For more information about time management, visit Time Management

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=DavidChandler
http://EzineArticles.com/?Managing-Time-in-a-Fast-Paced-World&id=114958

Read This Article if Life Sometimes Frustrates You

2008-11-07T01:10:00.001-08:00

Read This Article if Life Sometimes Frustrates You
By Lance Winslow

Does life often frustrate you; do you feel challenged by the events of daily life? The traffic, the stress and all the sound and fury that will not give you a rest; does this frustrate you. Why do you let the world bother you in this way? Why do you let it affect your internal feelings? Why do you worry about such trivial things? Why do you allow the unimportant events of the external to affect your energy in such a negative way?

If you cannot control your own emotions then you are merely reacting to stimuli. May I ask you what this says to your free will? Are you being controlled or are you controlling your own life? If you have surrendered yourself to outside stimulus then you have effectively unconsciously given away your mind and your destiny to something other than you.

If you choose to continue on this path and it is a choice in your life that is okay too, but you should be keenly aware of what you are doing as you give your life away to the sound and fury of the human endeavor and mass media hysteria. By the way have you decided yet why you do this? Why are you allowing yourself to be manipulated, controlled and motivated like a puppet on strings? Is there a purpose to your motions; is it a planned means to an end or are you stuck in the sand where your wheels do spin. Think on this.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; www.WorldThinkTank.net/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=LanceWinslow
http://EzineArticles.com/?Read-This-Article-if-Life-Sometimes-Frustrates-You&id=116222

Webmaster or Web Slave? Time Saving Tips for Cyberpreneurs

2008-11-06T17:02:00.001-08:00

Webmaster or Web Slave? Time Saving Tips for Cyberpreneurs
By Marty Foley

Time is money in your online business, just as in the offline business world.

Problem is, the typical Internet entrepreneur is in a race against time: Often snowed under with many things to do, trying to achieve maximum results (income) within the precious, very limited time available.

Especially if you're holding down a full-time job while trying to launch or expand your Internet business in your spare hours, you've got precious little time to waste.

If care isn't exercised in the way we spend time online, our personal and family life can suffer, not to mention bad financial consequences.

To add to that pressure, family members may resent the amount of time spent on our venture, versus the limited income it may initially earn.

As the author of an audio program on time management, I'm going to share with you some proven time management tips, which have been adapted to running a business online. I can't promise you more than 24 hours in your day, but I'll share practical tips to help you work smarter and more profitably online - instead of longer or harder.

Two primary keys to making the most of the time we spend online are:

A) Being selective, and

B) Staying focused.

We must be SELECTIVE, because there are an infinite number of things we can spend our online time on, which will not yield productive results.

We must stay FOCUSED, because any of an infinite number of things can easily distract us from getting more important things done.

That brings us to the first step of effective online time management...

1) Set Goals

If you don't know what your final destination is, how can you ever take action toward getting there? Hence, the need to set goals.

The goals you set for your online business will vary, based on which stage you're at and which direction you want to go from there. It helps to write your goals down and periodically review them. Many feel that this better enables your subconscious mind to help you work toward your goals.

2) Keep and Use a Prioritized To-Do List

Keeping lists may seem simplistic, but the most productive top-achievers are typically methodical users of To-Do lists.

Be sure to rank each task on your To-Do lists by priority, such as high, medium or low. As you tackle the items on your list, always tackle the highest priority tasks first, and those of lower priority as time allows. Obviously, your highest priority tasks will correspond with the achievement of your highest priority goals.

I've found that a 3-ring binder kept near my computer is a good place for organizing To-Do lists, project notes, and other frequently used online information, within easy fingertip reach.

Once your goals are set, you'll know exactly where you're going (and what to stay focused on), and when you use a prioritized To-Do list, you'll have a step-by-step plan for reaching your destination.

3) Exercise Self-Discipline

The best time management system in the world is worthless if we don't exercise self-discipline.

It's so easy to log on to the Net, just planning to check your email, and before you know it, get distracted by other things and end up spending much more time on things we hadn't planned, and wonder where the time went.

I know, I know: It's easier said than done, but exercising self-discipline will help us stay focused and avoid wasting time or getting distracted on less important activities. If you can stay focused on the most important tasks (which you've identified by setting goals and prioritizing your To-Do list), you'll see greater results from your time and effort.

4) Automate Where Possible

I have written much more on this topic than the limited space in this article allows, but let me mention a few tools that aren't new to online marketers, but whose time-saving value is often overlooked:

*Autoresponders

Autoresponders are very useful tools for automatically filling your prospects' requests for information on your products and services, non-stop, 24 hrs of every day of the year.

*Email Filters

The filters feature of good email programs such as Pegasus and Eudora Pro make the automation of many email activities a snap. If you're not using them, you don't know what you're missing.

~ Pegasus: http://www.pmail.com/

~ Eudora Pro: http://www.eudora.com

5) Periodically Analyze Your Business

In our quest for more value from the time we spend in our online businesses, it helps to stand back and periodically analyze which activities have been working - and which haven't.

From there, we can give more attention to expanding what's been working, and tweak, change, or eliminate what hasn't. We can thus progressively see more profitable results from the time spent online.

Conclusion

If you want to get maximum benefit from the limited time you have to accomplish things in your online business, or any other area of life, you must manage your time well.

When you do, you'll achieve more, and you'll look back on your work with the satisfaction of knowing that you got the most important things done, instead of looking back with regret.

As Benjamin Franklin said: Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.

About The Author

Marty Foley is a successful home business owner and the founder of http://ProfitInfo.com/. His Internet marketing techniques and resources have helped set the standard in e-commerce, and have often been imitated by other famous Internet marketers. They can truly help you succeed online: http://ProfitInfo.com/

MFoley@ProfitInfo.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=MartyFoley
http://EzineArticles.com/?Webmaster-or-Web-Slave?-Time-Saving-Tips-for-Cyberpreneurs&id=24313

Time Management Working Smarter at Work

2008-11-06T16:36:00.001-08:00

Time Management - Working Smarter at Work
By Lorraine Pirihi

Let's look at your time management skills. Most of us have to work, and the more you can do in the least amount of time, the better. Working smarter frees you up so that not only do you have a job, but you have a life too!

Getting Back To Basics

The most useful little helper for business people must surely be the daily To Do list.

You have a couple of choices:

Write your list in the morning, as the first task at the commencement of your working day.

Step back a bit and take the time to do it before you finish up the night before - as your final flourish for the day. This helps to free your mind so that you don't take your work home with you. Instead, you just leave it there to stew, all by itself, until you arrive next morning to take up the reins.

Write It Down

Effective time management means writing things down so you don't waste your time worrying about what you've forgotten.

Avoid trying to create a To Do list in your head. It must, must, must be written down. And then left somewhere highly visible, such as your desk top. That's why I suggest writing it in your diary, so you can juggle it with your other commitments.

An effective To Do list will almost always be updated during the day. It is not a static document. As your priorities alter with each crisis, your list will be a work in progress.

First of all, don't be unrealistic. Steel yourself to list only the achievable projects and activities. If you are unable to complete a task on the designated day, simply transfer it to the next day or another suitable time in your diary. Look at the daily To Do list as the map that keeps you on track.

When you have written your list in the diary, go back and number each item in order of importance. Then, you can simply start with No. One and work your way through.

Your Work Book

In our busy working lives today, we are bombarded with so many different distractions that it is sometimes difficult to keep track of everything that's going on, particularly if you work in an open-plan office.

Instead of recording on scraps of paper or sticky notes all the zillion thoughts that pass through your mind during these stressful periods, use an inexpensive spiral note book. Anything of importance that you write down can then be found again at a later date. Use it as an adjunct, or a companion, to your diary and as a great memory jogger.

You'll find using a Work Book will help you focus your thoughts, remind yourself of past conversations and save time as you'll no longer have to search for all those ack of envelope notations.

Taming the Telephone

Murphy's Law of Telephones and Deadlines means that when you are really pressed trying to complete a project on time, the telephone will take off, with a mind of its own.

The pro-active person will rejig their answering message to say something like this: Hi, it's Joe Bloggs. I'm unavailable right now however if you leave a message stating what your call is about, and the best time to phone you back, I'll get in touch later in the day.

On the other hand, if you have someone working with you who can screen your calls (lucky you) word them up to give a similar message. Asking what the call is about will help you assemble any relevant information before you call back. This will enable you to better plan your day, to return all calls sooner and more effectively.

The Final Word

Keep your time management systems simple because the simpler they are the more likely you will use them. Doing the basics will help you work smarter, not harder.

Have a great week!

Lorraine Pirihi

About The Author

Lorraine Pirihi is Australia's Personal Productivity Specialist and Leading Life Coach. Her business The Office Organiser specialises in showing small business owners and managers, how to get organised at work so they can have a life! Lorraine is also a dynamic speaker and has produced many products including How to Survive and Thrive at Work!

To subscribe to her free ezine visit http://www.office-organiser.com.au

This article may be reproduced providing it is published in it's entirety, including the author's bio and all links. For further information please contact Lorraine Pirihi; lorraine@office-organiser.com.au

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Time-Management---Working-Smarter-at-Work&id=15139

What ARE You Doing With All That Time?

2008-11-06T16:27:00.001-08:00

What ARE You Doing With All That Time?
By Michael Werner

One of the things that absolutely, positively drives me nuts-so are some friends and people I run across who hate their jobs. Face it, you're at work, thinking about work, on the way to or from work, or talking about work for what . . . maybe 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year?

And, if you really hate the joint you work in or can't stand the people you're around, I'm guessing you're spending a few more hours fretting over it and them.

So, let's do some math and we won't even include those can't-stand-the-place hours in the calculation.

In a year, you are awake about 5,840 hours.

Of that time, you are in work mode about 2,500 hours.

Think about it, then: you are somehow doing something work-related for nearly 50% of your waking hours.

Wholy schmoly, shouldn't you be doing something you passionately care about?

Okay, okay, yeah-yeah-yeah, you have your reasons. You're waiting for the right time. You gotta get the kiddies through college. Your spouse won't let you. Yabbity yabbity yabbity.

Find what you want, then go do it.

Michael Werner is the CEO of InfoSource, Inc., an elearning company, and the publisher of Dream Jobs Dialog, at http://www.DreamJobsDialog.com, a site dedicated to life seekers and dream job searchers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=MichaelWerner
http://EzineArticles.com/?What-ARE-You-Doing-With-All-That-Time?&id=260301

A Change of Faith Three times in One Lifetime

2008-11-06T16:16:00.003-08:00

A Change of Faith Three times in One Lifetime
By Lanie Pambid

A person who has faith in a certain religion will be the basis of his spirituality in a way wherein his thoughts and beliefs would mend with his daily practices in life, including hearing the gospel, going to church, praying, etc.

Anyone may have or may not have a religion or a belief. Simply because they do not believe in God or any god for that matter.

Would you consider a person who changes faith three times in one lifetime common?

In my outlook, it is not very common. I will discuss about a high school friend who changed her faith three times already in the 26 years of her life. She was baptized as a Catholic when she was a child. Then in her grade school until her high school years, she studied in a Christian school where we became friends. From this point, she is easily convinced with what she hears in church and in our Bible study programs. And now, when she had a new boyfriend whose religion and belief are quite different from Catholics and Christians, I have learned from her that she has been baptized in that sect wherein the teachings are way different from that of her old religion.

If a person, can easily be convinced with a new belief one after the other, do you think that there is a probability that this person does not know what to really believe in? Do you think that the term gullible can be described as one of her weaknesses?

In a different perspective, once a person believes in something, that belief or that faith would be attached to his awareness, wherein it takes years to build up as to make the faith become stronger. If my friend can easily be influenced then she can change her faith again making it four times in a lifetime. What I am trying to say here is that faith in something or a belief in some sort cannot be called faith if it can be easily tainted or altered. Why do we have to call it faith if the said faith is not really being confident in what you believe in?

I do not want to make any suggestions or resentments whatsoever to anyones life or belief or faith, but, my point is that people should not call it faith if the said faith does not even exist in the persons whole being.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=LaniePambid
http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Change-of-Faith-Three-times-in-One-Lifetime&id=190702

What's the Secret of Effective Time Management it's not What you Think!

2008-11-06T16:16:00.001-08:00

What's the Secret of Effective Time Management, it's not What you Think!
By Tim Stokes

Time management is the process of trying to cram into a day more things that will fit. Think abut it. If you sat down and thought about all of what you need to do and made a big list of things you need to do in any day or week Ill bet you have a big list of things that are impossible to fit into one day. How can you squeeze 12 hours worth of work into 8 hours? You cant its impossible.

Have you ever stopped to think about what youre really trying to achieve in business? Whats important to you about business ownership? Is it to make a better income? Is it to have more time off, more time with family, longer holidays? Being busy and trying to find time doesnt work. So time management isnt what you need.

We all have the same number of hours in a day, no matter if you own a business of any kind, or work for someone else. Were all busy. So being busy becomes an excuse to achieve what we really want to achieve, its just that were losing our way because were losing sight of the vision we had before we became busy.

Effective use of your time is what makes a huge difference. In other words, its time prioritising that matters, not time management. When you get your priorities in order and focus on them you will transform your business and life! Youll do the things that free up your time so fast it will amaze you. Youll make rapid progress towards the vision of you once had of your own success.

Let me give you an example. I had a business client who said he was working 80 hours a week and didnt have time to grow his business. Sound familiar? So I listened to him as he told me his business situation.

An hour later I said you have all the tools already on hand to free up your time and make a big difference with your business. All you need to do is stop being busy and start changing your priorities. Heres what I told him. Start letting some of your team (staff) do some of what you do and stop controlling the business and team.

He had team who had experience, he just wasnt letting them be leaders. He thought he was the only person who could think and solve problems. He hadnt realized his team could as well. So we made a list of all aspects of his week and what roles he had. Then I questioned him on all of them asking, why cant someone else do this? If you were sick and couldnt work for a week, would you think your whole business would stop, or would someone fill in the role you play?

He then agreed he could let someone else do what he does. He then realized he had little left to do himself! I had taken away a large section of his busy-ness. He wondered what was left for him to do. Then I said with your free time you can work on your business to make a real difference.

So how do you prioritise your time? Easy! Write a list of all the things you do in your business in a week. You might need to do that by having a sheet where you write down what you do every 30 minutes for a week. Dont think you dont need to or youre too busy to, do this step.

Next, categorize each of your tasks into categories. Each category is a job title you could pay someone else to do. Often as business owners you where a few hats. Your roles could be sales for 20 hours, production for 25 hours, accounting for 3 hours, administration for 10 hours and working on the business 1 hour.

Next, put an hourly rate next to each role for what you would have to pay someone else to do that role. So for example, sales = $22/hour (total of $440), production = $16/hour (total of $400), accounting = $14/hour (total of $42) and administration = $12/hour (total of $120).

Now we need to look at what value you bring to the business. I believe as business owners your time is far more valuable (when used to its best advantage). If you learn how to write ads by reading a book you can double the responses of all of your ads quite easily, so your time would be extremely valuable in this example. So lets say your time is worth $50 per hour and that you can make $50 an hour minimum if you had enough time to do so.

Applying these numbers that means if you want to replace your time spent in the above 4 areas it would work like this. To free up time in administration you could write a system of what you do and give it to someone else to do the work. This frees up 10 hours, but then to page the wages of that person you have to work a bit over 2 hours at $50/hour. In other words you have freed up about 8 hours of your time.

Next you replace your self in accounting with a system for someone else to do that work. That means you work 1 hour there to get back 2 extra hours. See how the process works? Then we replace you in production with 8 hours to save 17 hours (25-8). Then you have far more time to work in sales, which is the area you give the most value in, as that is your highest area of value for what your time is worth.

This is effective use of your time. This is time prioritising, not time management. If youre too busy all the time who is growing your business? The buck stops with you, youre it! You have to have time free to grow the business, but while ever you're doing work you can pay someone else $12 an hour to do you're not growing your business. Maybe your time is worth more than $50 an hour? First of all you need to value your time. So what is your time really worth?

Business owners try to save money by doing so much work themselves. That isnt saving money, its costing you a fortune with opportunity cost. Youre missing out on huge profit increases because you're too busy. You could hire a 16 year old at possibly $8/hour (depending on your country) to do some aspect of what you're doing.

If you employ people this process gets even more powerful. Ill bet your have team doing things you could pay a $16 year old to do and if you have a lot of team members imagine how much you could save. If you pay someone $20 per hour why are they doing the work a 16 year old can do? Have your team do the time sheet exercise for a week as well and see where their time is being spent in difference categories. Ill bet there are a few hours spent doing things they shouldnt be doing.

Remember the client I talked about? He is now growing his business and enjoying life much more as he is making rapid progress with his business, thinking and starting to develop systems to turn it into a franchise. Before he was too busy to do any of that, but because he focussed on his real priorities hes not so busy anymore. Hes very productive and profitable!

Tim Stokes is a master at getting business owners to see what their real VISION is, then helping them to achieve it. He is regarded as one of the best business builders in the world and was awarded Worlwide Business Coach of the Year in 2000.Tim turns struggling businesses with busy business owners into super profitable cash generating machines that work without the business owner even needing to be there, all in 12 months or less!To find out more about Tim Stokes go to http://www.bbms.com.au or look him up at http://www.ezinearticles.com where you'll find over a dozen more articles on business and life success.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Whats-the-Secret-of-Effective-Time-Management,-its-not-What-you-Think!&id=105149

Finding the Time for Self Improvement

2008-11-05T04:45:00.001-08:00

Finding the Time for Self Improvement
By Robin OBrien

Many people think that they could improve their life if only they could find the time. They desperately want to change, to realize their dreams, whether that is gaining self-confidence, dealing with anxiety, having better relationships or acquiring money. They think that, when they find the time, they will make the changes they have promised themselves. The truth is they will never deliver on those promises because they never will find the time.

We all have busy lives. We have commitments to work and family. We leave early in the morning and go to work, work hard all day with no time to think, and then, when we get home tired, we have other commitments thrust upon us. Were not happy. Theres never enough time for your self. Your job may be fantastic, your finances secure and your family loving, but theres a hole in your life. But, you keep saying to your self: Ill make the effort as soon as I find the time.

Ill let you into a secret: you will never find the time. With the lifestyles we live today, time is not something we ever find. We must MAKE the time! Its not always easy, but it is possible to make a little time each day just for your self.

First you need to sit down with pen a paper and write down your schedule. Dont leave anything out; be honest. You probably already know what it is youd like to do if you had the time, so write down how long each day you would like to have. Now, go back to your written schedule and start to analyze it to find out where you can make time. You can begin with looking at how you begin your day. You may yearn to meditate, or practise yoga, or write or find time to contemplate. Well, could you get up a half hour earlier? Most of us can make the effort the get up that little bit earlier. If you do, you could make the time to spend on yourself.

How do you spend your lunch hour at work? Most people tend to chat with their colleagues, go shopping, and do errands or simply zone out. Could you cut down on these? Perhaps not every day but on your schedule, write down when you could make the time, even if its only two times a week.

What about travelling to and from work? Maybe you could make the time there. Read the books youre always promising your self youll read one day. Listen to the self-improvement CDs youve bought but never had the time to listen to. If you planning on getting fit or doing some exercise, ask your self if you could run or walk to work at least part of the way rather than driving or taking the bus.

Evenings can be a problem when it comes to making time. Most people are pretty tired when the get home from work. Then theres preparing meals and spending time with your family and friends. But again, you could possibly make time here. How much time spent at home in the evening is quality time? Do you tend to zone out in front of the TV? If you do, you can stop watching the TV and make the time for your self.

Weekends are by far the best place to look when making time for your self. Start by looking at the schedule youve written down and again be honest. Do you tend to sleep, spend hours window-shopping or just potter about the house for hours on end? We are all guilty of wasting some of our time, especially at weekends. Write down some time on the schedule of yours when you can spend time just on yourself.

Finally, talk to those around you. Explain to them you desire to spend time in improving your self. If youre honest and show them youre committed, youll be surprised how much support you receive. After all, become a better you is going to improve their lives too.

Making time is hard work but making it is worth the effort. Once you begin to spend time doing the things youve been promising your self, youll feel so much better. Dont worry if you sometimes dont stick to it. Schedules can be re-arranged: after all, our lives are ever changing. So, what are you waiting for? Go and start making the time.

About the author: Robin Obrien is founder and editor of selfimprovementtechniques.com. You can find many more time management tips by visiting his site.

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When Was the Last Time You Played?

2008-11-05T04:44:00.000-08:00

When Was the Last Time You Played?
By Marc De Bruin

Here is a question for you:

When was the last time you played? Seriously (theres a bit of a paradox already!), when was the last time you really (I mean REALLY) had fun doing something?

If you are like many of the earths population, the answer is probably quite a while ago, to be honest. Maybe you belong to the lucky few who would say: well, yesterday!, or just this morning!, and have some decent fun at least once every couple of days. Or you may be somewhere in between, stating that you have a ball every now and then, but not as much as you used to or would like to.

Why is it that so few people can still play? Why is it that we have all have become serious (hey, thats me included!)?

There are several reasons for this seriousness in my perspective, and one of them is because we have been made to believe that life is a serious thing, so we cannot go around and play all day; otherwise nothing will get done, and you wont make a living. (I can hear my parents talking to medo you hear yours?).

Beliefs are devious things, in a way. A belief that serves you (I am a great person and deserve all the best in the world!) is a great one to have and will bring you all the matching goodies, guaranteed! On the other hand, a belief that doesnt serve you (I am good for nothing and do not deserve all the best in the world) is not such a great one to have, but will nevertheless bring you all the matching baddies, guaranteed!

This has got to do with the all-embracing Law of Attraction, which basically states that you get what you focus on, whether you want to have it or not. Your focus determines your experience.

Beliefs are crammed into us from the day we are born, mainly by our parents, but also by our teachers, our peers, our social environment, and by the things we experience. We can say that a huge set of beliefs that has made us serious today has been derived from the most influential people (and events) in our lives. As they were (and are) living a serious life when they taught us, it is not surprising that we got to learn how to live seriously too!

What we generally forget to realise, is that we do not have to live that way. We can switch the auto-pilot off, and decide to consciously choose our experience, instead of just going with the old way of thinking. That will bring about a revolution in your thinking, which will ultimately create a revolution in your mind! You just have to make your mind up; be outrageous: create your life the way you want it!

Coaching can help you to get the clarity you need to become (more) playful again. Just stick, together with your coach, to the new plan you have made for yourself, and you will change! The better it gets, the better it gets!

Set a landmarc:

Firstly, find out where you are hanging on to seriousness. Where is your life governed by doubt, worry, anxiety, fear of the future, etc. Where have you suppressed playfulness in favour of gloom? Be honest with yourself!

Secondly, define for yourself what playing means to you. I may have a completely different definition of the word than you, and therefore my playing will be different to yours! What would you do if you decided to play? Go to a musical, play chasings with your partner, go to a footy game, play hide-and-seek with your kids, buy a super-soaker and squirt cars in the street, etc.?

Thirdly, find examples in your surroundings of people that play the way you would like to. What are they doing? How often do they do that? What sort of people are they? What can you learn from them?

Lastly, take action!! Find at least two occasions in a week in which you can play out full. Go past your own boundaries, act a little crazy, do things you would never do before, make a fool of yourself, and laugh out loud! If that is too much, do something that is less out there, but still is a stretch in your model of the world, and then do a little more the next week.

Seriously () we need more fun and play in our lives. You will not only feel great, you will have an enormous influence on the people around you also. Just try it: walk past somebody and give them an honest smile. You will make their day.

Go out and play!

Marc de Bruin

Marc is a certified life/business coach and master NLP Practitioner on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. He specialises in coaching people at critical junctions in their careers and/or lives, in order for them to find out what has been hindering them all along in achieving what they want, and to then make the conscious choice to take their lives and/or careers to the next level.

Having been a lawyer for nearly 6 years in his previous life, before immigrating to Australia from The Netherlands, Marc knows exactly how daunting taking the first step in a new direction can be. On the other hand, he also knows how fulfilling taking that step is, and has the knack of imparting his knowledge and wisdom in a stunningly simple and highly effective way.

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Where DO You Get the Time?

2008-11-04T15:39:00.001-08:00

Where DO You Get the Time?
By Stephanie Foster

Why does it so often seem like you turn around and its midnight when youre raising your kids? It seems like no matter what you do sometimes, theres still a lot more work to do by the time you are ready to go to bed. What can you do?

The first thing you need to do is figure out where your time is going each day. Try making notes one day about what you do and how long it takes. If youre feeling really ambitious, you can try this for a week, since every day is going to be different, but even one day will give you an idea as to where youre using up all your time. It may feel like youre wasting time writing these things down, and they will slow you down a bit for that day, but it can be a big help.

Take a look at what you spent your day doing. Now assign a priority to each. How much time would you prefer to spend on each?

Now if you add all these up, youll probably find out your day is more than 24 hours long if you include time to sleep. Thats how it is being a parent.

The first thing you need to do is figure out what items can be done less often. Can you stand a little mess in the house? Can everyone else? Can you get more help from your spouse and the kids in keeping the house clean? Youll have to decide which solution is right for you.

What about time spent surfing the internet or watching TV? Give yourself time limits on each of these. If you have a Tivo or a VCR, try recording your favorite shows and watching them a little later, skipping the commercials. Not only does this allow you to choose the time you watch your shows, it can cut down their length.

Sometimes it can be hard finding enough time in your day to be with your kids, yet most parents will call this a priority. Just remember that time with your kids isnt just about having fun. Even small children can help out with making dinner, which can be a great time for talking with kids of any age. My three year old daughter has been helping make salads since she was two. The lettuce ends up in either rather large or very small pieces, but she has fun helping and we get some great time together. Older kids may or may not appreciate this time, but its good for them to help out.

I definitely do not recommend cutting back on whatever meals you insist on eating as a family. This is a great thing to do as a family, and if you arent making time for family meals, find a way to do so! Even if its just dinner one night a week together, no activities or sports to run off too, your family needs the time to relax together.

Finally, are there things you can cut out all together? If you feel as though youve been pushed into doing things for others because youre at home and have time, dont feel guilty about telling people that you do not have the time to do things they want you to do. Your family comes first. If you really want to volunteer, think about either cutting back the number of hours when you need more time for yourself or your family, or volunteering for something you can do as a family.

There are only so many hours to a day, and so many things youd love to get done. Take a good look at what you need to do, want to do and dont really need to do, and you can find ways to feel a little less overwhelmed most of the time. Youll go through times where there just arent enough hours in the day even when you know your priorities, but you can cut down on the less important stuff and relieve a lot of your stress.

Stephanie Foster is the owner of Home with the Kids, a site for stay at home parents. If you want to learn more about time management as an at-home parent, please visit http://www.homewiththekids.com/time-management/

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Business Time Management

2008-11-03T07:44:00.001-08:00

Business Time Management
By Josh Riverside

Time Management, as the name suggests, means activities, ideas or methods that help a person perform the jobs allotted to him or her in a speedier, quality-conscious-manner within a given time frame, be it personal or professional.

Business Time Management would simply mean business planning with definite milestones of achievement of overall success. Thus, both at the planning stage, as well as the performance stage, one should not lose sight of the rare and limited resource of time and the importance of doing everything as per schedule within the given time at one's disposal.

In business, there is an overwhelming pressure of multi-tasking activities. Not only is there an overwhelming number but a variety of activities that one is faced with. The first thing that one should remember is that one has to be extremely methodical in handling these jobs or activities. The official planner on the table should be the principal guide for the particular day. While the previous day should be spent on specifying the activities and the probable time for that, in the day in question one should start following these activities in a planned manner, as far as possible.

If possible, one should prioritize one's activities, which means the most important ones are attended and disposed of early, leaving some room for relaxed-thinking, which often is at the bottom of creative thoughts. One may also keep less important tasks for the time of the day when one is at his lowest in terms of productivity. At the planning stage, some prefer deliberate overplanning of activities with the expectation of achieving more, a technique which works at times.

In an age of faster communication, one cannot downplay the importance of managing emails, telephone calls and such methodically, with less concentration on ineffective exchanges of communication and more focus on the right things, both in written and verbal communication.

One should also be as tech-savvy as possible since communication and execution are being growingly taken over by high-tech gadgets as we progress more and more. That means faster performance of jobs at hand and more disposable time for more productive utilization thereof.

Last but not least, Time Management is largely dependent on efficient and effective networking with the right kind of people, leading to substantial savings of time.

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7 Tips to Save Time & Reduce Holiday Stress

2008-11-03T06:19:00.001-08:00

7 Tips to Save Time & Reduce Holiday Stress
By Kathy Paauw

My dad used to say that the holidays are when you get a whole bunch of people that really arent that close and dont know each other that well and overcrowd them into a small room for an extended period of time so they can make each other miserable. --Dr. Phil McGraw

As we approach the holiday season, that sense of overwhelm rings as loud as the Salvation Army bells.

For some, the holiday season represents stress, pressure, expectations, guilt, disappointment, pain, loneliness, exhaustion and the list goes on.

And it doesn't have to be that way!

We choose who we spend time with. We choose what activities we say yes and no to. We choose where we go. Your holiday season can be as simple or as elaborate as you choose to make it, and it can be a lot of fun if you plan accordingly.

Take some time this week to think about what's most important to you this season, and then do a little planning. Here are some suggestions to help save time and reduce stress.

1. Create a list of holiday rituals that are important to you.

Seek your family's input on holiday decisions. Ask family members what they liked and disliked about last year's holidays. Write down the most important elements and activities you wish to include this year, and plan to make it happen.

Keeping time-consuming and irrelevant traditions or rituals just because we've always done it that way can increase stress. Keep only those traditions that have meaning to you, or create some new ones.

Give yourself permission to be in the moment and enjoy the smells, sounds, feel, and tastes that are unique to this season of the year.

2. Make a list of those you want to spend time with during the holidays.

Who nourishes you? Who are the family members, friends, and colleagues you enjoy being with? Who brings you down? Maybe this is not the year to get together with them!

Do you want to do any entertaining? If so, when and with whom? Plan ahead and ask for help if you want it. True friends and loved ones will not care how many hours you slaved over the stove. Spending time with you is what they'll cherish most. You don't have to be Martha Stewart to throw a great party!

Are you invited to holiday parties that you really don't want to go to, but you've gone in the past because you should? Be at choice -- don't play the victim! This is not about whom you should see, but rather whom you choose to spend time with.

3. Send holiday greeting cards with ease.

Ive found a great service that enables you to send a real card in the mail for less than a dollar, including postage, without leaving the comfort of your desk. SendOutCards was recently reviewed in the Wall Street Journal. I have been using their service for a couple months now and I can vouch for the quality of their greeting cards. With a simple click of your computer mouse, you can select from several hundred holiday cards to choose from, write a message (using your own handwriting font and signature) and send a printed greeting card. SendOutCards will print it, stuff it, stamp it (with a real stamp), and send it in the mail for you. Visit http://www.bethoughtfulnow.com for more information and to request a free gift account.

4. Mail packages with ease.

Mail packages early in December to avoid longer lines at the post office and ensure they will arrive in time. Or, better yet, sign up with Stamps.com or another online postage service and avoid the lines altogether. You can mail large packages without standing in any lines -- as long as you have an accurate way to weigh them before you purchase the postage online. Once you have added the correct postage (printed from your computer), you can drop the packages off at the loading dock of your local post office and avoid those long lines.

5. Thoughtfully plan your gift-giving.

Give from the heart, not out of obligation. Decide whom you choose to give to and make a list. This will help you avoid overspending through impulse buying.

If you think back to the most cherished gifts you have received, they are often homemade or from the heart. A gift of time -- such as a gift certificate redeemable for an activity you can do together -- can be very meaningful. Among the most prized gifts I've ever received have been homemade cards with a heartfelt note written inside. Value goes far beyond the cost of the gift.

A great resource for homemade gift ideas is a book called The Perfect Mix. It contains creative edible gift ideas, including wrapping suggestions and tag instructions, along with a source guide for supplies. The book offers more than 90 recipes for soups, breads, muffins, cookies, and other gifts. The gifts I've created from this book have been very well received and appreciated.

Instead of exchanging gifts with friends, consider having a holiday or post-holiday party with them.

Avoid parking hassles, gridlock traffic around the malls, and long lines at the register by shopping online and through catalogs. A number of retail stores now offer merchandise online, as well. If you are purchasing a gift that needs to be mailed, you can arrange to have it sent directly to the recipient, thus avoiding the extra steps of wrapping, labeling, and mailing the gift.

Wrapping gifts can take a lot of time. Instead of wrapping all of them, use a gift bag with a nice bow tied at the top, or use a decorated gift box.

Consider giving an alternative gift to a friend or loved one by giving to a charity in their name. One of my favorite charities is Heifer Project International. Through living gifts of animals, HPI is helping families worldwide to become self-reliant. You can buy an animal that can change the life of a hungry family and at the same time honor family and friends. Visit HPI's gift catalog at http://catalog.heifer.org/index.cfm

6. Spread holiday cheer with those in need.

Volunteer to serve a holiday meal to the homeless, work in a soup kitchen, or work at a food bank.

Adopt a family for the holidays and provide them with gifts or holiday foods. Many churches and non-profit organizations can match you with a needy family.

Look for a Giving Tree in your local retail stores. The tree is filled with cards that list a specific gift desired by someone in need. You select a card off the tree, purchase the suggested gift listed on the card, and return the gift to the tree with the card attached. The store wraps the gift and delivers it to the intended recipient.

The end of the tax year is a great time to review your budget and consider a year-end gift to your favorite charities. This can represent a significant tax deduction if you itemize, while doing great things locally and globally.

7. Use your calendar to help organize your time to reflect your priorities.

Once you are clear about your intentions, calendar them in. Writing them down for follow-up on a specific date will help you to remember to do it and will keep things from falling to the last minute. In other words, make appointments with yourself to follow through with specific tasks by a specific time. As you prepare for the holidays, remember that the greatest gifts of all won't be found under the gift wrap. They'll be found in those special moments when you make a heart connection with those you care about.

Wouldnt you love to stumble upon a secret library of ideas to help you de-clutter your life so you can focus on whats most important? Kathy Paauw offers simple, yet powerful ideas, on how to manage your time, space, and thoughts for a more productive and fulfilling life. Visit her website at: http://www.orgcoach.net

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Time Management: Fewer Hours Can Mean More Efficiency in the Office

2008-11-03T06:18:00.001-08:00

Time Management: Fewer Hours Can Mean More Efficiency in the Office
By Julie Fleming Brown

We all go through periods when we just arent that efficient at work. Maybe theres something personal going on thats distracting you, maybe its been a beautiful summer week and you want to be out in the sun, maybe you have a cold and just dont feel good but also dont feel bad enough to stay home.

How to recapture your usual efficiency and focus? Spend less time in the office. Not dramatically less, but an hour or two. Note that this isnt a long-term strategy to increase efficiency, but rather one designed to help you get over the hump of whatever has got you off your regular game.

Why does this work? This tactic will:

Remove the PLM mindset. PLM is short for Poor Little Me. Over the years, Ive known lots of people who essentially fritter away Friday lunchtime or afternoon because they know they need to work over the weekend and theyre having a serious pity party. Dont believe me? Repeat the following using your best Eeyore voice: I may as well take a 2-hour lunch, since I have to be here all day Saturday anyway. Sound familiar? I thought so. Instead of taking a long lunch or surfing away a couple of hours, decide to leave at a set time thats a little earlier than you might otherwise, and stick to it. No pity party needed, because youre leaving early today. Thatll make you more effective throughout the day. Why? That leads to the second benefit.

Plug into getting-ready-for-vacation mentality. Have you ever noticed how much you can accomplish on Friday when you know youll be away from the office for the next week? You have something to look forward to, and you have a set time when youll catch your plane, meet family or friends, or whatever. Deciding to leave the office an hour or two earlier than usual can help you shift into this mindset. Suppose you normally leave at 7, but instead you decide to leave at 5. How will you shift your day so you can leave early? Will you bring lunch to your desk? Eliminate those little breaks that add up to wasted time? Ask your secretary to hold non-critical calls? And what will you do with your found time? Maybe go to a movie, slide into the restaurant thats too crowded by the time you can usually get there, or just go home, put on sweats, order in Chinese, and relax. Thats worth a manufactured in-office crunch on occasion.

Keep you from sitting in the office when youre being inefficient so you can recover. If youre too tired or you have a hideous headache or whatever, perhaps trying to focus isnt what you need or what will help you get your energy back. Of course, if youre on a deadline, you cant afford this luxury. But, for those ordinary times, cutting one day short may allow you to return to the office and do what you need to do the next day.

I assume its obvious why I advocate this technique only for rare occasions, but let me belabor the point. You dont want to be the person who never goes to lunch and never has time to chat. You dont want to be the person whos always leaving early. And you probably dont want to have to cram everything possible into every day if you do want to do that, you probably dont have an efficiency problem anyway.

But on occasion, cutting your time in the office can lead to a much-needed burst of efficiency. Use it wisely.

Julie Fleming Brown provides professional and personal coaching by telephone for lawyers and others. Julie works with professionals on work/life balance issues, job transitions, and career transitions, and blogs extensively on work/life balance issues on her Life at the Bar Blog, at http://www.LifeAtTheBar.wordpress.com/ To contact Julie for a complimentary coaching exploration session, visit http://www.LifeAtTheBar.com/ and http://www.MerryHeartCoaching.com/

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Can You Fully Grasp The 3 Ranges of Time Management?

2008-10-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

Can You Fully Grasp The 3 Ranges of Time Management?
By Nathan F. Shaw

As you carefully read this article you will find that it goes to the very heart of mature Time Management.

It covers things that absolutely anyone can do and takes no time at all to learn because you can already do it easily.

Can you think of anyone around you that needs this?

But before I reveal to you the most overlooked and most vital recommendation for time management, consider this..

There are three categories for Time Management.

Below are three excellent and highly recommended techniques for time management that I use all the time.

And if you pay close attention you will understand why techniques for ALL three ranges of time are vital for an optimized approach to time management.

TECHNIQUE 1: Short-range Time Management: Daily 10-Minute On-track Review

The 10-Minute On-track Time Management Review is one of my favorite daily techniques.

In just 10 minutes we can jot down most of the things floating around in our mind and take a strong grip on them by seeing them written down.

At times we get off track, whether practically, or with our efficiency, or emotionally. When that happens I usually realize I have not done a 10 minute how is it going self-review, so I do it then and things seem so much clearer and in my grasp.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, try it, just jot down those buzzing thoughts, and youll immediately feel in far more control.

And if you already know this; if this already seems terribly simple to you..

..then I beg you this question:

How consistent are you at doing it as part of your regular Time Management operations? If you do it regularly, then thats awesome.

But I wonder if you have got the 2nd Time Management technique in place too?

TECHNIQUE 2: For Long-range Time Management: Weekend Review

Take an hour or so every single weekend to review the past week and plan for the coming week.

I confess, I myself find this difficult to stick to, yet its so so so important for total Time Management.

Don't let your brain trick you into missing this. It can be extremely hard work to think of all the messy details of how things are going and attempting to put it all in order. But don't let your brain get away with chickening out.

Brain, for the next hour, it's you and me bucko!

The Weekend Review is much like the 10-Minute Review, but the Weekend Review should include everything in your life.

If youve never done this before, then itll be a bumpy roller coaster the first time you do it.

Have you got the guts? Have you got the foresight that it is well worth doing?

Dedicate an entire afternoon (maybe it will take a day), perhaps with a friend, to individually do a mind-dump of everything important and significant in your life.

This will help your time management drastically because it will push your mind to be aware of projects, responsibilities, and desires that you could, should, are, or want to ultimately be doing.

And you cant apply yourself to the very best possible time management if you are not staying optimally mindful of things, right?

Write down all the big important things in your life, present, and desired, and at the weekend check how things are going in relation to your Time Management Master List that you update and review at the weekends.

So now we need to fill the gap between the short term 10 minute time management and the long-term big life vision time management.

TECHNIQUE 3: For Medium-range Time Management: Current Project List

Key Principle: Time Management works via taking future envisioned results, identifying their steps of achievement, scheduling them, and then acting on what is scheduled.

So technique 3 is this:

Maintain an active list of all your current projects.

This should be a list of every single active project or responsibility you have got going in your life.

It will include repeated responsibilities you have got such as the weekly shopping spree, because writing those things down will push you to fit them efficiently into your time management schedule.

You cant have optimum time management unless you include everything you need to have time management for, right?

To conclude: There are 3 ranges of our life thus we require 3 core techniques of time management.

Always remember those three requirements.

Oh, and I promised to reveal the most overlooked yet greatest time management secret.

Its implied in the above 3 techniques and it is this:

Write things down, dont just let things revolve around your head.

Dont just think it, Ink it!

This is the number one priority I want my clients to learn from me for their Time Management success.

Do you know the following fact established by Brian Tracy?

Writing down the things we want to do, have, and become, moves us to the top 3% of the population in terms of life success.

So fancy being among the elite of men and women?

Take pen to paper regularly and get things committed to clear precise orderliness on paper (or computer).

That really is the overlooked secret to all of Time Management.

Currently touring Thailand whilst writing and coaching, Nathan Shaw has a 15 page Time Management Missing Principles Handbook available free.

http://www.success-matrix.com/missingprinciples

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Not Time Management Self Management

2008-10-25T20:42:00.001-07:00

Not Time Management - Self Management
By Jem Bacchus

What does the expression 'time management' really mean? In considering that no one can ever hold time back or force it on or even attempt to make it stand still, the expression is really a misnomer. No one can manage time; it is impossible to manage something over which you have no control whatever. You just cannot win.

Can you imagine what utter confusion there would be if we all had the ability to organize time to suit ourselves? Think of this, there would be no use for clocks and time would never be synchronized. Worst of all, who would determine whether it is early or late? Thank Goodness, time is common to all and must be used as it passes. We can control our clocks and set them to whatever hour we wish, but that does not have any effect whatever on dear 'father time.'

It would be much more appropriate to make good use of passing time if we learn to manage ourselves. We must not think in terms of time management. Time waits on no one, so organize your life so that you will not be left behind. Adjust your schedule of work through self improvement, set appropriate goals and try to work within a specified time frame as time passes.

In today's fast moving pace, you had better be able to adjust yourself to keep up with what's going on around you. The successful people have all learned how to make use of the time afforded them. They are the ones who have succeeded in business or sport or whatever they had set their minds to until they became achievers. If they had attempted to manage time instead of working toward their goal and making use of time as it passed, they would never have reached the pinnacle of their ambition.

You can become highly productive if you identify the areas in which you need to focus your attention, do some goal setting, and conduct yourself in the manner appropriate for your success. You must decide on how long you intend to spend on a certain project and make every effort to stick to your decision. Be prepared to abide by your own rules.

Too often we set goals and make resolutions that we never even attempt to bring to fruition. During our negligence, time marches on.

You must awake and arise, put on your running shoes and do your utmost to be on time by organising the things that are necessary to bring about your desired result. Do not try to finish the race before you even begin. Forget about time management; do not even consider competing with time; it is ageless, it never gets tired and when you are old and decrepit, time will still be marching on.

Keep in mind that to make the best use of your hours, you must learn the management of yourself. Self management is a lifelong challenge; when you cease to do this, you cease to be productive.

You must know what you really want and do all you can to change your habits. Assess yourself honestly and you will be amazed at the traits you discover. Then make every effort to make the changes you think necessary for your success. If you cannot make a clean break, do it in stages and keep focussed on your goals.

A word of caution, do not discuss this with anyone. Do not expect them to sympathize with you or give you encouragement. All you will get is criticism. This is your own little secret; keep it that way and be determined to continue to make the change in your life. Others will see the change in you soon enough.

You will get much more done in much less time because instead of fighting a losing battle with time management, you will be exercising personal management as you learn how to organise yourself.

Jem is author and webmaster of the website 1-personal-improvement.com, and a certified Natural Health Consultant. Visit http://1-personal-improvement.com/time-management.html for help in organising yourself to keep up with time, and sign upfor your free newsletter Aspects of Personal Improvement.

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Time Killer Checklist: Are You Suffering From Them?

2008-10-25T19:47:00.001-07:00

Time Killer Checklist: Are You Suffering From Them?
By Jason Anderson

I bet you're frustrated over never having enough time to get everything done in the day. There are only a fixed number of hours in the day, and no matter how hard we wish for it that will never change.

Unfortunately, most people find they have too little time to get everything done because they have several time killers in their life - things that take up much more time than they should. Here are 5 common time killers, as well as tips on how you can avoid them.

Poor Equipment

Have you ever had to wait for your computer to start up, or a file you need to open, or even a photocopier to make the copies you need? Perhaps your computer is even crashing constantly, forcing you to restart several times a day.

Often these problems come about from buying the cheapest option, or not maintaining the equipment properly. It's a false economy to do either - the few dollars you save is vastly outweighed by the cost of the time you lose. Fix or replace any such equipment as soon as possible.

Telephone Calls

The telephone is a two-edged sword. When used correctly, it can be a great time saver. But at times it can be another time killer.

Always know exactly what you are going to say before you call someone. Quickly identify yourself, and once you are talking to the right person cover what you need to and hang up. No casual chatting!

If you are receiving calls, and/or have a mobile, decide on fixed times when you will and won't answer the phone. For a normal phone you can screen your calls. For a mobile, simply turn it off and let the calls go through to voicemail. Then pick a later time to go through all the messages, and only answer the ones that are important.

People who won't stop talking

We've all met them - they love the sound of their own voice, and just won't stop talking. Unfortunately, saying you have to go rarely works. Your best bet is to avoid them where you can. If you receive calls from them, screen your calls (perhaps using caller ID) so you don't have to talk directly to them.

Traffic jams

Everyone living in the city has run into traffic jams at some time or another. While there isn't any way to get through a traffic jam any faster, you do have a few options.

Consider leaving earlier (or later), to avoid the traffic. If that's not possible, investigate public transport options like the subway. Finally, see if there is something else you can do in the car at the same time - perhaps listen to a training CD, or get a lift with someone else and do your work while they deal with the traffic!

Meetings

Meetings can be huge time killers, especially if there is no clear agenda for the meeting. If possible, avoid going to meetings that you don't have to attend. If you can't escape a meeting, encourage the use of a fixed agenda so everyone knows what should be covered. This allows people to (hopefully) gather their thoughts ahead of time, and will limit off-topic conversation.

We all suffer from time killers in our life. The people who are successful know how to identify those time killers, and how to avoid them.

Learn more about how you can take control of your life and get more done today than you ever thought possible by visiting http://www.timemanagementmentor.com/time-management-tips.html , where Jason Anderson passes on essential information on the art of time management and personal organization.

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Time Shifting

2008-10-25T19:38:00.001-07:00

Time Shifting
By Mary Anne Fields

Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time' is like saying, 'I don't want to...'. Lao-Tzu

One thing I hear often as a coach is I don't have the time to.... We all feel we don't have enough time at least occasionally. But I'd like to offer a different point of view, which mirrors that of Lao-Tzu above. While time is finite and we can't create more of it, we do have total 100% control over how we use our time.

Okay, I can already hear you complaining that you don't have total control. Relax. Breathe. Try to keep an open mind here. It is true that we live our lives at a furious pace. We often feel as if we don't have time to take a breath, much less have fun or get everything done. I'm with you so far.

However, when was the last time that you took a really careful, detailed look at where your time is spent? How much time do you really spend working? How much time is spent in non-productive time at work (visiting, reading the paper, walking the halls, attending useless meetings, etc.) How much time do you spend getting ready for work? How much time do you spend with your loved ones? How much time do you spend caring for others? How much time do you spend caring for yourself? How about watching TV? How about with friends? How about cleaning house? If you are able to truly look at your life in an objective way, I will bet that you will find you spend a lot of time doing unimportant, useless, even harmful (to yourself) things, all of which you accept as just a normal part of your life.

So, here's the challenge: keep a log for a few days of everything you do, broken down by at least 15 minutes increments. Be brutally honest about your activities. After you've kept the log for a few days, review it and try to identify areas where time is wasted, you just don't want to do it, or where you might like to do it if you had all the time in the world, you don't, so you choose not to do this anymore. You will find free time to spare.

Now what you do with it is something else. It is at this point that you can also be totally honest with yourself about things like exercising more, walking the dog more often, cooking more, etc. All the things you think you should do and, of course, would do if you had the time. Now you can admit that you just don't want to do them, and stop blaming it on lack of time. It is 100% okay to be who you are, and stop trying so hard to be who you think you should be.

Mary Anne Fields, Personal Coach, Trainer and Speaker specializes in helping mid-lifers with living their dreams, thriving through transitions, and adding meaning to their lives.(713) 528-5971maf@lifeunfolds.comJoin the Life Unfolds mailing list. Receive free monthly newsletter, free report 85 Ways to Be Happier Now! and access to resources that help you live a life that matters!http://www.lifeunfolds.com/articles.htm

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Where Does The Time Go?

2008-10-25T19:26:00.001-07:00

Where Does The Time Go?
By Vicki Miller

Did you get into direct selling thinking you would have more time for the really important things in life? Isn't that what we hear so often and also what we tell others? You'll be working out of your home and have more time to relax and more time to spend with family and friends. That's the best part about this business!

But is that the reality you actually experienced? Probably not, if you're like most people in business for themselves. Maybe you started with high hopes of a calendar with plenty of room for personal activities. But somewhere along the way of building your business, the personal activities you crave never happened - or at least not as frequently as you imagined. Why does this occur? Here's why:

Believing that others control your calendar

Believing that taking time for yourself is robbing your business

Believing that self-care is counter productive

Believing that if you are not usy constantly, you're lazy

Believing that you have to be like everyone else

Believing that packing more in will eventually lead to success

Believing that you can't take the time

Believing that you have to do it all yourself

So what's the answer?

Get out your calendar, appointment book, or PDA and block out time for what's important first. Every day reserve the time for your self-care and for the special people in your life. Maybe it seems backwards to do this first. Yet this is the very time that refuels you and provides the energy that helps you sail through the rest of your to-do list. Don't worry, there will still be plenty of blank space in your calendar to devote to your business and other essential activities. The difference is now you will feel more motivated to do them!

And finally, hold yourself accountable for your schedule. Remember you are the one in control of your time!

As a Life Coach, my passion has always been to help people grow and achieve success. One way I do this is to offer training designed specifically for direct selling leaders -- training that addresses your needs and instills confidence in your ability to manage a thriving business, lead your team and develop new leaders. Visit the Direct Selling Leadership Center (http://www.directsellingleadershipcenter.com)to see the variety of training resources offered. See this month's special 1-hour teleseminar at http://www.directsellingleadershipcenter.com/teleseminar

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7 Timeless Secrets for Success

2008-10-25T19:25:00.001-07:00

7 Timeless Secrets for Success
By Colleen Kettenhofen

If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, then you are an excellent leader. Dolly Parton

1. When you love what you do, its not work, it energizes you. Whether you want to start a business, or achieve overall greater business success, you must start with a burning desire. There will be roadblocks and detours along the way. Without the fuel of passion and feeling of purpose, its easy to become overwhelmed, lose focus and give up entirely. When I was in sales, I loved going to work and having that customer connection. The only reason I eventually left was I possessed an even greater passion for connecting through speaking, training and writing. Theres a strong sense of accomplishment for me at the end of a speaking engagement when people report that they feel a newfound sense of control. They say they cant wait to implement the proven techniques to resolve issues such as dealing with a difficult person or employee, overcoming procrastination, or improving their public speaking skills and achieving greater business success. Often, people who are close to finding their dream simply need to fine tune it. Consider seeing a career counselor so you can channel your passion.

2. Achieving greater business success means practicing delayed gratification and greater discipline. It is said that many people starting a business or making a career change would do better to rent for a while and not have the added expense of a mortgage. A key trait of successful people is the ability to see things from a long-term perspective. Get rid of extra things and frivolous expenses that are holding you back. It may be important for you to surround yourself with a team of experts such as a reliable accountant, attorney, motivation coach, financial planner, and possibly a graphic artist and web designer. Put simply, successful people often make themselves do things that others dont want to do.

3. Clarify your core values. Make sure your goals are consistent with whats important to you. Otherwise, no matter how much you think you want something, you wont work hard to achieve it. Write down every personal and professional goal you think you want to accomplish. Make sure theyre realistic. Ask yourself if each one is consistent with giving you greater peace of mind and happiness. For example, if freedom and staying home with your children is important to you, will this new job allow you to do that? If not, no matter how high paying it is, it wont matter. Youll find excuses for procrastinating and not doing it. So start clarifying your values.

4. Face your fear by going through it. Research shows we will do more to avoid pain than to get pleasure. Theres a strong correlation between fear and procrastination. Often we procrastinate something because deep down we associate that activity or goal with some type of pain. For example, I know of a colleague who procrastinated starting what is now a very successful business out of concern shed exceed her husband financially. The business has proven so successful the husband now works for her. He says she is easier to be around because shes fulfilling a creative need. Not to mention the added security of more family income. In order to be successful, whether it's entering into a new relationship or achieving greater business success, sometimes you have to be willing to be terrified.

5. Learn to overcome procrastination. A key ingredient for success is overcoming procrastination. Research shows its usually the harder tasks that we dont want to do that are imperative in helping us achieve our goals. Break down each task or project into baby steps. To avoid overwhelm, avoid saying to yourself, Im going to sit down and work on this for the next four hours straight. Instead, say, Ill work on this first thing tomorrow morning from just 8:30 a.m. until 9:15 a.m. Then, if I want to stop I will. During this time, we often end up on a roll and want to keep going. The hardest part is getting started.

Once you are on a roll, whatever you do, dont stop until your task is 100% complete. Research points to the fact that its much harder to start a task, stop, and then try to pick it up again. Keep in mind that everything you procrastinate today only compounds tomorrows pressure. To be motivated toward your goal requires you to have strong motive and get moving.

6. Accept responsibility. Once you know what you want to achieve, whether it's personal success or business success, recognize that you and you alone are responsible for making it happen. Take responsibility for the choices youve made in the past. You cant control many external circumstances around you, such as other people or their opinion of you, but you can control your thoughts and your environment. Remember the saying, What other people think of you is none of your business!

7. Take action, write down your goals, and commit them to someone supportive. Make them specific, measurable and realistic. Next to each goal, write down one action step you can take today to bring you closer to accomplishing it. Share them with someone supportive. Give them specific time frames (the date and the time) for when you are going to take these action steps. Have them check up on you for accountability. Holding yourself accountable is a central key to success. Keep a written copy of your goals in your wallet and look at them every day. Subconsciously your mind will start coming up with ideas for achieving your goals. When you get these ideas, write them down immediately. Youll begin attracting into your life people and circumstances that can get you there.

Keep in mind that whats going on outside you is a result of whats going on INSIDE you. What self-limiting belief do you have about your skills and abilities? Take stock and be honest with yourself. The average person has 50,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day. When we talk to ourselves about ourselves, much of that self-talk is negative. We are usually our harshest critic. As the saying goes, How many times in a day do we should all over ourselves with everything that we should be doing?! Always rememberstrive for progress, not perfection.

Success is relative. It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things. T.S. Eliot

Colleen Kettenhofen is a motivational speaker, workplace expert, & co-author of The Masters of Success, as featured on the Today Show, along with Ken Blanchard and Jack Canfield. To order the book, or for more free articles and free newsletter visit http://www.ColleenSpeaks.com or call (800)323-0683. Popular topics: leadership, management, difficult people, public speaking, success. You are free to repost or reprint this article provided Colleen Kettenhofen's name and website are included.http://www.ColleenSpeaks.com

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It's Never Too Late for Time Management

2008-10-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

It's Never Too Late for Time Management
By Ann-Marie Latoski

There is always enough time to get everything done, and everything always gets done on time. Really!

I have been involved in numerous projects and deliverables, from large product launches to presentations on business cases, strategies, policies, etc. Many a time, I sat and watched others scurry, scramble, and fret over the timeline. Meanwhile, I left the office at the usual time or not too long after certainly when I chose to. Id hear the next day about the Herculean efforts of those working into the wee hours of the night to get things done. I used to wonder what was wrong with me.

I began to justify myself (to myself). Im very organized. I can get to the heart of it. I focus my attention. I do my work when Im in the office and dont spend time socializing. Not too long ago, I realized there was more to it than some talent that I alone possessed. I began to consciously know that things would get done when they needed to, and I allowed it to happen. I knew wherever I ended up at the end of the day was where I needed to be. Things were getting completed faster. If I knew I had to finish a proposal before a meeting, I would be done exactly on time. I felt very free, and even a little guilty, looking at everyone else still stressing over their workload.

I believe everyone can feel this freedom. It starts by knowing yourself, knowing your work, then thinking, feeling and acting differently. We are each unique in the strengths we possess and the role we play. Once we have our goals and know our priorities it comes together when needed.

More often than not, it does get done on time, meaning when it is required or in a time that suits the larger project. If we change our definition of on time to reflect need rather than dates, we take the pressure off, and generally improve the quality of what is delivered.

Are you going to tell me about the time your report was late? Late by whose definition? It got there when it got there. What about the time you missed a meeting? What did you really miss? Was it anything that couldnt be made up? What about the presentation you had to give? Well, you delivered what you had, didnt you?

What happened the day you were sick, or on vacation? Did the office continue to function? What about the time you worked overtime and/or overboard to deliver something, only to have it sit unused by the recipient for another day or week? What truly were the consequences? Were you and others able to adjust? Ill bet you were.

Our shifted perception gives us flexibility and a level of confidence in our ability to do our jobs. This self-assurance allows us to work in the moment - the true key to effective use of time. When we arent distracted by:

-an external influence such as a neighbor or the youve got mail signal, or

-the internal sabotage of what we were last working on, or have to do next, we have infinite space in the moment to concentrate on what we are doing.

So know yourself, know your role, and your tasks, prioritize accordingly, then set yourself up for success. Live and work in the present, and let the future take care of itself and youll find it all gets done on time.

Ann-Marie is a dynamic leader, speaker, author and coach. As former Marketing Director for the printed SuperPages in Canada, Ann-Marie is known for her vision, passion and business success. Her first book, Sweet Success and Integrity is full of practical wisdom and guidance for surviving life at the office. Visit her at http://www.amcoaching.ca

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Time Management Action Plan

2008-10-22T16:31:00.001-07:00

Time Management - Action Plan
By Johannes Nefischer

Does your time management concept includes an action plan? For sure I do not want to present you how to manage time and be a hypocrite. I realized that managing your time contains besides putting an action plan into play also the using of intelligence and skills.An action plan is a way of organization in which you create a list of responsibilities that instruct a person to achieve an objective. The list centers on the goals immediately needing achievement on demand. The action plan allows you to focus your attention on the specific responsibility required of you.

The marketplace is crowded with several software programs which help those of us that have busy schedules. These programs provide tools for storing names, addresses and other important information in a secure filing cabinet. Many large companies invest in this type of software. But if you own a smaller company and the software programs are too expensive so you might want to evade to other programs that offer similar tools for organizing. Beside Microsoft Outlook there are many alternative programs which include useful tools to manage your time. Microsoft Outlook has book organizers, address books, and other tools sufficient enough to help smaller businesses manage their business.

If you are storing files on your computer, be sure to backup your data so nothing is lost. Backups are necessary for protecting important documents. It will not cost you a lot of time to save your documents on discs or other storage mediums, but it could save you a lot of it. When you make a backup be sure to include a file name that you will remember. Choose the file names in such a way that you recognize it immediately. This will help you to be better organized. File extensions are connecting files to a particular file. Therefore, if you have outdated files, you might want to add a few extensions and label the file accordingly. This will help you get right to the important documents, and have the piece of mind you need if the outdated documents require reopening.

If you have documents in your computer or lying around that you no longer need, make sure this is true and delete them or toss them in the garbage. Thus you will get a better overview. Wasted documents take up time and space, because if you are searching for a document, papers which you do not need any more would obstruct you. Most business requires maximum speed on computers. Moreover, when you are storing outdated files, your action in time management plan is out of socket. Getting ahead is organizing and tossing what is wasting space.

Johannes Nefischer is a successful Business Consultant and publisher of TakeAction101.com He provides more information onTime Management Programs on his website.

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The Time to Act

2008-10-20T07:52:00.001-07:00

The Time to Act
By Jim Rohn

Engaging in genuine discipline requires that you develop the ability to take action. You don't need to be hasty if it isn't required, but you don't want to lose much time either. Here's the time to act: when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong.

Let's say you would like to build your library. If that is a strong desire for you, what you've got to do is get the first book. Then get the second book. Take action as soon as possible, before the feeling passes and before the idea dims. If you don't, here's what happens -

- You Fall Prey To The Law Of Diminishing Intent -

We intend to take action when the idea strikes us. We intend to do something when the emotion is high. But if we don't translate that intention into action fairly soon, the urgency starts to diminish. A month from now the passion is cold. A year from now it can't be found.

So take action. Set up a discipline when the emotions are high and the idea is strong, clear, and powerful. If somebody talks about good health and you're motivated by it, you need to get a book on nutrition. Get the book before the idea passes, before the emotion gets cold. Begin the process. Fall on the floor and do some push-ups. You've got to take action; otherwise the wisdom is wasted. The emotion soon passes unless you apply it to a disciplined activity.

Discipline enables you to capture the emotion and the wisdom and translate them into action. The key is to increase your motivation by quickly setting up the disciplines. By doing so, you've started a whole new life process.

Here is the greatest value of discipline: self-worth, also known as self-esteem. Many people who are teaching self-esteem these days don't connect it to discipline. But once we sense the least lack of discipline within ourselves, it starts to erode our psyche. One of the greatest temptations is to just ease up a little bit. Instead of doing your best, you allow yourself to do just a little less than your best. Sure enough, you've started in the slightest way to decrease your sense of self-worth.

There is a problem with even a little bit of neglect. Neglect starts as an infection. If you don't take care of it, it becomes a disease. And one neglect leads to another. Worst of all, when neglect starts, it diminishes our self-worth.

Once this has happened, how can you regain your self-respect? All you have to do is act now! Start with the smallest discipline that corresponds to your own philosophy. Make the commitment: I will discipline myself to achieve my goals so that in the years ahead I can celebrate my successes.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

Reproduced with permission from Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine.Copyright 2005 Jim Rohn International. All rights reservedworldwide. To subscribe to Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine, go tohttp://Jim-Rohn.InspiresYOU.com

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Time Management: Where Does Our Time Go?

2008-10-19T16:43:00.001-07:00

Time Management: Where Does Our Time Go?
By Tonya Ramsey

Time management is a big concern for a lot of people. I keep hearing, There are just not enough hours in the day or Where does my time go? Face it we all live busy lives. Work, family, and other commitments keep us all hopping. To utilize better time management, its important to recognize what the specific problems are. Is it not having enough time for you or your family? Do you feel that you are wasting time by excessive driving? Maybe you are not sure where all your time is going and just want to account for it. Or you could have a full schedule that you are having a hard time keeping up with. Whatever the reason, time is a precious resource that most of us need to use to its fullest.

The most important step in time management is evaluating our schedules. On a sheet of paper write up a typical week for you, by looking at your current schedule you will be able to identify places where better time management could be use. Ask yourself why you are feeling unsatisfied with your schedule? Make a list of what you want to change and what you want to make room for. Do you want more time to peruse interests? More time to be with your children? Or just more time to get everything done?

After you have done this take a piece of paper and draw three columns. In the first column put a list of all appointments, events, or commitments that are set in stone, things that take place at a set time and happen daily, weekly or monthly. Such as work, club meetings, or standing doctors appointments. In the second column put flexible tasks or commitments that can be done around your set in stone commitments, such as grocery shopping, house cleaning, or having lunch with a friend. In the third column put those occasional appointments, doctor appointments, a school play, or an old friend coming into town (or anything that does not fall into the other two columns).

Then using a calendar (preferably one with large spaces for the days) Or use a notebook and label each page a day or two (depending on how much you are trying to accomplish daily or weekly.) Start putting in the items from your three columns, starting with the items that are set in stone then the items that are occasional, leave the flexible items to last since you are able to put them in around the other things.

The objective is to balance out your days and to maximize your time. Why make a separate trip to the pharmacy when it is on your way to your sons soccer practice? I always try to plan appointments in the same area on the same day, this reduces my travel time and gets the most out of my day.

The biggest thing to consider is: Are you doing too much? No matter how well time ismanaged there is such a thing as an overload of commitments. Time management is not just about structuring your week so that you can get everything accomplished. It is about creating a manageable schedule that will give you time for the important things in life. So, before looking at your time management skills look at what you are trying to juggle.

Include things that you want to do but just dont seem to have time for in your day.What is the sense of managing your time better just to fit in more work? A part of time management is balancing so that you can have time to enjoy the fun stuff in life too.

If you are so booked solid that you can not schedule an hour and a half of quality family time, an hour of time with your significant other, and at least at the very minimum 30 minutes 45 minutes of time for yourself then you have too much on your plate and it is time to ask for help to relieve yourself of some commitments. Being run down and worn-out will not assist you in better time management, in fact it will hinder it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tonya Ramsey is a life coach and owner of Life By Design. Her coaching package Time Catcher was designed to assist people that want to learn how to organize and make the most out of their time. For more information on Tonyas services or to receive a free life coaching session to help you manage your time better, visit http://lifebydesignsite.com or send an e-mail to Tonya@lifebydesignsite.com Let Tonya help you design the life that you want.

[ copyright 2006 Tonya Ramsey. All Rights Reserved. This article may be freely reproduced as long as the ABOUT THE AUTHOR at the bottom of this article is included unedited. Links must be Active/Linkable

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Spring! Time for Love and New Beginnings

2008-10-19T16:42:00.001-07:00

Spring! Time for Love and New Beginnings
By Linda Reeves

Prepare, prepare, prepare! The horizon screams of spring and the budding trees, tulips poking their head above the soil and thoughts of romance and love fill our hearts and minds. Are you ready for what awaits you? Well, if not, we need to get started right away!

First things first, get your house in order, no I am not talking about the dwelling in which you reside, I am referring to the temple (your body, mind and soul) of all existence! Time to throw out all preconceived notions of what the other sex is looking for and re-create the person you are, the person you want to be!

Put that smile to work, make eye contact, approach a stranger (be careful), strike up a conversation, and take the initiative for the new beginning you want to have this year! There is no happiness greater than that which is within you, and love evolves from loving oneself.

Next, get out of that house, off that couch, turn off the TV, and enjoy the world around you. Open your eyes to the beauty of your surroundings and look in amazement how everything changes so rapidly. You are like a flower in spring, let your heart bloom, outstretch your arms and let go of that wall you have been holding up. Update your profile to reflect your newfound understanding of yourself, express your heart, your desires and watch life explode before you. Build it and they will come!

The flowerbed has always been there, but like any growing thing it needs to be nurtured and cultivated. Till your garden, pluck out the weeds, and blossom into a heart open to love and friendship. Be open to all possibilities, it is more than opening your heart, you must open your mind as well to new experiences, new people, new possibilities.

Spring is our opportunity every year to begin again, it is not a resolution, it is a cleansing of all that has been pushed to the back, open the doors and windows to your heart and find what has been waiting there all along.

It is in the air, catch it, make it your own, take what is there and let life and love happen, it will when you reveal all that is beneath the soil to grow and thrive.

Spread your wings this year, fly with no fear, be all that you know you are and can be. Make it happen!

Linda Reeves is an advice cloumnist for http://www.CupidsBlackbook.com a free dating site. She is 47 years old and lives in the American Midwest.

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White Sun Good Times & Bad Times

2008-10-19T16:29:00.003-07:00

White Sun - Good Times & Bad Times
By Teow Aun Chew

Life is full of ups and downs. This can be classified as yang and yin where yang is up or optimistic and yin is down or pessimistic. Here is a story:

Two businessmen were told that people in Africa did not wear shoes. The optimistic one immediately said that, This is wonderful! I can sell shoes to everyone there. It would be a good opportunity and I should go there to start selling shoes. On the other hand, the pessimistic one said, How can you sell shoes there? If people do not wear shoes at all, how am I to sell shoes?

Who is right and who is wrong? In this situation, each of them could be either right or wrong. Being too optimistic can land ourselves with dangers and lose rationality. The pessimistic might miss some good opportunities. Being careful and prudent is good but do not be too conservative otherwise we will not be able to see potential opportunities. All these play a very important part in either giving us good times or bad times. We never know when we can strike gold. People spend millions in Research and Development to improve so as to compete in the survival of the fittest or drilling the ocean to find black gold.

Optimistic people see everything as beautiful and when we are happy the world is beautiful. Pessimistic people always see things as being difficult and they give up hopes and neglect opportunities easily. We can be determined but we should not be stubborn. We need to persist with what we should persist with. Be cool, calm and collected and use your wisdom to find the balance. Keep the balance of yin and yang and make a correct choice according to the time and the development of the situation. Good times and bad times always alternate. There are valuable lessons for us to learn in both situations.

We have the original mind which is different from the normal human mind. Our original mind is pure while the human mind can be contaminated. We lead a life according to our attitudes, perspectives and own value which lead to a series of actions, habits, and mould our personalities. There is this inner desire to succeed and achieve our dreams to have good times and better life. We have inner desires to pursue worldly enjoyments but actually these worldly enjoyments are changing and will soon disappear. For example after a few glasses of drinks, it can turn out to be suffering by vomiting them out. After a night of sinful pleasure can turn out be to be infected with HIV. Worldly pleasure can end ones life, or end up in regret.

There are rules to abide when we decide to do something. Firstly the values and standards in our mind must be right. If our decision is based on material gain or loss only, we might finally gain something. If we gained something but lost our principle of life, we have not actually gained anything because if damage is done, we cannot buy back later with money. It is perfectly fine if we can have gain and profit without hurting our conscience. If we have to go against our conscience in order to have this gain, then we have to think many times. The damage done can have a very serious consequence and compensation can never be adequate to repair or repay. Good times can become bad times when repayment is due.

The gain in material things can never balance the loss in our conscience and damage to conscience is very hard to compensate. When we feel very difficult to come to a decision in any situations, using the conscience to decide is the best. Our conscience will tell us whether it is right or wrong. They are our teacher and the instinct or conscience is very pure and divine. The disciple is the human mind which must listen to the master, the conscience. In the practice of Tao of Heaven, we use our First Heavenly Treasure to help us to decide in a very difficult situation by focusing on our true self. By using it, thats the moment where we communicate with God (Lao Mu) to advise us. We can calm down our inner desires and let our true self be the one to make decisions.

When we desire for some gains or profits, it is always good to be aware and ask who will benefit from them. Is it the flesh, the body, the conscious self, the feelings or the true self! How long can this benefit last and if we want to avoid a loss, we should also ask who will then suffer from this loss? Is it my money or other peoples money? Will I be careless in doing so? This mental consideration before doing any actions is very important to give us either good times or bad times, in the short run or long run. Practising Tao will help us to avoid making wrong decision because we are most likely not to do things to hurt our conscience.

As we continue to improve our spiritual cultivation, our spirit will be more willing and stronger, and external difficulties can no longer obstruct us in many ways. Anytime is a good time. We can even comfort other people facing hard times because we can elevate our mind and make ourselves happy even if we are facing hard times. Our adversities may be more than them, but through realization of life, we still have the ability to comfort ourselves and them.

This is the advice from my Heavenly Teacher JiGong:

And a life of the True, the Good and the Beautiful is one where you must be able to apply your marvelous wisdom to explore fully the impermanence of life; and not only to chase after the beautiful scenes before your eyes. All the beautiful scenes will fade away with the merciless time and tide. Take a look at those ancient heroes! How many of them can conquer the merciless time and tide; how many of them can conquer heaven-and-earth? Therefore, when this short-lived life cannot be lingered on we can only borrow its shortness to create the permanent. Hence, a clever person will definitely make use of the shortness of time to set up an eternal and divine undertaking.

Author: T.A Chew

T.A Chew had gone through a lot of good times and bad times. Beauty comes and goes as well as money. He was the organizer of Miss Malaysia/World Beauty Pageant 1983 and was in London as the chaperon for the beauty queen of Malaysia competing in the Miss World Beauty Pageant 1983, who later became an international actress as the female lead star in the movie 007. He was also the manager for the No1 rock band in Malaysia during that time called the Search. Website: http://www.white-sun.com

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Time Management Programs

2008-10-19T16:29:00.001-07:00

Time Management Programs
By Josh Riverside

Time Management in itself has proved to be an essential feature of modern-day management (of activities), be it personal or related to business of any sort. Hence, to attain perfection and excellence in one's life or career, this is considered to be an important trait. True, unless one practices, or is guided by a systematic set of rules, Time Management would remain largely elusive. It is therefore essential to have a very clear idea about what it really means, and the ways and means to approach the subject methodically.

There are always plenty of ideas on the subject available on the internet. In addition to that, various management institutions often run programs on the subject. These can be part of a business management degree course.

It is always better to opt for a program, as it truly equips the participants with the necessary skills for an excellent grasp on the matter. There are various books available on the subject (authored by management experts) which, though differing in their approach to the issue, ultimately converge on the attainment of the goal, that is, to master the art of Time Management.

As for the Time Management programs, there is a wide variety available, and the learner may actually be spoilt for choice. But it is always advisable to do some market research on the matter and opt for one that does not take the client or the student for a ride. Fees in such courses are usually reasonable. There are some online programs available within $100. The client, however, needs to conduct his research properly, before zeroing in on a program that would ideally suit his financial limits and professional aspirations.

The idea behind such programs is to provide some sort of professional help to those in need of effective Time Management. In today's world, activities often require more than the limited time available for managing them. This is why there is a growing need for acquiring necessary skills to be able to maintain the time limit, and also maintain the quality of the end product.

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Time-Management-Programs&id=145035

7 Secrets to OnTarget Goals Every Time

2008-10-17T20:40:00.001-07:00

7 Secrets to On-Target Goals Every Time
By Karin Syren

The final step in the process is the carefully laid stepping stones guiding you right up to the realization of your Vision. Now youre ready to gain control of the process by applying these 7-steps to each new Goal.

1. TARGET the Goal/Project

Make sure to refer to your Vision often and try not to become so goal-oriented that you lose sight of the Vision the big picture.

The goal is only significant as long as it remains relevant to the Vision, in the same way that the Vision remains relevant only in relation to your stated Mission.

Choose each goal carefully, judging whether it can move you closer to your Vision. How many goals? As many as it takes!

2. EXAMINE the Need

Is this a necessary stepping stone, or is it busy-work? Will it effectively move you toward realizing the Vision? Not all goals advance the Vision. Learn to be brutally honest in your assessments.

Be prepared to walk away from familiar activities. Just because youve always done them is not reason enough to continue.

Distance doesn't matter: It is only the first step that is difficult. Marie Anne du Deffand

3. DEFINE Success & Failure

DEFINE Success Do not skip this step!

Be very detailed in your definition or else success will seemingly elude you and you chance not recognizing it when it comes your way. A detailed definition need not mean narrowly defining success. Be careful not to use the bulls eye definition.

Be broad in your inclusion of successful possibilities. Consider an incremental definition of success a timeline or Gantt chart.

DEFINE Failure

Again, be very detailed in your definition. Resist the tendency to define failure as anything that is not success, doing the Vision a great disservice.

Make sure to give time and attention to your definition of failure, defining it narrowly. Many great successes began as failures, Coca-cola, Post-It Notes and chocolate chip cookies, to name a few.

4. EXPLORE the Options

Theres generally more than one route to a desired destination. Likewise, we generally have more options available to us than we initially identify. Learn to slow down and carefully assess your options, opening your mind to the ways in which you might approach this goal.

If you always do what youve always done, Youll always get what you always got. Unknown

Youre entering new territory. Be prepared for new ways of thinking, acting and responding.

5. IDENTIFY the Requirements & the Obstacles

IDENTIFY the Requirements

What conditions must be in place for this goal to be achieved? What preliminary planning is necessary to bring all elements into focus?

Research may be necessary at this point? Get on the internet, spend some time in the library, whatever it takes to determine the optimum conditions for this goal to be accomplished.

Each goal accomplished creates a concrete stepping stone bringing you much closer to the realization of the Vision.

IDENTIFY the Obstacles

Look ahead taking time to assess those areas that pose potential problems, and address the possibility up front. You may never run into them, but if you do, youll be prepared. Careful research will be valuable at this point.

Talk with people who have executed similar goals and learn from their mistakes. What obstacles did they face and how did they approach them? If it didnt work, dont make the same mistake!

IDENTIFY the Available Resources

What is already in place or currently available to you that can be used to facilitate accomplishing this goal?

Who do you know who has what you need to get started? Offer them a stake in the Vision

6. DEVELOP Strategies & the Final Program

DEVELOP Strategies Time to get cagey, figuring all the possible ins and outs. If this were a road trip, heres where you would make your own map, including where roads are under construction or bridges washed out. Anywhere along the way where you might be ambushed, outline a possible alternate route. Write it down, but BE FLEXIBLE!

DEVELOP the Final Program

Heres where you put all the components together. If your Vision happened to be a business, this is where you would write your Business Plan.

7. IMPLEMENT & EXECUTE

IMPLEMENT the Final Program

Theres nothing left but the doing. Put the wheels in motion. And then

EXECUTE youre ready!

Push the button and watch your Goal take shape as a well placed stepping stone moving you closer to your Vision!

Follow the same 7 step process for each goal youve listed under your Vision. If youre feeling overwhelmed, start small until you are comfortable with the process.

It may seem like a great deal of work, but isnt your Vision worth it? If not, perhaps you havent spent enough time in your porch swing filling your dream canvas. Maybe you will want to set this Vision aside and begin work on another. If none of your Visions seem to warrant this level of dedication, possibly youre not dreaming big enough

Remember, you have something to offer the world that only you can offer. Begin today the world is waiting!

Karin Syren, CTACC, is a Life and Leadership Coach specializing in the EffectivenessCoachingTM process. She helps leaders at all levels to increase their personal and professional effectiveness by guiding them through the process of learning to live more powerful and significant lives. If you want to discover what makes you unique and how to form your future around it, join Karin for Discovering Your Purpose, a FREE teleclass on January 13. Register at http://www.solushunz.com

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What is Time?

2008-10-17T20:39:00.001-07:00

What is Time?
By Paul Hegarty

Although time is time, we could for the sake of understanding break it into time by the clock and psychological time. Time by the clock is simple, I have to be somewhere at a certain time, however psychological time is a little more interesting. I know myself through time, through experiences; I am this today I will be that tomorrow. We have the idea that I am this and I will become that.

We are going to try and understand time as a whole. In order to manage time we must know exactly how it works. Time by any standard is measurement. The clock goes from one point to the next, even in terms of yourself - you judge (which is one point) yourself as this type of person today but in the future I want to become that type of person (another point). Therefore time is two known points. I cannot say I will become that, if I do not know what that is.

So I have one point which is me now and another point projected in the future, referenced from some image in my mind derived from knowledge. So I wish to become something in the future. Measurement implies form one point to another and progress can be measured by the difference between those points. I started here today, now I am there. Progress in history, which is events measured in time, would be form the horse drawn carriage to the automobile.

The idea that you have time in the physiological sense is false. Let me explain this a little. If I am a rude person - and I say tomorrow I will become polite, why do I put it off till tomorrow? What is tomorrow in this sense? Tomorrow is an idea and a way of avoiding now, which is the fact. I think personally we do it because it is easy.

Either you do it now or not at all. On the other hand I have to be somewhere tomorrow, in the physical sense - well then that is true. There is only so much I can do physically in any give time frame.

So physiologically saying I will become something tomorrow is just an avoidance of the fact of what you are right now. What you do now will be your future. So when understanding this, time in the physical sense can be organized so as to be efficient. Then through understanding you realize physiologically that tomorrow will never come, Either you do it now or put it off, which is a poor management of time.

The fact that you can organize using time is true. What you do and what you have done, is related to time. You are the product of time. Born today, die tomorrow, your memories are accumulated points in time - through experiences. It is not about what you do with time, it is seeing the fact that you are time. Managing time, means understanding and managing you. Managing you means dealing with the facts.

You cannot turn the clock back (Fact), regrets are given birth by lack of understanding. So doing and taking action, which is brought about by understanding, is managing time.

Sign up for our monthly newsletter at http://www.learningfromdvds.com and get your free e-book on memory, along with a wide selection of Self Help DVDs.

Paul Hegarty is the owner of learningfromdvds.com. A guide to educational DVDs with price comparisons, reviews, and free E-books. Read this months e-book on How To Spot A fraudulent Email. Grab your free copy today.

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Time and Life Bit by Bit

2008-10-17T07:36:00.001-07:00

Time and Life, Bit by Bit
By Drew Vics

Looking out through my picture window during a recent winter storm, I felt like I was in a giant snow globe. Big, fluffy snowflakes were falling, covering everything with a nice wintry blanket. Ah, how nice. I love snow... all two feet of it in my driveway!!

Now don't get me wrong, I really do love snow (send more!) but it does take its toll my back was a bit sore, and it grew more difficult to keep my eyes open as the day carried on. I slept like a rock that night.

It could have been worse, I could have totally wiped myself out by trying to shovel it all at once. We do it all the time. Bite off more than we can chew, or grow impatient and try to rush through, or into things. We can apply this to other areas of life as well. If we rush through things we can end up suffering in the long run.

You know how I handled the snow? Bit by bit. Little by little. I went out at 7 am and shoveled the first 9 inches. Then my wife and I went out two more times that day to take care of the rest. I learned this echnique from my father. When I was younger he always had me outside clearing the driveway with him, against my best (punk) judgement at the time. We'd go out at regular intervals to keep ahead of it as he said. Smart.

Now, how many times do we not think to keep ahead of things in our lives. I don't know about you, but I do it all the time. I want things done right away, I can't stand waiting. Lately, I've noticed my attitude changing a bit. I'm still impatient in some respects, but I'm more patient with myself. I'm the one who needs developing, and that takes time.

If you feel like you're getting nowhere, even wasting time, take heart. Life isn't meant to be lived in one day, or even a week. Life is development, learning and experiencing.

Don't waste life by worrying about time. Live life by using time. Bit by bit.

Drew Vics, an artist, writer & musician from New Jersey, writes for http://www.Myeyez.net, and for other websites online.

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6 Mistakes That Waste Your Precious Time

2008-10-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

6 Mistakes That Waste Your Precious Time
By Jackson Smith

Everyone gets 24 hours in a day, then why some people are able to do all their home and office work and still able to find time for their family while you are not able to attend to either of them. Answer to this question may lie in your habits. Since you are reading this article so I guess you are already short of time, therefore without wasting any more of your time I would get to the point. Answer to all your questions might lie in your habits itself. Read and see if you can co-relate to any of the following:

You are always short of time because you are always busy something very urgent and important.

You Spend whole day trying to do some task but in the end either you are not able to finish it or even if you finish it, the quality is not very good.

You always end up working late in the night.

If you focus on one task then several other tasks gets neglected.

Your health is getting neglected because of all this last time work.

You never get time for your hobbies.

If your answer is 'Yes' to above points then I am afraid you need to start managing your time as soon as possible. But that's easier said then done. Right? Wrong! believe me, it looks hard only in the beginning, but once it becomes part of life you hardly notice this. Here are six simple tips that you should keep in mind to manage your time properly:

1) Learn to say 'No'. If you don't have time for yourself and your family then you definitely don't have time for your co-workers and neighbors. Focus on your goals and learn to decline others request.

2) Exchange monkey. If you can't say 'No' to every co-worker then the best next thing to do is to ask them to solve one of your problems in return for your help in solving their one problem.

3) Focus on things that are going to become urgent in ear future and not things that are urgent right now. This will improve your quality and reduce the stress level and help you in planning with a clear head.

4) Don't be a perfectionist. Try to balance the quality and amount of work you have to finish in a given time. Its better to finish all your task with acceptable quality then leaving half of your work unfinished.

5) Make a diary, set daily and weekly goals.

6) Fix regular time for your health. You can work only as long as your body is in good shape.

Author is a traveler and has traveled most of Asia and Europe. He is a regular practitioner of tae-kwon-do and yoga. He enjoys photography, cooking and gardening and maintains blogs on the same as a hobby. You can also visit his health and fitness blog exercise and yoga for office.

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Withstand the Test of Time

2008-10-15T07:04:00.001-07:00

Withstand the Test of Time
By Audrina J. Bunton

As I drove home from work late one wintry afternoon, chilled from the freezing temperatures, I noticed the beautiful trees aligned on both sides of the road. Amongst the evergreens and the pine trees, one tree in particular caught my attention as it majestically stood, with its strong branches extending outward. This tree, bare from the many leaves that had once hung from its branches, daringly saluted the sky.

I thought about how this deeply rooted tree stood year after year, withstanding the test of time through the altering seasons. I thought about how this tree stood -- regardless of the many changes brought about by the sultry summers and the chilling winters.

Through all of the changes, through the bend of the limbs and the fallen leaves, there it stood -- through the test of time.

Many times in your life, you may feel as though you've taken all that you can take -- that you have stood all that you can stand.

You may feel like throwing your arms up and just giving up -- simply giving in.

My friend, you are where you are today because of your ultimate strength to withstand in the midst of failing relationships, heartbreaks, getting no breaks, of so-called friends becoming your worst enemies. You are where you are today because you withstood all of those changes and many more. You are where you are today because of the many obstacles that you have already successfully surmounted. You are where you are today because you daringly saluted the circumstances, sometimes not even realizing how.

The very strength that brought you here, will allow you to withstand your present circumstance. Don't throw in the towel. Don't give up on yourself. Don't give up on life.

Just like this majestic tree, it is imperative that you are deeply rooted in your beliefs, in God, and in yourself -- so that when life-altering events come to weaken you, or to make you bend, you will daringly withstand the test of time.

Attest today: I will no longer bend to the life-altering events that continuously come my way. I will stand strong, realizing that through my inner strength, and hope in God -- I will be like the majestic tree that withstands the test of time -- for I too -- am strong. Copyright 2003 by Audrina Jones Bunton. REPRINTING THIS ARTICLE: Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this article only in its entirety and provided copyright is acknowledged. You can find other articles to choose from at http://www.purposefully-living.com/mailing%20list.htm

Motivational Speaker, Audrina Jones Bunton was born the seventh of eight children in her household in Pinehurst, North Carolina into a loving and committed Christian home. As she has 2 children, over 40 nieces and nephews and great- nieces and nephews, it is not unusual to find her under the same roof with many of her maternal five-generation family on weekends and on holidays. In her youth, she fondly recalls traveling throughout the U.S. with her family, as her parents ministered from state to state year after yearhelping people as they traveled.

A graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology, Audrina is a Competent Toastmaster of Toastmasters International and serves as the North Carolina District Sergeant At Arms. She is a former counselor of the Durham Pregnancy Support Services, a Christian-oriented crisis pregnancy center in Durham, North Carolina and is currently a Social Research Assistant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Audrina is currently studying at the Master's Divinity School in Evansville, Indiana with a combined concentration in Biblical Counseling and IABC certification.

She also serves as the Youth Director at the Come As You Are Evangelistic Center in Aberdeen, North Carolina where her mother, Lydia Jones is the pastor.

Modeling after a song that her mother so often sings, and one that Martin Luther King, Jr. often quoted, her life and speeches are based on the following lyrics, If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or song, If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, Then my living will not be in vain.

Audrina resides with her husband William, and 2 children, Audrina Lorraine and William Woodrow.

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5 Top Time Wasters Change These Habits and Take Back Control of Your Life!

2008-10-15T07:03:00.001-07:00

5 Top Time Wasters - Change These Habits and Take Back Control of Your Life!
By Ariane Benefit

These little things are 5 of the biggest time wasters we all face. Organize to change these habits and you will change your life!

DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE WHEN YOU ARE BUSY! - For a taste of truly mastering your own time, try this. Don't answer the phone every time it rings! Especially your cell phone. If you are talking with someone or in the middle of something, finish what you are doing, then check your voice mail. That's what voice mail is for! Not only does it distract you, it's extremely rude to answer your phone when you are having a face to face conversation with someone else. Plus you then have to remember to call them back. Yet another thing on your mind to add to your stress.

When one of my clients finally learned how to be the master of his phone, his stress level was cut by at least 75%. He used to stress out every time the phone rang and jump for it no matter what he was doing. When he stopped letting the phone control his life, he started to get more respect at work, and even get along better with people. Why? Because he didn't resent the phone so much, so he was nicer to people AND he got more work done!

CHECK MAIL AND VOICE MAIL ON YOUR OWN SCHEDULE - It's best to check mail every few hours or even just 2-3 times a day. This way you can work uninterrupted on your projects and get more done! This is a good practice with voice mail as well. You really don't have to check every time the message lights up!

DON'T CHECK MAIL FIRST THING IN THE MORNING - Okay, you can breathe again now. Seriously, I know this sounds a bit shocking to a lot of you, but remember this. Morning is usually your most productive time! Don't spend it getting distracted from your goals by checking your email and voice mail first.

PLAN YOUR DAY - This is what you should do first thing in the morning. If you haven't done it the night before - make a TO DO list for the day with 5-7 things you must accomplish. Then spend your first work hour of the day working on your list, or on a critical project / deadline. When you are ready to take a break, then check email and get back to people.

KILL THE EMAIL ALERT! - Many people leave their business email open all day and have it alert them every time they get mail. I strongly recommend you shut off the Alert and stop the constant distractions.

Organize yourself to implement these five changes and you will be astounded at how much calmer your life will be. YOU will be back in charge of your time and your life!

Ariane Benefit is an organizing consultant and author of the popular Neat & Simple Living Blog at blog.neatandsimple.com Her mission is to inspire people to simplify, clear clutter, and organize so they can live a life they love! Ariane offers creative and practical solutions for people who just want a neater, simpler, more fulfilling life not a perfect one. Get Ariane's free e-book at http://www.neatandsimple.com/free-ebook.html

2006 Ariane Benefit, Neat & Simple Living

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5 Tips for Finding More Time in Your Day

2008-10-15T07:00:00.003-07:00

5 Tips for Finding More Time in Your Day
By Robin Lakes

Are you one of those people who wishes you had a 30-hour day? Do you long for having enough time to homeschool your children, cook gourmet meals, tend a garden, care for a large, five-bedroom house, play the piano, and sit by the fire reading a good book? The fact of the matter is many Americans today are operating under a time crunch. We simply dont have enough hours in the day to accomplish all that we want to.

The situation creates an enormous amount of stress. We may feel as if we are constantly operating under a deadline. We may feel fatigued and frustrated, and we may wonder if we are missing out on much of life because we spend so much time doing and not enough time thinking. Were stressed at work, stressed at home, and stressed at our sons soccer match.

The irony is, the more we do, the more behind we seem to get. We are constantly on the run, yet we may feel as if we are accomplishing very little. As a result, our pessimism grows. We may become short-tempered, especially with those we love. We may feel as if we are constantly running on empty.

The good news is there is hope, even in the midst of what might seem a hopeless situation. We can get control of our lives and control of our time. It may take a little bit of effort and time, but it will be well worth it in the long run. The first step we need to take is prioritization.

Many people feel as if they lack time to do the important things in life simply because they do not take the time to prioritize. Write down a list of your goals for the week, for the year, and for the next five years. When you do your initial brainstorming, you can list the goals in any order you like. Then go through the goals and rank them in order of importance. After that task is completed, figure out just how much time you would need to accomplish each goal. You may find that just five minutes here or there can make all the difference in the world in achieving the items on your priority list.

Next, learn to multi-task effectively. That time you spend waiting in the line at the drive-thru window could be spent balancing your checkbook. Or the time you spend paused at the cash register could be used to read a book or a magazine. In general, you should not think of lines as time-wasters. Rather, consider them opportunities to accomplish some small, yet important, tasks.

In order to be effective as a worker, spouse, and parent, youll need some alone time. Get an appointment book and actually schedule a block of time just for yourself. Your alone time could be spent praying, re-evaluating your priorities, charting your progress, or just fixing yourself a nice dessert. Just be sure that you have some alone time each day. Otherwise, youll be shortchanging yourself, and youll feel more stressed as a result.

Dont be afraid to say no. You cannot be a cub scout leader, girl scout leader, fundraising chair, and prima ballerina all at one time. Youll need to pick and choose your assignments, both your professional assignments and your personal ones. If you simplify your life, you might be surprised at how much time youll gainand how much better you will feel. Sometimes, it takes some backbone to say no. You might disappoint someone. But, in the end, youll be much better off, knowing that you have not over committed yourself.

You should consider your time to be as precious as the Presidents. There are a number of duties which make demands on your time, those you love and those you dont care for. By employing some innovative scheduling techniques, you can set aside the time for those things that are truly important to you. Youll be less stressed, more relaxed, and better able to cope with the challenges you encounter on a daily basis. As you become less stressed out, you might find that your children, spouse, and friends follow your lead. And your world will become more harmonious as a result.

Robin Lakes currently specializes in helping people resolve their problems and complaints, and achieve a sense of well-being in their busy, stress-filled lives. She has an extensive background in research, education and writing, and is currently the staff writer for Livet, Inc.

Visit =>http://www.livetinc.com to get tips on improving the quality of your life, resources on solving problems, and information on when and how to file complaints successfully.

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Time Management Seminars

2008-10-15T07:00:00.001-07:00

Time Management Seminars
By Josh Riverside

Time Management is one of the most significant stepping stones to success in one's personal as well as professional life. Thus, the modern world has come up with a number of techniques to make its inhabitants acquainted with proper Time Management skills that are essential for survival in a fiercely competitive environment.

Seminars and workshops are a viable way of providing Time Management training to working professionals. These seminars usually last for a day or two and are almost always organized by multinationals who want their employees to have strong Time Management skills. These employers hire Time Management experts who teach the learners and users how to apply various tips to their own situations. One-to-one seminars are also not unheard of.

Time Management Seminars and workshops are usually attended by working professionals who feel they should find out effective ways and means to manage their time and check time wastage. It is important for the person concerned to set his goals properly and discover his strengths and weaknesses, as far as Time Management is concerned. The seminars and workshops also teach the individual to prioritize and pay more attention to the more important tasks and chores. Multi-tasking is another important skill that is stressed upon and the individual is gradually conditioned to wean himself from the not-so-important tasks. The seminars also focus on the need for improving personal concentration levels. Thus, Time Management professionals always stress on having a well-balanced lifestyle where one has enough scope for professional, social, emotional and spiritual development.

Some seminars provide the client or the user with an online registration facility. These are the workshops and seminars that are open to all. However, these are also the ones that charge a particularly hefty registration fee (up to $2,000).

However, all such Time Management Seminars are designed to serve a general purpose. The idea remains to reduce time wastage and increase the general professional productivity of an individual or a company.

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Leading in Troubled Times: The Empowered People Nu Leadership Series

2008-10-14T16:40:00.001-07:00

Leading in Troubled Times: The Empowered People - Nu Leadership Series
By Daryl Green

Any committee is only as good as the most knowledgeable, determined and vigorous person on it. There must be somebody who provides the flame. Lady Bird Johnson

My friend works for a local church as an office manager. Initially, he was zealous about making changes to antiquated church systems. Unfortunately, the church leaders didnt want to progress as quickly. He was discouraged and disempowered. How could this happen at a church?

Lets discuss the liberating aspect of empowerment. After Jesus death, we find His disciples demoralized and frightened (John 20:19). They had looked for Jesus to restore Israel. Didnt Jesus promise them a new kingdom? In Luke 24:1, the disciples meet the resurrected Jesus, and they celebrate. However, in Luke 24:51, Jesus departs again. The disciples are left with only a promise. They wait.

In Act 2, we find the Holy Spirit equipping the disciples, encouraging their hearts, and empowering them to preach the Gospel. The disciples learned to follow the Holy Spirit and allow Him to liberate them from their fears. Miller, author of the Empowered Leader, maintains every Christian who desires to become a leader must first know how to follow. Malphurs, a value-based guru, argues that every organization must have committed values and must passionately stand for something. Likewise, organizations need to be passionate about their followers and empower them so that they can be successful.

References:

Malphurs, A. (1996). Values-Driven Leadership. Grand Rapids, MI: Bakers Books.

Miller, C. (1995). The empowered leader. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

2006 by Daryl D. Green

Daryl D. Green has published over 100 articles in the field of decision-making (personal and organizational), leadership, and organizational behavior. Mr. Green is also the author of two acclaimed books, Awakening the Talents Within and My Cup Runneth Over. He is a columnist, lecturer, professor, and management consultant. Mr. Green has a BS in engineering and a MA in organizational management. Currently, he is a doctoral degree in strategic leadership. For more information,visit his website at http://www.darylgreen.org

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Time Management Against Time

2008-10-14T16:32:00.001-07:00

Time Management Against Time
By Michael Bens

Managing time is always easier said than done when you work long hours. If you have a family, children, and other duties and responsibilities, and work long hours, you know that time is of essence. Since you have a heavy responsibility load, you want to work out a plan that includes goals.

Time management skills are essential for success, so it is important to learn strategies and tips, as well as setting goals that will help you become highly effective, while staying focused. When you waste time, you are loosing contact with what really matters most in life.

Goals:

A great place to start with time management is by setting goals that work with your time management. Goals are essential for getting ahead and staying in the game of life. Setting goals are not difficult. First, you must decide what your work entails, and plan to work through each activity in a timely manner. I found that creating a list always helps to plan goals. For example, I decide what my day requires of me, set up a list with the most important task first, and finish the task before moving on to other tasks. This has been a successful strategy for me and still works today.

Typically, goals start off small and work their way into a long-term goal plan. For example, in the next five years where do you see yourself? Long-term goals are often longer than five years, and to set long-term goals, you must ask yourself, where do I see myself in ten years? Once you have a five-year goal, you start working through your daily schedule and list to achieve the expectations of your long-term goals. As a rule you can work through your long-term goals while working through your small-term goals, it is important however that you keep focused on the smaller goal. This is why some people work harder than they should, since they strive to get their long-term goals meet, without considering a short-term goal. Often these types of plans and goals fail.

Time management is not as difficult as many believe. Rather time management is understanding the value of time, setting up goals, and working hard to achieve these goals. If you work long hours, you might want to consider working through your list as quickly as possible and sufficiently so that your, long hours are reduced, and you have quality time for your family and self.

You may want to consider another job that works less hours and pays as good as your current job. This is an idea, but if you are dedicated to your job that works you long hours, time is essential since you need to spend time with your family, and take time out for your self. You can ask yourself how much your time is costing you. If you are investing more in the hours you are spending on managing your time, then you will need to find a solution to equal the balance between investment and time. Time is money, and money is time!

For more great free resources on how to manage your time visit Gabae Time Management.

Also for more informative articles on time management visit Gabae Time Management Articles.

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Time Mastery vs. Time Management Knowing the Difference

2008-10-14T06:48:00.001-07:00

Time Mastery vs. Time Management - Knowing the Difference
By Judith Schwader

How much time do you spend on Mastering Your Time? I dont 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.

The goal of mastering your time, however, is to live better, to savor your time. which is just another word for your Life.

If you accept that your time is non-renewable, precious, then it makes sense to take this most valuable personal resource seriously, and devote to it the attention it deserves. Look at Time Mastery as a way of actually lightening your load even if it paradoxically takes a little bit of time to lighten up.

Heres one approach to Mastery: Each morning, use some time to plan your time. That is, picture your day what you want to accomplish, what things are urgent and what things can wait, what preparations it would be useful to make, and a high priority is to focus on what pleasures you are anticipating. Those events and activities that emerge from this review which are most important go into your scheduler first, and everything else must fit around them. That way, as you move through your day, youll know what can be relegated to low priority; youll know what requests to honor and which to refuse.

By spending a very few minutes in focused concentration each morning, you can prevent the tendency we all have to allow our time to be appropriated by others. Once you know what is necessary and desirable for now, it is easier to recognize the un-necessary and un-desirable, then eliminate the drip drip drip that adds up to an erosion of your non-renewable day.

In short, using those few minutes in the morning to get clear is a small investment that helps you throughout the day to avoid the lost moments here and there that add up to a great chunk of time - your life. Even better, a little planning helps you focus on making sure every day includes something to savor.

Judith Schwader, the Time Guide, is the creator and publisher of Time Mastery, an e-zine focused on the philosophy and practice of living in abundance through a conscious use of time. To find additional guiding articles and subscribe to her FREE e-zine, visit www.masteringyourtime.com.

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5 Times to Multitask Effectively

2008-10-14T06:37:00.001-07:00

5 Times to Multitask Effectively
By Jim Estill

1. Phone Time

When youre on the phone, nobody can see you (except maybe through the windows of your office). Because you dont have to be making eye contact with somebody, you can do simple exercises. This is not a time to do anything that requires brainpower: you want to devote your entire attention to the phone conversation. However, you can do automatic activities. You might not even want to count your repetitions.

I have improved my health by doing minor exercises and stretching while Im on a conference call, I can easily stretch or do light repetitive weights.

Another thing that I sometimes do on the phone is simple organizational tasks. If my desk is cluttered before a phone call, or if I have a drawer that is cluttered, I will use the phone call time to clear out that drawer. As long as you are doing simple tasks that dont detract from your conversation, using phone time can be key.

2. Car Time

What can you do while youre in the car? While Im in the car, I listen to audiobooks. Even though I live fairly close to work, I find that in a ten minute drive each way I can get through a lot of audio material. I also have an Apple Ipod, so that I can listen to audio material while Im flying. Frequently, there is time that I can cover audio material when I wouldnt be able to cover anything else, because I am doing something else concurrently.

While youre driving, its important to drive safely. If you are going to talk on a cell phone while you drive, use a hands-free set. You can also use a Dictaphone while you drive: this is another great time saver that allows you to remember and organize your thoughts. While dictating, remember to use bullet points while you talk aloud: just because you are speaking it, doesnt mean it has to be a complete sentence.

3. Workout Time

While youre exercising, you can often read depending on what kind of exercise you are doing. You can listen to audio material while exercising. I find that listening to audiobooks while I exercise is a valuable tool because I am often distracted and so do not focus on how much longer I have in each run, or how many more sets I have to do.

Another way to optimize your workout time is to spend your exercise time with a friend, so you will be able to catch up while both maintaining a level of fitness. Having a workout friend will not only allow you to stay in touch easily, it will also motivate you to workout at a higher level.

4. Television Time

While youre watching TV, you can use your extra time to stretch or exercise. The perfect place for an exercycle or treadmill is in front of the TV. How fit would you be if you never watched TV without exercising. You can even read light material that you need to get through but might not require your complete attention.

You can also use your television time for doing chores around the house. If you need to husk corn or snap peas for dinner, you can do that easily in front of the TV. You can also dust one area of the house while watching a show. Other tasks, such as giftwrapping or filing can be done in front of the TV if you have your set up properly done.

5. Wait Times

It is best to always be prepared for wait times. Even if you only have two or three minutes to wait, why not spend that time reading a book or magazine? Youd be surprised at the number of tasks you can accomplish in three or four minute bursts.

The key to multitasking is to choose your times wisely. You want to get each task done well, and so you should avoid multitasking if it will lower the quality of your work. Find out what works best for you: experiment with your time use. You will eventually find a system that improves your time use, and gives you more time for the things you want to do.

Jim Estill is the CEO of Synnex Canada.

To learn more about his successful business strategies, visit his blog at http://www.jimestill.com.

Jim Estill's CEO blog also has information on ordering his audiobook and ebook, Time Leadership.

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Time Management Isn't About Managing Your Time It's About Getting Control of You

2008-10-13T16:39:00.003-07:00

Time Management Isn't About Managing Your Time, It's About Getting Control of You
By Alan Boyer

Do you start off a day with the idea of getting certain things done and by the end of the day you havent even gotten to the things you wanted done?

Then you should be working on getting control of you, getting control of how you manage you.

What is getting in your way, getting between you and those things you intended to do?

Is it easier to do things that are easier or more fun first?

You look up at the clock and it is break time, so you go take a break, grumbling that you didnt get to the things you really needed to do. After returning to work, of course there are a couple of those fun, easy things that you can do before you start on the tough stuff.

Doing the easy things first is poor time management. Its a habit, but habits can be changed.

Do you have a priority list but things lower in priority get done first because of excuses like these:

This one is easy, Ill do it first to get it out of the way.
The whole list of things that wont take as long can be done fast, so Ill start there.
This one is not as difficult..

You get the idea. Things that youd rather be doing, things that arent as difficult or challenging youd rather do first.

I believe it was Brian Tracy that said, Eat the frog first Swallow the things you dont like to get them out of the way.

The idea is to do the hard stuff, and more important stuff first. Get them out of the way. When doing the easy and fun stuff first you never get to the stuff you should be doing.

Keeping a time log of what you are currently doing will help you find where your time is going. Make sure to write everything down.

Many times I am totally amazed seeing people coming back from doing their time log for just a week. 80-90% of their time went to the low priority stuff, not the things they should be doing, not the things that are important.

I assume that:

Over 95% of everything most people do, even people who seem to have it together, is wasted time. Just think about that! If 95% is waste, then what would happen if you put ALL of your time, or ALL of your employees time into the 5% where you should be spending your time. Doesnt that say that you SHOULD be able to do 20 times as much as you currently are?

Sounds rather far out doesnt it? Well its not too far out. If we assume that 20 times is the ideal, just how hard do you think it would be to increase your results by 50-200% when 20 times is a potential? Pretty easy really. So, start off by tracking where you are spending your time now, looking for the right things to be doing, and where time is wasted.

Download a copy of our time tracking log at http://www.leaders-perspective.com/Time-Management-Tracking-Log.aspx

================================================================

Get free hints and tips on improving your time management skills at http://www.leaders-perspective.com/Time-Management-Training.aspx We'll also show you some ways to categorize your time into good time slots, and wasted time slots.

Join us for time management training that frequently doubles, triples, results of businesses and production lines.

Alan Boyer

The Leader's Perspective

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What Is The True Measure Of Time?

2008-10-13T16:39:00.001-07:00

What Is The True Measure Of Time?
By Stuart Crawford

Sorry, I dont have time for that! I hear this consistently from people in my everyday travels. What does this actually mean? What is time? There is an old saying, Give it a busy person! They always seem to get things done. Why is this? Do they have more time than the regular person? No. Measurement of time is consistent for everything and every one, there is still only 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, etc.

Time was created, in the mid 19th century, as a tool to ensure trains in Europe arrived at the station and passengers knew when to arrive to board them. Man has created time as a tool to create order in a day. Before time was used, we would get up when the sun rose and go to bed when it set. For centuries, cultures, lived this way, without any exact unit of measurement for time. It wasnt until schedules, and then days, as we now know them, needed to be planned.

When someone tells you they do not have the time to do something, what they may be really telling you, is the certain task or job isnt really a priority to them. This may be the underlying meaning behind a lot of the no time replies.

If your business depended on getting a certain task done or required a meeting with a client, would you find the time to make this happen? Yes, of course. For the health of your business, you would escalate this task or meeting to a higher priority. There is still the same amount of hours in the day.

Time now has become an excuse for many people. Busy people, with their priorities in check, will always find a way to bump the important items to the top of their list.

Can you make time? NO! In a nutshell, it comes down to how committed you are to the success of a certain project, task, or your family. Individuals or teams who can prioritize, seem to have the time over those who do not.

When you find yourself using time as an excuse for not meeting an important deadline or making it to your sons or daughters school concert, perhaps rephrasing it to a priority will assist you to ensure your goals are met and all the important things in life are taken care of. Remember, what may seem to be a high priority today, will probably not be all that important when your friends gather to remember you when the day comes.

Stuart R. Crawford is the Director of Business Development, at IT Matters Inc. (http://www.itmatters.ca), a Microsoft Gold Partner, Small Business Specialist and Microsoft IMPACT Award Finalist 2005 - Network Infrastructure Solution of the Year. Stuart is also a certified coaching practioner with execuCoach International (http://www.execuCoach.net). He can be reached at scrawford@itmatters.ca.

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5 Things ... No Make that 7 Things You Can Write this Weekend and Still Have Time to Catch a Movie

2008-10-13T07:19:00.002-07:00

5 Things ... No, Make that 7 Things You Can Write this Weekend and Still Have Time to Catch a Movie
By James Jeremiah

My mother used to sing songs all the time and they used to annoy me, but now I use the words from those songs and treat them as wise words. Sometimes we don't hear messages until much later; sometimes we hear them when it's too late.

Life Choices

This weekend can be like any other weekend in your life or it can be special. It's your choice. I'm about to give you a gift assignment. Quick, don't think, grab a pen and a slip of paper, yes, an old envelope will do. Write down 5 things you want to do with your life between now and when you pass on to the next life. Don't cheat. You have to write 5 things!

Achievements

Done? Good. Now, write 2 things you always wanted in life and actually got. If you don't think you got them, you've been aiming way too high and so you need to substitute 2 great things you did get in life and trade them for the 2 you wanted. Life's tough, get over it.

The Great Plan

Now, go back to the 5 things you wrote before. You had better start planning to get those things done because life is short. Put that little list in your pocket or handbag and keep it there (Yes you can take it out when it's time to wash clothes or clean out your bag etc., but you have to put it back when you can.)

The Great Unknown

Each time you achieve one of those things on your list, you might think you're doing well because you can tick one off. Nah, you're wrong! This assignment is about to get harder. Each time you achieve one thing on your list, you have to add another thing to replace it. Soon that grubby little slip of paper is going to get tired looking and you might get tired of it being a constant reminder. You might even rather put that list in a drawer and get on with life, right? Do it. Put it in a drawer. Years from now when you come across it, you're going to have a little laugh and look back at that weekend as something special, not like all the other weekends.

Some of you, who keep the list going, might even achieve great things. This is where the fun begins. Who will have the longest list of crossed-off items? Print or photocopy this article and keep it with the list and when you think you have the longest list, call Oprah (or similar). You never know, you could end up motivating a whole lot of people to get out and have wonderful goal-orientated lives. Go you!

James Jeremiah 2006

James Jeremiah writes and motivates. His ideas inspire others.

To contact him concerning this article, write to:

jamesjeremiahwrites at gmail.com

You may reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author's name and copyright information are retained and the email link is included as is.

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4 Ways to Destress Your Wait Time

2008-10-13T07:19:00.001-07:00

4 Ways to De-stress Your Wait Time
By Pauline Wallin, Ph.D.

How do you feel about waiting in line, waiting on hold, and other forms of waiting? Is it stressful? Do you get impatient or angry? Does your inner brat demand that the wait be over? If so, you're not alone.

Several years ago a Pittsburgh research firm estimated that each of us spends over 5 years of our lives waiting. Not all at once, of course, but a few annoying minutes at a time.

Waiting can certainly be irritating and exasperating. But it need not be. The stressful part is not the situation it's how you handle it. Don't let your inner brat take control.

Here's what to do instead:

1. Pay attention to something else: The more you pay attention to the wait time, the longer it seems.

Suppose you're in a checkout line. The person in front of you is fumbling to find her checkbook. Then she asks the cashier for a pen. Doesn't it seem to take forever as you watch her write her check? The actual wait time is probably no more than two minutes.

But what if, instead, you grab a magazine off a rack and look through it until it's your turn? Often, you wish you had more time to finish reading the article.

==> Lesson #1: The less you focus on the wait itself, the more quickly time will seem to pass.

2. Adjust your expectations: The longer you expect to wait, the more patient you are.

Suppose you have tickets to a play or concert, and you arrive a half hour early. During that half hour you peruse the program, look around the theater or chat with the person next to you. You feel relaxed.

But then show time arrives. At five minutes past the appointed time you start looking at your watch, squirming in your seat. After 10 minutes you may become annoyed enough to complain about the wait.

In other words, you had no problem waiting 30 minutes because you didn't expect anything to happen during that time. But once you expected the show to begin, even five minutes seemed too long.

==> Lesson #2: Assume it's going to take twice as long as you'd like. And then distract yourself with something interesting to help pass the time read something, listen to music or talk to someone.

3. Reduce uncertainty: If you know how long the wait will be, it's less stressful.

Does this sound familiar? Please hold. All of our representatives are busy. Your call is very important to us, and will be answered in the order that it is received.

That message is not very reassuring or calming. At best it lets you know that you are in the queue. You still have no idea as to how long the wait will be.

Some companies give you an estimate of the wait time. Not only does this tell you whether the wait is two minutes or 20 minutes; it also gives you a feeling of control. If you choose to wait a long time, you are less apt to be angry about it, than if the decision is out of your hands.

==> Lesson #3: If possible try to find out how long you'll have to wait. This won't help if you're on the phone, of course, but it will come in handy at airports, doctors' offices and restaurants.

4. See the value of what you're waiting for: If you really want it, it's worth the wait.

Some people will eagerly wait in line for hours just to catch a glimpse of a celebrity or to take advantage of a special sale, such as on the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., when stores offer rock-bottom prices on popular items.

On the other hand, these same people might grumble about waiting in line for more than ten minutes to buy stamps at the post office.

Why the difference? You can buy stamps elsewhere. You probably won't get another chance to see the Pope drive by.

==> Lesson #4: Think about waiting as an investment, rather than as a waste of time. The payoff is the enjoyment or relief that you'll feel once the waiting is over.

Finally, remind yourself that compared to all the problems in the world, the act of waiting is pretty trivial. Waiting is merely a temporary inconvenience, not worth getting your inner brat involved.

Pauline Wallin, Ph.D. is a psychologist and coach in Camp Hill, PA, and author of Taming Your Inner Brat: A Guide for Transforming Self-defeating Behavior (Wildcat Canyon Press, 2004)

Visit http://www.innerbrat.com for more information, and subscribe to her free, monthly Inner Brat Newsletter.

Want to get more Internet savvy? Subscribe to PaulinesInternetPicks-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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Become a More Organized Person Time Management Is an Area Of High SelfImprovement Potential

2008-10-13T05:55:00.001-07:00

Become a More Organized Person - Time Management Is an Area Of High Self-Improvement Potential
By Terje Ellingsen

A general self-improvement plan should include how to get organized and how to improve your skills in managing your time. Here are some time management tips.

Accept the fact that we cannot rely too much on our memories.

The human mind is exposed to a hurricane of information every day. As a result the mind does a very nice filtering process and very little of what we see and hear is retained in our minds. So instead of depending on our very selective memory, an improvement would be to depend on a piece of paper instead.

Carry a tiny scribbling pad and a pen with you all the time.

The moment you fix an appointment or are asked to attend a meeting, improve yourself by jotting it down in the scribbling pad. Do not bother about others laughing at you. You will have the last laugh in the end.

A good improvement idea is to write it down assignments in a book.

Each time you tell somebody to do something or when somebody like your boss asks you to do something writing it down in a book along with the date and the time can provide significant improvement. Do not be afraid of being thought about as a person with a very poor memory. It wont be long before people start thinking of you as a highly organized person.

If you have an electronic pocket organizer be sure to use it.

Each time someone gives you his or her telephone number, immediately enter it into your pocket organizer, the name, number and any other vital information of this person.

Use the backside of business cards to help your memory.

Usually we get a lot of business cards as we go about our daily business of life. The business card of course contains the name of the person, his or her telephone number and probably the name of the firm for which the person works. But the problem is, the next time we meet the person, the face may seem familiar but we wont have the foggiest idea as to where we met the person. The best thing to do would be to jot down a few points about the person and probably the reason for meeting him or her and the place as well. This will certainly lessen the load on your memory centre. This will help you in becoming a more organized person and improve your relationships.

File away the business cards properly.

As soon as you get back to your office take care to file away the business cards you collected and organize them properly. Dont just stuff them into your card folder. Take care to read them properly and perhaps keep the cards of important clients separately. If you do not find much use for a persons card, file it an a box marked unlikely needed or simply toss it. This will make you a more organized person

Prepare a to-do list everyday.

I cannot over-emphasize the importance of to-do lists in getting yourself organized thus improving your time management. It is probably the most sensible thing a busy person could do.

Plan what you have to do well in advance.

For staying organized, it is a good idea to have daily, weekly and monthly plans for the activities of your business and yourself personally as well. This will improve your ability to manage your time.

Have a fixed timetable.

Although it may seem kind of mechanical, a fixed time for everything would make you more organized, especially if you stick steadfast to the time table. Believe me it really helps because in this way, you will have time for everything and everything can be done in the time allotted for it.

And so you are now moving towards becoming a more organized person.

Terje Brooks Ellingsen is a writer and internet publisher. He runs the website 1st-SelfImprovement.net Terje is a Sociologist who enjoys contributing to the personal growth and happiness of others. He tries to accomplish this by writing about self help issues from his own experience and knowledge. For example, improving time management and other skills as well as improving self confidence.

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Working Time Management Moms

2008-10-12T00:24:00.001-07:00

Working Time Management Moms
By Steven M Hall

When you walk in the door, you see a stack of papers floating around your desk, and when you go home, just as at the office, you cant find those important papers you need so desperately to stay out of trouble or make an excuse. When you come home at night, you and your spouse argue, and your children ignore you because you just arent spending family time with some of the important people in your life.

Does this sound familiar? Have you ever wondered why? Well, you are not managing your time accordingly so that you reap benefits and the ones you love are happy. You are not organized, so therefore how the heck can you find those important documents? Moms already have a big responsibility and we neglect to manage our times, our responsibilities turn to chaos.

Lets face it; it is never easy to stay organized when we have busy work schedules and a family to attend to, as well as other responsibilities. The traditional individuals often store files in a filing cabinet, and clean their room and desk once every week.

However, there are people out there that are spontaneous. Some of us even store documents so they are out of sight and soon find those documents are out of mind, until someone calls their attention to the papers.

The key to success moms is getting your priorities straight. If you shop for groceries once per week, you can cut back time by buying enough to last longer, so that grocery shopping isnt part of your weekly plan. The extra hour or more that you spend at the supermarket can be spent on quality time with the family.

This is only one solution to managing your time, but it is certainly a start. In addition, you can make up a list of your duties, starting with the most important tasks first, and working through the list one at a time. I found this to be a great solution for managing time, since when you work hard to complete one task, the rests fall into place with ease.

If you spend an hour or even one half hour in the mirror, it is probably because you are not feeling good about your self. It takes approximately five minutes to put make-up on, and to stand in the mirror longer is only taking up time. Hair is also important since our person in general sets an impression. If you spend longer time than needed doing your hair, try finding nice looking hairstyles that are less complicated to style.

This is also a great process of the time management solution. Clothing should also be limited but appropriate for whatever it is that you doing and it should not take less than a couple of minutes to get dressed. Unless you are a model, or actress, overdressing is not appropriate in most cases for every day life situations.

If you are spending extra time preparing meals, you might want to consider recipes that are quick and healthy to manage your time mom.

Steve Hall is the owner of http://www.your-official-guide.com, your one-stop location for getting the information you are looking for on a wide ranging and ever-growing list of subjects.

Need to get more time? Try the Soundview Executive Book Summaries.

Learn to Manage Your Time Effectively ==>Click Here

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Effective Stress Management: How To Accomplish 2 Times More At Half The Time Required (Part 2)

2008-10-10T05:54:00.001-07:00

Effective Stress Management: How To Accomplish 2 Times More At Half The Time Required (Part 2)
By James Tan

Do you ever get stressed by the sheer amount of work and tasks to be done from day to day? Do you feel that 24 hours in a day is simply too short a time to get things done?

You are not alone! As our society progresses and the pace of life quickens, time is the most precious and scarce commodity. Whether it is things from work or personal stuffs that needs to be done, all you need is to know how to prioritise and organise yourself to get things done right. You would be surprised that a few simple tips will provide you with the tools necessary to accomplish more in less time and of course reduce your stress level at the same time!

In the second part of this series, we will take a look at the importance of planning.

1) In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned prioritising your tasks. When preparing your list of things to do, first write down everything that comes across your mind. The idea is to dump everything from your brain and convert it into writing, continue without editing until you are sure that everything is covered.

2) After you have a whole list of the tasks to be done, select each item according to the following classifications. (1) Critical (2) Quite important (3) Can wait.

3) Go through your list while asking yourself whether it is a (1), (2) or (3), then mark the number beside each task.

4) After that classification is done, drill down each category, for example you have listed 5 tasks as (1), take a look at the 5 tasks and then determine their order of priority. You could mark these tasks as (1)1, (1)2, (1)3 etc. Do the same for category (2) and (3).

5) Always be flexible, sometimes your plan needs to be adjusted as you go along. For example you have set out to accomplish your first task, and it has been delayed due to reasons or circumstances not within your control. You do not have to wait for the task to be done before proceeding to the next. Skip right over to the next one and try to get it done. You can always come back to the undone task.

6) Be mindful of the time needed to complete each task. Take into account the time loss in peripheral activities that need to support your task, these would include, waiting, travelling etc. Be realistic and do not allocate insufficient time for the task to be completed.

In the coming issues, I will be discussing other critical areas that you can consider to adopt into your life for more productivity and less stress. If you have missed any of the past issues, go www.stress-relief-and-management.com to get it.

James Tan has dedicated his life to exploring the human mind's potential in stress management areas after suffering a fatal auto accident, which has been the turning point of his life.

His website http://www.stress-relief-and-management.com contains various tips and advices, including a newsletter 'Taming the Monkey mind' and a free 28 part ecourse of stress managing tips.

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