Archive for June, 2007

by Erik Luhrs
Most people, when investing their money, will ask what their “return on investment” will be. They want to know that they will get the most interest possible by putting their money into this investment versus that investment.

Obviously, this is a logical way to approach investing. Why put your money into an investment with a 6% ROI when you can invest in something else with a 35% ROI?

Yes, money is a valuable item in today’s world, and you should take great care when investing it. Yet, money is an item that can be recreated when it is lost. In essence, you can always make more money.

As a matter of fact, you can always make or get more of almost anything on this earth and in this life. However, there is one commodity that when used, is gone forever. That commodity is time.

Whether you believe in free will or that someone else has already decided how long you live, the fact is that you only have so many years, birthdays, sunrises, sunsets and heartbeats in this life. You only have so much time.

Just like money, you invest your time. When you shower, work, ride a bike, watch a ball game, take a walk, read information (like you’re doing right now), play chess, start a business, etc. you are choosing to invest your time into that activity.

But have you ever asked “what is my ROI for doing this activity?” If you’re like 99.9% of the human race, the answer is “no.”

Of course, after we have invested our money into something that flopped, we always kick ourselves in the butt. We always say we should have “known better.” And we do exactly the same thing when we look back at a waste of our time. We always say we should have “known better.”

The truth is you did “know better.” If your financial investment failed I’ll bet it wasn’t a smart investment to begin with. And if your time investment failed, you simply didn’t analyze the worth of what you were going to do before investing your time into it.

Before investing in the stock market, investors are presented with a booklet of information about the investment called a “prospectus.” This allows the investor to get a feel for the stock or fund they are about to invest in and to understand the potential ROI for their investment.

What if someone took the time to compile your time investment options? What if you could look over your time investments ahead of when you actually made them? What if you could figure out your ROI for time investments? What if you had a prospectus for your time investments before you invested? Well now you can.

When they hear the words “time management,” most people picture a daily schedule crammed with to-do’s. They think that effective time management is trying to accomplish as much as possible in a short amount of time.

This is not effective time management. As a matter of fact, it’s a recipe for disaster.

In order to have effective time management we first need to determine what is truly important to the individual. Then we need to determine what the person’s goals are. Next we need to determine what activities will produce the best results or ROI for helping the person achieve their goals swiftly. Finally, we can then put activities in order of their importance and effectiveness.

However, every person has different areas of life. Therefore, they have different goals and priorities in each area of their life.

So an effective time management system must factor in these various areas of life. After all, if your entire schedule is nothing but work related appointments and to-dos, you will become overwhelmed, unmotivated and quickly stop using it.

In my experience there are five basic areas of life to think about when working with time management:

1. Work Time — All job related activities (this applies to and “second” or home based businesses you have as well)
2. Home & Family Time — All activities related to your immediate family and home needs
3. Exercise & Health — All activities related to keeping yourself in shape and physically healthy (this also includes massage, spa time, etc.)
4. Social Time — All activities that have to do with socializing with friends, acquaintances and extended family
5. Self Time — All activities that have to do with your own personal pursuits, such as meditation, reading, hobbies, etc

Now, even after we have determined what activities fit into which areas of your life (i.e. work, family, exercise, social, self) we must then determine which activities truly motivate and support you in attaining your goals and which activities are simply a ‘would’ or a ‘should.’

The simplest way I have found for someone to begin putting their activities in priority order is based on the concept of 80/20.

There are three variations on the theme of 80/20.

First, it is said that “eighty percent of success is just showing up.”

This leads to the conclusion that the other twenty percent of success is knowing what to do when you get there.

The second variation on 80/20 is that “twenty percent of your efforts will produce eighty percent of your results.”

Thus, if a person would review the remaining eighty percent of their efforts and determine which of those efforts produced the other twenty percent of results, they could easily eliminate a great amount of wasted work. This would significantly increase free-time and ultimately increase the quality of the person’s life.

Inspired by these two variations, I created the third variation. I call it the “80/20 List.”

Simply, the 80/20 List helps you determine what you really should be doing with your time. This is a highly effective tool, especially when combined with weekly schedule planning.

Again, our lives are made up of different aspects. Therefore, we have to prioritize our time and activities in each of the five aspects of life.

Now, in order to break things down into 80’s and 20’s, we must first know what all our time usage options are, so the first thing to do is to list everything you want and need to do on a “100% list.”

The 100% list can contain every option you have. It can be something as simple as emailing a friend, buying some new clothes, or reading a book, all the way up to learning photography, buying a new home or starting a new business venture. Whatever you want to do, need to do, or dream to do, write it down.

Now, with the understanding that “twenty percent of your efforts will produce eighty percent of your results” you will begin to separate your list.

On a new sheet of paper draw a line down the middle from top to bottom. On one side on the top write “80” and on the other side write “20”

You will now begin placing items from your 100% list in to your 80/20 list.

In the “20” column, first put everything you must do. If you have commitments with a deadline that must be met or responsibilities that cannot be put off, put those items in this column.

After that is done, take a good long look at the rest of your 100% list. Ask yourself: “What on this list is truly and immediately important to me?” This is not to say that anything else isn’t important, it’s just not as immediately important. Once you’ve determined these items, place them in the “20” column.

If you really have a problem focusing in on what is immediately important, don’t be afraid to ask family, friends or coworkers. The 80/20 List is not a secret to be kept. The more people who know about it, the more compelled you’ll feel to keep in line with it. When first using the 80/20 List, the more leverage you can use on yourself the better.

Now that you’ve chosen your items for the “20” column, everything else goes into the “80” column.

Remember, you’re “20” column should have significantly less items in it than your “80” column (think a ratio of 1:4).

Next, take your “20” column and prioritize it. Give everything in the column a value of 1 (most important) through 10 (least important). Obviously, you can have multiple items with the same value, especially if you have more than ten items in the column.

Once you have put the items in order of priority, Voila! You have a to-do list that is customized and prioritized to your needs and your life.

Now prioritize everything in the “80” column with values of 1 through 10 as well.

As you accomplish things from your “20” column, cross them off and move the top item from the “80” column over to the bottom of the “20” column. Now you will never have to question how to use your time or feel that you’re puttering around unfocused.

You will also get to enjoy the reward of actually “accomplishing” something. Most people go through life doing many things, but they never realize how much that have truly accomplished simply because they never make it tangible. By having a list of accomplishments you have crossed of, you will “see” what you have really done. It’s a great feeling.

An additional benefit of the “80/20 List” is time to decide how serious you really are about things. If items sit in the “80” column and never seem to make it over to the “20” side, you’re probably not very serious about pursuing them.

Make sure you periodically review your list and ask yourself if there are any items that really don’t mean much to you anymore. After all, life is change.

You can now rest assured that you are getting the best return on your investment of time and energy when selecting your activities.

This list is your focus. This list is your desires prioritized by you for you in all areas of your life. Live by this list. Combine it into your weekly schedule and watch the quality of your work time, family time and play time grow faster than you ever imagined.

Erik Luhrs is the President of Make Your Business BOOM! Inc. He provides Consulting, Coaching and Seminars on Business & Performance Optimization to Executives and Business Owners all over the world. Visit www.MakeYourBusinessBOOM.com to request a complimentary Time Control Coaching Session today.

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by Cheryl A. Clausen
Nearly every business owner and professional service organization I know lacks one major thing, time!

Do you feel like you are always running short on time? Do you feel like time is the one thing you seem unable to control? If you somehow had more time, do you have a list of things that you would do or dreams that you would fulfill? If you were able to better use your time would you feel more successful, less stressed, and overall happier than you do right at this moment?

If I asked you to throw a $20 bill on the ground and walk away you would look at me as though I had a third eye. Yet every time you $pend 15 minutes uselessly and without a conscious decision to do so that is exactly what you are doing, if you are currently earning a little over $160,000 a year. Ok, you say well I don’t earn anywhere near that but if you earn even about $40,000 a year you are throwing a $5 bill away. Would you throw $5 on the sidewalk and let the wind blow it wherever? I seriously doubt it, yet you are easily distracted from something you really want to do for 15 minutes frequently throughout your potentially productive and income generating work day and so are the people who work either with you or for you. According to a new survey by America Online and Salary.com, the average worker admits to frittering away 2.09 hours per 8-hour workday, not including lunch and scheduled break-time.

Research indicates that the internet is a frequently used time waster, but the real question is why do you waste so much valuable time in your work day? One major reason is the attitudes you hold about the value of time. You may currently use, or have used in the past, some form of time tracking system such as Day Runner or Franklin Covey. The system you use isn’t critical just find a system that you like and run with it. The system, however, doesn’t address the true reason that time is such a limited commodity in your life. The truth is you have the same 60 minutes to use each hour as everyone else you just don’t necessarily $pend that 60 minutes in a way that holds the most long-term benefit for you. The reason you $pend your time so effortlessly is that you value your time differently than someone who seems to have time for the things in life that they view as important.

So how can you live your life with the time you want to do the things you want? Start by changing how you think about time. Think of time as a valuable commodity that you choose to $pend rather than an elusive substance that slips away. Recognize that as an adult you choose how you will spend your time at every given moment. Currently you may be allowing other people to decide how you spend your time, if you don’t want to change that then contact me and let me choose how you will spend your money. You wouldn’t dream of doing that so why do you let everyone but you decide how you will $pend your time. Develop a big picture plan for what you want to accomplish, what you will need to do to accomplish it, and what you absolutely must accomplish each day to get there.

Why aren’t you managing your time well now if it’s so easy and you know what you are supposed to do and how to do it? Until your lack of time becomes truly painful to you it is just easier to do what you’ve been doing and keep getting the results you’ve been getting. You may have never stopped to realize just how much a little time here and a little time there is really costing you not only in dollars, but in your ability to fulfill your dreams and reduce your stress. You may have started with some time tracking system previously and found it too difficult to keep up with or you didn’t see an immediate reward for doing all that additional tracking. You may even think that tracking your time is something people who are entirely too anal do and something that a free spirit like yourself wouldn’t be caught dead doing.

When you gain control of your time you feel more successful, you have a whole lot less stress, and your level of happiness increases dramatically. Do you remember those smart kids in elementary school that had time to play after school, time to watch their favorite TV shows, helped with chores, and still got straight A’s in school? If you weren’t one of those kids you probably internally resented them and blamed genes or their natural aptitude for everything in life. Well the hard cold truth is that those kids probably weren’t anymore genetically favored than you were they just had an early role model that helped them to develop time conscious attitudes. As they enjoyed the benefits that those time conscious attitudes provided them they got re-enforcement to continue with those attitudes. This will happen to you once you begin to work on your attitudes as they affect how you use your time. It’s really simple. Your attitudes determine your behaviors and your behaviors determine your results. You really do have that much control over how you will use your time.

So when will you take action to make your time work for you? As you think of how 2 hours that you are currently letting slip away could be used, how would that benefit you? Does 2 more productive hours each day translate into an extra $38,000 of income? Does it mean time to attend your child’s ball game or school event? Does it mean more time to plan your business so that you are working smarter rather than harder? Does it mean working 30 hours a week rather than the 60+ you are working now? Does it mean that you are happier and are more relaxed when you are with the people that are important to you? Sometimes we confuse being busy with being important and successful rather than confessing to the truth, being overly busy just means that I am not using my time wisely and I am short changing myself, my organization, and the people around me. Start today changing your attitudes about how you $pend your time. Time’s a wasting.

When you absolutely must have measureable results to consistently and predictably get where you want to go for Superior Success…Try the Success Model for a start on your journey to superior success.

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by Andrew Schwartz
When there is a need to deal with constant and sharp stress, a person’s health can be in addition hurt by his own behaviour. Since the first and natural response of an organism is to decrease stress, the essential outcome in any stressful situations is to engage to more dangerous behaviour, thoughtless in nature, or to start some actions like smoking, drinking, or eating too much. All together, individuals are also more possible to be involved in exercise and relaxing activities to make sure that stress is reduced.

It should be also noted, that the response to stress is as well a factor of the organic characteristics of a particular individual. Genetic or individual dissimilarities in the stress reaction result in a growth in the body reactivity. Giving other facts, increasing reactivity influence may be displayed only by a certain biological system. For example, if an individual is more defenceless to a given pathology, in addition unable to deal with stress, the weakness to the pathology will as well increase. The consequence of stressors also depends on age, because HPA reaction is higher in ladies, which makes their stress handling abilities better as measured up to males. This aspect may also give explanation to the dissimilarities in behavioural sickness, even like mood disorders. Speaking about the age dependent features of stressors, they are directly connected with a variety of psychological factors. Aging is usually associated with a lessening in financial constraints, physical abilities, a loss of coping resources, lack of emotional flexibility, and the need for community support. That’s why, older people are extra stress responsive as compared to adolescence. Aging people display lower stress managing abilities.

Andrew Shwartz is staff-writer at Custom-Writing.org, essays services. Andrew has been providing assistance to students with Writing Report for over 2 years. He is always willing to share his own experiences, provide quality custom writing services and writing tips to students of all academic levels.

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by Monica Hendrix
If you want to get the most from life you need to manage your time correctly. If you do you will get more done in less time, feel happier, less stressed and get more form life and these tips are simple ones, that you can apply in your work or home life.

So let’s look at how to do much more in less time.

We all know the main key to effective time management is planning and these 6 points will fit into any plan, so let’s look at them.

1. Divide your day into segments

Divide your time for specific tasks into time slots and group them together try to avoid multi tasking — you wont get more done you will get less, because a single task won’t have your full attention.

Also get used to avoiding the bombardment of modern communications such as trying to answer emails all day long or constantly answering your mobile phone.

Clear you mind and for parts of the day turn off your mobile phone and shut your email box.

2. Prioritize

Prioritize your tasks and do your least favourite tasks FIRST.

There are tasks we all hate (there a bit like going to the dentist you know your going to have to do them eventually) so clear your mind of them and do them first.

Then number the tasks in order of priority and clear them in sequence.

3. The 15 Minute Rule

If a task takes less than 15 minutes try and do it right away or on the same day.

This is a great way to stop tasks piling up. One of the keys to time management is moving on tasks quickly, getting them out of the way and the 15 minute rule will help you.

4. Clear Your Desk

Don’t allow your desk to pile with paper!

As soon as you receive correspondence and tasks they should be in your diary, in order of priority and out of the way.

Having a clear desk and a clear mind to concentrate

5. Delegate

How is your time best spent?

Put a value on your time and if you find that tasks that can be done cheaper by delegating then delegate them and spend your time on the ones that you know make you the most productive.

The industrial age was built on division of labour and trying to do everything went out of fashion in the 19th century!

6. Beware of Others

There are plenty of people who may want favours from you, or want to take up your time with their problems, but there is a time and place to do this!

Don’t try and solve the world’s problems, when you can’t get to grips with your own life. Make sure you are sensible in the time that you devote to others.

The above are simple tips that will allow you to manage your time more effectively and make you more productive, giving you more quality time to devote to yourself and do the things that you enjoy most.

MORE FREE INFO AUDIO AND PDF DOWNLOADSOn all aspects of home improvment and time management visit our website for a huge resource of articles, features and downloads and at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

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by CJ Williams
Here are practical, easy to apply techniques that will help. Once the initial, analytical stage is completed, the techniques outlined here are simple ones that can be applied on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, as a matter of routine.

Preparation Week: the first step is the most time consuming one: analysing your current situation. To establish in what condition your management of time is at this moment, you will need to complete at least a week, perhaps two, of preparation. You will also need to make note of any activities that fall on a monthly basis, such as team meetings, or budget performance reviews.

Recording Your Activity: for one week at least, on a daily basis, you will need to keep a detailed record, diary, or log, of what activities you are involved in, and how long you spend on each of these. Be as detailed as you can, so that you can analyse your activities in depth. The experts in the time management field recommend that you split your day into at least 15 minute periods, and for very busy periods even smaller time periods of 5 or 10 minutes. For example, for that first 30 minutes after starting work in the morning, don’t just write down 8.30 to 9.00 Started work, opened emails, talked to colleagues, you need to break this down into at least three x 10 minute periods. If you have chosen an unusual week, for example when you are absent from the usual routine, on a training course, complete the log for the missing days, the following week. Be disciplined about this. Use a notebook, or diary, or prepare a paper or pc based time-sheet for each day. Take this with you everywhere, or at the very least, complete it every time that you return to your personal work area. If it will help you, get the support of your colleagues, and ask them to remind you that you should be recording your activities diligently.

Analysing Your Activity: at the end of this period you will need to carefully analyse these records. The primary aim is to identify negative activities and events. These will include activities that you shouldn’t be involved in, or could delegate, activities that you are spending too long on, activities that are unproductive, and events which are disruptive or unproductive. Some of the activities that you identify here will be unique to your situation, but some will be common to most professionals, such as being inappropriately interrupted by colleagues, by telephone calls aimed at others, by attending meetings which are not relevant to you, by surfing on the internet, by focusing on low-priority tasks instead of more important, but more difficult, ones. However, it is also important to identify the positive activities and events, so that you can consider how appropriate is the time that you are currently allocating to these. Examples could be how much time you are spending in supporting, or coaching, your team members, or how much time you are giving to the building and maintaining of relationships with others, or how much time you are spending on addressing quality management issues. With a clear picture of how you are spending your time, you can then move on to the next step.

Talk With Stakeholders: these are the colleagues, the teams, the managers, perhaps suppliers, perhaps customers, who have a legitimate interest in how you perform at work and who will be affected by the changes that you will be making. You may also need to arrange discussion with key individuals, before you take the next few steps that follow.

Listing Your Responsibilities: separately from the recording activity, you should make time to review your job description, yourself if it is current and up to date, with your line manager if it is in need of a formal review. The purpose of this is to clarify what your role is and what are your formal responsibilities. It is often the case that, because of poor time management and the problems that this creates, role and responsibilities are allowed to drift, to the point where the individual is not carrying out the activities that they are meant to. A clear picture of what the role and responsibilities actually is an essential part of building a strong foundation on which to plan your new approach to managing your time.

Listing Your Goals: this is another essential part of building that foundation as a professional, a manager or specialist, you will have corporate level and operational level goals which your activity is meant to contribute to and help achieve. In parallel, you will have personal work performance and personal development goals that you should be working towards. Identifying and reviewing these will enable you to clarify them and take them into consideration when you plan the changes that you will be making.

Eliminating Or Reducing Unnecessary Activities: with the information that you have collected and considered, it is now time to take some action. In simple terms this means identifying those activities, events, and periods of time, that are not contributing to you fulfilling your role and your responsibilities, and not helping you to contribute to the achievement of the corporate and operational goals nor your own personal goals. In your action plans, and your daily, weekly, monthly, lists (that we discuss below) you can then ensure that you do not continue wasting time and effort on any of these negative, unproductive, activities.

Prioritising Activities: you may need to talk with your team, and-or with your line manager, possibly with internal or external suppliers and customers, to clarify and confirm what your priorities should be. This could be an opportunity to discuss how you could delegate some tasks to others, perhaps simply because you should not be doing them in the first place, perhaps as a developmental activity to help a team member learn new skills. The aim is to have a clear picture of which are the high, medium, and low priority tasks and events. You can then allocate an appropriate time of day, week, or month, to work on these, and an appropriate time period that ensures that you will be able to complete these successfully.

Preparing Action Lists: sometimes called To Do lists. This is a relatively simple activity, where you look at the tasks and events of the coming day, week, and month, and list the activities that you intend to carry out, and when and for how long you will work on them. You will, of course, need to continually check that these activities match up with your role, responsibilities, and goals.

Starting Each New Day: in reality, this can mean taking action at the end of the previous day, your last task of the day being to plan your specific activities, perhaps as a simple actions or to-do list, with times, perhaps as a list of priorities, that you intend to complete on the following day. Then, on starting work the next day you will have an action plan waiting for you. As the day proceeds, you should review your progress at intervals, and make adjustments where necessary. Then, at the end of the day, draw up the action plan, the list, for the next day.

Building In Break Times: don’t fall into the trap of trying to work continuously, all day without stopping, working through all your breaks, and worse, not taking a lunch break. Overwhelming evidence shows that we need to have breaks, and that without them our performance deteriorates dramatically the longer we go without. You should take at least one short break mid morning, a minimum of 30 minutes at lunchtime, and a short break in the afternoon. Your organisation should encourage you to take these breaks, as it is required by health and safety at work legislation.

Starting Each New Week: try to adopt the same approach as with daily planning. At the end of the last day of your working week, draw up an action plan for the next week, or at least for the first day in detail and the rest of the week in outline. Starting Each New Month: again, adopt the same approach as with weekly planning. During the last week of the calendar of budgetary month, prepare your action plan for the following month.

Strategic Planning: in parallel with the daily, weekly, and monthly planning, you should also have background plan that focuses on medium term and long term objectives. These can be workplace performance targets, such as end of year financial results, but should also include softer, but equally important targets, such as the development of individuals and teams (not forgetting your own, personal, development objectives). They can also include targets such as the improvement of working conditions, or relationships, for example between departments or with suppliers. These longer term plans should be referred to and progress reviewed, on at least a monthly basis.

In summary: without a structured approach to managing your time it is inevitable that you will run into difficulties, miss important deadlines, not give enough attention to your career and personal development, not deal fully with the needs of your team members, allow others to dictate how you spend your time at work.The result is that work will become a burden, and your performance will deteriorate. In addition, others will notice and your performance will be judged negatively. By following the simple, practical, steps outlined here, you will take control of the time you spend at work, and take control of the activities that you carry out. Once you have consistently applied these techniques for a month or two, they will become habit, absorbed seamlessly into your daily work life. You will find that you have less conflict, fewer problems, and you will meet most of your deadlines and targets. You will be managing your time effectively.

CJ Williams is a tutor and management consultant currently working with Brighton School of Business and Management in the UK, specialising in Business and Management courses taught via distance learning. The writer, CJ Williams, can be contacted via http://www.brightonsbm.com

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by Terri S. Mann
Summer is the time to take off the layers of clothing under which you’ve been hiding and show your sexy self. If you window-shop, you’ll find lots of colorful sandals and swinging skirts beckoning your way. If a cash shortfall and a cluttered closet are stopping you from buying cute summer-wear, it’s time to host a garage sale. You can de-clutter and make money by organizing a successful garage sale.

If you’ve never done it before, the prospect of organizing a garage sale can be intimidating. But, it’s not very difficult and it doesn’t take very long to get started. The rewards are various: you’ll make some extra money, meet your neighbors, get rid of stuff that you didn’t need, and have the comfort of knowing that your junk is somebody else’s treasure.

If you are going to host a successful garage sale, you need to remember 10 tricks of the trade:

o Talk to your neighbors! Ask your neighbors whether they would be interested in organizing a garage sale on the same date as your garage sale. Ideally, organize a community-wide garage sale. More garage sales in your area means that you will have more visitors, which will result in you selling more of your inventory faster, and for more money.

o Determine whether there are any legal requirements. For example, in many municipalities, you need a license to host a garage sale. This can cost money, but you can split the cost with any friends who want to sell their items, at your garage sale. Alternatively, if you host a community-wide garage sale, the community association may itself pay this cost.

o Gather together the merchandise that you wish to sell. Ask family, friends co-workers and basically any person you can think of, whether they wish to sell any items at your garage sale. Shoppers want a variety of merchandise, so try and stock up! One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. (Personally, I thought nobody would want my scratched, burnt frying pans, but I succeeded in selling them at my recent garage sale- the delighted buyer informed me that the cast iron frying pans would be perfect for camping). Notwithstanding the foregoing, as a general rule, you should be choosy. Don’t take broken toys from your friends or toys that are missing the “essential parts”, likewise, don’t accept torn or stained clothing, defective house ware and so on.

o Advertise your garage sale. Place an ad in your local community newspaper. Make sure your ad falls into the property advertising section. In addition, on the day before your garage sale, place signs along the closest roadway, and draw an arrow to point traffic in the proper direction to your home.

o Give yourself time to organize. Garage sale shoppers start early: if you advertise that your garage sale starts at 9:30 a.m., you better plan on opening your garage, ready-to-go by 9 a.m. because you will have shoppers dropping by your house to peruse your goodies by 8:45 a.m. Therefore, start organizing for your garage sale at least 3 days previous and have your garage completely organized the evening preceding the sale. In the morning, pull your tables out onto the driveway, and you can begin.

o Display your prices. Select prices for different groups of merchandise and display the prices on easy-to-see price stickers. You can have fun with bartering the final price, but you do need a starting point for the negotiations. Make sure that your starting price is realistic: not ridiculously high, but not too low, either, because you want to make allowance for reduction in price due to the bartering process. Also, make “buying in bulk” more attractive by offering a volume discount (for example, 1 book is $1.00 but 3 books is $2.50).

o Presentation is key. Make sure that your merchandise is organized in an attractive and logical fashion. It can make a big difference. (I was trying to sell pants in a garage sale: nobody looked at them. I then moved the pants out of my dusty garage and placed the pants on an attractive table on my driveway. Within ½ hour, the pants were sold.)

o Create a busy appearance. Invite family and friends to visit you during the course of the day. It will make your day run faster, and more importantly, it will make your garage sale more attractive to prospective shoppers.

o Involve your children. You might think that you have to ship off your children to spend the day with a friend, because they will be bored. You might be surprised… assuming the children are of an age where they do not require constant supervision, gain their interest by involving them in appropriate aspects of the garage sale. For example, have your children place the stickers on the merchandise, or have them place the change into the change-purchase at the back of the garage.

o Lastly, keep refreshments handy. In particular, keep fresh, cool water nearby and appropriate snacks to keep your energy and spirits high.

Terri Mann is a divorced lawyer and is the founder of WomanDivorceSupport.com a Divorce Advice web site where divorced or separated women can find free divorce articles about dating after divorce and more.

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by Colette Robicheau
When you only have a few minutes before going to lunch, attending a meeting, or leaving for an appointment, it often seems useless to start any important or involved task. But those few minutes could be a great start to getting yourself organized or chipping away at a larger project. On average this “transition time” can add up to about 40 minutes a day. This can be even more for those who commute. Think of how much you could get done with an extra 40 minutes every work day!

Instead of wasting this time, take the 10 minute challenge! Try some of the following suggestions when you have a few minutes to kill. You can even get the kids involved by setting a timer and making it a game.

- Make a list of the first few steps you need to take for a large project and, if you have time, you can start the first step. This could be making a list of materials you need or notes on who you need to call. You can take a few minutes to gather everything you will need so that the next time you have another few minutes you can dig right in and start another step with ease.

- Make an appointment with the dentist, doctor or other practitioner.

- Sort through the mail, open everything and discard all the envelopes and non essentials to recycling.

- Tidy up your email- deleting and filing.

- Straighten your desk.

- Look at your schedule for the next month and find a good time that you could see a friend you haven’t seen in a while. Make a quick call or email to see if they are available.

- Decide your meals for next week and make a grocery list.

- Organize your briefcase, purse, book bag, or gym bag.

- Grab a donation bag or box and look around the room or in a closet for a quick pick of some things you no longer use or love and pass them along.

- Waiting time can also be used to further your life goals. For example you can use commuting time to read a book or learn a new language (on audio for those who are driving). Research a topic of interest on the internet, start the plans for your next vacation or check schedules for a recreational activity you were only pondering.

The ten minute challenge is a great way to squeeze a little more activity into your busy schedule!

Colette Robicheau is a consultant, coach, and public speaker offering corporate, residential, and personal organizing services. Colette’s humor and positive attitude are a great asset in her roles as professional organizer and life coach. Colette has a no-nonsense approach to project completion with the ability to deliver on budget and on schedule. Contact Colette at info@organizeanything.com or visit www.organizeanything.com.

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by CJ Williams
As a busy professional, it is vitally important to manage your time. There are some broad principles, approaches, that you need to learn and apply. The first is to take the view that your time is precious, and should not be wasted. By the way, relaxation time, leisure time, relationship time is not wasted, it’s important, valuable time that you need to plan into your life. These broad principles include, you need to take control. That is, to take control of your time and the way in which you approach the activities that you have to be involved in, such as work activities and family commitments, and ensure that there is also time in your life for the personal activities that you wish to be involved in, such as leisure and relaxation activities. You need to plan ahead. This is vital. Being successful means being busy, and to manage being busy you need to plan ahead. You don’t have to perform at genius level. If you work hard and as efficiently as you reasonably can, you are doing well. You need to prioritise. You need to rank activities into an order where you can see which activities, what work, which tasks, are the most important and need urgent attention or a specific amount of time spent on them, and which activities are less important and can be pushed back, or worked on over a longer period, or delegated to others, or even abandoned.

Look at your current situation. This is important. You need to evaluate, to analyse, to consider, what condition are you in now? how well, how poorly, do I manage my time at the moment?. The only way to do this effectively is to maintain a log, a diary, a record, of what activities you are involved in, how much time you spend on them, how many interruptions do you suffer from, how many targets do you achieve, how many targets/deadlines do you miss, what activities (work, personal, family, social) are you not involved in which you would have liked to be involved in?. The way to evaluate this is to keep a log, a record, ideally for a month, but if that’s too long, then at least for an absolute minimum of a week. Try to keep this record for at least two weeks, and if there are unusual events, disturbances, interruptions, that do occur occasionally or irregularly, that haven’t occurred during the period that you have kept your log, then make a note of them. You can then analyse this record, to obtain a picture, a snapshot, of how your time is taken up, how your time is consumed, and what influences, what events, are disturbing and disrupting your activities.

Remove obstacles, barriers, conflicts, time-wasting activities. When you have analysed your log, your record, you will have identified many negative influences that affect your management of your time. These can include: colleagues coming to talk with you on important matters, but at unscheduled times, when you are trying to concentrate on other activities; telephone calls that are not ones that you should deal with; emails that are not important, or not relevant to your main priorities, but you feel obliged to answer; colleagues visiting you because they are bored or just want to chat; distractions that you generate, such as searching the internet for leisure or social interests, when you should be working or studying; accepting new tasks or projects when you know that you should be focusing on existing activities.

The next step is to take action to eliminate or reduce these time wasting events or activities. This can be as simple as telling colleagues that you are too busy to talk at this moment (but you will get back to them later), or more subtly, standing up as they enter your space and saying that you are on your way to an appointment or meeting, and can only spare a few seconds, to just being more disciplined about not drifting off into cyberspace when you should be working on a project or task on your pc. It should also include the more serious, and more difficult, action of saying, No, to new activities, new workload, new projects, when you are fully aware that you need to give your full attention (time, effort, energy, intellect, expertise) to existing work commitments. No-one will thank you if you say,Yes,to additional work and then manage it poorly, make mistakes, and cause problems, because you don’t have enough time, effort, energy, to manage that extra workload effectively. They will only blame you for being over-confident, at best, and inefficient and incompetent, at worst!

One of the most effective ways of managing interruptions, disturbances, and unexpected activities, is to take preventative, pre-emptive, action. This is the time management equivalent of prevention not cure, as promoted by those in the Quality Management field. In time management terms, this is taking action to prevent other people and other events from causing you difficulties. One simple example of how this approach can make a major difference is in thinking, in advance, of all the people that are likely to interrupt you, or to ask to see you, and, instead of waiting for them to decide when they want to come to visit you, email you, or telephone you, or ask you to come to them, you plan when you want to see them, or email them before they email you, or telephone them when it is convenient to you.

Use physical tools to help you manage your time. This includes an electronic or paper personal organiser, Filofax style, or a computer package, such as comes with Outlook. These will help you to be visibly organised and get you into the habit of thinking about how to plan and manage your time. If you are by nature a forgetful person, use post-it notes to make reminders and place them on your desk or work station, and review them and act on them regularly.

Set goals, objectives, targets and aims. This is not so easy, but essential. Work targets, objectives, are relatively easy, as they are often imposed upon you. With workplace activities, you need to plan, prioritise, schedule, and manage these, but of course, taking into account the targets and deadlines imposed by your organisation. Personal development or career development objectives, goals, targets, are not so easy to set, as they need to be ones that you, only you, have decided on. With these, you need to decide what activities will help you to achieve your personal and-or career development goals, ambitions, targets, objectives, and schedule space, time, for these activities into your plans. Make action needed lists. Set priorities, tasks to be completed, for each day, and for each week, and for each month. For each daily list, ideally, do this at the end of the previous day, so that it is waiting for you at the start of the next day. Follow this approach on a weekly and monthly basis for the weekly and monthly lists. Prioritise jobs and activities, and eliminate, discard, activities which are not of any use to you. Then concentrate on the important jobs first.

Managing your time effectively is not easy. It is a task in itself, a discipline that has to be learned and applied consistently. But it can make a tremendous difference to your life, at work, at home, whilst studying, and at leisure. If you follow the advice given here, you will have made a good start on the road to managing your time more effectively, and making time for the important activities in your life. These can be work related activities, but can also include study time, relaxation time, relationship time, and, as important as any of the others, time simply for yourself!

CJ Williams is a tutor and management consultant currently working with Brighton School of Business and Management in the UK, specialising in Business and Management courses taught via distance learning. The writer, CJ Williams, can be contacted via http://www.brightonsbm.com

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by Kai Witte
Not having enough time sure seems to be the prevalent complaint for a lot of people these days — right after not making enough money. In this crazy world of blackberry’s, emails, cell phones, pagers, to-do lists, demands placed on you from your job, your family, your finances and personal life — managing to live a tranquil and peaceful life can be a challenge.

However, once in a while I meet people that despite the fact they have a lot going on and are very successful, still seem to have time enough for whatever they want. What do they know that most of us don’t?

Well first of all, not having enough time comes from a mindset of scarcity (just like not having enough money by the way). If you think you don’t have enough time, guess what — you don’t and won’t. And secondly, most of us can use a few lessons in time management as well.

So here are a few thoughts. Oftentimes I hear that one should focus on balancing one’s life. Well, I would assert that actually achieving balance in one’s life is close to impossible. In nature, no body or substance is ever in balance. Everything is in various states of motion, growth or decay, expansion or contraction, etc.

With that said, what do we hope to accomplish by balancing our lives? Are we looking for fulfillment, happiness, less stress or more free time?

I would say that fulfillment and happiness in life comes with doing something that excites you, inspires you, or allows you to play to your strengths and to experience successes. From studying successful people I have often found
them to be supremely happy and fulfilled in their lives despite the fact that they lead very busy lives. I believe the fact of working towards the fulfillment of a purpose, of achieving one’s dreams, of being part of something greater than oneself and of leaving a legacy (giving back) is what causes one to feel fulfilled and happy. Time at that point becomes irrelevant. It is unimportant when you are engaged in the process of actively creating life you love! The knowledge that your time will have been well-spent leaves you calm, satisfied and fulfilled.

Now let’s talk about some day-to-day approaches to Time Management. Here are a few specific actions you can take to maximize your time and efforts.

Create a system
Do you have a flexible, efficient and easy to use system where you can structure and schedule your daily, weekly and monthly to-do’s and priorities?
Keeping track of what needs to get done is half the battle. You want to have your mind free from all those little things you need to remember and transfer them into an accountability system. When your meetings, deadlines, projects and promises are kept in a system that will remind you when they come up, you won’t have to worry about forgetting anything or getting to meetings late.

Systems such as Outlook or a PDA are options but there a many others as well. I personally use a combination of a PDA (which I have with me at all
times) that can be synched with Outlook and an Excel spreadsheet that allows me to record and prioritize daily, weekly and monthly to-do’s and easily edit, update and expand them.

Prioritize
Make it a daily habit of writing down what needs to get done. Then prioritize it based on things that need to get done today, within the next 2-3 days, within the next 2 weeks or within this month. Schedule time for the top priorities first and then if there are time slots left, enter secondary priorities. Also, don’t make the mistake of scheduling everything back to back. You must leave room for unexpected phone calls, meetings or other emergencies within your schedule that will come up. Check off completed tasks on your accountability system. Like this you can keep track of what you have accomplished that day.

What are priorities? It is easy for entrepreneurs and self-employed people to fill up our day with busy work, random tasks, etc. without ever actually moving our business forward. You should be very clear on which activities will actually produce results for you and your business and make a difference to your bottom line. Focus on those activities first and more often than not the other activities will have a way of working themselves out.

I would also strongly suggest scheduling time off, lunch, sports, time with family etc. just like appointments. It happens all too often that those things are cut short which creates dissatisfaction and stress.

Another useful practice from the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill suggests to spend 30-60 minutes on Sunday afternoon to think about what you accomplished during the past week, how you moved your business forward and how you spent your time. Then think about what you want to
accomplish in the coming week, set yourself goals and deadlines and live into that as you get your week started and plan out your day. This practice prepares you mentally for what’s to come and keeps the big picture of where you are trying to go in your mind.

Manage your time
Who doesn’t have friends or clients who call at the most inopportune moments and keep you on the phone forever? During your day it is important to manage how, where and with whom you spend your time. No one wants to offend their friends, colleagues or clients but if you don’t value your time no one else will either. So consider telling your chatty callers that you are currently in the middle of something and reschedule the call for another time (actually schedule it in your accountability system) or tell them that you have
exactly 5 minutes to speak with them and stop them when the time is up. You will find that either the call wasn’t that important anyway and they won’t reschedule or they will get to the point much faster because you asked them to stick to a set time frame. Also, if you are busy with something you don’t have to pick up the phone every time it rings.

Another thing that I find a lot of people struggling with is to powerfully say no when requests are made of them. Many times I had found myself being “suckered” into doing something I really didn’t want to or didn’t even have time for, only to kick myself later for the mess I had created. This is not about never helping other people or doing favors for your mom. This is about being clear what you are committed to in your life and within your day and managing your activities accordingly. If something doesn’t fit with your priorities or goals, it is OK to say NO to people. Be honest and clear with them why you won’t accept their request so they know it has nothing to do with them personally. They will understand.

On another note, choose who you decide to spend your time with. Negative people that complain about life to others or gossip are a waste of your time beyond their conversation with you. Their negativity and gossip will occupy your thoughts more than you might expect.

Free your mind
As I had mentioned earlier, you will be able to be more productive the less stuff clogs up your mind. This could be anything from meetings, little things you can’t forget, promises you’ve made but didn’t keep, stress in your relationship, financial troubles, health concerns etc. It is imperative for you to clean those things up in your life one by one. Get into communications about broken promises and make new ones (make sure to schedule them), resolve relationship friction with the other party, take responsibility for financial or health troubles and work out arrangements to complete them. In other words, being effective with time doesn’t just apply to your job but to your entire life as well.

If you follow these steps and put them together on a regular basis they will make a difference in your time management and the quality of your life. Find what works for you, experiment with different systems and make these steps work for you.

Best of luck.

Kai Witte is a serial entrepreneur. Over the past 10 years he has owned a music production company and recording studio, a marketing consulting company, invested in real estate and recently started a social network for entrepreneurs and investors focused on creating wealth. For articles, events and more about creating wealth, please join WealthBaseCamp.com - The Community focused on creating wealthCopyright 2007 Kai Witte All Rights Reserved

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by John Mehrmann
Sometimes it seems that the responsibilities that we have for coworkers, company, career and family are in tragic conflict. How can we balance the requirements and the responsibilities between personal and professional lives? There are a limited number of hours in a day, so how do we measure them and where do we draw the line?

A good friend of mine was contemplating a very difficult decision. For several months he had been planning to take a vacation with his wife and two children. During the week leading up to his vacation his management asked repeatedly for him to cancel the trip or to send his family on it without him. The management even went so far as to offer a bonus if this trip would be cancelled. He explained this dilemma to me as we were leaving his office and walking through a dark parking lot after he had just completed another fourteen hour work day.

My good friend shared with me that his last vacation was seven years ago. He had spent the last three weeks managing two shifts of operations Monday through Friday. For the last five years he also worked Saturday, Sunday or both days on the weekend. The people in the organization looked up to his unselfish dedication and continuous effort. He never asked anyone to do something that he was not willing to do himself. The consistent display of individual responsibility was an inspiration to everyone in the company. It was a tough decision for him to take personal time when so many other people looked up to him for guidance.

We paused for a moment beside his car and I shared a personal story in memory of Harold Burwell.

Harold Burwell was one of my managers at a very early time in my career. Harold also worked nights and weekends. He was always available for his employees with advice or a sympathetic ear. At the company Christmas party, Harold would dress up as Santa Claus and pass out small gifts to every member of his staff. In the summer, Harold would surprise his employees by catering a picnic in the parking lot. Quick with a smile and a joke, he also demonstrated a consistent personal commitment and dedication for each and every one of his employees.

One weekend Harold arrived early and was working alone in the office. As he concentrated on the financials and reached for his keyboard, his arm accidentally spilled his fresh cup of coffee across the desk and into his lap. Steam rose from his trousers as his eyes widened and a flurry of angry words escaped through clenched teeth. Harold dashed to the restroom, took off his pants and rinsed them in the sink. Then he draped the trousers over the stall and went back to his office wearing a white button down shirt, boxers, socks and cowboy boots.

As Harold was busy using paper towels from the restroom to wipe up the rest of the coffee from his desk, chair and ledgers, he heard a familiar voice. He quickly sat behind his desk just before his administrative assistant put her head in the doorway and issued her morning greeting. From behind his desk Harold straightened his white button down shirt in a very businesslike manner, smiled and waved with a pleasant greeting in return.

By the time that I arrived at the office that day, several more people were already walking around and catching up on month end activities. For several hours Harold remained seated behind his desk, reviewing the financial statements and making notes. If anyone came by his office, Harold would wave and smile with a polite explanation that his was very busy and needed some privacy to concentrate on the numbers for a big report that was coming up. Then he would roll up his sleeves, rearrange his paperwork and stare intently at the documents on his desk.

As the sun was going down and evening was upon us, I put my head in Harold’s office and waved that I was leaving. Harold asked politely if there was anyone else left in the building other than the two of us. When I responded that we were the only two remaining in the office, Harold jumped up from behind his desk and bolted toward the restroom. A few minutes later he reappeared, wearing his dry trousers and a grin that spread from ear to ear. This was only one of many laughs that we shared.

A few years later, Harold was on a business trip to visit some important clients when we received a phone call that he died in his sleep in the hotel room. Several days later a caravan of cars proceeded in solemn procession from work to his funeral. Many of us stood in the rain and comforted one another as they lowered his casket into the earth. As flowers and tears were left behind in reverent memory of a kind and unselfish man, we noticed that his own family did not attend. After several more days passed, we packed up his belongings from the office and shipped them to his wife and children. We carefully wrapped each picture, each ceramic figurine that had been crafted by small hands several years ago and each precious memory that had slowly gathered dust on the bookshelf in his office. On top of the of the personal belongings we placed a note of sympathy that was signed by everyone in the office, each with a personal comment or memory of the man who had touched so many of our lives. I do not think that the card was ever read or even discovered.

As I shared this story with my good friend in the empty parking lot, we quietly reflected on the other responsibilities in life. The people who mourn you when you pass are the people who love you the most while you are alive. These are the people who need you the most in their own lives. Where do you need to be? Who will miss you when you are gone? How much have you made these people a part of your own life? Creating a proper perspective on priorities comes from recognizing all of your responsibilities and giving the proper portion of your life to those people who cherish it the most.

Thankfully, my friend went on vacation with his family and knocked the dust off of some precious memories.

______________________________________________________

Words of Wisdom

“If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.”
- Tallulah Bankhead

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
- Soren Kierkegaard

“Creating a proper perspective on priorities comes from recognizing all of your responsibilities and giving the proper portion of your life to those people who cherish it the most.”
- John Mehrmann

In respectful memory of Harold Burwell

______________________________________________________

John Mehrmann is a freelance author, industry expert and President of Executive Blueprints Inc, an organization dedicated to developing human capital and personal growth.

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