Archive for September, 2007

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The biggest misunderstanding about time management is the concept of managing time. Time passes, whether it is managed or not. There are people who can write all day and finish one page and others who write all day and finish three.

The results of poor time management on a writer can be devastating. The causes of poor time management are not found in a person’s organization skills, but in their attitude toward life. It is easy for a councilor or coach to say ‘prioritize.’ It is much harder to prioritize in an effective manner.

Two Methods

Work First

When prioritizing effectively determine what is the most important task, by the consequences of neglect. Start keeping a journal. Chart the amount of time spent on tasks that do not generate an income and those that do. A productive writer sits down and writes for a predetermined length of time. They trained themselves to do this.

It doesn’t come easy. At first, a writer will sit and stare at a blank screen, doing creative writing exercises in an attempt to fill the time. In the short term, this solution can be justified.

A better solution is to pick a subject and start writing. It doesn’t matter if there is a market for the article. A professional writer knows that every article and short story can be rewritten and resold a hundred times. The first attempt is never the last. This in this case the writer is putting the need to be productive ahead of their personal need to feel comfortable and satisfied with their writing.

However, this method is not the best one for all writers.

Self Actualization First

The writer who puts their own needs first, the job next, and the success third is not always counter productive. If satisfying their needs is important to their self-actualizing, the person should set aside time aside to focus on each task, preventing their personal needs from overriding their goal of publication.

The danger for this writer is that they will never write anything unless they receive what they consider fair compensation, or the affirmation of a large publisher. The likelihood of this writer ever reaching their goals without a schedule is slim.

Once you pick a method of managing your day, stick to it at least three months before making any dramatic changes.

Prioritizing for Procrastinators

Many people waste more time managing and organizing their time than they would loose if they just took each day as it came.

List your tasks in order of the consequences if the task is not completed, not the greatest importance. Starting a list with the tasks that bear the greatest consequences, if not finished, causes a dramatic paradigm shift. The tasks you thought were most important, probably because they represented a personal need or goal are near the bottom. The tasks near the top, earning an income, become the focus of the day.

The next step is to start — and finish — each job in order. For some, this may mean allowing the answering machine to pick up the phone. For others it may mean viewing your writing job as if it were a position with an employer. You could not stop work in an office to do laundry, run errands, or catch your favorite show. Why stop writing to answer the phone?

Finish One Job Before Starting the Next

“A job worth doing is one worth doing well.” Many people are confused by the concept of finishing a job. A job is not finished until it can be put away, or delivered, without needing to rework the task. The household laundry is a good example. People drag all the laundry to the basement and sort it, then go do something else.

Then, they return to wash a couple loads, and then leave the clean laundry in baskets. Eliminating the interruptions, and finishing one task before starting another, is more productive. After a routine is established, the familiarity will reduce the time needed to finish the task.

Mark Walters is a third generation entrepreneur and author. He offers free training and investing videos designed to speed you towards financial independence at http://www.CashFlowInstitute.com

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by Kale Jones
As you sit down to study for a big test or finally decide to consume 500 pages of encyclopedia information - imagine how convenient it would be to digest the information at a faster rate. Speed reading is a helpful technique that allows one to complete more books, magazines, and other publications and texts than ever before. Depending on the software or other training program encountered, a variety of methods can effectively elevate the rate of reading and comprehension for any individual.

One of the most significant techniques of speed reading involves the concept of eye span, which takes into account the moment when the eyes blink as they pass over lines of text. This blinking mechanism is actually a link in the chain of comprehension and information absorption, which is later processed by the brain. It is also at this moment that an individual encounters the crossroads between reading slow and speed reading. Those who read sentences word-by-word obviously finish their materials at a slower rate. Another setback includes vocalizing every syllable.

Avoiding what is known as subvocalization (reading word-for-word) is an imperative technique associated with speed reading. It is through this process that the brain better records information when eye span and “eye blink” work together to produce the best reading results. It is important to remember that the shorter your eye span - the fewer amount of details your brain absorbs.

Many individuals learn how to expand their speed reading by widening their eye span. As they scan material, instead of capturing a couple of words before the blink of their eyes, they are able to digest lengthy phrases and in time can tackle larger chunks of information. Unfortunately, some people suffer reading setbacks when they attempt to force this technique. Speed reading is a skill that should be approached in a slow manner, which ensures better results in the end.

Where one reads becomes a great influence in speed reading success, as it is important to take advantage of the most favorable reading conditions. A dimly lit room and cramped quarters already creates barriers in reading, as uncomfortable distractions will slow down comprehension and the absorption of material. When creating an environment with appropriate lighting, plenty of leg room, and surrounding quietness, speed reading exercises are completed in a much better manner.

Another basic speed reading technique is to avoid reading passages, sentences, and words twice. Rereading causes one to fall behind in their progress, as it wastes vital time, energy, and effort. Many readers incorrectly assume that this heightens comprehension when in reality - it actually hinders improvement. Over time, the faster one efficiently speed reads, the better their comprehension will become.

When exploring the world of speed reading methods, you may also encounter one of two main approaches. The first is called Tachistoscopic Scroll Presentation (TSP) or the Eye Trainer Scroll Method, which focuses on the art of scrolling by widening eye span or learning on how to cover as many words as possible at one time. The second speed reading technique is referred to as Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP), where students learn how to zero in on text from the center of their vision. This allows one to read at a more rapid pace. It is under this mode of thinking that the more centralized text is from vision - the less complicated and cumbersome reading becomes.

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by Cheryl A. Clausen
Focusing on peak performance can reduce your time management stress. Throughout your waking hours you have times when you are at you’re best mentally and times when you’re at your best physically. If possible you want to organize your activities around your peak times and where your greatest payoff exists.

When you try to do your mental activities or your physical activities at times other than your peak times you increase your stress and everything takes longer. You probably never thought about it, but at certain times of the day you have more energy your more focused more attentive, and you feel more relaxed doing certain kinds of activities. Have you noticed that at certain times of day doing physical activities sound more appealing? Have you noticed that at certain times of day your mind is really clear and it’s easy for you to work on something that requires your full mental attention?

Currently the times when you’re naturally better able to do certain activities may not match with when you’re doing them now, and that leads to time management stress. The first step is for you to identify the hours when you’re at your physical peak, and the hours when you’re at your mental peak. Sometimes you already know this information if you just think about it for a few moments. About two o’clock in the afternoon could you just lay down and take a nap when you’re sitting trying to focus on something? And if you feel that way doesn’t it take longer for you to do that work, and don’t you make more mistakes because everything is a struggle? It may not be that obvious for you and if it isn’t, start my noticing how you feel each two hour time block throughout your waking day.

When you know your peak performance times you can begin to shift your activities to fit into that time frame. Many writers like to get up and work for an hour the moment they open their eyes. That’s great, but that isn’t when I like to write. I prefer to write in the evening when I can relax, really focus on what I am writing and enjoy it. When you start doing your tasks during your peak energy time things just take a lot less time and they are easier for you to do. And that frees up time for the things you want to do.

Another consideration for reducing your time stress and utilizing your peak performance time is payoff. As you start to concentrate on working on activities during your peak performance times you can reduce your stress even more if you focus on the activities that have the biggest payoff first. So when it’s your peak mental time do the activities that have the biggest potential payoff. This is both energizing and rewarding. So for example if your peak mental time is in the morning and the biggest payoff thing you could do during that time is make your phone calls, then that’s exactly what you want to focus on first. You may not have a lot of highly physical activities you need to do during your work day, but if you have a mid-afternoon energy lag that may be just the time to do any activities you need to do that require you to get up and get moving until this low energy ebb passes. Or it may be the time to hold or go on appointments to get re-energized from the people you’re interacting with. When you schedule your activities during your peak performance time and focus on your biggest payoff activities you feel energized and fulfilled.

Would you like to learn more about your time behaviors? Try this Time Management Analysis. Ready to get unstuck and get going? start here.

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by Cheryl A. Clausen
Knowing what ideal is will enable you to move toward it, and doing so is an effective time management skill. When you haven’t taken the time to define ideal you engage in a lot of activities, but those activities aren’t necessarily productive. They aren’t productive because you haven’t clearly defined the ultimate outcome you want. When you define your ultimate outcome it has to account for both the personal and professional aspects of your life so when you get it you get your ideal for success.

How would you describe your ideal clients? I mean if you were to list the qualities and characteristics of the people you most enjoy working with what would they be? Now how can you get more clients like that? Filling your business with ideal clients will not only make your work more enjoyable, but it will make you more profitable and you’ll be able to work with more people with less stress. Focusing on ideal clients is one major way to gain increased effectiveness from your time management efforts.

How would you describe your ideal support staff? When you’re at the point where you need the help of support staff so you can continue to grow, you want to make sure you hire the right people. A good way for you to gain clarity about what an ideal support person would do, and how they would act is to define the key accountabilities for each position. Realize that key accountabilities aren’t activities they’re outcomes. So for example, a key accountability isn’t answers the phone by the third ring the key accountability would be connects with each person contacting our office making them feel as though they’re the most important person in the world. Knowing the outcomes you expect from each ideal support staff will make it easier for you to hire right the first time. But then you have to take responsibility for managing them. When you effectively manage your support staff you save yourself a lot of time and grief.

Schedule your time based on the balance you want in your life. Balance doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. A balanced life to me doesn’t mean I am spending 8 hours sleeping, 8 hours working, and 8 hours with friends. You have to identify how you would spend your time if you could. That’s your ideal for a balanced life. Then you have to block your time for the way you want to spend it. Until you do that you’re always blocking your time for how you think you have to spend it.

When you have a clear definition in your mind, and written out for your ideal for success your helping yourself to move in that direction in less time. You have to know where you are now before you can plan where you want to be. When you’ve planned where you want to be you know the distance you have to go based on where you are now. When you know the distance you have to go you can break it down into daily journeys. When you focus on accomplishing the one or two things each day that would make that day a success you make achieve your daily journey. Achieving your daily journey means you’re focusing on the most effective use of your time each day. It’s amazing how quickly you can get where you want to go when you accomplish you’re most important things each and every day.

Would you like to learn more about your time behaviors? Try this Time Management Analysis. Ready to start your journey for success? start here.

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by Cheryl A. Clausen
The wrong client base prevents you from being able to manage your time no matter what time management strategies you use. The wrong clients take up the bulk of your time. They are low value and they prevent you from being able to grow your business. They are the first to complain, and the first to cancel their policy or transfer their funds. No matter what you do it’s never enough, and they’re always price shopping. Early in your career you have the misguided notion that you need these people. You don’t, if you’re new don’t even start working with these high maintenance folks and if you’ve been in business for a while identify these clients and help them to find another agent or advisor. These folks are time vampires and success killers.

The best time management strategy you can use is the strategy of only working with your ideal clients. To do that you have to identify who your ideal clients are. If you aren’t sure make a list of your favorite clients right now simply writing their name on a piece of paper. Once you have your favorite clients listed, the ones you just love working with and would like a lot more of, beside their name write down what you know about them. Start looking for the commonalities. Through these commonalities you’ll identify your target market(s). These are the clients you want to focus your energies on. If you find you love your Grandma but working with seniors gets on your nerves, don’t work with seniors. Work with the people you love to work with. Usually you love working with these people because there is some sort of shared experience or connection.

So you know who you want to work with now you need to paint a clearer picture. What are the qualities or characteristics held by your ideal clients? Again these are often a reflection of your own values and what is important to you. If punctuality is huge for you eliminate people who view time as relative from your business. This will help you to not only know who you want to work with, but from among those folks the ones that will most appreciate you.

When you start meeting and working only with your ideal clients you’ll have lots more time. To get to this point though you have some work to do. How do you communicate to existing clients and prospect who your ideal clients are? Ideally your marketing messages save you time because they are filtering the world at large down to the world that’s relevant. You no longer need to prospect anywhere and everywhere you only need to prospect where your ideal clients are. You can use everyone else as a filter for who they know that is an ideal client match.

When you’re focus is on attracting the right clients you get the right clients. When you build a business of right clients you end up with a referral based business. You have room in your business for lots of clients because your ideal clients value and appreciate you. They rarely if ever complain and are generally very low maintenance. Plus ultimately you have more free time for you than you do now.

Would you like to learn more about your time behaviors? Try this Time Management Analysis. Ready to start your journey for success? start here.

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by Cheryl A. Clausen
An important time management skill is the ability to take the thoughts cluttering your mind, and turn them into actions. Ideally the objective of your time management skills is simplification of your very busy hectic life. When you try to store information in your head about what you need to do and remember later your complicating things, cluttering your mind, and increasing your level of stress. When you write those thoughts down in more than one place as random thoughts you’re also complicating things, cluttering your mind, and increasing your stress level.

Using one place to record all these thoughts is a good time management skill. You want something simple, portable, and easy to use so you will use it. A “to do” list can do all these things for you, provided you know how to make a “to do” list. And you know when to make one.

Simplicity is the idea of this time management skill. When you create daily “to do” lists you’re doing seven time the work you need to do, and it’s a senseless use of your time. In today’s electronic age it’s very easy to create a template for your to do list. In your template have the standing actions you need to take automatically on your list. When you have outstanding projects put those on your template with space for all the actions yet to do until the project is complete. Once a week print your template and fill in the actions for the upcoming week.

A “to do” list shouldn’t just be a list of random and disorganized thoughts. You want your “to do” list to be a list of actions you need to take now and later. That way it serves as both a check sheet for marking off actions as they are complete, and a reminder for future actions so you won’t forget them when the time comes. Make sure as you enter things on your “to do” list that you state them as actions. Using your time is about actions not ideas. Include a section for future ideas and plans you want to make, but in the actual “to do” section every entry must be made in terms of an action. You wouldn’t write the word groceries by itself on your “to do” list. Instead groceries might be an item on your list with actions listed: make list on Thursday with items for Saturdays party, and go to store on Saturday.

Your weekly “to do” list is also a great place to track your progress. On your template you may want to include a section for phone calls you need to make with the names and numbers of those to call. You absolutely want a results section where you track your weekly outcomes. If you’re a sales person you may want your phone call section next to your results section so as you make calls you can track and record the number of appointments you make and/or the number of sales you make. At the end of the week you already have your numbers, so you can immediately see when you are on target and off target. One little tool to keep everything together in one place so you aren’t wasting time trying to store things in your head needlessly or hunting for information you know you have somewhere but you just can’t remember exactly where you put it.

Would you like to learn more about your time behaviors? Try this Time Management Analysis. Ready to start your journey for success? start here.

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by Cheryl A. Clausen
This time management technique will help successful agents and advisors to control the chaos, and not so successful agents and advisors to be more successful. You have two levels of details that you need to track in your business. You have the action level related to all the activities required to run the business, and you have the customer level related to all the activities required to obtain and maintain a customer. The big problem here is that you try to store too much of it in your head, and what you don’t store in your head you store in multiple places making things unnecessarily complicated.

Mary Kay Ashe was a big proponent of the KISS philosophy, keep it simple sweetie. When it comes to time management you want to make that a mantra running in your head always challenging yourself as to how you could make things simpler. When you don’t you end up feeling unnecessarily stressed and overwhelmed rather than energized and confident. Of course, you want to feel energized and confident because that will help you to be even more successful.

Develop a single once a week dumping station. The main thing is you want to get all these things you need to remember and keep track of out of your head. When you try to keep all this stuff in your head all that clutter causes undue stress because your mind keeps bringing the stuff to your attention even when you can’t do anything about it. You also have the terrible stress of wondering what you’re forgetting now. So, let’s stop all that nonsense right here right now. A super simple way to develop your once a week dumping station is to create a template that you use to record all the activities and actions you need to take once a week.

Keep your dumping station simple and readily accessible. There are lots of electronic tools you can use, but when your hard drive crashes or your away from the gizmos how will you be able to quickly access that information so you can keep on going? I’ve found a template that you can work on for about 10 minutes once a week and print out to take with you everywhere you go to be one of the most effective dumping stations track all the time related stuff you need to track. Now each week you have certain things you have to do as a standing commitment, put these things go in your template so each week when you print it off they are already there. That way you aren’t re-writing stuff. I refer to this template as my “to do” list. On the template for you “to do” list you’ll want to have 2 tables positioned landscape on the page. One table is just for “to dos” and the other table has sections for phone calls, results, and ideas you want to hold for future planning.

To get on your “to do” list there must be an action required. So if Bob Smith has entered your sales funnel you can’t just write his name on your “to do” list. You can enter Bob’s name as a heading and then list all the required actions like: review appointment and develop recommendations, go over recommendations with Bob on Thursday, submit Bob’s paperwork, and enter Bob into client follow-up contact program. That way everything you need to do is right there so you can check it off as you go and you reduce the risk of forgetting to take care of all the activities needed for Bob. The things you want to do later or can’t take action on now are also there so they don’t get forgotten. The phone list has the names and numbers of all your calls, and the results section allows you to track all your results for the week in one spot so you know exactly where you are every minute of every day. So when you call Mary Jones and set an appointment you immediately add her to your tally for appointments made in the results section. And when you schedule time to plan you’ll know exactly what you want to work on from the ideas for later section. Use this KISS time management technique to control the chaos and bring on the self-confidence you deserve.

Would you like to learn more about your time behaviors? Try this Time Management Analysis. Ready to start your journey for success? start here.

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by May Chew
A common time management mistake is to attempt to do too many things and not distinguish between the important and critical. What is time management? Time management, in the true sense of the word, can be defined as doing the right thing the right way at the right time. When one does not do things in the right way, i.e., prioritize things that have to be done, a lot of time is taken up in doing the non-essentials.

Putting first things first is the crux of time management. Do things in order of importance, and stop wasting time on the non-essentials. The 80/20 rule applies here. Eighty percent of your results will depend on the critical 20% of things that are most important. The key is to zoom in for what is important.

Identify things that can only be done by yourself, and no one else. These are the critical success factors in time management and your life. Ask yourself , “What one thing could I do, that I’m not currently doing, which, if I did it regularly would make the biggest difference in my life?” Then devote as much time as you can to activities that make a difference and contribute most to your happiness and success.

In your life, think of the most crucial thing that would make a difference. For example, in terms of managing your money, will it be to concentrate on improving your skills at your current job, or learning another skill so that you can prepare for the future, or tightening up on your finances so you won’t be losing money?

For example, in a retail shop, what is the number one thing that will make a difference in their bottom line? To improve sales. In this case, a more effective time management skill and goal setting strategy will be to improve sales. They can brainstorm ways to do this. Rather than focusing on other things, like renovating the shop front so it would look nicer, which they’ve always wanted to do. But it is not effective use of time and resource at the moment.

How about the most effective way to spend time with your kids? Is it cooking meals and doing the laundry for them, or spending time to help them in their schoolwork? For example, the wshing or cooking can be left to someone else so it will allow you to be able to spend more quality time with your children. They can have their full stomachs and you at the same time.

Think and brainstorm all the things that only you can do. Then prioritize in the order of importance. This is the msot important skill of time management- identify things that do matter. So that you can have time for things that matter.

May is passionate about helping people achieve the life of their dreams. http://www.successinspired.com . Get your free report on attracting success at: http://www.wisdomofgettingwealthy.com/AttractionAccelerator .

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by Cheryl A. Clausen
This time management tip focuses on the outcome first and then the details. What is the ultimate outcome you want to achieve from your day? If you were to achieve even just that one outcome would it make today a success? What would prevent you from achieving that outcome today? How could you remove this obstacle? The reason I want you to focus on the outcome rather than all the individual steps for right now, is because I want you to realize there may be an easier way to get the outcome you want than you’re doing now.

The outcome you want from this time management tip will be obtained through your actions. What actual actions would you have to take to accomplish your ultimate outcome for today? If you and only you were to take these actions could you achieve your ultimate outcome? If you need others to make your ultimate outcome happen have you taken the necessary steps to communicate their responsibility, and gained a commitment including a deadline?

Is time management hard for you because of all the distractions? What are the distractions or interests that you spend the bulk of your time on? Will those distractions or interests contribute to the outcome you want from today? If not, can you set these distractions aside until your ultimate outcome for the day is accomplished? If you worked on just the ultimate outcome for a concentrated period of time, could you achieve it today or could you achieve a mile stone towards its accomplishment? How long would that really take if you had zero distractions or interruptions?

You probably can’t eliminate all the distractions from your time management plans, so you have to learn to deal with them or work around them. Is there a way to quickly move through the things that you have to do that aren’t part of your day’s ultimate outcome? If you had everything in place to handle your major distractions and only dealt with them for a concentrated period of time, how long would it take to get through at least the bulk of the distractions? When you look at the things that interrupt or distract you that you absolutely have to do, could you set appointments to work strictly on these things and hold yourself to it?

You probably already use one or more time management system. How do you track the unimportant stuff that still has to be done, but doesn’t have to be done right now? Do you have one central spot where you can capture all the stuff you have to remember, but you don’t have to take action on right now? If you committed to one central location would it make things easier for you to find things when you needed them because you’d always know where to look?

Would you like to learn more about your time behaviors? Try this Time Management Analysis. Ready to start your journey for success? start here.

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by Kale Jones
Speed reading is a helpful tool to possess, as busy schedules allow less and less time for people to enjoy the books they wish to complete or the information they must intake for their job or school work. When learning how to read faster, people are able to study better, work better, and enjoy their reading material in an enhanced way. Not only does the rate of reading increase when focusing on efficient scanning of the text, but also an improvement in comprehension is seen.

Overall, an effective program in speed reading is a decent tool to invest in, as training the brain to absorb information and text in a different way is a great technique to master. Today, the market offers a wide range of software and other methods for the choosing. Below are four ways to improve your speed reading skills with the help of a suitable program.

1) Relaxation

It is important to enter a session of speed reading (while in training) in a relaxed state of mind, as stress and tension creates barriers that hinder your ability to retain information. Just as the mind needs to become settled while reading, the body should also enter a state of calm. A restless body is just as powerful when it comes to creating a distraction. In order to achieve this relaxed state, finding a comfortable (and quiet) place in your home to begin speed reading training is suggested.

2) Read Solid Book Material

There are many different kinds of reading material to select when learning how to speed read, but one of the best types to consider is a book with solid material. To train the brain to read at a faster rate, a book containing less “flowery” language is highly recommended. This is because a book with concrete information consists of fewer repeated and redundant words, which adds to a slower rate of gathering information and details. Seek out a richer content of reading material and you will find better results in the end.

3) Pinpoint Keywords

Most printed works contain about 60% words that are used as a simple filler for the structure of sentences. When you learn how to pinpoint the keywords that mean the most in text, you will further your speed reading goals. Once you train your eyes to zero in on significant keywords, your brain will start to quickly process the meaning and the theme of the material you are reading.

4) Patience and Determination

It is important to set goals on a daily basis. This means if you reach a speed of reading 200 words per minute, it is suggested to make a goal to next reach 250 words. Your objective is to continue increasing your progress to reach your fullest potential in speed reading. There really is no limit to the lengths you may reach in the speed reading world. However, you should realize that the only condition you should satisfy when learning how to speed read is to retain your understanding of the text. If you fail to keep this variable constant, your speed reading skill will not satisfy its purpose any longer.

Forget Those Boring Speed Reading Courses - Now You Can DOUBLE Your Reading Speed In Just 16 Minutes Flat. Discover How To Read Faster With 1 Simple Exercise —> Visit http://www.nitrospeedreading.com

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