Have you ever had so much going on in your personal life (good or bad) that it disrupted your productivity at work? I am sure you have at one point or another in your life.
If you don’t have problems, get some quickly – problems build character. If you don’t having anything exciting happening outside your business, change that, too! There are many instances that could affect your performance at work such as:
Relationship troubles Death of a family member Planning a wedding Moving Looking for/Buying a new home Parenting Challenges (unruly teenagers anyone?) Or even just personal challenges within yourself And the list goes on….
It seems as I am getting older, there are more and more demands on my time. Keeping an organized schedule is essential to making sure commitments are honored and I show up at the right time and place for myself and the folks who are counting on me. Staying on track with personal and professional goals, projects around the house, day-to-day errands, things I’d like to be doing, etc. Perhaps you can relate?
Over the past few months, I’ve had moments of of sheer excitement and energy stemming from these activities. And I’ve had a few moments of feeling scattered and stressed from my perceived weight Read More...
MANY people have been complaining recently about their time management problems specifically around having an inordinate amount of meetings to attend on a daily basis. This leaves them with little or no time to tend to their emails, voice mails or anything else, for that matter. The incredible stress this causes can be greatly reduced.
First off, know that you really DO have control over the number of meetings you attend. If you use a group calendar system like Outlook and your calendar is empty at the time a meeting is called, then you will be scheduled to attend it. However, if you intentionally block out time (translate = show busy) for your Read More...
The average person has about 300 projects to take care of right now. The fact is, you will never get caught up – but you WILL start getting your life under control when you STOP doing things.
What should you stop? How do you determine this?
Take a look at your tasks to finish. Ask yourself, “If I could only do one of these things before Read More...
Today’s Top 10 List comes from Karin Vibe-Rheymer-Stewart, Ph.D., a time management consultant that is frequently asked, “What are the most common time management mistakes people make?” Here are her answers, in no particular order.
How many of those time management mistakes do you make?
Be Free! ***************************
1. Being a slave to your blackberry or cell phone
You know you have become a slave to your blackberry or cell phone when, almost every time it rings or buzzes, you jump and answer it. Cell phones and Read More...
Have you ever heard of the 80/20 Rule? It is also known as the Pareto Principle or the Rule of the Vital Few and it states that there is an imbalance between causes and results, between effort and reward.
The world is not equal where effort and reward are related. The Pareto Principle basically says:
- The majority of what you do each day (80%) has little impact.
- A minority (20%) has a major impact.
Here are some 80/20 rules and what you might want to do once you are aware of them:
80% of your profit is brought in by 20% of your clients.
Realize all clients are NOT equal. It is sometimes Read More...
If you find yourself asking, “Where did the day go?” these top 10 tips for better time management will help you become more focused and productive. Remember, your time is valuable.
1. Shift from Not Valuing to Valuing your Time.
This is an important change to make and when it happens you will never waste another minute! In a dollar sense – this means you are comfortable charging for your lifetime of knowledge and experience – don’t allow clients to take this for granted. You have invested a lot of time and energy. In life, we only get one chance with our time – we cannot go back and use the last 10 seconds!
Think about it: From the moment we wake up to the second we go to sleep, we are making decisions about how we spend our time. I’d like to share with you my secret weapon for making smarter time choices and reducing stress: I ask myself the BEST time management question:
What is the BEST use of my time, right now?
For example, this morning when the alarm went off, I had to decide whether to get out of bed to exercise (which I know will make me feel energized all day) OR hit the snooze button and get a little more sleep (which I felt I could use). Today, I decided to get up and exercise (hence I have energy to write this column!) while other days the answer to question is to hit the snooze button. Both are smart Read More...