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| Time Management Information |
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How to Double Your Accomplishment Level
Here's a smart system for doubling or tripling your daily accomplishments -- without working longer hours. This small idea produces big results for business professionals, salespeople, office workers, educators, nurses, plant foremen and politicians. Actually, everyone who has tried it and written to me has enthusiastically endorsed this idea. Every day, schedule your top three priorities as appointments. Treat them as if they were the day's most important appointments. If you work in a fast-paced, hectic place, you might think that's impossible. It's not. For example, if your boss or top customer called you in the morning and said, "I need to talk with you about something big. How about this afternoon at 2:45 for 30 minutes?" You and I both know you'd make the time. Most people in business do not even get their number one priority for the day accomplished, much less their top three. When you consistently accomplish your top three priorities every day, five days a week, 52 weeks a year, year after year -- you are miles ahead of the pack. You will be recognized as a master in your profession. While most people spread themselves thin like flood waters in the Delta, you are like the Colorado River steadily producing the Grand Canyon. Does scheduling your top three priorities guarantee you will get them done? No. But it'll be a lot easier to say "Not now" to lesser things that try to pull you off course. And over time, your focused approach will bring you more rock solid results than a let-me-see-how-much-I-can-get-done-today approach ever could. Doug Smart is the author of the book, "TimeSmart: How Real People Really Get Things Done at Work." He is a management development consultant, professional speaker, and host of the daily motivational radio show, "Smarter by the Minute." For more information, click on [email protected]. Copyright 2005 by Doug Smart
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RELATED ARTICLES
Taking Time Out to Play - Summertime and the Living is Easy As the song goes, this is the time to relax, rest, rejuvenate and reward yourself for all the hard work you've been doing. As they say, all work and no play makes Jack & Jill a very dull boy & girl. We all need time to relax and just "play." Your Most Important Appointment An appointment is simply a mutual agreement to meet with someone at a specific time. Organize Your Time Most people want to start a home-based business to make more money to supplement their income. The issue though, is finding the time to make this happen. The Myth of What We Manage Perhaps it is merely semantics, but an underlying problem I find that people have as it relates to the success in their life lies in a proper understanding of what exactly it is that we manage. Think about it. We have time management (In fact I have a seminar on this very topic, some of which is excerpted below), and financial management, and relational management, weight management, career management, and many, many more. Balancing Your Work, Family and Social Life Balancing Your Work, Family and Social Life By Gene Griessman, PhD � ����������� Many of us have an image of personal balance as a set of scales in perfect balance every day. But that's an unrealistic goal. You are in for a lot of frustration if you try to allocate within every day a predetermined portion of time for work, family and your social life.� An illness may upset all your plans. A business project may demand peaks of intense work, followed by valleys of slow time. ����������� Balance requires continual adjustments, like an acrobat on a high wire who constantly shifts his weight to the right and to the left. By focusing on four main areas of your life ? emotional/spiritual needs, relationships, intellectual needs and physical needs ? at work and away from� work, you can begin to walk the high wire safely. ����������� Here, drawn from my conversations with many high successful Americans, are ten ideas for balancing all aspects of your life: 1.����� Make an appointment with yourself. Banish from your mind the idea that everyone takes precedence over you. Don't use your organizer or calendar just for appointments with others. Give yourself some prime time. Regularly� do something you enjoy. It will recharge your batteries. Once you've put yourself on your calendar, guard those appointments. Kay Koplovitz founder of the USA cable television network, which is on the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. Koplovitz ran the daily operations of the network for 21 years. For more than two decades, there was always some potential claim on her time. Therefore she vigilantly protected a scheduled tennis match just as she would a business appointment. 2.����� Care for your body. Having a high energy level is a trait held by many highly successful people. No matter what your present level of energy, you can increase it by following these steps: Eat. Don't skip meals. Your physical and mental energy depend upon nourishment. Irregular eating patterns can cause a frayed temper, depression, lack of creativity and a nervous stomach. Exercise. Over and over again, highly successful people mention the benefit of exercise routines. Johnetta Cole, president of Bennett College for Women and former president of Spelman College, does a four-mile walk each morning. She calls it her mobile meditation. The benefits of exercise are mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. If you are healthier and have more stamina, you can work better and longer. Rest. A psychologist who has studied creative people reports that they rest often and sleep a lot. 3.����� Cut some slack. You do not have to do everything. Just the right things. Publisher Steve Forbes taught me a lesson: "Don't be a slave to your in-box. Just because there's something there doesn't mean you have to do it." As a result, every evening, I extract from my long list to-do list just a few "musts" for the following day. If, but three o'clock the next day, I've crossed off all the "musts," I know that everything else I do that day will be icing on the cake. It is a great psychological plus for me. There is nothing wrong with pushing yourself hard, disciplining yourself to do what needs to be done when you hold yourself to the highest standards. That builds up stamina and turns you into a pro. At time, though, you must forgive yourself. You will never become 100 percent efficient, nor should you expect to be. After something does not work, ask yourself, "Did I do my best? If you did, accept the outcome. All you can do is all you can do. 4.����� Blur the boundaries. Some very successful people achieve balance by setting aside times or days for family, recreation, hobbies or the like. They create boundaries around certain activities and protect them. Other individuals who are just as successful do just the opposite. They blur the boundaries. Says consultant Alan Weiss, "I work out of my home. In the afternoon, I might be watching my kids play at the pool or be out with my wife. On Saturday, or at ten o'clock on a weeknight, I might be working. I do things when the spirit moves me, and when they're appropriate." Some jobs don't lend themselves to this strategy. But blurring the boundaries is possible more often than you may think. One way is to involve people you care about in what you do. For example, many companies encourage employees to bring their spouses to conferences and annual meetings. It's a good idea. If people who mean a great deal to you understand what you do, they can share more fully in your successes and failures. They also are more likely to be a good sounding board for your ideas. 5.����� Take a break. Many therapists believe that taking a break from a work routine can have major benefits for mental and physical health. Professional speaker and executive coach Barbara Pagano practices a kind of quick charge, by scheduling a day every few months with no agenda. For her, that means staying in her pajamas, unplugging the phone, watching old movie or reading a novel in bed. For that one day, nothing happens, except what she decides from hour to hour. Adds singer and composer Billy Joel, "There are times when you need to let the field lie fallow." Joel is describing what farmers often do: let a plot rest so the soil can replenish itself. 6.����� Take the road less traveled. Occasionally, get off the expressway and take a side road, literally and figuratively. That road may take you to the library or to the golf course. Do something out of the ordinary to avoid the well-worn grooves of your life. Try a new route to work, a different radio station or a different cereal. Break out of your old mold occasionally, with a new way to dress or a different hobby. The road less traveled can be a reward after a demanding event, a carrot that you reward your self with or it can be a good way to loosen up before a big event. Bobby Dodd, the legendary football coach at Georgia Tech, knew the power of this concept. While other coaches were putting their teams through brutal twice-a-day practices, Dodd's team did their drills and practices, but then took time to relax, play touch football and enjoy the bowl sites. Did the idea work? In six straight championships games! 7.����� Be still. Susan Taylor, editorial director of Essence, sees to it that she has quiet time every morning. She regards it as a time for centering ? for being still and listening. She keeps a paper and pen with her to jot down ideas that come to her. The way you use solitary time should match your values, beliefs and temperament. Some individuals devote a regular time each day to visualize themselves attaining their goals and dreams. Others read, pray, meditate, do yoga or just contemplate a sunrise or sunset. Whatever form it takes, time spent alone can have an enormous payoff. Achievers talk about an inner strength they find and how it helps them put competing demands into perspective. They feel more confident about their choices and more self-reliant. They discover a sense of balance, a centeredness. 8.����� Be a peacetime patriot. Joe Posner has achieved wealth and recognition selling life insurance. Several years ago, Posner helped form an organization in his hometown of Rochester, NY to prepare underprivileged children for school and life and, he hopes, break the poverty cycle. You may find some equally worthy way to give something back through your church, hospital, civic club, alumni association or by doing some pro bono work. Or you may help individuals privately, even anonymously. There are powerful rewards for balancing personal interests with the needs of the common good. One of the most wonderful is the sheer joy that can come from giving. Another� reward is the better world that you help create. 9.����� Do what you love to do. As a boy, Aaron Copeland spent hours listening to his sister practice the piano because he loved music. By following that love, he became America's most famous composer of classical must. When I asked him years later if he had even been disappointed by that choice Copeland replied, "My life has been enchanting." What a word to sum up a life. By itself, loving what you do does not ensure success. You need to be good at what you love. But if you love what you do, the time you spend becoming competent is less likely to be drudgery. 10.� Focus on strategy. As important as it is, how to save time for balancing your life is not the ultimate question. That question is, "What am I saving time for?" Strategy has to do with being successful ? but successful at what? If others pay your salary, being strategic generally means convincing them that you are spending your time in a way that benefits them. If there is a dispute over how you should use your time, either convince the people who can reward or punish you that your idea about using time is appropriate, or look for another job. The "what for?" question should also be asked about the life you live. It is truly a comprehensive question and gets at the question of wholeness. � So what makes for a successful balance life? I can think of no better definition than the one given by Ralph Waldo Emerson: ���� To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because I have lived. This is to have succeeded. � Where Do Your Priorities Fit? An expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students when he decided to do an experiment. He pulled out a large mason jar, a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one by one, into the jar. When no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class said, "Yes." 5 Days to A Simpler Life! Of all the Attraction Principles, the most popular class I teach is "Simplify Your Life - Yes, You CAN!" Based on class attendance, articles in the press, and requests from clients, it's clear there is tremendous desire to live more simply, be more productive, and have greater peace of mind. While the details are different for each of us, the central theme is: "I want less stress, more time and more integrity, and I haven't been able to get it!" How to Minimize Trips to the Grocery Store Still awaiting the birth of my baby (I am overdue), it is increasingly a challenge to go grocery shopping. Thank goodness I have wonderful friends and neighbors who offer to go for me. 3 Ways To Do More With Less Time We live in a world where more is expected of us every day. Controlling Family Chaos - Time Management for the Family Balancing a family's varying schedules can be near impossible. Soccer, hockey, dance, skating, Brownies, Scouts, skiing, swimming, school activities, homework, not to mention play and sleep time, fill our children's lives. Now add in the parental activities, including work, fitness, volunteering, and home maintenance � and well, 24 hours just doesn't seem to be enough. The Rule of Three It's amazing how many sayings there are in our culture about the number three. Think about it: "Good things (or bad) come in threes;" "Third time's the charm." A rule of thumb in speaking is, no more than three major points in a speech. (That was three examples, wasn't it?) And then there are all of the mystical references to powerful threesomes. My purpose today is to look purely at the practical application of this "rule of three," and see how we can use it to become more effective managers of our lives and priorities. The Ultimate Time Management Tips: 5 Steps To Reaching Your Goals With Minimum Work Would you like to know how to get 10 times more done in a day than most people do in a week, with less work? Keeping Time What keeping time really means is...being on time! Busy, Busy, Busy ?busy, busy, busy, busy, busy?busy, busy, bus? OK, slap me with a wet diaper! Enough of that silliness. Most you know what I'm talking about though, right? That's us! Busy. Doing what? Stuff. What kinds of stuff? All kinds of stuff. Like what? You name it. Give me an example. Can't. Why not? Too busy? Time Management? NO! Many people want to be coached to manage their time better. I say NO! to that. You cannot manage time anyway; it just keeps ticking away no matter what you do. Living Life In A Time Starved World Recently I saw an advertisement for a time management booklet: "Shorter deadlines, competing priorities, endless meetings, interruptions and even higher quality expectations are just some of today's time challenges. And yet the number of hours in the day remains the same." It?s Not The Same Old Routine We are constantly inundated with routine (often boring!) tasks around the house. This can cause major frustration because many of us don't do them efficiently, and most of us fail to complete our entire list of chores! You may take comfort in comment from a commiserating colleague: "A creative mind always has more ideas than the physical body is able to carry out. The only people who finish their 'to do' list are dead." So, relax, there is only so much time in the day, and ask yourself, "What's the most important thing to do today?" How Do You Start Your Day "Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." --John Ruskin Oh, My Goodness! Where Has the Time Gone? It's 6:00 a.m. I'm awake. I'm pumped! I'm ready to go. I have a TO DO list that will keep me busy all day. My goal is to accomplish all of the things on my list before I go to bed tonight. The Laundry Has Never Been More Fun Or The Pitfalls To Working At Home As a home-based, self-employed woman, mundane tasks can be as compelling to me as chocolate. Laundry. Dishes. Email. Try as I might to stay focused on running my business, at times, these uninspiring tasks beckon to me as a moth to a flame.
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