Managing Time to Accomplish More

Time is inelastic. Despite what some of us persist in believing,
it will NOT magically expand to accommodate all we have to do.
So, in order to maximize the time we have available, we have to
spend it wisely.

Here's how to do that.


STRUCTURE YOUR TIME

The very first thing to do is understand the structure of your
time. If you think of the time you have available as some
amorphous dimension, you will fritter it away on this and that
without any real consideration of what is the best use of the
time available. How many times have you got to the end of
your day and felt like you'd accomplished nothing even though
you'd been "busy" all day.

All time is not equal. If you're a morning person, your
morning time is worth more in terms of productivity than your
late afternoon time.

So think of time as variable in terms of potential for
accomplishment and identify your most valuable time. Do
the same for your intermediate-value time and your lower-value
time.

Reserve your most valuable time for your most intellectually
demanding activities. Your intermediate value time should be
spent on important tasks that don't require quite the same level
of concentration. Finally, reserve your low-value time for
activities that don't require much in the way of concentration.

Now, obviously, if you have a full-time job away from the home,
the decision of how to spend your 9 to 5 hours will largely be
out of your hands. So, the best you can do if you're a morning
person is to try and take care of some of your intellectually
demanding activities first thing in the morning, say between
5:00 am and 7:00 am. On the other hand, if you're a night owl,
working a full-time job probably won't be much of a problem for
you.

If you run your own business from home, however, effectively
structuring your time in terms of peak, intermediate and low-
concentration blocks can make a profound impact on your
productivity if you use that time intelligently.


IDENTIFY WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO

Now that you have some sense of how to best structure your
time, you need to turn to what, exactly, you're going to spend
that time on.

That means identifying what you have to do. And that means
identifying what you DON'T have to do as the flipside.

When identifying what you have to fit in to your schedule,
think about all areas of your life. Making time for yourself is
NOT something that you get around to only if there's time left
over. Making time for yourself is as much a priority as anything
else.

A good way of identifying activities that should be included in
your schedule is to test them against the criteria of furtherance
of an objective. If the activity does nothing to further any
objective, why are you even doing it?

So start by identifying objectives for your life. Consider categories
such as health, finance, business/career, spiritual, family, social,
intellectual and so on. Establish objectives for every area of your
life that's important to you.

Everything you do should bring you closer to an objective. If it
doesn't, again, why do it?


ALLOCATE YOUR ACTIVITIES

Now that you know how to best structure your time and what
activities are going to lead you closer to your objectives, it's time
to allocate those activities against the time you have available
and in accordance with your various concentration levels.

Begin by estimating how much time each activity in your day is
likely to take. Be realistic about what you can really accomplish in
one day. If you overload yourself you're only going to stress out
about what you're NOT doing and that makes you less effective
in what you ARE doing. So pace yourself. Just don't WASTE time.

Assign your most intellectually demanding activities to your peak
concentration time. This may be writing a chapter of your ebook
or writing an article for the next issue of your ezine. Assign your
less concentration-intensive activities to your intermediate
concentration time. This may be redesigning a web page or
reading and responding to email, for example. Finally, assign
your truly "no concentration required" activities to your low
concentration periods. If you've allocated time to exercising, this
would be a good time to do a workout.


KILLING TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE

There's no reason why you can't use the same time to accomplish
more than one thing. For example, I am writing this article (a high
concentration activity) on my laptop while enjoying coffee in a Santa
Monica cafe (a low concentration activity).


GROUP LIKE TASKS

Grouping like tasks will allow you to accomplish more in the same
amount of time. It is much more efficient to run three errands
while you're out and about rather than making three separate trips.
Similarly, it's more time-efficient to run one large load of laundry
rather than two separate, smaller loads. So give some thought
to these mundane sorts of activities too. There's always a way to
shave off a bit of time by grouping similar activities and doing them
in one hit. Email's another prime example. Far more efficient to
check and respond to mail twice a day than to read and respond to
each message as and when it comes in, thereby distracting
yourself from what you were doing in the first place.

By thinking about what you have to do and scheduling those tasks
in conformity with your concentration levels as well as grouping
like activities, you will naturally make the most effective use of the
time available. Your productivity will increase proportionately.

Healthy Home Business Opportunity

Are you looking for a new business opportunity where you can work from home, meet lots of new people and improve the health and vitality of yourself and many others?

How about an opportunity with a new product receiving glowing reviews and media attention, a great compensation plan and a solid management team?

What about a business that you can start at very little cost and work at your own pace? From part-time for extra income at first and then grow into a thriving full-time venture. Being your own boss!

Are you looking for a way to become financially independent? Would you like to show others how to do the same?

15 Rules for Success In Your Home-Based Business

Someone sent me an email the other day. Supposedly General Colin Powell's Rules for Success. Now, I don't know whether they really are or not, but as I read them, I thought they really should be called "15 Rules For Success In Your Home Business". So, here they are:

Rule 1 - It ain't as bad as you think, it will look better in the morning

If there's one experience universal to ALL home-business owners, particularly those running a business on the internet, it's the occasional feeling that you're just spinning your wheels, and not getting anywhere. The number of people who give up on their businesses just as they approach the brink of success is staggering. So hang in there and remind yourself, when things look bleak, that tomorrow is another day, things really aren't as bad as they seem and things really WILL look better in the morning.

Rule 2 - Get mad, then get over it

OK, I concede this is more general advice than home-business advice but it applies in your home business just as it does anywhere else. Resentment and unexpressed anger really don't hurt anyone but the person feeling resentful and angry. Have you ever noticed how completely unproductive you are when burdened by resentment and anger? So feel it, express it (constructively) and then move on. As the man said, "get over it".

Rule 3 - Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls your ego goes with it

Over the course of my career I have, from time to time, met people whose identity and sense of self-worth is so enmeshed in what they do for a living that they literally don't have an identity outside of their work. Because they rely on an external source for their self-esteem and confidence, they find it necessary to continually and relentlessly bolster their personal positions, often at the expense of others, often resorting to political maneuvring in the workplace to maintain and improve their supposed 'status'.

These people are the 'empire builders' you sometimes find in organizations. They jealously guard their power base all the while gathering unto themselves more and more responsibility, beyond the point of being able to do everything they take on.

Because their identity and sense of self-worth depends upon their position within their organization, what happens when their position disappears, such as in a corporate downsizing? It freefalls.

Don't let this happen to you. Remember that you are something separate and distinct from your business. Sure, you can be proud and pleased with your accomplishments but don't define yourself through them. Your self-worth is something that comes from inside your human self, not your business.

Ironically, keeping a professional detachment is more likely to secure the ultimate success of your business. Detachment brings perspective, objectivity and clarity, which helps you make better quality decisions.

Rule 4 - It can be done

Don't allow self-imposed limitations to restrict what you can and will do. You can do anything if you set your mind to it. Well, of course, it must be something that is within your power - you can't just set your mind on growing a third arm, for example.

But for anything that is within human power and capability, the saying "where there's a will is a way" is so true.

Get into the discipline of planning your life and where you want it to go. By setting goals and planning the steps that will help you reach them, you can achieve literally anything your heart desires.

Rule 5 - Be careful what you choose, you may get it

Following on from this, it should go without saying that what you set for your goals is something you truly want because if you do practice the discipline of goal setting you will surely get it.

Rule 6 - Don't let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision

Keep your eye on the prize and don't be distracted by what's happening on the sidelines. Sure, you may not have entered the marathon had you known there were going to be 1,000 other runners but does that mean entering the marathon was a bad idea? No.

Make your decisions based on quality information and what's in the best interests of your business. If someone else comes along who represents competition for your business, don't be put off your game. Just run your own race. There's ALWAYS a way to distinguish yourself from your competition.

Rule 7 - You can't make someone else's choices. You shouldn't let someone else make yours

IGNORE your mother when she tells you you're crazy for chucking in your nice SAFE secure little job to start your own business. Follow your dream, no-one else's.

Rule 8 - Check small things

Like the fine print in contracts. Like the URL in that sales letter you've just put the finishing touches on. Like your spelling and punctuation. In other words, pay attention to detail.

Rule 9 - Share credit

You've heard the saying, "no man is an island". No woman is either. Remember and acknowledge the people who have helped and continue to help you get where you want to go. Acknowledge the achievements of others.

Rule 10 - Remain calm, be careful

Frenzy and recklessness are hardly the prescription for long-term success in your business. In the face of unexpected challenges, unexplained downturns in business or failure to achieve the results expected, recognize that these are just part of the thrust and parry of business life and use a calm, methodical approach to the problem.

Don't just react blindly or chuck away all your hard work and try something completely different unless a thorough, calm and careful investigation convinces you that you are completely off-beam.

Calmly analyze your situation and use your intelligence to correct the situation. Sometimes a one degree turn of the wheel is all that is required to get back on course, not a completely new rudder.

Rule 11 - Have a vision, be demanding

This rule goes hand in hand with rules 4 and 5. In order to set goals and plan ways to achieve them you must first set your vision. Think big, be brave. There is nothing you can't achieve so make sure your efforts are going to be for something truly worthwhile.

Rule 12 - Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers

All of us have moments of self-doubt or even fear when embarking on a journey to an unknown destination. If what you have planned for yourself brings with it feelings of anxiety, nervousness, even fear, pay attention to them but don't take their counsel.

They are symptoms of grand thinking, of stretching beyond the boundaries of your comfort zone. As the book says, feel the fear and do it anyway.

Rule 13 - Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier

This rule is closely related to rule 1. Believe that things will work out, that they will look better in the morning, that everything's going to be OK. Repeat the words to yourself as a mantra if you must but instill a spirit of indomitable optimism in your outlook and you will attract success into your life.

Rule 14 - Sometimes being responsible means pissing people off

You can't please all of the people all of the time so don't waste your time or energy even trying. You have a responsibility to the ultimate success of your business and to your own personal success. If that means you occasionally have to say no to people to stay true to your objectives, do it. If it means you have to alienate some people because they don't personally agree with what you are doing, that's their problem.

In other words, stay focused on your plan. If others don't like it or agree with it, too bad.

Rule 15 - You never know what you can get away with unless you try

If you don't ask you don't get. And if you don't take you don't get. Leave nothing on the table. If an opportunity comes along, take it. It may not come again. And remember, in chaos there is opportunity. While everyone else is running around like chooks with their heads cut off, you just bring up the rear and clean up on all the opportunities that are just lying there for the taking among the chicken scratch.

Hindsight truly is 20/20, no doubt about it. Perhaps, like me, you're thinking that if you'd known then what you know now, you would have gone a lot further a lot faster. But as with any form of progress, it's the journey, not the destination, that provides the education and creates the experience and, through it, wisdom. And that's something no book can teach you and money can't buy.