No system for managing projects and documents
When I started my first business, my organisation was a draw in my desk. When that got full I had a tray on the desk. Before that got full I realised that I was wasting vast amounts of time either because I was searching for information, or I thought I had completed a project only to find that I had missed some crucial information and had to go back over it again to get it right. Having no system for storing information, organising projects and managing correspondence leads to a confused computer filing system, a messy desk, with bits of...
read moreWhat Roles did I play last year?
In the course of each year we find that there are specific roles or functions that we perform, almost like parts being played in a movie. Some may seem minor and unimportant, whilst others form a core element of our identity. Some of the roles we play are life long, whilst others are transient, perhaps only in existence for a few hours. It could be that one of the roles you play on a regular basis it that of parent, this is a role that for some people forms the core of their sense of identity, or that could come from your work. Other roles...
read moreValues and Beliefs
As discussed earlier, we all have core values and beliefs; whether we know it or not. These values and beliefs completely determine the direction of your life – nothing else has such a profound effect on your future. So sorting this area out will make all the difference when it comes to goal achievement. If you have ever had difficulty achieving goals in the past then it is highly likely that you will have had conflict in your values and beliefs. When your values are compromised you feel bad and when you are living your life in-line with...
read morePlanning Your Week
Once you have your month planned, it is time to break that down into weekly chunks that you can then break down into daily tasks. Planning your week is very much the same as planning your month in that you take your goals for the month and break them down into weekly chunks. Each week you go back to the outcomes you have set for the month. You then decide what you are going to do that week to achieve those goals based on what you have achieved so far in the month. I recommend doing this on a day when you have the time and detachment to think...
read moreTraining
It is not possible to effectively train staff on-the-job except on a one-to-one basis, which makes implementation across the company time consuming and less likely to show an immediately visible change in productivity. This means that the results are more difficult to measure as quickly. In addition, unless you have a small company, it is not practical to try and train everyone at once. You need enough staff to be able to follow up the training and to ensure the implementation of the system. The most effective method of training is in a...
read moreInevitability Thinking
When deciding on your plan of action it is vital to set yourself up to succeed. All too many people set ambitious goals and develop detailed plans to achieve them, only to find that the plans do not lead to the goal. It’s a bit like deciding to drive from London to Glasgow, mapping out the most effective route, but failing to remember that you need to get a car before you set off. With any outcome there are a number of conditions that need to be in place to ensure that you achieve the desired result. You need to know what road blocks you are...
read moreTime Management: The Sales People
There are three key factors that every sales person within most industries really should place as golden rules in their daily routine. Sales people have to be available for customer calls, so this needs to be allowed for in the schedule. Although it is important to avoid interruptions in your day, if your primary focus is customer sales, then being responsive to customers is a very important part of your position. In order to allow for this, allow extra time for each task and larger gaps between tasks. Allow 2.5 hours per day for cold...
read morePlanning
Planning is crucial. Nothing really important or complex can be achieved unless you plan it. A goal without a plan is like a ship without a rudder, eventually disaster is assured. We have looked at managing your time and getting the most out of every minute of the day, so now we need to tie that efficiency to the achievement of the goals you set at the beginning of the process. This is where planning comes in. Planning to achieve your goals is vital. As we said at the beginning, all you ever need to know is where you are now, where you want to...
read moreWhat Roles did I play last year?
In the course of each year we find that there are specific roles or functions that we perform, almost like parts being played in a movie. Some may seem minor and unimportant, whilst others form a core element of our identity. Some of the roles we play are life long, whilst others are transient, perhaps only in existence for a few hours. It could be that one of the roles you play on a regular basis it that of parent, this is a role that for some people forms the core of their sense of identity, or that could come from your work. Other roles...
read moreWhat feelings did I consistently experience in last year?
During the course of our lives we all feel a mixture of emotion on a daily basis. Sometimes we are happy, sometimes we are sad, sometimes angry other times at peace. We give them a myriad of different names and we attribute to them a variety of causes. It is clear that we work to achieve things and to be successful because we perceive that we will experience more positive emotions than negative emotions when we are successful. All too often we evaluate success in terms of achieving goals, acquiring objects or achieving a certain status in...
read moreOn Goal Settings: A Rounded Life
It seems to me that there are more books on success than any other subject. We are all seeking it in one form or another, regardless of the language we use to define it. There are courses, seminars, books, CDs, DVDs, novels and movies about success. But what is success? In reality it can mean virtually anything you want it to mean. For some people it is all about money and wealth, for others it is about family and relationships, for others it is about career and achievement. Whatever your concept of success is, I would suggest that you should...
read moreThe Ultimate Time Management System
Now you have your goals clearly defined and have created an initial plan of action, it is vital that the plan is enacted in the most efficient way possible. If you really want to achieve the goals you have set for the coming year you are going to have to ensure that you take effective action consistently throughout. If you don’t master time management then you will never be as effective as you could be and you may well spend much of your time either doing work that does not need to be done or simple focussed on the wrong things. Every...
read moreThe Importance of the Goal
Now that you have clearly identified your goals for the year, it is time to start the planning process. A goal without a plan is just a dream. There are many people who set goals but never get past the dream stage and then wonder why they never achieve their goals. Also you do not need to plan the entire process from beginning to end. It may be that you cannot actually see how you are going to achieve some or even all of your goals. This may seem really difficult, but in reality the less clearly you can see the route to your goals now, the...
read moreTime Management- Schedule your tasks
Time management strategies are critical to effective goal achieving. Scheduling when to do each task at the beginning of the day is vital. Share It Hide Sites
read moreWhat do I want to experience this year?
When you come to the end of the year it is important that you have more than just the achievement of traditional ‘success’ goals, you have to have had a life! There is no point in focusing just on the outcomes at the end of the year, you also have to have had fun along the way and achieved the one-off things that make life truly interesting. This can be even more of what you have experienced before or based on your boldest thoughts, i.e. a skydive, climb a mountain, go waterskiing, go on safari, drive a Ferrari, have a child…. I would...
read moreHow Much Time To Allow?
Time management strategies are critical to effective goal achieving. Allocating the right amount of time to each task at the beginning of the day is vital. Share It Hide Sites
read moreBe Systems Orientated
This is a key factor that separates most small businesses from the large multinational corporations. Most small business owners think that their staff are theretoprovide the products and services of the businesstothe customers. This seems logical and most then say things like, “you just can’t find the right staff these days”, but the truth is diametrically oppositetothis. The super successful businesses recognise that if you wanttocreate a super successful business, then you must develop and implement structured systemstoprovide the...
read moreManagement is Measurement
So how will you know if the system we are going to use will work for you? How can you be sure that the results I achieved are going to be the same for you? In the coming pages I am going to show how just one of the techniques can increase your productivity by a massive 400%. That’s great, but only if you actually know that it has worked. All too many people do not check their productivity on a regular basis, if at all. So let’s say you want to improve the productivity of your work. If you know what is productive in your work you should...
read moreNo daily schedule
Most people have a calendar, either in a diary or on a computer, where they schedule their meetings and appointments. This is very important, I would be lost without my online diary, which I have synchronised with my handheld device to ensure that I know where I am supposed to be, when and what for, even when I am away from my computer. This is technology at its best. I also ensure that if I have a meeting that is away from my office, I calculate what time I have to leave and set an alarm on my handheld to remind me five minutes before I need...
read moreBuilding the Dream
This next step is designed to really get your creative juices running. You see, in order to drive these goals into your psyche you need to turn them into feelings. That may sound unusual, but the fact is without emotion nothing really challenging is ever achieved. All action takes place for emotional reasons and is justified with logic. Now take your top 3 to 6 goals, write them down separately again and then make a paragraph that will describe your year as if you are already at the end of it and you are looking back at it and all of your...
read moreThe Power of Now
We are forever rushing to get things done so that we can get to the next thing. Working on one thing but thinking about the next. When we are in the shower we are already thinking about getting dressed to go to work, when we are driving to work, we are already thinking about the things we have to do when we get there. The things we are actually doing at that moment are simply a means to an end. Whilst many people think that this is efficient and an effective use of their time, in reality it is much better to focus your efforts on the task at...
read moreAll Action in the Creative Mind Happens
Making someone else happy is not a good reason to set a goal. Running a marathon because you think your father will be proud of you will in the end prove to be an empty outcome. If you want to run a marathon, run it because it is something you really want to do, something that will give additional benefits to you such as fitness or simply a sense of achievement. If you are seeking approval from someone else, then the achievement of the goal will only bring transient satisfaction at best. As if now means that when you write the goal down you...
read moreGet SMART
Having a system for creating goals ensures that you have all the ingredients in place to achieve them. It is always useful to keep to the SMART method of goal setting: S= Specific M= Meaningful to you A= As if now R= Responsible T= Time bound Specific means that you clearly define what the goal looks like in its completed state. So if you want to increase your income, you would not say; “I want more money”, or “I want enough to be happy”, as these are not clearly defined. You would work out how much more you need and...
read moreWhat feelings did I consistently experience in last year?
During the course of our lives we all feel a mixture of emotion on a daily basis. Sometimes we are happy, sometimes we are sad, sometimes angry other times at peace. We give them a myriad of different names and we attribute to them a variety of causes. It is clear that we work to achieve things and to be successful because we perceive that we will experience more positive emotions than negative emotions when we are successful. All too often we evaluate success in terms of achieving goals, acquiring objects or achieving a certain status in...
read moreWhat Did I Manifest Last Year?
No matter what happened in your life last year, in some way you manifested it. I know that this is not always accepted by everyone, you may say to yourself; “I didn’t manifest the car accident” or “I didn’t manifest my wife leaving me” or “I didn’t manifest my business failing in the recession”, but the simple fact is that in some way you did. If millions of other people did not experience the same as you, then you did something to reach the point where you experienced whatever it is that happened in the last year. The good...
read moreTechniques to Overcome Procrastination
Techniques to Overcome Procrastination Time management strategies are critical to effective goal achieving. Understanding Procrastination is a key factor in your success. In this video we will look at key techniques to overcome procrastination Share It Hide Sites
read moreThe First Step For Successful Time Management and Goal Setting
Have you noticed that no matter what you do, you always have exactly the same amount of time as everyone else? We all have 24 hours in every day. Have you also noticed that some people seem to be able to earn vast amounts of money in the 24 hours that they have and others struggle to get by. Some people seem to spend so much time enjoying leisure activities, travelling, visiting people and spending time on sports, hobbies and other things, whilst still having enough time to work and earn a comfortable living, whereas other people work long...
read moreGive Service to others
You will discover that when your dreams include service to others — accomplishing something that contributes to improving the lives of other people — it also accelerates the accomplishment of that goal. Not only because you have a greater degree of enthusiasm, but also because demand for your product or service is higher. Also people want to be part of something that contributes and makes a difference, so you will find that you will get more help along the way the more your goal helps the world. Being of service to others is one of...
read moreSet Goals That Will Stretch You
As soon as you commit to a big dream and really go after it, your subconscious creative mind will come up with big ideas to make it happen. You’ll start attracting the people, resources, and opportunities you need into your life to make your dreams come true. Big dreams not only inspire you, they compel others to want to play big too. So do not be afraid of thinking big; I like the saying ‘shoot for the moon, if you miss you will land in the stars’. I have had people set goals to increase their income by 25% and be happy when they...
read moreCreating Effective Outcomes for Better Time Management
If you work in a business or own a business then creating effective outcomes is key to your business success and that means setting effective goals or targets to hit and effective time management to ensure that you remain on target throughout. Without both these ingredients you are likely to struggle to achieve the outcomes you desire. In the early days of my business, managing my time was really easy; I worked mostly alone and rarely had more than one or two things going on at any one time. As my business grew and I had more customers to work...
read moreReading it Again, Killing Time
The 7 killers of Time management – Killer number 2 ‘and again!’ So what do we mean by ‘and again’? It’s quite simple really, re-reading the same information again, this happens all the time. So many people do it. And it can waste a month, a year of your life just re-reading the same things again and again. Then you might say a month? How can it be a month of my life? Well a month of your life could be 8 % of your life. It’s not a high percentage of your time you are wasting but it can add up a month a year of time wasted...
read moreTIME MANAGEMENT: REACTIVE vs PROACTIVE
Most people spend their lives reacting to the urgent trivia instead of focusing on the important. Pareto’s Law also called the 80/20 principle states that 80% of your time equates to 20% of you productivity and 20% of your time produces 80% of your productivity. If you can switch that around, and work on the things that are proactive, that are moving you forward, (focus on the important instead of the urgent) you will then switch that around and start getting 80% of the results from 80% of your time, 4 times the result in the same time, and...
read moreTime Management – Touch it once
This is really, really important one of the major killers of time management is re-reading the same information over and over again or listening to voice mails time and time again. This can massively reduce your effectiveness. The solution is very simple – If you touch it, act on it. Take the next step, make sure you don’t even touch something unless you have time to work on it, and schedule that time into your diary. There are various action you could take. For example:- Reply to it, it could be its an email and all you need to do is...
read moreTime Management Killer – The Long to-do-list
We’ve all been told when you’ve got something to do, write it down on a paper, and that is completely right, but the big problem is when you have too many things on your to do list, you tend to focus on clearing the quick things you can get off the to do list, so you can bring the to do list down on a manageable size. When you have a list of twenty things to do the question becomes “where do I start? Oh I’ll get that one done quickly”. So you wind-up dealing with the trivial instead of the important things and the...
read moreHoarding Useless Information
Hoarding of useless information happens to all of us at some time, but it is a massive killer of your time management. There are many things that starts off being useful but then after a time they’re not. Things like old emails. At the time you needed to keep them but you never go back to delete them later. Old brochures, this is a classic one, you wanna keep a brochure for a while, you’re looking at different products you wanna buy you go and get different brochures for each one, you put them in a file, you go and review them, then you...
read moreKeeping up with your daily schedule
Key tips for keeping to your daily schedule: Use an “in-tray”. Make sure you use an in-try so that if other people have things they want you to do, they can place a file in your in-tray. If there are specific requests that are regularly required, create a form that they can use to ensure that they provide you with the information you need to complete the task when you get to it. Make sure you empty your in-tray every afternoon. This does not mean that you put the contents in a draw! Ensure that you have a scheduled time in the late...
read moreWhat do I want to experience this year?
When you come to the end of the year it is important that you have more than just the achievement of traditional ‘success’ goals, you have to have had a life! There is no point in focusing just on the outcomes at the end of the year, you also have to have had fun along the way and achieved the things that make your life truly interesting. This can be even more of what you have experienced before or based on your boldest thoughts, i.e. a skydive, climb a mountain, go waterskiing, go on safari, drive a Ferrari, have a child…. I would...
read moreBe Willing to Dream BIG Dreams
Having a goal is vital to achieving a goal. You cannot have success without first determining what success looks like. The only problem is that most people think too small. They set a goal that they think is reasonable and that they know is not pushing the boundaries of what they think they deserve. The truth is though; nothing really important is achieved by thinking small. If you think small then your life will always be small. This does not mean that you should aim to be the richest man in the world if that is not what you want, but you...
read moreHow do you define Success?
In this system it is important for you to define your success, as you cannot achieve it if you do not have a clear idea of what it looks like when you get there. In addition you will almost certainly have different areas of your life that will have different definitions of success. For example your concept of success in you career will probably be very different to your concept of success in your family life. Likewise you should think about areas such as health and finances as separate areas. So success is whatever you define it as in any...
read moreTime Management – Schedule When
Time management is very much about managing how you use the fixed amount of time that is available in the day. All of us have exactly the same amount of time regardless, you cannot decide that today you will have 27 hours or that tomorrow only needs 20, the Earth revolves at the same speed regardless of your deadlines and desires. Having a schedule of your meetings and appointments is standard practice for most people and is important for time management, but few people take the time to schedule all the tasks they have for the day. This is a...
read moreTime Management – How Much Time
One of the key steps in time management is to decide how much time you are going to allocate to specific tasks in the day. Having a to-do-list and prioritising the tasks you are to work on is extremely important, but it is only part of the process, without deadlines and time limits on the tasks all too many people will allow the tasks to fill the time available. In order to maximise the efficiency of the time available it is vital to ensure that you decide at the beginning of the day exactly how much time you are going to allocate to each task...
read moreHappiness in Success
Happiness is not the result of success – it is the fuel of success. And happiness comes from the beliefs we have about what it takes to be happy. For example, if you believe that you need a big house, a fast car and children to be happy, but you have none of these then you will be unhappy. However, you may have an average house, with an average car and are single, which could be the ideal that someone else has as there belief about what it takes to be happy. This means that one man’s paradise is another man’s purgatory – it’s all in...
read moreTime Management – The Six Most Important Things
There are a number of strategies and techniques to create perfect time management and one of the most important ones is to decide on an effect way to prioritise on the most important things you need to focus on. In this article we are going to look at the first step in creating an effective time management strategy – deciding on the six most important things to do. It is very easy to get overwhelmed when you lead a busy life and have a number of conflicting demands on your time. If you are to be effective in managing your time then you...
read moreTime Management Killer – Hoarding Useless Information
Having a cluttered environment is a major problem in time management, so it seems logical to file everything away to keep it out of the way, and it is very important to keep your environment clear of clutter. The problem arises when you are filing away information you are not likely to need again in the future. It has been shown that over 86% of all information that is filed away is never needed again. If you were to go through any filing cabinet that you have had for more than a year you will see that you have large amounts of information...
read moreTime Management Killer – No System for Organising
Most time management systems will talk about organising your tasks and focusing on key goals at all times, but one of the key killers of time management is failing to have a structured system for organising your resources. There are many ways in which being disorganised can eat away at your time minute by minute on a constant daily basis. Areas that must be organised and closely managed to ensure maximum time management. Email – keeping all your email in your inbox is a guaranteed to make it extremelyhard to manage your time...
read moreTime Management Killer – Failing to Schedule Effectively
One of the key killers of time management is failing to use your schedule in a way that promotes focus on key important activities. Having a schedule or a diary is something most people have but fewer that 2% of managers and executives actually use it in a way that builds productivity. Most people have a diary or scheduling system of some sort, it could be a page per day diary, a calendar system on a computer or even a calendar on the wall. However, most do not use it as the vital tool in time management that it is, and few traditional time...
read moreTime Management Killer – The Long To-Do List
One of the key things everyone needs as a fundamental part of any time management strategy is a to-do list. Every time management system says it is a vital first step to creating order and management. Without a to-do list your time management simply is not possible. It is completely unrealistic to even consider being organised if you are trying to keep everything you need to do in your head, unless you are a magician with a memory act. If you are trying to remember all the things you have to do, the actual doing would be highly diluted because...
read moreTime Management Killer – The Open Door Policy
There was a time when the management of a company was seen as aloof and unapproachable and this was a major cause of industrial problems in a lot of businesses. So in the latter half of the 20th century many businesses implemented the open door policy to encourage staff to feel that the management was approachable and that they are all working together as one team. A very worthy ideal and one that is very important, but unfortunately the solution they came up with drove a ten ton truck through effective time management for the vast majority of...
read moreTime Management Killer – Re-reading The Same Information Again
The amount of information that is received every day by people in any situation, both at work and at home never seems to get less, it always seems to increase, which is why effective time management is so important. All to often the temptation when you are busy is to quickly open you messages, whether email, letters, voicemail etc and to go through them to look for anything urgent. The problem with this is that you can have a situation where you read an email or letter, then mark it as unread or put it back in your in-tray to deal with later....
read moreTime Management Killer – Reactive v Proactive
One of the key killers of time management is being in a reactive instead of proactive mode. What does this mean? Well if you are in a reactive mode there is a strong probability that your effective results are running at about 25% of the level they could be if you we to be fully in a proactive mode and that means that you could quickly and easily increase your productivity by as much as 400% simply by switching to a proactive time management system. What do we mean by being in a reactive time management mode? Simply put, this refers to the way...
read moreTime Management and SMART Goals
Time management is of little real benefit unless you have a distinct outcome in mind, so effective goal setting is a key first ingredient of any time management system, but deciding Provigil online No prescription on what you want is only part of it, you also need to structure your goals in such a way that they become deeply compelling. In order to do this the SMART goal setting system is the best way to get your life on the right track. SMART goals are all about creating the future in a way that you know you are fired up to achieve it...
read moreTime Management and Goal Setting From Start to Finish
Effective time management requires effective goal setting as the foundation of achieving anything. The Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland put it very well when Alice asked him which way she should go, he replied that is depended where she wanted to end up. When she said she didn’t care where she ended up, he simply said it did not matter which way she went. This is true in every area of your life and in every endeavour you seek to undertake.There is no point in any time management system if you are not clear about the outcomes you are...
read moreTime Management and Goal Setting
One of the key factors that makes a massive difference in the effectiveness of any time management system is the outcomes that are generated as the result of implementing a it. So if you implement a time management system that allows you to get 400% more done in the same time, but the things you are getting done are not leading you in a clear direction, then you are still wasting your time. There is no point in getting four times as much done if it is not getting an effective benefit, you might as well stay home and enjoy time with your...
read moreThe Seven Steps to Time Management
Time management is a vital part of any effort to be effective and efficient in the achievement of any endeavour, but it need not be complex. All too many time management systems are overly complex and fail to keep the entire process simple and effective. I have known systems that require you to log every activity for weeks on end to find out where your time is going and to then evaluate the entire way in which you use your time. Most busy executives simply don’t have that much time to waste. This seven step time management system has be...
read moreThe Seven Killers of Time Management
There are many strategies available from as many different proponents of time management from every field of human endeavour. Each one suits different situations and different people. Often it can be hard to know which time management system is right for which situation and which person, but it can be a lot easier to decide when you look at it from the opposite end of the problem. There are a number of key factors that cause the efforts of any time management strategy to fall apart and these factors can be grouped into seven key killers of...
read moreTime Management and More
Any worthwhile endeavour that requires focus and consistent action will benefit from effective time management. You wouldn’t try to build house without a set of clear plans and the right people to implement them, likewise any aim, desire, objective that you really want to achieve will be infinitely more likely to be successful if it is carefully planned and the plan carefully implemented. Time management is not just about achieving more in less time, or ensuring you meet deadlines, though those are key factors, it is also about ensuring that...
read moreTime Management and Your Goals
Time management and goal setting are inexorably linked. There is no point in managing your time unless you are working towards a known outcome and likewise there is no point in setting a goal unless you are going to take clear organised action towards its achievement. So if that is the case, why do so many goal setting books miss out the planning and actions stage of the process? Most writers on this subject realise that the major problems with achieving goals is more to do with your mental state than the actions you need to take to achieve...
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