Author : Laura StackWe’ve all been there There’s mail piled up on the corner of your desk You have 37 unread e-mails The phone is ringing (not that phone - the other phone) And you’ll be lucky if you can get through three of the fifteen items on your to-do list

Oh - and you have four hours of meetings ahead of you

It didn’t used to be this way The world has changed in the last decade or so Has your approach to time management changed with it?

If you find yourself stressed out and frustrated every time you try to hunker down and take control of your time, there’s a good chance that’s because you need a new way to think about time management Don’t fall into the trap of trying to force yourself to work within a system that just isn’t compatible with the pace of your day or the nature of your work Just like electronic organizers are perfect for some and others swear by paper planners, even the best time management system will fail if it doesn’t jive with the way you get through each day

If you’re looking for a productivity system that is compatible with real life, consider 4-A Time Management By focusing on four key elements of productivity you can create a flexible, customized productivity strategy that is compatible with the fast paced demands of today

Activity When there are 117 things that could be done next, how are we supposed to prioritize? In this new era of productivity, it is pretty much impossible to successfully schedule your day in advance You might set out a clear list of objectives and a bulletproof timetable, but we all know that one unexpected phone call can cause the whole plan to collapse in on itself - priorities change, a crisis pops up, a deadline is moved up a week; these things happen

Since you can’t plan for everything, it is important that you have a crystal clear understanding of what your priorities are If something happens that is beyond your control and these priorities need to be adjusted - fine - but until then, you should have a game plan

Evaluate your to-do list to see which tasks will yield the greatest benefit The old A-B-C method probably won’t work if the flow of your day changes often You need a new method of deciding where to spend your valuable time

Think about the average amount of time that you can work uninterrupted Which of your tasks will benefit most from that undivided attention? Which require a lot more or much less? Make a plan to work on the bigger, more time-intensive projects when you know you’re least likely to be disturbed Save the little ones for those windows between meetings and phone calls when you won’t get much else done

If one of your important projects is just too intimidating for you to ever make any headway, break it down into smaller, manageable steps I guarantee that nine times out of ten, once you get started you’ll forget why you put it off for so long to begin with

Availability The best laid plans won’t stand a chance if you don’t find a way to control your availability Your time is your most valuable asset Don’t just give it away to anyone who asks! You’ll never have complete control over your availability, but it’s important to know how to carve out blocks of distraction-free time that is conducive to productivity

Meetings are notorious for eating up massive blocks of time Learn to say “no” It’s pretty likely that you don’t need to be at all of the meetings that you’re attending Can you send someone in your place? Ask for the minutes to be forwarded? Address the situation with a quick phone call? Evaluate whether the meetings you attend are really necessary

When you’re not in those meetings, schedule time to work In some jobs this is easier to do than others It might just be a matter of shutting your office door and setting your phone to voicemail Or working from home or heading to Starbucks with your laptop You might need a clear signal for your co-workers, like using a do-not-disturb sign or putting on head phones when you need to work uninterrupted

Whatever your solution - don’t abuse it If you try to make yourself constantly unavailable, you will quickly find that others lose respect for your “I’m busy” signal

Then you’re right back where you started, whether you’re up against an important deadline or not

Accessibility You’ve already decided that you aren’t going to give everyone around constant access to your time The next step is to make sure that you have easy access to the information, tools, and resources you need to be productive

Invest the time necessary to make sure the things you need on a regular basis are at your fingertips Things you access frequently should be filed on your desktop in an organizer or in a drawer that’s at arm’s reach Put the files you only use occasionally where they are accessible at your desk, but give the easiest access to those things that you reference regularly Archive files you rarely need in the bottom drawers or in files away from your desk

Perhaps the most important and overlooked thing you can do to get organized is to structure your electronic files In an age where most files are electronic, it’s easy to lose them to the vacuum of cyber storage File electronic documents similar to the way you would paper ones Don’t just plop everything in “My Documents” or on your desktop and leave it for lost Set up folders and sub folders that have intuitive titles that you’ll easily navigate Use dates and enough detail in file names that you won’t have to open multiple documents when you’re looking for something specific In short, do the initial work of saving the files in an organized manner to make referencing them an easy task

Stopping to hunt for what you need not only wastes time, but it destroys your rhythm and forces you to break your concentration It’s well worth it to organize as you go

Attention The most effective time management system in the world won’t do a thing to improve your productivity if you don’t focus on the task at hand For many of us, the problem isn’t a lack of willpower; it’s having the restraint to refuse distractions

This means closing Outlook when you’re not working on e-mail and trying to check it only a few times a day Resist the urge to open messages as they come in This also means letting the voicemail light stay on until you’ve finished what you’re doing Treat your project time like an appointment with a coworker Ignore the phone, the e-mail, and the urge to go get a cup of coffee

Of course, avoiding email and the phone might be much easier than avoiding the distractions that come from coworkers If you’ve already put your “do not disturb” signal in place, be it headphones or a closed office door, and you’re still being interrupted, it’s time to tactfully redirect the person distracting you

Acknowledge the issue and let them know you’re in the thick of an important project Ask if you may give them a call in an hour when they may have your undivided attention

Just remember - it’s better to be like a postage stamp and stick with something all the way to the end than it is to be a butterfly that flits from task to task!

So forget managing your time - it can’t be managed Manage yourself with these 4-A’s and you’ll increase the likelihood you’ll have a productive day Laura Stack is a personal productivity expert, author, and professional speaker who helps busy workers Leave the Office Earlier(R) with Maximum Results in Minimum Time(TM). To have Laura speak at your next event, call 303-471-7401. Visit http://www.TheProductivityPro.com to sign up for her free monthly productivity newsletter.

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Author : Adrian KennellyThis plan is unique It’s effective, too Perhaps every man who reads it can’t use it, but one thing is sure:
You can’t tell how much it may help you out until you do read it And it’s in the users own words

This is a filing plan that suits me down to the ground It will suit you, too, if you do the same general kind of work I do, or have about the same problems when it comes to finding “that document” in a hurry

What is my work?

It is of a non-routine nature It is always different No steady stream of reports and correspondence flows across my desk, the same day after day, to be handled by “referring” it to “the proper party” or answering by dictated letter It runs, instead, eternally along new paths First, there is some condition in the business, not yet covered by routine or ruling, that needs to be pruned or watered We discuss the matter We reach a certain unanimity as to the right kind of pruning or watering Then these remedial measures must be translated into detailed procedure and concrete words and acts

I expressly abstain from stating the name of my job The minute I do that every man whose job has a different name concludes this article is not for him In reality, this article is for anyone whose work, in essence, is pro- motional and involves masses of hodgepodge memoranda, letters, blueprints, schedules, reports, notes of conferences, and the like It is for the man who frequently “wants what he wants” out of this mass instantaneously to clinch his point in the eager talks so characteristic of uncharted work It may be a complaint from a consumer; it may be a clipping from the morning’s news; it may be a rough drawing by one’s favorite artist; but one wants it quick!

Here’s the plan: the moment I can get any paper or document off my desk and into a drawer I do so I use only one drawer Everything is put into it, one thing on top of another This is no sorting, no classification Into the drawer it goes, the latest always on top, to be covered in its turn by the next paper, and so on When I want to get any recent paper, I simply look in this one drawer for it Evidently, the more recent it is, the oftener I shall want it and the more recent it is, again, the nearer the top it is, and the easier to find

That is the first half of the system The basis is not alphabetical, nor subject, nor nature of document ” Recency” is the sole basis By simply laying one thing in one drawer, hour by hour, day after day, you automatically insure that the oftenest wanted paper is the one nearest the top and therefore easiest to find You “file” as you go along Whatever you want you will find in the drawer You always get it You get it inside of 30 seconds; often instantaneously There is no pressing the button for the “filing clerk”; no wait for her to return, dismayed and fearful of rebuke, to report that the paper cannot be found but “the boys are looking for it; they think Mr Drew had it, but he is sick today ” That is all eliminated

“But what,” you ask, “happens when this magic drawer becomes full to overflowing?” When that happens, and it happens regularly, of course, I take out the entire mass and lay it on my desk upside down The oldest pieces are now on top I turn each piece over in its turn and one glance tells me whether it should remain in the drawer or whether, by the lapse of time, it has become “dead” and it is wonderful how many papers, in constant use one week, snatched out and exhibited time and time again, become later mere antiquities because the work they represent is done and disposed of

The trashiest of the “dead” pieces go in the waste basket The rest those that may possibly come to life some day or be wanted in connection with another task are filed this time in the ordinary and accepted sense of the word “file ” They go either into the general office files, if they belong there, or they go into my own private subject file if they are such that no other department could or would want them

So I go on, working from the bottom up until the newness and recency of the pieces I encounter warns me they are likely to be wanted any moment because they concern work still unfinished There I stop, and restore the now much reduced pile to its drawer, to be the foundation of today’s and tomorrow’s and next week’s accumulations

I got this system from an advertising expert who is one of the shrewdest and cleverest judges of office methods I ever met He has used the method for years and it works perfectly I never knew him to be flurried or hurried in laying his hand on any paper The precise document he needed seemed to appear in his hand as though it had materialized from thin air He would simply reach to the one drawer and draw out what he required while he was talking about it

A good many business men retailers and other heads of businesses unconsciously carry out the first part of this system They let papers accumulate in piles from day to day Very much so! But this is planlessness rather than plan These men allow papers to pile up unsorted, not because they have any method in so doing, but merely because that is a lazy man’s way “When they want anything from the heap, there is a hurried, scrambling search, with subdued “cussing” perhaps, but the desired document seldom is found

I sometimes think my method has a kind of philosophical basis If we look upon a file as a kind of mechanical memory (and sometimes it is called so) then the ideal basis for filing would be that of the human memorY and we all know that facts are filed in our brains mostly by “recency ” “We remember today’s events best, yesterday’s less well, and so on ”

I have used this system for 10 years, with infinite saving of nerve wear and tear There are a total of 114 Plans to Save a Busy Man Time This is merely one of them. Purchase the ebook for $37 to read all 114

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Author : Paula EderTime management tips can open doors to timelessness What if you could find time every day to emerge from your workday corridors and recharge your energy? To open these special doors in your mind, learn how to enter the realm of strong time

Living in strong time requires that you set down the daily demands to walk on unfamiliar ground Because time’s promise can be tapped through opening to your unexplored potential, I call these tips The 3 Secrets of Creating Strong Time

The 3 Secrets of Creating Strong Time

Step Number One: Create a vivid image of what your best time feels like, and give it a name meaningful to you

Author and philosopher Mircea Eliade did just this in his landmark book, The Sacred and the Profane He divided human experience into sacred time and profane time And he encouraged readers to transform their lives by embracing sacred time

He created another useful name for sacred time; he called it “strong time” Eliade describes strong time as more “real” than profane time Profane time is linear and geared to practical problem solving Time spent managing logistics can’t provide the experience of depth offered through strong time

Anyone can partake in strong time To identify its role in your life, ask yourself these three questions:

* What special moments fill your heart with wonder and appreciation?
* When do you feel both deeply rooted and free to explore?
* When do you embrace solitude yet feel deeply connected with others?

Those are your strong times

Every time you fully immerse yourself in the moment, you provide yourself with an opportunity to connect with strong time - the deepest experience of integration and renewal

Step Number Two: Identify what activities bring you strong time

Strong time is not about duration but about depth Use these valuable nuggets of time to make you strong in the following ways:

* Turning inwards to deeply relax
* Tapping your creativity by broadening your perspective
* Appreciating yourself and others, simply for being

Again, draw upon your personal experiences to enhance the relevance of strong time to you Although some restore themselves through deep quietude and introspection, you may personally access your timeless “zone” while swimming, running, performing music, creating art or during moments of profound, wordless connection with others

Step Number Three: Schedule strong time into your life

To invite strong time into your life on a daily basis, try creating some form of tradition or ritual These can be family rituals, rituals involving spiritual traditions, or simple, personal practices, like following the flickering flame of a candle, or meditating Even the moment you stop to hear the wind moving through the trees can expand your day

Remember, the length of time is not as important as its regularity

Resolve to open new doors in your mind to view the limitless expanses You can harness your power with time management daily, and treat yourself to strong time

In fact, ask yourself right now: how can you schedule strong time today to replenish your strength and rejuvenate your outlook?Coach Paula Eder, Ph.D., The Time Finder Expert, has 35 years of success helping individuals and small businesses align time with values.

For free Time Templates + Time Tips, visit
Finding Time

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Author : Obinna HecheOne of the most common complaints shared by owners of businesses of any size is the lack of time There never seems to be enough time to get everything done in a day and tomorrow starts with a negative time balance the minute they walk in the door in the morning However, one of the things many business owners seem to forget is that they own their time and if it is wasted, it can be blamed on no one but themselves

Owners with employees have the opportunity to share some of the workload but for one reason or another are reluctant to do so The easiest to determine if they are getting the most out of their effort is to calculate how much their time is worth and then look at the work they are performing to decide if they are overpaying to get many of the tasks completed For example, a business paying themselves $50,000 a year, if calculated at 40 hours per week, would be paying $25 an hour for their labor

Everyone knows they will probably make less and work many more hours when they first start their business, but for the sake of round numbers, $25 an hour will be used If you are the one putting all the files away, writing letters and making trips to the post office you are paying a premium wage for someone to do basic clerical duties Besides, would not the talents of the business owner be better served looking for new business prospects and working on developing new angles for the business?

Of course, business owners that have no employees will simply be doing everything anyway, and making the compatible earnings for all the tasks they perform, but this is just an example of how business owners sometimes allow routine jobs to get in the way of aggressively seeking new income streams Other ways a business owner, or a supervisor allows themselves to be sidetracked is by allowing other people to delegate up within the organization

For example, a subordinate or employee walks in and complains they are having trouble finding information on a certain subject, some supervisors simply tell them they will find it and let them know when they have it Now, the task assigned to this person now becomes the responsibility of the supervisor, added to their already filled plate Additionally, that employee, being dedicated to their job with an understanding of follow up returns later to ask how the search for the information is coming along

What should have happened, is the business owner or supervisor should have made a suggestion on where to look for the information instead of allowing that responsibility to fall onto their back Suggest places to look and have them get back to them on their continued progress Asking for guidance of the boss is one thing, manipulating employees can often eat chunks of the boss time by delegating upwards in the chain, freeing them to do other things they may be more comfortable performing Obinna Heche. Los Angeles - California

Delivering the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home successfully..
http://www.homeincomeportal.com/obhmy365

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Author : Obinna HecheWhen you have a home business, your biggest issue is always going to be finding time for it This is something that many people struggle with because they simply think that they will be at home and therefore they will be able to spend all of the time that they need on their business However, there are things to do around the house, errands to run, and kids to pick up from school People either end up spending much less time with their home based business than they need to or they spend much more than they should and neglect the rest of the things in their lives, simply because they can It is important to find the right times for your business, but how do you do that?

The first thing that you can do when you are looking to find time for your home business is to take a moment and set some ground rules for your business This should also include a work schedule This does not have to be the typical 8 to 5 work schedule, because after all, you did sign on for a home based business, which means that you should be able to work the hours that you want

However, you do have to set hours You should take a look at what your home business is, and make sure that the hours that you set are going to work For instance, if most of your orders come in during the morning, your business hours should be then If they come in at night, have your hours then No matter what you decide to set for your home business hours, you have to make sure that you set them, and then that you stick to them

This does several things for you and for your business First of all, it allows you to be able to spend the time that you need on family affairs If you have children to take care of, simply work your business hours around that If there are daily errands to run, give yourself the long lunch break that you need to do those in But, no matter what, stick to your hours This will give you the time that you want for your family and the rest of your life However, it will also do something for your business

Setting hours for your business is one of the ways that you can move your home business from a hobby to a real business Many people do not understand home businesses, and they are often confused by what you spend so much time doing If you set hours for your home business, and stick to tem, you can raise your home business in the eyes of the other people into something that is completely worth it and something that is real Making your business real to others is a great way of boosting your own professionalism Have set working hours, and stick to those hours This will help you look good as well Obinna Heche. Los Angeles - California

Delivering the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home successfully..
http://www.home-incomeportal.com

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Author : Paula EderTime management tips help you cultivate your power over your life, once you start exploring boundaries Maintaining time boundaries powerfully reinforces your time management strategies Until you set successful boundaries, you can’t protect even the best schedule

When you successfully maintain your time boundaries you may feel like you are saying “no” more often than “yes ” But the reality is that each time your “no” supports a time boundary, you are actually saying “yes” to the things that are most important to you!

If you say yes to everything, your day will be overflowing - but not necessarily with the things that you value It will be filled with a mishmash of crisis demands, interruptions, distractions, and other people’s needs Your own goals might be pushed out of reach And however frantically you rush to catch up, you may not be able to retrieve what really matters What happens to your time and your temper when this occurs? And what happens to your relationships with coworkers, friends, and family?

On the other hand, when you exercise your power to choose and maintain your time boundaries, you let go of needless stress and frustration Your “no” in the moment creates the possibility of many “yesses” as you apply your energies toward the things you value and the dreams you want to achieve!

To create a supportive environment to set boundaries for your upcoming day, try this short visualization:

How to Cultivate Your Garden of Time: A Short Visualization
Picture yourself tending your garden As any gardener knows, if the weeds are left to their own devices they will choke out the plants that you are trying to nurture Now envision the day ahead of you as a landscape you are cultivating Where are the activities that create meaning and flow in your life? Those are the gardens of intentionality They provide color, clear pathways, and refreshing shade Where are the weeds and thickets that interfere with your progress? These are the areas where you must do your spadework Creating and maintaining time boundaries is a lot like weeding It gives your dreams a chance to flourish! In the same way that you leave space around your favorite flowers so they can thrive, do your best to leave open space in your schedule to ensure that your most significant activities have breathing space

Establishing new boundaries, like weeding, can begin anywhere, and needs to be maintained You may start with the “time weeds” that are easiest to pull, or the ones that threaten your favorite activities Follow your intuition, and take a few moments to appreciate how helpful each new boundary is Every success will help you reclaim more territory

As you exercise your skills to create and maintain boundaries, you will experience a shift of power The more you look to yourself to make your day work, the more confidence you feel The less you rely on others to salvage your battered plans, the less pressure you feel to give into others’ demands You create an upward spiral of personal effectiveness!

Your relationships also benefit The more you rely on yourself, the less other people will frustrate you, and the less you will attempt to control others You enjoy more ease and appreciation, and others respond to your new openness The happier you are with the garden of your day, the more you will enjoy inviting others in

So, what additional time tools do you need to cultivate your dreams and make the most of your time?Coach Paula Eder, Ph.D., The Time Finder Expert, has 35 years of success helping individuals and small businesses align time with values.

For free Time Templates + Time Tips, visit
Finding Time

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