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Effective Time Management

Posted by Andrew    Posted in Business, General    Posted in June 30, 2010    |    No Comments

So your working from home now. Great Congratulations! It is not a transition that many make very easily. People (certainly who are coming from being an employee) are used to having a bit of structure in their day and when making the transition (unless you have been responsible for your time management previously) tend to struggle here, and there really is no need to. It can be very easy to sit in your office and think that you are busy and that you are getting plenty of work done... I mean you feel busy, you look busy... you must be busy right? Yet at the end of the day when someone says, so who was your day, what did you get accomplished? You quite often find it a hard one to answer you can literally spend a whole day doing nothing and feel (at the time) that you are getting a truck load done. Unfortunately when you are working for yourself you start to realise (when its time to pay the bills) that you really haven't got that much done but how can that be? You have been so busy. I can tell you that it has happened to us all. So I want to introduce you to a concept that you may or you may not have heard of. It is that of a default calendar. It is a very simple concept that can be implemented and set up in a matter of minutes.

default calendarSo what is it? Well it is really simple... map out your week into blocks of time. You work for yourself now, no one is going to tell you when you can and when you can't have lunch go to the bathroom... whatever, however because you work for yourself doesn't mean you get to slack off, which is what some people think (not you of course) Start at what ever time of the day you choose and start on Monday, if you know that every day from 0800-1000 hours you are going to be doing a certain task then put it in. Don't get to hung up on what you are going to do in your allotted time, for now lets just allot it. Depending on what business you are involved with there may well be weekly team calls or webinars that are a regular fixture, it makes sense then to add those to your default calendar.

At first it may seem a little strange blocking out time slots for no apparent reason, and to be fair to an employee it would be. There is a reason for this, in fact there are a number of reasons for this the biggest is that it allows you the time you need to get the things done that you have to do... to put that into context think of this work expands to fill the time allowed for it meaning simply that a 5 minute job can in fact take you 2 hours if you allow it to. If that is the time you have allotted to do it, it will take that long. The same works in reverse you can get a 2 hour job done in an hour and a half if that is the only time you have available to do it in. I remember as an apprentice Mechanic in the Air Force and my Senior NCO was trying to teach me a lesson in time management (and something else) and he informed me (at 1100hrs) that the vehicle that I had to work on had to be ready to go on a run down country by 1500hrs. The didn't believe the job could be completed in the allotted time frame, and as a result I actually dragged my feet for an hour... until it was made clear to me that it was going no matter how late I had to stay to finish it (it was Friday) So after dragging my feet for an hour I realised that if it was going to be done I had to work through lunch! Long story short it was completed, it was set out, and it was done. Your Default Calendar can help you do the same.

Now with your allotted time slots start thinking of tasks that must be completed during the week, think about how long each of those tasks should take and then take 15 minutes of them and put them into your time blocks. To get you thinking perhaps you could be thinking about 'Team, Distribution, Production, Marketing, Finance, Demand' these are actually the core elements of your and any business. Become masterful in these and your success is guaranteed (you will only be as successful as your weakest  element) You will also want to think about continued education (may be within your elements)  and personal development.

Decide what works best for you with your time, work it around the things you want to get done during the week, most of all STICK to it!! This is truly the way that you can stay on top of what it is that you are looking to get done... If people want your time (and they will) make an appointment for them, because of course when you create your default calendar you will set appointment times (it doesn't matter if you have none to start, you will have them right?)

OK so a simple why of actively (yet passively) managing your time.

To Your Success

Andrew-HawkesAbout the Author

Andrew Hawkes is an Entrepreneur that has had good times and bad, he draws on all the experiences that he has had, military and in business, to provide solid information that anyone can use and understand to improve the results in thier own life and therefore show others to imrpove thiers. He believes that anyone can make a difference in the world and that ultimately anything is possible.

BUILD YOUR SELF ESTEEM, A STARTER GUIDE TO SELF IMPROVEMENT

Posted by Andrew    Posted in General    Posted in April 7, 2010    |    No Comments

So how do you stay calm, composed and maintain self esteem in a tough environment? Here are some tips you may to consider as a starter guide to self improvement.

Imagine yourself as a Dart Board. Everything and everyone else around you may become Dart Pins, at one point or another. These dart pins will destroy your self esteem and pull you down in ways you won’t even remember. Don’t let them destroy you, or get the best of you. So which dart pins should you avoid?

Dart Pin #1 : Negative Work Environment
Beware of “dog eat dog” theory where everyone else is fighting just to get ahead. This is where non-appreciative people usually thrive. No one will appreciate your contributions even if you miss lunch and dinner, and stay up late. Most of the time you get to work too much without getting help from people concerned. Stay out of this, it will ruin your self esteem. Competition is at stake anywhere. Be healthy enough to compete, but in a healthy competition that is.

Dart Pin #2: Other People’s Behavior
Bulldozers, brown nosers, gossipmongers, whiners, backstabbers, snipers, people walking wounded, controllers, naggers, complainers, exploders, patronizers, sluffers… all these kinds of people will pose bad vibes for your self esteem, as well as to your self improvement scheme.

Dart Pin #3: Changing Environment
You can’t be a green bug on a brown field. Changes challenge our paradigms. It tests our flexibility, adaptability and alters the way we think. Changes will make life difficult for awhile, it may cause stress but it will help us find ways to improve our selves. Change will be there forever, we must be susceptible to it.

Dart Pin #4: Past Experience
It’s okay to cry and say “ouch!” when we experience pain. But don’t let pain transform itself into fear. It might grab you by the tail and swing you around. Treat each failure and mistake as a lesson.

Dart Pin #5: Negative World View
Look at what you’re looking at. Don’t wrap yourself up with all the negativities of the world. In building self esteem, we must learn how to make the best out of worst situations.

Dart Pin #6: Determination Theory
The way you are and your behavioral traits is said to be a mixed end product of your inherited traits (genetics), your upbringing (psychic), and your environmental surroundings such as your spouse, the company, the economy or your circle of friends. You have your own identity. If your father is a failure, it doesn’t mean you have to be a failure too. Learn from other people’s experience, so you’ll never have to encounter the same mistakes.

Sometimes, you may want to wonder if some people are born leaders or positive thinkers. NO. Being positive, and staying positive is a choice. Building self esteem and drawing lines for self improvement is a choice, not a rule or a talent. God wouldn’t come down from heaven and tell you – “George, you may now have the permission to build self esteem and improve your self.”

In life, its hard to stay tough specially when things and people around you keep pulling you down. When we get to the battle field, we should choose the right luggage to bring and armors to use, and pick those that are bullet proof. Life’s options give us arrays of more options. Along the battle, we will get hit and bruised. And wearing a bullet proof armor ideally means ’self change’. The kind of change which comes from within. Voluntarily. Armor or Self Change changes 3 things: our attitude, our behavior and our way of thinking.

Building self esteem will eventually lead to self improvement if we start to become responsible for who we are, what we have and what we do. Its like a flame that should gradually spread like a brush fire from inside and out. When we develop self esteem, we take control of our mission, values and discipline. Self esteem brings about self improvement, true assessment, and determination. So how do you start putting up the building blocks of self esteem? Be positive. Be contented and happy. Be appreciative. Never miss an opportunity to compliment. A positive way of living will help you build self esteem, your starter guide to self improvement.

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