How To Find Happiness Blog

Just yesterday I stopped by the florist down the street from us and for the very first time discovered the rock tree. No the tree does not grow rocks. Although jokingly I told the florist I never knew until now where rocks came from.

You see, the approximately six foot tall tree had rocks hanging by strings on four branches. Each placed at four points as if to create balance. In fact the woman told me that is exactly what it does, creates balance. They read about it in a oriental horticulture book. The tree planted there before died. They couldn’t get one to root there. The book said that by balancing the tree and weighting it down, the tree would have a better chance of survival.

In recent months I have discovered articles and references to that same principle as it applies to our lives. Often times the reason why we fail at achieving our goals and dreams is that our lives are not balanced properly. It’s obvious when you consider the person who works too much. Everything else including marriage and family life suffers. Balance and success come about by giving the right value or importance to all aspects of our lives. Work extra when necessary and play harder during those times when the pressures of life begin to build. Learn to say no to things that will disrupt the priorities you have set. But as in goal setting write your plans in pencil. Adjust as life changes.

In my mind the four corners of a balanced , successful life are as follows: Spiritual, family, personal and professional. They are in fact in order of importance.

Just like the tree, when we learn to balance our lives our roots grow stronger. We open ourselves to the nourishment that a balanced life provides and the fruits of our efforts are abundant in all four areas. Strong roots help us to stand tall against the most destructive storms.

- Written by Bob Perks http://www.bobperks.com.

There are two questions that you can ask on a regular basis to keep yourself focused on getting your most important tasks completed on schedule. The first question is “What are my highest-value activities?”

Put another way, what are the most important tasks you have to complete to make the greatest contribution to your organization? To your family? To your life in general?

Think It Through Carefully

This is one of the most important questions you can ask and answer. What are your highest-value activities? First, think this through for yourself. Then, ask your boss. Ask your coworkers and subordinates. Ask your friends and family. Like focusing the lens of a camera, you must be crystal clear about your highest-value activities before you begin work.

Keep Yourself Focused

The second question you can ask continually is, “What can I, and only I, do that, if done well, will make a real difference?”

This question comes from Peter Drucker, the management guru. It is one of the best questions of all for achieving personal effectiveness. What can you, and only you, do that, if done well, can make a real difference?

This is something that only you can do. If you don’t do it, it won’t be done by someone else. But if you do it, and you do it well, it can really make a difference to your life and your career. What is your answer to this question?

Every hour of every day, you can ask yourself this question and there will be a specific answer. Your job is to be clear about the answer and then to start and work on this task before anything else.

Action Exercises

First, make a list of everything you do at work and then select your most valuable tasks from that list.

Second, resolve to start in on your highest-value task and stay at it until it is 100 percent complete.

———————-

Article by Brian Tracy

Get Brian Tracy’s 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires for FREE! “Did you know that every 60 seconds someone else in the world becomes a Millionaire?” Wouldn’t it be great to know their secrets? Their formulas? The little-known facts? Well now you can - and ALL for FREE! Absolutely no commitments and no strings attached. Get it Get it here.

Time is nature’s greatest “force.” Nothing can stop it; nothing can alter it. Unlike the wind, it cannot be felt. Unlike the sun, it cannot be seen. Yet, of all nature’s forces, time has the most profound effect on us.

Time remains constant, but our perception of it changes. When we focus on it, it slows down. When we turn our backs on it, it speeds up. Our illusion makes us think it is something tangible. We arrange it, divide it up, and give some to our friends. Sometimes we feel it is precious, at other times we waste it. We give it the power to heal when we say, “Time heals all wounds.” It can also kill, as when we live stressful lives because we “never have enough time.” On a day?to?day basis, nothing is defined and redefined in our minds as much as time. It’s a wonder we can still recognize it!

Herein lies our power. Because things are as we perceive them, we can choose to see time as a manageable commodity and live our lives according to that assumption. This is one of the secrets of successful people ? they work at shaping those things that others think are uncontrollable.

Efficient VS. Effective

In discussing time management, some people argue, “What we need to be is more efficient with our time!” Other people claim, “Let’s not worry so much about efficiency, let’s be more effective!”

Efficiency means doing things right. Effectiveness means doing the right things. Working efficiently is doing things with the least amount of wasted effort. Efficiency gets you from point A to point B via a straight line. Inefficiency goes in circles. Effectiveness means doing the things that yield results.

Many people, when learning about time management, ask the question, “Which should I work on first, efficiency or effectiveness?” In theory and practice, the best answer is to improve your effectiveness first. It’s much better to aim your sights at the result than to worry about the process. Too often we get bogged down in the means and lose sight of the end.

*******

Dr. Tony Alessandra, author of “Dr. T’s Timely Tips”, is available as a speaker for corporate and trade association meetings. Teleseminars and webinars are also available. Contact Holli Catchpole at SpeakersOffice: 1-800-222-4383 or Holli@SpeakersOffice.com

Time management is the central skill of success. Your ability to manage your time, to focus and channel your energies on your highest value tasks, will determine your rewards and your level of accomplishment in life more than any other factor.

Save Hundreds of Hours and Thousands of Dollars in Personal Advancement

Your mind is your most precious asset. You must be continually working to increase the quality of your thinking. One of the best ways is to turn driving time into learning time. Listen to educational audio cassettes in your car. The average driver, according to the American Automobile Association, drives 12,000 to 25,000 miles each year, spending 500 to 1000 hours that you spend each year in your car. That is the equivalent of 12 1/2 to 25 forty-hour weeks. This is the same as two full university semesters spent behind the wheel of your car each year.

Use Traveling Time as Learning Time

If you did nothing but use that traveling time as learning time, this decision alone could make you one of the best educated people of your generation. Many people have gone from rags to riches simply by listening to audio programs as they drive to and from work.

Attend Every Seminar

In addition, for personal and professional development, you should attend every seminar you can. You can often save yourself 100’s of hours of reading and researching by attending a seminar given by an authority in his or her field. You can learn ideas, techniques and methods that can save you hours, days, even months of hard work and research on your own.

Increase Your Income

Remember, to earn more, you must learn more. Your outer world of results will always correspond to your inner world of preparation. Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.

Action Exercises

Now, here are two things you can do to put these ideas to work in your life immediately.

First, purchase an audio program that can help you to be happier and more effective today. Begin listening to it immediately. Resolve never to listen to music in your car when you can turn driving time into learning time.

Second, seek out seminars and training programs given by experts in your field. Sit close to the front, take careful notes, and apply the best ideas that you learn immediately.

———————-
Article by Brian Tracy

Get Brian Tracy’s 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires for FREE!
“Did you know that every 60 seconds someone else in the world becomes a Millionaire?”
Wouldn’t it be great to know their secrets? Their formulas? The little-known facts? Well now you can - and ALL for FREE! Absolutely no commitments and no strings attached.
Get it Get it here.

Too Much to Do, Too Little Time

The most common form of stress that managers experience is the feeling of being overwhelmed with far too much to do and having too little time to do it in. In fact, “time poverty” is the biggest single problem facing most managers in America today. We simply do not have enough time to fulfill all our responsibilities. Because of budget limitations, staff cutbacks, downsizing, and competitive pressures, individual managers are forced to take on more and more work, all of which appears to be indispensable to the smooth functioning of our company or department.

Become an Expert

The solution to this problem of work overload is for you to become an expert on time management. There is probably no other skill that you can learn that will give you a “bigger bang for the buck” than to become extremely knowledgeable and experienced in using time management practices.

Be Open to New Ideas

The most foolish manager of all is either the manager who feels that he has no time to learn about time management or, even worse, the manager who, while being overwhelmed with work, feels that he already knows all that he needs to know about the subject.

Never Stop Learning

The fact is that you can study time management and take time management courses for your entire business life and you will still never learn everything you need to know to get the most out of yourself while doing your job in the most efficient way.

The Keys to Time Management

The two indispensable keys to time management are: 1) the ability to set priorities; and 2) the ability to concentrate single-mindedly on one thing at a time.

Since there is never enough time to do everything that needs to be done, you must be continually setting priorities on your activities. Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, “what is the most valuable use of my time right now?”

The Best Question of All

This question, “what is the most valuable use of my time right now?” will do more to keep you on track, hour by hour, than any other single question in the list of time management strategies.

Start With Your Top Tasks

The natural tendency for all of us is to major in minors and to give in to the temptation to clear up small things first. After all, small things are easier and they are often more fun than the big, important things that represent the most valuable use of your time.

However, the self-discipline of organizing your work and focusing on your highest value tasks is the starting point of getting your time under control and lowering your stress levels.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to get your time under control.

First, make a decision today to become an expert on time management. Read the books, listen to the audio programs, and take a time management course. Then, practice, practice, practice every day until you master time management skills.

Second, set clear priorities on your work each day, before you begin. Then, discipline yourself to start on your most important task and stay at that until it is complete. This will relieve much of your stress immediately.

———————-
Article by Brian Tracy

Get Brian Tracy’s 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires for FREE!
“Did you know that every 60 seconds someone else in the world becomes a Millionaire?”
Wouldn’t it be great to know their secrets? Their formulas? The little-known facts? Well now you can - and ALL for FREE! Absolutely no commitments and no strings attached.
Get it Get it here.

In your quest to get ‘up and running’ so to speak with your online ventures do you find yourself getting distracted by things that have nothing to do with generating profits, making sales, or whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish?

I call this “scatter-brain-itis”

It’s not your fault though.

There are so many well written, headlines, sales letters, articles, clickable links, and just plain outrageous stuff here online that it’s nearly impossible to focus on the task at hand. Whatever that may be for you.

This may help you out.

We’ve all heard of the simple ‘To Do’ list…….right?

If you’re not using one you really should it will keep you laser-like focused on getting the things done that you know you should be doing.

Try this method.

Write down the top three things you need to get done tomorrow. Or today if you’re eager to try this out.

Prioritize them listing the most important one at the top, 2nd most important next, followed by #3.

Now go to work on priority #1.

If you find yourself at a website/page that has nothing to do with priority #1 immediately stop and get back to what you should be doing.

If you’re working on priority #1 and find that you have come across information that would be helpful in accomplishing priority #3 either bookmark it, write down a reminder about it, or set up a folder called ‘important things’ then go back to it once you have accomplished priority 1 & 2.

(Remember, you prioritized them for a reason)

I realize this is very basic stuff here but you might be astonished at the amount of work that a person can accomplish by following this simple system over the period of a week.

Ronster

Making the most of your time is a priority if you want success in life.

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” - Michael Altshuler

Time is life’s most valuable asset and everyone is allotted the same 24-hour day. How is it that some people can accomplish two or three times more in a single day than others? The answer is simple; they’ve mastered time management skills.

Have you ever noticed how much you can get done in a few hours when you really have to? Let’s use the day before your vacation as an example. You make a list of chores that must be done before you can leave for the airport:

-Take the dog to the kennel
-Go to the bank
-Pick up the dry cleaning
-Gas up the car
-Clean the litter box
-Water the plants
-Take out the trash
-Run and empty the dishwasher
-Mow the yard
-Cancel the newspaper
-Cancel milk delivery

You have only 3 hours to complete all these tasks, yet when finished, you had time left over. How did this happen? You were organized and motivated. This is the essence of time management.

Learning to use your time productively can reduce much of the stress and frustration in your life, leaving you feeling more content. Not only that; but you’ll have more time to spend doing the things you enjoy most.

Think-Plan-Organize-Execute-Reevaluate. Time management simply put, is working smarter. The first step in developing an effective time management plan is to determine where you need to spend time and where you do not. Below are just a few basic principles to get started:

1.Determine what time of day you are most productive. Are you more productive in the morning or in the afternoon? Schedule your most important daily tasks during this period. Save your more mundane chores like attending meetings, answering emails and phone calls for later.

2.Use technology to your advantage. Don’t return phone calls if sending emails can accomplish the same thing. Return phone calls during the noon hour and leave voice messages. This saves you many minutes of idle chitchat.

3.Get a clear picture. Don’t begin a new project until you have all of the details and you completely understand the projects goals and requirements. Get all your questions answered before you begin as there’s no sense in doing it twice.

4.Develop good decision making skills. Understand the consequences of each decision you make; will it produce the desired results?

5.Create an action plan. If you neglect to take time for planning, you are setting yourself up for failure. Spend time analyzing every project. Create a “To Do” list and outline each task required to reach your desired goal. Be sure to break down larger tasks into smaller ones. Specify due dates, and priorities. Cross off each task as it’s completed, this will help you keep organized and prevent you from forgetting anything. Take a look at your plan, are there ways to simplify it further? Keep your list updated.

6.Get organized. Don’t begin a project until you’ve assembled all the necessary resources and tools you’ll need. Use your day planner to remind yourself of upcoming tasks. At the end of the day write down where you left off and make a list of priorities for tomorrow.

7.Set priorities. Know the difference between important tasks and urgent ones. Urgent tasks have short-term consequences while important tasks are those with long-term, goal-related outcomes. Work toward reducing the urgent tasks so you’ll have plenty of time for more important priorities. This will help prevent urgent items from becoming emergencies.

8.Learn your software. Learning how to get the most from your computer and its software will also help make your work easier and less time consuming. Spending time learning how to improve your work is more productive than wasting time doing it the same old way. Take advantage of computer software tutorials to become more proficient in your work.

9.Be flexible. Plan time for interruptions and distractions. Make yourself available to respond to surprises and new opportunities.

10.Avoid procrastination. Procrastination is the tendency to avoid, for as long as possible, completing an action or task that needs to be done, usually by focusing on some other distraction. Getting it over with right away will keep time from being wasted.

11.Stay focused. Avoid jumping from one uncompleted task to another. Try to finish one job before moving on to the next.

12.Delegate. What tasks can be delegated to others?

13.Follow a routine. Make your new routine a habit. Every new habit you develop is an important step toward taking control of your time.

14.Reward yourself. Balance your work with pleasure and reward yourself for completing your goals, even the small ones.

15.Reevaluate: After completing a project, revisit your “To Do” list. Were there any unnecessary steps? Is there a way the task could be accomplished with less effort next time?
Wasted time is lost opportunity. Lost opportunity equals diminished productivity. Lost productivity means less time to spend doing the things you want to do. Your life is a progression of choices. You have control over the choices you make, not the flow of time.
Time management is one source for a happier more productive life, and studies have shown that happy people feel less rushed because they are in control of their time. Once you’ve mastered these skills, you’ll find yourself able to maintain a healthier balance between your work, and your family.

Copyright 2005, Video Professor Inc. All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Mary Carroll is a customer advocate for Video Professor http://www.videoprofessor.com/, the leader in self-paced software learning tutorials, helping our customers to better understand Video Professor and how our tutorials can provide tools to learn various software programs to your desired level.