Personal Planning and Time Management Tips

Always ask yourself, Is what I am working on right now the best use of my time? How will you know if it is the best use of your time? It will be the best use if:

· It is going to help you achieve your goals

· It is the item with the highest value to you, your customers, or your company

· It can’t be delegated

· Rather than focusing on when you need to finish something, focus on when you need to start Then start when you need to

· One reason projects and tasks don’t get finished on time is that we think we have plenty of time, so we put off the important work in favor of the urgent items—until the important becomes urgent.

· Schedule the most important work during the time when your energy is highest. The earlier in the day, the better. Take control of the day before it takes control of you. Don’t put off doing things you don’t like doing but are necessary.

· Plan what you will work on. If you don’t have a plan you will tend to allow yourself to be interrupted, distracted, and delayed from accomplishing what is most important to you. You would usually not consider taking a vacation without planning it out. Why does your work deserve any less?

· Recognize that you will need to make adjustments. There will always be some interruptions. There will be changes in the work that must be done. Build into your schedule some time for interruptions and new or unexpected work. When you have a “margin of safety” it helps you maintain control.

· Whenever you have a choice, don’t cram things together. If one of the activities runs late, you’ll be rushing from one project to the next or one appointment to the next. That creates additional stress that you don’t need. Allow some extra minutes between appointments, for example, so that you won’t be as rushed.

· Keep your desk or work area free of clutter. Clutter distracts you from your primary task. It also creates additional stress. Keeping things in order promotes a feeling of control.

Principles of Proactive Planning

· Planning takes time; not planning takes more time

· It takes a lot less to prevent a crisis than it takes to solve it

· You can’t eliminate interruptions, but you can control them.

· Did you accomplish your most important priority?

· What trends do you notice about how you spent your time?

· What was the most productive part of your day? Why?

· What was the least productive part of your day? Why?

· What or who caused the majority of interruptions?

· What could you do to control these interruptions?

· What was your biggest time waster?

How to Accept Yourself

Too many of us have bought into negative self-images. The major social problems in our society — drug addiction, alcoholism, crime, teenage gangs, divorce and most others — begin with a poor self-image and low self-esteem. Most criminals have low self-esteem. All you need to do to confirm this is visit a prison and talk to the inmates. The first thing you will notice is that they continually look down at the floor when speaking to you. This is a dead giveaway of a low self-image.

During one of my workshops, a woman remarked how she did not like going to events and meeting new people because, as she put it, “Then they will know how dumb I’m” The truth of the matter is that she is a very intelligent person but has developed this negative self image and allowed it to limit her experience.

Louise Hay, the best-selling author, suggests we work with the affirmation, “I approve of myself.” I urge you to try this for yourself, especially if you have a low self-image. If you want to get a quick read on your present level of self-esteem, stand in front of a mirror and say aloud, “I approve of myself.” Don’t be surprised if it makes you uncomfortable, even scared. I have seen people burst into tears doing this exercise. However, if you continue to do this, over time, you will begin to experience changes in how you feel about yourself and in your life in general. Louise suggests you recite, write, and sing these words 300–400 times a day!

Practice receiving a compliment with a simple “thank you” instead of brushing them off by saying “its no big deal.” You deserve compliments. You deserve love. You deserve happiness. Remember, God doesn’t make junk!

It’s useful to keep in mind that, while you will never be perfect, you can become a perfect you. Personally, I have always liked the concept that my life is a work of art in progress. Like an artist working on a painting, I can work on different areas of my life. I’m constantly changing, growing and evolving, refining a little at a time. Of course, it will never be fully completed. Life is about changing and growing.

By identifying the areas of your own life you want to change, you are on your way to building lifelong success. Later, we will develop definite plans for making changes, but for now, simply identify what it is you want to change.

Gary Hoover - Dreaming Your Business Ideas - Microsoft

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