(c) 2004, Dorene Lehavi, Ph.D.
 
Many people want to be coached to manage their time better. I say No! to that. You cannot manage time anyway; it just keeps ticking away no matter what you do.
 
What you can do is manage yourself based on the two concepts I keep mentioning: self-knowledge and self-acceptance. Following are four principles to maximize the time that you have. They take time to incorporate into your life at the habit level.  Don't give up.  Keep practicing.
 
1) GOOD ENOUGH
 
Accept that no human being is meant to do everything. We all have our uniqueness; things we do better than others and vice versa. Perfection is not a human condition. Cut yourself some slack and adopt the concept of "good enough."  You can rework your resume 50 times.  Is it really so much better than a much earlier draft?  You can shop for the perfect dress endlessly. Wasn't the first one you tried and liked as good as the 15th? How much time did you spend past "good enough"? Demand higher standards of excellence where it really counts.
 
2) SPECIALNESS
 
Concentrate on excelling in what you do well, what you would enjoy doing better, and new areas you would like to learn. Delegate, hire, share, partner with people who complement you or can fill the needs you have in areas you don't enjoy or do not know that well. Don't ever berate yourself for not being able to do it all. Appreciate your talents and excellence and flaunt them. They are you, yours and very special. Let others have their specialness too. The results will not only save time but enrich and free you.
 
3) ENERGY AND TIME
 
Know and honor your energy levels.  Are you a morning person, do you have an afternoon slump? Your time will be best used if you pace the tasks you have to do based on this knowledge.  Do the most challenging at your peak energy time.  Build in your Joy Breaks (see last month's newsletter) both as rewards for finishing a formidable task and to refresh yourself at low energy periods.
 
4) FOCUS IN THE MOMENT
 
Develop habits that help you focus on what you are doing in the moment. Do not allow yourself to think of what you have to do next while you are doing what you are doing. Put a "do not disturb" sign on your door and do not take phone calls. By putting everything else out of your mind while focusing on the task at hand, you will be using your time efficiently. If you get stuck on something, take a break. Move to something else, get the information you need to continue, change scenery, stretch, whatever it takes, but don't sit there stuck.
 
Note: The suggestions I make are not one dimensional or simple. The questions I suggest you ask yourself have multiple answers and may be different on different days. I suggest you keep them all in a file or notebook and refer back to them regularly. You will gain a lot if you do.
 
Dorene Lehavi, Ph.D. is principal of Next Level Business and Professional Coaching. She coaches Professionals and Business Partners and teaches teleclasses on techniques to break through barriers to the next level. Dr. Lehavi offers a complimentary coaching session so you can experience how coaching can work for you. Contact Dr. Lehavi at DL@CoachingforYourNextLevel.com or on the web at coachingforyournextlevel.com Subscribe to Mastering Your Next Level monthly e-newsletter at coachingforyournextlevel.com/newsletter.html

Did you know that as people, the majority of us do not spend anytime planning our day? It is said that we will spend more time planning a vacation than we do to plan for our lives.

Are you one of these types of people? If so, then to better leverage your time, you need to learn proper time management techniques. It is the most important thing you can learn do to get more accomplished with the time you have.

So what is keeping you from learning these techniques? What are the excuses you tell yourself for not preparing the tasks ahead of you?

Well, there are two excuses that most people give for not learning to better managing their time. We will discuss both of these excuses in detail and show you how to overcome them so you can more efficiently manage your time.

Excuse #1 - I don't have the time
Surprisingly, not having time is the most common excuse that people give for not learning time management techniques.

Now think about this for a minute, is this a legitimate excuse? Of course not! What these people are really saying is that "I enjoy the hustle and bustle of life that leaves me with little time in my day."

Because if they wanted more time, they could do the one activity, above all else, that would leave them with more free time in their schedule - learn time management techniques. Either these people do not place a high enough value on time management or they do not understand the importance of it.

Excuse #2 - I really don't need to learn to manage my time
The people who use this excuse are usually thinking, "I already know what I have to do, so why waste time learning when I can use that same time to start doing?"

Of course there are always routine tasks that need to be accomplished that we can easily remember and strategize in our heads, but what about the things that are not so obvious? What about tasks that are larger goals that relate to your deepest values? What do you truly want out of life? What do you want most from your career and family setting? These things aren't so easy to mentally map out.

With the right time management strategies, you can ask yourselves these important questions, which will help surface tasks that are more important to your goals. And these tasks will invariably lead to you doing more of what will help you in reaching your dreams.

So although you might complain that you can't get everything done because you don't have the time, the truth is, you do have the time. You are simply holding onto excuses that are keeping you from learning better skills. By letting go of these excuses, you can learn time management techniques and strategies that can help you enjoy all the time you could ever need.

Author Biography
By SelfMadeEasy.com Want to learn more Tips on Time Management? Visit www.selfmadeeasy.com/pd_time_management_techniques.cfm

In this age, there is a lot of focus on the importance of “getting organized.” There are even professional organizers for hire! Labels are a huge presence in the field of organization, because they enable everything to be tagged and put in its place. From birthday party invitations to mass market mailings to identifying file folders, consumers frequently employ labels in their everyday lives. Labels are a convenient and simple way to increase organization in business and home settings.

By using the templates provided on word processing programs, making personal labels has become fairly easy and much less time consuming than writing them by hand. There are several name brand labels and many generic store brands that work with the same templates. Labels are available in several different shapes and sizes and in color, white, or clear. Some are permanent and others are removable. They are tailor-made for optimum print quality on either Inkjet or Laser printers. Labels are available for almost any need that the consumer may have.

For larger projects and for transferring data from a mailing list in spreadsheet format to a label template, many people use Mail Merge, a feature in Microsoft Word that uploads a list of names and addresses and reformats it into easy-to-print labels. Even if only one typed label is needed, label companies now sell detachable labels that can be printed one at a time without wasting other labels.

The uses for labels are unlimited and include archiving and record keeping, shipping, advertising, and organization.

Archiving and Record Keeping

Even in one’s home, the amount of papers accumulated in a year from bills, statements, and reports are staggering. Businesses collect a much higher number of invoices, publications, and correspondence. Sometimes there is the temptation to throw it all away, but the day may come when a receipt or invoice from two years ago is needed and the consumer is so glad that it was saved. One way to get rid of all the clutter is by archiving the information monthly or yearly, according to the amount. Office supply companies sell archiving systems, which include sturdy boxes for storage, labels and programs for record keeping, and an internal filing system for use inside the box. This helps tremendously in keeping track of the important communications that have occurred.

Shipping

Labels are necessary when shipping and mailing various items. Label templates on word processing programs offer a wide array of different labels, such as large labels for boxes, tiny labels for return addresses, and several sizes in between for labeling CDs, videotapes, floppy disks, and more. Full sheet labels are also available so that the user can be creative with their own cut outs, graphics and clipart.

Advertising
Many businesses place their company logo and tagline on their mailing labels to make an impression on the buyer and create brand familiarity. For example, mail order companies know that it increases the buyer’s satisfaction level when they see the familiar packaging and label arrive at their doorstep. Labels are also used in advertising for mass-market mailings of brochures, coupons, offers, and special sales sheets.

Organization

Just about every aspect of life can be improved with increased organization. Labels help the user to achieve order by designating specific spaces for items. There are so many areas in which organization and labels are useful, including safety issues, like keeping track of alarm codes and times to replace fire detection units. Also, labels assist in keeping automobiles current on tune-ups, and family members and pets up-to-date on medical checkups. Household chore schedules, gift wrapping area and supplies, coupon clipping, and rummage sales are just some of the other areas that are greatly helped by the use of labels.

About The Author:
If you would like to know mor about label related issues, please visit: http://www.labelx.info

Your company’s organizational strategy is centred around the development and communication of your Organization Chart. The Organization Chart takes the form of a graphical representation of the positions in your company. The top position in the company (i.e. CEO or General Manager) is placed at the top of the Organization Chart. The various layers of management and supporting positions are then arranged under the relevant management positions right down to the lowest levels of the Organization.

Your Organization Chart not only defines the positions in your business but the employees assigned to those positions. The Organization Chart clearly communicates the management and reporting structure of your business, specifically who an employee assigned to a position reports to directly.

It is extremely useful when developing your Organization Chart to take the time to design how you want your company to be structured when it is ‘finished’ being developed. This approach will have the effect of setting a path for the development of your company. Once defined you and your employees take the actions required to make it a reality.

Develop the positions in your Organization Chart to be representative of specific work roles in your company. You should not develop your Organisation Chart based on the employees you currently have in the company, rather you should develop the positions based on logical groupings of work. One of the benefits of developing an Organisation Chart is that it enables your company to become less dependent on specific employees and more dependent on the structure that you have developed.

An Effective Organization Chart:

- Communicates to your staff where you plan to take the business.
- Makes it easy to show new employees where they fit into the business.
- Gives you the opportunity to evaluate your current employees and how they fit into the future of your business.
- Shows existing employees what options they have for career advancement.
- Leaves no question as to who an employee assigned to a position should be reporting to.

Depending on where you are in the development of your company you will probably be filling many of the positions yourself. By choosing a position and actually defining and documenting the systems the position is responsible for you can readily employ someone to fill the position. This allows you to begin the development of other positions in the company.

You will get to a point where all of the positions in the Organization Chart are developed and you will have employees assigned to these positions. This allows you to begin taking a more strategic role in the development of your business or to take a step back and enjoy the freedom that a well defined business allows you. This is a great place to reach and is a huge step in your business’s development and your own personal development.

About The Author
Justin Woolich has been involved in Innovative Business Software for over 10 years. Start a Free Trial of Business Systems Manager Software now www.BusinessSystemsManager.com and begin taking your business development to the next level.

I can’t help feeling that using the phrase ‘work/life balance’ reinforces the problem it seeks to address. To describe a need to balance work and life implies that work is not part of ‘life’. If that’s the case then approximately 50% of the average person's hours on earth are devoted to non-life – surely that’s dead.

People are not asking ‘how can I balance two opposing areas of existence?’, but ‘how can I live a holistic life; where all aspects of life co-exist and compliment each other and do not oppose each other?’ Balancing things puts them in opposing positions – we reinforce a problem as opposed to dealing with it. We need integration not balance.

If you are living a non-integrated life then perhaps you need to make some major changes. Some escape home by going to work and others escape work by going home. Some people feel like two different people. The person at work is not the person at home. If that’s the case, both your team and family are missing out. For some this is so extreme they keep the two parties at a distance. They feel that if the two meet there will be some kind of implosion of realities and life will end. Actually – it’s at that point that life begins.

I believe it is my reasonability as a leader and employer to care for my team. Yes, we have goals, vision, dreams and commitments – but they are meaningless if we destroy lives, demoralize people and deny children their parents' input.

Leaders lead people not projects. If we do not care for our people they will not stay around.

Southwest Airlines (the most successful airline in the world!) has some ways they help people live integrated lives. How do they do this? Their office corridors are lined with photos of team members’ families, wedding photos – they even have an area devoted to pets. Their people don’t leave. They are committed to the business because the business is committed to them

I suggest that we need to focus on integrating all aspects of life and not attempt to balance them out. People will happily work overtime to meet a deadline when they know there is a commitment to them as a person coming back.

For more infomation go to the Generous Leadership website - generousleadership.com

(c)2005 Steve Holloway

[ Submitted with ArticleSubmitter Pro - http://www.articlesubmitterpro.com]

Steve Holloway is the founding leader of a registered charity with a team of 40+. He is also a professional speaker and author – for more information see generousleadership.com.

Let’s start with elementary arithmetic. A day comprises only 24 hours: sleeping takes at least 8 hours and there are also work and study hours to be taken into account. And not much time remains for yourself. Many people in our wild and instantly changing age hardly have any minute to spare for their beloved activity. It is not fair. We need to find time for recreation, entertaining and relaxing, we must do it. To live a complete and fulfilling life. You want it, don’t you? Then let’s see how to make the most of these 24 hours.

Do you know what you want? Time problems arise when you can’t make the right choice. You often scatter yourself to fulfilling tasks of doubtful necessity. You usually start working on something just because it caught your eye or somebody asked you for a favor. Your indecision and failure to refuse are the reasons why you are not master of your own time. You may utterly change the situation by asking yourself three simple questions before you set yourself to doing something. Is it really very necessary? Do I have to do it right now? May I entrust someone else with this task?

Acting like this you will spare yourself from extra waste of time, energy and strength. The same goes for implementing long - term goals. You are likely to have more than one version of a future, some of which may appear very tempting. But only one can be realized. It does not essentially concern global questions. More frequently you are exhausted and take as a burden even rather insignificant problems. Take it easy. The above questions may not appear to be helpful when you decide on a long term goal.

How then must we make the right choice and release from the inner tension and alongside set it to the right course? Give freedom to your sub consciousness (it is never wrong) and don’t fall into useless reflection. Consider the following effective method that is also very simple. Before going to bed, formulate the problem you want to solve in a clear and brief manner. Assume a positive attitude. For example, “I will manage to write a win - win marketing essay (bestessays.com/marketing.php) for college”. Let this phrase be your last thought for this day.

As for routine problems you will find a solution in a day or two. A more serious matter will take longer, but you will require less effort than when you are “thinking“ as usual. A great power of planning. You have determined your goal. But how to find the time for its implementing? - You definitely need a plan. Sit down; take a sheet of paper and a pen or a pencil. Your task is to make up a timetable for next week.

Keep in mind the following points when creating the plan: Allocate enough time for sleeping; Mark work and study hours; Reflect all the daily activities you have to do (shopping, getting to college work, cooking, etc); Think of the interests you don’t want to part with or sacrifice in any case and assign two hours for them. Now as you have completed the table, look how much time is left. And these hours you will spend on reaching your goal.

You should stick to the terms of goal implementation. It does not suggest planning how much you must do during this period. For example your goal is to win an academic grant. Don’t plan that on Wednesday from 19.00 till 22.00 you will be writing your scholarship essay (bestessays.com/human_resource_management.php) and skim 50 pages of your textbook. This is the shortest way to failure. The more you have planned, the more nervous you will be, more often you will be checking if your progress complies with your forecast. In fact the only thing you have to do is to make yourself start working on the issue at the definite moment.

If you have managed to fulfill everything you have planned, praise yourself. This method will also raise your self-esteem. Share the work among others. Some people can’t refuse doing somebody a favor even if it is to their own detriment. It is not worth doing it. A far better strategy is distributing your work among others. It does not mean that you should overload people with your problems. Be reasonable and don’t hesitate to address a person who is sure to do this work better than you, especially when you are pressed for time. If you have made up your mind to become better - organized, don’t put it off till Monday or till next month. New life begins now. And you are able to start it.

Tyler Benson is a senior writer of bestessays.com. For more than five years, Tyler Benson has written the number of projects on History, History of Migration, Ancient and Asian History. He has 17 years of experience as the professor of several universities. Currently he is working on creating his essay guide for university students. It will cover all the details of the essay writing process and explain strategies for composing all kinds of essays (e.g. scholarship essay, marketing essay).