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How to be more Efficient With Your Time

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Daniel M. Wood

These 10 time management tips will help you get your time under control letting you be more efficient and spend your time more wisely. Click each individual tip for more indepth information on it.

10 Time Management Tools to make your more efficient:
Time management clock
1. The 80/20 Rule
When you want to become more efficient many try to just do more with their time. I have found in my experience though that the greatest increase doesn’t come from doing more with less time, it comes from doing more of the right thing during the time you spend.

2. Weekly Plans
Having a good weekly plan is the center piece in becoming a good time manager.
By effectively batching tasks, setting deadlines, priorities and getting an overview you will greatly reduce the time you waste during the day, giving you more free time to spend on more pleasurable activities.

3. Monthly Plans
When you have made a weekly plan you quickly see that some of your recurring activities don’t fit into your weekly plans, some things are bi-weekly, once a month, once a quarter or once per year.

4. Yearly Plans

5. Organizing Your Days
When I started making my weekly plans I started saving a lot of time, but it wasn’t before I started organizing and prioritizing my day that I really saved time.

6. Strategic Planning
Making plans can be a lot of fun, you are imagining how you are going to accomplish a goal. In many ways you are already living the path you are going to take.
It can be very exhilarating.

7. Quadrant 2 Mindset
It wasn’t until I adopted a Quadrant 2 mindset that I really started seeing results.
The phrase “Quadrant 2” comes from Stephen Coveys book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

8. Delegating
Micromanaging is a pest both for managers and for employees, having to check up on every task, every activity takes an incredible amount of energy and leaves your employees feeling as though you don’t trust them.

9. 15 minute method
The hard part of efficiency is breaking the habit of procrastination.
It is so easy to procrastinate on tasks, to put off tasks that we just don’t feel like doing.
The problem are the reasons we procrastinate; We don’t know how to start, the task feels to big, we don’t have the necessary knowledge to do the task or we just don’t feel like we have the energy to do it.

10. Dealing with the TV
When I ask questions about what people think is important and they wish they were better at, a large group always answer, stress!
We don’t know what to do with our stress; it keeps overwhelming us and smothering us.
With all the stress we have we feel like we really need to relax when we get home, that is the main reason TV is so popular.

Be the first to know!
In one week we will be launching our course, the Time Management Expert Course.
We have set up an early notification list for the program, because of all the emails we are receiving. We see that there is a huge interest in the program. Sadly I don’t think we will be able to handle everyone at once. We will probably only accept about 100 members in the first round.

The early notification list will let you receive the information about the opening of the program first so that you don’t miss out on a spot.

Sign up now!

Posted in Personal Growth, Stress Management, Time Management | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

How to Make a Meeting Efficient – The Talking Stick

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Daniel M. Wood

A lot of meetings are very inefficient, for many reasons.
One reason is that everyone wants to shine, be heard and make their point, this causes them to not listen to their colleagues and constantly interrupt each other.

Often you see people, who as it turns out, have the same opinion fight about it and disagree for 30 minutes before they both angrily agree to disagree but want to do the same things…
Talking Stick
Enter the talking stick
The talking stick is a great tool that forces people to listen.
When you have listened and understood your colleague you may ask for the talking stick and say what you think.

The rules
1. Only the one holding the talking stick may speak.
2. The others seek to understand, they may ask you to restate your point to clarify to make sure they understand but they never judge or argue until they have the talking stick.
3. When the one speaking feels that he or she is fully understood they pass the stick. It is important that they feel understood, if they don’t they keep the stick and try to make everyone understand what they mean.

This forces your colleagues to listen and then rephrase back what you mean before they start replying with their own ideas. That way everyone will know what the others mean and can evaluate it.

I have seen this tool used effectively many times.

In the beginning you will often find some resistance, people don’t want to listen; they think it will make the meeting take a longer time. But once it because a habit the talking stick makes sure that everyone gets heard, that everyone feels understood and that you can tap the minds of all in the room to make sure you make the best decisions.

It also saves a lot of time that is otherwise waster arguing when the people arguing are really on the same side.

Be the first to know!
In one week we will be launching our course, the Time Management Expert Course.
We have set up an early notification list for the program, because of all the emails we are receiving. We see that there is a huge interest in the program. Sadly I don’t think we will be able to handle everyone at once. We will probably only accept about 100 members in the first round.

The early notification list will let you receive the information about the opening of the program first so that you don’t miss out on a spot.

Sign up now!

Photo Credit: HerryLawford

Posted in Being the boss, Time Management | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The Time Management Expert Course Will Be Opening in 1 Week! – Wednesday the 12th of Oktober

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Daniel M. Wood

I’ve had a number of people email me, asking when the time management course will be launching and what is included, so today I thought I should answer those questions;

1. We open in 1 week – Wednesday the 12th of Oktober.

2. Here is what you can expect from this course:

A Sneak Preview of The Time Management Expert Course
As the title promises, I’ve attempted to create a course that teaches a near perfect system for managing your time.
This is the exact same method I use to structure my days and the same I teach my students.
The basics of the program works for anyone, because the different techniques all become very individual.

Getting the perfect daily to-do list
The system revolves around knowing exactly what you should do, now, at this very moment.
We get there by combining your recurring tasks and your unexpected tasks with your ideas and goals.

In my old job I had very many recurring tasks, I was a sales manager so I knew that I had group meetings, individual coaching, my own selling and prospecting and sporadically recruitment. In my new job as a sales and marketing manager I have very few recurring tasks, no two weeks are the same. I still use the same system, but I have more focus on unexpected tasks now than I used to.

The Course is delivered as 24 Lessons:

Lesson 1: Course and System Overview
Lesson 2: Mindsets – Quadrant 2 Mindset, Single-Minded Focus, Start With The Most Important Task
Lesson 3: Weekly Plan
Lesson 4: Daily Prioritization
Lesson 5: Your Calendar
Lesson 6: Monthly and Yearly Plans
Lesson 7: The 80/20 Rule and Your 3 Most Important Tasks
Lesson 8: Bringing the first half of the equation together
Lesson 9: Inbox Overview
Lesson 10: Writing Things Down
Lesson 11: Filling Your Inbox
Lesson 12: Emptying Your Inbox
Lesson 13: Project Planning
Lesson 14: Adding to Calendar
Lesson 15: Filing
Lesson 16: Reviewing the Complete System
Lesson 17: Delegating
Lesson 18: Following up on Delegation
Lesson 19: What to do When Others Delegate UP to You
Lesson 20: The 80/20 Rule on Deleting Un-Important Tasks
Lesson 21: The Complete System
Lesson 22: Tweaking and Improving
Lesson 23: Where to go From Here
Lesson 24: You Are Now a Time Management Expert

That’s the basic course in a nutshell!

In addition, I’m offering a few extras:
1. 13 articles on stress management
Which teach you to better handle stress and multiple techniques to help you let go of unnecessary stress.

2. Procrastination Resources
During the next couple of months this is going to be a big focus point for me, so far we have added 3 articles on procrastination that all can make a huge difference in conquering this habit. During the next month we plan on adding many more to help you completely rid yourself of the bad habit of procrastination.

Everything is downloadable in mp3 format
You can read every article on the page, or download it to your ipod or mp3 player and listen to it as you do other things.

The Goal of the program
We want to save you over 2000 hours/year – giving you over 2 months of waking time to spend as you wish!

You can use this time anyway you want, I know people who would love to be able to balance their life better and spend more time with their family, people who would love to be more efficient at work or in school so that you can produce better results or just feel that time is the most precious resource we have, so why not spend it well?

In any case, the time management expert course will help you gain more of the precious resource, time!

That’s it for this update.
I’m really looking forward to sharing the course with all of you, I hope you feel the same!

Be the first to know!
We have set up an early notification list for the program, because of all the emails we are receiving. we see that there is a huge interest in the program. Sadly I don’t think we will be able to handle everyone at once. We will probably only accept about 100 members in the first round.

The early notification list will let you receive the information about the opening of the program first so that you don’t miss out on a spot.

Sign up now!

Posted in General news, Stress Management, Time Management | Tagged , | Leave a comment

30 Pick Me Up Quotes for a Bad Day

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Daniel M. Wood

Everyone has a bad day sometime, let this list help you turn this day around and make it a great day!

1. Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
Jonathan Swift

2. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed” – Michael Jordan
Wonderfull sunrise
3. “Do what you can with what you’ve got wherever you are.”
Theodore Roosevelt

4. “Laughter is the music of life.”
Sir William Osler

5. Every dog must have his day.
Jonathan Swift

6. “Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward.”
Author Unknown

7. “In the giving-is the getting.”
David Matoc

8. “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.”
Will Rogers

9. “Life is like a card of games. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will.”
Jawaharial Nehru

10. “It’s not your circumstances that shape you, it’s how you react to your circumstances.”
Anne Ortlund

11. “The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.”
Abraham Lincoln

12. “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
Buddha

13. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matter compared to what lies within us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

14. “Goodness is the only investment that never fails.”
Henry David Thoreau

15. “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”
Author Unknown

16. “Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.”
Michael Caine

17. “It’s not denial. I’m selective about the reality I accept.”
Calvin

18. “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.”
Lord Byron

19. “Life consists not in holding good cards, but in playing those you hold well.”
Josh Billings

20. “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
Mother Teresa

21. “A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.”
Herm Albright

22. “Nothing is worth more than this day.”
Goethe

23. “Life is like a ten speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use.”
Charles Schultz

24. “There is nothing permanent except change.”
Heraditus

25. “I think these difficult times have helped me understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way and that so many things that one goes around worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.”
Isak Dinesen

26. “Yesterday’s the past and tomorrow’s the future. Today is a gift which is why they call it the present.”
Bill Keane

27. “Hope is like a road in the country. There never was a road; but, when many people walk together, the road comes into existence.”
From the National Organization for Rare Disorders, Inc.

28. “Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.”
John Updike

29. “Our greatest glory is not failing, but in rising every time we fail.”
Confucius

30. “Out of clutter, find simplicity; from discord, find harmony; in the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.”
Albert Einstein

Make today a great day!

If you want to learn more about how to make your goals reality, join our email newsletter “Your Path to Your Dreams” and you will receive tips and advice, and even a free copy of our e-book “How to make Selling Easy” and “The Beginners Guide to Success”.

Posted in Success Quotes | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

And the Winner Is….

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Daniel M. Wood

Last Friday I asked the question:
“What are the reasons you think Time Management is important? The biggest difference it would make in your life if you were better at time management, the one reason you would like to improve in this skill?”

The reward for answering this question was a free copy of my upcoming course “The Time Management Expert Course” (value 99.85 USD).

There were lots of great responses which made it extremely hard for me too choose, but since I had promised to choose one, finally I had to choose….

Corlandos Scott as the winner!
Congratulations!

I want to thank him and everyone else who replied, I really appreciate it and it has really helped me improve and understand the importance the program will have in people’s lives.

Thank you and congratulation again Corlandos!

Posted in General news | 4 Comments

My Friend Just Finished Her First Book!

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Daniel M. Wood

My great friend Lori Gosselin from Lifeforinstance.com just published her first book!

She has a great way with words and I am sure the book is great, I haven’t had time to order it yet myself but I plan to download it to my kindle app on my Iphone ASAP!
(It is only available to kindle)

Take a look at The Happy Place on Amazon.com

Posted in General news | 6 Comments

Facing the Brutal Facts and Updating Your Plans as You go Along

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Daniel M. Wood

With new realities many of our goals and plans will become obsolete.
You will change and might not want the same things or outside reasons might make some of your goals impossible.

Don’t let this frighten you!

Look at your goals continuously, face the brutal facts of reality and update them.
Keep working on your plans and change them when needed.
Thinking
A common mistake
Have you ever been in a discussion with someone who just wouldn’t admit that they were wrong, no matter how many times you proved it to them?

People hate being wrong, we will do anything not to see it.
This is to protect our psyche, to accept being incorrect is often identified with accepting defeat.

That is why it is so easy to fall into the trap of never being able to accept that your goals, dreams, plans or ideas might not pan out. When that happens you might stay on a course of action much to long instead of quickly making some course corrections so that you still can reach your goal.

If you learn to see your own mistakes, accept them, learn from then and use the new knowledge to your advantage, you will be one of the most successful people in the world.

What is most important is that you keep in mind that you will succeed in one form or another, you will be a success.

How to handle new situations
Every time a new piece of information comes in, it could be an offer for a business opportunity, a product launch that went well or poorly, or anything else, evaluate how this affects your overall plans and your long term goals.

Don’t be afraid to make changes to your plans, embrace it, because if you make the necessary updates you will be putting yourself at least one step ahead of your competition who probably aren’t as proficient at making the necessary updates.

If you want to learn more about how to make your goals reality, join our email newsletter “Your Path to Your Dreams” and you will receive tips and advice, and even a free copy of our e-book “How to make Selling Easy” and “The Beginners Guide to Success”.

Posted in Goal Setting, Personal Growth, Planning Your Goals | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

How to Cure Procrastination

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Daniel M. Wood

Today we are going to discuss two very interesting methods for breaking the habit of procrastination.
I first learned them in the book “Eat that Frog” by Brian Tracy.

They are called the “Salami Slice Method” and “The Swiss Cheese Method”.
The object of the techniques is to make it easy to start and feel that you are getting something important done.

They are closely related to the 15 minute method.
Salami Slice Method
The Salami Slice Method
The Salami Slice Method is based on making a little dent in a large task by taking it one step at a time, one slice at a time.

Say for example that you have a report to write, for school or your boss.
Writing the report has several parts: First you need to know what you should write about, next you need to collect data, third to compile the data and get an overview and then finally write the report.

Often when starting a task like this people feel overwhelmed, they don’t know where to start or what to do. My wife often has this problem, not because she puts things off but because she wants to do so much she ends up doing nothing.

If you have problems with these types of tasks I suggest you use the Salami Slice Method; do one part at a time. If you don’t know what to write about, look around a little on the internet, think about what you could write about, get that one slice out of the way.

Once that is done, move on to the next slice.

The Swiss Cheese Method
This method is a bit different from the Salami Slice Method, where the salami slice method works by taking a task and breaking it up into parts, doing one at a time until you are finished.
The Swiss Cheese method works by poking holes in a larger problem.

If you for example have a large task such as making a marketing plan you can easily see that there is a lot to do, many places to start and a lot of information and ideas to gather.

The Swiss Cheese method is a nice way to get a little done, you just have the goal to poke holes in the problem until it feels more manageable.

You can start anywhere on the project and poke a hole, get something done.
Gather some research, think about some ideas, set goals and so on.

How I use these methods
I mainly use the Salami Slice Method and I am sure you can understand why, it is more effective in that you work step by step until a problem is completed.
But once in a while you come across a problem and don’t know where to start, in those cases rather than sitting around thinking about what to do, the Swiss cheese method is great. You just get started, poke some holes in the problem and as you poke more and more you start getting an overview, you start to see where you can start and can then switch over to the Salami Slice Method instead.

If you want to learn more about how to make your goals reality, join our email newsletter “Your Path to Your Dreams” and you will receive tips and advice, and even a free copy of our e-book “How to make Selling Easy” and “The Beginners Guide to Success”.

Posted in Stress Management, Time Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What to do When Others Delegate UP to You

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Daniel M. Wood

Every day we get tasks piled upon us and we have to decide what to do with them.

As I see it tasks can be handled in 3 ways;
Either you do them yourself, delegate them to an employee or delegated up to a boss.

Most people are very poor at delegating down in the corporate ladder because they know they will still be responsible for the outcome and therefore choose to do it by themselves.
Empty Meeting Room
Doing tasks yourself gives you the lowest output compared to the time you put in. A rule of thumb is that one person can manage up to 12 people. This means that your time can be worth the work of 12 people if you delegate tasks to them.
Read more about delegation in this article and how to follow it up in this.

Delegating upwards on the other hand is easy, you give away both the task and the responsibility.
Delegating upwards just makes you life easier;
but if you are the one being delegated to, what do you do?

All of a sudden you might be doing the work of all 12 of your employees.

Don’t work for your employees
A better solution is to show them how to solve the problems themselves, don’t take over the problem.
It will always feel easier just to give them the answer, but that way they will not learn to solve the problems themselves, they will develop the habit of coming to you with every question and might start feel obligated to start coming to you every time they are uncertain, rather than risk making a mistake.
Although it is important that people feel like they can ask your advice it is better that they learn to solve their problems themselves.

By asking questions like;
“Okay, what is the solution to this problem?”
“What alternatives are there?”
“How can we gather the necessary information?”
“What would you do?”

They will learn to think about the problem and usually realize that they have the answers themselves, if they don’t know the answer let them do some research and then come back, don’t just hand them the solution. You can help by pointing them to resources and make sure they are on the right track.

This will help your employees work out problems and come to you with the solutions instead.

My experience
When I got my first managerial position I would help my employees anyway I could, I would give them every answer I knew and I was very liked because of it.
The problem though as time went on I realized my team was becoming less creative, coming to me for every problem, they became less efficient and they stopped improving. They basically just followed my advice to the letter.

When I started to understand this and read about leadership in books like “From good to great” “What to do when you become the boss” “The 7 habits of highly effective people” “The 8th habit” and so on, I became a much better manager and my people starting working smarter and smarter.

I hope you liked this article and found it useful.
If you would like to read more you can get them directly either by E-mail or by RSS.

Posted in Being the boss, Career Advice, Stress Management, Time Management | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Thank You For All The Great Responses

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Daniel M. Wood

Hello Everyone,

I want to thank everyone who has helped answer the question
“Why do you think Time Management is important?”
when I asked last Friday.Thumbs up
As I promised the best answer will get my new Time Management Course free of charge (Value 98 USD).

I will be choosing the winner later this week or early next depending on for how long the responses keep coming.
If you haven’t had the chance to reply yet just answer the question “Why do you think Time Management is important?” in the comment are of Fridays Post you can do it now :)

Thank you all again.
I’ll be coming out with new updates about the course shortly.

To enter the competition to get The Time Management Expert Course for free, go to this post:
A Quick Question About Time Management
and enter your reply in the comment area.

Good luck!

Posted in General news, Time Management | Tagged , | 4 Comments