If you are:

• Stressed

• Occasionally, you do not finish your planed tasks

• Barely find a way putting unexpected tasks in your schedule

• Your mind is busy with work issues in the after hours

Then it means that you have to change the way you manage your time.

Time is a resource that cannot be recycled; therefore, you have to use it wisely.

Benefits of Efficient Time Management

• Find out that there is time

• Reduce stress level

• Increase your productivity

• Increase your efficiency

Practical Actions

• Set your weekly objectives in advance.

• Schedule the weekly objectives in advance -

  Plan the time frame for each objective.

• Set your fixed tasks first then set the other tasks -

  Define which tasks are fixed (i.e. pick up your children from kindergarten at 16:00) and schedule them first, then schedule the rest of the tasks in between the fixed tasks.

• Manage the tasks by importance and not by urgency -

  Define three importance’s levels and attach each task the appropriate level.

• Start your day with a review of all tasks channels (Email, voice mail, notes, secretary…) and put them all in one place -

  You must have one source of tasks list that you work with.

  Hot Tip! Be sure to keep a diary and use it to plan out each day, week, month. There are all sorts of electronic gizmos, online planners, software etc to act as aids to your time management.

• Take care of higher priority first -

  Handle higher priority task before lower priority task.

• Make a little “ceremony” every end of day, update your tasks list and pass it over to a new tasks list for tomorrow -

  This “ceremony” represent the end of the working day and draw a line between working hours and the “other life”.

  Hot Tip! Filter your calls. Phone calls are one of the biggest time management wasters.

• When scheduling meetings, make sure that there will be a time window between two meetings -

  This way you will avoid the domino effect that will influence other tasks as well.

It is not easy to make a change of habit but if you want to reduce tension, be more productive, and improve your efficiency then you have to start to implement these principles. You do not have to implement all of them tomorrow morning, even if you implement some of them, you will see results right away.

Assaf Katzir is owner and CEO of Katzir Soze Investments Ltd
Additional useful and quality information for managers, start-ups and small businesses is available at http://www.business-starter.com

Sphere: Related Content

“Any committee is only as good as the most knowledgeable, determined and vigorous person on it. There must be somebody who provides the flame.”
Lady Bird Johnson

Let’s explore another value issue. T.S. Blake was a dynamic preacher. His congregation loved him as their pastor. Yet, this church didn’t progress because the pastor refused to communicate his vision. Often, Pastor Blake found himself taking aggressive actions to accomplish his vision without any church input. His critics called him a dictator while his supporters called him a visionary leader. Each aggressive deed caused greater strife. No one could figure out the key problem.

Vision and core values must be aligned in organizations. A leader who tries to be Superman moves ahead of his followers with a vision. This becomes an issue if open communication isn’t promoted. Malphurs, a value-based guru, maintains that a church’s core values are a vital part of its character.

Wall, Solum, and Sobol, authors of the Visionary Leader, postulate a new paradigm shift where a vision is based on communication, free flow of ideas, and motivation of employees’ full human potential. Authority is then shifted to frontline workers. Workers are a reflection of their leaders. If leaders aren’t communicating with followers, do you think communications will be any better between members? Organizational leaders should align their visions with organizational values and communicate them to followers.

References:

Malphurs, A. (1996). Values-Driven Leadership. Grand Rapids, MI: Bakers Books.

Wall, B., Solum, R. and Sobol, M. (1992). The Visionary Leader. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing.

© 2006 by Daryl D. Green

Daryl D. Green has published over 100 articles in the field of decision-making (personal and organizational), leadership, and organizational behavior. Mr. Green is also the author of two acclaimed books, Awakening the Talents Within and My Cup Runneth Over. He is a columnist, lecturer, professor, and management consultant. Mr. Green has a BS in engineering and a MA in organizational management. Currently, he is a doctoral degree in strategic leadership. For more information, visit his website at http://www.darylgreen.org

Sphere: Related Content

We live in a very competitive world. Any individual who wants a piece of pie in this world has to fight for it.

Today we go about getting a larger piece of the pie by increasing our self-worth through various means. For some, it means going back to school to pursue a higher education. Some continue to believe that sheer hard work is the practical way to success. Whereas a minority does nothing and hope that they can become better people.

There is an increasing trend where people turn to self-help books and seminars to improve themselves. And the results are extremely promising and encouraging.

To many of those who do not have the habit of reading, this alternative may seem boring and nerdy. Boring and nerdy would never be the words you or I would use to describe once we recognize the many benefits they have.

What is the magic behind these books and seminars? Foremost, they provide motivation. Massive and focused motivation in areas you are interested in improving on. Motivation is a crucial key to success in life. And the most convenient source of motivation comes from these books and seminars. Motivation empowers an individual with a positive mindset, the correct attitude: this greatly increases his energy, drive and productivity. We are constantly surrounded with negativity, from people, TV, radio, it’s important that we get out of this negativity by reading uplifting and positive books.

Self-help books and seminars provide an array of specialized knowledge that is not available in the current education system. What is this specialized knowledge? What you seek is what you get. There are lots and lots of books in so many areas, all it requires you are some time, effort and maybe money to get your hands on the information you seek through the book. This specialized knowledge is extremely valuable and practical once you applied it. New knowledge opens the mind. You will be exposed to new ideas and perspectives from different schools of thoughts to improve yourself and to an extent for some, they suffer “information overload”. My advice for you is to apply as many of the ideas you have learnt, discard those that do not work for you, keep those that are effective and see the positive changes take place in your life.

The acquisition of new knowledge is vitally important to remain competitive in today’s world. However, knowledge alone is not sufficient to bring you to greater heights. What I have learnt from these books and seminars is that they have the ability to act as mentors in our lives. Mentors have valuable experience in their specialized fields to share that will provide any individual with insights and ideas never known to them. This can greatly shorten the learning curve and reduce any trial and error needed to achieve the outcome. However, everyone recognizes the many benefits of a good mentor but not many of us take the effort or are lucky enough to find such a mentor. Self-help books and seminars are an extraordinary source of accumulated experience of the authors and speakers. The essence of their experiences lies deep in these materials and is easily accessible to anyone who makes the effort to understand, learn and apply what is taught. For some, they never managed to see the valuable experience that lies right in front of them and they never will until the day they feel that is so much pain in their lives and that something must be done. Wouldn’t it be too late by then? Read with a definite purpose; ask yourself, “What information am I seeking for, what is my purpose of reading this book?” Self-help books and seminars are your best mentors till you find the one that is willing to enrich and guide you.

Looking for a mentor to guide you is a MUST if you seek to achieve success in the shortest time possible. Where and how do you go about finding them? A self-help seminar is one highly possible place. These seminars are a congregation of highly motivated individuals who come from various fields and age groups and most importantly, many of them are very helpful people. The speakers themselves can be your mentors as well. There is no other better place as compared to a self-help seminar. Networking is the key to finding your ideal mentor. You will never know when you will find such a person. In short, it takes courage, persistence and a respectable amount of self-confidence in yourself to impress and convince someone to be your mentor. Remember that these mentors you seek are very busy people themselves. Instead of satisfying your needs, think about what you can offer to your mentor first. Give before you receive. They may not become your mentors but beautiful friendship may bloom and soon you realized that you are completely surrounded by positive and highly motivated people. It was Jim Rohn who said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” And since you are surrounded by positive and energetic people, you will experience new vibrant energy to propel you to greater heights in your life.

Sphere: Related Content

Ever since we are a little kid in school and witnessed the world outside of our homes, our little minds are already working up plans. Indeed, even small children are capable of thinking up plans for their life. In their own childish worlds, they already have a burning desire to do something.

They may not yet fully grasp every plan and dream they wish to attain. Still, it boosts their self-image. Their self-esteem may also be elevated much with these dreams, giving them the courage to confront a school bully.

As the years go by, children become adolescents and then, adults. Every stage of their life is, like a little child, still full of plans and dreams. Others may have fulfilled theirs while others are still seeking of ways to achieve theirs.

Meanwhile, there are also people who seem to have their head full of desires and ambitions but remain just that. What do we make of these people? Are you one of them?

Do not lose heart or your self-image and self-esteem if ever you are one of those that cannot seem to find a way to strike the match and brighten their way into fulfilling their dreams. You might just be following the wrong dream. Or have not tapped the full wealth of your hidden potential.

Indeed, every one of us has quite an extensive hidden potential growing and developing throughout the years. Once we know of this, next thing we have to do is learn to identify and direct our hidden potential. You might discover that you are born to be a ballerina. Or that you are gifted with a talent of acting, singing or leading people. Your dream may also involve traveling the world and meeting famous and legendary personages.

However, without proper, prompt and persistent guidance and learning you cannot develop the power of motivating yourself strongly towards your dream. Motivation is the key to all self-improvement. Maybe we know exactly what we want, and the plans we have drawn for ourselves are realistic enough. Without that elemental force that drives us to strive and increase the light of our humbly lit, wish candles.

Persistence and proper action is the answer will unleash power of man to motivate him/her self. Everything we wanted out of life ever since we are little is achieved because of this powerful and vast motivation to oneself. Everything we wanted and failed to achieve are the result of the lack of proper motivation.

We may have improved, but our full-blown self-improvement is still wanting.

Do not be mistaken, though about this. If you seem lost in the silken web of dreams you spun, do not think you are not motivated. There is no person born without motivation. You just lack the proper learning and training on how to force out your specific desires, cultivate a powerful yearning, and drive to attain them. You might also lack self-esteem and your self-image is way down below.

Motivation is something we are born with. That spark in you can develop into a raging fire of determination. Just think, if other people would motivate you to achieve a certain dream, it would not have that lasting effect because other people are also touch-and-go in our lives. The motivation they can offer is limited.

Meanwhile, if you discover that faint spark in you and feed it continuously, it will spread out and consume all of you. Then and only then can you have the lasting power to get what you want out of life.

The faint spark is your core desires. They are your dreams, hopes and wishes, whipped into shape as you grow older and learn more. If we stunted our growth as a person and lost enough self-esteem, that faint spark may die and our desires may never develop into reality. If we continue feeding it by uplifting our level of awareness, self-improvement and self-image, then they are just there around the corner.

Knowing your core desires is both easy but quite complicated to do. Make a list of everything you really liked to do from the time you were a kid and until today. This list is yours alone. Do not muddle it up with what others are egging you on to or coaching you to answer. Be honest with yourself and the list you will draw up once finished will bring you full force motivation.

Take down everything you knew and learned that you really like to have. Avoid listing things that would be nice to have or do. Be brutally honest with yourself.

Do not make a mental list, write it down and you will see the difference. Once you have the list, then start figuring out ways and clear out the path into getting the core desires you want.

It will be a measure of your self-improvement once you never let go of your core desires. Your self-esteem and self-image will sustain your unwavering motivation. Let the fire of motivation keep burning in you!

Mary Murtha has BLS and M. Div degrees majoring in biblical studies and ethics. For more info about Self Image and Self Improvement Tips visit Best Self Improvement Info

Sphere: Related Content

Three areas of life in which we get very little training, yet we all seem to have an opinion on: marriage, parenting and money.

When all is said and done, it really is much simpler to succeed than to fail.

Two A’s for improving your marriage: Awareness and Anticipation. Awareness of how you are feeling - Anticipation of how your spouse might be feeling.

Today’s choices are tomorrow’s character.

In other countries people die for the right to vote, our country may die someday because so many don’t care to vote.

There are many books written on how to deal with “difficult people.” But do we ever pause to consider the shocking possiblity that we might be someone’s “difficult person?”

Thousands of years from now, when they dig up our civilization they will wonder about this culture that seemed to worship boxes. Sound strange. I’m talking about the big box that you find the family room furniture arranged around, and the little boxes found in several other rooms: the TV set. Watching other people live is not living.

Many people mis-read a very important part of the Declaration of Independence. We don’t have the right to happiness, we have the right to the pursuit of happiness. Kind of goes against the notion that we are entitled just by showing up.

The best way to make a problem worse is to attempt to solve it with the same kind of thinking that created the problem.

You can accomplish much more than you can’t.

If you don’t want your children to say it, do it or think it, you better not say it, do it, or think it.

Two of the most useless words are “if only.” Two cure for the “if onlys” are to do the necessary things today that eliminate the possibility of “if only” tomorrow. It’s also important to remember that what might have been is not necessarily what would have been.

Best way to communicate poorly - focus on making yourself understood first. Best way to communicate well - focus on understanding the other person first.

Life has it’s moments of unexpected blessings out of unexpected problems. Our curious little son bent down to pick up a small cactus in the parking lot median. As I placed him in the car seat, with him wailing away and me wondering how am I going to get these thorns out and how am I going to explain this to my wife, up walks his pediatrician who stops and expertly removes them.

Our children can be wonderfully humbling mirrors. After a prolonged temper tantrum resulted in our son missing out on a fun event, I actually heard this coming out of my mouth - “when you decide to stay angry you can miss out on a lot of good stuff.”

Best quote I’ve heard lately, from Rick Warren: “If you are burning the candle at both ends, you may not be as bright as you think.”

Visit The Article Guy for more leading edge tips and tools for writing articles that bring you prospects, publicity and profits. You can also subscirbe to our monthly Article Empire Tips Newsletter. You are also invited to visit my Express-Start Article Writing Program for more information on the next article writing tele-seminar.

Sphere: Related Content

Motivation is a call to action. Motivation inspires change, movement, and focus; it is what makes the world turn. The Art of Motivation is a must for Master Persuaders. How do you motivate in such a way that prompts people to take the actions you want them to take? How can you plant the seeds to encourage motivation? As a persuader, one of the keys to success is to motivate yourself and others. We have all had days when we did not feel like doing the things we knew we needed to do. It is useless to persuade and have others agree with your point of view if you can’t get them to take action.

Martin Luther King said, “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” In order to successfully motivate someone - or, to get him or her to internalize the motivation - you have to create a deep hunger or thirst. It has been said you can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. That’s true. But let it be known that you can give that horse salt and create such a thirst that the horse must have water. As a master motivator, you are giving salt to your prospects. You are striving to create such a thirst in other people that they can’t wait to act.

You will find people tend to get motivated for the short term, lose steam, and then fall back into the rut they were trying to pull themselves out of in the first place. As a persuader and motivator, you have to understand what pulls people from action to inaction. What causes us to lose excitement, vision, and energy? When you notice your prospects are losing their motivation, these are the reasons why:

• The desire to gain
• The desire to avoid loss
• To make money
• To avoid criticism
• To save time
• To avoid loss of possessions
• To avoid effort
• To avoid physical pain
• To achieve comfort
• To avoid loss of reputation
• To have health
• To avoid loss of money
• To be popular
Hot Tip! The need for power is the desire to make people behave a certain way with the power of human motivation. This type of person is in it for the power and could care less about the competition.
• To avoid trouble
• The desire to gain (cont,)
• To experience pleasure
• To be clean
• To be praised
• To be in style
• To gratify curiosity
• To satisfy an appetite
• To have beautiful possessions
• To be an individual
• To emulate others
• To take advantage of opportunities

You can’t change a habit unless you replace it with another one. The same is true for motivation. You can’t change how someone is motivated unless you replace the undesirable motivation with a desirable one. You have to understand whether your prospect’s motivation is a positive motivation or a destructive motivation.

Once inspiration is identified, build on that inspiration until you create an intense hunger. This means that you get your prospects to take responsibility for their own lives. Get them to set new goals or review their existing goals and their reasons for setting them. Another way to stoke the fires is to find somebody who shares that same passion.

Since Maslow introduced the concept of needs, countless motivational theories have been brought to light. Avid McClelland proposed that we learn three things that motivate us as we go through life: achievement, affiliation, and power. John C. Mowen used the three “R’s” of motivation: reward, recognition, and reinforcement. Bob Stone suggested that people respond either to “gain something they do not have or to avoid losing something they now possess.” He created this list of basic human wants to explain his theory. In his book The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard identifies eight hidden needs that motivate people into action:

1. Need for emotional security: We live in uncertain times. Terrorism lurks, the happenings on Wall Street are shaky, we are surrounded by illness and disease, etc. We need safety, comfort, and stability in our lives.

2. Need to feel self-worth: Much of today’s society is cold, competitive, and uncaring. We want to experience a place in the world where we know we’ve made a difference.

3. Need for ego-gratification: We want recognition and praise. We all want to feel important.

4. Need for creativity: We feel more satisfaction and fulfillment when we can work creatively through hobbies, sports, and other forms of recreation.

5. Need for love foci: Life is richer when we have someone to share our love with, for example friends, children, grandchildren, a spouse, or pets.

6. Need for control: We need to feel a sense that we have some control or power over our environment, our surroundings, or our conditions.

7. Need to belong: We want to feel that we are an integral part of the world and that we are important to people whom we love, respect, or admire.

8. Need for immortality: We fear dying or being forgotten. We buy life insurance because we want to leave something behind.

Motivation starts with vision. People need to believe they will succeed in what you are motivating them to do. No one likes to lose. No one wants to lose. No one wants to be associated with losers. So, instill in your listener or audience a vision of winning. Thinking we can win and seeing the win in our mind’s eye stirs our internal motivation. When we help others think of past victories or instill the vision of victory in them, we can motivate them to take action. Olympic coach Charles Garfield states that the highest performers are driven by a sense of mission.

Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. Beware of the common mistakes presenters and persuaders commit that cause them to lose the deal.

Master Persuaders present a winning package. When people sense victory or accomplishment, they will make sacrifices and become energized. They will find a way to succeed and win. If they sense defeat, they’ll exert little personal effort, come up with lots of excuses, and exhibit lack of energy for the cause.

Motivation is true art. When you understand the Laws of Persuasion not only will you be able to motivate, but you will also have earned the right to motivate.

Conclusion
Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you’ve seen some success, but think of the times you couldn’t get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others.

Kurt Mortensen’s trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available!

If you are ready to claim your success and learn what only the ultra-prosperous know, begin by going to http://www.PreWealth.com and getting my free report “10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands.” After reading my free report, go to http://www.PreWealth.com/IQ and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale!

Sphere: Related Content