It’s the absurd of our time - we have less and less free time, and we are constantly bombarded with more tasks that require our attention. 50 years ago it was seemed that in the 21 century people will work only 1 hour a day, because of the technology advancement. What really happened is that we became more dependent on technology, and therefore we work more than ever, and need to complete more tasks in our working time.

Maybe in the future this will all change, but right now, we need to get all our important tasks done. Let’s take a closer look at some guidelines for making the most out of your working time:

Divide each project into small pieces. Every project can be broken sown to small steps. Go ahead and wring a list of tasks that you need to get done in order to complete your project. This way it will be easier to allocate time frames to each of the tasks.

Plan your working time and your breaks. Planning your working time is vital. This way you’ll know exactly what you need to get done in every day. You should have a plan that will determine what you do in each of your hours at work. You should also plan your breaks. If you do that every day - you’ll be surprised how much you’ll get done. Remember Parkinson’s law: “every task expands to the time dedicated to it”. So just make sure you dedicated reasonable time to each task and it will be done in it’s timeframe.

Do the hardest tasks in your best time of the day. For many people, that’s the morning time. For others - evening time. What ever time works for you, do your hardest work then. Leave the small and easy tasks to the time in the day in which you are tired and less concentrated.

Use systems and shortcuts. For example, if you need to check your accounts in a few online websites every day, put shortcuts to these websites in your desktop. This way you won’t have to look for the web addresses of these websites every day. This can save you a few minutes every day, and that accumulates over time.

Reward yourself on a job well done - every time you complete a project or even an important part of a project - remember to reward yourself in some way. This can be watching your favorite TV show, going out to a restaurant, doing something you enjoy, etc. This habit strengthens the linkage between doing a good job and having fun after the job is done. This kind of linkage is very important psychologically.

So, these are just a few examples of how you can manage your time asset correctly and achieve a more productive day. Try implementing these tips in your work, and you will see results almost right away.

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You’ve heard of the Peter Principle: “People are promoted to their level of ultimate incompetence”. But what the Peter Principle doesn’t tell you is the nature of the incompetence. For the most part, it’s leadership incompetence.

A human resources director told me, “Brent, we hire people for their skills and knowledge, but we fire them or fail to promote them or promote them for their leadership abilities — or lack thereof.”

In other words, throughout their careers, people are promoted to take charge of bigger and bigger groups — until they take over a group that’s too big for their leadership abilities.

One main reason they come up short in abilities is they are constantly and unconsciously falling into two leadership traps.

I’ll describe the traps, how to get out of them, and how not to get into them in the first place.

The traps can be particularly deadly because they are in many cases self-set — and even self-triggered. What’s worse: the vast majority of leaders who get into them don’t have a clue they’re caught. It’s one thing to be in a trap and know you’re in it: You try to get out. But it’s a problem of another magnitude to be in a trap and not know you’re in it. In that case, you’ll stay there.

THE FIRST TRAP: “I need …”

A marketing leader in a major global company was stumbling. His team was failing to achieve the targeted results. He told me, “The good news is they do what I tell them. The bad news is they do what I tell them — ONLY what I tell them. Other than firing the worst of the bunch or transferring others out of the team, I can’t figure out what to do. And if I don’t do it soon, I’ll be the one fired or transferred!”

I asked if I could sit in on a team meeting to scope out the situation. “Be my guest,” he said. “But I don’t see what good it’ll do. The problem isn’t in the meetings. Everybody agrees what needs to get done when they’re in the meetings. The problem is the results after the meetings.”

The meeting had been going only for only a couple of minutes when I saw what was wrong. Afterwards, alone in his office, I told him: “They’re not the problem. YOU’RE the problem. You’ve fallen into two leadership traps.”

He looked at me incredulously. “What traps?”

I explained that leaders often fall into traps that prevent them from getting the full measure of results they’re capable of. And the deadliest traps are often the ones of their own making.

The first trap is the “I need . . . ” trap.

Leaders fall into this trap when they say, “I need you to hit the marketing targets, I need you to get more productive, I need you to (fill in the blank)”. I NEED … I NEED … I NEED ….

Why is this a trap? The answer: the Leader’s Fallacy. The Leader’s Fallacy is the mistaken belief by leaders that their own needs are automatically reciprocated by the needs of the people they lead. It’s a fallacy because automatic reciprocity doesn’t exist. But so many leaders go blithely along driven by the Fallacy and so fall into the “I need . . . ” trap.

For instance, the marketing leader thought he was motivating people to get great results. However, during the meeting, he was constantly repeating, “I need … “. So, in reality, he was ordering people to get average results. Of course, leaders don’t order people to get average results. But average results are usually the outcome of order leadership.

The order is the lowest form of motivation. The order leader’s focus of my-way-or-the-highway can’t get great results from people on a consistent basis simply because people usually can’t be ordered to undertake extraordinary endeavors. They must choose to do so. When he said, “The bad news is they ONLY do what I tell them.”, he was unknowingly afflicting them. They were simply responding to an order then going into a kind of suspended animation (masked by busy work) until the next order came along.

In Part 2, I’ll describe how to get out of this trap.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. - and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com

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“At birth, a baby’s brain contains 100 billion neurons, roughly as many nerve cells as there are stars in the Milky Way,” according to a recent article in Time magazine.

My first re
action?

“Wow, we get all that power and hardware with no owner’s manual or instructions booklet.”

Having just recently purchased a computer, I’ve been pouring over instruction books and the owner’s manual, trying to understand a tenth of what this machine can do.

Just imagine what we could do if we understood a tenth of what our brains are capable of.

Now, I certainly don’t presume to offer an owner’s manual, but I can offer a few suggestions about what and what not to put
into our brains.

The power of the words we use and how they effect what we think has been grossly underestimated.

You’ve probably heard someone say, usually while losing an argument, “Well, that’s just semantics.”

What I’ve learned is that, when it comes to managing our brains, it is all semantics.

The brain as a computer

This is because the brain is imply a computer that takes in what we give it, whether it is in our best interest or not.

For example, there are words I call garbage words. A garbage word is a word that, if you allow your brain to use it on a regular basis, will lead to garbage thinking. Garbage thinking leads to garbage feelings and garbage actions, all of which can keep us from living the kind of lives we want to have.

Let’s look at a few of the more common garbage words and phrases, and what we can use instead.

Garbage words

I have to

There are very few things in life we have to do. There are very many things in life we choose to do. Constantly saying “I have to” diminishes our power of choice.

Replacing “I have to” with “I choose to” or “I get to” allows us to choose and bypasses the brain’s natural resistance to being forced.

Try

This is one of the most common and powerful garbage words. For example, try to pick up whatever contains this article. You either pick it up or you do not. Those are the only two outcomes.

In the words of Yoda in “Star Wars”: “Do or do not There is no try.”

Hard

This garbage word convinces our brains not to do something. It’s an excuse for fear and/or laziness. Saying something is hard does not make it any easier to accomplish. Remember, though, that some things are difficult. But difficult things are still doable.

I can’t

This one usually means “won’t” or “I choose not to.” A good replacement is “If I could, what would I do?”

Losing weight

I love this one. Consider how many times you or someone you know has said he or she wants to lose weight. Now consider what the brain hears.

What have we conditioned our brains to do when we “lose” something? We find it and get it back.

Instead of “losing weight,” we really want to “get rid of’ weight.

Yes, but…

Our brains automatically disregard everything that comes before the word “but.” That’s because when you hear the word “but,” you think, “Ah, ha. Here comes the truth.”

Instead of saying “but,” use the
word “and”

Is what I’m suggesting just a form of positive thinking? Not really.

While positive thinking can be good, it’s not enough all by itself. If you are walking in the rain during a thunderstorm saying, “It’s not raining, it’s not raining,” you still are going to get wet.

What this is about is using words to operate your brain properly.

Here’s a suggestion:

Trying replacing -oops!-I mean, replace garbage words with these replacement words, at the rate of one a week. Eventually, you will eliminate the garbage words from your vocabulary, which is 100-percent improvement.

Visit http://www.TheArticleGuy.com for more leading edge tips and tools for writing articles that bring you prospects, publicity and profits. You can also subscribe to our monthly Article Writing & Marketing Tips Newsletter. You are also invited to visit my Express-Start Article Writing Program for more information on the next article writing tele-seminar.

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Being productive with the time that you have is important, and it is also essential to be efficient in your work as greatly as you possibly can. But there are always concerns about what happens when too much work is needed to be done.

You could end up losing productivity and become tired from all of the work you have. You’ll even lose energy needed to work, and your levels of motivation could decline as a result. But a power break can help you to regain your motivation and become ready again to be successful in whatever it is that you are doing.

Time Management: Recognize when you are getting tired

Before you begin your power break you will need to recognize when you are tired and need to stop working. This can be done noticed when you see that you are having a difficult time with working on your tasks and being less productive.

When you feel that you have hit a block in your progress and you are not getting anywhere in your goals it will be a good time to take a power break. This is so that you can be rested for a bit and then become more productive than you were before your power break.

Time Management: Take a power break to clear your mind

During your power break you will be able to clear your mind from all of the stress that you have gotten from the work you have been doing all day long. However, there may be days in which you may feel that you will have little time to do what you need to get done.

Time Management: A power break can make you more productive

But by taking a power break you’ll see that you will be more productive and therefore be more successful. While there may be lots to do, not taking a good power break will only slow down your progress and make the overall day’s activities less efficient.

Another important thing to consider about power breaks is that everyone has a different feel in terms of how much energy they have in the day. Some are more productive in the morning, and for some that time is later on in the day.

Time Management: A power break can give you a boost of energy

When you recognize how well you are doing in terms of what time of day it is, you will figure out what time is right for you to take a power break. For instance, if you are more productive in the morning, taking a power break around the noon hour can be especially effective.

The last thing you need to know about power breaks is that there are several different things that you can do during your power break that can help you build up your energy.

Time Management: Use a power break to take a nap or eat a snack

One thing that can be done in a power break is a simple, short nap. This can help you to take your mind off of other things. Eating lunch or another meal can help as well. These activities and others that can be done in a power break will help you to get back the energy that you have lost during the long day of work you have had.

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What is the greatest secret in the world for success?

It’s having a VISION.

Not just any kind of VISION, but the grandest vision of who you can be in this lifetime.

What do you aspire to be? A good husband, or a world changer, a good employee that works hard or the owner of a global franchise that changes how we view your industry by the values you exhibit and honour from your own life?

These are the attributes that set you apart. These are the questions that govern what difference you will make to your friends, family and strangers lives.

We’re all born with nothing, we leave this world with nothing, but what are you going to leave for the world, that’s the question I ask you.

Society doesn’t teach us to have a vision. We get labelled as being a dreamer just thinking about it. We’re not allowed to. It’s up to you if you want to live a great life. No one will force you to be more than mediocre.

When we start to see our vision and share it with others, they tell us to stop dreaming and get back to work.

So why can’t we dream? Why can’t we have a grand vision of who we can aspire to be?

No one is stopping you, except yourself. But you have to stop caring about those people who mean well. You have to conceive, then believe, so you can then achieve.

The road to success is a lonely one at first, until you find other dreamers, then they will inspire you to go faster, with more confidence, but it takes you to begin this lonely journey.

If you can’t dream and imagine yourself being grand, work on your self worth, or self esteem. This is the only thing that can prevent you having a grand vision.

The future for most people is a tiny speck on the horizon, so why would you bother looking at it? This is why they get caught up in drama and depression. Do you know what depression really is? It’s a person who feels the future won’t get any better. And what does that mean? It means they have no VISION!

When your future becomes a panoramic landscape with color, with pictures, with objects, with people, hundreds of people, then your life in the future is one you will want to look at and imagine yourself being there.

You can’t push anyone to do anything, but if you help them to get a vision of themselves that’s better than where they are now, they will change to move in that direction so fast you’ll wonder what happened. This is important if you’re a leader of people.

A strong vision pulls people in the direction. Pulling people is 10 times easier than pushing them.

When you define your vision, ask who you need to help you to achieve it. Every person who achieved great things, in business, life or politics, had a fantastic support person or people. Who will yours be? Who believes in you, more than you do yourself? There are many people who do, find one, ask for their help, pay them if you need to as they are giving you the greatest gift there is in life.

Who do you want on your journey towards fulfilling your vision? What vision can you have for those around you? If your vision is about you only, you won’t achieve it. It has to be about working with other people, or they will envy your success and pull you back.

So where will you be in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and even 5 years?
What’s the grandest vision of who you can be?
What difference do you want to make to your life and those you have around you?
Your children, wife/husband wants you to be the best you can be. But what is that best of you?

What habits will you lose and what ones will you develop?

What emotions will you remove and what others will you embrace?

What goals will you conquer? What dreams will you achieve?

What home will you live in, what car will you drive?

How many people will you affect, encourage and inspire?

You’re a child of this planet. No one will ask you to have a grand vision, but I ask you now to have one. Define it. Live it. Be it. Share it. Embrace it. Believe in yourself and anything is possible. I believe in you, the question is… do you believe in you?

Tim Stokes is a man who lives out his vision. He personal vision is to inspire all those who interact with him through small business education. He believes anything is possible if you have courage and are willing to express it. To see the vision of odzens of small business owners become a reality, go to http://www.bbms.com.au or see the other articles written by him at http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Tim_Stokes

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Here’s how to get out of, or avoid, the “I need … ” trap. It simply involves changing what you think and what you say in very simple ways.

In my working with leaders worldwide for more than two decades, I’ve noticed a character trait that the most successful share: They focus consistently on understanding and supporting the people whom they lead.

For instance, you could say, “You need …” which is a good way out.
Or, you could say, “The team needs … ” which is a better way out.

Or, you could say, “Do you need? …” Which is the best way out, especially with a question mark attached. A corollary to this question is, “What do you need from me to help you get the team to succeed?”

Asking a question rather than using a declarative is often more effective because it gets people reflecting upon their situation. After all, we can’t motivate anyone to do anything. They have to motivate themselves. And they best motivate themselves when they reflect on their character and their situation.

A question can trigger such reflection and ultimately lead to their making the choice to be motivated to be your cause leader. You may not like the answer; but often their answer, no matter what it is, can better lead to more results being achieved than your declaration can.

Furthermore, asking questions like, “What do you need for the team to succeed? …” works much better than saying “I need … ” because you are forging a “critical confluence” - the confluence of your or your organization’s needs with their needs.

You may think I’m putting too fine a point on these changes; and to a degree, you’d be right. Making simply one change may not be important; but when you multiple the changes many times during the day, day in and day out, month in and month out, their aggregate can add up to tremendous change indeed. In fact, it can add up to job and career transformation.

So, the next time you are tempted to say, “I need … “, don’t. Instead, say, “Do you need? …” or “What do you need? … ” Over time, you’ll forge great changes in how people relate to you and your leadership, changes that will lead to substantial increases in results.

However, watch out: In getting out of the “I need …” trap, you may find yourself in another trap. Asking “What do you need? …” might play right into their hands of people who don’t’ trust you or want to sabotage your leadership or use you to further their own ends. Such people want to lead you down their private rabbit hole. They want to get you exploring things that have nothing to do with your getting the results you need and everything to do with satisfying the needs of their ego or whatever agenda they have. “Don’t you think you need? … ” could be their ticket to ride. Before you ask the question, be aware of the ride and how to get off.

THE SECOND TRAP. The “You do … ” trap. Most leaders miss a great opportunity that presents itself to them daily. Since leadership is all about having people take action that gets results, it’s important to understand the kind of action people should take to get the best results. You can ensure it is the best kind of action by challenging people not simply to do a job but to take leadership of that job. After all, there’s a big difference between people doing and leading; and when you are constantly saying, “You do … ” you are missing out on getting a lot more results.

Now that you know how to avoid two leadership traps, you’ll find that your career will be boosted in many marvelous ways.

2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. - and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at http://www.actionleadership.com

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