Time Management Tips for Working Moms

When you walk in the door, you see a stack of papers floating around your desk, and when you go home, just as at the office, you can’t find those important papers you need so desperately to stay out of trouble or make an excuse. When you come home at night, you and your spouse argue, and your children ignore you because you just aren’t spending family time with some of the important people in your life.

Does this sound familiar? Have you ever wondered why? Well, you are not managing your time accordingly so that you reap benefits and the ones you love are happy. You are not organized, so therefore how the heck can you find those important documents? Moms already have a big responsibility and when we neglect to manage our time, our responsibilities turn to chaos.

Let’s face it; it is never easy to stay organized when we have busy work schedules and a family to attend to, as well as other responsibilities. The traditional individuals often store files in a filing cabinet, and clean their room and desk once every week. However, there are people out there that are spontaneous. Some of us even store documents so they are out of sight and soon find those documents are out of mind, until someone calls their attention to the papers.

The key to success moms is getting your priorities straight. If you shop for groceries once per week, you can cut back time by buying enough to last longer, so that grocery shopping isn’t part of your weekly plan. The extra hour or more that you spend at the supermarket can be spent on quality time with the family. This is only one solution to managing your time, but it is certainly a start.

In addition, you can make up a list of your duties, starting with the most important tasks first, and working through the list one at a time. I found this to be a great solution for managing time, since when you work hard to complete one task, the rests fall into place with ease.

If you spend an hour or even one half hour in the mirror, it is probably because you are not feeling good about your self. It takes approximately five minutes to put make-up on, and to stand in the mirror longer is only taking up time.

Hair is also important since our person in general sets an impression. If you spend longer time than needed doing your hair, try finding nice looking hairstyles that are less complicated to style. This is also a great process of the time management solution.

Clothing should also be limited but appropriate for whatever it is that you doing and it should not take less than a couple of minutes to get dressed. Unless you are a model, or actress, overdressing is not appropriate in most cases for every day life situations. If you are spending extra time preparing meals, you might want to consider recipes that are quick and healthy to manage your time mom.

These are a few simple tips of managing your time so that you can spend more time doing the things in life that is most important to you.

Author: Connie Limon. Visit us online at: http://www.selfimprovementbook1.com Self Improvement Book is a guide to self improvement, personal growth and self help. It is an organized directory referencing information in other websites on the World Wide Web.

This article is FREE to publish with resource box.

About The Author

Connie Limon. Visit us online at: http://www.selfimprovementbook1.com Self Improvement Book is a guide to self improvement, personal growth and self help. It is an organized directory referencing information in other websites on the World Wide Web.

Time Management For Teachers: Why Start A New School Year With The Same Old Systems?

How can a teacher manage to find time during the day to get things done? In providing teacher time management training for school districts, I recognize that using time management in education at the teacher level is difficult because you face unique challenges:

Your time is booked every day. There is no leeway in altering a class schedule, so you must work within the very limited planning periods.

An important component of your job is to be available for students and parents beyond the actual classroom sessions.

One very effective method for teachers to save time is to group activities as much as possible. With this process you can use to maximize those all-too-short blocks of time so that you can lessen the amount of work you drag home every evening.

You are four times more productive when you can focus on one type of task rather than switching back and forth among assorted tasks. Constant multitasking slows you down. While you can never eliminate all of the interruptions in your day because you do need to be responsive to students, make the best use of the short periods of time that you do have.

What activities are effective when grouped?

Telephone: Set aside a time when you will make and return nonurgent phone calls. It might be fifteen minutes in the morning and another fifteen minutes in the afternoon. Work toward keeping routine calls within that block.

Email: Electronic messages can easily dominate your day. Turn off the sound or alert that advises you of incoming messag3es. Just as with telephone calls, set a block of time each day when you focus on just your email.

Discussions: If you confer several times a day with certain colleagues, set up a folder and collect items during the day so that you can cover all points during just one meeting. This limits interruptions for both of you. Encourage others to have a folder for you also.

Reading: For articles and publications that do not have an action date, keep them together and schedule time on your calendar to catch up on the reading. This reading block can include both paper and electronic information.

Filing: Even if you have a terrific filing system and you know where to put all your reference papers, do not stop and file each individual item as it comes in. Wait until you have a folder of papers, and then note on your calendar when you will file.

It will take practice to develop the habit of grouping your activities in order to limit multitasking, but the resulting increase in productivity is worth the effort.

©2006, Key Organization Systems, Inc., All Rights Reserved

About The Author

Helping teachers and administrators accomplish more in less time is one of the benefits of the training that Denise Landers provides. Denise is the author of Destination: Organization and the owner of Key Organization Systems, Inc. Learn to work smarter at http://www.keyorganization.com.

Time Management Systems Help Us Soar!

On a recent airplane flight, I thought of all the systems that are in place to get us from one destination to another as efficiently as possible.

Boarding

Consider the rapid turnaround of planes these days. When the arriving passengers disembark, their luggage is taken off, the plane is refueled, a maintenance check is done, the interior is cleaned, a new crew boards, luggage is loaded, food and drinks placed on board, and the new passengers settle in – often all within 30 minutes. Then we’re soaring to our next destination.

Taking Off

We don't buckle up in our seats and then wait while the pilot rummages through stacks of papers, old charts, unread magazines, and empty food containers, trying to figure out what the present destination will be and then where the directions are for that destination.

We expect these procedures to go smoothly and rarely give the process any thought. The pilot boards knowing exactly what he is going to do. There is nothing in that cockpit that is not specific to the job at hand. He has a set of procedures that he follows, in a set order, to make sure nothing is skipped. We count on that, for both punctuality and safety. When something does goes awry and we are delayed for any reason, we're disappointed. If a plane has an accident, we're shocked.

Yet do we expect the same of ourselves in our business endeavors? Consider your desk or your work area as the cockpit, driving the segment of the business for which you are responsible. Take a look around you. Is everything as streamlined as it could be? Are there any extraneous materials that do not pertain to the job at hand? When you come to work in the morning, do you know immediately where to begin, or are you shifting through papers and clutter to determine where to focus first?

With a good system in place, your work has been prioritized the night before. When you come in, you know what your schedule is and what you want to accomplish this day – your destination. Nothing will fall through the cracks because you have a procedure to record every task and follow-up that has to happen.

The Crew

You also should expect those around you to be handling their work spaces with the same efficiency. Consider what would happen to our flight if everyone were following the systems needed to get the plane turned around except for one group.

Suppose the cleaning crew didn’t pay much attention to the exact timing on their schedule. They knew they were going to clean planes today, but some friends from another unit stopped by so they had a brief visit and chat. Then someone had to make a personal telephone call. When they got to the plane, they found they didn't bring all the supplies they needed, so someone had to go borrow materials from another cleaning crew. Meanwhile the boarding and subsequent take-off is delayed.

Even though everyone else did their jobs, following procedures and schedules, the repercussions of this one group's delay trickle on down to all of the planes following after.

This may sound far-fetched but it occurs in some form every day in offices everywhere. We may be efficient ourselves, but there’s often one person whose desk is stacked, who has to constantly ask for duplicates because they can't find what they need, who is easily distracted, and who forgets to follow up. We tolerate that and make jokes about it, but ultimately it’s not just that one person in the organization that's affected, it's everyone around that person. If you are working with someone like that, you are subjected to disarray, interruptions from them, and not being able to count on them to be as efficient as they could be in doing their share of the work. All of these results impact on the rest of the team.

Each of us needs to be working like the pilot. Know what your schedule is, establish a prioritized plan of action, have the materials you need on hand, and get rid of any unnecessary matter around you that does not pertain to the job at hand so that you can focus on what needs to be done now.

We count on that when we do business with other companies. Shouldn't they be able to expect the same from us? If you want to get your business off the ground, set up systems that will help you soar!

©2006, Key Organization Systems, Inc., All Rights Reserved

About The Author

As the owner of Key Organization Systems, time management expert Denise Landers shows businesses, governments, and educational institutions how to manage daily workflow for maximum productivity and minimum stress. Learn how your business can benefit immediately at http://www.keyorganization.com.

Simple Time Management Tips to Make High School Life Easier

High school student not just study and take classes. They also have to join school activities, socialize and do their homework. Apparently, they always have a lot of work in school and at home.

It is essential for high school students to be organized. If you are a high school student, it may seem like you are always running out of time and all you do is study and never get enough time with your friends and family.

Listed here seven tips for you to follow to make life of high school students easier and add extra time for you to be with your friends and family:

1- Set the target everyday – Before you go to bed, list down all the matters you want to accomplish on the next day. A ‘to do” list will help you to know what you are going to do and avoid doing unimportant tasks, of which will get everything done more efficiently and faster.

2- Prioritize your list of target – Once the “to do” list completed, try to prioritize the goals you want to achieve. Set your most important goal in life on top of your priority and your least important goals to down below on the list.

Be realistic on your list. It is better to list on what you need to achieve and not on what you want to achieve. If you have a long-term priority, it is probably best that you put it on the bottom of your list; you can always work on that tomorrow.

3- Utilize your spare time – As a high school student, sometimes you may not notice you have lots of spare time. Try to add up the minutes of the school bus ride to school and the school bus ride back home.

Use these times to create strategy of how to finish your homework effectively. By doing this, you will get an idea on what you need to do on your homework when you get home. This allows you to finish your homework faster and have extra time for other things.

4- Finding the right time – Sometime, students have specific time to study more efficiently. For instance, you can solve your math problems well on the afternoons; then do not wait until nighttime to do it. Mood is important here since mood can shifts immediately.

5- Taking notes – An effective way to study is to write down important notes. It is proven much better than just plain reading. Writing down notes has an effect on your mind. You can understand the topic more effectively and memorize it more effectively than by just reading.

Review your notes as your teacher might give a pop quiz on the next day. Reviewing your notes will help you be more prepared for the pop quizzes that your teacher may suddenly give.

6- Get adequate sleep – It is unhealthy trying to stress yourself out studying when you are supposed to be sleeping. It can bring ineffective results and unwelcome health problems.

If you need to sleep you have to sleep, do not force yourself to study if you cannot effectively study. If you try to study in this situation, you will most likely waste your time.

7- Keep your goals realistic – Trying to accomplish unrealistic goals can often result in failure and frustration. Setting realistic goals that is difficult and achieving it can give you self-worth and be proud on your achievements.

Just remember, everything you need to accomplish in one day is possible if you are organized and plan everything you do in a day.

About The Author

Fakhrul Anuar Malek is a Webmaster and publisher of Time-Management.CosmoMatrix.com. He provides info and guides of time management for college and high school students at http://Time-Management.CosmoMatrix.com.

Time Management for SME Owners

SME owners have to manage everything: from the hiring and managing of employees to seeking clients to planning the business strategies for the company. Is there a more efficient way out?”

“I just haven’t got the time”

Does that sound familiar?

Well, it sure does to the majority of SME owners. What probably once started out as a “One person operation” has now grown into a real business and in some cases has turned into an uncontrollable monster that has got out of hand.

The problem?

>From juggling the accounts and doing all of the hiring and firing through to creating more business and forming the company strategy, the SME owner usually finds it hard to let go. After all, they were responsible for the initial growth of the business, indeed they still are, but there must be a more efficient way of getting everything done and still having a life too!

The notion of us not having enough time is not new. However, time cannot be managed.

Time cannot actually be controlled! We can only manage ourselves and our use of our time.

So what can the SME owner do to make the most efficient use of their time?

In order to do this, the SME owner needs to identify two critical areas:

1. What they should be doing on a daily basis to add the maximum amount of value to their business;

2. What are their current time stealers? The tasks and the occurrences that get in the way of them achieving No 1 above.

Many SME owners get so bogged down with “The doing” that they fail to identify what it is they should be doing and what actually gets in the way of them doing it!

Know what you are worth…

An old mentor of mine once said:

“If you could take the tasks that you are currently doing that have the biggest impact upon your business in terms of profit and turnover and just do them all day, every day, what would they be and what would the impact be?”

These were wise words!

As soon as I started to only do the tasks that were on a par with or above my hourly rate and gave the rest out to others, my business soared.

The same can be said with SME owners.

Many SME owners think that by “letting go” of certain tasks or hiring others to do them, it adds to their cost base. Yes, it does add to the cost base but what does an additional 80 per cent of you doing what you are best at generate for your business in terms of turnover and profits?

Identify the time stealers and put a plan in place to arrest them!

Where does your time go?

Many SME owners get so caught up in the day-to-day running of their businesses that they just don’t realize where their time goes. Before they know it, it’s 6:00pm and if you ask them what they have achieved they probably couldn’t tell you.

The first step in sorting out your time management problems is to identify where your time goes – keep a log of what you do and when you do it.

Complete that for a week or two.

After you have compiled your log, take a look at it and identify the most frequent time stealers that reduce your effectiveness in the workplace.

These could include:

• Doing work that others should be completing

• Answering emails/too many emails coming in

• Telephone interruptions that should not have got through

• Interruptions from staff that could have gone elsewhere

• Unnecessary meetings

• Tasks that you should have delegated

• Tasks and decisions that you have been putting off

• Getting involved in the “doing” too much

• Putting out fires

• Poor communication

• Duplication of work

• Lack of skills or knowledge

• Lack of planning

• Tiredness

• Can’t say NO

• No system to organize your day

All is not lost, however. You can reclaim your time!

Here are 10 techniques and strategies that you can use to manage your time more effectively.

Top 10 time management tips

1. COMPLETE A BUSINESS AUDIT EACH MONTH

Take a look at your business and make a note of your top priorities for each day/week/month. Make a decision on where you want to focus your energy and then look at everything else you have been doing and decide what to do with it.

2. DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

Work out what areas you add the most value to the business and make a decision that at least 80 per cent of your time will be spent on these activities.

3. DELEGATE

Let go of the reins and delegate your work more often. Whatever task you do from now on ask yourself “Should I really be doing this?” and “Can someone else do this instead?”

4. OUTSOURCE

You and your staff do not need to do everything you know! Nike doesn’t actually make shoes! Could you outsource some of your tasks and operation to a third party outsider?

5. PERSONAL ORGANISATION

Make proper use of TO DO lists and your diary – make using them a habit. Can you automate any tasks like getting email on your mobile phone?

6. PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

By simplifying your business and your processes you can make it a lot easier to run and this in turn will lead to saving you a lot of time.

7. IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS

You will get the most out of your staff and save yourself a lot of time in the process if you can communicate what you want in a clear, concise manner. Assertiveness skills will also allow you to say “NO” in the right way to requests and will allow you to manage the frequent interruptions that you get on a daily basis.

8. FOCUS ON STRATEGY

Know where you are heading and why you want to get there. This will keep you focused on what is important. Continually revisit your strategy to make sure you keep on track and away from all of the distractions.

9. IMPORTANT AND URGENT TASKS ARE NOT THE SAME

As soon as you can make this distinction you will be able to categorize your tasks accordingly and know what to do with each one.

10. KEEP ON IT!

Keep analyzing where you are spending your time on a monthly basis and make adjustments to what you should be doing and how you are doing it. We all stray off track from time to time so don’t beat yourself up about it, just take stock and move forward.

About The Author

Sean McPheat provides management training to small, medium and large businesses. Sean designs and delivers bespoke management training courses across the UK, Europe, US and the Middle East.

Time Management Tips For Professionals

Time...It is ever moving and so easy to lose track of. Whether you are an engineer, a supervisor, a counselor or a nurse, productivity is important. We are all controlled by cost-effectiveness and billable hours. In this article, we will discuss several time wasters and ways to increase your productivity.

1. Identify, eliminate, prioritize, delegate

You cannot be expected to do everything. So often we feel so pulled in each direction that we do not get anything done. Make a list of everything you "need" to do and when it must be done. For some people this means a detailed description of what needs to be done and a daily schedule. For others, a list can be just that---a list. Keep three pages for each day: The things that MUST be done (i.e. pay the electric bill), things you would like to do (such as mow the yard) and things you will do if you have time (rearrange your sock drawer). From that list, eliminate anything that is not necessary, prioritize what is left and delegate whenever possible. When I ran a 24-hour facility, I often heard my counselors complaining that they did not have time to do this or that. I knew that my midnight person was watching television all night. We got together and I helped my employeesed identify things they could delegate to her. My father was an architect. He hated doing mundane things like copying blueprints or driving (yes, this was before CAD and email) the designs over to the engineer. He delegated those tasks to my step mother.

2. Translate your priorities into concrete goals, with component activities.

For engineers, this is much like project management. THe only difference is that the project is your time. Break each goal into smaller steps needed to achieve the goal. Identify the requirements and resources you need related to each activity step and set beginning and ending times. This helps you organise for success and have what you need to move forward towards goal attainment. Pinpointing resources, setting deadlines and having a central contact person is especially important if accomplishment of your goal requires the cooperation or assistance of other people.

3. Evaluate ways you procrastinate.

Once you are organized, have goals and resources, then failure to move forward is psychological. Provide rewards to yourself for working on the project for a defined period of time or until you achieve a set goal. For example, you can go play a round of golf after you work on the project for 1 hour. Identify reasons the task is in your best interest: it will help you get a promotion, make you healthier, make your spouse happier. Remind yourself of these to keep yourself motivated. Get a buddy. I am social and cannot stand to be couped up by myself all day. I take my laptop and work at the library, park or coffee shop. Eventhough the people there are not working with me per se, they make my work feel less like drugery. Ask yourself why you are procrastinating. Do you hate what you are about to do? Is there anyway you can make it tolerable?

4. Learn to say "No" to opportunities and requests that take your time and don't move you forward towards goal attainment.

To the extent feasible, saying "no" is an important safeguard of your time. Doing so with courtesy and conviction will make it easier to say "yes" at a later date and simultaneously affirm your commitment to yourself to follow through on your scheduled activities. This also means shutting your door so people do not just aimlessly drop by to chat.

5. Just do it

My mentor once told me to just do 15 minutes. You can do anything for 15 minutes. If after 15 minutes you are still miserable, stop. I nearly always found that I started intending to only do 15 minutes and 2 hours later I was emerging from the study. Yu can also set aside one day each week to do the dreaded tasks. For me it was chart reviews. I would spend every Friday doing chart reviews.

6. Set a schedule

Some people do not like rigid schedules, but most people do well with some sort of routine. Once you finish your goals for the day, relax. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. If you reward yourself for a job well done, you will be more motivated to plow through what you have to do each day.

7. Identify your "high energy" times

Everyone in my family is a morning person. We are most focused, energetic and productive before 2pm. For me, 4:30am is a great time. For my kids and husband it is more like 8am. Nevertheless, if you can work during your peak hours, you will get things done a lot more quickly. I have held several jobs that allowed me to set my own schedule. The companies got a lot more out of me because I could take advantage of my personal rhythms. Many companies are moving toward performance based work instead of presence based work.

8. Email

Have one email for work and one for home. This will prevent you from getting sucked into email la-la land. Have people communicate withyou by email. They are much more likely to be direct if they have to type. Additionally, you have a record of your conversation to which you can refer back. Just remember your email etiquette. ALL CAPS or using multiple punctuation marks is quite rude and construed as yelling and generally throwing a tantrum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since there is no chance for vocal inflection, it is better to make emails overly polite.

9. Get enough rest

Without adequate rest it is difficult to concentrate and you will make needless mistakes. Keep a pad and pencil by your bed to jot down anything that comes into your mind so you do not dwell on it and you can rest more easily.

10. Get interns

Most professional colleges (engineering, building construction, counseling, addictions, rehabilitation) require students to have done at least one internship before entering the program and then two more while in the program. This is free labor. WHen students apply for an internship with you, just make sure you have a job description and get references from at least 1 professor and 1 prior employer to make sure they won't waste your time. They NEED a good recommendation from you so they usually go above and beyond the call to do a good job.

Try implementing these things for yourself and in your office. You will find that you save a lot of time and have higher morale and productivity.

About The Author

Dawn-Elise Snipes

Dr. Snipes received her PhD in Counseling and Education from the University of Florida. She has worked for 10 years in community mental health. Currently she runs a small internet-based church http://www.stlukesfamilychurch.info and two online continuing education sites http://www.allceus.com and http://www.engineeringceus.com

Internal Alarm Clock a time management tool?

Some of us are blessed with an internal alarm clock. A little voice that wakes you up two minutes before your alarm goes off. This may be a blessing if that little voice also alerts you ten minutes before your son’s soccer game or before the school bell rings. However I don’t have that blessing.

Of course I have the internal ability to wake up 30 minutes BEFORE I have to wake up after only five hours of sleep. Unfortunately that alarm doesn’t seem to carry over into the waking hours. A thirty minute heads up would be handy.

Not having that constant heads up, instead, I wear the super mom cape as I leap over shoes, bags and the cat in a flurry of movement. Knowing full well that the school bell is going to ring in ten minutes and the drive is a minimum of 11 minutes and three seconds if no one is in the cross walk and that light isn’t red. Of course, I will have to drive laps to locate a place I can stop to let my son in. All the parking spots are taken by those nannies with an internal clock.

I thought I had the alarm clock before I had children. As a professional Nanny I was never late for a soccer game, a music lesson, or birthday party. It turns out there are two types of internal alarm clocks. The one reserved for those of us who don’t have children under the age of 18. This one allows you to roll out of bed just before your alarm goes off after a night of 8 hours of restful sleep.

Then there’s the other alarm clock. The one called the mom alarm clock. This internal alarm wakes you up at three minutes before the baby needs to be fed, or two minutes before your toddler wets the bed, or 8 minutes before your five year old wakes up with growing pains. Sometimes these alarms are all in the same night. The mom alarm clock results in a pure hatred of the real alarm clock that wakes you up at 7 am as the children are peacefully sleeping telling you to start your day.

Luckily I have some other time management tips under my cape to keep me on time and organized as a mother. Despite the internal mom alarm clock working against me at night, my children make it to their soccer games and birthday parties, usually with the present and cleats in the bag. Was that the blue bag or the red one?

About The Author

Kay McFarlane is the designer of the printable mom planner and owner of http://OrganizedFamilies.com. Her time management skills and humor help her make through each week as the busy mom of three children, contractor, student, and business owner. That same humors and skills are shared each week at her website for busy moms.

Article is copyrighted 2007. May be reporoduced with bio and link to website on Parenting and child friendly websites only.

Work at Home Moms: The Importance of Priority and Time Management

For work at home moms, twenty four hours a day is never enough. Juggling between children, family and your career or business is a delicate skill. It is important to remind ourselves that we stay at home to give the best care to our children. So trading your quality time with your children and family with your business or job is never an option. Moreover, what about time to ourselves? That is important too. Having so many things to take care of, to avoid burn out and over stress, we have to learn how to prioritize and manage our time.

In order to manage your time effectively, the first thing is to decide what your goals and priorities are. The next decision is managing your priorities efficiently. You can do this by determining what is more important to you. By listing the list of priorities starting from the most important, you can then analyze how much time you should spend on a particular task in life. Keeping a journal is very helpful to make a list of to-do tasks and an estimate how long you will spend on completing them. You should include activities such as working, sleeping, relaxing, exercising, learning as part of your list. You can then go on to evaluate the use of your time and determine the best schedule for making better use of it.

Next, after you have a working list of priorities, you need to match your available time to your list of priorities. While the time spent on each of the task at hand is important, you should also ask yourself if you are spending enough quality time on each task? A good example of this would be that if you are taking up part time courses, are you studying during your productive time or are you studying during a time which you can get easily distracted.

Here are some practical tips of using your time more effectively. Break down large tasks into smaller ones and tackling each individual part one at a time can ease the stress considerably than facing one huge task.

Get rid of routine tasks, if a task is done just out of routine instead of necessity then eliminate it if possible. Look at your habits to see if they could be changed, maybe you could do certain things different ways and save yourself some time in the process. Evaluate yourself to determine if you are a morning person or night person and organize tasks to use whatever time suits you best. Learn to say the word “no” when asked to do something for someone. Since we work from home, we are easily taken for granted that we are free to run errands for others. Be firm especially to those who know you cannot refuse them. It is alright to do favors once a while but remember your priority.

Last but not least, do not forget to give yourself "Me" time. This is the time you allocate for yourself. It does not need to be long, but just some personal time daily to do what you enjoy most. It may be having a relaxing bath, a facial at home, meditation, exercising or any activity which can help you relax and calm your mind. I find this "me" time very helpful in keeping me focus as well as minimize stress.

In conclusion, working from home is one of the best choice for any mothers who want to be at home for their children. However, time is often a constraint. Learn how to manage time effectively and you are on your way to be a successful work at home mom.

About The Author

Audrey Lynn is a stay at home mom who has been making a full time living online since 2 years ago. She is a full time blogger and affiliate marketer. She shares some insights on making money from home on her blog http://OnlineProfitsForMOms.com hoping to encourage more stay at home moms to get started online.

Get Ahead with Time Management

Print out this quick tip to get ahead with time management and try it for one week to see how it works for you. It can take less than five minutes for you to get ahead of your projects, your schedule and your competition.

Five Minutes in the Morning

Do it first thing in the morning, maybe as you are enjoying a cup of coffee or sitting at your desk and mentally preparing for your day. Get a notebook and pen ready. Do not get distracted by email or phone. Prepare to donate five minutes or less of your time to yourself. Go ahead, you are worth it.

Some people prefer to do this exercise at the end of each day and that is not a problem. I suggest doing this at the very beginning of each day because it sets the tone for the rest of your day. It is more effective to feel rushed by the desire to get started on your activities than to feel rushed by the distractions of what is really on your mind at the end of the day.

Your List of Things to Do Tomorrow

Many people find it effective to make a daily list of things to do today. It can be helpful in keeping track of important activities, meetings or chores that need to be completed. It also creates a feeling of accomplishment as items get checked off the list one by one. It is always nice to see progress.

Starting today, we are going to kick progress into the next gear. We are going to start thinking about what we need to accomplish tomorrow.

As you start each new day you will already have a list of things that you need to do today because you made it yesterday. You already have a jump start on your projects and your competition because you were already thinking about what you will do today. Furthermore, your mind had a chance to sort out some of the details on how you will accomplish your goals because you had time to think about them the day before.

As you make your list for tomorrow, you will be able to reflect on how your decisions and actions today will contribute to your activities and goals for tomorrow. If you are planning to complete some paperwork, presentation, or interaction tomorrow then you may be able to do some of the preliminary research, analysis or preparation today. Planning for tomorrow will change the way that you think about your priorities and how you invest the quiet moments of today.

Another important advantage of planning based on your list of things to do tomorrow is that many activities require collaboration with other individuals. By planning in advance, you can communicate and coordinate with other resources so those people can also plan and prepare accordingly.

Urgent or Important?

What is the difference between urgent and important? The urgent things are those milestones that must be complete by a scheduled deadline. The deadline may be today, tomorrow or several days in the future. Important things are milestones that have significant meaning. Important milestones may have an impact on business decisions, results or future activities. You know which items are urgent to complete and which ones are important to you, but do you allocate your time accordingly?

Review your list of 'Things to do Tomorrow' and annotate the items that are urgent or important. If something has an urgent deadline then write down the date and time that it must be completed next to the item on the list. If something is important then give it a rating. Some people use a rating scale of 1, 2 or 3. Some people prefer to use an asterisk or a star to identify an important task, adding more stars as the significance increases. The list and the rating belong to you, so mark it in the manner that has meaning to you.

Keep It in View

One common mistake of making a priority list is putting it out of the way once it is done. Some people will take the time to make a list and then close up the notebook or fold up the piece of paper and put it out of the way. Out of sight is out of mind.

Once you have started this process, you should have two lists at your fingertips every day. One is your list of things to do today, and the other is your list of things to do tomorrow. The most effective way to manage your lists is to keep them in a notebook or daily calendar and place it prominently on your desktop. The list contains the items that are urgent and important to you, so it should be in plain sight as a constant reminder and for easy reference.

Celebrate Accomplishment

How do you celebrate accomplishment? Check off each one of the milestone tasks as you get them done. Do you feel the sense of satisfaction? How can you reward yourself for keeping commitments that you have made on your list? Some people celebrate by taking a short walk from the desk to get some fresh air. Some people celebrate with a cup of coffee or a snack from the vending machine. Some important accomplishments deserve to be rewarded by a nice lunch or fancy dinner. Treat yourself with something special when you complete a commitment that you have made to yourself. Go on, don't be shy, you are worth it.

Another Way of Looking at It

Another way of looking at it is a style that combines the list of things to do today with the list of things to do tomorrow into one list for easy reference.

TODAY

To Do _________________ Urgent? ______ Important? ______

To Do _________________ Urgent? ______ Important? ______

To Do _________________ Urgent? ______ Important? ______

To Do _________________ Urgent? ______ Important? ______

TOMORROW

To Do _________________ Urgent? ______ Important? ______

To Do _________________ Urgent? ______ Important? ______

To Do _________________ Urgent? ______ Important? ______

To Do _________________ Urgent? ______ Important? ______

Give this a try for a week or two. When someone introduces the "issue de jour" because the sky is falling, and you are asked to jump though flaming hoops in three directions at once, then pause to reflect on your structured schedule of urgent and important milestones for today and tomorrow. How does the new issue of the day compare to the previously scheduled commitments? There is no need to panic. Simply prioritize your list of urgent and important activities, discuss your availability and schedule with those other individuals who may contribute or be affected by it.

____________________________

Words of Wisdom

"A schedule defends from chaos and whim."
- Annie Dillard

"One of the simple but genuine pleasures in life is getting up in the morning and hurrying to a mousetrap you set the night before."
- Kin Hubbard

"'Good Faith' implies mutual trust and commitment. Without mutual commitment, 'Good Faith' is really nothing more than 'Blind Faith'. Wander around blindly long enough and eventually you will step in something."
- John Mehrmann

"There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full."
- Henry Kissinger

About The Author

John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving business practices and developing human capital.

http://www.ExecutiveBlueprints.com

Monkey Management: 3 Simple Solutions to Reclaim Your Time, Focus, and Sanity

Do you ever feel like you are carrying the weight of a thousand people on your back? Somehow no matter how good you think you are at delegating it still feels like you have a thousand things to do. It’s a feeling many entrepreneurs, managers and business owners have. William Oncken, author of Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey, calls it “the monkey on your back.”

Here is how it happens.

With all good intentions, you have a conversation with your webmaster. You lay out all the steps necessary to get the website up. You identify when it needs to be done by. The next thing you know, the date comes and goes and the website project isn’t done. What happened?

As you discuss with your webmaster why it wasn’t done, he tells you he is waiting on the auto-responders for your website opt-in page. In your mind, you never heard that you were going to have to create these auto-responders. Now you have another urgent, unplanned task on your desk.

Bahm! A monkey just got planted on your back.

Then you have a meeting with your marketing consultant. You receive a list of issues that must be handled before she can move forward with your marketing plans. You truly thought that these were things she had committed to taking care of but now she says they are your responsibilities.

Wham! Another monkey landed on your back. No wonder you feel so weighted down.

If you find that tasks, projects and deliverables that you delegate to other people don’t get accomplished and somehow end up back in your lap to complete, then you have a monkey management challenge.

A monkey is any idea, opportunity or task that when you try to delegate it lands on your back. Typically it happens when a project gets stalled because the other person doesn’t have the authority or knowledge to solve the problem.

You probably have a Monkey Management problem if you find yourself trying to delegate but say things like:

* Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it (or I’ll handle it.)

* If you have problems, just give me a call.

* If you can’t do it I’ll figure out how to get it done.

* You don’t have time? OK, well I can knock it out pretty fast.

* I’ll find someone to do it for you.

Monkey Management is by far one of the great reasons entrepreneurs get overwhelmed! And with good reason too. Here you think that you’ve successfully delegated but somehow that monkey ends up on your back.How do you solve the Monkey Management challenge? As a recovering Monkey Manager, I’ve got three simple solutions for you.

1. Make sure that the person you are delegating to understands how much authority and autonomy they have in completing the task. Do they need to check with you or can they use discretion to complete on their own?

2. Determine a specific date to get a check in on the status of the project. If there is no “deadline” to communicate progress, other projects will somehow become more important.

3. Never hand off a task without a complete and thorough plan of how the project or task will be accomplished. Be sure to check for knowledge, resources and time availability by the person assigned to the project.

Now imagine what your life and business will be like when you hand off a project to someone and can feel confident that the monkey won’t land on your back again. Now you can really get on the fast-track!

About The Author

Melanie Benson Strick, The Entrepreneur’s Success Coach, teaches entrepreneurs how to stop feeling overwhelmed so they can create more money, more freedom and more prestige.

If you’re ready to stop working in your business and start working on your business, go to http://www.virtualteambuildingsecrets.com to learn the secret to growing your company to a six and seven-figure success without employees or a 90-hour work week!