Peace Of Mind At The Workplace

Work brings together people of different characters and behavior, and this often causes friction, resentment and stress. Sometimes the boss is too demanding, colleagues may be unpleasant, there might be too much work or the working conditions may not be comfortable. The job may be boring, there might be competition or envy between the workers or the customers may be uncongenial or unfriendly. No wonder there is tension and stress.

These are some of the reasons why most people eagerly wait for their vacation. Their vacation provides them a way to get out of their daily life and find some peace. The good news is that you do not have to wait for your vacation. You can learn to gain inner peace and enjoy every moment, right where you are. You can stop fretting and getting tense. You can experience peace of mind and happiness wherever you are. When your mind is peaceful, the whole environment become peaceful.

Now you probably wonder what you can do to make this come true. I am not going to talk here about meditation, though this is one of the best peace of mind tools. Below you will find some simple and easy to perform tips and suggestions to experience inner peace at your workplace.

You may not succeed at the first attempts, but if you keep on performing these suggestions earnestly, you will gradually begin to experience peace of mind. This peace will not only by inside you. It will spill over and influence your whole environment.

1) If the people you meet talk in a loud voice, are impolite and tense, you will probably react and behave accordingly, hereby raising the level of tension. On the other hand, if you stay calm, talk, act and react peacefully, people unconsciously emulate your behavior. You become a leading power, no matter what is your position at work.

2) Each day before you enter your workplace, repeat several times the following affirmation:

"My mind is peaceful throughout the whole day. I radiate peace around me. I talk peacefully, politely and with a smile. I choose to act peacefully".

Say the affirmation with attention, faith and emotion.

3) Greet the people you meet at work.

4) Whenever you feel tension or anger building in you, take three deep slow breathes before any talking or action.

5) Become conscious of the words you think, say or write. Use only positive words.

6) Be polite.

7) Whenever you find yourself raising your voice, immediately lower it.

8) Talk in a medium pitch voice, not too loud or too low, and don't let the loudness or pitch of other people's voices influence yours.

9) Several times during your workday find a quiet place. It may be at your desk, or if it is not quiet enough there, it can be at the bathroom, an empty room or some other quiet spot. For several moments visualize a beautiful location that you love or some event that made you happy. Feel that you are there and enjoy the feelings that arise.

10) While working, concentrate on what you are doing. Put there your full attention. This will keep your mind off disturbing thoughts.

11) Don't waste your time and energy analyzing and thinking about people's motives and behavior, but rather try to improve your actions.

12) Before speaking with someone whom you dislike or fear, or someone who makes you feel tense or angry, take a few deep breathes and visualize the two of you conversing peacefully and harmoniously.

? Copyright Remez Sasson

Remez Sasson writes and teaches about self-improvement, positive thinking, creative visualization, success, mind power, spiritual growth and meditation. He is the author of several books, and the publisher of the biweekly ezine, "Consciousness and Success".

Visit his website: <a target="_new" href="http://www.SuccessConsciousness.com">http://www.SuccessConsciousness.com</a> and find articles, quotes and ebooks.

Put a Couple of Elephants on Your Plate

How do you eat two elephants? The same way you would eat one; one bite at a time. Monstrous tasks often appear to be complex and overwhelming. That's why it's so very important to isolate the parts from the whole. Break your elephant-sized project into several smaller tasks. Identify one area and cut it down to size. Lather, rinse, and eat. The key is to begin! It doesn't matter if you have or elephants on your agenda. Put one of them on your plate today. Target one part, and start!

Every one on us-including the most seasoned trainer-can benefit from a review of the basic principles for effectively conquering even the most monstrous task on our agenda. However, doing so requires following specific steps. The first step is to commit to the completion of your project. Two, identify and secure the tools and resources you will need. And three, write down the time and day you expect to have your project completed. Many people know what they need to achieve, but they fail to take these preliminary steps. Simply taking these steps will increase your efficiency, accelerate your success and get it all done, sooner.

Create Your Own Systems for Success

A great time to go to work on your task is?during your peak period of productivity. Critical is identifying or creating new systems for your success. For example, when approaching piles of paper, separate and shred on Tuesday, file and process on Wednesday, and repeat until you're finished. Give yourself permission to ask for help when tackling large tasks. Have a "dinner party" with the perfect ambiance and double your efficiency. Make sure your environment is climate-controlled and the appropriate amount of light. Remember, your life is full of distractions, don't allow the phone, doorbell, uninvited guests or disempowering thoughts to interrupt your "meal."

Challenge Yourself

Challenge yourself to take 20 "bites" or more every day until you complete your task. Competing against yourself can actually make your project fun. Feeling a bit full after just a few bites? Take a 10 - 15 minute break to digest. Go for a walk, check in with a loved one or read a magazine. Then, pull up your sleeves and go right back to the table.

Begin Today

Take the thirty or more minutes you would normally spend watching TV, and put an elephant or two on your plate, today. Dig in! You'll not only produce greater personal and professional results, you'll take a bite out of wasted time.

Fran Briggs is President of the Fran Briggs Companies, an organization that helps people maximize their human potential. For time management and innovative success tools. Visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.franbriggs.com">http://www.franbriggs.com</a> and sign up for your free successzine. It's loaded with innovative tips and strategies for success.

Creating A Not-To-Do List

When I sit down with a client to work on prioritizing and delegating, the biggest challenge we face is deciding what kinds of activities and responsibilities to give up. Quite often, we get so entrenched in what we think we SHOULD be doing, that we forget to pay attention to what we ENJOY doing. So when it comes time to let go of the boring, tedious, and time-consuming tasks that eat up our day, we have a struggle trying to identify them.

It is incredibly difficult for people to admit that they can't do everything themselves. Well guess what -- you can't! And I don't know that you would want to, even if you had the time. Some activities in life are unpleasant, outside of your range of expertise, or just not what you want to spend your time on. And there is nothing wrong with admitting that you don't want to do something, as long as you can find someone else to do it for you. That is the purpose behind creating a not-to-do list -- helping you identify chores, errands, and daily responsibilities that you can (and should) delegate to another person.

GETTING STARTED

They key to creating a successful "not-to-do" list is awareness -- paying attention to what you do, how long it takes, how often you do it, and whether or not you get some benefit from that particular activity. However, we spend so much of our days on autopilot and in a state of overload, that simply trying to recall how you spent yesterday morning can be a real challenge! You will make things much easier if you keep a NOTEPAD nearby, where you can record your daily activities.

This doesn't mean that you have to log every second of your day ("8:00 -- got up" / "8:05 to 8:10 -- used bathroom" / "8:15 to 8:45 -- had breakfast" isn't really going to help you be more effective and efficient!) But if you can start tracking your work activities (could be paid outside work or housework or whatever fills your day), your travel time to and from activities, and any other external responsibilities (committee meetings, carpools, volunteering), you will begin to see places where you can trim and tighten your schedule through delegation.

So as you sit at your desk or work in your house or travel in your car, make a note of what you are doing -- such as "checking e-mails" or "cleaning oven" or "buying groceries." Then, estimate how much time you have spent on that particular chore or errand (don't forget travel and preparation time). We will continue on later with some in-depth questions about whether this action needs to be done at all (!!) and whether it needs to be done by you. But for now, that's the start of your "not-to-do" list.

HOW MUCH IS YOUR TIME IS WORTH?

When you were a kid, you probably had no clue what it took to earn money -- and you had no qualms about spending it freely on anything that caught your eye. But when you got an after-school job or started working for your allowance, you became a lot more discriminating about where you spent your hard-earned cash.

It's the same with time. Very few people in our society really know what their time is worth -- in concrete financial terms. But until you recognize that your time is intrinsically valuable, you will never be able to make informed decisions about where your time is best spent. Here's a general guide you can use in determining how much an hour of your time is worth, and how just one hour a day -- spent poorly or wisely -- adds up over a year's time:

INCOME.........ONE HOUR......IN A YEAR

$25,000.........$12.61.........$3,125

$40,000.........$20.49.........$5,000

$50,000.........$25.61.........$6,250

$75,000.........$38.42.........$9,375

$100,000........$51.23.........$12,500

$125,000........$65.10.........$15,884

$150,000........$76.84.........$18,750

$175,000........$89.65.........$21,875

$200,000........$102.46.........$25,000

$250,000........$128.07.........$31,250

$300,000........$153.69.........$37,500

** Based on 244 working days per year

So, you can always look at delegating in terms of the biggest financial payoff. When I hire someone to take care of an item on my not-to-do list -- and I pay them $25 an hour while my hour is worth $60 -- I'm coming out ahead. The same is true when I can hire someone to do a task in a half hour that would take me 3 to complete. I can be focusing on higher priorities -- things that feed my soul or grow my business or let me know I'm alive -- without worrying that the work isn't being done.

LOOK AT COSTS VERSUS BENEFITS

Have you ever caught yourself spending a lot of time on a very low-payoff activity? Maybe it's something that really does need to be done -- like addressing 1500 envelopes for a routine mass mailing or cleaning all of the window screens in your house -- but it's not something that is going to tremendously improve your quality of life. And it might be a hugely time-consuming activity, where the rewards you will reap don't even begin to compare to your investment of time and energy.

Most of these kinds of low-payoff jobs really serve as maintenance. The completion of these small activities doesn't make a major impact on your life -- but if left undone, they can erode away at your home, your career, your health, your peace of mind and cause serious problems down the road. That makes these chores perfect candidates for your "not-to-do" list -- items that really need to be done, but not necessarily by YOU. Here are some of the most common suggestions I hear from my clients -- see which resonate with you as being potentially delegable:

- house cleaning

- grocery shopping / meal preparation

- paperwork (filing / mailings / organizing)

- errand-running

- yard work / landscaping

- home maintenance / car maintenance

- follow-up with clients (phone calls / e-mails)

- travel / meeting / event arrangements

ARE YOU HAVING FUN?

Of course, you have to pay attention to more than just the financial cost of each task you perform yourself. You also have to ask if you really enjoy the work. Even though I could probably find someone else to maintain my website for me, I really enjoy the process of creating new pages, bringing ideas to life, and watching my "baby" blossom and grow. It is time consuming, but I'm filled with a renewed energy each time I sit down to add a new section to my site. So the payoff for me is in the emotional charge I get -- the sense of satisfaction and creativity -- and that is priceless, regardless of what my hour is worth.

On the other hand, my sister loves gardening. She finds it incredibly relaxing to dig in the dirt and watch a tiny bud explode into color in her front yard. Now lawn care is pretty much my idea of hell -- so I would probably hire someone else to take care of my shrubbery and flowers (if I had a yard!) It's all a matter of what energizes you, what fills your life with joy, and what you look forward to doing. If an activity fits this description, keep it for yourself and find other less-pleasurable chores to include on your not-to-do list.

IS THIS THE BEST POSSIBLE USE OF YOUR TIME?

The final question I always ask my clients when setting up their lists is, "What is the best possible use of your time at this exact moment?" We usually tend to focus too much on the daily grind -- paying bills, keeping the house clean, writing reports, etc. -- and too little on our real PRIORITIES. Do you really need to be organizing the garage, or spending time with your kids at the park? Is it a higher priority that you decide where to put the coffee pot and how to arrange the chairs at the upcoming sales meeting, or that you develop a strong agenda and provide guidance during the group discussion? Ask yourself where you will get the biggest bang for your buck. That should be where you focus your attention, and let someone else handle the rest.

FINDING AN ALTERNATIVE

Okay, so you've made a list of items that you would love to delegate -- who do you hand them off to? You have so many options!

- Get your family involved in the act -- kids and spouses are just as capable of handling those daily chores as you are!

- Ask a co-worker for some assistance -- and offer to help out the next time he or she needs a little bit of a break

- Make use of your support staff (administrative clerks, assistants, and other assorted minions) -- that's what they are there for

- Hire an independent contractor or freelancer to help with household and business tasks that you don't have time for

- Develop a local co-op for sharing those time-consuming domestic (trading off on cooking, cleaning, errand-running, or child care) -- or set up an informal swap with a neighbor

Just remember, you aren't in it alone. You simply have to decide what you want to delegate and then be willing to ask for help. Good luck!

Ramona Creel is a Professional Organizer and the founder of OnlineOrganizing.com -- a web-based one-stop shop offering everything that you need to get organized at home or at work. At OnlineOrganizing.com, you may get a referral to an organizer near you, shop for the latest organizing products, get tons of free tips, and even learn how to become a professional organizer or build your existing organizing business. And if you would like to read more articles about organizing your life or building your business, get a free subscription to the "Get Organized" and "Organized For A Living" newsletters. Please visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.OnlineOrganizing.com">http://www.OnlineOrganizing.com</a> or contact Ramona directly at <a href="mailto:ramona@onlineorganizing.com">ramona@onlineorganizing.com</a> for more information.

Creating A Not-To-Do List

When I sit down with a client to work on prioritizing and delegating, the biggest challenge we face is deciding what kinds of activities and responsibilities to give up. Quite often, we get so entrenched in what we think we SHOULD be doing, that we forget to pay attention to what we ENJOY doing. So when it comes time to let go of the boring, tedious, and time-consuming tasks that eat up our day, we have a struggle trying to identify them.

It is incredibly difficult for people to admit that they can't do everything themselves. Well guess what -- you can't! And I don't know that you would want to, even if you had the time. Some activities in life are unpleasant, outside of your range of expertise, or just not what you want to spend your time on. And there is nothing wrong with admitting that you don't want to do something, as long as you can find someone else to do it for you. That is the purpose behind creating a not-to-do list -- helping you identify chores, errands, and daily responsibilities that you can (and should) delegate to another person.

GETTING STARTED

They key to creating a successful "not-to-do" list is awareness -- paying attention to what you do, how long it takes, how often you do it, and whether or not you get some benefit from that particular activity. However, we spend so much of our days on autopilot and in a state of overload, that simply trying to recall how you spent yesterday morning can be a real challenge! You will make things much easier if you keep a NOTEPAD nearby, where you can record your daily activities.

This doesn't mean that you have to log every second of your day ("8:00 -- got up" / "8:05 to 8:10 -- used bathroom" / "8:15 to 8:45 -- had breakfast" isn't really going to help you be more effective and efficient!) But if you can start tracking your work activities (could be paid outside work or housework or whatever fills your day), your travel time to and from activities, and any other external responsibilities (committee meetings, carpools, volunteering), you will begin to see places where you can trim and tighten your schedule through delegation.

So as you sit at your desk or work in your house or travel in your car, make a note of what you are doing -- such as "checking e-mails" or "cleaning oven" or "buying groceries." Then, estimate how much time you have spent on that particular chore or errand (don't forget travel and preparation time). We will continue on later with some in-depth questions about whether this action needs to be done at all (!!) and whether it needs to be done by you. But for now, that's the start of your "not-to-do" list.

HOW MUCH IS YOUR TIME IS WORTH?

When you were a kid, you probably had no clue what it took to earn money -- and you had no qualms about spending it freely on anything that caught your eye. But when you got an after-school job or started working for your allowance, you became a lot more discriminating about where you spent your hard-earned cash.

It's the same with time. Very few people in our society really know what their time is worth -- in concrete financial terms. But until you recognize that your time is intrinsically valuable, you will never be able to make informed decisions about where your time is best spent. Here's a general guide you can use in determining how much an hour of your time is worth, and how just one hour a day -- spent poorly or wisely -- adds up over a year's time:

INCOME.........ONE HOUR......IN A YEAR

$25,000.........$12.61.........$3,125

$40,000.........$20.49.........$5,000

$50,000.........$25.61.........$6,250

$75,000.........$38.42.........$9,375

$100,000........$51.23.........$12,500

$125,000........$65.10.........$15,884

$150,000........$76.84.........$18,750

$175,000........$89.65.........$21,875

$200,000........$102.46.........$25,000

$250,000........$128.07.........$31,250

$300,000........$153.69.........$37,500

** Based on 244 working days per year

So, you can always look at delegating in terms of the biggest financial payoff. When I hire someone to take care of an item on my not-to-do list -- and I pay them $25 an hour while my hour is worth $60 -- I'm coming out ahead. The same is true when I can hire someone to do a task in a half hour that would take me 3 to complete. I can be focusing on higher priorities -- things that feed my soul or grow my business or let me know I'm alive -- without worrying that the work isn't being done.

LOOK AT COSTS VERSUS BENEFITS

Have you ever caught yourself spending a lot of time on a very low-payoff activity? Maybe it's something that really does need to be done -- like addressing 1500 envelopes for a routine mass mailing or cleaning all of the window screens in your house -- but it's not something that is going to tremendously improve your quality of life. And it might be a hugely time-consuming activity, where the rewards you will reap don't even begin to compare to your investment of time and energy.

Most of these kinds of low-payoff jobs really serve as maintenance. The completion of these small activities doesn't make a major impact on your life -- but if left undone, they can erode away at your home, your career, your health, your peace of mind and cause serious problems down the road. That makes these chores perfect candidates for your "not-to-do" list -- items that really need to be done, but not necessarily by YOU. Here are some of the most common suggestions I hear from my clients -- see which resonate with you as being potentially delegable:

- house cleaning

- grocery shopping / meal preparation

- paperwork (filing / mailings / organizing)

- errand-running

- yard work / landscaping

- home maintenance / car maintenance

- follow-up with clients (phone calls / e-mails)

- travel / meeting / event arrangements

ARE YOU HAVING FUN?

Of course, you have to pay attention to more than just the financial cost of each task you perform yourself. You also have to ask if you really enjoy the work. Even though I could probably find someone else to maintain my website for me, I really enjoy the process of creating new pages, bringing ideas to life, and watching my "baby" blossom and grow. It is time consuming, but I'm filled with a renewed energy each time I sit down to add a new section to my site. So the payoff for me is in the emotional charge I get -- the sense of satisfaction and creativity -- and that is priceless, regardless of what my hour is worth.

On the other hand, my sister loves gardening. She finds it incredibly relaxing to dig in the dirt and watch a tiny bud explode into color in her front yard. Now lawn care is pretty much my idea of hell -- so I would probably hire someone else to take care of my shrubbery and flowers (if I had a yard!) It's all a matter of what energizes you, what fills your life with joy, and what you look forward to doing. If an activity fits this description, keep it for yourself and find other less-pleasurable chores to include on your not-to-do list.

IS THIS THE BEST POSSIBLE USE OF YOUR TIME?

The final question I always ask my clients when setting up their lists is, "What is the best possible use of your time at this exact moment?" We usually tend to focus too much on the daily grind -- paying bills, keeping the house clean, writing reports, etc. -- and too little on our real PRIORITIES. Do you really need to be organizing the garage, or spending time with your kids at the park? Is it a higher priority that you decide where to put the coffee pot and how to arrange the chairs at the upcoming sales meeting, or that you develop a strong agenda and provide guidance during the group discussion? Ask yourself where you will get the biggest bang for your buck. That should be where you focus your attention, and let someone else handle the rest.

FINDING AN ALTERNATIVE

Okay, so you've made a list of items that you would love to delegate -- who do you hand them off to? You have so many options!

- Get your family involved in the act -- kids and spouses are just as capable of handling those daily chores as you are!

- Ask a co-worker for some assistance -- and offer to help out the next time he or she needs a little bit of a break

- Make use of your support staff (administrative clerks, assistants, and other assorted minions) -- that's what they are there for

- Hire an independent contractor or freelancer to help with household and business tasks that you don't have time for

- Develop a local co-op for sharing those time-consuming domestic (trading off on cooking, cleaning, errand-running, or child care) -- or set up an informal swap with a neighbor

Just remember, you aren't in it alone. You simply have to decide what you want to delegate and then be willing to ask for help. Good luck!

Ramona Creel is a Professional Organizer and the founder of OnlineOrganizing.com -- a web-based one-stop shop offering everything that you need to get organized at home or at work. At OnlineOrganizing.com, you may get a referral to an organizer near you, shop for the latest organizing products, get tons of free tips, and even learn how to become a professional organizer or build your existing organizing business. And if you would like to read more articles about organizing your life or building your business, get a free subscription to the "Get Organized" and "Organized For A Living" newsletters. Please visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.OnlineOrganizing.com">http://www.OnlineOrganizing.com</a> or contact Ramona directly at <a href="mailto:ramona@onlineorganizing.com">ramona@onlineorganizing.com</a> for more information.

Talkin About Chicken

Yesterday, I'd just gotten comfortable at my favorite table in my neighborhood Starbucks when I noticed two 70-somethings seated at the table next to me. Although they sat mere inches from one another, they communicated as if they were standing on opposite ends of a dark mountain tunnel.

"I'M WILLING TO GO FAR FOR GOOD CHICKEN," bellowed the gentleman in yellow pants on the left.

"YOU DO LOVE YOUR CHICKEN," agreed his companion, a man whose enormous black glasses made him look like a political cartoon.

I smiled at the poultry lover in a subtle I-like-chicken-too kind of way. Then I removed a fresh yellow highlighter from my pocket, took a sip of my latte, and began to read through the folder of interview notes I'd brought with me. I read one sentence before my concentration was interrupted.

"KNOW WHO HAS SURPRISINGLY GOOD CHICKEN?" queried the man with the glasses.

"WHO?" asked Yellow Pants eagerly.

"RED LOBSTER."

"RED LOBSTER???"

"SWEAR TO GOD."

Yellow Pants couldn't accept this information. He did, however, agree the shrimp platter was second to none. Yellow Pants then went on to explain, in stupefying detail, the exact location of every good chicken restaurant within ninety miles of the Denver metropolitan area.

I put down my highlighter and began drumming my fingers on the table wondering how long the chicken chatter would continue. I looked around and noticed two men in dark suits sitting at a table on my right. They were tapping into their Palm Pilots, jotting notes onto a legal pad, and strategizing about an upcoming sales meeting. They were doing exactly what people are supposed to be doing at Starbucks: working.

As I listened to the older gentlemen on my left and the salesmen on my right it dawned on me that the biggest difference between retirement and the working years is the ability -- and desire -- to talk about chicken. At length. I wish I had time to think about chicken, I mutter to myself as I jam my folder into my briefcase and head off in search of a quieter table. But I'm busy. I have deadlines. I have to multitask whenever possible. Even my idle time is filled with projects and purpose.

Take running, for example. When I go for a run, instead of admiring the daffodils that are starting to push through the hard-packed winter dirt, I try to generate new story ideas and make sure I keep my heart rate at 70% of maximum for at least 25 minutes.

When I go to the dentist, instead of wasting time in the waiting room by reading about the latest celebrity breakup, I compare the allocation of my stock portfolio against the allocations suggested in Money magazine. No sense wasting a good 20 minutes.

I'm not like this person I know who just converted to part-time and now leaves work at one o'clock everyday to work on his golf game. If I took off at one o'clock, I'd expect myself to write a novel. Or learn Japanese. By dinner.

I didn't realize how bad this constant do-think-plan mentality was until last night when I found myself alone in a restaurant waiting for a friend. I didn't have a notebook so I couldn't jot notes or plan the next day's activities. I didn't have a cell phone so I couldn't check voice mail or leave impressive after-hours messages for my editors. I hadn't even brought a report or magazine to read.

So, I read the menu. Four times. I looked out the window. I read the menu again. I asked for a glass of water. I read the menu again. I checked my watch. I started to sweat and within the space of minutes, I'd wrapped my arms around my waist and begun to take deep sucking breaths like a drug addict curled in a darkened corner of an abandoned warehouse.

By the time my friend arrived fifteen minutes later I was utterly disconsolate. Not because she was late but because I'd been forced to spend fifteen minutes -- 900 whole seconds -- idle and alone with my thoughts. There were things I could have been doing, should have been doing. But I went to the restaurant unprepared. The time had been wasted.

After I explained my dismay to my friend -- who was not nearly as apologetic for her tardiness as I thought she should have been -- she looked at me and asked, gently, "Why did you think you had to do anything? Quiet time is good thing, you know."

And then it dawned on me. The ability to cogitate on things like chicken and Red Lobster are not a side effect of one's employment status; they are a function of one's perspective. My friend was right: idle time is not wasted time. Taking time out, even for 15 minutes, allows you to reflect on your life, generate new ideas and appreciate things like chicken and the many ways it can be cooked and how many other animals, when cooked, taste like chicken. It's why people take vacations and have Sundays off and why there are wonderful things in the world like books and plays and champagne and hiking trails. Idle time may not be good for our careers, but it's essential to our souls.

So here's my challenge: for the next week try to take time every day to be alone with your thoughts. Hide your to-do list. Turn off the radio in your car. Look at the clouds. Go to bed a half-hour earlier without a book. Do something because, well, just because. Then, when you've figured out how to be idle -- how to do or think or talk about anything that pleases you even for a brief amount of time every day -- let me know how it goes. I'll be with the two old guys at this great new chicken restaurant down the street.

Copyright, 2005, Shari Caudron.

Shari Caudron is an award-winning columnist, writing coach, and author of &quot;What Really Happened,&quot; a collection of humorous stories about the lessons life teaches you when you least expect it. Shari regularly delivers speeches to women's groups about how to transform ordinary experiences into opportunities for personal growth. Website: <a target="_new" href="http://www.sharicaudron.com">http://www.sharicaudron.com</a> E-mail: <a href="mailto:shari@sharicaudron.com">shari@sharicaudron.com</a>

Time Management -- Urgent vs. Important

&quot;It's just been one of those days?I can't seem to get anything done! I've got way too many things on my &quot;To-Do List&quot;. Oh the list started out innocently enough as a single handwritten column on one sheet of lined paper; but now it's grown to a three-column table in a spreadsheet software program! I get no satisfaction from checking off each item as I finish it. For each task I complete, at least two more are added. I began my work day at 6:30 AM with grandiose plans of completing a special project before Noon. Now it's 16 hours later (10:30 PM) and I still have not finished the project. My anxiety and frustration are mounting. Tomorrow's list has already been written and it does not include the things left undone from today's list! I don't know if I'm going to make it through the week with all of the demands upon my time and energy. I need help?quickly!

A Juggling Act

I wrote the above entry in my journal several days ago. What a day that was! How about you?been there lately?

Life can be such a juggling act. Like professional jugglers, we try to keep 5 or 6 balls moving through the air at the same time. But unlike professional jugglers, we rarely succeed.

Everyone is so busy these days. Work is performed at a frantic pace and people are in such a hurry. There is an air of impatience and intolerance-a lot of frenetic darting to and fro that is almost out of control. It's very difficult to keep your priorities in line when life is so fast paced. But the negative consequences of so much activity-stress, damaged or broken relationships, poor health---can wreak more havoc than what we think we will gain.

The Urgent

I tried for years to use a paper-based time management system with columns similar to this: &quot;Must Do?Need to Do...Like to Do&quot;. I'm sure you've used something like this (maybe even now). The problem I encountered was that I never seemed to get around to doing much in the &quot;Like to Do&quot; column, which was very discouraging. The &quot;Must Do and Need to Do&quot; items consumed all of my time.

So I switched to a simpler paper-based system with the following columns, &quot;Urgent&quot; and &quot;Important&quot;. Now, I was sure to spend my time wisely. Unfortunately, I found out that the urgent things monopolized my time and pushed the important things to the back-burner.

Here are three examples of &quot;The Urgent&quot;:

<ul> <li>Pressing or burning imperatives that must be completed immediately.</li>

<li>Critical or vital tasks that someone else insists be performed without delay.</li>

<li>Unrelenting and persistent routine demands on your time.</li> </ul>

The Important

&quot;The Urgent&quot; often masquerades as &quot;The Important&quot;. However, not everything we do is important. To identify what's important to you requires that you answer three questions:

<li>Will the activity I am about to participate in make a significant and lasting positive impact on others?</li>

<li>Is what I am about to do an unselfish act that will bring happiness or joy to others?</li>

<li>Do my actions and activities promote balance in my life or are they all-consuming?</li>

The Bottom Line

Identifying &quot;The Important&quot; requires focus-a concentration of energy, effort, and thought. &quot;The Important&quot; is where you should spend most of your time. Now, before you send me screaming emails, I don't mean that you shouldn't address &quot;The Urgent&quot;. Instead, consider the following:

Focus on &quot;The Important&quot;!

Priority is the key to managing &quot;The Urgent&quot; and focusing on &quot;The Important&quot;. Before you leap to complete a task, take a few moments to think about its true priority. Does it need to be done right at this moment, or is there something else on your list that should come first?

While others may demand that everything on your To-Do List must be done immediately, you and only you can really determine what should be done first, second, third, etc. (It's not possible to do everything at once; priority must be given to each item).

Today, I've taken a dose of my own medicine and committed to focusing on &quot;The Important&quot;. So far, I've accomplished at least one thing that will have a significant and positive impact on others-finishing this article.

Althea DeBrule, entrepreneur and seasoned human resources executive, has focused for more than 30 years on helping people achieve their career goals. Creator of The Extreme-Career-Makeover? and a founding partner of RADSGroup Organizational Consultants, she is recognized for her bottom line and practical application of career development and management strategies in a way that penetrates hearts and compels action. She speaks and teaches with inspired talent, humor and contagious zeal at management conferences and leadership retreats nationwide, and has been featured in CFO Magazine, Strategy@Work, Human Resource Executive Magazine. Althea is the author of Bosses & Orchards, a compelling and candid book about how to make your work relationship with your boss succeed.

To discover how you can take your career to a new level, visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.extreme-career-makeover.com/">http://www.extreme-career-makeover.com/</a>

Linking Purpose To Everyday Behaviors

How do you know what's the best use of your time right now?

Link your daily behavior to your purpose.

You'll make better choices and see the value in seemingly insignificant or trivial tasks. It keeps you focused on doing what needs to be done to get what you say you want.

It's one thing to say what you want, to choose projects that will get you what you want, and set goals that will achieve those projects. But, you still have to do the work. You still have to pay the price by just doing it.

Linking your purpose to your daily behaviors underlines the responsibility and the discipline you need to complete your projects.

Having an overall objective and doing what needs to be done gets priority. You can make your choices about what you are doing consciously, knowing that every little bit helps.

For example, one of your projects in support of your purpose of a successful one-person business may be getting a web site to promote your business.

Choosing to bring your lunch rather than spending eight dollars at the caf? every day is obviously the right choice. By doing the math, you quickly see you'll save about $150 a month on lunch. Putting that money aside will get you your new web site that much faster.

It's the little things done consistently and persistently that make the huge difference in achieving our projects, whatever our projects are.

Even with marketing and sales. New behavioral research has shown smaller tasks done more often are more effective in reaching your goals than larger projects done less frequently. Even if a larger project puts you in front of more people, it still isn't as effective as more frequent, smaller contacts.

Build in momentum sustainers. If you're like most people you start out a new project enthusiastically, and then lose track of it in the bustle of all your other obligations.

By building in appointments with people to check in with, and appointments with yourself for review, you force yourself to be accountable. You might want to set up weekly goals for yourself, or make an agreement to accomplish specific tasks by your next check in date.

Additional techniques for linking daily behaviors and long-term projects include:

<ul>

<li>Remind yourself what to do to support your purpose. Put up reminder notes around your house to keep your purpose front and center.

<li>Figure out how long specific tasks take so you won't skip out by telling yourself it takes too long or you don't have the energy. At one point I decided I would get more serious about keeping up my database. I had told myself it was too big a hassle to do and I would wait until I had a lot and then find someone to do it for me. I was embarrassed to discover entering new contacts weekly actually took fifteen to twenty minutes.

<li>Use lost, or fiddle time, to punch a hole in a bigger project. I always take work with me when I go on appointments. I can read an article, review my appointments for the next day, make a quick call on my cell phone in those times that would other wise be wasted.

<li>Build in an artificial deadline and put yourself on a schedule. Play a game with yourself, and even reward yourself, for being a good kid when you've done one of those necessary but not fun little jobs.

<li>Give yourself credit for what you have done and the hassles and work it was to accomplish it. I live in a wonderful town. When I tell people where I live, their reaction is usually "You're so lucky to get to live there." Luck had nothing to do with it. It's part of a project I have in giving myself the business and life style I want.

</ul>

(c) 2004, Pat Wilklund. All rights in all media reserved.

About The Author

Business coach Pat Wiklund works with entrepreneurs who want to make and keep more money from their businesses. Assess your one-person business with her free business tune up ecourse: <a href="mailto:pat3-32222@autocontractor.com">pat3-32222@autocontractor.com</a>.

Contact Pat at <a href="mailto:pat@leadinganorganizationofone.com">pat@leadinganorganizationofone.com</a>.