Blog Entries tagged 'get things done'

Reduce your personal stress

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

According to a report that I was reading recently, one in every three adults suffers from moderate to high levels of personal stress. With so much bad news in the papers and on television, uncertainty about the economy and the pressure of daily life, is it any wonder more of us are feeling stressed.

Every year nearly something close to 50,000 Australians are admitted to hospital due to stress-related disorders.Stress requires more people to take time off work than any other health conditi [...]

Get that monkey off your back!

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Whether you’re the CEO of a multi-million dollar business, a manager of a large team, a supervisor or a hard working employee, chances are there’s someone in your working life who will try to load extra things onto you. These ‘extra tasks’ are often called the ‘monkey on our back’.

Even in your family or personal friendships you can probably think of people who are good at trying to throw monkeys onto your back!

Meet the monkey!
Monkeys [...]

Managing time while commuting

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Do you ever sit in traffic on the way to work listening to the radio, only to be bored by a over-the-top DJ rambling on about something stupid? Or maybe you find yourself staring out of the window of a train or bus wishing it would hurry up so that you can get to the million and one things you need to do today?

According to some interesting statistics that I was reading recently, the average worker spends at least an hour a day travelling to and from work, with some people spending mor [...]

Learn to say �no�

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Do you ever find it hard saying “no” to colleagues? Sometimes saying “yes” seems like the easier option, however by saying “yes” to extra work, you could be setting yourself up for added stress and possible failure. There are only so many hours in your day and you can only get so much work done. Saying “yes” when you mean “no” can be dangerous. Who would have thought that “yes”, that little three-letter word could cause s [...]

Do you use a spiral notebook?

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

You are on the phone talking to a customer when your manager walks into your work area. He needs you to do something for him. Now the fun starts as you desperately start searching for a piece of paper to start scratching down notes. In my travels I am always amazed when I observe so many managers and employees still using paper scraps and sticky notes to write down important information.

I suspect the ‘hunting and pecking’ for something to write on is a common scene in so m [...]

How to hold effective meetings

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

“A meeting is an event where minutes
are taken and hours wasted.”
James T. Kirk

Somebody recently said to me, “I used to dread every second Thursday at work. That’s because it signalled the torture of our staff progress meetings”. They went on to say, “Those two hours each fortnight were physically challenging and mentally draining. If I wasn’t nodding off , I would [...]

Is your desk a war zone?

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Do you ever feel like your work area is being bombarded by files and folders, surrounded by sticky-notes or getting pummelled by overflowing in-boxes and in-trays?

Will you wave the white flag of defeat or are you ready to take on a messy desk in some serious hand-to-hand combat?

A recent study in the office habits of workers and the associated costs to companies conducted by the Butler Group stated that employees are suffering from both information overload and information unde [...]

Be flexible. Things can change

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Contrary to popular opinion, good time management is not about cramming every second of your day full of ‘stuff’. In fact, it is quite the opposite! Realise that even the best plans can fail and sometimes, despite your best efforts, hings will go wrong. Be prepared to adapt and change when you need to.

The Three Rules of Adaptability

Rule # 1: The most important rule of being adaptable is deceptively simple – don’t expect [...]

Tick tock your body clock

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

“I have a ‘carpe diem’ mug and, truthfully, at six in the morning the words do not make me want to seize the day. They make me want to slap a dead poet.” Joanne Shermani

Are you a morning lark or a night owl? Regardless of whether you wake up early or stay up late, these patterns of waking up and sleeping are governed by your personal internal body clock; your Circadian Rhythm. What is a Circadian [...]

How to beat procrastination

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Procrastination. Most people learned all about it in school and perhaps you’ve let it slip back into your working habits. Many people in workplace have become so good at it that they are now procrastination experts.

No matter how you spend your time procrastinating, it always feels good… at first. You might find yourself staring at the wall for a few minutes or perhaps you go on a twenty-minute coffee break. Some people get distracted by personal emails, others by colleagu [...]

Why a diary is your most Important business tool

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

"Your diary is like a parachute; it only works when it is open.”

Your diary is where the daily magic happens. It’s where you plan your time, develop your goals and decide on the direction of your day, your week and your personal life. In fact, the quiet time you spend with your diary (and a coffee) every morning is some of the most important planning time you have. So – how much quality time ARE you investing us [...]

How to get control over your email

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Is your inbox overflowing? Open it now. How many emails do you have sitting in there? 2? 12? 52? 200? 500? How many of those are still relevant and require actioning today? Interesting question isn’t it!

Controlling your email is like any other aspect of your job, you need to be really good at it and if you’re not, you need to learn some new strategies so you can become better. Letting your email get out of control is no different to having piles of paperwork spread from on [...]

How do you eat an elephant?

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

"The great successful men of the world have used their imagination…they think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building - steadily building." Robert Collier

Do you have projects or tasks that take many hours or even weeks to complete? Do you also have to complete day-to-day activities as well? If so you mi [...]

Applying the 80/20 rule

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

To help you to learn how to prioritise your time, effort and energy, I’d like to introduce you to Vilfredo Pareto. Pareto was an Italian industrialist, sociologist, economist and philosopher who conducted land surveys for local councils in Italy in the later part of the 1880s.

While surveying land for taxation purposes, he discovered that roughly about 80 percent of the land in any region he visited was owned by about 20 percent of the town or village population. Regardless of th [...]

5 big myths about your time

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Some people have told me privately that they would love to be more organised and in greater control of their time but they are worried about the negative side-effects. Side effects? What could possibly be wrong or negative about having more time and better personal and professional organisation?

Here are a few myths about time management I’d like to dispel just in case you were thinking about getting organised, but were worried there could be a downside.

The 6D system for prioritising

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Organising yourself can be a very overwhelming thought at first. Many
people who have desks, work areas or a head full of clutter might want to get organised but simply don’t know where to start. The first step for getting organised might seem daunting – but it doesn’t need to be. The secret to beating the feeling of being overwhelmed is to learn to break down seemingly unmanageable activities into smaller steps, then to tackle those steps one at a time. One way [...]

The power of using a daily �Action List�

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

“I know there was something I had to do today… What was it?”

Why not save yourself the time and effort of constantly asking that question and get into the habit of writing a Daily Action List. Start off by purchasing a spiral notepad. Spiral notebooks are great because they keep your information all together. There’s no loose bits of paper flying around and you can always refer back to your previous lists if you need to.

Write up your list after you arriv [...]

Where are you going today?

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"-Alice
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."-Cheshire Cat
"I don't much care where –"-Alice
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go."-Cheshire Cat"
(Alice in Wonderland)

It would be lovely if we all lived in Wonderland and had nothing to do but attend mad tea parties and play croquet all day. However the [...]

Why your first hour at work is the most critical hour of your day

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Do you sometimes find yourself spending the first hour of your day making coffee, chatting to co-workers and checking through your huge inbox while answering a few emails? Do you sometimes find it hard to get started in the morning? If you answered “yes”, you’re not alone. Many professional people tend to write off the first hour of their day as unproductive preparation time – but this can be a disastrous mistake.

The first hour of your day does not only s [...]

How to organise yourself for daily success

paul@success.net — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:00:00 +0100

To thrive in both your personal and professional life you need to organise and prioritise your workload so that you’ll be able to achieve your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly tasks and goals.

Organising your time to create the right balance between work and play will not only help you to get things done, but it will also lower your stress levels and keep you in good mental and physical health.

The truth of the matter is that if you are not managing your time [...]