Time Control / Management

I read this article...see if you like it :)

Here’s an important announcement: There is no such thing as time management.

Think about it; the term is an oxymoron. Time cannot be managed. It cannot be controlled in any way. Everyone gets the same number of hours and minutes every day. Nobody—no matter how shrewd—can save minutes from one day to spend on another. No scientist—no matter how smart—is capable of creating new minutes. Even with all his wealth, someone like Bill Gates can’t buy additional hours for his day. And even though people talk about trying to “find time,” they need to quit looking. There isn’t any extra lying around. Twenty-four hours is the best any of us is going to get.

You can’t manage your time. So what can you do? Manage yourself! Nothing separates successful people from unsuccessful people more than how they use their time. Successful people understand that time is the most precious commodity on earth. And that we all have an equal amount, packed into identical suitcases. So even though everyone’s suitcase is the same size, they get a higher return on the contents of theirs. Why? They know what to pack.

Essayist Henry David Thoreau wrote, “It is not enough to be busy. The question is, ‘What are we busy about?’” How do you judge whether something is worthy of your time and attention? For years I used this formula to help me know the importance of a task so that I can manage myself effectively. It’s a three step process:

1. Rate the task in terms of Importance.
Critical = 5 points
Necessary = 4 points
Important = 3 points
Helpful = 2 points
Marginal = 1 point

2. Determine the task’s urgency.
This month = 5 points
Next month = 4 points
This quarter = 3 points
Next quarter = 2 points
End of year = 1 point

3. Multiply the rate of importance times the rate of urgency.
Example: 5 (critical) x 4 (next month) = 20.

After assigning each task a new number, make a new to-do list. This time list everything from highest to lowest task management score. THAT’S how you plan your day.
How you spend your time is an important question not only for you but for your team. People tend to take their cues from the leader when it comes to time management—so make sure there’s a match between your actions, your business priorities, and your team’s activities.

Stop, Look, & Listen

Stop, Look, & Listen
Part 1

I read this article and found it encouraging.

When I was a kid, the safety slogan for railroad crossings was, “Stop, Look, and Listen.” Leaders make decisions. “Stop, Look, and Listen” provides a plan for making good leadership decisions.

Stop. Stop and pray. Too often we charge ahead without stopping to ask God for wisdom. The Bible promises, “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him” (Jas. 1:5, HCSB). Stop and ask God for wisdom. Stop and ask God for strength to do what is right when He gives you wisdom. Leaders stop and pray.

Look. Look and see what God is doing. You’ve heard this expressed many ways. Henry Blackaby tells us to watch to see where God is working and join Him (Experiencing God, 15). Rick Warren tells us to be like experienced surfers—recognize the wave of God’s Spirit and ride it (The Purpose Driven Church, 14). However you describe it, your goal as a leader is to see what God is doing and lead your people to join Him in His mission. What is happening that can only be attributed to God? What is God blessing to transform lives? Leaders look and see what God is doing.

Listen. Listen to the counsel of others–both positive and negative. As a leader, you will receive constructive advice. Learn to listen to others, value their input, and adjust your plans. Leadership, especially in Sunday School, is a team sport. You’re not the only one with good ideas. You’ll also receive negative feedback—criticism. Early in my ministry I learned a useful strategy for dealing with criticism:

Listen to it.

Evaluate it.

Act on it.
(If it’s legitimate, change. If it’s unfounded, ignore it.)

Keep on serving.

Activity - Labor

I have collected some thoughts about activity and labor from Jim Rohn. I hope you enjoy them.

Make rest a necessity, not an objective. Only rest long enough to gather strength.

Without constant activity, the threats of life will soon overwhelm the values.

You must learn to translate wisdom and strong feelings into labor.

The miracle of the seed and the soil is not available by affirmation; it is only available by labor.

The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.

For every promise, there is a price to pay.

We pay the price for success or failure. The price for both is HIGH!

Make it true

What you tell yourself (think about) most frequently, you will believe. What you truly believe, you will incorporate into every aspect of your life. It doesn't matter if it is objectively true or not. What you continue to tell yourself, day after day, becomes true for you and has a profound effect on your life. Great power lives in the fact that you can choose what to tell yourself, again and again, in the thousands of moments that make up each day. With focus and intention, you can upgrade your beliefs about yourself.

You can upgrade your beliefs about what is possible for you. And by so doing, you will in fact expand your access to the very best of your possibilities.
You'll go precisely as far as you believe you will go. So there's every reason to believe the very best.

With what you tell yourself, choose to sell yourself, again and again, on your best possibilities. For when you consistently believe something to be true in your life, you will indeed make it true.
-- Ralph Marston

Self-Manager

Become a Good Self-Manager

It is important to manage 3 basic things.

1. Activity
Tracking our "actual" activity doesn't allow us to believe that we have done more than really have. By tracking activity, it is easy to set a goal, get the activity done and mark it off the list. It helps enhance your daily sense of accomplishment.

2. Results
If you keep your activity up and tracked and your pipeline full, the numbers will always fall in your favor. Tracking your results allow us to get a clearer picture of whether we are on track or if we need to tune up a few things.

3. Time
If you fail to control your time, your time will control you. Time is a very important resource that needs to me managed wisely. Time is truly the only capital we all equally have to build a business and our lives. What you put into your day will equal what you get out.

It is not how many hours you put in, it is what you put into your hours.


Use your planner and fill in the time periods of what your typical day looks like Sunday through Saturday. By doing this a picture will start to emerge of where all your time goes. This will then allow you to make changes and adjustments. This gives you the ability to make choices.

Self-Motivation and Self-Management are key to building a profitable and long term business. Just following these simple steps and YOU will become the best Motivator and Manager YOU have ever had!!

I picked up this article from a friend Johnna Parr. I hope it was helpful.

Succeeding from Failures

"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).
Back in the 1970's, Tom Watson was the up and coming golfer on the PGA Tour. But time after time, when Tom led a tournament coming into the last round, he would choke, bogey a few holes, and finish in the middle of the pack. Soon, the media began calling him a "choker." That kind of criticism only increases the pressure and the tendency to choke.
In an interview with Guy Yocom for Golf Digest, Watson said, "Everybody has choked. In the 1974 U.S. Open, I kept hitting the ball right to right. My nerves wouldn't allow me to adjust. That's what choking is—being so nervous you can't find a swing or a putting stroke you can trust."
How did Watson overcome his tendency to choke? "Byron gave me the best cure for it," Watson recalled, referring to Byron Nelson, the legendary golf pro of the 1930s and '40s. "[Byron said], 'Walk slowly, talk slowly, deliberately do everything more slowly than you normally do. It has a way of settling you down."* That advice helped Tom Watson overcome his nervousness. He went on to win many tournaments, including five British Opens.
Everybody fails. It's part of the process that leads us to maturity and success. Most successful entrepreneurs have been through a number of failures in life, but they usually don't think of their failures as defeats. They think of them as lessons.
My failures have served to help many people who are also experiencing failure in their lives. God will always have a redeeming value in our failures if we let Him reveal His life through them.
If you hope to succeed, learn everything you can from your failures.
I read this article written by OS Hillman