May 2009
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Welcome to the May 2009 newsletter.
As usual, this last month has been incredibly hectic for me. I've been to another couple of 2-3 day seminars, applied strategies that I've learnt from these, created more 'How To...' video tutorials, re-vamped my site at Donna-MarieCoggins.com, written another 80 page book and the outline for the next book, all in addition to running a local business networking group and daily mentoring of others who are keen to incorporate online strategies into building their business. And of course, the usual family and household tasks and for some strange reason, attempts to be that ficticious character - SuperMum.
Many people are amazed by how much I seem to achieve in any 'normal' day and I'm often asked how I do it all. Well, I'd like to say that it's easy and must be some natural talent I have... but it's not.
It comes from a combination of being focused, disciplined, organised and knowing my priorities. Personally, I know I still haven't got the strategies quite right as I don't allocate enough time for ME or sleep. This isn't a selfish idea - 'me' time is essential for all of us to feel and function at our peak. This is my personal goal for the next month, after which (hopefully) it will have become a habit.
In this month's feature article I'll give you 10 top tips to help you to fit more of what matters into your day. If you have any additional tips you'd like to share I'd love to hear them.
Enjoy!
Get The X-10 Effect:
How To Boost Your Internet Income x10 Through One Simple Secret
If you are a business owner who would like to know how to multiply your results x10 then here's a workshop that will help you.
The X-10 Effect is a one-day workshop to be held in Sydney, Australia. It's being run by Steven Essa whom I think is a totally amazing guy. Steven exudes a unique energy that blends easily with his genuine warmth and unmistakable care for those he's teaching. (And he has a pretty wicked sense of humour too!)
This The X-10 Effect video gives you the full details about the event. If you're in Sydney or can get there for this workshop, I highly recommend it.
Feature Article:
Want To Know The Secrets To Successful Time Management?
Earlier this week someone asked me for some tips on time management as she was struggling to get through her daily tasks and feeling constantly stressed by it. The secret to successful time managment is... you can't manage time! And it's really no secret. Time is time. It is what it is and you can't change that... you can't manage it. We all get 24 hours in each day... the exact same 24 hours that are given to every productive, successful person you know of.
What you can do though is to manage what you do with that 24 hours.
1. The first thing I recommend if you want to better manage what you do with your time is to keep a record of everything you do throughout the day, preferably for one week. I know this sounds counter-productive when you are already so busy, but you'll be amazed at what you learn. When I did this a couple of years ago I estimated that I was spending two hours each day replying to emails, but after keeping a record I discovered I was averaging four and a half hours each day on emails.
It's a great way to learn where your time is really being spent... and where you may need to make some changes.
2. Once you know exactly what you're spending time on each day, see if there's anything you need to make some changes to. Do you spend too much time on the phone, in front of the TV or chatting on social networking sites? Where can you make improvements? How can you improve your efficiency in these tasks?
3. Decide whether you are being too harsh on yourself and expecting the impossible. Do you really have so much to do or are you just pushing yourself too hard? It's great to have deadlines on tasks but they need to be realistic. Make sure yours are.
4. What tasks can you delegate or outsource? Start with those tasks that you really aren't that crash-hot at and/or that you don't like. Then gradually delegate more and more tasks so that in the end you're left focusing on those things that you are absolutely brilliant at and that you enjoy doing. Delegating or outsourcing can be to other members of your family, staff, friends or other businesses and service providers.
5. Remember, there are many things we do each day that don't need to be 100%. Sometimes 'good' or 'okay' is just fine - things don't always need that extra finesse. For example, I used to be my family's neat freak and spent hours upon hours making sure my home was spotless. I (eventually!) learnt to relax a bit about this. Now I don't stress and stay up until 3am cleaning the windows and light fittings because someone's coming to visit the next day. The best bit is, I now have an extra couple of hours each day - so I can stay up until 3am building another website or writing another book instead.
6. Focus on one task at a time. Multi-tasking has its place, but it's generally too distracting during your day to day work.
7. Managing what you do with your time all comes down to priorities. If something is your #1 priority, you'll find a way to do it. Is there a task that you seem to keep moving to tomorrow's 'to-do' list? If so, perhaps you don't really want to do it. If that's the case, consider if it really NEEDS to be done and if not, don't do it; if it does then make the effort to just do it and get it out of the way.
8. Read Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. The basic principle behind this book is that you should choose the one task that you think is the worst out of all those on your list of jobs for the day... then do it. By doing that yucky, scary, horrible, rotten job first, everything else in your day can only get better. And you'll feel a great sense of achievement from having completed that worst task.
9. Similarly, ask yourself this question, "If I can only do one thing today what's the most important?" Then do it. Next, ask that question again and do that. You'll be amazed at the sense of achievement you'll feel at the end of the day.
10. If you find you're being constantly interrupted by well-meaning friends, family or even customers who just want to chat for hours at a time you really need to be tough and put some firm boundaries in place. I know this can be difficult, but think of it as training them... it can be challenging initially but the end results will be worth it.
Okay, I know that's the ten tips but here's a bonus tip... you know how much I love throwing in extra bonuses!
11. Make an effort to remain focused on the current moment, not what happened yesterday or what may happen tomorrow... just concentrate on the task at hand. In saying that, if you're finding yourself becoming stressed or even a bit edgy over all you have to get through today, stop and ask yourself, "What is the best thing for me to do right now?" Sometimes it might be to ingore the incessant ringing of the phone while you focus on your bookkeeping; or it may be that the best thing you can do in that moment is to sit outside in the sunshine for 10 minutes while you calm yourself down and perhaps plan how you can best tackle the tasks.
If you're interested, there's an article in the free eBook, What I Wish I Knew Before I Started My Business, that you may find interesting. The eBook is a compilation that I put together about 18 months ago and the article is 24/7 by Brisbane business-woman, Michele Jia (page 23).
Interesting Blog Post - How To Make The Most Of Your WordPress Site:
It seems that more and more people lately are turning to WordPress to manage their blog or even as a their main website, and with good reason. It's great software with a lot of flexibility. Granted, it's not the same as professional web development programs, but for those who want to have a go at getting something up and running themselves and who really don't have (and don't want to learn) professional web development skills, WordPress certainly offers a viable alternative.
I hope you've enjoyed this month's newsletter. Remember, if there’s a particular topic you’d like to know more about, please email me and let me know.
I hope you have a brilliant month. Here’s to your success in small business!
Warmly,
Donna-Marie
