real blogging tips

You Have not posted to your blog in over a day… You were late for work… You forgot to pickup dinner on the way home… Again… If only you possessed better time management skills you might be able to better organize youself to prevent this from happening while also maintaining a high level of effectiveness in everything you do.

We have all suffered from these situations at one point or another, and I am sure we all have taken notice to the self help industries answer. The answer is not a course or program which you will pay for it is simply taking the time to realize what is really important and spending your time wisely. Rich or Poor we are all given the same amount of hours every day to accomplish the tasks at hand. Today I want to talk with you about how I create an effective schedule and stay organized.

Managing your time wisely so easy to say but really most of the time hard to enact in such a way that you get to do what you want. A man once said “Sometimes I do what I want… The rest of the time I do what I have to…” Let’s approach this from this angle and see if we can’t work something out. Let’s eliminate the going to bed tired and waking the same way syndrome. Let’s end the overwhelming feeling when we think of the day or day’s ahead. This is something everyone can take some appreciation from trust me.

Let’s talk about what time management is not first. It definately is not people in white coats holding clipboards marking off items in a check list. Time management is however a technique used as a way to control our activities and an aid to making educated decisions as to how to make the best use of our time in concerns to our overall productivity. It’s how we use these hours which is important. We need to be more effective with our time management so there is more time to do what we really want e.g. relax, garden, play sports, dance, read. Time management can have a dramatic effect on your life – by practising some of its theories you will find yourself working more effectively,not only at your business, but also in your social life.

Three Major Factors exist when making your list to help manage your time better. You must set aside an appropriate amount of time to spend on life issues that are not work related. Time to be spent with your family, for instance would fall into this category. When prioritizing, you must remember to place sufficient value on some of the things that give life a greater meaning. This may, for example, include worship or meditation as a critical issue. These real priorities are often overlooked by those who are focussed solely with maintaining their business or professional lives and always with great negative consequences. Balance will be key and focus on keeping the value of these higher than anything else.

Second, you must learn how to differentiate the essential from the important. Every day, you must handle critical tasks (in terms of your work). These projects may be the difference between success and failure or a significant decline. Meeting tough deadlines, working to grow your business, customer service and other tasks may fall into this category.

Third, you must be able to push the urgent items towards the top. Urgent items are those with an immediate or soon-to-arrive deadline. These tasks will not always measure up in importance to some of the critical jobs, but their urgency gives them a higher level of priority. Missed deadlines can have a remarkably deterimental impact on a business even when the matter in question is relatively small.  Afterall if your taking care of the small things their is never anything bigger.

As you approach your priorities list, keep the above three observations in mind. Remember that setting aside some time for pursuits other than business is important. Understanding the difference between a critical situation and a somewhat important one can also help. Finally, recognizing your need to push through time-sensitive projects as quickly as possibly can reduce panic situations. Your decision as to which “To-Do’s” should come first will probably be the most important part of managing your time. These decisions can be difficult and frustrating but are the key to time management success.

I remember a fascinating observation made by Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) was an Italian economist who in 1906,observed that 20% of the people in Italy owned 80% of the country’s wealth. Over a period of time this observation became known as the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 Rule. It is never exactly 80/20, of course.  Sometimes it is 79/21 or 82/18 but the under lying principle is always true. This theory is applied all over the world by multi-national companies as well as much smaller firms. Broadly speaking 80% of all results come from 20% of all efforts. So if you identify which 20% is the most important, complete those and you can’t help but be more effective and successful.

Make sure to plan enough time for adequate sleep. Most of us will not enjoy 8 hours a night but surely do not push regularly past 6 hours a night. You must be rested and ready for the next day. Make sure your eating regularly and having a variety of foods. Try not to eat really bad fastfood often isntead try for healthier options which resupply the depleted minerals and vitamins in your body. Stay hydrated! If you do not stay hydrates you are not at 100% of your maximum potential trust me. Snacks are your friend and can even provide a couple of minutes of downtime during stressful peaks.  Regular exercise is also a plus I am a big guy to say the least and while I have lost a good bit of weight since becoming diebetic I have noticed since I started exercising regularly that I have more engery and just feel all around better. If you can afford to work this in I would make it mandatory as feeling great helps you get those results in every aspect of your life.

This is a good outline for what is needed to get started on managing your time better. Generally speaking this will not be easy and will take more than just one day. Do not fret if you are like me you work a full time job, I generally leave 9.5 hours a day for this. Getting up, clean and ready and excercised as well as transit time included. I try to sleep about 6 hours a night this leaves me with 8.5 hours of personal time generally speaking. I will block off 4 hours of this for family, and home time. I use four hours a day for my blog, internet marketing, etc. I still find time to play everquest 2 and counter strike source. On the days I get off I try to split them 50/50 between family/home and business. If you follow this outline and motivate yourself daily you will be able to use your time wisely as well.