Make the Most of What Time You Have

Found a great article relating to time management and how to increase your productivity. I agree with what I read because in college I was conditioned to always carry around my planner to practice time management and to mark dates, times, and task to be completed. I have also noticed that Franklin Covey planners explained the importance of labeling task in order of importance, but I can say I never measured my daily level of energy and matched it with tasks for better productivity.

Wow, I am sure there are many like me that would be interested in doubling their productivity and cutting their To Do list down to size. I hope this article helps others as it helped me.


Counter-Intuitive Time Management
Posted by editor1 on November 24, 2009 inWorking SmarterArticle Sponsor:


Innovative Techniques to Tame a Never-Ending Start-Up To Do List

By Linda Walker

The absolute BIGGEST challenge that entrepreneurs, artists, authors, and other creative geniuses that come to me for help is productivity. Some know they need help with time management techniques. Others are struggling, but they haven’t discovered that poor time management is the source of their frustration.
By asking a few questions, I zero in on the source of their misery, and evaluate whether they can benefit from the special time management techniques I teach. I just look for certain things they have in common.

4 Things All Entrepreneurs, Authors, and Other Creative Geniuses That Need Time Management Help Have in Common:

• They are amazingly creative yet they feel like underachievers because even though they generate brilliant ideas with jaw-dropping ease, they struggle to act on them.
• These “live-wire” geniuses are adventurous, ambitious, and energetic. They’ll start a hundred projects, but then bog down because of indecision, procrastination, or a feeling of being overwhelmed.
• They search relentlessly for new time management tips and try anything to improve their time management skills regardless of past struggles, but standard, “common sense” time management techniques just don’t work.
• Despite their best efforts, they’ve accumulated a never-ending To Do list (I call it their To Do “book”) and they’re frustrated with time management techniques that don’t work.

These thrill-seeking rebels share another characteristic. Each was diagnosed with ADD or ADHD as a child, has adult ADHD, or exhibits many adult ADHD traits. Their brains work differently than most people. But, as soon as they turn on to my counter-intuitive time management techniques, they experience a dramatic turnaround almost overnight.



See, you have to understand that your productivity depends on your mental and physical energy. Yes, you produce less when you’re tired, but your energy levels fluctuate far more than you realize.

How Your Energy Levels Affect Your Productivity
• At times, you have ample mental energy. You can laser-focus on anything that interests you, you’re amazingly productive, and you keep going long after other people are exhausted.
• Other times, you have plenty of physical energy, but your brain is also racing. You can’t concentrate. You’re eager to move and go through short (physical) tasks with ease.
• You need time to recharge. Your brain isn’t a plough-horse, plodding sedately. It’s a racehorse, capable of stunning bursts of power and speed. Like a racehorse, you must recharge between races.
• You also have your own unique energy fluctuations between these that create periods when you’re better at some tasks than you are at others.

Your energy fluctuations follow an identifiable pattern. When my clients track their energy level fluctuations at work and at play, within a week they have an accurate map of their daily energy levels, and the pattern repeats almost identically from week to week.

As a creative genius, you’ll always have many tasks on your To Do list! You effortlessly think up cool things to do or important things you should do. But you have to commit to do those tasks at a specific time by moving them from your To Do list to your agenda. Unfortunately, the large, unstructured space of your blank agenda often leads to indecisiveness and procrastination. Think of it as writer’s block for time management.

A Time Management Technique That Will Add Productive Hours to Your Day and Cut Your “To-Do” List Down to Size Guaranteed

You need a way to categorize and prioritize your tasks. Traditional time management techniques group tasks by importance. But assigning letter and number combinations to signify priority loses its effectiveness when you have 47 “A” tasks, at least six of which are important enough to be an “A1!” Instead, you should group your tasks by the energy required.

Now, here’s the secret to doubling your productivity and cutting your To Do list down to size. Use the map of your energy fluctuations to match tasks from your To Do list with a time when you typically have the ideal energy level for that task. Almost effortlessly, you’ll give your productivity a huge shot in the arm. Match your activities with times when you have the ideal energy type and level for maximum productivity doing that task, and you’ll tear through your To Do list like a tornado. HBM

Linda Walker coaches entrepreneurs, artists, authors and other creative geniuses who want to realize their dreams and overcome their needless struggle with traditional time management techniques that don’t work with rebel, thrill-seeking, creative brains. Now, discover the “productivity myths” holding you back, and learn how to overcome them: www.productivitymythsbusted.com.

Previously published in the October 2009 issue of HOME BUSINESS® Magazine, an international publication for the growing and dynamic home-based market. Available on newsstands, in bookstores and chain stores, and via subscriptions ($19.00 for 1 year, six issues). Visit www.homebusinessmag.com

The article above was taken from the following link http://www.homebusinessmag.com/management/working-smarter/counter-intuitive-time-management-0.

Hookup's...

I heard about this on the radio the other day in detroit on AM 1200 and MAN!! I never realized how I may be undervaluing my business and products, by providing hookups. I have two businesses, performing IT repair, marketing telecom products and home security. In my IT business, with family, I pretty much have been taking what people can give me for it. Yesterday, after reading this article, I realized that I spent money and time to go to school to learn this skill, and 9 years of professionally doing it. To just give it away essentially for free..defeats the purpose.
I also have noticed that even though most of my family and friends know that I market telecom products (cell phones, video voip phones, internet). There are those who ask if I can get them a free phone or super discounted prices on the monthly services. If I dont, many times they will go to the bigger companies and get them, often for a little more in cost than what I could give them.

Well anyway, please comment below your thoughts...
Do "hookups" occur in other ethnic groups? Let me know...
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Why I Hate The Hook-Up
Want to support black entrepreneurs? Stop hitting them up for freebies
By Alfred Edmond, Jr. - December 03, 2009

http://www.blackenterprise.com/blogs/2009/12/03/why-i-hate-the-hook-up


Stop me if you've heard this one. Richard, a black comedian calls his white friend: "Hey, Chad. Just wanted to let you know: I'll be in town next week to do a show. Hope you can make it."

Chad: "Really? That's great! What night is it? I'll call all of my friends and we'll pack the house! It'll be a blast!"

"Thanks, Chad!," says Richard. "It's on Thursday night. I'll see you then!"

Richard hangs up, excited about the prospect of a big night at the comedy club, which means more gigs. He then he calls his boy, Lamont. (What? You know he's black. How many white, Asian or Latino guys named Lamont do you know? Try to keep up, okay? Anyway...)

Richard: "Monty-Mont! Whassup? It's ya boy, Richy-Rich! Just hollerin' atcha to let you know that I got a gig in town next Thursday. You coming, right?"

Lamont: "Hell, yes, I'm coming! You funny as a mug! Shoot, I'll bring my girl, and tell her to bring her girls, and I'll get Antonio and Big Rob and Lisa to come and get the word out to their peeps, too!"

"Cool!," says Richard. He holds his breath. He knows it's coming.

"You gonna hook us all up, right?," says Lamont.

One of the biggest drags on black entrepreneurial growth and profitability is the "hook-up": black people expecting other black people to provide them with free goods and services just because they're black. We need to stop it. Today. NOW.

No, she can't hook you up with a few press releases and some public relations for your event.

No, he can't hook you up with a few signed copies of his book.

No, he can't hook you up with a quick shape-up so you can look fly at the club tonight.

No, she can't hook you and your momma and aunties up with free tickets to the fashion show.

No, she can't hook up a business plan for you real quick.

No, she can't deliver the dinner keynote without an honorarium, in return for two tickets at the head table for food she won't get to eat. Because she'll be speaking during the dinner.

No, they can't wash your car, pull your teeth, do your hair, fix your computer, edit your manuscript, paint your house, build your web site, etc. for free! Discount? Maybe. Complimentary services for referring new—paying—customers? Okay. An occasional freebie for long-time, loyal customers who always pay? Sure. Barter my goods or services for yours? We might be able to work something out. But, FREE? NO!

Hello? The point of being in business is to make money! How can entrepreneurs, and black business owners in particular, make money, if they're expected to give their products and services—which costs them money to create, develop, market and deliver—away for free? If you don't spend money with them, they can't spend their money with you. If you won't pay for your haircut, your barber can't pay to eat at your restaurant. If Leslie the auto dealer won't pay a competitive rate for wedding planning, Lisa the wedding planner can't afford to buy a car from Leslie. Money has to circulate in order for economic empowerment to happen and for black entrepreneurs to have a chance to compete and thrive. You don't support black entrepreneurs by showing up for the hook-up. You support black business by paying up.

When I find a black entrepreneur or professional who provides goods and services I like, I pay for those goods and services—period. I know that there are costs associated with providing a service and making a product, a cost they can only recoup by selling at a profit. I don't want them to hook me up with free stuff. I want to hook them up with my spending, because then they can really hook me up, by creating jobs, growing the local tax base, supporting community organizations, doing business with other black entrepreneurs and professionals—or just having enough money and a predisposition to reciprocate, to buy goods and services (like subscriptions to Black Enterprise) from me and mine. I want black entrepreneurs to make money. I want them to succeed. I want them to get more than rich. I want to see as many wealthy black entrepreneurs, families and communities as possible. So if I like what they're selling, I'm more than happy—I'm thrilled—to pay for it, and to tell all of my family, friends and associates how great they are.

Do you really want to support black entrepreneurs and black professionals? Stop hitting them up for freebies. If you believe in their products and services, pay for them, as you would for the products and services of any other business. If what they're selling doesn't merit that, why are you patronizing them in the first place? Do you really think you're doing them—or yourself—a favor?

Alfred A. Edmond Jr. is the editor-in-chief of BlackEnterprise.com