Time Management Pitfall #2 - Using Your Calendar For Appointments (only)

[Kerul Kassel]

Do you ever say you want to do something and then not follow through? Yeah, right - who doesn't do that sometimes. As you might imagine, it's a recurring theme when I coach clients. Usually, there are one of two things going on (and often both):
1. You haven't committed enough space in your calendar to accomplish the task. The simple fix for this is to estimate from 25% to 300% more time than you think you need and schedule it for specific times/days.
2. You have some (often unrecognized) resistance to the goal which is metaphorically like having one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake: you're using up your gas but going nowhere.

I discuss these sorts of things in Productive Procrastination and give you real solutions that work. And during the month of May you can get this book free when you order Stop Procrastinating Now (yes, that's two books for the price of one) through this link: http://tinyurl.com/dlq53r

You'll pay $16.95 plus $4.95 shipping (for medial mail delivery in the USA - for shipping elsewhere, please email me at [e-mail]) and you'll get both books.

For more ideas on making good on your goals, see the article below.

On a personal note, Darla arrived at our doorstep on April 30th. She's a little bundle of a puppy, yet feisty, smart, and completely adorable. She's also our dear Gracie's half sister (same father), but 6 years younger. She hasn't met a thing she doesn't want to bite, and she's not yet housebroken, but she's getting there. Gracie and Violet growl and snap at her, and she respects them - they're better at teaching her manners than we are!! To see this cutie-pie, visit her album at http://tinyurl.com/cpqpx7

Wishing you all optimal procrastivity, as always, and a fabulous May,
Kerul

Kerul Kassel, Author of Productive Procrastination - Make It Work For You, Not Against You and the award-winning Stop Procrastinating Now - Five Radical Procrastination Strategies To Set You Free, both available atwww.Procrastivity.com

7 TIME MANAGEMENT PITFALLS THAT ARE COSTING YOU MONEY, RESULTS, AND THE MOST PRECIOUS COMMODITY ANYWHERE - TIME

What NOT To Do To Get Dramatically Better Results

Don't Use Your Calendar For Appointments (only)
This is a very common pitfall for many small business owners and professionals. We sit down in November or December to create an annual business plan, then review it in the middle of the next year. That's definitely helpful, especially if you have a staff that will be responsible for implementing the plan. But unless you're clear about how that plan dictates your important actions, and unless you integrate your own personal plan into the mix and review those plans each week - breaking them down into smaller increments and actions - it's probable you'll have difficulty achieving your goals and dreams.

We fail to establish plans because we get daunted by the idea of creating them, or we get so busy with details that there's little time to devote to something that feels less urgent. We also think it will take too much time and be troublesome and awkward to implement our plans, and we get overwhelmed by all we need to do.

Some of us create to-do lists, which in the end frustrate and shame us - that's not a very productive strategy! (Request my Special Report "3 Simple Secrets To Tripling Your Productivity Sustainably" at www.StopProcrastinatingNow.com for more on effectively and efficiently completing to-do's).

Others fill their calendars with recurring daily and weekly tasks which they then ignore, usually because these actions aren't sustainably designed or scheduled.

Once you accept these initial reactions, and how normal they are, you can get beyond them to the few minutes each day it will take to focus on the critical and important actions that will give you the results you want.

Composing a plan for the day, using your calendar and longer-term objectives, takes just 5 minutes or so, and can easily result in a 50-300% increase in productivity. Doing this in the morning, or the evening before at the end of the previous workday, gives you a head start and sharpens your focus. When you take a few minutes to plan each day ahead of time, using hoped-for weekly and monthly milestones as a guide, you automatically prevent a whole lot of poorly-used time. Regularly glancing at that daily plan 4-6 times during the day, you'll be able to weave in any newly developing circumstances, while still making swift advancement.
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES


"By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail." ~ Benjamin Franklin

"Plans must be simple and flexible....They must be made by the people who execute them". ~ George S. Patton, Jr.

"It is a bad plan that admits of no modification." ~ Publius Syrus