Made Moon Blog

Talent management techniques are important in reaching the best in your business success. These skills can be developed and studied. Having a spontaneous affinity for getting along with people and forging relationships is an advantage, but you can do some things that will make this process easy.

Forging relationships: Start by memorizing the names of the staff. Talk to employees; look people in the eye when you are talking. Do be respectful, and listen to everything the other individual has to say, irrespective of whether you are in agreement or not. The development of listening skills is one of the most effective things you can do to develop your talent management skills. Be sure to show interest in what everyone can give to the business.

Keep your word: Don’t give promises you will not keep. If you can’t deliver on what you have promised, the delicate bond of trust is broken, and without trust your staff will not offer their best. Each time you give a commitment or make a promise about something, you are squandering your time and effort if you don’t keep your promises. You will find, if you can’t be depended on, they won’t be there when they are most needed.

Make sure you check out this brilliant page for employee profiling software advice.

Be open to any observations: It’s a two-way street. Talent management skills mean having an open mind to all feedback. If you can establish that you are approachable and receptive, you prove that you want to listen to your co-worker’s feedback, your views will be appreciated in the same manner. Promoting open discourse also promotes original ways of doing business, ways of fulfilling goals, and strengthens the company in general. When team members can express their ideas, every member invests in the project’s outcome.

Communicating is the key: Communication is the key to managing individuals with skill. Maintaining an open door policy, apply good listening skills, be open-minded, and permit each of your employees a chance to express their opinions. Inspire team members not just to speak to you, but to speak to each other. The exchange of thoughts is essential in the creative process, if the employees communicate efficiently, you can spot problems early, permitting corrective measures to be implemented to prevent further problems. Developing these skills may require some effort, nevertheless the payoff is worthwhile. Through promoting a good team dynamic and demonstrating effective listening techniques, you can achieve the best in business success.

One of the quickest techniques of building your client base is to find mutually-beneficial joint ventures. The key words here are’mutually-beneficial.’ Find marketers and entrepreneurs who have already got enormous’responsive’ contact lists and make them an offer they can’t refuse.

Many individuals have tried using this plan but have failed totally. I can tell you why.

The difficulty with many people is they are only targeted on what they can get out of the deal. You’ll never get it if that’s what your focus is on.

When you’re making an attempt to form partnerships, target the other party and ask,’What do they need? What can I offer them that’d be valuable to them?’

Sure, you can just offer the other person a piece of the profits if they agree to commend your product/service to their list, but that is what everyone does! And nowadays, that isn’t alluring enough. How is your offer unique?

Apply the USP – the’twist.’ Be unique! Create value for them! Make it worth their while. Make them an offer they can not refuse!

When I send out an offer for a joint venture I simply tell them I want to plug their product/business/service for them and not be paid for it. Instead of receiving 40% commission as an affiliate I offer them to keep 70+% of the profit. All they have to do is allow me to use their service just once ( considering that they are an ezine, newsletter or business with a large opt-in list ). I assure them that a completely unique page will be created and payments will be made directly to the partner.

Think about it!

You will be giving the partner additional exposure, higher profits and security of their business. In doing so, you will also be able to provide discount advertising/products/services to your members or visitors giving YOUR business more value. Because now, people will know to come to you for deductions on products and services they need!

With this concept to mind , go out there and seek for some enterprises who already have a big list or some high traffic.

—
Original article was written by Kevin Lam from www.TexasSEO.com – Texas SEO is a Dallas-based web marketing and consulting firm specializing in SEO & SEM, PPC, copywriting, web designing and more.

The current state of the economy requires that it is simplest to boost profits by an examination of expenses, not a generating more income. One concept often overlooked is employee performance appraisal software and the various benefits it offers. Business optimization calls for comprehension of the abilities and weak areas of its employees; where is their best work done? How can you adjust your system to accentuate their strengths and hide their weaknesses? There can be no more important question. The difficulty has always been in identifying and tracking this information. Simply keeping track of staff appraisal and determining development in their performance is a significant task. The first step is to bring employee performance management systems into play. This allows you to assess the work of each worker. If you are using conventional approaches, your next step will be to manually assess all the raw data points you have obtained just to follow future progress and define goals. Using performance appraisal software you know that this appraisal is taken care of and you only need to look at the various analyses and factors to know what the right targets for this staff member would be. It also renders charting the staff member’s progress much easier. Thus you eliminate a major time commitment while probably receiving more precise information into the bargain. It’s also possible, of course, just to use the system to keep track of raw data like performance review forms and to make your own assessment.

And helping make your employees more efficient is simply one improvement that can be made using performance appraisal software. Both clients and suppliers can be studied using such software, giving you more performance appraisal tools. You can find out who provides products with the best quality, for the best prices as well as identify those with high rates of loss or poor delivery times. Clients can be assesed in terms of a different set of metrics, and once again this information can be used to benefit your bank balance. You can then tailor your orders and stock handling to boost your profits while cutting spending. In addition to this, marketing campaigns become much simpler to plan due to your clear view of your ideal demographic. You can study your sources in order to minimize costs and stay abreast of your market to make more money utilizing performance management software. With regular talent assessment and employee assessment such app is certain to enhance staff performance management greatly. What can be achieved using this software is incredible…

Please surf to our reliable website for performance management facts…

Today’s economy is such that profit can most simply be boosted by scrutinizing expenses, not a growth of income. One asset often neglected, however, is performance management software. It’s common knowledge that a smart business streamlines its routines to the abilities of each staff member in order to get the best from them. The chief trouble lies in identifying and tracking this knowledge.

Just keeping track of staff appraisal and determining progress in that performance rapidly becomes a huge amount of work. You first put employee evaluation systems into action in order to assess the work carried out by each employee. Should you be using conventional approaches, your next move is the manual analysis of the vast amount of raw information you will have gathered simply to track further progress and set goals.

With performance management software, all you need to do is examine the different analyses and factors to pinpoint the ideal goals and then track the member of staff’s advancement. This takes away the need to spend time on analysis and is likely to be more precise. There’s the option to also scrutinize all of the performance reviews yourself and use the process only to collate and track everything. Performance management software doesn’t just work for staff. It’s often valuable to study suppliers and clients to better pace your ordering and conserve money. With suppliers in particular you can pinpoint their weak points such as slow delivery times, high loss rates, and so forth. When it comes to clients performance management software can help there telling you just who sells the most of your products, any loss percentage and any similar fallout, and acting as a reminder of outstanding payments. You can then adjust your orders and stock handling to increase your income while cutting outgoing money. Who wouldn’t take advantage of that? As well as all this, marketing campaigns become much more effective due to your clearer understanding of your ideal demographic.

Watching both market and suppliers is easy with performance management software. It also smoothes out the process of managing employee performance and assists you in setting unambiguous targets for your staff decidedly. To summarize, the potential benefits of this system are endless and depend entirely on your ability to use what you learn…

It’s a common misconception in many businesses that, since all of their employees have basic health and safety instruction, they are suitably prepared for an incident. Realistically though, staff need more than education in health and safety legislation. You must provide your employees with an enthusiastic supervisor, the right equipment, and last but not least the chance to practice. All teams need a great supervisor to keep an eye on staff performance, but this individual also needs to perform another function. Whomever you employ as the supervisor needs to be a good communicator and additionally think that training is fundamental. In addition to observing rules and regulations, the supervisor must furthermore check that every employee performs well. Naturally it’s difficult to do all this at once. It means that the supervisor is expected to possess in depth understanding of both the industry best practice and the product not to mention an extensive understanding of the latest regulations regarding safety, risk assessment and first aid. Just having health and safety training is not enough for your employees. They need to get practical experience of risk assessment and the recognition of hazardous areas. They in addition need a firm grasp of the necessary safeguards that they’ll need to put in place not to mention knowing what to do if something goes wrong. Staff are only totally prepared when all they have been taught has become automatic.

Training is useless if you don’t keep safety gear. When they don’t have the right supplies or alternatively if they find out that equipment is damaged only after an emergency has happened, even the most advanced instruction is not going to help them. It’s a good idea to inspect on a regular basis to ensure you possess all the equipment you need and to check that it’s functioning properly. If you find something is not in perfect order, ensure it is mended or call out a service engineer as soon as possible. Health and safety education is important for the safety of your staff, but in addition they also need to have the proper equipment, the chance to practise, and a supervisor who is gifted with infectious enthusiasm. Then complying with health and safety legislation will become ingrained in your business culture and no longer an inconvenience that staff have to make an effort to remember.

There are two ways to start your day. The first is to dive in; tackling whatever is in front of you. You might check your emails. This is an interesting beginning as it is always possible something fun and new came in since you last looked.

Next thing you know you are deeply involved, answering all your mail. Some messages require thought; others require action, either research, interaction with others, or decision making. It is natural to attempt to take care of these mails, as they are right in front of you. You feel hungry, look up and it is mid morning. You have just spent a quarter of your day dealing with emails!

Another scenario is firefighting. Firefighting is the act of facing and finding quick fix solutions for all the emergency situations that seem to be coming at you from unknown sources. These urgent problems can also eat up an alarming amount of your work day.

Let’s look at an alternative method of beginning your day. First, remember that this day is a gift. You have the choice what to do with it. Why not choose to do the important -but-not urgent tasks first? These are the tasks that will advance your life goals, and ensure success for you as you have defined it. If you do not prioritize and do these tasks first, you will almost certainly fail to do them.

Here is how.

1. Define where you want to be in 3-5 years. Now list the steps it will take to get you there. Break these steps down into yearly goals, then monthly and finally weekly. Take the time to plan your life!

2. At the beginning of your day, pull out your weekly goals. What will you do today to advance your weekly goal? List this (these) tasks.

3. Scan your emails – don’t read them! You will get bogged down! Also, scan your phone messages, faxes inbox and anywhere else you receive communication. The goal is to get an idea of what new items will require your attention today.

You have spent 30-45 minutes of your day. You have gathered up the information required to plan your day, you know what you have to do, and are already planning it in your mind. You don’t have to worry about forgetting something important.

4. On a clean sheet of paper, or index cards, prioritize 10 -15 things you intend to accomplish before the end of the day. Be realistic. You will not be able to do much more than this. From the 10-15 highlight 4 or 5 items that are important-but-not urgent and critical to your long term goals. Prioritize these items first, and then follow with the remaining items in some sort of order. Put an estimated time to complete each item beside it. At the end of the day, your review of what got done and the actual time it took will be a great education and experience for future planning. With practice, this skill will serve you well.

5. Now do one of your highlighted tasks, preferably one you enjoy.

You have now spent approximately 90 minutes of your day. You have achieved a step towards your 3-5 year plan. (Imagine what a constant daily step towards your goal will produce!) You know how your day will play out (for the most part), and you are comfortable knowing you have not missed anything of importance.

If you begin to do the important-but-not urgent items on a daily basis, you will find less urgent items surprising you. The feeling and knowledge of achievement will be encouragement for you to continue to strengthen your skills in this area.

There you have two ways to begin your day. Your choice!

Your Coach and online friend,

Miami Phillips

Helping others find their path – and stay on it.

www.creativemasterminds.com

Quotation of the Week

Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.

J. C. Penney

About The Author

Miami Phillips is an ANSIR Certified Personal Coach and the founder of Creative MasterMinds who believes personal growth is an essential ingredient to being happy and contributing to this world. While his main focus is affordable personal and business coaching, he also offers motivational teleclasses, ebooks, reading recommendations and much more. To find out more visit his site at http://www.creativemasterminds.com or send him an email at coach@creativemasterminds.com

Time. I’m talking about Time! Where’d it go? Not just yesterday, or the week before, but last year – and the one before that – and the one before that…

Wow! It seems like not all that long ago I was running through the alfalfa field on our central Nebraska farm chasing grasshoppers and butterflies and whatever other little flyie (yes, this is a brand new word that you may pencil in on the border of your dictionary if you wish) guys that happened to be hanging around that day. And now – blink… click… flick… flash… here I am, sitting at the computer in a semi-retired, ready-for-Medicare world that I couldn’t picture – much less even consider – only a few short years ago. OK, so maybe “few” isn’t totally accurate, but “short” fits entirely too smoothly.

As I remember back on the events of those years passed, the words that pop into my head are “Hey, it’s been a really cool trip!” Oh, it’s not that I’ve gotten to travel extensively – other than a few sojourns across the western pond complements of Uncle Sam – and it’s not that I’ve been able to partake of the delicacies of a lifestyle of one of the “rich and famous”. Nope. I’ve just done pretty much normal-type stuff. Went to school, put in some military time, got married, had kids, held some jobs, moved around, and now I’m here. Sitting at my computer in a neat older house on a tree-lined street in a small town in the Ozarks. Is that cool or what?

No, really! It is absolutely terrific! Because as I look back on the past years, I realize that I’ve generally been able to do those things I wanted to do. Sure, some of the events and situations were totally uncomfortable, but they were important to me in that they permitted me to move on to a better – and more comfortable – situation. And yes, I’ve screwed up and made my share of mistakes as I’ve sauntered down my life path. Thank God! Those goofs, those blunders and errors in judgment were the very things that allowed me to learn whatever I needed to learn so I could move on more easily to the yes, better – and more comfortable – situations.

And I’ve learned – a lot in the past years. Sure, I still have a lot still to learn, but I’m thankful for the information that has managed to batter its way through my thick skull and into the gray matter. I’ve helped people, too. Family members, students, working folks and maybe some here and there that I don’t know about. Of course, there are likely a few other folks still roaming around this old world who would question the “helping’ and might have more of a tendency to categorize my actions under an entirely different heading. But that’s OK, too. Sometimes we screw up and besides, no matter what we do in life, we’ll never be able to please everyone. It’d be a waste of time and effort to even try.

So why am I blabbering on about my average life? Because it was – and still is – an important life. It’s essential for each one of us to understand that no matter who we are, where we live or what we do, our life IS extremely important. It is our opportunity to experience things and to learn from them. It is our chance to have a positive impact on those around us. It is our opportunity to experience love and to in turn, smear it all over anyone who dares come near us. It’s our chance to laugh, play, and enjoy all the beauty and wonder of this great creation that we’re a part of.

So? So, don’t waste it! Don’t waste your precious time on the negatives. Don’t squander those precious moments in self-pity, or whining or complaining about the inequities of life. Don’t get caught up in the “life sucks” mode of thinking. You don’t have time for any of that nonsense. This is a quick trip we’re taking on Planet Earth. Pay attention – learn – help others – help yourself – and do the best you can at whatever it is you do. As you get closer to your life’s final chapters, I think you’ll be glad you did. (And don’t forget to take time to enjoy the scenery!)

Gene Simmons, through NuPathz.com, provides an easy reading self-help blog, articles, quotations, thoughts and links along with affordable self-help and self improvement books & materials – all designed to help folks find the road to a more enjoyable lifestyle, to pass on some of life’s “secrets for survival” in a chaotic world & offer a few smiles along the way. It’s a down-to-earth, simple approach to discovering a better life. You can visit Gene at http://www.nupathz.com/

“Click It” Into Gear!

Ever wonder how two people can be in the same meeting, hear the same speaker communicate the same message – yet once the meeting is over, each person’s perception of the event is totally different?

Why the different perception? How can one individual think the meeting was terrific and leave completely inspired and motivated, yet the other person walks away believing the total opposite?

Answer: “THE CLICK” (More on this in a minute!)

Picture yourself being told that your department is about to undergo a major downsizing. (Not a pretty picture, to be sure.) You are told that an announcement regarding large numbers of layoffs is eminent.

Shortly, you may be out of a job! (gasp!)

Stunned? Sure you are, and the choices you make in the immediate future may change your life forever.

NOW – is when you need to “CLICK IT” into gear.

Visualize “THE CLICK”: Take your right hand and form a backwards “C” with your thumb and fingers. Keeping your hand in the backwards “C” position – hold your hand up to your right temple. Next, quickly make a forward snap of the wrist as you say out loud, “CLICK”.

Did the light bulb just go on?

Leaders who understand the power of “The Click” – DO NOT become victims of circumstance. Rather, they identify the challenges and the opportunities which are presented to them at the moment – whatever the adversity.

We each have the ability to choose our outcome. We may not like the choices in front of us at the time – but at least we have the ability to choose our path.

One thing is for certain – doing nothing, ensures failure.

Consider these examples:

#1 Losing your job?

Initial Reactions: “Poor me. That’s not fair! Those dirty rotten ba…uh.. scoundrels! Why me? My life is over!”.. etc, etc.

OR,

CLICK! “Okay, this is interesting. I guess now I have the opportunity to do something totally different. I could allow myself to be scared, but I choose to be excited instead. Obviously, something greater is awaiting me just around the corner. I can’t wait to get started!”

Question: Does the personal choice presented above sound crazy to you? If so, ask yourself this question – “What’s my alternative choice?” Sure, you can become emotionally charged, react in anger or even allow yourself to sink into a deep depression. But what will that accomplish? Nothing constructive, that is for certain.

The better choice is to dip into your personal reserves and “be” your better self.

#2 Boss just told you your department isn’t meeting expectations, and you are being placed on notice?

Initial Reactions: “He has always had it out for me. I’m next on the chopping block. It’s a conspiracy! I’m going to report him to HR and the Corporate Ethics Line because I feel threatened!..etc, etc.

OR,

CLICK! “Alright, my boss just told me exactly what he expects from me. I’m going to start immediately to address every issue he mentioned to show him that I understand what he expects and that I am committed to not letting he, or the company, down. I may not agree with everything he said, but I respect the position that he holds and it’s my duty to support upper management and the company I work for. I can do this!”

As the preceding examples point out, “THE CLICK” is the result of asking yourself, “What is the most constructive way I can look at this situation, and what action steps must I immediately take to professionally address this issue?”

Bottom line: NEVER forget the power of “THE CLICK”. NEVER allow yourself to be a victim of circumstance.

Instead, utilize this all-important tool to remain the master of your own destiny.

Don’t be “affected” – be EFFECTIVE.

“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
- John Wooden

Richard Gorham is the founder and President of Leadership-Tools, Inc. His web site, http://www.leadership-tools.com is dedicated to providing free tools and resources for today’s aspiring leaders. Offering high-quality tools in the areas of Business Planning, Leadership Development, Customer Service, Sales Management and Team Building.

You’ve Mind Mapped and Gotten Things Done. You have a Blackberry and 7 Highly Effective Habits. When you feel sassy, you kick it old school with Post It notes and a hand written To Do List and you still can’t make that time management stuff work out in actual life the way it looks on paper!

What’s the problem?! Is it you?

Possibly. Planning is a favorite self-sabotage technique of many a would-be successfully self-employed person.

However, it may be that you are using the right tool in the wrong way.

But first, a distinction:

There is a difference between ACTIVITY and ACTION.

Planning is an activity. It makes you feel like you have done something. Activity is the shallow stuff. Reorganizing your files. Making new folders. Cleaning your closet. Reorganizing your inventory. Reading e-mails and surfing (Yeah, I know, it’s “research”.).

It isn’t that activities of this nature are bad, but it is important to remember these are not foundation setting ACTIONS. Actions are meaty. They get you somewhere. They represent actual movement, integrated, results oriented, “you are now in a different place on the path” movement.

It’s important to understand this distinction so you don’t ask your new planning software or system to do for you what it cannot. And what it will do for YOU may be different than what it will do for ME because we may have different organizational needs. We may be using our planning efforts to achieve different goals.

For example, some people fall into excessive planning when they are afraid of stepping out. They don’t feel ready, legitimate or fully prepared to embrace their new venture publicly. This is the “let me just read one more book” person, always on the verge of being ready.

Some people think that thinking IS doing. They also confuse things like revenue and profit. There is a gap between the internal picture and the external reality and often it’s a blind spot. This is one place where coaches are particularly effective resources.

Some people make goals out of fear. I used to do that. Oh, Andy has a blog? I’d better get one! Andrea has a book? I’d better start writing! Oh, Alice told me I need to read this book? Must get over to Amazon. Micheal is teaching classes? Guess I should add that to my offerings, too. What’s this? No way can I make a living only doing 1:1 coaching? (Even though I have been for 6 years!). Oh no! I have to make a bunch of passive revenue streams! I was basically taking every good idea that I saw,and accepting every prediction for my business by people who didn’t know me as true and adding to my own list because I thought I had to model my success after every one else. Coaches are notorious for this, but I see other self-employed people doing the same thing. In fact, Americans in general can be prone to this. Oh, Oprah said I need to do these 10 things for a happy life? Put ‘em on the list. And, summer is coming…let me get those thinner thighs while I’m at it.

This is YOUR list, first and foremost. What do YOU want out of life? How are the goals you are setting and the plans you are making relating to your values? Are you setting goals based on your assessment of what you know to be true for you or on what others are telling you that you will have to do to “win the game”? What is the game, exactly? How are you defining success?

When you have a handle on THEN progress to these questions about organizational aids: What are you trying to organize and what function does writing things down serve for you? Does it calm you down? Help you focus? Get you to do things? Help you identify where you need help or guidance?

Some folks start using tools and systems before they really have identified their need for them. It’s not that different from buying kitchen gadgets. Everyone needs an apple corer and lemon zester, right? And muffin tins. And how about wrist watches? Have to have one, right? Well, I haven’t owned one in YEARS. YEARS AND YEARS. Every place I go, including my car, is full of time pieces. Sometimes we assume we need things just because they are so common.

Let your need guide your hand here.

As a recovered time organizing flunkee, let me share some insights with you that have made all the difference in the world for me:

What I have come to understand now is that I am a visual organizer. I think through my fingers and all those pretty markers and graph lines (I’m an old school organizer) help my brain with conceptualization of my goals. I have a serious freedom jones, however, so I know that putting down a formal to do list is the kiss of death for me. I need the field defined, but not each stepping stone. Sometimes I want to walk on the grass, or cut through the brush. Sometimes I LIKE learning things the hard way because once I’ve learned something, I KNOW I’ve got it.

Even when I thought I had a doable ‘to do list’ that wasn’t soul crushing, the fact is that when I am on the right path there is so much synchronicity that happens that I HAVE to abandon my original plans to accomodate the better opportunities that come along that I had no idea were going to show up.

What does this mean for time management?

For me, doing my conceptual work on paper includes asking myself the basic question WHY? Why is this on the paper?

Once I know the WHY, what I find I need is a flow chart and a general sense of my calendar. Spring and fall will NEVER be times for big projects. I have an acre of perennial gardens. I can’t redo my website when the weeds start to come up or I’ll regret it all summer long. I always take a week with my husband to celebrate our anniversary, so June is out for major projects, as well. February and March, however, are dead times in Chicago…what a great time for marrying myself to my computer, redoing my website, tweaking my infrastructure and writing book chapters! The fact is, I have about 6 dedicated weeks a year (without scheduled clients, home/garden demands or vacations) to devote to big projects. That’s it. Suddenly a year, which seems so long, becomes much more concrete to me when I really look at the flow of the predictable demands.

Remember: there will always be unpredictable demands. My parents both had major health crisis in the last 4 months. Welcome to middle age, baby. Better leave some wiggle room.

When you align yourself with the larger rhythms of your life and the natural world (like my garden seasons) and have a sense of your values, you will become a much better gatekeeper where your goals and projects are concerned.

Better gatekeeper means less organizing to do. Make friends with the concept of time and it’s limits. Time management is NOT about making more of it. It’s not about turning yourself in to an efficient robot that never wastes a moment. It’s about learning to flow within the time that is available and recognizing that it is a limited resource. It’s about making friends with it.

Time is a non-renewable resource.
So are you.

Laura Young, M.A. is a life and business coach and owner of Wellspring Coaching. She is a contributing author to A Guide to Getting It:Purpose and Passion, Become Your Own Great and Powerful and A Guide to Getting It: Creative Intelligence, due out Spring 2006.
Laura specializes in working with individuals facing midlife transitions (personal and career), self-employed individuals on business development strategies and high level leaders on communication and leadership skills.
With doctoral training in counseling psychology, Laura has written extensively on such topics as stress management, motivation, finding one’s life purpose, achieving life balance, cultivating a healthy lifestyle and improving communication in personal and professional relationships. Please visit her blogs and website to tap in to her extensive resource base.

I wish I had more time.

How often have you said that to someone?

Some say that time is much more important than wealth. Most effective people think so and top business leaders mention this in interviews and biographies. They know how to get more time in a day, and they have mastered the art of utilizing time effectively to do more productive things that contribute to their advancement or success. So how do they do it? What is different about their time management and ours?

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Some people do seem to have more time than others, but no one gets it any differently. So what is the difference? What can we do to become like them? Don’t you deserve to find the time to get things done, have time for your family and enjoy the freedom you desire? Time management is about you being in control of your time instead of letting it control you.

Anyone with a dust-covered day planner on the shelf, or a PDA with nothing entered in the calendar knows that the concept of “time management” can seem like a hollow promise. The harder we try to get a handle on those passing minutes, the more minutes that seem to pass by. Perhaps it is time for you to look at your paradigm of time management. Are you really in control?

The less time you think you have, the more critical it is for you to plan. You might say that you’re so busy you don’t even have time to plan. If this is you, then you know where you need to change. If you want to enjoy the harvest, so you must plant. Can you imagine a farmer that doesn’t put out any seed and then expects a bountiful crop? The planning phase is very important in organizing your thoughts to carry out the desired effects.

Your plan will be your road map for time management. Spend enough time to ponder through the different approaches and activities. Stephen Covey, in his new book The 8th Habit, explains an excellent metaphor of “big rocks.” Your important tasks are the “big rocks” and all the other things are like “sand.” If you let the sand fill up your day, you will not be able to fit in the big rocks, but if you instead schedule in the big rocks, you’ll have room for the sand as it easily fits in between the big rocks.

Know what your big rocks are. The key to effective time management is to honestly manage all of the things which need you. Is spending time with your family important to you? Then it is a big rock and should be in your schedule.

Time management skills require practice and balance. If you only apply time management to work, you will still have the feeling you lack control outside of work. Effective time management is about striving to be effective and honest with yourself when things don’t work the way you planned. It is through this adaptive learning process that we can achieve freedom and balance in life.

Dave Saunders is a professional lecturer, and successful entrepreneur. He enjoys creating interconnections through his writings and lectures to help others create context and see new discoveries and technologies in more a practical light. You can find more time management tips at http://www.endless-abundance.net