First Things First

A Beautiful Story I cam across on Time Management and Setting Priorities.

A professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about 2" diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them in to the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The students laughed.

He asked his students again if the jar was full? They agreed that yes,it was.

The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

"Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children -anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed.

The pebbles are the other things in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent things like your job, house, or car.

The sand is everything else, the "small stuff."

"If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks.

The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, material things, you will never have room for the things that are truly most important.

Pay attention to the things that are Important in your life.

Spend time with your Family.
Spend time with your people.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out once a while.
Take time to renew yourself.
Find time for maintainance.
Spend time on Preventing than on Solving Problems

***** Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter.****

Set your priorities, the rest is just pebbles and sand.

 

Save An Hour Each Day... Get Organized!!!

What does your desk look like? * A toxic waste dump? * A bomb exploded? * Burglars had ransacked your office?

In corporate America, most business people associate a messy, dis-organized desk/office with being productive, effective and efficient.

Are you a member of this club?

Did you know that most people are “wasting” an hour each day looking for “STUFF” that’s lost on their desk? How about you? (Do you wish it was “only” an hour?)

And it always happens at the most inopportune time. How many times last week did you call someone up, ask them a question, and they responded, “Hold on a second and let me find the letter/file/proposal. I know it’s here... somewhere.”

And five minutes later they come back and sheepishly said: “I can’t find it, let me call you back later.” Thus beginning another round of telephone tag, stretching a quick five-minute conversation into a five-day odyssey.

If you want to get ahead in life, make more money, and even get home for dinner every once in a while, follow these 6 steps and you’ll be organized. (This complete procedure is explained both in my best-selling “Success is a Journey” and “Time Management for Dummies” books.)

Step #1. Schedule An Appointment With Yourself
For most people, it takes about 2 hours to get organized. Write it on your calendar, and KEEP THE APPOINTMENT!!!

Step #2. No Interruptions
Turn off the telephone, close the door (or put up a Do Not Disturb sign across the entrance to your work space), and allow NO INTERRUPTIONS!

Think of this session as a meeting with your boss or most important client.

Step #3. Bring A Dumpster
Sixty percent of the stuff on most peoples desk can be tossed. That includes you!!!

So keep the papers, documents, and files you need, and throw the rest away.

Remember: Don’t succumb to Cleaner’s Remorse. (Going thru the trash and pulling out the stuff you just threw away because you think you may “Need It Again.”

Step #4. Pickup A Piece Of Paper
Now that you’ve closed the door and turned off the phone, pick up a piece of paper - any one will do - and ask yourself 3 questions

• What is it?
• Why do I have it?
• What am I going to do with it?

If you can’t come up with a good answer, THROW IT AWAY!!!

Step #5. File Your Papers
If you need to keep a piece of paper, (file or proposal), put it in a properly labeled file folder. If one doesn’t exist, create one on the spot.

Step #6. Record Your To-dos On A Master List
If there’s work to do, note it on your Master List, which is a to-do list written on a big piece of paper - like a legal tablet.

You can also record your tasks inside your contact manager - like ACT!, or your PIM - like Outlook, or your PalmPilot.

Before you know it, your desk will look like the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, and your garbage can will be filled to the brim, overflowing, and spilling onto the floor.

You’ll be organized, efficient and productive. You’ll spend your time doing things that make you successful.

Never Save Something for a Special Occasion

Please do read this ... do not be too busy Earning a Living and in the process Forget to Live. Here is a hair raising story which shows the importance of Time Management and understanding what Life and Priorities are all about.

Trust you will enjoy the read and start Living each day.. each moment...!!!

A friend of mine opened his wife's saree drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package:

"This, - he said - isn't any ordinary package." He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box.

"She got this the first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on. Was saving it for a special occasion.
Well, I guess this is it. He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothings he was taking to the funeral house, his wife had just died. He turned to me and said:

"Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion".

I still think those words changed my life.

Now I read more and clean less.

I sit on the porch without worrying about anything.

I spend more time with my family, and less at work.

I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to, not survived through.

I no longer keep anything.

I use crystal glasses every day.

I'll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if i feel like it.

I don't save my special perfume for special occasions, I use it whenever I want to.

The words "Someday..." and "One Day..." are fading away from my dictionary.

If it's worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen or do it now.

I don't know what my friend's wife would have done if she knew she wouldn't be there the next morning, this nobody can tell. I think she might have called her relatives and closest friends.

She might call old friends to make peace over past quarrels.

I'd like to think she would go out for Chinese, her favourite food.

It's these small things that I would regret not doing, if I knew my time had come.

I would regret it, because I would no longer see the friends I would meet, letters... letters that i wanted to write "One of this days".

I would regret and feel sad, because I didn't say to my brothers and sons, not times enough at least, how much I love them.

Now, I try not to delay, postpone or keep anything that could bring laughter and joy into our lives.

And, on each morning, I say to myself that this could be a special day.

Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.

If you got this, it's because someone cares for you and because, probably, there's someone you care about.

If you're too busy to send this out to other people and you say to yourself that you will send it "One of these days", remember that

"One day" is far away... or might never come...

Live everyday .. every moment as if it is your last day... last moment....!!!!

How To Get Cooperation from Other Departments

How To Get Cooperation from Other Departments

• Other departments may appear to slow you down. In dealing with them, begin with an assumption that they are as competent as you are. Everyone is doing his or her best, and everyone is busy. Remember that ultimately, you're all on the same team. Your positive attitude will get better results than antagonism. Treat them as you would like to be treated.
• Handle your special requests of other departments as you would handle a task that you would delegate:
1. Clarify the task to be done and the standards to be met.
2. Establish a timetable.
3. Ask if there is anything else that the person needs to complete the task.
4. Confirm the commitment that they made (don't make it for them).
• If others let you down; be careful not to react with one of two opposite emotions; aggression and passivity. Aggression is fighting back, yelling, name calling, threatening to go to a higher authority, becoming impatient and being forceful. Passivity is giving in, ignoring an issue, procrastinating, apologizing or running away.
• Be assertive instead. Use the person's name. Say please and thank you. Ask, don't tell.
• Be straightforward with your request. "Our department needs this delivered to us by tomorrow." Adding an explanation helps to validate the request. Then ask if there's anything else they need, or anything you can do to help the process. Clarify the agreement made.
• If the person objects, repeat the request, stating it slightly differently each time. "Jillian, I'd like to get a copy of that report by tomorrow." She answers that she's too busy. "I can understand how you've got a big workload. (Avoid the dreaded "but") I do need the report finished by tomorrow so can we find a way to complete it somehow?"
• Ask "Would it be helpful if I…" Sometimes they can do a better job if you help first. Your offer also displays genuine empathy.
• Use the phrase, "What would have to happen..." For instance, "I understand most of the staff have left for the day, but what would have to happen for this to be finished by tomorrow morning?" Sometimes the person might suggest a solution that you can help achieve: "Well I'd have to send it over in a taxi and we're not allowed to do that." Maybe they can't authorize a taxi, but you can.
• Don't appeal to a higher authority. If you say "I need this done, and I can get my boss to speed things up if I have to," you may not be successful. Instead, build a relationship. Take an interest in things that are important to them.
• If problems persist, keep a log of transactions. Include the date you sent something to another department and the date you got it back. Use this to support process improvement, not to blame someone.
• Create routines for standard requests from other departments that are repeated. For instance, automate your expense report. This isn't bureaucracy, it's efficiency.
• On the other hand, remove routines that were created for occasional exceptions that no longer occur. Old routines may be slowing other departments down.
• Ask what the holdups are. Convene a meeting to outline your concerns. The other department might identify blocks that can be removed.

 

Five Time Management Mistakes that Wastes a lot of Time

Have you heard people say “Time Flies”, “There is no Time”, “Where is the Time” and sort of pharases. In my career of conducting Time Management Workshop, I have experienced some of the major flaws that people do which becomes an excuse for the above mentioned pharases.

For all those who would like to master their time management skills, must avoid these 5 major Time Management Mistakes.

1. Procrastination:

Those things which have to be done now are being procrastinated of being postponed. This is one of the traits which is not outside but within us. We have made up a habit that we will do it later as it is not urgent now, we keep on delaying it till one day it becomes burning and urgent, and then we have no choice to act on it. At this point of time, we have to leave aside something that was important but not urgent to complete this task.

Many of the corporate executives also get a kick from doing something that is urgent, they love to take pressure, their common phrase is “ohh, don’t worry there is still a lot of time”.

2. Do it Myself Attitude:

"This is too important. Better let me do it." "By the time I show them how to do it, I will finish it myself." There are these executives and managers who always want to be in the thick of the things. They also get a feeling of threat if some one else starts doing what I do. Some have this misconception about their indispensability.

3. No Clearly Defined Goals:

Because we do not know what to do, we keep on doing whatever comes our way. We keep on working very hard but still do not get results or the sense of achievement because we never have defined what we want to achieve. “A journey of thousand miles begins with the first single step.” We all want to take the first step and we are ready to take it, unfortunately we have not defined our journey so we do not know in which direction to take the first step.

4. Not taking Decisions:

One of the major mistakes which waste a lot of our time is in-decision. We keep on procrastinating our decisions. We do not take the right decision at the right time be it with our professional life or our personal or social life or be it related to our health. And unfortunately many of our decisions are not our decisions at all. They are being imposed on us by our boss, colleagues, family and friends. We also have this urge to be perfect at time and we need a lot of data and testimony to justify our decisions and also always we want to be right at all the time so we remain in-decisive.

5. No Action:

This one is the giant of the time waster which waste chunk of our time. We do not Act on our Goals, we do not take any action on the decisions we make. Many a time people decide to change their habits and behaviour but seldom they take any action step on their plan. So no action – no results. Some times people who do not have clarity of goals, do not see the destination, so, if this set of people act today and cloud sit with a book and pen and start writing down their goal, probably this action step will bring them closer towards their goal.

So if you want to start managing your time, start managing the above five mistakes. So here is your short brief powerful action plan:

Step 1: Stop Procrastination

Step 2: Empower people around you

Step 3: Write down your goals of paper

Step 4: Make those tough decisions

Step 5: ACT now on the above 4 steps.

Wish you all the best. Time management is all about self management. The better you manage your self, automatically your time is managed.

 

IOC Corporate Presentation

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/shareID812131/fileID130385520/IOC_Corporate_Presentation.pps

 

Top 10 Learnings from Anthony Robbins

Tony Robbins has been an inspiration for millions. Love him and his philosophy or not, it is undeniable that he has had a positive impact on millions of people.

Here are the top 10 lessons that I learned from Tony Robbins Teachings:

 

1) By altering your body's physiology, you can achieve an immediate change of your emotional state. The mind will follow whatever state your phsyical body is in and not vice-versa.

 

2) Ask specific questions of yourself (in your self-talk) to direct and control your attention to the various aspects of the human experience. The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the quality of the questions you ask of yourself.

 

3) Get leverage to create personal change by associating an old behavior with massive pain and the desired new behavior with massive pleasure. Tony is a big believer in the pain/pleasure principles of life and this applies in business as well.

 

4) When you get stuck, interupt your limiting pattern by doing something totally unexpected.

 

5) You can condition your behavior by visualizing it over and over again. This is not exactly unique to Tony Robbins, but he does reinforce this message in all of his products.

 

6) Goal-setting strategy: Know your end outcome; Take massive intelligent action; Have sensory-acuity to notice if you are getting the results you desire and if not; change your approach; and change *until* you get your end outcome.

 

7) Create a "Compelling future" by vividly imagining your end result to generate enthusiasm and power within yourself. The past does not equal the future. Find beliefs that support your goals and desires.

 

8) Youth is Power! This is one of Tony's beliefs. Even if you don't have fancy degrees, your youth can still mean power, flexibility and opportunity for your life.

 

9) Principles of CANI! CANI stands for Constant And Never-ending Improvement. It's a basic tenet of Tony Robbins.

 

10) NLP can be useful. NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming and there are many NLP undertones in Tony's basic tenets. He went on to morph NLP into his own technology called "NAC" (Neuro Associative Conditioning) .