The Key to a Better Life

Time management is basically about being focused. The Pareto Principle also known as the '80:20 Rule' states that 80% of efforts that are not time managed or unfocused generates only 20% of the desired output. However,  80% of the desired output can be generated using only 20% of a well time managed effort. Although  the ratio '80:20' is only arbitrary, it is used to put emphasis on how much is lost or how much can be gained with time management.

Some people view time management as a list of rules that involves scheduling of appointments, goal settings, thorough planning, creating things to do lists and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.

But there are more skills involved in time management than the core basics. Skills such as decision making, inherent abilities such as emotional intelligence and critical thinking are also essential to your personal growth.

Personal time management involves everything you do. No matter how big and no matter how small, everything counts. Each new are of knowledge you acquire, each new piece of advice you consider, each new skill you develop should be taken into consideration.

Having a balanced life-style should be the key result in having personal time management. This is the main aspect that many practitioners of personal time management fail to grasp.

Time management is about getting results, not about being busy.

The six areas that personal time management seeks to improve in anyone's life are physical, intellectual, social, career, emotional and spiritual.

The physical aspect involves having a healthy body, less stress and fatigue.

The intellectual aspect involves learning and other mental growth activities.

The social aspect involves developing personal or intimate relations and being an active contributor to society.

The career aspect involves school and work.

The emotional aspect involves appropriate feelings and desires and manifesting them.

The spiritual aspect involves a personal quest for meaning.

Thoroughly planning and having a set of things to do list for each of the key areas may not be very practical, but determining which area in your life is not being giving enough attention is part of time management. Each area creates the whole you, if you are ignoring one area then you are ignoring an important part of yourself.

Personal time management should not be so daunting a task. It is a very sensible and reasonable approach in solving problems big or small.

A great way of learning time management and improving your personal life is to follow several basic activities. One of them is to review your goals whether it be immediate or long-term goals often and a way to do this is to keep a list that is always accessible to you.

Always determine which task is necessary or not necessary in achieving your goals and which activities are helping you maintain a balanced life style.

Each and everyone of us has a peek time and a time when we slow down, these are our natural cycles. We should be able to tell when to do the difficult tasks when we are the sharpest.

Learning to say "No". You actually see this advice often. Heed it even if it involves saying the word to family or friends. Pat yourself on the back or just reward yourself in any manner for an effective time management result. Try and get the cooperation from people around you who are actually benefiting from your efforts of time management. Don't procrastinate. Attend to necessary things immediately.

Have a positive attitude and set yourself up for success but be realistic in your approach in achieving your goals. Have a record or journal of all your activities. This will help you get things in their proper perspective.
These are the few steps you initially take in becoming a well rounded individual.

As the say personal time management is the art and science of building a better life.

From the moment you integrate into your life time management skills, you have opened several options that can provide a broad spectrum of solutions to your personal growth. It also creates more doors for opportunities to knock on.

Motivation, The Heart of Self Improvement

Pain may sometimes be the reason why people change. Getting flunked grades make us realize that we need to study. Debts remind us of our inability to look for a source of income. Being humiliated gives us the ‘push’ to speak up and fight for ourselves to save our face from the next embarrassments. It may be a bitter experience, a friend’s tragic story, a great movie, or an inspiring book that will help us get up and get just the right amount of motivation we need in order to improve ourselves.

With the countless negativities the world brings about, how do we keep motivated? Try on the tips I prepared from A to Z…

A - Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

B - Believe in your self, and in what you can do.

C – Consider things on every angle and aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides.

D – Don’t give up and don’t give in. Thomas Edison failed once, twice, more than thrice before he came up with his invention and perfected the incandescent light bulb. Make motivation as your steering wheel.

E – Enjoy. Work as if you don’t need money. Dance as if nobody’s watching. Love as if you never cried. Learn as if you’ll live forever. Motivation takes place when people are happy.

F – Family and Friends – are life’s greatest ‘F’ treasures. Don’t loose sight of them.

G – Give more than what is enough. Where does motivation and self improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you exert extra effort in doing things.

H – Hang on to your dreams. They may dangle in there for a moment, but these little stars will be your driving force.

I – Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don’t let other people to get the best of you. Stay out of toxic people – the kind of friends who hates to hear about your success.

J – Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.

K – keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self improvement.

L – Learn to love your self. Now isn't that easy?

M – Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.

N – Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game.

O – Open your eyes. People should learn the horse attitude and horse sense. They see things in 2 ways – how they want things to be, and how they should be.

P – Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation. It lets us learn repertoire and ways on how can we recover from our mistakes.

Q – Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate – are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?

R – Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We must hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and try to push us around. Remember, it wasn't raining when Noah build the ark.

S – Stop procrastinating.

T – Take control of your life. Discipline or self control jives synonymously with motivation. Both are key factors in self improvement.

U – Understand others. If you know very well how to talk, you should also learn how to listen. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood the second.

V – Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat on a dry land.

W – Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is rooted out from the roots of motivation and self improvement.

X – X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put on “extras” on your life like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.

Y – You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because you’re just going to spend it once.

Z – Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!

Procrastination to Massive Action- 10 Tips to Establish a Record of Completions

"No action, no change. Limited action, limited change. Lots of action- Change occurs." Catherine Pulsifier

Procrastinators: Leaders of Tomorrow, the t-shirt phrase puts it right into perspective. If you want to lead a fulfilling life you have to get moving today on the tasks that will make the difference. Whether you suffer from the procrastination bug in one area or throughout your life the following ten tips can help take you from paralysis to achievement.

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." Sally Berger

Begin- Enough said. No more excuses. Just get started. Inaction causes anxiety. Perceptions often shift once you begin and are making progress. So suck it up and take that very first step. You will feel much better once progressing.

Mini Step- Do what you know you can do. Great accomplishments are achieved through an abundance of small actions. Break the task as far down as needed, even if it seems ridiculous, in order to progress forward. Take one step at a time.

"If you want to make an easy job seem hard, just keep putting off doing it." Olin Miller

Set Deadlines- Set a timer for a small block of time you know you can commit to such as 15-20 minutes. Eliminate distractions as much as possible. This small block of focused action can help you to move toward your goals and away from procrastination. Work productively. Allow what you accomplish to motivate you to continue taking steps.

Focus on the End Result- Instead of thinking about what you are resisting focus on how great you will feel at the end. What is your motivation? What will you gain? Allow that to motivate you daily into action all the way through to completion.

Be Honest- Perceptions can be misleading. We can make things seem harder than what they really are. Instead of telling yourself the typical procrastination excuse, be candid. Get to know yourself better. The better you know yourself the greater chance of aligning with goals and work that you can be excited about. Get down to the source, the real issue behind the procrastination. Ask:

In what area(s) am I procrastinating?

Do I really want to do this or is it an unappealing task?

Is a fear holding me back? If so, fear of what?

Am I overwhelmed, indecisive, or lacking information to move forward?

Like identifying an illness, once you get to the source you can create a strategy to overcome it.**

"Someday is not a day of the week." Dennis Brennan-Nelson

Except No Excuses, Only Results- Life is bumpy. The more action you take the more you learn how to handle and avoid bumps in the road. So don't stop and sit along the side. Keep on! You will gain knowledge, experience, courage, and feel a sense of progress, growth, and accomplishment. Take lots of purposeful action.

Do the Toughest Task First- Get the action you resist most out of the way first thing in the morning. It will help add energy, motivation, confidence, and good, fuzzy feelings to the rest of the day.

Get a Support and Accountability Partner- Find that special someone, a friend, support group, or hire a business or life coach or other professional depending on what you want to accomplish, that will provide encouragement and support to stay on track. We accomplish more with support and accountability. When we struggle an accountability partner can remind us of what we have to gain.

"The path to success is to take massive, determined action." Anthony Robbins

Keep a Victory Log- Building a record of completions step-by-step builds confidence as you view your progress. It provides motivation to take more action. Simply jot down in one place the tasks you complete in working toward your goal(s) and notice your success rate expand.

Fuel Your Body- Caring for your body by making healthy food choices, drinking lots of water, exercising, taking rejuvenation breaks throughout the day, and getting a good night's sleep can improve your willingness to do what needs to be done. Add the fuel you need for peak performance to make the most of each day.

Progress boosts well being. Whether procrastinating in one or numerous areas, understand procrastination is a choice. Take one doable action after another towards your goal. Allow it to inspire more action. Take massive purposeful action and establish a record of completions and achievements. Begin with the first step...Starting Now!

** You can find more information on strategies for various sabotaging behaviors in the article 4 Essentials to Break Through Procrastination

Beth Tabak of www.StartingNowCoaching.com is 100% committed to small business coaching and personal life coaching. She coaches big thinkers to be unlimited, stand out in the crowd, and experience the vastness of their abilities. Stop by to see all that is available to you, connect with Beth through social networking, and say 'hello'.