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While a 25-hour day is impossible, there are ways to become more productive within the existing 24.<\/p>\n
Donald Wetmore, who conducts time management seminars, offers a number of ideas<\/a> \u2014 some obvious, others not \u2014 on Powerhomebiz.com<\/a>, a small-business Web site.<\/p>\n Here are some of his suggestions:<\/p>\n \u00b6Plan tomorrow today. If you do not wait until you get into the office to plan your day, you will be that much further ahead. Accept the idea you may not get everything done. The solution is to prioritize. In creating your \u201cto do\u201d list the night before, \u201cput the No.\u00a01 next to the most important item on your list. Place the No.\u00a02 next to the second most important item on your list, etc. Then tackle the items on your list in order of their importance. It sounds simple, he says, but most people don\u2019t do it, deciding to complete tasks that are easier to do, but not necessarily the most important.<\/p>\n \u00b6Do not try to keep it in your head. \u201cA faint pen has more power than the keenest mind. Get into the habit of writing things to do down using one tool (a Day-Timer, pad of paper, Palm Pilot, etc.) Your mind is best used for the big picture rather than all the details.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00b6Sleep. \u201cYou can have a great to do list for your next day but if you are tired, your productivity will be adversely impacted. Schedule a sufficient amount of sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00b6Take a speed reading class.<\/p>\n \u00b6Break for lunch. \u201cAfter doing what we do for several hours, we start to \u2018dull out.\u2019 Sure, we can work through lunch and be productive, but that is not the issue. The issue is \u2018how much more\u2019 productive we can be. A lunch break, even a short 15-minute break, gives us a chance to get our batteries all charged up again to more effectively handle the afternoon\u2019s challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n MAYBE YOU NEED LESS TIME Before he became known for writing the best seller \u201cThe Four-Hour Workweek\u201d (Crown, 2007), Timothy Ferriss was known, if he was known at all, for running a business, BrainQuicken a developer and distributor of sports-nutrition products based in San Jose, Calif.<\/p>\n He was working 15-hour days and was exhausted.<\/p>\n He says, in an article in Fortune Small Business<\/a>, that one of the best things that ever happened to him was discovering the work of the economist Vilfredo Pareto who argued, among other things, that 20 percent of the population owned 80 percent of the property in his country. Others subsequently found that the principle could be applied to a range of issues like company profits, where it is often the case that 80 percent of the profits come from 20 percent of the company\u2019s customers.<\/p>\n Mr. Ferriss came to realize that only 5 of his 120 customers were generating 95 percent of his revenue, and he reorganized his business to focus on them.<\/p>\n This raises the question to other entrepreneurs: Where are the bulk of your revenues coming from? Are you sure?<\/p>\n NO EXCUSE When asked to explain their inability to manage their time, a common reason people cite is \u201cinformation overload.\u201d There is just too much data they have to keep up with.<\/p>\n David Allen, the author of the book \u201cGetting Things Done\u201d (Penguin, 2002), has an answer to that.<\/p>\n Writing in the recently restarted Success magazine<\/a>, he says: \u201cToo much information is not the problem. If it were, we\u2019d walk into a library and faint. We would run from the computer having gone just a few clicks into the results of a search, since each hyperlink leads to a seemingly infinite number of other Web pages. Information overload indicates we\u2019re not managing our commitments effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n WHY WE WAIT \u201cThere are many ways to avoid success in life, but the most sure-fire just might be procrastination,\u201d Psychology Today writes<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cProcrastinators sabotage themselves. They put obstacles in their own path. They actually choose paths that hurt their performance.\u201d The problem seems to be self-created.<\/p>\n \u201cProcrastinators are made, not born. Procrastination is learned in the family milieu, but not directly. It is one response to an authoritarian parenting style. Having a harsh, controlling father keeps children from developing the ability to regulate themselves, from internalizing their own intentions and then learning to act on them. Procrastination can even be a form of rebellion, one of the few forms available under such circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, by the way, the magazine says the standard comment of procrastinators, \u201cI do my best work under pressure,\u201d turns out not to be true.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Procrastinators \u201cdo not turn out to be more creative; they only feel that way.\u201d<\/p>\n LAST CALL Pace Productivity, a company that provides time management services, understands that people do not want to waste time at home either. Of all the tips<\/a> they offer, here\u2019s our favorite.<\/p>\n \u201cWould you like to avoid telemarketing calls while you\u2019re having dinner? Simple. Don\u2019t answer the phone at dinner time. If it\u2019s someone important, they\u2019ll leave a message or call back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n While a 25-hour day is impossible, there are ways to become more productive within the existing 24.<\/p>\n Donald Wetmore, who conducts time management seminars, offers a number of ideas<\/a> \u2014 some obvious, others not \u2014 on Powerhomebiz.com<\/a>, a small-business Web site.<\/p>\n Here are some of his suggestions:<\/p>\n \u00b6Plan tomorrow today. If you do not wait until you get into the office to plan your day, you will be that much further ahead. Accept the idea you may not get everything done. The solution is to prioritize. In creating your \u201cto do\u201d list the night before, \u201cput the No.\u00a01 next to the most important item on your list. Place the No.\u00a02 next to the second most important item on your list, etc. Then tackle the items on your list in order of their importance. It sounds simple, he says, but most people don\u2019t do it, deciding to complete tasks that are easier to do, but not necessarily the most important.<\/p>\n \u00b6Do not try to keep it in your head. \u201cA faint pen has more power than the keenest mind. Get into the habit of writing things to do down using one tool (a Day-Timer, pad of paper, Palm Pilot, etc.) Your mind is best used for the big picture rather than all the details.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00b6Sleep. \u201cYou can have a great to do list for your next day but if you are tired, your productivity will be adversely impacted. Schedule a sufficient amount of sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00b6Take a speed reading class.<\/p>\n \u00b6Break for lunch. \u201cAfter doing what we do for several hours, we start to \u2018dull out.\u2019 Sure, we can work through lunch and be productive, but that is not the issue. The issue is \u2018how much more\u2019 productive we can be. A lunch break, even a short 15-minute break, gives us a chance to get our batteries all charged up again to more effectively handle the afternoon\u2019s challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n MAYBE YOU NEED LESS TIME Before he became known for writing the best seller \u201cThe Four-Hour Workweek\u201d (Crown, 2007), Timothy Ferriss was known, if he was known at all, for running a business, BrainQuicken a developer and distributor of sports-nutrition products based in San Jose, Calif.<\/p>\n He was working 15-hour days and was exhausted.<\/p>\n He says, in an article in Fortune Small Business<\/a>, that one of the best things that ever happened to him was discovering the work of the economist Vilfredo Pareto who argued, among other things, that 20 percent of the population owned 80 percent of the property in his country. Others subsequently found that the principle could be applied to a range of issues like company profits, where it is often the case that 80 percent of the profits come from 20 percent of the company\u2019s customers.<\/p>\n Mr. Ferriss came to realize that only 5 of his 120 customers were generating 95 percent of his revenue, and he reorganized his business to focus on them.<\/p>\n This raises the question to other entrepreneurs: Where are the bulk of your revenues coming from? Are you sure?<\/p>\n NO EXCUSE When asked to explain their inability to manage their time, a common reason people cite is \u201cinformation overload.\u201d There is just too much data they have to keep up with.<\/p>\n David Allen, the author of the book \u201cGetting Things Done\u201d (Penguin, 2002), has an answer to that.<\/p>\n Writing in the recently restarted Success magazine<\/a>, he says: \u201cToo much information is not the problem. If it were, we\u2019d walk into a library and faint. We would run from the computer having gone just a few clicks into the results of a search, since each hyperlink leads to a seemingly infinite number of other Web pages. Information overload indicates we\u2019re not managing our commitments effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n WHY WE WAIT \u201cThere are many ways to avoid success in life, but the most sure-fire just might be procrastination,\u201d Psychology Today writes<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cProcrastinators sabotage themselves. They put obstacles in their own path. They actually choose paths that hurt their performance.\u201d The problem seems to be self-created.<\/p>\n \u201cProcrastinators are made, not born. Procrastination is learned in the family milieu, but not directly. It is one response to an authoritarian parenting style. Having a harsh, controlling father keeps children from developing the ability to regulate themselves, from internalizing their own intentions and then learning to act on them. Procrastination can even be a form of rebellion, one of the few forms available under such circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, by the way, the magazine says the standard comment of procrastinators, \u201cI do my best work under pressure,\u201d turns out not to be true.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\nBy PAUL B. BROWN<\/div>\n