Get the Work Life Balance Right - Take Time to Relax and Recharge Your Batteries

The season of good will is upon us, and for many people, this will be the first time that they have taken a complete break from their business or job for a few months. Make the most of this and promise yourself and your family complete down time. Do not start preparing reports or proposals, sorting out your office or anything else that is work related or takes mental effort. Let your mind relax and busy yourself with your friends and family or potter around the house, take a walk or simply just watch television. Do the things you wouldn't normally do in a working week.

Regular relaxation is essential for your wellbeing which will result in a longer and more fulfilled life. Commit now to be good to yourself in the year to come. Here are a few tips for keeping yourself energised and relaxed:-

1. Take time off every week

When you run your own business it is very easy to get caught up in doing something towards it 7 days a week. Every single study I have ever come across in this area confirms that we are far more productive if we take a least 1 complete days rest.

2. Take Mini-breaks

Try to take a 3 day break every 3 months. During that time, as suggested above, do not get tempted to catch up on work. Busy yourself and your mind on other things. If you do anything work related you are keeping your mental gears in motion which means you wont be getting the rest you need.

3. Take at least one holiday a year

Have at least 2 full weeks off per year during which time you do nothing that is work related. If you go away and take any work with you, you will not be giving your mental batteries the chance to re-charge and you will come back just as tired as when you went. You can either work or relax, you can't do both!

4. Take a break today

If you are caught up in a task, discussion or you are finding yourself emotionally drained at work, take a break from what you are doing and do something different for a while. As the saying goes, "a change is as good as a rest." If you are able, take a walk and clear your head. Let your mind wonder and think relaxing thoughts, thoughts that make you smile such as a time on holiday or a loved one. You can not perform at your best when you are feeling emotionally charged. Just taking yourself away from the situation for a while will clear your head and you can come back to the task with renewed vigour.

5. Eat Well

Since your diet has such a big impact on your physical and mental energy, start thinking about what you put into your mouth. Digestion uses a lot of energy, especially if we are eating processed foods with high proportions of fat and sugar. Natural foods are much easier to digest and stops that sluggish feeling.

Actions

Plan your diary to include regular breaks and stick to them. Don't be tempted to put them off. Book holidays months in advance and get them paid for. This way you are committed to taking them and not tempted to put them off and let work get in the way.

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How to Get the Respect You Think You Deserve

Well actually you don't get respect, you earn it.

Respect is earned by words, and by actions. Things like keeping your promises or proactively providing service. Things like becoming more personally involved with the success of your customer, or taking responsibility when responsibility is not really yours. It's the extra effort. It's the extra mile.

One of the keys to respect is the word personal. How personal are you in your actions? How personal are you in your communication? The more personal you are with others, the more respect you will earn.

But there is a secret to respect. The secret is: In order to earn the respect of others, you must first respect yourself.

This means you have to have confidence in yourself. You have to like what you do. You have to be willing to serve. You have to like yourself. And you have to love yourself. Like and love are two separate issues. You may like yourself for how you look, or how you sell, or how you communicate, but you love yourself for who you are, what you believe in, and what or who you seek to become.

Try writing a list of all the good things that you've done for yourself, and all the good things that you've done for others. Be real enough with yourself to admit what you like about yourself, and what you love about yourself.

Then list what you need to change about yourself that will make you better and stronger. Maybe your self-respect suffers from the way you see yourself in the mirror, or some of the personal choices that you make. Maybe it's your environment. But whatever it is, if you don't acknowledge it, you will never be able to change it or enhance it. You'll never be able to grow in earning respect from others until you grow in respecting yourself.

The secret is easy. Do the right thing all the time and respect will be yours. Say the right words, take the right actions, and believe in your heart that you're doing the best you can do -- for yourself first, and for others second.

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Get More From Life by Understanding the 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule was discovered by Vifredo Pareto in 1895 who observed that 80% of the wealth in Italy was owned by 20% of the population and it followed that 80% of income was received by 20% of the people.

It has since been discovered that this statistic can be observed in any area of your business or life. For example, 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers or 80% of your sales is generated by 20% of your marketing or 80% of problems or complaints come from 20% of your customers. The list is endless.

This is a useful statistic to know since if you know what or who the 20% is then you can deal with them accordingly. For example, if you know which 20% of your customers give you 80% of your business then you can nurture these customers.

Other examples include 20% of your employee’s produce 80% of your output or 20% give you 80% of your problems.

This is not a hard and fast rule but if you study the facts you will find that a minority is always creating a majority.

This doesn’t just apply to business. If you look at your daily habits, you will find plenty of areas where this 80/20 rule applies.

• 80% of your money goes on 20% of the things you buy
• 80% of your phone calls are made to 20% of the numbers you have in your phone
• 20% of your activities produce 80% of your results

Once you start to break down your life into 80/20 rules, the trick is to stop wasting time on all the activities that produce little satisfaction or results and focus on the activities that produce the best outcomes. Work on one area at a time. You can do this for literally anything. What would you like to work on first? Here are some more examples:-

•Hard drive - sort through your computer documents, comparing the last modified date for various major folders. Create a separate folder system where you can move these rarely used files. This will eliminate your computer clutter and make it far easier and faster to find the stuff you actually use.
• Home Appliances - Determine which appliances cause the most frustration, stress and break down the most. Once you’ve done this you have three options: learn to use the tool better to understand it and prevent stress, buy a new one or find a substitute that is less damage prone. Save yourself the headache and 80/20 your lawnmower.
• Habits - Figure out which behaviours (or lack thereof) contribute the most to your life. Exercise? Rising Early? Family Dinners? Use this as a basis for making new habits.
• Relationships - Look at your social circle and friends. Do a rough estimate of the amount of time and energy you invest in each relationship. Compare that to the amount of stress or satisfaction. You might find that certain relationships are toxic and others are valuable and should be invested in more.
• Food - Record your eating habits for a week. Calculate up the calories of the different items of food. Some treats contribute a high percentage of your calorie pie for no nutritional value, when other vices consumed in smaller portions take up only a sliver but still offer a tasty treat.
• Daily Time Log - Do a time log on your activities for an entire day. Record the stop and start point for any activity. Then broadly shuffle the different activities into categories. Figure out what parts of your day aren’t contributing to productivity, entertainment or personal happiness and cut them out.
• Work Tasks - Write down all the broad categories of tasks you do at your job. You can make a little table that shows the amount of hours spent at each category (say, 1 hr for E-mail, 1 hr for contacting clients, etc.) and on another column write down a value estimate for what percentage you believe it contributes to your productivity. Eliminate, simplify or delegate low %’s and focus on high %’s.

The most valuable tasks that you do each day are often the hardest and most complex but the reward for completing these tasks can be huge.

Of all the tasks on your to do list, work out which one will give you the biggest and best results. For all your tasks, ask yourself “is this task in the top 20% or of activities or the bottom 80%.

Time management is all about taking control over what you do next and your ability to choose between the important and none important tasks is the key to determine your success and happiness.

Make the decision today that you will spend more time on activities that will make a real difference in your life and less on those that won’t.


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What is Your Relationship with Money?

What is this stuff we call money?

Many people say things like “I don’t care about money” or “money isn’t important”, but I bet their bank doesn’t say that or their car dealer or anybody else they deal with. In a civilized society it is impossible to live without money so to say that you don’t care about it is ridiculous.

However we must remember that money is our servant and not the other way around. For those who become slaves to money violate one of the basic laws, ie.they use people and love money.

Always remember you should LOVE PEOPLE AND USE MONEY!

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Time Management - How to get more done in less time

When you run your business and work from home, the day really does just seem to go nowhere and the weeks even faster. It is so important to keep your focus and not get distracted. This system is as effective for sole practitioners as well as business owners and managers. It really is so simple, as all the best systems are. The important thing is that you USE IT!

1. Spend a few minutes thinking about where you loose your hours. What do you get distracted by?
   Get a blank piece of paper and note the things and times you get easily distracted. What uses
   your time? Are these things moving you forward in your business?


2. 
   Every job, piece of paper, e-mail, etc. apply the rule of the four D’s
   Dump it
   Delegate it
   Diarise it
   Do it
   Ask yourself – Does this need doing? Is it taking me towards my goal?
   If the answer is no then DUMP IT. If the answer is yes then:-
   Ask yourself – Does this need to be done by me or can somebody else do it?
   If it can be done by somebody else, then DELEGATE IT. It it needs to be done by you then:-
   Ask yourself – Does it need to be done today?
   If the answer is no then DI ARISE IT.
   If the answer is yes then either DO IT or


3. 
   Set up a diary system so that you schedule blocks for specific tasks. Treat these as appointments
   as you would if you were having a meeting. For example, I only check my emails 3 times per
   day, first thing in the morning, lunch time and just before I sign off. I book my clients in for
   specific days and schedule days when I am going to complete other tasks such as newsletter,
   working on courses etc. This keeps me in the flow rather that having to stop and start and try to
   remember where I was and what I was thinking. I would rather fill my day with back to back
   clients so that this frees another day to work on tasks.


4. 
   Schedule time each day, either first thing in the morning or last thing at night to make your To
   Do List. Once you have your list, grade them A,B,C in order of priority. Never move onto a B
   task until you have completed all the A tasks and never move onto a C task until you have
   completed your B tasks.

In Brian Tracy's book 'Eat that Frog' Brian uses the concept that if you had to eat 10 frogs every day, always eat the biggest, ugliest frog first and then the day can only get better. So when you grade your list, all the A's should be the things you really don't want to do. Do these first then reward yourself with a cup of coffee or whatever your preference is. Remember, once they are done, the day can only get better!