The Magic of Being Early

Some people find it easy to get up early and start their day whereas there are others who are late risers and have great difficulties getting up early in the morning. A report published by The telegraph in the United Kingdom states that early risers are slimmer, healthier and happier than their counterparts who have the urge to sleep in after the alarm has gone off.

The report further states that "morning people" usually start their day at 6.58am whereas "evening people" tend to start their day as late as 8.45 am. "Morning people" could end up doing better in life as they can get their chores and important work done early.

In addition to this, early risers are likely to have lesser stress as they can avoid waiting in lines for things such as coffee or supermarket checkout lines.

Being early enables you to save money as well. There are certain countries which allow you to save on transport fees when you take the subway before 7.30am. By paying your bills early, you can improve your credit rating. There are instances where being early can save you a substantial sum of money. For instance, if you send your car in for a regular tune up early, you can avoid the pain of paying for a huge repair bill if your car is ever caught in the middle of the Las Vegas desert with a flat tyre.

Being early gives you more options. For instance, if you are already running late for a meeting, the best option would be to ride in a cab. However if you are early, you can decide to take the subway, bus or take a leisurely stroll after breakfast. This also applies to your work as well. If you get started preparing for your presentation early, you can have more time to prepare for it, giving yourself time to add anecdotes, quotes etc. etc. However if you were to start planning for a presentation the night before, you will have to rush through everything. If students were to prepare early for their exams, they can avoid the stress associated with last-minute cramming and perhaps enjoy their studies more. Getting started early allows you to avoid deadline stress.

You can increase your productivity, save time and feel more relaxed and calm if you can begin the habit of being early in almost everything you do.

Start early and experience the magic of being early.

Cindy Siow is the owner of the website MyFirstMagicButton.
MyFirstMagicButton is a system that enables virtually anyone to create an extra stream of passive income right from the comfort of their home.
It's like having your own 'magic button' where you can spin off cash almost like clockwork.
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How to Set a Daily Routine and Stick to It

One thing we all struggle with is coming up with a workable daily routine. This is like the "Holy Grail" of time management. Some people would even go so far as to say that you couldn't be successful without one.

This article will cover the basics of how to set a daily routine and stick to it along with some mistakes concerning creating daily routines that I've coached people successfully through.

Be Flexible

Realize that just because it's best for you to exercise on Monday at 9 am that same time may not work on Tuesday...or any other day for that matter. But that's ok, it works for Monday.

Also, what I personally do is make sure I have a buffer time in the evening in case something came up during the day and I didn't get everything done that I needed to. I know a routine is...by its very definition...pretty set, but, let's face it, sometimes things come up that are out of our control... a kid sick or a car in the shop, to name just a couple.

So, if I stayed up late Monday night working and sleep in Tuesday morning and miss my exercise time, I have that buffer that evening when I could make it up.

Mistakes

I've known of people who didn't exercise because they couldn't fit it every day into their schedule at the same time. They actually went weeks without exercising until I sat them down and got out a good old fashioned planner and we scheduled every day. One day it may be in the morning, a couple of days in the afternoon, and a couple of days in the evening.

Be Realistic

Don't underestimate how much time you'll need to do a task. Overestimating is better, but best is to be close.

Mistakes

I've seen people have trouble filling in those time slots in a daily planner because they feel they'd be too rushed. They look at each slot filled and feel like their whole day was filled. Well...News Flash!...it already is filled whether on paper or not. You are doing something every minute that you're breathing. It's just so much cooler when you are in charge...when you're actually planning...what's filling those hours.

For instance, I love to read. It used to be that I wouldn't schedule time to read...I'd feel guilty. But, trust me, I found time to read. Now, I realize that I'm important too. Not just the stuff I do, but the stuff I want to do.

So with Those Two Criteria

Go! Create something that works for you...a daily routine that will suit your life. Remember that each day doesn't have to be the same. Heck, each week doesn't have to be the same. It just has to be functional.

Are you ready to begin managing your time better? Download my free ebook about Time Management for some wonderful ideas. Also visit me at There Must Be A Better Way

Helping Your Kids Stay Motivated While You Get Though College

If You're a Nontraditional Student,

You already know you're motivated. You may need that boost now and then but the underlying motivation is already in place. It has to be for you to put in all the time and effort that being a college student requires. You'll also have to have motivation to put up with the guilt that comes along with all that too.

If Your Spouse Realizes

What a better job you'll get with better hours and probably a lot better pay there's a good probability they're probably pretty motivated too.

But What About the Kids?

How motivated are they to sacrifice what they're going to need to sacrifice in order for you to go to college? Let's face it things are going to be tight...not only your available time but also your money which will now be spent on $100.00 books you don't even want to read.

Chances are that, by the very fact that they're kids, they're going to require a lot of motivation over the course of your education.

This article will highlight two ways you can help keep kid's motivation up while they get used to having less of your time and monetary resources available to them.

Think about it... that could be rough for a kid. You're not able to take him to the movies like you used to on the weekend because now you have a test on Monday to study for, or a paper you have research. Even if you did have the time, right now you really don't have the money. All this because You wanted to go to college and college takes a lot of time and money. Yeah, you'll need to help them stay motivated and I'll share some ideas here.

Plan Time Together

This could be at some point in the near future. Look at your schedule and see when you have a break in assignments where you could just take in a matinee. Is money tight? Our mall has matinees for $1.50 and if you go on Tuesday afternoons then drink and popcorn are just $1.00 each. Pretty affordable if I do say so myself and I'm a serious cheapskate.

Bonus #1: They get the psychological boost that they're important enough to plan for and that you look forward to time with them.

Bonus #2: Planning like this teaches patience. So many kids are used to getting what they want right now and that's not good for them.

Talk Often

About goals for the future, about how life will change for the better, about how this phase will pass, about all you'll be able to do (e.g., take vacations). Have them pick out a new bedroom set or something personal that they want in the future. My daughter picked out a picture of a bedroom that she wanted and that helped her stay motivated.

Bonus #1: You'll spend time just talking together

Bonus #2: You'll teach them to look toward the future.

Keeping kids motivated can really help our time management efforts while the flip is also true...if kids aren't motivated for us to get through college they can wreak havoc on any time management efforts we even attempt.

Want more ideas on time management? Download my free ebook about Time Management and Students where you'll find ideas for time management in several crucial areas where we all struggle. Also visit me at There Must Be A Better Way

Change Your Life For The Better By Rapidly Completing Unfinished Tasks

Completing unfinished tasks is a great way to change your life for the better. Unfinished tasks are huge silent stressors that steal hours of your precious time. They are energy and productivity thieves, but you can eliminate them.

From a button missing on your suit coat to the mess in your garage, every unfinished task is robbing you blind. Just like someone embezzling funds, these thieves don't steel in big obvious ways. They tug at your attention only for a few moments at a time. Not a big deal. Right? Wrong. Their cumulative effect is staggering. You may have as many as fifty unfinished tasks nagging at you.

Some of these may only take a few moments of your attention. For example, a missing button is a moment of aggravation when you realize you still haven't sewn it on and then perhaps a few more minutes while you look for another outfit. A messy garage might mean a half an hour of frustration as you look for a misplaced tool. Not to mention the guilt you feel every time you walk through it and see the mess sitting there.

Just imagine if each of those fifty unfinished tasks took on the average only 30 seconds of your attention a day. Do you have any idea how much time you would needless lose a year? Try 9,125 minutes. That's approximately 152 hours, or almost four full forty hour work weeks.

What would your business look like if you had 4 extra weeks of creative attention, rather than distraction and stress? What would your relationships with you family and friends be like with an extra four weeks of attention?

So how do you stop these thieves? You do so with four simple steps.

Step 1--Write down ALL of the unfinished task you can think of. Think about work and home and write down every disorganized drawer you have wanted to get to, project you keep thinking you will complete, appointment you have intended to set up, etc. Write down tasks as small as sewing a button on to as big as an incomplete home renovation. Anything that isn't finished, write it down.

Just writing these tasks down will begin reducing the mental and emotional deficit they have been causing you. Congratulations!

Step 2--Next to each unfinished task write down the first action step you must take to get moving. These action steps can be very small. For example, if you keep meaning to get your car into the shop because of some annoying rattle, then write down "call and setup appointment." Or, if you want to store keepsakes in the attic, then write down "pick-up packing boxes on the way home from work."

You benefit from writing down the first step in two ways. First, procrastination is often times due to feeling overwhelmed, so focusing on the first step helps you overcome procrastination. Second, people who write down goals are tremendously more successful at accomplishing those goals than people who don't.

Step 3--Complete the five easiest tasks first. Why? You have been stuck on this stuff forever. Half of the battle is just starting. Knocking out several easy tasks will help you over the mental hurdle that has been holding you back. Each success will add momentum.

Step 4--Check off each completed task and immediately schedule the next action step you will take to complete another task. The biggest mistake people make after writing their list is shoving it to the side and never looking at it again. Avoid this mistake by using the completion of one task as a trigger for the next task. The key is scheduling. Do not ever allow yourself the costly luxury of not having your next action scheduled. This is the defining difference between stressed-out people with furrowed brows and peaceful people with completed lists.

You cannot imagine how much you will change your life for the better just by eliminating unfinished tasks until you do it. So don't hesitate. Start making you life better right now by creating your list of unfinished tasks and plow through it using these four simple tests.

Allyson Lewis is a renowned author, motivational speaker and time management expert who has trained thousands of people to achieve greater productivity and create a more meaningful life by prioritizing, organizing and simplifying. If you seriously want to change your life for the better, Allyson has numerous free tools to get you started today. You can get immediate access to free worksheets, webinars, checklists and more with the click of a few buttons by visiting her website http://www.the7minutelife.com/. At her website you can also find out about her revolutionary time management system, The 7 Minute Life TM System or her groundbreaking unique daily planning tool, The 7 Minute Life Daily TM Planner.

Scary Office Monsters - Here's How to Defeat Them!

Monster: The paper pile of doom

It haunts your nightmares, it taunts you while you are awake. No one knows exactly what they will find in the paper pile of doom... an unpaid bill, that missing meeting agenda, the menu for the Chinese restaurant down the street? The pile is constantly growing and like a gremlin spawns baby piles that start to take over every vertical surface in your office.

How to defeat it:

The paper pile grows because it is the easiest place to put "stuff and/or it is the default place for things you don't know what to do with.

To defeat the pile of doom you must stop feeding it.

1) Make it easier to file or throw away than put it onto the pile. Try moving your most used files, trash, shredder, and recycle bin within arm's length of your desk. If you are right-handed, preferably put them on your right hand side.

2) Analyze what ends up in the pile. Make sure you have an easy to get to "home" for each of these items (documents you're currently working on, client files, etc.)

3) Stop using the pile as "don't know, do later" pile. Conquer indecision by asking yourself "what do I need to do with this?" and "do I need to keep this?"

Monster: The Bermuda Triangle of computer documents

It's were documents go and are never seen or heard from again. Ever hear yourself say "I know I saved it here somewhere"? You're computer has developed a Bermuda Triangle.

How to defeat it:

1) Decide on the default location for your documents. Items get lost when some things are in "My Documents" and others are on the server.

2) Create broad category folders that make sense for the way you work. Drag your files into these folders. Make sure that there are no duplicate or similar folders names to avoid confusion. Create sub folders if there are a lot of documents in the main category folder.

3) Moving forward, use descriptive file names and save files immediately into the correct folder.

Monster: The never-ending meeting

It's like the Twilight Zone, you're stuck in a meeting that just won't end.

How to defeat it:

1) Ensure the meeting starts on time. Try assessing a "fee" to anyone who shows up late.

2) Appoint someone to run the meeting. When the meeting gets off track have them lead the meeting back to the agenda.

3) Set action items throughout the meeting. Sum up the action items and who is responsible at the end of the meeting. In the next meeting have a recap of the status of each action item to ensure accountability.

About: Erin Hoffman is a Productivity Specialist and the president of Optimum Productivity. She helps busy professionals and businesses save hours each week by showing them cost saving time and email strategies.

Her company, Optimum Productivity, offers company training packages, speaking and individual coaching.
For more information visit http://www.optimumproductivity.com/

Want to learn how to increase productivity by up to 25%? What to learn ways to use your time and your email more effectively? Check out a FREE webinar from Optimum Productivity.

How to Beat Procrastination and Get Organized

You have mail and paper everywhere. You resolve weekly to organize your home filling system. It just never happens. Why? You may have nothing but procrastination to blame.

Do I Procrastinate?

Being a procrastinator can stand directly in the way of getting organized. Some people have no doubt about it, they will loudly and directly label themselves procrastinators. Others are less willing to take on the title. So what exactly makes you a procrastinator?

Just because you are keeping busy doesn't mean you are avoiding this pitfall. If you compile a to-do list for the day do you begin by completing all of the smaller, "less important" tasks? If you want to stop procrastinating you have to admit that you are putting of your big, more important or crucial tasks. With what seems like less and less time in the day to get done what we need to accomplish putting off important tasks until a mythical "later" can have a large negative impact on us.

Is There a Reason?

There are a number of reasons we put off projects that need to be done. Knowing why you do it is a big step in the fight to stop procrastinating. Let's use your home filing system as an example, but these reasons can apply to other projects as well!

• I don't know where to start: Big projects can be complicated. Do you have papers stacked all over your home because you haven't set up a home filing system? Many people find the process of setting up a filing system daunting. Break up larger tasks into smaller steps, this will make it less intimidating.

• It is no fun: Let's face it for most of us working on our home filing system is not a fun activity. So we put it off. We do tasks that we enjoy more, or at least projects that we think we can finish faster! The truth is we need to stop procrastinating less appealing activities because they still need to be completed! Plan a motivator for yourself. Sometimes you need a reward to get yourself going. For example, when you clear the papers off your kitchen table you can go on a pleasant fall walk, eat that piece of chocolate you've been eyeing up, whatever you find motivating. Try to choose something that won't take you away from your task too long, you don't want to lose steam or get hopelessly distracted.

• I'm afraid of failure: This freezes many of us, whether we realize it or not. If we don't try to complete the task we won't fail. The truth is your first try at a home filling system MAY NOT be successful. Perhaps that is how you ended up with papers all over your home to start with. It is ok, stop procrastinating and get started! Sometimes finding just the right solution to a problem can take a couple tries or some time spent researching. There is a lot of help available out there once you take the first step and get started. If you are really stuck consider calling in a professional organizer for a few hours to get you started.

• I got distracted: The truth is that this is soooo easy to do. While the internet is a fantastic tool it also offers us an almost unlimited supply of distractions. Maybe you were just going to check your email, real quick, and then post a Facebook status, and right after that you will get started with your home filing system! Two hours later you forgot exactly what it was you had started doing but found a fantastic new blog and bought a pair of great shoes!

When you have a project to complete limit your distractions in the environment. This might mean powering down (gasp) your phone or computer for a while. Try this trick once you have a home filing system set up, don't stop moving with the papers in your hand to file. Don't put them down in a "waiting" location!

Bring in the mail and make decisions. Junk goes straight into recycling and the rest of your mail should be shredded, filed, or put into your active paperwork space. If you put down a stack of papers you are greatly increasing the chance that this pile will do nothing but grow as you give in to distraction after distraction.

Stop the procrastination today! The faster your home filing system gets organized the faster you'll start feeling better.

Heidi DeCoux is a professional organizer specializing in organizing paperwork and creator of The Fast-Filing Method home filing systems helping you stop procrastinating today. To get a FREE Home Organization e-Solutions Kit, which features the audio class: The Fast & Easy Way to Get Organized and Stay Organized Forever, visit http://www.clearsimpleliving.com/.

Time Management - Is Technology Hurting Or Helping Us?

The question of whether technology is hurting or helping us is not an easy one to answer. In fact, if we were to spend any amount of time whatsoever honestly evaluating this subject I believe we could make an effective argument for either case.

To prove that point let's consider a couple of the ways that technology can hurt us in our time management plan followed by a couple of the ways that it can help us.

How Technology Hurts Us...

One of the biggest ways technology can hurt us is by making things too easy. It's a proven fact that your brain gets stronger with use. When we rely on technological advances, whether that's defined as a computer-based program or the use of something more mobile such as our cell phones, we run the risk of harming our memory simply by letting it go lazy on us.

Another way technology can hurt us is it can cause us to over plan our lives. We can look in our handy-dandy cell phone and see that, if we're real careful at sticking to our schedule, we just might be able to squeeze in that time to volunteer for that project. I know I have personally done this and thought afterwards that if I'd not been able to look at a glance and see that 1 hour opening I would've had an hour to relax or just not be so rushed. If I'd not had my schedule at-a-glance I would've deferred answering and I would've had more time to think about whatever request was posed.

How Technology Helps Us...

One of the biggest ways technology helps us is by making things really easy for us. In the short-term this can be a plus as it just simplifies our already over hectic life (though the flip side minus is mentioned above). It's easy to take out our cell phone and program in a task so we don't run the risk of forgetting it. In that way, we can effectively carry our planner with us tethered to our side and be able to see at a glance whether we will have time to bake those cupcakes for our child's class or at least swing by the local warehouse club and purchase some.

Another plus is that it can help us keep from over scheduling our lives. We can see immediately if we have time to do this or that.

Are you ready to begin managing your time better? Download my free ebook about Time Management for some wonderful ideas.