WIZE TIME MANAGEMENT

Do you want to learn how to sell online using websites?

Want to Save time, money and energy?

If you do, you’ve come to the right place – unquestionably!

real quality, real value, and real training!

The instructor of this training struggled to find anyone to teach him when he started out. He was willing to pay the big bucks to get someone to help him.  He just couldn’t find anyone who could show him how to make money on the internet. There was always something not properly explained or not explained at all, parts missing and confusion at every turn.

Even the simplest processes were made difficult – What was happening as it happens more often than not, people know their field but can’t explain it to others so it can be understood.  This has been an issue plaguing the computer world since computers started to arrive on our desks.  In reality, anyone can learn most common processes on the computer or internet it if it taught effectively, openly, honestly and clearly.

He persevered. He kept asking questions and spending money. He worked very hard and long hours.   He learned!  Boy, did he learn!  And with that knowledge, he started to teach others.  He found thousands of people were in the same boat as him and he helped more and more and more people until it turned into a business for him.  He had started with his own product – a book on how to make money with pictures.

He is an excellent communicator – an excellent instructor – a talent honed from years in the entertainment business.

He is here today to help you too - at a reasonable price - all that he has learned and is still learning is available to you today 

everything you need to know how to earn money online using websites -

everything on his site is ready for you – hundreds of videos, PDFs, guest interviews, webinars, a forum -free ebooks

it’s all there – stay on that site for a while, and you’ll learn everything you need to know.

and . . . one price gets you everything – every single thing on that site – it’s all there for you!

There are people of all ages and all levels of  technological ability.

I was awed by what I found on this site. Things I had struggled with for a very long time were explained clearly in minutes.  Eventually, I watched the videos and worked along with each video.  I applied what I learned immediately.  All this “stuff” which had been so difficult, all of a sudden the dark clouds of confusion started to lift and I started to understand.  I had the problem  to unravel all the confusion and anxiety which had built up over a long period of time from misinformation  I had been given along the way by some very “high-priced help”!!!!

It’s one of the best pieces of education on the internet that I had every encountered.

Websites –

Making money using websites seemed to be such an insurmountable obstacle for me – the work, the cost, and the sheer terror of having someone else in control of my site – how would I update it myself?  How did it all work? What if I wanted to change a picture or add some words or delete some words – how could I do that?  How would I know what to expect from someone selling me a site?  I needed to know in order to make intelligent decisions.

I found out – and I’m not scared of anything any more – I’ll do it – because I know how – in this case knowledge is not only power to control presence online but to understand the processes of making money online.

I had to start all over again – but slowly and surely – it began to sink in – Allelujah! Eureka! Yahoo!  You will be amazed what you can learn in one month!!!  Actually, you’ll be amazed what you can learn in one afternoon!

For you, if you’re just starting out, this is the place to learn – the place to be –

you’ll never regret this decision if you are serious about making money online.

You’ll learn everything you need to know to be successful online – step-by-step and I do mean step-by-step.

It won’t take you a year either - 21 days to success – you can take longer or take less time – but in the end you’ll have the confidence to create an income online for yourself because you’ll know how.

If want to learn, don’t walk – run!!!

Click here and get going today!

You’ll see that it won’t cost you an arm and leg either – you won’t have to spend thousand of dollars, not even hundreds.

I know it sounds so unbelievable  because you’ve probably seen the promotions – wow!  The cost are unbelievable for those programs – you’re broke before you start!

You don’t have to go broke here.  Even if you’re on a limited budget, this is affordable.

If you work very hard, you’ll be amazed what you can accomplish in a very short period of time.

But . . . don’t get me wrong – this is not a get rich quick scheme – this is solid learning over a period of time – at a extraordinarily reasonable cost -

I’ll be very excited when you send me your success stories – and I know you’ll have success if you put your heart and soul into it!

I promote this product as part of my business model – I just can’t help it -

this is so extraordinarily exceptional especially today on the internet!

it’s number 1 in the ratings – ratings by real people and you’ll be adding one of your own!

Please . . . . do yourself a favor  . . . . .  go now  . . . .  look & see – learn —- if you do sign up –

It’s $4.95 for the first month -yes, it’s not a typo – $4.95 for your first month - and you’ll be amazed at what you can learn in a month!!!

if you want to stay after the first month, it’ll be $37 per month – you heard right – no tricks, no added fees, nothing – and you don’t even need to stay for the second month!!!  It’s whatever you feel you need!

You know that this won’t break the bank – you know it – and there’s so much here for you!

and $37 for every month you choose to remain a member – over 500 videos available – webinars – forum – you just can’t lose!!!  There are no catches here – none – it is what it is!  And every month, there is something new!

You’ll be so glad you started today!

Click Here to Get Going – 21 days and you could see success!

Save Time Money and Energy Learning How to Make Money on eBay

The Traps

I’ve been on the internet long enough now to understand one very important thing about learning to do anything on the internet:  when they ask me for a lot of money to teach me the basics, I run! Why?  Because it’s never worth the money!  Learning the basics is critical but it shouldn’t blow your entire budget on one course nor strap you with huge credit card debt!

Those who offer these high-priced courses are careful not to make any promises which hems them in but you’re hemmed in!  Somehow the guarantee of returning your money runs out before you discover that they haven’t taught you enough to make any money.  Most often, the people who offer programs don’t know how to teach.  Even more tragic, some of them don’t even know how to make money online themselves! (those pictures they show you online aren’t always real for them!)They may or may not know their stuff but can’t or won’t pass on what you really need know to make a buck.

The good news is that there are people out there who are really making good money on the internet, know how to teach others and offer their programs at a reasonable cost. The trick is finding them because they are not always the “high flyers” of the internet putting out launch after launch after launch.

Learning from the BEST

I’ve also learned that the best people to learn from are those who are making money online every day as their primary means of making money; the educational component of their business is only one of the many add-ons they have created.   With the information obtained from these real practitioners, you can get started in a realistic way and have the best chance possible of making money.

It’s a lot of work starting an internet business and it takes a lot of time, energy and money to build a business online as it does to build a business the old fashioned brick and mortar way.  The nice thing about the internet is that you can learn bit by bit without investing a lot of money upfront.

EBay

I learned eBay.  I thought it would be great to sell other people’s stuff and get a commission.  So, I paid a supposedly reputable  company a lot of money to teach me.  They couldn’t.  They didn’t have a clue how to teach someone.  Some of their coaches were making money on eBay but just couldn’t pass on the information properly.  Later, I found out that many people who had also signed up for this company’s offerings were in the same boat.

Then I found someone who did know how to teach. Successful on eBay, a Titanium Power Seller, the instructional material I received was simple to follow and truthful – no magic mirrors – no promises of high earnings – just a realistic approach to starting a business on eBay.  The tools were explained properly.  Further credibility was added when this person was  featured on eBay radio.

When the dust had cleared, eBay was not my bag after all so I didn’t pursue it as a business though I still do sell on eBay on occasion – it’s fun for me and it’s turned into a hobby.

One of the key things about good teachers:  they’re accessible – after the sale – they will answer questions and they do have newsletters so you can keep learning from them.

Start learning today from this person – click here – you’ll be amazed right from the first contact!

Consider This

Before you jump into eBay or any other online business, consider this:

a)  Are you ready to do some intense research on products before you decide on what you are going to sell?

b)  Are you prepared to take the time to understand the process by starting small, step-by-step and then building over long term?

c)  If you want to ship a product yourself,  do you have the space to store the product, wrap and ship the items and the equipment needed to complete orders?

d)  Are you customer oriented or do you not like dealing with people problems?  If  you don’t like dealing with customers, quit while you’re ahead!

e)  Are you prepared to learn and keep learning, live in ambiguity for a long time and yet push on until you arrive at your destination?

f)  Do you understand that selling on eBay is not free?  There are fees to be paid to eBay and to PayPal.

g)  Do you understand that there is a whole new language on the internet you’ll need to learn and some will seem odd and confusing at first?

h)  Are you prepared to put in the time, energy and money to build a successful enterprise?

The benefits of starting an eBay business:

a)  You don’t have to spend a huge amount of money to get your feet wet in creating an internet business. You can learn bit by bit what it takes to become very successful in business online.  You can start with drop shippers who have integrity and are willing to work with small retailers.   This is one area in which it’s important not to rush – take your time.  Spend the time reviewing the videos, reading the PDFs and understanding what’s required.  Read contracts before you sign them.  Again, click here to get the suppliers and education you need- you’ll be glad you did!

b)  Once you have a few successful sales, then it’s time to reinvest and keep moving forward.

c)  There’s a lot to learn – everything from taking pictures, editing them and uploading them in an attractive way to creating good descriptions, return and shipping policies, building a store on eBay and extending your eBay presence outwards into the rest of the internet so people can find you in other ways than just through eBay.  How long will that take?  It depends on how much time you have to learn, how versed you are in computer technology, how much money you have to spend to get going, and a host of other variables too numerous to mention here.

d) It is a business. Building a business whether on the internet or brick and mortar takes time.  The advantage of the internet, if you don’t like your business or location, you can move without it costing a ton of money or move on to another business or have several businesses going at once.

e)  And, yes, even on the internet, you need advertising dollars.  That’s another thing you’ll have to learn – CAREFULLY!  Many people have been caught advertising before they completely understood how it works.  That’s why it’s a good idea to start on eBay – you get your feet wet before you need to pursue internet advertising avenues.

Would I recommend starting an eBay business even today?  Yes.

It is a good training ground for starting a business online and whether you have a job or will be getting a new job or want to do this full time, it will always be a source of income if you learn methodically and apply what you learn.

And, yes, I do earn a commission if you sign up for these recommended suppliers.  As you will be doing, I’m earning from what I learned.  I only recommend the best and the people with whom I have had successful dealings.  I’ve kissed a lot of frogs in my journey on the internet – the products and services I recommend are solid – tried and true – real people with real businesses who are honest and run ethical businesses.  It has cost me a lot of money, effort and time to find these gems.  If you’re smart, you’ll start with these people. Eventually, you’ll find others.  The key here is that you’ll have started with a good foundation.  Just like building a house which will last for years -  a good foundation will make  it last!

Sourcing Products to Sell

In order to sell on eBay, you need to have something to sell. They say start with things from your home which are in good condition and for which you don’t use any longer.  It’s good to get half a dozen listings and practice but you’ll soon run out of things.  As with any business, you need a steady supply of product to sell.

If you want to get an education on sourcing products and have a reputable company giving you a legitimate and carefully researched groups of companies to buy from, then I would recommend you click here.  It’s the only company which has built it’s own list of suppliers, has tremendous teaching tools and, again, the owner is accessible – that’s always a bonus.  The bonus truly is the education – tons of videos, PDFs and other material – you won’t believe how much you learn here – at no cost to you! Incredibly valuable knowledge especially if you are brand new to retail.  And the annual fee to become a member is incredibly inexpensive – you’ll be surprised!

Get started today with the best eBay instructor – click here!

Get great suppliers ready, willing and able to help you build your business click here!

Lorraine Arams

http://www.wizetime.com

Save Time, Money and Energy Learning How to Make Money by Blogging

What does that mean?

It means that finding the best possible instruction right from the beginning of your journey making money online through blogging will save you time, money and energy not to mention frustration!  When you have the right instructions with the right approach at a reasonable cost then you’ll be ahead of the game!

You learn best from someone who is:

doing it now . . . and. . .  who can teach

these are important criteria - many might know how to blog but few can teach it.  Many pretend they know.  Many are really good salespeople with an expertise in mumbo jumbo!  So save yourself a lot of time and money by starting learning from the best.  Why should you trust me?  No reason really.  I’ve been down the “search” road and this is the best I’ve found.  I’ve spent a lot of time, money and energy.   I will tell you one thing I’ve learned:  if you don’t start the right way at the very beginning, the “deprogramming” to learn the right things for today’s market will set you back.  Many bloggers are teaching the “old stuff” – very little of it works today.

Is it Easy?

No.  Absolutely not.  Why?  Because it’s complex – the devil is in the details!

Yes, the most popular platform, WordPress  is free but . . . you need to know more and it’s the rest of what you need to know which slows you right down to a crawl or worse,  stops you dead in your tracks.

Getting Trapped

I’ve been trapped.  I know what it feels like to have a burning desire to be successful at something only to be sidetracked into the wrong territory!  I’ve learned this much:    when they ask me for a lot of money to teach me the basics, I run! Why?  Because it’s never worth the money!

These “big ticket” sellers are careful not to make any promises which hems them in and somehow the guarantee of returning your money runs out before you discover that they haven’t taught you enough to make any money.  Most often, the people who offer programs don’t know how to teach.  Even more tragic, some of them don’t even know how to make money online themselves! (those pictures they show you online aren’t always real for them!)  They are good at something though:  making you believe it’s easy, fast and you can make a lot of money without much work.

Basics are basics – there is no need to charge thousands to get someone started.  The learning curve is huge for most people.  Once you have the basics, then you’ll know enough to make the right decisions as you progress.

So what do you do?

Start simply, relatively inexpensively with people who know what they’re doing and have good teaching ability. They not only teach you during their program but long after by delivering very valuable information.  Heck they’ll even deliver you valuable information BEFORE you sign up!

To connect with the best Blogging Instructor and successful entrepreneur, click here.

What is blogging and is it for everyone?

Blogging is creating valuable content for people  who are interested in your area of expertise.  You make money when you build trust.  It’s a business and like any other business it takes time.  In the case of the internet, it’s not as simple as getting an ad in a newspaper – there’s a lot to learn!

It’s not for everyone especially people who don’t like to write.  If don’t like writing, then check out a great instructor for creating a business with simple websites on the left sidebar.

Yes, you can hire ghost writers but there are a multiple number of issues with that approach not the least of which that you lose touch with your business and your customers.  They hear someone else’s “voice”, not yours.  There is no need to write perfectly and if you are a poor speller, well, you always have spell check!

So how do you make money?

There are a hundred and one ways!

• By offering products and/or services which match your particular line of expertise
• Selling ads
• Selling other people’s products
• etc – let your imagination soar . . .

What’s the difference between a blog and a website?

A blog platform is actually a website.  The difference is that a website is relatively static while a blog, if you are to be successful, is dynamic.  It means you’ll continually need to add new content

Sounds easy, why should I get someone to teach me?

Try it. Very quickly it will become quite apparent to you that it’s not so easy.  You’ll find that you’ll create content and nothing will happen.  You’ll discover  all kinds of information everywhere only to find out that some of it is so outdated it causes problems that are not easy to fix.

What’s the solution?

Get the right instructor! Especially at the beginning, this is crucial – get the basics under your belt properly and the rest will follow.

There are many who are offering to teach you how to make money blogging – few really know how to teach  and even fewer  know how to earn money from blogging today.  Times have changed and continue to change every single day on the net.  If you don’t have a good foundation getting started, you’ll be overwhelmed – very quickly!

I went through a lot of blog sites, free courses, PDFs, newsletters, etc., asked a lot of questions, contacted a lot of people, took some courses, etc. trying to learn how to do it.  It was so challenging!

And, then, one day I found something incredible.   I took  a course.  My expectations were rather low by that point.  But . . . I was taught things that no one else could before – it was so easy when I was taught the right way – step-by-step – I could understand the process.  With time, I became quite good at the basic processes.  I signed up for  newsletters – I learned even more – I have continued to learn.  As part of my business model, I promote the products because I believe in them – I believe these products will help anyone who is serious about earning money blogging on the internet.

So here’s my recommendation to you – if you want to learn the basics of blogging and don’t want to spend an arm and a leg doing it at first, then go check out this course.

You’ll be glad you did because you’ll have such an incredible foundation, you’ll be amazed how much you’ll learn, how easily and how fast you get underway!

Could you do it on your own?

Yes, if you have all the time in the world – you can – all the information is free on the net – it’s finding the right information, in the right sequence – separate the piles and piles garbage to find the gems and, by then, well, who knows what you’ll do.

This person is extraordinarily successful on the internet – starting from humble beginnings going through all the trials and tribulations of starting a new business in a new medium – there’s an understanding, therefore, of what it’s like to be at the starting gate.  That helps.  Mix in great teaching and you have, at the very least, a very good chance of creating a nice little income for yourself on the net.

If you think blogging interests you and that’s how you want to earn your money online, then don’t hesitate – go now – learn!  Save yourself a lot of time, money and energy – connect:

To connect with the best money-making Blogger and Blogging Instructor, click here.

and . . . go make money!

Lorraine Arams

http://www.wizetime.com

It can do so much more!

This week I looked at Microsoft Outlook in the series, “Use What You’ve Got – It’s Likely All You Will Need”.

If you’ve been reading along, I hope you are convinced that, often, we have the tools we need already but we just don’t realize the options available in the programs.  Why?  Because we’ve been using them for so long for one purpose that, when we need to do something new, we naturally will look elsewhere.

For personal and small business use, Microsoft Office or Microsoft Office Professional is all anyone really needs for basic operations.

From this series:

• you know you can list a bunch of “to dos” on the Task list and that you can incorporate those tasks into your calendar by dragging and dropping the tasks into your calendar.  Create a task, put a date on it and drop it into your calendar – that simple!
  
• recurring event reminders can be put into your calendar so you never forget a birthday, anniversary or other special occasion again or even regular meetings you attend in business or as a volunteer
  
• you can drag and drop your incoming emails into your calendar to retain the information in the email and set up the appointment in your calendar
  
• the contacts section of Outlook can easily serve as a contact management system where you can record all kinds of interesting information about people, connect files to those contacts or other contacts and put contacts into categories for easy access as a group; and, of course, you can group people from the contact list too for fast email
  
• print out the calendar in the various formats if you wish or sync it with your PDA or cell phone for easy access to all the information

The two I touched on but didn’t expand upon are the journal and notes.  Instead of using the comment box in your contacts, you can connect a journal to that contact and list any information you wish to record for that particular contact – very handy for projects where you can record email meesages, meeting cancellations, meeting requests, meeting response, task requests, task responses or even documents such as Access, Excel, Powerpoint and Word documents – check it out it might have something for you.  It’s not perfect but it can be helpful for small scale applications.

Notes come in handy everywhere – especially for directions to get somewhere which is tricky or for instructions you want to keep about how to do something on your computer you only do once in a while or keep information about some topics – often we don’t want to keep an entire email but we might want to start notes on a topic – resource and quote.  There are so many applications for this and they are available everywhere.  By category, they can be quite helpful.

As you can see, there are  many possibilities for using Outlook personally or professionally.  What parts you use and how you use them is quite individual. Now that you are aware of some of the more “obscure” options on Outlook, I hope you will save yourself  time, money and energy by looking for the options available to solve your need.

At the very least, use Tasks and Calendar together as well as incoming email with the Calendar to drag and drop the email into the Calendar.  This latter one is really important – we don’t always remember why we set an apppointment or all the details we wanted to discuss.

If you have a small business, the contacts section is indispensable for recording phone calls, attaching related files and accessing all the documents pertaining to an individual through the search feature can save you a lot of time.  Complete the contact details – you’ll be glad you did because you can access those details before or during networking events and wow people with what they think you can “remember” about them!  Very impressive!

And do look at the other programs in Microsoft Office to create the documents you need – the possibilities are enormous, more than one person can ever know.  Microsoft site itself is a great resource as are YouTube, Google Videos and just general search on Google – you’ll be amazed at what you find!

Lorraine Arams
Make your dreams come true -
set your goals – make them happen -
a complimentary system for you at
http://www.wizetime.com

Outlook is more than a mail box!

Use What You’ve Got – for Contact Management

People regret forgetting birthdays or anniversaries.  Small business people don’t know how to keep track of their customers. And people find it difficult to keep track of all the people they meet at networking events.

Yet, if they already have Microsoft Office running on their computers and using Outlook for their email program, they’ve got the right tool to do the job!  Combined with a PDA such as a Blackberry, there is no reason not to have information about people at your fingertips – everywhere you go! Take a look at a PDA if you don’t know what it looks like

Here are some tips on using Outlook to save you time, energy and, perhaps, even money!

1.  Business or Personal Cards – People say to me all the time, “I’ve got all these business cards and personal information cards – stack of them – and I just don’t know what to do with them.  They might be useful at one point.”  And that’s true.  Sometimes you meet someone and there doesn’t seem to be a point of collaboration but later, as your business grows, or you meet someone else with a need, you think of that person – but where is the information?  So you don’t bother passing the information on because it’ll take too long to search for the card or will you even remember the person’s name.  Imagine, if all you had to do was do a search in Outlook and come up with the right name and contact infomraiton

The solution is a card scanner – it inputs the information right into Outlook.  All you do is scan the card through the scanner and bingo! the information is captured into the right fields.  For some of the more decorative cards, you might have to make some adjustments. Here’s one for you to look at.

2.  Adding a Contact Manually or Filling in Details from the Business Card Scan – Click on Contacts.  File – New and a box opens (this box will open up automatically with card scanner).  Look at all the information you can enter especially if you click on the bordered buttons.  You can even add in their photo if you have one!!!

BUT people often miss the most important portion of this – the blank box on the side.  What can you use this for?  To keep track of the contacts you’ve had with that person:

• create a description of the person – eg red hair, diamond encrusted glasses, red dress
• where you met eg met at the marketing convention in Vegas
• place a date and time and a summary of your conversation – on the phone or otherwise – this is especially useful for small business people with their clients (yes there are other ways of keeping track of these conversations such as journal)
• put a map or file which you can access quickly

Categories- notice that on the bottom – you can create categories for all your contacts – eg contractors, clients, friends, family, etc – it keeps your contacts organized.  And you can sort all this information in a number of ways:  by last names, by phone list, by category, by company, by location, by follow-up flag – what more do you need for personal or small business needs?

And with each email or phone number, you can add several.  For instance, in business, the drop down menu will show you a lot of options including assistant’s numbers, and the address will allow both business and personal addresses to be included in one contact.

Under “Contacts” you can associate other contacts with the one you are working on at the time.  How handy is that!

3.  Other information –

Details – you can add a wealth of information here including nicknames, spouse’s name, birthday, anniversary,  assistant’s name, etc.

Activities – is a search tool which lists emails, notes, tasks, etc associate with the person and All fields lets you look up the contents of a variety of fields completed for that contact

Look at the toolbar- you can send a new email, auto dial, flag for follow up, and under actions, there are a ton of options. If you have another contact from the same company, in actions you can add a New Contact from Same Company.  Or you can add multiple contacts or you can add a map!  Under Insert, you can associate a file with the contact – this comes in handy when you’re talking to a client on the phone and need to refer to some file.

And let’s not forget that you can create groups.  These groups can be clients, prospects, friends, family, colleagues, social or volunteer groups, etc – whatever group you need to communicate with regularly.

When you are viewing incoming emails, you can right click on the return address and add it to your contact without retyping. Microsoft has its new version 7 out but you perform these actions as far back as the 2003 version and a few earlier than that .

For a contact management system, it’s fairly complete.  Yes, there are other programs which are much better but for personal and small business use, this is adequate.  However, unless your primary profession requires more details than these, it’s not worth the expense.  One of the most powerful and one which has been around for some time is called Maximizer.

Use what you’ve got – use Outlook to track people for personal, business and networking purposes.

Lorraine Arams
Achieve your goals the time management way – complimentary
copy at http://www.wizetime.com

The epitome of poor time management is demonstrated by the BP tragedy that keeps on giving !

The aim of any corporation is profit – and that’s a good thing for shareholders and employees alike – as long as there are profits, shareholders will continue to invest and employees will continue to have jobs.  Customers will continue to have access to the product too.  That’s planning - assuring cotinued health of the corporation.  And what are plans based on?  Mission and values of the company?

Okay – so far so good – and what is consumed during the planning process – time!  Good planning means taking the time  to assure that all aspects of achieving the company’s goals are taken into account – and that includes planning ahead to solve foreseeable problems.

How does that translate to good time management?  If you think and plan ahead for any issue which may come about, it means that, in the long run, you save time.  Why?  Because you can move into action immediately preventing, likely, the problem getting worse and consuming even more time by more people for a longer period of time.

Is the situation in the Gulf of Mexico getting worse?  You betcha!  We haven’t seen anything yet!

And you can bet that there are a lot of people at BP “spinning their wheels” trying to figure out what to do now. 

If BP executives had taken the time to plan for the worse possible scenario, oil cleaning equipment with the latest technology would have been on the scene quickly.  Are they?  No.  Because no one was prepared, not even government.  Would the well have been capped within hours?  Yes but it wasn’t.  Would the damaged parts of the rig have been repaired before they caused problems?  Yes.  Were they?  No.  Why not?  Why wouldn’t any executive in the oil business not be able to foresee these possible problems and assure that plans were in place to deal with this kind of situation quickly and effectively?  After all, if you’re an expert in an industry, surely, you know the possibilities.

Now, of course, we’re all paying the price.

People died.  Wildlife is dying.  Ocean pleasures as we once knew them in that region are being destroyed.  Our food supply is being wiped out.  Livelihoods in that region are becoming extinct.   Why?  Because BP executives placed no value on the very resource on which they operated – they didn’t care enough to take the time to plan for the worse possible scenario and take action to assure that everything was in place should it ever happen.  To me, that’s poor planning – a poor use of time.

Say, another scenario had taken place.  In this scenario, the BP would have spent time during their planning stages to reach their goal of drilling from the ocean floor by assuring safety, maintenance and disaster procedures.  In this case, the disaster may have never happened because the broken parts of the rig would have been repaired immediately.  And if something did happen, BP was ready to cap the well immediately, deploy the latest in oil clean up technology quickly,  and execute a procedure to assure minimum impact on lives and the environment.  Would it have taken so much more time to plan this way?  Of course, not.

But, now, all over the world, we will all lose.  

Now we will all pay – we will all pay at the pumps, for the clean up, reduction in food supply and water-related activities and for what has been lost which can never be recovered - the health of our oceans.  And all the children and grand-children will pay – even those of the BP executives!

And there’s another one just waiting to happen in greater proportions!  Did you watch 60 Minutes last Sunday?  If you didn’t, try to find a rebroadcast somewhere – you’ll be astonished.  It was said on 60 Minutes that BP was ignoring that problem too!

With poor planning, there is no allowance for worse case scenarios and the negative impact on time is substantial.  Good time management practices assure that the time taken today to plan saves time, energy and resources in the future.  If BP executives had taken the time to properly plan for all eventualities which could have been foreseen, hundreds of thousands of hours could have been saved by BP employees, oil clean up crews, governments trying to deal with the disaster, volunteers trying to save wildlife and clean up the beaches, and it could have saved lives!

Lorraine Arams
New goal achieving system at
http://www.wizetime.com

How can you save time when dealing with conflict resolution? 

By addressing any hint of conflict immediately.  Right now. 

If you don’t, it will grow.  There is no doubt whatsoever about it! 

Conflict doesn’t go away – it just festers!  It may seem like the waters are calm, but in actual fact, the undercurrents are destructive.  And it doesn’t matter whether the conflict is in volunteer organizations you belong to, at work or in your personal relationships.

In Organizations – Recently, I experienced a conflict situation with someone.  She “ambushed” me at a meeting of a volunteer organization because she didn’t like some of the things I had said to her of late.  I was quite steamed of course because I could see how she had used “backroom tactics” to put me on the spot and, of course, disappointed because I thought our relationship was more positive; certainly I didn’t expect this kind of behavior.  She had “prepared” her compatriots for the “attack”.  Well, the attack backfired on her and “her people” didn’t support her.  Did I want a repeat of this behavior on her part?  No, of course not.

She was going away so I sent her an email indicating that I wanted a telephone conversation to clear the air upon her return.  I told her what I was upset about.  Her response?  To send my emails, without my permission, to everyone in the group which, of course, is not good for the group dynamics.   This is the kind of person is highly destructive no matter where she operates.  Her style is “my way or the highway” and, if you don’t agree with her, she’ll “get you”.  How?  Through the ”gang up” method -  the schoolyard bully syndrome.  Will this conflict ever be resolved?  I don’t know. 

This is an example where I have a choice - is resolving this conflict worth it?    

At Work - Often, people don’t have a choice – they have to go to the office every day of the week and face someone which whom they are having a conflict.  In the office, as a manager, I learned through experience that it was my job to deal with conflict – any conflict – whether it was between employee in my department, between an employee and myself, or between a peer and myself or even conflict between my boss and I.  Most managers don’t want to deal with conflict and do everything in their power to avoid addressing it. 

If a manager sees or experiences conflict, then deal with it immediately – now – don’t wait one more second.  Set up a meeting and get through it.  Is it  stressful?  Absolutely!  That’s why most people avoid dealing with conflict because it is so emotional and so stressful that avoidance seems to be the answer.  Notice I said, “seems to be the answer”.  Avoidance is never, ever the answer in the workplace.

A secretary at one time kept referring to the Bible in the workplace constantly.  There were others on staff who were either non-believers or believed in another religion.  It irritated a lot of people but no one, not even my boss, wanted to deal with it because of the sensitivities surrounding one’s beliefs.  I dealt with it – the whole was more important than the one – she simply hadn’t realized the effect her references to the Bible were having on others.  If I hadn’t intervened, the irritations would have grown into a whole host of negative emotions and affected everyone’s work

Will you always succeed?  No.  But you will have begun the process.  There are some people who will never, ever want to participate in addressing the situation and resolving the conflict –

• they love to live in conflict – it makes them feel alive – if conflict doesn’t exist, they’ll likely create it
• or they’re right – at all costs and see everyone and everything else as wrong – they don’t want to generate a positive atmosphere and are unwilling often to an exchange of possible solutions; only when their jobs are at risk will they even “budge” and sometimes not even then
• or it doesn’t fit with how they operate – as a bully or a “backroom tactician”!  It’s their way or the highway is their attitude – there is no middle ground.  If  a person doesn’t go along with everything they say and do, they’ll do everything in their power to gather support against the person and make life very uncomfortable.  These are the people you take on or leave – they can be defeated but it takes time and energy – they don’t like to be asked questions

These are the very people you must distance yourself from.  And when they are in the office, they are the type of people who should be encouraged to leave or, in the worse case scenario, start the process of dismissing them. 

You’ll find, however, that most people do want to resolve the conflict – they want to air their “side of the story” and they want a solution – most people want to live in as much harmony as possible.  Sometimes, when they see the other side, they are surprised and offer their apologies.  Sometimes, they still don’t agree but at least it’s out in the open and they know, on that point, they will never see eye to eye – and that’s okay.  Sometimes, they all of a sudden “hear each other” and discover that they were saying the same thing in different ways.  And, sometimes, it was just plain silly and they both admit it – laughing about how stupid it was to get into conflict in the first place!

It’s the same in your personal life.  My partner is a master at approaching conflict.  His approach is gentle but effective and it’s all about timing.  He’s not afraid of my emotions; he’s interested in getting rid of the problem.  It’s addressed.  Life moves on.

Will you be good at conflict resolution in all parts of your life?  Likely not.  No one is.  Where one person is master at conflict resolution at work, they fall short at home.  But it is a learned skill and, with time and conscious effort, it can be improved.

How can you save time dealing with conflict?  By dealing with it - NOW – that’s how.  There is no other way unless you are willing to accept constant tension in your environment, an increase in game playing and the inevitable escalation of conflict one way or another.  In the long run, unresolved conflict will cost you a lot more time than dealing with it immediately.

Lorraine Arams
http://www.wizetime.com

Sleeping!  Isn’t it great!  But how does sleeping save you time and money?  It’s easy if you think about it.

Imagine a day when you wake up and you’ve had a good night’s sleep.  How do you feel?  Got that feeling?  Okay, imagine it’s 10:30 am now and you’re still full of energy.  Instead of coffee, you go outside and have a short walk.  Feels great, right?  Okay, it’s lunch hour – still feeling peppy?  And then afternoon break . . . what do you feel like doing?

Now imagine a day when you wake up and haven’t had enough sleep.  What do you reach for first?  Coffee – likely – then morning, lunch and afternoon breaks come along – what do you reach for?  Coffee or a power drink or a power bar – anything to give you energy! 

Compare the wide awake day with the sleepy day.  How much money have you spent during the sleepy day trying to stay awake and energized to get everything done?  Now imagine you’re sleep deprived most of the time – how much money are you spending trying to stay alert every week, every year?

Get it?  It takes a lot of money to stay sleep deprived.  Yet . . . sleeping is free!

Now think about something else – during sleep, your body and brain repair and rejuvenate.  What does that do?  It helps your immune system stay strong to prevent illness.  We all know what comes with illness – cost for medicine! 

Another cost which is more tragic is an accident.  Sleep deprived people often fall asleep at the wheel causing accidents.  What does an accident costs you?  You got it – money, time and, if you are injured, medical costs!

Interesting, huh?  I’m sure you can think of a ton of other costs which can be associated with not having enough sleep.  Imagine how much money you are saving every single year by sleeping enough!  Kaching!!!

Time – how does it save you time?  Think about wide awake day and sleepy day again.  How many times a day do you find yourself nodding off or re-reading things on the sleepy days?  Does everything you do take more time?  Of course.  Why?  Because you’re on slow-mo!  Without energy, your body and brain compensate by slowing you down.  You get at least a third to half less done in a day when you are sleep deprived depending on how much sleep you lack and for how long.

Convinced yet?  Are you convinced that it would be better time management to sleep as much as you need to every night rather than not?

Isn’t it easier just to sleep the 7, 8, 9 or more hours necessary?  And it’s free too!    Use a little time management – get to bed early – have a good night’s sleep every night!

And that’s how sleeping saves you time and money! It’s worth it – don’t you think?

Lorraine Arams
http://www.wizetime.com

Emails – the greatest thing that has happened for people personally and professionally and yet . . . . emails can be the worst thing too.  So much time can be eaten away in responding to emails if the emotions are not parked on your desktop.  Leaving the emotion on your desktop is critical to saving you a lot of time!

Short, concise and precise takes time – a lot of time to compose.  It’s so easy to feel it, write it and send it but . . . oops! it wasn’t such a good idea . . . the backlash can be quite serious and . . . then . . . more emails!

Once, as a volunteer in an organization, I responded to an email with a lot of emotion.  Well . . . that was a major, major mistake!  The avalanche of emails went on for months, until, one day I just stopped.  That was it!  And my lesson was learned forever more . . .

To save  time, when there is emotion attached to an email, I write it in Word.  Let it all hang out.  Then I let it simmer.  The message is not sent until every ounce of emotion has been stripped from it especially if the initial impulse is to  “let ‘em have it!”.  I cut the emotion out and stick with the facts. 

1. What’s the issue?
2. What is the point I want to make?
3. What solution do I propose or what suggestions do I have?

I keep the language precise, the sentences and paragraphs short, and rework it until I have every single ounce of emotion erased from the message.  The goal becomes to move forward rather than become mired in emotion – mine and other people’s. 

I can be a very calm person under stress and, on the other hand, I can be highly emotional especially when I interpret messages to be unjust, unfair, rude or someone is trying to get away with something.  I can read situations, people’s hidden agendas and motives very well.  As much as this ability is  valuable, it  can also stir up hurricane force winds of emotions.  

 Now, I make sure the first email is as colorless as possible!  Think clear nail polish – you see the shine but not the flammable liquid!

When I’m ready, I copy the text from my Word document and paste it into an email, read it one more time, address the email and send.  My message is “heard” better this way and I’ve prevented an avalanche of controversial emails. 

Yes, it does take time – a lot of time to leave the emotion on my desktop but, in the end, it saves me a tremendous amount of time too!  Sometimes, the message must be sent, ignoring won’t make it go away but replying to it emotionally may give other than desired results! 

Take the time to save the time – write factual, short, concise, precise statements or questions and leave the emotion on your desktop!

Lorraine Arams
http://www.wizetime.com

That second that just went by  . . . you’ll never see it again – never!

Think about that – just stop one minute and think about that - try to grasp that – can you? 

That’s how your life is – time that flies by – unnoticed, without fanfare, without any sort of announcement and without a calling card – it comes and goes. 

We save money, food, pictures and so many other things - we cannot save time!  It’s gone!  Never to return . . .  there’s no “time piggy bank in the sky” – you’ll never be a newborn ever again –  you’ll never be 10 or 16 or 25 or more ever again!

Have you ever thought about that before?  Likely not – it’s not something people dwell on. 

However, it’s a sobering thought – very, very sobering.  And it’s a very difficult thing for the mind to grasp because we have lived so many hours, days, months and years.  Time slips away whether we’re sad, happy, rich or poor – it’s an equal opportunity delivery system!

How will you choose to live your life every second of every day?