WIZE TIME MANAGEMENT

Let’s review what we talked about this week regarding goal setting.

How are you doing?

Did you get some interesting insights on how to “tweak” your goal setting process or are you encouraged to set goals even if you have never done it before or failed to reach goals you had once set?

I started on the first day talking about Missing Link – a free product that is available to you on my website.  This system is actually a “new twist on an old theme” – taking what is generally accepted as the right way to set goals and adding one crucial component to the mix:  time management.  All you need do is visit my site and you’ll find the way to access that down loadable product.  It might just be the key that finally gets you to achieving a goal and spurs you on to set more goals and achieve them too.    Does Setting a Goal Get you the Result you Want?

Then   I introduced you to some supporting material from Zig Ziglar.  In Missing Link, there are steps to be taken.  Zig Ziglar points to the fact that assessing what the obstacles are and identifying the people who can help us decide what those steps might be.  And, of course, as in Missing Link – “What’s in it for me” is ever so important to achieving goals – you won’t unless you  Goal Setting – are you missing these important steps?  Likely!

And finally in the last blog, I introduced you to the visual component of setting goals. It’s a tool that is seldom recommended in goal setting exercises but which is very important in the goal setting process – it’s much easier to believe in something when you can see it – Best Tool to Help You Set Goals Visually -and it’s much easier to understand the steps to take, when to take them and how each step builds on the other.

We all love to play – and this element certainly adds the playful element to setting and achieving goals.  The company I recommended offered you the best of all – the inventor of mind mapping – who can explain it better than the person who created it?  The video tells the story and if you try the system, you’ll see how all the color truly makes it a magnificent way to build the map!  Best of all, you can work on it either on the computer or on paper – either way or both ways is very helpful.

I hope you learned some new things and I hope you can now see how blending these components combined with your own discipline and your belief in yourself, can get you on the right track to achieving your goals, getting what you want and realizing long-held dreams!

Lorraine Arams
Missing Link at http://www.wizetime.com

Are you missing these important steps in goal setting?

I think you likely are

The difference in this goal achieving exercise is that it comes from someone who actually used goal setting to achieve great success as opposed to goal setting from a theoretical point of view – this is how it works in real life.

Listen very carefully to this video – you’ll see what I mean – it makes sense.  Zig Ziglar as some of you may know grew up in the Southern State of Mississippi.  He knew the meaning of poor but that didn’t stop him from becoming a top salesman and carving out a career as a renowed international speaker and authority on high-level performance.  His approach to most everything is “unconventional” and it is effective because he did the “doing” before he taught the strategies.  I’ve seen Zig Ziglar on stage and he is one dynamo – drawl and all!

It’s incredible how we miss the obvious sometimes because our minds are focused on what someone is teaching us. Zig Ziglar’s truth comes from the fact he achieved success and believes in goal setting. 

He adds important dimensions to the “usual” approaches: obstacles – do we know the obstacles we will face to achieving our goals?  Every single goal we set has obstacles to it whether it be the need to acquire new knowledge or skills, money, location – there are so many!  How can we plan effectively without understanding what the obstacles are in the first place.

Have we identified people who can help us? The right people, of course, because not all people we know or come to know are the right people to help us move towards our dreams.

And the biggest motivator of all – “what’s in it for me” - you’ll see that I have included this in my “Missing Link” goal setting system which I have created and is available to you gratis on my site at http://www.wizetime.com.

Blend some of these concepts into the steps in “Missing Link”, and, slowly and surely, you’ll be ever so much closer to achieving your dream life – one step at a time!

Lorraine Arams

http://www.wizetime.com

Does setting a goal get you the result you want?

After all, you’ve defined what you want in each part of your life, set the date for completion, created some initial steps and it should happen, right?  You’re clear on what you want – you did the work – you honed all your dreams down to the ones you really want.  And you have pictures posted on your wall to remind you every day – a collage of the dreams!

Why doesn’t it for most people?

I used to teach a program in goal setting and it was always amazing to me the extraordinary enthusiasm generated by putting dreams down in writing and going through the process.  People were pumped!!! They were so excited!  Smiles, laughter, a bounce in their step – what a wonderful way to spend an afternoon – setting goals!

A year later, they were all back thinking they had missed something the first time and feeling quite dejected because most of the goals they had set the year before were not achieved; in some cases, none of their goals were realized or only partially.  Their self-esteem was in the tank! What was wrong? Was it the people’s lack of discipline?  Was it that the dream was not strong enough to be realized as a goal?  Were people lazy or just hooked on the dreaming part?  Did they really not want what they think they wanted?

Likely, it was a combination of many reasons the least of which that the same old goal setting process which had been around, tweaked, repackaged and sold over and over again as the thing to do to get to where you are going.   The “repeat customers” told the story of the effectiveness of these systems.

It got me thinking.  When things don’t work, I started trying to figure out why. Then, one day, it dawned on me!  The most critical element omitted by all goal setting programs:  time.  People had a life before they arrived at the goal setting afternoon and none of that life would likely change too much by the end of the afternoon.

I’ve developed a “new twist on an old theme” for you – complimentary – and I know it will work for you if you work the system – why? For one thing, you won’t be overwhelmed right from the start.  And because you won’t be overwhelmed, you’ll like succeed.  And if you succeed, you’ll likely repeat the process.  In the end, you’ll be the winner – your self-esteem will rise and, finally, yes, you’ll be added to the success stories of those who set goals and achieved them!

Who likes a little success in their lives?  Everyone! Once you begin to see that success can be achieved, you’ll keep doing it because you’ll feel good about yourself and your life!

It’s not totally without a cost – I’ll ask for your name and email address – you won’t have to put out any money. I’ll also ask you to send me your success stories – I know it’ll take a while to get your dreams to become a reality, and I’m willing to wait for those great success stories to reach me.

So go to my site:  http://wizetime.com and get your gratis copy of the “Missing Link” PDF and begin living the life you want!

Lorraine Arams

http://www.wizetime.com

Does technology save you time?  What do you think?  Do you really think so?

Part of a sociology course involved analyzing the  impact inventions had on people’s lives.  A simple example was given:  vacuum cleaners.

Prior to the vacuum cleaner, people had rugs and they took those rugs out and beat the dust out of them,   low tech – time consuming and they mopped the hardwood and linoleum floors under and around those rugs.  The vacuum cleaner changed all that.

Then people wanted carpets in their homes because the vacuum cleaner would help with the maintenance.  But then instead of laying down a floor like hardwood or linoleum which lasted decades, there was underlay, carpet, the vacuum cleaner and, of course, then cleaners for the carpet. !  And, of course, since time is money, carpets wore out much faster than hardwood and linoleum so it cost more time to earn the money to replace the carpets.  Then, there was  getting rid of parasites which loved the wonderful hiding places carpets provided, the anti allergy medications or air purifiers to counter some of the chemicals used in the carpet making process, buying bags for the vacuum, etc. -  all of this to replace the mop! In the end, carpets actually cost people more time and money for the convenience of cleaning rugs!

So it is with technology – we had a problem – it was so difficult to find data, crunch stats and find information.  So the computer came along to share information and crunch numbers.  Great!   It saved hours and hours and hours of boring, manual labor. It also costs jobs.

But then we wanted the computer to do more – we wanted it to help us with office jobs, connect to each other and entertain us. Computers did all that too.

Now, though, technology is costing us both in time and money, especially time and sanity.  We have Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, My Space —- texting —- Google, Firefox, Chrome —– anyone, anytime access to each other —– Flickr, Photobucket, Google images —-  email —– and a proliferation of software on the internet to do every single thing there is to do —–  and it all costs you even more time -

• searching thousands of sites to find the tiniest bit of information – because everything now is so  narrowed,  it takes searching multitude of sites for a collection of useful information
• texting – it’s become an addiction. People are willing to die or kill others to view and send a message.  Like the cell phones, everyone is accessible day or night – all day — all night — and at the price of ignoring the people they are with too. How can anyone think about what they need to get done when so much time is taken with trivia?
  
• social networking chews up a lot of time - connecting with friends and family – none of you are on the sites constantly so there’s frequent treks to see what has been posted instead of the occasional call or email
• search engines are many and Google may be great, the other ones may be better for you. For instance, Firefox has a lot of plug-ins which can make your particular search easier and more accurate.  Of course, a person needs to research and find out what those plug-ins are and what they do for you.  As search engines come on board, there’s another learning curve – what do they do and how do they do it?  Takes up loads of time
• anyone can reach us anywhere, any time which means we cannot have down time. It’s like putting someone in “locked chamber” – there’s no escape.  And people feel they can’t shut off their cells “in case there’s an emergency” – it’s interesting what people define as an “emergency”.  That kind of pressure weighs on the mind – people can’t relax as they are in a constant state of expectation.
• there’s an expectation that people post images for one another - great to share but how many? If you have 150 people in your group of  friends and family, how much time it would take if you view pictures from all of them?

Ask yourself:

• Is it necessary?
• What if I got rid of my cell phone or PDA other than for work or emergencies? What would happen?

• What if I went to the library to research instead of online?  What kind of experience would that be?
• What if I paid attention to the people I was with instead of paying attention to each call or text message – would my relationships improve?
• What if I shut off my cell phone or PDA, would I have some quiet down time for myself?
• What if I didn’t use my computer, cell phone or PDA for an entire day, what else could I experience?
• Would anything serious happen to anyone if I didn’t text them back or update my Twitter or called them three times on any particular day?

• How much would I save by managing technology rather than technology managing me?

Does technology save time?  Like any other tool – yes – if is properly managed and controlled by the person using them, understanding that technology is only a tool, not the  lifeblood of your life!

Lorraine Arams
More thoughts and tips at

http://www.wizetime.com

It’s Monday – and you should be smiling!!!  You have a great new opportunity to make yourself feel great about you and your world by Friday!

Look at the possibilities – this is like “candy lane” for adults – the start of another week – your great opportunity to look at what happened last week, tweak this week to align more with your goals and . . . .

• learn something new about getting along better with people at work
• start a new project
• take a new class on something that interests you
• make a “splash” somehow -
• refreshed from the week-end, let your imagination soar – what would be a great accomplishment this week?  When you get to Friday, what one thing would you really feel good about accomplishing? 

Write it down – put it in your computer calendar as a recurring event – and plan out on your computer calendar how you’ll get that one thing accomplished this week!

Bragging rights on Friday – write me and let me know what you did!  I know you can!

Now do you see why you should be smiling since it is Monday!

Lorraine Arams
Trouble achieving goals? Get this
complimentary system for making them happen at
http://www.wizetime.com

All the pieces in one place!

Use what you’ve got -  Outlook calendar is likely all you need! 

In terms of time management, focusing everything in one area rather than using multiple systems at once is the most efficient.

Many people using Outlook don’t realize how useful the calendar can be or don’t know what’s it’s for.  Many people still use a manual calendar along with an electronic calendar or don’t use the electronic calendar at all which is, I think, I big mistake.

Here are the benefits to you in using Outlook Calendar:

• You can drag and drop emails into your calendar to set an appointment time with clients and friends.  Often a date is set a long time ahead of time, and, often, especially if we have a lot of appointment, it’s difficult to remember what each appointment was designed to do.  With the email within the appointment screen, it’s easy.
• Multiple views pf calendar - you can set the view to be whatever you want – appointment area only or appointment area with date navigator or appointment area with Task list or all of them at once in the calendar view. 
• Mutiple views of your appointments – Today, Today and multiple days, Work Week, Month – all printable – much less expensive than buying a paper calendar and everything is up to date. 
• Set recurring events so they are never forgotten eg meetings, activities, etc.
• Holidays can be included automatically in the calendar for the country in which you live or for all the countries with which you do business with or have family and friends – you’ll be able to send greetings for these holidays – what a great way to stay in touch!
• Create group schedules, plan meetings, send out meeting invitations as well as set options for response to others who requests meetings; make meeting changes easily
• Maintain multiple calendars eg one for business and one for family viewed side-by-side and share calenders with others ; with the reminders option set properly, reminders of appointments will pop up on your computer or PDA or phone (need to sync)

Some would say – I like paper.  Print out your schedule in the format you want – once a week, every day – whatever you want and put it into a binder – you can buy pre-punched printer paper.  You can print out the view of each appointment too if you have included the emails in the appointment screen.

What happens if you’re away from your computer and you need to set an appointment time?  Set it in your PDA or cell phone or write it into your paper copy (make sure though that you update your computer version when you get back to your computer if you don’t have a PDA or cell phone option)

Take a look at the Options too -  you can set up your calendar the way you want it – 5, 6 or 7 day calendar, the hours, font, and a whole host of other tweaks.

How does this save you time? 

• Being able to see your month, week or day at a glance, shows you clearly where you need to make adjustments ahead of time rather than stress yourself to the nth degree because too much was crammed into a particular week or day.  There is no question that this alone will diminish your stress because you can re-arrange work and appointments more effectively.
• Simply being able to set up appointments with others automatically is great.  All you do is use your list of contacts and a request is sent to multiple parties instead of multiple phone calls, voice mails or multiple emails – handling all the voice mail and the multiple emails consumes a lot of time.
• Having everything in one place is best – never again forget to transfer information or look at the wrong calendar and miss appointments or double book your time because of it.  One system -  it is clear what time is available and what is not.

So . . . Use What You’ve Got – can you see how useful Outlook Calendar can be to you to save time, energy and diminish your levels of stress? 

Microsoft Office Standard 2007 FULL VERSION

 Lorraine Arams
New way to set goals and make them happen
complimentary copy at http://www.wizetime.com

If you’re stressed, how do you change?

There are as many ways as there are people.  No one way is right for everyone.

However, there is one consistent truth:  changing from stressed to a de-stressed life can only be done incrementally - there is no “QUICK FIX” – been there – done that – it doesn’t work!  It took a long time to build up to this acute stress level and it will takes time to unravel these adopted behaviors and thoughts.

And using multiple methods at once will only add to the current stress – it’s better to pick 1, 2 or maximum 3 things to help you and stick with it.

What any of these methods will do for you is to remain conscious of your stress, monitor it and make the changes to your life which will reduce that stress.

Here are a few strategies.  Try them all – one at a time.  It’s the best way to know which one works best for you - the key here in terms of managing your time – don’t try them all at once – try one at a time – but being stressed, you probably want to do them all – NOW – you want a fix now – it won’t happen – and what the result will be even more stress than is currently in place!

My experience with acute stress has taught me that adding more stress is not the answer but learning to de-stress one step at a time IS – I promise.  And, yes, your natural tendency will be to go for the “stress” – but less and less as eventually we all learn that the rewards are much greater than the “buzz” we get from the adrenaline rush!  With every rush, there is a downside – controlling stress levels lessens the impact of any stressor on the mind, body and soul.

Journal – It’s a method that, at first, I thought was silly – imagine talking to yourself and writing it down!  It worked!  It took a little getting used to but I love books and love the feel of a great cover so I bought myself the most luxurious journal I could find.   Though I didn’t journal every day, I found that I liked to “talk to myself” before going to bed – it had a calming effect to get my thoughts down on paper.  To this day, I still journal and I love it –

Affirmations – These were actually not difficult and affirmations don’t let you “forget” to work on the stress issue.  I put my affirmations on my Outlook in recurring events and throughout the day, the affirmations pop up.  Yes, you should really write them out and say them outloud – I understand the effectiveness of that process but, when you’re stressed, it’s the kind of thing that “you’ll do later” but later never comes.  So having them appear on my screen regularly during the day helps.

I call it “programming”.  Affirmations such as:  “In every situation, I remain calm and focused”, “Every day, I manage my stress for best results”,  ”Every day I exercise in a way which relaxes me”  – you get the idea – create some of your own.  Combine it with visualization – as these affirmations pop up at different times of the day, visualize yourself.  For instance, the first affirmation here – see yourself in the most stressful situation you can imagine and see yourself as calm and focused – feel it – calm and focused.

Delegating – One of the key reasons stress has built up is because of the belief that you “need to do it all – it’s your responsibility”  – it’s not!  The only responsibility you have is to yourself.  Everything else can be delegated.  I hear you now – “Are you nuts?  What about my child?  What about my pet?  I have to take care of them”.  This is a typical knee jerk reaction! Get real!

Think about it – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year you are telling me that you are totally responsible for someone or something else and that no one else can take care of their needs other than you?  Does that sound sane?  Of course not.  What if you get sick?  What would happen then?

Delegating is not abdicating - it’s getting someone else to do something which they can be do equally well or better – okay, maybe not at first, but with the right teaching and practice, they will.

How can you delegate? First, with teaching someone how.  Then, asking them to repeat the instructions to you or watching them do it, correcting anything they didn’t understand.  Lastly, let them do it – their way!

If your child is five or six, they can clean their room – make their bed, put clothes away, set the table, remove dirty dishes from the table – lots and lots of little things.  It helps them learn skills they will utilize their whole lives.  And you’re building self-sufficiency and pride in their that is priceless.

As far as your pet is concerned, a dog walker can walk your dog during the day or your child can change the kitty litter.

There are a ton of ways a person can delegate both at home and at work and even for personal necessities – think about it – I do believe you’ll love the results!  And everyone else in your life will feel better too – they’ll eventually be able to enjoy your company and you, theirs and they’ll enjoy the new, more relaxed you who is not constantly rushing off to do more work you brought home from the office or put the dishes away or cut the grass.

Tomorrow, I’ll outline a few more methods I’ve tried – but if any of these appeal to you, start today.

The easiest one, of course, is creating two or three affirmations and putting them in your Outlook to have them appear in your reminder box throughout the day. (Calendar, New, Type affirmation in subject line, click on recurring on the toolbar and set it to appear daily at whatever time you wish, save).  With affirmations, it seems odd to read the same thing every day and several times during the day but remember how you learned your multiplication - you memorized them by repeating them over and over and over again until you knew them on command.

Lorraine Arams
Ready to set goals and make them happen?
Get my new system at no cost to you
http://www.wizetime.com

Falling on Deaf Ears!

If your approach to someone else or to yourself is to say:  “Just Relax Now”, you’ll find the message falling on deaf ears!  Why?

Because that advice is competing with the adrenaline rush of stress! And a host of other factors.  In my opinion, the reason anyone has difficulty doing what is good for themselves is because they don’t want to face what they need to face in their lives – and being “high” on something is the way to do it.  As long as a person keeps their world in a “stressful condition”, they’re “too busy” to deal with whatever it is they could be resolving.    There are no rehab centres for stressed out people unless they end up in the hospital in cardiac arrest or they develop diabetes or they have a stroke -

Many good meaning friends and family members want to help and they think by saying, “just relax”, that somehow the message is going to get through – it won’t.  Try it on someone you know is super stressed – you’ll get ignored or a negative response – it won’t be pretty!  Hey, after all, the stressed out person has so much to do!!!  Frankly, stressed people don’t want answers, they want more stress – the drug of choice!  I know – I know – that doesn’t sound logical.

 Why isn’t everyone in that condition – everyone has to live human lives too?  Different strokes for different folks and, though, someone may not exhibit “manic” forms of stressed out behavior, it doesn’t mean they are not stressed – some people “appear” very calm on the surface!  And, let’s face it – we have been taught that if we lived a life that looks stressed, we must be important!  There comes with “stress” an air of “special”- “if I’m this busy and stressed out, I must be important”!  How do they get that message?  From society – from media – from moves or from role models who exhibited this behavior.  Think about it – when you see someone stressed, don’t you see them as important?  Oh, heck, they must be because they have so much to do! 

Imagine competing against all of that with the words, “Just Relax”.  You know the message will definitely fall on deaf ears!  And anger might just get generated too – “how dare anyone say that to me!” or “if you were successful, you’d be stressed too!”.

And, if you are ready to say to yourself  “just relax”, it won’t make it any easier coming from you!  Same reasons.  So how does a person “conquer” stress? 

In small increments – the most difficult part of this process will be “seeing” yourself, teaching yourself to love yourself and accepting that you are no more or less defective than any other person in this world, that you aren’t special or important because you are experiencing acute stress and that there is absolutely no good reason whatsoever to put anyone or anything else first – beliefs are difficult to change even if the evidence is obvious!  After all, a person has been taught and lived with the messages - internally and externally – for a very long time! 

Should you bother?  Should you even try?  That’s up to you – are you ready to live with the consequences? 

“Just Relax Now” message is not the answer – it won’t happen just like that – there are no miracles when it comes to stress.  De-stressing needs re-training.

We’ll talk about some of those re-training points tomorrow.

Lorraine Arams
If you’re not attaining your goals
try my new twist on goal achievement at
http://www.wizetime.com

Do you have the Time?

How do you know if you’re addicted to stress?  Is it obvious? Where do you start? How do you begin the change?

It’s obvious if you could possibly take the time to watch yourself but most stress addicts think that what they are doing is the “right thing to do” or “what they’re supposed to do” – it never really dawns on them that they’re “over the top”.  But here are some clues – in case you’re looking — remember that most stress addicts are in denial because they think that working hard is it or taking care of everyone else is the ticket or the world just can’t do without their constant input or attention or picking up the “pieces” or the “garbage” is their sole responsibility – after all, everyone else is so incapable of taking care of themselves or doing anything without their “hovering”? 

What would the world do without you?  

Work -  

How can you combine your rhythm with your life to create a symphony?

Everyone has a unique rhythm.  You can see it quite visibly every single day everywhere.  Watch how people walk, how they talk, how they move – no two people are alike.  Quite marvelous, isn’t it?  Take a basic structure – the human form – and we find a multitude of  “variations on a theme”. 

Most people likely have never noticed that they themselves have a certain rhythm that is unlike anyone else’s.  Why?  Likely because we need to conform – get up at a certain time to be somewhere at a certain time or do something at a certain time – and we lose our perspective on our particular rhythm. 

Watch a baby – this baby has not yet had to conform – the baby cries when she/he wants to cry, eats when she/he wants to eat,  smiles when she/he wants to smile and, pretty much, a baby takes over her/his parents’ lives!  Adults cater to whatever the child wants or needs when the child wants or needs it.

Soon, though, the baby grows up and starts hearing, “It’s time for bed”,  “It’s time for lunch”, “It’s time to go to school”, “It’s time to do your homework” and so on.  School runs from 9 to 4 – whether a child is at her/his best or not – I remember in high school, during exam time,  I was too tired to study for exams when I got home.  I’d go to sleep early and study all night.  It was so much easier for me to memorize and learn at that time.  Lucky for me the exams were mostly scheduled for the morning so I was able to stay awake and fresh to write the exam.  That was my rhythm.  A rhythm that did not fit with social norms but it worked when I had the freedom to make it work.

What’s your rhythm?  When are you at your best?  When are you at your worst? 

When it comes to time management, it only makes sense, therefore,  to schedule, as much as is possible, to do what you do best when you feel the best and to leave some of the minor tasks when you’re rhythm is largo!  You’ll get more done and produce better quality results than trying to do important work during your lowest periods – doing the doing in rhythm with you! 

Think about it – think how you can create your own symphony in your life  - how can you use your time to your own greatest advantage based on your particular natural rhythmic propensities? 

Lorraine Arams
http://www.wizetime.com - 
Home of the “Missing Link” for Goal Achievement – at no cost