Poor time management thinking and action can undermine your best efforts. If you want to manage your time more effectively, start thinking about time management differently. You can begin to change your time management mindset by dispelling these 5 common time management lies.

Time Management Lie One - Time Management

That’s right… time management itself. What a big fantasy. In reality you can’t manage time. Everyday you receive 24 hours. You can’t add more nor do you get any less time. Erase time management from your brain and start thinking outside the clock. You want to organize the clock to fit your needs.

Sometimes the words time management can create mental blocks especially if you tried some type of time management in the past. Look at the meaning of the word manage: handle, deal with, control, cope, get by, make do, survive and direct. Now look at the word organize: put in order, sort out, arrange and systematize.

Which you prefer to do? Organize and arrange your time or deal with and cope with it?

I know I use the word time management, but that’s how people find us on the search engines. They think they have a time management problem. In reality it’s an activity problem. One of the first things I do when working with a client is shift their mindset from time management to "Thinking Outside the Clock" with organizing their time.

Time Management Lie Two - Working Harder

There is a rumor going around that if just work harder you can get more done. This same rumor perpetrates that hard work leads to wealth. The truth of the matter, if working harder supplied the answer, why do so many of us remain constantly busy but get very little done?

Time management operates on the philosophy of trying to cram more and more stuff into your calendar. You end up working harder trying to get everything done.

When my mentor told me to start working less, I thought her brain left her body. Imagine my surprise to discover that I didn’t need to work harder, faster, and put in long hours. I actually got more done working fewer hours.

Learn to use your time wisely. You will become more efficient and accomplish more without working harder.

Time Management Lie Three - Planning Take Too Much Time

Since time management myth two encourages you to work hard, long hours to get things done, it seems logical that planning would waste time. Wouldn’t you save time and get finished sooner if you just dove in and got started?

Studies show you get finish faster when you plan ahead. Planning ahead will allow you to stay on top of the situation! The 20-30 minutes you used to plan will not only save you time but money, worry and aggravation.

When you make planning part of your time management strategy, you begin with a good start. You won’t find it necessary to stop in the middle to get what you need, you get a better sense of how long something will take to complete and you can block your time accordingly.

Time Management Lie Four - Keep a To Do List

A To Do List by itself doesn’t accomplish anything. It simply reminds you of what you still need to do. It never ends. It probably grows longer and longer each day. The To Do List often turns out to be nothing more than a list of random intentional tasks.

The To Do List doesn’t allow flexibility in dealing with interruptions or how long it will take to complete the task.

The To Do List can undermine your self-confidence. You feel guilty when you can’t cross everything off your list at the end of the day. Traditional Time Management provides a solution to that problem; just move everything you didn’t accomplish to the next day’s list. Like that really helps.

When used correctly, the dreaded "To Do" list can turn into a highly effective time management tool.

Time Management Lie Five - You Need a "Time Planner" to Manage Your Time.

I receive this question quite often "What’s the best planner to use to manage my time?" The answer: The one that works best with your personality. What a cop out right?

Let’s go back to Time Management lie One. Remember you can’t manage your time. You get 24 hours and the end of the day it’s gone. And if God decides to give you another day, you will wake up with another 24 hours.

A Time Planner is used to organize what you do with your time. You either waste it or wisely use it. The true purpose of a planner aids you in using your time more wisely by organizing your activities.

It doesn’t matter if you use Outlook®, Palm® Pilot, Day Runner®, Franklin-Covey®, Planner Pad® or any of the other numerous band names out there or a legal pad of paper.

Time organizing begins with altering your mindset about the way you view time in general. Put time to work for you by applying Thinking Outside the Clock™ techniques. A great place to start begins with dispelling these time management myths from your life is with our complimentary eCourse… 10 Time Management Strategies to Gain Control Over Your Day and Profits.

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Who couldn’t use some time management tips in dealing with email. Email can drain your time and productivity. But if you’re an email junkie, you may need more than time management tips to gain control.

• Do you check your email first thing in the morning before doing anything else and make your cup of coffee while it’s downloading?
• It is the last thing you do before going to bed?
• Do you check you email at least a thousand times during the day?
• When you hear the words, "You Got Mail" does your heart flutter and your adrenaline gets going?
• Do you sign-up for every ezine, report, mini-course but rarely read them?
• If you don’t check your email for one day does it send you into a panic?
• Is some of your email growing mold because it’s been in your inbox too long?

Okay let’s face it… email is addicting…boy does it pile up fast! If all that email in your inbox was in paper format, you could probably create a stack high enough to climb to the moon.

Email is both and blessing and a curse. So how do deal with email effectively?"

Try These 5 Strategies to Help You Gain Control Over Your Inbox and Increase Your Productivity

Close Your Email.

Don’t have your email open all day. Close it. You won’t be tempted to stop what you are doing when you hear those 3 words, "You Got Mail" or your "new mail" alert. For the Junkie this is hard. But believe me, you’ll survive.

Dedicated Email Time

Set aside designated time slots to open and answer email. I set aside 3 half hour blocks during the day to deal with email. Some days I need the full one and half hours, other days I don’t. I’ll use that extra time to clean out email.

Use Folders

Create individual ones for your ezines, mini courses etc. Configure the filters so these items will automatically download into their folder. Your urgent message are more noticeable since they aren’t mixed in with the your subscriptions.

Going Beyond Folders

I love Gmail and Thunderbird. Thunderbird can manage multiple e-mail and supports multiple identities within the accounts. Using Gmaill, I created email accounts for my coaches, social networking, receipts, membership sites, ezines etc. In Thunderbird, I get the choice to either make an email account part of the default email or individual. By choosing individually, each email account is listed separate in Thunderbird menu. I can configure each email account to my preferences.

Now I don’t need to download all my email to view new messages in the "priority" accounts or reply. The latest edition of Thunderbird automatically configures your Gmail accounts. I found this approach saves me a ton of time.

Use a Spam Filter Software

I like Mailwasher, that gives you control over which email to receive. This software lets you preview the messages while they are still on the server. It also marks potential spam and blacklisted email. Just by looking at email addresses you can determine friend or foe and delete from the server without ever downloading it.

I discovered this was a great way to preview friendly mail before downloading it. Many times I was able to obtain the information needed without downloading and opening it in my email box. This is has been a big time saver and helps keep the email down in the inbox. http://www.mailwasher.net

Good news: You can become a reformed email junkie using these tips.

What time management strategies work for you when it comes to email? Why not share them in the comment box below.

Everybody does it to some extent.

It causes severe repercussions for your business/career and personal life.

It is the most common problem, the "Biggest Enemy" in achieving success.

Procrastination!

Procrastination is a bad habit. A habit that results in wasted time, missed opportunities, poor performance and increased stress.

Not to mention that it erodes your self esteem and self confidence.

What is procrastination?

Simply - "Avoidance of doing a task which needs to be accomplished."

Procrastination robs us of our time, keeps us from achieving our goals, and deprives us of increasing our profits and income…..

….Why do we indulge in such self-defeating behavior?

There are numerous reasons for procrastinating. Here are the most common:

1. Information Overload:

Today information comes at us faster than the speed of light. Too much information often leads to…

2. Not Knowing Where To Start:

It’s hard to start something and finish if you don’t know where or how to begin. Many times the inability to begin leads to…

3. Disorganization:

You can’t find information or the things you need to begin the task. Disorganization can cause…

4. Lack of Concentration:

Have you ever tried to finish a task when you can’t concentrate? Very difficult.

No wonder you don’t liked doing what is needed. One of the reasons you can’t concentrate is because you are experiencing…

5. Lack of Focus:

No direction or goal to keep your mind focused on the task. When you are unfocused, you probably have…

6. Lack of Motivation:

No compelling reason or sense of urgency to start or complete the project. Lack of motivation can come from…

7. Lack of Energy:

Do you feel like doing anything when you are tired? Maybe you are tired and don’t have any energy because of…

8. Boredom:

Yawn!!!…The task could be boring because there is no creativity involved. Nothing to excite you to get going or it could be boring because it is…

9. Unpleasant:

YUK…it is human nature to avoid doing unpleasant things. No fun. But are you making it unpleasant because you strive for…

10. Perfectionism:

Everything has to be just right…add too much detail…can’t have any mistakes… The task is never completed because it is never perfect. Can’t start either unless everything is perfect in the beginning. Perfectionism is a sign of you being…

11. Highly Critical:

Are you constantly criticizing what you do? It’s never good enough? You never can do anything right? Are you being critical and can’t start because of your…

12. Fear of Failure:

Making mistakes is unacceptable. If you don’t start, you can’t make a mistake. You can’t fail…Fear of failure isn’t the only fear that holds us back and causes procrastination, so does…

13. Fear of Success:

The opposite of failure. Often the reason for both fear of failure and fear of success is…

14. Low Self Esteem :

You don’t believe you can do it. You don’t feel worthy or good about yourself. So why begin in the first place. Low self esteem can come from…

15. Personal Problems:

Your life is a mess. You have health issues, perhaps even relationship problems. Maybe you lost your job. You have financial problems. Whatever it is, who wants to start something new with all this "stuff"going on? Some problems are unavoidable or you have no control over them. It does make it difficult to start or finish a project. But some problems are self inflicted because…

16. You Don’t Understand Your Personal Style:

You are trying to be somebody you are not…living up to somebody else’s standards. You may be working against your peak hours. What kind of environment do you work best in?

Do you feel like you are constantly working against yourself? Do you feel like nothing ever turns out right anyway, so why bother? Do you begin to get impatient? If you are impatient, you probably have the…

17. Inability to Delay Gratification:

You do what you want to do, when you want to do it, instead of doing what needs to be done. One of the reasons is you…

18. Lack Control:

Don’t have the discipline to finish what you started? What causes this lack of control? The inability to start and complete a task. Well, it could be because….

Just pick any reason from the list and repeat!

Every one of us suffers from procrastination syndrome at one time or another. The goal is not to let procrastination take over and rule your life.

Did you miss the 5 Secrets to Getting Out of Overwhelm Interview with Morgana Rae interviewing me?

The replay is below. Listen with plenty of paper and pencil

@KReschke: I loved your webinar today - Groundhog day is one of my fav films too

Marge Carter:
Your conference call 5 Secrrets of Getting Out of overwhelmed yesterday was fabulous.

IMPORTANT: At the end of the call I offer a limited number of complimentary time strategy sessions. Your personal time strategy session helps you discover your unique best strategy for your biggest time challenges and get control over your day. There are only 4 sessions left. Reserve yours today. http://howtocontrolyourday.com/session

Due to a major problem with event confirmation emails arriving 24 hours after the event… I’m doing this telecall again…but even better… Morgana Rae - "The Money Magnet Coach" is interviewing me for this TeleCall…

Rumor has it she’s really good at pulling out "hidden" secrets… good chance you’ll walk away with even more secrets.

Tired of "Too Much To Do"?

Feel Like You Never Get Caught Up?

Not Getting Big Projects Done?

Juggling Between Family, Friends and Business Time Leaves You Feel Exhausted?

Procrastination Takes Over More Then You Would Like?

Discover 5 Secrets You Can Use Now to Get Yourself Out of Overwhelm

• How to deal with too much to do
• Controlling interruptions and distractions
• A trick to stay focused
• Simple way to prioritize
• Enjoying "Me" time without guilt

EVENT: 5 Secrets to Getting Out of Overwhelm
DATE & TIME: Join me this Monday Sept 15 at 2:30pm Eastern Time
11:30am PT / 12:30pm MT / 1:30pm CT / 2:30pm ET
FORMAT: Simulcast! Attend via Phone or Webcast — It’s your Choice

"Feel Like You Never Get Caught Up?

"Feel Like You’re in the "Too Much To Do" syndrome?

Does "Me" time feel like a forgein country?

What are you doing Friday Sept 12 at noon (EDT)?

Get some answers to your burning time questions.

Melody Campbell " The Small Business Guru" is interviewing me on her very popular Get More Business Internet Radio show.

www.blogtalkradio.com/getmorebusiness

Our home made way for a new family member in the late spring of 1989. Allyce wanted a pet (so did mom). We went and picked out a kitten from a friend whose cat gave birth. Pouncer got his name because he liked to hid under things and "pounce" at your feet when you walked by him. Allyce would walk by and tip the cat house when Pouncer sat on the top.

Now before you "peta" people get in a tizzy.. she never hurt or harmed Pouncer. They actually played quite well together. Under the threat of death, Allyce soon decided tipping the cat house wasn’t a cool idea. Pouncer got his revenge on her. Right after she went to bed at night, he snuck up to room and "tortured" her. Our nights were often serenaded by the sounds of Allyce drifting down the stairs yelling, "Pouncer won’t let me sleep again."

Cat owners know that a cat will "pick" it’s owner and for some reason, Pouncer migrated toward me. He liked to jump on shoulders while I worked on the computer and sit in my lap. Pouncer became my cat.

Chantal asked if she could get her little sister a cat for her 4th birthday. We agreed and together they went down to the animal shelter and came home with a female kitten. Allyce named her "Carrot"… two years later we now became cat owned by two cats.

We never bothered to get Pouncer fixed. He never went outdoors and was the most docile, polite, laid-back male cat I ever met. He didn’t go around spraying so we figured what the heck. We decided to go ahead let Carrot and Pouncer mate. Around Allyce’s fifth birthday, Carrot and Pouncer became proud parents. (Oh Carrot decided to pick hubby Mike as her owner)

She bonded with one of the kittens and we allowed her to keep him. All his other brothers and sisters were adopted by people in the neighborhood. She and Spots hung out together. At last, she is cat owned. Spot thinks he is the biggest baddest cat and walks around like he is Mr. Cool. In reality, he’s a big marshmallow who takes to hiding under blankets when it thunders. His animated personality and facial expressions often causes us to ROTFL.

When we come back from vacation, he acts aloof like he didn’t miss us and will totally ignore Allyce for a couple days. He didn’t handle her going off to college very well.

Unfortunately, 7 years after coming into our home, Carrot passed away from kidney failure. The house didn’t feel right with only 2 cats. It felt like something was missing. We rescued another cat from the shelter. Allyce picked a beautiful gray and white kitten and named her Snip.

Snip had the audacity to go into heat 2 weeks before her scheduled spay appointment. Now what… I proposed to keep her in a separate room until we could get her in and Allyce went into tears. She thought it so unfair and Mike sided with her. Last thing I wanted was kittens. Under written contract I agreed to let Snip and Pouncer mate if Mike took the responsibility of finding the kittens homes and any kitten not finding a home would stay with us.

Would you believe we had owners for those kittens before they were born. Snip gave birth to three kittens with one dying during birth. A week later another died and making the third the sole survivor. The people who were suppose to take the kittens said we needed to keep the survivor. It was a sign. I didn’t want four cats in the house… 3 is enough.

Now we needed to find another home for the survivor. My chiropractor, Angela, wanted the kitten and we make an appointment for her to pick up the kitten. That appointment got cancel when her grandmother took ill and she need to return home. She said when she returned in a few weeks, she would pick up the kitten, which Allyce now named Dusty.

Dusty was this little black fur ball. Really pretty kitten. I guess Dusty liked it here too and didn’t want to go with Angela. She took to convincing me to keep her. She followed me through out the house. Snuggled… I do mean snuggle with me when I took my afternoon nap and jumped on my shoulder when I worked on the computer. Her personality is so much like her daddy, Pouncer.. I know had two cats hanging out and keeping me company.

Angela stopped by on her way back from her grandmother’s and I broke the bad news that Dusty won my heart over.

A few months later, Pouncer is diagnosed with a slow growing stomach cancer. If he responded to the initial shot treatment he could live for 3-5 years with continued treatment. If not he would probably die within a few months. Of course I’m very upset, Pouncer is my cat and he and Dusty have taken to sharing my lap. I’m so thankful I kept his daughter.

Pouncer responded to the treatment. The only food he could eat was Fancy Feast… Chopped Grill his favorite. After several years of receiving monthly shots, Pouncer started getting urinary tract infections. We decided enough was enough no more shots. He already lived 5 years and is now 16 years old. Just let him live the rest of his life shot free. It wasn’t worth him putting up with urinary infections and the pills needed to cure it.

Pouncer is one resiliant cat… must be that laid back… nothing bothers me personality. He would go on to live for another 3 1/2 years. About 6 weeks ago, he started going through several cans of Chopped Grill Fancy Feast a day. Like he just couldn’t get enough to eat. Mike and I realized he was probably loosing his battle with cancer.

He gradually became more and more inactive and last week began to experience trouble walking. Over the past few days he got weaker and weaker. Wednedsay I call his vet and later today Pouncer will go to sleep. His lived a very full and pampered life. Pouncer is 19 1/2 years old. I’m spending the rest of the day with him.

Pouncer will leave behind his Son Spots, Daughter Dusty and Wife Snip.

Good bye Pouncer… we will miss you

Strength and Weaknesses Checklist

You know if you’re like me you probably got a very, very piece of advice when you were a child. You probably got this advice from a parent, or a teacher or you got it from somewhere and what that piece of advice was is the secret to success in life is to work on your weakness.

I’ll tell you something if you spend your entire life working on your weakness by the end of your life what you’re going to have is a really, really strong weakness. This is not the key to life… this is the key to frustration. This is the key to unhappiness, this the key to personal perpetual failure is working on your weakness.

Focusing on your strengths allow you to
continually improve your capabilities,
leading to ever-increasing opportunities — and success.

Keep in mind some weaknesses are worth improving… you make the decision… should you invest time improving or learning a skill or delegate to somebody else?

Strength and weakness analysis below is an exercise to help you gauge your ability to compete effectively. It’s your unique collection of superior skills that give you energy and great results.

Rating a Skills area. Examine the skill list below and rate your overall skill level for each of the 8 areas. Circle the appropriate number using a scale of 1-5… 1 as low, 2 as medium low, 3 as medium, 4 as medium high, 5 as high…. Highest possible score is 40.

Skills Ratings

1. Sales Pricing Buying Sales planning Negotiating Direct selling to buyers Customer service follow-up Managing other sales reps Tracking competitors	1	2	3	4	5
2. Marketing Advertising/promotion/public relations Annual marketing plans Media planning and buying Advertising copy writing Marketing strategies Distribution Pricing Packaging	1	2	3	4	5
3. Financial planning Cash flow planning Monthly financial Bank relationships Management of credit lines	1	2	3	4	5
4. Accounting Bookkeeping Billing, payables, receivables Monthly profit and loss statements/balance sheets Quarterly/annual tax preparation	1	2	3	4	5
5. Administrative Scheduling Payroll Benefits administration	1	2	3	4	5
6. Personnel management Hiring employees Firing employees Motivating employees General management skills	1	2	3	4	5
7. Personal business skills Oral presentation skills Written communication skills Computer skills Word processing skills Fax, e-mail, experience Organizational skills	1	2	3	4	5
8. Intangibles Ability to work many hours Ability to manage risk and stress Family support Ability to deal with failure Ability to work alone Ability to work with and manage others	1	2	3	4	5
Total

Focus on Strengths and Delegate Weakness

So here’s the key, if you can just focus in on your strengths, and then surround yourself with a team of people who are just focusing on their strengths, it produces and incredible organization… very powerful organization. Where people don’t need motivation, they don’t to be managed, they don’t monitoring. And that produces enormous results over a long period of time.

Entrepreneurs wear so many hats… especially the solo business owner. Our days tend to be one endless task after another. We all start our businesses for a variety of reasons:

• Wanting to working from home,
• Set your own timetable
• Spend time with family and friends
• Knowing that the hard work you do is for your own company
• Quit climbing the so-called corporate ladder

It all comes down to lifestyle and often our jobs couldn’t or wouldn’t deliver the that lifestyle.

But somewhere along the line….you end up with a to-do list a mile long that never seems to get any shorter, no matter how many soccer games or nights-out-with-friends you miss No matter how hard you work, how many hours you put in, you never seen to get ahead.

Your business never seems to grow past a certain point and yet you can never quite seem to get a handle on that.

The reality hits you… your business is supposed to give you a life, not take it away and you are knee deep… neck deep or perhaps even over your head deep in the "Multiplicity of Stuff Syndrome."

If the above sounds like you, you’ll enjoy our new free eCourse "10 Time Strategies to Control Your Day and Profits."

There are 5 symptoms of being trapped in the "Multiplicity of Stuff Syndrome" and you’ll discover what they are and how to relieve them and get control back over your day. Sign up for the course at http://HowtoControlYourDay.com

When you sign up this fr~ee eCourse, you receive several bonuses:

• The 15 Minute Communique Weekly Digest delivered to your inbox on Friday sharing more strategies and tips on getting control over day.
• The Flip Your Time Personal Time Assessment to reveal your 3 biggest Time Challenges
• And you may even qualify for a free one-on-one strategy session with me… Ann Rusnak, The Time Diva

Take back control of your day with the "10 Time Strategies to Control Your Day and Profits" eCourse. http://HowtoControlYourDay.com