Planning Your Free Time Management Tools

You're about to learn to take control of your time and really get things done. Some people would fuss around things undone because they don't have enough time to do so. But, do they really have not enough time? Or they just don't know how to utilize their own schedule. This is where time management butt in in order to get things done by making most out of your time.
Time management is the issue here. It is the art of planning, organizing, prioritizing, and controlling one's time for the purpose of utilizing more effective work and productivity. Time management is not just for any particular person or for any particular position. Time management is crucial for everyone- for students, professionals and non-professionals, and for homemakers.
The very key to a successful time management is planning. You must have the commitment to change, as well as, the commitment to take that into action. Figure out exactly what you are doing, what needs to be done, and what should not be done in an orderly manner.
Before anything else, time management involves setting your goals and implement those goals into organized actions. You have to concentrate on the results rather than the feeling of being busy. Condition yourself and your environment.
As a rule of thumb, to effectively utilize what you are planning to do you should take note that your outcomes are far greater than your causes. This applies on the 80:20 Principle. the 20 percent input would result into a 4-folded output!
Just be creative in finding and introducing different ways to do things. Find efforts, to see and assess what activities are most important, which activities are urgent,and which are not. One of the best example is managing emails and phone calls. Instead of letting them manage you, check at planned times and avoid continuous notifications.
Manage your environment as a whole. Especially that there are new systems, tools and technology available for a much more convenient way to generate efficiency and effective management of your time.
There are lots of free time management tools in the Internet available to help you with your time effectively. The simplest method is the To Do Lists. Be it on a computer-based, online or not, or paper-based system, writing all the things you need to do in a daily basis and then prioritizing them, will make you much better organized and reliable.
Google has also their own calendar offered for free. It is generally a free-time management web application that can synchronize with your mobile devices and integrate with other Google services. One feature is the SMS updating that allows users to create and check new information via SMS.
Google calendar is one time management tool that Google has stored for everyone for free! Events are stored online where you can keep track anywhere you go. An offline access feature lets you view a read-only version of your calendar so that you will know where and what to do even when you don't have an Internet access.
Another helpful web application is Joe's Goal Tracker. It is a simple, sleek way to trace your progress on achieving positive targets, while avoiding negative ones, online. It is much like a web-based version of a personal guideline. With Joe's Goals you get a point for every goal you achieve and lose a point for each bad habit.
Joe's Goal Tracker is one tool that tracks your activities by adding daily notes explaining your experiences. It is use to record your thoughts, track your spending, watch your health, and track your dreams and inspirations. Kind of an online reminder and diary in one!
Remember the yellow stick-on notes in computers, desks, and boards? There is a computer-based stick-on notes called Stickies that does more likely with the Post-it notes sticking in your screens. It is your computer-base to-do-list with alarms that reminds you of the things you opt to do.
If you are the visual-type of person that works well with Post-it reminders, then Stickies is for you. It sticks on your PC which allows you to be constantly reminded of your daily tasks.
Actually, there are lots of free online time management tools available. Opting for a manual tool is up to the you whichever is convenient. It is important to find a system that is base on your liking toward a more effective use of your time.
With options available for free time management tools online, you just got to do the basics- plan, organize, prioritize, implement, and self-discipline. With just this simple routine, no paper- or software-based tool can top it all. Because it is all up to you!

Stress Managment- Worry is the Prescription for an Ulcer

Have you ever listened to someone, perhaps even to your self, talk about being worried? You'll hear things like, "I'm so worried", "I'm worried sick", or as my mom used to tell me, "You worry me to death!"
Certainly makes worry sound like a very powerful force, doesn't it? And as a matter of fact, it is. Worry can make us sick, and in it's most extreme form, it can kill us.
Then why in the world do we do this thing called worry? For some people, it's simply become an emotional habit that they no longer think about. "I come from a family of worriers", as if it's a genetic feature like eye color. For others, it's how to show you care about someone. "If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't worry", as if worry is a form of love someone would want to receive.
Here's what happens when we worry: because our brain cannot tell the difference between reality and a vividly imagined picture (worry), we respond the same way emotionally. So when we worry, our brains have gone into the future and created a vivid living color picture of our worry, and then our emotions, and even our physiology, rush up to match the picture.
Here's a little experiment that will clearly show what I mean. Picture yourself at home in your kitchen, and then walking over to the refrigerator and pulling out a great big juicy lemon. Take it over to the counter, cut it in half, smell the juice and feel the juice on your fingers. Now cut one of the halves in half. More juice, more smell. Now cut a slice from one of the sections. More juice, more smell. Now bring that slice up to your nose and take a sniff. Then, finally, take a big bite of the lemon.
If your are like most folks, your mouth is watering now, and you may even be puckering up a bit too. Here's the important thing to notice for our purposes: there is no lemon. You vividly imagined, with my guidance, a picture that caused a physiological response in your body. Remember, there is no lemon.
And so it is when we worry.
So that leaves us with a couple of choices when we worry: we can get an ulcer or we can get moving. Let's take a closer look at each of these options.
How to Get an Ulcer
Worry. A lot. Raise it to an art form.
Make sure to worry about things you can do nothing about.
Or if you are worried about things you can do something about, be sure not to do anything about it.
Let your worry cause you to live all your moments in the future, missing the present of the present.
Become a "what-if person": you know, "what if this happens, what if that happens....."
How to Get Moving
Make a distinction between worry and concern. Worry freezes you, concern motivates you.
Allow your worry and concern to motivate you to plan for the future. Remember, the best way to predict the future is to create as much of it as you can.
Pray. A lot.
Since worry is really nothing more than using our imagination in a negative way, turn the process on it's head. Instead of vividly imagining the worst possible outcome, switch to vividly imagining the best possible outcome, and/or the outcome you would like to have happen.
I've saved the best for last. The best cure that I know for worry is to TAKE ACTION! Create a plan, plan for the future, do every thing you can to prevent the negative outcomes you don't want and do every thing you can to get the positive outcomes you do want.
The neat thing here is that if you do all the above suggestions to get moving, you won't have time or space in your brain to worry. And my guess is you will enjoy life much more.
Thanks for reading, and keep the change.

Stress Managment and Mastery: Progress vs. Perfection

David Bowie once sang, "Ch-ch-changes, tryin' to face the strain."
And though working on changes in our lives can be difficult at times, it really doesn't have to be such a strain.
Where did we get the notion that change has to be such a struggle? And what would it be like if we could make change easier?
That's what I have spent most of my career doing, finding the simplest, fastest and most effective ways to help people get the changes they want and need.
With that in mind, let's look at one of the major roadblocks to achieving lasting change, and then look at what to do about it.
Perfection vs. Progress
The failure to understand the important distinction between perfection and progress is a major stumbling block to lasting change.
Far too many people get stuck in demanding perfection from themselves and from others.
This leaves little or no room for appreciating the progress that might be happening.
So let's take a look and discover whether you are demanding perfection or appreciating progress. And then most importantly, how to focus on progress.
Demanding Perfection
So many people are stuck in the myth that in order to change, you have to do it perfectly, with no slip-ups. That's just not reality.
Here are some signs that you may be stuck in demanding perfection:
If you slip up just once, i.e., you go off your diet for one night, you say the heck with it and trash the whole plan.
You feel constantly defeated when trying to change.
You try to change too much all at once. There is just no way to get rid of 30 pounds in one month without amputation.
Appreciating Progress
Even the smallest amount of progress is still progress. It's still change. Here's how to focus on appreciating the progress:
Celebrate all improvements, even the smallest changes.
If a change looks too big to accomplish, break it down into smaller, more manageable parts, i.e. Just for today, I will ...
Do a little bit more, go a little bit further, each day.
There's the story of a middle-aged man who decided to take up running. The first day, he could only make it past his own house before he had to stop. The next day he went one house further, the next day another house further and so on. In less than a year, he entered and completed a marathon - that's 26-plus miles.
Recognize the process of change. Most folks think that once they learn something new, the changes happen all at once. Sometimes that's true, but more often change happens in four stages:
1. You learn some new skills, but do the same old thing that doesn't work again.
2. You catch yourself in the middle of doing the same old thing that doesn't work, stop and then do something new and different.
3. You stop yourself before you do the same old thing that doesn't work, and do something new and different.
4. You just naturally do something new and different.
Change does not have to be a strain, or even very difficult at all. You just have to enjoy the progress and keep at it.
Remember, in the battle between the rock and the river, the river always wins because the river just keeps at it.

Stress Managment: Worry - Anxiety - Fear

Worry/Anxiety
Anxiety and its partner, worry,' are specific forms of fear. They can also be some of the most insidious and crippling emotions.
Worry can be useful if it motivates you to take action to make changes. Worry then becomes action.
Worry becomes a problem when we believe the big lie that "if only I worry enough about this, it will be OK"
The best definition I've ever heard of anxiety goes like this:
"Anxiety is when we mentally fastforward - to some possible future problem and our emotions catch up to match up our picture."
In other words, anxiety is often caused by repeatedly picturing negative outcomes and then dragging our emotions along for the ride.
Fear
All of us must deal with fear in our lives. As a matter of fact, people who tell me they are never afraid tend to scare me.
It's my experience that they are lying, or worse.
Fear is so common that we can identify several general fears that are familiar to all of us. Here is a partial list of fears I hear about regularly in my office:
o Fear of rejection. From the nervous teen-age boy who hangs up the phone when the girl answers, to the adult who is afraid to ask for a raise, fear of rejection keeps us from asking for what we want.
o Fear of failure.
o Fear of success.
o Fear of being smothered or fear of being abandoned in elationships.
While there are certainly times when fear is an appropriate response, fear many times simply holds us back from accomplishing what we want.
Here are two tips for dealing successfully with fear.
o Remember that courage is not having no fear at all. Courage is feeling the fear and proceeding anyway.
o One of the best ways of dealing with fear that I've found comes in the form of an acronym: Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real.
What "false evidence" are you allowing to limit your life? What might that mean when you examine some of your fears?

Stress Managment: 12 Universal Laws for Managing Anger

1. The Law of Everyone
It is not neccessarily wrong to get angry. You get angry, I get angry, all God's children get angry. It's what we do with our anger that makes the difference.
2. The Law of Stress
Although we don't often think of anger as a form of stress, it is by far one of the largest and most destructive forms of daily stress. Manage your anger, and you manage a large amount of your stress.
3. The Law of Choice
Anger is rarely if ever an automatic response. It's a choice. It's a choice because we have to think about something before we get angry.
4. The Law of Shoulds
We all have beliefs about how the world and the people around us should behave. When these beliefs are violated, anger is a natural, and sometimes reasonable response. The problem is that when we "should" on somebody, it can become a trigger for our anger.
For example, if we run the sentence "that driver should not have cut in front of me" over and over in our heads, the response is not likely to be pretty. At best we'll raise our blood pressure, and at worst do something really stupid.
5. The Law of Blame
Another one of our thoughts that lead quickly to anger involves
blaming someone or something. The dance of blame is a deadly two step:
1) someone is at fault, and
2) they should be punished - anger can be very punishing.
6. The Law of Cause
This one is closely related to the law of blame. There is a myth in our culture that very few people ever question. The best example is the phrase "he made me angry."
Well, bull! No one can make us angry without our cooperation.
7. The Law of Emflaming
Another myth is that if we are able to vent our anger it will
automatically decrease. That is not necessarily so. I once watched a neighbor stomp around the side of his house, grumbling and swearing as he went. Stomping by the air conditioning unit, he smashed his fist down on top of it. That move not only made him more angry, it looked to me like it hurt a lot too. Grumbling and swearing even louder, he stomps into his backyard and kicks a lounge chair. It didn't appear to calm
him down, and it looked like that one hurt too. I found out later that he broke both his hand and his foot on his romp around the yard.
8. The Law of Source
In almost every case, anger is a secondary emotion. In other words, we experience some other strong emotion before we feel the anger. Follow the source and you usually come up with one of three strong emotions - fear, frustration or hurt, or some combination of the above. Deal with fear, frustration and hurt and you can cut anger off at the pass.
9. The Law of Battles
Learn to pick your battles. If you get angry at everything, then your anger means nothing. If that sounds confusing, here's an example: how much would gold be worth if we all had it in abundance? That's right, not much. Gold is valuable because it is so rare. If you are always getting angry, people stop taking you seriously and just want to avoid you.
10. The Law of Worth
Ask your self this question: "is this situation worth getting angry over?" Most time it just isn't.
11. The Law of Muscles
Learn to exercise your choice muscles.We can choose to be angry or we can choose another way of handling the situation.
12. The Law of Channeling
When you do get angry, channel it into something you can use to benefit you, such as motivating you into changing what can be changed.

A Simple Tool For Marketing Your Event Managment Company

People always have an event to plan, however, they rarely give it the proper time and attention until deadlines start rolling in. This is true of weddings, anniversary parties, vow renewals and graduation parties. The goal of your event managment company is to get them thinking about important details before it is too late to make them happen easily. One surefire tool that you can use to bring both your cause and your company to the forefront of people's minds is simple to use and easy to create.
Article marketing has long been an effective online tool for getting the word out about your business. This is when companies create tight, informative articles that draw readers in by providing invaluable information that can be easily accessed. There is another tier however to this level of marketing that you can use to remind potential clients of their pending events and assert yourself as the best resource for event planning.
With each article that you write you can refer potential clients to an e-mail newsletter that your company offers for free. Each month or twice monthly you can share updates and information with a growing group of individuals. By requesting your newsletter individuals allow you access to their e-mail address, which enables you to compile a comprehensive mailing list of people and companies that are interested in event management services.
In each publication you have a prime opportunity to remind your readers that planning should happen well before the event itself. You can offer useful tips for delegating responsibilities and managing resources. You can also detail why having a professional planner for certain events is often necessary.
They key is to make sure that every thing that is published in your name online represent valid and valuable data. Using spam to promote your business will rapidly establish an unsavory and lasting reputation. Most frequent internet users have very little patience with postings that prove a waste of their time, and the unlimited options that they have will quickly guide these same away from a site, article or newsletter that is poorly and hastily designed.
Think fresh content. Read the articles that were written by others in your niche and make it a point to cover grounds that have not already been tread and re-tread. Essentially, the idea is to develop your own voice and to maintain a unique edge over your competitors.
You should also never underestimate the power of free things. Your newsletter is free and that is a draw in itself. You can also use this opportunity to advertise free offers that you are able to present without jeopardizing the financial stability of your company. This can be a free consultation, free centerpiece or other thoughtful item that you business can afford to extend.
With a little diligence and innovation you can bring your event managment company to the forefront of the available market. You can remind potential clients that it is necessary to get planning done early and helpful to have professional assistance on the way. With very little money and time invested, you can provide a huge boost to your business.