I just this second emailed a woman about helping me put together a power point slide show. That’s a big deal b/c I “should” be able to do it on my own.

Finally, I’m on the verge of getting my cleaning lady to come weekly as opposed to every other week. With three dogs, I know once I do it, I’ll wonder how I ever got by with any less.

Thanks for the great reminders, Christy.

I loved this reminder about what how to get my priorities straight. At different times I have been both efficient and effective. Far better to be effective in my mind and part of that is being clear about what my priorities are. They are based on my values so the priorities are my spirituality, my family and my work.

When I for example put work above my spirituality I tend to be far less effective. And the same if I put it above my family.

Lately I have been struggling with my time and figuring this out. I got some help to use some technology which I think will be useful. The main thing is that I keep my priorities straight and then the time issues take care of themselves.

thanks for the opportunity to comment on this topic.

Willie

For example, if I have to ‘find time’ to get something done, I have found that I will likely not get the task completed.

So for anything repetitive, I make it part of a routine. Since I still work “in,” or “for” my business, while I also “run” my business, I generally split each day up into appropriately-sized parts to accomodate both needs. Part of each day always involves getting the business-running tasks done (like writing invoices, and paying bills) while the other part of the day is left for working “for” my clients.

Less frequent tasks also get regular attention. Things like monthly reports (while they might be included as part of “business-running” tasks) get roughly the same day each month (with execptions for holidays, etc) so that they get done.

I haven’t quite mastered planning for the longer time-frame tasks yet. April tax filing day still manages to sneak up on me every year. But I am getting better at it.

Perhaps a mix of routine and payment-required reminders (along with incentives like doing something enjoyable after getting a task done) and penalties for not getting things done (like the penalties for missing tax deadlines!) can all be put together to help keep us on track.

Fred Hepperle

I love the scene in “Meet the Robinson’s” where an experiment with a peanut butter and jelly contraption goes wrong at the end of a family dinner, there’s a moment of pause and silence, where it feels like the criticism is about to begin, and then absolute outbursts of celebration and congratulations of the mistake come flowing out of every family member joyfully.

The quote that stands out to me is “From mistakes we learn, from success, not so much”.

We tell our kids, “everybody makes mistakes, and smart people, learn from them, and make changes”.

My industry is constantly coming up with new products that my clients are interested in. Luckily, there’s tons of material available to evaluate these new products, from manuals and spec sheets to reviews by early-adopter users.

I regularly spend some amount of time learning about new products and thinking about how they would be useful to my clients. Sometimes, that means using a product for purposes other than what it was intended.

I also try to attend an industry trade show at least every couple of years. While tradeshows often have more marketing sizzle than substance, they are at least an exposure to new products and trends. You can follow up afterward for all the details you need.

I often find that my clients are generally a year or so behind ‘the cutting edge’ that is on display at trade shows. While I may not immediately use any new product that I learn about at a trade show, I usualy find clients become interested in those products 1-2 years after they make their appearance.

But by then, I am already learning about the next wave of new products.

FH