If success depends on effective action, effective action depends on the ability to focus your attention where it is needed most, when it is needed most. This is the ability to separate the important from the unimportant, which is a much-needed skill in all walks of life, especially where there are ever-increasing opportunities and distractions.

12 Universal Skills You Need to Succeed at Anything

First, let’s talk a little about ‘time’: There are two types of time, clock time and real-time. In clock time, there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. All time passes equally.  In real-time, all time is relative. Time flies or drags depending on what you’re doing. Time management systems often don’t work because they are designed to manage clock time. You live in real-time. The good news is that real-time is mental. You create it. Anything you create, you can manage.

There are three ways to spend time:

• thoughts
• conversations
• actions

Regardless of the type of business you are in, your work will be composed of those three items. Follow these steps to see where you are currently losing your time, and develop ways to reclaim that lost time and be more productive:

1. Record your thoughts, conversations and activities for a week. Write down EVERYTHING
   This will help you understand how much you can get done during the course of a day and where your time is going. You’ll see how much time is actually spent producing results and how much time is wasted on unproductive thoughts, conversations and actions.
2. Any activity or conversation that’s important to your success should have a time assigned to it.
   Use a calendar, and schedule appointments with yourself  for high-priority thoughts, conversations, and actions. Schedule when they will begin and end. Have the discipline to keep these appointments.
3. Plan to spend at least 50 percent of your time engaged in the thoughts, activities and conversations that produce most of your results.
4. Schedule time for interruptions.
   Plan time to be pulled away from what you’re doing.
5. Take the first 30 minutes of every day to plan your day.
   Don’t start your day until you complete your time plan. The most important time of your day is the time you schedule to schedule time.
6. Take a few minutes before every task to decide what result you want
   This will help you know what success looks like before you start. And it will also slow time down. Take a few minutes after each activity to determine whether your desired result was achieved. If not, what was missing? How do you put what’s missing in your next activity?
7. Put up a “Do not disturb” sign when you absolutely have to get work done.
8. Practice not answering the phone just because it’s ringing and e-mails just because they show up.
   Disconnect instant messaging. Don’t instantly give people your attention unless it’s absolutely crucial in your business to offer an immediate human response. Instead, schedule a time to answer email and return phone calls.
9. Block out other distractions like Facebook and other forms of social media unless you use these tools to generate business.
10. Remember that it’s impossible to get everything done.
    Also remember that odds are good that 20 percent of your thoughts, conversations and activities produce 80 percent of your results.

Entrepreneur

 10 Common Time Management Mistakes

When we manage our time well we’re exceptionally productive, and our stress levels drop. We can devote time to the interesting, high-reward projects that can make a real difference to a career. We’re happier!

Failing to Keep a To-Do List

Do you ever have that nagging feeling that you’ve forgotten to do an important piece of work? If so, you probably don’t use a To-Do List to keep on top of things. (Or, if you do, you might not be using it effectively). The trick with using To-Do Lists effectively lies in prioritizing the tasks on your list.  If you have large projects on your list, then, unless you’re careful, the entries for these can be vague and ineffective. For instance, you may have written “Start on budget proposal.” But what does this entail? The lack of specifics here might cause you to procrastinate, or miss key steps. So make sure that you break large tasks or projects down into specific, actionable steps – then you won’t overlook something important.

Not Setting Personal Goals

Do you know where you’d like to be in six months? What about this time next year, or even 10 years from now? If not, it’s time to set some personal goals. Personal goal setting is essential to managing your time well, because goals give you a destination and vision to work toward. When you know where you want to go, you can manage your priorities, time, and resources to get there. Goals also help you decide what’s worth spending your time on, and what’s just a distraction.

Not Prioritizing

Sometimes, it’s hard to know how to prioritize, especially when you’re facing a flood of seemingly urgent tasks. However, it’s essential to learn how to prioritize tasks effectively if you want to manage your time better. One tool that will help you prioritize effectively is the Urgent/Important Matrix. It can help you understand the difference between urgent activities, and important activities. Overcome the tendency to focus on the urgent. The Action Priority Matrix is another useful tool, which will help you decide if a task is high-yield and high-priority, or low-value, “fill in” work. You’ll manage your time much better during the day if you know the difference.

Failing to Manage Distractions

Whether they come from emails, IM chats, colleagues in a crisis, or phone calls from clients, distractions prevent us from achieving flow, which is the satisfying and seemingly effortless work that we do when we’re 100 percent engaged in a task. If you want to gain control of your day and do your best work, it’s vital to know how to minimize distractions and manage interruptions effectively. For instance, turn off your IM chat when you need to focus, and let people know if they’re distracting you too often.

Procrastination

Procrastination occurs when you put off tasks that you should be focusing on now. When you procrastinate, you feel guilty that you haven’t started; you come to dread doing the task; and, eventually, everything catches up with you when you fail to complete the work on time. One useful strategy is to tell yourself that you’re only going to work on a project for ten minutes. Often, those who procrastinate feel that they have to complete a task from start to finish, and this high expectation makes them feel overwhelmed and anxious. Instead, focus on devoting a small amount of time to starting. You might also find it helpful to use Action Plans. These help you break large projects down into manageable steps, so that it’s easy to see everything that you need to get done, and so that you can complete small chunks at a time. Doing this can stop you from feeling overwhelmed at the start of a new project.

Taking on too Much

Many of us have a hard time saying “no” to people, and then end up with far too many projects and commitments, leading to  poor performance, stress, and low morale. Or, you might be a micromanager and insist on controlling or doing all the work yourself, because you feel you can’t trust anyone else to do it correctly.

Either way, taking on too much is a poor use of your time, and it can get you a reputation for producing rushed, sloppy work.

Learning how, and when, to say “no” is the only way to avoid this pitfall.

Thriving on “Busy”

Some people get a rush from being busy. The narrowly met deadlines, the endless emails, the piles of files needing attention on the desk, the frantic race to the meeting… What an adrenaline rush…The problem is that an “addiction to busyness” rarely means that you’re effective, and significantly increases stress. Instead, try to slow down, and learn to manage your time better.

Multitasking

Focus on one task at a time. You’ll produce higher quality work, and can finish the task faster, getting you on the next on the to-do list. Multitasking may give you the feeling that you are getting more done in the same time, but what you are really doing is causing the tasks you are working on to take longer overall.

Not Taking Breaks

It’s nice to think that you can work for 8-10 hours straight, especially when you’re working to a deadline. But it’s impossible for anyone to focus and produce really high-quality work without giving their brains some time to rest and recharge. Don’t dismiss breaks as “wasting time.” They provide valuable down-time, which will enable you to think creatively and work effectively. If it’s hard for you to stop working, then schedule breaks for yourself, or set an alarm as a reminder. Go for a quick walk, grab a cup of coffee, or just sit and meditate at your desk. Try to take a five-minute break every hour or two. And make sure that you give yourself ample time for lunch – you won’t produce top quality work if you’re hungry.

Ineffectively Scheduling Tasks

All of us have different times of day when we feel most productive and energetic. You can make best use of your time by scheduling high-value work during your peak time, and low-energy work (like returning phone calls and checking email), during your “down” time.

Burnout occurs when workload, sense of control or lack of control, reward or lack of reward, community, fairness and values are chronically mismatched with our belief systems. You can have a lot to do and still feel fulfilled and satisfied. But if you are being treated unfairly at work as well, then the workload becomes a burden, not a source of joy and fulfillment.

Warning Signs of Burnout

• Are you starting not to care about work anymore?
• Is it hard to stay motivated?
• Do you feel your workplace is a dreaded place to be?
• Are you snapping at your colleagues?
• Do you feel disengaged from your work?
• Have you lost your passion for things?

You might be burned out if the work you were passionate about now feels like a burden, you avoid your coworkers and isolate yourself, and you can’t enjoy your professional accomplishments. You have to be able to recognize burnout and honestly assess your situation and work toward solutions.

Two things that will help you address and prevent burnout are making time for yourself and seeking support.

Make time for yourself daily: do things you enjoy, shut off work completely, and focus on your own needs, goals, desires, and happiness.

Seek support: Talk to someone you trust about your feelings and work situation. Bottling up your frustrations will lead to faster burnout, and can even lead to more serious conditions including depression.

Infographic – Desk Rage: Tell-tale signs of an overworked employee

Infographic: The tell-tale signs of an overworked employee | TechRepublic.

inspiration:  World of Psychology.

1. Know how to work well with older/more experienced coworkers. Do you have not only the ability to work with older employees, but the humility to learn what they have to teach?
2. Be presentable at work. Shave. Dress modestly. Take it easy on the cologne/perfume. Don’t try to walk the minimum line for acceptability.
3. Learn how to speak on the phone. When you answer, say something like “Good afternoon, John speaking,” not “What up, this John.” Also, your stupid gimmicky voicemail message? Yeah, that needs to go, too.
4. Work well as part of a group. Be able to work with a team. Know how to work cooperatively, share credit, delegate, and make yourself heard.
5. Treat company property properly. The corporate card, your desk, computer equipment, chair, and anything else that belongs to your employer should be handled with care. If you receive a corporate card, know to use it responsibly and sparingly.
6. Conduct yourself appropriately in meetings. Don’t talk too much. Listen more and think before you speak. But speak and make sure you are heard when necessary. Stay on topic. Don’t use meetings to complain. You waste your bosses time, and your coworkers time as well, and neither will be very happy about it.
7. Learn to listen well. Listening takes concentration, full attention, and note-taking.
8. Keep emotions in check. Keep a firm rein on anger and frustration and knowing how much is too much is necessary.
9. Know how to read your body language. If you walk into your boss’ or coworkers’ office and they don’t look up, they are busy; come back later. If someone is walking briskly in the direction of the bathroom, don’t head them off to bend their ear for five minutes.
10. Learn and use good leadership skills. When the time comes for you to head up a team project, knowing how to manage people effectively and fairly will be an invaluable skill.
11. Learn quickly. Your boss doesn’t want to spend the rest of their career training you. The skill of picking things up quickly can be honed, and you should hone it.
12. Manage your time. Your boss can’t oversee everything you do. It’s up to you to know how to budget your time and when to say no, if necessary, to some requests so that you can meet your primary responsibilities.
13. Learn how to appropriately resolve conflict. Hopefully you won’t be having frequent run-ins with coworkers, but if you do,  you need to know how to handle it like an adult without having to get management involved every time.
14. Don’t be late. It’s simple enough: respect the job, the boss, and your coworkers by showing up on time. Being at your desk just a few minutes early has a huge payoff in boss brownie points for a small amount of effort.
15. Don’t make excuses. Get the work done, when it’s supposed to be done. If you plan for potential problems, you won’t have a need for excuses anyway.
16. You can’t always be a perfectionist. Bosses want you to do the best you can with the time you have. They will appreciate the attempt to make everything perfect, but if this means you fall behind or burn out, it’s a problem.
17. Don’t expect constant feedback. There are no grades in the working world. There are performance evaluations, and they usually happen once a year. An occasional “good work” or critical email may be all you get in the way of feedback. Do not spend energy and time fishing for feedback or compliments.
18. Don’t always wait to be asked for your input. Identify and tackle problems without having to be asked.
19. Never ask for or expect special treatment. Even if you witness a coworker getting preferential treatment, know that it’s none of your business.
20. Use appropriate language. No one was ever offended by an employee not swearing at work. Swearing is juvenile, it’s unoriginal, and it can lead to harassment or hostility claims.
21. Know what NOT to talk about at work. Religion and politics are the biggies, but anything that might make someone uncomfortable, like your love life or financial issues, is best left unsaid.
22. Use common sense cell phone etiquette. Few bosses will go to the extreme of making you turn off your phone, but don’t make them regret it. Leave the phone on vibrate and restrict use to brief, important calls.
23. Know and adhere to basic business ethics. Behave ethically in the office: don’t lie, don’t steal pens.
24. Know your own strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has things they’re great at and things they suck at. The time to know which is which is before you’ve volunteered for that big assignment.
25. Do more than the bare minimum. Your boss won’t tell you directly to do more than your job description requires, but all bosses want you to go above and beyond the call of duty.

inspired by  Resumebear Online Resume

But remember, self-discipline is just one tool available to you. It won’t magically end your stress and procrastination issues overnight.  Self-discipline CAN help you overcome barriers you reach in your journey to more productive, less stressful, lives.

Self-Knowledge

You need to know what action best reflects your goals and values. Write down your goals, dreams and ambitions. Write a personal mission statement to help you have a greater understanding of who you are and what you value.
FranklinCovey has a nice mission statement builder.  It will guide you through steps where you answer questions, not simple questions, but if you think about each answer carefully and provide honest answers, at the end you will have a very nicely written, direct and to the point, life mission statement. (You do need to provide your name and email address to use the tool)

Awareness of Your Current Behavior. Acceptance

If you aren’t aware your behavior is undisciplined, how will you know to act otherwise? Developing self-discipline takes time, and   you have to be aware of your current behavior to catch it, and change it.

Acceptance means that you perceive reality accurately and consciously acknowledge what you perceive. Without acceptance you get either ignorance or denial. With ignorance you simply don’t know how disciplined you are — you’ve probably never even thought about it. You don’t know that you don’t know. You’ll only have a fuzzy notion of what you can and can’t do. You’ll experience some easy successes and some dismal failures, but you’re more likely to blame the task or blame yourself instead of simply acknowledging that the “weight” was too heavy for you and that you need to become stronger. When you’re in a state of denial about your level of discipline, you’re locked into a false view of reality. You’re either overly pessimistic or optimistic about your capabilities.

Commitment to Self-Discipline

It is not enough to write down your goals and values, you must make a commitment to them. You may feel you have no self-discipline now, but you do, even if a little, and you use that to make your self-discipline skills stronger, and each time you commit to working on increasing your self-discipline, your skills get stronger and stronger. It takes willpower, hard work, and industry. Industry is working hard. In contrast to hard work, being industrious doesn’t necessarily mean doing work that’s challenging or difficult. It simply means putting in the time. You can be industrious doing easy work or hard work.

Disciplining yourself to be industrious allows you to squeeze more value out of your time. Time is a constant, but your personal productivity is not. Some people will use the hours of their day far more efficiently than others. … Give an industrious programmer a 10-year old computer, and s/he’ll get much more done with it over the course of a year than a lazy programmer with state of the art technology.

Selected portions from 12 Universal Skills You Need to Succeed at Anything.

Click here to view all cars on Flickr

Just about every car entered in this year’s race.
Racers: Good luck tomorrow and be safe!

Big Bend Open Road Race – Fort Stockton, Sanderson. Pecos County, Texas

Before we look at the tips, I want to remind you that deliberate deception, lying, can never be fully recovered from. If you have found yourself in a difficult work situation because you’ve lost the trust of your peers, your management, or your customers, there are no tips that will help you. You have to work harder than anyone else to begin regaining trust, and be prepared to never be fully trusted again. Best advice? Never, EVER intentionally deceive.

1. Stand for your results.

Whatever your work and its associated actions, work as if you must publicly stand for your results. Trust can’t be restored without personal accountability grounded in consistent and trustworthy actions. That includes acknowledging that trust was broken.

2. Step and take responsibility for your actions.

We all make mistakes. We all hurt people unintentionally. We all impact relationships from time to time by our actions at work. But the difference in creating openness for trust to be restored is the difference between seeing yourself as a passenger along for the ride or as the responsible driver culpable for your missteps. Own what’s yours.

3. Pay attention to your actions and intentions.

Are you operating from good intentions or manipulative self-interests? Are you honoring your commitments and fulfilling your promises? Would you trust you? The power of behavioral integrity, the alignment of actions and words, can’t be overstated. How will people perceive your actions from this point on? Don’t give anyone any reason to doubt your trustworthiness, or your intentions.

4. Give Trust.

Trust is an action. Someone must re-start the trust. Be that someone. You don’t get trust unless you give trust.

5. Give it time.

Diminished trust or broken trust – it takes time to regain what was. If the relationship matters, then trust building matters. Be patient.

Do you have a story about rebuilding trust? Share it in the comments!

via Psychology Today.

If the work you’re doing today looks just like what you were doing five years ago, you could be stagnating. It’s okay if you’re still working with a lot of the same technology, but the challenges should have moved.

Do you feel challenged?

If you can go through a day without having to ponder how to solve a problem, you’re ready to move on to something else. You’re wasting your talents, and that will lead directly to obsolescence.

Are you being inventive?

New and challenging problems should require that you invent new methods to deal with them. If you only rely on the innovation of others, you’re stagnating.

Do your solutions make you happy?

An inventive approach to a challenging problem brings you joy . The satisfaction gained from that functional creativity inevitably generates even more ideas, along with the desire to keep moving forward.

via TechRepublic.

1. Overselling your abilities

It’s better to be honest.

2. Overselling your availability

It’s dangerous to delude yourself into thinking you have time to do EVERYTHING, then NOTHING gets done.

3. Overselling a technology

When trying to solve problems, we often lean towards our current passion. Keep the best outcome as your goal, rather than proving the superiority of your new shiny toy.

• Meet only to support a decision that has already been made; do not use the meetings to make decisions
• The meeting should always produce a committed action plan
• A meeting should never be held for informational purposes
• Have an agenda, and distribute it in advance with relevant information
• Always start the meeting on time, regardless of people who are late
• Do not review the contents of the meeting with the people who are late for the part they missed
• Reduce the length of meetings to one hour maximum, and preferably less—try 30 minutes, even try 15 or 10 minutes
• End the meeting on the agreed-upon time, even if the agenda is not finished
• Invite fewer people to the meeting—productivity goes down with increasing numbers of participants
• Allow the right for employees to decline their attendance, without having to justify themselves and without penalties
• Reward those people who show up on time and even early with some kind of small gift or reward
• Don’t let people who are late to the meeting by more than 15 minutes join
• Don’t allow individuals to hijack or dominate meetings by frequent and endless conversation. It’s the responsibility of the meeting leader to control this
• End meetings early. People will be more positive about participating as a result
• No laptops or phones are allowed to be active in meetings. Allowing people to be interrupted or diverting their attention lowers the value of the meeting
• Don’t tolerate meeting participants working on other things during the meeting. Ask them to leave
• The meeting leader should enforce only one person speaking at a time, and to the point
• Ask each meeting participant to prepare for the meeting in advance in response to a meeting question that will be dealt with in the future, not a rehash of the past (not just an agenda item)
• At the beginning of the meeting, ensure that the desired outcome(s) are stated clearly
• Limit the action items of your meeting to no more than three
• Interrupt people who either repeat what they have said, or repeat what someone else has already covered. These are time wasters
• Whoever calls the meeting should “own” the meeting; don’t allow someone in the group to try to take it over
• Table any discussion that is not relevant to the agenda

via Why Meetings Kill Productivity | Psychology Today

Kindness Do you know a happy mean person?

Gratitude Count your blessings not complain about your burdens.

Optimism Do you believe things will work out, that bad things are temporary? Or are you the victim with nothing in your control?

Love Both giving and receiving it.

Passion For work, a hobby, your family, a club, something.

Growth and improvement Stagnation will not lead to more happiness.

Patience With patience, your happiness increases tenfold!

Faith In yourself, in humanity, in a code of decency, in something higher than yourself, in God.

Overcome obstacles and challenges in life

Accept and coping with challenges

Develop a positive attitude  See the good in others, yourself and in circumstances.

Overcoming character flaws Selfishness, greed, hate, hyper-judgmentalism, etc.

via No Free Handouts – You Have to Work for your Happiness