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Volume 5, Number 1 February 13, 2005
Publisher: GoalMinds, Inc.
E-mail: condrill@goalminds.com http://www.goalminds.com
Copyright 2005 Jo Condrill All rights reserved
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Happy Valentine's Day!

You are receiving this newsletter either because you signed up for it or someone has forwarded it to you. Welcome to all of our new subscribers! We are delighted that you have joined us.
If you do not wish to receive future copies, please unsubscribe below.
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"When you are deeply absorbed in what you are doing, time gives itself to you like a warm and willing lover."
--Brendan Francis
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"Thanks for the wonderful News letter."
Terry Wang, Founder, New World Bilingual Institute

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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Helpful Hints for Endearing Messages
2. Take Time to Think
3. Winning the Fight between You and the Clock by Jeffrey Mayer
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"Life is what happens to us while we are busy making other plans," said John Lennon. Life took a new twist for me in mid-January when I moved back to Texas after more than 20 years. My 90-year old mother is believed to be entering the journey into Alzheimer's disease and I want to be near her. This move has taken a bit more time and energy, emotional and otherwise, than I
anticipated. Thus, the delay of this newsletter. Please note our new addredss and phone number at the end of this newsletter. I hope your year is off to a great start!

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1. Helpful Hints for Endearing Messages
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It's Valentine's Day! How many ways can you say "I love you"?

Make time to listen!
The gift of time is precious and limited. It is important to decide to really listen and really understand. Concentrate on the speaker's verbal and nonverbal communication. Look at the person
who is speaking to you, and give your undivided attention. Guard against unnecessary distractions.

Smile!
The fastest way to establish effective communications is a smile signaling your pleasure. Practice your smile in front of a mirror. There's the grin with the lips together, the broad smile with the teeth showing, and the smile with the teeth parted,
possibly leading to a soft laugh. Laughter releases powerful stress-relieving substances (endorphins) into our bodies. It is good medicine!

With Feeling!
Speak with passion and conviction. Allow your feelings to flow naturally. Your delivery, body language, and voice will respond appropriately. Avoid faking it or you risk losing your credibility. Be aware of the tone of voice you use; it gives evidence of your feelings. Sometimes our tone does not match our words and we send mixed messages. To show respect or affection,
soften your tone.

Get personal!
People think in pictures, not words. Using personal examples will help people relate quickly to your message without spending too much time mentally translating your message into a picture. Use
stories to illustrate the point or your message.

Be thankful!
Write personal notes and send them "snail mail." Most people are accustomed to receiving email messages. Unexpected hand-written notes to friends, acquaintances, and family members uplift their
spirits as well as yours. A "thank you" note to acknowledge those Valentine gifts or flowers should be sent within a week.

Make every day Valentine's Day!

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2. Take Time to Think
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You are creating the person you will become by the way you envision that person, the goals you set, and the actions you take. By exercising your free will and consciously making choices, you become co-creator with the Maker of all things.

Do you want to go to graduate school or take fun courses? Do you get involved in social work or climb the social ladder? These are not right or wrong or even mutually exclusive decisions, but they do lead in different directions. If we are creating the persons
we will become, shouldn't we think about what we are doing, why we are doing it, and where it is leading us? We need to raise our level of awareness.

Do a Lifeline Exercise
A lifeline exercise which is frequently used in career planning and management might be useful to "see" graphically how your life looks, to gain insight into your world view, to chart relationship patterns, and to consider your future.

The usual lifeline extends from birth to death. However, in many cultures, more subtle perhaps in the western world, career is discussed, predicted and planned by family and community well before the birth of the child. Acknowledging this reality and
addressing it will help us separate a personal vision from that of our family or community. This is not always an easy or comfortable task. We see this influence in some military families with several generations of military leaders. The first-born,
particularly, senses some expectation that he or she will follow the family tradition

Extending the lifeline to some years past our death challenges us to consider our "legacy." What do we hope to leave, what contribution do we wish to make, what are we REALLY working toward?

Expand the scope of this exercise and consider life in general. Events considered "positive" are usually noted above the line and those considered difficult or "negative" below the line. Then consider the future by predicting significant events that will take place between now and some years (perhaps ten) after your death. Such events might involve aging parents,
graduation, promotion, birth, death of a loved one, and so on.


"The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts life." --William James

birth now death
___|________________|____________________|___5years after death
birth now future death
Donna J. Holley, M.Ed.MSW, 1999, Lifeline Extensions.

Ask yourself: To what extent are my choices today influenced by past events? What direction is my life taking? What influences my choices?

Review Your Life Story
Using the lifeline will make it easier to look at your recent past. What have you accomplished? Look for experiences that might reveal successes in the types of things you will be attempting in the future. Make a list. This will indicate some of your strengths.

What do you need to improve upon with more education or
experience? Perhaps you should take an aptitude test or a preference test, which would indicate a natural leaning toward some activity. It is easier to achieve in areas where you have a head start with natural ability.

Examine your current situation. What will you accomplish this year if you keep doing what you are now doing? Look for trends. How will that help you realize your dream? What if you do nothing differently, that is, you do not have the time, energy, or money
to do anything else? What if you decided now to take charge of your life by taking responsibility for how it turns out?

"Some people die at twenty-five and are not
buried until they are seventy-five."
--Benjamin Franklin

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3. Winning The Fight Between You And The Clock
--by Jeffrey Mayer
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"Slaves to the clock" was the cover story in the March issue of CEO magazine.

"You can never out work a problem, you have to out think it." said A.G. Lafley, Proctor & Gamble's CEO.

Too much to do. Too little time. It's a universal problem. From the CEO to the newest hire.

We're bombarded with information. E-mail, faxes, voice mail, overnight deliveries and old-fashioned snail mail. Unexpected phone calls, impromptu meetings, and emergencies that force us to drop everything.

So many projects, tasks, problems, opportunities, and people are fighting for our time and attention that it's almost impossible to separate the important from the urgent from the unnecessary.

With so much clutter it's easy to lose track of long- and short-term goals. And... the proposal that's got to be finished by 3:00 p.m. this afternoon.

It's easy to spend eight, ten, or twelve hours each day doing things that don't have any real payoff.

And we wonder why we feel like we're stuck in quicksand. The more we struggle the deeper we sink.

"P&G's Lafley says, "I'm here by 7:00 a.m. so that gives me a stretch of uninterrupted thought before the workday officially swings into action and the phones start ringing." "Time is the one thing that limits us. The common lamentation is 'If only I had more time.' That's the wrong premise.

The problem is we're using our valuable and precious time, in unproductive and non-rewarding ways.

Busy... yes. Productive... NO!!!

Think differently. Don't manage your time.

Do come in early so you can get some work done before everybody else arrives? Before the phone starts ringing? Before your meetings start?

Before the day - and your schedule - falls apart because of the many fires you must put out?

Fires! Fires! Fires!

Someone didn't do what they were supposed to do, when they were supposed to do it. Now it lands on your desk.

You're forced to drop everything and put out the fire. Your whole day goes up in smoke and you don't realize that somebody's guilty of arson.

To be successful in today's highly-competitive world you must be focused. You must have long and short-term goals.

When you know where you want to go, it's easy to determine whether or not the work, tasks, and projects you're working on will take you there.

Here are three strategies you can use to leverage your time:

1. Block out time for yourself. Close the door. Turn off the phone. And give yourself an hour of uninterrupted time each day.

2. Work on your most important work, tasks and projects. Only do the things that have value. Eliminate everything else.

3. Use your Prime Time. There's a time of day when you do your best work. When you've the most energy and enthusiasm. Tackle your most important work at the time of day you're at your best.

Set your goals. Leverage your time. And you'll become more successful than you ever dreamed.

(c) 2004, Jeffrey J. Mayer

About The Author
Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey Mayer's
SucceedingInBusiness.com Newsletter. Jeff helps individuals, business owners, corporate executives and sales professionals set their priorities, get focused, and achieve their goals; so they can grow their business, get ahead in life, and live their
dreams. To subscribe to Jeff's free newsletter,
Jeff@SucceedingInBusiness.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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