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November 2009 
The Worst Time Management Mistake
Kerul
It’s October and pumpkins are popping up on porches and entryways all over the USA and elsewhere.
How do you handle the pumpkin thing? Do you carve or paint your own? Buy one already decorated, or use a decorative faux pumpkin or gourd? Does your pumpkin go au naturale? Do you hate pumpkins and seasonal decorating? Maybe you’re overwhelmed and just don’t want to deal with the pumpkin thing, or you’d love to get to it but you’re just too jammed.
The pumpkin thing is a microcosm of our values and priorities and how well they are aligned with each other. Sometimes we act on priorities that don’t actually fulfill our values, or vice versa or pursue goals just for accomplishment’s sake than for engaging our real potential, both in work and play.
Sometimes one set of closely held values is in conflict with other closely held values, creating inner conflict, and resulting in struggle, dissatisfaction, and poor results - like having one foot on the gas pedal on the other on the brake. You’re expending an awful lot of energy but going nowhere. And burning yourself out in the process.
It doesn’t take that much time, effort, or thought to realign your values and priorities with your actions. You might make it part of your regular planning process - and speaking of planning and actions, you don’t need to spend all your time on that either - see the tip below, the final tip in the Time Management Pitfalls series. I call it “the worst” because falling into this trap means you’re unable to enjoy the fruits of your labor, like Sisyphus endlessly rolling his rock up the hill only to have it fall back down when he’s inches from the top.
In case you're interested, btw, I'm not much of a pumpkin decorator - I have decorative faux pumpkins :-)
On another note, if your networking efforts aren't going well, I'd suggest a new tack: Blitz Time. I'm having some success with it. It's inexpensive and saves time, too.
Wishing you all optimal procrastivity, as always, and a fabulous October,
Kerul Kassel, Author of Productive Procrastination - Make It Work For You, Not Against You and the award-winning Stop Procrastinating Now - Five Radical Procrastination Strategies To Set You Free, both available at www.Procrastivity.com
7 TIME MANAGEMENT PITFALLS THAT ARE COSTING YOU MONEY, RESULTS, AND THE MOST PRECIOUS COMMODITY ANYWHERE - TIME
What NOT To Do To Get Dramatically Better Results
Tip #7: DO NOT spend most of your time focusing and planning ahead and pursuing goals
What? This really doesn’t seem to make sense, right?
The truth is, it doesn’t take much time to plan, as well as tweak and adjust as appropriate, nor does it take a lot of dedicated time to achieve most goals. While success is almost always the result of consistent and regular actions toward the most important objectives, those actions don’t need to take up 12 or 10 or even 8 hours each day. It’s the more trivial and urgent-but-not-important stuff that takes up so much time.
If you’re not spending 1-3 hours each day taking time for fun and enjoyment, and acknowledging and celebrating your progress, you’re making a time management mistake of huge proportions.
After all, if we set aside our enjoyments, what’s left. Sure, you may love your work, but life is not only about work. When your time is up, will you regret not having had more time for work or not having set aside more time for enjoyment and celebrations of your blessings?
Ignoring or putting off time spent in enjoyment, fun and gratitude wears you down. It has a detrimental effect on your health.
When you spend time in fun and when you recognize and honor your achievements – tiny, huge, and everything in between – you’re creating a physical, mental, and emotional environment of inspiration and rejuvenation. That “re-creation” will not only strongly boost your productivity levels when you apply yourself to work, but immediately adds satisfaction and fulfillment to your life every day. You don’t have to wait for the weekend, and you don’t have to wait for retirement. You can start having what you really want today.
It isn’t necessary to set aside large blocks of time to do this. Taking a ten or twenty minute walk (outdoors, if possible) and observing all that’s around you, playing with a pet for a few minutes, looking out the window and watching the clouds pass by a few times each day, having lunch with a friend, spending some cuddle time with your sweetie, making a list (on paper, electronically, or mentally) of the day’s little victories or of the many small blessings you’ve experienced that day, and putting on the radio or stereo or iPod and singing or dancing are all minute but considerable ways to start experimenting with this essential practice.
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES
“He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing.” ~ Cicero
“People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness.” ~ John Wanamaker
"The bow cannot always stand bent, nor can human frailty subsist without some lawful recreation." ~ Miguel De Cervantes
How much are you risking?
With 14.5 million Americans currently unemployed, self-employment is becoming increasingly popular. Business ownership holds many challenges, issues and opportunities. Every business venture has elements of risk.
Michael Ferreira is an advocate for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, new business start-ups and the professionals and organizations that serve them to identify, assess and address business-risk exposures. Michael is committed to developing a customized risk management program that supports your business plan on the road to success. Michael can be reached at Michael.ferreira@mfrisksolutions.com
Tel: 917 767 9123.
Are You Tired Of Failing To Take Action On Your Important Goals, and Then Beating Yourself Up For It?
There IS another way! The Procrastination Solutions Kit is a comprehensive package that includes an e-book, a recording, worksheets, and more.
How much time have you lost as a result of procrastination? Never mind all your life... how about this week? Did the guilt of putting something off until the last minute stop you from doing something you really wanted to do? Spend more time with your family? Go out and have some fun? Procrastination can be debilitating and it's murder on your self esteem.
And what is that worth to you?
Clients regularly pay me hundreds of dollars a month to have access to my techniques for being productive and procrastination-free. But this entire package is available for just $49 US. I could tell you it's "less than dinner and a movie for you and a companion " .
But never mind about that. Let's compare it to something much closer to your heart... how about all the time you've wasted feeling like a procrastinator, all the opportunities you feel you've lost by putting things off.
How much is your time worth? I'll tell you this - it's worth a lot more than $39. www.StopProcrastinatingNow.com
ABOUT KERUL
Kerul Kassel is an author and expert in procrastination and productivity - "PROCRASTIVITY". As the founder of New Leaf Systems - a consulting firm dedicated to creating higher performance outcomes - she has been quoted in the New York Times, TIME Magazine, Business Week, Investors Daily, Real Simple, and Self. Her clients have included NASA, Sony, Hilton, and Volvo.
Kerul's professional experience includes 4 certifications in the field of coaching, investment and real estate management, as well as over 25 years of leadership in for-profit and non-profit organizations. She is the author of the award-winning book "Stop Procrastinating Now" and "Productive Procrastination." For more information, Kerul can be reached at Kerul@newleafsystems.com.
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