We are getting ever closer to Christmas and I hope you are all better prepared than I am. I have, as many of you know. been kept busy over the last few months, writing my book . This hard work is now beginning to pay off and I hope that you will be able to purchase your own copy by Easter 2009.
This month I wanted to talk to you about managing your time as so many of you tell me that this is an area of life and business with which you struggle. Many of you seem to think I am superhuman - running a business, caring for the children, updating my blog, writing a book and my involvement in many networks and projects for women in the UK.
The reality is I’m not superwoman but I do have to be super-organised to keep on top of everything. I hope my hints and tips below help. Enjoy my newsletter and don’t forget to forward it on to other women who would like to run a successful business.
Seasons greetings all, Rebecca
Top tip of the month from Rebecca
Did you know that the average person will spend one year, during their working life, searching through desk clutter looking for misplaced objects. Having a tidy desk can really help you have a tidy mind.
Research has shown that having an untidy desk reduces efficiency and impairs performance in 3 key ways:
wasted time searching for an essential item, can, in time, lead to anxiety, poor concentration etc., and can affect confidence as you feel unable to manage.
being confronted with piles of uncompleted work makes it far harder to stay focused and causes a loss of motivation.
A cluttered desk acts as a significant barrier to the important psychological process of closure; i.e. finishing off one job before starting another.
So this month’s top tip is to spend a little time now clearing and organising your desk to help you go off on your festive break feeling in control. Later, on your return after too much food and festive fun, you will feel ready to take on anything!
‘Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity’
– Jean De La Bruyer
Main Article from Rebecca
Keeping with the ‘time management’ theme, I decided this month to give you some ideas to help you be more organised in the New Year. We can all be busy in our lives and at work, but busy doing what? We all regularly need to consider if what we are doing really is the best use of our time and helps us in what we are trying to achieve?
In order to organise yourself you must first know what you wish to achieve. These can be personal and business based aims and at times these will interlock.
Start considering today your aims for 2009.
Once these aims are clear in your mind you will use them when you consider your day to day activities. Use them to decide if an activity is beneficial to your overall aim and therefore important; or not beneficial and therefore unimportant.
The next big step is to decide if it is feasible to disregard tasks and activities that are unimportant to your aims. Can they be delegated to someone else to complete, or given less priority?
Next write and use a TO DO LIST. I know lots of you write them because you tell me so. But few of you really use the list to help prioritise tasks in line with your planned aims. I also know that even less of you actually refer back to your list, to keep focused on the tasks you have prioritised.
Write and refer to your daily and weekly TO DO LIST.
Next make sure you don’t get caught up in dealing with the here and now rather than the important things for the future of your business. It’s easy to spend hours on window displays or making your web site funky. But how do these help you achieve those main aims you have?
‘Things which matter most, must never be at the mercy of things which matter least’
All too often we carry out activities not because we need to but because we always have. Start to review some of the activities you carry out and question why you do them and if they can be done more efficiently.
There was once a little girl who watched her mum preparing the Christmas Ham. She asked her mum why she took a slice off each end of the ham before boiling it, “my mum always did it” said her mum. After asking Grandma the same question the little girl received the same reply “my mum always did it”. On Christmas Eve the little girl visited her great-grandma and asked her the same question. Great-Grandma was confused by the question and said: “I don’t know that I did. Oh yes, I remember” she said, “ one year when your grandma was about 10, I bought a ham which was too big for my pot and she helped me cut off both ends so it would fit better.”
Why are you doing things? Do you need to review them?
‘The supply of time is totally un-elastic. Time is totally perishable and cannot be stored. Time is totally irreplaceable …. There is no substitute for time’ - Peter Drucker
Rebecca Recommends
I’ve decided this month, instead of recommending another business or product, I would recommend that you take some time for yourself over the Christmas season and rejuvenate yourself, ready for what I hope will be a successful 2009 for you and your business.
Can you give me some basic time management techniques that I can implement now? Rachel, business owner
Hi Rachel, Why don’t you try keeping a ‘to do’ list as I suggested above, or make more use of the bin. Stop keeping things which you think you may need one day; being and feeling less cluttered can help your mind feel more free and able to tackle the day-to-day running of your business.
You could also consider why you put things off until tomorrow. Sometimes just getting on with something can help you feel more in control and utilise your time better. We spend so much time worrying about doing something and when we actually do it we realise how simple and quick it was, emphasising that we should have just got on with it.
Speaking to someone about your procrastinating (putting things off): another business woman, a friend or a coach may work well for you.
Hope that helps Rebecca
Rebecca's last thoughts
January is a time of new starts and New Year resolutions.
If you have been thinking of starting a business but haven’t yet taken the plunge, 2009 could be the year for you. I have a new programme starting in 2009 which will see me work with women who are starting up their first business. The programme, called “I’m Building my own Successful Business Now”, will be carried out by e-mail and telephone support. To learn more click here.
The programme will cost £325 but I want to offer you, my Newsletter readers, a discount; so if you sign up before January the 5th you will be able to access it for just £150. That’s a nice start to the New Year! What’s more when you register for the programme I will send you a copy of my Report: “Secrets to Setting Up Your Own Business Now”.
If you want to use this or other articles by Rebecca in your Newsletter or web site you can; but
please also include the following statement with any of my material:-
Taken from 'The Have it all Business Woman' Newsletter by Rebecca Jones. Published monthly, the newsletter for women in, or starting in, business.
For more information visit www.rebecca-jones.co.uk
You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up on my web site, or a mutual contact has forwarded it to you.
To change your subscription, or to register for your own copy, please see the subscribe and unsubscribe details at the base of this newsletter.
Want to know how I can help you start your own business
click here to learn about my new programme
“I’m Building my own Successful Business Now”
As a Newsletter subscriber, you can get over 50% off this programme by ordering before 5th January 2009
Fact of the month
Only 14 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) in the UK are led by women, or by a management team mainly composed of females.
Rebecca opened her first business at 19 and has since been a successful entrepreneur, wife and mum. Her years of experience as a woman in business and also working as a business consultant, has enabled Rebecca to develop her own coaching and business consultancy. Aimed at women starting or already running a business, who need a bit of help and support to see them flourish.
Rebecca personally coaches clients at various stages of business: start up, growth and development. She also runs workshops for women in business and women in leadership roles.
