Thursday, May 27, 2010

TIME MANAGEMENT

One day an expert In time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget.

As he stood in front of the group of high powered overachievers he said, “Okay, time for a quiz”. Then he pulled out a one-gallon wide mouth jar and set it on the table in front of him. He then produced about a dozen fist sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full”? Every one in the class said, “Yes”. The expert said “really”

He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks. He asked the group once more, “is the jar full?” By this time the class was on him. “probably not”. One of them answered.

“Good” he replied. HE reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the Jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks & and the gravel. Once more he asked the Question, “Is this jar full?’. “No!” the class shouted. Once again he said “good”.

Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked “What is the point of this illustration”? One eager beaver raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it”.

“No”, the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”

What are the “Big Rocks” in your life?. Your children…. Your Loved ones….. Education….. Your dreams….. A worthy cause… Teaching or mentoring others….. Doing things that you love…. Time for your self….. Your health ……. Your significant other….
Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you’all never get them in at all. If you sweat the little stuff (the gravel, the sand) then you’all fill your life with little things you worry about that don’t really matter, and you’all never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big important stuff (the big rocks)

Ask your self this question : ‘What are the ‘big rocks’ in my life? Then, put those in your jar first.



Sunday, May 16, 2010

Consider the Consequences

By: Brian Tracy

Long Time Perspective


Here is an important point to remember: All intelligent people are afraid of something. It is normal and natural to be concerned about your physical, emotional and financial well-being. The courageous person is not a person who is unafraid. As Mark Twain once said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear; not absence of fear.”

Think About Your Future

Successful people have a clear future orientation. They think five, ten and twenty years out into the future. They analyze their choices and behaviors in the present to make sure that they are consistent with the long-term future that they desire.

In your work, having a clear idea of what is really important to you in the long-term makes it much easier for you to make better decisions about your priorities in the short-term.

Determine The Consequences


By definition, something that is important has long-term potential consequences. Something that is unimportant has few or no long-term potential consequences. Before starting on anything, you should always ask yourself, "What are the potential consequences of doing or not doing this task?"

The clearer you are about your future intentions, the greater influence that clarity will have on what you do in the moment. With a clear long-term vision, you are much more capable of evaluating an activity in the present and to assure that it is consistent with where you truly want to end up.

Make It A Top Priority


If there is a task or activity with large potential positive consequences, make it a top priority and get started on it immediately. If there is something that can have large potential negative consequences if it is not done quickly and well, that becomes a top priority as well. Whatever your frog is, resolve to gulp it down first thing.

Keep Motivated

Motivation requires motive. The greater the positive potential impact that an action or behavior of yours can have on your life, once you define it clearly, the more motivated you will be to overcome procrastination and get it done quickly.

Action Exercises

The mark of the superior thinker is his or her ability to accurately predict the consequences of doing or not doing something. The potential consequences of any task or activity are the key determinants of how important it really is to you and to your company. This way of evaluating the significance of a task is how you determine what your next frog really is.