[Time-Management] 100 Days Improvement Plan!

 

2nd July 2011

100 Days Improvement Plan!

Day 8

Yesterday we talked about the Right Side of the brain and I suggested an exercise. Free writing is another powerful exercise to activate your Right Side of the brain. Free writing means taking a paper and pen and just writing anything that comes to your mind spontaneously. The Right Side of the brain is spontaneous and does not think logically. Hence when you write whatever that comes to your mind, you are activating the Right Side of your brain.

Today buy a notebook. Ensure that you are not interrupted for the next fifteen minutes, open the first page, take a pen and just write whatever that comes to your mind. In the beginning, perhaps you may not write much. But continue to write. Over a period of time words will flow. Don't look for any meaning or logic while doing this. Just write. Date the page. Do it every day. After six months browse through the pages and you will notice something different!

What are you waiting for? Start today!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimeofundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Days Improvement Plan!

 

1st July 2011

100 Days Improvement Plan!

Day 7

People go gyms to work out to keep their body fit. The body becomes supple and flexible. They are able to be alert throughout the day. Have you heard of `brain gym'? Human brain has two halves, the Right Side and the Left Side. The Right Side brain is visual, emotional, holistic and dreaming. The Left Side is logical, sequential, sequential and realistic. You have to have the benefit of both sides of the brain so that your emotional dreams are implemented by logical and sequential steps. For this you have to integrate Right and the Left sides of the brain. The left side of the body is controlled by right side of the brain and vice versa. So, by moving the left side of the body you are activating the right side of the brain.

Practice writing with your left hand (or the right hand if you are a left hander), for fifteen minutes a day. This is a simple but powerful brain gym exercise. You may not notice immediate difference, but will improve your total personality over a period of time.

Try from today!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Days Improvement Plan!

 

30th June 2011

100 Days Improvement Plan!

Day 6

All of us get ideas. Successful people notice an idea, focus their attention, think about it and arrive at a strategy to give shape to the same. Most of us allow an idea to squelch like a water bubble. J K Rowling got the idea to write a book when she was travelling in a train from London to Manchester. Look what she has done with Harry Potter series of books!

From today carry a small pocket book. You can name it anything such as `My Idea Book', `My Future Book' etc. Whenever you get an idea, just note it down. It is like rainwater harvesting. Once in every week browse through the idea book. Categorise them into three categories crazy ideas, probable ideas and possible ideas. Crazy ideas are those which cannot be put into action. Probable ideas are those which have some potential for implementation. Possible ideas offer more scope to work on. Every month you can have what is called `idea of the month' and work out a detailed plan of action. You may end up with `idea of the year'!

Start with today!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Days Improvement Plan!

 

29th June 2011

100 Days Improvement Plan!

Day 5

One very simple but powerful idea which should be practiced on a daily basis is called the `fixed time appointment'. We are familiar with the time table habit when we were in school. The school authorities ensured that we followed a specific schedule everyday which helped to read many subjects systematically. But many of us do not follow this simple but powerful tool after our school days. Successful people still have a weekly and daily schedule and follow fixed time appointments.

Choose not more than three activities that you want to do every day and fix a time for the same. For example morning coffee at 6 am; reading newspaper at 7 am; lunch at 1 pm; evening dinner at 8 pm. Try practicing the time discipline for these activities for the next 21 days. If you find it difficult, may be you reduce the number to not more than two or three. Over a period of time, you will be able to bring many activities in to this time discipline. By this simple method your mind will get disciplined.

Start this from today!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Days Improvement Plan!

 

28th June 2011

100 Days Improvement Plan!

Day 4

Anything which is invisible cannot be noticed. What cannot be noticed cannot be tracked and measured. Time is an invisible resource. You will not notice it passing. Time will slip through your fingers like fine sand! You will start the day with a full supply of this resource, but end up with the universal excuse `no time'!

You have to set a time frame for every activity and stick to it. Time frame means fixing a start time and end time. For example: reading newspaper from 6.30 am to 7.00 am; telephone colleague from .... to ...am. By doing this you will fall into a time discipline. It's not about becoming a `time nut', but about becoming disciplined.

Today procure a timer. It could even be your mobile phone if it has that facility. If not, buy one from a sports shop. Next time when you have to start an event such as a meeting, fix the start time and end time and stick it. You can have a buffer, but stick it. Follow this for a week and notice what happens to your time consciousness!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Days Improvement Plan!

 

27th June 2011

100 Days Improvement Plan!

Day 3

I'm sure you have started logging your activities in a day. The contents of the logging for a week will give you a lot of information. But we have to analyse the data from the voluminous information. For example you should audit the quality of your day by asking such questions as: what activities I need not have done which would have saved a lot of time?

By this you will get what is called a `not to do list'. We know what is a `to do list'. A not to do list is a list of those activities which you did which ate into your time without adding any quality into your day. This is something like the role of an editor of a magazine of a movie. He cuts and removes such portion which is not required.

Tonight before going to bed you should list at least five activities which you should not have done today. Remove these from your tomorrow's to do list!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Days Improvement Plan!

 

24th June 2011

100 Days Improvement Plan!

Do you complain `I have no time'? If so, you are lying! Isn't true that all of us have same supply of time, irrespective of our social difference? So, it is not true that you did not have time. May be you do not know where your time is going. Any resource should be budged and accounted carefully. Time is the most valuable of all the resources. You should know where and how you spend your time.

Do this exercise for the next ten days. Log all your activities in a time logging sheet. Record all you do during every 30 minutes from the time you get up till you sleep. Do this very sincerely and honestly. You don't have to show this to anyone.

At the end of ten days, study the entries and critically evaluate if you spend your time intelligently. Find out those activities which you need not have done, which you could have postponed, which you could have delegated, those on which you could have spend less time etc. You will hit a treasure chest!

Do this logging from today!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Days Improvement Plan!

 

23rd June 2011

100 Days Improvement Plan

Day 1

In a long journey every step is very important. So also in our life every day is very important. For each day we should have a specific outcome in mind. The best way to do this is to have a to-do list. We should have not more than three to five carefully selected items listed for the day. Too many things in the to-do list will frighten us; too little things will make the day not tight enough. You can have specific categories of things to do. For example: to do things; to telephone people; to send e mails; to sms people etc.

It's not merely having a to-do list. What is even more important is doing what is planned for the day. At the end of the day, we should not go to sleep unless we have done all that we have listed for the day. Do it for 21 days continuously and this practice will become a habit. That is why I recommend that you have not more than three to five simple easy to do things to start with.

Do this to day!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Improvement Plan!

 

22nd June 2011

Hundred Improvement Plan!

Dear readers,

Over the past few months I was writing on `Arise, awake and take charge'. I have been receiving very positive feedback on these newsletters. Many readers have been requesting me to give simple ideas to make continuous improvement in their lives.

In response to such requests, I will be sending you short newsletters which will contain important and simple ideas to enhance the productivity of your time. I will call this as `Hundred Improvement Plan'! For the next hundred days you will get one simple time management tip every day.

I am sure you will like them. Your 100 Improvement Plan will start from tomorrow!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

21st June 2011

Our external behaviour is not merely external!

`Attitude is a little thing which makes big difference'

Winston Churchill

Next time when you watch a Wimbledon player playing, notice how he plays. Watch how an ace cricketer executes a shot. Similarly watch your favourite artist performing. They are paid a very high salary. Every unit of their time has a commercial value.

We are paid to produce a specific outcome and that is possible only if we act in a particular way. We have to do some specific actions to produce results. It is the result that has the commercial value and not merely the actions. For example a tennis player has to win the trophy and the cricketer should score a run. The stage artist should impress the audience.

For doing this we need two important traits in us – attitude and passion. If we do not have these two things, we will not build up the skill and tact to perform what we are entrusted to perform. Last evening I was stunned by a very famous comedian explaining how he practiced to mimic a hundred popular actors during his college days. A few days ago I read an interview of Sachin Tendulkar where he has said that he would get up in the midnight and drink lot of water so that he is very fit during the day. These people also work very hard. They practice tirelessly. If you see the typical daily schedule of world class personalities, you will know how disciplined they are. They have absolute control on their five senses.

It is this factor which decides their external behaviours. We can also copy their external behaviour for a few days. But to sustain the same we need passion and attitude. These people are not valued for what they do, but for what makes them to do what they do – their passion and attitude.

Our external behaviour is not merely external!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

20th June 2011

`Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back'.

Harvey MacKay

This morning I was plucking flowers from my garden and I noticed that around the trees and the plants there were flowers which had withered away. They should have been fresh and beautiful yesterday and maybe I did not pluck them. Actually I was running short of flowers yesterday, and had I plucked them up yesterday, I would have had surplus flowers.

This reminded me about our attitude to our time. Time is also like those flowers, fresh and plenty in the morning. If we don't use them at the right time in the right way, it will become useless. Like flowers, time is there for us to use it or lose it. If we don't use the flowers, it is not the fault of the flowers. So is the case with time also. If we don't use time when it is available, we cannot blame the time for our failure.

A tree does not stop giving the flowers the next day even if we did not use the same the previous day. So also is the case with time. Even if we waste our time, the next day we still get the full quota of time.

In the case of flowers, if we do not use them when it is available, we cannot have more of the same the next day. Nature will give us the same amount of flowers depending upon the fertility of the soil and the capacity of the tree. This principle is applicable with reference to time also. Just because we did not use the available time today, we cannot have more amount of time tomorrow. Every day comes with only 24 hours, no less no more. After wasting all our time today, we cannot carry forward today's time to tomorrow!

When I pondered over the above facts, I became more careful not only with the flowers in my garden, but also with my time!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

17th June 2011

"The time is always right to do what is right."

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

It's wiser to invest time in doing instead of in undoing...

Time is a precious resource and we should be intelligent in investing it prudently. The most precious resource, time, should produce high value result. Since time is also a scarce resource, we should ensure that it is not wasted. We should ensure all the available time is used as productive time.

One way to ensure this is use time to produce results and not for undoing what has been done wrongly. I'm sure you would have gone to tailors to alter your dress and noticed that they are reluctant to do repair works but most willing to stitch a new dress. Similarly architects are happy to build a new house and reluctant to alter an existing house.

This principle applies in managing our life also.

We should invest time in building healthy rapport and relationship instead of repairing damaged relationship. If we are careful and intelligent, we can avoid quarrels and fight. Like broken glassware, once broken it is impossible to mend relationship. Moreover, we will end up going through lot of tension which will produce negative emotions which will slow down our pace of work besides eating into our time.

Similarly, we should spend time in developing good habits instead of getting into a bad habit and spending time to get away from bad habits. It is also wiser to spend little time everyday to keep fit rather than falling sick and spending lot of time to get back to good health.

Over this weekend, can you reflect how much time you wasted in trying to undo something rather than producing happy outcomes?

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Managing Life Thru' NLP!

 

Managing Life Using NLP

A mind can and should be programmed. Just like a computer without software, a brain without an `empowered' goal is useless. A goal is not written on a piece of paper, but `engraved' in the mind of the person. If properly programmed, a computer can turn out amazing results. A mind can produce even more outstanding and exciting outcomes if properly `programmed'.

NLP is the latest state of the art technology to understand and programme your mind.

This is just to remind you about our open programme on 18th June at Chennai. See our earlier mail for details.

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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