Make Wealth Blog

December 14, 2008

Spend your free time wisely

Filed under: Discipline,Time management — Kava @ 11:12 am

In today’s fast paced, high stress world people are working longer hours than ever, and often collapse at day’s end in front of the television to relax enough to begin again in the morning.  However, television watching, for most people, does not really lower stress. Studies show that TV viewing in excess of an hour or so actually creates stress and, especially in women, may lead to depression.  Most individuals are unaware that incorporating some exercise into their end of will make them more energetic since it increases energy and stamina levels.

At first it may be hard, but in the long run using your free time wisely will have health and emotional benefits.  Begin by defining what elements constitute using your free time to your best advantage.

Wise use of leisure time does not mean getting an advanced degree, although the mental stimulation gained through education is unbeatable in keeping your mind active.  Learning new things nearly always adds a spark to your daily life, especially if it is a favorite topic, such as sport, fashion, or art.  Also, browse your bookstore or library to find books on your interests.  Try to replace a half hour TV watching with reading.  .

It is very well advised to use free time to reduce stress, which takes a toll on health, physically and mentally. Stress is the body’s adrenal gland hormonal “fight or flight” reaction stuck in high gear. With continued stress, both adrenalin and cortisol hormone levels remain high, contributing to the development of heart disease, hypertension and depression.  Many ways of combating stress revolve around distracting one’s mind from the everyday worries and returning it to the things in life that are enriching.  The foremost of these is other people.

It is estimated that in the United States currently, many individuals have as few as 2 good friends.  Long work hours and car commutes act to isolate people.  This isolation is deadly.  Find ways to congregate with people at the end of the day and on weekends.  Often this can be best done by combining activities, such by joining a walking group to get both exercise and companionship.  Taking a class will stimulate your mind and allow you to meet others with similar interests.  Hobbies are great for reducing stress and provide another opportunity for social interaction.   Meditation and biofeedback are excellent ways to reduce stress and have actually demonstrated an ability to lower blood levels of bad hormones.

Using our free time to aid our overall health and well being may include these elements and Many more, such as going to concerts and spending time with family.  For many people, spirituality, whether in the form of organized religion or enjoying nature, is necessary to retain a sense of balance in life.  All of these activities are good uses of leisure time, as is taking in the occasional film or watching a few TV programs.  But overall, the key is to spend less free time being passive.  The best ways to use free time allow us to are to be mentally and physically active, spend some time out doors, and interact with other people on a regular basis.

May 25, 2008

Working smart to gain the best results

Filed under: Discipline,Hard working — Kava @ 2:38 am

Working smart really translates to using your time well to gain the best results.

Clearly using time poorly will result in poor or no results, but that really is how many of us tackle our daily workload. Procrastination often eats up the time needed to do a proper job. Then the deadline nears and we dash something out, which is often of poor quality and has so many errors that is needs to be redone and it becomes the task for the following work day. Do you want to break this cycle?

Time management is the key to an efficient and productive workday. However, time management is another misnomer; you cannot mange time. It will proceed on its course regardless of anything you do. But you can, and must, manage yourself and your approach to using time.

There are several key elements to using your time productively and they are working at your peak, making lists of tasks, and keeping a time journal.

Everyone can relate to working at his or her peak time of energy. Most people have low periods during the day, sometimes occurring right after lunch and sometimes, waiting until the late afternoon to sneak up. Many people just can’t get with it in the morning. When you are at a lull it makes sense to take a break to wait until you become alert again. Then you can really tackle things. However, most bosses can’t see things this way and require you to stay at your desk. You can still take steps to nullify the stultifying effects of on the job drowsiness. Use your peak hours to begin the difficult work you need to be creative to do. Reserve routine tasks that you could literally do in your sleep, for your down times. However, ever though it may be routine, do not file things during this time. A mistake here can result in a huge waste of time frantically searching for misplaced items.

A corollary to working during your peak time is don’t exceed your time of peak attention, which usually lasts for spurts of 45 to 90 minutes. Learn to take breaks and avoid getting overtired. Taking a break is not wasting time, your brain is still processing information; you are just preventing becoming burned out.

Most time management consultants recommend making to-do lists and putting every task on it, no matter how small. This accomplishes several things. The list itself allows you to get a tangible view of what needs doing, and then to prioritise it. It also lets you plan activities that are suitable for the different energy cycles of your day. The most important benefit of a to-do list, though, may be that once you have written everything down, you no longer have to remember it. You can stop carrying things in your head and it is cleared it for more creative thought.

Once you have made your to-do list, which represents how your should spend your time, focus on your actual time journal. At the end of the day, after completing work, jot down just what you actually did and when. This will allow you to identify the periods when you were productive and those where you frittered time away. After you keep a journal for a few days, patterns will begin to emerge, and you will be able to identify the things, people and events that rob your time.

March 18, 2007

Do it now not tomorrow

Filed under: Discipline — Kava @ 2:53 pm

While a person is not always able to start a new project or task immediately upon receiving it, at least a mental outline will help to streamline the process of completing the task. It’s important to start projects relatively soon after receiving information and to complete them as soon as possible after beginning them in an unbroken line of completed sub projects.

You should begin a new project as soon as possible after the assignment because the details of the project are still fresh in your mind. You may have discussed specifics with someone, but if you allow days to go by before actually beginning the project, you will have forgotten some of the details. It will require more of your preparation time and thus completion time just to attempt to reconstruct or learn details that have been forgotten because you didn’t begin your task promptly. At a minimum, take time to jot down the pertinent details in a file folder. Things like a project title, length, who is the projected audience for the report or final result, when the deadline is, are all important details when it’s time to finish the project. This can be a paper or virtual file folder.

Because your project is assigned in the present, the knowledge you have about it is current knowledge. You cannot be held responsible for what has not yet happened. Therefore, doing your project with your current knowledge is likely to provide less need for relearning or for changes in the situation which would require additional preparation time.

Another reason for doing your task now is so that you can meet your deadlines promptly. If you know when the project is due and you know precisely how long it will take you, it’s easy to put off starting until you know there is no leeway left in your time schedule till completion. But all too often, something happens to create a roadblock in your expected schedule. Maybe you had an internet outage just when an important piece of information from a webpage was required. Perhaps a friend dropped by to chat for a while. In other words, if you have allowed no time at the end of your project before it’s due, you run the risk of turning in slipshod work or not being able to complete it at all.

If, on the other hand you begin and complete your project promptly, it leaves you free to do other things without worrying about the status of the project. You won’t worry about meeting a deadline, because you’ve already gone on to other things by7 the time the deadline arrives.

If you are in a position at work or socially where you want to make the best possible impression upon others, begin your project promptly and complete it as soon as possible. This will ensure that others know you can be counted on to deliver the goods on time, and will certainly count in your favor when the bosses are handing out bonuses and awards.

Finally, not to put too grim reflection on it, but life is uncertain. We do not know what tomorrow will bring. It is better to complete the task early and have time to spare should a family emergency arise, than to be torn between completing a project and dealing with a sick or injured family member.

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