People might say to me, Chuck, it's nice to say that we learned all this great stuff about planning and goal setting, but let's face it, I dont have time to do this on a regular basis!

So, (one might ask) how do we get all this done and still have time left at the end of the day for ourselves and our family?

I know that you have heard about time management, but do you really know how easy it is to do?

Do you know how much time you can actually save by applying it?

If you do, why are you not applying it?

If you dont know how much time you can really save and do something you enjoy with it, charge ahead and learn how.

Have you ever heard the old saying that: "If you want to get something done - give it to a busy person?" How can that be you ask when God gave us the same 24 hours in a day? The secret is not how much time we have, but how we use it!

What are the reasons that people run out of time and dont get much accomplished?

Many people spend time on things that are not important. These concerns may seem important at the time, but I am reminded of what my pastor loves to ask, What is the better question? The better questions is, What is the most important thing that I should work on right now that would advance my company or get me closer to my goals?

Often people spend a lot of time worrying about the problems that occurred because they didn't plan! When you are busy putting fires out because you didnt spend the time to properly organize, you end up running around a lot more, dont you?

Another reason is that people spend trying to decide what to do next. Now that excuse sounds silly, but if you think about it, if you dont know where you are going, it is difficult to decide which way to take, isnt it? Often, people remain undecided to the extent that they don't have time left over to do things they should do.

A really common reason people dont get much accomplished is that they let other people dictate what they should do. How often do you hear someone come up to you and say, We have a problem? Usually it is their problem, but they expect you to help them solve it.

Last, (although there are a lot more), if you dont plan your time, it is really easy for other people to take it. It is so easy for you to get distracted by someone else when you have no real hard and fast reason to get on with what you are doing, other than the fact that you are doing it. If you had a plan, it is so easy to tell someone, Im sorry but right now I need to get this done because I have an important deadline to meet. Doing so is made much easier by the fact you have set both goals and a date by which you want to accomplish them. Moreover, your confidence is boosted by your certainty that those plans and goals are important!

International training company Priority Management systems has poem in their daily planner that is quite appropriate:

Take time to think. It is the source of power
Take time to play. It is the secret of perpetual youth
Take time to read. It is the fountain of wisdom
Take time to laugh. It is the music of the soul
Take time to work. It is the price of success
Take time to give. It is too short a day to be selfish
Take time to pray. It is the greatest power on Earth

Time management is comprised of these 10 essential factors:

Clear Specific Goals: know what you want. You already have these written down from Chapter Two On. Doesnt that feel great to know?

Have clear specific plans on how to get your goals accomplished. Wow. You have done this too.

Make a list every day of all the things that you must do.

The best time to do this is at the end of the day.

Pick the six most important things that need to get accomplished and write them on your list of things that need to get accomplished today. There are three great benefits to this:

You won't lose any precious sleep thinking about what you have to do because your subconscious will know that you have them all listed and it won't worry about forgetting them.

You won't be running around trying to remember what you had forgotten because, since it was written down, there is no need to waste time trying to remember.

You won't clutter your mind with a lot of details or petty information - once you write it down you can forget about it. If something comes up during the course of the day, rather than doing it or forgetting about it, write it down on the bottom of your list so that it can be included on your list of priorities for tomorrow.

The critical idea here is to keep focused and working on the most important items.

Prioritize each item on the list in order of importance. I actually have a list with everything that I need to do.

I list them in groups of "A", "B", and "C".

A's are essential and must be done as soon as possible.

B's are secondary,

C's are items I will get to when I have extra time.

These groups are then further prioritized with a priority code of 1 - whatever.

1. being the most important,
2. being second, and so on.

Always work on the most important item first and stick with it. Don't be seduced by doing the easiest or the most fun thing first. If something stays on my list for more than a month, it can't be that important so I eliminate it. Every time I finish a task, I scratch it off of my list and it is forgotten. This last step also gives a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

So go ahead and take ten minutes and write down the things you need to do right now. Start small; just do the top six things that really need to get accomplished. You can increase your list length when you get into the habit of following this routine. Yes, this needs to be a habit. Go for it!

Once you have determined your "A", "B", and "C" priorities and then sub-prioritized them 1 to whatever, you can then figure out how long, approximately, each project will take. This estimate will help you to plan your day and/or week.

Make life a lot easier right now, get out your day planner and schedule time to work on these, priorities.

This next suggestion may seem a bit extreme, but the most successful people I know do the following; they block out time for appointments, sleep, daily routine, family time, and leisure time. They also include travel time if appointments are away from the studio.

It is also a good idea is to block out time on a consistent basis so that you will be available for consultations, photo sessions, and sales sessions. Making this schedule will help you be in the zone when it comes to being creative, or selling, or doing your studies. Many people find it very difficult to change mindsets on the fly whereas others find it energizing. Which are you?

There is a powerful psychologically impact achieved when you concentrate your appointment so that your clients arrive at the studio around the same time. If your clients see others coming or going when they are, they will get the impression that you are very popular and busy. Those may be the only two appointments you have that day, but your clients dont know that.

Finally, concentrating appointments together frees up bigger blocks of time so that you can accomplish a lot with minimum amount of interruption. Doctors, lawyers and dentists do it all the time, why cant you?

Focus on only one job at a time. If you start something finish it. If you are pulled away from it for whatever reason, get back to it as soon as possible and finish it. Dont start B until you have finished A, unless you are one of those people who love to have lots of unfinished projects around everywhere!

Overcome procrastination. Remember the slogan - DO IT! Whatever you are working on will not go away by ignoring it. DO IT NOW!

When the mail arrives, we know that you have already blocked off time in your schedule for sorting through it, havent you? Scan through it quickly and do one of three things:

Toss out the junk mail immediately, preferably into the recycling. Have a file system so that you can put the mail in the appropriate place to be dealt with in the time you have scheduled for it.

Bills go in the folder to be given to the bookkeeper or for you to enter into the computer.

Cheques should be recorded immediately getting paid makes us feel good! Magazines should be scanned for articles of interest, and these should be read in the time you have set aside for reading. (By the way, most really successful people read a book a week. Learning something that can be used for business, marketing, or general interest to broaden their horizons.)

If all possible, telephone calls and salesmen should be screened by your receptionist. Only on rare occasions should you take the calls immediately.

Have your receptionist say that you are in an appointment - which you are because you have scheduled one for yourself.

Inform the caller that you will phone back at say approximately 4:00 p.m. Hopefully that will be satisfactory. Then make sure that you return all your calls at 4:00 p.m. If it isnt satisfactory, ask the caller for a time which is preferable or you can ask them if an email will do the trick.

More time is wasted on the phone than one can imagine. It is also a good idea to plan your telephone conversations so that you have control over them. For example, you can write down the questions that you want to ask and make sure you stick to those. Remember to keep a phone log handy.

If you plan and budget your time, you will find that you achieve more and that you will have more time to yourself. Try it! You might like it!

Permission to use the poem was granted by Dr. Dan Stamp of Priority Management Systems.