Dunia Aneh Blog 89

Timely Tips to Step Out of Angry Time Traps

Anger is one of the most challenging time traps there is. But once you recognize the traps, you can begin to free yourself and boost your effectiveness!

Let's explore 3 anger traps that may be familiar to you. Then I'll share a powerful exercise that can free you in just 3 simple steps.

3 Anger Traps

Reliving your anger keeps you stuck. Rehearsing, justifying, and fuming are huge time-wasters that keep you spinning and get you nowhere. Time moves on while you tread water.

Leaking or spewing your anger destroys relationships AND effectiveness. Sooner or later your anger will escape and things get messy! Splattered anger hurts others and lowers self-esteem. Work takes longer and results don't shine!

Denial blinds you and dulls your judgment. You can't deal with something if you deny it. Not only that, but when you tune out anger, you lose clarity more generally. Your powers of observation and decision-making suffer, and you are more likely to make mistakes... losing more time!

Here's a simple exercise to restore your effectiveness, safeguard key relationships, and ultimately help you save your time from sneaky anger traps!

3 Steps to Spring the Anger Trap and Free Up Your Time

Let the anger out - in an unsent anger letter. This is a powerful tool for relieving the stress that anger creates. Write a letter to the person or situation that has you angry, and censor nothing. Letting off steam now makes it possible for you to think clearly later. Once you're finished, do some stretching and move your energy. Try rereading your letter(s) and see what you discover. What happens to your sense of personal power? Bring this to the next step.

Strengthen your autonomy to empower yourself. As you take responsibility for your responses, you gain a sense of power, as well as increased flexibility when it comes to how you use your time. When you let go of reactivity and know that you can address this anger and fix your problem independently, you set yourself free. Self-confidence grows, the weight of anger lightens, and you free up your time. More and more, you'll be using your time to live your best life!

Proactively move ahead to resolve the source of your anger. You don't need to wait. Go ahead and create action steps to resolve whatever lies at the source of your anger. This is something you do on your own, without reference to others' choices. As you do this, notice how the more power youclaim over your time choices, the less power anyone else exerts over you! And there's an added benefit; your relationships improve. Productivity flourishes then no one is in a tug-of-war; and you accomplish more in less time!

This practical exercise profoundly shifts the balance of power when it comes to your time choices. As you shift from reactivity to a proactive, self-referenced orientation, expect to be surprised. You'll develop a whole new level of self-awareness, along with greatly enhanced skill when it comes to managing your moments.

And to move toward your Heart-Based Time Success, sign up for our free gift, The Finding Time Success Kit, which includes "The New Finding Time Boundary Template: 9 Simple, Sequential Steps to Find More Time and Recharge Your Energy!" Using a workbook format this powerful and practical time template helps you progress beyond disappointment and frustration. Discover that 24 hours really are enough!

Just click this link to get started: http://thetimeschool.com/Success

Interruptions Intruding? 3 Timely Tips Restore Your Focus and Productivity!

Using solid time management strategies helps you prioritize, organize, and plan ahead. But once you have a plan, you also need solid skills for managing those inevitable interruptions that challenge your focus and your productivity.

Sharpening these skills will keep you on track. Neglecting them means that you'll lose your focus, and your effectiveness and productivity will suffer.

Is this a familiar scenario? You have a deadline and each tick of the clock brings it closer, as you work hard to meet it. You are churning out creative ideas and ticking off items on your to-do list. Suddenly, someone pops into your office.

How do you feel when this distraction suddenly asks for your attention?

The thing is, you have to decide how to respond on the fly. This requires skills that are totally different from the skills you need to plan and prioritize ahead of time. And your response is very important, in 2 ways:

· The what of your response determines what happens, concretely and immediately, in the time that follows. Do you pause and spend time with the person? Do you stay on track and ask him or her to come back later?

· And how you respond can make you feel either empowered or depleted. Do you invite the person in but feel victimized by your choice? Does your response leave you feeling more or less in charge of yourself and your time? This significantly affects your energy as you move ahead.

So BEFORE the interruptions is the best time to plan for them. These 3 Timely Tips help you maintain effectiveness in a world where focused time is at a premium and interruptions are the norm.

How to Manage Interruptions

You can accomplish more and enjoy a boost in morale when you expect interruptions and have planned ahead for them. (And the distractions don't have to be people - they can be ideas, interesting websites, you name it!)

The secret lies in creating proactive patterns. You redirect distractions to scheduled appointments. In doing that you give them their due while you protect your focus and priorities.

3 Tips to Keep You Focused, Effective and Flexible

1. Discover ways you actually invite interruptions from other people.

Document (with friendly energy) the ways that you reward people for interrupting you. For example, do you keep your door open? Look up and smile? There may be many ways that you subtly invite unscheduled visits.

Remember - this is not an exercise in self criticism; be sure to thank and validate yourself for each insight! This is a very practical and powerful way to start making more conscious choices and reclaiming your time. This is all entirely within your range of control!

2. Redirect interruptions to time you've reserved.

What time of day are you most productive? Block out that time, whenever possible, for activities you have prioritized in advance.

Next, choose a different part of the day for responding to requests and other things that pop up during the day. (Remember, this can be for external interruptions or for the good ideas and interesting news stories that can tug at your focus.) Estimate how much time you generally need to attend to these matters and then set that block of time aside, too, in your schedule. And if you have a hard time maintaining boundaries around this time, scheduling it as the last thing before lunch or before you leave work gives you with a clear endpoint.

Keep your appointment book open and nearby. As interruptions arise, schedule them in for the time you've reserved. Be specific and be sure to follow-through, whether your item involves another person or yourself alone. This builds trust in the fact that the issue will be addressed, and you can return to your work more quickly.

If some of your interruptions come via phone or e-mail, you can set up auto-responses to indicate that you'll get back to people at a specified time of day.

3. Proactively reduce interruptions by anticipating needs.

Are there external interruptions that you can anticipate? Seize the initiative. Contact the person when it is convenient for you and set up a time to talk. Developing this habit strengthens your capacity to coordinate a constructive energy flow for yourself. What might have been an interruption is now one of your priorities!

As you explore your responses to interruptions, strive to see this as a time of investigation and experimentation. Look for fresh options to unfold, and be sure to encourage yourself by welcoming all the valuable lessons.

Taking the initiative when confronted with unexpected interruptions is very empowering! When you realize that your daily destiny is in your hands, that has an immediate and positive impact on your choices, your focus, and your productivity.

Just click this link to get started: http://thetimeschool.com/Success

Productivity - How to Be Productive at Work Daily

Introduction

In this article, I will be discuss simple steps to take action on each day at work to accomplish more in less time. By following these steps, you will learn how to be productive at work on a daily basis.

Benefits of Increasing Productivity

Learning how to be more productive, especially at work, typically results in you increasing the efficiency with which you complete your tasks. Completing more work in less time has many benefits from the obvious benefit of freeing up more of your time for non-work related tasks, increasing your motivation to continue to be productive, increasing your sense of accomplishment and reducing your overall stress levels.

Then of course, there are the positive work benefits that come from increasing your productivity--especially on a daily basis. By being able to complete more work in less time with the high level of quality that you typically complete your work-related tasks, you are literally achieving more at work. Achieving more at work usually earns you benefits that will likely impact your life, and your work life balance, positively.

How to be Productive at Work Daily

There is no one set of strategies or steps to becoming "productive," and what leads to success for one person may be a disastrous strategy for another person to try to follow. As a result, I encourage you to test out each of the steps below, and decide for yourself which of the steps will be effective at increasing your productivity at work, and that are therefore worth the effort to put into action, and continue using, until you see positive results. These positive results likely will not happen after just one attempt, rather try each step out for at least a week before making a final decision on whether that particular strategy is personally beneficial for you to pursue.

Step 1: Tie Rewarding Tasks for Finishing Work Tasks: To increase your productivity daily at work, you can tie enjoying a rewarding task with accomplishing a less rewarding and/or necessary work-related task.

For example, you can delay enjoying a rewarding task, such as having your first cup of coffee or tea, until after you complete one work-related task. Or, you can delay checking any social media until you've completed three work-related tasks.

Step 2: Shift Your "Productivity" Schedule:Everyone experiences a natural lull in energy at some throughout the day. If you are working outside of the home, in a 9-5 or similar job, that lull in energy typically (but not always) comes during the late afternoon.

Shift your work schedule by one hour so that you are leaving work, or at least not attempting to be highly productive, by 4:00 p.m. or whenever your energy lull happens to be. This will ensure that you have more energy to be productive during work hours that you decide will be productive, and reduces your stress levels by not creating unrealistic expectations of what you should accomplish right before the 5:00 p.m. end of day hits.

Step 3: Snacking to Keep Your Energy and Productivity Up: Continuing with the idea that people naturally have more energy to be highly productive at certain times of day, you should also be aware of how the food you eat can positively increase the energy you have and can help you to be more productive.

Foods, typically fruit such as apples, oranges, and bananas, or other foods like honey and agave, are high in both fructose and sucrose. These are two sugars that serve different energy purposes in your body, one giving you a short term energy boost while the other gives you energy over a longer period of time. In either case, by snacking puposefully, you can help make sure that you have the stamina to finish your work day strong and with the high level of productivity you started your day with.

Step 4: Start and End Your Day With Special Tasks:For most people, the most challenging part of experiencing consistently high levels of productivity is finding the motivation to just start working. To help with this problem, try giving yourself select tasks to work on to start and end your day.

To begin your day successfully and to quickly achieve productivity in your day, the first task you should try to accomplish is something fairly short, simple and/or enjoyable to complete. This will ensure that you finish your first task of the day, and that you are left with positive feelings of motivation and accomplishment from doing so.

To end your day, and prepare for the next day, leave work when you are only halfway done with a particular task that can be completed the next day without having a negative impact on your work. Most people feel uncomfortable with "unfinished" work, and this sense of not finishing your work and the discomfort that comes with it will provide a reliable source of motivation to start your work immediately the next day to be able to get to and complete your previous day's unfinished task.

By the way, if you would like to learn more about productivity strategies, you can download my free audio training "How to Create Your Productive Work Environment" by clicking here: https://www.freedownload.greatworklifebalancehabits.com/productiveenvironment.

My name is Jazmin Leon, and I am a certified master coach whose primary work involves guiding clients in how to build positive habits to increase their satisfaction with their ability to balance their professional and personal lives and learning how to develop the work life balance they deserve to live. I have a background in neuroscience and psychology, advanced educational learning techniques and instructional design, and have spent years studying how to effectively prevent and reduce burnout and increase work life balance among busy professionals.

Time Management-Prioritizing and Recording Tasks to Feel Productive and Accomplished

Introduction

In this article I will discuss a time management strategy and an accountability strategy that, when applied together, make sure that you finish your most important tasks for the day and leave you feeling a sense of accomplishment. I will first discuss what each of these strategies are, and then I will discuss the steps on how to put these strategies to work for you. Finally, I will suggest another time management strategy that I recommend you learn more about to save even more time and increase your sense of accomplishment even more.

Time Management Strategy

To manage your tasks efficiently, a proven time management strategy is making a to-do list, prioritizing your most important tasks to finish, and completing those tasks first. There is no rocket science to this strategy--all that it asks of you is to figure out exactly what tasks you need to get done. Then it asks you to number, rank, assign importance to those tasks.

Accountability Strategy

To increase your sense of accomplishment as you management your tasks, there is a simple accountability strategy you can use--recording your accomplished tasks. When you finish completing a task, no matter how big or small, you can write/record that you have finished it, giving you an instant sense of accomplishment and provides motivation to move on to successfully complete your next task.

How to Use These Together

Managing your time and increasing your sense of accomplishment is fairly simple once you follow these seven steps to implement both of these strategies together. First, you will use the time management strategy, and then, before moving on to accomplish your next task, you will complete the accountability strategy described above. Once finished with both, repeat the entire process to continue productively managing your time and feelings of accomplishment.

Step 1: Write Down Your Tasks to Be Completed--When using the prioritization strategy for time management it's important to know everything that you feel you need to accomplish before beginning to prioritize what tasks will make you feel most accomplished. To do this write down or type everything that you need to do to feel that you are done with your work for the day period delete be as specific as possible. Finally try to group tasks into tasks and sub-tasks.

Step 2: Prioritize Your Top Tasks--Once you have written all of the tasks you need to complete it's important to review your list closely to identify which three to five tasks to prioritize. An easy way to prioritize tasks is by asking yourself, "what would happen if I finish this task today?," and "what would happen if I did not finish this task today?" Whichever task has the most benefits to finishing and/or the most drawbacks to not finishing the task should be most highly prioritized.

Step 3: Choose the Correct Task to Actively Work On--Once you have prioritized your top tasks, choose the task that upon completion, will make you feel as though you were highly productive, and if possible, will make you feel accomplished for the day--even if you did not complete anything else. This is the first task you should attempt to complete.

Step 4: Complete the Task--Once you have prepared to complete your prioritized task, it is time to take action and actually complete your task. If you have trouble finishing the task in one sitting, try setting a timer for a certain period of time, taking a five-minute break when the timer goes off, and then refocusing on completing the task once your break is over.

Step 5: Taking Out Your Achievement Tracker--When you have fully completed the task at hand, it is time to take out your achievement tracker. You achievement tracker is simply a dated list of tasks and responsibilities that you have completed. Your tracker should be easily accessible, such as in a notebook or journal you keep in your work environment, or in a document that can be easily located and re-saved on your computer.

Step 6: Use Your Achievement Tracker--When you have your achievement tracker, you should write down the name and a short description of the task you just completed. A short description, particularly of more complex tasks, will make your achievement tracker more meaningful and motivating as you give yourself "extra credit" or a description, of what work and effort you had to put in just to accomplish completing that particular task.

Step 7: Repeat--When you finish with your task and updating your achievement tracker, you can now repeat this process--starting on the third step and working on your next most highly prioritized task.

By the way, if you would like to learn more about time management strategies, you can download my free "Batch Processing Toolkit" which includes an audio training on the time management strategy of batch processing as well as a batch processing infographic and checklist by clicking here: https://www.freedownload.greatworklifebalancehabits.com/batchprocessing.

Jerusalem The Golden by Margaret Drabble

Jerusalem The Golden by Margaret Drabble was published over fifty years ago. Reading it now, for this particular reviewer, is the equivalent of reading Arnold Bennett in the same year that Margaret Drabble's novel was written. Bennett's quintessential late Victorian and Edwardian identity was then and remains almost foreign territory to the contemporary reader, but - even given the fifty year time shift - one might expect that the reader who actually experienced the 1960s as a teenager might suffer no culture shock whatsoever in reading Margaret Drabble's essentially 1960s novel. That assumption, however, would be quite wrong.

The mechanics of Jerusalem The Golden's plot can be described without spoiling the experience of reading the book. Clara is a lower middle-class girl growing up in Northam, which is clearly not far from Margaret Drabble's own Sheffield, despite being described as being fifty miles or so further from London than its real-life manifestation. Clara clearly rather despises Northam. In her third person narrative that always feels like it wants to inhabit the first, Margaret Drabble has her principal character regularly refer to the dirt, the lack of sophistication and general ugliness of the place, factors that convince Clara - and no doubt the author herself - that life should transfer to London at the first opportunity.

Clara's family is far from dysfunctional, but then the jury might be out on this because it hardly displays any function at all. Mrs Maugham, Clara's mother, seems to live her life at arm's length behind a wall of collected prejudice and panic if experience gets too close. Clara seems determined not to be like her mother.

Clara is successful at school but ignores received opinion as to what she might study, preferring her own judgment to the conventional pragmatism of offered advice. Before she leaves school, Clara has already shown significant signs of maturity. Not only does she develop an obvious but inwardly not perceived independence and individuality, but she also matures physically, developing an early and fine bosom, which she soon realises can be used as a source of power.

In London, where she attends university, Clara meets to unlikely-named Clelia, whose family turns out to be precisely the kind of befuddled, messy, propertied, sophisticated, if rather unclean lineage that would forever be diametrically opposed to her own Maugham household. One feels that if Clara's mother were invited to the Highgate pad of the Denham family, her nose would turn up in silence as she reached for a mop to disinfect the floors. Strangely, Clelia is rather similar to Clara, both physically and personally, though we do not appreciate this until late in the book, when consciously or otherwise Clara seems to morph into the very identity of her friend.

Clara is a thoroughly credible 1960s character. This misunderstood decade, for most people, was not about free love, drugs, rock 'n' roll or protest. Ideologically, it may have become so, but day-to-day life was school uniforms, dance halls largely segregated by sex, social conservatism and conformity, allied to a newly won, for most people, glimmer of opportunity for self-betterment. Clara exhibits the values of her age, but also gnaws gently at the edges of the constraints, as the era appeared to expect one ought. She surprises herself on a school trip to Paris, but she does retain total control, a facility she learns to cultivate.

And it is this aspect of Clara's character - its desire and ability to control, to extract exactly what she wants from life in general and circumstances in particular that comes to the fore. Clara desires, Clara gets. She is always self-deprecating, but she even learns to use this flawed confidence to focus attention and facilitation from others when she needs it. Gradually Clara is revealed as someone who ruthlessly uses her physical, personal and intellectual advantages to achieve precisely what she wants, despite the fact that she often tries to deny any conscious plan.

Margaret Drabble's style throughout is both complex and backward-looking. Clara could easily be a character from fifty years earlier - an Arnold Bennett society debutante, aware of social niceties, protocols and conventions, but needing to make her own way through life's challenges. But Clara is always ready to assert her presence in a way a woman from fifty years earlier might not have done and thereby she achieves her ends, often irrespective of any potential damage done to others. Her potentially self-destructive success in achieving her wishes is increasingly quite disturbing. Hers is an individualism that also could easily become self-defeating, as evidenced in the author's assessment that Clara "thought nothing of" being sick in a Paris toilet when she decided to leave her married lover behind. We are left thinking that there is something unsaid to follow. And, if that were to be the case, perhaps a more general parallel with the 1960s decade is possible, in that it might have felt like a liberation for the individual, but also that it might eventually have threatened something that was both longer lasting and longer term. One feels by the end that Clara is set for some pretty rude awakenings.

Philip Spires

http://www.philipspires.co.uk

Migwani is a small town in Kitui District, Kenya. My African novels, Mission and A Fool´s Knot examine how social, cultural and economic change impact on the lives of ordinary people in Migwani. They portray characters whose identity and futures are influenced by the distant globalised world. Themes addressed in Mission and A Fool´s Knot include economic and social change, religion, genital mutilation and initiation, liberation versus traditional theology, development and tradition.

How Good Stories Can Change No to YES

We've all faced customers that say they are happy with the current situation and NO! to making a change. We use our best value proposition or our latest deal. Yet they remain steadfast in their determination not to buy our product or service or support our cause. In their book: Switch, the Heath brothers use stories to describe the conflict between the emotional brain that loves the comfort of the status quo and the rational brain that understands the value of change. In this article, I will explain how and why stories are the most effective way to overcome the tension in this conflict and persuade prospects to make a change with your product or service.

The Inner Conflict in Decision Making

The Heaths describe the rational brain as the rider and the emotional brain as the elephant. It is the rational brain that wants facts to substantiate a change. It wants certainty. It connects to the part of the brain that is associated with survival. That area of the brain collects and uses memories of experiences and things we have learned. It is what protected the caveman from being eaten by a lion or an alligator. It tells us to be careful and don't make a mistake. But as the Heaths explain, it is intelligent. It also sees the destination and can calculate the real value associated with success. It understands the long-term strategy and vision.

Whereas the rational side uses knowledge, the emotional side like the elephant is powerful. This side of the brain wants comfort, but it also wants things like success and pleasure. Feelings motivate it. And it looks at the rosy side of everything. This side of the brain answers the call to adventure without thinking of the consequences. Whereas the logical brain says, wait a minute. I want adventure too, but have you considered these possible outcomes.

Where Most People Make a Mistake

If you speak only to one side of the brain, your customer will reply with a big NO!. As an example, in his book: Tell to Win, Peter Guber, relates the story of two of his presentations. In the first meeting, he presented all of the financial facts, speaking only to the logical brain. He thought it was a tremendous multi-million-dollar deal and a surefire win. He had all of the financial details, and he had diligently prepared for an excellent presentation. But sadly, it was rejected. Peter realized that it was emotion and getting the listener engaged that would win the deal. In his second presentation on a different proposal, Peter told a story putting everything in context. The presentation was for an investment with an excellent return. But this time, Peter's main focus was on the emotional rather than a lot of financial details. The investors were clamoring to get in on the deal before they had the specifics of the finances.

The Story Difference

Why was Peter's second presentation so successful while the first one failed? A good story engages the listener and creates the desire to know what happens next. It has a purpose and gives direction. It puts things in context, and it unites the two sides of the brain.

Increase Your Chances of Success

So how can you significantly increase your chances of getting a resounding YES instead of a NO? Create meaningful and memorable stories that allow the listener to virtually experience the consequences of not deciding to make the change. Motivate your listener by making them feel the need for change. Give them what the Heath brother call a destination postcard that lets them see the benefits of making a change. Ensure you allow him or her to view the destination in all of its glory. Finally, shape the path or show them the steps to success. For example, give them a framework to help them succeed at reaching their destination.

Getting Started

Including all of these elements in a story may sound like a lot, but once you get started, it is not only successful, it is fun. I used this method to make multi-million-dollar sales in large corporations as well as small sales in an independent businesses.

Phyllis Mikolaitis is a sales coach and developer with over 30 years' global experience. She is dedicated to taking you beyond the typical "how-to" courses to the heart of persuasion techniques incorporating insights and stories to win the sale. Visit her website at http://www.salestrainingsolutions.com where you can learn more about sales skills, selling with stories and creating winning demonstrations, as well as her personal and group coaching.

You can learn more about the value of storytelling and how to get to a YES by crafting and telling a good story. Get our FREE mini-course on Why Storytelling is Critical to Your Success. We filled it with tool and tips to help you get started. https://salestrainingsolutions.com/courses