Your Time 2 Soar

The Art of Planning

2008-10-15T14:10:00.001-05:00

In order to create a successful day, you must plan and prepare for one. Imagine getting into your car and driving without a defined destination. How would you know when you have arrived? Sounds pretty silly, doesn’t it? However we often start our day without a clear destination or plan of what needs to be done. How often have you started your work day with whatever projects that are currently on your desk or spent the day reacting to so called emergencies from an email, employee or memo and ended your day not accomplishing what really needed to be done? So you leave the office annoyed, stressed and feeling very unproductive. If you do not plan your day, this vicious cycle will continue.

You must utilize a planning tool: a calendar, notebook, electronic hand held device, or blackberry. It doesn’t matter the planning tool used, what matters more importantly is the use of one tool to document your appointments, meetings, tasks and deadlines. You must plan your day the night before or make it your first task every morning. Once you began to create a daily map of your tasks, you will begin to create a successful day and discover the art of productivity and you will have the habit of planning your day.

As a Business Coach & Time Management Strategist, I teach female small biz owners to get it all done daily, by using quick & simple time management tips & tools and by developing the art of planning.

© 2008 Bridgette Boudreaux
Bridgette Boudreaux is a Time Management Strategist to female small biz owners & independent professionals. Get a copy of her FREE report called “39 Quick & Simple Time Saving Tips” at http://www.yourtime2soar.com

My Interview on Building You Up Radio Talk Show

2008-05-20T21:55:00.003-05:00

Interview with Christina Wiley: Building You Up

3 Ways To Transition From Procrastinator To Action Taker

Five Organizational Myths

2008-04-30T18:21:00.002-05:00

You Must Have A Personal Planner
A personal planner is used to organize your personal/business appointments & activities. It is very organized to have all your information documented in one place for a reminder, planning your day or to prevent double scheduling. However, you can use a tablet, a 3 ring binder, online calendar or a desk calendar to document your information. Just make sure to document your information in one place and house it in the same place each time within arms reach to prevent losing it and allows easy accessibility.

You Must Operate With A List
This works like a gem for some but if you do not like list, especially the “to-do” list, because it seems to get longer daily, don’t create a list. Write down your goal or intended outcome, and then make appointments with yourself to complete the action.

You Must Follow A One Size Fits All Time Management System
Time Management is self management, managing you around time. We are all given the same amount of time, 24 hours in a day, but we differ with peak performance levels. You may be a morning person and find that you tend to focus and accomplish tasks well in the morning; someone else is better focus during the noon time hours. We each manage our time differently therefore this is no one solution to time management that will fit everyone. You must learn the tools, change any negative mindsets regarding time (ex. there just isn’t enough time in the day for me to get it all done), work efficiently, prioritize and make it all work for you.

You Must Always Maintain A Clean Office Desk
A spotless desk with no clutter is wonderful for any business owner; however, there are times when the cluttered office desk happens. During those times, make sure projects do not get mixed together, put loose papers in files and label the files, so if it needs to be on your desk it is an orderly pile. If possible, designate an organized cluttered space a distance away from your everyday space, for example, do not have it near the telephone so that you are not tempted to read over information while speaking with a customer/client.

You Must Have A Digital Organizer
Everyone is not techie compatible, so it is okay to have an offline organizer. I love my Blackberry, but I also love my Franklin planner. Electronic hand held devices are handy and offer many features, however use an organizing system that works best for you. If you do decide on a digital organizer, always have a backup system just in case you have any technical difficulties.

© 2007 Bridgette Boudreaux

Visit: www.yourtime2soar.com

Are You Living Fully Or Just Existing?

2008-04-21T19:51:00.000-05:00

There are people who spend their lives being controlled by circumstances, excuses & a victim’s attitude (Why Me?) and there are others who plan, set goals and actively take steps to create their desired outcome despite their circumstances. Needless to say which group is considered successful. According to Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth, “The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing.”

Which are you?

It’s easy to determine your status. If you have not written down your short / long term goals for the year accompanied with an aggressive action plan to achieve your goals, you are not creating your ideal life. You are passively participating in whatever comes your way. Your days are driven by emails, family needs & desires, time wasters or numerous distractions that lead you farther from your ideal life. Nothing will change until you decide to use your most valuable resource TIME wisely. Stop spending days reacting to unexpected circumstances, instead take control of your life and become proactive.

In order to grab control of your life and destiny, you must first decide to make a commitment to manage your time to include activities that will bring you closer to your dreams and desires. Once you’ve made the commitment to yourself, the next steps will be easy to implement into your daily routine.

Step One
Get a notebook and pen and write down everything you desire in your ideal life. Do not concentrate on your current status or sabotaging thoughts that may enter your mind like, I can’t afford it or I don’t have the education or skills to do it, just jot down what it is you want. Once you have written them all down, pick one that you would like to accomplish within the next 3 - 6 months and another within the next 1- 3 years.
For example, your list may look like this:
Lose 10 pounds
Get my MBA
Write a book
Buy a new car
Buy a house

From this list, the 3 to 6 month goal would most likely be to lose 10 pounds and the 1 to 3 year goal would be to get a MBA. The other goals are important however you must get the ball rolling by picking a short & long term goal that you desire the most.

Step Two
Write each goal at the top of separate sheets of paper. For each goal, list all the tasks and activities needed to accomplish the goal. If you are seeking a MBA, some tasks would include: research universities offering MBA programs in your area, purchase the GMAT Study Guide, hire a tutor, schedule an appointment with an academic advisor from the School of Business, schedule the GMAT exam, etc. Include all tasks big & small that you will need to complete to achieve your goal.

Step Three
Prioritize tasks & activities in order of importance and sequence, for example, you wouldn’t schedule the GMAT exam without any prior study periods. Decide which tasks should be done first, second and third until all tasks are listed. Your prioritized task list may change because you are in control of your time and how and when you want the tasks completed.

Step Four
Get out your planner because it is now time for you to make appointments with yourself. Block time on your planner to create uninterrupted time to start each task. Also set self-imposed deadlines for completion. Tasks without deadlines usually never get done.

Set Five
Take Action. Planning is great; however without taking consistent action, even the best plan is worthless.

Now you are ready to live your life fully, pursing your purpose and making your dreams a reality. Go out and create the life that you deserve and want.

© 2008 Bridgette Boudreaux

How To Get Out The “Busyness” Syndrome

2008-03-05T21:40:00.000-06:00

I know you are wondering, what is the “busyness” syndrome? Let me explain. Its 8:00 am, Monday morning, an online health food home based business owner is in her office busily working. She has spent about three hours reading and responding to emails, answering incoming telephone calls and returning telephone calls, reading industry related updates, creating her grocery list for tonight’s dinner and perusing web pages on the internet. She decides to file a stack of invoices since it is consuming most of her desk. After filing, she decides to read an article about the benefits of organic supplements from a health journal, (she missed the opportunity to read last night). Currently, it is 11:00 am; she must leave her office to attend a health fair at her community’s health center for 11:30 am. She will be giving away samples of a new line of products which is an excellent opportunity to get new clients and opinions about her new product. However, when she returns to her office, she is annoyed because she failed to bring all the product samples to the health fair and she forgot her business cards. Her morning was so busy; she could not find time to efficiently prepare for the fair.

Yes, the business owner above did have a busy morning, but she spent the morning working on mundane tasks that were not very productive or in line with her goal for the day: attending a health fair. Does this business owner sound like you? Do you start your day without an objective or targeted goal(s)? Are you busy just being busy without any productivity? Do you see results? If so, you are wasting time because you are not working towards anything in particular, just whatever comes your way.

To get out of the “busyness syndrome”, stop spending your day working on low priority tasks. Now, you may be thinking, “What are low priority tasks?” and “How will I know that they are low priority?” Well this is it in a nutshell: Any task that is not consistent with your goal is a low priority task. Let’s look at the above example again: The online healthy food business owner goal for the day should have been to prepare for her booth at the community health fair, so if she had planned her day and defined a goal for the day, her first three hours of her day should have looked something like this:

Today’s Action List
Goal: Prepare All Items For Community Health Fair Booth Setup
1. Prepare All Sample Products
2. Create a Sign-In Sheet for Booth Visitors
3. Pack Business Cards
4. Pack Company Brochures
5. Pack car with all the above items at 10:00 am
6. Leave For Health Fair @ 10:15 am
7. Send Follow Up Correspondences To Booth Visitors From Sign In Sheet

Now it’s your turn, create a goal for tomorrow and write down all the tasks that are required to complete the goal. Depending upon the deadline of the goal, tasks can and should be distributed throughout the duration of the week. Block time in your planner to complete each task and do not allow any interruptions during that time. You will be amazed at your productivity. Your action list can also serve as a checklist. Do not discard the action list that you have created for this project. It can later serve as a Check List whenever this projected is required of you again. Create a folder and file the steps from your Action List. For example, the above Action List can be filed as Health Fair Booth Setup Checklist. You now have created a system to adhere to whenever you attend this type of an event.

Primarily start your day working on tasks that support your goal. Delegate mundane tasks or schedule them throughout the week to be accomplished once your priority tasks are completed.

Unleash yourself from the “busyness syndrome”. Remember being busy is not the answer to productivity but being busy getting the right things done will get you the results that you desire and skyrocket your productivity.

© 2007 Bridgette Boudreaux

How To Achieve Your New Year’s Resolutions

2008-01-08T08:01:00.000-06:00

The New Year is here and so are your resolutions for the year. As you review your list, observe how many times you’ve transferred the same resolutions into the New Year with a promise that this year you will keep them. Make a real difference this year, don’t commit to keeping your new resolutions; commit to achieving your new resolutions. Implement the following guidelines and you will be on your way to accomplishing your
goals once and for all.

Set Realistic Measurable Goals
Setting realistic attainable goals that are measurable is an important key to achieving goals successfully. If you set goals that are unrealistic and are impossible to accomplish within 12 months, you will be setting yourself up for failure which will lead to disappointment and a lack of motivation to conquer any goals. Goals must be measurable so you will know how much you have accomplished or need to accomplish to achieve your goals. For example, losing weight is a popular resolution; so if losing weight is your goal this year and you lose one pound in January, I guess you’ve met your goal; but would you be happy with the results? Probably Not! However setting a measurable goal to lose 20 lbs. and walk 30 minutes daily will allow you to track your progress and allocate tasks to reach your desired outcome.

Write It Down
Take it out of your head and put it on paper. Writing down your goals makes them
real as oppose to dreaming about doing them sometime in the future. Written goals
are specific and concrete and it allows you to create steps to reaching your goals.
Your written goals should be placed where you can see them consistently. Post them
on your wall, on the refrigerator, in your wallet or in your journal, do not put them in a drawer or notebook where they will be forgotten. Seeing your written goals will serve as a reminder to your commitment to attain your goals.

Take Action Consistently
You’ve decided what you want to accomplish, your goals are specific, realistic,
measurable and written down, What’s Next? You must now take action, consistently.
Start today with one task and continue to complete the task consistently even if you
do not see immediate results. Your desired results will began to take form with
consistent, persistent action. Consistent action becomes habit and it will become
a part of your routine effortlessly.

Visualize The Desired Outcome Daily
Take a few minutes daily to visualize the desired outcome of your goal. Create a
mental picture of what emotions you will experience once your goal is met. If
your goal is earn a six figure income this year, visualize your bank account statement displaying $100,000.00 profit. What does it feel like? Your mental pictures will one day become your reality and you will be prepared for its arrival.

Celebrate Your Efforts
You don’t have to wait until you lose 20lbs to celebrate your success. Celebrate
the completion of daily tasks. If you complete a 30 minute walk today and didn’t eat
the usual late night snack, celebrate. Any tasks completed, self-discipline exercised or time taken to visualize your desired outcome will bring you closer to your goals than you were the day before so celebrate.

Start Over If You Get Off Track
If you get off track (hey, we all do), do not use this an excuse to stop pursuing your goals. Forgive yourself, determine what caused you to derail, improve the
circumstances and start over again. Don’t become paralyzed with past mistakes,
or lack of self-discipline, just keep moving. Each day is a new day to work towards
your goals and get closer to achieving your dreams, so don’t let one day pass
without taking full advantage of the opportunity to become better than the day before.

© 2008 Bridgette Boudreaux

Quick Organizing Tip

2007-12-12T11:14:00.000-06:00

Everything has a home! If your office desk is covered with papers that you are currently not using, create a file(home) for it. Whether it is on your desk, in your closet or the trunk of your car should be placed in its own housing when it is not being used. Once everything has a home, you will eliminate clutter and it will be easy to find the item whenever you are in need of it.

Remember: Everything Has A Home!

Always Soaring,
Bridgette Boudreaux
Get Your Free Report: 39 Quick & Simple Time Saving Tips
Visit: www.yourtime2soar.com

Eat, Pray, Love

2007-12-05T10:40:00.000-06:00

Now I know why Eat, Pray, Love is New York Times' "1 Best Seller. This is an excellent read. It is written by Elizabeth Gilbert and she writes about her spiritual search while traveling across Italy, India and Indonesia. In Italy she pursues Pleasure, in India she pursues Devotion and in Indonesia she pursues Balance. These are such wonderful attributes that we should always pursue enjoy and seek. Have you ever asked yourself, what really gives you pleasure? What are you totally devoted to? and Is your life balanced?

She reveals in her book the power of meditation, which is so important to spend just 10 min daily taking deep breathes to regain focus and to stay in the present. It is very important to take care of ourselves physically but it is just as important to spiritually take care of ourselves. When was the last time you actually sat in stillness to ask yourself, What is it that you really want out of this life? Do you explore and listen to your internal voice of wisdom that only truly appears in the stillness of the moment. Are you pleasing others and living up to their expectations or do you do the things that make you happy? Pretty deep! Asking yourself "What do I want?" is the first step to defining and setting goals.

Her story telling techniques and humor makes this book an enjoyable read.

Get The Book!

Please post your comments, especially if you have already enjoyed reading the book. I would love to hear from you.

Always Soaring,
Bridgette
www.yourtime2soar.com

Left To Tell

2007-11-28T13:14:00.000-06:00

I just finished reading: Left To Tell by Immacule'e Ilibagiza for the second time. I recommend this book for all to read. This book is a life changer. The book outlines how Immaculee discovers God amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. Immaculee and six other women hide silently for 91 days in a cramped 4 ft. x 3 ft. bathroom of a local pastor, escaping the terrors of the Hutus during the Rwandan genocide. That is 91 days without showering, eating scraps from the pastor occasionally and in silence!

During her captivity, Immaculee used her "TIME" to pray, discover God and increase her faith and learn the English language from books she requested from the pastor.

This book changed my life, increased my faith, discover true forgiveness and reinforced my belief of using time wisely to accomplish dreams, and to prepare now for future miraculous days.

What do you do with your time? Are you wasting time complaining about unfortunate events, procrastinating, dreaming without actions? Stop, read this book. Remember time is our most valuable resouce. How do you spend your time?

This is a great read! Go out and get this book. If you already read it, I would love to hear your comments.

Always soaring,
Bridgette

Me & Blair!

2007-07-31T15:56:00.000-05:00

This is Awesome! I had the opportunity to meet Blair Underwood, here in New Orleans, LA at the Essence Fest. For years I've followed Blair's career and for a moment in time I was at his side! Needless to say, this picture of us is one of my most prized possessions.

This picture will always remind me that Dreams & Opportunity do meet, so always be prepared! What are your dreams, goals, wishes? Are you getting prepared to meet it's opportunity?

The 3 P's of Successful Performance

2007-07-24T09:32:00.000-05:00

The 3 P’s of Successful Performance
By: Bridgette Boudreaux
Here’s a quick formula to maximize your performance:

Pressure

We all experience having an enormous amount of obligations, responsibilities & tasks on a daily basis with little time to accomplish them all. Do you ever feel like you are an octopus with skates on, constantly moving but not going anywhere? If that’s the case, use pressure to your advantage. Think about it, I bet at some point in your business or career you had a deadline or an unexpected project that needed to be completed yesterday and somehow with all your other obligations you pulled it off! It was completed and you wondered, how did I do it? Have you ever realized that a project can be completed in the time allowed?

For example, it’s a given that you typically have 12 months to prepare for your taxes and you just have not found time to accumulate, print, file receipts, track mileage or document business expenses in an orderly fashion for your accountant in 12 months; now it is 3 days before “the big tax day” & miraculously you have prepared & sent all documents required to your accountant in just two days to meet the three day deadline. Remember this is a task that had been on your “to-do” list for 12 months!

Why? How?
Because when we are pressured to complete a task, project, or meet a deadline, we become focused, avoid interruptions, use our time wisely, have a clear vision on what needs to be accomplished and prioritize tasks. We kick up our success performance about 10 notches!

Don’t feel overwhelmed or stressed out when pressured, welcome the opportunity to operate from your highest performance level and adopt those traits to your daily routine.

Prioritize
Among the life of numerous tasks, projects, to-do list, family responsibilities & other obligations, take a step out of overwhelm by simply setting priorities. You will never be able to do everything at once, so quit trying! You must decide which task, project or responsibility needs your immediate attention or has the soonest deadline and that is the task that gets worked on first, put the others in a tickler file according to priority.

But what if there are projects that share the same deadlines?

Get started with the most difficult ones first. For example: a business owner needs to prepare for an upcoming federal contract audit, a speaking engagement and an advisory board meeting: all scheduled for the same day.

Which is priority?

The audit will require the gathering of specific information from the past year, a financial fiscal report with supporting documents and the audit will determine if the business owner will receive additional funding. The speaking engagement speech will be 20 min. in length and can be recycled from a previous speaking engagement or article, just a little rehearsal is needed. The advisory board meeting will require an agenda, previous meeting minutes, and a meeting place to hold a meeting of 10 members.

The audit is the most difficult and will require a little more time than the others, so the business owner should start with the audit and give it the most blocked time during the day, the other projects can be worked on throughout the day as well, but priority is the audit.

Prioritizing brings clarity, gives direction and streamlines your process for completing tasks and projects. When you are juggling multiple tasks, prioritize them from most to least difficult and get the difficult out of the way. Establish a hierarchy for completing tasks and take action.

Stay tune to next “Time 2 Get It Done” newsletter to find out the third and finale P of successful performance.

My New Orleans Home

2007-05-31T10:26:00.000-05:00

I have a KITCHEN!!!!! I know you are wondering, what on earth am I talking about, everyone has a kitchen. However, not in New Orleans! I returned to New Orleans, LA from Austin, Texas (Cedar Park, TX to be exact) to continue the rebuilding process.
I added a second story, (see the picture above, side view of the house). The entire home will be painted within a couple of weeks (I found great colors). We have just completed the kitchen, and the appliances are working perfectly, especially the stove. I cooked my first meal on yesterday: Pork Chops, Macaroni & Cheese, Yams(New Orleans style) and corn bread. Today it will be Shrimp & Crawfish Pasta, Roast and Garlic Bread.

The family and I have been eating out since January. I thought I would love the opportunity to not cook, but there is nothing like home cooked food. Eating out got old, quick! The smell of the food cooking in the house is wonderful.

Do not take for granted anything that you own, because you will realize how much you need & miss it if it is unexpectedly gone. In honor of me, go and cook a fancy meal for the family, cheers to you. Back to the kitchen for me. YEAHHHHHHH!

Stay Tuned, I will be updating with pictures of the paint job, the new kitchen and the progress as it continues. I will also include some pics of the progression and lack of progression of the City of New Orleans.

2007-05-30T20:48:00.001-05:00

Introducing a "Sweet Sixteen Diva", my daughter. She made sixteen on May 17, 2007.
This is a picture of her a few minutes before leaving for her sweet sixteen bash.
Making a birthday is a reminder of how quickly time moves. It seems like yesterday when I held her in my arms and rocked her to sleep, now she will be attending driving class and continues to hint about a car. Wow! She is such a blessing in my life (my son also), we share so much, she loves the Lord, respects herself and others, excels in Arts: dance, karate, ballet, drama & academically and she has a smile that lights up the room every time!

What more can I ask for? Honestly, I think Mothers should receive a little recognition on their kids' birthdays. Why? Because I went through 9 months of carrying her, eating heathly, being uncomfortable and 8 hours of pain and then 30 min. of serious labor to get her out of the birthing canal! Push, PUSH, PUSH!! Well, you get the point. How soon we forget. I know we get Mother's Day, but we should also have Birthing Day. Hmmmmm, something to think about.

Lessons From A Checker Game

2007-05-03T10:51:00.000-05:00

This is one of my most favorite articles: Everyday through our experiences (good or bad) a lesson is learned. I love to review my day and journal about my day's lesson.
What was your lesson on today?

Lessons From A Checker Game

My 9 year old son loves to play the board game Checkers. At one time playing against him was a snap, because he didn’t really understand the concept of the game, he only enjoyed the family time together sharing an activity. However, after much practice and a graduate student of “Checker Camp” directed by his father, he became an expert player. The once short checker game became a long competitive checker tournament. One evening as I was losing horribly, my son asked me why I had not been focusing on the game. I replied that I didn’t feel the need to do such strategic thinking and planning. His response became my mantra: “It is a waste of time to make a move without a plan or strategy because the consequence will almost always = loser. Always play to win”!

Do you play to win or are you satisfied with the results from minimal effort and persistence? Do you plan your day? Is there blocked time on your daily schedule for action items? Do you have a big picture goal with small reachable daily tasks that will lead you to the bigger picture? Are you spending your days confused about what to do next? Do you operate from a strategic action plan?

If you responded NO to any of the above questions, stop wasting time and play to win.

Incorporate these strategies in you routine to win:

► Always Plan Your Day, Preferably The Night Before

► Develop A Strategy To Get The Results Want

► Visualize The Big Picture

► Complete Daily Bite Size Tasks

► Stay In The Present, Focus Only On The Work At Hand

► Rejoice In The Small Accomplishments

► Create A Successful Environment

Winners do what those who lose do not want to do!

Light Bulb Moment

2007-05-03T10:23:00.000-05:00

I was reading a very interesting article on last night about the challenges of small business owners. It also had an assessment for small business owners that I decided to take because I knew my score would be extremely high (after all, I am a Business Coach). I did not get past the first question: Do you treat your business as a hobby or a business? The answer was obvious - A business! RIGHT

Well, it then preceeded to ask had you honestly committed 30 hrs. weekly to your business? Although I have committed time, it has not totaled 30 hrs. weekly. Lately I have been guilty of letting almost everything take priority over my business. As small business owners we have to remember that having a home office is great, been self-employed is great, but we must treat our businesses as a business just like the CEO of IBM. Do you have an Advisory Board? When was the last meeting? Is your profit & lost statement up to date? Do you self educate with the lastest trends in your business? How many books have you read this month regarding your industry?
Did you attend your industry conference? Do you market your business daily? (Just something to think about!)

I am now evaluating my week and making sure that I am back on track and following my schedule. My schedule will never be a normal 9 to 5 routine (that's why I left corporate)but I will increase my committment to 30 hrs. a week. That is why been an entrepreneur is so wonderful, I can schedule my day around my activites but I must remember to schedule my activites around my business hours.

Just as relationships need renewals, you need to renew your relationship with your business. Honor your work time and be present with it and do not allow other activities to interfere with your work time. What you put into it, is what will be returned!

Always Soaring,
Bridgette

5 Ways To Delegate Without A Payroll

2007-04-03T20:41:00.000-05:00

Assign Tasks to Kids

Do not underestimate the potential of your kids. Kids can handle some task that you do not have time to do: filing, recording messages, paper shredding documents, etc. My 15 year old daughter is responsible for inputting information from business cards that I collect from meetings, into my contact management system, proof reading documents, filing, typing and other small administrative task. She loves it and it gives her great employability skills and inclusion in my business. It is a great way for kids to receive an allowance and special privileges. It allows me to concentrate on other task without having to hire someone.

Trade or Barter Services

If you are in need for a service that requires the expertise of another professional, trade services with the another business owner to avoid any cost. I currently barter by utilizing the expertise of a marketing coach and she utilizes my time management expertise. I’ve heard of a hair stylist and message therapist bartering each other’s services. It also creates another satisfied customer which will provide referrals for your business. This is a win- win situation.

Get Family & Friends Involved

Your family and friends have an abundance of talents that you can take advantage of for a project or task. You can ask for help from a family member or friend and return a favor or take them out for coffee or lunch in return for their solicited help. Notate their special talents for future reference and include it on a spread sheet for when you may need that particular help. You may need babysitting services for an evening speaking engagement or maybe your aunt is an English teacher who can edit your articles or your cousin has an excellent voice that can be used for your voice mail recordings. Utilize the talents of all!

List Projects on Elance.com

You can list a project on www.Elance.com. It allows your project to be posted for free and you then receive professional bids on completing the project. You the liberty to decide on the most affordable bid that fits your budget and review the bio and expertise of the person or company completing the project.

Contract Projects to A Virtual Assistant

You do not have to hire a virtual assistant to handle all administrative tasks. You can hire a virtual assistant per project, once the project is complicated, the contract is over. The virtual assistant can be hired per project which eliminates hiring a fulltime employee, paying health insurance, and it requires no long term commitments.

Hire College Students

Call your nearby university, community college or training program for available internships from students preparing to enter the workforce and who are in need of work experience to include on their resume and will also require a letter of reference from you for future employment.

Don’t feel that you are not alone when there is no room in your budget for additional employees or delegation. Use the above resources and proceed with your projects.
Remember you went into business to work on your expertise; don’t allow other tasks to take you away from that path!

© 2007 Bridgette Boudreaux

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Business Coach, Bridgette Boudreaux, teaches small business owners to get it all done in 6 hours or less daily!
If you’d like to accelerate your business productivity and increase revenue while finding time for family & fun stuff with Bridgette’s simple but powerful 5 Step System, call today to schedule a FREE half-hour phone consultation at 512-351-4842.
Learn more now at www.YourTime2Soar.com

How To Control The 5 Major Time Wasters

2007-04-02T22:19:00.000-05:00

Flashback: Are you ready? Hold on I will go pretty fast.

Morning

During my employment with the Louisiana Technical College, I had normal work hours 8am – 4:30pm so I started my morning at 6:00 am, getting my two kids ready for school (Jaune’ & Jeffrey, Jr.) & myself for work. The usual routine, breakfast, combing hair, loading the car with book bags and occasionally preparing lunch for the kids to take to school (if the school menu had something they didn’t find edible). First stop, Jeffrey’s school (before care) next Jaune’s school and than finally I arrive at work.

Afternoon

Jaune’ had the dream (at that time) to become an aspiring ballet dancer and she had been accepted into a strenuous dance class at New Orleans Center of Creative Arts (NOCCA),
however the classes started at 4:00 pm. so I received approval to take my lunch break at 3:30 pm to allow me the opportunity to take her to dance class to across town. Upon dropping her off at dance class, I returned to work and if I was lucky I ate something in the car or I brought something from home to eat once I returned to my office. Okay, its 4:30pm, time to leave work and pick up Jeffrey, Jr. from school (after school care) and bring him home so that he could get ready for his 5:30 pm Karate Class, we had just enough time to make it home, let him change into his karate uniform, get a snack and off to class.

Evening

Now its time to drive back across town to pick up Jaune’ from Ballet Class which is over for 6:00 pm. and return back to get Jeffrey from Karate Class which ended at 6:30pm.
Great! We are headed home for dinner (I still need to cook) homework and discussions about our day.

Are You Still With Me?

Jaune’ is now changing uniforms because she has an 8:00 pm Karate Class. We are back on the road again, however we will return to get her for 9:00 pm when her class ends. In the hour we are home, Jeffrey bathes and get ready for the night. We leave to pick up Jaune’. Okay, we are going home for the evening; we are home at 9:20 pm.

Mission Completed

I was asked numerous times how did I do it all so smoothly and with ease. I can’t remember my reply then but now I would reply, I didn’t waste time. I knew what I had to do and I did it. I didn’t allow time wasters to distract my time or allow me to be late or not complete my scheduled tasks. And you can do the same, the message is the same for your personal and business affairs, control time wasters, get more done with less stress.

1. Procastination

I will do it tomorrow, I will get to it soon or whatever excuse you use, it’s all procrastination. The feeling that you will complete the project or task in the near future will rob you of your time today and cause unnecessary stress when there is no more tomorrows left. In order to avoid this time trap, start your work day with the most unpleasant task first. Decide and visualize the desired outcome of the project and list small daily assignments that will get you to completion. You don’t have to complete the project in one day, just work on it daily, set deadlines in order to reach the desired outcome. Also, think about the consequences of not doing the project or task, which alone will motivate you to get it done. Block time on your schedule for tasks and commit to following your schedule, this will help you avoid putting off until tomorrow. Once the project is completed, you will feel emotionally great to complete other duties.

2. Emails/Telephones

Block time in your schedule to read and reply to emails. I check and reply to emails in the morning before I start my daily tasks and once again as I close my day. I only check emails during the day if I have a few minutes due to cancellations or I have finished a task sooner than anticipated. If you review & respond to emails all day or whenever you get mail, you will tend to spend more time corresponding on the internet and not completing other much needed tasks. Create folders for emails that you do not have time to read but would like to read them later on your personal time. Use filters to avoid the over abundance of unwanted mail and keep replies short and to the point. Depending upon your services or products, it is great to establish a “frequently most asked questions” list and use it to reply to questions or post it on your web page ( if you have one) as a point of reference, if the reply does not require a more customized answer from you.

3. Meetings

Before you attend or arrange a meeting make sure you have an agenda. The agenda should include the purpose of the meeting, intended outcome and action items to review. Set a start and ending time for meetings. Stay on schedule and do not allow the meeting to go past the scheduled ending time. Take accurate minutes or tape the meeting and have the notes transcribed and send it to all parties in attendance. Make sure there is a necessary need for the meeting so you do not spend time outside of your office if it is not needed.

4. Unexpected Visitors

Set office hours (especially if you are a home based business owner) and share the hours with family, friends and associates. Let them know that you are working during those hours and you should only be distracted if there is an emergency. Keep your office door closed and hang a do not disturb sign on your door. Do not engage in aimless conversation, make a decision and end discussion.

5. No Daily Game Plan

You must start your day knowing what you need to accomplish on that day. Do not waste time wondering what you will do today. Purchase a weekly planner or use a spiral notebook and list time & tasks, any appointments, blocked time for telephone calls, emails and marketing. Put everything on your schedule with deadlines. At the end of the day, clear your desk and plan the next day’s activities. You will feel organized, proud and enjoy your day without worrying about tomorrow’s task, they are already planned. At the end of the week, you can than evaluate your weekly progress and make changes accordingly.

© 2006 Bridgette Boudreaux

About the Author:

Business Coach, Bridgette Boudreaux, teaches small business owners to get it all done in 6 hours or less daily!

If you’d like to accelerate your business productivity and increase revenue while finding time for family & fun stuff with Bridgette’s simple but powerful 5 Step System, call today to schedule a FREE half-hour phone consultation at 512-351-4842.
Learn more now at www.YourTime2Soar.com

I am in Business!

2006-12-31T00:08:00.000-06:00

Wow, I can't believe it, I have decided to create a blog! A few months ago, I did not know that a "blog" existed, the use or reason to have a blog. So here I am, a blogger. I am also a new business owner so I have decided to post my success with this business on this blog as well as share some valuable tidbits of information to empower business owners to see, create and get everything they want done using vision, goals, commitment & actions. Oh! I am a Business Coach.

Let me back track and give you a little background information. August 29, 2005, I lost everything, special thanks to Hurricane Katrina for that situation. I am a native New Orleanian who evacuated to Austin, Texas one day prior to Hurricane Katrina. One year later, I'm still here. During my time here in Austin, I decided to explore my life's purpose and ambitions. I always dreamed of being a business owner (it is in my blood, my father was self-employed) and now that I have kids, I desired the opportunity to work from home. In New Orleans, I worked in post secondary education in Workforce & Training Development, as an Instructor, Business Advisor and Program Coordinator, so I wanted a way to merge these skills & experiences and continue to work with small business owners and others seeking personal development and then the birth of Soaring to Achievements, Inc. was born in May, 2005. Sometimes a major adversity can lead you to another wonderful path during life's journey. I look at this situation as my chance to show others when you are knocked down, you get back up, doesn't matter the pace, just have the strength of get up!can't believe it, I have decided to create a blog! A few months ago