Category Archives: Survival Strategies

Street smart savvy moves you’ll use to keep your business alive

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The Fit Freelancer

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What you didn’t know about me is that in addition to bring a Freelance strategy and marketing consultant,  I’ve also been a fitness instructor for the past dozen years.  I became a fitness enthusiast on my 21st birthday.  On that day I realized that the clock was ticking and that it would make sense to do whatever was possible to preserve and protect my health and strength.

I ran one mile.  I made myself drink 8 glasses of water (a substance that I loathed) and promised myself to drink at least that amount every day.  I began to eat vegetables other than corn,  spinach or peas.  Soon thereafter I became a vegetarian and followed that regimen for about 15 years,  reintroducing meat to my diet only after peer-reviewed studies showed that red meat is a beneficial component of our diets,  providing the best source of protein and facilitating the absorption of minerals.

There are now thousands of studies that focus on wellness,  that is the benefits of regular exercise,  a healthy diet,  adequate sleep and supportive relationships.   Over the past 15 years or so,  psychologists and other social scientists have learned that regular exercise does much more than improve our physical beings.  Exercise impacts the way we think.  Statistically significant cognitive benefits of regular exercise include:

  • Improved concentration
  • Enhanced creativity
  • Faster learning
  • Sharper memory
  • Greater mental stamina
  • Lower stress

Regular exercise (defined here as three or four 45-minute workouts/week;  one mile swims/week;  or two-mile runs/week) has also been shown to boost self-confidence and cause our central nervous systems to produce endorphins and serotonin,  chemicals that are natural mood elevators.  Exercise makes us think more efficiently,  work more effectively and feel happier,  more confident and less stressed.  May I add self-discipline to the list of exercise benefits?  It takes real discipline to pull oneself out of bed at 4:45 AM on a freezing January morning and venture out into the icy darkness a few minutes later,  en route to the gym.

Surprisingly,  the time of day that we exercise matters and according to researchers,  daytime is best.  A 2008 study revealed that exercising during work hours (or before the work day) improves the ability to manage time;  increases one’s productivity; improves our interactions with colleagues; and leaves us still feeling good as we head home at the end of the day.

I will concur.  I always did my runs in the early morning and eventually,  I came to prefer early morning exercise classes.  I like to get my workout done before the events of the day have a chance to derail my schedule and I love the energy blast that early morning exercise gives me.  What a feeling of accomplishment I have as I waltz out of the health club door at 8:15 AM,   showered and dressed and ready to take on the day!

Regular exercise benefits everyone and I feel it is especially beneficial for Freelance consultants and business owners.  For us,  achieving and maintaining mental and physical stamina are a must.  Researchers offer a few suggestions that will support those of you who are about to introduce fitness into your lives:

  • Find a physical activity that you like,  because you will not continue otherwise.
  • Get a trainer and/or take fitness classes.  Commit to learning how to work out in a way that maximizes the benefits and minimizes the risk of injury
  • Get social.  Talk to people and make friends at your gym.
  • Join a team if you like team sports.  You will be compelled to practice (exercise) and play (more exercise).

I offer you my suggestions,  based on many years of gym membership and 12 + years of teaching fitness:

  • Join a gym that is convenient to your home or office,  to make it easy for you to get there.
  • Early morning is probably the most convenient time to exercise.  Develop your early morning exercise routine in spring time,  when mornings are brighter and waking up will be easier.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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The Risks and Rewards of Time Management Triage

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As of September 22 at 10:30 PM,  Summer 2014 ended and Autumn officially began.  September is a hectic month for many,  as projects that have been in limbo since June,  because completion would require more time and energy than the principals could muster during July and August,  are resumed.  September is when you pick up the thread and work toward a pre-Christmas victory.  It is time for you to evaluate both work responsibilities and social invitations and decide who and what are worth your scarce time and energy.

One must learn to triage,  as emergency room physicians and nurses do,  and give ourselves permission to prioritize and move forward with what has either value or consequences and ignore what and whom are a waste of time or a low-risk write-off.  Following this strategy is not without its own set of consequences and depending on who is tugging at your sleeve,  things can get uncomfortable.  Please,  allow me to rant for a minute.

At various times in my life,  I’ve had the misfortune of interacting with one or more disrespectful,  manipulative,  boundary-crashing and supremely entitled time-sucking vampires who shamelessly and relentlessly took every opportunity to control my time and hence,  my life.  These were personal relationships and thankfully not work relationships,  but the scenario was no less stressful just because a paycheck and professional advancement were not at stake.  I am inclined to believe that women encounter this problem more often than do men.  Sadly,  both women and men will disrespect women on a regular basis.

Be advised that failing to triage one’s time also entails consequences.  The only way to have the time to fulfill important responsibilities and also participate in activities that you enjoy is to neutralize the time-suckers.  It will not be easy.  These folks are determined to get their way and they do not give up without a fight.  Expect wheedling and pestering and be prepared for possible escalation to accusations,  emotional blackmail,  harassment,  lies and guilting.  Whatever you do,  never give in to a campaign for attention and control.

But I am getting melodramatic here.  The situation is not always so heavy.  It’s just that you must recognize that you are not obligated to do everything that you’ve been asked to do,  because it’s impossible.  Your first qualifier is doing what will bring consequences if you ignore it.  Taxes come to mind,  along with deadlines for important work projects.  Activities and special occasions that involve your children and spouse will closely follow in priority and and events that involve your parents,  siblings and close friends will occupy the next tier.

Less pressing work projects,  volunteer commitments,  acquaintances and relatives whom you like are the next level down and anyone after that can take a number.   You may decide to decline or ignore their requests because quite honestly,  they are not sufficiently important to you.  If Uncle Stanley is a mean-spirited idiot who enjoys undermining people,   why would you waste time going to his birthday party?  Do not let your mother guilt you into it.

According to Ed Battista,  executive coach and instructor at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA,  the key to making time management triage work is acknowledging the emotional aspects involved in saying no or ignoring people.  Attempting to assume an intellectual approach may not be useful,  for reasons that I’ve mentioned above.  The time-suckers are masters of arm-twisting and no one wants to be portrayed as cold and callous.

Battista recommends that we must aim to expand our comfort with discomfort.  Difficult emotions and awkward  “scenes”  will no doubt have to be managed in the triage process and that is a by-product of our need to control and allot our time and energy as we see fit.  Among the skills that may be helpful is acquiring the vocabulary to communicate how overwhelmed our current responsibilities make us feel and how the prospect of additional obligations will make us feel.  The line of people demanding attention may be long,  but we must learn to say a kind,  but firm “no” when it makes sense to do so.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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Working Hard to Work Smart

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Yoo-hoo,  wake up!  Labor Day is behind us and it’s time to get serious about business.  Our Summer reverie is over until next year.  As inspiration,  I will speak with you about  “working smart”  vs. “working hard”.  That dichotomy has roamed through the popular press for quite some time,  but experience tells me that it is a straw man argument.  In reality,  if you want to be successful and realize your dreams and ambitions,  you are going to work both hard and  smart.  It has never been either or.  It’s both.

Working smart means prioritizing and devoting scarce time and resources to people and projects that deliver results.  Some ideas and activities are very appealing at first glance,  but either they do not have the potential to pan out in the way you would like or you lack the resources to bring about the desired outcome.  Research and analysis shows that time and money would be wasted there,  so you move on.

Effective hard work requires one to work smart.  There are 24 hours in a day and we do need time to sleep and eat,  as well as attend to responsibilities other than work.  Not everything can be outsourced.  The willingness and discipline to roll out of bed at 5:00 AM and work productively until 10:00 PM or even later may be the sweat equity one needs to invest to make the concept viable and sustainable.

Founder of the hardware and software integration company MicroSolutions and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team Mark Cuban knows all about working hard and making sacrifices.  Those behaviors supported him as he built MicroSolutions into a $30 million business.  In his role on the ABC-TV reality show Shark Tank,  the billionaire angel investor has found that aspiring entrepreneurs who have the discipline to learn more about their product,  their business model,  prospective customers,  the marketplace and the competition have the greatest chance for creating a successful enterprise.  He claims that money and connections are not as important as one might think  (I beg to differ on that point).   Cuban goes on to say that if you fail,  decipher what went wrong,  re-group and re-launch.

Cuban also cautions against constantly designing your products and services to give the customer what they say they want.  He advises business owners to solicit customer opinions about what could be made to function better and make doing business with you easier,  but to avoid relying on customer opinions to create future offerings.  Cuban points out that creating the road map to the future is the business owner’s job.  One stays in business by offering products and services to the customer that they don’t know they want until you give it to them.

But understand that hard work,  smart work and study won’t guarantee that you’ll create a successful business,  either.   Contrary to Cuban’s assertions,  connections count  (especially in the  intangible services arena,  where word-of-mouth is powerful);  money counts  (especially when funding the development of a product);  and good luck and timing count  (he may agree with these last factors).  Vision,  ingenuity and risk calculation also matter and these will impact your luck and timing.   Also,  let us not underestimate the momentum-building power of your absolute belief in your product or service and your ability to communicate that passion and enthusiasm to prospective customers and investors.

I leave you with a quote about working hard from Alexis Ohanian,  co-founder of the social news website reddit  and author of Without Their Permission  (2013) “I was willing to burn the candle at both ends.”

Thanks for reading,
Kim

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So Take A Vacation, Already

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A 2011 survey by American Express revealed that fewer than half of U.S. small business owners will take a vacation this summer.   37 % cited that their work schedules would not allow them to take time off.   29 % reported that they were unable to afford a vacation.  16 %  stated that they do not take vacations,  period.  A 2013 study by Staples reported that more than 40 % of small business owners find it difficult to relax and enjoy themselves when they do take a vacation,  due to constant concerns about what may be happening to their business while they are away.

Regardless of the habits of American small business owners,  research indicates that vacations are more beneficial than they realize and that all those who work would be wise to take time off.  Doing so confers benefits to both one’s health and business productivity.  The landmark Framingham (MA) Heart Study revealed that women who on average took only one vacation in six years were nearly eight times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than those who vacation annually.  A 2008 study reported that men who do not take a vacation every year are 32 % more likely to die of a heart attack than men who do vacation every year.

No doubt other factors were involved in bringing on those coronary events,  but there is still a demonstrable positive correlation between stepping away from the grind of work and overall health.  To function optimally,  both the brain and heart like a little rest now and again.  Without adequate rest,  we descend into fatigue and fatigue makes it difficult for us to think either rationally or creatively and we are less able to make smart decisions.

Peter Handal,  CEO of the venerable leadership development company Dale Carnegie strongly recommends that workers take a few days off and do something that they enjoy.  A recent study by Intuit found that 82 % of small business owners who took a vacation experienced an increase in performance when they returned to their business.  A 2005 study by organizational psychologists Charlotte Fritz of Portland (OR) State University and Sabine Sonnentag of the University of Manheim (Germany) demonstrated the phenomenon of a post-vacation boost in energy reserves that results in greater productivity per hour worked.

The Protestant Work Ethic that the Puritans imposed onto the United States has in many ways done more harm than good.  In terms of the number of vacation days and holidays awarded to workers by companies in the industrialized nations,  the US ranks dead last.  Americans foolishly think that the workaholic is the virtuous, high-producing hero and that the more hours worked,  the better.  But Henry Ford,  who conducted various productivity studies at his Detroit plant for 12 years,   learned in the 1920s that worker productivity falls sharply after 40 hours/week.  That’s why he reduced his factory worker’s week to 5 days,  40 hours from 6 days,  48 hours.

Research about the optimal length of vacation time off is conflicting,  with some researchers advocating for shorter breaks and others recommending 2 weeks or more,  as is the standard in Latin America and Europe.  Vacations can be difficult for the self-employed,  who often have inconsistent income streams.  Still,  whenever you can,  take a few days off when you are not busy and get out of town.  Stay with a friend or get a bed from Air BandB.  Participate in low-cost activities that you enjoy,  whether it’s camping,  hiking,  going to the beach,  attending free outdoor music festivals or visiting museums.   Your smart phone will help you keep up with important emails.   You are guaranteed to lose a few layers of stress,  improve your overall health,  increase your productivity and feel better about your self.

On Thursday morning,  I will travel to Portland, ME for four days of R & R that will feature a scenic cruise on Casco Bay and lots of lobster!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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The Less Than Zero Pricing Tactic

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Psychology counts when pricing a product or service.  Take note that in every store,  the price of items always ends in .99,  .98,  or .95 and never .00.  Number psychology research has persuasively shown that buyers do not like zeros.  Stores do not sell items for $100.00,  they sell them for $99.95,  because customers associate zeros with premium prices that they’d rather not pay.

Furthermore,  the phenomenon called the left digit effect causes our brains to misinterpret that $99.95 as having a value closer to $99.00,  instead of $100.00.  Lindsay van Thoen,  columnist for The Freelancer’s Union,  says that our clients are like any other consumer and Freelance consultants should bear that in mind when pricing contract proposals.

When we are invited to submit a proposal,  we are all excited.  Here comes money!  The last thing we want to do is to wind up in a wrestling match with a client who wants to nickel and dime.  We take pains to itemize the major components of the project and provide the rationale for the total project fee.  Nevertheless,  haggling may ensue.  According to van Thoen,  Freelancers are wise to follow the lead of retailers,  cut the zeros from our proposals and make it easier for clients to agree to our price.  Resist the temptation to price your project at $5,000.00.  Instead,  price the project at $4825.00 or $5175.00.

Unfortunately,  clients sometimes feel that Freelance consultants pad price quotes,  even when an itemized accounting is provided.  A figure that does not appear to be rounded-off,  but appears to be specifically customized to the service requested and contains few zeros that may imply that we’ve  “rounded-up”  the fee,  can be more trust-inspiring and believable to certain clients.

Other ways to make it more palatable for clients to accept our proposals are to  1.) Ask the client for the project budget and work with them to provide services that you can afford to provide within that valuation and  2.) Provide three levels of service: good,  better and best,  so that clients can choose services according to needs and budget.

Pricing pundit Rafi Mohammed,  founder and CEO of the consulting firm Pricing for Profit in Cambridge, MA,  offers two valuable pieces of advice to keep in mind about pricing.  First,  prices must reflect the value that clients place on the service.  Second,  different clients place different value on a given service.  Offering  “good, better,  best”  options allows the client’s need for the service to be met in a way that is in line with the value placed.  A good pricing strategy is an important part of your marketing plan.  It sets the stage for building a profitable enterprise.  It is imperative to set prices that reflect the client’s value of what we sell and,  equally important,  to help the client perceive that listed prices are trustworthy.

Happy 4th of July!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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Avoiding Exploitation: How Much Free Advice?

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You’ve seen this movie before.  You are excited by an invitation to visit the office of a promising prospect.  There is a great discussion about the business and where your services would fit.  Serious questions are asked and,  anxious to demonstrate your understanding of the your  (almost)  clients’ needs,   you supply straightforward and practical answers.  The prospect seems impressed with your business acumen;  the energy in the room feels good;  you can visualize your first day on the job.  At the meeting’s end,  there is talk of bringing you in to specify the details of a working relationship.

A week slips by and then two.  Your email or phone call is either unanswered,  or the answer you receive is that your prospect is unable to move forward at this time.  Can you call back next month? Ten days into the new month you call and realize,  with much regret,  that the trail has gone cold.  Who you thought would become a new client was just an imposter,  who robbed the stagecoach of your expertise and disappeared.

That scenario is repeated more than one would think at for-profit and not-for-profit institutions alike.  The fact is,  unless a consulting professional works at Bain,  McKinsey,  or some other big consulting group,   rip-off artists may conspire to defraud you of actionable business information without paying you a dime.  I’ve been invited to two or three interviews where in hindsight I came to realize that the  “prospect”  was merely fishing for free ideas that would resolve a dilemma that would be handled in-house.

Certain salaried predators find it very clever to pretend that there is a nice project available,  call in a few Freelance consultants and pepper us with questions that we answer because we neither eat nor pay the rent or mortgage unless we obtain clients.   The schemers take copious notes and laugh as we walk out of the door,  filled with false hope and visions of paid-off credit cards.

The business press occasionally takes this subject on and presents an article that provides strategies that Freelancers might use to protect ourselves,  but I have little faith in the proposed remedies.  Reading them,  I’ve seen almost nothing that I would expect to work in real-time.  The prospective client asks questions about a project.  How do you avoid providing answers and demonstrating your ability to do the job? Giving a wonderful sales presentation only means there will be better quality information to steal from you.  Recommendations to find out who will be in the meeting and searching for common ground that will allow you to connect on a personal level with at least one person on the team  (oh, you grow roses, too?)  means nothing to someone whose agenda is to exploit.  Knowing when to try to close the deal means nothing because there is nothing to close,  except the door in your face.

There are few effective solutions for this troubling occurrence.  To date,  the best I’ve read was contributed by Grant Cardone,  sales guru and best-selling author of Sell to Survive  (2008)  and Sell or Be Sold  (2012): “I would like to work with you on this issue and I have a few ideas on how we might proceed,  but at this time I don’t know your company well enough to give you answers that either of us could trust to be correct”.

The beauty of this response is that it’s true and it can most likely stop the ” client ” from continuing to press for free consulting advice.  Brazen types may threaten to snatch the  “opportunity”  away from you but if that does occur,  take it as a clear sign that there never was an intention to hire you or anyone else.  Graciously and immediately end the meeting.  If by some miracle the client is real,  your statement will be respected and taken as a sign of integrity.  Your candor might even win you the contract.

Good luck and Happy Easter,

Kim

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Cosi Fan Tutte: Uber Achievers

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Hello again and welcome back to the list of suggested behaviors and activities that will help you achieve your 2014 wish list.  For the past three years I presented New Year’s Resolutions but this year,  you get to pick what you want to do.  I’m here to help you get what you want!  To do that,  I read up on motivational psychologist and Associate Director of the Motivation Science Center at Columbia University School of Business Heidi Grant Halvorson,  who writes for The Harvard Business Review.  Dr. Grant Halvorson is a highly successful professional,  but unlike many charmed individuals,  it is safe to say that she knows how she became,  and remains,  successful.   Here are the final four elements of her 201 1 e-book,  Nine Things Successful People Do Differently:

VI.   KEEP ON KEEPING ON: Be willing to commit to long-term goals and persevere in the face of difficulty.  Studies show that those who are able to put shoulder to the wheel and push through adversity obtain more education in their lifetime and earn higher grade point averages in school.  To help yourself along,  plan specific actions that when followed will bring you to your goal.  Devise a timeline for your action plan,  monitor the efficacy of strategies and reward yourself when important milestones are reached.

VII.  BUILD WILLPOWER MUSCLES: Our self-control muscle is like any other of our muscles.  When we don’t use it,  it eventually atrophies.  Use it or lose it! Give your willpower muscle a good workout by taking on small challenges that compel you to do something that perhaps you’d rather not,  e.g. taking on a home cleaning and organizing project.  Establish must-start and must-complete dates and then commit to them.   If you find yourself wavering and making excuses to put off the project—don’t!  Flex your willpower muscle and do some heavy lifting.  As you develop inner strength,  also known as self-discipline,  you’ll ready yourself to take on bigger challenges and achieve more life-changing goals.  It’s like training for a marathon by starting with 5K races.

VIII. DON’T TEMPT FATE: No matter how strong your willpower becomes,  it is important to always respect the inevitable fact that human beings have limits.  If you over-reach,  you’ll run out of steam or out of luck.  Avoid taking on more than one major challenge at a time if you can help it.  Do not be over-confident and bite off more than you can chew by setting obviously unattainable goals.  Successful people instinctively know what is in the realm of the possible and refrain from setting themselves up for failure.

IX.  FOCUS ON WHAT YOU WILL DO: …and not on what you will not do.  Research on thought suppression shows that trying to avoid a thought has the opposite effect and makes that thought grow larger in our minds.  The same holds true for behaviors.  By trying not to engage in a bad habit,  like smoking or eating junk food,  the habit becomes strengthened instead of broken.  Instead,  turn your thoughts toward implementing strategies that will bring you to your goal.

I hope that reading Dr. Grant Halvorson’s  Nine Things  helps you to acknowledge what you’ve been doing right all along.   As well,  I hope you’re able to identify the mistakes that have undermined you and that going forward,  you will develop successful strategies that pave the way to your most important goals.  Have a wonderful year.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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Become An Uber Achiever

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Happy New Year!  Please accept my sincere best wishes for a happy and successful 2014.  As is customary,  I begin the year with information I consider to be motivational,  since a new year  (along with Spring)  suggests a fresh start.  In my first posts of 2011,  2012 and 2013,  I presented lists of suggested New Year’s Resolutions for you to adopt.  This year,  I invite you to choose the goal of your dreams and I’m pleased to pass along suggestions on how to make it your own.

You may have noticed that many highly successful people do not have a clear sense of how they manage to grab the brass ring time and again.  Often,  uber achievers do not have an awareness of what allows them to succeed or prevents them from failing.  How do certain mere mortals repeatedly gain the favor of the gods?

It is true that we all have a repository of certain attributes,  advantages,  competencies and talents: the natural salesman,  the math whiz,  the influential family.  Some may encounter a wise and powerful mentor along the way,  who guides them onto the right path,  keeps them out of harm’s way or gives them the heads-up about opportunities on the horizon.

Motivational psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson says in her book  Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals  (2011)  that research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not only because of the cards they hold,  but also because of what they do.  Halvorson has spilled the beans on what other behaviors makes the rich different from you and me  (with apologies to those who do not equate success with wealth):

I.    BE SPECIFIC: When setting goals,  be as specific as possible.  Knowing precisely what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there.  Furthermore,  identify and commit to specific actions that must be taken to reach your goal,  actions that leave no room for doubt about what must be done.

II.   CARPE DIEM: Achieving goals means recognizing and acting upon opportunities before they slip through your fingers.  Make sure that you don’t fail to ride a good wave because you didn’t bother to anticipate its possible arrival,  or because you were distracted by competing pursuits and dramas.  Open the door to success by planning to take real steps toward your goals.  Studies show that planning trains our brain to recognize and seize opportunities when they arise,  in that way increasing our chance of success by about 300%.  In other words,  plan to succeed.

III.  MONITOR AND MEASURE: Achieving goals requires regular monitoring of one’s progress.  Know your timeline and milestones and adjust your strategies and actions according to progress made.  Rewarding yourself for interim successes is a good idea.

IV.  REALISTIC OPTIMISM: Thinking positively about the likelihood of achieving your goal is enormously helpful in creating the conditions for success and sustaining motivation.  Nevertheless,  guard against underestimating how difficult it may be to get where you want to go.  Anything worth having is likely to require significant time,  planning,  sacrifice and persistence.  Daughter-in-law of the Prince of Wales,  mother of a future king of England,  Catherine Middleton used to be called “Waity Katy”.   Now she’s known as the Duchess of Cambridge!

V.   GETTING BETTER: Believing that you are able to reach your goal is imperative.  Equally important is believing that you can acquire  the ability to reach your goal.  In other words,  focus on acquiring whatever the building blocks of success may be,  whether that means learning new skills or developing relationships with those who can help move you forward.

I’ll be back next week with a few more building blocks for you to incorporate into your plan for success.  Have a great week.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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The Unwritten Rules of the Business Christmas Party

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It’s countdown to Christmas and you may have already been to two or three parties by the time this post is published.  I will have been to three and one was at a business association.  I had a nice time.  I met a few people,  found out a few things about what is on the horizon for the association and got to know the president a little better.

In other words,  the Christmas party went as planned.  When attending a business Christmas party,  plan is the operative word.  Whether the party is hosted by your company,  a client,  or a business or professional association,  relax and enjoy the event,  but remember that you are at work.  Focus less on revelry and more on building or renewing relationships.

Always remember that you are being watched and evaluated,  because Christmas parties have a long-standing reputation of providing a stage for outrageous behavior.  Assume that those in attendance are waiting for someone to obviously over-indulge on alcohol,  or maybe slip out of the door with someone other than her husband.  Walk in the door making a good impression by following the requested dress code.  When none is specified,  wear whatever business attire means in that organization.

Create an agenda for the business Christmas parties you attend and polish your elevator pitch.  Besides chatting with your contact at the organization  (or your boss,  if you are an employee),  make a list of two or three other presumptive party guests that you would like to speak with,  whether or not you’ve met them,  and questions you’d like to ask.  However,  do not try to consummate a deal at the party.  Aim to set up a time to follow-up at a later date.

Because alcohol is inevitably involved,  it’s best to implement your action plan while everyone is relatively sober.  Arrive early.  Get your introductions made and have important conversations as early as possible.  Have maximum one alcoholic beverage and then drink mineral water with a slice of lime or lemon,  so that it looks as if you are having a cocktail,  to prevent yourself from drinking too much.  Leave sort of early.

Along with your must-meet list,  extend yourself and meet others.  When you see someone standing alone,  walk up and introduce yourself.  Start a conversation by asking if they come to this party regularly.  Meeting and greeting are the essence of every party.

When Christmas party invitations arrive,  recognize them for their potential networking value.  Think of a business Christmas party like a conference that doesn’t have presentations,  where you can meet or maybe reconnect with colleagues,  meet a new strategic partner or clients.  Yet do not make the mistake of talking too much business at the party.  Career coach Kathleen Brady,  owner of Brady and Associates Career Planners,  advises that  at the party  “You’re trying to create on-ramps to build new relationships.”  Now go have a good time!

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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The ABCs of Time Management

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Setting priorities and establishing boundaries are the heart of time management.  These behaviors are closely linked to productivity and the achievement of important goals and objectives.  There are inevitably instances when conflicting responsibilities and demands threaten to overwhelm us.  Deadlines loom.  Manipulative people scheme to insinuate themselves into our lives because they enjoy the attention and control.

Procrastination ushers in avoidance behavior that sabotages the fulfillment of obligations and may prevent us from reaching our full potential.  We may disappoint those who deserve our support.  The cold fact is that certain responsibilities and people are more important than others and we must be mindful of that reality when allocating the most precious resource we possess,  next to our health.

Julian Birkinshaw,   Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School and Jordan Cohen,   Productivity Specialist at the global firm PA Consulting Group,  have  spent the past three years studying how knowledge workers can become more productive.  The two found that knowledge workers spend 41%  of their time on discretionary activities that don’t necessarily bring much value.   To make the most our time,  it is not enough to merely draw up a to-do list and throw oneself into as many items as hours and energy allow.   It is necessary to give some thought to the implications and potential impact of what must be done,  as well as the consequences of failing to do it.

In his 1973 time management classic How to Get Control of your Time and Your Life,  Alan Lakein recommended that we evaluate each task by establishing SMART — specific, measurable, achievable,  realistic and timely- — goals when deciding where to devote our time and what to do first.

SMART goals are used to rank and label what we must do as an A,  B,  or C task.   A-level tasks /goals are the most important.  Lakein says A-level tasks are where one devotes 80%  of available time.   The remaining 20%  of available time will be divided between the B-level and C-level tasks,  with C-level tasks receiving the smallest percentage of time.

To achieve important goals and objectives and in general accomplish whatever it is you intend to do,  make a to-do list and start with A-level tasks.  Lakein emphasizes that in order to get beyond mere efficiency,  in which a laundry list of essentially unimportant tasks are completed,  and on to productivity,   we must understand and do what is most important.   He urges us to work smarter,  by doing what brings value-added and not harder,  by frittering our time on busy-work that could either be ignored or out-sourced.

Birkinshaw and Cohen suggest that we sort the C-level tasks into three groups:  quick kills,  meaning it’s possible to discontinue these tasks with little or no negative consequences;  off-loads,  meaning what can be delegated or out-sourced;   and long-term redesign,  meaning projects that need to be restructured or re-thought before they can be assessed for value-added potential.   The idea is to make more time available for A-level tasks or leisure activities that allow us to re-charge our energy stores,  relax and enjoy ourselves.   Work – life balance is an important component of quality of life,  preventing burn-out and enabling us to operate at our productive and creative peak.

Thanks for reading,

Kim