Is it or Isn’t It – A Recession?

Just say “No” to the Recession!

Others may be having money troubles and financial setbacks, but that doesn’t mean you too have to be a victim. So, while others lose money in the recession, you can make money.

Making money during a recession requires self-discipline, fortitude, and a winning strategy. If you want to earn money during tough economic times, follow this step…and the others we’ll post in the next few days.

Rise Above the Recession

A recession can be devastating. Not only can it cause financial problems, but…even worse…it can wreak havoc emotionally. In order to make money during a recession, you must rise above the emotional turmoil it can cause. Only then will you have the clear head needed to survive and thrive during tough financial times.

How do you rise above the recession?

Learn to analyze it rather than simply react to it. In fact, this is helpful advice for any crisis. Those who have fought cancer successfully, for example, will tell you that they did so by tackling it head-on and with a clear head, rather than allowing it to overwhelm their thoughts and emotions. Don’t let your emotions run wild.

Analyze the economy like you would a chess game.

Be deliberate. Be calm. Be determined. Be cool. Be collected.

Here is a link to additional information about surviving “recessioning”, and stop back here tomorrow for another tip.

Happy Presidents’ Day

Happy “special” birthday to President Lincoln.

And George, your turn’s coming.

3 Fast and Easy Steps to Managing Your Time

Becoming successful, doing all the things you want to, and achieving the ultimate success, comes on the heels of paying attention to time management.

You can get there, too.

Some things you can do to increase your ability to manage your time are:

1) Eliminate time wasters in your life.
Time wasters are things that interrupt you. You spend time doing, but really wouldn’t have chosen to do them given the choice.

Managing common time wasters like the following are crucial to your productivity:

• Email—If you are spending more than 30 minutes per day on email (unless that is your business) you are spending too much!

• Telephone—If you answer the phone live more than 5 times per day during your productive time (work, work at home, etc.), you are giving up time management and efficiency. If you’re spending more time than that answering the phone, you interrupt your current productive flow and kill your productivity.

• Television—This must be limited in order for you to achieve ultimate control over your time; thirty minutes per day at max, especially if you are not accomplishing all the things you need to or want to.

2) Make a list of what is genuinely important in your life

Then work your way through the things on your list.

One of the keys to time management is prioritization—you absolutely must know what you want to accomplish and then go do it. There are too many distractions in today’s world. So when you allow those distractions to become priority, you sacrifice time management.

To help you with your prioritization, we’ve compiled a few steps to follow:

• Make of list of what you want to accomplish
• Set time-frames for accomplishing each item
• Organize each item in order of importance
• Create a game plan for achieving each of your goals in its respective time-frame

3) Pay special attention to time management throughout the day

And how it relates to your activities. Your focus must consistently be on managing your time. Once you determine your goals and your priorities, simply focus on getting those things done. If something isn’t on your goals list for one week—don’t do it until all your goals are done.

When you prioritize every interruption that occurs and put your goals last, you cannot accomplish anything. Instead, you become a slave (as you probably are now) to interruptions.

Which often results in feeling like you can’t get anything done.

Make That Two Bonbons, Please!

“One for my baby, and one more for”….

An overly stressed co-worker! There was a time when she would often jokingly announce that she didn’t care if she got fired; she’d then just stay home, claim unemployment, watch television, and eat bonbons!

Unfortunately, the fact that she had a house, a car, three kids, a dog and a propensity to eat precluded any such grandiose ambitions. As a result, disenchanted and sometimes sullen, she’d set about doing each day’s tasks. Her message, though short-sighted, was that away from the office the living would be easy.

To her, and most likely to the majority of us, winning the lottery would quite nicely pre-empt the need to work.

But imagine what you would do. How would your life change? Would you change your lifestyle? If you had no previous inclination to clean the house, how would having money now make you want to wrestle with the Dust-Buster?

If you eat bonbons regularly what happens?

Sooner or later the edge of the zipper on the left side of the pants won’t meet the edge of the zipper on the right side no matter how hard you tug; or push on or suck in your stomach; the shirt unintentionally stops two inches short of the waistband, (sometimes that’s just ewwww!), and the scale groans. Loudly!

As Solopreneurs, or Independent Contractors if you will, our job is to provide some element of support (depending upon our expertise) to our clients.

When we are somewhat lethargic or otherwise disengaged from our health and well-being, our thought processes and productivity are more apt to provide less than stellar guidance and service. And our businesses suffer!

You can have your bonbon and eat it, too!

Start each day with the routine of eating breakfast, one that is filling and nutritious, and vitamin-enriched. Fruit, milk, whole grain cereal or bread, and a smattering of protein thrown in all kick up your metabolism. You’ll be more eager to face the day and physical activity.

This “new” and “cool” movement can be done in various ways according to your own expertise; Ricky Martin best described it several years ago when he performed and sang, “Shake your bonbon!”

In the end then, for your body and your whole well-being, not just your ‘end’, “Shake your bonbon!”