Here is  what they suggest:

“Plan each day. Planning your day can help you accomplish more and feel more in control of your life. Write a to-do list, putting the most important tasks at the top. Keep a schedule of your daily activities to minimize conflicts and last-minute rushes.

Prioritize your tasks. Time-consuming but relatively unimportant tasks can consume a lot of your day. Prioritizing tasks will ensure that you spend your time and energy on those that are truly important to you.

Say no to nonessential tasks. Consider your goals and schedule before agreeing to take on additional work.

Delegate. Take a look at your to-do list and consider what you can pass on to someone else.

Take the time you need to do a quality job. Doing work right the first time may take more time upfront, but errors usually result in time spent making corrections, which takes more time overall.

Break large, time-consuming tasks into smaller tasks. Work on them a few minutes at a time until you get them all done.

Practice the 10-minute rule. Work on a dreaded task for 10 minutes each day. Once you get started, you may find you can finish it.

Evaluate how you’re spending your time. Keep a diary of everything you do for three days to determine how you’re spending your time. Look for time that can be used more wisely. For example, could you take a bus or train to work and use the commute to catch up on reading? If so, you could free up some time to exercise or spend with family or friends.

Limit distractions. Block out time on your calendar for big projects. During that time, close your door and turn off your phone, pager and e-mail.

Get plenty of sleep, have a healthy diet and exercise regularly. A healthy lifestyle can improve your focus and concentration, which will help improve your efficiency so that you can complete your work in less time.

Take a time management course. If your employer offers continuing education, take a time management class. If your workplace doesn’t have one, find out if a local community college, university or community education program does.

Take a break when needed. Too much stress can derail your attempts at getting organized. When you need a break, take one. Take a walk. Do some quick stretches at your workstation. Take a day of vacation to rest and re-energize.”

For the full article visit:  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/time-management/WL00048

Which technique will you choose to get started?

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

“As we mature our brains evolve accordingly. We have a significant amount of control over this development. Through deliberate, proactive practice, we can change the way we think and behave.

Here are eight strategies:
1. Self-awareness: Know your strengths and work on developing them to reach your goals. Select those goals that intrinsically motivate you because of your unique passions and drive so that you fulfill your own definition of a meaningful life.
2. Emotional regulation: Thoughts and beliefs affect feelings and subsequent behaviors. What you believe about yourself and your world directly affects what you feel and how you act.
3. Cognitive reframing: Repeatedly engaging in negative thoughts and actions results in undesirable brain alterations. Actively engaging in positive thoughts and actions leads to beneficial ones. You won’t always achieve your goals, but you can benefit from failure. Putting a positive spin on things changes the brain and primes it to be resilient and motivated.
4. Deliberate practice: London taxi drivers train very hard to memorize city street addresses and in doing so enlarge certain areas of their brains. Musicians experience that same brain growth in other areas. We all do. The key is to keep practicing in spite of setbacks.
5. Meditation: Research is conclusive on this: practicing even small doses of daily meditation can improve focus and attentional control. You don’t have to be a Zen master; sitting calmly for several minutes is a start. Longer sessions benefit the brain more.
6. Physical exercise: A regular exercise program increases attentional focus, improves learning and memory, reduces impulsivity, enhances mood, and lowers stress. More blood to the brain helps provide oxygen and glucose to fuel its functioning. As little as 20 minutes of cardio exercise releases BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factors, which support the growth of new neurons.
7. Nutrition: What’s good for the heart is good for the brain. Fruits and vegetables, low fat sources of protein, berries, apples, fish and omega oils all provide elements for a healthy brain.
8. Sleep: Seven to eight hours of sleep are vital for optimal brain function. It helps restore the balance of communication between reasoning and emotional centers and improves memory.”

For the full article see: http://www.kashboxcoaching.com/augb.html

A tool that you might also enjoy is www.luminosity.com  – which is a site with games that help with “brain” workouts.

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

6. Change equals growth, not pain.
Average bosses see change as both complicated and threatening, something to be endured only when a firm is in desperate shape. They subconsciously torpedo change … until it’s too late.
Extraordinary bosses see change as an inevitable part of life. While they don’t value change for its own sake, they know that success is only possible if employees and organization embrace new ideas and new ways of doing business.

7. Technology offers empowerment, not automation.
Average bosses adhere to the old IT-centric view that technology is primarily a way to strengthen management control and increase predictability. They install centralized computer systems that dehumanize and antagonize employees.
Extraordinary bosses see technology as a way to free human beings to be creative and to build better relationships. They adapt their back-office systems to the tools, like smartphones and tablets, that people actually want to use.

8. Work should be fun, not mere toil.
Average bosses buy into the notion that work is, at best, a necessary evil. They fully expect employees to resent having to work, and therefore tend to subconsciously define themselves as oppressors and their employees as victims. Everyone then behaves accordingly.
Extraordinary bosses see work as something that should be inherently enjoyable–and believe therefore that the most important job of manager is, as far as possible, to put people in jobs that can and will make them truly happy.

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

1. Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield.
Average bosses see business as a conflict between companies, departments and groups. They build huge armies of “troops” to order about, demonize competitors as “enemies,” and treat customers as “territory” to be conquered.
Extraordinary bosses see business as a symbiosis where the most diverse firm is most likely to survive and thrive. They naturally create teams that adapt easily to new markets and can quickly form partnerships with other companies, customers … and even competitors.

2. A company is a community, not a machine.
Average bosses consider their company to be a machine with employees as cogs. They create rigid structures with rigid rules and then try to maintain control by “pulling levers” and “steering the ship.”
Extraordinary bosses see their company as a collection of individual hopes and dreams, all connected to a higher purpose. They inspire employees to dedicate themselves to the success of their peers and therefore to the community–and company–at large.

3. Management is service, not control.
Average bosses want employees to do exactly what they’re told. They’re hyper-aware of anything that smacks of insubordination and create environments where individual initiative is squelched by the “wait and see what the boss says” mentality.
Extraordinary bosses set a general direction and then commit themselves to obtaining the resources that their employees need to get the job done. They push decision making downward, allowing teams form their own rules and intervening only in emergencies.

4. My employees are my peers, not my children.
Average bosses see employees as inferior, immature beings who simply can’t be trusted if not overseen by a patriarchal management. Employees take their cues from this attitude, expend energy on looking busy and covering their behinds.
Extraordinary bosses treat every employee as if he or she were the most important person in the firm. Excellence is expected everywhere, from the loading dock to the boardroom. As a result, employees at all levels take charge of their own destinies.

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_88.htm

Once you complete the quiz, be sure to determine whch area you need to improve on the most and make it a goal.

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

Jim was terrified. He thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!”
When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed, Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, “This is your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!” Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his seed.

“How could he be the new CEO?” the others said.

Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead – it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!”

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust
* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment
* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective
* If you plant hard work, you will reap success
* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn’t have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by — still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn’t say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil – he so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach; it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room.

When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful – in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

“You’ve recently been promoted to “manager.” Congratulations! But as a first-time manager who’s now responsible for the growth and well-being of an entire team, you have no idea what you’re getting into. To help you out, I spoke with a few recently-appointed managers and an executive coach to get some pointers.”

http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/hr/5-tips-for-first-time-managers-1031912/

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

The Comfort Zone

Author Unknown

I used to have a comfort zone where I knew I couldn’t fail,
The same four walls of busy work were really more like a jail

I longed so much to do the things I’d never done before,
But I stayed inside my comfort zone and paced the same old floor

I said it didn’t matter that I wasn’t doing much,
I said I didn’t care for things like diamonds or furs and such

I claimed to be so busy with the things inside my zone,
But deep inside I longed for something special of my own

I couldn’t let my life go by just watching others win,
I held my breath and stepped outside to let the change begin

I took a step and with new strength I’d never felt before,
I kissed my comfort zone good bye and closed and locked the door

If you are in a comfort zone afraid to venture out,
Remember that all winners were at one time filled with doubt

A step or two and words of praise can make your dreams come true
Greet your future with a smile, success is there for you!

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

“This is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip.

You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just ponder on them.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.

4 Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies..  Awards tarnish..  Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson:

The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money…or the most awards. They simply are the ones who care the most!”

”Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!”

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN