The strangest thing happened to me this week.

On Monday I woke up with my throat slightly scratchy but once I was up properly, I was okay.

However at work I had little glimpses that all was not well until I couldn’t even speak with my scratchy throat without coughing in the afternoon.

Well, I went home to take some medicine and was feeling better about 24 hours later.

Still not perfect but better.

Now when these things happen, I won’t lie – my first instinct is to think about all the things I need to do and why this is inconvenient for me.

Right?

But then yesterday I thought, “what is the good in this?” Of course it was not good that I was coughing my lungs out.

However, I have read a lot (I’m well on my way with my non-fiction book and I finished a fiction one bringing me up to 3 books completed out of my monthly goal of 5).

I also got to spend some more time with the kids than I normally would. Some extra snuggles (but no kissing!) and reading time.

And I cooked a meal from scratch in the middle of the week. This never happens – I heat from the freezer during the week

So there, I found 3 things to be thankful for in the midst of the scratchy throat and blocked ears business

Which brings me to this week’s quick tip.

The first rule of time management (and of life, really) is realising that you always have a choice.

Always.

Often people tell me they don’t have a choice because x, y and z.

Actually, that’s not true.

You always, always have a choice.

I’ll give you this – sometimes those choices are Super Hard but they’re always there. It also takes courage to admit those choices.

Let me explain.

1. I’ve been saying I can’t go to Weigh-Less and gym on a Saturday morning. This weekend I realised I’m lying to myself. Technically I could do it. It’s just super hard and tight, time-wise with the kids’ breakfast and gym.

But I could do it if I really wanted to wake up 30 minutes earlier

2. A lady told me she didn’t have time to do anything for herself.

When we explored a little more, she did, in fact, have time, but she was too tired at night after the chores were done. Don’t you hate chores?!

But it’s not true that she doesn’t have a choice. She does. She could, technically, do something for herself first IF SHE WANTED TO and then finish the household chores. She could leave some chores for the husband (!).

It takes courage to say, “I’m choosing to rather do household chores than spend time on myself”.

3. Still someone else was talking to me about a work situation last year.

She said she didn’t have a choice in leaving her employment because she couldn’t find another job.

I told her to accept responsibility for where she was at. Stop complaining and realise if anything’s to change, you’ve got to make it happen.

If she didn’t want to go out and find something else, then to consciously say to herself, “I’m choosing to stay at my current company because of X, Y and Z” otherwise to realise she has a choice.

Well, this same lady sent me an email last week. Apparently I kicked her butt and she decided to go out and look for another job. She told me she’s SOOOO happy and is so glad I talked tough to her.

Your coaching challenge this week is to…

1. Identify 1 – 3 situations where you’ve been saying “I can’t” or “I don’t have a choice”.

2. Change your words and say, “I’m choosing to do __________ because of ________________” At the very least it will help you to accept your circumstances or it will empower you to change your words and start choosing to do things in other ways.

3. Contact me  if you need any help coming up with options to change your circumstances.

Any aha moments for you? Share with me please!

Why this teleclass?

If you’re a small business owner, you’re probably inundated with messages from all over the internet.

And all the social media’s not helping either – should you facebook, should you twitter, what should you do?

You’re overwhelmed with everybody telling you what to do and and which system is the Next Best Thing to follow to make a gazillion dollars in a month

Instead of moving forward though, you feel so overwhelmed that you become totally paralysed with indecision.

On this teleclass you’ll learn…

• how to recognise the symptoms of overwhelm
• what type of organising personality you are…and how to work with your style to get your focus back
• some of my favourite tools (practically free) that help me focus
• how to break out of overwhelm (when all the noise in your head gets too loud) by doing the absolute minimum you need to do to get you moving forward again
• how to eliminate info product overwhelm… so you know which ones to follow to get the results you want
• how to get your mojo back (in other words, get the confidence to quickly get you back on track)
• how to go from just a lovely idea to a project actually done and off that eternal to-do list

“I used to spend my days always working on email and never getting anything done. Thanks to Marcia’s suggestions, I now can’t believe everything I get done in one day!

It’s allowed me to have a very successful business while working only 15-20 hours per week. I love that her techniques have given me the freedom to spend time with my sons and husband.

Thanks to her business organizing strategies I have doubled my productivity which has in turn doubled my business income. Thanks Marcia for all that you do!”

Jennifer Haubein

www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com

The nitty gritty details

Date: Tuesday 24 March

Time: 12pm EST/ 6pm South African Time (GMT+2)

Your time: click here for your time zone

What do you need: Pen and the handout I’ll be sending you

Format: Simulcast – both by webcast and telephone – so if you have a computer and internet, you can participate.

Investment: $37

I loved the clarity of your teaching and you have given me confidence that I can do more. You helped me realise my potential and the timing and ease of use worked very well.

The info you suggested was new to me as before, I’d only picked things up from others as I needed.

Tina Hodges
Sheffield, England
http://creatingwholeness.org

So how does this work?

• Once you register and pay, I’ll send you the access information and the handbook for the day.
• On the day, either call in on the phone (it’s a US number) or wait and download the link afterwards.
• If the time doesn’t suit you, register anyway because I’ll send you the recording within an hour or you can listen in via the replay link.

Let’s recap. What do you get …

• LIVE teaching from Marcia Francois, time management and organising expert
• LIVE group coaching
• Handout
• MP3 audio download after the live call
• this is part of your Gold VIP Inner Circle membership. Try it for a month and if you don’t like it, you can always cancel

All this for only $37

Here’s what people (just like you) are saying …

Your system helped me realize those places where I could streamline my processes even further to help increase my productivity and give me more time.

Thanks, Marcia!

Sincerely,
Teresa Morrow
Online Promoter for Authors, Speakers & Writers
www.keybusinesspartners.com

My biggest struggle is to keep focused. I start one thing and go to another. Plus the phone and computer waste a lot of my time.

Thanks for your input.
Mary Coalson

Here’s my answer

Mary, you are not alone! In fact, I also naturally have a problem staying focussed and yet this is my top productivity tip so I have a few tricks I use which I’m happy to share with you:

1. Eat the frog
I choose only a few things to do every day but I make sure they’re important tasks that will move me toward my goals. And here’s the important part, I do nothing else til those tasks are done. And then I reward myself.

Some days (like weekends) it’s as simple as laundry, cooking and getting us set up for the week ahead and on the weekdays it could be working on an important work project.

I’m hosting a Big Juicy Goals teleseminar tomorrow so one of my big things tomorrow will be preparation for that teleseminar.

2. Remove distractions
Different things distract different sorts of people. I’m not too bothered by the phone because I simply turn mine to silent and check messages and voicemail when I feel like it (once or twice a day, when those Eat the Frog tasks are complete )

Email, however, is a big problem for me. I’m insanely curious so I have to close down Outlook and have nothing else open on my computer except the task at hand.

3. Use a timer
No need to get fancy; a simple kitchen timer will do. When I’m at work, I can’t really use a kitchen timer (because then they’ll know I’m weird, instead of just suspecting ) so I use the timer on my cell phone.

Set the timer for a realistic time but not so long that you can’t concentrate. I like to work in 3 X 15-minute blocks and then I take a break unless I’m so close to finishing that I might as well work one extra block of time.

Over to you, dear readers – how do you stay focussed?

This is part 3. Click the tag at the bottom of this post to read the other parts in this series.

One of my favourite parts of this book was the workflow section. I love how Angela explains this and I’m going to be using it with my clients too because anyone can relate.

So!

If you think of your paper flow as a little car and your decision-making process is like coming to a traffic light…

RED means stop – throw those papers away

ORANGE means wait – file those papers

GREEN means either show (delegate to someone else) or go (do the work yourself)

Now that’s already really cool but then she breaks down the GO part further, and this part I LOVE!

1. Scheduled tasks go on your calendar
2. Unscheduled tasks go on your master to-do list
3. And the urgent tasks you just DO if they’ll only take 2 minutes
4. the parking lot is where we put things for future projects (I liked this term so much I immediately renamed my existing email folder)

The reason why I LOVE this part so much is because we all try and put unscheduled tasks in our calendar (on our daily to-do list) and that’s why we feel overwhelmed and unworthy when we don’t get those things done.

Of course, you add some tasks from your master list to your daily list once you have the scheduled stuff on your list. And of course, if I’m coaching you , we’ll always make sure at least 2 of those tasks move you towards your goals, so that you’re effective and not just busy!

(I deal with all this in MUCH more detail in Help! I need more time)

Is it just me or do you also think the whole paper flow is explained just beautifully with this easy-to-understand analogy?

P.S. If you’re on Facebook, you can check Angela’s profile under my friends. There is a lovely picture of her beautiful face