On other hand, reading and responding to email, monitoring and tweaking your search engine positioning and web site updating don't usually require peak concentration to be effective, nor do they require a continuous block of time to accomplish. So schedule these activities for time other than your peak concentration time.

As a general rule, try and get as much done as possible in one sitting during your peak concentration time. The other stuff that doesn't require much in way of concentration can be squeezed in during your spare half hours here and there between other things.

The first step in managing your time is understanding it. Understanding where it is and how best to utilize it. By taking time to work up a weekly grid every Sunday night and allocating your discretionary activities for week to your discretionary time in a way that takes maximum advantage of your peak concentration time, you can't help but work more efficiently and, therefore, more productively.

If you don't have a plan for your time, what's first thing you're going to do at 6:00 am on Monday morning in that precious hour of peak concentration time you have to work on your business before you have to start getting ready for work? Yep, that's right. You'll download and read your email. What *should* you be doing with that hour? Writing an article for this week's ezine.

You can read and respond to email any time during day. It doesn't require peak concentration! So you've just blown that hour. And in evening when you're tired and your concentration's shot, think you're going to write that article then? Hardly. What you're going to do is turn on TV right? And not even remember what it was you watched when you wake up at 6:00 again next morning and do same thing all over again.

And then, of course, when weekend rolls around and you still haven't written that article and you have to send your ezine out on Sunday night, you're spending your weekend writing your article (in between running errands) and before you know it, Sunday night's here, it's time to send out your ezine again and *weekend's over* already and you don't know where it went and tomorrow's Monday and you're so behind and frazzled that you don't work up your grid for next week and so Monday rolls around and you get up at 6:00 and you don't have a plan so what do you do? Yep, you download and read your email ...

=== "To know what has to be done, then do it, comprises whole philosophy of practical life." Sir William Osler ===

Stop spiral. Be smart. Take CONTROL of your time. Don't let it control you. Time can be your greatest friend or your greatest enemy. Don't let it slip through your fingers with nothing to show for it. Schedule time every Sunday night to work up a time grid for coming week. Who knows, you may even be able to enjoy next weekend!

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Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ... practical home business ideas for work-from-home entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com

So ask a lot of "who, what, where, when and why" questions. Try to spend first five minutes of any conversation talking about other person. You already know about yourself; you want to gather information and make friends with others. Besides, it's very flattering. Someone who's interested in others is invariably seen as someone worth knowing. (So tuck a few business cards in your pocket beforehand!)

Finally, Santa is welcome and appreciated at any gathering because he brings gifts. No, you don't need to carry in a large red bag filled with personalized company pens or magnets. But before party, think about who you're likely to meet and what you can offer them.

Have you read a great book? Do you know what's being built across street? Did you discover a helpful new product or service? Then don't be a Scrooge! Spread news. Offer information.

Better yet, do you have a personal connection to someone party attendees would like to meet? Then be prepared to offer their name and/or business card.

And when talk does turn to business, keep it light and keep it brief. If you have helpful ideas to pass on, or discover a connection you'd like to strengthen, ask for a business card and permission to call at work. Then steer conversation back to more fun, personal topics. (Just remember to follow up afterwards!)

With preparation, you can enjoy meeting new people and reconnecting with old colleagues in mutually profitable ways. And you might just become as popular as Ol' Saint Nick.