3. Attend a Speed Reading Class The average person reads at about 200 words per minute and spends a couple of hours each day reading. What if you could double your reading speed? What takes two hours can now be done in one hour or you can continue to spend same amount of time reading, but read twice as much. Sign up for a speed-reading class. I teach one. It’s a six-hour seminar and at end of day everyone in class will at least double their reading speed and significantly increase their comprehension.

4. Develop Your Communication Skills A lot of your personal success in future will be in direct relationship to your ability to competently and confidently communicate what you know both orally and in writing. Make it an ongoing commitment to continue to improve your speaking and writing skills. You’ll save time and have a more successful career.

5. Develop Your People Network Personal productivity in large amounts has to do with good cooperation of other people. Someone who does not enjoy good cooperation of others can surely be productive but not as productive as one who enjoys that cooperation. On an on-going basis, develop your list of personal contacts, your networking list. Always offer to help everyone on your list whenever you can. (“To have a friend, first be a friend.”) Do it right and your network will be there for you when you need it.

Dr. Donald E. Wetmore-Professional Speaker Productivity Institute-Time Management Seminars 127 Jefferson St., Stratford, CT 06615 (203) 386-8062 (800) 969-3773 fax: (203) 386-8064 email: ctsem@msn.com Free Timely Time Management Tips: Visit our Time Management Supersite: http://www.balancetime.com/ Professional Member-National Speakers Association since 1989

BE RESULTS-FOCUSED

Focus on results, not on being busy. You are, I'm sure, familiar with Pareto Principle, also known as 80/20 rule. The Pareto Principle says that 80% of unfocused effort generates only 20% of results and remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of effort. Focus on results you are wanting to achieve and look for ways to work more efficiently.

MANAGE DISTRACTIONS

No doubt your activity log revealed an amazing amount of time taken up with distractions. Distractions can take many forms but let's look at three major ones: email, telephone calls and casual visitors.

=> Email

Check your non-work (i.e. non-job) email only once or twice a day and deal with each item only once. That means reading it, responding to it, filing it for later review or trashing it. Don't leave it sitting in your inbox once you've opened it or you'll forget what it is and waste time rereading it probably several times over.

=> Telephone Calls

Be disciplined with telephone calls. Have an agenda before dialing and stick to it. Be clear in your own mind purpose of your call and outcome you want. It's also a good idea to schedule "telephone time" if you can manage it. This is an hour or so every day when you make and return phone calls.

=> Casual Visitors

Discourage chatty drop-in visitors by getting up from your desk, continuing to appear busy, not having convenient visitors' chairs (drape your coat over them or pile them up with papers) or by saying something like, "Joe can I get back to you on whatever it is once I'm done here? I'm under gun."

LEARN TO SAY NO

Get out of habit of feeling bad about declining requests from people to take on tasks that will erode even further precious little time you have available. Now, if it's your boss and what you're being asked to do falls within your job description, you obviously have no choice, but do you really need to be on yet another committee?

USE DEAD TIME PRODUCTIVELY

Time spent waiting for an appointment or when you're travelling can be put to productive use. Use that 15 minutes you're waiting in doctor's surgery to sketch out some article ideas, write some classified ads or answer email. Same thing when you're travelling. If you're travelling by air, try and get a seat that will allow you to work. That may mean an emergency exit or a bulkhead seat, for example. Any seat that will allow you to work on your laptop comfortably is worth effort.

GET UP EARLIER

This one is a no-brainer. If you get up just one hour earlier each day, you effectively create another 365 hours a year. That's more than 45 working days. You could create a brand new website in only 10 working days. You could write outline of a novel in same time period. At least think about it.

IMPROVE READING TECHNIQUES

Consider learning how to speed read to save time on your business reading. Alternatively, learning more effective reading strategies to extract required information most efficiently is another time saver.

These are just a few ideas to get you thinking about how you can save time and create time in your day. By putting these principles to work and constantly testing your activities against yardstick "does this make a worthwhile contribution to my work, business or personal wellbeing?", you will quickly develop a radar for time wasters and begin to eliminate them from your life. By simplifying your life in this way you will be amazed at how much more you are able to accomplish in time available to you and your dream of giving up your day job for your own full-time business will become a reality much sooner than you would have ever thought possible.

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

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