Everything you do should bring you closer to an objective. If it doesn't, again, why do it?

ALLOCATE YOUR ACTIVITIES

Now that you know how to best structure your time and what activities are going to lead you closer to your objectives, it's time to allocate those activities against time you have available and in accordance with your various concentration levels.

Begin by estimating how much time each activity in your day is likely to take. Be realistic about what you can really accomplish in one day. If you overload yourself you're only going to stress out about what you're NOT doing and that makes you less effective in what you ARE doing. So pace yourself. Just don't WASTE time.

Assign your most intellectually demanding activities to your peak concentration time. This may be writing a chapter of your ebook or writing an article for next issue of your ezine. Assign your less concentration-intensive activities to your intermediate concentration time. This may be redesigning a web page or reading and responding to email, for example. Finally, assign your truly "no concentration required" activities to your low concentration periods. If you've allocated time to exercising, this would be a good time to do a workout.

GROUP LIKE TASKS

Grouping like tasks will allow you to accomplish more in same amount of time. It is much more efficient to run three errands while you're out and about rather than making three separate trips.

Similarly, it's more time-efficient to run one large load of laundry rather than two separate, smaller loads. So give some thought to these mundane sorts of activities too. There's always a way to shave off a bit of time by grouping similar activities and doing them in one hit. Email's another prime example. Far more efficient to check and respond to mail twice a day than to read and respond to each message as and when it comes in, thereby distracting yourself from what you were doing in first place.

By thinking about what you have to do and scheduling those tasks in conformity with your concentration levels as well as grouping like activities, you will naturally make most effective use of time available. Your productivity will increase proportionately.

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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

5. Find out who officers are in group. Mentioning their name later on will bring cohesiveness to your talk and involve your audience.

6. Find out where they heard or read about presentation. You need this for marketing.

7. Step back and tune into your instincts to get 'feel' of group. Are they introspective, annoyed about a common issue, friendly with one another? Is it high energy or low energy? You can adjust your presentation accordingly - wake them up if they're asleep, soothe them if they're agitated.

8. Watch to see who real leaders are. They're often not official leaders. They are "influencers" who will get you invited back or not.

9. Check out introversion/extroversion scale. This will tell you how to manage interactive exercises. Introverts are less likely to want to participate, likely to prefer partner they came with, less eager to respond to questions out loud, and dislike stating obvious. Extroverts will participate more eagerly, but may be harder to manage and keep on-task.

10. Listen for clues as to who's good at what, and what fields they're in. You may need help with projector. You may have to manage person who has a Ph.D. in field you're talking about. You may pinpoint extrovert who'll be enthusiastic about answering a question or when you need a volunteer.

11. Get local newspaper and check on what's going on in their location. Better yet, talk to your cab driver on your way from airport. I once arrived to give a talk in Seattle right after a number of firefighters had lost their lives which had stunned community. The cab driver told me all about it, and I was able to, (1) resonate with audience, and (2) work many examples into my talk.

Know your subject, know how to present, and most of all, know your particular audience.