Third, support your key points and visuals with a story.

Here’s how it works:

In delivering a presentation, recently to a group of sales people, one of my key points was that we have to understand our customers buying strategies and buying incentives for us to influence them to make a purchase from us. The visual that I used (now visualize this in your mind) was a man peering over a chessboard with his chin snuggled on his tightly clutched hands with a very pensive look in his eyes. The picture was stretched and elongated to exaggerate image to influence inner thinking process that our customers go though in their decision-making.

I then illustrated point with a story of how one of my clients went about uncovering his clients’ strategies, buying incentives and how this same presentation process helped him get sales and acquire a major key account for his company. Most importantly during story I explained how my client was able to fine out what would create a win situation for his client. That gave way, for transitioning, to next key point and slide in presentation.

The visual was dynamic in that it supported key points and anchored story in mind of audience. The story used was linked back to visual and was congruent with key points.

This presentation process reinforces your points and makes them easy to understand. You can take any subject from a ten-minute annual report presentation to an all-day training session and use this approach of structuring your presentations. When you substitute lines of words, boring bar charts and graphs, with key points, supportive stories anchored with ridiculous visuals, you make it easy for your audience to assimilate, focus, remember and become engage and mesmerized with your material.

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6. Take a reality check. Will your current activity have a positive outcome, or are you doing it to avoid something else? Ask yourself - will doing this take me towards my goal? As Peter F Drucker observed, "There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all."

7. Delegate! It's tempting to do something yourself when you think you can do it faster and better. But consider long term - delegation now will save time in future, and if done appropriately can motivate your staff, boost their confidence and help them develop their skills.

8. Repeat your success. Remember last time you went away on holiday, and how you got so much done in those few days before you left? What strategies and techniques did you employ that made you so effective and focused? Can you repeat them? Alternatively, imagine you are going away tomorrow and work through today accordingly.

9. Balance your life. Formally schedule personal activities too, so you make time for family, friends, your health and fun because having a balanced life reduces stress and increases energy levels. Time management is really about life management!

10. End day. At end of working day, tidy your desk, make notes about what needs doing tomorrow and prioritise those tasks. You'll worry less that evening and be prepared and focused next morning.

And a final thought...

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein."

======================================= Jackie Fletcher is a life satisfaction coach and author of "Coaching Quotations: Over 2000 witty, wise and wonderful quotations your clients will love" http://www.bookshaker.com/product_info.php?products_id=103 =======================================