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

But it was this old man who had built this store to be choice of most. For forty years, he had most complete stock in town. He either beat competition or matched them. And any problems were quickly resolved with a great smile. He was always ready to take yet another step on behalf of a customer.

He had passed store on to his sons, when I last visited. The two younger men who had not looked up when I asked for help. Prices are higher. Service and support are way down. Nobody any longer recommends Joe's Hardware. Although most still think well of Joe.

He built his business with great service and support. His sons are allowing it to perish for they have more important things to do then hustle a $12 sale.

In all, emulate this remarkable man, Joe. Provide outstanding service and support. Without it, your business will perish.