Method One: Think Quality, Not Quantity. To be classified as a book – as opposed to a booklet or pamphlet – your work needs a mere 49 pages (excluding cover). Not only that but, depending on your topic, you can be liberal with photographs, charts, illustrations, bullet points, fill-in-the-blank worksheets, etc. Use them strategically in place of text. If it fits your theme, intersperse powerful quotations throughout your book, and give them a page of their own, even if it’s only a line or two. Ditch perception that you have to have a minimum number of lines on each page.

Method Two: Start Talking. Invest in a tape recorder and shoot breeze. I must admit that this isn’t quite as easy as it sounds, but if you’re articulate and you have skill at organizing your thoughts and ideas, it’s doable. Don’t try to wing it. Break down your book into chapters. Then prepare a detailed outline of each chapter. If it’s fiction you’re writing, outline plot. For nonfiction, along with your outline, have any additional material handy that you want to refer to.

After you’re done, have a typist transcribe tape. Save it onto a floppy disk and give it to an editor. She’ll polish content. A variation of this method is to use voice recognition software that turns your spoken words into text.

Just as fundamental key to becoming wealthy is proper money management (managing your earning, saving, investing and spending), key to succeeding in accomplishing all goals you have set for yourself is effective time management.

Recently, reporter John Stossel of ABC’s 20/20 television newsmagazine exploded myth that Americans have less free time now than previous generations did. Once he learned how to manage his time better, he found he was able to write a book (Give Me a Break).

Surprisingly enough, however, perhaps most important reason for learning to manage time more effectively is to safeguard one’s health.

Studies have shown that frustration engendered by difficulties in coping with our many daily interruptions – telephone calls, e-mails, unexpected visitors, unplanned meetings, sudden emergencies, etc. – leads to increased levels of stress. The effects of this stress can be gastric and digestive distress, as well as intense fatigue and exhaustion.

Moreover, brain research has found that stress-related fatigue is linked more to anxiety about NOT having completed what we wanted to complete than to acute form of stress generated by crises that occasionally come up. Hence, supreme importance of time management.

Managing Communications

You can cut down amount of time wasted on telephone by avoiding being placed on hold. If someone is unavailable right away, find out best time to call back, or leave your number. If you need to make regular calls, try to schedule them in advance according to mutually agreed times.

If a receptionist, secretary or assistant answers your incoming calls, train them to screen calls and refer them to others. Have your staff take messages for you when you do not want to be disturbed, and try to delegate returning some of phone calls to others.

If you take call, let caller know your time constraints. Always keep a pen and pad by phone. If you get a call asking for information you don't have immediately to hand, don't look for it: arrange to call back later.

You can reduce cellphone interruptions by not giving number out to too many people, and not including it on your business card or e-mail signature, unless it really is too difficult to reach you by other means.