© 2002 Elena Fawkner

Email, sales letters, email, phone calls, J.O.B., email, kids, conference calls, mentoring and sponsoring, errands, personal time, email, website updating, writing articles, email, search engine positioning, ezine publishing, advertising, email. Oh, and sleep. And did I mention email? Sounds like your day, right? Yours and everyone else's who runs a business part-time around their REAL life.

There's always so much to do and so little time. Or so it seems. But is that really true? You may be surprised to find what you can really accomplish in a day if you were to take time to get organized. What do I mean by organized? Simply knowing how many hours a day you have available and allocating that time efficiently.

How many hours a day do you have available to you? Well, let's say you sleep for 8 hours. That leaves 16, right? OK, how do you make best use of those 16 hours? By managing your time effectively. Here's how.

This is your Sunday night activity. Start with a grid (for those of you who are computer nerds, by all means use an Excel spreadsheet). Your grid is eight columns across and 30 rows down. Label your eight columns like this:

TimeMon. Tues. Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. Sun.

Then, in rows under "Time" heading, enter half hour blocks of time starting at 6:00 am and ending at 10:00 pm (or whatever your "awake" time is). Your grid should look like this:

TimeMon. Tues. Wed. Thu. Fri. Sat. Sun.

6:00 - 6:30 am 6:30 - 7:00 am ... 9:00 - 9:30 pm 9:30 - 10:00 pm

Decide on a code for your grid - whether color-coding, letters, whatever, so you can see at a glance where your time is going.

Now, using your code, block off unavailable, non-discretionary time. This is time you spend working at your J.O.B., time you spend getting ready for work in morning, commuting in morning and evening, taking kids to and from school/daycare, participating in conference calls hosted by your network marketing company, etc. This is any time that you have *no choice* about. Although you have to run errands, for example, you do have a choice about when to do them so this doesn't go in here.

All white space is time that you have available to you for discretionary activities. By "discretionary" I don't necessarily mean stuff you don't have to do at all if you don't want to, I mean stuff that you can schedule for a time of your choosing. For example, we must all shop for groceries and put gas in our cars once a week, but we have a choice when we do so.

Make a list of your discretionary activities. This includes weekly errands and chores, time you need to spend keeping your web site up to date, writing articles, search engine positioning, reading and responding to email, mentoring and sponsoring your downline, publishing your ezine, writing ads, etc. And don't forget to schedule recreation/family time and time for yourself to do what you want (even if that's absolutely nothing).

OK, now that you know what you have to do, and time you have available to do it in, when is your peak concentration time? Are you an early morning person or a night owl?

Holiday networking is less aggressive, slower-paced and more subtle. Think "market research" instead of "close deal" and you'll have right mindset. Yes, making connections that lead to sales is still a primary reason for attending social functions, but around holidays it's less obvious. The social "dance" is longer.

So when preparing for your holiday party "performance," practice role of Santa instead of Scrooge, and you'll do just fine.

How would Santa act at that lavish bash in your office building next week?

First, remember that Santa is friendly and approachable to EVERYONE. He's not a snob or someone who's solely focused on influential, powerful people. You'd do well to adopt that attitude yourself. You'll enjoy yourself more, feel less stressed, and who knows? You may meet someone with unexpected influence or connections.

If you're one of many people who'd rather have teeth pulled than talk to strangers, rehearse a few "safe" opening lines. "So how do you know (the host/hostess)?" or "Don't I know you from somewhere?" are non-threatening ways to begin a conversation, with added benefit of allowing you to look for connections. And "How has your day been?" is much more likely to initiate small-talk than usual "How are you?" ("Fine, thanks.") exchange.