continued here...

Well if it's a law suit, we pretty well know what to do. If it's an angry customer, hopefully we have a procedure for that too. But what about the camouflaged infiltrators that steal our efficiency and effectiveness. What is they're commonality? What can we learn about this enemy?

Know Your Enemy  In reality, these subtle enemies are far more dangerous than the obvious ones because when they accumulate they are the ones that unlock the gate from the inside. So how do we know when they are at work. The evidence is Unending Time Debt.
 
What is Time Debt? Good question! Time debt is just like financial debt. It is a state in which we have forfeited some portion of our future for an immediate convenience - and the interest is gonna to kill you.

Money and time are definitely connected. Have you ever considered that money is simply time in foldable form? The relationship is not as far fetched as it first appears. Time is what I give in exchange for money...like a salary. I give my time, the employer gives me money. So when I use that money to buy groceries, I'm really trading time for food. The only complication is that time isn't physical...so we have to convert it to something we can trade...money.

Whether it's time or financial debt, both can have the same debilitating, crippling effects. Since we’ve all heard the horror stories about financial debt, we don’t need to rehearse that now. Instead let’s get strategic about how we combat time debt and those hidden enemies.
 
The task list. Yes indeed, the task list is a contributor to time debt! Why? Because it constantly keeps us from seeing the big picture.  And worst of all, because there is always more work to be done, it makes us think everything is equally urgent. The task list is like the waiting area at the emergency room. Everybody needs attention now!
 
Action Steps What can we do to start eliminating time debt? 1. Start by taking the task list and doing something that borders on insanity: Go through it item by item and estimate the time each task will take to accomplish.
 
2. The next step that fully crosses the border into insanity, is to actually take a software program like Microsoft Outlook’s calendar and put every single task into it. That’s right, if you want to be present to your life and actually get the work done, then you’ve got to put your work into time. (If you use a paper calendar book, etc. it will still work!)
 
Encouragement The problem with the task list is that it not only exists on paper but it also infects your head. Admit it, it resides in the back of your mind, not to mention around your finger, and on your computer monitor, as stuff you need to do, but haven’t done yet, and can't even think about when might do it. It is subtly stalking you day and night. By slavishly dragging this to-do monster around you are reinforcing a sense of constantly being behind. Well...Stop it!
 
"Put down the list and slowly back away." Your daily discipline to protect your post is to keep your work calendared and to schedule everything. Why? Because probably what you're doing now is simply not working. When your work is calendared  at the end of the day, you are truly done!
 
Close the Deal 3. Now at the beginning of each day, review your calendar asking “what work is really key to my goals? Have I scheduled the most leveraged work today?” If something needs to move, or the order needs to change do so. But take heed, discipline is required. Don't just change everything because of you got off track. If in the course of your day you encounter a torpedo, stop, regroup and get back on the plan. Change your calendar to reflect the shift and work your plan.

You might say, "But my whole day is interruptions!" Not any more. Now you have a plan. Decide when you'll deal with what. Schedule it. Remember how the professors in college had "office hours." Why do you think they did that? Because access at all times to 400 college freshman can drive you right over the brink. They had to protect their post...to set boundaries and policies. You must do the same if you want to get out of time debt.
 
4. Now once the tasks become appointments, the appointments become galvanized. They actually become what we call “authorized work.” When this happens, the rush of freedom will begin…you’ll start to feel the time debt melting away. You’ll no longer have 45 things to do…you’ll have just one thing to do - one thing at a time. Though the to-do monster screams and threatens, you'll just calmly remind him that you're no longer playing the loser's game. You are FREE at last!
 
Just open your calendar and honor the appointments. Why not? You’ve abandoned the time debt and red-faced running around everyone else suffers from and wonderfully transformed into someone who can proactively engage their working world with confidence and poise.
 
If we in business are going to live with any kind of real balance and long term success, then we have to start taking a strategic view of the manner in which we work.

Start creating a better business...today!

You Can Do It!

Next Play (May 2006): "Financial Focu$" by Justin DeStoppelaire

It's Your Business...Take Control Now! www.TotalIntegrationNow.com

The Business Owner's Playbook is a monthly strategic resource that concisely equips today's business owner with instantly usable tools that produce lasting solutions for common challenges. Based on the principles in the Total Integration Program, this tool is provided for the betterment of you, your people, and your customers.

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