Big Idea Coach

The 3 Most Powerful Time Management Tools EVER!

Are you ready? Here goes...

1. "Yes."
2. "No."
3. "Let me get back to you."

If you really want to conquer your time challenges, you start by conquering your calendar! And for most of us, our calendars our filled at the request of others. So... the more quickly you can decide if you are ("Yes, I can do that.") or are not ("No, I can't do that.") going to do a project, the more quickly you can get focused on taking action.

In those cases where you just don't know (or where you don't feel like you can say "no" at the time the request is made), "Let me get back to you" is a great stop-gap....  It givesyou a bit of extra time to check your schedule, clear your head, and choose the best option for you.

And if you still don't know, go with "No". You'll end up doing less of what others want you to do, more of what you want and in those rare cases where you feel really bad, you can always change your mind ("I double checked my schedule and, you know, I can go out to dinner with you...").

5 Minutes to Save You Time... and Save the Planet!

Here's a great time saving idea that can save the planet, too -- perfect for Earth Day (that's today, by the way)!

ELIMINATE JUNK MAIL!

That's right, reduce (or eliminate) the amount of junk mail (catalogs, flyers, mailers, etc.) that you receive every day, and you not only save yourself time... you save the planet, too.

Think about it....

If you reduce the amount of time you take to go through your daily mail by 2 minutes each day, you'll save yourself just over 10 hours a year (2 minutes daily x 6 days a week x 52 weeks = 624 minutes per year saved = 10.4 hours)!

It's easy enough to do, too.

Just go to the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service and opt-out of their members' mailing lists. That should dramatically reduce the number of catalogs, flyers, and junk-mail flotsam you receive -- and that means, ultimately, fewer catalogs get mailed, fewer get printed, and fewer end up in landfills.

And while you're at it, saving the Earth and all, visit OptOutPrescreen.com to remove yourself from those annoying credit card and insurance offers (which is also one thing you can do to reduce your chances of identity-theft).

See, saving the planet can be rewarding in more ways than you can imagine!