Improve My Business

I’ve recently returned from a business trip in South Africa (I was a keynote speaker at an occupational health and safety (OHS) conference there) and the trip was truly a life-changing experience. I was a bit apprehensive about going there on my own; and since I didn’t want to be traveling more than I was working (2 days in each direction for a 3 day conference) I added on a safari at the beginning of the trip (so I could time zone adjust, rather than go at the end of the trip).

I found out several things about myself, and thought I’d share some of that here with you both today and in the next several posts.

Lesson #1: When something is new, it’s usually interesting.

I drove 4.5 hours from Johannesburg to Ladysmith to start the safari. Before departing on the trip, I thought the long drive would be a good opportunity to write some blog posts, start working on a presentation that would be due soon after I returned from the trip, etc. I dutifully packed my laptop in my small bag that was to accompany me in the seat rather than be stowed in the rear of the van. I had my camera, too, in case I came across anything I wanted to snap.

Fast forward 4 hours, and almost 100 pictures, later… I found the drive to be fascinating. Parts of South Africa in the winter reminded me of California (everything is a golden brown); other parts reminded me of a former vacation in Zion National Park; and other parts were purely South African in nature, and in the future other sceneries like this will remind me of “my first trip to South Africa”.

Lesson #1A: Make whatever you’re teaching interesting or relevant.

If you are trying to get a new concept across to others, it may be a bit scary to them (uncharted territory). If you can make the concepts interesting, or help them relate it to something that they are already familiar with (this looks like the rock formations in Zion!), then they will become more comfortable with the concepts quickly. But don’t be afraid to introduce new concepts into the mix (this is pure South African!) as it will also give your intended audience something to carry away with them.

Lesson #2: It’s not always about the destination; sometimes it’s about the journey as well.

I spent 4 hours talking to Thamba, my driver. I learned about typical South African life – family, housing, jobs, training, schooling – during our conversation. I also learned about controlled burning – the practice of burning the thick and inedible thatching hay in order to stimulate growth of new green shoots, which are edible by livestock. Accordingly, there were controlled burns going on all around us during the drive.

Lesson #2A: the more interesting you can make the journey, the better the journey will be.

Although I was ready to get out of the vehicle after 4.5 hours, I didn’t consider that portion of my vacation to be ‘wasted’. The more interesting you can make the delivery of your message, the higher the probability that the message will be heard, understood, and absorbed. Make the delivery of the message as important as the message itself. Can you use graphics, visuals? Do you have an audio portion? Do you engage the listener? Whatever you can do to make the message heard more easily, the better received the message will be.

Technorati Tags: living your life, preparation, Streamlining, travel

Today we’re sharing some time management advice from Ali Brown. Please comment on how you make time for the things you love in your life!

“Making Time for the Things You Love”
by Ali Brown

Keeping up with business and social engagements sometimes means sacrificing our personal hobbies and relaxation time. But making time for ourselves, even on a busy day, can and will help us feel better and function better. Although it’s admirable to spend time taking care of work, friends, family, and pets, it’s even more important to spend time taking care of ourselves.

Here’s how to carve out time for yourself and the things you love.

*Learn to say no. As women, we’re often guilted into taking on extra work or attending meetings or events that don’t interest us because we’re too nice to say no. However, you need to practice saying no so that you can clear some time to yourself and say yes to the things that you want to do. There’s no shame in skipping a committee meeting every now and then so you can get a massage. Or RSVPing no to a networking event if you really need a quiet evening of rest and relaxation.

*Don’t forget family time. Family time can be converted into relaxation and bonding time together simply by selecting an activity the whole family can enjoy. Relationships can get a new lease on life too, if both partners decide to pursue a hobby or chosen form of relaxation together.

*Incorporate your interests into your vacation. Don’t be afraid to take time off! You’ve earned it, plus it’s a chance to follow through on hobbies and interests that might not fit into your regular routine. It doesn’t matter if the vacation is with family or friends; it’s about selecting opportunities that work for everyone - say, diving for you, lying on the beach for Jane, and bar hopping for John.

*Identify what makes you happy. Over time, our lives change - we pursue different careers, get married, have kids. Often we lose sight of what used to make us glow. Spend time remembering those magical moments and then commit a few hours each week to rekindling them. Ensure that you have a specific project in mind, because that eases up on the time it takes to get the project going. Saying “I want to write” is too ambiguous. Saying “I want to write a memoir about traveling to Japan” will give you more direction and focus.

It doesn’t matter how much time you’re able to spend each time on your personal project. The important thing is that you commit to doing it regularly and frequently so that it becomes a habit. Realize that once you’ve found the things you love to do, whether that’s swing dancing, cooking Indian curries, or making pottery, you need to hold onto them and never give them up.

You may have to change your daily schedule or work and social commitments to fit in this extra time. But doing so will be beneficial in the long run, because the sense of accomplishment and fulfillment you get from pursuing your passions will make you a happier and more productive person.

© 2009 Ali International, LLC

Self-made multimillionaire entrepreneur Ali Brown is devoted to creating financial freedom for women globally through the power of entrepreneurship. To learn how to create wealth and live an extraordinary life now, register for her free weekly articles at www.AliBrown.com

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE? See Ali’s Blog.

Technorati Tags: Time Management

I subscribe to The Green Life and find lots of great tips there for being more environmentally friendly, both in my work and at home.  Many of their tips are things I wasn’t aware of, or at least didn’t think about.  Take screensavers — originally they were put in place to stop burning out the bulbs in or CRT, but with the new screens, we don’t need to worry about that any more. So, you can change your screensaver to [blank] when not in use.  Sure, some of us have great screen shows that play when we’re not using our computers; but how ’bout switching to ‘blank’ at night or on weekends, to save some juice?

My kids are in the habit of removing their phone chargers and laptop chargers from the wall when not actively in use - that should save us some do-re-mi (money) but also prevent our local utility from generating wasted electricity.  Rule of thumb:  if it is bigger than a 3 prong plug, it’s probably consuming electricity.  Our scanner, which has a big ‘box’ attached to the plug, is also unplugged when not in use (we only scan approximately 1x/week) as well as our chargers.

Ambient temperature — do you wear sweaters to work in the summer?  (Lots of folks do - or keep one in the office).  If this is true, talk to your facilities folks to see if the building can be raised 1 degree this summer (or lowered 1 degree in winter).  We at McDCG work at ‘extremes’ of temperature in an effort to be more environmentally friendly — it helps that we’re a shorts/t-shirt/flip flops company when not meeting clients.  But, we do have fans going in lieu of lower A/C temps (moving air tends to make you feel cooler), and space heaters in the winter (which are more efficient than heating huge amounts of unused areas.  Maybe the staff will weigh in that we’ve gone TOO far… we’ll see).

Computer donation — when upgrading your computers at work, separate the working from the non-working, and consider donating the working ones to a local school, non-profit, etc. that can use them.  They will be grateful, you’ll get a tax write-off, and the landfill or e-waste recycler will avoid having to handle these components (just yet).

The Green Life has lots of tips - sent to your inbox on a daily basis.  Give it a look-see and see what you can glean from it.

Technorati Tags: Add new tag, charger, computer, environment, green, power, sierra club

http://www.fark.com/cgi/vidplayer.pl?IDLink=4365716

If only our own processes worked as seamlessly as this duo’s — moving back and forth without missing a beat (for the most part) - how can we get our teams to enjoy themselves while working together?

If this was implemented here at McDCG, there would never be a queue for the printer, all client queries would be handled seamlessly, our invoices would be sent with zero errors on the correct day, and there would be no errors internally.  [Not to brag, but we're pretty close to some of these already -- which makes it more fun to identify the areas where we CAN improve!]

If this philosophy was implemented where you work, what would it look like?

Technorati Tags: humor, synchronization

People have different opinions on multi-tasking vs. one focus approach… so which is better?

“The Myth of Multitasking” by  Christine Rosen details several reasons why multi-tasking is not the optimum approach:

• a fall in IQ (more so than if the subject were smoking marijuana
• decrease in learning
• negative impact on productivity (affecting the economy?)
• lost ‘brain time’ as the brain works to juggle several tasks
• and many more.

I’ve seen first-hand how multi-tasking affects our decision making — while sitting at a light waiting to make a left, I watched a woman coming through the intersection from the other side, talking on a cell phone, and drive right into a telephone pole.  She never braked until she actually impacted the pole; and she continue to chat as she got out of the SUV to inspect her damage!  Unluckily for her, a patrol car was at the red light on the cross street; he simply flicked on his lights and pulled over to write her up.

When trying to get a project complete, divide the project into smaller tasks.  This tip:  do those smaller tasks in their entirety prior to moving on to the next step.

Good ways to accomplish this:

• ignore the phone and email while working on a project
• set aside time on your calendar to do research, gather materials, and write rough drafts
• work from start to finish without pause, if possible
• if you must break, take a break at a logical stopping point, and leave your materials in place for easy restart

WARNING: These simple ideas may cause you to become more focused, productive, and happy.  PROCEED WITH CAUTION!  <grin!>

Technorati Tags: focus, multi-tasking, productivity, Project Management, working smarter