Employees' New Year's Resolutions

The holidays tend to be a time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. So be warned, your employees are reflecting and planning, and now is the time to pay attention to keeping and reaping top talent.

It may be common sense but it bears repeating anyway. When we talk about talent retention, we're talking about key people and top talent. As we prepare to ring in the New Year, we should bear in mind a few things about our recruitment and retention efforts that might make this time of year both opportunistic and threatening where top talent is concerned.

It'is the season for resolutions after all. People everywhere will soon be resolving to lose weight, start a fitness program, drink less, or quit smoking. But the number one New Year's resolution last year, according to About.com, was to find a better job. In fact, more of us turn our attention to our working lives at this time of year than at any other time. (Traffic to major job boards typically spikes between 40-60% from December to January each year.) Monster itself agrees that its spike in traffic in January is the biggest all year (including increased traffic after its Superbowl ads) and that this is mostly due to resolutions.

Maybe it's having time off to reflect on the past year that causes so many people to think about improving their working lives. After all, according to Freud, love and work are the cornerstones of our lives. When we reflect, we tend to reflect on those two things more than anything else.

Derrick Barton, founder and CEO of the Center For Talent Retention notes, "Whenever there's a major holiday, Thanksgiving, July 4 or Christmas, you're around family and friends. People ask how work is going. Sometimes people open up beyond the usual one or two word response because they're comfortable talking with a trusted person. This may get them thinking that perhaps they're lucky in their work, or that maybe they need to get out of a bad situation. When that mental 'click' is turned on, there is a strong correlation to actually leaving, particularly among top talent and people with skills that are in demand. Worse, what held them back in 2004 will not as likely hold them back in 2005."

For many, work has become the dominant force in their lives. Numerous employee surveys this year and last revealed an enormous pent up desire for change; some surveys even suggested that more than half of all employees (and managers) plan to leave their employers within the next 12 months or "when the economy improves." If recent economic trends, which indicate a stronger economy and improved labor market, hold, 2005 could be the biggest year so far this decade for job change.

So how might this present an opportunity for recruiters and/or trouble for organizations? For recruiters, the New Year is harvest time. Clever recruiters will have planted seeds of interest into the top talent they hope to recruit from other organizations so that their follow-up calls in January and February connect them to people in the career-change state of mind.

Organizations, on the other hand, should spend some time in December and January cementing their ties with top talent. This involves more than a Christmas card or even a bonus. Employers should use this time of year to show real appreciation for the hard work of key performers during the past year. Of course, retention initiatives should occur year round, but it doesn't hurt to emphasize and increase those efforts at year end and during the first months of the new year, when employers are most vulnerable to losing their best people.

Retention of critical talent is not a one-to-many exercise. Top talent and those that have been identified as having strong potential should be met with one-on-one. Perceptive managers will gain a sense of whether an employee's commitment is strong or waning. At the very least, it will give managers the opportunity to express gratitude and learn what is important to keeping their key people engaged. This time of year has the advantage of being a natural time for taking stock of accomplishments during the past year and looking ahead to goals for the coming year.

However, this won't just happen. Data gathered by the Center For Talent Retention at the start of the decade found that 86% of managers did not feel accountable for engaging and retaining employees. Despite the elevation of "talent retention" as an issue since then, it is very doubtful that the situation has improved much. The surest path to getting managers actively involved in the retention of key people could be to build it directly into their compensation plans. Again, there is no better time to revisit incentive plans than the beginning of a new year.

The New Year is not a time to sit back and reflect. In fact, it may be the best time exploit the vulnerabilities of competitors, after all, all's fair in the war for talent.***

Source: inc.com

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The Importance HRM in Modern Organization

Organizational Psychology holds that successful organizations do not owe their success solely to market realities and sustainable competitive advantages. Actually, there is a lot more. Successful companies are those that consider their human capital as their most important asset. Facts and figures are the quantitative elements of successful management, yet the qualitative, i.e. the cognitive aspects, are those that actually make or break an organization.

Human Resources Management (HRM) is the strategic management of the employees, who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the strategic objectives of the organization. Assuming that the employees of an organization are individuals with own mental maps and perceptions, own goals and own personalities and as such they cannot be perceived as a whole, HRM holds that the organization should be able to employ both individual and group psychology in order to commit employees to the achievement of organizational goals.

Aiming to enable the organization to achieve its strategic goals by attracting, retaining and developing employees, HRM functions as the link between the organization and the employees. A company should first become aware of the needs of its employees, and at a later stage, understand and evaluate these needs in order to make its employees perceive their job as a part of their personal life, and not as a routine obligation. To that end, HRM is very crucial for the whole function of an organization because it assists the organization to create loyal employees, who are ready to offer their best.

The HRM activities in modern organizations are typically performed in communication with the General Management in an effort to provide a variety of views when a decision must be taken. In that way, decision making is not subject to the individual perceptions of the HR or the General Manager, but it becomes the outcome of strategic consensus.

The main goals / responsibilities of HRM are:

To retain low employee turnover rate by inspiring people to work for the company
To attract new employees
To contribute to employee development


To achieve these goals, Human Resources Management trains and motivates the employees by communicating ethical policies and socially responsible behaviour to them. In doing so, it plays a significant role in clarifying the organization’s problems and providing solutions, while making employees working more efficiently.

On the other hand, challenges do not cease for the HRM. Modern organizations can survive in the dynamic, competitive environment of today only if they capitalize on the full potential of each employee. Unfortunately, many companies have not understood the importance of the human capital in successful operations. The recruitment and selection of the best employees is a very difficult obligation. Even companies that are voted in the top-ten places to work at, often endure long periods of hard work to realize that human element is all an organization should care about.

New challenges arise even now for the organization, and it is certain that new challenges will never cease to emerge. Therefore, the use of proper Human Resources techniques is a really powerful way for organizations to overcome these challenges, and to improve not only their quantitative goals but also their organizational culture, and their qualitative, cognitive aspects.

Source: Article Base by Christina Pomoni

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One Minute Training Videos

Having worked in the training video production industry for quite a while, I have been brought up in the school of thinking that the ideal length of a training video should be around 12 minutes.

You could imagine how my eyebrows were raised when I was approached by the OHS Manager of a multi national corporation recently to ask me to think about producing some 60 second training videos for them. In his words; “every one is time poor nowadays, instant coffee is not quick enough and we can’t afford to take our people off their lines for 30 minutes to watch a training video even though OH&S is a hugely important part of our business”

“I also have to compete with Production, HR, Administration and sales for employee attention during our staff meetings, so I want a communication that is quick, edgy and effective”

A series of 25 x 60 second occupational health and safety training videos were written and produced as if they were television commercials. They featured a cartoon character and supporting posters were produced and put up on all factory walls throughout the country. These 1 minute productions also found their way into the company’s tool box meetings and were emailed from factory to factory, employee to employee.

The short sharp messages proved to be great motivations for some dynamic discussions that followed their screening The campaign has been so successful that the training videos were translated into several languages and distributed around the world.

A great lesson was taught to me by someone who was willing to think a little outside the square!

Article by Scott Weston

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What Are Your Employees' New Year's Resolutions?

The holidays tend to be a time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. So be warned, your employees are reflecting and planning, and now is the time to pay attention to keeping and reaping top talent.

It may be common sense but it bears repeating anyway. When we talk about talent retention, we're talking about key people and top talent. As we prepare to ring in the New Year, we should bear in mind a few things about our recruitment and retention efforts that might make this time of year both opportunistic and threatening where top talent is concerned.

It'is the season for resolutions after all. People everywhere will soon be resolving to lose weight, start a fitness program, drink less, or quit smoking. But the number one New Year's resolution last year, according to About.com, was to find a better job. In fact, more of us turn our attention to our working lives at this time of year than at any other time. (Traffic to major job boards typically spikes between 40-60% from December to January each year.) Monster itself agrees that its spike in traffic in January is the biggest all year (including increased traffic after its Superbowl ads) and that this is mostly due to resolutions.

Maybe it's having time off to reflect on the past year that causes so many people to think about improving their working lives. After all, according to Freud, love and work are the cornerstones of our lives. When we reflect, we tend to reflect on those two things more than anything else.

Derrick Barton, founder and CEO of the Center For Talent Retention notes, "Whenever there's a major holiday, Thanksgiving, July 4 or Christmas, you're around family and friends. People ask how work is going. Sometimes people open up beyond the usual one or two word response because they're comfortable talking with a trusted person. This may get them thinking that perhaps they're lucky in their work, or that maybe they need to get out of a bad situation. When that mental 'click' is turned on, there is a strong correlation to actually leaving, particularly among top talent and people with skills that are in demand. Worse, what held them back in 2004 will not as likely hold them back in 2005."

For many, work has become the dominant force in their lives. Numerous employee surveys this year and last revealed an enormous pent up desire for change; some surveys even suggested that more than half of all employees (and managers) plan to leave their employers within the next 12 months or "when the economy improves." If recent economic trends, which indicate a stronger economy and improved labor market, hold, 2005 could be the biggest year so far this decade for job change.

So how might this present an opportunity for recruiters and/or trouble for organizations? For recruiters, the New Year is harvest time. Clever recruiters will have planted seeds of interest into the top talent they hope to recruit from other organizations so that their follow-up calls in January and February connect them to people in the career-change state of mind.

Organizations, on the other hand, should spend some time in December and January cementing their ties with top talent. This involves more than a Christmas card or even a bonus. Employers should use this time of year to show real appreciation for the hard work of key performers during the past year. Of course, retention initiatives should occur year round, but it doesn't hurt to emphasize and increase those efforts at year end and during the first months of the new year, when employers are most vulnerable to losing their best people.

Retention of critical talent is not a one-to-many exercise. Top talent and those that have been identified as having strong potential should be met with one-on-one. Perceptive managers will gain a sense of whether an employee's commitment is strong or waning. At the very least, it will give managers the opportunity to express gratitude and learn what is important to keeping their key people engaged. This time of year has the advantage of being a natural time for taking stock of accomplishments during the past year and looking ahead to goals for the coming year.

However, this won't just happen. Data gathered by the Center For Talent Retention at the start of the decade found that 86% of managers did not feel accountable for engaging and retaining employees. Despite the elevation of "talent retention" as an issue since then, it is very doubtful that the situation has improved much. The surest path to getting managers actively involved in the retention of key people could be to build it directly into their compensation plans. Again, there is no better time to revisit incentive plans than the beginning of a new year.

The New Year is not a time to sit back and reflect. In fact, it may be the best time exploit the vulnerabilities of competitors, after all, all's fair in the war for talent.***

Source: inc.com

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Investing in HR Software VS Maintaining a Manual System

If your company is small, you haven’t really needed to worry about maintaining a manual HR system. However, if you are starting to grow and the projections for your organization are to grow exponentially in the next three years. This would be a good time to invest in an HR software program before you are too overwhelmed with paperwork and messy files.
There are many benefits for investing in an HR software program. These include:

1• Reduced time spent in tracking down and filing paperwork. This includes being able to quickly find time-off accrual balances, benefit information, or performance evaluations for current employees and to answer job verification calls regarding former employees.

2• An organized system for keeping your data with an automatic backup system to ensure your data is not lost. The backup system of your employee personnel files should be kept as part of your disaster planning efforts.

3• Managers can be more effective by contributing and updating information directly to their department’s employees’ personnel files, which reduces the amount of time spent keeping the information up-to-date and current. Managers should be able to go into the HR system to add entries for vacation time used and performance evaluations.

4• The system can be set up for reminders of I-9 forms due dates, benefit eligibility, certification expiration dates, next performance evaluation dates, and more.

When you start looking at HR software, it is best to look long-term. Determine how the program can benefit your organization not only now, but in the future when your staff is larger and you have less time to devote to a manual system.

The time spent tracking down paperwork and filing it will increase as the number of employees increase. Additionally, your managers will have less time to devote to managing employees if your recordkeeping system is still manual and cumbersome. You must ask yourself “Do I want to spend a couple of weeks evaluating and implementing HR software now? Or, years wishing I had?”

HR software can be easy and affordable. Download a free trial version of Staff Files HR software here and try it...

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The Importance of Career Planning to Your Future Fortunes

In this article we will cover a little about the meaning and purpose of Career Planning. When it comes to career planning, you tend to think the craziest things when you are young and not yet focused on life. When you are a child you want to be the President, the Pope, or an astronaut; kids tend to shoot for the stars, however, when you grow up, you need to aim more realistically for your success, but not necessarily aiming lower than you can strive to succeed to.

You will want to make sure that your plans are something that you can enjoy and something that you can reach. When it comes to career goals you do not want to set the bar too high, but you do need it to be a slight challenge. A lot of career satisfaction comes for achieving goals in the workplace that you had to work hard to make happen, including your own pathways and the roles of team members.

The only thing that you will want to worry about when it comes to picking a career is that it is something that you can reach. If you can see you can do it, right? Well sometimes, it depends on your means. When it comes to planning your career you need to think about support, money, and effort.

When it comes to support, you are going to need some family and friends to back you up when everything falls. You are going to need some people to act like a support system. You are going to need some people when things fall apart so that you can pick yourself up and make something of your life.

Your career will dedicate your life so it is important that you take career planning seriously and that you think about your future when you choose a career.

It is also very important that you make sure that the career path that you choose fits your personality and your future goals. There are a lot of career tests that you can take online and offline so that you can pick a career that suits you. You will notice that your career planning may be rough in the beginning, but if you do your research you should be able to find a solid path for your future.

If you would like to do some further counseling you may want to ask yourself about seeing how people in the careers that you pick act and work. You may want to become an intern or you may just want to get more involved in the career by becoming an assistant.

There are lots of things that you will want to take inconsideration when planning your career. Location has a big effect on your career path. You may end up having to move away to become what you dream of. You will also have to research the wages that you can look forward to having.

You will also want to research the odds of finding a job in that career. If you plan to study for a higher qualification, you should start your research before you go to college so that you can declare a Major.

I have found a site created by Helene Malmsio who has had 20 years of employment recruitment and staff training experience. On this site there are hundreds of resources to help you plan your career, including a no-obligation report download and eCourse you can also subscribe to, that can be used by anyone wanting some expert help in trying to develop their career further.

It is important that you do enough research because you don't want to end up in a career field that will make you unhappy. When it comes to a career you may want to think about aiming high because your goals are going to always be changing, but you will be able to get a clear idea of what you are looking for out of the perfect job.

As for effort, how much are you willing to give to your career? Are you willing to give it your all? How far are you willing to take your dreams? If you cannot drive yourself to reach your goals, you will never be able to make your dreams come true.

Just because you have one problem with the above, does not mean that you cannot make your dreams come true, however, it will be more of a challenge. The most important thing that you will ever need is personal motivation and commitment to your career goals. If you got drive then you will find a way to make the money and the support system for your career training or college degree to appear. Money can hold a person back, but it can never stop a committed person from following their career dreams.

You will want to speak to many people in the job field as well as some people who can give you some advice or guidance in your career planning. It is important that you make something out of your life so that you can live a fulfilling life.

Get the best tools you can to make sure you are fully equipped to make the best decisions and choices from the career opportunities open to you, and to learn the professional skills to sell yourself to your ideal employer. We all had to learn these skills, no-one was born with them, but your career path will be fast-tracked to success when you give yourself the leading edge in your career planning.

Learn everything there is to know about career planning from the bottom up, so you get it right the first time...

Do you find the prospect of planning your career daunting and unmanageable? If you are one of the millions of actively seeking job hunters in the market today, you have to gain a competitive edge to get ahead.###

Source: Ezine Articles

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Leverage Upper Management Perspective To Survive Tough Times

By John Reiling

In times of crisis, such as the current worldwide recession , the role that project or program managers perform is critical. The dramatic changes in the economic situation has led to quite a few people losing jobs as companies cut costs or restructure their organization. Many projects and programs have been canceled due to severe crisis. How can project and program managers cope with this crisis?

Coping With Crisis
This dilemma might shake up the stability of many organizations. However, before any attempt to try and save the company must be done, first you need to identify what within the organization will be most effected by the crisis.. Since this problem revolves at the core around the issues of credit crunch, project and program managers must carefully assess what in their projects and programs are most affected by credit issues.

A common mistake that company leaders make is going back to the old methods since it has been tried and tested. This is most especially true during this transitionary stage that would spell the fate of the company for the future. However, it is during this stage for the organization that project managers must assert their leadership by establishing steps backed by wise strategies to move the company forward.

Embodying the Upper Management Perspective
Clearly stating what the company goals are will enable us to implement proper management to employees. It is the task of project managers to help keep the company intact during recession. Here are top priorities for project or program managers during times of economic crisis.

Cutting Costs
This does not simply entail taking removing manpower or canceling projects. Determining how to cut costs is difficult. Therefore, careful assessment of the overall organizational scheme and the project itself will enable a detrmination to be made about what would be actually beneficial to the company or not. It is reasonable to cut costs to retain the company's stability, and usually there are more cuts that can be made than initially thought, as people usually look at things from the paradigm of what is, rather than what is absolutely necessary.

Open Communication
Communication is a delicate yet integral component for an organization to be effective, especially in a crisis. Therefore, a project or program manager needs to openly and transparently communicate potential plans or problems with the team. If possible, team members must be consulted for ideas on anything that concerns the company. More importantly, they need to know and adopt a strong commitment to the organization despite troubled times, and from the project or program manager must intern make commitments, where possible, to them.

Proper Compensation Plan
This is a critical aspect that every organization needs to study closely during times of recession. Following a serious economic meltdown, companies need to formulate a compensation plan that will encourage its staff to maximize their performance, but now under diffferent circumstances. With dramatic changes in the economic situation of the company, this is also the time wherein you need your personnel to aspire for better productivity. With changed conditions, bojectives change, and compensation plans need to be motivating toward clear and achievable goals within the changed environment.

Assuming An Opportunistic View
During recession, most project and managers are so consumed with fixing troubles that they fail to see opportunities when they arise. Since this is a critical time for the company, it is important to also keep eyes wide open for possibilities that could greatly benefit the company in the long run. A few aspects of the business might be suffering, but that the silver lining is that there may be some organization-enhancing opportunities lurking.

Embracing A New Outlook
Looking at current projects with a discerning eye instead of dwelling on past decisions will enable the company to move forward. One needs to assess where the projects stand to achieve a better perspective on what must be done to get a step closer to the goal of survival. Envisioning objectives - both survival and perhaps enhancement - enables the ability to garner the proper means and methods to get there. Moreover, this will create a new disposition and possibilities. After all, recession is just a phase, and once the credit crunch issues have been straightened out, managing the company will fall into place, and a much more exciting set of challenges will emerge.

Act On Plans
Project or program managers need to understand that during recession, one needs to be more sensitive to the rapid changes in the business environment. Proper retrospect and sensitivity to these changes is the key to adapting quickly. Leveraging the upper management perspective by thinking outside the box of the project or program is a tough but bey step. It will outline the proper steps that must be taken for your company to thrive during tough times.**

About the author: 

John Reiling, PMP, PE, MBA is an experienced Project Manager and certified Project Management Professional. John's web site, Project Management Training Online provides online project management training for PMP exam prep and PDUs.

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Employee Time Management | Techniques and Tricks

This article is to discuss how to implement and adopt a good employee time management techniques and tricks so as to increase the business owner productivity and sales turnover. Read on.

Being a business owner, you want your employees to do the best they can with their on-the-job performance. Setting up a plan of action or a set of goals with time management at work can be a real benefit to the work environment. 

Work performance, when good, will bring in more profits. Your team will get more done in the process of your incorporation time management at work. All employees should work at managing their time more wisely. Setting the scene to do so will improve the quality of your business.

This should help you to share the problems you face in your business operations. This will help you to open up some of your own time. The problem is, you are sitting there looking over information about your profits and you become concerned. 

How to see more value for your employees?

You want to see more value for the money that you are paying your employee(s). If you've ever had such a thought, then it is time to start worker time management programs. 

You can't assume that this is something they already know. It's a goal setting strategy that you have to incorporate in their work schedules. 

How to help your workers?

One helpful way for your employees to learn about employee time management by going through a training course. 

Set aside one night for a mandatory meeting and either you or a person who knows about time management can teach them how to effectively use their time. Through the course of the discussion, the employee can bring up things about the business they feel is a time waster. 

You can then correct this problem for them, allowing them to free up some of their time to be more productive.

Once the problems are fixed that interfere with good time management, it is time to set up a schedule. You or all the employees can talk about how much time they realistically need for a project. 

This will help you to do your scheduling better. This will take more of the load off them, and will also show you if you need more than one employee! 

This will be based on the amount of projects you have, and the amount of time it takes to complete a project you give. One thing you have to remember is you can't change the amount of time in a day.

How to implement your worker time management techniques and tricks?

You need to be organized when you are dealing with time management. Setting up projects at the same time every day will help gear your employee up for good program. Once your business starts using the program, things will run more smoothly. 

You will also see more profits coming into the business with the good program. The most important factor in all of this is being realistic with you expectations and with the goals you set for your employees. 

So long as everyone is honest about the timing for a project, the program will work for you. It will show you how well the performance in the business is flowing. 

Good employee time management is essential, as long as you implement it gradually and allow your employees to experience the benefits instead of thrusting it on them.

As a business owner, you may now know how to implement a good employee time management techniques and tricks, however, all talking and no actions does not really bring your business to greater heights.

Take action now is the most right thing to do if you want you goals realized.

Without an effective and proper time management system, there will not be much goal-oriented lifestyle to hope for.

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The Seven Minute Difference | Small Steps to Big Changes

Have you written down your goals for the New Year? If you haven’t, no worries, you're not alone.

Do you need to make some significant changes in your life? It doesn’t take a New Year’s Resolution and it doesn’t take months or even weeks. It can take as little as seven minutes.

Allyson Lewis -motivational speaker and strategic business consultant- shared her 24 years developing and teaching concrete yet actionable life changing concepts on her book “The Seven Minute Difference: Small Steps to Big Changes”

Here are seven simple micro-actions that could impact you or your company almost overnight. Of course, just because an action seems easy doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the right one to commit to doing. As you read this list, choose one or two of these micro-actions that would make the most difference in your life and try to focus on adding them into your day. If you will truly make a commitment to be different, at the end of a month or so, you may be amazed at how these tiny efforts can positively impact your future.

1. Drink more water. Almost all of us want to improve our physical health. We set these big goals to lose weight and get in shape, only to find ourselves with a drive-through cheeseburger in our hands eating lunch at 2:30 because we are overwhelmed at work. Big goals are wonderful, but small goals are often more successful. By swapping soda pop for water, improving health and loosing weight is easy. Those liquid calories can really add up.

2. Handwrite two thank you notes per day. We live in an email world and there is very little personal correspondence any more. In less than seven minutes, you can thank a customer for their recent order – write a note to an employee for a job well done – or send a card to a supplier. You will be shocked at the impact your effort will make on your customers, employees and suppliers. They will remember this gesture for months. When was the last time you received a personal thank you note? How did it make you feel?

3. Read ten pages of a non-fiction book every day. According to the American Booksellers Association, 58% of American adults never read a book after high school. If you truly want to be different tomorrow than you are today, choose to be more knowledgeable. Knowledge truly is power and it allows you to grow and change in amazing ways. By reading only ten pages of a book every day, you could read a 300-page book every month! That means you could read twelve life-changing books a year.

4. Outline a daily plan of action. Every day, before you leave work, spend seven minutes writing down the top four to seven tasks you need to accomplish during the next work day. Prioritize the list, so that you tackle them in their order of importance. When you arrive at work the next morning, the list is there to guide you to do the vital tasks first.

5. Review your current skills. Take seven minutes to answer the question, “Are there any new skills I need to develop that would help our company move forward or that would help me personally be more competent in my current position?” Is there new technology that could streamline your processes and systems to save time and money? If you want to be more competent tomorrow, then you must constantly ask yourself what knowledge and skill sets you must acquire to be a more valuable asset to your company.

6. Create the story. Strategies may create great company structures, but stories create customer loyalty. Does your company have a compelling story that differentiates you from your competition? Spend seven minutes listing your company’s strategic advantages and differences and then focus on those strengths. Make sure your customers understand your strengths. Begin to tell your story. Tell your employees, tell your customers, tell everyone. Strategies look good on spreadsheets, but stories create breakthrough growth.

7. Recognize and pursue the things that matter most to you in life. It is important to prioritize how you will spend your work day. If I offered you $86,400 every day with the one restriction that you must spend it wisely that day or lose it, what would you do? Of course, you would spend it wisely. Yet, each one of us is given 86,400 seconds everyday and the same proposition challenges us: spend them wisely or lose them. Take seven minutes to determine what is most important to you at work and at home and then pursue those things with vigor.

What holds you back from becoming the person you want to become? What if that obstacle could begin to crumble in only seven minutes? Today is the day to stand on the edge of life with a new sense of determination and hope. Change really does happen in an instant. It happens the moment you decide to change. Now that decision is yours to make – either you are In or you are Out. It is that simple. Draw a line in the sand and say, “I’m in.” Then, begin to discover how the smallest decisions can have a huge impact on your life – seven minutes at a time.

Image Credit: Amazon.Com

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5 Strategies To Getting Your Money's Worth At Seminars & Workshops

You open your email to find a notice about an upcoming seminar or workshop on a topic you desperately want to learn more about.

Later that day, you get the mail and there's a postcard inviting you to the same workshop.

"Should I go?" you think.

"It's expensive, I'll have to pay for airfare and hotel, but I'll learn *so much* and will really be able to propel my business forward," you say to yourself.

After much wrangling between those two guys that sit on each of your shoulders, you decide to go for it. You tell your clients you'll be gone, you buy the plane tickets, book the hotel, pay the workshop fee and you're excited!

The day finally arrives. You can hardly wait. You get a seat and wait for things to start.

By the second hour, your head is brimming with ideas while your stomach is full of coffee. You desperately want a break and can't focus on anything else.

The break comes and goes and now you are starved. "WHEN is lunch anyway?" you hear yourself asking your neighbor.

After wolfing down something which the hotel is convinced passes for food, it's back to the workshop. Now the carb crash comes and you need a nap -- the speaker is very interesting, but hey, you're getting the seminar CDs and will catch up on anything you miss then.

Does this sound familiar? I've been to three workshops/seminars in the past two months and have watched this scenario unfold for HUNDREDS of people -- again and again.

It's critical you have a system in place to insure you get the most out of each and every seminar and workshop you attend -- after all, you're spending your money AND time attending.

1. Bring a notepad.

Insure you have either a notepad or notebook dedicated ONLY to "Action List" items.

This is not a "To Do" list -- "to do" lists sound like work and generally lower your energy. This is an "Action" list -- completing these items will propel your business forward.

Personally, I put a small box next to each item that I can check off as it's completed. I don't number them as these are not in priority order. The order is based on when the item pops into my head.

2. Bring a notebook.

You should have ONE notebook for ALL your seminars and workshops. This is for your "Notes" -- if the presenter provides you with a handout of his presentation, GREAT, you can take notes directly on it.

If not, however, you'll want to keep all your notes in this notebook -- start the section with the seminar name, location and date and note each speaker's name and presentation title and any notes from it.

Notes, NOT action list items. . .action items go on your Action List. It's important to keep them separate so you don't need to search through pages of notes for your action items.

Always remember: It's not what you know that matters; it's what you IMPLEMENT!

3. Bring plenty of business cards.

You'll be amazed at how many people forget to bring business cards with them when attending workshops.

Always insure you have plenty of cards with your current information and, preferably, a picture of you on it. We meet so many people at seminars; you want to insure people remember you when going through their new stack of cards at home.

4. Take a day.

If possible, take a day or 1/2 day when you get home to unpack, get back in the swing of things and take a good look at your Action List.

Are there items which can be done in 10 minutes or less? If so, identify those items and schedule an hour for each group of 5 activities over the next week (this allows a little extra time). This will insure you make steady progress soon after the seminar.

Do you have bigger projects? No sweat, break them down into smaller chunks -- 30 minutes at most -- and schedule them on your calendar.

By scheduling these activities *on your calendar*, you'll have a start and end time for getting them done and insuring you got the most out of your time at the workshop.

5. Follow-up.

Chances are you've met new friends and potential clients.

Now's the time to drop them a brief note and let them know you're happy to have met them and follow-up with any information you may have promised.

And, remember, if appropriate for you, thank the speaker for the seminar and all you learned.

Your Coaching Challenge

Your coaching challenge for this week is to prepare a "Seminar Toolbag" which includes a notepad, notebook, business cards, two pens and anything else you may need.

Here's what's in my Toolbag (a bag I take to all seminars) in addition to the above: granola bars, lip balm, post-its, tissues, peppermint patties, a digital camera and since I'm not a coffee drinker, my favorite tea bags.

Copyright © 2008 Sandra Martini

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Nine Ways to Leave the Office by Five

Time Management Tips by Sharon Mann

Are you usually the last one to leave your office every night? Do you have trouble managing projects? This article is designed to provide you with some time management tips that will guarantee you'll never have to stay late at work again. Specifics may vary from person to person; however, the following information includes helpful and important guidelines from which everyone can benefit.

Not many people enjoy having to stay beyond the usual quitting time in the office and you probably feel the same way. Of course, occasionally you cannot avoid working late. Yet, a good majority of reasons for a late stay involve poor planning. We're sure if you think about it you can come up with dozens of strategies to steer clear of working beyond your usual quitting time.

Here are 9 time management tips that will help you leave the office on time:

1: Keep your working area in order.
You might be amazed how a messy desk can be so distracting that it can cause you to waste many minutes, perhaps an hour or more each day, looking for stuff.

2: Write things down at the beginning of your day, or the night before. Regular readers of this newsletter have heard this suggestion from us before. Having a plan of attack for the day can do wonders in keeping you on schedule.

3: Minimize phone calls at 4:55.
We're not suggesting that you do not answer your phone (your boss probably wouldn't appreciate that). But be aware of a conversation that might last well beyond your scheduled departure time, and if possible, ask if you can continue the call in the morning when your mind is fresh.

4: Begin meetings earlier.
If you have the authority to schedule meetings, try not to set one up any time after 4 pm because odds are the meeting may go on well past 5 pm.

5: Speak up.
As mentioned above, sometimes working late can be unavoidable. However, that does not imply that you should feel obligated to work late all the time. If you have to be home at a certain time for your family, say so.

6: Prepare to leave.
Things like backing up your computer files for the day are included as part of the job. There's no reason why you can't perform such tasks at 4:50 rather than at 5:00.

7: Beware of the talky late-day visitor.
You know who were referring to: the co-worker who shuttles over to your workspace and engages you in a conversation that becomes a 1/2-hour distraction, keeping you away from your work and causing you to stay late so you can finish.

8: Keep yourself out of the "I must catch up" trap.
Admit it; you never really do catch up fully with all the work you have to do. And staying late probably won't change that. Remind yourself, the work will be there tomorrow.

9: Be true to yourself. You may often feel the urge to take on more work than any human being can handle, maybe as a way of impressing your boss. Working hard and striving for promotions is great. But think about it, does your boss really expect you to handle more than you can all the time and stay well past 5 pm each and every evening? If so, you might consider speaking with him or her about their stance on quality of work vs. quantity of work.

About the Author: Sharon Mann is President of the I Hate Filing Club, a group of nearly 100,000 office professionals who hate filing but love finding new ways to become more organized.


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Managing Payroll Attendance

Hourdoc informs business owners and professionals about payroll attendance and the costs and challenges associated with payroll attendance. It highlights the positives of payroll attendance and use of payroll attendance to see more innovative techniques of managing payroll attendance.

Employers need an effective, efficient method of tracking payroll attendance that is associated with hour’s employee’s work, which are connected with payroll attendance. A lot of companies use old fashion ways of tracking payroll attendance, reporting payroll attendance, and managing payroll attendance. This is the age of digital interconnectivity, to enhance payroll attendance, payroll attendance telecommuting and payroll attendance virtual offices. These tools are good, especially when dealing with payroll attendance. A lot of older systems dealing with payroll attendance are outdated and irrelevant.

Old systems, dealing with payroll attendance, require HR personnel to perform all aspects of payroll attendance and if not up to speed, managing payroll attendance becomes too cumbersome and HR is overloaded, then payroll attendance suffers and the bottom line suffers. Using newer systems when payroll attendance is up and running smoothly payroll attendance becomes self regulated and instead of focusing on payroll attendance and payroll attendance related issues management could focus on pressing matters. The antiquated payroll attendance systems are prone to human error where payroll attendance is concerned and management, administration, and employees become impaired.

Payroll attendance can take care of employees from beginning to end with an updated cost effective payroll attendance system. Only Internet access is needed. This will free up a business owner’s time to keep focus off payroll attendance and payroll attendance problems, so they can focus on strategic aspects of their company. A huge percentage of companies spend more time and money on payroll attendance than they really should. Fraud creeps into the picture when no payroll attendance tracking, or payroll attendance documentation is integrated into the corporate structure along with no accountability for payroll attendance systems.

A payroll attendance system that is Internet based, payroll attendance user-friendly, payroll attendance up-to-date, and payroll attendance cost effectiveness will ease the burden for administrative, which are payroll attendance related, and employee payroll attendance functions. Also a payroll attendance implementation time should be short.

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When is the Right Time for an HR Expert?

For many companies, who have experienced rapid growth, Human Resources is an after thought. You start out with two employees and before you know it, you've grown to over 25. Life in the office goes from being fairly simple to highly complex.

When you are a small company, it is easy to operate on the fly. In fact some employees find it thrilling to work in an environment where everything is informal. Unfortunately, there are many others who have a difficult time operating in an organization where the only thing that is predictable is change.

Like it or not, it may very well be time to formalize HR processes and procedures in your organization. No need to panic. You can easily accomplish this by hiring an HR Expert.

What's the role of an HR Expert?
Think of an HR Expert like you would a VP of HR. Only you don't have to provide this person with a fancy office and a big salary. The services of an HR expert vary depending on the company's needs and the consultant's depth of experience. Just-in-time services range from writing an employee handbook to helping guide you through complex HR issues.

Like most things in life, you get what you pay for. When evaluating consultants, focus on the value they can bring to your organization. A small decrease in turnover or an increase in productivity will more than pay for this investment.

So how do you know when it's the right time to hire an outside HR Expert? Here are some clues:

You no longer know right from wrong - When you first started your business you were feeling pretty comfortable addressing HR issues in your organization. After all, how hard could it be making up policies, such as vacation time, as you needed them? Now was it Bob or Mary that you promised an additional week of paid vacation? If you can't remember, ask either one of them. They know exactly what the other one has.

You are having a difficult time keeping up with all the rules and regulations-Some leaders find it hard to let go, so they try to manage everything. This requires a great deal of reading and a terrific memory. Before you enroll in a three-day seminar on the fundamentals of HR management, ask yourself if this time would be better spent dramatically improving your product and enhancing your market position.

You believe you can do it all in house - Why hire an expert when you can use software to automate all of HR? Take employee handbooks. For a few hundred dollars you can do it yourself. Or can you? You probably could if you had the knowledge that it took to answer the series of questions that need responses. But if you could do this, then why would you need to buy the software?

Save yourself the money and aggravation. Hire an expert who can get the work done right the first time and in a way that works for your company. Then cross this important item off of your long list of things to do.

You are not Atlas - When you are experiencing rapid growth, it's easy to forget that you need a strong foundation to support your company's growth. Imagine what would happen if you decided to build a 5,000 square foot house on a foundation that is meant to support a 2,000 square foot home. Your house will eventually collapse.

The same is true for organizations that have grown rapidly and have not established a strong base. Through luck, or by throwing out huge sums of money, you might have attracted star players to your team. But few people will stay once they realize that they have joined a squad that is experiencing lots of growing pains. Invest in your infrastructure beforehand, to ensure you retain those valuable resources.

You can no longer look around the office and call each employee by their name - If you've reached this point, then you probably should have hired an expert several years ago. That being said, it is not too late. Now where are those name tags kept?

Despite what you might have heard, there is no magic formula for deciding when it is time to bring in an HR Expert. The right time is when you are serious about decreasing your legal exposure, enhancing employee engagement and dramatically increasing productivity and profitability.***

Article Source:http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com

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Time Management | Bring to your personal growth

Time management is basically about being focused. The Pareto Principle also known as the '80:20 Rule' states that 80% of efforts that are not time managed or unfocused generates only 20% of the desired output. However, 80% of the desired output can be generated using only 20% of a well time managed effort. Although the ratio '80:20' is only arbitrary, it is used to put emphasis on how much is lost or how much can be gained with time management.

Some people view time management as a list of rules that involves scheduling of appointments, goal settings, thorough planning, creating things to do lists and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.

But there is more skills involved in time management than the core basics. Skills such as decision making, inherent abilities such as emotional intelligence and critical thinking are also essential to your personal growth.

Personal time management involves everything you do. No matter how big and no matter how small, everything counts. Each new knowledge you acquire, each new advice you consider, each new skill you develop should be taken into consideration.

Having a balanced life-style should be the key result in having personal time management. This is the main aspect that many practitioners of personal time management fail to grasp.

Time management is about getting results, not about being busy.

The six areas that personal time management seeks to improve in anyone's life are physical, intellectual, social, career, emotional and spiritual.

The physical aspect involves having a healthy body, less stress and fatigue.

The intellectual aspect involves learning and other mental growth activities.

The social aspect involves developing personal or intimate relations and being an active contributor to society.

The career aspect involves school and work.

The emotional aspect involves appropriate feelings and desires and manifesting them.

The spiritual aspect involves a personal quest for meaning.

Thoroughly planning and having a set of things to do list for each of the key areas may not be very practical, but determining which area in your life is not being giving enough attention is part of time management. Each area creates the whole you, if you are ignoring one area then you are ignoring an important part of yourself.

Personal time management should not be so daunting a task. It is a very sensible and reasonable approach in solving problems big or small.

A great way of learning time management and improving your personal life is to follow several basic activities.

One of them is to review your goals whether it be immediate or long-term goals often.

A way to do this is to keep a list that is always accessible to you.

Always determine which task is necessary or not necessary in achieving your goals and which activities are helping you maintain a balanced life style.

Each and everyone of us has a peek time and a time when we slow down, these are our natural cycles. We should be able to tell when to do the difficult tasks when we are the sharpest.

Learning to say "No". You actually see this advice often. Heed it even if it involves saying the word to family or friends.

Pat yourself at the back or just reward yourself in any manner for an effective time management result.

Try and get the cooperation from people around you who are actually benefiting from your efforts of time management.

Don't procrastinate. Attend to necessary things immediately.

Have a positive attitude and set yourself up for success. But be realistic in your approach in achieving your goals.

Have a record or journal of all your activities. This will help you get things in their proper perspective.

These are the few steps you initially take in becoming a well rounded individual.

As the say personal time management is the art and science of building a better life.

From the moment you integrate into your life time management skills, you have opened several options that can provide a broad spectrum of solutions to your personal growth. It also creates more doors for opportunities to knock on.

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Get a Fresh Start To Your Career in 2008

As the New Year approaches, have you thought about your career goals? What worked to years ago in planning and managing your career will not work for your career development in the 21st Century. Managing your career in the 21st Century requires preparation, career goal planning and career guidance and ensuring that your time is directed meaningfully.

Here is how to find enjoyment and continue to progress in your career.

1. Determine if your present job is in line with who you are, what you value, and what you are good at. Are you really doing what you want to do? Being self-aware means you become clear about what you stand for and what you have to offer. When you know what you have to offer, you become more powerful and intentional in your work. Doing a good job is no longer good enough to guarantee your career will go well. You are your most important asset. Self-branding provides direction and clarity of purpose for how you work, not just what you do for a living.

2. Identify your job satisfiers and dis-satisfiers. Find a way to do more of the tasks/projects that you enjoy.

3. Identify your accomplishments.

4. Take the time to build and maintain relationship with individuals who might impact your work. You will benefit personally and professionally from the time you invest in such relationships.

5. Determine and write down your vision for your professional life. What actions do you need to take that will get you there? Celebrate the steps you take daily to achieve your vision. You can create the life you want! Here are some ways you can do that:

* Keep work in perspective - remember how you left work on time in the summer?

* Manage your stress - identify what causes you stress and how it affects you.

* Take time out - close your door (if you have one), call forward your phone, turn off your e-mail, take a walk. Use this time "during your work day" to prepare for a big meeting, a presentation or work on a project.

* Delegate - are you spending too much time on the administrative process of your job and not utilizing your skills to benefit your long-term goals and your company's goals?

* Work/Play Balance - what did you enjoy doing during the summer that you want to continue (going to the movies, playing tennis, volunteering, spending time with your kids, seeing friends, etc.)? Put it on your schedule.

6. Be Bold! Don’t be afraid to take on some responsibilities in positions above you. Aim to always exceed expectations.

7. Manage your own time. Set boundaries. Learn to say "no" to non-essential use of your time.

8. Look for way to do things better, and more efficiently. Change a routine task - develop a new process. Instead of handling your e-mails as you get them, set aside specific times during the day to respond.

9. Be great at what you do. The knowledge and skill that create success in your current job will position you for your next move.

10.Be aware of roadblocks that can limit your potential to move upward.

11.Take on projects that will most likely benefit you.

12.Have passion for what you are doing and working toward. You will automatically put more effort into it. If you are not feeling passionate about your work ask yourself: is what you “should’ be doing interfering with what you want to be doing?

Remember! Your career must contribute to your life, not the other way around!
___________
by Cecile Peterkin

New Year's Resolutions

It’s that time of year again. Time to think about making New Year’s resolutions. How did you do in 2007? If you kept them, congratulations, for you are now a better person because of them.

Now let's making some resolutions for 2008. And here are some tips to help us carry out our resolutions.

If we make a resolution, we are resolving to do something we are not yet doing. Why aren’t we doing it? There must be reasons. It may be difficult to do, involve some efforts we have to make, or sacrifices we have to carry out. So, expect resistance. Prepare for it. Accept the short-term pain for the long-term gain. After sticking to our resolution for a month or two, it will become a habit and much easier to carry out. So, it will no longer be a matter of working harder, but of developing good habits which will propel you forward. Keep your eyes on the goal and anticipate the success that is yours.

Don’t become unrealistically ambitious. True, it may be great to improve your golf game, lose weight, hang out more with your friends, take a computer course to improve your productivity, learn ballroom dancing, make a rec room in the basement, and design a flower garden for your backyard. But wait a minute! Do you have the time? Don’t engage in wishful thinking. Instead schedule each activity so you know exactly how much time is available. And don’t forget to include extra time for emergencies.

A powerful technique. At the same time you make your New Year’s resolutions, change your routine. For instance, take a different route to work, have lunch at another place, open the door to your office with your left instead of your right hand, and so on. Why do so? Because each time you act out of character, you are forcing yourself to remember that you are living in a new way. It is easy to change your routine, and the changes will act as powerful cues, reminding you that you have resolutions to follow.

Make your goals as specific as possible. Don’t say, “I’m going to lose some weight” but say “I'm going to lose 10 lb. by June 30, 2008 by drinking more water, cutting out junk food, eating balanced meals, and exercising.”

Monitor your progress weekly. What are you doing right? Keep doing it! What are you doing wrong? What is the cause of the problem? How can you correct it? Also, set milestones. For example, if you’re going to lose 10 lb. by the end of May, that works out to 2 lb. per month. Confirm you standing every month. By keeping a watchful eye on your progress, you’ll be able to make corrections as you go along.

Do it for yourself. Don’t be pressured into anything. Remember, to succeed, your plan must be a passionate one. How can you be passionate about something you don’t want to do? Decide on what you WANT from life and focus on those goals. Granted, there may be things you should be doing, but don’t want to. That’s fine; it simply means you’re a human being. The good news is that as we accomplish goals we WANT, we develop self-discipline. In other words, you’ll have the strength to work on bigger goals later.

Patience. Because we cannot accomplish everything at once, we need patience, focus, and persistence. As we monitor our progress and see the progress we are making, no matter how small, it will be enough to motivate us to continue. If you come across bumps in the road, don’t be discouraged. Just pick yourself up and continue. How can you develop your skills if it’s smooth sailing all the way? You need to experience a few storms before you can become the Captain of your ship.

That's all. Happy New Year!

Time Management | Tips for Employees

While office executives are considered the brains of the workplace, it is the rank and file employee that gets to do most of the dirty work for them. They are the ones who photocopy documents, file folders, take note of transactions, send mail, print papers and all the other mundane office tasks most senior staff wouldn’t really bother with.

With the number of these mundane tasks growing as the day progresses, it won’t be a surprise when rank and file employees feel somewhat burned out at the end of the day. And because the rising number of these jobs often cause confusion, an effective time management system is definitely in order.

Offices expect maximum productivity from their staff, whether or not they are in the mood to work. Offices expect that at the end of the day all the activities that were supposed to be accomplished are completed and completed well. This is where a time management program is helpful. It will help employees better space out their time, in order to keep their jobs and their bosses happy.

Below are some tips for a more effective time management system for employees.

1. Employees can better manage their time if they delegate the things they cannot perform

There is no ‘I’ in team, as the saying goes. Thus, whenever an employee finds something that he or she cannot perform during the time given to him or her, he or she should have the prudence to pass it along to other co-employees who have extra time to spare. Assuming too many tasks at once not only hampers productivity numbers, but also compromises work quality. If an employee rushes to finish a certain job just because there’s a deadline, at the expense of quality, then everybody loses in the long run. And more time is eventually wasted.

2. Employees can better manage their time if they are taught to schedule their tasks.

Staff should be told to make a priority list first thing in the morning, so that they would know what to first accomplish as the shift progresses. Enough leeway should also be rendered to give way to last minute instructions and changes. These schedules are something that they should stick with. Of course, break times and rest periods should also be included in the schedules. Employees, too, deserve short breaks for working too hard.

3. Employess can better manage their time if they are taught to look things over only once.

This means that anything that can be done now should be done now. If a certain letter arrives that should be addressed immediately, it should not be put aside to be tackled later. This is a waste of time, because when the time comes that the employee will finally decide to tackle the job, he will again have to reorient him or her self with the instructions.

4. Employees can better manage their time if they seek to maximize their productivity.

Based on the Pareto principle, there are activities where we can generate 80% of benefits even if we expend only 20% of our energies and time. Employees should be told to prioritize these kinds of tasks and do all the other things at a later time.

It is the responsibility of the office to help its employees make the best use of their time. While it is also the duty of employees to seek ways to perform better, this endeavor is best met if it is in conjunction with the workplace’s goals. It is for this reason that most workplaces require their staff to attend stress and time management seminars, at least once a year – to keep the sanity of both the bosses and the employees.

A happy employee leads to a happy work environment.

Be More Effective With Pareto Principle

How Come
In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. In the late 1940s, Dr. Joseph M. Juran inaccurately attributed the 80/20 Rule to Pareto, calling it Pareto's Principle. While it may be misnamed, Pareto's Principle or Pareto's Law as it is sometimes called, can be a very effective tool to help you manage effectively.

Where It Came From
After Pareto made his observation and created his formula, many others observed similar phenomena in their own areas of expertise. Quality Management pioneer, Dr. Joseph Juran, working in the US in the 1930s and 40s recognized a universal principle he called the "vital few and trivial many" and reduced it to writing.

In an early work, a lack of precision on Juran's part made it appear that he was applying Pareto's observations about economics to a broader body of work. The name Pareto's Principle stuck, probably because it sounded better than Juran's Principle.

As a result, Dr. Juran's observation of the "vital few and trivial many", the principle that 20 percent of something always are responsible for 80 percent of the results, became known as Pareto's Principle or the 80/20 Rule. You can read his own description of the events in the Juran Institute article titled Juran's Non-Pareto Principle.

What It Means
The 80/20 Rule means that in anything a few (20 percent) are vital and many(80 percent) are trivial. In Pareto's case it meant 20 percent of the people owned 80 percent of the wealth. In Juran's initial work he identified 20 percent of the defects causing 80 percent of the problems. Project Managers know that 20 percent of the work (the first 10 percent and the last 10 percent) consume 80 percent of your time and resources. You can apply the 80/20 Rule to almost anything, from the science of management to the physical world.

You know 20 percent of you stock takes up 80 percent of your warehouse space and that 80 percent of your stock comes from 20 percent of your suppliers. Also 80 percent of your sales will come from 20 percent of your sales staff. 20 percent of your staff will cause 80 percent of your problems, but another 20 percent of your staff will provide 80 percent of your production. It works both ways.

How It Can Help You
The value of the Pareto Principle for a manager is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 percent that matters. Of the things you do during your day, only 20 percent really matter. Those 20 percent produce 80 percent of your results. Identify and focus on those things. When the fire drills of the day begin to sap your time, remind yourself of the 20 percent you need to focus on. If something in the schedule has to slip, if something isn't going to get done, make sure it's not part of that 20 percent.

There is a management theory floating around at the moment that proposes to interpret Pareto's Principle in such a way as to produce what is called Superstar Management. The theory's supporters claim that since 20 percent of your people produce 80 percent of your results you should focus your limited time on managing only that 20 percent, the superstars.

Helping the good become better is a better use of your time than helping the great become terrific. Apply the Pareto Principle to all you do, but use it wisely.

Pareto's Principle, the 80/20 Rule, should serve as a daily reminder to focus 80 percent of your time and energy on the 20 percent of you work that is really important. Don't just "work smart", work smart on the right things.
_______________
Source: About dot com: Management by F. John Reh