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Taking Inventory of Time

Written on June 9, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Time Management

Bigg Success is life on your own terms. Today, we want to focus on time – one of the five elements of bigg success.

For bigg goal-getters, there never seems to be enough time in the day. Yet we all have 24 hours … 1,440 minutes … 86,400 seconds in the day.

Sometimes it’s helpful to look at things through a different lens. Let’s make these units of time more tangible by thinking about them as units of inventory.

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player to listen while you read: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Going bananas for time

Think about a grocery store. More specifically, think about the produce area of the grocery store. Can you see the apples, the lettuce, and the broccoli? Oh, and there’s the bananas!

Our grocers have to sell these things before they go bad. Otherwise, they aren’t worth anything. Unlike canned goods, produce has a very limited shelf life.

So it is with our time. We all have 86,400 seconds as an asset at the beginning of every day. But this second is gone. Now this one. The seconds turn into minutes; the minutes into hours.

When you look back on your day, did you get the most out of every hour?

“I don’t have time”

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marylynn Our friend, Lisa Cree, said something profound to me a while back. She said, “’I don't have time’ is a statement of priority, not fact.” If something is important to you, then you make it a priority and you do have time for it.

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george We always hesitate to recommend this, but if you really feel like you don’t have time for those things that are really important to you, keep a journal for a week or maybe even a month. It’s a bit tedious but it will be worthwhile.

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To make the best use of your time, ask yourself these three questions:

Have you set your direction?
You have to know where you’re going to use your time effectively by doing the right things.

Are you working efficiently?
Do you use technology enough (or too much) to get things done expeditiously. Are there tasks you perform yourself which could easily be done by someone else? We have more options for outsourcing, both in our businesses and at home, today than ever before. Are you capitalizing on them?

Are you focused enough?
As a bigg goal-getter, you may like to have a “lot on your plate.” But here’s a really important principle to understand:

If you try to accomplish too much, you risk accomplishing nothing!

Bigg success is life on your own terms. We’ve discussed before that one of the meanings of the word “terms” in our definition is phases. During any term (e.g. a year), focus on two or three major objectives. Break that down into quarters or months. Then you’ll know what you need to accomplish every day and every week.

Here’s another bigg secret: You’ll get where you want to be faster if those two or three objectives work in synergy – the bigg idea behind bigg success – rather than having two or three completely different things.

Focus on doing a few of the right things the right way so you reach bigg success faster!

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Would you like more tips and tools to live your life on your own terms? Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly – it’s FREE!

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Thanks so much for the gift of your time today. Please join us next time when we’ll discuss little things that make bigg differences. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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(Image in today's post from iprole)

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What’s Hot in 2009: Questions

Written on January 8, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Business, Life Planning, Personal Branding

hto_2009 This week on The Bigg Success Show, we’re discussing opportunities and threats in 2009. Today, we continue the five-part series by looking at some important questions to ask.

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss the questions to ask in 2009 on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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marylynn Earlier this week, we discussed continued outsourcing as a threat to our careers. We also talked about the opportunity to be a free agent – to start your own micro-business to which large businesses can outsource. So a threat to one person may be an opportunity for another.

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That’s why it is so important to look at the opportunities and threats holistically. We wrote an article recently with five questions which help you do just that.

Is there a cheaper substitute?

This is one of the questions we suggested you consider in light of today’s economy. We discussed in a previous show this week that consumers are repairing instead of replacing. And when they do replace, they’re often looking for used items instead of buying new ones.

Substitute: Store brands for name brands
In other words, they’re substituting down and it goes beyond lower priced alternatives to a product or service. In other words, it doesn’t just mean they’re buying store brands instead of name brands.

Substitute: Do-it-myself for do-it-for-me
As an example of that, we’re coming out of an era where more and more consumers were willing to pay for more and more services. They wanted someone to do-it-for-me. Now they’re substituting with do-it-myself more often.

Prove the lifetime value
It’s not just about price, although that is a more important consideration. Consumers are looking at lifetime costs, not just upfront costs. They’re willing to pay for value, but you need to be able to prove it to them.

Your business, your career
If you’re in business already or considering starting a business, think about what your product or service could be a substitute for. That’s where you’ll find opportunity. Also consider what products or services might be a substitute for what you offer. Those are your threats.

What about your job? If your company offers a cheaper substitute, there should be opportunity right now. If not, can you help them find ways to reduce costs? Or prove to customers that what you offer will pay them back in the long run?

Personal considerations

So far in this series we’ve only looked at the external environment, but that doesn’t paint the whole picture. You also have to think internally.

The best opportunity for you will match a market need to your personal considerations. So as you consider a career or a business, it’s important to consider your own wants and needs.

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george I wish I had heard that advice a long time ago. I tended to be very opportunistic. I got into businesses that looked promising without thinking enough about how I really wanted to spend my time. I enjoyed being a business owner, but I’m having even more fun these days!

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Find your passion
We hear it all the time, “Do what you love.” That’s the ideal. However, what if you can’t get paid to do what you love? What if there are no job opportunities? Then do something that lets you do what you love when you leave work.

Consider your preferences
Also think about your preferences when it comes to the environment in which you’ll work. Some people prefer to work at a desk; others can’t stand it. Some people prefer to work in a group; others like to work alone.

The best opportunity in the world isn’t a good opportunity for you if you don’t enjoy working at it.

Contemplate your proficiencies
What are you really good at? What do other people compliment you on? What do you find really easy to do? Chances are that is a skill you can exploit.

Now take another look
With your passion, preferences, and proficiencies – we’ll call these “the three P’s – in mind, consider your career and/or business opportunities again.

What can you help people do? What can you teach them to do? How can you save them money? What skills do you have that are transferable from one business industry to another?

Match your 3 P’s to a market need to find your bigg opportunity.

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