Money and work. For almost 75% of Americans, money and work are two of the top sources of stress, according to the American Psychological Association's 2007 Stress in America Survey.
My goal: to help you reduce your money/work stress.
With this in mind, I'm running a series of Recession-Proofing tips. Here are more to help you through this week - based on a very important philosophy.
Time equals Money. Therefore: Time Wasters equal Money Wasters.
1. Become aware not only of where your money goes, but where your time goes. Do you spend (over-spend! ) too much of it on the phone? Instead of having lots of small talk, try having short talk. Limit phonecalls to 15 minutes. Try to be the initiator of calls not the receiver. This will help you keep focused on your purpose for the call. In fact, never pick up the phone during a business day without asking yourself: "What is my single goal focus for a result from this phone call?"
2. To avoid time-wasting phone tag, set up meetings by email - offering a few potential times for suggestions.
3. Avoid over-spending time emailing ALL DAY LONG by bulking up your emaiing into "EMAIL TIME ZONE CHUNKS." Email in a state of focused flow -- for 15 - 30 minutes every few hours -- rather than scattering your attention by emailing every few minutes in between doing work. Multi-tasking has been shown in many studies not to be the highest usage of your brain's intelligence. You wind up working at a lower level of thought -- and often thereby need to re-do work or amend errors -- wasting time in the long run.
4. Recognize the time-saving value of "skintime" - which is a slang expression for time spent in 3-dimensional person with someone. If you're sitting with someone face to face you can often drill-down faster to solve a work problem -- or brainstorm bigger ideas when you're both in the same room.
5. Avoid unnecessary meetings. Ask yourself: Can this business need be solved in a faster, smarter way than a big conference meeting? If you must have a meeting, start the meeting by stating your "end result goals" - and end my summarizing "your next step goals."
6. Are you a morning person or 3pm person? Recognize which are your best alpha-wave brilliant work hours in a day -- and make sure you do your hardest work during these times.
7. Kaizen your way to the top. Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that "small changes over time create huge change over time." If there's something very difficult you need to do to help your business grow, and you've been avoiding doing it because it feels so overwhelming, make the task more "whelming" by breaking it down into small bitable 15 to 30 minute chunks. After all, it's far easier to be a saint for 15 to 30 minutes than a few hours.
8. End your workday in a work zone you're happy and excited about. Why? So you look forward to going to the office the next day, because you know there's work you want to do waiting for you when you get there! This excitement will enhance your chances of arriving to work on time and ready to work-and-roll!
Karen Salmansohn is a best selling author of THE BOUNCE BACK BOOK; HOW TO THRIVE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY SETBACKS AND LOSSES. Click here for more.