From the Desk of Janet Barclay

Tim McKee, Senior Partner at Pathways Business Associates, says that when assessing someone’s strengths for starting and operating a home based business, time management is one of the first skills he looks at. He states that "Time management is something that MUST become an integral part of your nature; it is not only how you conduct your day, but also how you maximize the best of yourself to achieve your full potential every day."

He recommends keeping a log of your activities for a two week period in order to identify areas where you may be wasting time. For his full article, read, Time Management In Your Home Based Business - The Key.

We often don’t realize how much time we spend on activities that have low or no priority. Although it’s true that "all work and no play make Jack a dull boy (or girl!)" it’s important to differentiate between work time and break time. If our breaks are buried in amongst our working hours, we’re apt to end the day feeling as if we had no breaks at all!

I find it helpful to set limits on the amount of time I spend on social networking sites and message boards, and to schedule these activities before or after my lunch break, or at the end of the day. Occasionally I spend time on these activities first thing in the morning because I’m an early riser and sometimes need to ease slowly into my day, but it’s crucial that I keep a close eye on the clock, as it’s very easy to lose track of the time, thereby also losing the benefits of getting up so early in the first place.

I came across an interesting article today: Too many balls in the air limit the time to follow through. Although the article was written especially for financial executives, the principles really apply to anyone with a tendency to take on too many activities, whether they be business, family, personal, volunteer, or a combination of these.

If you find yourself in this situation, I suggest that you sit down and figure out what is really important to you. You may be engaging in certain activities because you’ve always done them, or because you feel they’re expected of you, but you are gaining little or no satisfaction from them. We often have such a high sense of our own importance that we think the world will come to a crashing halt if we stop doing something, but this is seldom true. In many cases, these activities can be eliminated from your schedule altogether. Sometimes you will need to find someone to whom you can delegate certain tasks that are within your realm of responsibility, such as on the job, but in other cases, such as extracurricular activities, you can just stop participating.

The article makes an excellent suggestion about taking advantage of the task management function of Outlook (or whatever e-mail program you use). With Outlook 2007, this process is even easier. When you receive an email that requires you take some action, simply flag it with a due date, and it automatically appears in your to-do list, whether you leave it in your Inbox or move it to a folder. (Just don’t delete it or you will also lose the to-do item!)

Speaking of priorities, blogging is probably not #1 on my list for today, so I should probably get back to business!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a new form of networking called the Beehive Game Online. Having attended a live Beehive Game earlier this year, I was looking forward to trying the "home version." Since the game started two weeks ago, I’m already quite impressed with the contacts that I’ve made.

The first week I posted a question related to one of the major projects I’m involved in right now, and was disappointed that I didn’t receive any responses. However, the second week I posted a different type of question altogether, and have already received several leads. Since questions remain active for a month after posting them, and since new people can join the game at any time, I won’t be surprised to receive several more over the next little while. In addition, I’ve been able to connect several other participants with people in my network for various purposes. And best of all - I’ve doing all this according to my schedule, which is really important to me, since I’m extra busy these days, and trying to get things in shape before my long-awaited vacation later this month. Typically I post and read questions and answers very early in the morning or on weekends so they don’t cut into my productive time during the day or my leisure time in the evenings.

What’s great about networking in general is that it’s not just about getting leads but about sharing leads and information with others. And in the case of The Beehive Game (both the live events and the online version), a portion of the registration fee is donated to charity - another reason to feel good about it!