Skills that will make work easier for them should be acquired by the students to enable them to face these tough challenges. These skills will make sure that the students are not exposed to defeat when things get tough. Time management is a prime skill that they must learn.

The capability of a student to manage his time efficiently is referred to as time management. This includes goal setting, proper choosing, prioritization, organizing skill and many such skills. The concept of managing time is quite difficult as it demands good adjustment and preparation.

Proper and effective management of time by students yields great benefits. These benefits yielded from proper time managing skill are listed below

1. Students who practice efficient and proper management of time tend to get more quality time. There are many things that students neglect just to make most of the time they get.

But they do not realise the importance of these activities. eg. Eating;

Eating is an important part of every individual. People have to eat on time and also properly to keep them going. This is a portion of the total time they spend. With the acquirement of time managing skills, one can learn effective time organization in order to enjoy his meal at the right time.

2. No task setting for the future. The things that were left undone by the individual or those should have been done tends to give him a burden as a result of subconscious guilt. Building effective time management skills guides the individual through the art of denying procrastination and also teaches the individual to prioritize activities.

The individual feels more comfortable when he comes to know that there are no unfinished activities that will burden him when he is doing other activities. Work becomes more efficient when the individual’ s conscience is devoid of worrying thoughts.

3. Students with proper and effective time management skills tend to have lesser frustrations. Proper planning and good organization are assets of managing time. This makes sure that the individual does not face any frustrations in future. The act of overcoming one’ s frustration makes it easy to unleash the complete flair of productivity and creativity of an individual.

4. Time management tends to increase an individual’ s energy levels. Undone things will likely circulate in an individual’ s mind. These things tentatively strike the individual when he is doing other activities. The skill of managing time effectively and properly teaches the individual to live in an organized manner and also to release his mind from the thoughts of the unfinished business. As a result one can procure and experience the higher energy level that was never experienced.

5. The skill of good time management can also help the individual to to acquire a sense of achievement and peace of mind. If the individual is not sure as to where he is proceeding, he will begin to sense dissatisfaction and anxiety. An important feature of time managing skills is smart goal setting. This technique helps the individual realise the most suited path of progress.

The results of time management could be felt only by practising it first. Listed below are the most important things that would lead an individual to these results.

1. Goal setting. One must be really clear about his goals. These should be realistic and achievable.

2. Realising one’ s most productive periods. This realisation prompts the individual to perform more and apply more efforts.

3. Avoiding procrastination. Effective and wise usage of time is crucial.

4. Organizing skills. A clear idea on organizing things properly helps the individual to achieve the goals at the planned time.

5. Knowledge on prioritizing. This aspect is really important. It is the key to acquire managing skills.

Apart from this, the student should be dedicated in the art of effective time management.

They sat at the table, preparing for a phone call with their website designer. One by one, they enumerated all the problems with the site so as not to forget anything. The team member taking notes sat back for a minute and thought about the site as a whole. She visualized the new site, and saw there was a lot that was right about it. She asked the group if they thought so, too, and invited some feedback on what was working. There were quite a few things.

The mood of the gathering changed and became more appreciative. People were smiling instead of frowning.

There’s a facilitator’s tool called the Plus-Delta, often employed to evaluate the effectiveness of team meetings. The Plus column is a list of what worked about the meeting — great room, stuck to the agenda, etc.

The Delta column — from the Greek alphabet letter, delta, used in mathematics as a symbol for change — lists anything the team might do differently, such as clarifying issues in advance, increasing accountability, etc., to make for a more purposeful meeting next time.

Look for the Good

In effect, the website team was using the Plus-Delta model in advance of their call. Why?

• They wanted to start the call with the designer on a positive footing, and make sure the designer knew they saw not only the site’s problems but its positive features as well.
• They realized that starting the call with problems might create an adversarial quality to it.
• When you look for the good, you find it. By focusing on the website’s pluses, they showed their appreciation for the designer’s positive intent, which made it easier for her to hear the deltas when they came up.

Personal and Professional

Professionally, I use the Plus-Delta model all the time. For example:

• With groups — How did this session go? What worked? What would you have me do differently?
• With coaching clients — I ask them to keep a conflict journal. Each time a conflict arises, what were the pluses about how they handled themselves? What would they do differently next time?

Personally, I use it all the time, too. It keeps my inner critic at bay and helps me to appreciate what went well about that:

• Workshop
• Coaching session
• Keynote
• Difficult conversation with my friend/loved one

We’re inventing our lives one ki moment at a time. Whether looking in at yourself or outward at others, keep the Plus-Delta model in mind.

The deltas are easy to find. For many reasons having to do with nature and nurture, we’re wired to find them. The next time you walk away from a meeting, conversation, or interaction evaluating how it went, first look for a Plus. Ask yourself a question like: What went well? What did I appreciate about that interaction?

Finding the pluses takes practice–but it’s worth it. When we look for the good, we live more appreciative, grateful lives.

How much time do you spend on Mastering Your Time?  I don’t mean managing time.  There is quite a difference between managing and mastering your use of time.  The goal of managing your time is to be more efficient, to squeeze more productivity out of your day.  There are a lot of benefits to being a good time manager, especially in a rushed and frenetically paced culture. 

The goal of mastering your time, however, is to live better, to savor your time…. which is just another word for your Life.   

 If you accept that your time is non-renewable, precious, then it makes sense to take this most valuable personal resource seriously, and devote to it the attention it deserves.  Look at Time Mastery as a way of actually lightening your load – even if it paradoxically takes a little bit of time to lighten up.

Here’s one approach to Mastery: Each morning, use some time to plan your time.  That is, picture your day – what you want to accomplish, what things are urgent and what things can wait, what preparations it would be useful to make, and a high priority is to focus on what pleasures you are anticipating.  Those events and activities that emerge from this review which are most important go into your scheduler first, and everything else must fit around them.  That way, as you move through your day, you’ll know what can be relegated to low priority; you’ll know what requests to honor and which to refuse. 

By spending a very few minutes in focused concentration each morning, you can prevent the tendency we all have to allow our time to be appropriated by others.  Once you know what is necessary and desirable for now, it is easier to recognize the un-necessary and un-desirable, then eliminate the drip drip drip that adds up to an erosion of your non-renewable day.  

In short, using those few minutes in the morning to get clear is a small investment that helps you throughout the day to avoid the lost moments here and there that add up to a great chunk of time – your life.  Even better, a little planning helps you focus on making sure every day includes something to savor.

 

What is it that makes a successful Project Manager?

How do you survive all the challenges and hurdles?

Most successful Project Managers follow the Seven key secrets to successful delivery every time.

1) Learn to be flexible – A key quality to have is the ability to be flexible in any given situation. Sometimes, in order to keep the project on track, a Project Manager will have to think creatively and be flexible to come up with solutions to problems. Being rigid makes it harder to find a “win-win’ solution. Basically, the options are to “make do” or adapt. To survive however, the Project Manager needs to be flexible and adapt. The key factor here is the ability to find a solution ‘whatever it takes’. When early assumptions made turn out to be wrong, there has to be an attitude of finding a solution, not dwelling on the problem.

Do not be too rigid and learn to bend the rules occasionally. Highly constrictive rules and plans will create their own problems and ultimately lead to frustration and inefficient processes. Remember red tape and rules tends to stifle creativity.

2) Keep the prize in mind – Be crystal clear on your final objective or goal. A successful delivery depends heavily on understanding and agreeing requirements right from the start. Then you can use these as the eventual success criteria for successful sign off of your project. Delivering on time and to budget is good, but the real art, the real skill, is in delivering a project as the user originally envisioned it.

3) A Positive Attitude – Generally the Project Manager has to be an active figure, a decisive leader, a good ‘people person’ and not a bystander. A Project Manager has to deal with a variety of situations, working with lots of people and experiencing a myriad of issues and risks. To see light at the end of the tunnel then it is important to have a strong personality that is both proactive and positive.

4) Look ahead – You cannot see every problem on the horizon, but you can anticipate common problems. Practice the good habit of looking ahead, speak to other Project Managers who have been there before you. Read up on lessons learned reports from previous projects. In many cases you will see common problems crop up time and time again. Anticipating them will put you in a much stronger position to deal with them when they eventually do arise.

Remember to ask lots of questions. Making the assumption that you know everything about the project is a dangerous path. Instead, try to have a clear understanding of the process, experiences and issues. That way you are in a much stronger position to deliver a successful project that users will stand behind. Do not accept things at face value. Look for hidden agendas and conflicting objectives, identifying these can help the Project Manager identify potential areas of conflict or resource problems. Go beneath the surface and find out where the pain lies. Work closely with stakeholders and at the end of the exercise you will have a list of the main areas to solve. You might also consider setting up visualization groups to make sure you are on the correct road to delivery.

5) Avoid misunderstandings – Clearing up misunderstandings quickly can save much pain later on in the project. One of the most common problems a Project Manager encounters is that of misinterpretation. Several people can and will agree to set of requirements or specifications, however, they might have slightly differing interpretations of the detail included. Unless you can identify and clear these up early, you are storing up problems for yourself later on in the project. Again a working group or visualization sessions often help to clear these up.

6) Control Project time – Be a good time manager. A good Project Manager must personally be good at managing time. If you are not punctual and prepared how can you pass these qualities on to your project.

7) Use the best tools available, but do not be ruled or distracted by them – Understand the basics of Project Management Tools. A good Project Manager requires a good rudimentary knowledge of the tools out there. ( or have a team that does). These tools can give the advantage that means the difference between success and failure.

Follow these seven key secret principal’s and you will find you are well on the correct path to successful projects over and over again.

Here’s to your future success!

If you want to successfully text your ex boyfriend back, then you might want to start by reminding him of the good times that you shared when you were together. Believe it or not, doing this is recommended to be part of every woman’s plan to text their ex boyfriends back. In a nutshell, the main idea here would be to simply come up with text messages that will make your ex boyfriend reminisce about the old times and want to get back together with you again.

This might sound ludicrous to you right now, but that’s fine because there are actually a lot of other women out there exactly like you who underestimate the power of text messages. Well, the truth is that text messages are very useful and powerful if you want to get your ex boyfriend back, though, because you will be able to contact him personally, privately and intimately through them.

The most effective way to text your ex boyfriend back would involve getting emotional in your text messages, though. Basically, you have to plant various positive feelings and thoughts into his mind through your texts by bringing up the best experiences and memories that the two of you shared in the past. So, what you have to do, for starters, is think about what those experiences and memories are.

If you want to successfully text your ex boyfriend back, you should focus on the best things that made the two of you bond in the beginning of your relationship. What experiences did you go through? Did you do anything adventurous, sexual or romantic that really stood out? Were your relatives and friends involved? By getting emotional through text, you can actually relive all of those things together and make him think of you fondly.

Here’s a sample text to help you get started: “Do you remember when we went on that bumper car ride and you bumped my car so hard that I spun out and my car stopped moving altogether? Brat. I had a great time, though, and I loved the laughter that ensued.”

Aside from focusing on these good memories, you should also ask your ex boyfriend to remember some of the fun and positive things that you do on his own. Just remember: if you want to text your ex boyfriend back, focus only on the happy ad fun experiences, so he always thinks of you fondly when you text.

We are now one-third of the way through this series. This is a good time to reflect on and evaluate your progress with helping your pre-school child develop math skills. What strategies worked as you hoped? Have you encountered any problems? Do you still have a clear view of what you are trying to accomplish and why?

In the introductory article of this series we discussed the research finding that the critical years for learning logic and establishing a solid math foundation are ages 1 to 4. Equally startling, from continued studies, are results showing that a child’s math skills at kindergarten entry are a better predictor of future academic success that are reading skills, social skills, or the ability to focus.

Read that again! A child’s math skills at kindergarten entry are a better predictor of future academic success than even reading skills. This result is HUGE! I hope this fact brings into focus just how very important your efforts are for your child’s future.

At this point you might be thinking that you should transfer the responsibility for math learning to an organized preschool, but I strongly caution you against this idea. Preschool, whether started at 3 or 4 years of age, can be beneficial, especially for social skills, and might become appropriate for your child. However, it misses those initial critical years for establishing a good math foundation. In addition, as this knowlegde of the importance of preschool math education becomes more widely known, more programs are being devised that rely too heavily on “seat work.” Preschool children lack the motor skills and attention span to be successful in an all seat work environment. Sadly, in too many of these programs our very young children are losing their enthusiasm for learning. It is imperative that this NOT happen to your child!

Now might be a good time to re-read the second article in this series: 7 things You Must Always Do. Realize that these procedures and attitudes are important for all learning to occur. In fact, you have probably used most, if not all, of these as you have worked with your child’s language skills. Realize, too, that most of the early math skills can be handled along with the early language skills. Learning to count–1, 2, 3, 4, 5,… –is the same skill as learning to say the alphabet–a, b, c, d, e,… Learning to write numerals can accompany learning to write alphabet letters. Your child’s expanding vocabulary can and should include math vocabulary as well.

So far in this series, we have discussed helping your child master counting, number recognition, using number lines, focusing on “if-then” thinking, addition, subtraction, number families, even and odd numbers, and a quick look at some simple number patterns. Hopefully, you are taking advantage of “teachable moments” rather than trying to schedule learning sessions. Your routines, like trips to the store, fixing meals, play get-togethers, going to the park, bedtime reading, etc., provide many opportunities for learning to occur.

Let your child’s interest and enthusiasm guide what you do, when you do it, and for how long. Frequently return to previously learned skills to check that their understanding is still present and correct. This will let you know if you need to re-teach a skill. Know that having to re-teach is a normal part of learning and does NOT indicate a failure on your part.

I am going to postpone articles introducing new math skills until after a few articles that will address some related issues, like the importance of reading to your child, fixing learned mistakes, task analysis, and learning styles, Continue working with your child as you have been, always staying positive, keeping things fun, reinforcing success, and paying close attention to your child’s body language and mood.

Points to remember with preschoolers:

1. Children learn at their own pace. They will pick up some skills quickly while other skills will need repeated practice.
2. Children need to be actively involved in their learning. They must DO things rather than watching and listening to you.
3. Repetition is necessary for learning to occur. However, make certain that what is being repeated is correct. Practice only makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

Keep up the good work with your preschooler! Never lose sight of just how important you are to future success.

Healthy cooking is need of the hour – with people facing so many health problems and nutritional deficiencies, it’s imperative to pay close attention to what you eat and how you cook it. It is particularly a challenge in summer because cooking causes the whole kitchen and house to get so hot. But with pure clay pots, cooking in summer can be as easy as any other time of the year and you can continue to cook healthy for your family.

Let’s understand healthy cooking first, starting with the fundamentals, it is two-fold:

1. Healthy Ingredients

2. Healthy Cookware

Choosing healthy ingredients is a great first step towards healthy cooking, and choosing a healthy cookware is equally important. Cooking your carefully chosen, nutrition-rich ingredients in the wrong cookware not only destroys the delicate nutrients, it contaminates your food with metal and chemical toxins. Keeping this in mind, it is critically important to choose cookware made from naturally inert and 100% non-toxic material like unglazed primary clay or pure clay. Here are some important reasons why cooking healthy in Summer is important and why pure clay pots make it much easier and enjoyable:

1. They Don’t “Cook The Kitchen” Up

Metals & ceramics (the common materials for cookware) have the tendency to heat and cool at the same time and so higher amount of heat is needed to cook the same foods. Also, as the pot cooks, a lot of the heat is given out into the kitchen or living space (as the pot is constantly cooling also). A pure clay cooking pot, on the other hand, is an excellent retainer of heat so does not need too much heat to cook. Most foods can be cooked just on medium heat or lower. And taking just about the same time! This amazing feature helps you to cook in a pleasantly cool kitchen.

2. They Complement Your Healthy Living Practices

Let us admit – the cold keeps us inside and all our resolutions of exercise, going out, walking come into effect only in summer. Healthy clay pot cooking perfectly complements this change – now you can cook with little to no oils or fats, steam food and get the most out of your daily workout regime. And best of all – Food tastes far better when cooked in clay.

3. It’s A Great Time To Learn And Enjoy New Recipes And Cooking

It is always a good time to start something new but summer is even better for learning and trying out new recipes. It’s easier to search for new healthy ingredients, fresh ingredients are more easily available. Farmers Markets are an enjoyable place to look for them. In winter, you’d prefer to have established your tastes, sources of ingredients etc. and stick to trying what you have learned to cook in summer, so why not try cooking some delicious new and exotic recipes this summer?

4. They “Season” Much Better in The Summer

A pure-clay pot can be seasoned anytime following the instructions but they somehow seem to like the heat of the summer better than the cold of the winter. The summer’s heat lets the pot dry out more quickly and thoroughly after each cooking and this lets it season better – isn’t that great? Cleaning and cooking in a well-seasoned clay pot is so easy it is almost magical!

With the latest bad times within the property marketplace, numerous house owners are taking the important decision to expand their house rather than selling up. A lot of people plan to move residence as they quite simply need further space for their expanding family. An extension will provide that all-important additional space, while not having all of the concern and worry connected with seeking to move property in a property slump.

As construction organisations have also experienced the pinch in this particular recent financial climate, you will find encouraging competitive discounts out there as numerous building companies are willing to make certain they have got work during this hard time. Research prices and acquire quite a lot of estimates, you might be impressed by a number of the competing prices on offer.

So if you’re selecting to go the extension option, what are some of the newest tastes and styles which will be worth considering? Probably my favourite current trend is the effective use of bi-fold doors between your dining room, breakfast diner or kitchen (depending on which room is situated at the rear of the house) and the back garden. In case you are not really acquainted with bi-fold doors, they are very beautiful doors that fold and slide, providing them with the ability to fully open up the doorway area. These doors are frequently used across a full rear wall, giving the impression when fully opened up that the rear of the house joins your garden patio in a truly natural way.

The doors are often of wood construction and can also be made from light metal. The positive aspect of this design option is that they could work just as well in a modern or period home. Many people pick the hard wood option if the remainder of the house has wooden windows, for example box sash windows or casement windows.

I’ve definitely run into individuals who have paid out lots of money on the design and build of their extension, without being absolutely aware of the lovely style and also the practicality of bi-fold doors. If these are a specific thing you like and could well be eager to integrate into your building project, it will help to be aware of this option from the word go as the method you would elect to design your rear rooms could be determined by these outstanding house to garden doors.

The caliber of these products will differ dramatically so it is seriously worth checking out some working examples ahead of committing to any specific provider. I personally prefer a business who manufactures and fits the doors as they’re going to know their product thoroughly, which can only be a good thing.

Phone sales skills with the prospect: Once you get past the Secretarial Screen and begin talking to the Prospect or Decision Maker you enter into the “Call up. Fix up. Hang up” phase.

This IS the time to briefly introduce yourself and ask for an appointment to meet. It is NOT the time to get into prolonged explanations, or to try to make the sale over the phone. (Unless, of course, you are doing tele-marketing… and we do not get into tele-marketing here.)

At this stage, you have one crucial objective to accomplish: to persuade that prospect to invest time in meeting face-to-face with you. Time is money to effective Decision Makers, and they are not inclined to waste it in long phone calls or unproductive meetings.

When you speak with the prospect, be friendly but get to the point. Don’t chat about the weather or how their day is going.

Nor is it the time to talk in detail of what your product is, nor of your background. All that will come later.

DO ask,”Is this a good time to talk?” DO NOT ask, “Is this a bad time.”

When you get the prospect on the phone, do not ask, “Is this a bad time to talk?” Why not? Think how easy it would be to say yes to that question.

Instead, take the positive approach: expect good news. Use your phone sales skills to phrase the question with a positive expectation: if you sense the person on the other end of the call is distracted or harried, ask with a positive spin: “Is this a good time to talk?” Again, it is easier to reply yes.

But if the prospect says, “Actually, no, it’s really not a good time,” then you are well positioned to ask, “I understand. When will be a better time to talk?”

Phone sales skills key mantra: “Call up. Fix up. Hang up.”

Sales professionals think of this first phone contact as the “Call up, fix up, hang up” phase. The point is to make the call, arrange a meeting, then get off the line without getting bogged down.

Obviously, you don’t want to seem brusque during the conversation, but you also don’t want to get into a long conversation at this point. For busy Decision Makers, phone calls are, by nature, interruptions, so the shorter, the more business-oriented, and the more to-the-point the interruption is, the better.

Another reason for being succinct now.

— you CAN LOSE the chance to meet with the Prospect if you talk too much, but the reality is…

— BUT, no matter what you say, you CANNOT MAKE the sale over the phone.

Phone sales skills: The first 30 seconds

Once the prospect picks up the phone, you have two crucial tasks to accomplish in about 30 seconds, or perhaps even less… that is, before the prospect’s interest flags, or before another in-coming call takes priority.

In these opening seconds, you need to,

1. Introduce yourself and your company, (if you operate under a company name), and,

2. Present concise reasons for your phone call, as well as for why the Decision Maker should invest time in meeting with you.

That may seem a lot to do in 30 seconds, but here’s a model script that you can adapt:

“Mr. Robinson, this is Tom Gibbons of Productivity Services. I’m calling because I believe we can increase your firm’s profitability by reducing office overhead — perhaps by as much as 20% in the first year. I’d like to meet with you for about a half hour to explore the possibilities. Would later this week be convenient, or would early next week be better for you?”

When companies are approaching the year end they want to sell a lot of their old stock. In the new year, although the products are not really old, they would be considered to be a year older, technically. For this reason, many companies will mark down their prices in order to get rid of the older stock.

Companies such as catering equipment wholesalers could mark down their commercial refrigerators, kitchen equipment, or seasonal products before they close for the holiday season. This would be the ideal time to capitalize on those bargains. It is a good idea to save for such specials early in the year so that you are financially prepared when the end of year arrives.

Getting ready for end of year bargains takes some preparation.

• You need to do your homework. Look at what equipment you are hoping to procure. Check the prices of the various units and keep a record of it. When the end of year specials are on, then you know exactly what you need to purchase.
• Sign up for mailing lists. If you want to be the first to know about a sale, then sign up to the company’s email newsletter. This way you will get their latest email newsletters directly to your inbox. It will have information on what is on sale, how much you’ll be saving, and the duration of the sale.
• Save for sales. Keep a separate fund aside into which you place a set amount every month. A savings account that gains interest on a monthly basis will be a good idea. This way your funds will grow and you will have a little more at the end of the year.
• Decide on a budget. Decide on how much you want to spend on a catering equipment sale and stick to the budget. It is the end of the year so you don’t want to over spend. You need to think about the new year, overheads, and bonuses.
• Delivery or collection. Decide beforehand whether you will pay for delivery or whether you have a vehicle to collect the catering equipment. If you opt for a delivery option, make sure that you build the cost into your budget. If you collect the product yourself, make sure that you secure it properly to avoid any damage during transport.
• Be realistic. The catering equipment that you will purchase at an end of year catering equipment sale won’t be the latest range, it will be last year’s range or possibly end of range stock. However, they will still be brand new and by no means obsolete, so you don’t have to be concerned about that.