Managing Your Time in Business – 10 Tips to Make You More Productive

April 17th, 2010 by pacapao


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As a small business owner or entrepreneur, your business day can be consumed by many different “Time Eaters”; the latter can have a profound effect on your productivity. What do I mean by this? Well, here are just a few examples of activities that can turn out to be real time wasters:

  • Interruptions
  • Ineffective or unnecessary meetings
  • Staff/employee problems and issues
  • The telephone
  • Visitors without appointments
  • Client problems or complaints
  • Lack of equipment

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg….

Pretty scary isn’t it? I’m sure we can all identify with many of the items on the above list; just think about the amount of time you can waste on a daily basis trying to deal with these “Time Eaters”.

Some of the following tips and ideas will help you eliminate these time wasting activities, freeing up a significant amount of your precious time.

  1. Keep a tidy desk – Simple concept; easier said than done!
  2. Keep a daily to-do list – This can be a simple paper based list or, if you’re the techie type, there are tons of applications for iPhones etc. that can be very useful.
  3. Delegate whenever you can – Be careful though, make sure that the people you delegate to fully understand what is required of them; you must spend — a little — time explaining the task at hand so that there are no misunderstandings.
  4. Set realistic deadlines – There is no point in setting yourself impossible tasks that you know, deep down, you won’t be able to accomplish.
  5. Give yourself private time – Go for a walk or just “take five” to clear your thoughts. Take time to do something which is not work related; going to the gym, for example.
  6. Decide who needs access to you at all times – let your secretary or assistant (if you’re lucky enough to have one, that is) deal with the rest.
  7. Encourage your employees to suggest solutions to their own problems – this has a double effect: your time is not taken up with what are often trivial issues and your employees can also feel empowered and motivated by the fact that you rely on their judgment to deal with their own problems.
  8. Stand up when someone comes to your office – Don’t let them get too comfortable!
  9. Suggest a later meeting – Arrange a time that is more convenient to the two of you.
  10. Holding meetings – Make sure you plan and set objectives, prepare agendas and above all, keep to the agreed time for the meeting.

The above tips should help you on your way to becoming a more productive and efficient manager. Give some of them a try and you will see how simple it can be to add hours of productivity to your working day.

Justin Thompson is the publisher of “Competitive Edge” a Free Newsletter full of Articles, Tips and Tools for Small Business owners and Entrepreneurs. Visit his Blog at http://www.MySmallBizResources.com and sign up for the newsletter or just browse through the wide selection of helpful resources and information which you can start using right away to improve the productivity and profits of your Small Business.

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A Letter for Wales (1960) – extract

April 16th, 2010 by pacapao

‘A Letter for Wales’ is showing as part of Through the Dragon’s Eye: Wales on Screen, a major new collection of over 100 titles weaving together a century of film and television from the BFI National Archive and the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, welcoming the new BFI Mediatheque at Wrexham Library. British Transport Films made dozens of travelogues extolling the virtues of parts of the UK, and this is their love letter to Wales – quite literally, as actor Donald Houston’s experience of posting a letter at Paddington Station (shot in crepuscular black and white) triggers a series of Technicolor memories of a Welsh boyhood. He recalls the Snowdon mountain railway and the bridges over the Menai Strait, the docks at Holyhead offering passage to Ireland, while Milford Haven sits at the heart of oil-fuelled global trade. He marvels at the ingenuity behind a hydroelectric dam, and the craft and skill of the slate quarrymen, while a trip to Tenby Castle unlocks deeper folk memories of the ferocious Owen Glendower… (Michael Brooke) For more information about British Transport Films, visit www.screenonline.org.ukYou can watch over 1700 other complete films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive free of charge at the BFI Mediatheque. There are Mediatheques at BFI Southbank, London, QUAD, Derby, Central Library, Cambridge and Wrexham Library: www.bfi.org.uk www.derbyquad.co.uk www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk www.wrexham.gov.uk

See Also : Haier

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Reading Station 7-25-07

April 15th, 2010 by pacapao

Video from the Reading station on July 25th 2007. first we see the 166 turbo that i had just arrived on from Oxford depart for Paddington, next we see a FGW MTU HST arrive and depart from platform 4 for Swansea. Next we see a FGW HST still with its Valenta engine scream out of the station, for just the valenta action without the MTU’s see youtube.com next up we see MTU powercar 43035 arrvie on plaform 3. then we see that train depart with a rear Valenta 43, unfortunatly its screened out halfway by another double MTU set on platform 4. after the double MTU set departs for Cheltenham Spa a Adlente arrives on platform 3 heading for Paddingtion. After this another double MTU set arrives and departs from platform 4, the movie ends with a short clip of a Freightliner 66 across the platform before i get on my train to Penzance.

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Why Do I Always Feel So Nervous?

April 13th, 2010 by pacapao


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My wife and I had just visited the American Embassy, prior to my coming over here. We were sitting on a bench at Paddington Station in London, and I remember sweating profusely, my stomach in knots, feeling nervous way past a state of anxiety.

Lois is a nurse, and having worked for a psychiatrist was very understanding regarding mental illness. She was infinitely patient with me. She led me onto the train and once we were underway, this awful feeling subsided. The sensation seemed much more than just a panic attack; it was sheer terror! But of what? Lois was a wonderful wife, always has been, and no-one was out to ‘get’ me.

Obviously, I was mentally ill even then. Why I never sought treatment for mental illness; nervousness, anxiety, irrational fear, I just don’t know.

At the time about which I write, it would have been difficult. As I’ve said, I was emigrating to the United States, so to admit myself to a clinic was out of the question. But I’d received treatment for alcoholism some years before. Why not for this horrendous disorder beneath which I had been suffering for so long? It’s only been latterly, within the past 7 years, that I actually entered a psychiatric unit in a local hospital.

It did a lot for me, too. I tried shock treatment. I had three sessions of that. The worst part was when they plunged this great thick needle in my hand, called a shunt. Basically, this is something to which they hook you up when they put you to sleep.

Obviously, I’ve no idea what happens when you’re ‘out’, but prior to that, they stick wires all over you on little rubber pads.

After the shock treatment, you feel quite disoriented for some time. I don’t really think it did me a lot of good in the final analysis. I believe the idea is to jumble all your brain cells so that they come back together in the right places. Please excuse the rather less than perfect medical terminology! However, just because it didn’t seem to work too well for me, doesn’t mean to say that others won’t benefit. I’ve known people who swear by it.

However, thanks to drugs, and these days they’re pretty advanced for most types of treatment of mental illness, I’m a great deal better.

I still hate travelling. I become nervous and anxious days before we go anywhere, although it must be said that I’m nothing like as bad as I used to be.

It is so vital to catch any mental debility in its early stages. The chances of a cure are then so much better.

Studies have shown that mental illness affects 1 out of 5 families in the United States. The World Health Organization states that 4 out of 10 disorders are mentally related in the West, and that by 2020, Major Depressive illness will be the leading cause of disability among women and children. These statistics are frightening.

One of the main reasons for them, I think, and why they aren’t caught in the early stages, is the stigma that’s still attached to such conditions. If you see a chap walking around with his head under his arm, well it’s pretty obvious that there’s something wrong with him. You can actually see that. His head’s fallen off! But you can’t see mental illness. It can creep up on you and grab you before you know it.

Women are much more sensible than men as regards to treatment. Men tend to be macho about it and stupidly suffer in silence. Mark you, they make others suffer because of it. It is so important to seek treatment. It isn’t a character flaw. It isn’t a weakness in your make-up. It’s an illness like any other.

If you cut yourself badly, you’d go to the emergency room and have the wound bound up. Only a complete idiot would allow it to bleed out. So with mental illness. If you’re suffering from it, do something about it. If you simply let it fester, then you and everyone else around you will live in a nightmare.

These days, doctors generally are a lot more savvy and sympathetic to mental conditions than they used to be. Seek medical help. This cannot be stressed strongly enough. I know. I should have sought help many years ago, but I thought I could fight it. I admit to being an idiot.

Please don’t follow my example.

The necessity for early treatment of mental illness can’t be stressed strongly enough, and I write this at the risk of boring my readers. I’ve suffered from a lifetime of it, but then I have the physical constitution of a horse, so I’m not complaining. I simply hate to see others in the same boat. There is an excellent site which goes into Panic Attacks much more deeply, and it is as follows:
http://www.mbizossad.com
mkbnd8@gmail.com

Thanks To : Medical Alert Systems Aluminum.Buvadone.Com

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Did You Know That Many of Your Employees Are Suffering?

April 12th, 2010 by pacapao


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Your company may be losing money and you may not even realize why!

Here is the scenario…you started your own business or maybe you are in a management position within an existing company. As a manager, business owner or company leader you may ultimately be in charge of company production or at least to some capacity, responsible for maintaining acceptable production goals and levels. Now, although you may be putting forward your best efforts in trying to attain positive results from your workforce you may sometimes feel like you are fighting an uphill battle.

So why is this? As company leaders we continue to utilize the “old hat” tactics of yesterday such as setting employee goals, trying to create employee motivation, running sales contests, even using brute force and scare tactics such as issuing employee warnings and reprimands for low production. Yet it continues to be a difficult task and in some cases, next to impossible to get your company to where it should be. Well the problem may lie within your workforce but for much different reasons than you may think.

So what is the problem? Troubled Employees = Diminished Work Ethics

Our current economy has taken a toll on the personal lives of many of your employees. Home foreclosure rates are up, divorce rates are increasing and many of your employees are experiencing severe financial hardship. To put it in simple terms, behind those Monday morning smiling faces, many of your employees are losing their homes, their families and their will to succeed. Personal problems can often lead to anxiety and depression which can cause employees to miss work and not be at 100% all of the time.

So how does this affect your business? Diminished Work Ethics = Low Profits

Back in the day, we used to tell employees to leave their personal problems “at the door.” Unfortunately, since these tuff economic times are affecting just about everyone, this approach is no longer realistic. And so it is only natural that when our employees are having problems outside of the workplace, it automatically gets carried onto the job. Sure employees may do a good job of hiding it, but personal problems will eventually begin to show through a lack of motivation, reduced self-confidence levels and very little desire to achieve success. Remember that these people are your workforce. And when your workforce is hurting…your business is going to feel the pain.

So how can hypnosis help? Happy Employees + Better Work Ethics = Greater Company Profits

Hypnosis can help people relieve stress, regain their self-confidence, boost their self-esteem levels and much more. For example, the majority of our clients are employed and have jobs which means that when we assist a client with their personal needs we are also in essence, helping their employer by creating a happy and well-balanced employee who is therefore more confident and productive at their job. The final result is that our client feels better and their employer also benefits from this outcome.

The fact is more business owners are beginning to realize that the power of hypnosis, although not a “fix all” for every single problem, can certainly help with a lot of issues. Because of this, many companies have turned to offering group hypnosis sessions to their employees that are interested. For example some companies may offer their sales team the opportunity to participate in a confidence building session. The company will often receive a group rate price and at the same time, is offering a tool that can help their sales team achieve greater results for the company.

The bottom line is that overall, people want to do a good job and accomplish more in life. However, it is also a reality that when an employee is spending most of their workday wondering how they are going to pay bills or worrying about going through that foreclosure process, it is naturally difficult to focus on doing the best job that they can. Using hypnosis to take a little bit of the edge off by creating some life balance for employees means better business for you.

Joseph Gionti C.Ht. is a certified Hypnotherapist, Life Coach and Author. He focuses on helping people achieve more in life and sort out many of life problems through the practice of traditional hypnosis and personal coaching. He has written many articles and books including “Mind Conditioning – The Power of Change.” He also conducts his own Internet radio show and offers many self-help tools to his clients.

For more information about Joseph and Positive Change Hypnosis, please see our website.

http://www.positivechangehypnosis.net

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My mispent youth

April 11th, 2010 by pacapao

Some of my favourite tv shows from my childhood.

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BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE

April 9th, 2010 by pacapao

BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE : BRAND NEW 2001 HARDBACK EDITION. SOME SHELFWEAR MARKS. OVERSTOCK MARK… BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE

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Artist Lucian Freud – A Living Legend

April 7th, 2010 by pacapao


Image : http://www.flickr.com

Most great painters must wait till they are dead before they achieve greatness. The few who have gained the notoriety they deserve are household names such as Dali, Picasso, and Van Gough. One painter who is still alive and truly should be added to that list of greats is Lucian Freud. Lucian has been widely known for many years in Europe, and especially his home in England, but the world has not embraced him as they have the others. Many people have admired his work in many venues, but lack the name of the artist. In fact, Lucian Freud’s painting “Big Sue” was sold at an auction in Europe for $33.5 million dollars. This means that Freud has been able too sell more art in his lifetime than most dead famous artists, not to mention all of the living artists to date. This is quite a feat for a poor young kid from Berlin.

Lucian Freud’s father was the son of Sigmund Freud, the famous psychologist. Lucian was born December 8, 1922. When he was eleven, Adolf Hitler was elected to the highest office in Germany, and his parents decided to leave. He was educated in multiple art schools, one in which he decided to burn down. After a rough time in school he enrolled in the Navy and quickly left the navy. He garnered a small amount of attention and work with multiple paintings of his ex-wives. Then after WWII he had a showing at the Festival of Britain where he won multiple awards for his “Interior Paddington“. “Interior” is a painting where the observer feels as if he surprised the subject as he was walking into his sparse apartment.

Many of Lucian’s early paintings, and some consider the height of his creative genius, were of beautiful nude women. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he posed his models in very normal poses or as they were sleeping. The pinnacle of this time period was Big Sue, a painting of a large woman on a smaller divan.

Later in his life he found that though the female body with its supple curves were beautiful to paint, the male nude with its hard rough lines was more interesting. During this era he developed a relationship with his sitter and performance artist Leigh Bowery. He was Lucian’s subject till his untimely death because of the AIDS virus in 1984. After this split, Lucian’s work slowed, but his creativity and originality has not been better. In his entire breadth of work; the nudes or the people being people, he is considered a great artist of both the 20th century and this one.

Mark Traston is an associate with Portrait Painting. The company specializes in turning a photo to painting. Each portrait artist specializes in a specific area including wedding paintings, pet portraits, and executive portraits.

Visit : Karylborello Attorneys Birmingham

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Booking Taxis Online

April 6th, 2010 by pacapao


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I wonder how many people these days book taxis online. With everything else being bought and sold on the web these days, it is interesting how booking a taxi still seems to be done mainly by phone, even by the web savvy lot amongst us.

Is there a reasons taxis are booked in this way or is it just a matter of time before this service catches up with the Internet generation? Maybe the Tweeters and Facebookers of the next generation will book more online than the current Microsoft generation who were introduced to the World Wide Web rather than grew up in it.

Airport transfers in particular do seem to be making some headway, with many companies, big and small offering online booking as an option. Searching through these websites can sometimes lead to disappointment though. You’ll find many sites offering online booking are merely web forms designed to capture your journey information and submit them to the company and only later will you be called or emailed back with a price.

There are some sites that do offer a full blown online booking option though, you just need to know which ones these are. Obviously London’s largest minicab company, Addison Lee, offer an excellent online booking engine, but with this also comes an excellent price – normally double most local minicab companies for airport transfers.

Another professional young firm is Leading Route Cars, also servicing much of London. Being a Heathrow taxi company, Heathrow airport runs are their specialty but they also provide taxis in Paddington, taxis in Chiswick and taxis in Park Royal. Try their online booking system and you can also instantly book and pay for your journey online. With integrated Google Maps, and vehicle selection made simple, the process is a breeze. SMS notification of the vehicle coming to pick you up is an added bonus ensuring safety and confidence.

With online booking being provided for local journeys and airport transfers, it is only a matter of time before the public sees that booking a taxi online might actually be easier than it first appears.

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Plymouth – A Tourist’s Guide

April 5th, 2010 by pacapao


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Summer or winter, in Plymouth, you´ll never be lost for something to do or see. The regional capital of Devon and Cornwall, Plymouth is a special blend of trendy modern city and laid back sea side port.

Plymouth is steeped in history, for example how would you like to On Plymouth Hoe, stand where Sir Francis Drake played bowls as the Spanish Armada approached, Visit bronze age sites and climb a Tor? Or for more adventurous visitors try a Dartmoor Safari, a tour of Dartmoor National Park taking in England’s last wilderness, wildlife, birds and scenery – Dartmoor is renowned to be so rugged that special forces such as Royal marines and the SAS are rumoured to exercise there!

If you are driving to Plymouth simply Head South West on the M5 from Bristol to Exeter, then A38 to Plymouth. Drive time from London is around 3.5 hrs and strangely the train journey time is the same, about 3.5 hours from Paddington. Unless you live locally however, by far the quickest and easiest method is by air using Plymouth City Airport, just four miles from the City Centre itself.

There is a huge range of accommodation in and around Plymouth, including Hotels, Bed & Breakfasts, Farm houses, Hostels, Self Catering apartments and cottages, Student Campus Accommodation, Holiday Villages and Guest houses. the prices vary tremendously from “cheap as chips” bargain student accommodation, right up to luxury executive suites in the city centre.

For many visitors, the sheer friendliness of the city comes as a surprise, Plymouth is one of those places where it is big enough to have all the facilities and mod-cons everyone wants, but small enough to keep its charm. it is a city of only around 245,00 people. Some years ago the city centre, particularly around the infamous Union Street, gained a bit of a wild reputation. However, Plymouth council have tackled this problem successfully.

Plymouth is also ideally situated as a base from which to explore Cornwall, a short drive or bus ride across the famous Tamar bridge and you are there. Your first port of call for visitor information should really be the Tourist information centre in the fabulous Barbican building. They can assist you with accommodation reservations, tickets for travel ( coach, train and flights), theatres and concerts ( both in Plymouth town centre and surrounding areas), coach tickets and excursions. You can find them at Plymouth Mayflower, 3-5 The Barbican, Plymouth PL1 2LR 01752 306330.

if you are interested in traveling to Plymouth whatever you do don’t drive there – especially in the summer. The roads are clogged with motor homes, caravans and lorries with nowhere to safely pass them. Travel smart and check out from Plymouth Flights [http://www.holiday-review.org.uk/2007/10/04/from-plymouth-flights-plymouth-airport-flights/]. The airport is just 4 miles from city centre making it an effortless journey

Visit : Motorrad

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