I did some research the other day that I felt was very critical to understand as it pertains to the economic cycle we are in at this time.  I noticed that in 2009 we had a “negative inflation” (also known as deflation).  I was curious about one question – when was the last time we had deflation in our economy?  I thought this question would help me understand if this economic cycle was different than a normal recession.  Below is a chart of the historical inflation rates. 

Table of Historical Inflation Rates by Month and Year (1914-2009)

So why is this important?  It is just another reminder to me of why it is so critical that you FOCUS ON DRIVING INCOME if you want to survive and thrive in the future.  2009 was a year when consumers changed behavior even when inflation was going down.  As consumers and families prepare for a different economic future, they understand that high inflation could be one of those areas of expense management that is out of their control (the others are taxes and fees).  Keep in mind that wages are flat.  Today, there are 6 people competing for every one job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rest assured, most people will make the cardinal mistake when it comes to creating more income – they will wait until they have the need or some financial problem.  I believe that being proactive in driving income is the key to staying ahead of the expense curve.  You CANNOT afford to wait until the economy changes or your personal financial situation gets worse.  Make the sacrifices necessary now to create more income in your life.  Trust me when I tell you that it will reward you even if my assumptions on the economy are wrong.

In closing, I want to remind my readers of one other critical distinction – you can win big in any economic cycle.  If you have the awareness of how to win the game, put the right plan in place, and have the resolve and “unwavering pigheaded discipline” necessary to drive the process of growth, you put the odds of success in your favor.  Equally, if you do nothing, you might find the consequences of inaction might be greater in the future than they have ever been in the past.  That choice is yours.

Time management is one of the most important areas to master in order to have a great life.  It is one area that I consistently see as a challenge for everyone in our society.  As I noted in my earlier blog, time management is about two words – plan and control.  The goal of any plan is to accelerate the fulfillment of your own needs within the areas of management of your life (career, business, family, health, etc.).  The goal of control is to effectively manage time.  I have included some questions below in both the plan and control areas that I often use to help better manage my own time.  I thought they might be useful to all of you. 

Exercise – some questions to help you achieve better awareness and help you build a plan leading to successful time management:

Key Plan Questions

1.  What do you need to do to elevate the level at which your needs are being fulfilled by your business?

• How do I achieve financial stability (Needs question)?  What changes and activities do I need to commit to  in order to drive the financial growth of my business?
• What other areas of my life do I have to effectively manage better in order to be able to focus more time on my business?
• How do I have more fun in the business (Needs question)?
• How do I contribute at a higher level (Needs Question)?
• How do I make my key relationships even stronger (Needs Question)?
• What can I do to increase my value to this culture, my team and my customers?  Remember, you have to grow before your business grows (Needs question).
• How can I become the example of a leader within my team and within this business culture?

Key Control Questions

2. What do I need to do in order to gain more control of my time?

• How do I better manage my communication systems?
• Is there a better way for me to schedule my communications with others?
• Are there some rules and boundaries that I need to establish in some key relationships that are critical to me better managing my time?
• What systems and changes do I need to make to empower my team to take TOTAL OWNERSHIP of their business over time?  Remember the greatest gift you can give any distributors is their independence to succeed without you.
• Is there a way I can create a working environment and boundaries that will enable me to stay in better control of my time?

Next Week :  DMO (Daily Method of Operation)

Without exception, the #1 challenge I see with entrepreneurs is time management.  We all live in a world that pulls at us from many directions.  Managing time effectively is a major key to both productivity and fulfillment.  That being said, good time management starts with a basic understanding of the tenants of time management – a plan and control.

Plan – As the old adage goes, it is hard to get where you want to go if you don’t know where you are going.  All of us have many areas to manage in our lifes.  These areas are consistent parts of our lives because they are how we fulfill our own needs.  Common areas include work/career, family, health, spiritual/religion, finances.  Balancing these areas is often a huge challenge.  And the importance of these areas changes throughout time.  Often one area will take a larger priority in your life simply because that is what life requires at that point in time.  For example, if your health becomes compromised, then it makes sense that getting healthy again will become a big priority in your life. 

When executing a time management plan, the key factor is spending as much time as possible doing what elevates the fulfillment of your needs in each area of management.  This type of action is often called “productivity” or “staying in the zone”.  It is about doing what drives the fulfillment of your needs based on your own disciplines vs. the urgencies and demands of others. 

There is one other important aspect of planning that you must understand when addressing time management.  That aspect is “proactively” managing your life.  I find that too many people allow life to run them vs. them running their lives.  Living in a reactive mode means that you have lost the ability to effectively drive toward enhancing the various areas in your life.  I would note that the key to proactive management is taking time EVERY DAY to think and process solutions.  I often refer to this time as “Self Communication Time”.  In my experience and in my studies on time management, I have grown to understand that quiet time to think is a major factor to proactively managing life.  It has to become as much a part of your day as eating.  I can tell you from personal experience that adding quiet time into my day not only allowed me to better fulfill my plan in life, but it was the key to learning how to manage it proactively vs. reactively.

Control – In all honesty, I find that controlling time is a bigger challenge for people than having a plan for their time.  Whether due to their own actions or the actions of others, it is very common in our culture to struggle to stay in control of our time.  If you feel you have lost control of your time, there are two places to look for answers.  The first is within your own beliefs and systems.  Do you answer the phone every time it rings?  Do you believe that you always have to be available for others on their terms?  Do you reply to an email or text the minute you receive it?  Remember, to control time you have to avoid others being able to create urgencies or manage your time on their terms. 

The second area to examine is looking at how others impact your time.  There is another old adage that states – what you enable you invite.  Too often people allow the urgencies and actions of others to become too much of a factor in managing their own time.  For some it is about allowing the urgencies of others to become your urgency.  For some it is about being too much a part of someone else’s life (i.e. you get leveraged duties, responsibilities and tasks that should not be a part of your day).  For some it is about nurturing relationships ineffectively.  Regardless of how others detract from your ability to control your time, this is an important area to analyze if you are looking to have more efficient time management.

The next blog on time management will be about a DMO (Daily Method of Operation).  It is about your time management routine and is probably the most important time management system if you are looking for a way to get immediate change.  The blog will discuss the critical parts of a good DMO and how to make changes to your routine so that you can achieve (1) better time management, and (2) more fulfillment and happiness through simply adopting (or changing) your daily routine.