5 Tips to Saying No

Do you find it hard to say no when friends, family, colleagues make all sorts of demand on your time? Are you a people pleaser?

Do you want to be in control of your time? Do you want to be able to say NO without feeling bad about it?

Then check this link for 5 effective tips to saying No.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Managing my time

source

I won’t necessarily call myself a procrastinator, but nowadays I have been procrastinating on doing things I need to do more often than not. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed that I have a lot on my plate but then I end up spending my time on unimportant things. So this is a call to action. I need to:

·      Curb time stealer activities such as: 

§  Watching TV bye bye judge judy

§  Facebook/twitter - actually I am not as frequent on Facebook & twitter as I used to be but still doesn’t hurt to reduce my time on these social sites even further.

§  Sleep- now this one is going to be the hardest because I love my sleep!!! Guys, any tips on how to get out of bed early? I was thinking about going to bed earlier but psychologically I see it as “yay more time in bed”. Sigh. I need help seriously

§  Blackberry chatting- apart from normal chatting, I am active on three BB groups. Go figure.

·      To help me actually do stuff I need to do I will-

§  Keep doing a to do list- outline what I need to do daily in order of priority and DO THEM.

§  Firm up my routine, and stick to it.

§  Eliminate distractions - switch phone off, switch internet off except it is needed for the work I need to do

§  Set reminders on my phone - I normally do this, just need to continue

§  Do one some task then reward myself with some play time e.g. browse online aimlessly, bb chatting or maybe TV

§  Remind my self that I don’t have to catch every ball thrown at me.

§  Delegate where I can- to Baale, my help, princess and friends.

How do you manage your time? I would love to know, maybe I can learn a thing or two and add to my list! :)

I am still selling the Figurine DVD, contact me on aloted@yahoo.com if you are in the UK and would like a copy. 

Applying the 80-20 Rule

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) was discovered by Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist. The law states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Pareto, observed that 80 percent of the land in England (and every country he subsequently studied) was owned by 20 percent of the population. He also noticed that 80% of Italy's wealth was owned by 20% of the population. That's definitely the case in Nigeria as well.

Pareto's theory of predictable imbalance has since been applied to almost every aspect of today life.

The 80/20 rule can help you focus on what is really important in various aspects of your life. I have listed below a few application of the 80/20 rule:

Friendships- 20% of your friends probably give you 80% of the support, care and satisfaction you need. 20% of your relationships give 80% of the value. Learn to recognise people that fall into the 20% and improve those relationships. Those are your true friends.

Relationship/Marriage- In the Tyler Perry's movie, "Why did I get married?" a "version" of this law was referred to with a different twist to it. “In love and/or relationship you get about 80% of what you need from your mate. Sometimes we meet someone who has that other 20% that we are not getting and the 20% looks real good, but if you trade your 80% for that 20%, then you’ll really see how good you had it.”

Work- Approximately 20% of your efforts produce 80% of the results. Find your productive time/condition and make the best use of it. Personally, I find that I am more productive in the mornings. By afternoon, my brain begins to work on slow mode. Since I have recognised this, I try to do my 20% in the mornings to achieve maximum results for the day.

Possessions- 20% of what you own is used 80% of the time. We wear 20% of our favorite clothes about 80% of the time. Only a small part of what you own is used often. This might help you to de-clutter the junk in your home. I certainly need this tip!

We all have limited resources, be it our time, money, or attention. So to get the most out of them, it’s important to invest your resources in only the most profitable places.

Note 1: the 80/20 rules are approximates

Note 2: More details on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

Note 3: I promised Rita I will do a post on the 80/20 rule based on a post she did, so this one is for you girl :)