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Controlling your Schedule

MaximumChange — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 13:22:57 GMT

Controlling your Schedule
By Philip A. Foster, MA

I work with businesses and leaders all over the country. At first I was amazed at how many individuals fly by the seat of their pants every day. I found that many individuals have fallen into what I call the "TO DO LIST" trap. They allow their "TO DO LIST" to dictate their schedule rather than scheduling things on their "TO DO LIST" to complete. The one thing I tell all my clients is this... your calendar is NOT your To-Do-List and your To-Do-List is not your calendar. You must schedule time to get things done but that does not mean that everything on your To-Do-List must be scheduled to be done in one day... It might be impossible!

I believe that you need to plan your week ahead of time. You only need about 30 minutes to plan out your entire week. I've come across an acronym that has been helpful. It is called the O.A.T.S. Formula. (Adapted from the Manager's intelligence report)

O: Objectives. What results do you want to see by the end of the week? Write them down and rank them. (This is a form of TO-DO-LIST ranks by importance).

A: Activities. What do you have to do to achieve your goals (objectives)? List the necessary activities, and put them in sequence underneath each Objective.

T: Time. How much time will each activity require? To plan realistically, allow yourself more time than you think you might actually need. This gives you flexibility if unexpected problems arise.

S: Schedule. Look at your calendar and decide when you can do each activity. Many I've worked with will underestimate the power of a schedule, but the reality is that you won’t get a think done if you don’t schedule appropriate time to do it.

Your Schedule should be broken into three parts: Personal, Have-To-Do, and Want-to-do.

Personal is everything you accomplish for you and your family. It is your own personal time that you must take. It can include getting the oil changed in your car, having lunch with your kids at school, taking your kids to sports practice, getting your hair cut, vacation, etc.

Have-to-do are all the things you must accomplish in the week (See OATS) above.

The want-to-do might be read a book, call a friend on the phone, etc...

The goal is to get your schedule under control... rather than your schedule controlling you. If you need help in this area, please contact Maximum Change for a consultation!

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Philip Foster holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis on Coaching and Mentoring. He works with individuals to help them find and reach their full potential in life. Sessions start as little as $75/hour.

Maximum Change Coaching
http://www.maximumchange.com
615.216.5667 phone

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Uprooting the Weeds in Your Life…

MaximumChange — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 12:51:55 GMT

Uprooting the Weeds in Your Life…
By Philip A. Foster, MA

If you are like me, you probably hate weeds! My neighbors probably think I am a little Obsessive Compulsive when it comes to eradicating my lawn and flowerbeds of those pesky little weeds. I’ve even been known to pull weeds in my neighbor’s yard, rationalizing that if I don’t they could produce seeds which will spawn more weeds back into my yard.

The term “weed” can mean different things to different people. As with anything, one man's weed is another man's garden. In a broad sense a weed is really any plant growing where it is not wanted. In order to get rid of the weeds, we must attack them at their roots. This can be accomplished by way of herbicides, friendly insects, and good old fashioned hand pulling. If we leave even the slightest piece of root, the weed will likely return, sometimes stronger than before.

Because weeds are found where we don’t usually want them, controlling them is a serious matter. Many of us spend untold amounts of time and money to eradicate unwanted greenery. Weeds are invasive and, in many ways, noxious to our garden. Typically weeds destroy the habitat they dwell. They reduce the opportunities for the grass to grow and cause displacement of plants. Weeds usually reduce options and diversity in the garden by over taking the entire area with one species of plant (them). Thus, weeds can disrupt the natural flow of an area and can ultimately be costly. In essence, a weed can suck the life out of your garden if kept unchecked.

As with our garden, we have weeds in our personal lives – bad habits, inappropriate or misguided opinions of ourselves or others, procrastination, or even lack of organization. Such weeds can manifest themselves through lack of motivation or passion and can be found in our belief system in how we see ourselves. They can suck the joy out of our lives and cause us to live in an environment that is otherwise foreign and uncomfortable. Like weeds in the garden, our “life weeds” consume valuable resources, energy, and emotions that are otherwise essential to living a joyful and productive life. In order to get rid of the weeds, we must uproot them and replace them with positive thinking, accountability, resources and opportunities that will ultimately help us blossom into a productive and joyful life.

Weeding out our lives can be as time consuming and costly as weeding our gardens however it is far less expensive to weed our lives than to allow our lives to become overgrown with “life weeds” that may choke our futures and the unbelievable opportunities ahead. Some have found that weeding in life can come in the form of Nuero Linguistic Programming (positive affirmations), life coaching, or simply educating ourselves with books and seminars.

One must keep in mind that uprooting a “life weed” may take time. After all, we are replacing bad habits with better habits. A garden takes time for healthy vibrant plants to take hold and grow. So does your own “life garden” – you are replacing your “life weeds” with sustainable, healthy habits that will require nourishment to grow. Change is never easy and sometimes our gardens must go through a state of awkwardness before we can see the true beauty and rewards.

Isn’t it time that you surveyed your garden, uprooting the “life weeds” and replacing them with healthy habits? Here is an easy process to consider:

1) Replace bad habits with good habits by having a mental picture of what the new habit will look like. Also, understand why you are replacing the old habit.

2) Practice the actions required over and over again so that the new habit becomes natural.

3) Next you will enter into the transition phase where you have an old behavior that has become comfortable, like an old pair of comfortable shoes (they may look ugly to the eye but oh-so comfortable!). Resist slipping back into the old habit – remember, you are working on getting out the entire root of the “life weed”, which takes time and energy. Your new habit may feel uncomfortable at first because you are not used to it yet. Practice, practice, practice and don’t give up just because it's uncomfortable – the end result is worth it!

4) Finally, the new behavior will become automatic - a new habit is born! Congratulations!

Weeding your “life garden” requires persistence, patience, and most of all, a commitment to change. Although you may find success on your own, it is recommended that you find an accountability partner. A life coach can be a great source of motivation and accountability through the process of change. Once healthy positive changes occur, you can maintain your beautiful new “life garden”…less those pesky weeds.

For help in uprooting the “life weeds” in your garden, contact Maximum Change Life Coaching today. For more information visit us online at http://www.maximumchange.com

Philip A. Foster holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership, Coaching and Mentoring and has over 14 years of experience in coaching, counseling and educating others. His absolute passion is to help others discover greatness in life, to become motivated and inspired to achieve success in all they do.

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Work/Life Balance

MaximumChange — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:38:18 GMT

In a survey of over 1300 senior executives conducted by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) 46 percent said their “work/life balance has changed for the worse in the past five years.” Of the respondents, only 7.5 percent reported that their employer has a program in place to improve work/life balance.

Such options can include working at home, flexible work hours and monetary incentives to participate in an exercise program. Some respondents reported that they felt their company’s program was more “talk than action.”

Do you need help bringing your life back into balance? Do you have employees that need help in this area? Have you thought about using a life coach?

If your life is out of control and you need balance, contact Maximum Change Coaching and consulting today. For more information visit our website at http://www.maximumchange.com, we are here to help!

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Maximum Balance for Maximum Change

MaximumChange — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 11:41:41 GMT

The concept of 'Maximum Balance' is a contradiction by nature. Maximum implies an extreme, the upper limit, the most. Balance implies moderation, evenness and trade-offs. Life, for many of us, is a struggle to achieve and maintain a growing and often contradictory set of goals. The pursuit of Maximum Balance is the challenge of constantly achieving superior results in all areas of life, without compromise. http://maximumchange.mbgroups.com/

* Have you ever been so focused on career success that your relationships with your friends and family suffered?
* How about never having the time to do something for yourself because everything you do is for your children and/or partner?
* Have you ever received a raise or promotion and you didn't stop to celebrate because you were already thinking about the next one?
* How about getting so focused on your personal challenges or needs that your job suffered?
* Do you ever find yourself so obsessed with financial success that you can't enjoy the benefits of that success?
* Or maybe you're so worried about financial disaster that you can't relax?
* Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by everything in life that you just didn't know where to focus your efforts?

It is the challenge of being able to achieve success in all areas of life, without compromise, that led us to develop Maximum Balance. Using the Internet and Maximum Balance Interactive as the foundation of the Maximum Balance Framework, we have developed a dynamic, interactive approach to personal achievement that is action-oriented and results-driven. Our free Getting Balanced program will get you started. And our innovative products will give you the personalized approach you deserve to achieve your goals online and offline — call it your Life MBA. http://maximumchange.mbgroups.com/

OUR MISSION

The Maximum Balance mission is to transform the way people achieve and maintain their life goals and objectives through our unique personal achievement program. By delivering the systems, tools and support that enable people to achieve success across five critical Cornerstones of life — personal, relationships, career, finance and giving-we believe we can help more people maximize the success they achieve in life for two reasons. First, we believe the Internet is the best foundation to deliver a program that can be constantly refreshed and personalized over time, versus traditional programs delivered via books and CDs where the content can't be updated in real-time. Second, we believe our unique approach to providing an integrated program across the five Cornerstones of life provides people with a system that realistically addresses the interactions of all of life's challenges and opportunities. We are driven each day to connect with those that are interested in improving their own lives as well as the lives of people around them by providing an easy-to-use program to help them achieve Maximum Balance. http://maximumchange.mbgroups.com/

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Positive Affirmations - Killing Negative Thinking

MaximumChange — Sat, 27 May 2006 12:27:37 GMT

For years we have heard that “you are what you eat.” And with the epidemic of obesity in the US alone this certainly rings true. But obesity is more than just stuffing your face with food – it has to do with exercise or the lack there of…

If it holds true that we are what we eat and that lack of exercise contributes to unhealthiness along with overindulgence of food – wouldn’t it hold true that we are what we “Think” and that lack of exercise also contributes to mental atrophy?

We know that our physical health can be brought into check with a balanced diet and a structured exercise regime but how do we find balance in the area of our thinking?

The only tried and true method of healthy balanced thinking comes in the form of Positive Self Talk and Affirmations.

Affirmations are positive statements of truth. Through the use of affirmations we can claim and then conceivable bring about all that we desire. To affirm means to make something firm or make visible, to establish or bring about. Affirmations proclaim a truth even in the face of adverse circumstances. Through the use of Affirmations we build our faith in the idea that we can achieve or obtain something that may otherwise seem out of reach to others. Affirmations are like seeds – if you water them daily they grow until they are visible and bring forth a harvest that was intended.

The practice of affirmations implies that we must focus on what may otherwise be obvious to cut through the clutter of our lives. You will find that many motivational Gurus’ use positive self talk as part of the method to help their clients achieve their goals.
Affirmations can be as simple as “Every day in every way I am getting better and better.” Affirmations can also take the form of a positive forward moving action such as “I am a winner.” Or “I have what it takes to ______.”

Likewise if you tell yourself such things as “I will never be successful,” or “I am not any good at _______,” etc… you are basically participating in what is commonly known as “STINKING THINKING!” Stinking thinking is like a cancer on your dreams, goals and desires. It is the black death of our soul. The best way to stop this cancerous thinking is to immediately begin a daily regime of positive self talk. Make a list of positive things that read them at least 25 to 50 times in the morning and then right before you go to bed. It is a known fact that your mind needs to be programmed and that repetition helps speed up the process a lot faster.

Within 30 to 45 days, if you are religious about your affirmations, you will start to notice changes in your health and your mental well being. But don’t stop after 30 days. Mix things up – get some 3x5 cards and put your daily affirmations on there – add new ones and take way others.

If you find yourself saying something negative, stop correct yourself and then go get your affirmations and work on a couple of them that relate to the negative comment you made. Each day you spend focusing more energy on the positive is one less day you are miserable and out of touch with your potential.

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Philip Foster holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis on Coaching and Mentoring. He works with individuals to help them find and reach their full potential in life. Sessions start as little as $99 per month.
Maximum Change Coaching
http://www.maximumchange.com

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Virtual Executive

MaximumChange — Sun, 07 May 2006 21:50:35 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Maximum Change Consulting Launches Virtual Executive Services to assist small businesses and independent professionals.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee, April 29, 2006:
Maximum Change (http://www.maximumchange.com) life coaching and consulting firm headquartered in Murfreesboro Tennessee announced today the launching of a new service called the “VIRTUAL EXECUTIVE” to assist small business owners, entrepreneurs, and Independent Professionals with the day-to-day management tasks in their businesses.

As is typical with most small or independent businesses, the day-to-day responsibilities of managing a business can become overwhelming. The more management tasks required of the business owner, the less time they spend on generating or maintaining their business. It becomes critical to the success of their business that they find an economical way to complete these day-to-day management and administrative tasks more quickly, with less effort, and without breaking the bank.

A Virtual Executive is an economical way for businesses to obtain the vital assistance of an experienced executive without the high cost and risk of a full time, on-site employee. “Virtual” means that they don’t need to be where you are to get the job done. Through their Virtual Executive services, Maximum Change can assist you with negotiations, proposal development, the hiring process, development of forms and procedures, press releases, presentations, job descriptions, research and the list is as long as your imagination.

Maximum Change offers life coaching, business coaching and consulting services to individuals and companies through North American. Maximum Change is expressly designed to help individuals and businesses develop their full potential and the realization of their goals. For more information on Maximum Change Life Coaching and Consulting and the full range of services they offer, visit their website at http://www.maximumchange.com

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