Articles

How Taking A Break Affects the Rest of Life

We all know we need to take a break occasionally – to unplug and recharge. (Those two don’t usually go together.) Life and work just get in the way. And before we know it, another month is gone. Another year is gone. Time gets away from us. And we continue pushing ourselves and our teams to the point of burn out.

Several weeks ago, I was leaving town for a week-long vacation with my wife, Sarah, and our 7-year-old daughter, Madison.

On the way out of town, I stopped briefly to meet a client. We spoke for a few minutes, and as I turned to leave, I promised to email some information later that day.

Sitting in the car, Madison overheard my promise and said to her mom as I opened the car door, “Mom, Dad is NOT allowed to send any emails this week!”

It’s interesting that a 7-year-old understands the importance of taking a break when so many leaders struggle with maintaining energy and focus.

BONUS: I’ve created a NEW Guide that will walk you step-by-step through writing your own Personal Life Plan. You can find out how to get a copy of this life-changing tool at the end of this post.

7 Simple Tips To Solve Your Email Problem

Over the years, my email volume has increased exponentially – keeping up with projects within my organization, communication with the students I teach, Twitter messages, Facebook messages, blog comments. I’m sure your list looks very similar.

This post is part of the series – Get Your Life Back!
Take Control of Your Schedule
4 Tips for Managing Your Calendar More Effectively
Plan Your Year with Your Annual Plan
Create Your Best Week
You Can Keep Up With Your Email
The Secret for Managing Email More Efficiently

Several months ago, I realized I was receiving hundreds of email messages each day and that processing email was requiring a significant portion of my day.

Despite all the current technology and innovative tools available, many people are falling further behind. They just can’t keep up with the enormous volume of messages hitting their inbox.

I, too, realized that my workload was not sustainable. Because I could no longer process hundreds of email messages a day in addition to my other responsibilities.

I knew something had to change if I was going to be more effective in my work and lead my team to be more effective.

I created a simple guide to help me get control of my email inbox. I’ll share it with you in just a moment.

Since email processing was the biggest “time waster” for me, I began by asking, What can I do immediately to save time with email?

Plan Your Year with the Annual Plan Template

If you don’t make time for the important stuff first, it will be crowded out by the less important – every time – guaranteed!

This article is part of the series – Get Your Life Back!
Take Control of Your Schedule
4 Tips for Managing Your Calendar More Effectively
Plan Your Year with the Annual Plan Template
Create Your Best Week
You Can Keep Up With Your Email
The Secret for Managing Email More Efficiently

If you want to find more fulfillment in your life and work, do the important stuff first. Stephen Covey illustrated this concept brilliantly in First Things First.

I’ve found this to be true for me over and over. My role demands that I spend much of my time on strategic planning and significant projects. Yet the small, urgent day-to-day challenges and problem-solving seem to crowd my days.

4 Tips for Managing Your Calendar More Effectively

One of the top 4 questions that business leaders ask is, how can I increase efficiency and effectiveness? They ask this because time is limited and, consequently, has great value.

This post is part of the series – Get Your Life Back!
Take Control of Your Schedule
4 Tips for Managing Your Calendar More Effectively
Plan Your Year with Your Annual Plan
Create Your Best Week
You Can Keep Up With Your Email
The Secret for Managing Email More Efficiently

Those who maximize their influence and effectiveness, do so because they have a very intentional plan for life and a bold, compelling vision for their work.

If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to read my previous post in which I provide 4 ways to take control of your schedule once and for all. It will provide context for this post.

In this post I will provide 4 tips for managing your calendar more effectively. These are things which dramatically improved how I spend my time at work, at home, and my leisure time. I’ve picked these up from a number of organizational leaders and compiled them into a list that works for me.

Take Control of Your Schedule

My weeks are far from typical. But I love the diversity, fast pace, and new opportunities in my work.

I have several roles that demand my attention: husband, father, team leader, colleague, board member, ministry leader, friend, and others.

This post is part of the series – Get Your Life Back!
Take Control of Your Schedule
4 Tips for Managing Your Calendar More Effectively
Plan Your Year with Your Annual Plan
Create Your Best Week
You Can Keep Up With Your Email
The Secret for Managing Email More Efficiently

If you’re like me, your days are packed back-to-back with meetings, conference calls, planning, projects, and more!

But what if you could take control of your schedule once and for all?