Time Management is getting more and more popular day by day. People want to be more successful, proactive and wealthy. It is not new to everyone that there are common time wasters in our lives. Watching TV all evening long, spending too much time on the Internet, having a very long conversation over the phone, and, my favorite one, doing trifles instead of going bed and loosing your precious sleep – these are common time wasters that you already know of. If you eliminate all these things, you will start to practice Time Management. But for me, it is rather «time managing». I would like to put more sense into the words Time Management. For me Time Management equals LIFE Management. “Why try to save minutes if we are loosing years?” Am I born to save minutes to schedule more deeds into my already full 24-hour day? And yet loose a whole year on doing something that is not going to help me achieve success in my life.

It's all about inspiration

Find out more about your inner talents, discover your resources, apply yourself in work you love and believe in what you do – that is how you become successful. In our days, we are encouraged to make our best choices to create opportunities for ourselves: get the education and work on the experience we need to move forward.

After you have set up your Major LIFE Goals, envisioned precisely what you need for yourself (car, apartment, house, business, motorbike and water scooter), now, it is time to create conditions and opportunities for yourself to reach all of that.

I am not an expert on your life. YOU ARE! And I don’t know how you should be managing and achieving your personal, most desired goals. BUT YOU DO! I only would like to share with you what has helped me on my way to success.

First of all, define what is success for you? Everybody has a personal definition and vision of success. The only amendment I would make here is that Your Life Success is embraced in your Body, Mind, Soul, Spirit (also add your captivating Sub-consciousness).

When you plan your Live Success, you ought to include:

Taking a good care of your Body. A good appearance is a reflection of your internal success, and the first step for you to attract other people. Feed your Mind with new information and positive mood. Let your thoughts grow and develop. That is how you will be able to find ways to create more opportunities of your talent implementation, open new prospects to your personal success. Let your «Mind be like Water». Don’t overload it, otherwise, «the Water» might boil. Work «decent» hours a day. Embrace your Soul. Listen to your inner desires, don’t ignore your inner voice. Communicate with the most intelligent person –You. Speak to other people, share your ideas and tools that you use to achieve your personal success. That is how you will be able to create your team and organize everybody around you as well as yourself. Listen to your Spirit. Develop a close relationship with your inner intuition. Increase Confidence in yourself. Overcome any procrastination and let yourself move forward in search of new ideas and revelation of your inner resources. Say «STOP» to any unbelieving in your potentials. Support and comfort yourself in your every effort to change things in your life. Embrace everything worthy and beautiful that life has to offer. Love yourself. Move Forward

Organize yourself; implement new habits into your daily routine. (Take a close look how millionaires do it.) Develop million dollar habits in yourself.

Start planning your every single day. Use the most powerful and easy technique – a To-Do List.

Set up your long-term goals, and then think how they can be divided into short-term goals. Remember, all major things in this life can be divided into small ones and fulfilled one after another. For example, music consists of 7 separate notes; all the greatest masterpieces consist of 6 basic colors; even a car consists of separate parts. Consider your goals, break them into smaller ones, and then create a To-Do List of what you can do on everyday basis, step by step, in order to achieve your major goal.

Implement relaxation into your daily schedule. I am sure you are already working hard to achieve what you want. «The Road itself will show you the Best Route.» If you are fixed on your goal and focused only on it, you miss the journey of getting there. That is why the best solution is to move to your goals while you are still having relaxation and rest. Pay a close attention to where you are, at what stage, be calm and gain interest in the process of life. That is how you will be able to see new chances on your road to successful achieving of your goals in less time with minimum efforts.

Set up a scheduled To-Do List of what you can do to relax every day. Add variety to it, it will give you more inspiration in what you do. It can be a short pleasure, and it will give you a lot of new energy to do more and move forward.

Find the best ways for yourself to make your To-Do List mostly productive for you. Use all possible electronic tools and devices to maintain, monitor and constantly support your Goal progress. Set up your clock, watch, organizer, iPod, Palm, cell phone, computer, laptop – everything to work on achieving your Goals. These are your silent devoted partners that will do most of organizing and keeping track job for you.

Explore the market, and deposit your money and time in creation of your Success. Don’t be shy of your truly desired dreams. Fulfill and implement them into your life. Make yourself happy, inspired, and complete. That is when you will be able to make others happy too.

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KEY TO SUCCESS: 10 SUCCESS TIPS FOR MAXIMUM ACHIEVEMENT

What are the keys to success? What separates those who are successful from those that let success pass by? Here's ten success tips by Sharif Khan, a leadership coach and motivational speaker, for achieving maximun success:

First off, I would echo the voice of 18th century French philosopher Voltaire, made popular and relevant in today's leadership lexicon by "Good to Great" author Jim Collins, who said, "Good is the Enemy of Great".

1. "Good is the Enemy of Great". Get rid of the good to make room for the great in your life. Instead of keeping the main thing the main thing, we major in too many minor things. In other words, many people do a few things that are good, a lot of things that are mediocre, but nothing that is GREAT.
   
   Find the ONE thing you can be the best in the world at and focus unrelentingly on improving that one thing, polishing it to perfection. Choose great over good in ALL areas of your life! It is far better to have a few great things than a lot of good or mediocre things.

   Instead of having six cheap shirts that you don't feel so great in, have one fine quality shirt that you can feel proud to wear and that makes you feel like a million bucks! Instead of having five or six ho-hum paintings to decorate your walls, invest in ONE magnificent masterpiece that leaves you breathless and enriches your soul every time you look at it! Instead of going to the usual cottage retreat every long-weekend, save up your money and go on one GREAT vacation that you've always dreamed of like going on a European boat-cruise, snorkeling in the Red Sea, or taking an art class in Paris. Instead of many mediocre friendships, have a few great friendships that energize and inspire you and that you can spend quality time fostering deeper relationships. You get the point.

   Greatness is a choice. And choice is the democratic equalizer of all people. Everyone, regardless of their rank, social status or income level has the power to choose great over good.

2. Commit to an annual theme. Instead of making and breaking a number of well-wished but half-hearted New Year's Resolutions, commit to an annual or lifetime theme. Pick a theme that defines your singular life purpose or what you are most passionate about and stick to it.
   
   For example, my theme is: "Write First!". I have this theme posted right in front of me above my computer. My purpose is to write. I write first and ask questions later. I focus on writing (or things related to developing my writing) first and then worry about the urgent but non-important interruptions (paying bills, answering calls and emails, responding to invitations, etc.) that plague everyone. This theme takes precedence over everything else except my spiritual relationship with my Creator. The only exception to this rule would be a genuinely important priority that falls in one of my top values in life or attending to a family emergency.

   Your main theme could be "Family First!" or "Health First!" or "Listen First!" or "Service Above Self!". Just pick one and commit to it.
   
   Beside your main theme, make a list of your top values such as love, health, giving, peace, wealth, etc. to ground yourself and distinguish between important and non-important but urgent matters. In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin listed thirteen virtues (Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, and Humility) to which he governed his life and gave a week's strict attention to mastering one virtue at a time repeating the list in order every thirteen weeks.

3. Practice a policy of planned neglect. In other words, once you have established your theme or singular purpose (the one thing you can be the best in the world at) get into the habit of practicing your main habit FIRST before anything else.
   
   Everything else that's non-important can get neglected and keep getting put-off. In other words, your daily to-do list will keep changing around your main theme which will remain constant - with very few exceptions.

4. Make a "stop doing list". I'm not sure where I first heard this idea, but I borrowed it most recently from Jim Collin's book, "Good to Great". Too many people have important to-do lists that keep getting longer and longer. But very few people have 'stop-doing' lists. Make a list of everything you are doing that is not contributing to your core genius or main purpose and core values - and stop doing it! Forget about your image and what other people will think, and STOP doing what's not great in your life.

5. Be Simple. Get rid of the good to make room for the great. Literally! Get rid of the junk in your basement and file folders!
   
   Anything you haven't touched or looked at in a year you probably need to get rid of it. Donate books and magazines you haven't read and clothes you know you're never going to wear. Empty your mind and physical space of unnecessary clutter and make room for abundance! (Daily meditation is a great way to empty the mind and allow new inspiration).

6. Make HEALTH a priority NOW! Get a full physical check-up at least once a year. If something's bothering you or you don't feel right about something, get it checked out IMMEDIATELY! Don't wait, until it's too late. Take a proactive approach to your health by taking preventative measures, eating healthy and exercising regularly. And make LOVE a top priority. If you haven't taken the time to tell your loved ones how deeply you value and love them, then make time for it now.
   
   Are you still reading this article? WHY? Pick-up your phone, right now, and call your doctor to make that appointment! Call your loved ones now and book some real quality time together. Life is short and fragile. You may never get the chance again.

7. Dreams. The dream is a window into your soul, a gateway into the unseen world, giving access to the unknown and revealing the invisible behind all that is visible. In my book, "Psychology of the Hero Soul", (http://www.herosoul.com; Chapter 14; pg. 77) I mention the importance of dreams and how to harness your dreams to awaken your creative potential. I can't stress enough how important it is to get into the habit of jotting down your dreams and making an effort to interpret them. It is a great way to develop self-awareness and self-understanding and will enrich your life in many, many unforeseen ways.

   Self-awareness and self-acceptance is so important in developing your self-esteem. Take the time to seriously ask yourself, 'Who am I and what's my purpose in life?'. Write down your strengths and weakness, your highest ambitions and deepest fears, and make a list of everything you enjoy doing and all your hobbies. Take some personality tests to gain deeper understanding of who you are.

8. Face the brutal facts! Never hide from reality. Always get the hard facts about any situation you are facing. It doesn't matter if you have a Harvard MBA and are the world's greatest optimist if you pick the wrong location to open up a retail business!

   Likewise, face the brutal facts about yourself. If you haven't even come close to achieving your dreams and goals, you need to honestly ask yourself why you haven't reached your goals and figure out what has been preventing you. A great way to accomplish this is to ask a few friends you trust and who know you the following question: 'How do you see me limiting myself?' (I have Jack Canfield to thank for this great question).
   
   Once you have the facts and fully understand the problem, spend over eighty percent of your time focusing on the solution.

9. ASK for help! If you need help, ask for it. If you don't ask, you don't get. Ask for the sale, ask for the date, ask for support. Stop worrying about your image, reject the rejection, and ASK!

   But don't just be a taker. Please also give. Earn the right to ask by being a giver. Be a generous giver because whatever you put out into the world will return multiplied. The hero's journey is about following your bliss, and doing what you love to do in service to others. "Service above self", is a great motto to adopt.

10. Take Action! In my Hero Soul book, I have dedicated an entire chapter on taking action. The great succeed by taking continuous and concerted action toward a singular objective. And they continue to take unrelenting, consistent action for a period of years before becoming overnight successes.

    If you do just five new things every day towards achieving your biggest dream, you will one day be living your dream and as Thoreau once said, 'meet with a success unexpected in common hours". But if you aren't going to take action on the advice in this article, why the heck are you reading it? Move on to something else!

One of my favorite movies is "The Shawshank Redemption" based on Stephen King's short story, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption) about a successful banker, Andy Dufresne, who is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife. I'm sure many of you have seen it.

For nineteen years Dufresne quietly chips away at his goal to escape by literally chipping the wall in his cell - a little bit every day - until one day he reaches his goal and escapes. His jail buddy, Red, comments that all it took "was pressure and time".

I don't think I've ever seen any movie replayed so many times on TV. It really intrigued me. So I did some research and found out that according to IMDB, The Shawshank Redemption is the second most popular movie of all time with The Godfather taking first place! That's quite the accomplishment given how long The Godfather has been out.

Why is this movie so popular? I don't really know the answer. But I think it's because many people feel like they're lving in a prison and have been given a life sentence to doing work they really hate. They want to break free from their shackles. More than anything else, they want FREEDOM! And Shawshank delivers that moment of freedom. It's a beautiful story that makes the soul weep with joy and provides the hope and promise of being human.

The great thing about Shawshank is that it also provides a solution: by quietly chipping away at your main goal and consistently taking action everyday, you will achieve the success and freedom you have been longing for. With "pressure and time" you can take the darkest coal and turn it into the most brilliant, most magnificent diamond the world has ever seen.

Sharif Khan is a freelance writer, motivational speaker, coach, and author of "Psychology of the Hero Soul", an inspirational book on awakening the hero within and developing people's leadership potential. To contact Sharif directly, call: (416) 417-1259 or email: sharif@herosoul.com. Visit his website at http://www.herosoul.com

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10 things to do for the success of your web site - the practitioner

December 1, 2007

1. Know what is important. 1. Bring users to your site, 2. Ensure usefulness and usability, 3. Maximize trust. You will make much more money trying to bring users to your site and ensuring good usability than trying to have beautiful flash and look. Most users care only about finding rapidly what they are looking for and achieving their goals. They don’t care about color and visual appearance. When they find what they are looking for, they usually don’t notice the look. Amazon, Google, Yahoo, Ebay and Craigslist are very successful but they are not beautiful, they are effective.

2. Avoid having wrong design goals. For example minimizing the number of clicks. To ensure having the proper design goals, know the users, their goals and the context of use. If users are going to your site once in a while on a non-mandatory basis (online banking, news, shopping…), you have to treat them as a novice. They have to understand instantly how to use the site. In this context, it is preferable having a few more clicks and pages with less information. On the other hand, for power user, speed is more important. In this context, less actions, pages and clicks are more important.

3. Do few things and do them well. For example for an e-commerce site, ease of finding the product, having the right information on the product and trust are the key success factors. For a search engine, ease of entering queries, speed and pertinence are the key success factors. Don’t spread your energy on other features unless you master your key success factors better than any others.

4. Design for user limited attention. On the web, many users have little patience and do many things at the same time (they might go on your site while at work). Within 10 seconds, they will abandon if they don’t find what they are looking for. Since the reading speed is about 200 words per minute, you can provide a maximum of 35 words to read before a user abandons. So minimize the quantity of text. Contrary to TV where the full screen is in use, on a computer, only a small portion of the screen is viewed simultaneously (roughly 6 to 7 cm diameter). This is due to the useful field of view, which corresponds to the subtended angle of the fovea vision. Information must be grouped within this diameter. That’s why banners are so ineffective. For most page layout you can afford about 4 to 5 groups. Avoid long lists of items, users read only the first few items at the top of the list. Organize according to the natural eye path. Remember users start from the top left corner, go to the center and if they don’t find what they are looking for, then they try to go to the left expecting a menu. For this reason, avoid menus on the right. The bottom right is the worst real estate of a page.

This sketch show the typical eye pattern on a web page.

5. Avoid relying on branding. Users do not remember seeing your ads, brochure and other corporate information. Keep your brand simple and name your entire product line in relation to a user goal. If you already have a brand for a product, provide a prompt matching the user goal. This also help SEO (Search Engine Optimization). For the same reason, you don’t need to be that consistent between corporate brochure and web site.

6. Users don’t read, they scan. Users will scan text and when they find something that is likely to meet their goals, they click on it. You better to expect that users won’t read your text. A good approach is to provide just a list of hyperlinks with a large font. You can also provide a small description with a maximum of 15 words with smaller lighter font under the hyperlink. This technique is ideal for a newsletter. Users will scan the list, if they are interested, they will click on it and read the description under it.

7. Ensure users understand your text and graphics. At least 50 % of the usability problems are related to the wrong choice terminology. Users get easily confused between concepts such as events and news, schedule and time table…. Minimize the number of concepts. Don’t worry, users mix apples and oranges. Test and test again your site with real users to find the right terminology.

8. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use basic web controls. You don’t need to create complex navigation structure. A simple menu and the browser’s back and forward button are Ok for most of the cases. Once users have a successful behavior, they continue to us it for other goals. For example, if they find something through the menu, they will try this method again for another goal. Limit your design to familiar controls. Use straight hyperlinks to select a page. You will make more money with blue underlined hyperlinks because the users’ reaction time is about 30 ms less.

9. Use readable font. If users find the information and can’t read it, it’s zero. Why using small fonts? If your fonts are too small, only younger users will be able to read it. With the right size, everybody will be able to read it. Fonts must have a size equal to 1/200th the distance of reading for proper readability. On a computer screen, fonts must be at least 3 mm. For example MS Sans Serif or Verdana at a minimum of 11 points are Ok. Font adjustment controls don’t work because most users that would need them never use them. Those having serious reading problems already have special adjustments on their browser.

10. Be permissive to errors. Users make errors. The best way to manage errors is to allow them. For example, be permissive to various date formats. On the other hand, if users make errors, ensure proper detection, recovery and simple messages. Messages must have two items: the status and the corrective action.

For more information , you should check the Top 10 Web Design Mistakes of 2003 from Jacob Nielsen

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