Are You a Planner?

Are you the type of person who typically plans things ahead of time, or do you tend to just roll with the punches .   .   .  take it as it comes?  A certain amount of spontaneity is nice, but a greater assurance of high productivity comes with the habit of planning ahead.  This doesn’t have to be so rigid that all it really does is cause a lot of stress and makes your day unnecessarily complicated.  A simple framework of planning regular time slots for recurring things that need to be done daily, while still allowing time for opportunities that come up throughout your day will help keep you on track, and create a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day.  Many people like to plan their day the night before.  While there is a certain amount of wisdom to this, I would still be mindful of not over-scheduling or over-complicating your day.  The whole purpose of time management, after all, is to make busy lives easier.

Suppose you routinely call clients and prospective customers every morning.  If you get in the habit of doing this first thing, before a lot of things come up to prevent it, you will be sure it gets done and you will always have plenty of business.  I suggest  doing this at the same time and for the same length of time every day.  A successful session of say, an hour or two hours every morning, will very likely result in two or three appointments for that afternoon or the next afternoon.

If you schedule your calling time early enough in the day and get it into your schedule as a definite appointment, you will be more likely to stick to it and form the habit of ensuring that it gets done.  When someone wants to set an appointment with you during this time, you’re already booked, but you could meet with them later in the morning or keep filling those afternoon time slots.  Resisting the temptation to take appointments during this important time assures that you always have plenty of potential opportunities scheduled.  Conversely, making exceptions and filling this important time with appointments assures that when you skip the calling, you are not scheduling new opportunities.  Above all, resist the temptation to do your calling later in the day.  Before you know it, the day fills up, you’ve been busy all day, and before long, you have no new appointments scheduled, and no new opportunities to do any business.

Sue Christensen – Re-Jeweled

www.ReJeweled.com