Six Sigma Blogs

We’re all trying to get more out of life, but there’s often a disconnect between the actions we take and the goals we’re aiming for. The reason for this is that we treat ourselves like workers instead of treating ourselves like the boss. When you’re an employee you basically do what you’re told without asking many questions simply because that’s your job. You may goof around and you may take your time because, generally, you have little personal interest in the job before you.

By acting more like a manager you give yourself a deeper stake in the outcome of your behavior and you feel as though you’re working for yourself instead of someone else. To act more like a boss you simply have to treat yourself like a factory instead of a person. You get to call the shots and you get to say what goes.

Managing Your Money: We all have some control over how we spend our money, but we also have control over how we generate money. Sure, you know you have control over how you spend your money, but you also have control over how you make your money. You’ll start out as the worker bee but after time you’ll end up as the uncomplicated boss that everyone loves.

Managing Your Wellness: You control not only what you eat, but the actions you take. By taking charge and treating your body like a factory you can begin managing it as a manager might control an assembly line. The more good food you eat and the more you exercise, the more efficient and powerful your body is. If you’re having a difficult time being motivated, try to imagine yourself a little cartoon manager who literally controls how your body moves and acts.

Manage Your Time: We all want more time and we all complain about not having enough. The key to time management is a little bit of planning mixed with a little bit of flexibility Again, just doing things for the sake of doing them is not good enough. You need to treat your schedule as a manager would: prioritize the things that have to get done and the things that need to get done. Once your gain control over your time everything else will fall into place.

Becoming a manager of your finances, your wellness and your time will pay you back a million fold as you improve your management skills. Stop being a worker and give yourself a promotion - right to the manager’s office!

Do you ever feel as though there are just not enough hours in the day? Do you struggle trying to balance both work and family? This article will provide you with a few tips on how to earn more while working less.

One critical key to earning more and working less is being organized. Most people who earn six or seven figures and only work part-time, are highly organized. In addition to being organized you need to prioritize. May of us spend 80% of our time doing things that only make 20% of the difference in our lives. Top income earners, know exactly what matters most and that’s what they spend there time doing. They skip or delegate everything else.

Step 1 — Get organized and prioritize. Create a list of everything you want or need to get done in your life, in your home and in your business or job. That may seem like an unreasonable request but it will not be as hard you think. Sit down and start listing things you either want or need to get done in no particular order. As they pop into your head write them down or if you already have several “to do” lists and sticky notes, locate them all and compile them on one long list. Your “to do” list is finite, despite what you might be thinking right now, and in reality it will probably only take you a couple of hours to create.

Step 2 - Take a good look at the items on your list and decide what items will make the most impact on your income and quality of life. The best way to do this is to sit in silence for 20 minutes and meditate over your list. The most impactful items on your list will start becoming apparent to you. Highlight those items.

Step 3 - Move all of the highlighted items from your list into your calendar. Schedule when you are going to do each one and be realistic when determining how much time to allow for each “to do” item. For example, you might schedule one of item for Wednesday from 7am-9am, another one on Friday from 8pm-10pm, and so on.

If you are unable to get all of the items into your calendar within the next two weeks, then you need to refine your highlighted list again before entering them into your schedule.

This simple three-step process will help you get organized, focus on the 20% that will make the biggest impact on your income and quality of life and it will help prevent you from taking on more tasks than you can handle effectively. If you are unable to complete a task during the scheduled time, re-schedule the task for another time. Treat your tasks like they are important meetings because they are.

Once you fully switch from keeping a running “to do” list to scheduling every task, you will feel more relaxed, be more efficient, have more time and you will get more done. “To Do” lists tend to be weights on our shoulders. They make us feel like we will never be caught up, never get it all done and often they cause us to focus on the least important tasks.

When you have a running “to do” list you are more likely to stress over what you need to get done because you don’t know when or how it’s going to get done. By just scheduling what needs to get done, you can relax because it will get done when it’s time to do it. You know you won’t forget because it’s in your calendar, you have made an appointment with yourself to get it done. No more stressing or agonizing over it. Even if it’s just a simple task like making a phone call, if it’s in your schedule you know you won’t forget about it and you will get it done.

Leave open space in your calendar for interruptions and putting out fires. Also, schedule family time, exercise time, alone time, mealtime and organization time. Organization time is for things like going through your mail, doing filing, cleaning and those sorts of things. You also want to leave open space in your calendar for new and fun things to come into your life. This will help keep you organized and in balance.

We all work very hard trying to achieve our goals. Lots of effort goes into creating the goals, and then even more effort goes into trying to bring these to fruition. But if you just work tirelessly with no break then you are very likely to suffer from burn-out, which is the successful persons worst nightmare. But relaxation should not be something you should feel guilty about.

Some people view relaxation as a reason to feel very cautious. They worry that being relaxing, and unplugging from the daily hard work we all endure means that they are lazy, unmotivated, and unproductive. They become tense at the very mention of the word relaxation. These people believe intense and unrelenting hard work is the only way to get to our goals. However relaxation is very important part of our quest to become more successful.

For the sporting fans you may watch MMA or mixed martial arts. These fighters have an incredible level of intensity due to the nature of their sport. They are carefully trained and an important part of this training is not to do too much. They can lose power, and timing if they try too hard. Desire can sometimes cause us to be unrelenting in our pursuit of our goals.

Whether we are sports or business people, relaxing holds importance to us all. By slowing down and allowing ourselves recovery time we can maximise what effort we can give the next day. We will not suffer from a slow down as a result of overwork. The effort we need to succeed demands a combination of rest and hard work. Working too hard for too long does not help you.

The optimul method of relaxation is not to simply sit quietly. People who are stressed out can sit quietly their minds awash with what is stressing them out. On the outside they seem relaxed, but they are suffering turmoil inside and are not relaxed in any way. Some people are so stressed out all the time that they have been that way for years. Some people do not even notice it because it is almost a part of them.

I find the best way to relax is to indulge in my favourite hobby, Pool. I find this therapeutic because this is something I do well, something I enjoy and something that makes me move my effort into something that I do purely for myself, under no pressure from anyone. I also use relaxation tapes to help intensify my relaxation to levels I could not have otherwise.

If you are not used to relaxing, then using a relaxation CD will probably work well for you. You can choose when you use the material, therefore you are in control and can give your all to putting that time to good use. The benefits will surprise you, and it will likely become an important part of your life as you enjoy the benefits. Hopefully you should see yourself become calmer, and better at carrying out your daily tasks.

Ensure that you always prepare the correct conditions for using a relaxation product. Certainly you should never use a relaxation CD whilst driving or in any area where you could subject yourself to danger. I only use them in the house where I can lie down and know I am safe. As you begin to put maximum effort into relaxing in the right conditions, you will see the benefits.

You will be far more productive if you stop worrying, relax and let the positive effects transfer into real self development.