We all know that we can’t get any more time in the day and we sure can’t save it up to use later! No matter what your back ground, if you’re a uni student, teacher, stay at home mum, doctor, senior Executive, Director or CEO we can all be smart with our time. Are you being smart with yours? Here are some tips to find those extra minutes each day to get things done. First you need to recognize them and then start constantly using them. You will be surprised at the results! I call them ‘Windows of Opportunity’, they seem arise each and every day in your lifestyle can and often do go completely wasted if you’re not aware or prepared for them or action upon them. And if you add them all up they can often amount to several hours a week – What was that about not having enough time in the day to do everything you want to do?

Here are 7 Windows of Opportunity to get you started:

• When you’re ready for a meeting and the other person lets you know they will be 5-10mins late it’s not enough time to work on your bigger projects but you sure can quickly go to review your list for an action or two that will take this amount of time and do it
• If you catch the train to work and get really frustrated or stressed when they are delayed or how long your travel time takes everyday, forget that and view it as the perfect time to read those broachers for your holiday, magazine review of your industry news, (that you have with you because you’re prepared) or get to read more pages of your novel and relax longer before you hit home where you need to cook and do the washing!
• When you’re waiting for your kettle to boil – stack or un-stack your dishwasher or clean up your kitchen.
• If you exercise at home or at the gym, schedule your sessions at the same time as the news or your favourite TV program.
• When you’re walking to and from meetings or locations slip in a few quick calls you need to make on your mobile.
• When stuck in traffic jams listen to your CD’s and bop away, a motivational CD or get yourself a CD that relays stories and sit back, relax and enjoy.
• When you have to clean your house, crank up your favourite dance CD and not only get a clean house but master your dance steps and exercise and feel GREAT all at the same time!

The biggest thing is to be prepared for windows of opportunity that you know could pop up in your day and use these times wisely instead of either doing nothing or negatively. I see too many people become annoyed, frustrated and even downright angry when people or transport are late. Chill out, there is nothing you can do about this unless you don’t meet with them ever again or don’t go anywhere, but what you can do is utilise your time better and feel happier and productive instead of frustrated or annoyed.

When you have your tasks and actions right there and ready telling you exactly what you need to do in these windows of opportunity it’s just so easy to get things done that people will start saying where do you get all the time to do that?

For more information about executive coaching contact Jacqueline Pigdon T: +61 (0) 404 362 379     E:jacqueline@jinalife.com

When people think of giving something another shot or doing something they’ve done before or have already done in their lives but now it’s years or even only a moment later they can often view it as just too hard and not want to do that ‘all over again’ or simply give up yet something drives them to think about it and even contemplate doing it again.

What do you do in these circumstances? I’m the first to say no to doing something that I’ve already done as ‘been there done that’ what’s next and new? Yet sometimes what brings you to these thoughts are if you feel you didn’t really give it your best shot or you’ve learnt something since doing that if you knew back then what you know now you know you’d have been even better.

What if you had the chance to go and do that again yet slightly differently because it will never be the same, time goes by circumstances and environments change but so have you. Hopefully you’ve learnt something in your life since the 1st time and it is easy to look back and think ‘gee how did I possibly do that and I can’t imagine being capable of doing that again now?’ But the thing is if you did it pretty well the 1st time around you probably have a natural strength, skill or talent for it, an interest and it was something you loved doing. If you have any of these thoughts, instead of writing it off or trying to repeat what you did last time, adjust your goals, utilise your new knowledge and insight to create something new but yet still runs that common theme of doing it again or giving it another shot.

It might be creating another new business, achieving a sporting goal, getting that senior executive, director or CEO position, or even having a second chance at building upon one of your personal or family relationships. You may like to start with asking yourself why would you do it again now. What are the benefits and drawbacks? What would it mean to you? Your family? How would you know that you have achieved your new goal? What would be different/better this time around? How would you feel if you never did it again??

You might be surprised that once getting into it you’ll love it and be even better the 2nd time around. And don’t forget it’s only ever as hard as you think it is!

For more information contact Jacqueline Pigdon T: +61 (0) 404 362 379 E: jacqueline@jinalife.com

Often the most daunting tasks is the thought of going back to work and into your old or new routine after a holiday break! Going back can be a big shock to your body yet it mostly comes down to only being as hard as you think and believe it to be! So here are some tips for you to start getting back into your routine after taking a holiday with a flying start!

Work

Don’t look at your first and/or second week back into work as one long hard slog until some other holiday way off far down the months and months track comes around.. but instead break it up into days and at least view the first few as a chance to happily get back into your routine, catch up with your work colleagues and still work but keep in mind to take it a little easier.

You might have been one to madly get everything done before your holiday, working long hours and skipping or eating lunch at your desk. So start back and your New Year off with good work/life balance and a healthy routine ensuring you get to work on time, have your breaks and lunch and leave in good time too. Once your body has adjusted you will feel much better and it will be easier to go back onto your full 8 cylinders happily!

Exercise

It’s critical to learn how to reclaim your exercise routine otherwise you can risk staying out of it forever. If you’ve been away from your routine for two or more weeks, don’t expect to start where you left off. Cut your workload down 30-40% to give your body time to readjust and also give yourself some more realistic goals and expectations. Sometimes a break can put you going back feeling better than ever for your first session but then knock you for six for the next few days, it depends a lot on your fitness and previous routine. If you were training daily and then nothing you will notice a bigger difference than if you were only training once or twice a week.

Don’t focus on how unfit you’ve become or how much you’ve eaten and put on weight over Christmas! And certainly don?t think about not exercising at all because of this! Get your gear on and start because the more you put it off the worse it will become and the more time you will waste not being in your best state. Exercise helps you in all areas of your life so look forward to it enjoy it and be thankful that you have the chance to be able to do it because there are some people out there that just can’t and you don’t want to find yourself one day unable to and look back and regret when you could have done it. Remember it’s the things we don’t do that we later on regret the most..

Sleep

Holidays can definitely put your sleeping habits out of whack with late nights and lay ins so try to get to bed a bit earlier on your first week back at work. No doubt you will be feeling pretty tired anyway so my biggest tip is as soon as you get home organize yourself for the next day first, then sit back have dinner and jump into bed. Trying to get up early all of a sudden, work all day and then stay up doing more things will shock your body even more than just being at work again and will leave you feeling a whole lot less like getting back into your routine and going to work! So your first 2 weeks back are paramount for getting a good night sleep.

Looking Forward

Think about and look forward to all the OPPORTUNITIES that lie ahead of you now that you’re back from a holiday – rested and rejuvenated!!

For more information about executive coaching
Contact : Jacqueline Pigdon
Tel No   : +61 (0) 404 362 379
Email    :  jacqueline@jinalife.com