Time

To any appointment, I am chronically early. I simply have to be on time. Why? Because it shows respect. I am respecting the fact that the other person’s time is just as valuable as my time. It doesn’t matter if the appointment is with a girl friend to see a movie or the president of a college I am trying to gain business with, I will be early. And by a random chance of awful misfortune I am running behind then I will always call to inform the party that I am meeting that I will be late, again out of respect.

On the flip side, I get extremely frustrated if the same respect is not shown for me. The problem is that being late is often not seen as being disrespectful therefore it is commonly expected that people can be late.

Another time issue that I concern myself with is response time. I know we live in a busy, fast pace world however I am a firm believer that phone calls and emails should be returned within 24 hours of receiving the information. Even if the only response you currently have to offer is that you will have to get back to whoever it is on a later date. By doing this, the sender gets acknowledgement in turn shows respect for them. In most cases it takes a matter of oh you know, 30 seconds to respond, but these 30 seconds of your precious time could help ease the mind of someone who might worry for days, simply by letting them know that you are in fact working on getting an answer.

If you have too many avenues for communication open for people to send you questions or information, consolidate. Constantly being on top of five different email address, facebook, linkedin, twitter and expecting yourself to keep up is funny to say the least. Knowing your limits is a huge part of time management.

I know that creating a precedent for myself is one thing, but thinking that others will follow suit is another, unfortunately. My hope is that by writing this blog others will to see the value in respecting other’s time as much as their own! (End Rant)

From the perspective of someone with ten years of success as the President of an up to $200M group of manufacturing and services companies on response time:

http://davidsheddblog.com/2010/09/09/do-you-return-phone-calls/

Positive

You can’t do anything right. You are crazy for thinking that will work. I doubt you can finish that. Why would you ever think that way? How can you actually believe you are going to accomplish it? You don’t have enough time. You don’t know how to do that, why try?

Just tie the rope around your legs with a cinderblock and sink to the bottom.

Don’t you feel depressed? I certainly do.

I believe in you. I trust in your ability to accomplish it. You are almost to the finish line, don’t stop! You are on the right track. I have never thought that way! You have plenty of time. I encourage you to try the new things; I think you will be great at it.

Run and leap higher than you ever thought possible.

Negative words and low expectations will reap negative results.

Positive words and high expectations will reap positive results.

Try it, live it and you won’t be sorry!

Dot

Organization is the key to being efficient. If items have places and people have schedules they are more like to budget their time and skills more efficiently. My iPhone has lots of dots on it, which means I have lots of appointments, but they are not just for work, they are for everything. I have created a reoccurring appointment for calling my grandmother and certain prayers. Oh and of course it is also connected with my professional life as well reminding me to send invoices or call clients. Having a system set in place will in essence create a more balanced life. If you have a certain friend that you want to catch up with, put it on your calendar and you are way more likely not to forget. It is a life saver, promise you won’t regret it.

I know I know, what about being spontaneous. I am all for it! I am all about randomly deciding hey I want to go to Chattanooga, so I will pick up my keys and start driving. My thought process is that if you have yourself organized, it creates more time to be spontaneous.

I know that my lack of efficiency in the morning is my closet. It is a complete wreck. If I created more any organization, I guarantee I could shave at least 5 minutes off my getting ready routine. What will it take for me to do it? Time, dedication and effort. I will have to take the time initially to set it up and follow up with a little more time when I am putting clothes away. Dedication to actually undertake the project and then to stay with it. And it will take a whole lot of effort, all the way around.

I am good at organizing my life both personally and professionally however my closet is another task entirely. I think I could find something more spontaneous to do that would be way more fun!

Drowning

An island is defined as a mass of land surrounded by water. The water that is slowly engulfing me is knowledge. These past few days I have gained knowledge about my leadership style, community, and people. It is incredible how much new information one person can process throughout the day. I wouldn’t say that it stresses me out because of how much I have acquired in my mind, but rather I just feel drained.

Good and Bad.

Good. Gaining knowledge allows you to be more educated on a topic, which in turn can help you personally and professionally. This past Friday and Saturday I was a part of a leadership retreat where I learned about different ways people serve as leaders and about the community I live in. After the retreat, I feel I can better assess the leaders around me and can tell people more about Rome, Georgia.

Not to Shabby for a floating dock!

Bad. Knowledge can give you insight into others sometimes messy lives. I have recently been told a lot of information from individuals that hurt my heart. I would be a terrible counselor because I am not able to protect myself from the pain of others devastation. However the knowledge that I have gained from their falls has hopefully protected me from stumbling.

I don’t think it will ever stop. I will constantly be gaining more knowledge every single day some good and some bad. Thinking of how I am going to keep myself a float with the waters rising is can be a struggle. However I know though that God and the people in my life will never let me sink. The loud singing, puppy dog kisses, contagious laughter and words of encouragement keep me lifted higher.

Refresh

Technology will always be associated with the up in coming generation. Therefore the older you get the less in touch with the current technology most people become. A constant struggle emerges within the work place because at a lot of companies have employees that span decades in which they were born.  How to encourage the evolution of technology and change can sometimes be a hard fought battle. If emphasis is placed in the positives of the change and rewards are set in place to encourage the behavior of using the new technology, then it may become less of a mountain to climb and more like a hill.

As I have mentioned before, food is my baby. I totally enjoy every aspect of food, growing it, taking the time to prepare it and most importantly eating it. My roommate is a vegetarian. I love meat. However, I have found interesting ways to make meatless dinner options. Don’t get me wrong I am personally open to the idea of being a vegetarian, but I would crave a steak and then I would eat said steak, so that wouldn't work. Needless to say I have learned to evolve some of my menus so that they do not involve animals.

Opinions. Unlike genuine truth they can change and twist depending on our own thoughts or ideas. I had a very strong opinion on a common occurrence in today’s society, the same side sitters. You know the lovey dovey couple that sits on the same side of the booth in restaurants. I was a strong believer against the same side sitters, because it just seemed strange. What did the couple both bring along imaginary friends? I didn’t understand why I couldn’t have my own space on my side of the booth to stretch out, put my purse and not have to worry if my arm would be hit during the inhaling of food (maybe this is the only child in me coming out). However on a date, I was asked if I minded if he sat on my side of the booth. Warning bells went off in my head, but then I asked him why he wanted to sit next to me. He explained that he enjoyed being close to me and didn’t particularly want the whole restaurant in our conversation. I am still not 100% convinced of the same side sitting, but I am now open to the idea.

Refresh your mind! Keep questioning your opinions on everything and don't say you don't like something unless you have tried every way you can. Tofu is yucky, but I still have many more ways to try it. Hip Hip H...