Emails And Auto-Responders
Email marketing is still the most effective form of generating traffic on demand and it all starts with building a list. If you have a subscriber list in the internet marketing niche, use the email below to send out a broadcast. Even if you don't, you can start building you list today and still add the follow-up Emails into your auto-responder to ensure you get as much exposure as possible! Please note that these emails have been formatted to work with Aweber .
Super Time Management Secrets Revealed! - Get More Done In Less Time!
Lesson #1 - How Much is Your Time Worth?
SUBJECT: Lesson #1 - How Much is Your Time Worth?
{!firstname_fix}
What does an hour of your time cost?
While every dollar has the same value, every hour does not. An
hour at 10:00 in the morning may be of much more value as a
working hour than 11:00 at night. On the other hand an hour at
your child’s bedside when he is sick is worth more than an hour
at the office catching up on your filing.
However, most of us recognize that an hour at work is an hour at
work and if you will be there for eight or 12 hours you want
those hours to be used productively so they don’t become extra
hours catching up to missed deadlines or preventing you from
spending time with your family.
There are two methods for determining the value of your time.
• What Does an Hour Cost Your Employer?
• What Does an Hour Cost YOU?
What Does an Hour Cost Your Employer?
If you work for someone you must realize that the activities you
do cost the business more than just your hourly wage. You need
to account for the cost of overhead and the percentage of income
that you are responsible to provide for.
If you are a salaried employee you can take your salary (month
or year) and add the cost of the office space, equipment or
other costs as you presume them to be. Divide this number by the
amount of hours you would work in an average month or year.
A month gives you approximately 20 working days. A year has
about 240.
The resulting figure is what an hour costs. Now when you are
deciding to do an activity you can determine if the task at hand
is worth that amount of resources to the business – your time
and physical resources. You might be surprised.
Raise Your Value…
Don’t think your time is worth that much? Don’t base it purely
on what others have valued it at – raise your value and you will
reap the rewards. Work like you are paid more and you will
surely stand out from the crowd. You will be more productive and
waste less time.
What if you cost your business $5/minute instead of $5/hour. Or
$10/minute instead of $10/hour. How much would time be worth
now? Would you hang around an office waiting room or stay on
hold on the telephone? Or would you confirm appointments and
leave messages. Raising your value will improve how you view
your time and will help you spend your time productively.
What Does an Hour Cost YOU?
Are you self-employed or on contract? This makes it more
imperative that you spend your time wisely in that it can have
an immediate impact on your income.
How much is your time worth (billing hour)? Now create a list of
activities that are not directly related to creating income such
as bookkeeping, website maintenance, cleaning etc. Based on the
previous month, how many hours were spent doing each task?
If you bill $30/hour for your service and you spend 15 hours per
month maintaining your website it has cost you $450 that month.
It may also have cost you 15 more hours away from your family
and friends or impeded on actual production time. If having an
up-to-date website is crucial to your business (but is not the
actual business) then perhaps you would do better to pay someone
to maintain it for you. It will give you more time for important
tasks and may be accomplished in less time if the person is more
skilled than yourself.
Regards,
YOUR NAME
http://monstersalesmachine.com/supertimemanagement/go.php?e=PAYPAL@EMAIL.COM
Lesson #2 - The Value of Your Time - Beyond Money
SUBJECT: Lesson #2 - The Value of Your Time - Beyond Money
{!firstname_fix}
Super Time Management goes beyond knowing the monetary value of your
time – your personal time also has value.
Unlike money, each hour of your day does not have the same
value. You cannot always use money or profits as a factor when
determining how much your time is worth. Your life is made up of
people, interests and caring for yourself and others. Basing
your time merely on the amount of money you will make or save is
missing the big picture.
Have you ever heard someone answer the question “if you had 6
months to live, what would you do” with the answer “make more
money”? Unless they had nagging financial concerns about their
family most people would acknowledge that time spent bettering
oneself, spent with family and showing interest in others has
greater value.
When your child has a school event he wants you to attend or you
haven’t spent one evening all week to rest up and relax you need
to determine the value of your time in the context of living a
productive life – not just making money.
Working For Yourself – Drawing the Line
If you are self-employed or tend to take a lot of work home with
you it is important to ask yourself if the time you spend on
certain tasks is worth the sacrifice of time doing other things.
While it can be difficult to make decisions for how you use your
time when you feel the pressure to perform many tasks, it’s not
impossible. Take the time to assess your goals and make
decisions that reflect them.
While being reliable is important you may find new strategies
that make better use of your time. You can identify areas where
you should be delegating instead of doing things yourself. You
might try reorganizing your day so your schedule includes the
most important tasks you need to accomplish while fitting less
important tasks around it.
Taking the time to understand the value of your time now is
going to save you frustration in the future. The following
chapters will help you identify goals, set a schedule and
identify habits that may be costing you more than just time.
Regards,
YOUR NAME
http://monstersalesmachine.com/supertimemanagement/go.php?e=PAYPAL@EMAIL.COM
Lesson #3 - Keeping Track: Where Does the Time Go?
SUBJECT: Lesson #3 - Keeping Track: Where Does the Time Go?
{!firstname_fix}
You’ve tried this before – creating a To-Do list, scheduling
some appointments and booking projects. You have started the day
on the right foot, determined to get on top of things.
The kid’s lunches were packed and ready. You had plenty of time
to get to work in the morning without any stress. When you
arrived at work your projects were in order, your day timer
up-to-date and you knew exactly where you need to be and when.
Because you used a schedule you figured that you’d have no
problem getting everything done on time. You start out alright,
but as you carry on through the day you notice the time and are
shocked that you only accomplished half of what you planned
before you have to switch activities. Several interruptions by
coworkers and clients and before you realize it the schedule has
been abandoned and you are again rushing through your activities
and feeling overwhelmed. Why does this happen?
• You Have More Time Than You Think…
Before you blame the scheduling process you need see what other
factors affect your day. You can do this by logging your normal
routine for a few days.
It is difficult to appreciate the time you spend on activities
that do not contribute to your productivity until you’ve logged
them over a few days.
• Creating a Log
For the next few days keep a pen and paper handy to write down
what you’re doing and the time when you change activities.
Quickly assess and write down how you feel – energetic, tired,
hungry or anything else you can identify. This record does not
have to be detailed but should include every activity change in
your work day.
There is a sample log at the end of the book you can print out
and use.
• Identifying Patterns
After you’ve kept a log for a couple of days you will be able to
analyze certain patterns. Do you often feel tired in the middle
of the afternoon? Are you refreshed after taking a small lunch?
Did you spend longer on menial tasks or talking to others than
you thought? How many people used up your time with little
benefit (phone calls, drop-ins and emails)?
Finding these patterns can help you plan your activities so they
fit better with your natural rhythms. Perhaps you find getting
through the afternoon (or getting started in the morning) to be
the most draining. Is it possible to schedule your most
challenging projects or meetings when you are most alert and
energetic? Block off this time in your schedule – no calls, no
meetings – so that you can accomplish the most work.
• Give Yourself Rewards
You can also try implementing a self-reward program when needed.
If pushing through a tedious project causes you to dawdle or get
easily distracted you might find that giving yourself small
rewards as you complete small chunks of work will keep you
motivated.
Perhaps you will only get a cup of coffee when you’ve finished
filing half of the pile. Or maybe you’ll take a stretch or call
a friend (briefly) when you’ve dealt with 20 emails. Keep the
rewards small but frequent enough to keep your momentum and
prevent you from resorting to distractions which will only
prolong the process.
Regards,
YOUR NAME
http://monstersalesmachine.com/supertimemanagement/go.php?e=PAYPAL@EMAIL.COM
Lesson #4 - Should You Stop Wasting Time?
SUBJECT: Lesson #4 - Should You Stop Wasting Time?
{!firstname_fix}
This process may also highlight to you that after evaluating how
much your time is worth you should really consider delegating
some of your work to other people or eliminating some tasks.
While it is commendable to keep on top of things you may be
wasting resources by trying to do everything yourself. Smaller
businesses frequently call on the owner or employees to wear
several hats during the day or week. While it appears to cut
costs this may actually be wasting resources. Perhaps hiring
someone part-time to help with the filing, cleaning and mail
outs would permit key employees to spend their time at more
profitable occupations.
If you identify this problem and you are an employee you need to
discuss your findings with your manager or employer. If
approached properly they may see that your time is better spent
focused on aspects of your job that are more profitable.
Important duties are being compromised by menial tasks that need
to be performed.
Whatever you discover to be a time waster you must take steps to
deal with. Here are some ideas for five common time wasters…
Top Five Time Wasters
• MEETINGS: people in meetings all day are not getting things
done.
Meetings have their place. They are an important way to
deal with group issues, create plans and get feedback. What is a
problem is when meetings are called on the spur of the moment
with little preparation and no plan. When these meetings start
each person has a separate agenda. If the purpose is unclear and
the participants unprepared are you going to come to a clear
decision?
To avoid wasting time with meetings try the following:
1) Create an agenda giving each item a time allotment –
Prioritize the agenda so the most important issues are dealt
with first.
2) Send the agenda to each participant so they can come
prepared.
3) Focus on getting a solution – scheduling another
meeting should not be the solution although it may be a part of
completing the plan.
4) Avoid last minute meetings
5) Schedule meetings for the end of the day or week so that all
involved can arrange their work flow and jump right into their
tasks the next morning.
6) If the issue can be dealt with on the phone or through email
don’t plan a meeting.
• PHONE CALLS: You don’t have to answer every time it rings.
If you have blocked a certain time for working on a task do not
let phone calls interrupt your momentum. While you may feel that
you need always be ‘on-call’ the truth is that you are loosing
productivity by permitting continual interruptions to your work
flow.
If you must answer the call and the person can wait ask them for
a time when you can call back and discuss the issue. Not only
will you set boundaries with your time but you can be prepared
to deal with the call without other distractions.
To avoid wasting time with phone calls try the following:
1) Turn off your phone for two hours while you complete your
task. If that is too much then do it for one hour or 30 minutes.
2) Ask that your calls be held for the allotted time (making
exceptions for those who need it – like your boss). 3) If you
answer tell the person you are in the middle of a task so you
need to schedule a return call later that day. Decide who will
make the return call and when.
• DROP-IN VISITORS: “Do You Have a Minute” will always take longer.
If you cannot finish a task without a co-worker stopping in to
ask you for a minute of your time you may find your whole day is
occupied with ‘one minute’ issues. Often the individual will get
comfortable and discuss many more items than the one they
initially came to you with.
While some positions do require an open door policy, or you may
not have an office you can close the door to, it is important to
have uninterrupted time in your day to complete the tasks on
your list.
To avoid wasting time with ‘drop-ins’ try the following:
1) Schedule the time you are not available so YOU stand by your
decision
2) Close the door or use a ‘do-not-disturb’ sign to
discourage idle visitors.
3) If you must deal with a situation or individual ask for the
details and suggest you find a time to sit down and discuss it.
Schedule it in so they know you view it as important and want to
give them your time.
• Working at the WRONG TIME: Wasting Your Resources
Are you always planning activities that clash with other
people’s schedules? Do you find the time you allotted to make
calls (such as lunch time) means you are not able to get a hold
of anyone? Do you ask for help when everyone else is too busy?
Rearranging your schedule to make the most of your time will
prevent you from ‘getting in your own way’. Find the most
opportune times for tasks and your day will be much more
productive.
To avoid wasting time with bad scheduling try the following:
1) Do you find more people available to talk later in the day?
Make all your return calls then.
2) Do you often need to ask for assistance with big projects?
Plan ahead so that your project does not conflict with other
people’s schedules.
3) Give yourself extra lead time. Things don’t always work out
like you plan, give yourself some extra time so you can make
your deadlines even if you have setbacks. Check up on delegated
tasks to make sure they’re on schedule and give them early
deadlines as well.
• Disorganized WORK SPACE:
To use your time well it is a MUST that you have an organized
work space. Every moment looking for a pen, a file or a
misplaced check not only means wasted time but it can add to
your stress level and interfere with your ability to focus on
your work.
To avoid wasting time with disorganized work space:
1) Give EVERYTHING a home. This includes your cell phone and
keys.
2) Keep daily needs easily accessible. Whether you work from
your car or an office, place phone lists, calendars and other
daily needed items in an easy to see spot or in an easily
accessible folder.
3) Put everything else away. Files and tools that are not in
use need to be put away. The easiest way to do that is to give
yourself at least 50% more storage space than you currently
need. If you cram items into a small space you will not likely
keep up with your organizing and you will have difficulty
finding what you need.
Once you’ve identified and dealt with key time wasters you will
be surprised how much more productive your day can be!
Regards,
YOUR NAME
http://monstersalesmachine.com/supertimemanagement/go.php?e=PAYPAL@EMAIL.COM
Lesson #5 - Setting Goals: Long Term and Short Term Goals
SUBJECT: Lesson #5 - Setting Goals: Long Term and Short Term Goals
{!firstname_fix}
One of the key ingredients for successfully managing your time
is identifying your goals. Goals are what will keep you
motivated and focused – both essential to being productive.
What do goals have to do with Super Time Management?
When you have determined where you want your life to be in one
year – or five – or even 20, it will have an impact on what you
do TODAY. A person who dreams of being a lawyer will not have
much success obtaining that goal if they don’t first make the
time to fit studying and school into their schedule today.
Many long term goals will have short term goals that lead to
them. Not only does this make practical sense (ie: getting
accepted to University is a shorter term goal than becoming a
partner in a law firm) but it also helps you from becoming
overwhelmed or loosing sight of your goals.
If you are trying to manage your time it is because you
recognize that there is a limited supply and it is all valuable.
While responsibilities at work and home may be what dictates how
you plan your day, shouldn’t all (or most) of this time work in
harmony with your goals? This may mean some big changes, or it
may just mean adjusting some things in your routine.
When you start planning your time with a goal in mind it is
easier to appreciate the benefits of what you are doing and
prevents you from getting caught up in time wasters – activities
that use up your time but are ultimately unprofitable either in
money or your personal life.
• Choosing Goals Wisely
If you are currently making $5/hour and can’t cover your bills
you may decide that your goal needs to be making more money.
Take some time to figure out exactly what you’d like to be doing
with your life. Acknowledge that this may mean spending time
getting an education rather than taking on another low paying
job which will fill your financial needs but keep you in a cycle
of working endless hours to make the money you need.
Or maybe you find your work time is eating into the time you
want to spend with your family. That family will grow and move
away so what you do to make more time for them is important NOW.
Identifying these goals will help you make decisions to make
better use of your time.
• Setting Long Term Goals
Before you say “my goal is to retire to the Caribbean” it is
important to take stock and analyze your situation from a
different perspective. While you may truly be able to retire to
the Caribbean, HOW will you do that? A new job? A higher income?
Less responsibilities?
Long term goals are excellent motivators. They help you see
beyond today’s work and remind you that there is a greater
purpose for the time you are spending today. If you find a task
tedious you should think about how doing it fits into your
goals. Making your daily tasks become choices can ease some of
the burden because we are in control of our day rather than
having it control us.
On the other hand, if we realize many of the time consuming
activities we do have no bearing on reaching our goals perhaps
we have to take them out or at least reduce the time we spend on
them.
Your long term goal may be to spend more time with your family.
Make your goal specific and give it a date to be accomplished.
Perhaps you determine to work part time. Write down the date
this will take effect and put it on your calendar. It may be
that you anticipate it will take two years to achieve this goal.
Pick a date and put it where you can see it every day.
Now you must set short term goals…
• Setting Short Term Goals
Your short term goals will relate to your long term goal.
Continuing with our illustration of working part time you may
decide that you must first complete certain projects you have
already committed to. You will also need to be more selective
about what assignments you can handle or need to ask for an
assistant so you can focus on the main business and get help
with minor tasks.
You may set a date to stop working overtime. You may set a date
to ask for contract work instead of salary. You should plan
activities that are spent with family and no work interruptions.
Whatever your goals they should be clear steps to achieving your
long term goal: spending more time with family.
These short term goals will help you measure your progress
towards your long term goal. They will shape how you plan your
time and clarify the VALUE of your time. Make your goals
specific and give them a date to be completed.
Regards,
YOUR NAME
http://monstersalesmachine.com/supertimemanagement/go.php?e=PAYPAL@EMAIL.COM
Lesson #6 - 6 Steps to Creating Achievable Goals
SUBJECT: Lesson #6 - 6 Steps to Creating Achievable Goals
{!firstname_fix}
With every goal you must follow the 6 P’s:
Prioritize: You may have several goals. Prioritize them on your
list. Positive: Use positive language. “I will …”, “I’ll be…”,
“I’ll have…”
Precise: Be precise. “I will have supper with my family three
nights a week” rather than “I will be home earlier”
Performance: Measure your performance. Set time for starting and
completing your goal. “May 1 – I will be home at 5:30 three
nights this week”
Practical: Make your goals practical. Do you have the control to
make this work or do you rely on other people to meet your goal?
Personal: Is this goal a personal goal or someone else’s desire
for you?
Super Time Management is easier when you can motivate yourself and
judge the value of your time. If your goals are based on someone
else’s desires (if your mate wants you to work in a steady job
but you want to be self-employed) you will find it difficult to
manage your time due to lack of motivation.
• Creating an Action Plan
Your action plan will have a great deal to do with your day to
day scheduling.
Now that you have made yourself conscious of where you are
headed (long term goal) and have set up guide posts (short term
goals) it will merely mean implementing an action plan to get
your time on track.
Use your short term goals to implement your action plan. If you
are not making radical changes but are just trying to take the
stress out of your day you will find the time you took to think
about your goals may be enough to keep your priorities in order.
If you find that you need to refocus on your goals you will need
to give each short term goal a date to start or complete – write
it down.
Within the time frame of the goal write down the actions that
need to be taken to realize the goal. If you have discovered
from the exercises above that you need to hire an assistant this
may mean putting out an ad, reviewing resumes, conducting
interviews, hiring and training. Each task must be assigned a
time to complete.
The action plan combined with a focus on goals will help you
appreciate the overall effects of valuing your time. In this
example you will realize that even though you may need to use
MORE time this month by interviewing and training an assistant –
your GOAL to spend less time on minor tasks is being
accomplished. At this point your time is valued comparative to
your goal. In a month you will be spending less time with minor
matters even if it requires more work at the early stage.
• Resources
Part of your Action Plan should include a summary of the
resources you need to meet your goals. An assistant is a
resource, more education is a resource, a supportive mate is a
resource. List the resources you need to obtain and include them
in your action plan – when will you get them and how will they
be obtained?
• Review and Update
While writing goals down is an effective tool for managing your
time you will still need to review and update them occasionally.
Perhaps you encounter an unexpected obstacle on your way to
meeting your long term goal. Reassess and determine if you can
adapt your action plan. If you cannot adapt your plan you will
need to consider why the plan went off course – did you have
less power to control the situation than you thought? Were you
unaware of some of the resources you would need and their cost
or time obligations?
Use this new information to reconsider your goal. Is it still
attainable or do you need to adjust it – either by lengthening
the time or changing the outcome – and devising a new action
plan?
Regards,
YOUR NAME
http://monstersalesmachine.com/supertimemanagement/go.php?e=PAYPAL@EMAIL.COM
Lesson #7 - Scheduling: Making the Most of Your Time
SUBJECT: Lesson #7 - Scheduling: Making the Most of Your Time
{!firstname_fix}
Before you determine that you can’t live by a schedule, consider
what happens when you don’t…
• The 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule is a common ratio used to determine performance
versus resources. It is a general assumption that we use 80% of
our resources (time, money, skill) to achieve 20% of our
performance. The opposite is also true – we use 20% of our
resources to achieve 80% of our performance.
It is impossible to suggest that any person can be 100%
productive for 100% of the time. We all have our most productive
times of the day, activities and abilities. By using the
processes outlined earlier you should be able to pinpoint the
most productive times of the day, the most valuable use for your
time and your priorities.
Now you need to recognize that to use your time to the fullest
you want to find ways of increasing that 20% to 30%, 40% or even
more. When you identify the most productive times of the day and
schedule your top producing activities into those times and make
that task a priority you’ve already reset your thinking and will
be working smarter – not harder.
• The ‘To-Do’ List
The ‘To-Do’ list is not just for list making junkies. If you
find that tasks are not being accomplished on time or even
forgotten you need a ‘to-do’ list.
How detailed you make the list is up to you but every task that
is given to you should have the following recorded with it:
When does it need to be completed?
How long will it take to do?
How important is it?
When will I do it?
At the end of day make a list of tasks that need to be
accomplished the following day. Prioritize them according to
importance. Give each task an earlier deadline and 50% more time
to complete than you think.
As soon as you start your work day you will know exactly what
needs doing and when. If you have booked some uninterrupted time
you will have no problem accomplishing your highest priority
tasks. Tasks that do not get completed will be reassigned for
another day, delegated to someone else or removed from your
list.
Get in the habit of creating a ‘To-Do’ list each day. It may be
easier to keep this on your computer or PDA so that you can
easily re-schedule activities without writing them over onto a
new sheet.
• Prioritizing
Not every task can be competed in a day. Your schedule will just
become another ‘task’ in your day unless you learn to
prioritize. Prioritizing ensures that what NEEDS to be done is
done.
When you are handed a new assignment you should immediately put
it on your ‘To-Do’ list. Number the tasks on your list so that
number ‘1’ is most important and work down from there.
Take your top three priorities and schedule them into your
weekly or monthly planner. Write down your deadline (always a
few days early!) and block off time to get it done. If it
requires collaboration with others, schedule that too. You may
have to make some appointments when you know where you are at
with the task but it is important to write something down so
that you don’t overbook.
After the top three priorities have been given their spots in
your schedule start adding the others. Schedule the most
important tasks first. Keep your schedule with enough time to
manage day-to-day activities like reading email and returning
phone calls. Plan on 50% more time to finish each task than you
think necessary.
Each day will now have a list of scheduled activities that take
into account the priority of individual tasks. Use this to
create your daily ‘To-Do’ list.
• Scheduling Low Priority Tasks
As you see your schedule filling up with high priority tasks you
will need to make some decisions about your low-priority tasks.
If you have scheduled low-priority tasks into your day but have
had to move them onto the following day’s to-do list they will
quickly become bigger and more of a priority as you continue to
put them off.
One way to prevent this is to use the ‘one more task’
philosophy. Every day try to do one more task than you planned
or scheduled. One more phone call or 10 minutes filing will keep
these tasks from becoming daunting.
If that is not working you may determine that these activities
need to be delegated. Valuing your time requires decisiveness.
These tasks keep your work moving along and if they are ignored
it can cause a huge interference. Think of looking for a file
when a client calls and you see that it is in a pile of 50
others. You will be loosing the effects of Super Time Management by
not dealing with these issues right away.
• Action Plans
Action plans are not to be confused with ‘To-Do’ lists or
schedules. Action plans are the itemized tasks you need to
follow to complete a goal. You completed this activity in an
earlier chapter.
Sit down and determine what actions are needed to accomplish
your goal. Who do you need to meet with? What resources do you
need? Where do you have to go?
The Action Plan will be a crucial tool for your scheduling
purposes. If you have not planned your actions your schedule may
be flawed if you did not make time or plans to accomplish the
goal.
Regards,
YOUR NAME
http://monstersalesmachine.com/supertimemanagement/go.php?e=PAYPAL@EMAIL.COM