Happy Cody isn’t ready to go!
Find more time for yourself with this genius hack for making the most of your day
AMANDA SAYS Cody tells me he’s still living but feeling a bit old these days. He has a sore back leg but still loves to go for walks. Cody reveals he’s in pretty good shape but is having a bit of trouble with his right eye. He shares that there’s another dog living with him, Kai, who tells me she keeps seeing shadows around the house and it frightens her, so much so that she will now not sleep in the home. This concerns me, and
I ask my guides to remove whatever it is in the house. Cody tells me he’s not ready to go yet and plans to stay here for a while.
LOUISE SAYS I reached out to Amanda because Cody is getting old and there were problems with his sleeping arrangements – I have wanted the other dog to sleep outside and Cody won’t stay inside without her, so I was very worried about him as he has bad arthritis. I just wanted reassurance that he wasn’t cold and was OK. I was so happy to hear from Amanda that Cody isn’t ready to go yet and he’s warm as I tuck him in each night.
If you’d like a reading, write to Amanda at Woman’s Day, GPO Box 5245, Sydney, NSW 2001, or email womansday@aremedia.com.au with your name, photo and number.
Do you ever find yourself at the end of the day wondering where all those hours went? It’s a common problem for many of us, but there are strategies that you can develop to stop wasting our most precious commodity – time! Productivity expert Donna Mcgeorge reveals how to set yourself up for success...
Traditional approaches to time management involve prioritising, planning, creating to-do lists and ticking off goals. Yet, despite all of this, if I were to ask you, ‘How’s work?,’ your response likely would be, ‘Busy!’ And along with busy, you would be feeling tired. They usually go hand in hand.
It’s time to think differently about how we do time management. Here are the top five things you can do to overcome overwhelm, take back control and focus on what’s important.
1 Manage time like you manage money
When we are truly managing our time, we are thinking about it as a valuable resource that we want to get the best return on. Like money, once time is gone, we are unable to get it back. Unlike money, we can’t save it or store it, so we have to make the best use of every minute of the day.
Some people earn very little money and still manage to do a lot with it, and others who make a lot often don’t have much to show for it. It’s the same with time, except we all have the same amount of time. And some people seem to be able to achieve a lot more than others.
2 Identify your best time
Answer the following questions honestly:
• Is there a time of day when you feel the most alert and energetic?
• Is there a time of day when you feel foggy and tired?
• Which of these two times, therefore, would you consider the most valuable?
If you consider your alert and energetic time to be twice as valuable as your foggy and tired time, doesn’t it make sense that you would be more discerning about what and who you give that time to?
Think of your time like real estate from now on. Beachfront properties with a water view are generally of higher value. Apartments in Hong Kong will be valued differently from those in Manila. Even in a game of Monopoly we have properties that cost more and give you a greater return than others.
3 Design your best day
Designing your day better means figuring out what needs to be done that day but it goes beyond to-do lists. Rather than writing down and working through a long list of tasks, we should run our tasks through the filters of intensity and impact.
Intensity is the amount of brainpower a task will require. Does it need deep thinking, concentration and focus (high intensity)? Or can you do it
with a blindfold on and one hand behind your back (low intensity)?
Impact is the return you will get on the time and energy you spend. If a task will have a high impact or return, it should be prioritised more highly than something that has low impact.
To be clear, your first priority will be the impact on you and your personal work, then impact on the team and then impact on the organisation.
4 Protect the first two hours of your work day
Scheduling high-intensity and high-impact work for the first two working hours is the first step to truly managing your time. Not only are the first two hours likely to be our optimal time for getting stuff done, it’s also the time where we can set ourselves up for success.
It’s the time of the day when we can be proactive by choosing what we need to do and taking control. It’s the time for you to work on the things that will give you the greatest return on your energy-input investment.
The first two hours is when we have the greatest levels of alertness and mental capacity, so we need to make the most of it on the most difficult jobs or the things that require great attention. Protect this time vigorously! Block it in your diary so you have greater control as to how it is used.
5 Do things your future self will thank you for
Think about things you could do today that will make the first two hours of tomorrow better. For example:
• meal preparation
• getting the kids’ school gear organised
• planning what you will wear
• booking a meeting with yourself so you know you have at least one hour of peace
It’s always the simple things, done consistently, over time that have the greatest impact. Protecting your first two hours daily for your most important things will move your activity horizon from behind you to in front of you.
While the cost of living has recently skyrocketed, the average wage has failed to keep up – so even if you haven’t actually had a pay cut, it might still feel that way.
If that all sounds familiar, it’s likely that you feel ready for a pay rise. But how do you actually go about asking for one? Roxanne Calder, recruitment specialist and author of Employable: 7 Attributes To Assuring Your Working Future, says it’s easy to see why many of us avoid these conversations.
“It is a delicate negotiation and, like any event significant to us, requires effort, thought and practice,” she says. Here, Roxanne shares five ways to help you out...
KEEP CALM
Roxanne says keeping calm means maintaining a positive outlook. “Feeling disgruntled because you have not had a pay rise is normal and part of the psyche of preparing for a ‘battle,’” she says. “Try not to hold onto these dissenting thoughts. Recall positive aspects of your job and employer instead. Positive or negative, these thoughts transfer to your body language and demeanour.”
It’s also important to see both sides and remember that your boss may be struggling with issues of their own such as rising business costs. “Seeing the other side is the 101 of smart negotiations,” she says.
HAVE YOUR FACTS READY
Roxanne recommends using job advertisements, recruitment agencies and salary guides to find out what people with similar roles, education and experience are getting paid. “Do you receive other benefits such as additional superannuation, health insurance, bonuses, training, etc?” she asks. “All these count towards your total remuneration package.”
It’s also important to consider our current economic environment. “With inflation inevitably follows some form of a slowdown,” Roxanne adds. “Be savvy in your approach, in what you ask for and think big picture.”
Negotiating a pay rise takes plenty of thought.
REVIEW YOUR JOB DESCRIPTION
Next, take an honest look at your performance. “Consider your job description as the contract or agreement of duties and responsibilities in return for your salary. Are you meeting everything described?” says Roxanne. “Take your time to review the past 12 months-plus and include acknowledgements and feedback.”
CHOOSE YOUR PRICE
“Have a realistic salary range in mind and pitch according to the facts,” advises Roxanne, who also says it isn’t a time to barter. “Salary negotiations are sensitive for both parties,” she explains. “A high pitch as a ‘chancer’ could erode your credibility and integrity, and damage relationships, so be mindful.”
If things don’t go your way, resigning does not have to be the next step. “Instead, look to other benefits to negotiate – working from home, additional superannuation, annual leave, training etc,” says Roxanne.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Roxanne says this is something people often forget to do. “When practice is neglected, two outcomes typically occur,” she explains. “At the last minute, you baulk at the figure and ask for less, or your dialogue comes across as blunt and demanding.”
While it might feel strange, she recommends doing a few rehearsals.
“Say it out loud. Smile and use eye contact,” Roxanne advises. “The more you become accustomed to saying the figure and why, the easier it will roll off your tongue. Take notes with you. It is totally OK and expected. It will help you to remain calm and composed.”