Are you feeling guilty?

Many working mums (and dads) can find themselves torn between their work and their home life.

They feel guilty when they're at work that they should be spending time with their children.

They feel guilty when they're with their children that they should be working.

This problem is made worse when you work from home.  Not only are you juggling the responsibilities of being a parent with work in the same environment but you've also got school runs, shopping, cleaning and cooking to distract you.

Be clear - both with yourself and with family.  When you're working you're in work mode, don't get distracted by non-work activity.

When you're in personal time - then leave work in the office, that includes those 'out of hours' phone calls and emails.  Focus on your family and yourself.

This doesn't mean you need to stick to a strictly 9-5 routine, or that you should end up working long hours in order to fit everything in.

Taking a break from work to focus on a few domestic activities is a good way to switch your energy and activity levels.  Set time limits, so you 'quick break' doesn't overrun.

Break up your working day so that you schedule in chunks of work time and time for personal tasks or to spend time with the children.

If you're better planned and organised, with a routine that works for you, you'll feel less guilty.

Get in touch if you need help creating a working schedule and for other tips to reduce your guilt.

Image courtesy of [FrameAngel] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How to manage your meetings

Meetings can take up a huge chunk of your working day, your week and your month.

Manage your meetings and you'll be managing your time better.

You don't have to attend every meeting you get invited to and you need to make sure you value the ones that you do.

Are you the best person to attend?  Could someone else attend in your place?  Make sure you have an agenda for the meeting, so you know what's expected of you and others.

Back to back meetings are time consuming, stressful and create more work that needs to be fitted in once you're back in the office.

A meeting is not just a meeting - it's much more and the impact on your time is often under-estimated.

As well as the time you spend in the actual meeting, you need to take into account:

• the time it takes to get to the meeting
• planning and preparation time before the meeting
• follow-up and actions that come from the meeting
• additional workload and projects resulting from the meeting

Only schedule a manageable amount of meetings each week.  Block out time before and after each meeting to allow for travelling.  If other people schedule meetings, let them know what's a manageable amount.

If you've had a busy week of meetings, schedule a couple of clear days the following week in order to clear the decks, catch up on work and admin as well as process what's come out of each meeting.

Think about it the next time you say "yes" to a meeting.  It's not just the one or two hours you spend in that one meeting but all the additional hours that go before and after.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Networking Tip: #37 What NOT to do (part 2)

In the last week I've had two very clear examples of how NOT to network.

Example 1: You accept a connection invite from someone online because they look interesting, they're in your target group, you know some of the same people, there's an element of shared interest ...

The very next communication you receive is a cut and paste 'sales pitch'.

It's impersonal - they haven't taken the time to actually read my profile to check if I might even vaguely be interested or it's relevant - although invariably, they say they have.

It's unsolicited - I didn't ask for it or even express an interest, I was just giving the online equivalent of a hello and a handshake.

Irrelevant - I'm not actually interested in what they have to offer and it's certainly not relevant to me at this time.

On this occasion, I politely responded back to them.

Their response (within minutes) was more of them same but along the lines of "well, you might not be interested but you might be at a point in the future and please make sure you recommend me to your friends or colleagues".

Well, they missed the point completely - and I don't do this very often, but I quickly hit 'disconnect'.

I will only recommend someone I know, like and trust and quite often, have actually used myself or at least heard good things about.

Example 2:  Attending a business event and supporting one of the exhibitors, I was approached by a visitor, who, rather than express an interest in what we were offering - launched straight in to their sales pitch.  How could they sell their product/service to all of our customers, clients?  Even though we didn't know anything about it or them!?

I heard the same story from other exhibitors on other stands who had suffered the same treatment, although from different people but with the same 'in your face' approach.

Woah! Back off!  What would make me even consider allowing you anywhere near my clients with such a heavy-handed, sales tactic.

This is the business equivalent of proposing on the first date.  In fact we've only just said 'hello' - you haven't even bought me a coffee yet!

Have you experienced this 'sales technique' and did it work?

Related articles

• Do You Have a Repellent Pitch? (pitchinggreatness.wordpress.com)
• Networking Tip No 16 How Not to network (blog post)

How to say 'no' to your boss

I had another discussion today where the person was asking about how they handled a boss who is overloading them with work.

Yes, you're there to do a job and your boss - director, manager, team leader is the person who organises and manages your workload.

That doesn't mean you have to accept everything they give to you.  Especially if they're overloading you with work or being unreasonable.

Communicate - they may not realise how much you're already doing - unless you tell them.

Prioritise your workload - so you know which tasks are important and when they need to be completed.  If you're not sure or you haven't been given clear guidelines - ask.

If you just keep accepting work and adding to your workload, you're likely to end up working longer hours, not working as well as you could, stressed out and exhausted.

Plan and organise your work - so you know what you have to do, when you're going to do it and how long it's likely to take. Create a list with all your tasks, priority, who it's for, when it's needed, time estimate and progress.

If it's 4pm on a Friday afternoon and your boss asks you to do something before the end of the day - is that a reasonable expectation? What impact does it have on your other tasks.

Be clear with your boundaries.  If you plan to finish at 5pm and you don't have time for this additional task - say so.  Reprioritise - what do you need to drop in order to get it done? Respect your time and others will respect you.

They may not actually be very good at delegating - managers sometimes have a habit of dumping last minutes tasks on other people because they haven't had time to do it themselves, they've forgotten, are disorganised or they're overloaded themselves.

Effective delegation - if you're given a task - make sure you know when (it needs to be done by), what (needs to be done), how(are you going to do it) and understand (how it fits in with your/your team's objectives).

If you find you're constantly juggling different priorities and more keep getting piled on - ask your boss to prioritise the work for you or get extra support.  Which piece is more important, what needs to be completed first?  Delegate some of your own work to free up more of your time.

Of course, if you're not using your time productively or need help to improve your planning and organising - get in touch or you can make a start by completing the free Time Audit.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Related articles

• Do I have to do everything around here?
• Who What Where When and How of Delegation
• 5 ways to cope when your boss gives you too much work! (detlcft.wordpress.com)

Mental health in the workplace

"Mental health affects many employees in the workplace but are often hidden, left untreated or undiagnosed. There is still a stigma and mis-understanding attached to this area of health.

Problems can vary from stress; mild to severe depression; post-natal depression; anxiety - leading to panic attacks and phobias; bi-polar/manic depression; personality disorders; drug or alcohol abuse. 

Directors, Managers and leaders may not know how to deal with mental health issues. Untreated employees health, career and productivity suffers. If managed and treated, their symptoms reduce and their productivity and job performance improves ... "

Read the rest of this newsletter article here or subscribe here and receive it direct to your inbox each month along with a free report - 7 Essential Time Tips for Instant Results

Activity and exercise for better mental health

This week is Mental Health Awareness week and this year's focus is on physical activity and exercise to improve your mental health and wellbeing.

One person in four will be affected by mental illness or neurological disorder in their lives.  There's still an element of misunderstanding, stigma and ignorance around mental health.  Two-thirds go untreated.

Mental health can vary from occasional periods of feeling down, anxiety, not able to cope and low self-esteem to more serious bouts of severe depression and more serious mental health issues.

Exercise is important, not only to keep us physically fit and healthy but it's also important for our mental health and wellbeing too.

Chemicals released during physical activity make us feel good.  We all know the buzz we get when we've done any form of physical activity.

Spending too much time in office buildings surrounded by artificial light and away from fresh air disconnects you from your surroundings and can impact your mental wellbeing.

Get into the habit of moving more and increasing the amount of activity that you do on a daily basis.

- walk more - to the bus, up stairs, to the shops.
- exercise regularly - a brisk twenty minute walk in your lunch break, before or after work.
- take up a team sport, join a group
- join a yoga or meditation class to relax and unwind after a busy day.

Physical exercise - even for a short period of time, increases mental alertness, energy levels and boosts mood.  Find time for two to three 30 minute sessions of activity each week.  You'll also sleep better which also has a positive affect on mental health.

While you can't expect to feel happy all of the time, being mentally healthy enables you to cope with times when you're feeling under pressure or experiencing grief, loss or failure.

Look after yourself.

Image courtesy of [David Castillo Dominici] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Related articles

• Take a break in nature (clareevans.blogspot.com)
• Mental disorders affect one in four (World Health Organisation)

Have you got a business plan?

Yes?  No?

Not one of those 20+ page documents you put together when you first started your business or went to the bank to ask for funding - but something that is a working document about how you run your business.

When I asked that question to a room of 200 business owners recently, only a handful of hands went up.

OK, some of them may not have wanted to put their hands up but generally it's only a small percentage of the people I talk to on a regular basis that actually DO have a business plan.

Your business plan doesn't have to be any more complicated than one page.

• Where you are now.
• Where you want to be.
• How you're going to get there.

Once you've got the basics down you can then start to put together the action plan which will help you work your plan, achieve your goals and grow your business.

Without a business plan - your business is like a rudderless ship - you may be going somewhere but not necessarily in the direction you want to go.

Spend a few minutes today thinking about your business plan.  Get your key goals written down, review it regularly and see the difference it makes.  Drop me an email if you'd like a copy of the one page business plan.

Take a look at "How to create and successfully implement your business plan"

Image courtesy of [pat138241] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Live Below The Line - the experience

Well, it's been an interesting experience and one I'll certainly be happy to repeat next year.

I'm glad I'd created my checklists and menu planner - simple but effective.  It made things a lot easier working out what I could and couldn't eat and how much budget I had left each day.  Next time - with more notice, more thought and more planning, it will be even easier.

My week's menu was simple.  Plenty of brown rice and porridge as staples each day.

I didn't feel deprived - just grateful and appreciative (and perhaps a little hungry).  The main difference was the quantity and variety of what I was eating.

It places the emphasis back on food for survival and nourishment rather than something we stuff in our faces with no thought as to what it is we're actually eating.  Getting back to basics not aimless consuming of unnecessary calories.

I did miss fruit and veg, although grateful that I was able to pick fresh veg from the garden at a fraction of the cost of buying it - purple sprouting broccoli and chard.  A lesson for next year.

I didn't want to compromise my usual buying patterns by switching to cheaper, lower quality or overly processed food - I still had free range eggs.

Next time I'll buy more in bulk and be more selective, so the unit price is less each day.  Those pennies make all the difference.

It wasn't that tough - despite many people saying it wasn't something they could possibly do themselves.  It's only five days!  It's not like a diet that people attempt for weeks on end.

It's far tougher for the millions of people in other parts of the world who experience real hunger and poverty on a daily basis.  It's not too late to support the challenge - you can make your contribution here.

You can do it too - if you plan and organise your store cupboard and menu ahead of time and think carefully of what you're buying.

You can also support other communities around the world through Kiva - join today and get $25 free.

Living Below the Line - halfway

Days 1-3: Well snacks are certainly out and after the first day, it made me realise just how much 'grazing' I do - my freshly made mid-morning coffee, popping down to make a cup of tea or have a soft drink between clients or the occasional treat.

When I'm feeling a bit peckish I'll pop down for a slice of toast, a piece of fruit or a snack but that's out of the question this week, as it easily adds up and can blow the day's budget in one go.  So without those I'm feeling hungry by meal time.

I've been measuring everything out - just to make sure I'm sticking to portion sizes, which makes it much easier to stick to the day's budget.  It's too easy to throw in an extra handful when you're not focused on quantities and price.

Buying in bulk helps - larger packs work out cheaper per unit (although do check prices, it's not always the case - supermarkets are sneaky like that!). 

Buy things when they're on offer, at or near their sell-buy date - you can save at least 50% on goods you normally buy, but watch those tempting offers on things you don't really need.

Plan your menu - tot up the cost for each day, so you know how much you can spend on breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a few pennies for drinks and snacks each day.

Protein is a challenge - meat is very expensive when you're limited to £1 a day and pretty much out this week.

(Photo credit: demandaj)