Meet Deadlines - Increase Your Efficiency

Another tax year is closed. Hopefully, everyone met the deadline. Meeting deadlines is a workplace priority. Here are some tips on meeting deadlines and sticking to those busy schedules.

• Prioritize. No one has time to do everything, so it is necessary to arrange a to-do list according to one’s priorities.


• Work on one task at a time until it is finished if possible. Switching from one task to another causes a lull in productivity. The mind has to re-familiarize itself with each task when switching.


• Eliminate distractions. This includes internal and external distractions.


• Work efficiently. Is there a better way to do a task than the way it has always been done? Can you prepare in any way before beginning the task?


• Make decisions quickly. Explore all options and commit to a plausible action to resolve the problem.


• Develop your skills and keep up with technology that will help you complete tasks.


• Just do what needs to be done.

Taking the initiative, working efficiently, and doing everything necessary to meet deadlines will pay off in a big way.

Balance Your Personal and Professional Life

Take time this Easter to enjoy family and friends and to renew yourself spiritually. Living a balanced personal and professional life is crucial to your successful well-being. Too much attention to your professional life to the exclusion of your personal life will cause you to miss out on important "self" time. Too much attention to your personal life and not enough on your professional life will cause career stagnation. Develop a routine that personally fits your life plans and make corrections when it is out of balance.Take steps to maintain a healthy physical and mental balance.

• Practice good time and stress management.


• Get and stay organized.


• Maintain a positive attitude.

When you think of balance, consider all areas of your life, including work, family, friends, health, finance, spiritual, hobbies, and everything else that fits into your life. Balance in all areas of life is a key to contentment

Be the Best Professional You Can Be

When dealing with customers, coworkers, and supervisors, keep these points in mind:

· First impressions are lasting. Both satisfied and dissatisfied people will spread the word about you.
· Make people feel good by giving them your complete attention when dealing with them.
· Form professional relationships. Learn your coworkers’ work habits and your customers’ needs and wants.
· Be trustworthy. People like dealing with those they trust.
· Keep your promises—always. Don’t make promises you PLAN to keep—only those you WILL keep.
· Become an expert in your field.
· Act on problems and deal with complaints immediately.
· Remember the competition. If you do cannot help the customer, some other company will. If you cannot do the job, someone else will.
· Customers, coworkers, and supervisors contribute to your success.
· Do something extraordinary to make your customers, coworkers, and supervisors believe in you.

Spring Forward in Your Career

This weekend we will “spring forward” by turning our clocks ahead one hour. Perhaps this is a good time to determine how to spring forward in the workplace by seeking advancement. Here are some quick tips to help you climb the corporate ladder:

· Clearly define your career ambitions.
· Learn all you can about what it takes to advance in your company.
· What do the top people in the company do on a daily basis?
· Are you willing to accept those responsibilities?
· Develop a plan of action that allows you to emulate the top people in the company.
· Master the tasks you are given and look for ways to do them more efficiently.
· Follow through on all tasks
· Keep a record of your accomplishments.
· Know the criteria your supervisor uses to evaluate your performance.
· Learn something new each week.
· Find ways to overcome obstacles (brainstorm ideas, find a mentor, make better
decisions, take a class, etc.)
· Find small ways to manage your time better.
· Dress and act like a professional.

Focus on Those Goals

I have blogged extensively on goals and goal setting. We can set all the goals we want, but if we do not do something to achieve them, they become worthless. One of the main ways of attaining goals is to focus on their outcome. By focusing, we can see where we want to go and what we need to do to get there. Here are some tips on achieving focus:

· Minimize external distractions as much as possible
· Turn off negative thoughts—recite positive, motivational affirmations
· Find successful role models and imitate them
· Commit, commit, commit—do whatever it takes to reach a goal
· Schedule time to work on your goals—discipline yourself
· Keep up the forward momentum
· Take risks
· Face challenges and setbacks head-on
· Change your approach if it doesn’t work
· Visualize success
· Create a poster board of what your success will look like

Attain Your Goals

It has been said that people who give up on their New Year’s resolutions do so within the first three weeks of the year. Don’t let your goals suffer the same fate and fall by the wayside.
Work on fulfilling your goals by eliminating excuses and taking action to bring them to fruition. Commit the necessary time, work, and dedication to the attainment of your goals.

• Make time to meet your goals


• Find out WHAT you need to do in order to reach your goal(s)


• Find out HOW to do what you need to do to reach your goal(s)


• Enlist help from others who have already reached goals similar to those you want to attain


• Keep reminding yourself that you can do it


• Break down big goals into manageable steps – create an action plan


• Do something today--no matter how minor

Visualize reaching your goal(s). What have you accomplished in the past? How did you do it? How did it feel to have succeeded? How can you use this feeling of success to reach another of your goals?

Goal Setting Time - Again

It’s the first week of a new year and new resolutions for many of us. Even if you do not make New Year’s resolutions, you should set goals for yourself. It’s a fact that people who set goals achieve more. Why not give yourself all the breaks you can get? Here are a few goal setting tips:

· Create a specific, measurable goal from one of your hopes or dreams.
· Break the goal down into specific steps you can take to reach the goal.
· Create a plan of action by listing the steps you can take to reach the goal.
· Set a timetable for reaching the goal.
· Determine how you will hold yourself accountable for reaching the goal.
· Take action by copying the steps from your action plan onto your daily to-do list.
· Assess how you are doing periodically regarding the achievement of the goal.
· Change what is not working.

With a set goal and enough of the right action, you can achieve your dreams.