Dance4Fun News

Dance4Fun News Message

2009-12-04T08:31:33Z

How often do we send "Best Wishes for a Happy New Year" to our friends and family members? Here's a tangible and very practical way to really show it.

This is truly a live-changing gift that keeps giving.

Do you have a family friend struggling with "what they want to be when they grow up"?
Do you have a sibling that has great ideas but just can't seem to execute them?
Is there a friend that is constantly late and you know that it really bothers them but they can't seem to help it?
Do you want to support your teenager by allowing them more control over what they do and when they do it but you're contently disappointed in their time management skills and choice of priorities?
Do you have college age nieces and nephews that are barely juggling their school, work, and social life?
Do you want to release control over the things going on in your family that you can not change, but also want to avoid the feeling of chaos and frustration?
Are you surrounded by folks wanting more from 2010, but they don't seem to know how to get started?

Having a certified life coach specializing in time management and work/life balance strategies to bounce ideas and provide an objective perspective can help in all of the above.

Now is the perfect time to pre-pave a successful 2010 and deliberately create the 2010 that they really want and deserve. What better gift than to give your friends a leg-up with their 2010 plans.

Special Holiday Gift Certificate Offer

Use these gifts to invest in those you love and yourself.

Purchase at least $150 worth of coaching gift certificates for others and get a free 30 minute session for yourself.

Purchase at least $200 worth of coaching gift certificates and get a free 60 minute session for yourself.

Please consider this life-changing gift for someone that you love.

Background on Laura Rose:

Laura is a certified personal life coach.

Laura offers one-on-one career and life coaching, small group coaching, seminars and workshops. You can learn more about her at www.RoseCoaching.info and contact her at LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info

She is also the Time Management Advisor for National electronic magazine: http://www.eXaminer.com.

She has been in the software and testing industry for over 20 years. Shes worked with such companies as IBM, Ericsson, Staples, Fidelity Investments and Sogeti in various client advocacy, quality assurance and project management roles.

Laura now uses her client focus, project, quality, mentoring and people management skills in her personal life coaching career. As a personal life coach, she helps people easily integrate their goals and dreams into their everyday lives. Laura uses creative and practical tools to help her clients realize what really matters to them. They then follow-through with project and time management techniques to create the reality they really want. She does this, while keeping to her clients personality and the way they naturally attack life. This allows the clients to propel forward with minimal effort and great ease.

Laura authors many articles and workshops on time management and strategic scheduling. She is also the founder of the electronic magazine the Rose Garden: the Art of Becoming.

She also offers free workshop and presentations on Time management, Project management and Work-life balance strategies.

Please let me know if you have problems with any of the below links.

To subscribe to The Rose Garden: the Art of Becoming, please goto :

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cmNXMTd1cnBfaU8tWDJPLURFT0dEeVE6MA..

To read more of her time management articles http://www.examiner.com/x-16459-Raleigh-Time-Management-Examiner

To subscribe to Rose Coaching News to get information on the free presentations and workshops, goto the below link and choose Rose Coaching News from the pull down list.

http://www.rosecoaching.info/mail.cgi

Warmly,
Laura Rose, CTACC
Certified Life Coach,
Make Magic Your Norm,
Transforming the life you have to the life you want.
www.RoseCoaching.info/index.htm

LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
(919) 667-5372
Call for a free coaching session.

Dance4Fun News Message

2009-11-16T16:53:10Z

Effective meeting management skills are just for the board room. Everyone could benefit from these useful tips. Check out a question that I recently received regarding chronic lateness.

Also the Holiday Edition of the e-zine the Rose Garden: the Art of Becoming is now available. The e-zine has several articles from several international coaches. Please consider signing up for a free subscription. The magazine can be found at:

http://www.rosecoaching.info/rosegarden/RoseGardenHome.htm

To receive further time management tips, please subscribe to the Rose Coaching News list at:

http://rosecoaching.info/mail.cgi

Question: I had a potential roommate to interview. I emailed him that I would be at the house until 11:45am and that I needed to leave for another appointment at that time. He arrived by 11:40 and then I couldn�t find a good way to end the conversation. He made me 30 minutes late for my next appointment. This happens often to me.

Answer: It is hard to "cut-off" a conversation, especially if this person took time and effort to travel to your location and the goal of the meeting had not been completed. We often feel we're being rude and not considerate to that person. But when we're delayed and making someone else late or wait on us, we're also being rude and inconsiderate to the other person as well.

Here are some things that could have been done upfront to avoid being either to either.

1) Use the buffer technique between appointments

a. You already had a previous scheduled appointment at 12:00pm.

b. You correctly noted that you need to leave the house by 11:45am. But you also need some prep time like: going to the rest room before you leave, collecting your keys, books, notes before you leave, lock up before you leave, etc.

c. Add a buffer around that appointment. For instance, if you needed to be in the car at 11:45am, mentally end your previous activity by 11:30am. This gives you the time you need to collect yourself and prepare for your leaving. As you get better with this technique, the buffer time can be reduced or eliminated.

2) Use the Timebox technique in the majority of your appointments and tasks

a. Allocate an amount of time that you are willing to give to this activity.

b. Try to move away from the mind-set "doing this task until it's done/dead". Allocate your ROI (how much time you are willing to spend on it, before it loses its benefit). Many tasks can be briefly covered initially, and then returned to later. Decide how much time you actually need to spend "right now" on it.

c. Try to move away from �all or nothing� mind-set. Split your tasks into mini-tasks or mini-time-block allocations.

d. Do this before hand, so that you can properly schedule the activity. For instance, if you estimate that the roommate tour would take 20-30 minutes, then your friend has to show up before 11:00am � in order to assure that you leave for your other appointment on time. 11:00am is the time you tell your visitor (not 11:45)

3) Be explicit and clear about your schedule

a. Once again, estimate how long it would take show and discuss the roommate situation

b. If you feel it will take 20 minutes to 30 minutes to tour the house and room, then figure out when the visitor should arrive (in order to have the 30 minutes of discussion). Publish your START TIME, not only your END TIME.

c. In this example, email your guest that if he drops by before 11:00am � you-two will have the time to tour the place (your Start Time). Also tell him that you will need to end the meeting by 11:30am (which includes a buffer), because you have another appointment at that time (your end time).

d. When he arrives, re-iterate the time schedule, so no one misunderstands. If you run out of time, just schedule another time to continue (split into mini-tasks). Make sure to put time/place to the meeting.

e. If you leave it open ended (I will be at the house until 11:45am) � he can arrive at 11:40 and still be within your timeframe. This way � if you are explicit with the start time (when he should arrive in order to have the right amount of time), then IF HE DOES arrive at 11:40, he�s not surprised if you are gone � or on your way out.

4) End-game on the meeting

a. If parties understand UP-FRONT, no one will be angry when you cut-off the conversation at the appropriate and published time

b. Make sure you schedule (in your calendar) any follow-up meeting or discussion. It�s not sufficient to say �we�ll catch up later to continue this conversation�. Just take a few extra moments to actually schedule the time and place.

c. Summarize what was accomplished in the meeting and any action items before you leave

i. Could include next meeting time/place

ii. Could include any �action items� between meetings

iii. Could include review of what to bring to the next meeting.

Effective Meeting Management: Tips to use at any meeting

Have a purpose and success criteria (understand what �done� means)

Have an agenda with time tables.

Stick to the time table and ground rules

Use of parking lot for items not fitting the original agenda

Use parking lot for items taking longer than their original agenda time

Stick to the purpose of the meeting.

Be willing to schedule another meeting to complete agenda, gather the right information and/or get the right people in the meeting.

Verify that you�ve met your meeting�s success criteria

Summary of your action items owners, deadlines

Include Reasonable Forcing Functions and accountability partners

If you haven't met the meeting's "success criteria", identify the follow-up items to achieve.

Often times, meeting items take longer than originally allocated because:

1) We don�t have the right people in the meeting � people are just talking the topic but aren�t the right people to do anything about it.

a. Need to reschedule and invite the right people authorized to �do something�

2) We get side-tracked on other side issues

a. Acknowledge those important issues, and place them on the Parking Lot list.

b. Schedule a separate meeting to give those issues the right time to discuss

c. Make sure you understand the right people for that meeting

3) Don�t have the right data or information to make a decision

a. If you don�t have the right data, information or people to make progress�.reschedule

b. Don�t waste the time in a meeting that can�t accomplish the goal of the meeting.

c. If you happen to have the right people and right data for �a different meeting� � change it to �the different meeting� and release the irrelevant folks. Take advantage of the �right people� for �the different meeting�.

4) Noise versus necessary

a. Sometimes people want to vent. You should to timebox the venting.

Dance4Fun News Discount packages available for The Business of Busyness:the Art of Time Management workshop

2009-09-23T10:43:31Z

Making the time for this life changing workshop is your first step in building the positive momentum for the success that you want.

Time is money; so dont let money stand in your way in making the most of your time. Discount packages are available (see below).

The Business of Busyness: the Art of Time Management 6-week group workshop starts next Wednesday, Sept 30 at 1:00pm. It's time to register.

Stop feeling jerked around by other people and events, as if you are on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Take control of your calendar, your future, and your world.

Transform your life to the ride of your choosing.

Cruise through your life with inspiration, excitement and passion.

Discounts and Referral packages available:

Share success with a friend: First at price, Second at 1/2 price ($337.50 total for 2 seats)

Share success with 2 friends: 3 seats for the price of 2 ($450 total for 3 seats).

Registration form:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEY2M0VrY2l5NHhCTG43ZmRhOGdPd0E6MA..

Warmly,
Laura Rose, CTACC
Certified Life Coach,
Make Magic Your Norm,
Transforming the life you have to the life you want.
www.RoseCoaching.info/index.htm
LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
(919) 667-5372
Call for a free coaching session.