Published by Robert A. & Vicki L. Prentice of Professional Development Systems
April 24, 2006 Issue 195
From the Desk of Bob
I just reached my 48th birthday last week and that has caused me to do a lot of thinking about time and where it is going and how much I may have left here on this planet.
Do birthdays cause you to think that way too? Not that I am worried or anything like that. I have lived a good and productive life and I feel really good about that. I am at rest and at peace in my life. Oh, there are those aches and pains that I have not felt before in places I didn’t even know could ache!
Ah, but the joys are great, too. Why just the other day, my nine-month-old grandson, Justin, actually said “Grandpa” for the first time! Boy, that will twist your head the first time that you hear that, but at the same time it is an incredibly neat thing to hear.
Have a Great Week! Bob
In this week's issue
Life Attitudes
Seeds of Success: Maximize Your Time
The Big Rocks In Life
The Prairie Beacon
Mr. Attitude's Life Tested Tools
Life Attitudes
"Life offers two great gifts–time, and the ability to choose how we spend it. Planning is a process of choosing among many options. If we do not choose to plan, then we choose to have others plan for us.”
~Richard I. Winword~
" Time equals life. Therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life.”
~Alan Lakein~
"People don't grow old. When they stop growing they become old.”
~Anonymous~
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Seeds of Success: Maximize Your Time
By Robert A. Prentice
Most of you know that I have taken up a new hobby in the last six months–candle making. Anyone who knows me well knows that over the years I have been deeply involved in at least a half dozen other hobbies and interests, which have a tendency to consume huge amounts of time. When you look at these hobbies added to all of my business and family responsibilities it can sometimes “appear” that things are getting a little out of whack in my life. But then, things are not always as they appear.
You see, while it may appear to others as if I am merely playing–and it is true that even I count my putzing around in my greenhouse, my workshop, or the yard, my hunting and candle making, inventing, and the like, all as play–I am not only playing, but I am working on my major life responsibilities, too. In essence, in “killing two birds with one stone” or double-timing it, I am maximizing my time.
For instance, while I am pulling weeds, I might also be thinking about what I am going to write about in one of my weekly or monthly articles; I will come up with the opening two or three minutes of an upcoming presentation, while waiting for the candle wax to melt; or I may go to work on solving a difficult challenge as I sit and enjoy the peaceful sounds and sights in my back yard or grill up some steaks for dinner. This process of maximizing my time has served me very well over the years, along with the other time management tools in my toolbox.
It’s because of the decisions and choices I have made that I am afforded more flex time than most people I know. I make a conscious decision each day to live out what I have written in my life strategy and my business plan, and I apply the tools–like the Ten Rule, back timing and double timing, the Quick Start Concept, and the many other time-tested strategies I have shared with others over the years–so that I can live my life enjoying success in all the key result areas of my life.
Life is meant to be enjoyed! Never allow the cares and stresses of the day rob you of your joy. Instead, maximize your time, and you’ll maximize your life!
The Big Rocks In Life
One day an expert on the subject of time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students probably never forgot. It goes like this.
As this man stood in front of the group of high-powered over achievers he said, “Okay, time for a quiz.” The students watched as the man pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed mason jar and set it on a table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?”
Everyone in the class agreed, “Yes, the jar was full.”
“Really?” said the man as he reached under the table pulling out a bucket of gravel which he then proceeded to dump into the jar. He shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks.
He smiled and asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?” By this time the class was on to him.
“Probably not,” one of them answered.
“Good!” he replied as he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand into the jar and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?”
“No!” the class shouted.
Once again he said, “Good!” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked up at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”
One eager beaver raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it!”
“No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is this: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”
~Author Unknown~
Bob "Mr. Attitude" Prentice is available for Keynote, conference engagements, and in-house company training assignments Call to schedule Bob TODAY! 800.437.9715
Read on...
The Prairie Beacon
The Prairie Beacon is a monthly positive attitude paper, published by Mr. Attitude, featuring Seeds of Success articles, motivational stories, quotes and attitudes, all guaranteed to challenge and inspire it's readers to live a richer, fuller and happier life.
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Mr. Attitude's Life Tested Tools
My training sessions consist of the principals, attitudes, and skills that I have discovered over the course of my life, and that I aspire to practice in my day to day living. These are the Life Tested Tools that I have to offer:
KEYS TO BETTER LEADERSHIP • Creativity Encounter • Planning for Results • Organizational Effectiveness • Understanding Ourselves and Others • Teamwork Works • Building Morale
KEYS TO BETTER SELLING • Gaining a Prospects Attention • Building Interest • Communicating with Conviction • Painting Pictures of Desire • Asking for the Business • Welcoming Objections • Showmanship in Selling • Total Customer Service • Bootstrap Marketing o Barter o Networking o Advertising o Podcasting/Blogging o Internet
KEYS TO BETTER LIVING • Attitudes for Excellence • Managing Stress and Time • Complete Life Strategy • Tapping our Potential
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Feel free to pass your Monday Morning Motivations on to a friend.
What a great way to let them know you are thinking of them!
:: bob@mrattitudespeaks.com
:: http://www.mrattitudespeaks.com
:: 800-437-9715
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