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Now here’s a new time management trick; Sleepworking. Even when fast asleep, many small-business owners said they were still hard at work. Decision Analyst Inc. in Arlington, TX surveyed a random sample of businesses with under 20 employees and over half said they "sleepwork". Of those who sleepwork, 70 percent said they actually put their "work dreams" into action.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend learning to work in your sleep, but if it comes to you, by all means take advantage of it. You can be at your most “creative” while sleeping. Keep a pad of paper and pencil by the bed and be ready for the next big idea.

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Feel like your business is in a holding pattern? Get unstuck and move to the next level this year. Join a group of like minded business owners. Develop your 12-month plan and leverage the experience and support of your virtual board as you grow your business and have your Best Year Yet. The Ocular Forum - South Portland and Waltham, MA. http://www.OcularForum.com by Bold Vision Consulting.

I’m from Texas and, for better or worse, learned much of my business “attitude” from business people such as Ross Perot, Stanley Marcus and Roger Staubach (yes, he used to play football too.)

There are not too many people more bold than Ross Perot. In 1962 Ross Perot started Electronic Data Systems (EDS) with $1,000. In 1984 General Motors purchased EDS for $2.5 billion (That’s with a B)

There are probably dozens, if not hundreds of stories and lessons you can learn from his 22 year trek to the top, but one of the most important lessons I learned is Perot's experience after the sale. After GM purchased EDS Perot found himself on the GM Board and it wasn't long before he became frustrated (to put it mildly). Perot was all about action. GM seemed to be all about meetings. Here's how Perot put it.

"At EDS, when you see a snake you kill it. At General Motors, when you see a snake, first you seek out the best consultants on snakes. Then you appoint a committee on snakes. And then you study snakes for a year or two."

You can laugh, but we all need to be wary; there is a lot of truth to that story. Think about yourself and your crazy schedule, the fires, the meetings, the tasks. I know how critical envisioning, thinking and planning are; much of my business is built around just that. However, it is also important not to confuse thinking with action. Here are my Bold Rules for Moving Forward.

Most of us don't have problems with taking action in the parts of our business that we like and are comfortable with. If you like to sell, getting out and selling will not be a problem. Ditto if you like drafting a training plan. You'll get right to it.

The time you need to step up and be bold is when you aren’t comfortable or you don't like to do what you know you should do. That's when it's easy to procrastinate. That's when it's easy to confuse thinking and actually doing business; or doing the right business.

An action step is something you do to improve your business that is visible from the outside. Making a sales call is an Action Step. Making a phone call to make an appointment is an action step. Deciding to make that call is not.

There are times when you need to think about your business. There are times when you need to decide what to do on a client project. Just remember: if that thinking or deciding doesn't result in something visible from the outside it's not an Action Step.

So when you think about your business, think about what has to happen to get the result you want. Then Do It. When you decide what to do on a client project, Do It and make that decision visible.

Action Steps

Be BOLD. Take Action.

Do you need help staying on track, taking the time to envision, think and plan yet take consistant action? Sponsored by Bold Vision Consulting, the Ocular Forum is a membership based confidential peer group for non-competing business owners and independent professionals eager to support each other in growing a successful business.

An Ocular Forum membership supports long-term and annual planning with a system for implementation and follow through, support, encouragement, and confidential advice while your partners hold you accountable for taking the actions important to your success. There are two Ocular Forum memberships being formed:

Portland Maine – Applications due September 14

Waltham, Massachusetts – Applications due September 14

Meetings are monthly and membership in each Ocular Forum group is limited to 6 members.

Call 207-221-3492 or visit http://www.boldvisionconsulting.com/OcularForum.php for more information.

As you probably have gathered from my previous articles, the success of your business isn’t just about the plan; it is about getting the results expected from executing the plan. Effective time management is a large part of making this happen and success in managing your time effectively works much the same way - Focus on the results not on being busy.

We’re used to the frenzy of the work day and if we’re not literally “in motion” we feel we’re not being productive. The funny thing is that so much of what makes your business (and life for that matter) successful has little to do with motion or being busy and everything to do with results. The Pareto Principle (also known as the 80-20 rule) applies here; 80% of unfocused efforts account for only 20% of the results achieved.

So, how do you solve the Pareto problem? Focus on the “Gold Time"; the time you spend on important but not urgent activities. Gold Time activities focus your attention of the results that will bring about the biggest improvement or that are most important to you and/or your business.

For example, let’s consider doing your taxes (ugh) and having to get your business receipts together, organize and summarize your mileage and auto expenses, make sure you have all your bank statements in order, etc. As I write this it is late February. Would you consider this to be urgent now? Probably not. However, can you see how these activities could become urgent, quickly? You turn around and it’s April 12 (March depending on your deadline). If you hadn’t started doing this record keeping chore, how do you feel, what is your stress level and what does this do to your schedule for April 12 and possibly 13, 14 and possibly 15?

Exercise and eating healthy can also be important but non-urgent activities. From my own experience, you can easily put off exercising because “I’ll start back as soon as __________”. You fill in the blank. I have a zillion reasons and I’m sure you have one or two as well. After so long (too long) I turned around and it’s 10 pounds, 2 inches and a wardrobe later. Urgent? You betcha. At least I didn’t wait until my heart told me it was urgent. I listened that old pair of jeans to get the message.

Yes, unexpected issues come up during the day that need addressing; there are changes in schedules, phone calls that throw you off. The challenge is having the discipline to do the important, non-urgent activities before you focus on the crisis activities. Those important and urgent activities HAVE to get done. They WILL get done and generally 1 hour won’t make any difference.

BEFORE you check your email, before you return the irate customer call, before you go for that second cup of coffee and before you tell everyone how great that Marcia Ball concert was, spend just one hour focusing on an important long-term results or an important but not urgent task.
Making this change usually involves changing your behavior which isn’t easy and takes persistence and patience. Over time however, practicing Gold Time Management you will:
• Be more in control of what you do;
• Be more productive and effective;
• Have less stress;
• Enjoy your work more; and
• Have more quality time to relax and enjoy life outside work.

As Goethe said, “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” Focus on the important results first.

The Gold Time Management philosophy was developed by Jinny Diztler, the creator of the planning and implementation system, Best Year Yet. Jenny named this time management system after the precious metal because the time you spend on important and non-urgent activities pays off at least tenfold over the time you invest in other types of activities. You can try the Best Year Yet online workshop for FRE*E - just use the link here and enter Referral Code 380 and they'll know you came from the Maine Today BLOG.

And in closing, I wanted to let you know that on March 7th, I’m the presenter of the Greater Portland Chamber’s Professional Development Workshop in Portland, Maine. The title of the workshop is “Have Your Best Year Yet in Business – The 5-Principles of Transformation”. If you’re going to be in Portland, Maine on 3/7 and are interested in attending, click here for information or to register. It's free for Chamber members and $10 for non-members. The maximum attendance for the workshop is 30 and there are only 5 spaces left at the time of this writing. Hurry, space is limited. Check out our online brochure for information on other BoldVision workshops and seminars.

And remember, Be Bold! It all starts with a vision.