“We always have enough time to do what needs to be done.”  Alan Cohen (A Deep Breath of Life)

My friend above, Alan Cohen, taught me many valuable lessons in life, but none more important than this one, “If you are a servant of time rather than letting time serve you, you are a prisoner.”

Today email, cell phones, PDA’s and more have made us less free than we believe we are.  While we brag about how “connected” we are and how “quickly” we can accomplish things, we fail to see how we have imprisoned our abilities to be creative, learn and grow for ourselves and in our work.

Do yourself and those you serve a favor today and think of the following things;

#1- What is the most important thing you have to do today for your work?

Think about this from the following perspective;

Will it meets the needs of an existing client in such a way that the quality of what I do and my customer serve to them will be memorable?

Will it bring business to me/us?

Will it support the structure of our business in such a way to make it more sustainable in time?

#2 - What is the most important thing I will do for me to day?

Do I need to spend some time on my health? With my family?  Get new tires?  Make a dentist appointment?

Not all priorities have to be large, but they must fit into the bigger picture of building a life and a career that you love.*

*Be on the lookout for Barbara’s new simple rule book, “Building the LIfe You Love” in March of 2009

Nothing, absolutely nothing about 2009 and people and work will be the same as any year before this.

Yes, people will go to work.  Yes, they will receive money for their efforts.  No, their benefits, holidays, vacations and retirements will not be the same in many cases.  No, how you resolved issues in the past will not always work now.  No, people are seeing you as an organization through very different eyes.

The “situation” this year is going to be demanding in ways managers and organizations have never dreamed of before.

Exactly what are those demands going to be?

#1 - People are being affected by things outside your workplace.  Spouse and children laid off from their jobs reducing household incomes and creating stress that will carry into the workplace.

Question;  Do you know what each of your employees is dealing with today? FIND OUT!

#2 - Do it better, do faster, do it with less is the name of the game.  Cash is being reserved and answers to old problems that involved spending the money needed to fix it are not necessarily the answers today.

Question:  What is in place in your team/division/organization that helps stimulate and create the new solutions?  Who is devoted to this? FIND OUT!

#3 -  Whenever a situation like our current economic conditions hits the fan, you must be much more engaged with your people.

Question:  Are you in your office or out their with the team? Have “Everything Going Right Meetings” at least once a month to help people feel th successes you know are there.

Get a “Situational Specialist” on retainer NOW so you can have someone at the ready to help you every day this year and make it a successful year!