Time Management Skills are Critical to Your Future Success
By Chris Widener

As a new entrepreneur one of the biggest priorities for you will be to manage your time properly. There will be 1001 things "to do." Many of them will be good things, but not the best things.

Many of the best things — things that you should be doing for the long-term viability of your business — will be tempting to put aside because they won't have immediate returns.
 One of the keys is to remember that if you do the right things over and over, they eventually bring you to the right place. That is an issue of time management and discipline.

The Secret Formula
 People will ask me how I get so much done in my life — about how I am able to accomplish so much. The answer is found not in what a great person I am, but in an equation I came up with a few years ago. When I live this equation out, it produces big results. This equation will work for anybody. Anyone can see results in their life if they will live it out. 

 This little equation, when it is understood, and acted upon, is perhaps the most powerful equation there is in regard to long-term achievement and entrepreneurial accomplishment. Yet, this is not a complex equation. In fact, it is rather simple. So what is it? Your short-term actions multiplied by time equals your long-term accomplishments.

Making Every Day Count
 If you want to see big results in your business, the first thing you must do is change your current actions. Otherwise the old saying becomes a reality: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got!” But if we change our actions, we will see different results. 

 Most people want to accomplish a lot in their lives. We need to take action on our dreams and beliefs every day. Here are some examples of how this works.

 Who loses weight? The one who knows all about the benefits of exercise or the one who walks 3 miles a day?
 Who retires early? The one who dreams of a house on the beach, or the one who invests $300 a month?
 Who writes books? The one who desires to become a best-selling author or the one who gets up early and writes for half an hour a day?
 Who has the best marital relationship? The one who knows how much spending time with their spouse can improve their relationship, or the one who sits down and talks with their spouse every night?
 Who makes the most sales? The one who believes they can become a great salesperson or the one who makes 10 sales calls a day?
 And of course, who builds the great business? Is it the one who dreams of being the next Bill Gates but leaves it at that? No, it is the person who takes the risk, starts the business, and diligently works the plan to completion.

Take Action Today
  When it all comes down to it, we must act upon our vision, beliefs, and ideals, or we won’t see them come to fruition. I see too many people who know what is right, but don’t ever do anything about it. Imagine what a difference we could make in our entrepreneurial pursuits if we would simply begin to act upon on our beliefs! 

 I remember reading an interview with an author who has written numerous books that have sold in the tens of millions. They asked him how he did it. His answer was that he got up every morning before anyone else in his family and wrote, long hand, with a pencil, for an hour. Then he quit and went about his day. But his short-term actions piled up. 7 hours a week. 30 hours a month. 365 hours a year. After a while, he had lots of books!
 The same thing can work for you in your business. Decide what you should do, do it each day, and eventually you will end up exactly where you would like to be! HBM
 
Chris Widener is a popular speaker and writer, as well as the President of Made for Success. Join subscribers in over 100 countries around the world! Get Chris' FREE weekly Made for Success Ezine by sending a blank e-mail to subscribe@ChrisWidener.com. Please visit his web site http://www.ChrisWidener.com.
Copyright 2002 Made for Success. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.