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Jim Estill's Articles in General Self Help

  • Seven Ways To Beat Procrastination
    I am a student of Time Management and a big part of time management is beating procrastination. We all procrastinate, even those of us who pride ourselves in having good time management skills.

    From my studies, I have come up with seven proven ways to beat procrastination.

    1. Do the worst task first: I have used this technique for years. I have even created more than one “first thing.” There is first thing in the morning, there is first thing after lunch, and there is f...
  • How To Plan Time So I Can Stay Highly Productive
    I have learned that not all time is the same quality. In times when I am very alert, rested, focused and efficient, I can be three to five times as productive as other times. My goal is to have more of these highly productive hours.

    This harkens back to Stephen Covey's Seventh rule of Highly Effective People - sharpening the saw. The vignette is of a wood cutter who is desperately sawing at a huge tree. A passerby asks the woodcutter why he does not sharpen the saw so he c...
  • Habits That Save You Time
    You are the product of what you repeatedly do. If you have well-trained organizational habits, then you are an organized person. If your habits include reading a lot, then you are a well-read person. I work at finding new habits that will help me save time. Some tips:

    1. Use Every Minute.
    Efficient people use every minute. There’s no such thing as waiting time. You can use waiting time to make a quick call, or do a small task. For instance, why not empty the dishwasher w...
  • 8 Ways To Deal With Stress
    Part of success in life is how well we deal with stress. The beauty of this is we can learn to deal better with stress so it is a life skill we can improve. No one can make us do anything. People and events do not cause us stress; it is our reaction to what happens that can or cannot cause us stress. The beauty of this is that we can choose to control our reaction.

    The following are eight ways I deal with stress:

    1. I figure out what I can control. Stress for me is caus...
  • 60 Minutes To Clear Goals
    I think that most people would agree that the people who have goals are more successful than those who do not have any.

    I often talk about leadership and management. Leadership is about doing the right things while management is about doing things right. Often when we study time management, we study efficiency (doing things right) and make the assumption that we have the effectiveness (leadership) solved.

    The first step in any time management system should be to work on...
  • 12 Ways To Maximize Time And Life
    My business experience has taught me one true thing: That maximizing your productivity, happiness, peace, or impact can best be accomplished if you clearly understand the 12 Rules of Time.