John was exhausted, his feet were sore, his back ached. It had been a long, hard day's work - Christmas shopping with the family. From the rush to get out the door to the stress of finding a car park to making decisions about presents (and arguing with his wife about them). Christmas is not supposed to be like this, he thought to himself. Worst of all, they had only bought half the presents they needed to buy!

At the same time, same day, just down the road, Michael was relaxed, having a beer as he cooked the BBQ for his family. Michael and his family had also been shopping, with little stress, had time to enjoy coffee and get the presents they wanted to buy and get home to enjoy the afternoon.

SO, what was the difference? A simple, yet powerful, time creation strategy (which applies to business and personal life too!) Let's compare John and Michael.

The Objective

Michael (and his wife) made a list and got clear about who they were buying for AND 2 or 3 gifts they could buy for each person. John (and family) jumped in the car and headed to the local shopping center with only a general idea in their head about who to buy for.

The Plan

Michael decided which shopping center to go to based on the presents they wanted to buy. They had done research on the internet and from "junk mail". They ordered several presents online, reducing the time they need to spend at the shopping center. Michael's family left the house just before 9am and headed directly to the stores relevant to the presents they wanted to buy. John, had no plan.

Outcome Michael and family bought presents for all but one person they planned to and were out for 3.5 hours including stopping for coffee.
John and family bought presents for only half the people they needed to and were shopping for over 6 hours - coffee was "on the run".

I could go on, but I'm sure you get the point. And, you can apply the same strategy your business. Think about your sales team - how much would your sales increase using this approach?

So how will you reduce stress and have more fun at Christmas?

Take time to plan and include FUN in the plan :-)

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Thanks for spending your valuable time with us.

Have the time of your life this week.

Michael

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Michael Erwin https://www.time-management-central.net