In this issue:

Introducing the Project Tracker v1.0

Work-Life Harmony

Free Listing in Our Business Directory

Time Tip

 

Introducing The Project Tracker v1.0

Project Tracker v1.0 The Bubble Planner enters the software arena with it's trademark process of taking the complex and making it simple.

The Simple Solution to Complex Schedules

The secret of an excellent project manager is their ability to stay on top of the details. The Project Tracker is designed to help you organize and manage resources (e.g. people) to complete projects on time. It is also designed to allow you to manage all of your goals, projects, and tasks for all of your roles and responsibilities. You can create a tab (or Project Tracker Sheet) for each major role in your life, i.e. Family, Work, Investments, Social Activities, Church, or Education.

You may also create a separate tab for each major project such as building a home, developing a sales proposal, or countless others. The only limit to the number of tabs is the amount of space and memory on your computer. To get started and create your first sheet, either use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+Shift+T, or click the button to the right.

Work-Life Harmony

A colleague introduced the idea of Work-Life Harmony to me a few weeks ago, and I've been enamored with it ever since. The concept is that Work-Life Balance will never work. As it's name implies, something must lose out when something else wins. The very nature of balance is Win-Lose.

For those who follow Stephen Covey, you know that Win-Lose will never last. This balance, or in most cases, imbalance creates a number of issues. If you focus on your work, then your relationships suffer. This creates a downward cycle, which causes some of your relationships to die or your career to slow down. This framing of the issue requires you to make a choice.

Unfortunately, many people choose their job leaving behind the a string of divorces and permanently damaged relationships with their children. The simple reason is that Work-Life Balance is born from the scarcity mentality.

With Work-Life Harmony, you tap into the Law of Abundance. If you look around you, you realize that our options are not shrinking, they are expanding. With advances in technology, we can do more in less time than ever before. So, if you think time is limited, then, you just need to apply the leverage of technology to get more.

What are some ways you can improve your work-life harmony?

Free Listing in Our Business Directory

Time Tip - Activity Log

"Time is money."
-Benjamin Franklin, Advice to a Young Tradesman

If you don’t know where you are spending your time, you are wasting money. One of the most profitable skills that I learned in my first job after college was tracking my time in 15 minute increments. I was working as a staff accountant for a local CPA firm and had to account for all of my time. If I didn’t track my time, then I didn’t get paid. In addition to tracking my time, the majority of my time had to be billable. This exercise taught me to be aware of where I was spending my time and to focus on activities that generated profit for the firm. In subsequent industry jobs, I realized that this skill gave me a significant competitive advantage. While others were engaging in “water cooler” conversations, I was getting recognized and promoted.

ROSE-COLORED MEMORY
One of the main reasons that we should write things down is because memory is a poor model of reality. This is true for a variety of reasons. First, we all have a bias. Our memories must go through the prism of our experience before they are stored in our brains. Second, many of us have a tendency to remember things in a positive light, especially our contribution to something. Psychologists call this an ego-centric bias. We believe that we are far more focused and productive than we really are. Finally, our memories fade over time. In some cases, they change entirely as our new experiences and changing beliefs attach different meanings to them.

The Bubble Planner includes an Activity Log that allows you to easily track your time by category. Do this for a week, and you'll be amazed at the improvement in your productivity.