Favourite Quotes 11

'When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.'

John Ruskin

Following on from the last quote from Marianne Williamson, another one from a much earlier time about doing what you love and the extraordinary results that ensue.

Andy

My Web Site and
My Web Site

Favourite Quotes 10

'Do what you love. Do what makes your heart sing. And never do it for the money. Don’t go to work to make money, go to work to spread joy.'

Marianne Williamson

Once again I am indebted to Nick Williams for providing me with an incisive and inspiring quote from his book 'The Work You Were Born To Do'.

This is one a lot of us struggle with, having been brought up with the idea that work is what you have to do, to pay for the things you want to do.

Andy
My Web Site
and
My Web Site

Favourite Quotes 9

'When starting out, don’t worry about not having enough money. Limited funds are a blessing, not a curse. Nothing encourages creative thinking in quite the same way.'

H. Jackson Brown

Another inspiring quote from Nick Williams' book 'The Work You Were Born To Do' and a good one to follow yesterday's by Goethe.

Or as a certain sportswear company puts it: 'Just Do It!'

Andy
My Web Site
and
My Web Site

Favourite Quotes 8

'Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would come his way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it now.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.'

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet and scientist

An inspiring quote for a wet October morning, and one that has certainly helped me.

Andy
My Web Site and My Web Site

Favourite Quotes 7

'Often people try to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you really need to do, in order to have what you want.'

Margaret Young

I found this in 'The Work You Were Born To Do' by Nick Williams, an inspiring book which helps you to get off the treadmill of just earning a living and find a more joyful way of expressing yourself - and also making a living!

Andy
My Web Site

Favourite Quotes 6

'The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.'

Albert Einstein

Hence our constant need to grow and learn.

Andy
My Web Site

Favourite Quotes 5

'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.'

Aristotle, many, many years ago, and reiterated in a tape by Jim Rohn I heard recently - something along the lines of success resulting from little things we do every day, which over time make a tremendous difference to our lives.

Andy
My Web Site

Favourite Quotes 4

I really like this one:

'People assume that happiness stems from collecting things outside of yourself, whereas true happiness stems from removing things from inside of yourself ' - The Dalai Lama

So true and so simply put - and somehow so hard to follow consistently! The material things of the world are so beguiling.

Andy
My Web Site

Favourite Quotes 3

Another quote I have put on my website and an excellent one for me to bear in mind when I am running training courses is this:

'We cannot teach people anything: we can only help them discover it for themselves' - Galileo

I often receive proof of the truth of this when people suddenly get one of those wonderful 'aha' moments. You know the kind - when something that has been hanging around at the back of your mind for ages suddenly leaps to the front and is clear in its obvious truth. And we feel 'Of course, I've known that all along, but somehow didn't realise it till now!'

Andy
My Web Site

Favourite Quotes 2

I like this quote by Henry David Thoreau so much that I have put it on the homepage of my website:

'What lies behind us and lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within out into the world, miracles happen.'

Andy
My Web Site

Favourite Quotes

This blog is named after a favourite quotation by Groucho Marx which I often use to introduce sessions on time management:

'Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana'.

More favourite quotes soon.

Andy
My Web Site

Better Meetings 4

The whole point of a meeting is ACTION so don’t allow people to leave without making their action points clear.

Do you really need to attend at all? If you feel you have nothing to contribute, ask for the minutes to be sent to you.

Andy
My Web Site

Better Meetings 3

Have clearly defined roles agreed beforehand. You will need someone who can firmly but tactfully keep things on track – don’t allow the discussion to slide into gossip or to go off at a tangent.

Also someone to take minutes – concise minutes – and distribute them afterwards.

Andy
My Web Site

Better Meetings 2

Think about timing – nobody I know is exactly in sparkling form just after lunch or late in the afternoon.

Set an agenda and circulate it to all participants at least a day before. There should be no excuse for turning up unprepared.

Always start and finish on time – don’t interrupt to recap for latecomers.

Andy
My Web Site

Better Meetings

Meetings! Meetings, meetings, meetings – they are a fact of business life, yet how often are they a productive use of your time? Many of us dread them and with good reason.

I know a hugely successful businessman who once told me the secret of good meetings is never to let people sit down – I’m still not sure whether he was joking or not!

But sometimes a meeting is the best way of communicating. Apart from removing all the chairs from your meeting room, what can you do to expedite proceedings? My next few blogs will be about making meetings as effective as possible.

Andy
My Web Site

Managing E-Mails 4

Sometimes the phone is faster and less confusing, for example if you are trying to change arrangements and need to make sure everyone affected is aware.
Don’t be tempted to use e-mail to avoid personal contact, particularly if there is already a difficulty – chances are that someone will misinterpret the written word without the benefit of accompanying verbal tone and body language, and you could end up having a drama to resolve.
Andy
My Web Site

Managing E-Mails 3

Take care with subject headings - be very specific and use dates if necessary, or later you could find yourself trawling through a long list of 'Meeting's or 'Update's to find the one which contains that vital piece of information you need right now.

Draft standard responses which can be subtly varied to fit each individual case if you receive lots of similar enquiries.

Andy
My Web Site

Managing E-Mails 2

Some e-mails can be deleted as soon as you have read them, or at least put into appropriately named folders for later use.
Only keep in your in-box e-mails which require action or to remind yourself you are waiting for a reply.
Only keep the latest message in an ongoing exchange.
Andy
My Web Site

Managing E-Mails

Lately I have been trying to limit the e-mails stored in my in-box to those immediately readable on screen, so I don’t have to scroll down. I have achieved it a few times, but it always seems to start spreading again immediately!

I’m sure I’m not the only one fighting against an ever-rising e-mail tide which can easily gobble up large chunks of time.

I am trying hard to discipline myself to only download and read my e-mails 2 or 3 times a day – mid-morning and mid-afternoon seem to be good times. Otherwise precious minutes regularly get eaten up by waiting for the latest batch to download.

Andy
My Web Site

Timely Advice 2

The advice was this:

Write down all the tasks you want to do tomorrow, and identify the five most important, listing them in order of priority.

First thing tomorrow morning, start working on the first item and don’t leave it until it is complete or you have gone as far as you can.

Then start on the second item in the same way. If things come up during the day, only deal with them if they are more important than the task you are already working on. If not, add them to your list.

When the top five items have been dealt with, or taken as far as you can, repeat the prioritising process. Don’t worry if you don’t manage to do everything on the list – at least the more important tasks will be completed.

Andy
My Web Site