hours - The Time Finder with Paula Eder

The Time Finder with Paula Eder

The way you use your time is the way you live your life.

Find Time to Thrive by Focusing on Your Minutes to Optimize Your Hours!

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Paula, under Time and Energy, Time Choices.

Finding time to get everything accomplished in the time that we have is a constant challenge, isn’t it? Especially at this busy time of year, it can feel like you’re just barely keeping your head above water … when what you really want to be doing is focusing and appreciating each moment.

So how can you move away from overwhelm and toward thriving?

The answer is actually pretty simple. It was summed up very nicely by Lord Chesterfield many years ago, when he stated:

Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves.

When you are focusing on the present moment, laying aside worries about what lies ahead, you are going to be more efficient with your time and also have a fuller experience.

Not only that, but chunking your tasks and activities into small increments allows you to come to completion multiple times throughout your day. This is validating and energizing.

As you use your minutes to achieve small goals, you’ll find that your larger goals are accomplished in your hours. And you will be amazed at how this reduces your stress, worry and bother!

So are you ready to start focusing on the minutes and filling your hours to their fullest?

Well, here’s another way to explore ways to increase your power and effectiveness – whether it’s in your business, or your personal life … I am so pleased to be able to offer my expertise and support as The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to “Time Management”.

You can visit by clicking the link, and when you do you’ll find lots of time management articles by experts in the field, along with a vibrant and welcoming on-line community. Stop by my Expert Page and leave a comment or question … or just say hello. There are lots of ways to connect … I’d love to get started!

Find Time to Start Because the First Step is Your Key! (thetimefinder.com)
Find Time to Let Changes Change You, Too! (thetimefinder.com)
Find Time to Stop Making Yourself Feel Guilty: Timely Tip #1 (thetimefinder.com)

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Finding Time to Stop Your Time Gremlins and Jump-start Yourself!

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Paula, under Time Management Skills.

Finding time gets much easier when you can stop your Time Gremlins in their tracks.

In yesterday’s post, I described what these nasty gremlins are and how they affect your plans. Now it’s time to get even more specific.

How are YOUR own particular Time Gremlins active in your life? Figuring this out is the first step in developing a strategy to neutralize their negative effects.

This quiz that will help you to identify which Time Gremlin is tripping you up and keeping you from achieving your goals.

Instead of just reading through this exercise, I suggest writing down your answers so you can experience the benefits right now! It’s simple:

Quiz: How Do Gremlins Steal Your Time?

Pick the question that resonates most, and fill in the blank:

Question: What never gets done?

Answer: I never get around to _________________________.

Question: What’s blocking your path?

Answer: ________ keeps me from doing what I need to do.

Question: What excuses do you fall back on when plans fall apart?

Answer: I would get everything taken care of, if only _______________.

Question: What time traits do you judge in yourself?

Answer: I judge myself as being ______________________.

NOW, write down the statement you completed that affects you the most strongly. Then ask yourself the following questions:

What can you do to stand in your power and change this statement? Relax, close your eyes, and envision yourself living a dynamic new life script. Feel it down to your toes. Describe it in one or two sentences and then identify one gain you experience from making this change!
Next, ask yourself: What loss follows? Remember, with every loss there is a gain. And with every gain there is a loss. This is the price for more power over your time. Accepting this is the key to your freedom!
As you picture yourself living this powerful new life script, ask yourself how you feel about the gains … and jot down your answers.
As the losses begin to surface, name and describe each one.
Last … but not least by any measure … give your feelings a voice. What do they teach you?

Simply doing this exercise will provide you with palpable gains. That’s because exploring what you will receive and what you must give up sharpens your focus. When your focus is clear, you can weigh options more easily and become more decisive. That’s quite a reward!

So look around. You are standing at an important crossroads. Are you willing to weather the losses that come with important gains? By consciously committing to go the distance, you gain enormous strength to keep setbacks in perspective and weigh them against what you will be giving yourself.

And are you inspired to keep increasing your efficiency, effectiveness, and enjoyment of your moments? Here’s one way that we are spreading the word about finding time … with another platform for following The Time Finder! You can follow The Time Finder on your Kindle. Try it out for 14 days FREE, then continue to receive new content, right on your Kindle, every time we post!

So, what if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up for your FREE Finding Time Success Kit. It puts 3 key tools for your time success right into your hands! Grab it and see how you can recharge your energy, reduce overwhelm and frustration, and come to learn that 24 hours really ARE enough!

Let’s explore time together …

Change Your Values…Tame Your Gremlins (linked2leadership.com)
Finding Time to Outsmart Your Nastiest Time Gremlins! (thetimefinder.com)

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Finding Time to Outsmart Your Nastiest Time Gremlins!

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Paula, under Time Management Skills.

Finding time can sometimes feel like a race around countless roadblocks that pop up, can’t it?

One of the trickiest obstacles you’re likely to encounter as you journey through your day is best described as the collection of personal challenges that I call Time Gremlins. Just as you’d expect from their name, they tend to be crafty trouble-makers … and because they’re so hard to see, you may run right into them at full speed.

Oh, and they’re especially difficult to sidestep when you harbor doubts about their very existence … so read on, I think you’ll find this helpful …

In my experience, Time Gremlins are real, AND they are universal. What do I mean by that? I mean that they’re hiding out inside of each of us at all times.

If it’s clarifying, you might think of them as the voices of your time issues. Whatever you find most challenging, when it comes to time management, those gremlins stand ready to exploit and amplify.

You know you’ve bumped up against your time gremlins when their messages sabotage your priorities, tangle your plans, and spoil your pleasure in your time choices. Because they’re invisible, these voices inside you often can run riot – that is, until you intercept them.

To block each one, it’s important to be patient with yourself. This is hard work, and you will advance … all the better if you take it one tiny step at a time. As you become more and more skilled in battling your time gremlins, you’ll be very pleased with the results! So let’s begin to look more closely at this.

How Can You Start Recognizing Your Time Gremlins?

Well, for starters you need to know where to look. Being tricky creatures, your Time Gremlins usually hang out in your blind spots. Things like unexamined feelings and ideas about time are great grist for Gremlins! They might be ideas or messages that you’ve carried from childhood. Wishful thinking also provides a fertile breeding ground for these crafty critters.

Bottom line: Their effect is universal. They steal your power! And they feel like they’re outside your control (although they aren’t, of course).

Stay tuned … In my next blog post I’ll provide a quiz to help you identify which Time Gremlin is currently blocking your progress. Once you recognize the culprit you are well on your way to outmaneuvering your gremlin and no longer letting your plans be foiled!

For now, simply note when your plans mysteriously lose momentum or direction. Pay particular attention to the times when you can’t put a finger on what went wrong. Even jotting down a few sentences will help you recall the incident, and then you can use these examples when filling out the upcoming quiz.

Are you inspired to address your time challenges so you can find more time and increase your effectiveness, efficiency, enjoyment … and heart-based success?

Then, I invite you to explore Secrets of Heart-Based Time Management – my chapter in the book I co-authored - Stepping Stones to Success! In it I share my proven system for harnessing the power of your mind, your body and your spirit to help you explore your patterns, clarify your values, identify and prioritize your goals … and create your path for achieving them.

The in depth interviews contained in this book provide practical and heart-based ideas to get you moving as you embrace yourself and your own uniqueness! As one reader has said:

In fostering a climate of ever-expanding and deepening discovery, Paula’s system offers solutions that are founded in self-knowledge. They have a resonance and a wisdom that I find to be very unusual in the time management sphere. Jordy Cornog, Canterbury, NH

You can give yourself the gift of this wonderful resource today, and get started on your journey toward success, Stepping Stone by Stepping Stone …just click this link to get the details!

What if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up for your FREE Finding Time Success Kit. It puts 3 key tools for your time success right into your hands! Grab it and see how you can recharge your energy, reduce overwhelm and frustration, and come to learn that 24 hours really ARE enough!

Let’s explore time together …

Find Time to Step into Heart-Based Success! (thetimefinder.com)
Find Time to … if Not Love … at Least “Friend” Your Lists (thetimefinder.com)
Find Time to Turn Your Fear Into a Path to Your Strength: Empower Yourself and Recharge Your Time! (thetimefinder.com)

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Find Time to Savor May’s Time Finder Favorites … One Last Time

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Paula, under Time After Time.

Finding time to reprise the most-read Time Finder posts of the past month is a great way to pause and reflect while welcoming in the brand new month of June!

It’s also another way to repurpose material that you’ve created, as you provide links to previous posts and people have the opportunity to revisit them.

So, what did you especially resonate to on The Time Finder this past month?

Was it Find Time to Go Green With Your Info Products, Too? This post generated a lot of buzz – and we hope you found it useful in your work to optimize your time and effort. Check it out – and add your comment – I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject!

Number two on our list of Time Finder favorites was a post about what you can learn when you listen to yourself. Titled Find Time to Stop and Really Listen to What You Tell Yourself About Your Time … this is a reminder that you have all the information you need, right inside. Are you finding time to tap into it?

Three time tips about flexibility came in at number three on our list. Have you read Find Time to Get to Your Goals the Flexible Way-3 Time Tips! yet? There are some gems here that you’ll be able to put to use today!

Finally, coming in 4th and 5th with lots of hits were these last two posts:

Find Time to Always Be in Sync With Yourself – A Time Saving Cyber Monday Tip and
Find Time to Get to Know Your Cyber Neighborhood … a post that was actually first published in April.

Is your favorite on this list? If not, let me know which post it was … I’d love to hear so I can best serve you!

And are you inspired to increase your efficiency and effectiveness? Here’s one way that we are spreading the word about finding time … with another platform for following The Time Finder! You can follow The Time Finder on your Kindle. Try it out for 14 days FREE, then continue to receive new content, right on your Kindle, every time we post!

So, what if you could find another hour every day? You can! You are invited to sign up for your FREE Finding Time Success Kit. It puts 3 key tools for your time successright into your hands! Grab it and see how you can recharge your energy, reduce overwhelm and frustration, and come to learn that 24 hours really ARE enough!

Let’s explore time together …

Find Time for April’s Top 5 Posts on The Time Finder (thetimefinder.com)
Find Time to Avoid Productivity Traps -5 Time Tips for You to Use Today! (thetimefinder.com)
Find Time for March’s Time Finder Favorites (thetimefinder.com)

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Find Time to Welcome Change and Get Yourself Growing: 3 Timely Tips

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Paula, under Time and Energy, Time Choices.

Finding time to open ourselves to the constancy of change is one of the biggest challenges that we face as human beings. Change is an especially interesting subject to consider as we come to a time of seasonal transition. How we feel about the change from spring to summer (or from fall to winter) can tell us a lot about how we approach change in general.

There is an element of the unpredictable built into any change. It upsets the equilibrium that we had established for ourselves and sends things into flux. Even if a change is positive and, for the most part, expected, it still has a ripple effect and impacts lots of areas of our lives – some that we may not have even considered.

When it comes to change, I like to think of it on two different levels. On the one level there is the obvious fact of the change itself. The other, equally important level, is our attitude or our response to this change. Even more than the change itself, this is what often defines and determines what happens next!

So, what’s the best way to prepare for and welcome the changes that come our way every day?

Here are 3 tips that I find extremely helpful:

As much as you can, build in a little extra time every day for the unexpected. Think of your time the way the Shakers used to think of their crops, planting enough for themselves and then, always, a little extra for the marauding animals. The unexpected is going to visit you every single day in small or large ways. If you build in some time to accommodate it, you’re less likely to feel victimized.

When change does come, whether it’s unexpected or something you’ve chosen, spend a little time getting a handle on your attitude toward it. As soon as you sense a change, do you constrict and take a defensive stance? Work to transform that for yourself by consciously opening and welcoming this new thing. Give yourself clear and direct messages about your competence and power to choose. Say yes to this change, and see how your feelings about it are transformed!

Each time you let yourself open to a change, be sure to come back later and validate that effort. The more you practice the more you develop your flexibility and confidence. Giving yourself a pat on the back never hurts, and it definitely adds to your momentum.

As you successfully negotiate newness in your life you will find that door after door opens for you. You are always ripe to grow, and the more you embrace this process the more you’ll find yourself sprouting in all sorts of exciting directions!

Ready, set, grow! And as you take steps to welcome your changes, let me know how it goes … I’d love to hear!

And I am so pleased to share that I am The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to “Time Management”. When you visit you’ll find time management articles by experts in the field, along with a vibrant and welcoming on-line community. Are you inspired to explore time management tips and tools to increase your effectiveness, efficiency and enjoyment? Then, I invite you to check out SelfGrowth.com and explore the many resources available there. And don’t be shy – stop by my Expert Page and leave a comment or question … or just say hello. There are lots of ways to connect … let’s get started!

Let’s explore time together …

Find Time to Get to Your Goals the Flexible Way-3 Time Tips! (thetimefinder.com)
Finding Time to Successfully Navigate Life Transitions (thetimefinder.com)

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Find Time with 5 Flexible Team-Building Tips

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Paula, under Time Management Skills.

Finding time when you work with others always works best when you start with good team strategy. This can be a challenge, and it’s especially difficult if you are working with someone who relates to time quite differently than you.

What do you do when you find that someone key to your work success defines her or his values around punctuality, planning, and procrastination very differently than you do? Don’t be daunted by the task … approaching these differences proactively can enhance cooperation in ways that may surprise you.

Here are 5 ideas to help you start viewing these conflicts in time styles as opportunities, rather than hassles:

Clarify what’s of prime importance to you. Pare it down and negotiate for it. The strength you build makes you more resilient and decisive.
Attune yourself to others’ varying approaches to time use. Genuinely accepting individual differences in time styles benefits you in 3 ways:
- Truly accepting that others won’t change for you spares you the frustration of fruitless efforts to control them.
- When people notice you are not trying to change them, they feel more receptive.
- When your colleagues feel respected, they are increasingly likely to negotiate with you.
Effective compromising increases flexibility and clarifies lines of power and responsibility. Different time styles often reflect different priorities. Explore how this can work to your mutual advantage.
- Here’s an example of how that might work: Maybe one of you would happily accept added responsibility if you could make your own hours. The other might hold down the fort 9:00 – 5:00 in return for not taking work home.
Commit to creativity. Thinking outside the box carries you beyond rigid power struggles. For every problem, there is a resolution that honors the integrity and needs of each person … so keep trying!
Present the challenge in terms of shared goals. Keep the focus on the rewards you all will enjoy. This stimulates cooperation … when you invite others to contribute ideas they become more invested in the problem-solving process (and, by extension, more dedicated to making it work).

Negotiating different approaches to time use will challenge each of you to grow. Rather than framing change as a sacrifice, consider the benefits of seeing and addressing the baseline needs of everyone involved. Ultimately this will improve morale, promote effectiveness and save you time.

Ready to take your next step to creatively negotiate for more productivity and more time? Let me know how it goes … I’d love to hear!

And here’s some Time Finder news that I am so pleased to share! I am now The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to “Time Management”. When you visit you’ll find time management articles by experts in the field, along with a vibrant and welcoming on-line community. Are you inspired to explore time management tips and tools to increase your effectiveness, efficiency and enjoyment? Then, I invite you to check out SelfGrowth.com and explore the many resources available there. And don’t be shy – stop by my Expert Page and leave a comment or question … or just say hello. There are lots of ways to connect … let’s get started!

Let’s explore time together …