WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK!!!!

Hi guys!!!
I hope you all had a nice week!.

Mine was filled with quite a lot of research and writing which was quite stressful but good because I learned a lot. Am really excited that I finally got to write my first business "personal plan" ever. Though I have never done business before, I was able to get my head around it somehow.
At first, when I was asked by my boss to come up with a business personal plan, I thought oh! that's easy!, all I need to do is Google. However, it wasn't as easy as I thought especially considering the fact that I have never done business before. I began surfing the net for all the information I needed but couldn't really find anything specific to what I was looking for. Rather, the most I could find were professional business plans written by business owners which wasn't what I specifically wanted but stumbling on those business plans gave me an insight to what I really needed to succeed in a work field generally. I realized I had to learn a lot of skills which I never really paid full attention to. One of them was time management with respect to achieving a good work-life balance. It took me two days to start up my plan as I dint know how to go about it. I began to develop a cold feet as I had set a deadline and hadn't yet done much. Thank God for friends like Ezugo and Winston who gave me the inspiration I needed.

Winston was the perfect person I could relate with as he had switched from engineering to having his own business. I was really amazed and inspired at the things he had learned over the short period of his business. I was talking to him during the week and he told me how he had to learn to teach himself by doing his own research, attending seminars and training events which helped in building his communication and business strategy skills, reading books, magazines and other sales or business publications which helped in keeping him up to date on the latest advances in sales, management, business, economy, events, trends and so on. He shared some business ideas with me, gave me some links and hints on how to go about my plan. With those, I was able to map out an outline of what I wanted to achieve in my business (goals), how I wanted to achieve them (strategies), possible obstacles to success and my personal development. I went to some companies and had a few words with some business employees, did my own basic research and was able to build on my points.
    I also attended a time management training session with my friend Abi and I really learned a lot on how to create a balance with work and life.

 
Here is what I learned form the training:

1. Set your priorities- write down all the tasks you wish to accomplish each day and prioritize them.
2. Create a schedule- create the amount of time it should take you to perform each task, leave room for breaks and stick to your schedule.
3. Build a downtime into your schedule- For example, fix a date on your calendar for a movie night with your spouse or a night out with your friends so you'll have something to look forward to and an extra incentive to manage your time well so that you don't have to cancel.
4. Drop activities that sap your time and energy- For example, spending time with people who don't add value to your life, spending too much time at work with a colleague who is constantly venting and gossiping. Take stock of activities that don't enhance your career or personal life and minimize the time you spend on them.
5. Engage in exercises- it ultimately helps you get more done by boosting your energy level and ability to concentrate. It also gives you little time to yourself.
6. Relaxation- slowly build more activities into your schedule that are important to you. Even during a hectic day, you can take 10-15 minutes to do something that would refresh your batteries like taking a bath, reading a novel, going for a walk or listening to music.

         Make a little time for things that ignite your joy.

 Please feel free to add any more time management tips!!!