Get organized by:

Tracking Your Time: Where Does YOUR Time Go? 

If you would like to monitor where your time disappears (in business and at home) then start by filling in your own Time Log for one week, ideally for twenty-one days. Within a short time you will be amazed at your findings; the wasted pockets of time, while you were accomplishing things that needed to be done, but you underestimated how long they would take.  This simple exercise will be a great beginning to streamlining the first step of becoming more organized and more productive.     Search for a Time Log Sample online and fill it out over a few weeks. You’ll be amazed at what you discover!

BOOKS: Organizing, Strategizing, Self Help and More:

These are some resources which I have found very useful over the years of starting and running various small businesses. They can help you get organized and stay organized, too. Do your own research and find authors and programs that speak to you, resonate with your style of working and processing. Some of these may be classics, but they are classics because they resonate with many generations and a variety of personalities:

• Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern
• Time Management for Dummies by Jeffrey J Mayer
• The One Minute Manager by K Blanchard & Spencer Johnson
• Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson
• Start & Run an Art Teaching Business by Tanya Freedman
• Understanding Yourself and Others: An Introduction to Temperament by Linda V. Berens
• Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono
• I am Right You are Wrong by Edward de Bono
• Do What You Are by Paul D Tieger & Barbara Barron-Tieger
• Treating Type A Behavior and Your Heart by Meyer Friedman & Ray H Rosenman
• How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie
• How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie
• Enrich Your Life the Dale Carnegie Way by Arthur R Pell
• Taking Care of Business by Heather Robertson
• How to Avoid Business Failure by Helen Beare
• The home-based entrepreneur by Linda Pinson
• The complete Book of Small Business Management forms by Dan Sitarz
• Avoiding Mistakes in Your Small Business by David Karlson
• Kick Start Your Dream Business by Romanus Wolter
• Launching Your First Small Business, by CCH Business
• Business for Beginners by Frances McGuckin
• Big Ideas For Growing Your Small Business by Frances McGuckin
• Cases in small Business Management: a strategic problems approach by John Edward DeYoung
• Anatomy of a Start-up: Why some New Businesses Succeed and Others Fail by Elizabeth K. Longsworth
• Tanya’s Bookshelf:

Time Management Books Recommended by Tanya

• “Taming the Paper Tiger at Home” & “Taming the Paper Tiger at Work” by Barbara Hemphill (The Kiplinger Washington Editors, 1998)
• Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morganstern (Henry Holt, 1998)
• Putting the One Minute Manager to Work by Kenneth Blanchard and Robert Lorber (Simon & Schuster, 1995)
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey (Simon & Schuster, 1989)
• The Procrastinator’s Guide to Success by Lynn Lively (McGraw Hill, 1999)
• Clutter’s Last Stand by Don Aslett (Adama Media, 2005)
• How to Get Control of your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein (New American Library, 1973)
• Home Management 101 by Debbie Williams (Champion Press, 2001)
• Focus Like a Laser Beam by Lisa Haneberg (ASTD Press, 2006)
• Coaching Basics by Lisa Haneberg (ASTD Press, 2006). For link go to Lisa ’s web site: www.lisahaneberg.com
• Living the 80/20 Way by Richard Koch (Nicholas Brealey Pub., 2005)
• Run Your Business So It Does Not Run You by Linda Leigh Francis (Borah Press, 2000)
• Time Management for Dummies by Jeffrey J Mayer (IDG Books Worldwide, 1995)

Stress Management

These Websites have helped me with stress management while running my small businesses and family life:

• About: Small Business, Canada – Make Stress Work for You: 10 Weeks to a More Successful You:  http://sbinfocanada.about.com/library/success/nweek8.htm
• Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety – this site has many helpful articles:  http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/stress.html
• Lucy MacDonald is a counsellor who offers help over the telephone, and her site is filled with information and her seminars: http://www.lucymacdonald.com/
  – Wellness is Managing Stress: http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/clients/sub.cfm?source=health/wellness/5
  – Helpguide.org offers help with coping with stress, anxiety and other related issues: www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm
  – The Stress Management Society: although based in UK, the website has valuable information that can help. http://www.stress.org.uk/
  – Great indepth resource, of all aspects of stress, including anger management: http://www.anger.co.za/Stress_Management/stress_management.html
  – http://www.tm.org/resource-pages/61-is-a-stress-free-life-possible
  – Stress Management website with articles that show the link between poor time management to poor stress management: http://www.managementhelp.org/prsn_wll/stress.htm
• http://www.mindtools.com/smpage.html  –
• http://stress.about.com/

Running a small business can be time consuming and stressful and very often you feel very alone.
Discovering that you have allies in the same position as you are and that there are many places to
get help and support is a great stress buster.