-•- UltimateBizSource.com Newsletter - Issue 176 -•-
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Site Of Interest
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The site of interest this week is http://cyberatlas.internet.com/
I love stats, I can't get enough of them, and this week's site of
interest delivers more statistical information that I can handle. 
If you aren't constantly testing, refining, and growing based on 
trends in the marketplace you will likely find yourself falling 
behind your competition just hoping that you'll be able to catch
up. For example, I've seen a number of newsletter owners trying 
to keep their lists clean by removing the email addresses of the
major free providers like Hotmail and Yahoo. I personally don't 
think is a very good idea based on the trends I've seen myself, 
and the reports I've found posted on this website. More and more
people are using free email addresses than ever, especially in 
the business sector, and removing those people from your list is
going to lead to a drastic reduction in qualified prospects. This
might sounds crazy to some of you, especially those of you that 
work on assumptions, but the reports don't lie. We didn't throw 
in the towel when it came to deliverability to these domains and
it has paid off very well for our clients. This is just a single
example of how trends and statistics can effect how a business 
operates online, and it might not relate to your business, but 
something on this site definitely will. No matter what you are 
selling, if it's in an online environment, you have to know how
people are using the Internet, when they're online, and how they
are accessing your site.

 
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Featured Guest Article
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Don't Try to Do More in 2004
Copyright C 2004 Michael Hudson, Ph.D.
Everyday Leadership Network
http://www.EverydayLeader.com
 
The holidays are quickly fading into memory and the New Year is
now in full swing.  No doubt you have returned to your
disheveled workspace and your daily routine.  Perhaps you've
even tackled that resolution you made about getting organized
and cleaning off your desk.
 
But wait. Did you do it again this year?  Did you create the
list?
 
You know the list I mean.  That list you created in the midst of
your year-end/new year clean-up effort.  The list that includes
all those things that you intended to get done in 2003 but did
not, AND all those things you are firmly committed to for 2004.
The list that has the nice check boxes and the specific
deadlines for completion for every item.  Yes, that list.
 
Don't get me wrong.  Creating the list was a very good idea and
merits a round of applause.  You invested your time wisely and
assembled all the carryover items in one place, while defining a
clear plan for the year ahead.  But you can not afford to stop
there.
 
Realize that when you created the list you implicitly committed
yourself to do more in 2004.  Think about it.  Not only are you
committing to do the things you planned for 2004, but you are
also carrying over all of the things you did not finish last
year.  And chances are, if you are like most people, the list is
already too long to be accomplished in a single year, and we are
not even half-way through the first month!
 
But that is not inherently bad.  There is great value in setting
ambitious goals that will stretch you and make you grow.  Here
is the problem:  There are likely to be many things on your list
that simply do not belong.  Here's why.
 
Some of the items you carried over from last year would merit
your effort--if that effort had been given last year.  Now they
are merely things you feel obligated to do because they are on
your list. But in the context of what really matters in 2004,
they do not justify any additional effort.
 
Other items on the list are no longer relevant.  Allocating your
time and energy to them will at best make you feel good because
you followed through and will at worst make you look bad because
it took you so long to get them done.  If you were to abandon
them completely and never touch them again, almost no one would
notice (and you would rest better because they would be out of
your sight and your mind!).
 
You get the point.  A list of carryover to do items and new to
do items for the year ahead is an important first step that many
of us take each year as part of our fresh start.  But if we stop
there and begin to tackle all of the items on the list, we doom
ourselves to repeat the process again in 12 months.
 
Here's a better solution for the everyday leader.
 
1. If you have not already done so, create your composite list.
Include everything that you planned to do in 2003 that was not
completed, along with all the things you plan to do in 2004.
 
2. Examine your list carefully and rate each item either:
 
Urgent--it needs to be completed within the next 60 days;
 
Not-Urgent--it needs to be completed within the next 9-12 months;
 
Not-Yours--it needs to be completed but not by you; or
 
Not-Important--it does not really need to be done at all.
 
3. Delete all of the items you ranked Not-Important from the
list--only a fool would allocate energy to doing things that are
not important!
 
4. Create two lists from the remaining items:
 
YOUR LIST: Includes all of the Urgent and Not-Urgent items from
step 2 sorted by their Urgent/Not-Urgent ratings; and
 
THEIR LIST: Includes all of the Not-Yours items from step 2.
 
NOTE:  If you are self-employed or do not have direct reports,
you may find this step a bit awkward at first.  But chances are
there are items on your list that you cannot and should not do,
and they need to be passed along to those who can and should do
them.
 
5. Review THEIR LIST and assign the tasks to the relevant
people, i.e., the people who are going to be responsible for
their accomplishment.  You might assign some items to your
administrative assistant, others to your direct reports, and
others to vendors and suppliers with whom you can outsource the
task.  The objective is to develop a clear alignment of
responsibilities for these items so that you can monitor their
completion rather than doing them yourself.
 
6. Review YOUR LIST and prioritize the items in terms of when
they need to be completed; keep the ratings in place for Urgent
versus Not-Urgent, as you will use them again in steps 7 & 8.
 
7. Using YOUR PRIORITIZED LIST and your calendar, schedule
appointments with yourself to work on all of the Not-Urgent
items on the list so that they will be completed at least 3-4
weeks prior to their due date.  Let nothing interfere with these
appointments with yourself and commit to getting these things
done in advance so they do not become urgent items like the
others on the list.
 
8. Review the urgent items on YOUR PRIORITIZED LIST to:
 
Eliminate the ones you can, i.e. the ones that will not have an
adverse impact if they are never completed.  This will not be an
easy task, but there are probably some things on the list that
can be dropped, so take them off.  Be brutally honest here and
eliminate as many of the items as you can.
 
Defer those that are not really urgent.  There are often items
on your list that seem urgent because you have been wanting to
get them done for a long time and have not, but they really are
not all that urgent.  Defer these items by re-rating them as Not-
Urgent and scheduling them at a future date.
 
Delegate anything and everything that can be passed along to
someone who can do it at least 75 percent as well as you can.
Even if you have no direct reports, there are ways to move items
to others for completion.  Outsourcing to temps or vendors and
passing opportunity oriented items on to up and coming
colleagues are two quick strategies that work.  Be sure to add
these items to THEIR FINAL LIST as they are now items that you
have moved into the Not-Yours category.
 
9. At this point you have two lists:
 
YOUR FINAL PRIORITIZED LIST which includes the urgent items that
you are going to do in the next 60 days and the not-urgent items
that you have scheduled throughout the year, and
 
THEIR FINAL LIST which includes the items you have passed along
to others and are now merely monitoring.
 
Combine these to create YOUR 2004 TO DO LIST by adding THEIR
FINAL LIST as an item on YOUR FINAL PRIORITIZED LIST.
 
10. Focus your energies in 2004 on completing the things on YOUR
2004 TO DO LIST, adding items as appropriate using the ratings
screen from step 2 to determine what to add and what not to add
and being very assertive about not putting things on your list
that can be done equally well by someone else.
 
There you have it.  A simple 10-step process for making sense of
that lengthy list that emerged during your yearend/new year
clean-up process.  If you do this effectively, your productivity
will improve significantly during the year ahead as your stress
level is reduced by working on things before they are due.  Best
of all, when the end of the year rolls around, there will be
fewer carryover items for next year's list!
 
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Michael Hudson, Ph.D., known as The Everyday Leadership
Authority(tm), is the founder and principal of the Everyday
Leadership Network--an organization devoted to developing
leaders of growing businesses, non-profits, and government
agencies.  Visit http://www.EverydayLeader.com for information
about Michael's keynotes, seminars, and workshops, and to sign
up for his bi-weekly ezine, The Everyday Leader!

 

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What Are They Thinking
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Why do so many people look before they leap? I've been involved in
a number of opportunities over the past few years, and I'm always
amazed at how many people join something without having a clue as
to what it is they're joining. Someone told them to join. Someone 
told them it was a sure winner. The website looked pretty. I'm not
sure what is making these people join, but it's hardly ever a good
idea. If you have someone that you really trust, sure, go ahead if
you really believe in that person, but otherwise, look before you 
leap. Someone recently approached me via Instant Message and asked
me to join an opportunity that cost $12.95 per day. I thought that
was a little bit odd, but unique, so I asked for more information 
and all I could get was a URL. What was the product? They did not
know. What was the compensation plan model? They did not know. If
I joined, was there a money back guarantee? Again, no clue! What 
was this person thinking? All they knew how to do was send people
to a website. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a little picky 
when it comes to joining new opportunities, but why join without
knowing a thing? What was this person thinking? I would strongly 
suggest that all of you take a really good look at everything you
can before you join an opportunity. Who's your sponsor? What are
the products? Is the compensation plan easy to understand? Where
is the company located? How many people will it take to make your
money back? If you can't answer these five basic questions before
you join an opportunity, but you join anyway, what in the world 
are you thinking?

 
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