You can hold effective meetings and become a more successful leader if you avoid these seven monsters. Here’s how.

> Myth 1: Executives belong in meetings.

Although the demands of business cause executives to attend more meetings than other professionals, executives should be very selective on which meetings they attend. Top management is responsible for vision, strategy, plans, and communication. That means wise executives spend most of their time thinking, learning, planning, and communicating. Inefficient, ineffective meetings waste the time of the company’s most valuable employees.

Better: Ask probing questions when invited to make sure that your presence will add value. For example, “What are your goals for the meeting?” “How will I contribute to achieving those goals?” and “How can I prepare for the meeting?” After all, you want to contribute to an effective meeting if you decide to attend.

> Myth 2: Holding a large meeting is impressive.

Actually, holding a large meeting is expensive. It can also be impressive if it is conducted properly, which means that it will be as small a possible.

Better: Invite only those who can make meaningful contributions. The likelihood of holding an effective meeting diminishes with groups larger than ten or twelve.

> Myth 3: Structure inhibits spontaneity.

This is true if your goal is to obtain random outcomes over infinite time. While this may occasionally produce spectacular results, such as winning a lottery, you can achieve predictable results faster by applying structured activities. These help people make methodical progress toward results. Otherwise, the group is attending a party, instead of working in a meeting.

Better: Use structured activities to keep you in control of your meeting and make progress toward results.

> Myth 4: People are too busy to prepare agendas.

Since there is always time to repeat a task, fix a problem, or make an apology, there must be time to take the steps that avoid such dilemmas. Overall, preparing an agenda saves time and money.

Better: Prepare an agenda or, if you are too busy, ask someone to do it for you. Then send the agenda to the participants so that they can prepare for the meeting.

> Myth 5: Minutes are unnecessary.

This is true for any meeting where people wasted time producing nothing. Effective meetings produce results that are worth documenting. Minutes serve to track action items, record decisions, and inform others. If you are planning a meeting with no results worth documenting, ask yourself why that meeting is necessary.

Better: Record key ideas, agreements, and action items during the meeting. Then convert these notes into minutes.

> Myth 6: Meetings should last a long time.

While this may be true for some meetings, most meetings can be conducted in less than an hour. Long, casual meetings lull people into lethargy. In general, people are able to focus on a task for 30 to 60 minutes. Then their attention fades and they take mental holidays to think about other things.

Better: Plan meetings where you spend time and resources in proportion to the value of the results. That is, an effective meeting should be designed to earn a profit. Also, plan short breaks every 50 minutes.

> Myth 7: The effectiveness of meetings is a low priority.

This is true if you seldom hold meetings. Of course, if you have more than two employees, you need meetings to make decisions, reach agreements, and develop solutions. Effective meetings are a critically essential activity in running a business. They harness the combined wisdom of your staff to invent products, increase sales, improve productivity, plan strategies, and create success.

Better: Learn how to plan and conduct meetings that make your business a success.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with how 2005 turned out. My business is taking off. I’ve built a solid foundation to support even more growth (which I forecast for 2006) and I’ve even managed to take some time off.

I’d like other entrepreneurs and business owners to feel as good about their business as I do about mine, so I thought I’d take a moment to share 5 things I attribute to my successful 2005.

1. Attended seminars. This one is HUGE. Nothing beats getting out of your office and away from your computer and actually meeting people face to face. I’ve come away from these events with clients, joint venture partners, and more. (And that doesn’t even include the great information I absorbed and was able to put to use in both my business and my clients’ businesses.) If you only put one of my 5 tips to use, this would be the one to do — that’s how valuable I’ve discovered attending seminars to be.

2. Hired a coach. Again, this was another tough decision to make, but I’m really glad I did. It’s difficult to see your business objectively, so having a neutral observer on your team is extremely valuable. Coaches help you get out of your own way (and believe me, that’s a biggie for us entrepreneurs.) They can help you with both your inner game (your habits and mindset) and your outer game (your skills and business structure).

3. Started systemizing my business. Unless you want to be chained to your business night and day, you have got to start systemizing your business. Yes, all businesses should have systems in place, even if you don’t have anyone else working for you and you primarily sell services. The best part is when you do have systems in place, your business suddenly starts running a lot more efficiently and effectively (and you can start sleeping better at night and relaxing on vacation).

4. Outsourced. For all you control freaks out there, this one is for you. If you don’t start hiring some help, I guarantee you’ll never be able to grow your business because you’ll be constantly doing tasks you have no business doing. Do yourself a favor and get some help…NOW. I’ve just hired a project manager/director of client services, plus I have 2 backup writers and 2 virtual assistants. Building a team has been a big stress reliever for me.

5. Focused on my inner game. Shifting my mindset away from “freelancer” to “business owner” was another big piece of the puzzle. As soon as I made that shift, all the other four techniques fell into place because it suddenly made them easier to do.

It’s tough to change your inner game on your own — hiring a coach is probably the fastest way to do this. But there are some good resources out there if you want to begin dabbling in it first. Do a search and see what comes up, I started my journey with free ezines and articles.

Creativity Exercise — Make 2006 the best year ever

Go back and reread my list. Now get out a piece of paper and start brainstorming ways you can integrate my tips into your business. Which one do you think will bring the quickest results? Which one will be more difficult for you to start doing? Which is the one you SHOULD be doing?

Have fun with this exercise, really play around and see what comes up. Don’t censor yourself, just write down the answers that bubble up even if it doesn’t seem right. You might discover something important about yourself and your business that might be the key to launching you forward faster than you ever dreamed possible.

The Internet may have opened worlds for businesses and consumers, but it has also created a public relations nightmare for businesses. Forums, opinion Web sites, blogs, and anything that is publishable can smear a company’s name in moments.

Remember, “Yours Is a Very Bad Hotel” presentation that described one customer’s bad experience with a hotel chain? Hotels are run by humans. Humans make mistakes. It’s how you handle the mistakes that can make the difference in customer service. Since the hotel’s employees didn’t try to help the customer overcome a bad situation, the customer lashed back and bloggers blogged it.

If the hotel is on top of its game, it would unleash its crisis management (also known as reputation management) team to salvage its reputation while it can. It’s possible for a company to overcome bad PR and come out ahead as in the case of PG&E (California’s Pacific Gas and Electric company).

Another strategy is to use Internet monitoring to monitor online articles regarding a company’s activities to prepare for negative publicity. Some go further and monitor chat rooms, newsgroups, and online discussion forums.

It’s like the story of the town gossip who spread false stories about its people. One day, he felt terrible and went to the chaplain [Rabbi, pastor, priest, or other &mdash take your pick] to ask for forgiveness. The chaplain said,”I will forgive you, but you must do something first.”

“Take a feather pillow, cut it open, and scatter the feathers to the winds.” The man thought this was a strange request, but it was a simple enough task, and he did it gladly. When he returned to tell the chaplain that he had done it, the chaplain said, “Now, go and gather the feathers. Because you can no more make amends for the damage your words have done than you can recollect the feathers.”

The same can happen to a company without a crisis management plan in place. It’s possible to survive the crisis and thrive as PG&E did. Don’t expect Worldcom to pull out of its Enron-like mess. Fraud is not excusable. And Martha Stewart? She has hired a public relations strategist firm in an effort to do damage control. It’ll be worth watching to see what happens in her case and how the PR firm attempts to save her reputation. Did you know there is a recall on one of her products? Adds fuel to the fire, doesn’t it?

Be the change you want to see occur in the world around you. We can’t make other people be more considerate, helpful, honest, etc., but if everyone were to work on themselves and develop these attributes, our world would be a better place.

Don’t be judgmental. Look for and recognize the good in yourself and in others. We are all capable of so-called “good” and “bad” behaviors and we all have our “good” and “off” days. We are all unique and it is wonderful that we are different and not all the same – in our appearance, our thoughts, our opinions, our likes and dislikes. Being different is not threatening, it is not “bad”, it is just “different”. Embrace the differences and be happy for the variety. Likewise, forget the concepts of “right” and “wrong”. People are not good or bad or right or wrong; they just are. If you were in “their shoes” maybe you would act differently, or maybe not. Being judgmental wastes time and cuts you off from opportunities and meaningful relationships – because you are not perfect either, and your judgment might be worse than the person’s you are judging!

Respect. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your rights are the only ones that count. Don’t ignore the other person’s rights. Our fundamental right is to be respected. Being wealthy does not make a person more deserving of respect and neither does a high-flying career with a fancy title. Respect is not about material issues or where one sits on the social ladder. Respect is acknowledging another human being’s dignity and treating them how you wish to be treated yourself. We all came on to this earth equal and we’re all checking out as equals. What happens in between is just a series of different life experiences. The poor man who lives in a slum, who cares for strangers, volunteers assistance without expecting anything in return and lives a clean, honest life is more deserving of respect than a wealthy businessman who dresses in fine clothes, lives in a huge mansion, and treats everyone like pond amoeba, cheats on his wife, swindles his shareholders and has forgotten how to tell the truth.

Be a Good Listener. How often do you really listen to other people? How often do you plan what you are going to say next while they are talking, or allow your mind to drift off onto something else instead of concentrating on their every word? It takes practice to be a good listener, but in being one, you are showing respect and in a position to better comprehend the real message being given to you. You avoid misunderstandings and missed instructions. Furthermore, the other person will appreciate your attention and return the courtesy.

Be interested – not interesting. This goes hand in hand with being a good listener. People love to talk about themselves and will delight in the opportunity to do so, so ensure you ask questions and take an interest in what they are telling you. Don’t worry about them hogging the limelight – you can have your turn during the conversation. Have you ever met someone who only talks about themselves? Count the number of times you use “I” in your conversations. Judging, arguing points, interrupting the conversation, and using “I” a lot are sure signs you need to review your communication skills.

Respond from Your Heart. We tend to respond to others using our head, not our heart. We formulate stories about us, we defend our ego, or we judge other people or what they have said. If we respond from our heart, we can respond with understanding and a sense of connection. Find something good to say about people and to people. Build people “up” – don’t knock them down. Go with your gut instincts.

Be truthful. There is a good reason for the saying “honesty is the best policy.” Nothing good ever comes from lies, and there is a difference between being diplomatic and telling an outright lie. Nobody trusts a liar. If you’ve made a mistake, well, welcome to the human race! You don’t have to lie to cover it up. You don’t have to tell your truth “brutally”, there are gentle and tactful ways of delivering truths and you should think carefully before you speak. But don’t try to be deceitful because it has a habit of coming back to haunt you, and in those situations you are worse off than if you had just come clean in the first place, as uncomfortable as that may seem at the time.

Be helpful. When you need a helping hand, don’t you just love the person who comes up and offers that to you? Wouldn’t you love the opportunity to repay them? You can be that person that others look to respectfully with gratitude in their hearts, who will, one day, repay the gesture. What comes around, goes around. If you want people to be helpful to you, you must be helpful to others. It doesn’t matter whether this is assisting your boss with a special project you can see he needs help with, or a co-worker who is struggling with a large workload, or an elderly neighbor struggling up the stairs with her arms full. People do remember kindness.

Maintain Your Integrity and Your Dignity. People with their integrity intact are easier to deal with in work or personal situations. They know where they stand and you know where you stand with them. You will feel better about yourself when you set your standards and stand by them and you will attract those who respect your standards and who have standards of their own. Being a doormat is disrespectful to yourself and to the person ‘walking all over you’. It does not allow them to grow and learn to do something for themselves. Learn to say no gracefully. You have as much right as everyone else on the planet to have your own opinion and your own way of doing things, and reminding you of point (1) above, nobody has the right to make you feel ‘bad’ if you think, feel or dress differently. Remember, “to thine own self be true.”

Go the Extra Mile. I mean this in a couple of ways. First, whether you are either asked to do something, or you are offering to do something, remember that if something is worth doing in the first place, then it is worth doing well. And while you are at it, what little touches can you offer to improve it? For example, who would you rather go to for your shoeshine… Mr. A does a wonderful buff and polish and is timely and not too expensive. Mr. B also does a wonderful buff and polish, he is also timely and not expensive, but he is also cheerful and interested in you and whistles while he works, so after your polish, you go on your way feeling on top of the world! Mr. B just went the extra mile for you. He didn’t just polish your shoes, he lifted your spirits and made you feel good. If you are offering a co-worker assistance with copying some documents, go the extra mile and ask if she needs a hand stapling them or collating them. Going the extra mile need not involve a large expense of time, energy or money, but it’s value to the recipient is often priceless, and one day, it will be reciprocated.

Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say. Neither beat around the bush being evasive, nor make promises you can’t keep. On the other hand, if you say you are going to do something, do it. Be known as a reliable person. Honor your promises and agreements wherever possible – this stems back to integrity. Prepare to be flexible if need be, but know that you don’t have to bend over so far backwards that your back snaps. Being assertive and being aggressive are two entirely different things, and you do not need aggression to be assertive. In fact, you are better off without the aggression! If you are wishy-washy and allow people or circumstances to be unconcerned for your position, you will develop that reputation and find more and more people willing to walk all over you and more situations in which it occurs. Being like this does not prove you are valuable to anybody – it just means you are a ‘pushover’.

Business structure planning entails analyzing the different business entity options and choosing the one that is right for you. There is no magic formula for business structures. Your set of reasons for choosing one business structure over another is as unique as your company.

There is, however, one universal rule for deciding on a business structure: Consult a Professional. You certainly need to familiarize yourself with the basic types of business structures available but don’t think you can make the final decision. If your clients read up on Microsoft Small Business would they be able to install their small business server? No. The same goes for you and your limited knowledge of business structures.

Business Structure Options:

Sole Proprietorship – one owner with no segregation between business and personal liability
Partnership – two or more people with ownership in the company
Corporation – business is a separate legal entity from the owner, 3 types: S Corp, C Corp, or LLC

The most popular business structure is the corporation. There can be liability advantages but the main appeal is the prestige and credibility it seems to bring in the market place. Regardless, the business structure you choose has to make sense for your situation. Your accountant will be able to go through this with you.

Your accountant will analyze the business structures from both an operational and tax perspective. The tax laws are so complex and confusing that you really need to have an expert in that area provide you with guidance and direction. Do not cut corners here. Hire the best accountant or attorney you can.

The Bottom Line on Business Structure

The business structure you choose is a huge decision that affects both your personal finances and your business operations for years to come. Don’t mess around and don’t be cheap. When it comes to deciding which business structure you should use, you need to get professional advice. Consult an accountant or attorney who specializes in small business finance and tax laws. The money invested now will save a lot of frustration later.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consulting 101. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Competition is great in the market world today and in order to get your business noticed, you will need good corporate identity management. You need to bring together all of the good qualities of your company as well as emphasizing what a great benefit your company will be to those who use your services. Good corporate identity management will do just that if handled properly. It will give your business a clear positioning towards your customers and prospective customers as well as your staff, suppliers, authorities, and even your competition. By making your business easily recognizable to those who want what your selling, corporate identity management will also play a key role in the development and maintenance of your business, and keep it running like a well oiled machine. In today’s world, we are all bombarded with information, every waking minute. Globalization increases competition, products are interchangeable, and new products come to the market at an ever faster rate. Every business is competing for our attention. Selection of a supplier is not solely based on price or availability anymore; customers have the luxury to choose suppliers they can identify with. That is why your company will need an edge of some kind so that when people decide they need the service that you’re offering, either your logo, or a witty saying, will automatically pop into the consumers head, in turn, they will seek you out. However, your business image is not the only thing that will get you noticed. How the press and advertisers perceive your company will rub off on the public also, so you will always need to stay consistent and make a good impression.

Consistency is very important in the business world today, unless you want to loose your business before it even gets off the ground, you can’t say one thing then completely do another. In order to ensure consistency in communication, you may need to ask for help from someone who know what their doing when it comes to corporate identity management. There are many good organizations that can help you do just that. They can take your company and create something that will be distributed all over, no matter what you’re selling. Another important aspect is that your staff needs to be able to identity with your company’s corporate identity so they feel comfortable with it. From your company’s reception area, to telephone manners, the design of all printed materials and Web sites, to public relations, every aspect of a business has to breathe its Corporate Identity to be believable and distinguishable. Only then will your business have the chance of being taken seriously in the market, and ultimately to succeed. The primary idea behind a corporate identity program is everything your business does, own, and service it provides, should project a clear idea of what you and your business goals are. A good corporate identity management system works well and keeps the important things on tract.

Recently, a teacher whose class regularly scores top marks shared her secret for team building success with me. “It’s easy,” she told me. “Each week, we set a goal as a class. If we’ve reached the goal at the end of the week, I treat the class to pizza and a game and then we sit down and plan next week’s goal.”

There in a nutshell is a tried and true strategy for building and maintaining successful teamwork that any corporate event planner should take to heart. My teacher friend’s Friday afternoon ‘pizza party’ serves a triple function – it recognizes the work achieved, rewards the team for their work, and serves as a springboard for the next goal. To be successful, a corporate event should do three things – recognize, reward and motivate.

Granted, when you’re dealing with high-powered executives, programmers or salespeople, a Friday afternoon pizza party may not be quite the ticket. Higher goals merit higher rewards – but the principle remains the same. If you’re planning a corporate event weekend, then your plans should include all three arms of the success formula.

This isn’t as difficult to do as it may seem. Any corporate event that’s meant to recognize and reward contributions to the team can serve as a springboard for planning further successful activities and include team building activities to further cement the bonds of the work group. An event that’s planned as a team building weekend could easily include a recognition dinner to reward those members of the team who’ve made oustanding contributions.

The key to making sure that your corporate event accomplishes all of your goals is careful planning right from the start. Before you decide on the activities for your corporate event, take the time to work out your goals. Is it your aim to reward your employees? Recognize achievement? Motivate your teams? Hammer a group into a team? Once you know what it is that you want to accomplish, it’s time to call in the professionals.

A corporate event planner with expertise and experience in team building activities, corporate event planning, outdoor team building and corporate hospitality events can show you a wide range of fun corporate events and activities that will serve any corporate event strategy you have in mind. Even more importantly, they’ll bring their own experience to the planning table – and the execution of the event. Using a professional corporate event service means you needn’t worry that someone will forget to meet the keynote speaker’s plane, and your own key people aren’t tying up their time running around to find matching napkins for the company reward dinner.

In the end, choosing to use a corporate event planning service is no different than any other business decision. You hand the work to those that have the best resources to accomplish the task. When it comes to fitting a corporate event to its purpose, a professional event planner can turn your company recognition dinner into a motivating, rewarding and inspiring team building event that will kick your next quarter into high gear.

We’ve all heard about the gains in productivity and accountability that businesses can make from implementing a timesheet software system in their organization. However, with so many timesheet packages available on the market today, how do you know which package best meets your needs? The process of choosing the correct timesheet software for your business need not be as difficult as you may think.

The first step in choosing the right software is probably the most important, yet all it requires is that you to ask yourself a simple question; what do I want to achieve by using a timesheet system? It may be to improve quoting or budgeting, tracking project progress, tracking attendance and automating payroll, or to assist with client billing. Most of the better-known timesheet packages tend to focus on one or two of these functions and do them well, but may be deficient in other areas. When looking for the right timesheet package, select your package based on the core function it is designed for. Determine which features are critical and which are less important. A package that is designed to be good for automating payroll may not collect enough information for it to be useful for client billing. A timesheet system that is designed for client billing may not have the project management functions you require. The more specific your requirements are, the easier it is find the appropriate software application. Thus, if you require a timesheet system that tracks computer-based work, is simple to use, yet can perform many other functions, you can narrow your product search down to just one product called Spherical Timesheet. Write a list of your requirements in order of importance, and keep this list handy while you’re doing the product search.

When considering your requirements, also keep in mind what your think your future needs will be. As an example, if you currently have a number of staff and your organization continues to grow, the software you select should be scalable to cope for the anticipated growth. However, you need to be realistic with your needs as one could say that anything is possible in the future. You don’t want to choose a product that can do nearly anything just because there is a chance you might need it one day. As a general rule, the more powerful the software, the more complex it will be to use, administer and support.

A decision you must make is whether you would like to go for a web-based solution or a desktop application. A web based timesheet system generally interacts with all users via a standard web browser. This type of timesheet system can be useful if you don’t want to install software on each user’s machine, and it can also be helpful as timesheet entry can normally be performed by any of your staff with an internet connection. You can also choose a subscription-based timesheet service (often call an ASP, or application service provider), where the provider stores your timesheet data on one of their servers. These solutions can be inexpensive with a periodical payment and very little up-front investment, but you need to consider the value you put on the confidentiality of your timesheet information and security, as timesheets and financial data may viewed by the provider, and any internet site can be a target for hackers. Web-based timesheet systems can also be a double-edged sword; they are often easy to operate but too simple in functionality to be very useful.

In comparison to web-based solutions, a desktop-based application is a program that is installed and run on each staff member’s computer. Desktop applications can be setup within your company’s firewall, preventing users from outside your company from accessing your timesheets. They also give the timesheet software developers a lot more freedom in terms of creating software interfaces and reporting engines, and as a result may be more sophisticated and powerful. If you have staff that work remotely and require access to your timesheet system, you should ensure that the timesheet software you choose provides the option for remote access (these systems commonly allow timesheets to be sent by email).

Once you have determined the base functionality you require and the type of timesheet system that is suitable for you, it’s time to start looking for the right product. A quick internet search for timesheet software is a good place to start. If you are also looking for support and possibly installation services, you may wish to consider adding you country or city to the search term. There are a lot of different timesheet packages out there, so you may wish to try a two-stage approach. Firstly, find a company you think may have a suitable product and service, print out some information such as a product brochure, and then move on to look at another company’s offering. This way you can quickly create a shortlist of possible candidates before getting too far into the more time-consuming task of evaluating each product and determining which best suits your needs.

With your short-list of timesheet products, examine the intricacies of each against your criteria of needs. Prioritize those needs. Download a trial of the software and at the very least try out all of the features that are high on your requirements list. If a vendor does not offer a means to try the software before you purchase it, ask questions as to why this may be the case. Is it too hard to install and configure? Is it too hard to use? I recommend you avoid any system that you can’t evaluate in your own working environment. A product trial gives you the insurance that the timesheet software product is really going to solve your business need. One feature to evaluate is the usefulness of the software link between it and third-party applications. Many vendors provide functionality just so that they can tick the box on their feature list, rather than to provide a genuinely useful data exchange between applications. If it is critical that your timesheet software can export invoice data into accounting software, than go and try the export procedure before you make your final purchasing decision. Be satisfied that it can perform all the tasks or at least some of the tasks that you require.

As with any new acquisition, it would not be appropriate to discuss purchasing without examining price and value for money. Within reason, the most suitable timesheet software for your company is going to be the one that addresses your needs the best, even if it is considerably more expensive then your next best option. The right timesheet software system will pay for itself very quickly. Critically consider customer testimonials such as those set out on the product website where clients have provided feedback on the cost effectiveness of the product. Clearly, where there are efficiency gains to be made and correspondingly fast return on investment, the purchase price becomes of less significance. If correctly chosen, the timesheet software you choose should pay for itself very quickly.

Finally, consider the timesheet vendor itself. Do they offer the appropriate level of technical support that you require? Again consider client testimonials to determine if they have happy clients (keeping in mind they never publish the bad comments!). Test their customer service by sending the technical support department an email with a few simple questions. If they’re slow in responding, don’t expect better service once you’ve handed over your money.

Choosing the right timesheet software package for your business does not have to be a daunting task. By focusing on your business objectives and core requirements, you should find there are plenty of options from which to choose. Take your time, make the right choice and your business enterprise will enjoy all the benefits of efficiency and accountability that timesheet software can deliver.

If your planning to build the home of your dreams and you want to make sure everything is going the way you want it to go, make sure the contractor draws up a schedule. Construction Project scheduling is the most important part of the plan. A construction project schedule give the ability for all those involved with building your home is on the same page. This schedule will have the ability to successfully organize, plan and control all the different construction projects, giving each of those involved their own specific job to do so there is no confusion during the construction of who is suppose to do what job. The construction project schedule documents everybody’s job and when their supposed to be doing. In addition to assigning dates to project activities, project scheduling is intended to match the resources of equipment, materials and labor with project work tasks over time. Good scheduling can eliminate problems due to production bottlenecks, facilitate the timely procurement of the necessary materials, and otherwise insure the completion of a project as soon as possible. However, there are those who don’t know what their doing which results in poor scheduling and causes considerable waste as laborers and equipment wait for the availability of needed resources or the completion of preceding tasks. Delays in the completion of an entire project due to poor scheduling can also create havoc for owners who are eager to start using the constructed facilities.

As with anything else in life, some scheduling of projects is often extreme. Various owners want detailed construction schedules to be submitted by contractors as a means of keeping track of the work progress. The actual work done is usually compared to the construction project schedule to make sure that everything is going as it should. After the construction is finished, you may want to compare the actual finished job against the planned schedule to see how close everyone kept to the schedule, and see how many changes you thought of and made during actual construction. In contrast to these instances of reliance upon formal schedules, many contractors don’t like to use them because some feel that changing some things during construction makes for happier home owners. Sticking with a construction project schedule, there’s no room for change. In particular, the critical path method of scheduling is commonly required by the owner, but is often regarded in the field as irrelevant to actual operations and a time consuming distraction. However, good construction companies use scheduling procedures whenever the complexity of work tasks is high and the coordination of different workers is required. Today, scheduling procedures have become much more common due to personal computers on construction sites and easy-to-use software programs. As a result, the continued development of easy to use computer programs and improved methods of construction project scheduling may overcome the practical problems associated with formal scheduling plans.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher said “The primary wisdom is intuition.” It is not just a theory, it is part of who we are. Without training we can happen upon it occasionally and we usually like the results when we follow our intuition. What would happen if we learned to tap into our own innate intuition on a daily basis? Why don’t we? As Carl Jung said “intuition does not denote something contrary to reason, but something outside of the province of reason.” It is real and it is not in our heads. And our head can’t control it.

There are many ways we sabotage our own natural intuition all the time. We don’t give it a chance. How?

We hurry so much that we don’t take time to listen to our intuition.

- We need to slow down or just be still to hear our intuition.

We don’t look for the symbolism in things or events nor do we develop our symbolic ability.

- We need to be open to possibilities.

We let our ego control us, and insist on being in charge/controlling everything around us.

- The ego is threatened by the presence of your intuition.

We confuse intuition with fear and wishful thinking.

- When we stay in our heads and let our emotions control us, we lose the gift of what our intuition can offer.

We continue to associate with people who don’t believe in intuition or want to use it.

- Intuition is contagious. But so is a lack of intuition.

We think we can force intuition just like we can pedal a bike or pump weights.

- Intuition comes where and when invited, but not on demand.

We insist on staying in our logical, rational, analytical thinking as the only way to find solutions to problems or make decisions or find solutions.

- When we are centered, using all our emotional intelligence tools and habits, intuition can flood us with many creative alternatives that the intellect could not conceive.

We listen to our ego when it tells us it can handle the problem or situation itself.

- We allow the ego to reject the insights that intuition offers.

We believe we don’t need to learn tools, skills and habits to master our intuition.

- By getting trapped in the endless loop of our heads, we never get a chance to develop our intuition to see how good it can become.

One of the most brilliant and analytical minds of the twentieth century, Albert Einstein said, “The real valuable thing is intuition.” If this famous and rational mind can credit intuition so highly, maybe we should give it a try too. Who knows, with a little practice, a little coaching and a few successes, perhaps we too will start to see the wisdom of using this ‘thing’ called intuition.