Use Free Time Wisely, It Could Help Your Career

• 2-minute read •
Great opportunities don’t always happen during business hours.
When you’re off work, you might not be thinking about building your career, but the activities you pursue in your free time can help you get ahead professionally, as well. I’m lucky in that I have a lot of crossover between “work” and “fun” in my life. I couldn’t tell you which is which most days. I’ve met tons of awesome people through community service who I’ve wound up working with. I consider a lot of the people I work with real friends, and we also engage in leisure activities together and I don’t give it much thought.

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How to answer the job interview question ‘Give me an example of a time you did something wrong’

It’s not really about what you did or didn’t do
Your resume and cover letter have successfully outlined your qualifications. You’re selling all the reasons you’re the right person for the job in the interview. When the interviewer says, “Give me an example of a time you did something wrong, and how you handled it?”

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Job Hunting Tip - Time Management

There is an old adage that "Looking for a job is harder than working." How true! The rigors of job search are magnified by the turmoil we experience: lack of self-confidence, humiliation, financial pressure, and the undercurrent of emotions that color all we do: fear, anger, depression, anxiety, loss. One practical step we can take to lower the stress and conserve our energy for finding work, not feeding our bloated worries, is to manage our time effectively.
Have you ever noticed that you get more chores done when you’re busy? If time is limited, we squeeze in those extra demands because we know they have to get done by a deadline and we fear putting them off. When time is unlimited, such as when you take a few days off work, there is no pressure to rush—"I’ve got four days, I’ll do it tomorrow." Suddenly, you are back at work and realize that you didn’t accomplish half of what you had planned.
This lack of structure is magnified when you are unemployed. There is no pressure to get up, get dressed, get out of the house by a specific time. We know we have things to do. We need to update our resume, create some new cover letters, research some possible job openings. It is so hard to get started because we hate having to do it, we don’t feel creative or excited about the whole prospect, and we dread having to go through the horrors of interviewing. We procrastinate, telling ourselves that when we are ready, it will just "flow." For a few hours, a few days, we’ll just indulge ourselves and relax.
When the end of the month arrives and we compare our diminishing bank balance to our multiplying bills, we mentally beat ourselves up for not having accomplished what we had so earnestly intended. Now we generate our own pressure, magnified by guilt and self-reproach. Stress levels and blood pressure rise. We feel resentful, angry, depressed. "I didn’t ask to get into this situation. It’s unfair. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it."
Adopting a reasonable schedule can avoid reaching this point. Try these ideas:
1. Take a day to do nothing but plan out what you are going to do, and when.
2. Concentrate on not over-committing yourself. You may be used to working 8 or more hours per day and think that is what you will now spend on job search. Remember that adage: your hunt for work is a lot more difficult than simply walking into a familiar employer and pursuing your daily routine. Recognize that and limit your job hunting to fewer hours per day.
3. If you rigorously limit your job hunt-related activities to 4 hours per day to start (you can always increase later), you may find yourself forced to stop before you are ready. This creates the impetus to get you going the following day -- you can hardly wait to get back to what you are working on.
4. When your "work time" is over, stop. Consciously focus your attention on relaxing: take a walk, read a book, throw a ball, watch television, whatever pleases you. You will be able to relax because you know you completed exactly what you planned. The guilt, and the sense of "I should have, I should be" no longer exist and you are free, for a short time anyway, to do anything you want.
5. Identify your priorities by looking at what day of the week is best for each kind of activity. If you are searching the classifieds, Sunday is the premium time to do it. If you are networking or cold calling, concentrate on the morning weekday hours. Agency visits, whether for temporary work or head hunting, can be relegated to the afternoons when employers are difficult to reach and already fatigued.
6. Analyze your own daily energy patterns and put them to work for you. Make sure that during your high energy periods you are "out there," contacting people and presenting yourself. Use your low energy times for solitary, mundane tasks: researching companies and jobs, organizing your paperwork, planning your next day’s activities.
The inevitable stress of unemployment and job search can never be totally eliminated, but managing your time and being gentle with yourself can turn a painful situation into simply an uncomfortable nuisance.

Gain Control of your Time

How many times have you gotten to the end of the day and thought to yourself, "Where did the time go? I didn't accomplish a single thing!"

Everyone has days like that now and then. But if you find that projects are piling up and most of your time is spent putting our fires instead of completing important tasks, it's time to make some changes in the way you use your time.

Each of us has the same 24 hours a day to accomplish whatever we want to get done. The key difference between people who achieve one goal after another in their lives and those who never seem to get anywhere is that the achievers have learned to control the way they use their time. You can too. Here are nine simple steps you can use to make time work for you.

Calculate the cost of your time
What's your time really worth? How much money are you wasting when you surf to that cool web site a friend told you about? Or what about the time gabbing with your friend on the phone? How about the time you spend looking for files on your computer or your desk? The easiest way to motivate yourself to make better use of your time is to calculate the cost of your time.

If you run your own business or if you are an executive or manager who controls the use of other people's time, calculate the cost of their time, too. Add up all the cost figures before you schedule that next meeting or ask someone to do a task that doesn't accomplish your department's goals.

Record your activities and interruptions
How is it that you can be busy all day without finishing any of the tasks you wanted to get done? The best way to find out just what is keeping you from accomplishing tasks is to keep a time log for a week. Make a notation each time you start and stop any task, even for what you think will be a brief moment.

Be sure you actually print out the time log and fill it in each time you start and stop any activity. If you wait until the end of the morning or end of the day to record the information on a computer, you won't remember everything and won't have an accurate record of how you use your time.

Analyze the time sheet
At the end of the week analyze your time sheet. Identify what actions and activities wasted time and interfered with accomplishing your goals during the week. What was the longest you spent working on any one task? What things interrupted you most often? What tasks did you spend the most time on? Are they the things that help accomplish your goals? Were they all necessary? Did you have to do all of those tasks yourself? Write down your answers. Then plan to eliminate time wasting activities one by one.

Create an action plan
You wouldn't leave on a vacation without knowing where you are going and what roads you'll take to get there. You need to create a similar road map to help you accomplish your business and personal goals. If you don't plan your days, you will spend your time putting out fires, wasting time on non-important tasks and meeting everyone's objectives except your own. To avoid that problem, take 15 minutes at the end of each day for planning. Plan your schedule so that you allow time to work on both the immediate tasks you need to accomplish and the long-range projects.

Before you add any task to your daily schedule, consider how it contributes to your short range and longer-range goals. Consider how time consuming the task will be, if it really needs to be done, and if it really needs to be done by you. Schedule the most important task for your most productive time of the day. Work at the task until you complete it, then move on to the next most important task. If you don't finish everything by the end of the day, move the task to the next day's schedule.

End procrastination
If you have a project you are putting off, break it down into small steps. Schedule a time to start the first small step and DO it. You'll be amazed how much easier it is to get the whole job done if you break it down into manageable pieces.

Don't sweat the small stuff
Don't spend an inordinate amount of time making decisions about minor issues. Balance how much time goes into the decision-making process against the potential cost or consequences involved.

Establish a quiet hour
That's a time of the day that no one is allowed to disturb you. Use your quiet hour to tackle the top priority items on your schedule. Don't answer phones, read E-mail, surf the Web or let coworkers interrupt you. If necessary arrive at work an hour early or leave an hour late or work through lunch. But don't pick up the phones during those hours. Salespeople know that's often the best time to catch a decision maker without getting stopped by their gatekeeper.

Screen incoming calls
Pick up only those calls from people you want to talk to. Let everyone else leave a message.

Tame the E-mail monster
Reading and answering electronic mail has become one of the leading time drains of the electronic age. It's not unusual -- especially for Internet workers -- to log on and find 10 or 20 or even 100 E-mail messages waiting. How can you cope?

Start by removing yourself from any E-mail lists that aren't essential. Then, set up an extra E-mail address or two. Give out one email address only to people who are important and whose mail you must read. Give out the other email address to everyone else. If you are fortunate enough to have an administrative assistant who serves as a gatekeeper, assign the assistant to answer all mail coming into the non-important E-mail box. Let them weed out the things you must see from the routine matters they or someone else can handle.

Reduce the number of times a day you check your E-mail. Although most people expect prompt replies to E-mail, prompt doesn't have to be immediate. If necessary, turn off the sounds or messages that alert you every time new E-mail arrives. Check the mail only at set times each day -- times you determine based on your schedule.

When you do answer or send E-mail, make your messages complete. E-mail that doesn't clearly communicate your message and/or what you need done will lead to misunderstandings or confusion and may generate a slew of additional E-mail.

Forward E-mail to your staff only if they have the full authority to handle it.
If they in turn will have to forward the mail to someone else, who will then forward it back to you, handle the issue yourself right from the start. You'll save multiple E-mails for yourself and for all the people on the food chain below you.

Be selective which mail you open. Use the "From" heading and the subject heading to decide whether or not to open email. Need still more ideas for curbing the E-mail monster?

Do You Have Enough Time For Fun?

Is there enough time in your day for fun? Are you able to find moments to laugh at the little things? Are you able to see the joy in your job, you family, and your friends?

Or, are you too focused on getting things done rather than focusing on what's important to you? Are you too busy checking off items on your to-do list? Are you unable to remember the last time you had fun?

Fun is what brightens our world. It gives us a reason to get out of bed everyday. It improves our health, mental well-being, and self-confidence. You can not feel bad about the things we should be doing when we are having fun every day.

Would You Like To Have More Fun? Follow These Easy Steps:

1) Acknowledge That You Are Not Having Fun
The first step to having fun is admitting that fun is missing. Once you know it's gone, you can take steps to put it back in.

2) Recognize That Life Is Too Short
We say that we understand this, but sometimes our actions are not consistent with our words. If we really understood that we may not be here tomorrow, we would do everything in our power to enjoy today.

3) Realize That We All Make Mistakes
Sometimes we cannot have fun because of guilt we feel from past mistakes. All your guilt does is prevent you from moving forward. It does not matter what you did yesterday. You did the best you could and you should congratulate yourself for trying. Put it behind you so you can be free to enjoy the future.

4) Spend Time Around Kids
There is nothing that fills the heart more than watching kids. (Usually) They enjoy life to the fullest and they do so without inhibitions or restraints. They laugh because they want to. They run because they want to. They roll in the mud, snow, grass, etc. because it feels good. Imagine if you could incorporate that kind of freedom into your day. I bet it would be different.

5) Delegate Or Eliminate
If the day to day tasks are weighing you down, find ways around them. Are you asking for help with the chores, or are you doing everything yourself? What can you order online so you don't have to go to the store? And, who can you hire to help with the cleaning, laundry, cooking, etc. Yes these things cost money, but do you think that not having fun is costing you more?

6) Schedule Time For Fun
In the beginning you may have to put fun into your calendar until you are used to having it in your life again. I know this may sound funny, but old habits die hard and your goal is to acquire new habits. After a while you will find that fun will become a daily part of who you are. But, in the meantime, you may have to put in some discipline.

7) Reward Yourself For Having Fun
Guess how you do this? With more fun!

So, are you ready to find time for fun? In return, you bring joy, love, passion, and intimacy into your life. You will find that you are enjoying yourself more. Your friends and family will want to be around you because there's something about you that makes them feel really good about themselves. Imagine being able to give them the gift of a fun you? So, will you make time for fun today?

Guidelines For Effective Time Management

Every schedule reflects its maker's unique set of priorities and responsibilities. No two people have precisely the same idea of what constitutes perfect time management. The final determinant is simply whether your relationship with time is a happy one that enables you to meet your professional obligations, enjoy the company of those you love, and take good care of your most important asset --your health. But while there is no one-size-fits-all plan for managing time, there are basic principles that apply to a wide variety of circumstances.

Planning is the fundamental building block of time management; it's worth all the time you can put into it. But it isn't enough simply to create a great plan or schedule. You must be able to implement it. This means being accurate about the day-to-day realities of your work and other responsibilities; allowing for the usual interruptions, crises, and delays. Like a new item of clothing, it should fit comfortably, with a little room to spare in case of shrinkage.

The best time management plans are holistic; they encompass the whole of your life, rather than just your working hours. Try actually scheduling in blocks of time for family, friends, exercise, special interests, or special projects instead of just assigning them "whatever time is left" after the usual daily grind. Doing so will give you a chance to look closely at your present ratio of work to home and leisure time and help you restore the balance if it has been lost.

One of the smartest scheduling rules you can apply is to set due dates that are not just meetable but bearable. In other words, it's a good idea to somewhat overestimate the time you think a job will take in order to (1) ensure on-time delivery even in the face of unforeseen delays and (2) surprise and delight your boss, clients, fellow committee members, and family by delivering sooner than anticipated. By breaking a big task into manageable steps, setting a timetable for doing each step, and chipping away at the project, you can accomplish almost anything-and with a lot less stress than by trying to do it all at once.

Every major project requires its own schedule, timeline, or timetable identifying major steps or milestones on the way to completion. If you've set realistic target dates (and allowed for possible "slippage" time); your progress should match your plan. If unforeseen developments place you behind your projected dates, you can either alert your boss or client and set a revised completion date or take steps to hasten your progress and make up the lost time. Note: If you can, leave room on your schedule for work-in-progress notes.

When it comes to delegation, it seems there are two kinds of people: those who can and those who can't. If you are one of the latter and you have all kinds of reasons for doing things yourself ("It takes too long to explain it to someone else," or "I end up having to do it all over again anyway"), you may be so firmly wedded to the idea of not delegating that it's useless to try. However, if it sometimes crosses your mind that you're not quite as indispensable as you think, it's time to start delegating. Start with the routine, time-consuming jobs you know someone else can do. Recognise that teaching someone else the ropes will take a bit of time, and allow for a reasonable learning curve. The benefits to you, in terms of increased time and decreased stress, will more than repay your efforts.

You don't have to be a master list-maker to profit from using priority lists. Some people maintain several lists at once: a high-priority one of urgent or very important tasks; a medium-priority one of less urgent or moderately important tasks; and a low-priority one of tasks it would be nice to do if and when there's time. Other people simplify the process by making just one list at the end of each day of things to do tomorrow.

One chief executive we know says he has a promise to himself to attend to the top three items on his list every day, come what may. "It's better to get just those three most important things done each day," he says, "than to carry around a long list and only do a few of the less important things."

To get the most out of your time, try to do your hardest jobs-those requiring maximum concentration and peak efficiency-at those times of the day when your attention and energy levels are highest. If you can co-ordinate those times with periods in which you have fewer interruptions than usual, so much the better. Likewise, try to schedule your routine, low-level tasks for times of the day when you find it hard to concentrate. The trick is to pinpoint your hours of peak performance and schedule your work accordingly.

We all know people who make their time limits very clear: "Not my job," they say. "It's five o'clock and I'm out of here." And some of us have reason to envy them. Almost everyone ends up working late or bringing work home once in a while, but if you find yourself doing it more and more often, it may be time to start saying no-and not only to others but also to yourself. Working longer and longer hours (whether for extra pay or not) upsets the balance between work and leisure that is essential to your health and well-being. Just as serious is the negative effect it can have on your reputation.

We're never too old to learn and incorporate new and better ways of doing things. In fact, the longer you've been doing a job, the more it is to your credit to devise and explore improved techniques and streamlined procedures. It's always tempting to go on doing things the old way, just because it's the way you're familiar with. Finding, adapting, and applying efficient new techniques to the responsibilities you carry not only saves you time but cuts down on your overall workload-and makes you look good in the process.