8 Ways You Can Create More Time In 2015

I get a little crazy when I hear people tell me they don’t have time to do something. That something might be starting a blog, taking a yoga class, starting a second business part-time or cleaning up their digital profile so they can look for a new job and leave the one they have been complaining about for years. 

What I really hear - every time -  is an excuse. 

It’s a good excuse. At least they think so.  Digital, which was supposed to make our lives so much easier has ironically served to make us more time challenged than ever before. Instead of simplifying, new technology distracts, thus compounding this feeling of time deprivation, leaving us wasting even more of this precious commodity by wallowing in frustration over all that time we don’t have.

It’s a vicious cycle. But it can be stopped. The first thing to do is accept the fact that time is not something  you “find.” This is not a search and rescue mission. The time is there and in equal proportion for all of us. It’s what we choose to do with our allotments.  

Since we are still at the beginning of a new year and everyone is fresh with ideas as to what they want to do differently, I thought it would be timely to offer some suggestions to create the time for those ideas to manifest.

Here’s a list of what has worked for me. Take note that none involve downloading yet one more App.

#1Put Down That Smart Phone. 
I realize this is a radical idea in a world where most of us panic more if we misplace our phones than our wallets or our children. But perhaps I can sway you by this statistic - the average person checks their phone 221 times a day! 

Trust me when I say that I love that when I went to the wrong restaurant to meet a friend the week before Christmas I could take out my iPhone and in a flash get directions from where I was to the restaurant I was supposed to be at and only be ten minutes late. But I don’t love when I catch myself mindlessly scrolling through my Facebook App or checking my email every five minutes, just because I can. That’s perfectly good time I could use elsewhere that I have let slip into oblivion. 

#2 Get Up A Half Hour Earlier Every Day.
This might be too much for you and it’s definitely not easy, especially in the dead of January when it is dark and cold outside, but it’s available to you if you want. The thing I have found, especially when I am working on a project that I am passionate about, is that once you get into the habit, it becomes really easy to do.  The bonus for me is that it miraculously opens up a lot more time for those other things I “just didn’t have time for” before.

#3 Unsubscribe. 
Email continues to be  one of the most effective methods of  marketing. If you are like me, you wind up with a lot flowing into your inbox each day.  Unsubscribe to the ones that are time wasters for you. My rule of thumb is if they are not useful, relevant, inspiring or something I can learn from I don’t want the clutter. I realize this suggestion might get me some unsubscribers - but if that will give you one less excuse why you don’t have enough time for all those things you really want to do - unsubscribe away.

#4 Use A Timer. 
If you are a regular reader you know I am partial to using a  good old-fashioned analog egg timer to parcel out my time. In fact I am using one right now as I type. I find it an indispensable tool for time creation. 

Let’s say the most extra time you can come up with right now to start that new business while working your day job is a half hour a day. Setting the timer for thirty minutes and not doing anything but working on the idea during that slot will get you a lot closer towards taking that to fruition. It takes discipline - but it works!

#5 Turn Off The Alerts!
You really don’t need to get an alert every time Aunt Agatha likes a photo on Facebook. You don’t need your email to be flying across the screen while you are trying to finish up that big presentation. And you really don’t need to be on alert when Macy’s takes another 20% off those shoes you’ve been eyeing since November when you could be writing a chapter in that novel you keep saying you are going to write.

Turn them off - as in close out of the program! These are all distractions that take you off task and instead of creating time, contribute to wasting it. 

#6 Use Your DVR.
I am not going to suggest getting rid of your television. Personally, I like my shows and as a writer, I can justify it as story line research. But even if you can’t and it is just your guilty pleasure, there is no need to watch anything live anymore save for the news, sports events or awards shows. 

My friends who still sell television advertising will hate me for this, but use your DVR. Watch when you want and commercial free. Each half hour of television includes approximately ten minutes of commercials. Two hours commercial free and you have just created forty minutes of time to do one of those things you say you have no time for. 

#7 Be Bold And Try A Digital Detox
This was the subject of a HuffPost Live segment I was a part of last week. The first time I went on a digital detox was in 2010. I blogged about it here and a summary appeared in Forbes.  It’s not for the faint of heart but it will prove to you - if nothing else that you have a lot more time than you thought. 

#8 Think Outside The Box
You're going to get overwhelmed. We all do. But rather than letting it get the best of you, throwing your hands up in the air, and deciding you were right all along and I was wrong -  you just don’t have the time for whatever it is you are putting off - ask yourself this question. How can I create more of it in 2015? 

Keep me posted on what happens!

What Not Being On Time Says About You

I have a reputation for being on time. One I am proud of. In fact in the rare occurrences when I am not on time - people who know me tend to worry that something must be wrong. It's helped me to build business relationships and develop trust. But it stresses out some of my friends - especially the ones who are always running late. 

As it should.

There are a lot of people who think it doesn't matter. They have no problem keeping other people waiting. They think it does not mean anything to say they will meet you at 10AM and be a half hour late.

The fact is - not being on time says a lot about who you are - personally and professionally.

It says you are disorganized.
It says your life is in disarray and you don't have enough of a handle on it to keep your appointments.
It says you commit to things and don't follow through.

Most importantly - it says you don't value my time.

It says you don't think I'm significant.
It says you don't care.

It's not a good way to do business.
It's not a good way to make friends.

And in a world in which you have nine seconds to capture someone's attention - you've lost before you started. 


If you need help managing your time - may I suggest It Takes An Egg Timer - A Guide to Creating the Time for Your Life ?
available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.

My Obsession With Time - Day 23

I've been obsessed with the subject of time. More so than usual but not necessarily news for those who know I wrote an entire book on the subject last year. 

Acutely aware of my own mortality.
Humbled by all I've managed to fit in the last five years and how fast it went.
Worried that the next five will go too quickly as well.

Even as I write this, I have the egg timer set. It's my assurance to myself that I will make the most of this time I've allotted for writing today. Anxious not to waste a moment.

My mother intensifies this conversation for me.

I observe her at 90. She'd hate that I wrote that number here. But since she has refused to get with the times and get computer literate she'll only read this if I print her out a copy. 

So yes, she is 90 and will be 91 in October.

I watch her, no longer as mobile as she once was, no longer the woman I had trouble keeping up with just ten years ago. Reminding me every day of just how short our time here is. How fast it all goes. And that if we're not paying attention - it's gone before we get to fulfill all those dreams and visions that kept us alive. 

I see her and my obsession with time intensifies. I want to slow down the moment. To savor it before it slips away.

note: This is Day #23 of the 30 Day Experiment.   Here are the details on how it all started.

Wasting Time - Day 10

I hate wasting time. The older I get the more I hate it. I’m far too aware that I just don’t have as much of it left as I used to. So to waste it - to not to make the most of each and every moment - to me that’s worse than wasting money on that very expensive hand painted tuxedo shirt I bought in Aspen one winter twenty odd years ago and wore only once. Money you can always figure out a way to make more of. But time. You can’t get that back.

As the author of a book on the subject, It Takes An Egg Timer, A Guide To Creating The Time For Your Life, you might think I never commit this crime. But I do. And when I think over the past five years I admit readily that I have most definitely wasted a bunch of time.

Like when I was waiting for The Book Deal. The one every writer dreams of - or at least used to dream of - back when you didn’t have to commit some obscenely outrageous act or become a reality star, to be deemed worthy of a coveted deal from a Big Six - I mean Big 5 Publisher.

I waited and waited. I was that sure it would happen. I just didn’t know where or when.

But as we know, it didn’t happen. When I knew I couldn’t waste one more minute waiting to get picked, I picked myself and self-published, The Secrets They Kept.

I think sometimes of how much further along I would have been if I had made that decision earlier. If I hadn’t been wasting time waiting for outside validation that I was a good enough writer to be read. 

But of course that is the biggest waste of time of all! 

The truth is alot of really great things happened because of that waiting. 

I would never have started to blog and learn about things like Twitter and Facebook. I wouldn't have self-published which really forced me to take a very deep dive into all things digital. I wouldn't have taken all those courses and attended conferences and discovered people like Seth Godin and David Meerman Scott who reminded me how much I love marketing and left me qualified to teach a class in digital marketing at NYU. I wouldn't be consulting and demystifying digital for individuals and organizations.

So I suppose I was never really wasting time at all. I was just getting prepared for what was next. I just didn't yet know what that was going to look like.


note: This is Day #10 of a 30 Day Experiment. Here are the details on how it all started.

So Good To Do

When it comes to time management I am all for simplicity. I am not a fan of adding another App or complicated piece of technology into the mix for the purpose of managing work flow. We have enough new technology crowding our overloaded brains already. To me it seems inane to add one more for the purpose of managing all the rest.

To really streamline things, I believe in mixing things up with as many old fashioned methods as possible. Hence, my predilection to managing my work load with the aide of a non-digital, hand cranked kitchen timer.

But I am about to make an exception. I am a Good Todo convert.

When I first heard about it I dismissed it without even taking a look for the reasons I already mentioned. Not that I don't believe in to-do lists. I do. The simple act of writing down what needs to be done, eliminates worry and frees up genius for the art at hand. Paper and pen have worked for me, especially since any electronic programs that I had tested out only seemed to complicate things and take up more of my time.

But when my friend Nancy Moon tells me I must look, I listen. Not only does she run a top notch PR and Social Media firm, she is always one step ahead on what's new and cutting edge in technology. She's never steered me wrong. So when she wouldn't stop talking about how much more she was accomplishing because of this one little program, I had to take a look. No matter how much I might resist.

And am I glad I did.

Good Todo is an online to-do list that helps you to empty your email inbox and improve your productivity. 

There are several great features:

• Most importantly, it is easy to maneuver. You do not need to know how to write code to use it.
• It will sync with all your devices so if you are out to dinner and remember something you want to add, you can do it from your phone and know it will appear on your desktop in the morning.
• You can create a to-do for future days
• You can manage your to-dos by categories, so you separate personal from business or however many you need  for your work flow. I added one for Christmas this month to address all my holiday to-dos. 
• If you don't get to something today, it automatically rolls over to the next day.
• There is a place for notes about a specific to-do. I created a category for Blogs in which I keep track of the blogs I want to write. The notes section is a great place to capture the snippets I want to include in that blog. Once the blog is ready I redate the item for the day I am going to put it in the cue to be published.
• You can forward an email to your to-do list. This is probably one of its coolest features. If you get an email that you don't want to act on immediately, you can forward it to your to-do list and label it for the day you want to work on it. And you don't have to worry about it getting lost in the clutter.

There are a couple of little hitches that I came across. For instance I discovered that for the devices to sync you have to push the refresh tab. I was clued into this by the creator, Mark Hurst, who rather impressively responded immediately to my email when I told him of my problem. He also informed me they are continuing to work on improvements.

There is a free trial plan. If you have more than 10 to-dos a month you'll need to sign up for the $3 a month plan. Reasonable and by me, definitely worth it. 

There are very few things that will really "change your life" so don't expect this to. But what it will do is help you to manage your to-do list more productively and with greater ease.  At least that's what it's doing for me.


For more information and to sign up visit Good todo 

For more ideas on how to create more time for your life, pick up a copy of It Takes An Egg Timer, A Guide To Creating The Time For Your Life

Gaming The System

When I started selling many moons ago one of the first things I was taught was that the easiest way to build long term business was to establish good relationships. If a client thought they could trust me, not only would I get the first sale, but renewals in the future. Trust was not something bestowed, but something earned. Know my product. Know my competition. Say what I would do and do what I said I would. Over time that would work. I would make money. So would my client. All would be happy. Everybody would win.

This approach still works, but a lot of us think it takes too long and too many are concerned with only winning for themselves. So the search begins for ways to game the system.

People have tried to make a science out of SEO so their sites get more hits, but if their content is not good, those people will never come back, no matter how great the keywords that got them there. This past week eight badminton athletes were disqualified from the Olympics for being caught purposely losing matches in order to face easier opponents down the road. Jonah Lehr confessed he made up quotes for his Bob Dylan biography, no doubt in the hopes of garnering more attention and more sales. Now found out, he is forced to resign his job at The New Yorker and his publisher pulled his book from the retailers. And then of course there is the construction site outside my window. It is against NYC ordinance to be creating noise on a weekend without a special variance and only then after 10AM. That did not stop the workmen from hoisting cranes at 5AM this past Saturday. They don't care about the small fine they pay if caught. As long as they stay on schedule

All are trying to game the system.

There are times when gaming the system might feel like the only choice. Most of the time it's not. When you do opt in, you take the gamble that you might get caught. The odds are on the house that most will.

The illegal scene Saturday morning. 

Meditation As A Survival Skill

About a year ago I was told that for me, meditation was not an option. It was a survival skill.  At that point I had  incorporated a meditation practice into my life for a few years so that information resonated with me. Meditation had already made its way to the short list of things that I had to do every day, like brush my teeth and exercise.

It was something I had resisted in my corporate days. My excuse being that I simply did not have the time to do it. If anyone had ever told me then what I know now, that as little as fifteen minutes of daily meditation will actually create more time and space in your day, I would have laughed in their face. I've no doubt that those of you who are corporate types reading this now, are doing just that.

But it's true. And the survival skill aspect is becoming more crucial than ever.

The nosier our world gets, the more distractions thrown in our path each day, the more important it is to find the space to shut it all out. As little as fifteen minutes a day of  emptying our mind of extraneous thought and focusing on our breath can have profound effects.

While many of us are deluded into believing our smartphones are our life source, it is really our breath. Giving yourself this gift of quiet will allow you to sift through what is really important in all that is thrown at you from what is nonsense. It will also help you to get you clear on the direction you need to be taking.

If you don't believe me, I suggest you pick up a copy of A Mindful Nation by Congressman Tim Ryan who is on a mission to bring meditation into the schools and sees it to be as a way to heal our nation. If you are feeling really brave and ready to dip your toes in the meditation waters, I recommend checking out Deepak Chopra's website for some easy to listen to guided meditation challenges.

And if you find you can't carve out even fifteen minutes for yourself to give this a whirl, you really need to get a handle on your time and read  It Takes An Egg Timer, A Guide to Creating the Time for Your Life. 


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The Original Lux Egg Timer

This is the original Lux Minute Minder that I was raised on.

To the right is an egg timer in action. The photo was sent to me from a friend the day the book came out.


The Lux timer has been around since 1914, almost a hundred years ago and long before my mother introduced me to its multi-uses. Notice it is not in the shape of a egg. In fact, most "egg" timers are not, nor are they used for cooking one.


Of course, most are probably not used as a time management tool. At least not yet. Not until the owner has read my book.

Note: The 3-Day Free Kindle promotion has taken the book to #1 on Amazon's Free Kindle Bestseller List in the Time Management category!!

Thursday, June 21, is the last day to grab your free copy!

My thanks to all who have helped so far to make this promotion such a huge success!

An "Essential Guide"

"It’s a brief but essential guide about how to get stuff done, while also helping you understand when and how self-sabotage occurs!" 


That's what Jane Friedman had to say about It Takes An Egg Timer in the introduction to the excerpts from my book that appear today on her blog.

I have been an avid follower of Jane since early on in my adventures outside of the corporate world and have learned much from what she shares. I consider her MUST reading for any writer or aspiring writer in today's fast paced world. That said, it is an extra special honor to have my book featured there today.

Stop by and read a little about the two kinds of "busy" I identify in the book. Did you know there's a good kind and a not so good kind?   A quick click right here will take you there.



Note: Tomorrow is the last day to enter for your chance to win a free paperback edition of It Takes An Egg Timer, A Guide to Creating the Time for Your Life over at Goodreads. 

Hot New Releases !!!

Just HAD to take a screen shot of this on Amazon!! 

Having It Takes An Egg Timer be called a HOT new release....well it just warms my heart!!

Download now in time for the weekend.

Or if you prefer good old fashioned paper, click here to buy and here to enter to win a free copy. 

(contest ends June 12, 2012)

Give that Like button a little click while you're there!

Happy Weekend!

Not Practicing What I Preach

I hate when I don't listen to me!

There I was. Tuesday afternoon. I set my trusty egg timer. Ready to get to some serious work. The space was set, or so I thought.

It was as though I'd forgotten the basic rules and I was the one who wrote them!

I didn't shut down my email program. Worse I didn't turn the sound off my mobile so I wouldn't hear  the lovely little chime it makes every time someone texts me. That day it was as though I was the most popular person on the Upper West Side. The texts kept coming. And as though channeling my demons, I chose not to shut it off. I could have. But I didn't.  An hour later I wondered why the project I was trying to complete still sat unfinished.

Duh? Did I not just write a whole book about this? Have I not been tweeting and Facebooking its arrival all over cyberspace? Isn't the reason I suggest good old-fashioned analog egg timers instead of digital devices to eliminate those intrusive distractions? To form a safe and quiet space to focus on creating?

Yes, I know better. But I slipped. And like all modern day tech addicts, it can be hard to restrain oneself once those nasty intrusions have infiltrated one's space. They are, after all like crack. It's as if you are rendered helpless to their power. As though they are the ones who have strapped your hands behind the chair in some new variation of Fifty Shades of Grey keeping you out of  reach of all those buttons that say OFF.

It happens. Even to the best of us.

You let the distractions mire your thought process. You are unable to focus on anything but what you might be missing. And not only do you get nothing accomplished, but the hangover that ensues in the aftermath, that mixture of guilt and lack of productivity. It will make you swear on whatever tickles your fancy, never, ever to stray again.

But you will. It happens. Even to those of us who literally wrote the book. Sometimes that's okay. Sometimes it all works out. Point in case, this blog is a direct result of my going off the wagon. So I was, after all that, actually accomplishing something.

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The Many Faces Of The Egg Timer

Egg Timers come in all shapes and sizes, from the very serious, get down to business variety as in your basic stainless steel and actually egg shaped model to my newest favorite, the pink flamingo. It all depends on how much fun you want to allow in your work space.

I've been collecting them and even went so far as to create this board on Pinterest. Here is a sampling of what I've gathered....so far.  Anything new to add? Let me know.

Not sure how to use an egg timer to manage your time? Then make sure to pop on over to Amazon and order your copy now of:  It Takes An Egg Timer, a Guide to Creating the Time for Your Life.
Paperback or Kindle.

The Basic Principles Of Using An Egg Timer

The egg timer as a time management tool works on a basic principle. In order to create anything in your life, whether it is writing a book or winning new clients for your business, you need to create a container for that. This requires time and a space within which you can take the steps to effect your change.

The job of the egg timer is to create that space, uninterrupted and without distractions.

The rules are simple:

1. Turn off your email
2. Do not answer the phone
3. Set the timer
4. Do not get up until it rings

Now go to it!

It Takes An Egg Timer

What if the secret to creating and managing your time was not some elaborate system of charts or fancy new app for your iPhone?
What if it was as simple as an ordinary egg timer?

That is the premise of my new book, It Takes An Egg Timer, A Guide to Creating the Time for Your Life which is officially released today! This part guide and part manifesto offers uncomplicated solutions to creating and managing your time that start with the basic egg timer.

It is  written not just for the self-employed and entrepreneurs struggling to keep themselves on task, productive and happy but also for those who simply dream about making a change in their life, big or small, and are convinced that what is stopping them is not enough time.

My intention is that this little book will inform, inspire, motivate, entertain and prove that you have more time than you think. You just need to organize for it!

Available today on Kindle! 

so hurry on over and get your copy!
The paperback edition  will be available later this week
on Amazon and other select on-line booksellers

Click this link to tweet the good news!

Also by the author: The Secrets They Kept, a story of secrets unraveling amidst the complex relationships of a Greek-American family living in New York City.

For information: on hiring Joanne as your coach or to speak to your organization please visit www.joannetombrakos.com or email joanne@joannetombrakos.com

Test Driving My Time Theory

I’ve been in absentia. Tucked away writing my next book, a part guide and part manifesto on how to create the time for your life. If I said that left little space for me to write much of anything else, that might seem a bit hypocritical to the premise of my book. But it’s not. It’s called triage, a tool I use in assessing what needs to be at the top of my to-do list. My newsletter has not been there, nor this blog, until now.

In a case of what can only be life imitating art, or is it art imitating life, I have been thrown curve balls in the last week or so that challenge the very core of what the book is all about. And so I found myself in the last days before this book hits Amazon, forced to test drive to the extreme what happens when the really big curve balls hit. I had to listen to my own advice on managing, organizing and creating the time for everything I both wanted and had to do.

This is where I was last week.

It Takes An Egg Timer: A Guide To Creating The Time For Your Life has been written and edited and is with my very brilliant interior book designer, Jamie Kerry. The cover is under construction with the extraordinarily talented cover designer, Wendy Bass. My official release date of May 15, auspicious in that it happens to be my brother’s birthday is two full weeks away. More than enough time to read through, yet again and again this short, inspirational, motivational, informative, and at times entertaining guide/manifesto in that way authors do as they strive for perfection.

I am walking rather proud. This is after all my second self-published work. And I am feeling pretty good how ahead of schedule I am this time and consequently much less nervous. Well maybe. I don’t think I will ever not be on the edge before a new book is birthed into the world. But confident enough that I was able to relax and enjoy a four-day weekend spent in a Robert McKee Story Seminar from 9A-7P every day.

And then the calls started. From my mother. My 89 year-old, fiercely independent mother who still lives alone, an hour and forty-five minutes south on the New Jersey Turnpike, and yes, on occasion still drives to the grocery store. Her leg is bothering her, but this time it is not just the osteoarthritis and absence of all cartilage. This time she says she can barely walk and the pain is excruciating until I suggest she call 911. Then the pain subsides.

My brother goes to her apartment. Things settle for a bit. He leaves. In between I am trying to concentrate long enough to read as well as prepare for all that marketing and outreach that goes into a book release. Yes, I use my trusty egg timer in sixty-minute windows just as I suggest in my book. It is the only hope I have of getting anything done. The ticking sound really does calm me. 

I clear my schedule and on Wednesday take Exit 6 to the Pennsylvania Turnpike to find my mother crawled in a ball in her bed. She is in too much pain to walk. She has not been drinking enough water because she is too afraid she will not be able to get herself to the bathroom. She wears her medical alert necklace, the one she has never been afraid to push to get help. Until now.

I don’t ask, I tell her I am taking her to the ER. Except I can’t get her out of bed to get dressed. We’re going to need the rescue squad but not, she informs me before I help her dress and she puts on some lipstick. To some this might seem like a good sign. To me, it is just my mother’s vanity, her elixir to staying young.

I mask my worry in crisis management.  I’m good at that.  All those years of working in a corporate office and having to draw on my testosterone reserve while squashing my feminine energy to survive come in handy at moments like this. I compartmentalize the excitement for my book. My attention and my time are nowhere else but with her.

At Abington Memorial Hospital they start running tests, drawing blood and ordering x-rays. A team of doctors and nurses in what might be the nicest ER I have ever been to, attend to her. There is some sort of infection in her blood that they need to get to the source of. It was good, we are told, that she got here when she did.

I sit in the chair next to her, and she looks frail. Once standing at five–five and three quarters she has shrunk to five-two. I want to burst into tears but I save them for later.  Seeing me cry will only make her more afraid.  At this moment she needs my strength.

I worry that maybe this is it. That maybe this infection has taken hold of her and we are at the end.  Her time. But could it be? Just two weeks from my brother’s and the book’s birthday? A book on how we have more time than we think we do? Why do beginnings always have to be so inextricably connected to endings?  It’s all too much to think about. So I force myself not to. Not until the results are all back and we know what we are dealing with. I close my eyes and concentrate on the movement of my breath. I am so grateful that breathing and meditation are no longer foreign concepts to me.

I watch her fall asleep. She is tired. A combination of meds and all this attention and excitement. I see a tiny opening here. A few moments for me to be there for me. And I seize it.

I find the PDF in my iPad and I open my new book. It is dedicated to her, my mother and her ever-faithful egg timer, the one she showed me how to use. I read and I can’t help but smile.  I ground in my own words, transported to the original egg timer in the kitchen I grew up in. My worry shifts to profound gratitude for this woman I have been lucky enough to call my mother for all these years. She will like this book. Like that she and the egg timer were the original sources of inspiration. I know she will stay at least long enough to celebrate its grand entrance to the world.

I am right. I love it when I am right. By the next day the infection is under control. The swelling has subsided. A therapist is helping her walk.  A few days in the hospital and she is home, this time with a walker as her personal assistant as well as the help of visiting nurses. And of course,  an advance PDF copy of my new book.

I know her strength and her will. I have after all inherited that.


She is not ready to go. Not just yet. Not before a party. For her son and this book. Neither of which would have been possible without her.

It Takes An Egg Timer, A Guide to Creating the Time for Your Life will be available on Amazon, in print and Kindle on May 15. If you wish to be added to my mailing list for updates, please click here.

It All Comes Back To Here

I know this place. I've been here before. Right before I am about to embark on something new this fire starts within me that screams STOP! Danger Zone! Get out while you can! And it is all I can do to keep it at bay.

The weirdest thing about it is you would think it would make me want to run. Move to some less expensive city where no one knows me and get a job at Starbucks. (I hear Starbucks gives their employees  health insurance, a lure if ever there was to aspiring to become a barrister. But I digress)

Instead of the urge to flee I become frozen. My brain locks. And I come up with 101 things to do that are not on the task at hand. Like writing this blog.

Yes, I am right on schedule for my next book, part guide, part manifesto on creating more time for your life. Which means if the demons trying to get in the way of my time line don't win, somewhere around May 15 you will be able to buy a copy.

The irony is that I wrote this book to help others with exactly these kinds of hurdles and here I am avoiding writing the book blurb and checking the last set of edits. I am not listening to my own wisdom. I hate when that happens. But I know why.

I am afraid. I am always afraid when I am here. I am afraid of failure. I am afraid of success.

And even though I know this is the good kind of fear, the kind that pushes my boundaries and propels me forward, I still tremble.

I know where to start. With the timer. My secret sauce. The source of inspiration for this new book. You'll learn more about the timer soon. But for now let's just say I'm test driving the content.

Taking Intention To Task

Intention is defined as a thing intended; an aim or plan. I've always preferred the word intention to goal when plotting my course. A goal implies focus on a specific object and suggests that we are standing on a football field and playing by someone else's rules instead of our own. Intention for me is the next step towards what I desire to create. And I like the sound of that better.

But whether intention or goal, nothing manifests without steps taken. I can intend all I want but if I do nothing, nothing is created. My favorite example is that of writing a book because it is such a clear one. You can intend to write a book,  or set the goal of writing a book, but if you don't write a page, all the good intentions and goals setting in the world will not produce the book.

Which is why I like to take intention to task. Every week. I take a look at my big intentions and I drill down to task. I ask myself these questions.

• What three things will I do this week that are directly related to my bigger intentions? 
• What three things will I do today that will have an impact on those big goals?

And when I catch myself wondering why I am doing what I am doing at the moment, say taking a wander on FaceBook, it helps to stop and ask myself how this is benefiting my big intention for the day, the week, or the year. If I can't draw a direct line or even an indirect line of its impact, it's my signal to go do something that will.


What is your larger intention today?
What three things will you do to further that intention?




Note: If your intention is to commit to real change and you are ready for a coach to hold you accountable click here for more information or email joanne@joannetombrakos.com. 

Into The Zone

You've probably been wondering where I have been. My blog has been quiet in the last week or so. This goes against all the rules on the care and feeding of a blog. But sometimes there is no choice. Especially when you are a writer working on a project of more, than say the typical 300-750 words in a blog.

Bigger projects consume and require a writer to get into the zone. Which is where I have been. Working on a tiny book in which I will share the many tips and tricks I have for managing your time efficiently and with output. And if that sounds a bit too business like for you, don't think for a moment that I do not figure out ways to do that with pleasure. Or that this pamphlet size book will not be fun and entertaining. It will. But it will also be helpful. At least that is my intention.

So essentially where I have been is walking the walk of this new book and employing one of my time saving tricks to implement when working on the big stuff. The presentations, the proposals, the books. The trick is to shut everything else off and employ triage when necessary. Essentially  that meant I  put  the big project of this very small book ahead of all else and neglected some other stuff.

This blog being part of that "stuff". Yes, there was guilt. And fear I would lose my readers. That is what all of the "rules of blogging" posts out there will try and convince you. Consistency, consistency, consistency.  But rules as I like to believe, are made to be broken. Especially if they are taking you off task.  Not to mention that  Seth Godin confesses he has broken many supposed "rules" of blogging. And look where that has gotten him! More followers than most of us bloggers dare to  dream of having.

So I broke a rule, dove into something I am pretty passionate about and now I am back. The little book is not quite finished but the work to do on it now allows me space to write some other stuff too. For now.


PS. I'm also posting this on a Sunday. Depending on who you are talking to, not necessarily the best day to get readers to your site. Tuesday supposedly is the day of choice. Oh well! I never did like to follow the crowd.

My Monday Morning Aha

This is what happens when you go for it. There are periods of intense work. When you feel like you are accomplishing so much, there is just not enough time in the day to get it all done.

Then you stop to stand still because of course you must take a break. Everyone needs a break. I advocate taking a break. But when you try to get going again, it seems you have forgotten where exactly that  gas pedal is. You look at your to-do list for the week and it looks remarkably similar to your to-do list for the week before and the one before that.  Nothing is getting crossed off.  And suddenly you forget all the progress you have made and think that maybe you have accomplished nothing. And you start to sweat. Because of course it is almost December. This year is almost over.

That is where I was this morning. With two feet stuck in wet cement, worrying that if I didn't pull myself out quickly I would be forever stuck in hardened concrete.

So I  forced myself to get to it. I sat at my desk staring at my big shiny iMac, unable to type a word because I had decided I had nothing left to say.  I checked Facebook.  I rearranged the papers and the folders. I checked Facebook again. I wiped away the dust and discovered my egg timer. That magical little inexpensive time management tool I boast about using. And there it was. My Monday morning aha moment.

I hadn't been using that timer.

It was that simple to get unstuck. Make my list. And time each item. Even if I didn't get to cross it off the list, I could check off my progress. The feeling of accomplishment allows for that sense of progress made and for me breeds more accomplishment. All for the price of an egg-timer.

The Secret Of The Egg Timer

The egg timer has been a permanent fixture in my home since I was a kid. My mother had a white one with black numbers to keep track of her cooking. She kept using the same one for a long time, even after it melted slightly when it was accidentally left too close to a burner.  Now timers are everywhere. Even my iPhone has one. But I still like my old fashioned timer. The kind you turn for however long you want and that makes an almost annoying ticking as each minute disappears into the ether.

I have two. They are both in the shape of an apple. The one in the kitchen is green and the one on my desk is red.

Yes there is a timer on my desk. It is my secret weapon for anyone working for themselves and juggling several projects. Or for that matter anyone who is trying to monitor their Facebook and Twitter time.

Here's how I've been using it lately.

I have a lot on my plate, every one with its own set of deadlines, from my upcoming webinar, to coaching clients, my book proposal, preparing for my June self publishing debut and a consulting project. They all need a portion of my day.  Uninterrupted. No phone calls. No TV breaks.

I decide in advance, either the night before or in the morning,  how much time I need to devote to each. Then I set the timer. An hour of writing. An hour for the consulting project. A half hour of phone calls. A half hour for emails and social networks. You get it. I don't stop until the timer goes off which coincidentally has been about the time I feel I have made some progress. I schedule in my breaks too, which lately have involved a lot of dancing to loud music.

When you are in an office, someone is usually standing over you or at least their energy is, reminding you of what you are supposed to be doing and invariably measuring your progress.

But when you work for yourself, you have only you and in my case, an egg timer.



How do you self monitor when you have a lot going on?
Have you tried the egg timer trick or do you have one of your own?