Personal Time Management Strategies to Write a Book Quickly

Collegiate Consulting Service: Dr. Randy Carney's Writing, Speaking and Coaching Enterprises

Personal time management strategies are the secret behind many successful people. Here are time management tips and tricks for every author who wants to write his or her book quickly and easily. I share this so you can write a book without having to sit there staring at a blank page for hours.

Personal Time Management Strategies
Time Management

So here’s where we are right now…

  • Getting published is easier now than ever before
  • That means you need a book
  • It is easier than you think to write a book
  • Sometimes the hardest part is getting started
  • Sometimes you just stare at a blank page when you have a writing session

We’ll cover three tips for time management for writers

Tip #1 – You Have A Lot Of Time Already.

You see? We all have 24 hours each day. That means that we have 1,4440 minutes each day too.

Likewise, we have 168 hours each week, so that means we have 10,080 minutes in a week! Just think of it: Over 10,000 minutes to do what you want to with each week. Surely we could use many of those minutes to give priority to writing.

Let’s simplify it even more. Let’s say you break your book down into 5-minute writing segments. That means you could use a lot of time you may not have thought you had.

For instance: You might have to go to the dentist. After you check in, you usually sit in the waiting room before you are called. At this writing, you might have to return to your car to wait. If you are in a waiting room, you could read their magazines while you wait, or you may go prepared for the waiting with your own book. OR …., you could take your writing materials with you–pen and paper, or maybe even your laptop.

Then you could start on one of your 5-minute writing projects. You likely will not use a timer there, so you will have to keep an eye on your watch.

At the end of five minutes, they have not called you back, so you start on your next 5-minute writing segment. Then you have time for a third one. There you have one-fifth of a chapter written, all while using waiting time wisely. Do you see how personal time management strategies can help you finish your book?

While you can get a lot of your book written using waiting time, you likely will not write it all during waiting time. That leads us to our next tip

Tip #2 – You Have Ways To Carve Out Some Time

Many writers write early in the morning before the rest of the family wakes up. Others are night owls, and they write an hour or so after everyone else goes to bed. Still others spend some time during lunch.

Another alternative would be to combine all three of those ideas: Wake up a half-hour before everyone else wakes up. Then use another half-hour after everyone else goes to bed. Additionally, write for 15 minutes during your lunch hour.

If you write for 75-90 minutes every day, you can easily knock our the rough draft of your book in less than 28 days if plan your book using a special 5-minute writing segment plan.

Since writing is a priority for you, surely you can carve out some daily time for writing.

Tip #3 – You Have Ways to Eliminate Distractions

In order to write quickly, you will have to be focused.

It is best to have a place to write. If you can designate a separate room, that is best. You can have your own office. Others, though, may have to use a dual-purpose room. Still, it is best to get away from other distractions. If at all possible use a room exclusively when you are writing.

Here is another good tip to eliminate distractions. Put a sign on the door. It can say, “I’m Working” or something like that. If you are writing fiction, you can even threaten to write violators into the story! The sign just serves as a gentle reminder to family members that you should not be disturbed unless it is absolutely necessary for them to talk to you.

So, let’s summarize what we’ve covered in “Personal Time Management Strategies to Write a Book Quickly:”

  • You have a lot of time
  • Plan for 5-minute writing segments
  • Plan a time to write
  • Fix a place to write
  • If you write for 75 minutes each day, you can finish your rough draft in less than 28 days.

The point here is that you can write your book quickly and easily without having to sit there staring at a blank page for many minutes or even hours on end.

What have you adopted as personal time management strategies? Please share some more tips with us in the comments.

You can get more writing tips here.

Now, if you’re serious about learning how to take this to the next level, don’t lose a single minute. Head on over to check out the 6-Figure Writing course at my quick and easy writing website.

Insider’s Guide to Victory

Randy's Picture
Insider's Guide to Victory
The Insider’s Guide to Victory is found in Numbers 21

Moses was the ultimate insider when it came to communicating with God. This insider’s guide to victory is found in the Bible in the Book of Numbers, chapter 21.

Hey, Everybody!

Welcome to “An Insider’s Guide to Victory.”

Randy Carney here with a new “victory in adversity” Facebook Live post. This is for every person, and especially the Christian person, who wants to get victory as he or she goes through the journey of life.

Let me explain. We can have victory because of three provisions God gives us.

Provision #1 – God Provides For Redemption When We Need It

  • The people complained (5)
  • They tried God’s patience once too often (6)
  • God sent fiery serpents in the land (6)
  • They could look at the serpent on the pole and live (7-9)
  • In John, chapter 3, God used the analogy of the serpent in the wilderness to refer to Christ on the cross.

Provisions #2 – God Provides Refreshment On The Journey

  • God sent them to a place where there was water (16)
  • They sang the song, “Spring Up, Oh Well” (17,18)
  • When you are going through a dry place in life, God can send a time of refreshing.

Provisions #3 – God Provides Victory Over Our Enemies

  • He gave them victory over Arad (1-3)
  • He gave them victory of Sihon (21-31)
  • He gave them victory over Og (32-35)
  • God gave victory over physical enemies, and He can give us victory over spiritual enemies too.

So, what’s the point of all this?

God gives us the power and the strength to live a victorious Christian life as we navigate through tough times.

The bottom line here is that you can get victory as you go through the journey of life.

So, how have you experienced God’s provision in your life? Please let us know in the comments below.

If you would like to see more posts like these, Click Here.

You also can see more videos like these by subscribing to my YouTube Channel.

The Real Trick To Keeping Peace in Your Marriage

Keeping Peace in Your Marriage

Let me tell you a quick story about something that happened about two weeks after I got married… and what you can learn from it. It may help you find the real trick to keeping peace in your marriage.

Describing a “Marriage Saver”

A Surfacing Problem

I didn’t notice it much at first, but after brushing my teeth for fourteen days, I realized my wife had a habit of squeezing the toothpaste tube in the middle. I always squeezed it from the bottom.

A toothpaste tube squeezed in the middle
We Needed a Marriage Saver

My theory was that you could get more out of the tube by getting it all from the bottom and working your way to the top.

Rhonda evidently was not enlightened.

I told her about my preference, but it didn’t really seem to make much difference.

I also found that she wanted the roll of toilet paper to hang down the front instead of hanging down the back.

I didn’t really care, just as long as the roll was there. So, at least I didn’t compound the problem.

The modern toothpaste manufacturers have helped many marriages because the plastic tube bounces back into shape pretty easily. Not so, when we first got married. The toothpaste tubes back then seemed to be sort of a flexible metallic material that looked like stiff aluminum foil underneath the paint. They just stayed in whatever shapes you left them after the squeeze. I have to admit it really frustrated me.

A Funny Answer for Keeping Peace in Your Marriage

A few years later, one of our cousins got us a Christmas present that was called a “Marriage Saver.”

It looked kind of like a clothespin. You attached it to the bottom of the toothpaste tube, and rolled it up as you continued to use it. I liked it because it was basically following my preference. Rhonda went along with it.

The gift was sort of a joke, but I have surveyed many audiences during marriage seminars, and they seem be about half and half on the preferences of which way you should squeeze the toothpaste tube, or how you position the toilet paper rolls.

A Good Take Away

The thing I really want you to take away from this is: Sometimes we all need to realize that husbands and wives do have different preferences, and they need to work through how they will handle them. Learning to handle these differences can lead to the real trick to keeping peace in your marriage.

However what this means to you in your marriage is we all need to realize that some of our preferences don’t amount to as much as we think they do.

You may have discovered some differences of opinion in your marriage. So here’s your next step as it relates to what I just shared: If you really want harmony in your marriage, buy the book, From Mountains to Molehills, so you can overcome and celebrate your differences in marriage.

If you would like more articles like these on marriage, Click Here.

Mothers (and Fathers and Children) Seek the Mind of Christ

Seek the Mind of Christ

Here is the replay of last Sunday’s message. This was the Mother’s Day sermon for 2020. We were all encouraged to seek the mind of Christ.

You can read I Corinthians 2:6-12 as a foundation for watching the video.

We have three observations about finding and receiving the hidden wisdom of God, and about seeking the mind of Christ.

Seek the Mind of Christ

3 Observations about Seeking The Mind Of Christ That Every Christian Needs to Make

I Cor. 2:6-12

When you were a kid, did it seem like your Mom had eyes in the back of her 
      head?
(My mother – always offered visitors snack cakes)
Many mothers are wise in dealing with their
     families
However, when they go though all the things they have to face, they sometimes
      are at their wits end.
All of us, like mothers, need to make good decisions in our lives.

Today we are going to talk about how to make better decisions and discover the hidden wisdom of God without having to go through tons of mistakes.

We can make three observations about getting the wisdom of God as described in I. Cor. 2:6-12

Let’s read the text.


Observation #1 – The Natural Person Misses The Mind Of Christ And The Hidden Wisdom Of God

  • This wisdom is for those who are mature in the Lord (6)
  • The rulers of the age missed it (8)
  • (political leaders would not let churches open, but they would let liquor stores open)
  • (political leaders want churches to limit their gatherings to ten people, but big department stores have full parking lots)
  • If the rulers had known the wisdom of God, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory (8)
  • The natural person thinks the things of God are foolishness (14)

Observation #2 – The Holy Spirit Gives The Mind Of Christ And The Hidden Wisdom Of God To Us

  • He describes wonderful things for us (9)
  • He searches the deep things of God (10-11)
  • He compares spiritual things with Spiritual (13)

Observation #3 – The Bible Says We Have The Mind Of Christ

  • The spiritual person is able to judge all things (15)
  • No one has known the mind of the Lord that we may instruct Him (16)
  • We have the mind of Christ (16)
  • (we see through a glass darkly)
  • (we receive more light as we receive light)
  • (our understanding grows as we compare spiritual things with spiritual things)
  • (we grow as we receive the gift of wisdom that the Holy Spirit give)

So, here’s how every Christian can move forward from here:

  1. We are fearful of living in an uncertain world
  2. We are face with many situations where we don’t know what to do
  3. Children don’t come with instruction manuals per se
  4. Ask God to give you wisdom
  5. (teenage years — just get through them –James Dobson)
  6. Seek the mind of Christ

The big encouragement here is that you can make better decisions without having to go through tons of mistakes.

Now, if you’ are serious about learning how to really make this work for you, may I suggest that you come to Christ if you don’t know Him, and to seek the mind of Christ if you do know Him. In either case meet Him at the place of prayer. If you do this, you will make better decisions and discover the hidden wisdom of God. When you receive the gift of wisdom, you will make better decisions without having to go through tons of mistakes!

If you like this message, you can find more faith-based posts here.

You can more videos like these here.

Online Church Services – Tips for Novice Internet Marketers

For the last several weeks, because of the corona virus situation, we have had online church services. In the process, it has honed my skills in using Facebook Live, making YouTube videos, and utilizing some of the material to give blog content. This actually helps with great tips for novice internet marketers.

I work with many authors, some of them beginning authors, and others who are interested in internet marketing.

One of the videos that has been a result of using my internet marketing skills

Another niche I am beginning to target is that of bivocational ministers. These individuals work many hours with almost two (or sometimes it is not just “almost”) full-time jobs.

What some of them don’t know is that they already possess transferrable skills that could provide a great second job outside their ministries. Wouldn’t it be great if they could have more flexibility of schedule and provide for their families at the same time?

They already have skills in writing, but they may not feel like they do. They certainly have skills in public speaking. Probably, for many of them, adding skills in internet marketing is their greatest need.

Why is the topic of online church services so important for providing tips for novice internet marketers?

Internet marketers know the importance of updating their websites. If they are members of a church and are comfortable in talking about their faith making them who they are, then this need for online services gives just the opportunity to learn more about utilizing video if they volunteer for the task.

Even if they are novices in utilizing video, this task will thrust them into on-the-job learning for these skills.

They may, like I am doing right now, add some of the videos to their own blogs. This gives them extra bang for the buck. They are already doing work for the church. Now they can benefit their own websites by adding new content.

What is your purpose in doing this interview about online church services for internet marketers?

I am just wanting to encourage all of us to get more comfortable with video content. For the bivocational minister, I want to show how this can increase both his skills, and how it can drive new traffic to his website.

What results have you gotten with online church services?

Our congregation has been able to continue worshipping without us having onsite services. Some outside of our congregation have joined us by video too. It has widened our ministry somewhat.

One encouraging thing to me was that a friend from my very first pastorate has reconnected and has (she says) been blessed by the videos.

How long did it take you to get where you are today with your online church services knowledge and experience?

I have been doing internet marketing off and on for about 12 years, so I have accumulated a lot of experience during that time.

Does it consume most of your day, or is it only on a periodic basis?

Since we are doing the services live, it does not consume most of my day. I always have to prepare for sermons anyway. The time I spend in church is just the same, except I am in front of my computer camera at my desk at home.

The setup time is minimal. To transfer the video to YouTube does take some time, but it is not a terrible amount. The YouTube video then can be used for replays and for content on my blog.

What made you decide you wanted to concentrate on online church services?

I had always been intrigued by the idea anyway, however, since many churches are not able to meet during this time, there were people who were looking for options to worship. We already had a Facebook group set up, so it was easy to plug into that.

If you could start all over again with online church services, what would you do differently?

I might try to learn about using “Be Live” for the video. It would allow having more than one person on the screen at a time, but what we are doing is fine.

What’s the #1 FREE software to help internet marketers succeed with online church services?

Facebook has been very helpful in this regard. All I have had to do is start a new post and then click on “add to post.” Then the Live option is listed.

Our piano player, guitar player, and song leader(s) make videos, and we open the service with them. After that, the viewer just clicks on my Live-Streaming video post, and we finish the service.

As far as I know, we have not had any audio or video issues. I take that back, one Sunday morning, I did have to stop and restart my modem. Most, if not all, of the viewers did stay with us through that delay.

The rest of the time, the audio and video has been fine.

How can internet marketers make money with online church services in today’s world?

In a world where we are constantly looking for more content and more traffic to our websites, this is one way both of those things can be accomplished, just make sure your blog readers are OK with this addition to your other content.

Some who come to your blog for the service will look around to see what else you have to offer.

Thanks for reading.

I hope you enjoyed these tips for novice internet marketers. If you would like to see more blog entries in my faith-based category, click here.

Have a Successful Marriage
Have a Successful Marriage

If you would like to check out some of my books, click here.

Easter Sunday – Life After Death and Times of Refreshing

The Cross is empty, and that brought times of refreshing

Times of Refreshing are needed by all of us. As I write this, the Covid-19 Corona Virus has thrust us into the middle of a great pandemic. Many people are sick. Many are dying. The country is shut down in many areas.

Small businesses are struggling.

This is the first blog post specifically written for this website that overtly displays the faith-based foundation of my writing, speaking, and coaching business.

Others with different points of view are certainly welcome here. I will try to be respectful of you. Please respect where I come from too.

Will there be recovery?

Easter represents the most hopeful time of year for Christians. It has aspects of the Gospel, the Good News.

The Good News included bad news. Jesus was dead. They crucified Him, and He went through terrible suffering.

But, He rose from the dead. Because He lives, we shall live also. That is the blessed hope of all who receive Him as Savior and Lord.

In Acts 3:11-6, we have the story of Peter explaining what happened when the crowd saw a man, lame from birth, rise up and walk. He even leapt for joy.

In this explanation, Peter included a promise that times of refreshing would come.

We certainly apply that spiritually, but we also look for the hope that it gives to business owners going through challenging times.

Here is a video dealing with just this topic

Times of Refreshing Can Come!

To see more posts like these, click here.

In the darkest hour, Jesus arose. In the dark hours of our businesses, may the times of refreshing come too.

You may not have been able to go to church on this Easter Sunday. Most of us did not. Than God for online technology. Many pastors across America learned new skills for live-streaming. Maybe that will continue when we go back to live services in our own facilities. Then the word will get out to more than we were reaching before.

I pray for your times of refreshing.

Stay at Home Business Opportunities – The Unexpected Blessing of the Corona Virus

Having a stay at home business is great!

Have you ever wished you could be your own boss? You may have wondered about stay at home business opportunities. You may have thought about an online business. Yet, you may not have felt like you had the time or the money for an investment in such a business.

Many of us are having to stay home as a result of the Corona virus coming to the USA. It looks like we may be in until May.

Stay at Home Business OpportunitiesChildren do school work at home. Families spend more time together. Since the children were not in school, this presented many challenges for families where both parents worked. Now, it may be that at least one parent is home, and in many cases, both parents are. That helps with the childcare situation a little better.

With all the inconvenience and uncertainty, this may actually work out very well for you if you have always wanted to try working from home. This situation may just turn out to be an unexpected blessing in disguise!

My Off and On Story

When I worked as a staff writer for a major publisher of Christian-school curriculum, the company provided each of us writers and editors with personal computers. That upgraded our process very much. I am grateful for the skills acquired during that time.

Later, I bought, with the blessing of my wife, my own personal computer. That was great for writing projects.

Then the internet came along, I worked as a free-lance writer for at least a year. Following that, I wrote and published my own books. FWB Publications published one of my books. Currently I am working on a project that has been accepted for by Author Academy Elite Publications.

I also became very interested in internet marketing. Then I signed up for Wealthy Affiliate, which provided great training for online marketing. Besides the training, they also provide a hosting service that will provide hosting for up to ten of my own websites (such as this one) for no additional charge. That actually is the main reason why I have stayed with them for so many years. That, and the fact that they continually update their training and services.

Serving as a bi-vocational minister gave me opportunities to have a variety of jobs outside of the churches I was pastoring. Some of those were high-paying. Some were part-time. There were some periods where I could devote most of my time to online activities. There were others, where I had very little time.

A start-up faith-based college asked me to work with them. It was like what often happened in my journey. Just as my online activities picked up, my “Day Job” would pick up even more. So my work from home journey has been an up and down experience, but it has been a very rewarding one.

Now, that we are all, except for essential businesses, having to stay home here in Illinois, there is again an opportunity to devote more time to online work.

How Some of my Online Skills Blessed Our Church

We had a national directive to limit our contact with others. The governor of the state of Illinois followed suit. Our church complied by canceling our services.

So, some of my previous online experiences have come in handy. We decided to have our Sunday morning services for the last two Sundays streamed through Facebook Live. Here is one of those videos.

We also had our Wednesday Bible Study online or through the phone by using FreeConferenceCall.com.

The first Sunday, we just had the sermon preached while sitting at my desk at my home office. The second Sunday, our musicians uploaded a video right before the one listed here. It worked fairly well. We even had a special number by playing a video from my phone and holding it up to the camera.

A surprise came when one of our former church members from Georgia, over 500 miles away, sent us a message, asking when we were going to do this again.

Creativity Rises to the Top for Many During this Time

Many businesses are creatively retooling to meet needs during the Covid 19 shutoff. Some have switched over to making hand sanitizer. Others make ventilators for hospitals. Some make masks, and most recently, some contract to make hospital gowns. Some restaurants are optimizing their drive-through and carry-out options.

How will you be creative when you think about stay at home business opportunities?

You might want to consider a writing business, a speaking business (for the future when we are all released to be around people), or a coaching business.

This is a Great Time to Start an Online Business

If you have to be home anyway, whether you are temporarily unemployed, have reduced hours, or actually get released from your company, you might as well pursue stay at home business opportunities if you have that interest.

I mentioned Wealthy Affiliate earlier. You could check it out by clicking here.

If you would like a free report about Time Management for Writers, go to DrRandyCarney.com.

There are many opportunities beside these. You might want to write a book. If you are interested in a hybrid process between self publishing and traditional publishing, I highly recommend Author Academy Elite Publishing.

Conclusion

Many of us are having to practice social distancing for a while. Some of us will find that we have time to get to projects that we have been meaning to get to for awhile.

Maybe you have wanted to start a home-based business, especially and online business.

How wonderful would it be if this time off allowed you to start a new side hustle that allowed you to say goodbye to your day job forever (if that is your ultimate goal)!

You have heard it takes time and money. It is true it will take some money, but not nearly that of a fast-food franchise. Now you have time, take advantage of the situation.

If you would like to subscribe to my YouTube channel, just click on the video above and sign up when you get to YouTube.

You’ve heard my story. I would be interested to hear yours. How are you using this time off to your best advantage? If you have a story about online marketing, we would certainly be glad to hear it. Leave your reply below.

Wishing you the best in the short, and long, term,

Randy

Take a Chance – The Tree Fell Perfectly

Take a chance in business. Sometimes (many times) you have to do that to make progress.

In baseball, you can say that you miss all the pitches you do not swing at. In football, you miss every possible completion you do not throw. In basketball, you miss all the shots you do not take.

When it comes to business, you miss all the sales you do not ask for. You miss all the opportunities you do not attempt.

Thank you to Son-in-Law Brian Barker for cutting down a hickory tree in our back yard. We have wanted it down for quite a while. We either want to build an add-on dining room, or at least a deck. at some point.

Take a chance. My son-in-law did, and he got a tree to fall perfectly. Your business chances may turn out just as well.

He looked doubtful when he saw where it was located, just three lawn-mower widths away from our kitchen window.

We had noticed the leaves had spots on them, and we wondered if the tree were coming down with some kind of disease. He had asked about cutting down a tree in our woods for firewood. I don’t think he expected for us to suggest a tree in our yard.

He had to land the tree between our house and a pear tree, and it had to miss a pine tree at the edge of the yard.

Brian could have just not attempted to fall the tree. In fact, he suggested I talk to one of our mutual friends to see if he could suggest someone to do it for us. I think Brian was really worried about how we would feel if it went several feet farther south than where we were looking. If it did, it would hit the corner of our house and possibly tear off a gutter. I was able to persuade him that I really hoped he would try it, and we would not hold it against him if it did fall off course a little bit.

Brian said, “When you hear the saw start up, tell the girls (my wife, Rhonda, and his wife, Rachelle (our daughter)) to get out of the kitchen. … I’m serious.”

It fell perfectly!

Take a chance in your business efforts, just like Brian did with the tree. Sometimes, you will fail, but you will learn something. Sometimes, though, a surprising opportunity may come your way. You may be afraid to follow up on it. If you don’t, though, you will never know if it could have been good for you.

Maybe your skills are not good. They will never improve if you don’t try.

Be wise. Do your due diligence, but when the time seems mostly right, take a chance. The results may pleasantly surprise you. Maybe it will fall perfectly!

Would you like to write a book? Every book you do not attempt has no sales. It has no impact on anyone. Have you never done it before? Are you willing to take a chance? Would you like some help from some who have gone through the scary path before you? Would you like some time-management skills to help you in your writing?

You could check out some more writing tips here.

When have you taken a chance in business? How did it help you? Do you have a breakthrough moment, you would like to share with us?

We would love to hear from you in the comments section below.

What Is the Cumulative Effect? Encouragement?

What is the cumulative that causes encouragement. I had accomplished much more than I realized.

I have been involved in a writing project that has taken far longer than I anticipated. I have written snippets, research items, whole paragraphs, and rough-drafted chapters. My discouragement has slowed me down at times. Most of those items have been collected in a writing application known as Scrivener. What is the cumulative effect of all this effort?

Besides items saved in Scrivener, several of the chapters were already saved in a Word document.

I was discouraged because of the difficulty of collaborating with extremely busy co-authors (through nobody’s fault), the struggle with producing “good-enough” writing, and working within my own busy schedule. Finally I came to the end of what some writing coaches call, “the vomit draft.” I decided to print out the whole thing and put it in a notebook.

What is the cumulative effect of scattered writing?
What is the cumulative effect of scattered writing? Encouragement when it is all put together.

This is not the actual title or cover art for the book.

The encouraging thing that happened when I printed this out is that it came to 450 pages. It is double-spaced, but it would probably be 300-350 pages even single-spaced.

What is the cumulative that causes encouragement. I had accomplished much more than I realized.
What is the cumulative that causes encouragement? I had accomplished much more than I realized.

When it comes to writing a rough draft, you just need to keep plugging away. Part of the reason I was discouraged on this project is because I teach on the topic of How to Write a Book in 28 Days or Less – Without Stressing Yourself to Death. I have accomplished that task more than once, but this was a different kind of project.

Since I had the writing scattered in different places, I really didn’t know how much had been accomplished.

By having this volume of material, It will be a matter of tightening the writing. Many editors actually describe editing as cutting out much of the material. That will certainly be necessary here, but it is encouraging to know that I can be ruthless in that cutting process.

What is the cumulative effect of the scattered writing? The sheer volume means I can be ruthless in editing.
What is the cumulative effect of the scattered writing? The sheer volume means I can be ruthless in editing.

If I had not printed the paper copy, I would not have realized what had been accomplished up to the point.

There is still a ton of work to do, but at least a rough draft is done.

This experience has shown the importance of perseverance in writing.

Have you had similar experiences in hitting roadblocks in writing or in reaching business goals? We would really be glad to hear from you. You could ask a question, or, better yet, give us some helpful tips in the comments section below.

Success When Preparation Meets Opportunity – Our Unplanned Day

Success when preparation meets opportunity

Success when preparation meets opportunity can be illustrated when what seems to be luck manifests itself.No Shortage of Dear

Yesterday, Rhonda and I just took a day off. We had plenty of things we could have done, but we just recently came into a position of a little increased cash flow.

We both were in the mood to act on impulse. We had seen TV  commercials of steak and lobster deals at a well-known restaurant featuring a country, recently known for outbreaks of fires. We decided to go to that restaurant..

We like where we live, but we would have to drive 60 miles to get to that  restaurant for the TV deal.

Our Great Unplanned Day

We just took off.

Working from home and being your own boss is great!

The sky was overcast. We could have taken the fastest route, which would have been Interstate 57 and Interstate 24. We were headed to Paducah, Ky.

We decided, rather, to take the scenic route. In fact we just drove in the general direction of our destination. There is no shortage of deer in Southern Illinois. Speaking of the steakhouse we were going to, we previously visited the country it is known for. That was several years ago, but we were surprised to see that kangaroos were just as plentiful there as the deer are here.

We did see some deer. We saw some parts of our countryside that made us feel a little like Daniel Boone when he said, “No, I was never lost, but I was a might bewildered once for three days.” I kept singing, “Three-hour tour” (If you know about Gilligan’s Island, you will get that.)” Finally, we turned on the GPS and confirmed that we were going to end up on a familiar road again.

We did have some general ideas of what we wanted to accomplish. I needed a new suit, and we remembered a clothing store there where I had bought one abut 20 years ago. We knew it was still there because it had advertised on TV too.

I went there and found one. They held it for us while we went to eat lunch.

Then we went to a couple of home improvement stores and found some new stick-on plank flooring. We are going to use it in our bathroom.

We did have a good meal, but, most of all, we just enjoyed the day together.  We checked prices on suits and went to the Kentucky Oaks Mall. We went back and bought that first suit I tried on. We even did something exciting like grocery shopping.

Vacation Unplanned Days

Unplanned days can be really great. In fact, when we go on vacation, we usually try to plan to have an unplanned day. Lot’s of times we end up playing miniature golf, but it is not necessarily planned. Sometimes, many times, those are the highlights of the trip.

I have a friend who tells about the time he and his wife just started driving west. They had a several-day vacation without any planning at all. I’m not sure they recommend that all the time or for everyone, but they said they had a wonderful time on that particular occasion.

One year, when our children were small, I had a trip planned for work. The week before it was supposed to take place, the organizers cancelled the business event. It just happened to be during the spring break for school. The kids were off. I was scheduled to be off. I suddenly turned to Rhonda and said, “Let’s go to Disney World!” Rhonda looked a little surprised, but she agreed. We packed and left. At that time we lived only 8 hours away. It tuned out to be a fabulous vacation.

The Value of Rest

Unplanned days can be great for rest and relaxation. What is the value of working so hard toward your goals (which are extremely important) if you don’t get to enjoy life along the way?

Rest and getting way from stress can also be great rebuilders for increased productivity when you get back in the swing of things.

Success When Preparation Meets Opportunity

Sometimes it looks like “luck” when we obtain success.

Rhonda and I went to the Kentucky Opry two or three years ago. It featured some young musicians. The MC of most of their programs teaches some music, and several of his students were on the stage. He, on more than one occasion, called on some of them to jump in on some of the songs unrehearsed. They did very well. He made the statement, “Success comes when preparation meets opportunity.”

Sometimes opportunity presents itself when you don’t really expect it. That is why you need to be ready at all times.

When you learn new techniques, you may not be very good at using them at first, but when you keep trying, you improve. If you continue long enough, you get to where you are actually good at utilizing those techniques.

Rodney Miller and Jann Carl are the co-hosts of a great TV program called, Small Town Big Deal. They tell of going into many meetings trying to gain sponsors or investors. They were turned down many times, but their attitude is, “No meeting is a bad meeting.” They say they always learn something. They learn new ways to pitch their ideas. They get smoother at making their presentations. Every meeting is an opportunity to improve, to prepare more. Eventually, they had more positive results with many of their meetings.

The point is, in your business, you just need to keep preparing. Many successful business coaches have evaluated other businesses. While no one can predict the future, these experienced entrepreneurs observed the failing business, and they were convinced that the failed businesses were very close to success. Because of their own experience of staying with it until things turned around, these evaluators have a reason for thinking others were very close to reaching their goals.

Conclusion

Prepare, and you will be ready when opportunity comes.

On the way to success, though, take some time to enjoy yourself. You can get to the place where you can enjoy some unplanned days.

If you would like know more about some more business tips like these, click here. If you interested in some great training that would help you to be prepared to meet opportunity, check this out.

I would like to know your ideas about this. Have you had some good unplanned days? Have you had unexpected opportunities come your way? Please let me know in the comments section below.