As a busy professional with potentially a family to take care of and a career/business to tend to already, implementing additional wealth creation strategies would place a premium on the one asset that we all have only a fixed amount of - and that is time.

You have heard the phrases "Time is Money", "Time is Precious" and so forth repeatedly - and we can only reaffirm the truth of those statements - not so much to urge you onto constant work, but to urge disciplined, productive, money-making efforts into your everyday activities using well established time management techniques.

Setting Tasks
Manage Time Wisely with Simple Techniques
Gold Resource Recommendation
Book Recommendation
From the Financial Glossary
Quote from the Wise

As a key ingredient towards using time well is the need for setting your long-term, short-term and daily goals. Setting such goals concentrates your mind, and makes it that much easier to focus on productive tasks. This also makes you pro-active as opposed to re-active.

Further, once you set your long-term goals, and break it down into yearly, monthly and then daily goals - all your goals come into wonderful alignment, taking you smoothly and speedily towards your final destination. In fact, this form of discipline opens more pathways to you than you would ordinarily assume. There is something attractive about a disciplined person - almost as if nature tests whether you have the determination and persistence to pursue your goals.

If you are already used to following this strategy, or have a similar strategy to achieve your final goals, then stick to that strategy. If you do not have one, you may adopt this one and make your plans for the next ten years, breaking it down into five, three and one-year plans. Then plan for each month of the year and break it down into each of the weeks for each month.

At the end of each month review the plan and chart your progress against your goals and readjust.

Sometimes we find that when undertaking a new task, the near-term tasks need frequent re-adjustment, but the longer term goals can still be achieved without much change. Occasionally a major course correction is required in which case some of those goals should be immediately readjusted, but your focus on your final goal should not waver.

This focus on the target is the reason why successful people are said to be quick to make decisions, and slow to change it.

They are quick to make decisions because they have enough education, experience and instinct to know what the right decision is, and know that making a decision is extremely important to take any action. Once a decision is made however, they use that to focus their mind and bring their considerable resources to bear upon the task at hand. Thus changing a decision at this stage better have some very strong reasoning behind it.

Follow this or a similar course of action to concentrate your efforts and to identify the productive from non-productive tasks, and do only the productive ones.

Manage Time Wisely with Simple Techniques

Once your daily tasks are identified, start the day by accomplishing at least one important task. This will give you an immediate satisfaction of having achieved something worthwhile, and irrespective of how the rest of your day goes, you know that you would have achieved something important.

Some folks use the night to accomplish something useful - and while this may work for you, the success rate for those who shift this to the morning is simply higher. Perhaps because the mind is fresher and the day's weariness has not set in?

Set a routine.

We are creatures of habits. We pick up good or bad habits easily enough and go about those tasks almost unconsciously. Enforcing a good routine and maintaining it is the next stepping stone towards a wise use of your time.

If working on a new wealth creation strategy for 1 hour every morning for 3 days a week is your routine, then stick to it. Instead of spending 15 hours in two days, and no action for the next ten days - it is far better to develop a simpler routine of regular follow-ups. Bring the strategy into your weekly routines - this will allow your knowledge of the subject matter to deepen, and allow it percolate through your brain processes and become a part of you.

Avoid time-sapping activities.

E-mail today clearly leads the pack in this. Ignoring e-mails until a fixed time of the day will boost your productivity sharply. Set a certain time of the day to address all your e-mails. Treat your e-mails as what they are - mail that can wait for sometime for responses. If someone needs your urgently, they can contact you by other means.

Avoid interruptions while doing your most important tasks. Studies have indicated a drop in IQ by about 10 points when your concentration is not focused on the task at hand. This brings up the old phrase- "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well" - so why bring less intelligence to bear on the problem than it deserves?

And finally, set aside time for relaxation, to recharge. During this time, make sure that you do absolutely no work-related thinking (or any thinking at all if possible). Periods of total rest are often a period of great creativity - allow this to percolate through your system. Constant activity does not provide the much needed space which is the birthplace of creation (is it not logical that for something to come in- there needs to be space for it to come in? Constant mental activity is as much a space occupier as any other physical item).

Following these few tips will let you use this precious resource wisely and manage and complete multiple seemingly improbable tasks. Wealth comes in increasing quantities to those who show respect and great stewardship of this resource.

Gold Resource Recommendation

This wonderful article on Gold's bull market by Doug Casey is an important read for those interested in pursuing this wonderful opportunity. There are still opportunities to purchase junior gold shares for a 10 X return, even though we are probably already in the mid-phase of the gold bull market. However, some of the most spectacular gains of a bull-market are made at the very end of the bull-run (so long as you can avoid getting caught up in it) - so opportunities still exist.

Back to the main theme point, if Time Management is a real constraint for you, use this seminar to help yourself get on track.

Book Recommendation

From the Financial Glossary

Elliott Wave: Elliott waves are patterns that show up in the price charts of stocks, bonds and commodities.

Simplified Meaning: R.N. Elliot, back in the 1920s and 1930s, expounded the notion of repeating patterns appearing in the price charts of the major stock market averages. He further stated that these patterns show up in the form of waves, with three up-phases punctuated by two "corrective" waves.

Practitioners since then have used this pattern analysis to predict the future movement of stock prices. Under certain conditions, these patterns have shown to have powerful predictive value. However, using it in isolation is not very profitable.

Elliott Wave International's tutorial is the most comprehensive introduction to the Elliott Wave Principle available in cyberspace. All ten lessons have been adapted from Prechter and Frost's Wall Street bestseller, Elliott Wave Principle - Key to Market Behavior.

To start your Elliott wave education now, click here.

Quote from the Wise

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. -- Benjamin Franklin

At all times, we appreciate your feedback on improving this journal, any experiences you wish to share, or any disagreements you may have! Mail us at: shri_ajay@characterandwealth.com or post on the forums!