Top 10 time-wasters at the workplace

Here are the Top 10 time-wasters at the workplace according to a survey of employees:
1. Shifting priorities
2. Telephone enquires
3. Lack of direction/objectives
4. Attempting too much
5. Drop-in visitors
6. Ineffective delegation
7. Cluttered desk/losing things
8. Procastination/Lack of self-discipline
9. Inability to say NO
10. Meetings

Source: Swingline

I'm sure that you have already experienced some of it but hey, let's zero in on these inefficiencies and get rid of these bad habits before we become crippled by them.

Tough times does not mean the end for your company

When SARS came to Singapore, it managed to wipe out businesses and even the famous 1.99 shop in Singapore collapsed. Small business owners suffered tremendously because they did not have the deep pockets to endure the long periods of laock of customers.

What can one do to continue to earn money when every business is suffering?! All I can say is there are TONs of opportunities out there. I applaude the creativity of store owners when they know what type of products will be relevant to the peoples' need. Even when people are losing money, they have reinvented themselves by brining in different type of 'seasonal' stocks that will create profits for them in order to survive.

Let's look at certain problems and what products/services that will likely be popular:
HAZE- air purifiers, skin care, vitamins and masks
BIRD FLU- Flu jabs, vitamins, rise in prices of other meat products, vegetarian products
DENGUE FEVER- Anti mosquito patches or lotions, gym programs, vitamins.

Therefore, if you ask me, if there's a crisis and you still earn money? My answer is YES! Its all about understanding the needs of people and addressing them!

Money Sense

I had this assignment to go into a particular school to teach about Money Sense.

Its kind of interesting because I feel that everyone needs to seriously understand their money and attitudes concerning this. This is even more important as we are living in a credit car, instant gratification society.

I am truely amazed by how much we actually educate ourselves when it comes to money. Imagine, I've witnessed how many people can take some time to think when it comes to spending $200 on a particular product. However, they will not even bat an eyelid when $100/month disappears from their bank account into some investment scheme which they are not clear about. They are not even clear about the capital gains from the investments, or even the current worth of the mutual funds. Isn't it scary? I mean, what if the fund that you have invested in is not performing? Wouldn't you care about how much you have gained/lost?

Anyway, back to the school. It was done over a period of 3 lessons and I had a good time with them. I basically wanted them to know that money is not a good/evil thing. It is basically a neutral term. The question is "How will you use it?"

I helped some students develop a simple structure, ie to give them a plan to save 10-20% of their weekly allowance. Lock in this amount and develop the habit of saving until they can invest. Besides saving, can they reduce spending or delay their self gratification? Only the strong willed will survive this stage because they ask tough questions like: "Is this a need or a want?"

Lastly, we played a money game. This was to teach them how we actually fall into the trap of marketing ploys to get us to spent money! This is a very powerful lesson because some of the students were really shocked by their own actions. Here's some photos of the program...