Spirit Magazine - December 2013 - (Page 62)

Business $1 BREAKFAST FOR A BUCK Start your morning with a full American breakfast with great coffee. All for just $1 when you book this offer. Four Points is best for business. FOURPOINTS.COM/ BREAKFASTFORABUCK ©2013 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Preferred Guest, SPG, Four Points and their logos are the trademarks of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., or its afﬁliates. For complete terms and conditions of this offer, visit fourpoints.com/breakfastforabuck basics necessary to achieve maximum output. For example, your boss's ongoing choice to provide employees with beepers in a smartphone world could be a hindrance. Ditto his refusal to hire enough staff, provide adequate training, or pay the electric bill. But the good news is that many factors are at least partially within your control. Things like managing time wisely, working smart, and showing up ready to perform. Easy peasy, right? It can be, if you know some proven strategies. PRODUCTIVITY, PERSONIFIED It's a little after 11 p.m. in Austin, Texas, and Monica Maldonado Williams has just sat down at her home computer to work on her "side project," GivingCity, a magazine about and for the philanthropic community. But this is just the beginning of the end of her day. Upon waking at 6:30 this morning, Williams made a mental to-do list, powered through the morning rush to get her two young children off to school, then recorded a rambling conversation with herself on the drive to her full-time job as marketing and communications director for the Austin Lyric Opera. While there, she raised funds, mastered the Web, sold tickets to Verdi's Don Carlo, participated in meetings, and attracted media attention. She also had lunch. Around 5:30, she left the office, picked up a latte on the way home, drove to youth choir practice, ate the slow-cooker meal she started this morning, and read to her children. At some point between waking up nearly 17 hours ago and sitting now at her computer, eating a single Ghirardelli chocolate, she also managed to squeeze in a 30-minute run and spend a few minutes engaged in semi-meaningful conversation with her husband. Now, before you go thinking this is a script for one of those 1980s "My A philosopherphysicist may subscribe to the notion that time is an illusion. Your manager does not. gender is just as good as your gender, and I'm smokin' hot" advertisements, you should know that it's been pretty well established that no one can have it all. No, this is simply a description of one day in a very real person's very productive life-and there are lessons in it for all of us. TIME-IT JUST KEEPS ON TICKING While the philosophizing physicist in you may subscribe to the notion that time is an illusion, the manager who conducts your annual review probably does not. As a result, you must acknowledge that time actually does exist (at least in the professional world) and come to grips with the fact that it is not renewable. Nor does it give a darn whether you are on Facebook, in a meeting, or writing a report- which can be a problem in terms of productivity. "Time passes whether or not you make a conscious decision about how to use it," says Laura Vanderkam, author of What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. "Since there's no chance to pause, not choosing is still a choice." Once you've come to terms with the fact that the Rolling Stones were wrong and time is not, in fact, on your side, the next step is attempting to put it in its place. For Williams, as with many productive people, that means starting the day with a list. "At first I wake up in a mild panic. http://www.FOURPOINTS.COM/BREAKFASTFORABUCK http://www.FOURPOINTS.COM/BREAKFASTFORABUCK http://www.FOURPOINTS.COM/BREAKFASTFORABUCK http://www.fourpoints.com/breakfastforabuck

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spirit Magazine - December 2013

Spirit Magazine - December 2013
Contents
Gary's Greeting
Gary's Greeting en Español
Star of the Month
Freedom Story
From the Editor
Your Worlds
Your Pictures
Media Center
Spice up your drink repertoire
Eat Drink Sleep
Cook with chickpeas
Stay Overnight in Nashville
The Numbers
Make a Case for Paper Maps
Look out for Bigfoot
Plan Interplanetary Trek
Wise Guide
Co-opt Criticism
Business
Meet your New Favourite Travel Buddy
Provoke Productivity
Tales of a Tippling City
Rediscover Sin City
The Other Side of Vegas
Your Adventure In Albuquerque
Promotional Series: Spirit of Florida
Focus On: Health Resolutions
Calendar
Fun!
Spotlight
Community Outreach
Products & Services
Flight Services
Terminal Maps
Information
Rapid Rewards and A+ Rewards Partners
Route Map
The "If" List

Spirit Magazine - December 2013