Door Hardware

Basically, the web directories are large collections of links which have been categorized into specific themes or topics. Before the prominence of the search engines, a web directory was seen as the most effective research tool for locating relevant information specific to a web uses requirements. Even though the major search engines have become more popular, there is still a variety of worthwhile reasons for submitting a website to be listed in the general or niche specific directories.

Here are some of the main benefits of submitting to the web directories

Helps to get a website indexed

If you are able to have your newly published website listed on one of the well-established web directories it is certain to go a long way to helping get your website indexed in the major search engines. Since the established web directories are already high traffic areas, they are likely to be crawled quite frequently by the search engine spiders, this has the benefit of helping to attract attention to your own individual site.

Improving on search ranking

Once a website has been successfully listed in the search engine results, it is highly beneficial to show the search engines that links are coming from a valued and a trusted community, which is the case with the well-establish web directories. If you are able to include high-quality sites in your link profile this is certain to help with improving the ranking in the search engines. Also, inbound one way links that are relatively themed are more desirable than the reciprocal links.

Targeting the keywords

When it comes to submitting a website to the link directories, you often have the opportunity to provide a description and keywords that are relevant to the websites you are attempting to promote. If you are able to target the keywords that are highly relevant to your target audience, it is only going to help with maximizing on your SEO efforts.

Also, if you are able to write a well written description this is beneficial for the real human visitors to the directories which should entice them to click on your link and visit your site. If you are targeting the direct click-through traffic, you need to make certain that you are using the more well-established and popular web directories that get the significant daily traffic. In many cases the volume of traffic that is likely to come via the links on the directories is highly dependent on the niche or topic of website.

Marketing ideas are the lifeblood of any business. If you do not know how to retain your current customers and drive in new business, you will never turn a profit. To be successful in marketing to today’s consumer, you have to make effective use of the internet.

Internet marketing is usually a bit less expensive than traditional marketing, but it is no less complicated. If you want to make sure that you can drive a bit more traffic to your website, you might want to consider the marketing ideas below.

The Social Special

One of the quickest ways to get a real following is to use a social media website to promote your business or website. Unfortunately, those “likes” and page views do not necessarily convert into business profits. If you want to market while making money, you should consider offering online “social specials” for your business.

A small discount offered only to those who follow your business online can help you to drive customers to your product while also allowing you to market to them even on days when the special is not offered. It is a fairly common practice in the business world today, but it is also one that works.

The Newsletter

Newsletters are one of the more interesting marketing ideas, as they require a great deal of effort for little monetary return. What they do create, though, is a connection between you and your customer base.

Marketing ideas are no always about today’s sales but are rather often about making sure that there will be a sale tomorrow. Creating a company newsletter with updates about sales, specials and the world of your business is one of those marketing ideas that can help your customers feel connected to you.

Bring Them Online

One of the best marketing ideas to bring your real-world potential customers to your website is to target the area in which your potential customers live and use a small advertising campaign to direct them to your website. If you have a physical location, this can be done quickly by announcing a promotion and directing your customers to the website for more information.

If you do not have a physical location, the very simple process of distributing flyers or taking out a newspaper ad can do the trick. These marketing ideas are somewhat more expensive than current internet marketing, but they can help you to drive more hits to your website.

These are only a few of the basic marketing ideas that can help you to increase your customer base as well as your customer retention. Every business has its own unique strategies, but the three above should help you to ease into the idea of marketing on the internet.

In time, you will be able to use more complex strategies and perhaps even develop your own. What you have to remember, though, is to never stop working for more – the day you stop using effective marketing ideas and ignore the need for new customers is the day that you should give up on the world of business.

A website as we all know is the face of a company. Be it a small organization or a bigger one, its website leaves the very first impression of the company on the visitors. Several factors together are responsible for the success of a website. Some of the common ones include its use, appearance and user-friendliness. Let us discuss in detail some other factors that together constitute a successful website. These include:

Content

High quality content is indeed the most important element of a website. It is the content that attracts more and more individuals to visit your site. If it is poorly written, the chances of visitors staying at your site decrease. In other words, they will go away fast and won’t come back at your site again. The content for your website should be drafted and managed in a proper way. It should inform your audience clearly about your company, products and services. Some of the prominent pages you must include in your websites are about us, home page, products list, service list, privacy policy, terms and conditions, contact information, etc. Always prefer providing information that would be useful to your user. Moreover, the content on your website should be grammatically correct, updated and free from spelling errors.

User Interface

Another key element of a good website is a good user interface. A good user-interface is one that is easy to use and enables one find all types of information easily and quickly. This layout should remain consistent throughout the various pages.

Visual appeal

Visual appeal is what matters a lot. If the website is designed in an attractive manner and is eye-catchy, more and more visitors will get attracted. Not only this, a person’s decision to read the content of a website also depends on how he or she responds to its appearance. This means it is essential to have a clear, user-friendly, attractive and clean design. Avoid blinking letters and flashing pictures as these appear very disturbing. All these factors turn away visitors rather than attracting them.

Search tool

Well designed websites always contain a search tool that assists users in searching any kind of information. This feature is very useful, and enables customers find easily whatever they want.

These are some of the key elements that together make a successful and appealing website. You can take help from a web promotion company in this regard. Most of the web promotion companies offer a wide range of services such as website designing, organic SEO services, SMO, etc.

Build a Sitemap

In order for a search engine to display a website in the SERPs, it has to index every page on it. Still, those who are just starting do not know the ways to help search engines index their web pages. There is a probable solution to this. They can build a sitemap that lists all pages on their website, simplifying the indexing process for search engines. This step should always be remembered.

Do Mobile-optimization

At present, nearly all people use their mobile gadgets to keep in touch. Additionally, this is the best way to browse on the web as well. Google is also aware of that. For this reason, the world’s search engine giant goes for mobile-friendly websites. If you don’t want Google to ignore your website, you should do a mobile optimization for it. Your site should not be filled with ads as well, so it can be easily navigated by mobile users.

Focus on Local SEO

It is good to begin with these figures. People should be aware that 43% of Google, 25% of Yahoo and 25% of Bing searches are location-oriented. In addition, 50% of all searches have local intent.

The best strategy for businesses to draw a lot of consumers and meet their needs, particularly if their site supplies products/services within their locality, is through Local SEO.

A number of tips to consider are:

Always use local keywords;
Include the name in Google My Business;
Write relevant content on the blog;
Identify all contacts related to the business;
Come up with a local domain name.
Make a Huge Investment in Social Media Presence

Social media marketing is among the most effective, free ways to boost a website. Social media presence is not only about creating an account on different platforms. Rather, it is about the frequency of posting fresh content, and the level of engagement received.

When creating or contributing content on a regular basis, it would help to share them with others through social media. Other articles within the industry can also be shared. Businesses can cover a lot of content, so they have all the reasons to participate in social media.

Moreover, search engines make use of algorithms in determining if the content is worth to be ranked. That is why those who use social media platforms go for articles that they consider valuable. When they discover that a particular content is easy to read and helpful as well, they will share it on social media sites.

Blogging

From an SEO point of view, blogging is critical for any website. It is a very powerful tool that can address the needs of a business. Therefore, these businesses should learn how to set up a blog on their site.

However, in blogging, there are some rules that need to be followed. As a start, since no one likes to read outdated content, it is important to write fresh, high quality content on a regular basis.

Next, the articles should not be limited to formal text-only content. It would be best to combine them with images, video materials and infographics. This way, the blog would look more striking and impressive.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the process of getting traffic from organic search results on Search Engines. Google, Yahoo and other search engines show a set of primary search results to users and these results are ranked according to their relevancy through Search Engine Optimisation. This guide is to answer the basic questions which pop up in the mind of anyone new to this strategy. From generating traffic for your website, to keywords and the importance of using SEO services, we are going to help you sort out any and all confusion. There are certainly some of the best SEO companies, which are giving their customers the most reliable SEO services with the help of their SEO experts.

Do I need SEO for my website?

Google, Bing, Yahoo are the main source of driving traffic to your website. Although social media also helps you get traffic, but still, its Search Engines that are most commonly used for navigation purposes by online users. Whether your website is related to content generation or your business portfolio, people search for your website on Google before searching on any social media platform.

Why Search Engines are more popular in use than in ever-expanding social media? Well, the indexing takes the targeted audience to your website, looking for the things which you are offering. So, if your website is not SEO friendly, you are surely missing out on some extraordinary opportunities of driving traffic to your website. If your website is optimised, you will benefit in terms of increased revenues and publicity for your product. The idea is that investment in SEO will create more business for you, and in turn create positive ROI (Return on Investment).

Do I need an SEO expert?

Though some people can easily understand the basics, for a layman, SEO is often a bit too technical and complex. If you want to invest your time in understanding SEO then free material is widely available on the internet. If you have time to get decent search engine optimisation education, then combine this knowledge with best practices and you are on your way to become an SEO expert.

However, then your time will become full of the learning of these practices and all the different aspects within SEO. This is when it may make sense to look into an SEO expert to handle this for you. With full command on the subject matter and on-hand experience, an SEO expert can help you develop your website with the maximum optimisation of its content. Some of best SEO companies are giving SEO services with specialised focus on content optimisation.

Will my website be visible on Search Engines without SEO?

With advancement in technology, internet junkies are working to bring improvement so that they can crawl deep in the world of the web to give maximum results to their users. However, marketing work in a specific way; one wrong move can result in your website waning on internet search results due to missteps or violations of policies. With right search engine optimisation and with the help of an SEO expert however, your website can give you an increasing number of visitors and exposure.

As SEO is a marketing tool for increased visibility of your website on the internet, we can’t deny the significance of using this tool for revenue generation through our website. A website is your portfolio of your work, so it should be structured in a way that Search Engines can easily connect it in their database.

Our businesses also differ in terms of interface with clients. If you do “business to business” transactions, the number of people you interact with on a daily basis may differ from someone whose business relies on interacting with consumers. Appointments may be more practical in some instances than others. You have to tailor-make how you manage access to your particular situation if you are to eliminate distractions. Having said that it is important to note that some people do not mind spending the whole day at the office entertaining friends, visitors, and casual acquaintances dropping into the office whenever they feel like it. Do not be that kind of person. It sets the wrong kind of example to junior staff and can harm one’s productivity because these people take up time that you do not have and besides you want to cultivate a professional environment.

The demands of the day are enough to fill the eight working hours available unless if you tend to stay back and play catch up. How do you stay competitive in the market if there is no separation between work and play? Anybody serious about success and achieving effective results will put boundaries that are clear so that there is no confusion. Entrepreneurs are more susceptible to this especially when the workplace is easily accessible. The fact that you are your own boss even puts more responsibility on you to maintain self-discipline and self – management. I have written a whole book called, “Achieve More through Self – Leadership. In it I walk you through the practicalities of how you can get better results through managing self.

Appointments are an important way of not only managing time but managing life. They help you become more structured and productive. Some people seem not to be able to honour their appointments. I once attended a job interview that was supposed to start at 10:30am. By 11:30am there had been no communication about what was happening or when the supposed job interview was going to take place. I decided at the point that this company was probably not good enough for me to join because if you don’t respect people’s time you probably do not respect them.

You may be saying appointments are just not for me yet you never rock up at the doctor, dentist, lawyer or hairstylist without an appointment. Why is that the case? Because you simply won’t see the dentist without an appointment. They have given you conditions acceptable to them. We tell the world around us how to treat us by what we allow.

Some people are always available when you want to see them. If you are always free to see people at short notice, you are probably not that organized. The one who owns a diary will manage the one who doesn’t own one. Why? Because the one without the diary is always available, even though he is very likely to forget important meetings, dates and engagements because of a lack of organization. I used to have a boss who kept a diary and whatever you promised to do in the line of work, he would write down, including the day and time you said he would have it by. You would of-course forget because you didn’t record it like he did and when the time to deliver comes, guess who would be found wanting. It was then that I decided that I do not commit to an action that I am not willing to write down because, what’s written gets done!

You may be saying, “what if my business feeds off the “walk-ins? The fact that your business relies on walk – in customers should not be an excuse for disorder. Sometimes those who drop in unannounced may indeed be potential customers, suppliers, cold-calling salespeople, and even worthwhile business contacts. There is nothing wrong if the call is beneficial to you and your business but I believe there must be a structure and way of doing things that follows certain pre-set principles. I remember seeing a poster in an office that said “if you don’t have anything to do please don’t do it here”. It’s humorous yes, but true. Appointments help to structure your day and helps you allocate time to what’s important. This means you can focus on your most important asset: the paying customer. There is nothing as bad as walking into a place wanting to do business and staff are inattentive because there is just a demand on their time. I am more understanding if the personnel are not busy entertaining social visits at work.

In conclusion, you know your business situation better than any of us. All we can do is make recommendations that will enable efficiency that leads to growth. Some of you may actually need a personal assistant who will put order in your office and focus on the things you are not willing to do that will enable to focus on the highly value things you ought to do such as running a business.

Do you think successful people are just plain lucky?

Successful people did not become successful because they were lucky.

They did not achieve success by accident. Being at the right place at the right time, meeting relevant people, reading the appropriate book, did not come about accidentally or by luck.

Luck is brought about by Labour Under Correct Knowledge.

Successful people prepared themselves. Instead of giving up on anything they started and wanted to achieve they got stronger by learning more.

Success is a methodical, orderly and deliberate process of deciding what you want to do with your life, what are the steps that you need to undertake to get you there, and lastly what you will do once you get there.

One of the most important aspects, if not the most important aspect to success, is the ability to visualise your successful outcome and stay focused on it until you achieve it.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited.” – Albert Einstein

Successful people understood the potential power behind knowledge, yet they also understood that, for them to close the gap between where they are and where they wanted to be, they would have to piece together the enigma that is most often referred to as “life”.

They had to build a picture, a vision, of success in their mind, and then go about taking action on creating that envisioned life.

In much the same way, you have to be serious about your present and future, you need to have the knowledge that is required so you, too, may close the gap: you need to be and remain determined to devote yourself to taking massive action to build your business of succeeding in life.

You, too, will need to see the end, your dream and destiny that you desire in your mind’s eye. It is up to you to take the necessary and relevant action to make it all happen. It’s just like going to the doctor with a particular health problem.

The doctor may prescribe a medication for you to take four times a day, yet he cannot be there with you to ensure that you are taking the medication.

It comes back to deciding to be responsible for your life.

Have you noticed how it all stems from that one attitude? Being responsible for your own life.

Your success, your being responsible 100% for you to live your dream life starts here.

When you accept 100% responsibility for yourself and your current life situation, you will have the power to move towards those things you truly desire in life: which is success in all areas of your life.

This life-changing article is about possibilities and opportunities, knowledge and tools. It will help expose your unique course in life.

It will inspire, support and motivate you to excel, to do what successful people do, to have all that successful people have, and to become a shining example of a successful person.

Here, you’re not being told what you couldn’t do, instead you are being told to shoot for the stars. And above all, you are being shown how to shoot for those stars.

“A person is what he thinks about all day long.” – Emerson

Interesting thought, wouldn’t you think? So much so, it’s worth repeating: “A person is what he thinks about all day long.”

Success and happiness cannot happen if you possess the same old thoughts and beliefs.

If you do not change your mind, if you do not get rid of the unsupportive thoughts and beliefs, you will inevitably remain stuck in your old ways. Not much, if anything, will change.

Let’s give you a quick overview on how change comes about:

Your BEHAVIOUR, how you act (or perhaps do not act), controls your success or failure. Your ability to attain high levels of success is dependent upon your actions and behaviours. Your results are the outcome of your behaviour. Now let’s consider where your behaviours come from and what controls them?

Your FEELINGS command your behaviour. Every action that you take is first filtered through your feelings that reside in your subconscious mind. How you feel about something determines what you do and how well you do it. So where do your feelings come from?

Your ATTITUDES create and influence your feelings. Your attitude is your perspective from which you view life. Whatever attitude you have about anything will affect how you feel, which, in turn, affects how you act. Where do your attitudes come from?

Your BELIEFS create, control and influence your attitudes. What you believe about anything will determine your attitude about it, which will create your feelings, and then which will direct your behaviour and action. Belief patterns are so powerful that two people who are in the same situation could perceive things completely differently. It only requires us to believe what we see and how we see it. We all have thousands of beliefs – big and small. And where do your beliefs come from?

Your THOUGHTS create, control and influence your beliefs. Your thoughts are real and are immensely powerful. Everything you accept from the outside world and everything you feed yourself from within is a product of your thoughts. Everything starts as a thought.

So, it goes without saying you need to learn to control your thoughts. And when you do, you will automatically control your beliefs, your attitudes, your feelings and, consequently, your behaviour and actions.

The big secret to success:

Learn to control your thoughts and you will influence your behaviours and actions. It’s all a mind-set. That’s what we’ve been saying all along.

Success is predictable and is not achieved by accident.

Have the mind-set of the successful people and you will achieve success. Believe and it is yours!

“There is a great future in front of you, you can leave your past behind.” – Joel Osteen

Science of success experts have concluded that the brain is a goal-setting organism.

That is fantastic news for us: for whatever goal we give to our subconscious mind, it will work for us day and night, 24/7, to achieve it for us; to make it a reality.

The principal breakthrough that scientists made was that we do not need to waste our precious time and effort trying to change old thoughts and behaviours: we just simply create new ones.

And the other discovery they made was that we can continue to create new thoughts, new memories, new behaviours, new skills, and learn new things for as long as we are alive on this earth.

Now, with the new discoveries in recent years, it has been scientifically proven that our capacity to achieve and succeed literally has no limits.

Our brain has the capacity to continually learn during our entire lifetime.

Our brain can form new thoughts, can have new memories, and can learn new things by the millions, no matter what your age is. By the millions.

That’s how many new things we can learn, that’s how many new skills we can learn, that’s how many new thoughts we can have, that’s how many new behaviours we can adopt.

This is encouraging because there is no limit on your capacity to achieve new things.

No limits whatsoever for the human brain to learn, memorise, develop, achieve and perform at higher levels than ever imagined. It makes no difference what your age is: you are capable of learning anything new that you want to learn.

That adds to what we spoke of earlier: no more excuses.

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

Your brain has the capacity to achieve way beyond what was ever thought possible. So now is the time to break out of your limited thinking and start dreaming big and imagining unlimited possibilities.

Becoming successful is not impossible.

It is a choice you make through a decision. Every day, step-by-step, you may climb the mountain of success if you’ve decided to do so, if you’re committed to accomplish what the others think impossible.

Design your future now.

Prepare to receive what you desire.

Thanks to the phenomenal advances made in cognitive science and the development of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), personal change, personal transformation, has come a very long way.

In fact, personal growth is no longer a mystery.

NLP has brought to light that change, transformation and growth can be fast, reliable, and even fun. It has shown us that we do not need to spend thousands of hours slaving away to increase our creative-thinking abilities.

By practicing a few simple exercises and applications, you can start your creative juices flowing, and you may even amaze yourself at the quality and quantity of good ideas that you can come up with to expedite your success.

It can allow you to achieve something you seek within days and months as opposed to years and decades. That’s the power of the progress science has made on how the brain works, and also how you can have your mind to be your best ally in achieving anything you want.

Learn to live as you like by no longer living as you dislike.

Are you ready to get on the road to success and fulfilment?

Bear in mind, much like everything else in life, success requires practice and massive, consistent action.

“Success doesn’t mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives. It means winning the war, not every battle.” – Edwin C Bliss

Do you feel as if you’ve outgrown your circle of friends? Perhaps you do not feel safe or understood any longer. There may be fewer and fewer things you can share with people in your habitual circle, and it leaves you feeling lonely or isolated. If so, you are not alone. Welcome to one of the core dynamics of continuous growth!

As we continue to evolve, many of us struggle with a sense of not quite fitting in with our traditional community or tribe: we may have expanded or changed beyond the borders of tribal norms, and no longer find the same sense of belonging there. Other members may have tightened the tribal rules to foster a sense of security. As a result, we may feel a sense of disconnection or alienation.

In truth, each one of us belongs to many tribes simultaneously: there is your original tribe – the family you were born into – and then there are all the communities of choice you have joined: your work tribe, your social circles, your faith-based community, your neighborhood, and more. These communities are not static; they are in continuous flux because they consist of individuals who are in continuous states of change. When there is a lot of change happening in either the individual or the community, a sense of dissonance results.

How are we to deal with this? First, it is important to recognize that tribal allegiances were historically forged for survival. They were adapted over the course of centuries to ensure the safety and survival of the group. Survival required that individuation be sacrificed for the trade-off of security.

In modern society, the tables are flipped. Whether we enjoy it or not, change is essential for survival at every level of being. The pace of change is driven by technological advances and happens with increasing rapidity: sociologists estimate that more change has taken place in society over the course of the past 100 years, than in the totality of the previous 6,000 years. Individual adaptation now is a requirement for survival, and the pace of individual change does not always match the pace at which our various tribal communities evolve. The resulting dissonance can cause intense friction and pain.

Dissonance also results from confusion between the concepts of ‘connection’ and ‘community.’ We tend to equate one with the other, when they really relate to different qualities. Connection relates to connectivity: the objective physical technology or media that enables us to build community, but which does not represent the quality of that community. Connectivity simply offers the opportunity to connect with others through internet, texting, phone calls, or any other social networking options.

Community is the result of building relationship through meaningful interaction over time. There is no shortcut; it is a process that develops when bonds of trust and intimacy are nurtured and honored.

And here lies a caveat: When we confuse connectivity with community, we depersonalize the sacred nature of true community and start relating to people as objects. Instead of developing intimacy over time, we collect friends on social network sites or try to buy people’s allegiance. Yet friending is simply an act of connecting; it does not create intimacy.

In fact, social experiments indicate that technologically dominated connectivity results in alienation and social collapse over time. In a groundbreaking social experiment conducted by Josh Harris, one of the founders of social networking on the internet, he found that the more people’s private lives were exposed by 24/7 technology, the more their sense of intimacy and relationship deteriorated until the community collapsed in violence and self-destructive behavior.

It is time to revisit our concepts of community so we can create tribes that offer a true sense of intimacy and belonging.

In his 1987 book, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, psychologist M. Scott Peck described several core characteristics of true community. Beyond the obvious components of inclusivity, commitment and participatory consensus, Peck pointed out the quality of embracing diversity through realism. When each member contributes their unique viewpoint from a place of humility and goodwill, the community benefits from a broader perspective in which to better grasp the full context of a situation. In other words, mutual tolerance helps members to embrace one another’s different viewpoints as an integral part of the whole, instead of imposing a forced compliance to groupthink or cohesion.

In an environment like this, members experience and express compassion and respect for one another. They allow others to share their vulnerability, to learn and grow, and to express who they truly are. When conflict arises, they learn to resolve it with wisdom and grace. Members listen to and respect each others’ gifts, accept each others’ limitations, celebrate their differences, and commit to find solutions together rather than to fight against each other. Indeed, the true spirit of community is the spirit of peace, love, wisdom and power. The source of this spirit may be seen as an outgrowth of the collective self or as the manifestation of a Higher Will.

Does this description of community sound spiritual to you? It is indeed, because Spirit is the common denominator among all of us, regardless of how separate we feel from others.

As human beings, we often experience a socio-economic sense of separation from others because of different opinions, beliefs, expectations, language, culture, or interests, since each one of us expresses these in a way uniquely different from anyone else. And still, we continue to differentiate! In this ongoing process, we continue to evolve or devolve in response to life. A community that felt like a good fit last year may no longer work today; the places where we felt embraced, now may suffocate us. Over the course of a lifetime, we can expect to outgrow and change allegiances to many of the tribal communities we once belonged to.

And yet, when we transcend the layers of physical appearance, mental beliefs and socio-economic conditioning, we find in the presence of Spirit a common denominator in everyone around us. Perhaps it is time to expand our tribal definitions to embrace a spiritual community that includes all of mankind as children of God.

Mother Teresa admonished her nuns to see Jesus in every leper they encountered, to find His presence as they looked into the eyes of the homeless. When we can look past the issues that divide us to find omnipresent Divinity in each other, we will uncover the foundations of true community.

Spiritual community transcends all socio-economic borders, beliefs and backgrounds. It is inclusive because it operates on voluntary self-responsibility and mutual compassion, and its doors are open to everyone.

Building this type of community takes time: time to listen, to hear, to respond and to participate. Take a few moments to read the description of spiritual community again. Then, make time in your life to foster that type of connection with people who matter to you. You are one of the architects of community in your life, and you can participate in building a tribe where you belong.

What would happen to you if your home life was more organized than it is right now? Can work-life balance be achieved? What are the tools at our disposal? Could scheduling appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize?

What is the challenge we face? I sometimes find that time spent at home can be the busiest time, especially in the times we live in. Imagine someone working from home, home-schooling children, and sometimes even doing a side hustle. Imagine also the full-time home-based entrepreneur. How do they manage to do all they need to do in a day?. We are living in a time when many entrepreneurs and even company employees have adopted work- at – home culture. This comes with its challenges as the lines become blurred between home and work. These blurred lines and constraints on the limited resource called time result in over-worked, under-rested, burnt-out individuals. Whilst good time management has been encouraged and indeed, embraced in the workplace, I believe more needs to be done in changing the mindset for the elusive work-life balance to be achieved.

What are the tools at our disposal? To manage time effectively at home, there are many interventions one can employ including setting goals for the day, prioritizing wisely, setting a time limit for every task, organizing oneself, and instituting the discipline of appointments. Yes, an appointment at home! We can spend time pontificating on the pros and cons of each intervention, however, I believe we need to focus on appointments and see how this can powerfully change the course of one’s day regardless of whether it’s a workday or weekend. Life is busy as it is without any intrusions. The question is how do you handle the one who announces that they are at the gate. These can be friends, neighbors, a salesman of some product you do not even need. I am not promoting regimentation here but rather a culture of filling your day with what’s important. Everything that we succeed at is because we carefully plan and execute it. I am a firm believer that you cannot manage time if you do not manage yourself thus I implore you to incorporate planning and appointments into your repertoire. I am not talking about something I do not do. I have to achieve many things in a day therefore I set appointments with my work, others, and myself.

Could scheduling appointments and keeping them on the home front help us save time and prioritize? Whereas we have established that it is a normal business practice to set appointments and keep them, we need to abandon the liberal open-door policy of allowing all and sundry to have access to us as and when they please on the home front. Please understand where I am coming from. We each have greatness within us but for us to achieve it we need to culture great habits. Employing the use of appointments at home and seeing only those people you had agreed to see removes non-essential encounters especially during the most productive hours. I know this will vary with culture, geographical region, or even level of affluence, whether you live in a low density or high-density residential area, but doesn’t negate the need to be organized and effective. Controlling access determines how organized you are and how well you will work and rest when the time for scheduled rest comes.

What do we need to do differently? We need to be disciplined and diligent, learn to say no, now is not a good time, let’s make an appointment for next week. What are the benefits of this approach? You are not always fire-fighting to meet deadlines, You are not always tired because you have not taken time out to rest. You have set aside enough time to spend with your loved ones or a loved one. If you are a busy person, I am sure you appreciate what I am saying. Whether it’s time to work uninterrupted, family time, or “me-time”, it takes some kind of order to enjoy it.

I am not saying that those that come unannounced are bad people. No, not at all, they probably are people you enjoy spending time with. Nevertheless, there must be prior communication so that you can attend to your visitor(s) when it is convenient for both you and them. It can be quite disrupting and a whole day can just pass by without achieving anything that you had planned to do.

As we grow older we begin to appreciate that rest and recovery need to be scheduled. The fact that I am relaxing doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything to do. One therefore cannot assume that just because you are at home you are available. Maybe you have scheduled that time to rest. That is important. You need to make an appointment with yourself, spouses need to also set aside time for each other. Parents need to schedule a time to spend with their children. When you have some sort of order in your life you determine who sees you and who you see. It also means that your relationships will be healthy and that makes you a happier person.

In conclusion, I believe that the work-life balance can be achieved. There are many tools at our disposal just like it is in the workplace.I believe we could do more and be happier if we are disciplined enough to make only the commitments we can keep.I am certain that setting appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize.