Free Voice-Driven Local Search From Google

The labs over at Google are at it again. They have recently released a new service which functions much like 411, but is 100% automated and lets you search by business category or business name.

The 1-800 number is free, but if you call from a mobile phone, air-time minutes/charges will be apply.

From Google:

Google Voice Local Search is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone.

Check it out and add this to your list of numbers:
1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411)
http://labs.google.com/goog411/

-Curtis

3 Warning Signs That Procrastination Is Stealing Your Life Away

by Creative Catalyst

According to the dictionary, procrastination is defined as “to put off intentionally and habitually, or to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done”.

If we break that definition down, we see that there is personal and deliberate knowingness in our delaying the doing of something that should get done and that delaying can become a pattern, or habit, over time. For purposes of this forum, the “should” get done is presumed to be something you want, could, need or should get done, and is not the “should” of false obligation (as in, don’t should on yourself!).

In other words, we intentionally negate action on something we should get done that would ostensibly improve the quality of our lives in some way. When we are not enjoying an optimal quality of life, our life force energy is not being fed. Even more, when we internalize the delay as being a negative reflection of who we are, our life energy is literally being taken from us (or, more clearly, we are just giving it away indiscriminately!).

One key warning signal that procrastination is stealing your life force energy is that your “to do” list never gets done. There is a difference between healthy stress and something that is hanging over your head waiting for attention. It takes your mental energy to not look at it, and the thing itself will grow in proportion until it gets handled. It’s like never-ending homework. And avoidance strategies may include staying really busy, being in overwhelm, focusing on everybody else, creating drama and handling distractions vs. being productive – all of which are sabotage in the most insidious ways. (Insidious because they are disguised as being really productive, or kind, or engaged with lots of activities – they are socially acceptable but not truly productive for you.)

Another warning signal that indicates procrastination is stealing your energy is that the sense that you can’t get ahead. Procrastination keeps you stuck in the past by keeping the “it” you are delaying front and foremost in your mind as something that you should get done. After all, who would you be if you were moving forward easily and measurably instead of living from your past?

The most damaging warning signal is when your self-esteem drops as a result of not handling “it”. There is a sense that you never measure up because you aren’t handling “it”. There are a number of reasons why you might not be handling “it” that are completely unrelated to your self-esteem, but your self-esteem doesn’t know that. All your inner being knows is that you aren’t getting it done and, if your programming runs like most people’s, it must be because you aren’t good enough somehow to get it done.

When procrastination is a big enough factor in your life to be robbing you of your quality of life, it is time to do something – NOW.

Lynn Scheurell facilitates positive transformation for her clients using both intuitive and linear thinking. Her company, Creative Catalyst, is a leader in initiating dramatic change for independent professionals and decision-makers. Download your own free report right now to learn Your 6 Power Points for Personal Success – and How What You Don’t Know Can Cost You Years of Hard Work!…… at www.mycreativecatalyst.com

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THE BIG HOLE IN YOUR DAY

By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore

We all have 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. And if you multiply that out and my math is correct (I assume it is because I've done this a few times), that gives us a total of 168 hours per week. And the thing about time is that it can only be spent, it cannot be saved. (Did you ever have any time left over on Sunday night that you could lop on over to the following week?)

And there are only two ways to spend time, spend it wisely, or, well, not so wisely.

The average person is working in excess of 40 hours per week and I have found that most people lose about 3 hours per day or 15 hours per week in a Black Hole that sucks away and consumes better than a third of the quantity of time we have available to be productive in our work.

The Hole? Needless interruptions.

Now an interruption is nothing more than an "unanticipated event". (That's what makes it an interruption.) They come to us in two ways, either in-person or via the telephone. (Telephone would include all the electronic devices such as fax, email, beepers, pagers, etc.)

Like everything we encounter, interruptions are both good and bad. A lot of what you and I do on a daily basis is to address the "good" interruptions, those that are "crucial" and "important". Indeed, a lot of what we are paid for is to handle those "good" interruptions. Those are not the concern.

What takes away from achieving higher levels of productivity are the "bad" interruptions, those that have "little" or "no" value".

Examples of "good" interruptions are when a client or customer calls you to place an order, your boss stops by to inform you that you will be getting the raise, or a co-worker interrupts you at your desk to show you how to complete a project in less time. These are all interruptions but they will lead to enhanced results. They are "good", so very good.

Examples of "bad" interruptions are when a co-worker drops by to complain about the price of hay in Denmark (assuming that you are not in that business) or some irrelevant, uninteresting topic or a telephone solicitor reaches you at work to try to sell you something you do not need or want.

Here are some interesting statistics. (Your actual mileage may vary, but if you need something to compare yourself to…). On average, we experience one interruption every 8 minutes or approximately 6-7 per hour. In an 8-hour day, that totals around 50-60 interruptions in the day. The average interruption takes approximately 5 minutes. (Some may take several hours or days; others may only take a few seconds.) If you are receiving 50 interruptions in the day and each takes 5 minutes, that totals 250 minutes, or just over 4 hours out of 8, or about 50% of the workday.

Now, if you we were to track and rate each interruption we experience during the day, (let "A" = Crucial; "B" = Important; "C" = Little Value; and "D" = "No Value"), most people will discover that only about 20% of their interruptions are of the "A" and "B" variety and 80% are of the "C" and "D" variety. (Maybe you will come out better; I hope so.)

Finally, if you experience 250 minutes of interruptions in your day and 80% are of the "C" and "D" variety, having "Little" or "No Value", 80% of 250 is 200 minutes or just over 3 hours per day going down the drain being consumed by interruptions that are not worthy of your time.

For most, there is a hole so big in their productive day that they could drive a truck through it.

If this article has been useful to you, we have prepared an additional article entitled, "The Tools for Increasing Employees’ Productivity". It’s free. To get yours, email your request for "tools" to: ctsem@msn.com

Would you like to receive free Timely Time Management Tips on a regular basis to increase your personal productivity and get more out of every day? Sign up now for our free "TIME MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION LIST". Just go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/timemanagement and select "subscribe". We welcome you aboard!

Dr. Donald E. Wetmore-Professional Speaker
Productivity Institute-Time Management Seminars
127 Jefferson Street
Stratford, CT 06615
(800) 969-3773
(203) 386-8062
fax: (203) 386-8064
Email: ctsem@msn.com
website: http://www.balancetime.com
Professional Member-National Speakers Association
August 23, 1999

New Search Engine For Webinars, Webcasts and Web Events

I am very happy to announce that StreamLogic Inc. has launched a new web event search engine, FindWebEvents.com.

The search engine, which leverages the power of Google™ custom search technology, queries the entire Internet, returning results specifically related to web and online events.

Until now, it was not possible to find online events, demonstrations and training quickly and accurately using a standard search engine. FindWebEvents.com provides much greater precision than a standard web search by combining your search query with additional metadata, targeted specifically toward web events. The end result is highly relevant web event search results.

FindWebEvents.com searches for:
• Webinars (Web Seminars)
• Webcasts
• Web Presentations
• Web Conferences
• Live Web Events
• Podcasts
• And Streaming Media

In addition to web and online events, FindWebEvents.com also provides information on:
• In-Person Events
• Training / Tutorials
• Books
• And Videos

“This project was our answer to a long-time frustration with the relevancy of web event search results. Until now, it was not possible to find online events, demonstrations and training quickly and accurately using a standard search engine. The FindWebEvents.com search engine provides much greater precision than a standard web search by combining your search query with additional information, targeted specifically toward web events. The end result is highly relevant search results relating only to web events,” said Curtis Hughes, President of StreamLogic Inc.

FindWebEvents.com launched on Monday, November 13th, and is a free web search service accessible to all Internet users.

- Curtis H.

How Interruptions Destroy Your Work Flow

It used to be the case that if someone wanted to interrupt you, they required the courage to do so in person, by telephone or by letter.

Emailing, texting, mobile phones, voicemails, pagers, etc give us a great plethora of options to get in touch. If response from any of these is slow the sender will often try a second method, and wonder why the first did not work.

A study that watched a dozen information workers for three days, and noted how many times they were distracted, and for how long. The study found that on average, they archieved only 3 continuous minutes of work before being diverted from it (University of California at Irvine study - see http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/magazine/16guru.html?ei=5088&en=2864cc65d74cefb8&ex=1287115200&pagewanted=all).

“Each employee spent only 11 minutes on any given project before being interrupted and whisked off to do something else. What’s more, each 11-minute project was itself fragmented into even shorter three-minute tasks, like answering e-mail messages, reading a Web page or working on a spreadsheet. And each time a worker was distracted from a task, it would take, on average, 25 minutes to return to that task. To perform an office job today, it seems, your attention must skip like a stone across water all day long, touching down only periodically.” Gloria Mark, researcher.

- Time Saving Expert