CUSTOMER STAKEOLDER...

Keeping Customers on Top

Employees, customers, shareholders, and suppliers of a firm are the key organizational stakeholders. There are obligations to these subjects that are often considered to be affected by organizational self-interest.

Customers help in holistically establishing the organizational reputation and identification. For example, Procter and Gamble is an ideal market-driven global powerhouse that has billion-dollar brands such as Olay, Tide, Crest, and Folgers etc.

It is important to realize that understanding the needs and offering high-quality products are the major attributes for a company's success.

Customer Loyalty and Business Ethics

Today, the contribution of customers in developing ethical programs and social responsibility standards is not quite clear. In a study, the ethical environment of a firm was found to be positively associated with customer loyalty. However, there are many variants of customer loyalty.

In competitive markets, market orientation and customer focus are the key drivers of organizational performance. Still, intense competition may also create unethical behaviors. For example, it is well documented how Pizza Hut and Papa John's attacked each other in advertising campaigns, declaring that each provided the 'freshest' ingredients. The matter was in the court of law and was resolved by civil litigation.

Ethical Customer Stakeholder Relationships

There is an implied reasoning about good faith and fair dealing. Performance cannot just be a matter of the firm's own discretion. This is not an ethical requirement but it has also been legally enforced in many states. Good faith and fair dealing may enforce a contract or a transaction according to the parties' expectations.

Therefore, ethically questionable practices can be treated with civil litigation. Ethically inappropriate judgments have a base for legal resolution. As an instance, Wal-Mart had roughly twelve lawsuits per day or one every couple of hours. Wal-Mart is the most sued public organization. The lawsuits stem from Wal-Mart’s customer interactions and their perceptions about the organization.

Consumer Protection and Legal Aspects

Ethical responsibilities have a strong base of legal protection. At the federal level, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) makes sure that consumer protection laws are enforced. Within FTC, the Bureau of Consumer Protection protects consumers from unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices.

At the state level, there are consumer protection statutes and deceptive trade practices laws. Consumer protection issues include product liability that refers to a business' legal responsibility for the product performance.

False or misleading communication can destroy stakeholders' trust in an organization and may be considered fraudulent. Ethical advertising is increasingly becoming a key issue in organizational communications. Exaggerated claims and concealed facts may be a part of advertising communications. These abuses range from the unethical to the illegal.

The Sarbanes–Oxley Act

The 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the United States sentencing commission guidelines provide strong directives to encourage ethical leadership. If ethical leadership fails, especially in corporate governance, there are significant penal ties.

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, boards of directors need to provide oversight for all types of auditing. They are responsible for developing ethical behaviors. Moreover, court decisions of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations make the board members responsible for the ethical and legal compliance programs of the firms they control.

Misidentification

It has been found by research that consumers may identify with organizations and may see the overlap between firms’ attributes and their own individual attributes. The concept is important because consumers may seek organizational images that are in harmony with their self-identity.

Organizational misidentification may take place if individuals perceive a conflict between their own attributes and the attributes of the organization. For example, Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat, and HealthSouth were involved in unethical practices and assumed misidentification from customers.

Ethical Considerations

Wal-Mart has experienced ethical and legal allegations concerning employment issues. Wal-Mart workers usually get a lower pay and fewer benefits than other retail stores workers. Wal-Mart work force is over 1.4 million; hence its policies are blamed for low retail wages across America. However, the company’s philosophy helps save customers possibly more than $100 billion per year.

What a company can do for success and what the company should do for success are two different aspects. In Wal-Mart’s case, the customers seem to have more power, or they are the preferred stakeholders. Wal-Mart's suppliers are not 'preferred,' many communities boycott Wal-Mart, and employee treatment is scrutinized.

Establishing a Balanced Stakeholder Orientation

There are potential conflicts between customer stakeholders and other stakeholders, including the communities for natural environment or economic development. Some customers engage in self-centered approach while some other customer groups prefer organized communication and actions.

For example, Nike has been boycotted by consumer groups concerning child labor practices. In general, however, these groups are not organized or have a uniform voice. Therefore, a danger that some more powerful stakeholders may influence ethical decisions in a manner not in the overall best interests of consumers is imminent.

The Business Stakeholder Relationships

Organizational ethics programs have become popular for ethical relationships with all stakeholders. Organizations often create an ethical or an unethical corporate culture depending on their leadership and the commitment to the values of stakeholder relationships.

Strategic approach to improve organizational ethics depends on establishing, communicating, and monitoring ethical values and legal requirements of organizational history, culture, and environment.

Key customer issues today include privacy, identity theft, disclosure of product information, etc. Forming an ethical climate that looks for the needs of customers must be based on a foundation of ethical values that make concrete connections between the standards and the actions of organizations.

   "It's sad to know I'm done. But looking back, I've got a lot of great memories".

                                                     ----- Bonnie Blair

ETHICAL ISSUES IN MARKETING

Ethical issues in marketing arise from the conflicts and lack of agreement on particular issues. Parties involved in marketing transactions have a set of expectations about how the business relationships will take shape and how various transactions need to be conducted. Each marketing concept has its own ethical issues, which we will discuss in this chapter.

Emerging Ethical Problems in Market Research

Market research has experienced a resurgence with the widespread use of the Internet and the popularity of social networking. It is easier than ever before for companies to connect directly with customers and collect individual information that goes into a computer database to be matched with other pieces of data collected during unrelated transactions.

The way a company conducts its market research these days can have serious ethical repercussions, affecting the lives of consumers in ways that have yet to be fully understood. Further, companies can be faced with a public backlash if their market research practices are perceived as unethical.

Grouping the Market Audience

Unethical practices in marketing can result in grouping the audience into various segments. Selective marketing may be used to discourage the demand arising from these so-called undesirable market segments or to disenfranchise them totally.

Examples of unethical market exclusion may include the industry attitudes towards the gay, ethnic minority, and plus-size groups.

Ethics in Advertising and Promotion

In the early days of existence of corporations, especially during 1940s and 1950s, tobacco was advertised as a substance that promotes health. Of late, an advertiser who does not meet the ethical standards is considered an offender against morality by the law.

Sexuality is a major point of discussion when ethical issues in advertising content are considered. Violence is also an important ethical issue in advertising, especially where children should not be affected by the content.

Some select types of advertising may strongly offend some groups of people even when they are of strong interest to others. Female hygiene products as well as haemorrhoid and constipation medication are good examples. The advertisements of condoms are important in the interest of AIDS-prevention, but are sometimes seen by some as a method of promoting promiscuity that is undesirable and strongly condemned in various societies.

A negative advertising policy lets the advertiser highlight various disadvantages of the competitors’ products rather than showing the inherent advantages of their own products or services. Such policies are rampant in political advertising.

Delivery Channels

Direct marketing is one of the most controversial methods of advertising channels, especially when the approaches included are unsolicited.

Some common examples include TV and Telephonic commercials and the direct mail. Electronic spam and telemarketing also push the limits of ethical standards and legality in a strong manner.

Example − Shills and astroturfers are the best examples of ways for delivering a marketing message under the guise of independent product reviews and endorsements, or creating supposedly independent watchdog or review organizations. Fake reviews can be published on Amazon. Shills are primarily for message-delivery, but they can also be used to drive up prices in auctions, such as EBay auctions.

Deceptive Marketing Policies and Ethics

Deceptive marketing policies are not contained in a specific limit or to one target market, and it can sometimes go unseen by the public. There are numerous methods of deceptive marketing. It can be presented to consumers in various forms; one of the methods is one that is accomplished via the use of humor. Humor offers an escape or relief from various types of human constraints, and some advertisers may take the advantage of this by applying deceptive advertising methods for a product that can potentially harm or alleviate the constraints using humor.

Anti-Competitive Practices

There are various methods that are anti-competitive. For example, bait and switch is a type of fraud where customers are "baited" through the advertisements for some products or services that have a low price; however, the customers find in reality that the advertised good is unavailable and they are "switched" towards a product that is costlier and was not intended in the advertisements.

Another type of anti-competitive policy is planned obsolescence. It is a method of designing a particular product having a limited useful life. It will become non-functional or out of fashion after a certain period and thereby lets the consumer to purchase another product again.

A pyramid scheme is also an anti-competitive process. It is a non-sustainable business model that promises the participants payment or services, mainly for enrolling other people into the scheme; it does not supply any real investment or sell products or services to the public.

This business practice demands the initial investor or the "captain" to enroll other people for a fee to them who again will further enroll more people in order to be paid by the company.

Pricing Ethics

There are various forms of unethical business practices related to pricing the products and services.

Bid rigging is a type of fraud in which a commercial contract is promised to one party, however, for the sake of appearance several other parties also present a bid.

Predatory pricing is the practice of sale of a product or service at a negligible price, intending to throw competitors out of the market, or to create barriers to entry.

"Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people."

                                                                       --- Steve Jobs

Assertion and Aggression

People tend to mistake assertiveness as aggression, but there are remarkable differences between the two.

Being Assertive vs. Being Aggressive

Being assertive means you are capable of voicing your thoughts and opinions, and knowing how to seek constructive feedback from others. You know how to handle criticism and opposing views. When you take a decision as an assertive person, it results in a negotiation where the interests of both the parties are honored.

Being aggressive means you exert your rights and blatantly express your needs, but only by humiliating, insulting and degrading others. You might consider that to be motivating others, but it’s all about selfishly pursuing your own ambitions without taking others’ thoughts and opinions into consideration. It involves pushy, violent, and dominating behavior.

Interestingly, people exhibiting both the behaviors are extremely competitive and goal-oriented. However, an assertive person would take the team along with him on his way forward, whereas the aggressive person would pressurize and exhaust, even step on other people to reach his goal. As a result, assertive people celebrate their success with everyone participating in it, as they can see their own success in his. On the contrary, an aggressive person celebrates his success alone.

   “Ideas are commodity. Execution of them is not.”  

                                  –Michael Dell, Dell Chairman and CEO

CUES TO ANGER

CUES TO ANGER...

A very effective way of identifying and preventing anger is to understand and recognize the four cues or hints that we receive from the way our mind and body reacts in a hostile environment or at the initiation of an unfavorable external agent −

Physical Cues − These are the hints our body gives us to tell that anger has started building inside us. They could be increased heart rate, rapid breathing, tensing of muscles, etc.

Behavioral Cues − The way we behave with others when we are angry, or what others observe about us when we are angry such as jaw-clinching, furrowing our brow, and staring.

Emotional Cues − These are some other emotions that accompany anger such as insecurity, helplessness, shame, and guilt.

Thought-related Cues − These are our thoughts when we are angry such as disturbing mental images, imagining punching someone, connecting this incident with some other similar incident.

Try it Yourself

Imagine a scenario that makes you uncomfortable and angry. Notice the changes that are occurring in your body, mind, thoughts, and behavior respectively. Now fill in the following table.

Your namePhysical cuesEmotional cuesCognitive cuesBehavioral cues   

Download Try-it yourself sheet.

SYMPTOMS OF ANGER..

SYMPTOMS OF ANGER..

External factors such as personal issues with others, debts, frustration, unfavorable situations or lack of time for self and family leads to negative thoughts. The Mental Symptoms of Anger are −

Discomfort

Irritation

Restlessness

At the same time, our body also starts responding uncontrollably to these situations by exhibiting the Physical Symptoms of Anger such as −

Heart beating rapidly

Muscles getting tense

Sweat buds forming on forehead

These mental and physical discomforts combine and lead us to exhibit aggressive behavior such as −

Shouting and arguing

Throwing objects

Kicking walls, punching pillows, or slamming doors

Crying

But the worst way to deal with anger is to do nothing, i.e., bottle it up. This suppressing of anger leads to getting drunk frequently, excessive smoking, and even taking drugs. In extreme cases, people also hurt themselves.

In situations like these, the most important thing to tell yourself is that people, situations, or the surroundings do not make you angry. It is the way we react to them that makes us angry.

In short, anybody or anything that angers you − controls you.

THE A-B-C-D MODEL.

THE A-B-C-D MODEL.

The A-B-C-D model, developed by Albert Ellis, is regarded worldwide as powerful therapy to overcome anger management problems.

A (Activation Agent) − The situation that triggers your anger.

B (Believing) − How you interpret the activating event.

C (Consequences) − This is your feelings and actions in response to your belief.

D (Dispute) − "Disputing" is checking with beliefs if they are realistic or just a figment of your distorted imagination. This is significant in Anger Management.

Example of the A-B-C-D Model

A (Activation Agent)

You’re walking down the stairs and somebody collides with you and takes off without apologizing.

B (Believing)

You think, “Everybody is so reckless nowadays; they treat others like pests.”

C (Conclusions)

You notice that your muscles are tense, your heart rate is high, and you feel like you want to hit the steering wheel. You roll down your window and yell an expletive out at the other driver.

D (Dispute)

You could say to yourself − “Maybe he had some emergency… probably not, but you never know; this is life.”

Disputing your irrational belief with this kind of rational self-talk diffuses anger and calms you down.

HOW TO CONTROL ANGER....?

HOW TO CONTROL ANGER....?

Anger can always be kept under control; at least one can mitigate its severity by applying the following methods −

Try to understand the feelings under your anger

Anger often covers up other feelings such as embarrassment, insecurity, shame or guilt. In order to control your anger, you need to realize what your real feelings are.

Managing cues and triggers

Anger fuels the “fight or flight” defense mechanism of the body. Even if you might feel that you just get angry without warning, your body starts sending you physical signals much before that.

Identifying Anger Buttons

Clenching hands or jaw

Flushing of face

Breathing heavier

Pacing around

Pounding heart

Learn ways to cool down

You can deal with your anger quicker if you know how to recognize the cues, before it gets out of control.

Quick tips for cooling down

Breathing − Taking deep breaths from the abdomen to draw fresh air into lungs.

Exercising − It releases the brooding negative energy that you carry around.

Using senses − Listening to music, or picturing yourself in a scenic location.

Slowly counting to ten − Focusing on counting makes you think rationally and gets your feelings streamlined with your thoughts.

Find healthier ways to express your anger

If channeled properly, anger can be a great motivating tool. A lot of athletes have used anger to perform excellently.

Giving yourself a moment to think about the situation

How important is it in the Big Picture?

Must I should waste my time in being angry about it?

Is it worth spoiling the day for me?

ANGER MANAGEMENT TIPS...

ANGER MANAGEMENT TIPS...

Here are a few time-tested tips of anger management −

Thinking before Speaking − Collect your thoughts before saying anything.

Expressing Anger Calmly − State thoughts clearly without hurting others.

Exercising − Spend some time doing other enjoyable physical activities.

Timeouts − Some moments of silence can help you focus your thoughts.

Identifying Solutions − Instead of thinking what makes you angry, try to find a resolution to the issue.

Use 'I' statements − Say, "I’ve been waiting to check your presentation," instead of, "You never finish your work within deadlines."

Don't grudge − It's unrealistic to expect everyone to perform by your guidelines. Forgiving and forgetting can take a lot of negative emotion out of your system.

Use humor − Use humor to dissipate the situation without turning it hostile.

Practice relaxation skills − Practice deep-breathing, listening to music.

Seek help − Consider seeking professional help if your anger is absolutely uncontrollable.

Try it Yourself

Recall a situation that made you angry, and another one that caused you to turn violent in anger. Now compare both the situations and fill in the form.

What makes you angry? How would you react to this situation?

What behavior you want to avoid the most when you experience anger?

What will be your alternative line of action?

How will you deal with the early warning signs of anger?

How will you behave when you are very angry?

Download Try-it yourself sheet.

ANGRY BEHAVIORS....

ANGRY BEHAVIORS....

Analysis of Negative Emotions

Many think that anger is an emotion that just starts on its own and before they realize, it spirals out of control. On the contrary, anger is a defensive mechanism. It is invoked when we feel insecure so that it gets the body ready for the "Fight or Flight" mode of survival. Paying attention to the changes anger brings in our body can give us a hint of approaching anger.

Analysis of negative emotions include identifying thinking patterns that trigger and fuel anger. These include the following −

Clubbing Thoughts − For example, "Nobody cares about me.", "Why am I so invisible to others around me?", "They all hate me."

Forcing a rigid opinion − Having a non-negotiable view and opinion and forcing people to think identically when faced with opposite views.

Assuming and Concluding prematurely − For example, "I know what he is implying.", "Oh, so that's what he is getting at.", "Okay, maybe he doesn't want to hear me. Fine, we are done for good."

Building on anger − Looking for excuses to get angry and upset. This is both the cause and the result of irritation and brings in major misunderstanding between two people even if one of them is willing to help.

Blaming − You blame everyone else rather than taking a hard look at yourself to identify problems.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION..

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION..

Communication is a way to make interaction between people. Entrepreneurs always try to improve their communication skills because it will assist them in sharing their ideas and presenting them clearly and to constantly work in a better way with their staff, team members, clients and colleagues. They understand the role of communication in entrepreneurship and they furnish themselves with some best tips to make their regular interactions effective.

Having good communication skills will also help an entrepreneur at the time of project explanation, elevator pitches, presentation, training as well as many other areas where a person has face-a-face talk with people. An effective communicable person can build his career easily.

The basic steps of communication are −

The forming of communicative intent to make a healthy relationship.

Message composition to make a healthy dialogue between two participants.

Message encoding to hide your personal or confidential thoughts in a message.

Transmit encoded messages in a sequence of signals using specific channels.

Checking reception of signals to ensure the that they are active in communication.

Reconstruction of the original message and acknowledge on a particular chat.

Interpretation of previous messages and making a sensible reconstruction.

Presentation Skills for Entrepreneurs

Presentation is a way to represent your idea through pictures, but it needs excellent communication skills too. Effective presentation can help your business in growth. Once you explain everything digitally in a conference hall, everyone likes your product.

A few steps which you should follow for convincing your target audiences are as follows −

Step 1 − Before proceeding to the presentation, you should clear your objective in advance. During a presentation, you can try to focus to a specific topic, so the users are impressed with it and understand your key motive and take a decision.

Step 2 − Practice your point of view in advance, so that you can be prepared for the target audience at the time of the presentation. It is a big challenge to impress everyone, but when you know the people, then you can give presentation as per their guidelines.

Step 3 − Self-confidence is the key to getting success; it means you must know your positive points and limitations so that while presenting, you should use your qualities and try to hide your weaknesses, so they don’t affect your presentation.

Before going for any idea, an entrepreneur must now how to properly create a time schedule under which you can present everything with your effective communication skills. If he learns how to deliver knowledge, guidance and performance all at the same time, then he becomes someone to watch out for.

Previously, people used to create a script as per which they would present their ideas to people. Nowadays, businesses have started opening over a cup of tea. Ideas can come from anywhere. A real entrepreneur knows the target audience even before the idea has been germinated properly.

HOW TO BE A TRUE ENTREPRENEUR....

HOW TO BE A TRUE ENTREPRENEUR....

A careful decision must be made to move on to a position involving leadership. This means that, entrepreneurs should begin to inherit attributes of great leaders from now onwards. This can boost entrepreneurs to be capable of thriving in their varied roles in the organization.

Set a Role Model

Choose leaders whom entrepreneurs idolize most. They may be leaders of modern world or may be legendary leaders from history or maybe both. Start working by combining styles that entrepreneurs think are most suitable for them. They might include personally known mentors as well.

Maintain Discipline and Decorum

To become an entrepreneur, you need to change some habits that you inherited when you were a follower. A good control over the working process and a consistent rate of implementing ideas are necessary qualities of an entrepreneur. As entrepreneurs, who we have seen before, basic building blocks of a great leader is based on being sincere; have some patience and wait to strike the right note.

Be Determined

Embrace responsibilities of entrepreneurs to understand the role of one. Be persistent in the role of an entrepreneur as it is one of the toughest things to do.

Learn to Study

Be a student of the qualities in a good leader. Conduct various researches with respect to subject, listen to records, lectures and debates about entrepreneurship and take classes based on it. There are many learning options available in the market. Study the greatest ideas out of each of them and start to implement them in everyday activities and thinking.

Practice

Know the basics of entrepreneurship and then try to master them, while integrating some newer attributes or consciousness level all time. With course of time, not only will entrepreneurs become the masters at the art of harnessing their skills, but also will become capable enough to mentor others towards becoming better leaders as well.

This brings us to the statement that entrepreneurs are made, not born. The path of an entrepreneur will not necessarily always seem to be easy nor it may look fun, but they need to keep in mind that their goals are always within reach. Some people like to say that journey itself contains all the rewards. With this positive attitude, entrepreneurs are already nurturing their winning habits.

Risk Takers

If an entrepreneur intends to grow, it is important to sportively accept failures as different possibilities. A great entrepreneur has to do this and tell others they need not worry about failures. In fact, the best of entrepreneurs follow their idea at the cost of repeated failures, as every misstep gets them closer to success.

Entrepreneurs must be willing to take certain risks, so that they learn from their mistakes and become capable enough to answer questions correctly to make investors feel comfortable with their idea. That is why if someone approaches an entrepreneur with an idea, they don’t immediately reject it as ineffective.

They permit him/her to think around the idea and determine if it really makes sense. If something goes wrong, they do not discourage that person, instead they are grateful for learning something new. Entrepreneurs gain experience and learn from such meetings, which encourages them to take more risks by analyzing every aspect of that risk.

Ethical Behavior

Entrepreneurs set the bar very high when it comes to maintaining their integrity and accountability towards the organization, irrespective of any circumstances that may, at times, look detrimental to the company’s cause. Still, in the longer run, the organization will come out much stronger and better because of this.

Entrepreneurs will be held liable for some of their toughest decisions. They need to keep in mind that it is never possible to satisfy everyone to their heart’s content all the time. But the least entrepreneurs can do is to be fair to all their team members. When the nature of business is a bit too competitive, entrepreneurs will have to take tough decisions, which may initially be unsavory, but will benefit the company later.

Positive Attitude

The significance of a positive attitude is great in the professional lives of entrepreneurs. Great entrepreneurs tend to harness a strong, positive attitude that leaves a mark on others and tends to spread throughout the team. They inject their team members’ minds with confidence, which makes them capable enough to bounce back in in case of any adverse circumstances.

Even if entrepreneurs have a greater number of odds against them, greater also are the chances for a true entrepreneur to rise from a tough situation. As a matter of fact, a large number of entrepreneurs have earned fame for themselves by standing strongly against the toughest of times.

People at times perceive them as being unshakable and calm during crisis situations. This does not mean that they are just acting likewise and are being untrue to themselves. A great leader, most of the times, needs help when something does not go right. However, the most important quality is not to panic and lose focus

Eat that Gerbil

Imagine one morning you wake up and you eat a Gerbil for breakfast. This may sound disgusting but the best part is nothing worse than this could happen to you all day. So, the entire day, you will have a satisfaction that nothing worse than this could happen.

Here, Gerbil is the work that has the greatest impact on achieving your goals and the work that you are most likely to procrastinate starting. There is a different story which says, "If you have to eat two gerbils, eat the ugliest one first!". Let us put it this way, say you have two important tasks to complete, then start with the biggest, toughest and the most important task first.

Always discipline yourself to start immediately and then to stop when you complete that task. Do not let your mind wander in any other task. Always try to stop yourself from starting with the easier task. Remember, a small decision you take today affects your present and your future as well.

Now, if you plan to eat a living Gerbil, it will not sit quiet waiting for you to come and eat it. You must work hard to catch it first; so, the key to complete your task is by learning how to handle different situations and planning what is the most important thing you have to complete, and then start working on it.

CREATING A PRODUCTIVITY JOURNAL...

CREATING A PRODUCTIVITY JOURNAL...

It is always a good idea to keep a track of how much money you have spent and the time spent towards your goal, as this will help you analyze how productive you are. This will also help you examine and adjust your priorities and have a clear mindset towards your goals.

Having a productivity journal is just like having a time log, you can also use a spreadsheet to create one. Your journal should include three things, which are −

Activities,

Time spent on each activity, and

The progress or the outcome of the activity.

You must maintain all the three sections honestly.

The Urgent Vs Important Matrix

Sometimes we are busy handling things which tend to be important, but are not actually that important. The best example of this situation is the distracted zone. These tasks may seem important for people around, but they don’t help you to meet your goals.

Urgent and Important − As the name suggests the tasks in this section demand urgent attention, it includes handling critical issues as soon as they arise in the first place.

Important, but Not Urgent − This section includes success-oriented tasks which are important for achieving your goal, but they do not demand immediate attention.

Urgent, but Not Important − This section includes tasks which needs to be done urgently, but are not that important. These tasks don’t help you to take your goals forward. You can try delaying them or postponing them for some time or even finish them in your leisure time.

Not Urgent and Not Important − The tasks which are neither urgent nor important and are not even related to your goals are composed in this section. These can be considered as just some distractions you get in your way. None of your family and friends are labeled in this category. The things which are not important like playing games for hours are labeled in this section.

The 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule states that 80 percent of our success comes from only 20 percent of our actions. In simple words, it is important to focus more on the 20 percent which demands the actions to de-bone for the 80% success. Plan, prioritize and start working on the 20%.

The Glass Jar: Rocks, Pebbles, Sand and Water

This method of “rocks in a glass jar demonstration” is like the time management techniques which are used to demonstrate the importance of having all your priorities set. In this method, a glass jar is first filled with large rocks and then with pebbles.

After pebbles, the jar is filled with sand and water. The main objective of this exercise is to teach the participants that they have to put large rocks first, else it won’t fit later. The large rocks represent different goals which we need to prioritize in our lives to achieve.