Guaranteed to Save Time

Posted on January 3, 2007 by Harry K. Jones

Stressed for time? Who isn’t? I personally guarantee you can immediately find dozens—I’d say hundreds, but you’d think I was exaggerating—of tips and ideas to help you organize your home, your office, and your life!

Maria Gracia is a home-organizing consultant specializing in helping people get better organized to live the kind of stress-free life they’ve always dreamed of. She’s published two best sellers:

Finally Organized, Finally Free for the Home
Finally Organized, Finally Free for the Office

She’s also created a web site that, in my opinion, is worth its weight in gold! It was recommended to me by an audience member after one of my time management seminars. I must admit that I was totally overwhelmed during my first visit to www.getorganizednow.com. There was simply far too much information to comprehend in one visit. To help you avoid the mistake of trying to take it all in an one time, try this.

Step #1
Go to the web site and look for the words: “ATTENTION: First-Time Visitors.” Click on that phrase, and you’ll be taken on a very organized and informative site overview. From that point on you can decide what you want to focus on.

Step #2
Look for the words: “Get Your Free Get-Organized-Now Idea Pak.” Then simply enter your first name and full e-mail address. 10 seconds tops. You’ll instantly receive a FREE idea-pak containing dozens of ideas to help you organize every facet of your life!

Step #3
Look for the words: “Free Get-Organized-Now Newsletter.” From that moment on, you’ll join close to 175,000 other subscribers in receiving hundreds of little-known tips to better organize your life.

I have absolutely no affiliation with Maria but am so very proud to tell others about her fantastic web site! I do so less to promote her site than to provide others with this incredible resource. I must admit that there were numerous areas that simply were not useful to me. For every one of those areas, I found dozens of others that were extremely useful, informative, and very valuable. This site is an extraordinary buffet of priceless resources and you should treat it very much the same way. Simply pick and choose whatever you find that may fulfill your current needs.

There are a vast number of areas you’ll want to browse and they’re constantly updated. Not only does Maria share her own experiences, tips, and ideas but also provides a section titled “Readers Tips.” This area exposes you to the ideas of 175,000 other subscribers—quite a resource! It also provides you with the opportunity of sharing your suggestions with others.

Some of the other areas I’m certain you’ll find of interest includes:

Monthly Checklists
Professional Organizations
E-Courses / Slides
Organizing Clinic
Free Downloads
Featured Recipes
Featured Articles
Discussion Forum
G.O.N! Radio
Web Polls
Quick Tips
Inspiration
Media
Blog
Free Stuff
G.O.N.! Store

You’ll also find dozens of valuable links in each newsletter providing you with even MORE information from a variety of excellent resources.

If you feel like I do about the internet, you’re always looking for the hidden charge, the catch, the hook, the gimmick. There are things available for purchase on the site if you choose, but the total cost of everything I’ve mentioned here is $000.00! It’s all FREE and it will SAVE you an incredible amount money, time and effort. A resource like this is indeed rare in today’s world. Don’t let it slip by.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

A Fitting Tribute

Posted on December 22, 2006 by Harry K. Jones

I’ve visited the historic Arlington Cemetery many times over the years but have never been there during the holiday season. I’ve never left the grounds without a tear in my eye, a lump in my throat, and a tightness in my chest. It’s hard to explain. It’s overwhelming. You have to be standing there taking it all in with your own eyes to truly understand.

I found it very interesting to learn that these wreaths—some 5,000—are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine. The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths but covers the trucking expense as well. He’s done this since 1992. A wonderful guy. Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to D.C. with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one of the poorest parts of the state.

During this holiday season, be sure to say a prayer of thankfulness for these veterans who paid the ultimate price to protect a way of life we so often take for granted, for their families and loved ones, and for those who are today stationed all over the world defending the greatest country on earth. We can all do something to show our appreciation and respect … much like Merrill Worcester and the wonderful children of Maine. Let’s all light just one little candle this season.

Why don’t we read more stories of human warmth like this? They’re out there. Make an effort to find them and share them with as many people as you can. God Bless America.

About Harry K. Jones

New Formula for Business and Personal Success

Posted on December 22, 2006 by Harry K. Jones

When I was very young, I began my education with the ongoing journey through the (misnamed) “Three R’s” (Readin’, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmatic). In fact, for years I could never figure out why those key words were always misspelled. Nobody ever bothered to explain it to me, and I guess I was too shy to ask. At that time I knew nothing of alliteration (a stylistic device, or literary technique, in which successive words—more strictly, stressed syllables—begin with the same consonant sound or letter. Alliteration is a frequent tool in poetry, but it is also common in prose, particularly to highlight short phrases. Whew!) It also never dawned on me that R, W, and A (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic) simply didn’t have much of a ring to it!

Anyway, I’m currently on an aggressive campaign to persuade the masses to adopt a new formula for success. This simple credo (A Latin word which means: “a set of fundamental beliefs or a guiding principle.”) is very basic and easily adapted to both your business and personal lives. The results are phenomenal! The formula is elementary.

Three R’s + Three L’s = SUCCESS

We can’t lose sight of the basics (readin’, ‘riting, and ‘rithmatic). A fundamental education is essential to a successful career in today challenging environment. However, a critical addition to this formula occurs with the addition of the “Three L’s”—Look, Listen, and Learn! My greatest fear is that these elements are so basic that they won’t be taken seriously. There is so much more to be learned by fully utilizing these simple elements.

LOOK at newspapers, magazines, blogs, television, video, the internet, local business, global business, your competitors, current trends, and your industry to name just a few resources.

LISTEN to your current leadership, your employees, your peers, your customers, your team members, your associations, your mentors, experts in your field, consultants, authors, family, neighbors, and the list goes on and on.

LEARN is the most critical element of the three. Anyone can look and listen but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will learn from doing so. How many organizations, companies, and individuals have you known that seem to continue to make the same mistakes again and again? They don’t learn from their own experience nor that of others who have successfully attained goals or failed miserably in the attempt. There are numerous learning experiences provided to us on a daily basis, and few of us take full advantage of this tremendous asset. We often speak of the proverbial knowing-doing gap in our seminars and keynotes as well as the crucial need to close that gap. It matters little what we know if we do nothing with that knowledge.

One of the things we’d like to accomplish with this blog is to assist you in your pursuit of the “Three L’s.” We are constantly seeking examples, both positive and negative, to be used in our seminars, keynotes, and consulting relationships. We do so by researching all of the resources mentioned above. We’d like to share a number of those examples here in the hopes that you’ll be able to gain a variety of tips, tools, and strategies that will contribute to your search for personal success.

Caution: Don’t make the sometimes fatal mistake of disregarding information because it doesn’t come from your particular industry, area of the country, or from a business or person you may not respect or approve of. So much of our learning can come from the observation of those who have failed OR those who may entertain a different viewpoint than our own. I’d rather learn what not to do from the trials and tribulations of others than having to experience it myself.

There are lessons to be learned every day from every walk of life and so few of us make the time or effort to benefit from such a generous gift. We hope to make it a little easier for you here. By the way, if you feel you have a learning experience that you’d like to share with others, we’d be more than happy to review your contribution in the hope and anticipation that we can pass it on to others while attributing the content to you. Simply send your content to us.

One last observation for the record. Our “Three L’s” are all spelled properly … a lesson learned from a young boy who wondered for years why the Three R’s weren’t!

About Harry K. Jones

J.D. Power and Associates: An Excellent Resource for Research

Posted on December 19, 2006 by Harry K. Jones

Who is J.D. Power and Associates and why should we value anything they have to say?

Established in 1968, J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information firm that conducts independent and unbiased surveys of customer satisfaction, product quality and buyer behavior. Today, the firm’s services include industry-wide syndicated studies, proprietary (commissioned) tracking studies, media studies, forecasting, and training services, as well as business operations analyses, and consultancies on customer satisfaction trends.

What makes J.D. Power consumer ratings different?

Since 1968, J.D. Power and Associates has been conducting quality and customer satisfaction research based on survey responses from millions of consumers worldwide. They represent the voice of the customer by translating survey responses from consumers and businesses into studies and reports that companies worldwide use to improve their business.

In fact, J.D. Power and Associates has developed and maintains one of the largest, most comprehensive historical customer satisfaction databases in existence, which includes feedback on the shopping, buying, and ownership experiences for a variety of products and services from a variety of industries. Although they are best known for their work with the automotive industry, they also work extensively with boats, electronics, finance, insurance, healthcare, homes, telecommunications, and travel.

Bottom Line:

J.D. Power and Associates is an excellent resource for any research you want to do in the future in any of the areas listed above. They have tremendous credentials, decades of experience, a wide network of very credible resources, and an excellent reputation for providing a vast amount of unbiased data. They base their research solely on responses from millions of consumers and business customers worldwide.

Visit their website at www.jdpower.com.

About Harry K. Jones

Read 52 Books Next Year!

Posted on December 8, 2006 by Harry K. Jones

For those of you who have little or no time to read the most recent business books arriving daily on the shelves of your favorite book store and/or those who don’t want to spend the typical $20 to $40 currently being asked for those best sellers, here’s an alternative.

There are several services available today that have done the ground work for you. They now offer an outline of the key points and ideas of full-length business books, which appear in quick, easy, and very affordable easy-to-read summaries.

Here’s a quick example of the concept in a nutshell:

Buy the book:

Average business book today contains between 200 and 300 pages.
Average cost is $20 to $30 (or more).
Average reading time is 20 to 25 hours.

Use a book summary service:

Pages have been reduced to 8 to 10 (approximately 5000 words).
Reading time has been reduced to an average of ONE hour.
The price has been reduced to $2 to $3 per book (However, you are usually required to subscribe to the service for at least a year, which turns out to be $24 to $36 totally—the average price of a single book!)
You usually have your choice of a variety of formats: printed summary, an online summary, audio (cassette or CD) summary and formats for Palm and Pocket PC handheld devices, and MP3 players.
These distillations cover the book’s main points and highlights and give you a working knowledge of its contents. A summary isn’t merely a digest or excerpts strung together. It’s a seamless document that reads (and holds your interest) like a magazine article. And you retain more of the content when you read a summary than when you read a book. A major university study proved that a few years back.

Imagine investing ONE hour per week reading these summaries. At the end of the year, you will have reviewed 52 best sellers in your effort to grow and progress in your chosen field. How many books did YOU read last year?

I’ve listed a few of these companies below that offer this service. You can find many others by simply searching for the words “Executive Book Summaries.” Look over what each offers and choose the offering that best meets your needs. Save time, save money, and learn ten times what you did last year! Do it now!

About Harry K. Jones

Welcome to the AchieveMax® Blog

Posted on December 1, 2006 by Harry K. Jones

Welcome to the AchieveMax® Blog … the blog created to provide you with the latest buzz from the business world in addition to a constant offering of C.A.N.I. (Continuous And Never-ending Improvement) tips, tools, and strategies.

Official Definition of Blog:
Blog is short for weblog. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the web site.

We’ve decided to utilize the virtues of the above described blog to keep you abreast of some of the most recent, interesting, and not always publicized news from the business world.

We’ll attempt to find answers to your inquiries, share any news you feel worthy of passing on, and keep you supplied with humorous, challenging, and entertaining tidbits that will hopefully keep you coming back to us on a regular basis.

I’m Harry K. Jones, Vice President of Creative Development for the AchieveMax® company. Our team of professional speakers and consultants delivers performance improvement solutions to organizations to help them achieve their maximum potential. Our uniqueness lies in how we do it. We help organizations recognize, involve, develop, and focus their human assets with breakthrough strategies and secrets of innovative leaders.

In short, we provide consulting, facilitation, seminars, and keynote presentations. If you’d like to know more about our organization, simply visit our web site at http://www.AchieveMax.com/. You’ll also find background statements on each of our team members … future networking resources you can count on. I think you’ll find our diverse backgrounds not only interesting but potentially very useful as resources.