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Today I will share how I work by the hour, not in a 4-5 hour block of time.

I enjoy working in powerful spurts of 30 minutes to an hour several times a day with breaks in between. Typically, I get started with an hour of work between 6 and 8am (either 6-7 or 7-8), followed by or preceded by some stretching or a workout. I then have a nice relaxing breakfast, and then do another hour of work around 9/10am.

I also work for about an hour after lunch (1-2pm), an hour mid afternoon (3-4pm) and an hour after dinner (7-8pm). By taking at least an hour between my power work periods, I am able to recharge, refocus, and maximize my productivity by combining it to short, powerful periods of time.

What do you do to manage your time?

Are you having trouble making the right decisions for your staff and for your business? Come to an interactive 90 minute workshop in Saratoga Springs in April. We have three dates and times available.

http://saratogacollege.eventbrite.com

We will go over tools that you can use to plan your decisions better, manage your time better, and make better choices.

Some decisions involve the hire or not to hire decision; many businesses rush to judgement on candidates to fill needs rather than assessing the opportunities available. Don't be the business who operates in panic mode all the time!

Tune in to a special edition of Capital District Business Profiles on Valentine's Day featuring motivational speaker and career counselor Dr. Tom Denham.

Dr. Tom has worked with colleges, students, and career professionals for many years in the Capital District and has great insights on how to make a career transition.

Have you fallen in love with your career? If you haven't, it may be time to listen to your heart and also listen in to our show 330-415 on Valentine's Day.

You may be in a situation now where you are unsure where the next step may lead, and its time to remove the fear from your life by facing it and moving on!

As the New Year started, I committed myself to committing to more "big picture" time and it began today with an all day retreat with the folks at LifeStylized. My new friends Rono and Sierra invited me to attend an all day workshop to "Envision 2012" where I participated in a number of great activities to recharge and refocus on the bigger picture.

45 minutes after the session ended, I walked away with a renewed sense of self as well as a renewed focus on the future of my company and the future of me. I've got some great action items for my business and my personal life and am on my way to reinvigorating my life with passion.

Why did I attend? Because I felt I didn't need to, but because I wanted to. Many times, I fell companies and people don't make the time to focus on yearly goals until the goals have been missed. Others make time for events like this after a major tragedy. I disagree with both of these approaches. As I mentioned at the beginning of today's events, my company grew over 60% in revenues last year from 2010, and this year our goal is to bring in the total of 2010 and 2011 combined. Lofty goals, but realistic given the great people I've been able to bring in as virtual interns, colleagues and freelancers.

It's not too late to retreat this year for a day, a weekend, or an hour. Put it on your calendar and find time to focus now, rather than later.

How do people know whether or not they should frequent your business? Do you have a good website? Do you advertise?

From an HR perspective, some people need to hear you in action or see you live in order to get a better feel for whether or not they will want to work with you or for you.

Tune in to an episode of Capital District Business Profiles, which debuts this coming Monday at 7:30pm (and in February will also air Wednesday mornings at 10am) to check out some of the local businesses that may be offering opportunities for doing business or potential job opportunities in the future.

On Capital District Business Profiles, we will be interviewing local business owners to find out more about their business and how they go about doing what they do.

Stop by the Small Business Expo in Latham at Michael's Banquet House on Saturday December 17th from 12-3pm to see a business trade show in action. The event is free and will feature around 40 independent and small businesses from the Capital Region.

If you stop in today to the Braathe Enterprises booth, we will be doing a Importance of a Good LinkedIn Profile presentation from 1-130.

We also will have available gift certificates for consultations on HR, business strategy, marketing and more

For more information, call 518-290-0812 or email us at info@saratogacollege.com

This event presents a great opportunity to see what opportunities are out there for starting your own business, as well as an opportunity to share with the community. Admission is free, but food donations (non-perishable) will be accepted at the door to go to the Regional Food Bank.

Hope to see you there!

We have already awarded two 12 week online interactive business classes to two Capital Region residents seeking to take the next step in their career, whether it be start a business, find a new job or career, or learn something new to help them in their existing situation.

We are delighted to be offering these free courses for 12 lucky recipients this holiday season in the spirit of workforce development, business startup incubation, and career training for those who have been let go or downsized.

To enter for a spot in the 12 Classes of Christmas contest, send an email to info@saratogacollege.com with your request for a free course, why you want to take the course, and what you hope to learn as a result of it. The courses included Modern Marketing Methods, Exceptional Human Resources and Entrepreneurship, among others.

The first 12 submissions will very likely also be the 12 recipients (the first two were inspiring people so we selected them right away), so get in your email request today!

Being succinct sometimes can be difficult, but as we have seen with Twitter, a lot can be said in 140 characters or less.

Our newest contest at Saratoga College is a 140 Character contest.

Tweet to us @SaratogaCollege in 140 characters or less by December 9th why you deserve to take a free class from Saratoga College. We will judge the entries and pick a winner on December 9th.

I took this free career quiz back in college and it really laid the foundation for what I have ended up doing for the past several years since I took it. Still a great tool many years later.

Send me your results if you take this and I can give you some advice on businesses you may want to start or jobs you may want to pursue

http://www.princetonreview.com/careerquiz.aspx

robert@saratogacollege.com

I'm offering a 12 week course called Career Communications Concepts online. This course goes over the basics of presentations, conference calls, webinars, resume building, LinkedIn profile creation and much much more.

For one lucky winner, I am going to be offering free access to this course. To enter the contest, send a 200 word or less email to me at robert@saratogacollege.com with the reasons why I should give you access to the course. I'll pick the winner on 11/5/11 after reading all the entries.

Whether you are out of work, looking to improve your position in life through better communication, or looking to enhance the skills you already have, Career Communications Concepts is a course at SaratogaCollege.com that you should definitely consider!