Heard of Teenagers? Well, this is not about young swinging twenty-somethings. It’s about all those times in-between. Are you familiar with them? Those times in-between when you are waiting for a call from an important client, when the someone you’re supposed to meet suddenly has to reschedule at the last minute, and when you arrive early or on time for an appointment and the person or persons you’re supposed to meet is/ are late. Or it could be something as simple and annoying as an unexpected traffic snarl or you just can’t find a parking space.

Think and be honest. What do you do then? Do you chafe at the bit, curse and swear silently to yourself, what? Here are a few friendly reminders as to what you can and ought to do, or to have handy when needed.

Prioritize.

Do you “prioritize your schedule” or do you “schedule your priorities”? Heard this before? What have you done about it? Have you put your priorities down in writing, either on your google calendar, your filofax, your whatever you use for a calendar, and do you consciously use it to plan your day, week, month, year? Have you set aside birthdays, anniversaries, important milestones and markers? Have you deliberately set aside Employee Appreciation Days, etc., and stick by them come hell or high water? Have you taken the time to deliberately schedule one-to-one meetings with your staff, associates, customers and other stakeholders? It’s important but few business leaders do it. Want to be successful? Schedule it in! There will always be times in-between!

Listen.

Do you listen to podcasts? Try them out! You can get all sorts of ideas and very handy tools and tips about almost anything under the sun. Re-listening to a good podcast series helps, too, since we never really learn and apply anything at the first sitting, it is always assimilated via spaced repetition. Besides, we always get fresh insights from really good podcasts second or third time round. Don’t fancy podcasts? Listen to good audio books or good CDs by people you know and admire. Trust me, they’ll do you no end of good, because listening to good stuff generates good stuff in you.

Read.

Do you still take the time to read? I guess so, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this post. Read what you can during “tween” ages. Journal, magazine, good book, whatever. I recommend this, too – if no one is within earshot, read aloud to yourself. This gives you good practice in speaking and presentation skills, and reinforces your vocabulary no end. Oh, do look up a good dictionary for words you don’t know. These days, with almost everyone having at least a smart phone, there is no excuse not to do so! Don’t like to carry heavy books around? No excuse – get it downloaded onto your smartphone, iPad or whatever device you’re using, no big deal. But read. Read good stuff, non-fiction and fiction. Read from the classics. Read from authors you know and admire, and most of all, avoid trash like the plague. You’ll know what’s good and what’s not – you’re old enough, I don’t have to tell you.

Write.

Finally, if you have a portable writing device with you, write something. Blog, newsletter, article, a chapter of your book, whatever. Get it done! In fact, that’s exactly what I’m doing now – I am writing this post while waiting to both receive and make calls to some important people. Have a great day!