The Kid Casino

It’s amazing how many sayings there are in our culture about the number three. Think about it: “Good things (or bad) come in threes;” “Third time’s the charm.” A rule of thumb in speaking is, no more than three major points in a speech. (That was three examples, wasn’t it?) And then there are all of the mystical references to powerful threesomes. My purpose today is to look purely at the practical application of this “rule of three,” and see how we can use it to become more effective managers of our lives and priorities.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

* What are the three most important goals I want to achieve this year?

* What are the three most important things I need to complete today?

* What if I had only one hour in which to accomplish something important, what three things would I choose to do?

* What three clients or prospects do you most need to contact today?

It may be difficult to boil down your seemingly endless “to do” list to just three things, but asking the question forces you to make some powerful decisions about what is really important in your life, and what is, as Shakespeare wrote, is “sound and fury signifying nothing.” And while you may still have many other tasks you want to complete, knowing your top three will begin to create a clarity, focus and momentum to your day.

Thoreau once admonished people of his day, who lived without the so-called time saving devices of cell phones, email, fax machines and rapid transportation, to let the affairs of the day number one and two, rather than having a long list of duties and obligations to tend to. I think he was on to something. What I’ve noticed (and hear from coaching clients and many others I speak to) is that we all try to cram too much stuff into too little time. As a result we’re on constant overwhelm, running faster and faster but making little real progress toward what really matters because we don’t know what really matters.

Experiment today and in the week ahead with this rule of three. Decide the three most important tasks you want to accomplish today and go at them first. Work the rest of your “to do” list around your top three. You may need to declare some time boundaries, i.e. closing your office door, letting the phone go to voicemail or not responding to every email that drops into your in box, but the results may well be worth it. Far too many of us (myself included) allow others to steal our time and make their priorities ours. It doesn’t have to be that way. This week I encourage you to use the power of three: to focus, to build momentum, to create clarity about what’s really important to you.

As with anything, applying the rule of three may require some extra discipline at first. But remember, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!”

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Quote of the Week
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“One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.” ~~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Betty Mahalik has been coaching small business owners, independent professionals and leaders who want to achieve more but stress less, since 1996. Her background includes several years in the broadcasting and public relations fields prior to starting her own firm in 1987. She is an accomplished public speaker and corporate trainer specializing in communications, goal-setting and leveraging your strengths. Since 2001, she has written a weekly motivational message, free to subscribers, titled Monday Morning Coach. To subscribe or learn more about Betty’s coaching and training services, visit http://www.dynamic-coaching.com

Mortgage banking software can be useful to people who are looking into buying a home. This software can help people research the type of mortgage they are looking for and can even be used during the application process. The story of Mary Hart exemplifies the uses of mortgage banking software.

Mary Hart resides in the quiet isolation of a New Jersey suburb. For the past couple of years she has been confined to her modest residence of a two-storied rented house. She was left alone to fend for herself and her son, but her only source of hope; her son left for greener pastures in Washington where he took up a lucrative corporate job and rarely visited his ailing mother.

Problems with her landlord over the years left her dejected and she desperately wanted to own a house. It was that then someone suggested to her to go for a loan in lieu of her property that would eventually belong to her once her loans were repaid. Thankfully a banking mortgage software program that caters to the specific needs of such persons in distress and who are unable to venture out proved to be a boon for her.

The software is unique an incorporates a single system to give the necessary back up to lease, hire purchase and loans and provides provisions for online and offline application processing. This reduces the anxiety of customers who are relieved of the ordeal of making frequent visits to the banks.

The software is created with the aim of catering to the various demands of the customers and is also well suited to meet the accounting needs of the organization. Another revealing aspect of this software is that it meets the necessities of any installment oriented loans system. The system design is compatible to the requirements of the leasing, hire purchase, consumer finance, and housing finance business.

Mortgage Software provides detailed information about mortgage software, mortgage banking software, mortgage broker software and more. Mortgage Software is affiliated with Mortgage Note Buyer.

Term life insurance is very simple, and can easily be purchased online. For this reason the number of people buying term life insurance online has doubled in two years. There are some advantages and disadvantages to buying term life insurance online.

Advantages

Term life insurance is simple, there is no cash value, so it is easy to comparison shop for the right policy for you

There are numerous websites that will compare hundreds of different policies. This makes it easy to take advantage of a policy that you otherwise would not have found

You eliminate salesmen that may have been able to convince you to buy a more expensive policy that you don’t really need.

Disadvantages

There is no personal service. If you have questions it is often hard to find someone you feel comfortable talking to

Often agents can offer special rates or deals, and that is lost when you are working through comparison shopping online

When you buy online, there is no one to walk you through the process so you need to be sure that you know how much coverage you need and what type of term life insurance you want to buy. There are three basic types of term life insurance: Decreasing Term, Annual Renewable Term, and Level Term.

Decreasing Term

This policy is set up for a specific number of years usually between ten and thirty years. The face amount decreases over that period of time. This is a good type of policy for a couple that will have fewer financial responsibilities as time passes.

Annual Renewable Term

This type of policy has the same level of death benefit, but the rates increase each year. You have to renew the insurance each year. This is the most temporary life insurance coverage you can get and may be useful for a person whose situation changes often.

Level Term

This is usually the most common type of policy. It has a level death benefit and a fixed rate for a specific amount of time. Most allow you to renew the policy when the term is up if it is desired. This is most popular because the premium remains low, especially if the policy is bought when a person is young, for the life of the policy.

Good things to ask about or include with your policy are:

Make sure the insurance is “written in trust.” This insures that the money goes immediately to those you list. It also makes sure that those who receive the money do not have to pay taxes on it.

Consider having the policy also include critical illness insurance. This will provide money for your family if you suffer from long-term illness. Buying it with an insurance policy is usually cheaper, but be sure not to confuse this with terminal illness coverage.

Be sure that you can easily find contact information for the company you are buying the policy from.

Before buying a policy do a little research about the company and make sure it is legitimate.

Chris Simons is a prolific freelance writer. You are welcomed to visit http://life-insurance.cyberinformer.com, for more information on Life Insurance.