ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — Stick-to-it-ness… having a plan and sticking to it and ascertaining how you spend your time.

That’s the message Productivity and Organizational consultant Paris Love gave to the lunchtime crowd last Wednesday at the Central Annex in Robertsdale as part of the Central Baldwin Chamber of Commerce’s Second Quarter Business Seminar.

With lunch provided by Willy T’s, those in attendance got some pointers in “Key Steps to Managing Your Time” through a powerpoint by Love, who is a business consultant with the Women’s Business Center, Inc. of Mobile and is part of their Speaker’s Bureau.

“Time management is about calculating the use of your most valuable resources and the absence of this management skill is portrayed by last minute rushes in meeting deadlines, meetings, days which seem to slip by unproductively, crises which suddenly appear from nowhere,” Love explained.

Some of the tips Love shared with the crowd are:

-Better manage your time by learning to say ‘no’ and not taking on more than you can handle.

-Create a to-do list. “Studies show that people who write their lists down are 90 percent more likely to complete their list than those who do not.”

-Combine tasks. Organize your time in blocks based on logistics. In other words, plan to do several things in the same location or vicinity, rather than going back and forth.

-Put items back where they belong, “ A place for everything and everything in its place”. This alone will save you time.

-Be sure to schedule time for you. If you don’t take care of number one who else will. Turn off the phone and chime for emails. This is your time.

-Delegate things and get help. Follow a routine and exercise.

-Avoid time wasters. “Something or someone that causes you a lot of time doing something that is unnecessary or does not produce any benefit.” Examples of these are surfing the internet, social media, phone calls, emails and trying to do everything yourself.

-Understand that you actually have “time” to do the things that matter the most to you.”

Love also shared some statistics about time management as well.

-There are 168 hours in a week

-Subtract 56 hours for sleep. 112 hours remain

-Subtract 40 hours for work. 72 hours remain

-Subtract six hours for personal time. 66 hours remain.

-Subtract five hours for exercise. 61 hours remain.

Subtract 41 hours for driving, family, eating, etc. In this example, 20 hours remain.

“Take a look at this information and manipulate the hours to see where you come out at the end of the week. Do you have 20 hours left over to play with? Or are you in the red?,” Love asked.

Originally from Chicago but now a resident of Gulf Shores, Love is an former military sergeant of the United States Army Reserve and holds undergraduate degrees in Psychology from DePaul University in Chicago and Fashion Design from Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia and two master’s degrees im Human Resources and Business Administration from the Keller Graduate School of Management.

It was while working in corporate America that Love discovered her passion for professional organizing and realized her calling to be a professional organizer. With those skills and her attention to detail, she started Organized With Love, LLC and provides services to busy professionals.

In addition to having her own business, Love is involved and a member of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce and the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce. She also serves on the board for the Gulf Shores Women’s Club and Christian Service Center in Gulf Shores and founded the Gulf Coast Women’s Business Association. Since January 2011, Love has worked part time for the Women’s Business Center.

The Women’s Business Center is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 and its mission is the economic empowerment of women by assisting them to start and grow successful small businesses. They serve Mobile, Baldwin, Clarke, Monroe, Washington, Conecuh and Escambia counties and provide technical training in management, finance, marketing and procurement, computer basic training, business counseling, mentor and networking and bank-ready business plans.

For more information on Love’s business, go to www.OrganizeWithLove.com or call (770) 722-2748. or email paris@organizewithlove.com. For more information on the Women’s Business Center, contact (251) 660-2725 or go to www.womenbiz.biz or email plove@womenbiz.biz.