Q: There never seems to be enough time in the day to keep up with my job. How can I become more efficient?

Lois Bolin, a Naples-based employee-development consultant, answers:

Knowing who you are and where you are going is an essential key to success. Another essential key is to effectively manage where you are going.

Time management is the language of reactive people when they can't accomplish all their objectives. They blame external factors (time). Self-management is the language of proactive people. They place responsibility when it rightly belongs-on the self. When shifting from a time- to self-management philosophy, a new attitude is needed: Take responsibility for results-don't focus on being busy.

Many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little, addicted to the buzz or adrenaline. While crisis, real or self-imposed, can be energizing initially, it often leads to high stress, a disrupted private life and failure of projects.

The buzz is the why behind the time manager. What is the why behind the self-managers?

Steven Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, writes, "You can only say no to outside factors when you have a bigger yes burning inside."

Here are three big whys that motivate a self-manager to use time wisely:

1. Stewardship. They know that their lives are not their own but that they have instead a higher purpose to fill.

2. Personal fulfillment. The need for a legacy, a sense of satisfaction and a feeling of achievement are the ultimate goals.

3. Family and friends. Many people profess these to be top priorities, but the successful self-manager treats them as such.

These tips can lead to success and fulfillment:

. Align your career and life goals with your why and work toward written results.

. Distinguish between urgent and important. The ASU syndrome-artificial sense of urgency-requires daily checks to keep you focused and on target.

. Create a space that is conducive to your style of working.

. Get the timing right. Do the things that require maximum brain capacity while you're at your best.

. Don't exhaust your attention span. Take a five-minute break every hour or so to help your concentration.

. Avoid postponing important tasks-break them into smaller, manageable tasks.

. Avoid interruptions. Set the rule that when people come with problems, you allow five minutes to express the problem before presenting two possible solutions.

Bolin, president of Success Fulfillment, can be reached at 594-2978 or sfbolin@aol.com.

Q: I like being a supervisor, but sometimes making decisions is tough. I don't want to be wrong.

Jan Kantor, a business consultant and executive coach in Naples, answers:

Few skills are more important for successful managers than being able to make good choices. Unfortunately, most managers have a difficult time with this skill. Most people don't like having to make up their minds, especially on short notice. Every decision involves some degree of risk. And risk can be scary. So how do you make decisions and survive? How do you reduce your chances of looking like a jerk with a bad decision?

First you need to understand yourself and your bias in order to make better decisions. Fears and bias can cause you to overshadow your logic.

Here are some pointers to help you maintain your objectivity when making decisions:

. Check your stress level. High stress levels may put you in a panic. You may base your decisions on whatever you can grab on to quickly. You are more likely to cut short your careful evaluation of a situation and shoot from the hip when under stress.

. Balance intuition with facts. All too often managers base their decisions on gut feelings or only go by the straight facts. The ideal situation is to combine facts and intuition.

. Check out your feelings. Different emotions can cause a variety of responses in decision making. A decision you make one day when you are angry may be completely different than you would have made another day when you are happy. Question your feelings and motives.

. Are you making wish decisions? If you want something to be decided a certain way badly enough, do you distort the facts to make it so? Are you purposely overlooking things?

. Get good advice. As time allows, run your situation by trustworthy sources before making a decision. The old adage of "two heads are better than one" very often prevents bad decision making.

There will always be decisions that will make you uncomfortable. Decisions mean risk, and risk can leave you vulnerable. Fortunately, you can improve your rate of good decision making and become more comfortable with the process when you maintain your objectivity.

Learn more at www.jankantor.com or e-mail kantor716@comcast.net.