Both you and your clients get your share of junk snail mail every day, despite the fact that the post office has changed their rates so often that they have introduced the "forever" stamp. What do you do with all the stuff that comes across your desk every day? Sometimes I think our home office is killing at least one forest per week, and our company isn't an exception. Your clients may be opening your mail, but they too have been so inundated that they pitch it before you can even earn a glance-over.

When I first got into the business, our insurance application was a mere two pages. Now, we actually have a booklet that is literally 26 pages long—which doesn't even include HIPAA or special beneficiary designation forms. Somebody invented a cruel joke when they coined the term paperless office. When our clients see me whip out the booklet, they look at me with this forlorn expression: "Wonder how long this is going to take?"

We can't do much about those things that are thrust on us by the powers that be like the IRS and city hall. We can do something about how we handle this forest that hits our desk. Here are the four Aun Rules to live by:

Aun Rule Number 1: Handle the paper only once.

Aun Rule Number 2: If you pick it up, review it, and don't make a decision on what to do with it, fold a corner. If you pick it up again, fold another corner. If you pick it up again, fold another corner. Four corners ought to give you a clue about what to do with the document.

Aun Rule Number 3: Make a decision. Carnegie said, "If you're right 51 percent of the time, you'll be a winner." The number one problem facing middle management today is to get people to make decisions.

Aun Rule Number 4: "Ready, Fire, Aim." So what if you screw up—just MAKE A DECISION! Ben Franklin did something in his day that I find interesting, even by today's standards. He would not open his mail for weeks at a time. By the time he got around to opening it, most of the problems had solved themselves.

Get a good spam-blocker on your computer to keep unsolicited or unwanted e-mail from taking over your life. Because I have a number of web sites, I get about a thousand-plus such e-mails daily, but my spam-blocker system catches most of them.

Don't waste your time trying to set up blocking mechanisms. For each one you establish, there are dozens of ways around them. If someone wants to communicate badly enough with you, they can request admittance into your phone book. You at least get to review their e-mail in your suspect spam folder before having to admit them.

Everybody needs rules; without them, it would be incredibly hard to stay in business. One of my rules is that I will only see salespeople in my office from 5:00 am–7:00 am on Fridays.

If you want to sell me something, that's when I buy. My office, my rules. I'm very attentive and most times I'll buy from someone who is selling something I want. However, the pitch is over at 7:00 am sharp—no exceptions. If the person with whom I'm meeting isn't done, they have to come back next Friday. These parameters help move the meeting along and encourage people to address issues in a concise manner. Additionally, I know that only the people who genuinely want my attention will show up (after all, getting up at 5 am is no easy task for some of us!).

I'd like to have a quarter for every time someone said, "Have you got a minute?" I'd be a wealthy man. These are the four steps I use to respond to that query:

In a survey for an audio training system that I produced titled "Winning the Time Wars," I found that 40 percent of the people I surveyed say they need about 25 percent more time. Some 50 percent of the people in the survey said they actually needed 50 percent more time. There are many myths in time management, some of which include:

The myth of time shortage, that is, the contention that no one has enough time. Though people constantly make this claim, we all have the same amount. Time is not the problem; it's how we use the limited supply that is. Learn to just say no. Confusing priorities cause problems, the most typical of which is choosing to work on "second things" first.

The myth that time "flies" or "marches on." Actually, time stays constant. It is ever present, and always definitive. Time is not against us; usually, our own habits are.

The myth of activity. We confuse mere activity with actual achievement of substantial projects. While active people get more done, there are two kinds of "active" people: "proactive" and "reactive." You want to be "proactive."

The myth of the decision level. Some people think that the higher up in the organization a decision is made, the better the decision. This is not necessarily the case. We need to make better decisions quicker.

The myth of highly paid people, that is, people who are paid more must make smarter decisions. Since when does income dictate good decision-making skills?

The myth of the delayed decision. Does delay improve the quality of a decision? Not necessarily so; in fact, sometimes it can create a bigger problem than it solves. "Paralysis by analysis" is an accepted fact of life. Yes, you must get the facts, but then decide. You waste valuable time procrastinating decisions that are inevitable.

The myth of delegation. Delegating responsibilities and tasks to other saves time, worry, and responsibility—as long as these individuals have the capacity to complete the tasks in question. Additionally, it's best not to delegate activities that only you should be completing. Ask yourself: "Is this delegation or abdication?"

The myth of efficiency. The most efficient person is not necessarily the most effective. Don't try to do more cheaply that which should not be done at all. Effectiveness is doing the right things right. The danger in "multitasking" is that you run the risk of doing several things at once, and doing none of them well. Focus on the activities that need your full concentration; otherwise, you'll spend even more time correcting your mistakes.

The myth of omnipotence, that is, I have to do it because no one else can; only I can achieve these tasks faster and better. Perhaps, but don't do that which you can give to others to do (see "the myth of delegation"), or that which should not be done at all. They may well do it better than you, while you invest your time more wisely.

The myth of overworked executives. Clarence Randall once wrote, "Pity the overworked, disorganized martyrs." Many times, we hide behind our workload as the reasons for our failures. In reality, we're not really getting very much done; we're simply claiming that we are so that we have an excuse when certain things remain undone. Don't let the length of your "to-do" list intimidate you; break it down, and tackle it piece by piece.

The myth of the "open door." Some managers believe the open-door policy improves the effectiveness of his or her team, but more often than not, open door becomes open season. You go from being part of the solution to part of the problem. Effective managers are virtually unanimous in their desire for a quiet hour. I'm in my office by 5:00 am every day because I want three hours of quiet time before the phone starts to ring. There's nothing wrong with having an open-door policy; just modify it a bit and have regular hours during which employees and colleagues can "drop" by, with other hours off-limits.

The myth of problem identification. Some people tend to spend an inordinate amount of time "figuring out" what the problem is. In reality, identifying the problem is the easiest part of solving it. Avoid becoming a symptom of the problem by prolonging this process; determine how to move forward as quickly as possible.

The myth of time saving. Though many shortcuts are time savers, a lot of them can also produce bigger problems. No one can elect not to spend time or to spend it at a different rate. We must expect the unexpected. You never want to cut important conversations short or hasten a decision without critical facts. If you don't have time to do something right the first time, when will you find the time to fix it?

The great philosopher Pogo once remarked, "We have met the enemy and it is us!" Time is our scarcest resource; unless we learn to manage it, we likely cannot manage anything else. The question to ask is not "Where does your time go?" The correct question is "Where should your time go?"

There is precious little we can do to put a stop to the things we can't control in our lives, but there are still a lot of things we can control—including how we spend (some of) our time. The following tips will make a difference in how you spend this precious commodity.

We can't deflect all the "crappola" that comes our way daily, but we can make some decisions on how to process it. Social science research suggests that we can accomplish about 14 things in the course of a workday—be they appointments, phone calls, letters, or other daily business tasks.

So we have to learn to prioritize. I use a simple A-B-C-D system that works well for me. As I am building my calendar for the day to determine which 14 things I can get done, I have to make decisions on which are the most critical, and which can go undone if need be.

One of the best things you can do is set your major goals annually, and revisit them on a quarterly basis. This gives you a terrific opportunity to fix what needs fixing. Then, if you find that something is not working, you can quit doing it immediately.

I begin both my agency and personal yearly planning for the following year in September of each year. I use a color code system that seems to work well for me. Green days are go or work days. Those are the days on which I want to be in front of clients. Ideally, I want four of those days per week with a minimum of four people per day on the calendar.

Yellow days are the days I use for file preparation, paperwork, phone calling, marketing, continuing education, seminars, conventions, and any other work-related, nonselling activity.

Red days are play or days off. Many of these are chosen for you by custom and by choice. Typically, all the holidays are red days. Family events, birthdays, anniversaries, and vacations are also in this category for me. Some of these are up to you to decide—so choose them wisely.

Takeaway Servicing and Selling Tactics