Lots of people dream of becoming a manager and manage people and do anything to get the positions however little do they realise that management isn’t an easy task. You have to go through the jobs you will be managing in the future before you can now how to manager and handle a team of employees.

This is where many managers have gone wrong. They think they can do it and become managers however as soon as their first month in management, they can’t handle the pressure and quit!

I have included a few tips below which can help:

• Figure out where you are wasting your time. Is it on making personal calls or reading unnecessary emails? Once you have determined your time wasting activities, set yourself goals whereby you can try to eliminate these tasks.
• Implement a plan by which your goals can be tracked. That way you know if things are working. Use a software program such as Outlook to physically manage your time and plan out how long you will spend on each task throughout the day.
• Prioritize your tasks. Some will be more urgent than others and so it is important to spend your time effectively, and not just take on tasks as and when they come in.
• Delegate your work to colleagues. Sometimes it is important to realise than we cannot do everything ourselves and so some tasks can either be delegated in house, or even outsourced.
• Lastly, set time limits for each of your tasks. This may be difficult at first, but the more you do it the better you will get at estimating. It will also help to realise which tasks are realistically possible for each day.

Time Management is much more about changing our behaviour towards our work and can help to us to cope with our workload and hopefully lead to less stress.

So what can all of us do to keep an eye on our spending during these tricky months? One simple option is to get a notepad and record the your incoming and outgoings. Obviously if the later is larger than your incomings then you have a problem; but once you have discovered this you will be able to do something about it rather than blindly getting deeper and deeper into debt each month.

Another way of managing your money is to cut up those high interest credit cards and instead search around for low interest cards with free transfer rates to put all your debts into one area.

The main thing is not do ignore your bills or panic. Monitor your money and you can then concentrate on putting plans in place to resolve the situation and eventually get yourself out of debt.

Small amounts of stress can be good for us, and help us to stay alert and motivated to complete a particular task. However long, continuous periods of stress can be detrimental to our health, causing illnesses such as stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, anxiety, and at the very top level, heart attacks.

So what kind of things can we do to combat or help reduce the levels of stress?
One thing we can do is to take time for ourselves, whether this involves socialising with friends or taking a long soak in the bath, it’s important that we take some time out to relax. If you struggle to relax, techniques such as yoga can help.
Don’t avoid your issues and instead confront them. Talk them through with a friend and work out how to break them up in manageable chunks. This may involve learning when to say no!

Try and distract yourself. Physical exercise can help with this, as well as releasing endorphins which give us a feeling of well-being.

It seems the problem is widespread and those that are most affected are middle managers and women. Studies have shown that 54% of women have suffered from bullying compared to 35% of men.

Bullying can take many forms, from work overload, constant criticism or verbal abuse. The effects of all this mean that many victims take sick time off work as many work places are unable to deal with the issue.

So what should you do if you feel you are a victim of bullying at work. First and foremost you should confront bully and explain to them, that their behaviours towards you is unacceptable. If that is not successful and you are a member of a union, talk to your rep and explain the situation. They can then offer you help and support. Keep a diary of any instances in which you feel victimised and lastly if the situation does not improve you may need to submit a formal complaint.

The message is that, no one should feel victimised in their work environment. However, some will always see fit to take advantage of the situation and make allegations against work colleagues which are unfounded. This I feel is also a form of bullying working the other way round, so make sure that if you are going to make a complaint that you have definite reason to do so.

But now his son, Darren Ferguson is following in his footsteps and is currently managing Preston. Preston fans are reaping the benefits of this, as the clubs first signing under this new manager was Danny Welbeck, who is on loan from none other than his father’s club Manchester United. 19 year old Welbeck who has already scored 5 goals for United, is a big bonus for the team and who knows, he could be the first of many United players to be loaned to the club.

Cantona’s name is still sung on the terraces week after week, and he has quoted that although he currently manages the French beach football national team, he has his sights set on a bigger club. Stating that he hopes Fergie will live forever, he said that the only job that would equal that of managing United is managing the England national team.

Watch out Capello…Eric is after your job!!!

Anger Management Classes

The anger management classes were seen as a way for Brown to improve his public image following the attack – it was reported that he didn’t have to attend but thought it would be a good idea. Some insiders also suggest that Rhianna should also have attended as she is a bit ‘temperamental’ herself. Rhianna had to be taken to hospital after the attack that supposedly happened after an argument in their rented Lamborghini.

Royal Mail are taking on more than double their usual number of extra staff to cope with the strikes and increase in post on the run up to Christmas.

Imminent Postal Strikes

With 2 strikes planned imminently a CWU (Communication Workers Union) spokesman said:

“Instead of spending vast sums of money on untrained temporary workers we urge the Royal Mail to engage with talks to reach an agreement to get the permanent staff back to work.

“Royal Mail is planning for failure here instead of addressing the concerns of its staff. Postal workers deserve more than this dismissive attitude.

“CWU remains available for talks to avoid a strike.”

After the results this weekend in the Barclays Premier League I listened to BBC radio station 5 live on the my journey home from Old Trafford after watching the mighty reds Manchester United go top of the league. There were many callers calling for Rafa Benitez to be sacked as Liverpool manager and that he should be replaced by Mourinho or Frank Rijkaard, previously of Barcelona. Somehow I feel that Mourinho would not go to Liverpool. I think he is holding out for a return to England to manage United once Fergie finally retires. Personally I believe managing the reds is his dream job and I’d put a bet on now for Mourinho being odds on to be the next man in charge of Manchester United.