How to Use the Good Timing Guide

HOW TO READ THE CALENDAR

TIME-OUT

Time-out periods begin at the time marked by a red hourglass on its side, and end at the time indicated by a green or yellow light or an upright hourglass. If you pay attention to nothing else, watch for Time-Outs. Actions or decisions made during these periods will come to nothing. Rather, this is a good time for review, research, and wrapping up.

RESTART

An upright hourglass marks a Restart. This is the time to make decisions and take action. The color shows the outcome, or Final Result.

MOON PHASES

The best time to start new projects is between the New and Full Moon. Between Full and 3rd Quarter, distribute goods, information, and services. Prepare for the next go-around between 3rd Quarter and the New Moon.

FINAL RESULT

The Final Result bar shows the outcome of new starts and decisions made during the day. The Time-Out, Restart, Green Light, and Yellow Light indicate the times at which the Final Result changes. The Final Result bar shows outcomes for the period between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.

A GREEN bar indicates an outcome that meets expectations. New starts under the YELLOW will have disappointing results. ORANGE indicates that some key factor will eventually fail. Nothing good will come of projects started with a RED Final Result code.

GREEN LIGHT, YELLOW LIGHT, ORANGE LIGHT

The lights indicate times when the Final Result code turns green (good), yellow (challenging), or orange (falling out). See page 36 for more information.

GREEN DOLLAR SIGN

When the Green $ symbol appears, this means the day is especially good for sales promotions, investing, or signing contracts with growth potential. People more readily spend or donate their money on these dates, and growth or financial opportunities are available.

ACTIVITY BAR COLOR CODES

Green: These periods range from very good to neutral. Things tend to go smoothly and opportunities are usually available, but you must take action to take advantage of them.

Yellow: These periods are associated with challenges, obstacles, and resistance, ranging from severe difficulties to multiple minor issues. Anticipate challenges, but also realize that nothing would happen without the dynamic energy of these periods.

Red: Don’t expect normal progress during these periods. It doesn’t mean stop, but anticipate delays and a need to rework things.

Blue: (Communications only)During this period, mistakes happen that aren’t discovered until the Red Communications period. Don’t rush or assume things. Double-check all details for mistakes.

LIMITATIONS

The cycles charted in this calendar reflect the quality of the day and affect everyone. However, your own personal or company cycles may override your experience of these daily cycles.

What Is A New Start?

A new start officially begins for timing purposes at the point of no return, finality, or when you can no longer decide not to do it without consequences.  It is also the last point over which you have control of the situation.  An action with consequences is required to start a new project.  Talking, discussing, researching, etc., do NOT count as a new start.

New starts often begin when you sign or mail a contract, start a job, or approve a budget for a new project.  It varies greatly depending upon the nature of the work.  Below are examples for various jobs:

• Management: New starts include making decisions to implement new programs or product development teams, announcing strategic news or decisions to the press or employees, hiring employees, starting legal actions, and signing contracts.
• Purchasing: Placing an order or contract with a supplier is a new start
• Marketing or Marketing Communications: New starts include introducing new products or services, placing advertising orders, implementing price changes, mailing direct mail promotions, and introducing incentive programs for distributors, reps, or sales people.
• Retail or Distributor Sales: New starts include opening a branch store, starting a sales promotion, placing ads, and signing on new product lines.
• Engineering: New starts include releasing new products to manufacturing, signing engineering change orders, and making final design or test decisions.
• Manufacturing: New starts include starting a new production line, beginning a new process or changing an existing one, and adding new equipment.
• Professional Service Practices: New starts include first visits of new clients, announcing new services, placing ads, and promotional mailings.

The issue of finality has important considerations.  In general, contracts that must be mailed START at the time they are RECEIVED BY THE POST OFFICE of your country or your shipping service.  Placing a contract in company mail or a personal mailbox is still retrievable, so it doesn’t count until the post office receives it.  Regardless of when a contract is signed, contracts mailed or faxed during Time-Outs will encounter many obstacles and end in frustration with little or nothing positive to show as a result.

Other new starts begin as follows:

• Product or service introductions begin when they are first announced to the public or shipped to customers for the first time.
• New jobs start when you walk through the door to begin the new job or you sign an employment contract.
• New development programs start when management decides to fund them.
• For any contract or document handled in person, it begins when you sign the document and hand it to the other party, even if they have not signed it yet.

How to Intrepret a Date (for New Starts)

FOR NEW STARTS, MAJOR PURCHASES, AND CONTRACTS:

• Look at the Final Result code, the color of the top line (Finish Line Flag).
• Check for Time-Out periods, shown by red hourglasses
• Check the color of the rest of the codes.

Here’s how to interpret some dates:

The Final Result is GREEN, and most of the other codes are GREEN: Go for it!  This is your ideal date to start anything new or sign a contract.

The Final Result is GREEN, and most of the other codes are YELLOW: This date shows a new start or contract filled with obstacles, resistance, and challenges, yet when all is said and done, everything works out well in the end.

The Final Result is GREEN, and there’s a BLUE code: Watch for mistakes in assumptions, schedules, etc., at the start.  Something critical may be overlooked, but if you fix it you’ll get a good outcome eventually.

The Final Result is GREEN, and some of the other codes are RED: This is not a good period for new starts if you can avoid it.  Anticipate obstacles and delays before you finally get the good final result.

The Final Result is YELLOW or ORANGE, and some of the codes below are RED: Forget starting anything new or signing a contract on a day like this.  After lots of obstacles, the results are challenging, disappointing, or possibly a complete failure.

The Final Result is YELLOW , and most of the codes below are GREEN: This date indicates the project or contract begins smoothly, but the final results are disappointing or challenging.

The Final Result is YELLOW or ORANGE, and there’s a BLUE code: You’re missing something important here, and your project will not yield positive results.  Slow down and go back to the drawing board!

The Final Result is RED, and the other codes are GREEN and YELLOW: Forget it!  Stall for a better date or time.  Don’t start anything new during a Time-Out.

The Final Result is ORANGE , and most of the codes below are GREEN: Something is falling out of the deal or project and it won’t come together.  Choose a better date to start or sign.

How to Interpret a Date (for General Business)

FOR CONDUCTING DAILY BUSINESS:
Not for new starts, major purchases, or signing contracts.

• Pay attention to the Time-Outs.
• Check the lower three code lines (Running Man, Telephone, and Handshake lines).
• In general, you can ignore the top Final Result code.

Here are a few possibilities:

The codes are mostly GREEN, and there is no Time-Out: This is a day when there is little or no resistance, few or no obstacles, and things tend to flow well.  However, there’s also less dynamic energy in a like this, so if you like lots of action and the challenges that go with it, you’ll prefer mostly yellow dates.

The codes are mostly YELLOW , and there is no Time-Out: This is a day filled with crises, obstacles, challenges, or resistance.  While this may seem difficult, much of our business culture thrives on these days, as they’re also filled with action.  If you like adrenaline rushes, you’ll enjoy these days.  If you would rather have an easier time, then you’ll prefer mostly green dates.

The codes are mostly GREEN, but there’s a long Time-Out: This is a very pleasant day, but there’s no energy to push forward.  If you try to make decisions or purchases, or implement a new start during the Time-Out, you’ll meet with severe obstacles later, until nothing comes of it.  Instead, gather information, brainstorm, research, review, write, clean, or finish tasks.  Don’t make important decisions or purchases, or implement new plans!  You’re missing critical information.

The codes are mostly RED : These are periods to slow down, rethink or redo projects, and anticipate delays.  You’ll find these periods to be much more useful and productive if you schedule 50% or less of your time than you normally do.  That way you’ll have time for the unexpected crises that arise.  Depending on which lines are red, there can be communication difficulties, computer failures, or transportation delays.  Or it may be time to rethink finances, prices, values, partnerships, strategic plans, new products, or manufacturing.  See the individual line codes for details.

There’s a Time-Out and a GREEN $: You could start a promotion before or after the Time-Out.  There could be slow sales during the Time-Out though.  Never start a promotion or do a major mailing during a Time-Out.

Example of the Guide

	Time out – avoid important actions and decisions.
	Restart.
	Good day for promotions.
	Moon sign (changes at restart).

The first colored strip shows the final result of actions initiated during the work day as good, challenging, falling out, or fruitless. In the example shown here, the day starts out as challenging, changes to fruitless because of the time-out at 9:49 am, and then changes to good when the time-out ends at 4:53 pm.
The bottom three colored strips show good, caution, check for mistakes or rethink/redo status for:
	New starts, activities, manufacturing
	Communications, computers, and travel
	Contracts, negotiations, and legal issues

Time Zones
The Good Timing Guide calendar is published with Pacific and Eastern US time zones. For Central Time, use the Eastern calendar and subtract one hour from its times. For Mountain Time, use the Pacific calendar and add one hour. For other time zones, we suggest you subscribe to the Online Guide and use the Daily Guide to get the times for your locale.