Here is my list of the top time-saving online tools on the internet. In future posts, I will take the time to elaborate on each. But for now, consider this a "quick-start" toolkit:
07/11/2011
07/08/2011
07/06/2011
How to manage deadlines
One of the most talked about subjects in the realm of personal productivity is the subject of "deadlines" and how they are best handled. How a person handles a due-date or deadline can determine alot about their success any time they are trying to stay organized and on track. A due-date has a greater influence on us as a potential de-motivator, rather than something that keeps us on track and helps us to meet our goals.
If you tell a prospect that you will get them an estimate by noon on Friday, and you are unable to deliver the proposal by then, not only does the prospect lose confidence in you, but you lose confidence in yourself. Chances are, you are staring down the barrel of at least a few deadlines right now, and, even though you know when they are due, it is very likely you are going to fail in delivering on time with at least a few of them.
SECRETS TO SUCCESS WITH DUE-DATES
#1 - Learn how to say NO: The fewer deadlines that you commit to, the fewer that you will miss. We are far too willing to agree to just about anything, and any agreement you make tends to turn into something you need to do that has a dealine associated with it.
"Can you give me a hand presenting at the conference" - can you say no?
"Is there any way you can get this to me tomorrow?" - is that really essential?
"Do you want to be a part of the relocation commitee?" - how many deadlines will it saddle you with?
Saying NO, is more powerful than saying yes. The time you have is valuable, don't be willing to give it away so easily
#2 - NEVER create a self-imposed deadline: This is the #1 mistake people make when they are really trying to stay organized and on track with their work, and it goes something like this:
"OK, so I need to get this analysis into my customers hands my the end of the week at Noon. So, let's say I need to finish my research by Tuesday afternoon, my rough draft needs to be complete by the end of Wednesday, all my graphs and graphics need to be done by Thursday morning. Let me put these due-dates on my calendar."
Most people think the above strategy is a great way to stay on track, but it is actually the worst thing you can do. What you have done is set up 3 opportunities to fail. If you have 12 fires you need to put out on Tuesday and have no time to spend on your project, you will feel like a failure right at the beginning. Will the project still get done on time even if you miss this imaginary first deadline? Probably: but you will feel crappy driving home on Tuesday because you failed to deliver on an unimportant self-imposed deadline.
#3 - Commit to as few dead-lines as possible: #2 is a great example of being careful about not having too many deadlines. The fewer you have, the fewer you will miss.
#4 - Write all of your deadlines down: You need to be able to review all of your dead-lines on a daily basis so you can stay on track with these commitments. One place you can do this is on your calendar, but unless you have a habit of scanning a few weeks ahead every day, this is a fabulous way to get yourself in trouble. I suggest having one list with all of your deadlines written on it, that you get into the habit of checking every day.
#5 - ALWAYS complete items on time: Now that we have limited the number of items we are committed to, make sure you deliver all of them on time. The list should be "sacred territory", and the less organized part of yourself needs to know that anything on your deadline list needs to be finished on time, no exceptions. The first time you miss a deadline, the rest of the list will become less important.
#6 - You can "re-negotiate" a deadline at any time: Clients generally do not mind if they get a call on Thursday like the following: "Jim, your estimate is taking a bit longer than I thought. Is it OK if I get it to you on Monday morning, as opposed to Friday?"
What clients HATE is a call on Friday at 3pm, saying you are going to be late with the proposal.
Any deadline that is renegotiated, is never late...
07/05/2011
How to create a tickler file
Time to implement: 45-60 minutes
Things needed: An empty file cabinet drawer, and sharpie and 43 hanging style file folders.
Goal: To give yourself a way to eliminate a piece of paper or a physical object, that you don’t particularly want to deal with right now, and have it reappear at a later date (this does not work with ex-spouses, by the way). It basically gives you the ability to mail yourself something in the future, or to postpone something you don’t want to deal with right now.
For example: Let’s say that you bought tickets for a baseball game next month, but rarely go to baseball games, so you really don’t have a tried and true place to keep such items. If you put it in your car glove box, you might totally forget where you put it. On the top of your desk is a risky place, because you are notorious for getting into fits of “cleaning rage” and tossing things out by accident. There is that bulletin board by the kitchen, but I think I have a few things that have slowly become buried under take-out menu’s and “kid art” that won’t be revealed until the next time we strip mine the bulletin board.
"I know! I’ll put it in my tickler file. I’ll put it in the file folder that represents the 26th of the month (the day of the game), and when I check my Tickler File that morning, I’ll see the tickets!"
Set-up:
#1: Take 31 of the hanging style folders and label them #1 to #31 (these will represent the respective days of the month)
#2: Arrange these folders in order inside an empty file cabinet drawer.
#3: Take 12 folders and label one for each month.
#4: Place all twelve of the folders, in order, behind the number folders.
#5: Now, here is the tricky bit. We need to arrange these in order to what today’s date (the date that you are actually putting your Tickler File together) currently is. This is probably the hardest thing to understand about the tickler file (if you have never set one up before), but trust me, once we get through this it’s smooth sailing.
Let’s say today’s date is June 6th. In order to calibrate our tickler file, We need the folder marked “6” to be the first one you come to in the drawer. Take “1” through “5”, and put them after “31”. Now take the “July” folder and put it in between the “31” and “1” folders.
The thing that makes the Tickler File work, is the need to check it on a regular basis. Checking the tickler file should be part of your daily Processing and should be on your Daily Checklist. If you get an electric bill in the mail today, but it is not due until July 21st, You can put it in the “21” folder and when you check the tickler file on the 21st, you will be reminded to pay the bill, rather than it putting “Pay electric bill” on a task list and clogging it up, or merely leaving it in a pile of other “things to remember” in your office.
Once you are in the habit of checking these 43 folders on a regular basis, you will get into a regular routine. After you empty out anything in today's folder, you will put it after the last number (before the month’s begin) and then the folder in front will be tomorrows date. I easily throw 2 or 3 things into tomorrows folder daily, as a way to procrastinate either doing them or putting them on my lists. As long as these items or reminders stay in your tickler file, the will stay within your system and you will deal with them eventually.
Another example: You get a mailing from your child’s school, and certain school supplies need to be purchased for the school year. You certainly don’t want to deal with anything school related in the middle of your summer (although you mind does pause at the blissful though of your kids not being underfoot 24/7 anymore), and again, there really is no good list to put this on as it is something that will occur in the far future. This mailing can simply be put in the “August” tickler folder, and on the first day of August, you can sort through the contents that have built up there. Some you will want to deal with right away (Need to pay son’s college tuition), some will go onto one of your lists for later, and some things will actually go right back into the tickler file, either later in August or maybe even a month or two later.
Just because we use file folders, that doesn’t mean we can’t make “things” or objects part of the tickler system. I have put things as large as my snowtires in my tickler file. It’s a simple note-card with SNOW-TIRES written on it to remind me reminder that shows up in March (when its time to take them off), and November and basically “ping-pongs” between those two months. I think I have even been using the exact same index card several years running.
Things needed: An empty file cabinet drawer, and sharpie and 43 hanging style file folders.
Goal: To give yourself a way to eliminate a piece of paper or a physical object, that you don’t particularly want to deal with right now, and have it reappear at a later date (this does not work with ex-spouses, by the way). It basically gives you the ability to mail yourself something in the future, or to postpone something you don’t want to deal with right now.
For example: Let’s say that you bought tickets for a baseball game next month, but rarely go to baseball games, so you really don’t have a tried and true place to keep such items. If you put it in your car glove box, you might totally forget where you put it. On the top of your desk is a risky place, because you are notorious for getting into fits of “cleaning rage” and tossing things out by accident. There is that bulletin board by the kitchen, but I think I have a few things that have slowly become buried under take-out menu’s and “kid art” that won’t be revealed until the next time we strip mine the bulletin board.
"I know! I’ll put it in my tickler file. I’ll put it in the file folder that represents the 26th of the month (the day of the game), and when I check my Tickler File that morning, I’ll see the tickets!"
Set-up:
#1: Take 31 of the hanging style folders and label them #1 to #31 (these will represent the respective days of the month)
#2: Arrange these folders in order inside an empty file cabinet drawer.
#3: Take 12 folders and label one for each month.
#4: Place all twelve of the folders, in order, behind the number folders.
#5: Now, here is the tricky bit. We need to arrange these in order to what today’s date (the date that you are actually putting your Tickler File together) currently is. This is probably the hardest thing to understand about the tickler file (if you have never set one up before), but trust me, once we get through this it’s smooth sailing.
Let’s say today’s date is June 6th. In order to calibrate our tickler file, We need the folder marked “6” to be the first one you come to in the drawer. Take “1” through “5”, and put them after “31”. Now take the “July” folder and put it in between the “31” and “1” folders.
The thing that makes the Tickler File work, is the need to check it on a regular basis. Checking the tickler file should be part of your daily Processing and should be on your Daily Checklist. If you get an electric bill in the mail today, but it is not due until July 21st, You can put it in the “21” folder and when you check the tickler file on the 21st, you will be reminded to pay the bill, rather than it putting “Pay electric bill” on a task list and clogging it up, or merely leaving it in a pile of other “things to remember” in your office.
Once you are in the habit of checking these 43 folders on a regular basis, you will get into a regular routine. After you empty out anything in today's folder, you will put it after the last number (before the month’s begin) and then the folder in front will be tomorrows date. I easily throw 2 or 3 things into tomorrows folder daily, as a way to procrastinate either doing them or putting them on my lists. As long as these items or reminders stay in your tickler file, the will stay within your system and you will deal with them eventually.
Another example: You get a mailing from your child’s school, and certain school supplies need to be purchased for the school year. You certainly don’t want to deal with anything school related in the middle of your summer (although you mind does pause at the blissful though of your kids not being underfoot 24/7 anymore), and again, there really is no good list to put this on as it is something that will occur in the far future. This mailing can simply be put in the “August” tickler folder, and on the first day of August, you can sort through the contents that have built up there. Some you will want to deal with right away (Need to pay son’s college tuition), some will go onto one of your lists for later, and some things will actually go right back into the tickler file, either later in August or maybe even a month or two later.
Just because we use file folders, that doesn’t mean we can’t make “things” or objects part of the tickler system. I have put things as large as my snowtires in my tickler file. It’s a simple note-card with SNOW-TIRES written on it to remind me reminder that shows up in March (when its time to take them off), and November and basically “ping-pongs” between those two months. I think I have even been using the exact same index card several years running.
07/01/2011
06/29/2011
06/27/2011
Should you consider email bankruptcy?
There are very few on us that can be proud of the state of our email in-boxes (unless you are Merlin Mann or David Allen, of course). Many of us use our email in-box as an endless list of all of the messages we have ever gotten, some responded to, others ignored, and some never seen as a result of the sheer, obscene number of messages that has become impossible to sift through. This messy backlog, makes it impossible to think clearly about the various tasks, commitments, and queries that are lost and unanswered.
One option to deal with this mess, albeit the impossible one, would be set aside a few hours, days or weeks to sort through all of these messages and respond, delete or defer each one until you were rewarded by an empty in-box and a clear head. However, this is an option that is unrealistic for those of us who don't have a large block of time and stamina.
The other option, and one that sounds ridiculous at first, is simply to delete all of the messages you have to date, and start from zero again. The goal of this exercise, is to get out from under the crushing psychological weight of all of you unanswered messages.
How to declare Email Bankruptcy in 3 easy steps (and about 2-3 hours):
1. Go through all of your unanswered email and collect the email addresses from each one, and copy the addresses into the BBC line of a new email message. (DO NOT bother to read any of these messages. The goal is not to catch up on email, the goal is to get rid of all of it and start fresh.)
2. Write an email explaining that you have fallen hopelessly behind on your email backlog, and the only way you can see fit to get caught up, is by taking this drastic step. Ask if anyone has sent you anything pressing that you have not yet responded to, please ask that they resend it. (As an additional way of explanation, you can also link back to this blog-post to help explain further.
3. Drag all of your email backlog into a folder called "bankrupt" so that you can refer back to it if you ever need to.
Congratulations, you have gotten the email monkey off of your back!
06/24/2011
GTD: Getting Things Done by David Allen
David Allen's seminal work, "Getting Things Done", is far and away the biggest influence on my every day working life.
Next Action? check!
Ubiquitous Capture? check!
Waiting For List? check!
Project List? check!
Tickler File? check!
Weekly Review? check!
If you have not yet taken a look at this book, I suggest you do. In the meantime, here is the wikipedia article that is a great intro to the Getting Things Done methodology.
06/22/2011
How often should I check my email?
There is a HUGE body of work in books and on the internet centered around being more efficient with email, and I have no desire to reinvent the wheel on the subject, however, I would like to get you thinking about some of the concepts at least.
Grab a bag of candy (M&Ms, Sour Patch Kids, Skittles, whatever) and dump them in a coffee cup. Note (roughly) how many are in the cup at the beginning of the day.
Eat one piece of candy each and every time you stop whatever you are doing to check your email in-box (even if it is in between tasks). How long is that candy going to last? Till 10am, Lunch?
Checking your email in-box is exactly like eating candy. Very easy to do, pleasurable (the human mind loves that which is new and distracting), and is nothing but empty calories. Traditional email productivity wisdom is to check your email in-box only 2 - 3 times per day (unless you job REQUIRES you to check it more). If every time you check your email in-box you distract yourself for 5 minutes, and you check it only twice per hour, you are "costing" yourself over an hour and a half.
Instead of eating candy for an hour and a half, tackle one of your big projects instead!
06/20/2011
Networking 101: Are you working your network?
Believe it or not, I am embarrassed to say I had been in sales for about 15 years before I totally understood the concept of "Networking". Now knowing how powerful it is, I wish I had been working my network from the very beginning of my sales career.
The overall concept of networking has gained alot of awareness over the last 10 years because of the plethora of "social networking" tools that have been given to us, and for many, that has been their first introduction to the concept. It is important to realize that you already have a network of clients and customers, but you need to be actively working that network for additional prospects and referrals.
If you feel the need to start networking in less than 5 minutes, here is what I would do:
1. Call a friend or business associate who you feel could bring you business
2. Invite them out for a meal or coffee
3. Spent time talking to them about your company, what you sell, and what makes your product or service better
4. Spend time learning about your associates business
5. Exchange a pile of business cards
6. When each of you leave the table, you are each going to look for business for the other person
That is the basic networking model. Can you use a much more complex model, yes you can.
Can it also be just that simple? Yes
