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Congratulations

Congratulations: if you have been a loyal follower you know now 27 ways to get more done in less time!

Let’s quickly recapped just some of what you learned:

• You learned how eliminating distractions and unnecessary tasks saves time. For example, you discovered tips related to turning off your cell phone, blocking out uninterrupted periods of work time and choosing to work when you’re the most alert and productive.

• You discovered how to use systems, routines, automation and shortcuts to save time (and money).

• And you learned that outsourcing and delegating is one of the best ways to get more done in less time.

Your next step is easy: Start implementing these tips immediately.

If you put this report aside and tell yourself that you’ll implement these tips “later,” then you’ll have to reread the report to refresh your memory. And guess what?

That wastes time!

Instead, you should start implementing these tips right now while they’re all still fresh in your mind.

Just choose three or four tips to start using over the next few days. Then choose and apply a few more tips later this week.

Keep doing this until you’re fully utilizing all the advice. By that point you’ll be saving hours every week – which frees your time to focus on whatever is most important in your life. Enjoy!

Tags: Time Management

Biggest Time Saver of All

Here is one of the biggest time-savers of all:

Outsource and delegate work that you don’t personally need to do.

Generally, there are two big stumbling blocks that prevent people (especially business owners) from taking advantage of this productivity booster:

1. You think you need to do it all yourself. However, once you start outsourcing, you’ll find that others are able to do just as good of a job as you. And in many cases, putting your tasks into the hands of a professional means you’ll get an end product that’s even better than you can produce. (This is especially true if your skill level is competent but not above average.)

2. Secondly, some people look at outsourcing as an expense. However, it’s actually an investment, since outsourcing means your time is free to work on other important tasks. In addition, if you figure what your time is worth per hour, you’ll likely find that a professional can actually complete the task for “cheaper” than the cost-per-hour it would take for you to do the same task.

You can delegate outsource anything and everything, both personally and for your business.

Example: At home you can split the household chores up among all the family members (including the kids). When you’re working on your business, you can outsource things like customer service, content creation, product creation and much more.

Tags: Time Management

Automation Tools and Other Shortcuts

Imagine if I told you to dig a 3 X 3 X 3 foot hole. The first thing you’d probably ask for is a shovel. And that’s because you already know that a good tool can make almost any job go a lot faster.

Likewise, there are a number of tools you can use to make your personal and business tasks go a lot more quickly.

Let me give you an example…

Example: Let’s suppose you wanted to start a blog on your site. If you wanted, you could accomplish this by creating a special HTML page. Then you’d regularly edit this HTML page and upload the newest version to your website.

As you no doubt know, there’s an easier way. Instead of taking the time to upload, download and format HTML files, all you have to do is use a content management script or blogging script like WordPress. This blogging software does all the work for you, so that all you have to do is compose your article and click “post” to make it appear on your website.

Here’s an example of using a shortcut…

Do you find that you spend a lot of time answering emails that are very similar? If so, there are two things you can do:

1. If this is a business email, then create a FAQ page (frequently asked questions) where you address this issue. For example, if you often get questions about how to open a zip file and read a PDF file, you may provide instructions on your site (including on the download page).

2. If it’s something that needs to be answered privately (such as a refund request), then you should create template emails that you can copy and paste. Clearly label and organize your template replies and you’ll save hours of time every week.

If you’re doing a task on your computer, chances are there is some sort of tool or software you can use to automate the task.

Examples:

• You can do your bookkeeping and taxes quickly by using financial software like Quicken.

• If a certain task requires you to use a series of keystrokes repeatedly, you can create macros or “shortcut” keys to perform this task. For example, if you want to create a macro when you’re using Microsoft Excel, go to “tools,” highlight “macro” and then click on “record new macro.”

Tags: Time Management

Get Organized

Have you ever sat down to a do a specific task, but then wasted time looking for a tool or document you needed to complete the task?

Example: Maybe you set aside time to pay the bills, but then you wasted ten minutes searching for your checkbook and another ten minutes rounding up all of your bills. If something like this has ever happened to you, then you can already see the value of getting organized.

To be as productive as possible, you need to get organized both personally and professionally. However, do note that NOT everyone has the same definition of organization.

Example: Some people think that “getting organized” means that all documents should be neatly filed in a file cabinet and cross referenced. To other people, organization means taking these same files and stacking them into specific piles on a desk.

Here’s the thing…

You need to get organized in a way that makes sense to you using a strategy that’s comfortable. Some people prefer to stack files on their desk within easy reach. If that’s what makes you the most productive, that’s fine… just as long as you organize these files and piles into a way that makes sense for you.

Here then are five general organization tips:

⇒ Sort your email into folders. If you’re not deleting an email, then sort it into a folder (such as “friends and family,” “customer inquiries,” “orders” and so on). Even if you run searches to find emails, you’ll be able to complete the search quicker if you know what folder to look in.

⇒ Put your bills in a special place immediately. As soon as the bills reach your mail box, put them all immediately into once place. This might be a file, a basket, a box or even a special drawer. But the point is, you should put them all in once place so they’re instantly accessible.

⇒ File documents immediately. While you may set aside time once daily (or once weekly if you don’t have much paperwork to file), this is something you should take care of as soon as possible. The longer a document sits someplace other than it’s file folder (or box or special “pile”), the better chance it has of getting lost. As such, you should file it away as soon as possible so that you can find it instantly when you need it again.

⇒ Organize your computer files. You may be saving all sorts of things on your hard drive, including pictures, videos, personal documents, business documents, ebooks, reports, software and a whole lot more. You should create a file system on your computer where you sort these items into intuitively named folders. That way, you can access them immediately when you need them.

⇒ Back up important files. Finally, here’s a time saver I hope you never have to use. But if your computer ever crashes (or you have a fire, flood or similar), you’ll be happy that you followed this tip of backing up your hard drive regularly.

At a minimum, you should back up your computer files to a removable disk, such as a CD or thumb drive, at least on a weekly basis. You may individually back up your most important files (such as new documents) daily.

In addition, you may consider backing up your most important documents to a remote storage area, such as a secure folder on your website. Alternatively, you may create a copy of your CD or thumb drive and store in a location away from your computer.

For example, you may store your office computer CD at home. The reason is that if something should ever happen to your office – such as a fire – your computer and your back up CD would both be destroyed. But if you have a copy in a separate location, you can retrieve your files easily.

Tags: Time Management

Get Into a Routine

Another way to get more done in less time is by first developing and then sticking to your routines. That’s because the more often you complete a task or a series of tasks in a predictable way, the easier and faster it is for you to do. And eventually you’ll be able to complete your tasks virtually on “autopilot” since you don’t even have to pause for a moment to think about what to do next.
Let me give you an example…

Let’s suppose you’re running an online business. And every day, you have some three fairly predictable tasks to do, such as writing and posting a blog post, submitting five articles to an article directory and answering help desk inquiries. After that, you work on whatever is on your to do list (such as marketing or product creation).

To boost your productivity, you should develop a routine to handle those three tasks.

For example, every day when you first log onto your computer you may:

1. Answer your customer inquiries first, since that’s the most important task of the three.

2. Write your blog post.

3. Since you got “warmed up” by writing a blog post, next you can write and submit five articles to an article directory.

4. Then start working on your daily to-do list.

Every day, you should complete these four steps in order the moment you log onto your computer.

You see, if you do the same thing every day, then you’ll never have to pause and think what to do next.

Since you’re doing related tasks (such as the blog post and article writing), you also don’t have to constantly “reorient” yourself from one task to an entirely different task. And that saves you time.

However, it’s NOT enough to simply do your regular routine. You also need to make sure you’re doing your tasks in the most efficient way possible…

Tags: Time Management

Handle Tasks Quickly

Usually the best and most efficient way to handle any task is “touch” it once and take care of it rather than taking the time to try to organize the task for later completion.

Tip: Although note that you shouldn’t necessarily take care of tasks as they come in, as doing so will likely diminish your productivity. Instead, you should take care of them at some specified time.

For example, instead of returning phone calls the moment you get a message, instead you can return all your calls during a scheduled block of time that you set aside just for that purpose.

Now let me give you an example of what I mean by “touching” a task once and finishing.

Let’s take email. Sometimes people sort their incoming email into different folders by priority, such as family (non urgent) email into one folder, urgent business email into another folder and then non urgent business email into a third email.

Basically the priority is like this:

High: Urgent business email.
Medium: Non urgent business email.
Low: Non urgent family/friends email.

However, it’s usually NOT a good idea to sort urgent email.

That’s because in order to sort the email, you need to read it and take the time to determine that it’s urgent. Then you continue sorting through your other email and putting them into their proper folders. Finally, you return to your non urgent emails to answer them.

But you’ll need to read them again and then compose your answer. And that means you’ve handled the same email twice in order to reply to it – that’s a waste of time.

Instead, set aside a specific time to answer your email and then read one, answer it and move on to the next email (without sorting). That way you “touch” each email just once, which saves time.

Tip: The exception to this rule is if you do indeed have family and friend emails mixed into your business emails. In that case, in that case, you may want to save your family and friend emails for your non-work hours.

There are two ways to make sure you don’t handle any of these emails twice.

1) You can use a completely separate email for your personal and business emails.

2) If you get personal emails into your business account, then set up your email account to automatically sort personal emails into a “friends and family” folder. Then you can deal with these emails during your free time.

Tags: Time Management

Ask for Advice

Here’s an easy way to boost your productivity: Ask for advice from knowledgeable others about how to complete a task in the most efficient way.

Example #1: Let’s suppose you want to do something you’ve never done before, such as set up a blog. If a quick Google search doesn’t return the results you’re seeking, then ask knowledgeable bloggers how they’d set up a blog if they were brand new to blogging.

Example #2: Perhaps you’re trying to set up a new business while taking care of a new baby. If you worked at it long enough, you’d probably learn through trial and error a few tips that would make your business time more productive. But you can save yourself by going straight to the source and asking other work-at-home parents how they juggle family and work.

Example #3: Let’s suppose you want to learn how to create and upload promotional videos on YouTube. Instead of fumbling around with lighting, audio, software and your camera, you should instead search Google or ask for advice to find out how to quickly and easily put together videos. Asking will not only save time, it will also likely save you money as well.

Tags: Time Management

Create a Challenge for Yourself

Another way to bring out your competitive spirit and become more productive is by creating challenges for yourself. This isn’t making a bet with anyone else.

Rather, it’s just pushing yourself to the limit to see how much you can accomplish.

You can do this on small daily tasks or large tasks.

Example: Let’s suppose you’re writing a book. You might set a timer for 30 minutes and see how many words you type in that time. Then reset the timer and try to beat your previous number of words.

You can also set up mid and long term challenges.

Example: You might record how many words you create on a weekly basis, and then try to always beat your previous record.

Or if you’ve already previously completed a task (such as writing a book), you might try to complete the task even faster the second time.

Tip: Do you know someone else who has a similar to-do list or goals? If so, you could race against each other to complete your tasks.

For example, you could race to see who completes a 100-page book first.

If it’s a business-oriented goal, then search business and marketing forums (like the WarriorForum.com) for people who are willing to join your challenges. Ideally, you should all create public blogs that you update on a daily basis.

Tags: Time Management

Bring Out Your Competitive Spirit

You probably realized that this tip is really a one-sided bet.

That is, you’re betting a friend that you’ll be more productive and get your to-do lists and goals complete. If you lose, you lose your money or valued possessions. But the only thing that happens if you win is that you get your money back.

If you’d like to make it even more motivating, you can actually make a bet with a willing friend. In this case, you don’t have to deal with painful amounts of money. That’s because the real motivator here is your competitive spirit.

If you’re the type who likes to win, then this might be a good way to make yourself more productive.

Example: You can bet your friend dinner that you’ll make your first $100 online by the end of the month. If you win, you get dinner. If you don’t meet your goal, you need to buy dinner for your friend.

To make this even more motivating, tell all your other friends, family and colleagues about your bet. The more people who know, the more uncomfortable you’ll be if you do NOT meet your goals. And that means you’ll likely be ultra-productive just to avoid any discomfort or embarrassment.

Tags: Time Management

Rewards Punishments

Rewards don’t work for everyone, especially those who don’t use rewards that truly motivate them (or those that treat themselves to the reward no matter what).

In that case, you may find that punishments work.

Here’s how to use this tip to increase your productivity…

First, decide on an amount of money that would be truly painful for you to lose right now. Whatever that number is, add 10% to it.

Example: If $1000 would feel like a hardship for you, then tack on another $100 to make it a total of $1100.

Next, give that amount of money to a trusted friend along with a written agreement that outlines how and when you’ll get the money back. You can do this in one of two ways:

1. Set up milestones. When you meet each milestone, you get a portion of the money back.

Example: You might set up four milestones where you get 25% of your money back. Alternatively, you might set up a series of milestones where you get 10% of the money back for the initial steps and 50% back when you complete the final step.

2. Get it back only when your overall goal is complete. Here you don’t get the payments as you complete milestones. Instead, you only get it back at the completion of your stated goal.

Tip: Getting all the money back at once or getting the majority of the money back at the end works best for most people. That’s because it’s more painful to lose most or all of the money as opposed to just a small portion of your money.

Also, you may give something else up that’s important to you. For example, do you have a particular possession that you’re especially fond of, such as a classic car or some other antique or collectible? If so, you may consider giving that to a friend in lieu of cash.

Tags: Time Management