With online social networking, webinars, blogging, ezine articles to write, digging, stumbling, tweeting, getting delicious, track-backing, showing link love, tagging viral videos, podcasting by being an acrobat, getting LinkedIn, following your Yahoo Group, filming the next boob on the tube, answering e-mails, texting, skyping it up, ryzing to the top, face down, ninging, pinging, claiming your blog overture, running ad sense, searching for keywords in a cloud, googling and following the analytics, banner building, and do not forget to leave a comment in this web 2.0 world how can anyone get anything done?
The exhaustive list of tasks does not include life outside the web, like face to face networking, strategic planning, giving presentations, lunch dates or talking business over a cup of Starbucks, etc. We also cannot forget to spend time with our beloved families and friends.
With all the necessary things that we must do daily, how do we manage our time? What is the secret of staying on top of all the “must do’s” without losing any brain cells?
The key is valuing your time. Make every hour, minute and second of each day of your life count. Protect your time by doing what is important to you:
1. Stay focused on the bigger picture. Review your goals, mission and vision often. Schedule your time daily, doing things that bring you closer to your vision. Learn how to say no to requests that will take you off track.
2. Make time for the most important things in your life. Create balance by making a list of the seven most important things to you (family, career, business, spiritual life, health, etc.). Next, schedule consistent time for those things and protect it. If 6pm every night is your scheduled playtime with your three year-old son, then keep your commitment. Do not let him down, he is the priority, the work will be there tomorrow but he will not always be three.
3. Select your activities carefully. Before diving into every task on the “must do” list to make your blog, business or career successful, do your research and get involved with one or two groups. It is better to spend your valuable time building relationships and making a name for yourself. You will have a better chance of making an impact with a more concentrated effort, than attempting to manage time in several groups where you are a nameless, faceless number among many. Besides, it will help you maintain your sanity.
4. Set priorities. Do your most important tasks first, while you are fresh and clear-headed. Start each day by completing activities, like client projects, that generate most of your income. Do not become a slave to the phone or e-mail. Set up specific times daily where you will do your follow up. Put your “office hours” or return call/ e-mail policy on your website and on your voice mail greeting, so people will have a general ideal of when and how you will respond to their requests.
5. Get the hard stuff out of the way. When facing a project that you rather not deal with, do not procrastinate. Tackle it and get it over with. Whether you realize it or not, putting it off adds to your stress level, because it is always in the back of your mind.
6. Everything has a place. It is easier to work when things are in order. Your time is precious and spending it looking for something that you misplaced on your desk or scrolling through a thousand e-mails are big time wasters. Take an hour of your time one evening to get organized. Then practice putting things back in their proper places after you use them, until it becomes a habit.
7. Break projects into smaller pieces. You accomplish more when doing things regularly and consistently. If you have a big project to do, break it into smaller pieces and schedule time to complete each task over a few days or a few weeks. This method will allow you to see progress without working overtime.
8. Work hard, play hard, then rest. Our bodies need rest and our minds need time to focus on nothing. Schedule regular time for fun, so you can distress and refresh between ninging and pinging.
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