Where did my day go?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Craig Eubanks on August 20, 2010 at 2:35pm

Simple. I don't twitter. I only do Facebook before or after working hours. If blogging is for business I block off time for it. Same for email.

I track my time so I can see when too much is being devoted to email or phone calls etc.

I use Dan Kennedy's time management strategies as far as phone/email etc.

For daily activities I use the Pomodoro method and the "One Big Thing" strategy (credit to Victor Cheng who runs my business mastermind group).

I work in 25 minute blocks on ONLY 1 thing, then a 5 minute break. For my month I have One Big Thing that is my primary focus. Short of an emergency that one big thing gets time first and foremost in my day. I block of a chunk of the day on my calendar so I know what I'm focusing on.

Unless there is something needed for my One Big Thing, I don't check email or voice messages until 1pm. And I allow at most 1 hour for email during the work day. This makes you focus on what's important vs trying to read/answer all emails.

I also have One Big Thing for each week and One Big Thing for each day. Often these are smaller chunks of the One Big Thing for the month.

Works for me, your mileage may vary.

I spent months trying the Getting Things Done system and found I was wasting lots of productive time every day just trying to keep all my in-boxes clean, papers filed and such. Works for some people, I'm just not one of them. I don't like messy, but I dislike getting nothing accomplished even more.


Cheers,

Craig Eubanks
HypnosisMarketingTips.com


P.S. If you have a Mac, there is a killer free app for doing the Pomodoro Method of time management. It's called the Pomodoro Desktop.

It sits in your menu bar and with a click you can name and start a 25 minute segment. It tracks them all day long so you can see how much (and what) you accomplished. Rings a timer at the end of the 25 minutes and after the 5 minute break. Works with Growl for notifications and does other very cool stuff.

Best productivity tool I've ever found for myself!

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Permalink Reply by Scott Sandland on August 20, 2010 at 4:11pm

My personal strategy:

I have a to do list that integrates with my google calendar. I assign times throughout the day to get things done. The calendar and to do list are on my computer and my phone and are scheduled with reminders. 5 minutes before a client shows up my phone beeps to let me know I should stop what I'm working on and mentally focus on getting ready for my client.

If I have 30 minutes between clients I come check out this site. If it's more than that, I check a thing or three off my list.

I also pick one day a week to block off 2-4 hours of un-interrupted admin time. I don't take phone calls or emails, I just dig through all the paperwork at once. Sometimes this has to be on a saturday, which I will do tomorrow because I don't feel like staying late tonight and I've been swamped with clients all week.

I don't use the blog/twitter/facebook/etc thing to get myself out there. I do stuff on here, which I guess is a similar time investment, but this site is a lot more important to me than those other options.

Here's a very simple piece of advice that I find helps a lot:

right above my computer monitor I have a note I wrote to myself that simply says, "What am I earning right now?"

That tends to keep me on task. It doesn't have to be money that I'm trying to earn, in fact it usually is an emotion like pride or freedom, etc.

good luck,
Scott

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Permalink Reply by Antoine Pruyssers on August 20, 2010 at 5:31pm

Maybe, I'm just being crazy, but I take the exact opposite path:

I plan my breaks, and min/max sleep/day, and off course pass-time, and relaxations, and the rest of the day I spend doing work, in whatever way I can.
Because I see my job as my passion, and hobby, it doesn't take much effort, and taking some time off is more like work, then just doing what I like to do best: My job.

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Woods on August 20, 2010 at 6:04pm

Antoine, you and I are living the dream! The secret is to do just as you say...simplify, enjoy with full gusto your time away from what might be considered tasks and then live your tasks with great passion, too!

Antoine Pruyssers said:

Maybe, I'm just being crazy, but I take the exact opposite path:

I plan my breaks, and min/max sleep/day, and off course pass-time, and relaxations, and the rest of the day I spend doing work, in whatever way I can.
Because I see my job as my passion, and hobby, it doesn't take much effort, and taking some time off is more like work, then just doing what I like to do best: My job.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Maria-Pilar Gonzalez on September 9, 2010 at 12:13pm

Thanks, I pretty much do work in intervals on whatever needs to be done. I think I need to time myself more so I don't lose track of time. Also have certain days on which I do accounting or other such things that don't need daily attention. Again great ideas.

Craig Eubanks said:

Simple. I don't twitter. I only do Facebook before or after working hours. If blogging is for business I block off time for it. Same for email.

I track my time so I can see when too much is being devoted to email or phone calls etc.

I use Dan Kennedy's time management strategies as far as phone/email etc.

For daily activities I use the Pomodoro method and the "One Big Thing" strategy (credit to Victor Cheng who runs my business mastermind group).

I work in 25 minute blocks on ONLY 1 thing, then a 5 minute break. For my month I have One Big Thing that is my primary focus. Short of an emergency that one big thing gets time first and foremost in my day. I block of a chunk of the day on my calendar so I know what I'm focusing on.

Unless there is something needed for my One Big Thing, I don't check email or voice messages until 1pm. And I allow at most 1 hour for email during the work day. This makes you focus on what's important vs trying to read/answer all emails.

I also have One Big Thing for each week and One Big Thing for each day. Often these are smaller chunks of the One Big Thing for the month.

Works for me, your mileage may vary.

I spent months trying the Getting Things Done system and found I was wasting lots of productive time every day just trying to keep all my in-boxes clean, papers filed and such. Works for some people, I'm just not one of them. I don't like messy, but I dislike getting nothing accomplished even more.


Cheers,

Craig Eubanks
HypnosisMarketingTips.com


P.S. If you have a Mac, there is a killer free app for doing the Pomodoro Method of time management. It's called the Pomodoro Desktop.

It sits in your menu bar and with a click you can name and start a 25 minute segment. It tracks them all day long so you can see how much (and what) you accomplished. Rings a timer at the end of the 25 minutes and after the 5 minute break. Works with Growl for notifications and does other very cool stuff.

Best productivity tool I've ever found for myself!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Maria-Pilar Gonzalez on September 9, 2010 at 12:15pm

Oh, don't get me wrong - I love what I do and my office - I lock up the building I have my office in every night! But sometimes I get into something and forget - I will set up timers, that seems to work. Thanks!

Kelley Woods said:

Antoine, you and I are living the dream! The secret is to do just as you say...simplify, enjoy with full gusto your time away from what might be considered tasks and then live your tasks with great passion, too!

Antoine Pruyssers said:

Maybe, I'm just being crazy, but I take the exact opposite path:

I plan my breaks, and min/max sleep/day, and off course pass-time, and relaxations, and the rest of the day I spend doing work, in whatever way I can.
Because I see my job as my passion, and hobby, it doesn't take much effort, and taking some time off is more like work, then just doing what I like to do best: My job.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John Cressman on September 9, 2010 at 5:16pm

Using tools like ping.fm to post to multiple services at the same time will help.

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Permalink Reply by AJ on September 9, 2010 at 5:42pm

Great topic! I have three categories.
1. Do it now, right away whenever possible.
2. Do it today or as soon as possible.
3. Put it aside till later.
And I have three rules.
1. Urgent items get highest priority.
2. Utilize every moment possible.
3. Say no to insignificant distractions.
The only challenge has been making time for long term projects. Everything else is completed as needed.
Scoring 100% will mean reformulating my present strategy. And that will happen naturally when required.

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Permalink Reply by GAIL GUEVARA on September 9, 2010 at 6:18pm

I have a life/balance wheel. When one area of my life is beginning to faulter or I become unhappy, I know I am not spending time to nuture it. An example of the wheel:

1. Career
2. Family and Friends
3. Significant other/romance
4. Fun and Recreation
5. Health
6. Money
7. Personal Growth
8. Physical Environment

You can also make up a Balance Wheel for Professional use.

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Permalink Reply by Maria-Pilar Gonzalez on September 10, 2010 at 5:35am

Thanks Doc: I once read about a woman who helps people get organized and she would say that to tackle large projects to only do about 15 min. a day - by the end of the week you'd have a lot done. I have applied this and it works great. We tend to not tackle large projects because they seem to need so much time and who has an entire day to not do anything else. But in shorter intervals - it gets done.
See we can all learn from each other - isn't this wonderful.

Doc Regal said:

Great topic! I have three categories.
1. Do it now, right away whenever possible.
2. Do it today or as soon as possible.
3. Put it aside till later.
And I have three rules.
1. Urgent items get highest priority.
2. Utilize every moment possible.
3. Say no to insignificant distractions.
The only challenge has been making time for long term projects. Everything else is completed as needed.
Scoring 100% will mean reformulating my present strategy. And that will happen naturally when required.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Maria-Pilar Gonzalez on September 10, 2010 at 5:56am

Yes Gail, we need to balance it all. I would notice the "dis-harmony" and saw that I had to balance my life better - I think being a woman and having to tackle home and house and a business is extra challenging. No offense to you guys, I know you have things to do too. So I have figured out that I can delegate or just bettersort out what is really necessary. You'll laugh, but I realized that the washing machine does laundry during the night, while I sleep, too...lol : )

GAIL GUEVARA said:

I have a life/balance wheel. When one area of my life is beginning to faulter or I become unhappy, I know I am not spending time to nuture it. An example of the wheel:

1. Career
2. Family and Friends
3. Significant other/romance
4. Fun and Recreation
5. Health
6. Money
7. Personal Growth
8. Physical Environment

You can also make up a Balance Wheel for Professional use.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Maria-Pilar Gonzalez on September 10, 2010 at 6:00am

John - I just got a Blackberry because my husband "made me get it" ... and now I love it. It does help get things done from anywhere. So what I want to say is that I am a little slow with tech. stuff... so: What is ping.fm? Can you elaborate a bit?

John Cressman said:

Using tools like ping.fm to post to multiple services at the same time will help.

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