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Want to be More Productive? You Need a Work Routine

By Royale on November 14, 2011 in Productivity, Tools

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Simple Steps

Develop a work routine

In keeping with our simplifying theme this month, one great strategy to simplify your day and improve your productivity at the same time is to develop a work routine. Routines work well for all aspects of our lives. The most successful people I have coached use routines to help them achieve their goals, balance their lives, stay healthy and all around get things done.

It’s actually very simple. Once you cultivate a set of habitual actions that work best for you, you have a routine. No extra planning, decisions or thought process necessary. It’s far more productive than having to stop and decide what comes next.

An example routine might consist of:

Choose 3 top tasks for the day

Spend 20 minutes doing an email check and sort

Take 20 minutes to check and return voicemails

Spend 20 minutes on social media marketing

Use 60 minutes to work on top priority

Take 15 minute break

30 minutes to make phone calls

Spend 90 minutes with team or individually to work on project

Lunch break

And so on…

People tend to get more done both at work and at home when they have routines to support them. So, your challenge this week is to develop a work routine that will enable you to get more done with less stress.

*Bonus – Try using routines in the morning, evening and weekends too! It’ll be easier to fit in exercise and remember to take your vitamins and whatever else you have packed into your days.

Question everything, move forward, enjoy the journey.

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Are We Missing the Point of Social Media?

By Royale on November 10, 2011 in Productivity, Success

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Social media. It’s the buzz word, the wave of the future, the way business is done in the 21^st century…

But if you’re missing the point of the whole social media game…then it’s just the biggest time waster in history!

What you may be doing wrong

It’s not about the numbers – Let’s be clear on this point. It’s great to have millions of Twitter followers and Facebook fans, but this fanatic obsession we have with accumulating followers is insane. It gets us NOWHERE. There is no value in a multitude of fans if they don’t really care about what you have to say. It’s about conversations, relationships and engagement, not masses.

It’s not a marketing plan – Social media participation and information sharing can and should be (in my opinion, I won’t say humble) a valuable channel for marketing efforts. But it can’t be the whole enchilada. If you think you can just post some tweets, get some buzz going and business will magically appear, you are mistaken. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Marketing needs to be a multi-pronged approach. Depending on your business or service you may need print, radio or TV advertising, possibly interne ads or to attend business shows, speaking engagements or workshops and you most definitely need a website.

Stop doing all the talking – Social media is only valuable when it’s a two-way cycle. You share information, others comment, you take in information and offer contribution to others. Information and conversation; in and out. Listening is just as valuable as talking.

Results are not necessarily in direct proportion to efforts – The more time you spend on social media, the better results you get, right? WRONG. At a certain point, the extra time you spend on social media communication is just wasted time that you could be using for other things, say creating, selling or connecting in person. Determine ahead of time how much time is reasonable for this portion of your marketing effort, schedule it in your day and stick to it.

It doesn’t happen overnight – Don’t try to follow 10,000 people right away. You’ll just come across as a spammer. Be discerning, build your “network” gradually and consistently. Be selective, be targeted, be clear on what your objectives are.

One last tidbit, social media should be enjoyable and interesting. If you’re not having fun and learning new and interesting things and meeting fabulous new people…then you’re doing it all wrong.

Question everything, move forward, enjoy the journey.

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On This Day: New Facebook Reminder Valuable Tool for Balance and Productivity

By Royale on August 30, 2011 in Tools

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I really love the “On this day in 2010″ feature on Facebook!

My entry for today 2010: “Perfect way to start my day – watching the sunrise, wrapped in a blanket on the porch, drinking first cup of coffee & enjoying my newspaper. It’s going to be a beauty of a day!”

Why?

1. It gives me a snapshot of where I was and what I was doing and thinking a year ago.

2. It serves as a reminder of how much has happened over the last 365 days.

3. Most importantly, it prods me to think about where I want to be on this day next year.

Where have you been? What are you doing? How will you spend the next year?

Valuable questions… Don’t you think?

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Avoiding Common Productivity Traps

By Royale on August 10, 2011 in Productivity

We are working really hard, pushing ourselves to achieve more and yet we just can’t seem to get it together. Maybe it’s not that we’re not working hard enough as the voice in our head might claim. In reality it’s just that we fall victim to the myriad of productivity pitfalls that plague our days.

Perhaps the simplest way to increase our productivity is to avoid some of the most common productivity traps:

Social media – Social media is a wonderful avenue for promotion, branding, information gathering and developing relationships, but any tool used to excess can turn into an albatross. Go ahead, use social media if it provides clear value for you, but keep in mind its value relative to other activities on your schedule. For example, try limiting your Facebook or Twitter time to a few short sessions (5 to 15 minutes) several times per day.

Interruptions – It seems that whenever you get in the middle of some really juicy, productive work that is when the phone rings, the co-workers come knocking or the new message notifications starts flashing. Interruptions no matter the form pose a serious hazard to productivity. Your your focus is broken, your mind has to shift gears and momentum is lost. It’s difficult to recover from interruptions after they happen, so the most effective strategy is to prevent them through good planning and even better boundaries. Close your door, turn off your phone, shut down email and make it clear to all that you are in “focus mode.”

Over-scheduling – Nearly everyone in our modern society falls prey to over-commitment and over scheduling of our time and resources. We seem to think that the more we pack into our days, the more valuable we are. All it really does is cause us to be stressed, ineffective rushing through our days without really paying attention. There are actually two strategies we can explore to minimize this trap. Say no…a lot. Gently but firmly decline commitments or requests that aren’t of the highest value to you. The other is to have realistic expectations about how much can be done in any given period of time. We generally underestimate the effort required for a task.

Low value tasks – Assess how valuable each of your activities are. Ask if you really need to be doing everything that you are currently spending your time on. Try to eliminate or delegate those activities that don’t really add much or that can easily be done by someone else. Maximize the time you have by working on those tasks that you excel at and that add the most value to your work or meaning to your life.

Email black-hole – Don’t get me wrong, email is one of the best technology inventions in my opinion. I would be lost without it. The issue is not email technology itself, but our obsession with never wanting to miss any piece of information or be out of the loop. We have this fear that if we don’t respond immediately, we will be seen as incompetent or uncaring. If it’s important it’ll still be there when you get back. It does not need to be answered right this minute. Turn off your email notifications if you can and check your email at pre-determined times each day.

Low energy – Energy is the invisible currency of productivity. You can get more done if you have ample energy and endurance. Protect your energy by taking regular breaks, getting enough sleep, making healthier eating choices and staying hydrated. Stepping away from your desk to stretch your legs and drink some water can do considerably more for your energy levels than another cup of liquid caffeine.

Multitasking – We have been laboring under the false assumption that we can pay attention to more than one thing at a time and thereby accomplish twice as much. Wrong! Our brains are just not wired that way. What we like to call multi-tasking is really “switch-tasking.” We are asking our brains to rapidly switch gears back and forth between competing focuses. It just doesn’t work. In reality we are far more likely to do high quality work and get far more satisfaction out of it as well if we focus on a single activity at a time. Give it a try.

Lack of clarity – This is not always considered in productivity planning, but it is critical. We need to be very clear about what precisely we have to do, what the desired outcome is, the rules or standards surrounding it, potential obstacles, specific deadlines and if we are collaborating, what our individual responsibility is.

Consider incorporating at least one of these suggestions, maybe several and see what happens to your daily productivity. You have nothing to lose and much to gain.

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Ramping up Facebook – Have You Looked Lately?

By Royale on June 13, 2011 in Personal Growth, Success

Do you have ideas, projects or tools that you really know you could be pursuing, but can’t seem to squeeze out the time?

Absolutely! We all do. Our Facebook page is one of mine. I love it, want to spend more time there, grow it, make it a valuable resource for information and discussion, but have only managed a half-hearted, somewhat inconsistent effort. I have not made it a prioritized focus until now.

I will be playing with options and scheduling over the coming weeks, but for now you will be able to find:

Daily inspiration
Daily tips for living your most productive, fulfilling, successful and joyous life
Weekly questions, polls and discussions to help us all share, discuss and grow; personally, professionally – hopefully both
Frequently I will be adding music, photos, videos and links to motivate, inform, entertain, inspire and expand

Thanks to all those who already “Like” our Facebook page. If you haven’t already, please come take a look and join in the discussion!

Now it’s your turn!

What have you toyed with, pushed aside or put on hold that you’d really like to explore? Choose one thing that you want to bring to the forefront and give it a nudge.

Choose your project – work, home, community, whatever
Decide what you’d like to accomplish with it – What will the outcome be or what will it give you
Make a plan – at least a loose outline of action steps
Revise as necessary – ask for feedback and shift directions accordingly

Please share with us. What project you’re choosing to dust off? Better yet, stop over to our Facebook page and tell us all!

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51 Tips For Saving Money on Technology

By Royale on November 9, 2010 in Success

This article was originally published in September 2009, but as I was reviewing it I find that it is still just as relevant today.

By The Readers of Small Business Trends

PRACTICAL TESTED TIPS

We asked the readers of Small Business Trends to contribute their best real-world tips and advice for how small businesses like yours can save money by using technology, or how to save money on technology purchases. The following tips and pointers represent the combined wisdom of small business owners, their staff and stakeholders.

– Anita Campbell, Editor, Small Business Trends

BUY POWERFUL COMPUTERS TO LAST LONGER

“Initially purchase more hard drive, memory and a larger monitor than comes standard. It will increase the useful life of your computer and decrease your costs in the long run.”

Shared by: Leslie Knight, Knight Performance Management, LLC, www.knightpm.com

Twitter: @ITMinefield

USE GOOGLE ALERTS TO FIND DEALS

“Before I make a decision on a piece of technology, I scour the review type websites like CNET and PC Magazine. I pick two items that have great reviews, and set Google Alerts for them-with the word “deals” next to them. For the next few days I monitor the prices that come up, and buy when the time is right. This works!”

Shared by: Joel Libava, The Franchise King, www.TheFranchiseKing.com

Twitter: @FranchiseKing

GO EASY ON WEBSITE BELLS AND WHISTLES

“Talk to your customer before you build your website. You may be surprised that she will not use more than 50% of what you are going to build. That’s 50% savings in technology budget and time.”

Shared by: Chaitanya Sagar, People to Work With, p2w2.com

Twitter: @Chaitanya

USE HOSTED SERVICES AND OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE

“Many are free, like Thunderbird, and are better than most paid alternatives. Others, like Jive’s hosted PBX, are significantly less expensive than the traditional products. Switching from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice alone will save you about $100 per user per year.”

Shared by: Brent Thompson, Jive Communications, www.getjive.com

Twitter: @GetJive

SWITCH TO FREE ONLINE BOOKKEEPING SOFTWARE

“I had a tough time when my computer crashed right before April and so I scrambled to find another solution where I would not have to depend on doing books on one computer. I chose www.outright.com and like it very much as I can enter my expenses from any computer. It’s FREE.”

USE DISCUSSION FORUMS TO LOCATE DISCOUNTS

“When shopping for technology products, this site can be addictive: www.Slickdeals.net . The forums are full of deals submitted by users and sometimes there are great bargains. Check this site first for coupons or deals before shopping for technology products. I saved $5 in Best Buy last week with a coupon from here.”

GO TO SWAP/EXCHANGE WEBSITES FOR BUSINESS BOOKS

“Read business books by renting them or swapping them: bookcrossing.com, bookins.com, bookmooch.com, and PaperBackSwap.com.”

Above 3 Tips Shared by: Shashi Bellamkonda, Network Solutions, blog.networksolutions.com

Twitter: @Shashib

How Do You Spend Your Most Valuable Currency:Time?

By Royale on October 28, 2010 in Personal Growth

: Image by ToniVC via Flickr

Are you neglecting the things that matter? Do you think you are somehow different than the rest of us? That you have more hours in the day or can get more done miraculously if you just get organized enough? Let me tell you right now, FORGET IT! There is only so much any one person can accomplish at one time. We are told we can have it all, but that is nothing more than wishful thinking. Be honest. Where are you falling short?

This week I was given some tough love. After taking my bitter pill, I decided to open my closet metaphorically and share my dirty laundry. I am a chronic over-scheduler, over-committer and plate-overflower ( I just made that term up.) I know I am not alone in the disease to achieve. A wise and insightful person pointed out to me that I was already operating with my plate filled to capacity before my husband left for Afghanistan. How did I expect to absorb extra responsibilities into my life and not neglect some things that matter? I don’t really want to hear that. While I cringe at the term “neglect,” it may be an arrow that hits too close to home. She told me what is always, without fail neglected first is yourself, because you somehow feel as though you are not deserving of your place on the priority ladder. Then, although it defies logic we neglect the other things that matter most to us, usually family, friends, home and fun. In some unfathomable twist of brain logic we tend to spend time on those things that don’t really matter in the long term picture of our lives. Why do we do this I want to know? Maybe someone wiser than I can figure out that puzzle eventually. My marching orders are to figure out what really matters, place a premium priority and focus on those aspects of my life and cut back or delete those that don’t. I invite you, no; I implore you to join me.

Time is our most valuable currency, yet most of us squander it so easily.

What are the things that really matter to you?

What are the things that really won’t matter 20 years from now?

Are you spending your time in that order of importance?

What activities are you spending time on that don’t have a great return on investment?

Do you check your email first thing in the morning instead of taking time to exercise or eating breakfast with your family? I’m sure you’ll be glad of that when your health fails and your kids are gone.

Do you spend too much time on social media, email and news and information intake? Unless that’s your job, you will get better results if you spend your time on actually producing “work.” Those things are tools. Think of it in a more traditional manner. Would you spend 2 hours a day reading the newspaper or submitting press releases instead of making sales calls, product development or working with clients? If you’re at home, is Facebook more important than reading with your kids or making a clean and comfortable environment?

Do you spend more time “preparing and planning” than working. Either you’re an excessive planner like me, or you’re on the other side of the fence wasting time looking for things, straightening piles that shouldn’t be there in the first place, rushing for appointments that you forgot and playing catch up on emails that you should have responded to last week.

It’s not what we want to hear, but it’s what we need to open our eyes to the reality of how we spend our time. If you figure it out… please let me know.

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Technology Tools to Boost Your Productivity

By Royale on September 16, 2010 in Success

I recently did an interview with Leslie Shreve of Productiveday.com about technology tools to boost your productivity. To listen to the podcast ”Time for Technology: Using Today’s Best Tech Tools to Increase Your Efficiency, Save Time & Simplify Your Life” visit thewinonline.com or download in iTunes. This podcast happens to fit neatly into my series on productivity tools that I have found to be the most useful for improving efficiency, organization and focus. The objective or goal here is to add something, replace something or improve an aspect of your existing system, not duplicate what you are already doing. This week I concentrate on desktop or internet based tools. If you are interested in apps for mobile devices, check out the posts for your iPhone, Blackberry or Android device.

My absolute favorite tool is Outlook 2010. I did not cover Outlook it in the interview, because that is a huge part of the work that Leslie does, but 2010 is my every day command central. I highly recommend that everyone start with that and make sure they are using it to its fullest capacity. If you are just using Outlook to check your email, you are missing out on some of its most valuable features. You can schedule meetings and generate tasks directly form email messages, set up rules to help with sorting and screening, categorize virtually everything and stay in touch with the new social connector. We’ll take a more in depth look at Outlook best practices in a future post.

In the meantime though, there are many other types of technologies or software out there that can supplement your basic productivity or organizational system. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Microsoft OneNote – It is a great tool for organizing information, projects, schedules and ideas. It neatly allows you to input information in whatever format makes sense for you (text, drawings, audio, video or screen or web clippings. You can even insert documents, scans, spreadsheets, etc. In essence this really replaces your old household, work and project binders. The really convenient feature is that you can add an action item from OneNote directly into your Outlook tasks. This is especially useful for anyone who likes to collect information. For example it can be used to organize your recipes or decorating ideas, including screen shots clipped from the web. I have my Christmas notebook in OneNote with gift lists, decorating ideas, card lists, a prep schedule and a running tally of how much food I need to buy. For business use, I store marketing ideas, website design concepts, screen shots of competitor sites or advertisements, examples of newsletters, research notes and lists of quotes and tips to share. (OneNote is included in Microsoft Office 2010)

Evernote – With Evernote you enter notes or record information using text, photos, voice recordings and screen clippings. It does not have all of the organizational bells and whistles that OneNote has, but you can use tags and specify notebooks for your notes as a way to label them for fast retrieval and sorting. Evernote syncs via an online server between your PC and an app on your phone so all notes can be available in both places in real time. I use Evernote to capture blog post ideas and thoughts for my productivity book on the fly. I either enter the text, record a voice note or take a picture of something I want to talk about while I am away from my desk and then when I am ready to work on them later I simply open up Evernote on my desktop and flesh out my thoughts.

HootSuite – HootSuite is really an all -in-one online social media portal. This tool helps you to monitor and update many social media channels all on one screen. You can see your home feeds from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ping, MySpace, and Foursquare all in one place. You can also update your status, monitor you Twitter lists and Facebook pages. HootSuite makes it easy to schedule updates for when you are away from your desk, upload photos to posts, and get statistical information on usage and Klout scores of others on social media. It just makes staying connected to social media channels so much more efficient.

Focus Booster – Sometimes we get so wrapped up in what we’re doing that we completely lose track of time and that can be devastating both to our schedule and income if we are wasting our time. Focus booster simply sits on your desktop and you click on it when you want to start timing your work. When your time is up the timer signals you to take a short break. You can set the timer for whatever length of time you want or use the traditional recommendation of 25 minutes, choose your break length and whether you hear the ticking sound or not. This little tool helps you be aware of your time and work more efficiently and it also reminds you to take breaks which are a crucial aspect of productivity. It is a well-known fact that we generally use the maximum amount of time we are allotted for each task, so why get better control of that time.

Paymo Time Tracker – It is a time tracking tool that sits on your desktop or access it via the internet. It’s a very efficient way to track time spent on each client, project, task or even job. The really neat aspect is that it has integrated invoicing to make billing convenient. It also has great reporting features and visual graphs. An app is available for iPhone that syncs the time that you need to track when you are away from your computer. For many the tracking offered in Outlook Journal may be sufficient, but for those who juggle multiple jobs, email accounts, clients or projects, especially if you need to generate invoices, Paymo is a great solution.

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How Investing in Your Yourself Can Improve Your Career or Business

By Royale on September 7, 2010 in Success

When the children start back to school it is a good time to think about what areas we need to learn more in. Do we have skills we need to brush up? Is there a class we want to take? Are there any training courses that would benefit us? Learning is a lifelong process that is never finished. If we want to hold on to our competitive advantage and stay at the top of our field then we must constantly invest in ourselves. We are our best and more useful asset, especially if we are small business owners, entrepreneurs, professionals or high level executives. Or if we’d like to have any one of those job descriptions.

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life. ~Henry L. Doherty

So, where do you start? Think about what skill or area of expertise you would like to improve your proficiency in. Don’t limit yourself to the field you work in or the specific job you do currently. You might want to be a better public speaker or improve you typing because you’re sick to death of using the “hunt and peck” method of typing your proposals and memos. Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn Italian or desire to learn new management methods. Whatever the skill may be, both you and your company will benefit. More knowledge is always an asset.

The first step is to decide what you want to focus on:

Do you need to go back and finish your college degree? Choose one class or enroll full-time.
Do you need to learn a new skill to advance to the next level? Management, leadership, HR might be good choices.
How are your communication skills? Take a public speaking class or join a group like Toastmasters. Take a writing course or one on advanced Microsoft Word techniques.
Speaking of Microsoft, how about a course on Excel or PowerPoint?
Is there a seminar for ongoing training in your profession that you’d benefit from?
How about a new skill? Marketing, Social Media or record-keeping?
Do you need to get better at managing your finances? Even if you have accountants and financial managers, you still need to have an understanding of what is going on financially in your business.
Almost everybody could use a refresher on office skills, no matter what level you are at. A course on organizational skills maybe or learning to use dictation software for faster writing.

The possibilities are endless. You are you most valuable tool. Investing in yourself will almost invariably have the highest rate of return.

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