HOW TO FIND MORE TIME

You probably know that the very title of this article is a contradiction.  Can there be more time?  Did anyone discover more than 24 hours in a day?  Was it hiding somewhere and we just didn’t know about it?

Of course, we know that there isn’t such thing.  But there IS such thing as using the time that you have more productively.  In other words – how to achieve more results and better results within the same amount of time that we all have in a day.

Here’s how.

1. Act vs. React. One of the worst situations that we can find ourselves in is reacting to something.  We didn’t know it was coming.  We didn’t anticipate it happening during a day.  So we suddenly are in a reactionary mode, where things are spinning out of control, time is going by, and the planned to-do list isn’t diminishing.  To be in the state of acting ( vs. reacting) takes planning.  Planning takes some time.  So the first tip is to take the necessary time to plan your day, your week, your month, your year.  Plan what you want to accomplish in your business life, in your professional life, in your kids’ lives, your family life, etc.
2. When planning, use a calendar. They say that setting goals without a timetable is like dreaming.  Same logic applies to planning.  To create a plan without aligning it with your calendar is like writing a long college term paper on “alienating identity as the common theme of the post-modern literature”– after all that work, you wonder what was the point.  Your plan needs to have dates next to each line item.  For example, let’s say you’re trying to be better at your networking activities.  I suggest you make a list of all groups you might be interested in, plan to spend 2 hours researching all of them, identify 3 that you will join, and plot all of their meetings for a year into your calendar.  Once it’s in your calendar, it’s an appointment (much like a client appointment).  Honor it.
3. Make only 1 to-do list. How many of you have a to-do list?  I bet everyone said yes.  How many of you have multiple to-do lists?  I bet many of you said yes to that.  How many of you have multiple to-do lists AND have additional post-its, scraps of paper, napkins, perhaps with additional reminders of what needs to be done?  I bet many said yes to that too.  The key to being productive is keeping ALL of your to-do’s in one place.  It should be a simple table with 4-5 main categories, in which your tasks fall.  Note that one of these categories should be “personal”.  Everything that comes up during the day, should go onto this to-do list (not on a   scrap, post it, or napkin).  Update it daily to delete items that are done, and add items that you’ve written manually.  Keep it clean.  Keep it simple.
4. Let someone else handle it.  Of course another term for it is delegate.  One person can only get done one task at a time.  Two people can handle two tasks during the same amount of time.  Three people can get done three tasks during the same amount of time.  You will never be as productive trying to get done everything in your business and your life.  Without a doubt, the very first two big areas which every designer needs to delegate out is doing quickbooks and administering purchase orders.
5. Don’t do it as often. Ask yourself:  how many times a day do you check your email?  How many times a day do you check your phone voice mails?  How many times a day do you check your texts?  How many times a week do you check your mail?  I challenge you to cut that number down in half.  Or better yet even more than half.  For example I check my mail only once a week.  There is nothing in my mail box that’s so urgent that can’t wait until Sunday morning, when all the mail for the week have been delivered.  I don’t even take it out of the mailbox, so that the big pile of envelops and magazines doesn’t become an eye sore and starts stressing me out.  By doing it this way, I save myself time and aggravation of not doing the same routine activity every day.
6. Do one thing once. You should only touch something, physically or virtually, once.  Be that an e-mail, piece of mail, customer file, vendor binder, or anything else that you come in contact with.  If you touched it and read it – make a decision on what needs to be done with it and do it right there and then.  Putting it away in a pile only procrastinates the decision, but doesn’t eliminate it from your mind.  And if it’s sitting on your mind, it’s preventing you from being your absolute best productive self.
7. Let go of perfection.  Making something perfect is a belief that will hold you back from achieving quick results.  It will take you time and energy to add that one finishing touch to your presentation, or to add that one extra photograph to your blog post; or to tweak your website one more time.  But will that extra touch and tweak bring you the extra income that would be lost during the time that your presentation, website, and blog are in process?  And what additional things could you have done that would have brought additional income had you worked on something else?  I’ve heard it said, that you should get your project up to 75% perfect, and then move one.  Course correct as you go forward.
8. Have a start and an end in mind. Often times, we put a start time to a project.  For example, I will start researching the fabrics for this client at 10am.  Then we lose ourselves in our work and before we know it hours have gone by and we are still searching for that perfect fabric and that perfect trim.  Instead, have the end time in mind.  So say to yourself – I will work on this project for one hour, from 10 to 11am.  Psychologically, our bodies and mindsets adopt to this new deadline and work much more productively.  It’s a similar concept to when you’re going on vacation and you must complete your to –do list, no questions asked.  One of the great ways to keep yourself on track is by using a very simple kitchen egg timer.  When that ding goes off, you’re done.
9. Turn off your email.  This is very simple, but very hard at the same time.  We have a love-hate relationship with our email in-box.  We all complain that it gets out of hand, that it’s too big, that we get bombarded with information all the time.  Yet, we can’t help it, but press the F5 or the send/receive button much too often than we should.  So to tame the temptation, I invite you to turn off your email completely.  Decide which parts of the day you’ll check it and only turn it on during those times of the day.  I also encourage you to check your email only when you’re in the position to deal with it.  There are 4 ways of dealing with it:  read, respond, delete, move to folders.  If you don’t have the time, energy, or desire to do all of these things, don’t check your email at that time of the day.
10. Batch the alike tasks. Batch your client appointments.  Batch your installations.  Batch your personal appointments.  Batch your in-office tasks.  Batch your ‘at the computer’ tasks.  By doing things that require the same state of mind, same physical presence, same set-up – you’re saving yourself a ton of time!
11. “When will I do it VS. I have to do it”.  I hear it time and time again:  “oh, yeah, that marketing thing, I really have to do it.  Someday, definitely. “  Or “I know I need to be doing more networking, I’m really going to do it”.  I strongly encourage you to make an appointment with yourself right now, put it into the calendar, and respect that appointment with yourself.  Get into the habit of asking yourself “When will I do it?”  vs. saying “I have to do it”.  So for example, you’ve been wanting to start an ezine, and it’s been on your list forever, but you just haven’t gotten around to doing it.  If it’s the case with you, I ask you to look at your calendar right now, set a date and time, and do it when you said you’d do it.

A PRODUCTIVE WAY TO POST ON FACEBOOK

I’m not sure how many people know about this, probably more than I can imagine.  But I just discovered it and thought I would spread the word.  I think this is super cool.

We all know there are plenty of tools out there to schedule your FB posts.  My problem with them is that I have to open up another web-site, log-in, copy & paste, schedule, etc.  I already have a ton of windows open on my computer.  What I wanted instead was to use what I was already using.  Alah, there is a way.

Using outlook, you can send an e-mail (much like you do all the time anyway) to your own personal FB account.  Don’t know your own personal FB account?  Go here and it’s right there for you:  http://www.facebook.com/mobile/

Your post is the subject line.  No need to put anything in the body of the email.

Outlook allows you to schedule e-mails, therefore, you can schedule your FB posts.

And you can attach pics and videos – just like you would doing your regular email.

You have to admit, this is totally cool.  Since we are on e-mail all the time anyway, why not use it to do our FB updating and scheduling.

I’m sure there are some who knew about this for a long time.

For those us who just discovered it – Cheers!

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If you enjoyed this article and would like more time-saving tips about Facebook and successful marketing your design practice, check out a brand new book Business of Interior Design due out on 8/31.  Join our celebration party on 8/31 at http://www.BusinessOfDesignBook.com

3 WAYS TO PRIORITIZE & TAKE CONTROL OF THE OVERWHELM

Prioritizing is the key to converting a long, overwhelming to-do list into a well-run business.  But how do we decide what gets prioritized first, second, third, etc.  What criteria do we use to keep ourselves in check and not lose our heads?

My suggested priority categories for you are these: immediate term, short term, and long term.

Immediate priority action items. They are easy. They are fast. You know how to do them. They may be personally interesting and exciting for you. They are no-brainers.

An example of an immediate priority action item would be to create your email signature. You know you should have one, you know it’s important, you know it will take you only a few minutes, but you just haven’t made time for it because other things got in the way.  The timing of an immediate priority action item is about one week.

Short-term priority action items. Your short-term priorities take a bit longer to accomplish, they may be more complex, and they may require planning and research.

How do you decide which items are more important than others? In other words, within this group of priority, how do you prioritize it even further? Here are the criteria I use and advise my clients, as part of my mentoring program.

i.      Which activity will cost the least and bring the biggest result?

ii.      Which one have I been wanting to do for a long time?

iii.      Which one can I execute consistently?

A great example of a short-term priority is doing your email newsletter (e-zine).

Long-term priority action items. Everything that didn’t make it into the immediate and short-term priority lists falls in this list. But long-term doesn’t mean never, or someday. It still needs a date. I recommend that you strive to accomplish your long-term list within 90 to 120 days.

A good example of a long-term priority action item may be booking a speaking engagement.

Those were your three priority categories: immediate, short-term, and long-term. Regardless of when you’ll tackle your priorities, they all fall within the marketing pie. It doesn’t matter whether you are a seasoned designer or just starting out, the marketing pie doesn’t change – what does change is your knowledge and experience with each “slice of the pie.”

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If you enjoyed this article and would like more information about the Marketing Pie and what it takes to successfully marketing your design practice, check out a brand new book Business of Interior Design due out on 8/31.  Join our celebration party on 8/31 at http://www.BusinessOfDesignBook.com

7 No Brainer Ways to Repurpose Your Expertise and Excellence ©Melissa Galt 2010

In this age of life and business at warp speed, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the many opportunities and tasks that come our way literally daily. And we forget that the whole point to the internet is that it allows us countless super simple ways to replicate ourselves and our expertise with a minimum of effort. So let’s imagine that you have one piece of incredible content, even at just 250 words whether they are written or spoken (I know you might not like to write or be good at it, but I also know you can talk and be transcribed!) Here are seven no brainer ways to repurpose your expert and excellent content.

1. Make it a BLOG POST, if you don’t have your own blog, then share it on someone else’s as a comment.
2. Turn it into an ARTICLE and submit it to article directories like www.ezinearticles.com
3.Spin it into a VIDEO. You can do this easily with www.animoto.com or www.articlevideorobot.com
4. Add images and illustrations and make it a downloadable SPECIAL REPORT. (This works even better when you combine several articles together.)
5. Put it in your EZINE (electronic newsletter)
6. Make a PODCAST out of it.
7. Share it in a FORUM. This is a great way to attract new prospects and buyers.

There are many more ways you can repurpose your content. The key is to put these systems into place so that you can focus on your excellence and expertise and reap the time saving benefits of sharing great content you create in multiple formats with multiple prospects and buyers. After all we are in the Information Age, the more you share, the more you grow.

Want more great shortcuts to systemizing your profits? Grab your seat on the upcoming free webinar “5 Super Simple Secrets to Save You Time, Skyrocket Your Profits, and Build Your Brand With Heart and Individuality”; on Thursday, August 12, at 4 pm EST/7 pm PST, http://tinyurl.com/23wgfeo.

A SURPRISING WAY TO BE PRODUCTIVE

It is Monday after the conference.  I got back two days ago.  One would think that it’s enough time to recuperate.  I was 100% confident, I would be back into the groove of things by Friday afternoon.

Ha!  Not so fast.  I am not totally sure what’s contributing to such a lethargic state of mind.  Is it because:

• I had to fly for 6 hours there and back within three days?
• Of the time zone change?
• There was so much great information, that brain went into overload?
• Adrenaline rush?
• Red-eye flights are never fun
• Lack of sleep?
• The body is exhausted, while the mind is racing
• The new possibilities
• New connections
• Overwhelm with what the next steps are?
• Overwhelm with what was left undone while I was away?
• The realization that I have to overcome certain fears and uncertainties in order to move forward?

Interestingly, making this list was quite therapeutic.  I believe it’s because it’s part of the diagnostic process that we must go through, in order to figure out what’s happening.  Before we move forward, we first have to identify where we are, what brought us here, what’s holding us back. (it’s just another good reason it’s step #1 in my productivity system).

What this weekend also taught me is that it’s important to build-in some recuperating time after a conference (or a meeting, or an appointment – anything where you’ve expanded a lot of your energy and yourself).  In order to get my energy back, I learned that I have to just take it easy and not do anything.

This sounds like such a simple concept, but anyone who knows me, also knows that it’s the hardest thing for me.  As a productivity expert, I always encourage my clients (and push myself) to act, act, act.  Interestingly, in this case, the most productive thing is to do nothing.  Let myself absorb what I’ve experienced.  Stay in the conscious place, but active place.  Just be.