“I am really struggling with time management. I’m a professional musician and a published author, working on two upcoming CDs, live performances, and an upcoming book.”
“I am also very physically active, taking classes in the martial arts. These activities all involve practice/rehearsal and being offline to concentrate on my writing.”
“I have very limited time to spend on the Internet, and in fact, as a harpist, I am trying to pace myself when typing at the computer to save my hands. I already work with a wonderful virtual assistant, Christine Buffaloe, and she can handle many tasks for me, but it’s not enough. I know that she can’t do everything for me. It’s not a question of whether I know what I need to do or whether I am capable of doing them. It’s a question of finding time to do what really needs to be done.”
“So, I need to know what I absolutely must do at the computer and what I can forego. What’s a time waster and what is not? What are the activities that are necessary (other than the obvious—answering my emails, replying to direct messages on social networks, etc.), and what is a waste of time? And how do I streamline my time doing these things?”
“OK, the harpist is tired of typing.”
Anne, one of the things that I always suggest is to have a “to-do” list.
List your items that need to be done by category or urgency. Start small as it can be overwhelming.
Once you have completed the tasks, check them off. I have to do this as well. Also remember, if it doesn’t get done today, there is alway tomorrow.
If too much typing is an issue, take a look at http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/.
That being said, I think that going thru all the mundane, simple chores on social networking can be a waste of your valuable time as well. Just my thoughts….
I agree, Chris. The mundane chores on social media, and many other places, as well, can be delegated to a virtual assistant.
Thanks for the great job you do helping me with my social media accounts and so many other things. I couldn’t do it without you.
Great to see you’re making use of a Virtual VA! Sounds like you just need to learn some of the shortcuts on your computer to make your life just that little bit easier!
I have some good one’s on my blog here: http://www.inapickle-va.com/articles/time-saving-computer-tips/
Hope you find them useful!
Regards
Lisa Chaffey (Virtual PA from In a Pickle)
@inapickle_va on Twitter
These are great, Lisa. Thanks for sharing.
One of the best actions you can take is to outsource the work you have to do out on the Internet beyond your VA.
In addition, automating your social media accounts helps manage things more quickly and easily.
Unless you have a specific list of tasks you need to get done it is hard to really assist you.
I’d suggest you start with the VA and make a list…then you can seek more specific help and recommendations.
I am an author, animal professional, and creating an online course so I am right there with you!
Try putting your day into Pods. IE: Plan to work 1 hour on one of your topics. Take a 15 minute break to walk, stretch, get a drink of water, then go to the next 1 hour POD. Make sure you have everything ready to do the work so you don’t spend your hour organizing “stuff”. Plan ahead (the night before) for your hour long pods and have all of your materials on hand. You can have more than 1 pod per topic, but it is often good to split them up. One hour of harp in the morning and another in the afternoon. We can see what can happen in an hour and it doesn’t seem as overwhelming as looking at a whole day of things on a list. Good luck. I’m still trying to practice what I preach!
I heard someplace—I think it was in a Stompernet class—that 26 minutes is about the longest amount of time that somebody can sit at a computer and work without a break, and still keep their sanity.
Try taking breaks every half hour or so.
Buy and consume the book, “4 Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss
http://fourhourworkweek.com/
I have this book but haven’t read it yet. Thanks for the nudge, Jeff.
When I teach my online Time Management course, I list various ways one might use either an in-person or virtual assistant. So often we think many things need to be done personally, whereas many tasks that keep you at the computer can actually be delegated to your VA. How about using a different e-mail address for e-mails you absolutely must handle yourself, such as those from close friends and family. Let your VA handle the rest. She can send pre-prepared replies to some (for example potential concert engagers who want your schedule), select excerpts from newsletters that interest you, give you a list of the details from announcements or new items she feels will interest you, etc. Pre-prepared replies are easy. Either use ClipMate (a program I highly recommend) or write standard replies and store them in a folder where your VA can select the appropriate ones and adapt them as needed. My resources page for Entrepreneurs contains lots of useful links. Go to http://www.SimonTeakettle.com and check the Site Map.
Barbara, I use a program called Shortkeys. It was very inexpensive. It’s a macro program that lets you type large amounts of copy with just a few keystrokes.
For example, I created a shortkey for my bio. I have one for the 3-sentence blurb that goes at the end of a column I edit for one of my clients. I have another one for people who want to hire me as a publicist (I am not a publicist).
This program is a life-saver.
I did mention Shortkeys to her the last time we spoke. I know it is a life saver for me and my hands. Saves me all that copy/paste action.
I even use it to login to accounts and such.
It is available for Mac users as well.
These are all great ideas, but the ones that involve putting more tasks into the hands of my VA are not an option at this time, as I need to budget my monetary outflow. Also, I do have a separate private email account and answering personal emails isn’t the issue. It’s the business-related tasks that are at issue. The book suggestions are great, but I practice the harp during times when others may be reading books or watching TV. Wedding performance season is just around the corner 🙂
I’ll look into shortkeys and maybe even nuance….I’ll check back again soon to read any additional suggestions.
Thank you all!
Just a couple of simple ones….
What do you need to do?
1) Tie your blog into your facebook and twitter accounts so that you can share your content with yourself and cut back on time.
2) Don’t re-invent the wheel, use content that you have already written for your self or clients.
3) Spend an hour a week blogging, just sit down and post your entries for the entire week. Post date your entries and change the times so that each day of the week a new entry is posted and your not even there, but the engines and your visitors don’t know that!
4) If possible setup an automated backup system for your website (depends on your hosting platform). That way you never loose your content, and you cut back on maintenance time.