Productivity Matters: Getting It All Done!
Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess
How do you do it all? I get asked that question
at least weekly. I speak to business groups, blog for
my own sites, give the diva Poodle Henrietta all the love she demands, spend
time with family and still find time to crochet! I have to admit, I’d get more
done if I didn’t have a bit of a television addiction, but that is a topic for
another post.
I guess what I am trying to say is, we all have
tasks to complete, priorities to schedule and lives outside of our time in
front of the computer. How do I do it all? More importantly… how can YOU do it
all? Here are my five time management tips for the pet blogger or wannabe pet
blogger:
- Prioritize your to-dos. What is important
to you? Blogging? Your full time job? Your family? Exercising? Building
your pet speaking expertise? All of it? I know what it means to want it
all and it is possible, you just need to chip away at all of it a bit at a
time. Schedule your time wisely. If you have an hour to blog use the
entire hour and write several blogs and schedule them for the future.
Imagine that! And the next time you sit down for your scheduled blogging
time you won’t feel the pressure and you will be able to schedule your
posts even further out! - Work
smarter, not harder. Admit it, you can’t do everything and give it 100%
can you? If so, please tell me how. Choose the items that you know you can
give 100% to and focus on those. If you don’t have the bandwidth to “do it
all” you may have to let some of it go until a future time when your
lifestyle allows you to add more tasks. - What can
you “bundle”? Do you spend time commuting? Sitting at your children’s
soccer match? Kill time while Fifi is at the groomer? Use that time to jot
down blog post ideas or search the internet on your smartphone for new
sites on which you can guest blog. Manage your time and bundle your
activities in a more efficient manner. This can go for running errands.
Rather than running five errands at five separate times a day, run them
all at once – you’ll be surprised with the time you save. - Track your
time wasters. We all have them, so ‘fess up. My time waster (currently) is
Words With Friends! I hear the distinctive sound of those little tiles
populating and it takes me away from the task at hand. I know that to be
productive I need to sign out of Facebook and stop my email notifications.
I get too easily distracted by Bright Shiny Objects and it impacts my
productivity. Social media and blog post promotion can also be a black
hole of a time waster – a necessary task, but one that can take up more of
your day than you’d planned for. My advice? Set a timer. Allow yourself a
15 minute Time With Friends break, but once the timer goes off, it’s back
to work! - Learn to
let go. Yes, letting go and saying no are two of my biggest productivity
enhancers. If something doesn’t suit my business plan or move my business
forward or doesn’t fit into my idea of community service or personal
growth… why am I doing it? I’m not. Remember too, if you don’t get through
everything on your to do list, the world won’t come to an end, but you may
need to rework your tasks so that you can be and feel more productive. I’ve
found that productivity breeds productivity.
What are your steps for getting it all done? In
what areas do you find yourself falling behind?
You nailed it…this is what I have been trying to do in 2013…..”Learn to let go. Yes, letting go and saying no”
As well as unplugging whenever I can by 8pm instead of staying up til 2am and getting up at 6 and beginning again. That was ridiculous and I did it most of last year. NOT doing that this year!