55 Time-Saving Tips & An Assessment Quiz
Managing your time is a
forever challenge, but a necessity, if you want to be a productive and
profitable writer. Books are written about this, but it all boils down to some
core basics, such as the following 55 tips:
·
Develop
a sense of urgency and convey it to others so that they can act in a timely and
productive manner.
·
Set
daily goals that fit into bigger-picture goals.
·
Establish
priorities for the day, every day.
·
Stay
focused on what needs to get done.
·
Delegate
to others but don’t just dump on them.
·
Say no
to time-wasters.
·
Set time
limits for meetings or tasks.
·
Multi-task
where possible.
·
Do
things more efficiently.
·
Pay
others to help you – manage them well.
·
Review
what sucks your time and see where improvements can be made.
·
Constantly
be aware of time and monitor the clock.
·
Acknowledge
things you cannot do and simply establish your time is better spent on other
things.
·
Help
organize and time-manage those who help or impact you.
·
Think
and act ahead so that a crisis doesn’t sap your time – pace yourself and start
things now that you will need later.
·
Keep an
organized, clean and neat work environment.
·
Improve
your skills and knowledge so you can do things more efficiently.
·
Do what
you do best, what you like most, and what provides the biggest payoff.
·
Be
disciplined and tune out distractions.
·
Plan
your day in advance and leave a margin of flexibility because things will
change.
·
Weigh
the pros-cons of action on something specific – do you benefit by jumping on
something or waiting?
·
Leverage
your best talents.
·
Identify
your main constraints, limitations, shortcomings, challenges or opposition and
seek to address them.
·
Come
rested and motivated – life demands you bring your A-game all the time.
·
Do an
easy task first and build momentum.
·
Do a
hard task first and get the thing you fear most out of the way early on.
·
Build in
setbacks to any deadline that you set.
·
Resolve
to take small steps every day towards a bigger project.
·
Be
prepared to walk away from something if you see things are not going to work
out as planned – better to cut your losses rather than feel obligated to
something that is a failure.
·
Lastly,
celebrate your accomplishments and wins. If you are going to work hard, long
hours and stress out over things, make sure the payoff is well worth it!
- Pay
a few bucks extra on certain services and items, out of convenience,
otherwise you spend too much time comparing prices and shopping around or
going far away to get what you need. Keep supplies on hand, rather
than making frequent trips to the store – or order online.
- Keep
your active files in order and nearby. If they aren’t easy to access
and by your fingertips you waste time/energy to locate them.
- Clean
off your desk every night. It unclutters the mind and gives you a
fresh start tomorrow.
- Before
undertaking another big project, put away existing ones.
- Continue
learning how to find the best technology for what you need to do and
always be educated on how to make use of that technology.
- Always
carry things to read with you – you never know when you’ll have sudden
down time (ie: waiting on a line, for a doctor, or a plane).
- Plan
today for tomorrow and the next week. Think ahead.
- Make
appointments and meetings with beginning and ending times – use 15-minute
increments.
- Be
prepared for your day’s activities. Don’t just wing it.
- Reward
yourself for small victories.
- Set
goals, prioritize them, and plan ahead. Anticipate problems.
- Make
to-do lists with the intention of doing them, not just listing them.
- Put
off procrastination.
- Disrupt
interruptions from taking over your day.
- Match
your routines and chores to your daily rhythm, so that you can do what
needs to get done when you have the energy and focus to do so.
- Learn
to say “no” when you are drowning in to-do lists.
- Use
deadlines wisely by imposing them on every project or task. Plan
backwards to meet them. Allow for setbacks or unforeseen challenges.
- Realize
that no matter how intelligent, talented, experienced, resourceful or
admired you may be, you can’t do it alone. Get help.
- Capitalize
on what you do best and don’t sweat the stuff you’re not as strong
at. Exploit what you have and forget or ignore your shortcomings.
- Set
your watch and clocks at least five minutes ahead. It’ll make you
move faster and others will think they need to move quicker.
- Stretch
beyond your comfort zone and confront what tends to slow you down or
hold you up.
- Don’t
worry about making mistakes or screwing up. Just learn from your
setbacks.
- Do
as Harvey Mackay, best-selling author, suggests: “Inspiration you
can do alone. Execution requires other people.”
- Do
a little but in a lot of areas every day. Plant seeds of all kinds
and see what grows. But also focus on one or two key things and
target them as your do-or-die priority. Your day’s litmus test will
center around whether you got done those few things that are most valuable
to you.
- Show
you care and others will, too. Take time out to display your
concerns for others and it will be repaid by them.
Time Management Assessment
Ask yourself the following
questions. Your answers will help you assess your true views on managing your
time. Once you acknowledge the areas you admit need improvement you can take
steps to address them. Of course, there will always be things that demand your
attention – in your professional and personal lives – and they will overlap or
compete for your time. You will need to weigh each time demand against the
other so you can prioritize, in any given day or moment, what should demand
your attention and command the commodity of time.
1.
Do you
feel you are in too many meetings?
2.
Do the
meetings last too long?
3.
Do you allot
time to think – to brainstorm and be creative?
4.
What
would you cut back on if you needed to?
5.
Do you
plan out your day each morning or the night before – or at all?
6.
Are you
good at keeping track of your time and accounting for it?
7.
Do you
meet deadlines on a regular basis?
8.
How far
out do you plan things?
9.
How
organized are your notes and “to do” list?
10. Do you use the latest technology to schedule
your time and appointment?
11. Are you good at guessing how much time needs to
be allocated to a task?
12. Are you good at cutting corners and being
efficient?
13. Do you ask for help? Do you delegate to others?
14. Do you accept constructive feedback?
15. When does your energy tend to slow down? How do
you inject an energy infusion?
16. Do you tend to avoid important decisions and
procrastinate?
17. Do you get distracted easily?
18. Are you challenged to say “no” to others?
19. Do you spend too much time socializing?
20. Can you shorten your breaks or lunch hour?
21. Do you heed unsolicited advice?
22. Do you set daily goals in the larger context of
what you need to accomplish?
23. Do you feel distracted in your work
environment?
24. Are your files in order?
25. Do you really need to do things the exact way
you have been doing them or do you see ways to modify your routine?
DON”T
MISS THESE!!!
How authors get
their book marketing mojo – and avoid failure
Authors cannot succeed
without the right attitude
So what is needed to be a champion book marketer?
Should You Promote Your
Book By Yourself?
The Book Marketing Strategies Of Best-Sellers
How authors can sell more books
No. 1 Book Publicity Resource: 2019 Toolkit For Authors
-- FREE
Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and
interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of
his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more
important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2019. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in
Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and
IBPA’s Independent. This was named one of the best book marketing
blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the
top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best
resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America.
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