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 several clients, blog on 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:

1. 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!
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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!
5. 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? 

Comments

[caren gittleman]

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!