|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Freelance Productivity: Do One Thing Extra Each Day
This may not sound like a big deal. But it's amazing how completing one extra task each day can quickly add up and make a difference. Here's how it works for me... Each day I look at my 'Today's Things To Do List'. Oh yes, I have a list. Without it I would be lost. I schedule upcoming work. I list deadlines. I make notes of the people I should be calling or emailing. I look for the spare moments when I can write an article or two. I list all my personal and family commitments too. >> And then I add one thing more In addition to my daily list of things to do, I also have a general 'Needs to be Done' list. These are items that don't really have delivery dates or deadlines, but should get done. Examples? Maybe a follow-up email to a company I worked for a while ago but haven't heard from since. Maybe a note to myself to get back to a happy customer and ask for a testimonial. Perhaps a reminder to myself to check out a particular website or new service. That kind of thing. These are all things that are important, but not urgent. >> Important, but not urgent This is worth dwelling on for a moment. For many of us freelancers, our days and sometimes nights are filled with completing tasks that are urgent. We have deadlines to meet. We have to get the work done. And for most of us, we have only ourselves. No assistants or office managers to take care of the paperwork, administration and bookkeeping. So we rush, rush, rush and feel that our day is complete once we have completed all of the urgent tasks. >> Time for one more thing But before you close down your computer, do that one extra thing. It's important. Often that one final task will take just a few minutes. I'm not talking about spending another hour or two at your desk. I'm talking about tackling a non-urgent, but important task. >> Will it make a difference? Yes, it will. At the end of the month you will have completed 20-30 important things that otherwise would never have been done. Perhaps just one of those things will lead to an extra contract. Now keep this habit going month by month, year after year. If just one in fifty of these extra tasks completed leads to a new client or job, think of what that means in new income over the next few years. >> Concluding thoughts... There is no magic about doing one thing extra each day. It's just a simple, useful discipline and habit that could end up making a big difference to your future income. Try it. Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author and speaker. You'll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at http://www.FreelanceWritingSuccess.com
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Quantum-less Time and Mathemathically Deprived Theory What would you say to me if I told you that you don't have to be at work by 8 am, but rather that you have to be at work tomorrow? 24 Time Management Tips Where does your time go? We all know we are busy, yet we feel behind and don't get to do the things we really want to do. Vilfredo Paretos Principle: The 80-20 Rule: 80% of Results are Produced from 20% of Efforts Vilfredo Pareto's Principle, or The "Pareto Principle," is more commonly known as the 80-20 rule. It suggests that a ratio of approximately 20% to 80% can be found as an effective measure for most things in life. Whether revenues generated per customer or value for hours worked, it usually can be found that 80% of all of our results in business and in life come from only 20% of our efforts! Effective Time Management - Delegating Techniques Do you manage your time or does your time manage you? Do you start your day knowing what you want to achieve today and how you are going to achieve it? Linking Purpose To Everyday Behaviors How do you know what's the best use of your time right now? How To Make Your Job Easier The techies could do a lot more to make our life at work easier and more pleasant. Tips to Manage Your Time Time and money are both very important in business. Yet, like me, many business people tend to give a lot more specific thought as to how to spend their money. Too often, how we spend our time is only thought of in terms of "What am I going to do today?" or "What should I do next?" Making More Efficient Use of Your Time You can lose, damage or waste some things in life, and then, get them repaired or buy them again. With time, you cannot do that. Once time has gone, there is no way to get it back! If you realise that a certain period of your life was less productive, or was lost in one way or another, there is no point in dwelling on it negatively; the best thing you can do is to learn from any mistakes, thus turning them, and therefore your time, into a positive use. Balancing Your Work, Family and Social Life Balancing Your Work, Family and Social LifeBy Gene Griessman, PhD Many of us have an image of personal balance as a set of scales in perfect balance every day. But that's an unrealistic goal. You are in for a lot of frustration if you try to allocate within every day a predetermined portion of time for work, family and your social life. An illness may upset all your plans. A business project may demand peaks of intense work, followed by valleys of slow time. Balance requires continual adjustments, like an acrobat on a high wire who constantly shifts his weight to the right and to the left. By focusing on four main areas of your life ? emotional/spiritual needs, relationships, intellectual needs and physical needs ? at work and away from work, you can begin to walk the high wire safely. Here, drawn from my conversations with many high successful Americans, are ten ideas for balancing all aspects of your life:1. Make an appointment with yourself. Banish from your mind the idea that everyone takes precedence over you. Don't use your organizer or calendar just for appointments with others. Give yourself some prime time. Regularly do something you enjoy. It will recharge your batteries. Once you've put yourself on your calendar, guard those appointments. Kay Koplovitz founder of the USA cable television network, which is on the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. Koplovitz ran the daily operations of the network for 21 years. For more than two decades, there was always some potential claim on her time. Therefore she vigilantly protected a scheduled tennis match just as she would a business appointment.2. Care for your body. Having a high energy level is a trait held by many highly successful people. No matter what your present level of energy, you can increase it by following these steps:Eat. Don't skip meals. Your physical and mental energy depend upon nourishment. Irregular eating patterns can cause a frayed temper, depression, lack of creativity and a nervous stomach.Exercise. Over and over again, highly successful people mention the benefit of exercise routines. Johnetta Cole, president of Bennett College for Women and former president of Spelman College, does a four-mile walk each morning. She calls it her mobile meditation. The benefits of exercise are mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. If you are healthier and have more stamina, you can work better and longer.Rest. A psychologist who has studied creative people reports that they rest often and sleep a lot.3. Cut some slack. You do not have to do everything. Just the right things. Publisher Steve Forbes taught me a lesson: "Don't be a slave to your in-box. Just because there's something there doesn't mean you have to do it." As a result, every evening, I extract from my long list to-do list just a few "musts" for the following day. If, but three o'clock the next day, I've crossed off all the "musts," I know that everything else I do that day will be icing on the cake. It is a great psychological plus for me.There is nothing wrong with pushing yourself hard, disciplining yourself todo what needs to be done when you hold yourself to the highest standards. That builds up stamina and turns you into a pro. At time, though, you must forgive yourself. You will never become 100 percent efficient, nor should you expect to be. After something does not work, ask yourself, "Did I do my best? If you did, accept the outcome. All you can do is all you can do.4. Blur the boundaries. Some very successful people achieve balance by setting aside times or days for family, recreation, hobbies or the like. They create boundaries around certain activities and protect them. Other individuals who are just as successful do just the opposite. They blur the boundaries. Says consultant Alan Weiss, "I work out of my home. In the afternoon, I might be watching my kids play at the pool or be out with my wife. On Saturday, or at ten o'clock on a weeknight, I might be working. I do things when the spirit moves me, and when they're appropriate."Some jobs don't lend themselves to this strategy. But blurring the boundaries is possible more often than you may think. One way is to involve people you care about in what you do. For example, many companies encourage employees to bring their spouses to conferences and annual meetings. It's a good idea. If people who mean a great deal to you understand what you do, they can share more fully in your successes and failures. They also are more likely to be a good sounding board for your ideas. 5. Take a break. Many therapists believe that taking a break from a work routine can have major benefits for mental and physical health. Professional speaker and executive coach Barbara Pagano practices a kind of quick charge, by scheduling a day every few months with no agenda. For her, that means staying in her pajamas, unplugging the phone, watching old movie or reading a novel in bed. For that one day, nothing happens, except what she decides from hour to hour. Adds singer and composer Billy Joel, "There are times when you need to let the field lie fallow." Joel is describing what farmers often do: let a plot rest so the soil can replenish itself.6. Take the road less traveled. Occasionally, get off the expressway and take a side road, literally and figuratively. That road may take you to the library or to the golf course. Do something out of the ordinary to avoid the well-worn grooves of your life. Try a new route to work, a different radio station or a different cereal. Break out of your old mold occasionally, with a new way to dress or a different hobby. The road less traveled can be a reward after a demanding event, a carrot that you reward your self with or it can be a good way to loosen up before a big event. Bobby Dodd, the legendary football coach at Georgia Tech, knew the power of this concept. While other coaches were putting their teams through brutal twice-a-day practices, Dodd's team did their drills and practices, but then took time to relax, play touch football and enjoy the bowl sites. Did the idea work? In six straight championships games!7. Be still. Susan Taylor, editorial director of Essence, sees to it that she has quiet time every morning. She regards it as a time for centering ? for being still and listening. She keeps a paper and pen with her to jot down ideas that come to her. The way you use solitary time should match your values, beliefs and temperament. Some individuals devote a regular time each day to visualize themselves attaining their goals and dreams. Others read, pray, meditate, do yoga or just contemplate a sunrise or sunset. Whatever form it takes, time spent alone can have an enormous payoff. Achievers talk about an inner strength they find and how it helps them put competing demands into perspective. They feel more confident about their choices and more self-reliant. They discover a sense of balance, a centeredness.8. Be a peacetime patriot. Joe Posner has achieved wealth and recognition selling life insurance. Several years ago, Posner helped form an organization in his hometown of Rochester, NY to prepare underprivileged children for school and life and, he hopes, break the poverty cycle. You may find some equally worthy way to give something back through your church, hospital, civic club, alumni association or by doing some pro bono work. Or you may help individuals privately, even anonymously. There are powerful rewards for balancing personal interests with the needs of the common good. One of the most wonderful is the sheer joy that can come from giving. Another reward is the better world that you help create.9. Do what you love to do. As a boy, Aaron Copeland spent hours listening to his sister practice the piano because he loved music. By following that love, he became America's most famous composer of classical must. When I asked him years later if he had even been disappointed by that choice Copeland replied, "My life has been enchanting." What a word to sum up a life. By itself, loving what you do does not ensure success. You need to be good at what you love. But if you love what you do, the time you spend becoming competent is less likely to be drudgery.10. Focus on strategy. As important as it is, how to save time for balancing your life is not the ultimate question. That question is, "What am I saving time for?" Strategy has to do with being successful ? but successful at what? If others pay your salary, being strategic generally means convincing them that you are spending your time in a way that benefits them. If there is a dispute over how you should use your time, either convince the people who can reward or punish you that your idea about using time is appropriate, or look for another job. The "what for?" question should also be asked about the life you live. It is truly a comprehensive question and gets at the question of wholeness. So what makes for a successful balance life? I can think of no better definition than the one given by Ralph Waldo Emerson: To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because I have lived. This is to have succeeded. Expand Your Time In our time-crazed society, lots of time is what most of us don't have. Yet, all of us would like to have more time. So what can you do about that? Expand your time. It's simple. Perfekt! Are you obsessed with getting everything just right? Do you do everything yourself because no one else can do it as well as you can? Do you believe that everything you do has to be absolutely perfect? Although striving for excellence is a good thing to do, demanding perfection in everything you do is not. Biggest Time Management Mistake The biggest time management mistake you can ever make isforgetting your closest partner in life. The one who stayswith you all the way from cradle to grave. Theone who drives you through your daily and nightly routines,who runs all your habits. You want it or not, this partnerof yours is the real manager of most of your time. His nameis Your Subconscious Mind. A Time-Saving Programming Tactic that Doesn?t Work Let's say that you have a software project that's under severe time pressure. Let's say that this deadline is so tight that you already know it will involve many late nights of black coffee and frenetic programming. What can you do to make this process go faster? New Adventures - in Four Hours a Day "Can you find four extra hours in your day?" a voice came over the speaker on my office phone, first telemarketer call of the day. I chuckled and answered, "Not this week." 10 Time Management Tips for Busy Professionals If you feel like your life moves faster than a Nascar race, you're not alone. We are living in a time where dual income families and single parent homes are the norm, a sharp contrast to the happy sitcom families we grew up watching on TV. Time Management Basics "At my back I always hear time's winged chariot hurrying near." Time Management - How To Get More Done In A Day? Everyday, in life, we are bombarded with 101 tasks that are waiting for us to resolve it. This is especially true when we are involved in internet marketing where we had to check emails, respond to customer queries, set up product page.. etc...etc.. The list goes on... Freelance Productivity: Do One Thing Extra Each Day This may not sound like a big deal. But it's amazing how completing one extra task each day can quickly add up and make a difference. The Ultimate Time Management Tips: 5 Steps To Reaching Your Goals With Minimum Work Would you like to know how to get 10 times more done in a day than most people do in a week, with less work? Self Care What does it mean to practice self care? It's creating a space and a healthy mind and body to support you in being the best you can be. If your space is filled with chaos, drama, disorganization, sadness and negativity then greatness cannot easily occur.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
