Systems: Organizational Tools and Techniques—Day 30—Powering Your Business with Referral Fusion 3.0
March 29, 2010
Systems
In establishing focus, setting priorities and good habits, there are several practices and techniques that can aid in the effectiveness and productivity of your work.
1. Prepare a “To Do” List prior to your business day. Some people do this the night before, at the end of the business day, while others do it first thing in the morning before anything else gets done. It serves as a mission statement for the day—especially if you are clear on the important as opposed to the urgent things that need to get done.
2. Block Calendar—Create a block calendar. A block calendar effectively defines a set of specific days and times for certain activities as “standing appointments.” For example, establish an hour in the early morning or late afternoon as exercise; have a prescribed time for email—usually after some time spent on projects requiring your full attention.
3. Power Hour—As a part of your Block Calendar, create a “power hour” every day. This is a time devoted to the important items, as opposed to the merely urgent. This time should be devoid of interruption; no phone calls, no people dropping in, only focused work. If you need to post a sign saying you will be available in one hour, then so be it. But this is your time to get done what needs getting done without distraction. During this time I shut my cell phone ringer off.
4. Timer—Often helpful for power hours and billable time in general is the use of a timer. This can be an egg timer, stop watch, or the timer function on your cell phone.
5. Begin the day with high energy requiring activities and wait on email and low energy activities. There are few circumstances when an email can’t wait for an hour or ninety minutes before it gets answered. Do the things that required the most focus at the time when you have the energy to be most focused.
6. Personal note cards and acknowledgement emails (or I use video mail) should be done in one continuous string. It allows you a rhythm that makes the process of note writing and emailing thank-you note more fluid. There are times I have found that at the end of the day I adopt an “attitude of gratitude,” that gets me in the mood to acknowledge people. Others may find the beginning of the day preferable.
7. Return calls at the same time every day. Contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to answer every call as it comes in, or to return calls immediately. Your time can be much more effective if you were to devote a specific time in the day to place or return calls.
8. Social Media—Like email, social media should have some time devoted to it. If not every day, at least three days a week should have time spent responding to comments posting tweets, Facebook Fan Page updates, and Linked In Updates. With tools like HootSuite, Ping, and TweetDeck, these postings can be created once then scheduled to be posted as far ahead as one month. My preference is for HootSuite, I can post everything, including to my blog from HootSuite. Spend some time during the Social Media period responding to comments in the groups in which you participate (unfortunately this can not be scheduled in advance) and be sure to respond to comments on your own blog and Fan page.
