I’ve seen a lot of good posts lately about productivity and time management.
Lisa Barone consistently publishes great content about social media and other interesting topics. Like many of us, she had to find ways to streamline her work. She shares eleven of her methods (check out the comments too). I’m going to try her email tip — not opening it first thing in the morning but instead waiting until right before lunch and dinner — hunger drives efficiency.
Like Lisa Barone, Chris Brogan loves his egg timer. I use my microwave timer; it makes me get up out of the office and walk into the kitchen. Sitting too long can really tighten up the muscles. Chris explains his secret love of egg timers and how he uses one to manage his work.
photo: Flickr/Aunt_Owwee
You can download The Big Stretch Reminder Program and have it remind you to get up and stretch. I haven’t checked this one out yet so can’t vouch for it. If you download it, let me know what you think. Thanks to Fiona Gathright (aka @corpwellness) for the hat tip on this one.
Many organizations, particularly those with small staffs, are hesitant to plan and implement a social media program because they don’t think anyone has the time to do it. Last month I recommended a post by Michael Hyatt that addressed the need to get over this attitude. Chris Garrett gives five practical tips for finding time for social media.
My Twitter friend Chris Uschan likes Chris Brogan’s choice of activities when spending two hours on social media — focus on listening, connecting and publishing.
I love the practical advice that Tracy Needham gives for getting out of ruts — making small changes in our routine to spur “breakthrough ideas and creative problem-solving.”
Besides my microwave timer, I use UberTwitter for Blackberry to check social media sites while waiting somewhere, use Tweetdeck columns to prioritize my Twitter reading, keep a running Word document going with “tweets for later” (mostly links to retweet) and close down applications and sites when my scheduled time is up. How do you manage your time?
