Do you find it hard sometimes to focus on your important tasks? Do you start too many tasks and projects but never finish any? And you’re not achieving the results you’re looking for as a result?
If you answer yes to any of the questions, it’s probably because you’re not managing your time very effectively. The following tips will help you manage your time and get things done fast and efficiently.
1. Become clear of what you want to achieve
Firstly, you work at a project or task to achieve something. But if you’re not clear or don’t know exactly what you want to achieve, it will be difficult for you to know the steps you need to take to achieve your goals and you can’t stay motivated.
So determine what your short term and long term goals are and set deadlines for them. For example, what do you want to get or achieve in a year, or five years from now? What about in a week, a month, or 6 months? And what do you need to do to achieve both your long term and short term goals and when?
First get the general, big picture of the steps you need to take in the long term. Then list down specifically what tasks you need to undertake now.
2. Find an accountability partner
One of the greatest things about being self-employed is the freedom of not having to report to a boss or do what you choose to do. However, that can also be a bad thing if you don’t know how to keep yourself accountable.
The truth is, it’s not always easy to keep yourself accountable or set your goals, create action plans, and check your progress, all on your own.
What you can do instead is agree with someone else to become accountability partners of each other. You’ll share with them about your goals, and plan of actions and they’ll continually check your progress, remind you of your action plans, and from time to time give you a friendly kick in the butt. You’ll also reciprocate and do the same to them so you both can stay on track and focused on achieving your goals.
3. Tackle your important tasks first
Sometimes, your to-do list can have a lot of items and if you start your day with tasks that are not important or urgent, you might reach the end of the day without accomplishing anything of significance.
To avoid this happening, determine what your important tasks are and do them first. Even if you haven’t done everything on your to do list by the end of the day, you’ll still accomplish a lot. Remember, the 80/20 rule always applies.
4. Arrange your files and folders in an organized manner
We sometimes can waste several minutes in the middle of a task browsing through folders just to find a single file.
Not being able to find what you want when you want it, will not only waste your time but also destruct you from focusing on what you’re working at.
Take some time and organize your folders in a way that you can to find files fast and easily. For example, if you were working on a number of websites, you could create different folders for each website with names such as “Site1”, “Site2” etc…
If, then you wanted to start an article marketing campaign to promote your site number 1, for example, you would create a new folder named “Articles” under the “Site1” folder and store your newly written articles in that folder.
Come up with a file management system that works best for you as soon as you can. By doing so you can save time and stay focused.
5. Get a private working place
Another good part about running an online business is that you can work from anywhere or any place. You can work in a coffee shop or in your bedroom in your pajamas as long as you have a computer an internet access.
But if you really want to take your business to the next level, you need to consider getting some private space that is free from destruction so that you can work uninterruptedly. This way, your productivity level will rise and you can achieve more.
6. Block social media websites
How many times have you ever found yourself chatting, watching videos, checking emails or instant messaging on social media websites in the middle of a task? You can get sidetracked easily and find yourself spending more time than necessary on those sites.
If you can’t stop or limit yourself, you can use tools like “Anti-Social” to block out social media websites on your computer.
There you have it, six tips for becoming more productive. All in all, if you set clear goals, become accountable, and avoid destructions, you can achieve what you want in your online marketing endeavors.
Do you have any other tips for getting things done even faster?
Failing is something we don’t want (at ALL!).