This post follows "Boosting Productivity in 15 Seconds (Part 1)".
Part one of this series was reasonably popular; at least, moreso than my previous posts. I can only assume that there are a lot of people who would like to be more productive than they are. With that in mind, here is part two of the series.
Throughout this series, you may find that what is said is something that you and many others already know. But for those who don't, I'm going to assume that all readers are new to the techniques I put forward.
1. Planning. We have almost been made blind to this word because of its near constant usage. You hear it everywhere, everyone is talking about planning, saying that planning is a good idea. But it becomes the sort of situation where you say a word again and again so many times that you forget what that word means or why you were saying it repeatedly.
Planning is an activity which should happen as your day progresses. When something comes up that you will need to do, add it in your plan. At the start of each day, spend 15 seconds reviewing your upcoming tasks, and use the following ideas.
For planning to be an effective tool for boosting your productivity, it firstly needs to be a commitment, not just a to-do list that you write on a piece of paper. Too many times I have seen people plan to make a particular phone call, or to get part of a project done, but the day comes and goes and the work never gets done, the call never gets made. Because those people failed to make a commitment, they began to procrastinate, causing the job to never get done (or to only get done after the deadline).
When you record your plan, don't just leave things there. Look at your plan, review it to make what changes you feel are necessary, and then walk away briefly. When you return, look at the first day of your plan, or the first week, or even the first planned task and make a commitment that you will get that task (or tasks) done, that you will not put them off until later. As you follow through with that commitment, look at the next set of tasks and commit to them. Keep doing this until you have worked your way through everything you need to do.
This commitment is what ensures that a plan fulfills its purpose. Let's face it, there's no point spending time on a plan that you're not going to use.
Secondly, for a plan to be an effective tool for boosting your productivity, you need to be able to ignore it. Before you start worrying about me contradicting myself, read on further.
When you are writing a plan, you can plan for a year, a month, a week, a day, even down to the hour or less. And while all of this very specific planning might help you to milk your days for all you can, you need to remember what the world does - it will throw things in your way. You will experience illness, unexpected phone calls and guests, equipment failure and emergency tasks. If you plan down to the hour, you put a lot of pressure on your pre-scheduled tasks when these unexpected events come up - because instead of having 6 tasks which need to be done at some point today, you have 1 task that needs to be finished in 15 minutes, but your building has lost electricity (and by the time you get electricity back again, you'll be pushing your second task back, and your third...).
Thirdly, a plan needs to be easily accessible. Personally, I use Microsoft Outlook for my planning. Combining the calandar and tasks list / to-do list with my book of contacts and e-mails provides me with all the planning functionality I need. Some people are happy enough to use a piece of paper with scrawled handwriting. It all comes down to personal preference.
Finally, when you're writing your plan, write it in a fashion that encourages you to get it done. A to-do list is simply that: a list of things you need to do. It's a useful little tool, but it doesn't encourage you to get those tasks done on time. Instead, attach a "Must Be Completed By..." statement to each task, and then sort those tasks by urgency.
So, to summarise:
1) If you plan it, commit yourself to getting it done.
2) Don't get too specific - leave room for the unexpected.
3) Make sure your plan is easy to access, wherever you will need it.
4) Set a deadline for each task, to stop procrastination.
Do you use planning as a technique to boost your productivity? Share your thoughts.
Keep watching for Part Three of this series.
(My apologies for the delay in getting Part Two posted. I've had university exams, work and SES training hit me all at once, so the R.I. slipped to the back of my mind for a while.)
Sunday 17 June 2007
Saturday 12 May 2007
Boosting Productivity in 15 Seconds (Part 1)
I have often previously fallen into a bit of a lull when it comes to my productivity and gettings tasks done. Sometimes I hit a brick wall, and then get distracted while trying to get around it. Other times I might not have felt motivated enough to be doing those tasks - I just wanted to laze around, watching TV or whatever else.
Because of this lull in productivity, I have not only lost potential development work and subsequent income, but I've also seen my personal projects start to fall behind making it harder and harder to get back up to speed on them.
In my discussions with fellow developers (and self-employed friends in other industries), I have learnt that I am not the only one who experiences this from time to time. It seems to be a commonplace event, getting distracted or unmotivated and letting tasks and projects fall behind.
I made a decision to turn this trend of mine around. By doing this, I would increase my productivity and get through projects faster (meaning more free time), or be able to work on more projects in a fixed amount of time (meaning more income). So I stepped back and looked at what was holding me back and where I would like to be. From this, I developed a few strategies and ideas to help me increase my productivity - and they've worked, for me and those fellow developers I mentioned earlier.
In my next post, I'll be sharing some of those ideas. Could your productivity benefit from a boost?
Because of this lull in productivity, I have not only lost potential development work and subsequent income, but I've also seen my personal projects start to fall behind making it harder and harder to get back up to speed on them.
In my discussions with fellow developers (and self-employed friends in other industries), I have learnt that I am not the only one who experiences this from time to time. It seems to be a commonplace event, getting distracted or unmotivated and letting tasks and projects fall behind.
I made a decision to turn this trend of mine around. By doing this, I would increase my productivity and get through projects faster (meaning more free time), or be able to work on more projects in a fixed amount of time (meaning more income). So I stepped back and looked at what was holding me back and where I would like to be. From this, I developed a few strategies and ideas to help me increase my productivity - and they've worked, for me and those fellow developers I mentioned earlier.
In my next post, I'll be sharing some of those ideas. Could your productivity benefit from a boost?
Wednesday 9 May 2007
The Best Way to do Nothing (and still get paid)
I've had my laptop in a workshop for repair for the last few days, and during that time I've had the disappointing situation of wanting (and needing) to do work both for business and for univeristy, but not having the means to do that work.
In business, if you were to lose some critical equipment for a few days, there is a good chance that the inward flow of money would cease temporarily - and that is one thing that none of us want to happen. It doesn't have to be like that, though.
In the absence of my critical equipment (my laptop), I started to wonder:
"How can I make money when I'm not able to do any work?"
The answer? Create systems to provide an income where no work is needed to maintain that income. Not only will this provide an income stream when normal work activities are on hold, but it also provides a nice little bonus on top of the income earned from normal activities.
Take a typical retail business for example. They have a brick-and-mortar premises where customers can browse and buy products, and this operation is running well. The owners are good friends with their suppliers, who ship fresh products to the retailer on a regular basis.
In a freak accident, their shop was destroyed by fire. All of their stock in the store was ruined, and it would be weeks before they could begin selling from the store again.
Not all is lost. These retailers had a website which they used to update customers on newly introduced products, and to display contact details and a bit of information on the business. This website gets visited regularly by customers to see the new stock coming in.
(And now I get to the point. Apologies for the long story.)
The retailers can use these regular visitors to their advantage. By turning their information-only website into an online shopping cart and catalogue, they are able to fulfill the website's current purpose (informing customers about products) while also being able to handle sales online. Because of the relationship between the retailer and supplier, the supplier agreed to receive orders directly from the website and to ship them to the customers' addresses. The retailers collected the income from the website sales and paid the supplier for the stock - an operation which could easily be run from a home office.
Weeks later, when the retailer was back and trading again from their store, they noticed that sales on the website hadn't slacked off at all. In fact, they were getting more and more sales, even from international customers! A nice little bonus to add to their normal trading revenue, and a lifesaver when things go bad with normal trading.
And here's the brilliant thing: the retailers had very little more work on their hands for a whole lot more return. They effectively increased their productivity by doing a bit of work upfront, and then doing nothing later on!
The moral of the story? Have a think about how you can create and use side systems to add to your earning potential. In fact, I want to hear some of the ideas that you have had or are having.
I'm still working on getting those marketing books from the library, by the way. This week has been riddled with public holidays, and the library hasn't been open. I'll get them soon...
In business, if you were to lose some critical equipment for a few days, there is a good chance that the inward flow of money would cease temporarily - and that is one thing that none of us want to happen. It doesn't have to be like that, though.
In the absence of my critical equipment (my laptop), I started to wonder:
"How can I make money when I'm not able to do any work?"
The answer? Create systems to provide an income where no work is needed to maintain that income. Not only will this provide an income stream when normal work activities are on hold, but it also provides a nice little bonus on top of the income earned from normal activities.
Take a typical retail business for example. They have a brick-and-mortar premises where customers can browse and buy products, and this operation is running well. The owners are good friends with their suppliers, who ship fresh products to the retailer on a regular basis.
In a freak accident, their shop was destroyed by fire. All of their stock in the store was ruined, and it would be weeks before they could begin selling from the store again.
Not all is lost. These retailers had a website which they used to update customers on newly introduced products, and to display contact details and a bit of information on the business. This website gets visited regularly by customers to see the new stock coming in.
(And now I get to the point. Apologies for the long story.)
The retailers can use these regular visitors to their advantage. By turning their information-only website into an online shopping cart and catalogue, they are able to fulfill the website's current purpose (informing customers about products) while also being able to handle sales online. Because of the relationship between the retailer and supplier, the supplier agreed to receive orders directly from the website and to ship them to the customers' addresses. The retailers collected the income from the website sales and paid the supplier for the stock - an operation which could easily be run from a home office.
Weeks later, when the retailer was back and trading again from their store, they noticed that sales on the website hadn't slacked off at all. In fact, they were getting more and more sales, even from international customers! A nice little bonus to add to their normal trading revenue, and a lifesaver when things go bad with normal trading.
And here's the brilliant thing: the retailers had very little more work on their hands for a whole lot more return. They effectively increased their productivity by doing a bit of work upfront, and then doing nothing later on!
The moral of the story? Have a think about how you can create and use side systems to add to your earning potential. In fact, I want to hear some of the ideas that you have had or are having.
I'm still working on getting those marketing books from the library, by the way. This week has been riddled with public holidays, and the library hasn't been open. I'll get them soon...
Tuesday 8 May 2007
Three essential reads...
Before I began to work independently as a self-employed web developer, I worked for about a year as a dedicated contractor for a web design and marketing firm in Brisbane. I remember how my job was very simple then.
I would show up to the office and have some quick coffee with the firm's owner (and my direct superior), where we would discuss the projects that the firm was currently undertaking, anything that should be known about various clients, and what work was coming up. From that daily discussion, I could then establish what work it was that I needed to get stuck into and complete, and how I had to do that.
I did the above usually 3 days per week, for that year, and each week I walked away with a tidy sum of cash for my efforts.
When I ceased working for this firm and started to pursue my own operation, the transition wasn't easy. I was still in the mindset of a dedicated contractor, not the mindset of an independent contractor. I didn't consider what I would be doing in 2 weeks or a month or a year, because I must have subconsciously expected the work to always be there, just like it was when I was working for the design firm.
However, my unplanned experiences in the brave new world of self-employment wasn't a total write-off. This experience, in combination with my university studies and my own personal research, showed me the paramount importance of planning, the value of direction and the necessity for a goal or destination.
When starting or intending to start a business operation, or even a sub-operation within a business, it's important to know where you are, where you want to go, and how you want to get there - and only detailed planning before the fact will give you that. This is why documents like strategic business plans are so important to new businesses.
Sitepoint is a website which showcases various blogs, articles and a forum all directed at a topic I obviously had a strong interest in: web development and how to make a business out of it. I had been a regular reader of the articles and blogs for a couple of years when I first decided to formalise my self-employment operation, and my personal research into business plans led me to a blog by Andrew Neitlich on Sitepoint, which went into great detail about business plans and how to write them successfully.
In this blog, Andrew describes a sample strategic business plan. The first section in this sample plan explains to the reader what the business is, what the intention of the business is, and where the business (or its owner) sees itself in 3 to 5 to 10 years.
The second section of the blog moves more into the planning for action, including information about how the business might achieve its goals and vision for the future, and what needs to happen in the meantime in order to make that vision achievable.
Thirdly, and finally, instructions and a solid timeframe for action upon the entire preceding document are added, turning the plan into a to-do list, a list of instructions which (hopefully) makes building the business into a success a much smoother, easier experience.
Supporting this blog post are two other blog posts which Andrew brings to his readers' attention. The first blog post, "World Domination for Small Web Businesses" again by Andrew Neitlich, explains the importance of having a specified target market (which is something that must absolutely be included in your strategic business plan). For anyone who has ever considered their target market to be "small to mid-sized businesses", I recommend that you read this blog post thoroughly, and have a think about what Andrew discusses. I certainly learned a lot from it, and I am already starting to see results in the form of streamlined, more efficient planning.
The second blog post, "Aspiring Towards Auto-Pilot: Automate Your Business Marketing" is also by Andrew Neitlich. This blog post introduces the idea of making your marketing more efficient (or perhaps even completely automated), so that you can use your hours and days for other, more interesting tasks. I am making a visit to my local library tomorrow, where I will be picking up a number of books on marketing (as this has never been my strong point), and I will be refining my business plan with regard to marketing after I have studied up a little.
So again, my three essential reads for those preparing to get serious about business are:
I'll let you all know if I survive it.
I would show up to the office and have some quick coffee with the firm's owner (and my direct superior), where we would discuss the projects that the firm was currently undertaking, anything that should be known about various clients, and what work was coming up. From that daily discussion, I could then establish what work it was that I needed to get stuck into and complete, and how I had to do that.
I did the above usually 3 days per week, for that year, and each week I walked away with a tidy sum of cash for my efforts.
When I ceased working for this firm and started to pursue my own operation, the transition wasn't easy. I was still in the mindset of a dedicated contractor, not the mindset of an independent contractor. I didn't consider what I would be doing in 2 weeks or a month or a year, because I must have subconsciously expected the work to always be there, just like it was when I was working for the design firm.
However, my unplanned experiences in the brave new world of self-employment wasn't a total write-off. This experience, in combination with my university studies and my own personal research, showed me the paramount importance of planning, the value of direction and the necessity for a goal or destination.
When starting or intending to start a business operation, or even a sub-operation within a business, it's important to know where you are, where you want to go, and how you want to get there - and only detailed planning before the fact will give you that. This is why documents like strategic business plans are so important to new businesses.
Sitepoint is a website which showcases various blogs, articles and a forum all directed at a topic I obviously had a strong interest in: web development and how to make a business out of it. I had been a regular reader of the articles and blogs for a couple of years when I first decided to formalise my self-employment operation, and my personal research into business plans led me to a blog by Andrew Neitlich on Sitepoint, which went into great detail about business plans and how to write them successfully.
In this blog, Andrew describes a sample strategic business plan. The first section in this sample plan explains to the reader what the business is, what the intention of the business is, and where the business (or its owner) sees itself in 3 to 5 to 10 years.
The second section of the blog moves more into the planning for action, including information about how the business might achieve its goals and vision for the future, and what needs to happen in the meantime in order to make that vision achievable.
Thirdly, and finally, instructions and a solid timeframe for action upon the entire preceding document are added, turning the plan into a to-do list, a list of instructions which (hopefully) makes building the business into a success a much smoother, easier experience.
Supporting this blog post are two other blog posts which Andrew brings to his readers' attention. The first blog post, "World Domination for Small Web Businesses" again by Andrew Neitlich, explains the importance of having a specified target market (which is something that must absolutely be included in your strategic business plan). For anyone who has ever considered their target market to be "small to mid-sized businesses", I recommend that you read this blog post thoroughly, and have a think about what Andrew discusses. I certainly learned a lot from it, and I am already starting to see results in the form of streamlined, more efficient planning.
The second blog post, "Aspiring Towards Auto-Pilot: Automate Your Business Marketing" is also by Andrew Neitlich. This blog post introduces the idea of making your marketing more efficient (or perhaps even completely automated), so that you can use your hours and days for other, more interesting tasks. I am making a visit to my local library tomorrow, where I will be picking up a number of books on marketing (as this has never been my strong point), and I will be refining my business plan with regard to marketing after I have studied up a little.
So again, my three essential reads for those preparing to get serious about business are:
- Write a Business Plan that Works, by Andrew Neitlich
- World Domination for Small Web Businesses, by Andrew Neitlich
- Aspiring Towards Auto-Pilot: Automate Your Business Marketing, by Andrew Neitlich
I'll let you all know if I survive it.
Monday 7 May 2007
Welcome to the R.I.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Resonance Inclined blog. I suppose an introduction would not go astray...
My name is Brett, and I live in Queensland, Australia. I'm a student at the Queensland University of Technology, and I'm currently studying topics such as Knowledge Management (please don't ask me to explain what KM really is), SAP (which is something that if you don't know what it is, you really don't want to find out; trust me), and Business Analytics.
Outside of my studies at QUT, I'm an avid gamer, a self-employed website developer, and a volunteer with the Queensland State Emergency Service, the latter I would recommend anyone in Australia to experience.
In this blog, I'll be discussing random thoughts that pop into my head about life, opinions on the web development industry and current news, and even a few suggestions and points to think about for those in the same boat as me: self-employed (or pre-self-employed), and preparing to move on to bigger and more incredible things.
If you have any questions you would like to ask me, or if you would like me to voice my thoughts on a particular topic or question, by all means get in touch, even by just posting a comment. I look forward to hearing from you.
That's all from me for now, but look forward to a second post in the next week or so.
Au revoir.
My name is Brett, and I live in Queensland, Australia. I'm a student at the Queensland University of Technology, and I'm currently studying topics such as Knowledge Management (please don't ask me to explain what KM really is), SAP (which is something that if you don't know what it is, you really don't want to find out; trust me), and Business Analytics.
Outside of my studies at QUT, I'm an avid gamer, a self-employed website developer, and a volunteer with the Queensland State Emergency Service, the latter I would recommend anyone in Australia to experience.
In this blog, I'll be discussing random thoughts that pop into my head about life, opinions on the web development industry and current news, and even a few suggestions and points to think about for those in the same boat as me: self-employed (or pre-self-employed), and preparing to move on to bigger and more incredible things.
If you have any questions you would like to ask me, or if you would like me to voice my thoughts on a particular topic or question, by all means get in touch, even by just posting a comment. I look forward to hearing from you.
That's all from me for now, but look forward to a second post in the next week or so.
Au revoir.
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