Business Growth Strategies » Productivity

All the Best Time Management Tips in One Place?

Ryan M. Healy — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:27:20 +0000

Last year, I bought the Kindle version of The 25 Best Time Management Tools & Techniques by Pamela Dodd and Doug Sundheim.

What intrigued me about the book wasn’t the title or the authors, but rather the story behind the book.

You see, Dodd and Sundheim took a different approach to writing their book.

First, they bought the top 20 time management books on Amazon based on user ratings. They read all of them, noting which time management tips and strategies were most commonly cited or recommended. Finally, they picked the top 25 tools and techniques and then wrote their book.

In a way, The 25 Best Time Management Tools & Techniques is like the Cliff’s Notes version of productivity and time management. It doesn’t include everything you’ll ever want to know about the subject, but it does include some of the best information you can find in a book format.

I’ve read the book once, referenced certain chapters when needed, and now plan to read it again.

The Kindle version is only $7.99; the paperback is currently $14.93. Either way, it’s a steal, and I highly recommend you get a copy.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. If you’ve got the time management basics down and you want to supercharge your productivity (and your income) this year, there’s still time to sign up for Perry Marshall’s 80/20 Productivity Express.Similar Posts:

How to Shatter Your Productivity Barriers in 2012 – the 80/20 Way

Ryan M. Healy — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:20:06 +0000

So I just signed up for this… the $500K class in particular:

http://clickora.com/productivity

The reason?

I’ve been “stuck” at essentially the same income for the last 5 years or so. And I’m betting it has something to do with my daily work habits.

Not that they’re bad, per se. But there are many things I bet I could be doing better. And so that’s why I’ve signed up for Perry Marshall’s “80/20 Productivity Express.”

Here’s what Jack Born (Perry’s affiliate manager) says about it:

[I wanted to tell you] about Perry’s new coaching program on how to apply 80/20 thinking to productivity.

http://clickora.com/productivity

It’s called 80/20 Productivity Express and it’s definitely NOT a “me too” time management course.

Perry’s sharing his recent success at breaking through some of his own productivity challenges AND his team is each giving their unique talents and perspectives on getting projects done fast.

He just spent several weeks in China — mostly out of communication with us — and while he was gone his business grew.

Who wouldn’t love that?

That’s just the tip of the iceberg that Perry’s going to share.

I just listened to the free Q&A preview webinar and I was impressed.

That’s why I signed up.

There are two tracks:

One track is for people who want to crack the $100K mark.

The other track is for people who’ve already cracked the $100K mark, but now want to crack the $500K mark.

If you’re truly serious about breaking through your own self-imposed productivity barriers in 2012, I recommend you join me here:

http://clickora.com/productivity

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Lessons I Learned While Running My Business from a Florida Beach

Ryan M. Healy — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:21:31 +0000

As you may know, I spent most of September and part of October on Siesta Key beach in Florida. In spite of some of the challenges of working and traveling at the same time, I’d do it all over again. But there are a few things I’d do differently.

The biggest failure on my part was to make sure I had a QUALITY Internet connection. I knew the condo we were staying at had a common WiFi connection and I assumed it would be good. Turns out, it was terrible. It was so slow and unreliable it reminded me of working on a 56K connection. It was that bad.

This influenced my productivity quite a bit. I was not able to work as quickly as I normally do. Simple tasks took five times as long.

While this was extremely frustrating, it probably forced me to spend more time on the beach. If any given task was taking too long, I’d often just head down to the beach to play with my kids.

But when I plan my next big trip, I’ll plan better. I’ll make sure I have a quality Internet connection. If that means working at a Starbucks on designated days, so be it. It’s a small price to pay for efficiency.

If you’re planning to travel much, I strongly recommend you read Steve Scott’s article The Dark Side of the Internet Lifestyle. In it, he uncovers six negative impacts of running an Internet business while traveling. He also outlines six strategies for maximizing your travel enjoyment — without adversely impacting your business.

One of the suggestions Steve makes is to complete your work before any trip that will last one month or less. He writes:

This recent trip has reinforced the importance of doing work ahead of time. My original plan was to do the important things throughout the trip. Unfortunately I didn’t anticipate all the obstacles I would encounter during this time.

That about sums up how I felt. Fortunately, I had intentionally reduced my work schedule in anticipation of reduced productivity and unplanned obstacles. So I was able to weather the difficulties without too much trouble.

In addition to the suggestions Steve makes, I would suggest minimizing the number of overnight stops you have to make, especially if you have young kids. Every move to another place is a major ordeal with young kids. Plus, it’s pretty much impossible to work if you’re all sharing a single hotel room.

So: If you have young kids, and you plan to work during your trip, make sure any extended vacation involves staying at a single location for at least a few days and preferably for at least a week.

This is why we stayed in a single location for a month. We were able to save money on our rental; we were able to save money on food by shopping at a grocery store and eating in; and we were able to develop a weekly routine that had a good balance of work, exercise, and relaxation.

Do you have experience running a business while traveling? If so, feel free to share any advice you have in the comments.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

An Easy Way to Read More Ebooks

Ryan M. Healy — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:41:39 +0000

Do you have a bunch of paid and free PDFs languishing on your hard drive?

Here’s how to blast through them in a fortnight — without sitting in front of your computer screen for hours at a time.

Step 1: Get a Kindle. (I got mine as a Christmas gift last year.)

Step 2: Email each PDF to your private Kindle email address (issued to you when you register your Kindle). Put “Convert” in the subject line.

Step 3: Make sure you’ve got a WiFi connection, then synch your Kindle. All the PDFs should download to your Kindle within a few minutes.

Step 4: Read the PDFs on your Kindle!

This has got to be the single biggest unexpected benefit to having a Kindle — the ability to read PDFs away from my computer.

Note: Amazon does charge a small fee to convert a PDF to Kindle format, but it’s more than worth it… because… you’ll finally get some value from all those ebooks you’ve purchased!

Update: Antone Roundy shared the following tip for getting your PDFs converted for free…

You can get the PDFs converted for free if you add “free.” into the email address you send them to (i.e. “…@free.kindle.com”). You just have to have WiFi to get them automatically loaded on your Kindle (“free” doesn’t deliver them over 3G).

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Writing Warm-Ups: How to Turn on Your “Writing Mind”

Ryan M. Healy — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:51:46 +0000

Have you ever had so many big writing projects in front of you that you just couldn’t seem to get started?

I have.

Having too many writing projects often causes indecision. (“Where do I start?”)

And big writing projects are sometimes overwhelming. (“How am I going to get this done?”)

Put the two together and it’s a recipe for procrastination and emotional overload.

With that in mind, here are a few ideas for firing up your “writing mind” — and overcoming that sense of confusion and dread.

Decide What’s First

First: Write down all the things you need to write. Decide which one you will tackle first — the one that is most urgent and important — the one that is causing you the most anxiety.

Then, set it aside.

Now comes the fun part…

You’ve just made a decision. You’ve given yourself a command that you will do this one thing that needs to be done.

Your subconscious mind is now thinking about how it’s going to start your “big important writing project.”

But before you actually start that project, you want to warm up your “writing muscles.” And the best way to do this is to write something that is easy, effortless, and fun.

For me, that means one of three things:

Writing Warm-Up #1. Write a blog post

I like writing blog posts — whether they are published on this blog or on other blogs I own and operate. It’s just fun.

There’s never any pressure. I don’t have to be a genius. I just write.

And that’s the point. Writing blog posts helps me fire up my “writing mind”… so that I’m thinking in words and ideas and how to craft arguments.

Writing Warm-Up #2. Answer interview questions

Another form of writing I find especially easy and fun is answering interview questions.

Lately, I’ve done quite a few written interviews. I receive the questions by email, type my answers, then send them back.

Works great.

Questions naturally trigger the mind to think of answers. I write the answers. And next thing you know I’m writing at full speed.

Writing Warm-Up #3. Speak your copy

Sometimes I have my best ideas while I’m talking to another person. That’s because I think while I speak. (I know, I’m supposed to think before I speak… but my mind doesn’t always work that way.)

Anyway, I recently bought Dragon Dictate based on a recommendation. Here’s what I’ve found…

Speaking copy is sometimes a great way to get the words flowing. I just sit down at my computer, look out the window, and start “writing” by speaking.

Writing an entire sales letter or piece of copy would be difficult with Dragon Dictate (because you have to speak the punctuation and formatting) — but I’ve found it very useful for just getting things started.

And Now You’re Ready to Write!

After you’ve warmed-up using one of the techniques above, it’s time to come back to that writing project you committed to doing.

Except now you’re in “writing mode,” which makes it a heck of a lot easier to start.

And… your subconscious mind has been working in the background, too. So your brain is ready — possibly even eager — to tackle that big writing project that had you tied up in indecision and inaction.

So there you have it: Three writing warm-ups that turn on your “writing mind.” I hope you find them useful next time you’re struggling to start a writing project.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Forcing Efficiency

Ryan M. Healy — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:43:03 +0000

Time is strange.

When we’ve got too much of it, we tend to squander it.

When we don’t have enough of it, we tend to use it more wisely.

To put it another way…

The less we have to do, the less efficient we are.
The more we have to do, the more efficient we are.

To maintain peak productivity, I try to have a relatively full schedule of deadline-driven tasks and projects that need to get done.

I love deadlines. (A love I acquired from my newspaper days.)

And I much prefer to have deadlines than not have them.

I don’t like it when a client gives vague deadlines like “as soon as possible” or “when you can get to it.” Because these types of pseudo-deadlines always become subservient to real deadlines. (Not to mention, vague expectations often cause major misunderstandings.)

For this reason, I try to have real deadlines attached to all my client work. This keeps me focused and misunderstandings to a minimum.

I work on my own personal projects as a way to give my mind a break. Yes, it’s still “work.” But it’s more playful… more gratifying… and a source of energy and excitement for me.

It’s also a way to distract my subconscious mind so it can solve problems in the background.

Experience has taught me that deadlines are equally important for both client work and personal “working on the business” work.

If I don’t set deadlines to finish my own new products, new sales letters, or new promotions, they usually aren’t completed with any kind of urgency or promptness.

Which is why it’s so important to hold myself accountable to deadlines I’ve set just as clients hold me accountable to deadlines they’ve set.

Obvious, I know… yet difficult to put into practice. (Freelancers, you know what I’m talking about.)

So here’s the lesson:

Set clear deadlines and give yourself less time than you think you’ll need to complete each project. These two things will automatically force you to be more efficient and use your time more wisely.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Why I Don’t Use My iPhone Much

Ryan M. Healy — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:33:57 +0000

I have an iPhone.

Only my immediate family members and closest friends know the number.

I often leave my iPhone in the car when I’m out.

I rarely ever use it to access my email; rarer still that I use it to access the Internet.

In fact, my brothers tease me because of how little I use my iPhone.

You may think I’m a little crazy for my behavior. But after you read this, it will all make sense:

Being Unreachable and Totally Accessible

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

The Myth of the Killer Idea

Ryan M. Healy — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 14:51:44 +0000

Your idea is the least valuable “ingredient” in building a successful business.

So argues John Warrillow in this excellent article, “Idea is least important part of a company.”

If you run a business, you know that your idea was the least difficult part. My guess is that your idea has evolved considerably since you first conceived it.

The myth of the “killer idea” leads young and wannabe entrepreneurs to protect their concepts as if they had discovered the cure for cancer. They request that investors sign non-disclosure agreements before they reveal their ideas, which serves only to ensure those ideas never get funded.

I might argue the idea is the least important part of building a valuable company.

To this, I would add that ideas are not protected by copyright. This is why you can go open up a burger joint and compete against McDonald’s if you want.

Ultimately, it’s not the idea that makes the difference, but the quality and speed of execution.

For proof, look no further than the article linked above. He mentions the author of the 2010 book Do More Faster, which contains a chapter called “Trust Me, Your Idea Is Worthless.”

Guess who registered DoMoreFaster.com back on November 11, 2006? Yep, you guessed it. ;-)

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Between the Idea and the Doing

Ryan M. Healy — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:52:50 +0000

Many times throughout my life I’ve been seized by the idea of doing something that (at the time) seems fascinating and exciting.

But between the idea and the doing there is often a hidden patch of resistance.

You see, what I’ve discovered is that most of the time I’m really just in love with the idea; I’m not in love with the execution of the idea.

And so, if I pursue one of these temporarily fascinating ideas, it often leads to yet an another unfinished project. Because I love to learn, I may begin by educating myself in the areas necessary to pursue the idea, but then fail to ever move beyond the education phase.

What is important for both me and you is that we learn to discern the difference between an idea we are merely infatuated with… and an idea that we will actually enjoy executing.

By focusing our energies only on those ideas that we will love executing, we automatically raise our chances of success and eliminate waste from our lives.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

How to Commit Social Media Suicide

Ryan M. Healy — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:24:39 +0000

Ever get tired of all the effort it takes to keep up with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn?

Ever wonder why you’re investing so much time in people you don’t really know and don’t really care about?

Well, you could do what I’ve done and strictly limit Facebook to family and friends only — and follow just a handful of people on Twitter.

But if even a strict social media diet sounds like too much work, you could go for the whole enchilada and just commit social media suicide.

It’s easier than you think… because… the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine will do all the heavy lifting for you. Who knew it could be so easy to get your real life back?

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts: