The Thoughts And Ideas Of The Efficiency Coach » personal efficiency tips

6 Time saving devices for busy consultants, accountants, coaches and lawyers!

Heather Townsend — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:22:08 +0000

Time is precious for a consultant, accountant or lawyer. Your time really does equal money – so how do you use time saving devices to get more out of your time?

1. Invest in sync’ed and mobile devices

Unless you are going to be driving everywhere, I expect that you will be carrying your laptop bag around with you. Add in a few files, bottle of water and before you know it you have carrying what feels like everything BUT the kitchen sink. Investing in mobile gadgets which will let you get to your up-to-date e-mail and calendar while on the move, are great time savers – but also help you leave the laptop at home every once in a while. Make sure that all you devices automatically sync between each other, so that you don’t have to physically sync every device every time you use it.

2. Get a sat nav

My husband got me a sat nav for my birthday at Christmas. Now, I always thought I would never need one of these devices. However, it is great to just be able to type in my destination and be taken to where I need to go, and know how long it is going to take me, plus calculate alternative routes when there are delays on route. No more checking the AA route finder and printing out maps before a trip. Luckily I’ve not been delayed by traffic for a client meeting yet, but I now know I can call up the client and give them a reliable ETA if I am running late.

3. Get a handsfree kit in the car

I mostly take the train everywhere, however, there are times that I will be in the car for a couple of hours. I like to make the most of this time, but often this is the only time I can take calls. This calls for a decent handsfree kit.

4. Make sure you can get access to the internet when you are on the move

There is many a time when I have arrived early for a client meeting, and wiled away the odd 30 mins in a coffee shop near to the client’s offices. This is a useful time to be checking and clearing down e-mail. To do that you need to have mobile broadband access. My phone acts as a modem for my PC, but a broadband dongle is just as good.

5. Have a portable scanner, to use with receipt angel, which will fit in your lap top bag

I have a small portable scanner, which I use when on the move to scan my receipts and business cards into, and then upload these to receipt angel. My virtual assistant then processes my business cards for me, and pops them into my CRM system. My book-keeper is able to download all my receipts at the end of the month and process them – without me needing to put all my receipts together for him and drop them off.

6. Invest in a livescribe pen

I was finding that I was spending literally hours writing up notes from my coaching sessions. Now I use my Livescribe pen and notepads to write all my notes from coaching sessions with clients and meetings with my associates. The Livescribe pen literally takes a picture of what I am writing, and can also record audio when I am writing. I then send the scan of my notes (produced automatically by the pen) to the other people in the meeting – whilst remembering to send the e-mail from my CRM system so I have a record in my CRM system of all my communications with clients and associates.

What are your time-saving devices?

18 ways an agenda can help improve your meeting’s efficiency

Heather Townsend — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:15:24 +0000

Circulate the agenda in advance – and include minutes of previous meetings, people’s commitment from previous meetings and briefing documents.
Allow others to contribute to the agenda items – but put a time scale on when you need agenda items to be contributed
Put start and end times for each agenda point
Include the desired goals and objectives for the meeting on the agenda
Include a purpose for the meeting on the agenda. This will allow participants to see if they really need to attend.
Review the agenda before you start the meeting, and see whether there is anything else to be added.
Prioritise and put the most important items at the top of the agenda
Allow sufficient breaks, as participants will start to flag after about 60 mins
Include details of the venue for the meeting on the agenda, including a phone number which the meeting organiser can be contacted on, in case of people being late
Before deciding to include an agenda point, review it – do you have time to include it? Plus, is it relevant to the desired goals and objectives for the meeting?
Plan in some variety to the agenda – presentation after presentation after presentation gets very dull. Think about including some breakout group work, for a different meeting dynamic
Have someone facilitate the meeting to help you keep to your planned agenda
Leave some ‘back-pocket’ time in your agenda, in case of discussions running over. Normally participants welcome a meeting finishing early rather than running over.
Remember to include time for introductions in your agenda if participants don’t know each other.
Remember to include time for a meeting summary and agreement of who has agreed to do what and when by.
Remember to include time to celebrate any successes during the meeting
At the beginning of the meeting, take the opportunity to explain the reason for the agenda’s order and structure
Include time on the agenda for participants to state what they want to achieve in the meeting

How does frog eating help me be more productive?

Heather Townsend — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:59:43 +0000

Suddenly on twitter everyone seems to be talking about eating frogs. Whilst I am very much a fan of French cuisine, and have been known to munch a few ‘escargot’ while in France… what’s all this frog eating got to do with serious business people? Why should I also join the crowd and start munching frogs? And what happens if I am a veggie?

Very simply frog eating refers to a book and concept by Brian Tracy called ‘eat that frog’ There’s an old saying that if the first thing you do in the morning is to eat a live frog, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that it’s probably the worst thing you’ll do all day.

Brian Tracy, in his book, takes this saying as a metaphor for tackling the most challenging task of your day – the one you are most likely to procrastinate on, but also probably the one that will have the greatest positive impact on your life.

There is normally only myself to keep me accountable and focused on what really matters. Some days I wonder whether there is anyone worse than me for procrastinating on the jobs that I don’t enjoy doing. Not that I’m asking to go back into corporate life or get another boss. (Heaven forbid!) However, I’ve been looking for a solution to help me with my procrastination. After all I have a reputation and image as The Efficiency Coach to maintain!

I can honestly say that on the days I choose (and that’s the key) to ‘eat my frog’, I am more focused and productive. But it’s more than that… the sense of relief that I get from getting the job done that I was putting off is palatable. Plus the momentum of getting the task out of the way, normally gets me through the next few tasks in double quick time.

So, if you have some important tasks that you are putting off, why not try to eat your frog first?

Ten tips to get your heaving inbox under control and save time in the process

Heather Townsend — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:39:38 +0000

1. Set times of the day when you will look at and deal with your e-mail

Outside of these times, switch off your e-mail and e-mail notifications. For example, at three points in the day, dedicate 30 minutes to checking and actioning all your e-mails in these times

2. Set up e-mail rules

Mail rules are great for auto-sorting out your mail, before it arrives in your inbox. For example, you can set up a folder for each of your regular e-mails, for example monthly recurring invoices. Then set up the rule that puts the e-mail into the right folder – for example, a monthly recurring invoice could go into a folder called ‘invoices to process’. You can even put follow up flags on these rules, so that, say for example, any e-mail from your most important client was flagged to be dealt with by you that day.

3. Unsubscribe to newsletters

Unless you read the newsletter, unsubscribe to them. If you haven’t signed up to the newsletter, then mark as spam, and if you have the opportunity report them as unsolicited e-mail. E-mail marketing clients such as constant contact, do allow you to report unsolicited e-mail.

4. Use a good spam filter

Do invest in a good spam filter. Microsoft Outlook’s spam filter is good at giving you false positives – so aim to use an additional spam filter, so you can turn off Outlook’s in-built spam filter.

5. Action, file or delete immediately

Double or even triple handling e-mail is what leads to personal inefficiency. Have as your mantra that you will only touch an e-mail once.

6. Set limits on amount in inbox

Get into the personal discipline of never letting your inbox get more than 10 e-mails in at the end of the day.

7. Use flags to follow up

Use the follow up flags. If you have an e-mail to action, mark it with a dated follow up flag. Then file it! In the morning, you can then sort all your e-mails by flags, and will get a list of the most urgent e-mails to be actioned.

8. Archive your e-mail folders outside of the inbox folder

When you are creating folders to file your e-mail into after auctioning, Microsoft automatically suggests that you create sub-folders within your inbox. Make sure you create the folders outside of the inbox. This way, your computer performance wouldn’t be affected by Microsoft constantly scanning all the e-mails in the inbox.

9. Set up favourite folders that you access regularly

In the favourite folders box on Microsoft outlook, drag in the folders you use regularly. This way, you will be able to quickly find your most popular folders. You can even give the folders a number, e.g. “1 – clients”, so you most frequently accessed folders will be at the top of the list, regardless of where they would come in true alphabetical order.

10. For twitter users…

Turn off all notifications for new followers and direct messages. Use a twitter client, such as tweetdeck, to alert you to new direct messages and followers.

Seven ways to stop procrastinating

Heather Townsend — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:30:53 +0000

Procrastination is one of the big threats to personal efficiency. The good news is that personal will power is all you need to conquer procrastination. Easier said than done… read on for seven tips to minimise the amount you procrastinate.

1. Break it up

Break the task up into smaller pieces. When the task is smaller and seemingly more manageable, you are more likely to get on and do it. Remember, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time…

2. Give yourself milestones

Similar to breaking the task up into smaller pieces, set yourself milestones on the way to completion. Reward yourself when you achieve a milestone, for example, time for a cup of tea and a biscuit.

3. Have a to do list

Write down all your tasks and things to do. When you have completed them then scrub them off the list. As you see your progress building it will give you the momentum to finish the list

4. Set deadlines

Whether they are real or artificial deadlines, set them. You will be amazed how a deadline can give you the stimulus to complete a task.

5. Get the difficult stuff out the way, first

Very simply, if you do the difficult stuff when you are at your most alert and energetic, then you will gain the momentum to get the rest done.

6. Avoid perfection

Aim for 80/20 or 90/10, as total perfection is rarely needed in business. Aiming for perfection (and knowing you cannot achieve it) is a factor in procrastinating. Perfection is a major obstacle to personal efficiency.

7. Delegate or outsource

If you know what you don’t like doing and what tasks you tend to procrastinate on, then (if possible) delegate or outsource this task. Procrastinating on certain types of tasks often suggests that this is not a personal strength OR there is a lack of personal motivation to complete the task.

6 tips to help you minimise interruptions

Heather Townsend — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:55:41 +0000

My business partner John is lovely. I feel privileged to closely work with him.

John is an extrovert, and now that he predominantly works from home, needs to pick up the phone and talk to people. I am often the person he picks up the phone to… which means I get interrupted… which is normally very welcome. But, this got me thinking, and has prompted me to write this blog post.

Interruptions often hinder your ability to be truly efficient. Studies have suggested that the average employee is interrupted every 9 minutes. Now, that I work at home, I have vastly reduced the amount of interruptions I receive when working.

Here are my top tips for minimising your interruptions:

1. Turn off notifications

Turn off your new message notifications, e.g. new e-mail, tweetdeck, new text message

2. Turn off phones

If you are brave enough, turn off your phones. Whenever I am in a coaching session I switch off my mobile. If you are worried about missing a call with a potential new client, why not use a business answering service. I personally use Emma Fryer who runs http://www.answer-it.co.uk. I’ve not missed an important call since hiring Emma and her team.

3. If it’s urgent deal with it straight away

Don’t leave urgent stuff lingering, deal with it and then go back to what you were doing.

4. Be assertive

If the interruption is unnecessary, stop it or avoid it. Turn off the unwanted mobile call. Try standing up when an unwanted person comes over to talk with you. I can guarantee that your interruption will be short and sweet.

5. Postpone

If the interruption is unwanted, then politely reschedule the interruption – at a time which is convenient to you

6. Move away

Working away from your desk is a great way to minimise interruptions. If you need some peace and quiet to get your head down, why not book a meeting room for a few hours? If, you work from home, why not try working from your local library? Most libraries require you to turn off your mobile phone…

4 tips to help you achieve more with your paperwork and filing

Heather Townsend — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:12:01 +0000

I have saved myself up a lovely job for today – sorting out my admin and all my paperwork. This is not an ideal state of affairs… as research has suggested that a piece of paper on your desk will distract you up to five times. Although this does assume that you can find the piece of paper on your desk in the first place…

I have been looking into how I can (and you can) efficiently manage your paperwork, and free up your time and save money on printing and paper costs.

1. Set time aside every day to focus on your paperwork

Set time aside to deal with your paperwork, for example your post. When you are dealing with your post and paperwork act on it immediately, rather than procrastinating. Think about it, how much time have you wasted sifting through your pile of paperwork to file?

2. Do you need to print it?

How much do you need to print out the document? If you don’t print it you don’t need to file it… Then, you can be all smug about how much you are doing your bit to help save the environment.

3. Recycle

Challenge yourself whether you actually need to keep this piece of paper. Remember that 85% of documents are never looked at again. How much space would you free up if you recycled all the paperwork you have never looked at? Remember that you may need to keep all your client paperwork as a condition of practicing.

4. Delegate

If you have the luxury of a personal assistant, delegate as much as possible – e.g. sorting, screening and disposal of the post.

How focused are you?

Heather Townsend — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:45:20 +0000

Personal focus and high levels of concentration are essential for personal efficiency which leads to great business and personal success. So how do you increase your levels of focus? Read on for The Efficiency Coach’s top eight tips to increase your personal focus…

1. Write down your goals and make them visible

Research has shown that you are more likely to achieve your personal goals if you do three simple things – write them down, tell people about them and make them visible. What can you pin up to your fridge door?

2. Know thy self

Everyone has their own distractions which detracts them from the matter in hand. For the next seven days notice what is distracting you – perhaps it’s your e-mail? Maybe it’s twitter? Maybe it’s your children? When you have identified your top 5 distractions think about what you can do to minimise the distractions. For example, when I have a large amount of work to complete I turn off tweetdeck and outlook.

3. Look after yourself

Good focus and concentration is helped by taking regular exercise, drinking a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day, minimising your intake of fat and sugar, getting a good nights sleep and eating your 5-a-day of fruit and vitamins. Sorry for being a party-pooper…

4. Take regular breaks

You can only focus at an optimum level for a finite period of time. Regular breaks help you to keep up your focus.

5. Write down a list

Whether you call it a to-do list or a ‘must-achieve’ list, writing down what you have to achieve is a must for high levels of focus.

6. Work with your energy levels

Your energy levels will go up and down during the day. Plan the tough stuff which will need 100% focus when you are generally the most bright and alert, and save the enjoyable or easy stuff for when your energy levels are low.

7. Have someone keep you accountable to your goals

There is nothing quite like the feeling of not having a boss anymore. It leaves you free to follow ideas and opportunities that come your way. The downside is you can may never achieve or follow anything through because you are too busy getting distracted. I personally use my own business coach to keep me focused on working towards and achieving my business goals.

8. Play to your strengths

When you are doing something that plays to your natural strengths or talents focus and concentration is easy – you will achieve high levels of output for seemingly little effort. However, when you are not playing to your personal strengths it’s hard to focus and takes large amounts of energy. If you can outsource work that doesn’t play to your strengths, excellent – otherwise, do this type of work when you are at your most alert and motivated.