Talk to Travis

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Last week I talked about time management in regards to traffic exchanges.  This week I’m just going to offer a few general time management tips.

Email – I used to check my email on and off throughout the day.  Now I make it a point to only check it once in the morning, and once at night.  It’s amazing how much time this saves.  After I started doing this, I was suddenly able to meet all of my goals for the day and still have time left over.

Outlook – I have started using Microsoft Outlook alot lately.  I have found it to be very helpful.  I use the calendar to shedule reminders.  I schedule both re-occurring things such as updating my blog, and one-time things like a program launch.  Every day when I open Outlook, I see what I need to do that day.  Then, throughout the day I periodically get reminders to complete specific tasks.  You can choose how early Outlook issues a reminder.

Outlook & Email - As I stated above, I know only check my email twice a day.  This however only applies to my general mailboxes.  I have set up a special address which I’ve configured with Outlook.  I ONLY use this address for communicating with JV partners, and customers.  I do not use this address at any program.  That way I know if I get any mail, it will be something important.  Outlook saves me logging in to check that account throughout the day.  Whenever a mail is received at that address, Outlook notifies me.  Then I can easily open Outlook, read the mail, and continue with my work.

Organization – In addition to Outlook, I also use a white board, and a legal pad.  I use the white board as a to-do list.  These are the projects which are my top priorites.  When I find myself with free time, I glance at the board, and know right away what needs worked on.  The legal pad is for projects that I will work on much later.  As I complete projects, and my white board becomes clean, I’ll flip through the legal pad and pick whatever I consider to be the most important project.  Then I add it to the board for another day.

These are some of the things that work for me, but they may not also work for you.  If none of these suit you, don’t worry.  There are plenty other methods out there.  Just Google “Time Management”, and you will get millions of results. 

Here is one such application that I just found through Google.  It’s called Stickies.  This basically allows you to use computer based Post-It notes.

One last recommendation that I’d like to make is to check out All About Time Management.  This free resource contains 3 reports by Sunny Suggs on time management. 

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Here is a free copy of Time Management of the Stars.  If you want to save it to your computer, just Right Click and choose “Save As”.

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