SubscribeBeth’s Time Management - The Results (Sort Of)
Posted on Nov 14, 2008 under Beth's Obs, General Social Media |Well, if anyone noticed that I didn’t even post to the blog yesterday…that’s pretty indicative of how the week went. To recap, the point of the time management exercise this week was to see if I could stick to a schedule not only managing my overall time, but keeping my social branding time manageable as well. Here was the plan:
- 8:30AM to 10AM - Check Facebook, LinkedIn Groups/Q&A, AM Twitter, Email, 1 Blog Post and HARO (I’m not an early riser so 8:30AM is about the earliest you’re going to get out of me.)
- 10AM to Noon - Work on proposals, prospecting or client work
- Noon to 1PM - Lunch
- 1PM to 2PM - Business Reading (this is something that I cannot seem to make happen so I’m going to schedule it into my day)
- 2PM to 4PM - Client work
- 4PM to 5PM - COB Followup on Email, Outstanding Issues
Monday actually went well for a Monday and I was able to stick to the schedule (for the most part). I did use my morning for social media branding and blogging and it worked out famously. The rest of the day went to client work and biz dev. And I did some biz reading as well. So, even though the rest of the week was a bust, Monday proved that it can be done. It also proved to me that I didn’t lose anything by not checking Facebook every 5 minutes and constantly reacting to Twitter all day. For the official record - Tuesday was spent solely on biz development and finishing up a proposal. Wednesday and Thursday I was sick (just an annoying head cold, but I was not feeling my best).
I am actually going to take another stab at this next week to see if I can make it work for a whole week. I want to ensure that we have a better, proven understanding of how much time can be spent on social media while still being effective. My goal - 1 hour per day.
Have a great weekend!
Beth consults with businesses and non-profits on social media tool selection and strategy and helps her clients find effective ways to leverage these new mediums to meet business goals.
by Sue Massey, on November 14 2008 @ 10:01 pm
I must say this is a great article i enjoyed reading it keep the good work
by Time Management - Beth’s Time Management - The Results (Sort Of), on November 14 2008 @ 11:52 pm
[...] Go here to read the rest:
by John B. Kendrick, on November 15 2008 @ 8:40 am
I found that instead of blocking all my time for more general tasks, I need to break projects down into the actual tasks that I want to get done. Example, instead of the general “business reading”, I would pick something specific to read and get it on my todo list.
Too often, general todo’s get lost in the shuffle because we really don’t know what to do. I’ve found GTD (Getting Thiings Done) to fit the bill nicely in this area.
I used and taught Covey and Daytimer for many years before reading David Allen’s GTD book and switching to GTD. Its made a significant impact for the good on my business and personal productivity.
And I found an application that allows me to view my entire GTD at work on my Win machine, at home on my Macs and even on my cell phone. And another app lets me call in tasks to my GTD without any writing or typing, great for those thoughts that hit me while driving.
I’ve written about my experiences with GTD at
http://johnkendrick.wordpress.com/how-to-gtd/ John
by Kell, on November 16 2008 @ 3:12 pm
I use a weekly plan which then funnels down to my daily to do list. The daily to-do list is really quite specific and I ensure that I do my top priorities first.
I find that it helps me to focus on what needs to be done rather than the stress of having too much to do.
http://www.effective-time-management-strategies.com/personal-time-management.html
Kell
by Beth Bates, on November 16 2008 @ 9:23 pm
Thanks, John. I will certainly take a look at your website and suggestions. Time management is such a critical key to success, but its so easy to get distracted.
by Scott Meis, on November 18 2008 @ 10:17 pm
I often find myself questioning where the day went right about now. It really is amazing how much of a time demand it can be to manage social media, connect with your community and still find time to learn more about what’s new out there. Kudos to you, I like the one hour goal and I think it really is possible. I think we probably all tend to let ourselves drift a bit as we get linked around the Web by intriguing content. Great post.