Most of us who work from home feel guilty about wasting time in large increments, but the same isn’t always true of small increments. If I finish work early or a project is canceled and I have a few “found” hours of time, I nearly always switch to another productive task such as working on my blog or website, contacting prospective clients, etc. However I find that the same isn’t true when I have five or ten minutes; if I have a conference call at 11:00 and I finish my morning’s work at 10:50, I’m more likely to read celebrity gossip websites (shameful but true) or look at friends’ photos on Facebook.
The real problem is that these small increments of time add up. To combat this issue, I started what I call a “Five minute task list” that I post over my desk. As a side note, I still do all of my planning and scheduling (other than finances) on paper because then I’m forced to look at it, whereas if it’s on my computer I tend to forget that it’s there. At any rate, I made a list of tasks that really do take only five or ten minutes:
- Enter receipts into accounting software
- Shred confidential documents
- Send one e-mail to a prospective client or a client I haven’t heard from lately
- Add one contact on LinkedIn or Viadeo
- Send one marketing postcard to a prospective client
- Back up my blog
- Back up in-progress projects to Gmail
- Review business bank account for irregularities
- Delete unneeded files from hard drive
I find that this technique has really helped me make those small increments of time more productive, and in addition, some of these tasks (shredding, entering receipts, etc.) are so tedious that I can’t stand to do them for longer than a few minutes anyway. Feel free to add your own suggestions as well!
Thanks for the reminder to make more out of our “found free five minutes”! During which I often:
– Tidy up my desk
– Do a few neck and back stretching exercises
– Take the dog for a quick piddle (good for my carpets and oxygenating my brain too)
– Update my task list on TeuxDeux
– Put correspondence in envelopes, address and stamp them (silly maybe, but that is a bottle-neck task for me)
– call a friend or chat with one on Skype (relationships need TLC too)
During longer pauses (shower, lunch, conference call..) during which I don’t use the computer, I’ll run an anti-virus scan, defragment the hard drive or run programmed back-ups to avoid watching the screen with impatience (are you DONE yet?)
This is a great idea, Corinne! I should post a list like this above my desk, too. As a social media consultant, of course I’ve got to add some 5-minute online marketing tasks to your list, too! How about:
1. Adding a new update/tweet to your Twitter account, if you’re using if for marketing
2. Posing a quick reply to someone that you’re following (again, in Twitter) – or retweeting something you’ve seen
3. Finding two or three new people to follow in Twitter
3. Same as above, in the Facebook world
4. If you blog, writing a very short blog post – maybe one the just includes a link to someone else, and a quick blurb
It’s easier if you break up some of these tasks into little increments, like you’re describing above. It’s a great way of controlling the amount of time you spend on social media, so it doesn’t take over your life!
Thanks for the great post!
I loved this post and immediately edited Corinne’s list for my use and printed it out!I kind of did this already but in a more haphazard way, and making it a little more formalized (but flexible by its nature) is a great idea.
Also, in the vein of using time efficiently, I love listening to the Get-It-Done-Guy’s podcasts on tips for being efficient during the work day and work-related tasks. His podcasts are “efficient” too – about 5 minutes long. He’s funny as well, so amusing to listen to and helpful. You can find him on iTunes in Podcast section or check out his webpage: http://getitdone.quickanddirtytips.com/
This is outstanding food for thought, and everyone’s additions have been very useful. Here are a few of mine:
1) Delete e-mail messages I don’t need or move to appropiate folders
2) Update member list for my local association or any other of the 100 little tasks I have related to the association every day
3) Catch up on my igoogle and read my favorite blogs, comment where I have something to add
4) Update on Twitter and feed it into LinkedIn by adding #li
5) Responding to long-overdue personal e-mail
6) Writing down notes for future blog entries
7) Adding sections/updating websites
8) Use my very cool label maker to print out labels for folders — I love that darn thing
9) Do a quick update on one or more of my presentations and incorporate new ideas
10) Review articles I am publishing in journals for the month and update/correct/add.