Tweet

Eight Ways to Become More Efficient

Guest post by: William Gissen

Article Overview: This article provides useful tips to increase efficiency, primarily for business executives and employees.

Eight Ways to Become More Efficient

1. Wake up early and exercise.

The saying, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," really is true. You can get a lot done early in the morning when the phone isn't ringing, and there are a minimum of distractions. Exercising first thing (maybe after reading the Bible) helps to clear your mind for the day and lets it wander when you really aren't doing anything else.

2. Plan for the entire week on Monday.

A friend once said that he used Monday mornings for planning because, "no one wants to hear from me first thing on Monday morning." The humility of the guy was striking, but maybe there was a certain truth to what he was saying, especially if you are a PR or marketing firm.

3. Practice "batching."

Batching means doing the same type of tasks all at the same time. The theory is that it takes a certain amount of psychic energy (and time) to start and stop work of particular varieties. However, this should not be viewed as an excuse to let the dishes pile up in your sink and then the colossal amount sometime later in the week.

4. Do your calling at 10 AM.

This is one form of batching, point #3, and also includes elements of point #2 -- no one wants to hear from me before 10 AM in the morning. 10 AM also probably ensures that your contacts have arrived at work and probably are not immersed yet in any conference call or other type of limiting activity.

5. Do the "worst" task first.

I read a book quoting Mark Twain, and it said, "If you eat a live frog the first thing every morning, all the other tasks you need to do that day will seem minor by comparison." This can be applied to business assignments in order to avoid procrastination.

6. When you start something, finish it.

Again, it takes time to start and stop a task. If you get it done all at once, you avoid this wastage. This refers, of course, to relatively short tasks of up to two or three hours. Longer ones require planning, foresight and regular work (see item #5).

7. Use an electronic calendar with "recurring" appointments.

This feature is a godsend. If you get a haircut every six weeks, for example, you can set the recurring function to add it to your schedule every six weeks for infinity. Business assignments, such as filing a quarterly report, can be treated in the same manner.

8. Review regularly for follow-ups.

See item #2. Follow-ups are an important part of business success, and you need to set some kind of firm schedule to ensure they don't get neglected. Each person has their own system for following up, but whatever it is, you need to stick to it with perseverance. For PR, following up with editors is particularly critical.

Related Articles
  The 'Being Efficient' Myth In Sales
  VII D. Promote Institutional Investors: PROMOTING STOCK MARKET DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
  What is Effective Time Management?
  Why to outsource chat support facilities to India?
  Employers: How do you ensure you attract the best talent?
  Are Multiple Supply Chains Important (Survey Response 1)
  Promoting Your Business via the Internet
  A Happy and Efficient Ship - Management Simplicity
  Pay Per Click (PPC) Search Engine Marketing
  Get Exactly What You Want Everytime
  Energy Efficient Windows and Insulation
  How to Use 360 Assessment Tools
  Ledership Vs. Followership
  What is a Marketing 2.0 Specialist?
  Energy at Work
  Ten Tips For Strategically Scheduling Your Time, From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  More about the Chat Support Outsourcing
  How to Increase Your Sales Performance
  How to increase profitability of your restaurant with a Restaurant Management Software
  Fantastic Tips For Efficient Employee Scheduling

Article Tags: improving operational efficiency, increasing business efficiency, increasing efficiency



Related Forum Posts
LEADERS - L- Loyal E- Eager to learn and serve A- Active D- Delegate E- Efficient R- Reliable S- Smart
Re: Ideas For Business - Stas and lucy, Could you guys give us a recap of your entire business idea as it stands now. Seems like it morped a bit. Let us know: 1. Start date 2. Ways you will Market 3. What you will offer 4. How much will your charge for your offer
Re: Improving Cash Flow - Thanks for your information. guide on how to avoid the problems of over trading. <-- Where is this guide? Any URL? guide on debt factoring and invoice discounting: the basics. <-- Where is this guide? Any URL? I just want to learn more about this. I am also looking for a good article on: What exactly is Cash Flow? Ways to improve cash flow at individual level and organizational level? I think it is a problem of thinking and mind sets problem. If we can change the way of spending, we can have more Cash. Robert
Where to print a book - [quote:39vg8s93]So, writing a chapter a day, I finished in a month, and Kidpreneur: Genius Ways for Kids to Pay For College was born. Currently my book is self published -- I just printed up 100 copies to give to all the people featured in the book, teachers, and some more to sell at $20.00 a piece (it costs $10.00 a copy at Kinko's, so it's not really an outrageous price). [/quote:39vg8s93] If at all possible, you need to stop using Kinko's now and go price some real printers. It should cost only a couple of dollars a piece, if that, to print your book. Admittedly you'll have to buy in bulk, but the overall savings - selling a $2 book for $20 so that you make an $18 profit instead of a measley $10.... is something every kidpreneur should think about!
Revenue Streams for Websites - Too funny, I was just reading a book: Multiple Streams of Internet Income: How Ordinary People make extraordinary money on line, by Robert G. Allen. 2001 That's a misnomer, though - they're not ordinary people, they're people with established careers who can take their expertise and exploit it on the web. Ways to generate income? 1) Sell your own material on the site. Ebooks, etc. 2) Join various affiliate programs that match what your website is about. 3) Google adsense - All my money comes from this... it's started out slow but as readership of my sites grown, the income has grown. Nothing to write home about yet... 4) Google adwords - the advertisers whose ads show up on Google Adsense. Unless you're selling big ticket items on your site you don't want to use it, your keywords can cost from 20 cents upwards.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Promoting your company and self with verve

Work Place Counselling

Working Across Borders

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.