It’s the second most asked question after are you single – How do you manage all this? I have a blog, youtube channel, and then I work on various blogging and social media marketing projects for clients. Then I am always on social media. Talk about killing too much time using Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram; I am at the top of the list.
It’s a lot of work. If you count the amount of time it takes to finish all that work, it will be much more than 24 hours. But then how do I manage to finish all of it in less than 24 hours?
Time management is a thing I have been trying to master for years and to be truthful; I am no good at it even now. I have a lot of stuff that I want to do but am not doing because of lack of time. I have a lot of stuff I want to do better if only I had more time.
But still, a lot of you ask me how I manage my time. I am no time management guru but here’re a few things I do to save time.
Use Hootsuite and IFTTT
For all those people who think how I can manage so many facebook pages and social media profiles, it’s the answer. I schedule social media posts. I have two HootSuite Pro accounts – one I keep for personal use and one for the clients. My goal is to schedule all the posts for the clients right at the beginning of the month. It’s a lot of content to churn out in one go, but I manage. For my personal HootSuite, I just schedule everything I post at the beginning of the day. So, while a lot of people thinking I am doing social media posts, I am working on more important projects.
Another thing that helps me save time on social media is IFTTT. It’s an incredible tool to manage automatic posts. So, I had a few problems.
Problem 1: I wanted that anything I post on Instagram goes to my Facebook page, but Instagram allows you to post it only to your Facebook profile directly.
Problem 2: I hate the way Instagram links to Twitter. When you post on Twitter via Instagram, it leaves a link to your Instagram post rather than the actual photo. I never click on those tweets, and so I assumed no one would take the pain of clicking those links on twitter just to check a stupid photo of mine. I needed to post the same photo as a native Twitter picture.
Problem 3: I just cannot get enough time to use Pinterest even though the social media platform has brought me exceptional results. But I wanted to keep my personal Pinterest account active. So, I needed to pin my Instagram photos to Pinterest. I didn’t mind the unoptimized images for the social media platform. I just wanted to maintain an active profile.
So, the solution to all these problems was IFTTT. I created three recipes that helped achieve this. I never had to visit Twitter or Facebook Page and upload a picture. It goes automatically. That’s how I save time to do better things.
Write it down
It’s a ritual that keeps me going. Writing things down on the paper serves two purposes for me.
One, it helps me dump everything I need to do for the day or week or month on a piece of paper. It doesn’t stay in my mind anymore. Truly, if you call me and talk about that task I was supposed to do today, I wouldn’t know unless it’s written in my dairy. It thoughtfully includes random things like calling friends, eating food, going to toilet and stuff like that.
Two, the feeling of accomplishment that’s attached to ticking off tasks off your to-do list just doesn’t come out of those tech-savvy apps that serve the same purpose. I get myself the necessary motivation boost through writing down my tasks and marking them off after I finish them.
Outsource
I learned this the tough way. At the beginning of this year, I had too much to write and too less time. Writing takes time and the right mood. It’s a hard to meet combination. Hence, my work started lagging. Moreover, you can’t possibly do everything by yourself no matter how much you think you can.
Practice to be quicker
A couple of days back I was travelling back to Bathinda. It was a weekday and I just could not afford to miss a day at work (not that I ever dream of it, I love my job too much to even need a Sunday off). So, I opened my laptop, connected my laptop to my 3G enable phone and started typing.
The passenger sitting beside me could not help but say that I type fast. I do. I have never checked my typing speed, but I can type more than 500 words in not more than five minutes. That’s how fast I am. And for those of you who would jinx this ability of mine, note that it didn’t come as a gift by an unknown supreme power. I developed it.
Have you ever tried to type 2500 pages long book? Imagine the huge books you had in college and how small the font was! I typed up that complete book to practice typing. I developed this speed by hard work because I would know it’ll help me. I save time by writing articles and doing anything that involves typing by being fast at it.
Focus on one thing at a time
Imagine yourself sitting beside me while I am working. No matter what you say (even if you raise the fire alarm), I wouldn’t move or notice or even hear you until I have finished up my work. I hate distractions, and I don’t let my mind distract. A small phone call by a colleague is a huge distraction. So, I avoid those distractions and train myself to focus on one thing at a time.
The moment I start one work, I totally forget rest of the things I need to do in the day. That helps me save time by having a clear focus on one work. It increases my speed and quality of work as well.
Say ‘no.’
I have been too generous lately. Talk about a friend asking a favour or a colleague handing me an unorganized data sheet; I just don’t accept. And no one should. Your time is precious, and you can’t be spending that on random things, especially when you’re working. If I am free, I will help a friend or anyone. But here’s the problem – I am never free unless I am having that dreadful day when I don’t do anything.
There you go! That’s how I save time to do the things I want to do, do more things I want to do and try to do new things I want to do. Did it help? Let me know.
