productivity

It’s easy to keep yourself busy… your mind focused on something… but knowing the right things to focus on is what separates those who succeed from those who fail.

For example, today I spent probably 2 or 3 hours making minor visual adjustments to this site. Is that really going to make a difference whether or not this site is a success?

Probably not.

Instead I could have spent those few hours writing posts… content is king, right?

I watched a video Eben Pagan gave about how he runs his business a few months back. He said to divvy up your time to the different areas of your business according to how important they are to bringing you money.

Here was his time breakdown:

40% Customer: Getting traffic, building relationships with your clients and other related business owners (basically bringing in new leads and interacting with them)

20% Conversion: In short, turn visitors into customers.

10% Content: Creating new materials for your people.

30% Management: This has to deal with time, people, and business management.

I guess I really should have been trying to get traffic to the site instead of writing posts or working on the design.

Getting traffic is probably the most difficult and tedious out of all those tasks for me to accomplish, but it should be my prime focus.

So while I did get work done on this site today… my time was disproportionately dispersed.

Focus can be applied to all areas of your life though, this website is just an example for you to see first hand.

If you want to get in shape, maybe you should focus more on your diet rather than just exercising…

…If you are in debt, don’t just focus on how to make more money, but how to spend less…

…If you are stressed, figure out how to prevent the stress from occurring in the first place rather than indulging to numb the feeling.

I think we naturally focus in on the wrong things because they much more superficial and easier to deal with than the actual causes of our problems. Realizing the right things to focus on and then actually follow through working on them is what leads the brave few to glory.

I’m still trying to figure out the best ways to use Facebook and Twitter without letting them be total time-drains, but here’s my current methodology for using them right now:

1. Only check them once a day

That is easily the quickest way to reduce the time you spend on the two sites. The past week or two I’ve been pretty good about it and have only checked them once around 5 PM each day.

If your self-control is lacking, here are a couple things you can do to help prevent yourself from visiting the site the ungodly number of times per day you do right now:

1. Remove Facebook and Twitter from your bookmarks (this makes you have to type in the link)

2. Disable autosave of links in your browser (so you have to type in the full link if you want to visit the site)

I actually don’t do number 2, but number 1 was huge for me. Having to spell out the link makes you more aware of what you are doing, and thus you have a chance to stop yourself.

2. Limit who shows up on your news feeds

I’ve gone to an extreme and removed everybody from my Facebook news stream (sorry guys!). Now I only see if people have commented on my updates.

I was planning to allow news from only my closest friends, but Facebook kept showing dumb updates like who they just became friends with or if they changed their profile, which I could care less about.

Twitter is nice because you don’t have to see any of that. I wish Facebook just let you see status updates.

Yes, this means that I see less of what is going on in the cyberworld. I think I’ll be able to deal with it…

If I want to know what’s going on with someone, I’ll just visit their page and see their status updates, usually a lot later than they actually happened, but I don’t think that’s a big deal.

Better yet, you can always call or meet up with people…texting is probably even better than FBing or tweeting.

In any case, limiting your news feed means less chance of getting sucked into the social media vortex.

3. Use an all-in-one Facebook/Twitter client

Right now I use Hootsuite for posting updates, as I can update both my Facebook and Twitter in one fell swoop.

You can also see your news feeds with it, but it doesn’t show Facebook notifications which is somewhat of a downfall of the product. This forces me to actually go on Facebook.com to see if anyone commented on my stuff.

(If anyone knows of a web-based client that lets you see Facebook notifications, let me know.)

I don’t even go on Twitter.com anymore as I have multiple Twitter accounts, and Hootsuite lets me look at all of them with a couple clicks.

Otherwise I’d have to log-in and out a couple times which I’d rather not do.

4. Delete Your Facebook and Twitter

This is obviously the most extreme way to spend less time on the two sites… I actually went about 6 or 7 months without either until I started SixPrizes.

I wanted to make a Fan Page for the site… you need to have an account to make one… damn you Zuckerberg.

I would probably get rid of my Facebook and Twitter if I wasn’t running a website, but it’s sort of a necessity now. Too many people are using social media right now and I can’t really ignore it.

Doing what I do may not be for you though… I just prefer to limit my time in front of a screen as much as I can.

The power of peer pressure should never be understated.

Why do you dress the way you do (and not some other outlandish way)?

Why do your projects and homework assignments always seem to get completed in time… even if you tactfully delay them until the very last minute?

How come minorities do worse on exams when they are reminded of their race or gender?

It’s all about expectations.

You try to self-verify by presenting a consistent “you” to other people, which in turns gives them an expectation of how you typically behave and act.

You then feed this cycle by presenting yourself consistently day to day, only varying when evaluated over long periods of time.

It goes on and on… it’s a vicious cycle (as one “Fat Bastard” would say).

But… you can use it to your advantage.

How To Keep Your Word… Every Time.

When you need to get something done, simply tell the world.

Update your Facebook, send a tweet, text everyone on your phone, give your friends a call, tell your family… you will put pressure on yourself to act consistently with your intentions.

When you don’t tell anyone, you have no one to live up to except yourself. And the self is a lot more willing to change its notions about what “it” is if nobody knows about those plans.

What I do is keep a hand-written “To Do” list. I usually don’t tell people about what I need to do that day, but at least you will physical and visual evidence of what needs to be done (and your ideas are not just floating around in your head).

If I write it down, I need to get it done. If it’s really important, I’ll also tell people about it.

That’s the only reason I’m writing this post.

Quote Rich Francesco on Facebook about my status update to write more often: “do it. woman.”

Done.

Over the past few months, I’ve become much more aware of my habits and the mannerisms of others, thanks largely in part to a psychology of the self class I took my last semester at college.

It was hands down the best class I took while at St. Joe’s… the content was relevant (what is more pertinent than yourself?) and my teacher, Dr. Chapman, was one of the warmest and most caring teachers I ever had the pleasure of learning from.

To me, knowing how you process your surroundings and interpret information means that you should at least have an idea of how other people do the same tasks.

It gives you a whole new view on reality.

Being overly self-aware about these kinds of things is not necessarily a blessing (as evidenced by people’s efforts to thwart themselves from reality through the use of television, drugs, alcohol, etc…) but it has allowed me to increase my ability to get things done.

I began to realize that there are two words that stop me dead in my tracks…

… they stop me from reaching my goals

… they wipe out my plans for the future

… and they may be killing your dreams too.

Ready to hear them?

(You are not going to like this…)

“Might” and “Maybe.”

They are the two words that are plaguing the nation… quite possibly the world.

Don’t believe me?

“I might go on a diet.”

“Maybe I’ll start working on that project.”

“I might get organized.”

“Maybe I’ll start getting in shape today.”

“Maybe I’ll do this. I might do that.”

…

Drop it. Cut those two words from your vocabulary.

Even if you aren’t verbally communicating the M-words, I know they are running through your head all day when trying to make decisions.

They are such wishy-washy declarations of your intentions… either you are doing something or you are not.

The uncertainty of maybe and might will get you nowhere. You need to make commitments every once in a while.

And get this…

Doing what you want (and often need) to do is not always easy.

In fact, it’s often hard!

But if you’re content to settle for mediocrity, then you might want to forget you ever read this.

(Did you catch what I did there?)

Just try it for one day: eliminate might and maybe and see what happens… post a comment if it has an impact on your daily routine.