Get More Done In Less Time
April 8th, 2008 by Shannon
If you’re like me you spend A LOT of time online. I shop online, communicate online, socialize online, work online, listen to music online, read the news online, and find educational resources for my kids online. I love the internet, but one thing I don’t love is its constant beckoning to "Check This Out." There are so many distractions!
While the web offers lots of fun, sometimes it’s important for me to stay focused. Here are a few ways I get more done in less time.
- Use a Start Page. Customize your own start page on a site like Netvibes or iGoogle and you can see the day’s top news stories, weather, important blogs, your to do list and more — all in one place.
- Set Up Email Filters. Most email clients allow you to create filters so emails from certain people or about certain subjects can be automatically put into a folder. For example, all my social network notifications (added friends, new followers, new messages, etc) go into a folder and I only need to look at them once a day. I don’t see them in my inbox, so I’m not tempted to go off and lose an hour at a social networking site. Another tip: check your email less frequently.
- Use a Web-Based Assistant. Manage your to-do lists, tasks, calendars and more through the web, email, IM, and/or mobile phone. Some to check out are Sandy, Remember the Milk, Ta-Da Lists, and Stikkit.
- Find a Good RSS Reader. Try out various feed readers and find one that works for you. Organize your feeds into folders by topic, importance, frequency of updating, or whatever works best for your needs.
Finally, a great way to stay focused is to have a workable "flow chart" of what you want to get done online each day. It can be as fancy or as simple as you desire. It could even be a simple list. For example: email, to-do list, read top news, check social networking sites, read blogs and browse as time allows.
I don’t always stick to my flow chart, get my to-do’s finished, or read all the blogs I want to keep up with, but it definitely helps me to have a step-by-step process that keeps me focused when I’m tempted to stray off into the wonderful world of the web.
