Manage Your Nerd Time

Life used to be simple. I used to have only one goal a day, to complete my task list.  Today my simple task list is regularly bumped by the digital world.  There is a constant need, more like a nagging, to update the computer with operating system downloads, security databases, software updates for safety and then on the communications side we have texting, email, Twitter, Facebook, and more.  In my case I have to update my blog, re-edit or re-design the web site, find answers to problems with the technology I’m using… and track orders.  There seems to be no end to the number of distractions caused by keeping the systems up to date and secure.  Long ago, my little task wallet called a Day-Timer was never this difficult to keep up with, so long as I had a good quality pencil and eraser.  In fact, the Day-Timer worked better than all of this technology put together.

So what’s the answer to this problem of being over-run by technology?  Discipline; you must time-block all your computer nerd work for a section of the day when you can focus on it and at the same time not impact your valuable business focus.  Oh, the good old days when all I had to do was transfer my to-do’s not done to the next day!  But wait, was it really that good?  I remember losing my Day-Timer once, and all the contacts and plans within, and that was the day I decided to start using Outlook and Netscape.  It really is a
matter of managing your time more effectively because technology, used correctly, allows for an exponential increase in productivity and opportunity, as well as a system which cannot be lost.  My BlackBerry easily replaces the old handwritten notes and makes all
the information available nearly everywhere and to everyone who needs it (and it checks spelling).  Does this sound basic to you?  Good!  It really should.  The easy part is understanding the technology, the hard part is acting upon it correctly.

If you block your time and maintain the same schedule each day, it becomes easy to get the nerd work done.  I tend to do market and web research in the morning so I have new ideas in my mind for the day.  I like to focus on communications at 10:30am
and 3:00pm, which means Twitter, email, and Facebook.  Most of my web design and writing is in the early evening, or just after research time, and I usually save the nerd work
for the end of the day.  Of course you can set your schedule for what suits you best and the point is to have a schedule.  Business managers and owners have many things which impact their time throughout the day, and we all learn to deal with things as time permits rather than running after the next thing that pops up.  That’s the difference between managing your time or allowing time to manage you.

The handwritten Day-Timer was enough technology for the time, since I only needed to make about 3 sales per month.  Because of computer and internet, today the volume of business is much greater since I am able to more effectively duplicate my time.