Productivity

I’ve considered this before, the whole GetFriday.com thing, “free up your time by outsourcing half of your life”. But, when I looked in more depth at the tasks these companies were performing I really couldn’t find that much in my life that they could actually do!!

What have I done so far today (remember it’s a Saturday!):

• Got Up
  (can’t see them helping there, my wife is enough of an alarm call!)
• Checked my email
  (Hmmmm, they might be able to pre-process it for me, but I’d never want anyone replying for me)
• Made coffee
  (anyone willing to do this for me is always welcome in my life)
• Had a shower
  (hmmmmmm)
• Directed lost delivery drivers to the house
  (someone doing this would take away some of my pain sometimes!)
• Eaten breakfast
  (nobody can do this for me!)
• Sorted out a server problem for a customer
  (I could outsource this but I won’t for reasons I’ll get to in a minute)
• Caught up on a few blogs in my Google Reader
  (quite a leisurely read)
• Hunted out my digital dictaphone to lend to a friend
  (hey, I struggled to find it and I put it in that box!)

OK, why am I telling you all this?

I’ve recently started reading Amanda’s blog and she’s a Virtual Assistant. We’ve been discussing doing things in business you have a passion for. The reason I couldn’t oursource the email, or the sorting a server problem is that I have a genuine passion for what I do!

So here’s my challenge to Amanda - what could you do for me, that would make my life easier and be cost-effective for me! Call it a case study!? This goes for any other VA’s out there - but Amanda get’s first dibs!

The only thing I’ve really managed to come up with so far, is typing if I were to dictate to my digital dictaphone - but I’m a reasonable quick typist - so would it be cost effective for me?

On the flip side, if hiring a VA has already changed your life - let me know - I’d be keen to find out how!

Anybody that follows what I’ve been upto recently will be familiar with David Allen’s Book - Getting Things Done.

I’ve been a bit lapse recently but seem to be getting somewhere with it now. I need to put a bit more of a concerned effort in. I think I’ve motivated my other half to give David Allen’s technique a go as well having watched David Allen’s Google Techtalk:

Interestingly one of the things David says really early on is that the older you are the more likely you are to want to use the whole system, the younger you are the more like you are to just the tips and tricks… Either way it’s a system I’m going to do my damnedest to adopt in one form or another!!!Some further reading on this:

• I quite enjoyed 96iantSteps 10 minute GTD Crash Course, this almost borders on the crash course I gave my wife on the subject last month!
• If like me your ToDo lists have really only referred to the here and now, with things that are current and need addressing at least in the next week or so you’ll really benefit from doing this kind of “collection” or “RAM” Dump.
• Inbox Zero was how I found out about GTD, after introducing a colleague to Inbox Zero he trundled off to find David Allen and couldn’t recommend the book more highly. You can actually see how much less stressed he is!
  • Read how Chris Brogan tamed his inbox.
  • You may find (if you use Gmail and Firefox) the GTDInbox extension useful.
• If you find yourself struggling to adapt to a failing GTD system which you’ve implemented, you may want to Reboot Your GTD System. The problem may not actually be the system it may be it’s owner! (that’s you!)
• Not so much the GTD System, more a case of what can you use to get things done: Michael Gray delves into the tools that he uses.

My question to you - how do you get things done - if you had to give somebody one top tip to get through days and their work life easier - what would it be?

WorkBlogLife.com recently published a list of signs that you are working too much which include:

1. Your family and friends have got so used to not having you around, you feel like a stranger when you are around them.
2. Closing yourself off from your friends and associates, stopping all contact, ignoring emails, phone calls from them etc.
3. You have a spiralling compulsion to work longer and longer hours, trying to squeeze the last few minutes from the day.
4. Your level of caffeine and stimulates has increased to the point that it disrupts your sleep, what little that you are getting.
5. You are putting aside relaxation or regular exercise in favour of getting the job done, you feel compelled to finish the tasks at hand.
6. You are finding that you are getting really irate at mundane things. Like when you have to wait for anything, queuing at the checkout, in traffic or waiting for a late scheduled meeting.
7. General forgetfulness of anything that is not work related.
8. Missing family special events, such as partner’s work events, or children’s school or major sporting events in favour of work.
9. Long term sickness, like a cold or flu you just can’t shake.
10. You get to the point that you can’t tell what day it is. You avoid drawing the blinds as you don’t want to look at the beautiful day outside as it’s going to distract you.

Where do you stand? How many out of 10 do you get?

The Four hour work week by Tim Ferriss, has a not to do list - so if these things appear in your day, cut them out!

1. Do not answer unrecognized phone calls
2. Do not e-mail first thing in the morning or last thing at night
3. Do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time
4. Do not let people ramble - forget “how’s it going?” and embrace “what’s up?”
5. Do not check e-mail constantly - “batch” and check at set times only
6. Do not carry a cellphone or Crackberry 24/7, seven days a week - make evenings and/or Saturdays digital leash-free.