Time Management – How to Eek Out More Time by Chloe Adler

Let’s welcome back monthly columnist Chloe Adler as she shares with us “Time Management – How to Eek Out More Time.” Enjoy!

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I wrote one blog on the tools one can use for productivity before at and all of those tools still stand. They’re all great. What I found was that I used too many at once and that didn’t end up working well for me as I spent more time inputting and checking off than was necessary.

At first I loved Trello and then I threw it to the curb for Wunderlist. Recently I joined an accountability challenge on a Facebook group I belong to and the woman running it loves Trello. Through her I’ve rediscovered it and am now back to using it again. In complete transparency, today I decided to try google docs schedule template and I love it so much that I may write an entire blog on it next month!

First is finding what works for you, as I posted previously. Once that’s done, it’s finding how to put it to use. Some people need every minute of their day planned out. That’s not me. If I do that, I rebel.

What I need (and use) is an accountability program. I use “be focused pro” (I have it on my computer). OK so you know what you have to do but the next part (and what I get stuck up in) is doing it. I find myself side swiped by Facebook, twitter, the news, doing the dishes, etc. But if I set “be focused pro” or even pomodoro or just a timer for 10 minutes (as an example) and I say – this is all the time I get to look at the news and then it’s back to work, I’m much more likely to move forward. Then I can set it for 20-30 minutes to work on a specific task (usually writing).

One thing that I noticed recently that was the impetus for this blog post, was the amount of time I waste responding to other people’s posts in order to be helpful. The bottom line is that no one cares and I ended up wasting inordinate amounts of time. Here’s an example – someone on FB or twitter asks for advice on one thing or another. I would spend 10-20 minutes writing a very thorough response, trying to be as helpful as possible. And no one ever cared. There were no thank you’s, no one took the advice and then checked back in saying what or how much it meant or how much it helped. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

The last time I did it was for an acquaintance who asked for PNR book recommendations. And since I wrote a series of PNR books and she didn’t know about them I posted that fact and then offered to give her all of my books for FREE. After a week there was no like, no thank you, no acknowledgement whatsoever. And it was in that moment I had to ask myself why I was wasting my time doing stuff like this? I could have spent that time writing my next book! But that one incident didn’t stop me and shortly after that happened a complete stranger contacted me on yelp asking me for advice regarding my day job. I spent 30 minutes outlining the pros and cons, it was a very long email. After several weeks (yes that long) she had not responded with anything, no thank you, no acknowledgment. And that’s when I decided to take those incidents as lessons.

Now if you’re getting something out of helping others in this way I say keep doing it. But if it’s a time sucker and you become resentful for being taken advantage of, I say move on!

Because in the end it’s you, your loved ones (good friends included), your clients/readers/co-workers, this amazing planet and your animals. Why not spend your time there instead? 🙂

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

For the past undisclosed amount of years, Chloe Adler has thoroughly bucked the system. She lives in foggy Northern California with her dead fish Larry and a bouncy bunny rabbit named Fred. After selling her rock collection, she amassed enough money to buy and move into a small motor home where she developed a strange fondness for striped socks.

Prior to her infamous writing career, Chloe was an overachiever, amassing a slew of unimpressive letters after her name. The trouble is that the five people who know what the letters mean, don’t really care.

When she’s not writing, she can be found picking trash up off the beaches, offering rides to the homeless, and roasting her own coffee beans.

Chloe has completed her first paranormal romance series, Distant Edge, which is a genre mishmash guaranteed to rotate heads. If you sign up for her newsletter, not only will you find out more, you’ll also make her jump up and down with joy for at least 3.5 seconds. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Connect with Chloe Adler

Site: www.ChloeAdler.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChloeAdlerAuthor/
Twitter: @ChloeAdlerWrite