Getting More Done
Posted by Amanda Pryor | Posted in Productivity | Posted on 19-11-2009-05-2008
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Productivity is all about getting things done, but it’s not just how much gets done. It also depends on what gets done.
A lot of people spend all day being very busy and they can actually say that they got a lot done, but can they say they what they should have done got done?
If you spend all day checking your email, you may be very busy. You may be constantly answering customer questions or researching new products. There are a lot of things that will keep you busy and it seems that they are endless.
But you have to prioritize what you are doing to make sure the important things get done.

If you categorize all your tasks as important or unimportant, then also categorize them as urgent or not urgent, you can fit all your tasks into one of the quadrants of the chart to the right.
Most people spend their lives in the Important Urgent quadrant. They jump from one urgent important task to the next with occasional interruptions by urgent unimportant tasks like a phone call from a friend.
Ideally, you want to be able to spend a lot of time in the Not Urgent Important quadrant. This is when you can do your strategizing to grow your business. If you are always busy handling urgent important tasks, you will never have a chance to grow.
In order to get more time in the sweet spot of important not urgent work, you need to systematize your day-to-day urgent important tasks so you can get them done quickly.
Then schedule them at a time when you can get the most done without interruption leaving more time free to handle your important not urgent business.
As a bonus, once you have your tasks systematized they can easily be delegated to others. If you don’t have a staff to handle these tasks, you can outsource them. The key to successful outsourcing is to have a good system that you can use to communicate exactly what needs to be done and how it should be done.
I will be posting more about outsourcing in the near future. I am working on a project to help entrepreneurs build systems to grow their businesses by outsourcing. Allen Davis The Productivity Engineer



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