Time-Saving Tips and Tricks
If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.
The more things you do, the more you can do. ~ Lucille Ball
Wouldn’t it be great if you could respond to email, get the latest headlines, become more well versed in a topic of your choice, call your best friend and work out ALL at the same time? In today’s always-on, smartphone-tethered, 24-7 business world, the day is never long enough to get everything accomplished, and while I can’t quite deliver that pipe dream scenario, I can share some some tips and resources that I find helpful!
Trolling all of your favorite news sources can get be very time consuming, but getting perspective from each publisher is important when you’re trying to draw conclusions for yourself. Plus, you probably want to know what’s happening hyper-locally, nationally and
internationally. I’m a big fan of Google Reader which lets you subscribe and organize your favorite news sites and blogs. It’ll constantly check each site for new content so you don’t miss a thing…and you can get an overview of each new entry from one central location. This is a HUGE time saver and eliminates having to go to each site to see what’s new.
When I’m on the go, I use a smartphone App called Pulse which lets you pick 20 of your favorite news sources and displays the latest stories published for each source in a very
easy-to-use interface. So, when you’re sitting on the train or trying to kill a few minutes before a meeting, you can read up on the latest happenings.
Whether you’re an occasional walker or you’re training for a marathon, we all need exercise to stay sane, but everyday demands sometimes cause a workout to be tabled until later. It’s healthy, yes, but that hour you spend working out could be used for something else, right?…Like calling a friend…or familiarizing yourself with what went on in the world while you were buried under a stack of papers and endless emails at work. That’s where podcasts come in handy – an hour workout flies by and you get news headlines or become more well-versed in whatever topic might interest you. There are hundreds of thousands to choose from – from cooking techniques to politics to business news, and more.
Here are links to a few favorites:
The Wall Street Journal This Morning
Harvard Business Review IdeaCast
If you have a smartphone that you use to listen to music/podcasts as you run…call your best friend while you’re at it. Chances are, your smartphone has the capability to let you talk via a built-in microphone and listen with your headphones. You may get a few strange stares, but in the process, you’ll become a pro-multi-tasker!
