|
25 August 2010
Guest Blogger Matt Mansfield: I read this post on Matt's site, Leverage The Web, and instantly asked his permission to reprint it here. In Coaching we talk about managing time and the best use; the internet is certainly a 'rabbit hole' you can disappear down for hours at a time. Matt is a software expert and, since his daily business life is spent on the web, he really, really knows what he's talking about.
3 Tips for Getting Work Done Online
As comfortable as you may be with the Web, the fact remains that getting work done online is a lot different than just surfing around.
Why? Because:
- The Web is a very distracting place which can easily eat up a ton of your valuable time and;
- Finding and selecting the best resources (sites, tools, software and information) is a pretty overwhelming task!
So to help you get started with getting work done online, here are 3 tips to point you in the right direction:
- Figure out what you need to do before going online:
It's pretty easy to get online and just start surfing around and suddenly realize that you've lost a whole afternoon following one interesting link after another! You can't afford to let that happen; you have things to get done!
So before going online, make a note (paper or computer) of what you want to accomplish while you are there. Are you looking to learn something? Are you looking for a tool or software? Do you want to network with other folks online? Whatever your reasons, get it down and use it to stay focused.- Tip: you may want to set an alarm (egg-timers work or there are lots of great free tools online) which tells you, “Hey, you've spent enough time online today!”
- Leverage the work others have already done:
Getting your things done takes a lot of work as well as a lot of learning.
That, said, you're lucky that one of the best things about the Web is that it is full of information and resources, many of them free. Why? Because using these already compiled resources, can cut literally days off of certain tasks and allow you to use that time saved to focus on more value-added tasks.
A few examples:
-
- Checklists, Forms and Other Tools: there are many good resources for all purposes online and many are packaged up to give you everything you need in one place saving you hours of research.
- Online Software Resources: using online software and tools can save you a lot of time and money. However, finding the right software and tools can be a time-consuming task. Luckily, there are some very solid sites online which maintain updated lists of the solutions available online (I list some of the best in my free ebook, "6 Step Online Software Evaluation and Selection Process".
- General Information, Advice and News: the web is a great source for all three of these important resources. Even better, you can use an online RSS feedreader tool to get the news that's most important to you funneled to one place as it is posted.
- Social media tools are for more than marketing and telling people what you ate last night:
When you are getting your things done online, it's easy to feel isolated and a bit out-of-touch.
Enter social media. Using sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and others you can find a group of people who are similar to you or who like to help folks like you. Suddenly, you have people to whom you can ask questions and with whom you can bounce ideas back and forth.
Sure you can get this offline as well (and I am a big believer in “real-life” networking), but you can have just as an effective experience online without having to spend the time going to and a physical place or waiting until the group meets to ask questions and get answers.
My favorite network lives online at The Third Tribe (affiliate link). It's not free, but for me, it's invaluable as a spot to get ideas, learn new things and, most importantly, for support when I feel up against the wall.
Thanks, Matt, for the permission to republish here, I'm sure we have a lot of readers who spend too much time on the internet (this site not included). Please check out the free stuff and the online courses that Matt offers and if you visit, tell him you found him here.