Is the clock running out on your social media use?

Introduction: Marketing Through Social Networking Without the Insanity

Social networking: you know you oughtta do it. But the time it takes is enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the most productive solos. How can you do all this networking/Twitter/Facebook stuff and still run your business?

We’re looking at this topic in depth in our “Ten Rules to Successfully Manage Your Time in Social Networking Activities” series. You can navigate through all the posts in this series through the links above and at the bottom of the post.

Today’s “Rule”: Get superhero skilled in task management, in order to minimize the crap that’s expanding to consume the time allotted to it.

#4: Get Superhero-Skilled in Task Management

All the way down here at number four? Really, Sheryl?

Yes, really. Task management — what most people mean when they talk about “time management” which is not the same thing at all, but whatever — is also not the most important aspect of managing your time with respect to social networking activities.

(That was convoluted. I hope you guys followed all that. Sometimes, I ramble.)

Why Task Management Is Important to Social Networking Time Management Efforts

Task management might not be the most important part of managing your time on social networking sites, but it is an important part of getting a firm grip on your actions and making them support your goals, as opposed to living strictly in reaction mode, responding to the crisis du jour and never getting anywhere good.

The reason is obvious, right? I mean, how can you carve out time for social marketing — for anything, really — if you’re always playing firefighter?

We humans waste a lot more time than we give ourselves credit for. Really, we’re super-good at it.

Take the average solo lawyer’s morning. She starts out with ten calls to return. Then, there’s email to check and maybe a few blogs and online news stories to catch up on. She might start to work on drafting a complaint for a new client, only to be interrupted a few minutes later by an incoming email alert, which leads to half an hour composing a reply, which then necessitates a coffee break, which is interrupted by yet another phone call …

Gah. I’m exhausted just rereading that paragraph.

Stop putting out fires and start getting a grip on your fundamentals — the essential basics of task management.

Seven Tips to Turbo-Charge Your Task Management Skills

A complete overview of effective task management is way beyond the scope of this one article. But I can offer some guidance based on experience — both mine and that of my clients — to turn you into the rock star of task management.

• Focus on the 3 or 4 most important tasks each day. Each day, know which tasks are the absolute most critical. Focus on getting those done first, then proceed to the rest. This way, you eliminate that sinking feeling you get when you’ve been running around in circles but feel like nothing got done.
• Discover the power of the daily and weekly review. Every morning set aside fifteen minutes first thing to go over your schedule and your tasks list and whatever tickler system you might have implemented. No phone calls, no interruptions – just you and your stuff. Pick the most important tasks, decide when and how you can best accomplish them, and then do it. At the end of every week, set aside about a half-hour to do a more thorough weekly review. For one good way to approach the weekly review, download this article at David Allen’s site. It’s free, although you have to go through a checkout process – no credit card info is necessary.
• Chunk your tasks. No, not “chuck.” Chunk — as in, group like tasks together. This is the strength of the GTD system, by the way — by keeping your actions lists separated by contexts (such as “to call,” “agenda (to talk to someone about),” and “errands”) you can easily find the appropriate action for where you are at any given moment. In other words, you fit the tasks to your day — not the other way around.
• Know your own predilections. We all have different strengths — we know that — but we also have different strengths at different times of the day. I cannot engage in deep planning-oriented thinking after 4 PM. My brain just stops. So, I schedule my planning sessions earlier in the day. Likewise, some bloggers prefer to do one blog post a day. Others prefer to devote one day to blogging and get all of that week’s posts and administrative tasks accomplished on that one day. It’s up to you, but first you gotta know what your preferences and natural tendencies are.
• When estimating time necessary for task completion, be realistic. I can’t tell you how many days I used to end feeling depressed and down on myself because I didn’t get through half of what I had on my daily list. It took me a while to realize that the problem wasn’t my inability to get things done — it was my inability to accurately gauge how long each task really took. I was overbooking myself, and that’s a crime against productivity and self-respect.
• Keep a written list somewhere. Whether you do it in a planner, a set of notecards, a Moleskine, a Circa book, or somewhere on your computer, do it. The act of getting it down in words is incredibly powerful and goes a long way towards achieving clarity on your obligations and your available time.
• Take regular breaks. It’s the single best thing you can do for yourself during a busy day. Even five minutes of doing pushups in your office will work wonders for your ability to concentrate and achieve your goals.
• Embrace the chaos. Our suffering over time management isn’t just about the stuff undone — it’s about how we feel about the stuff undone. You will not die with a completely crossed-off task list, I promise you. So why wait until late in life to begin getting comfortable with the notion? Start now. Understand that life is messy and crazy and unpredictable. Stuff pops up that demands our immediate attention. We make the best decisions we can at the time, with what we’ve got available to us. Let the rest go.
• Create systems wherever possible. Why reinvent the wheel? If you find yourself performing time-intensive computer actions over and over, why not explore the possibility of getting a script written to do it for you? If you find yourself typing in the same words over and over with each similar client project, why not create a template? Create a list of questions for your intake interviews that you can print out and use for notes. Think creatively about ways technology can help you take advantage of your past experiences and shave time off future tasks.

Do You Really Need Another Time Management Book?

Probably not. But if you feel you need a system to follow, then pick one – and only one — and implement it thoroughly. Some of us (ahem – not naming any names but it starts with “Sh” and rhymes with “Errol”) get so into productivity systems and information that it’s like an addiction.

There’s even a cutesy hackerish Internet name for it — productivity pr0n. And just like real porn, it’s … seductive. Very seductive, for some of us. (I will not go browse the time management section at Amazon.com, I will not, I will not…)

Chances are, though, you already know everything you need to know to be more effective. What you’re lacking isn’t information – it’s implementation. Whatever changes you implement, be sure to give them a fair shake before you decide they’re not working. No system will save your work life if you don’t fully engage in it, and give it a thorough try-out.

Or, to put it another way, your productivity system is only as good as your best efforts. Sorry — I know, I’m still waiting for them to develop the magic pill, too, but until they do, we’re both stuck with actually — y’know, doing stuff.

So do it smartly, and then free up a few more minutes for the marketing stuff.