Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Every time you find yourself saying, “I don’t have time to”…call a customer…read a blog…update your web site with a few lines of fresh content…read a book…attend an interesting seminar…work on your presentation skills…rethink your business plan…do some financial planning…have lunch with a friend…have a life…

Stop and think:

How many hours did you spend last night watching television? (Yes, vegging out has its place, but every night? Hmmmm…)

How much time do you spend in your car going to yet another “networking” meeting where you’ll see the same people you saw last month (and the month before that, and the month before that…and none of them have ever given you any business, referrals or fresh ideas.)

How much time do you spend trying to do every single thing on your list? Hint: Most of it can wait for a while - if not forever. In my Corporate America days, I had the “A/B/C” system. A certain amount of things automatically went into the “C” pile - and I never looked at them unless somebody up the food chain started screaming (and some of them did literally scream. Yawn.)

Do you really need to be constantly available to everyone? Tip: If you’re not a brain surgeon on call, you don’t need to be answering your cell in the grocery store….or tipping-tapping emails while at dinner with a frlend. And, you can most likely take the entire weekend off and the world will keep chugging right along. It’ll all still be there on Monday. Even when I’m juggling multiple projects, I almost always manage to go off the grid at least one full day a week. Better for everyone - me and my clients.

Is your technology wasting more time than it’s saving? How many hours are you slaving over a hot keyboard, trying to produce brilliant Powerpoint? Sort of implementing that whiz-bang new customer relationship software (when you’re lacking most of the basic info, like emails and titles…)? Are you spending days populating a spreadsheet when you can get the answer in minutes simply by calling a couple of seasoned veterans in your industry? (Call center costs, etc.)

People have conquered whole countries; built great companies; and changed the world (for good and ill) without ever using a phone or typing anything.

Martin Luther King somehow got by without PowerPoint. Neither Alexander nor Napoleon had Microsoft Project. Ditto Eisenhower (and “computers” in WWII days were people, typically women, who sat around - um - thinking, doing little things like code cracking and logistical computations for D-Day.) Einstein: Paper. Pencil. Brain. Sure, most of us aren’t geniuses, but we can think.

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I’m off to get my “To Do” list today down to just three things - and then do them.

Related Posts:
Busy ain’t necessarily productive (duh Mary!)
Old-Fashioned Technology - It Works!

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Tags: time management, mind candy and brain food