Time is your most precious resource when you work from home on
the Internet. If your Internet connection goes down or your
computer blows up, the situation can be remedied but if you
waste time, it is gone forever. If you fail to develop effective
time management techniques you will all too often find that the
hours you had intended to use productively have evaporated
without trace. Time, although free, is valuable and it is
irreplaceable: every second is unique and should be treated as
an important asset. You will only manage to save time if you
plan and employ your own personal time management strategy. We
all have different demands being made upon our time, so managing
to save time will be achieved in different ways by each of us.
There is, however, one sure way anyone working at home online
can manage to save time and that is by modifying the way we
treat our email.
The trouble with working online is that your email is always
just a click or two away at any time during your working day. If
you were running an offline business from home, your day would
be centered away from your computer and you would have to make a
conscious decision about when and how often to check your email.
When you are already sitting at your pc and connected to the
Internet, it is just too easy to forget all about time
management techniques and develop bad email habits. If you use
the following time management strategy, you will maintain
control of your working hours and find that you can easily get
more done in less time.
1. Set an email schedule for yourself. Make it a rule only to
check your inbox two or three times a day and set a strict time
limit (ten or fifteen minutes per session is about right) on how
long you spend dealing with email.
2. Don't check your email as soon as you power up your computer
at the start of any work session. You will be at your most alert
and creative during the first hour of work. Use this time to
complete more complicated or difficult tasks.
3. Don't have your email alert permanently on to notify you as
soon as an email hits your mailbox. This will serve to distract
you while you are working and tempt you to abandon the schedule
you have planned.
4. Deal with each email as soon as you read it. Flagging an
email and going back to it to send your reply makes double the
work. The only time you should permit yourself to do this is if
you need to do some research before you reply.
5. Use your bookmark function. You are bound to get emails that
contain a link to a website. Maybe you have subscribed to
interesting online news letters or they could be offers of
useful ebooks or tools. The time you have allocated to your
email session should be used solely for reading and replying to
emails. Bookmark any of the sites that appear worthy of further
investigation and schedule time for a visit. This is the most
dangerous part of dealing with emails: all commercial emails
will have a "hook" with which to catch you, drag you into a
black hole and make your time disappear. You must be alert to
this so that you can unhook yourself and visit these websites at
a time you decide is best for your schedule.
Developing good time management techniques is not difficult.
You do, however, need to be constantly on your guard against
temptations which might make you forget your time management
strategy. Developing good habits and curing bad ones is the
foundation of effective time management techniques.
About The Author: For time management tips and the best work at
home ideas visit Elaine Currie's Free Work At Home Directory
http://www.huntingvenus.com/
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