When Poor Time Management Kills Your Fitness Marketing Mojo

time-management

I got the idea of writing this post last week when internet marketing guru Chris McCombs and fitness marketing master Steve Hochman dropped by my office to shoot the breeze.

I never really stopped to think about it… but apparently I get a lot done and Steve wanted to know what my ‘secret’ was.

So I thought that maybe you’d want to know a few of my secrets for massive productivity too.

Here’s how I look at it.

We all have the same 24 hour in a day, right?
 
The same 1440 minutes…
 
the same 86,400 seconds…
 
So how is it that some people get so much done with so much quickness while others don’t?
 
It all boils down to time management.

 Keep reading because these are some of the best time management and productivity tactics I know for getting A LOT done.

1. Make Lists
 list1
Create lists for everything. I make a list every January for the things I want to accomplish for the year. That one’s a no brainer… everyone should at LEAST be doing that.

But then I have my daily lists and these are the ones that help me get things done day to day. They keep me on task and focused.
 
Every night before I crash I’ll make a list of things I need to get done the next day. That list goes to the office with me and lets me “hit the road running” when I get there.

With my list in hand there’s no wasting time trying to figure out what to do or where to start.

Simple enough right?

I’ll tell you my secret for getting everything on my list done in just a minute. 
 
2. Chunk

Break things down into chunks.

For me emails are checked twice a day not every time they come in.

All videos for the week are shot on one day. Phone calls appointments happen Tuesday and Thursday mornings only.

Here’s one for you: Set a day of the week where you spend the ENTIRE DAY on dialing in your fitness marketing systems for that month.

You get the picture, right?

3. A, B and C Piles.

I learned this phrase from Chris who in turn learned it from John Carlton. It’s something I practice all the time, but never had name for it.

Here’s how it works.

‘A’ pile are things that only I can do like writing copy or creating a video.

‘B’ piles are things that can be done by others other than me. Things like customer support, product fulfillment, ect…

‘C’ pile things are garbage – literally. I get a lot of “offers” and “opportunities” that can interrupt, distract, and derail.

The goal is to move as much stuff from ‘A’ pile to ‘B’ pile and from ‘B’ pile to ‘C’ pile.

4. Guard Your Timebody-guard

Remember that movie from the 90’s called the Langoliers? The Langoliers were these mythical creatures that eat time leaving only a void behind.

Well, turns out there really are Langoliers!

They’re the people who want to just take a minute of your time and end up killing hours of voluble productivity.

They just want a quick phone call, a little ‘face time’ maybe lunch and then BANG! Your day is shot and you got NOTHING done.

Relentlessly guard your time and say NO often.

5. Outsource Everything

You want speed? Stop being the jack of all trades. Do the things that make you money.

Do what you’re good at and outsource the rest.

Outsource accounting.

Outsource content creation.

Outsource website and internet stuff.

Outsource article writing.

Outsource customer support.

Outsource, outsource, outsource.

6. Destroy Distractions

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Email, facebook, twitter, myspace, instant messages, you tube, texting and all that crap are the biggest time killers of all.

Sure, there are some fitness marketing benefits to these things, but if you’re not careful they can suck you in totally waste your day.  

Sometimes I’ll go days without texting someone back. I’ll “tweet”… but not by the minutes.

Sure, I facebook… but not daily.

I’ve got more important things to do.

Don’t you?

7. Do the Hard thing First

Earlier I told you about making lists and working off them.

squat

The best way to make sure you get through your daily task list by day’s end is by doing the hard things first. This way you won’t procrastinate and dread getting around to your list of things to do.

Knock the hardest thing off the list first and breeze through the rest.

As Dr. Laura says… Now go take on the day!

(yeah, I listen to Dr. Laura…so)

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