Have you ever fell over in frustration because you have been working so hard but getting nowhere? Seriously it makes me angry to think of all the hours of hard work I put in on projects only to have it fall short. So what is it that makes other succeed? Do they work more hours or maybe they have inside information, but honestly it isn't about working harder it's about working smarter.
Get a game plan: My biggest problem working in the morning was having no idea what to do. Often times I found myself not only trying to figure out what I needed to be doing, but what the team I was leading needed to do, and plan what I had to get done.
Have a plan of what you are going to do the next. Before ending work for the day take a few minutes to get organized. Do you have a meeting, a deadline to meet, or something that you need to check on? Make a list of people that you need to accomplish and a list of things that you need to get done and what you want to get done. That way you walk into the day with a plan and don't waste precious minutes trying to figure out what you need to do or realize last minute that you need to make an important meeting in 5 minutes.
Set goals and measure them: The best way to know if you are reaching the level of success you want is to set goals that can be measured. Let's say that your goal is to have a successful blog. Great goal, but what is successful? Is it having sponsors, or a certain number of followers, or generating an income? Maybe you want more followers, that's the goal. The measure would be how many followers you want to have and if you reach that goal. The reason that making a goal measurable is so that you know if you are working effectively towards what you want to accomplish or not.
Be flexible: Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men always go astray. Falling short of a goal doesn't mean you failed it means either the goal was unrealistic or you need to revaluate what went wrong. Ah, that's where measuring goals comes in! If you want 1,000 followers and half through the year you still only have 50 it's time to get flexible and stray from your original plan. Start brainstorming. What will drive traffic? The real thing to keep in mind is if you are effectively measuring your goals when things aren't working out the way you planned it's time to be flexible and reevaluate your original plan.
What do you think about working smarter?
This is awesome, Samantha. Definitely what I needed.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, my goal is growing my blog through more followers.
It seems that we have similar goals because it is was surely on my mind as I was writing this.
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