Manage your tasks, free up more time for marketing

A good friend of mine named Mike Vardy is somewhat of a productivity guru. Having a productivity expert as a friend is a little like going out for dinner with a dietician; you’re always worried that they’re judging your choices. But knowing Mike has actually clued me into the value of managing my time – and the benefits that can come of that. In particular, I find myself better able to take on tasks, such as additional marketing efforts (like this blog post), that I never seemed to be able to get to before. 

The main thing I’ve learned from Mike is to stop using my email inbox as a task manager. I used to use my inbox to keep track of all my tasks. I figured the emails would serve as a visual reminder and my bulletproof memory would do the rest. Then I hit my mid-30s and, well, my brain started letting me down. More importantly, having that full inbox stressed me out. I didn’t realize how stressful it was until I switched to a separate task manager. It was like a whole new world opened up; I felt far less stressed and anxious about my tasks – and I became way more productive.

I use the Mac app Things, but there are lots of other options. There’s Omnifocus and Flow, for example, for the Mac. For PC users, there’s Wunderlist and Nozbe. It doesn’t really matter what tool you use – just use one. Trust me – you’ll notice a difference. (Note: These are not endorsements, your mileage may vary, and some of these apps cost money or have monthly subscription components.)

When you take your tasks out of your email inbox and put them in a task manager, something interesting happens – suddenly you have all this space in your brain again to think about things that aren’t task-related. And with that extra space you’ll realize you might have extra time. So you can speak to your publicist about that new article idea or get to work on that second blog post of the week, because your brain is no longer on that hamster wheel, frantically keeping track of your to-do’s.