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Maximize Your Daily Efficiency

written by John Chow on June 3, 2007

Get Traffic To Your Site!

A very important topic to talk about is how to organize your time when working on your blog or web site. Many readers ask me how I structure my day and it has taken me a couple of months to get to a point where I can function at my peak levels. I will share a few suggestions with you that can really help you be more productive.

Keep A To-Do List.

Each day when you wake up, write down the top 5-10 things you have to accomplish that day. It is best to not do any other web based activities until you can cross off each item on your list because it is too easy to get caught up reading other blogs and forums before getting your own work done. Before you know it, you have spent 3 hours reading and getting none of your work done. If you did not finish an item from your list, carry it over to the next day.

Assign A Certain Amount Of Time For Important Items.

Tell yourself the first thing you will do each morning is check and respond to email for 30 minutes. I know some people think email should not be the first thing you do in the morning, but I prefer to get it out of the way first. You also never know who sent you a pressing item that can help you monetize your site. If you read an email but do not respond immediately, mark it “un-read” so you do not forget that you have to respond later.

Figure Out What You Like Least And Make Yourself Spend Time Doing It.

Sometimes I struggle to write ReviewMe posts and the only way I can get myself to do it is if I sit down and tell myself that for the next 2-3 hours, the only thing I will do is research and review the web site. I force myself to write a review and I go back and proof read it later. Whatever your weak points are, be sure to take the time to do them anyways. They could be valuable to your readers and your blog’s value.

Do Not Check Stats More Than Twice Per Day.

This is a big one. So many people waiste time hitting refresh on their visitor stats and affiliate sales all day. I used to do the same, only to realize that my productivity is so much better now that I only check stats once in the morning and once in the evening. There is nothing you can do to increase your statistics that much by hitting refresh every 10 minutes that you cannot do by checking stats in the beginning and end of the day. Try this for a few days and you will be happy you did.

This post was guest blogged by Jane May. She teaches readers how to create and monetize blogs on Daily Web Ideas.

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Great List -

I really like the writing 5-10 things down and getting them done BEFORE doing any online work. :smile:
Once I get online an hour can seem like 10 minutes.

The other one that is every so important is checking stats. It's so easy to go check *just really quick* Waste of time - don't do it!!

An other thing that I find is a HUGE help is to get up an hour earlier. That early time in the morning is my favorite time of the day, just to get organized and get started.

Regarding the last point - don't check stats more than twice a day - does anyone know of a way to actually block your browser from loading a particular site more than X times per day?

Great Post! I am bad at procrastinating, so this post really opened my eyes. Thank You for sharing!

Hi,
I totally agree when I first started my site I would be checking stats every 10 Min's, now once a day, I'm less stressed and the results are more meaningful.

Even this is a very short tips, but it's really great tips. Thanx for this tips and have a nice days ahead :smile:

Heh..refreshing stats. I'm a junkie, I think I need rehab

Now I'm bummed, surely you can't be serious about only checking stats twice per day :?: :!:

LOL

:arrow: Don

yeah checking stats and Google AdSense earnings used to be what i did the most but now i stopped.

Excellent time-management article with some sound and practical advice.

I also had a problem with checking stats to often but found one simple soolution to get rid of that problem (and other bad habits). Click my name to find a short article I wrote about that solution. Perhaps you´ll find it helpful.

Ok Jane after this post I am officially in love with you :D

True that, Ankur. But the best formula of all has only one variable -- perseverance.

useful tips on what works for you. however, i guess different styles work for different people and one shld always tweak and improve on what works for YOURSELF. If reading emails in mid-day enhances productivity in the morning for you, then why not? So bottomline is, learn from others, but apply it wisely :)

Thats certainly right dude, no fourmula applies to all!

i'll add to the list:
check google trends

if your blog is about blue widgets, and you suddenly find a big spike in searches for the latest model of blue widget, you might want to try to capture that some of that search traffic in a blogpost.

but dont check trends all the time - i just stick to once in the morning, once in the evening - otherwise you'll get nothing else done.

Sure, Google Trends can be a helpful tool indeed.

I'm pretty OC when it comes to making to-do lists. I've always thought it helped me organize my thoughts and objectives for the day -- a real time-saver.

everyone is a little OC :wink:

I have a notebook with graph paper that I carry around with me everywhere along with a book for any moment of down time I am reading or writing.

If your not carrying around a pen and paper with you or the new iphone yet start!

"If it's worth living, it's worth recording" - me
(replace writing with blogging too)

Thanks for these great tips :)

I'm certainly goign to have to work on the last one :P

i was struck by your last tip because I always check the stat of my blog. I don't know why I'm doing this... something in me that told me to do that always....

I need to add another one - stop commenting too much on John Chow Dot Com! :grin:

non-sense! Stop commenting, who would be in the top commentators getting that free link??
:lol:

Your keeping the buzz going by commenting. John appreciates his readers getting involved and giving the blog a life of it's own.

I really like the tip on not checking your blog stats multiple times a day. I am currently going through stats withdraw. I am trying to wean myself back from checking my analytics, adsense, blog log, all multiple times a day.

The goal is now to check everything once a day, at the end of the day. I am doing this by putting a calendar on the wall next to the computer. Everytime i check my stats i put a hash mark on the calendar. Then at the end of the week I can see how often I checked, and can calculate how much time I wasted

It's hard to get passed those stat withdrawls, but once you do, you are on your way to productiveness :lol:

I have to stop checking multiple times a day.

Man, that last one's always hard to remember.

Wow, great post! I finally got my blog off the ground just a few days ago and it took me a lot longer than necessary to do so because I kept getting distracted.

Also thanks to others comments I think I'm gonna pass on the firefox adsense plugin :grin:

well written time management for bloggers

Good list of things to do. It's only human nature to procrastinate so I always start things as soon as possible to get the ball rolling. If I don't initiate tasks right away, the day can easily be a complete write-off.

What a great post! Very direct and to the point. I really need to do the do list and stick to it. THanks, Jane.

Dear Jane,
The post written very nicely. I agree with your thoughts. I am working in a MNC and I have to follow the same rules. When I was new, it was some difficult to me. My boss is very generous to me and he tought me the lession just same as your post. As the time past it is now become my habit and now I find it very helping. In the morning first of all I read my Official mails then after personal mails. If is there any urgent requirement I make it number one priority in my list. I generally make a list in night just before going to bed. The task left undone today, is added as next day assignment. I always carry a small pocket dairy with me and whenever I find anything important I just write it down and open it every evening to find out the actual advantage. When a task is completed I make a rigt mark that "I Have Done It" :smile:

Thanks for such a wonderful post.

Regards

FameFire

Sounds like you now have the system down pat! Great to hear.

Thanks for the useful post.

it´s so real the point about stadistics, this time can be spent in a great post.

If we use the "buy me a beer" link at the end of the post, does Jane get the beer?

Maybe if you make a note when you pay, John will be kind enough to forward the funds to Jane... but that means that Paypal takes two cuts instead of one.

Very good point on the two cuts Michael! Thanks for the insight.

If you wish to buy Jane a beer, you should do so at her blog. like Micheal says, I can forward the funds but then Paypal take another cut.

It'll probably be easier for everyone if you just do it on my site...thanks for asking Kumiko!!

I get caught up surfing the web instead of doing important stuff. Most of the time I have to plan my day to get work done. ughhh

Very nice post. I am not an efficient person when it comes to online stuff. I get caught up in things.

Thanks for the quality post Jane.

I'm glad you found value in it...i try :grin:

Thanks, your suggestions rox :D

Checking stats (5-6 times) is consuming mt time. I need to spend more time creating content.

That's probably a good idea. :razz:

Money is a result of being successful. Success in blogging is directly related to providing value through great content. If there is one thing you can do is focus in on that.

You will be fine!

I admit, stat watching and the firefox adsense notifier are making me nuts, so I had better wean myself off them for awhile :-)

thanks for a great post