What do I want to achieve today?

Two steps to improve your day:

1. Every morning start the day by writing down just 3 things you would like to achieve by the end of the day.
2. It is as simple as that! Then at the end of the day assess what you achieved.

I read the famous mirror quote by Steve Jobs quite often i.e.:

"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

and it is GREAT - however it works more like a KPI - an index to tell you if you are on the right road that will get you to your final destination.

On a daily basis however I find that writing down three things that I need to achieve by the end of the day give me the personal feeling that I have used the day well and that I am ready to move forward.

Here are some examples on how simple these three things can be:

1. Make 5 phone calls to people who should try my products
2. Write the first version of a document that I need to present next week
3. Call up a friend and arrange to meet for coffee
4. Close the sale to a specific Customer to stage two - agree on a date for the presentation
5. Meet with the Sales staff and ask for ideas on how to utilize the vacation season this year

Some of them are simple tasks. Others require more preparation work.

I always like to put one item on the list, that I know I will do (say 95% sure). This helps keep my confidence level up in case I do not achieve the other two goals.


At the end of the working day, take your piece of paper and assess your achievements. The answers have to be simple YES or NO. no shades of grey. If you have to return to any item the following day to "finish it", you have to answer NO.

Traps
There are some traps that you need to be aware of:

1. Leaving assessment late at night. If I do this, I find, that I am too tiered to assess properly and the exercise is wasted for that day. Assess at a specific time and enter a reminder into your calendar. e.g. 16:30.
2. Non achievable tasks. This is when there are too many dependencies to be fulfilled in order to answer YES at the end of the day. IF you have too many  dependancies, then this is not a task for the day, but something that requires longer term planning. break it down into three or four items and put them down on your next lists
3. Three things list becomes my medium term objective - sometimes I get focused so much on these short term items, that I loose perspective - In order to keep the perspective, you will need to ask yourself a modified Steve Jobs type question  like "Will these items help me get to where I am going". If not, then get yourself a cup of coffee and starting thinking about what your three things for today should be

Enjoy!

Using short URLs in a post - brilliant for google+ and other socialmedia posts

I love Google's URL shortner. Why - because it is from google.

A URL shortner basically takes a looooooong URL and gives you a short URL for you to use in your blog, website or social media. This is very uselfull if you have a limited amount of characters for your post, or when the original URL is crazily long. Helps your post look professional too.

Just about all URL shortners work in the same way, but even though I cannot prove it, I have this inherent gut feeling that google does a better job with URLS that are its bread and butter for search indexing and Ad revenue.

A lot of people use Bitly. A fuller list can be found on the WiKipedia article on URL shortening.

GogtshtrURLS ;)

#TAG this and #TAG that - what to DO and what NOT to do

Image by Quin Dombrowski on from  Hootsuite  that is telling us to get SERIOUS about Social Media!

This EXCELLENT article on the do's and dont's of how to use hastags, gives practical information on understanding hastags and using them to you benefit.

Take some time off and read through it if you want to do hashtagging right!

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

This quote from Theodore Roosevelt is so GREAT, just making you focus on what you can do at any given moment.

Charles Coy, who runs the Cornerstone blog wrote a fantastic post putting down the TOP three mantras that make you want to have a good day.

 Cornerstone is leading SaaS software development company with a focus on People related aspects of doing business. i.e. from Talent management in HR all the way to sales management via the CRM.

Have a look at their solutions for Small Businesses. They bring solutions from the Enterprise world and make them accessible to small businesses.

Use your PC to send text messages via your mobile phone

 

http://mightytext.net/

I was sceptical about this solution when I first saw it. But when I tried it - WHOW!!!!!

It is an extension of your smartphone on your PC - phone book, messages (SMS) call history etc...

For those who prefer to type in things on a keyboard or tidy up their smartphone on a big screen, using a mouse and keyboard - this is GREAT!

The product comes from a a Silicon Valley based group of enthusiasts. have a look at the details here

Crowdcast - a brilliant way to run a webinar for free

An easy way to run a webinar for free - using all the google+ tools and managing them in one session.

The beauty about Crowdcast is that it allows you to:

1. communicate with a large group in a manageable way
2. easily respond to questions that you have already replied in an easy manner

Try it and use it for free!

click on the link to go to the Crowdcast web site: https://www.crowdcast.io/home

DO CUSTOMERS USE live chat?

I personally use live chat whenever I can!

I respect your time!

Tim Ferriss wrote this magnicifent short article on how to email busy people. He gives a brilliant example of how to write a good email with template phrases. Have a look here:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-tips-emailing-busy-people-tim-ferriss

It takes less then 2 minutes to read, but will open your mind to answers to questions you ask yourself constantly - Why did he not reply/respond to my email. Did he even read it?