Tips to Topple the Internet Fairy…

At my house, most of the talk these days is about the tooth fairy.  Have you met the internet fairy?  I think she lives at my house too.

The Internet Fairy puts all sorts of shiny objects and interesting baubles on the Web for you… but like eating too much ice cream, there is a down side to all the sweet creamy goodness – you look up and discover you haven’t gotten anything done all day.

Here are some of the best tips I’ve found from around the web for keeping the Internet Fairy at bay…

Michael Port suggests that making commitments and getting projects done is the core of any successful business (yes, I agree).   He provide two free project templates to help you manage all the details.  He also suggests using Basecamp (this is the system I use).  If you go to the link with the project templates, his referral link comes with a $10 off discount.  I think Michael’s most important point was that the system wasn’t the important part – but rather the commitment to meet the deadlines.  This is one I need to pay attention to having played with just about every project management tool available.  It is one thing to track the tasks and something totally different to do them…

For me, how I write my tasks often has a huge impact on whether or not I can actually get them done. One of the main lessons I learned from Gina Trapani’s excellent post on How to Make Your To Do List Do-able is to create tasks that start with a verb and are the very next step in the process.  So instead of having the overwhelming “new website for Michele” as a to-do item I have “create buttons for Michele’s website in Photoshop.  Another useful hint in to put phone numbers in the to do items that require  a phone call.  That way, you can just make the call when you have time rather than worrying about looking up the number.

Sometimes having a list is not enough,  you need to actually force yourself to focus.  Carrie Wilkerson, the Barefoot Executive suggests carving out a solid hour (or half hour if that’s what you can do) to focus on the tasks that will make the most difference in your business.

If you want a high tech way to do this — there a cool (and inexpensive) program called Action Enforcer that allows you to pre-set timers for your whole day .  You can even have a recurring timed routine.

For those who think an hour is too long – there is always the Pomodoro Technique  which advocates 25 minute blocks.