Who wants to find an extra hour of free time in their day, every day? Considering we're all stressed out because there's never enough time to get everything done, this is what I would call a "leading" question.
So how can you do it? By looking at the seemingly innocent, time-sucking activities you are spending time on every day and either automating them or speeding them to completion using technology. Can it really be that simple? It can, but you need to understand one critical factor first...
The "Latte" Factor
Best-selling author David Bach coined this phrase in his book "The Automatic Millionaire." The latte factor is based on the simple idea that all you need to do to become wealthy is take a hard look at the small things you spend your money on every day and see whether you could redirect that spending into savings.
For example, a little $2 purchase made every day on common things like Starbucks (a latte), bottled water (get a water bottle instead!), and coffee (maybe your office can get a coffeemaker instead?) redirected into an investment account earning 6% will become $10,199.30 in 10 years. If that's true, why don't MORE people do it? Because saving $2 a day seems so insignificant that people spend ALL their money on these things and then have nothing left to invest.
5 Time-Saving Techie Tips That Will Add An Hour Or MORE To Your Day
So the question is, what are some small, time-saving technologies we can use to automate or speed up what we get done to save us that precious hour? Here are our five favorites:
1. Use an aggressive spam filter. Over 80% of the e-mails being sent daily are not-so-delicious spam. And if you're like many people, you're getting dozens of these every day, which can easily add up to 5-10 minutes per day sifting, sorting through and deleting the spam from the e-mails you want. We recommend Reflexion for spam filtering because it can not only scrub your email, but also it
allows you to hand out an unlimited number of customized email addresses without configuring anything! Plus, eliminating spam temptations from your STAFF will not only cut down on the time they waste on it, but will also drastically reduce your chances of getting viruses and spyware on your network.
2. Replace Old PCs. While it's hard to truly estimate how much total time is wasted waiting on an old, slow computer to process tasks, start up, etc., I can tell ya, it adds up. Let's say your old PC takes 10 seconds longer to process a task than a fresh, new one. Might not seem like a lot, but with users averaging 100-150 tasks a day, you might be wasting 16-25 minutes a day. Add in the crashes and other problems old PCs cause and you're probably closer to 30-35 minutes a day.
3. Maintain Your Network. Another tip that will save you a lot of time is patching, updating and optimizing your server and workstations. You'd be surprised how much slower even a new machine will start to run if not maintained properly.
4. Document management. This is a HUGE time-saver if you are a paper-heavy office (like attorneys, doctors, contractors, etc.). But even if you aren't, scanning and storing paper documents so they can be searched on and located in seconds rather than minutes or hours is a HUGE time saver. Plus, it's a greener solution, improves document security, enables users to access critical documents remotely AND (if that's not enough) prevents important paper from loss or damage.
5. Implement Business Collaboration Software. Be honest: how much time is wasted in your office because people are duplicating efforts, can't find information and documents they need or backtracking to FIX mistakes made? This, like time wasted on old PCs and down-time, may be hard to calculate, but I would conservatively guess that folks are wasting at least 30 minutes a day or MORE because of disorganization. That's why we recommend growing companies implement some type of collaboration software that will help organize projects and information, making it easier for everyone to get on the same page.
