One Fundamental Thing You Should Learn To Survive This Era

I read this story once that said that in the 60’s when the Russians and Americans where competing to get the first man to the moon, the American astronauts discovered that their pens didn’t work in space. They couldn’t write because there was no gravity to pull the ink out onto the paper. So NASA spent thousands of US dollarsto invent an anti-gravity pen. Their Russian counterparts simply used a pencil...

How much truth there is to this story I have not determined, but it is useful in describing the fine difference between efficiency and effectiveness. Knowledge that is proving to be fundamental in surviving this day and age where living in.

Some clarification: Efficiency means making the most out of limited resources. Effectiveness relates to how close something came to its goal.

You can be efficient without being effective when you spend hours creating an extensive folder system in your Inbox instead of answering your e-mails or if you rearrange all your sales leads instead of calling them. You’re being very organised, but you have not moved yourself closer to your goal of answering your e-mails or making sales.

You can of course also be effective without being efficient. From our story above we can see that the Americans were effective - they did manage to invent a ‘space pen’ and write in space - but at what cost? The more efficient solution was the use of a pencil.

Efficiency and effectiveness is however not a case of the one vs the other. It is about finding balance and about being effective in the most efficient manner possible. In an era where both time and money is valued higher than ever before, it will be to our benefit to train ourselves to attain this goal.

The simplest way in which to do this is to set yourself a reminder to go off at set intervals during your workday. Perhaps initially every 2 hours, then every 4 hours (2 – 4 times per day) asking yourself: “Am I doing busyness or business?”

It won’t be long until the mindset has infiltrated the way you execute daily tasks, do long-term planning and even decide which social responsibilities you take on. All to the aim of maximizing the impact you have on the world and ensuring you spend your time on the things that are most valuable to you.

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How toGet into ‘The Zone’ and Spend Most of Your Time There

You market your business to clients for 8 hours straight; yet when you have to write the ‘About Us’ section for your website, you’re at a loss for words? Or you devise excellent strategies for your business’s future, but when you have to capture the past month’s financial data you feel absolutely drained?Does this sound familiar?

Your Strength Zone – What Is It?

There are certain tasks that you excel at more than others. You enjoy doing them and in fact it comes so naturally to you that it doesn’t feel like work at all. Then there are tasks that drain your energy to no end. Even if the tasks are simple you dread completing them.

When you are busy with those activities that energise and excite you, you are operating in your Strength Zone. In this zone you will:

Be happier

Be more productive

Deliver high-quality work

Increase your impact

Build something sustainable

When you are spending most of your time functioning in your Strength Zone, you will be more productive and deliver better quality work and consequently you will have maximum impact in your business, your community, the world!

Your Strength Zone – How to Stay There

Our resources are finite. We don’t have unlimited time and unlimited energy and the sooner we embrace this fact and work around it, the better off we’ll be.

The good news is that different people have different Strength Zones and many of those activities that drain your energy actually energise someone else. The key here is to partner with people who enjoy those tasks that you don’t. This allows you to focus on what you’re good at and someone else to take care of the things you’re not so good at. It allows you to spend the majority of your time in your Strength Zone.

You increase your impact by letting go and letting others help you. Heaven knows the world needs good influence. The world needs what you can contribute maximally. Achieve it through delegating, outsourcing, partnering, begging... whichever way you choose, just start doing it!

Top 10 Online Tools for Virtual Assistants

Last week we mentioned that the reason you have a virtual assistant is to help you achieve your strategic objectives and even more importantly, that he/she gets the job done in the most efficient way possible. We shared 5 of the 10 most helpful online tools we use to manage our virtual assistants’ efficiency and productivity. Here are the next 5:

6. Evernote - http://evernote.com/: The free version of EverNotecan be synced across all devices - computers, phones and tablets. Lists can be updated from any device and then synced sothat the update is immediately available on all your devices. There is also a great search feature.

7. WordPress - http://wordpress.com/: If your virtual assistant is not yet blogging on your behalf, you should set up a WordPress account and get your blog started. It’s the best way to share your expertise, start a conversation with the community you’re serving and build a fan base for your business or brand. Let your virtual assistant draft the blogs and you can add the final touches before posting it online on this super easy platform.

8. EchoSign by Adobe -https://www.echosign.adobe.com/: The free version of this web-based tool is all you will ever need to get contracts sent and signed by all parties. In South Africa electronic signatures are legally binding and other countries are quickly catching on. This is the perfect tool for any virtual assistant who needs to get contracts signed quickly to commence work.
9. SmartEdge-https://www.taxshop.smartedge.co.za/: A great way to track income and expenses. Super user-friendly with excellent reporting functions. Cloud-based it can be accessed from anywhere and is instantly backed up.

10. HootSuite -https://hootsuite.com/: The free version of this tool is all you need to manage your entire social media presence from one place. It lets you draft posts and then schedule them to go live at the times you choose. It accommodates all major social media networks like Facebook and Twitter and is very simple to use.

Questions:We want to learn from you. Are there any tools you and your virtual assistant currently use that we have not mentioned?

How to Stop Doing the Things you Don’t Like

In a previous post ‘How to focus on what you do best and maximize your impact’ we stated that the most important reason for delegation is that it enables you to spend the majority of your time in your strength zone – causing you to be happier, more productive, deliver better quality work and increase your impact. But how do you delegate?

1. Identify your strengths

2. Offload everything else

My greatest strengths are in devising strategies, doing preparation/groundwork and communicating with my team. However, when you think about all the rest that needs to happen (to grow a business), such as the actual implementation of the plans, the daily management, tracking the progress and ensuring continuous improvement… then I fall short. By much.
When I first started my business I devoted more than half my available work hours to administrative activities. This included things like responding to e-mail, managing my calendar, paying bills, collecting money, writing marketing material, trying to design my own website and the list goes on.
The point is I was doing a lot of things others could have done better, or at least as well, as I could.

Offloading to Others

Offloading happens in 2 steps:

1. Identify those tasks that others can also do

Each time you look at a task, ask yourself, Is this something someone else can do or is it something only I can do? Then you only do those things that others cannot do.
2. Slowly start hiring part-time assistants

Now you start finding assistants who can take over the tasks you identified above. This can’t usually happen immediately. It can take a few years and will possibly be a continuous process.

Examples of such assistants include:

•    A Web developer to handle all the technical details of your website
•    A Writer/Editor to develop the ‘good stuff’ for your marketing material
•    A Virtual Assistant to filter e-mail, manage your calendar, make travel arrangements, do type work, etc.
•    A Bookkeeper to pay bills, invoice clients, make payments and provide financial reports.
•    A Graphic Designer to create the graphics for new products and other marketing materials.
•    A Customer Support Rep to answer your clients’ unending stream of questions
Interestingly, not one of these assistants have to be full-time employees. They can all be independent contractors with their own clients working for a few hours a week or everyday of the week.

If your aim is to have a business that makes money whether you’re there or not, then you have to start devising a plan for delegation. The sooner the better!

How to Focus on What You Do Best and Maximize Your Impact

Does this sound familiar? You talk to your clients for 8 hours straight; yet when you have to write the ‘About Us’ section for your website, you’re at a loss for words? Or you devise excellent strategies for your business’s future, but when you have to capture the past month’s financial data you feel absolutely drained?

The Purpose of Delegation

“To enable you to focus on what you do best in order to maximize your impact“ Michael Hyatt, author and speaker on Intentional Leadership

There are certain jobs that you simply enjoy and excel in more than others. And some jobs that just tap your energy to no end. The truth is we all do certain things well and others things not so well. It’s like your grandma said, ”Jack of all trades, master of none.”

If you want to: 

·         Be happier

·         Be more productive

·         Deliver quality work

·         Increase your impact

Then you have to ensure you are doing those tasks that energize and excite you. This is called operating in your ‘strengths zone’.  When you function in your strength zone you will be more productive and deliver better quality work and consequently you will have maximum impact in your business, your community, the world…

Why delegate?

Delegation allows you to focus on what you’re good at and someone else to take care of the things you’re not so good at. It allows you to spend the majority of your time in your strength zone. In reality you are increasing your impact, by letting go, by letting others help you.

If you think about it, NOT delegating is NOT an option. It’s simply not sustainable! Our resources are finite. We don’t have unlimited time and unlimited energy and the sooner we embrace this fact and work around it, the better off we’ll be.

It is true that no-one can do your job as well as you do. I am confirming your suspicion! But, it’s like Action coach, Michael Andrews always says, “No-one can do your job as well as you do. But two people’s 80% is still better than your 100%.”For more information visit us:-http://www.adminassist.co.za