productivity tips

How To Measure Your Productivity

January 11, 2016 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

We all have goals. Some of those goals require what would appear to be monumental leaps while other goals don’t require much of a jump.

Regardless of what goals we pursue, we all understand the need to be productive. Better to get the same work done in 30 minutes than get the same work done in an hour.

That is the typical focus of productivity. Most people focus on getting a lot of stuff done and then getting that stuff done as quickly as possible.

If only that was how productivity actually worked.

Productivity isn’t a matter of hours worked and how much stuff you can say you did. The central focus of productivity is what work you are actually doing. Then the traditional methods of viewing productivity come in.

Is The Work You Do Productive?

Let’s say that in a month, I can create a thousand outlines for different blog post ideas this month or I can create four training courses that are each two hours long.

Even if both of those activities took up the same amount of my time, I would feel more productive creating the four training courses than doing 1,000 blog post outlines.

The problem with creating too many outlines is that the niche I am in constantly changes (if a new social network comes out, I have to write about it. Maybe Facebook ads changed again). And quite frankly, I could look at an outline upon second glance and realize it’s not a good blog post for me to write.

And being presented with 1,000 blog post outlines and having to choose one of them would be overwhelming. I won’t feel any better when I have to choose one blog post outline out of the 999 outlines that would be left.

However, creating four training courses would make me feel productive. I would provide more videos for my Udemy students and generate more revenue at the same time.

On the surface, writing 1,000 blog post outlines may look more productive than creating four training courses. This is another example that emphasizes the battle between busy work and productive work.

Creating an outline before you write a blog post allows you to write that blog post faster. However, at a certain point, creating the outlines just becomes busy work.

It is no longer productive because you aren’t writing the actual blog posts when you create the outline. Eventually, you have to look at one of those outlines and decide to turn that outline into a blog post.

Just because you do something does not mean you are being productive. If you wanted me to tell you all of the productive things I did in a given day, I wouldn’t rattle off everything I did on that day. I wouldn’t mention the fact that I put my clothing away or that I washed my dishes.

I would mention the number of blog posts I wrote and the number of videos I created.

Give Yourself A Hyper-Specific Definition Of Productivity

I’m not going to lie. Hyper-specific sounds way better than plain old specific.

We know there is a difference between busy work and productive work. What you may not know is how that difference applies to your life. What is the busy work that takes you away from your productive work?

You may be surprised to hear two things. Most of the work you currently do is probably busy work. The second thing you’d be surprised to hear is that answering the previous question is one of the easier questions of productivity to answer.

To identify the difference between busy work and productive work, you have to envision yourself in the “entrepreneur’s perfect world”. For sake of argument, here’s what that world looks like:

You are a billionaire
You make money on autopilot
You have a team of 100,000 people working for you free of charge
This team can do anything you ask them to do

Basically, you could retire right now and still make more money in one day than everyone else makes in a year. You are that 1%.

So what work would you still do?

When I asked myself this question, I came up with a small list of tasks that I would actually do for my business. Writing blog posts and creating videos were the two tasks that were on the top of the list.

My definition of productivity got very specific very fast. A few other things made it on the list too. But all of the tasks that did not make the list were distractions.

Scheduling social media posts, creating pictures for my blog posts, scheduling my blog posts, and growing my social media audience are four of several tasks that I suddenly viewed as distractions.

Distractions sap away at our true productivity, even if those distractions may be necessary for the growth and survival of our businesses.

Rise And Grind

In his book Power Of Broke, Daymond John shares several of his core beliefs that played a large role in his entrepreneurial success. One of the first things he mentioned is that when he wakes up, the first thing that enters his mind is “Rise and Grind.”

It simply means putting in the work every single day with as much intensity as you can muster.

We have already established that hours worked and stuff done are not the most reliable places to look when measuring productivity. However, productivity is also about consistency.

Consistency turns the work into an effortless habit that you can then constantly improve upon. Writing these blog posts is effortless for me because I have written thousands of blog posts on various blogs to reach this point.

When you rise and grind every day, you will eventually find yourself comfortable with putting in more work each day than most people would want to do in a week. Combine that with doing work that matters, and you’ll be a productivity master in no time.

Soon enough you’ll have to write your own blog posts about productivity 🙂

In Conclusion

Productivity is not measured by hours worked and amount of stuff done. It is measured by the type of work that you do, how much meaningful work gets done, your time commitment towards the work, and your consistency.

This blog post was designed to challenge the traditional thinking of productivity. Being busy and being productive are two completely different things.

However, being productive and truly being productive are also two different things.

For a long time, I thought I was being productive when I scheduled my tweets. It turns out during that stretch I was productive, but I wasn’t truly productive.

For me, truly productive means writing blog posts and creating videos.

What does truly productive mean for you? How do you measure your productivity? Are there any other questions about productivity you want answered? Have a tip for us? Sound off in the comments section below.

10 Overlooked Factors Of Productivity

December 2, 2015 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

I’m going to take a wild guess and say that this is not the first productivity related blog post that you are reading. I have probably read through thousands of them in my lifetime and wouldn’t be surprised if you do the same.

Most of these blog posts talk about the same things: write down goals, make sure you wake up early, and not procrastinating. That’s the tone of most productivity related blog posts.

So I decided to write a productivity blog post that has NOTHING to do with writing down goals, making sure you wake up earlier, and not procrastinating.

Stripping out those parts of the blog post originally made it more challenging to write a blog post like this. However, in this challenge, I was able to come across certain factors of productivity that almost no one talks about.

I have a feeling that there will be at least one tip on this list that you haven’t heard before.

#1: The Music That You Listen To

Music is a big part of our culture. Songs have the ability to change the way we feel and enforce different mindsets upon us. One song can leave you angry while another song can raise your spirits.

Certain songs can increase your productivity by giving you more motivation. As a New Yorker, Empire State Of Mind is my go-to song for boosting my productivity. I listen to it when I feel my productivity is dipping.

After listening to the song, I can go back to work more productive than ever.

When you are doing your work, don’t turn on the radio. You never know what song will come on the radio and most of them will distract you in some way or the other. Instead of listening to songs on the radio as you work, listen to focus noises.

I’m talking about forest noises, rushing water, and other focus noises of that nature. There are many focus noise videos on YouTube designed to boost your productivity.

YouTube Focus Noise Videos

Some of these videos are over 10 hours long. The purpose isn’t for you to watch the entire video. It’s for you to stay productive while the focus noises are playing.

#2: How You Handle Stress

We all get some level of stress. For some of us, stress is rare and doesn’t ruin our day. For other people, stress is frequent and day-destroying. As the workload gets more challenging, the way you respond determines how productive you are.

Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you respond. The reason you have probably heard that statement many times is because it’s true.

The way to handle stress from your workload is to simply attack the workload. The more time you spend thinking about what stresses you out, the more the stress will build.

If something is stressing you out, just get it done. NOW.

#3: How Often You Exercise

Exercising is one of the most important parts of life. I could have said productivity instead of life, but exercising helps you in so many ways other than productivity.

When I went from middle school to high school, I thought my business would collapse because of the added workload. That was before I even joined the cross country team and got home at 6 pm every day instead of 3 pm.

So at that point, I thought I’d just wait until the summer before doing anything big for my business. What happened?

My business soared contrary to my logic.

As the school work got more challenging, my business soared even more. No, it wasn’t because I got more homework that my school did better. Just making that clear in case one of my teachers reads this particular blog post.

It’s challenging to pinpoint one reason for any business’ success since it’s usually a combination of so many factors. I like to think running every day has a significant part in the equation.

The reason is that exercising every day strengthens two things:

Your muscles (yeah, no surprise there)
Your SUCCESS muscles (repeat please)

After analyzing successful people, watching my business grow, and running every day, I came to a conclusion. The mindset of a consistent runner is the same mindset as a successful person.

Always striving to achieve better results/times. Always looking for a way to do the same job better. Always showing up and putting in the work. Having a team around you.

In that last paragraph, you don’t know whether I’m talking about how to run faster or how to become more successful. That’s because they are both so connected.

Not specifically running, but exercising in general. Running in competitions adds that extra flair though because you get your time, and have something to gauge yourself against.

Even if you exercise with some simply stretches for 10 minutes each day, you are doing yourself (and your productivity) a lot of good.

#4: Your Health

You are what you eat. Food affects your thinking and the way you view the world. We have a different view of our work when we stuff ourselves with French Fries and when we eat a tasty, healthy steak.

Some food makes us want to tackle any work in front of us while other food makes us lazy. Becoming more aware of how you react to certain foods will help you make better food decisions for your health and your productivity.

In addition to becoming more aware of what you eat, adding certain foods to your daily eating habits will boost your productivity.

Certain foods like salmon have been proven to increase productivity (but salmon is one of the best super foods out there. It also makes you happier). Here are some other foods that make us more productive.

#5: The Technology You Use

Ever think of the computer, tablet, or smartphone you are using to read this very blog post? Ever think that your device is aging?

It’s something we don’t often think about. The only time we pay attention to it is when our devices get very slow. Once your device gets very slow, and that same device is a few years old, it’s a sign. You need a new device.

After four years, my Mac Book Pro started getting problems. Safari wouldn’t work at all every other day. Before that, I noticed my computer was getting slower.

A slower device nowadays can be detrimental to productivity. Don’t settle with a slow device. Get a new device so you can accomplish your work in lightning fast speeds.

Slow technology doesn’t only result in a decline in productivity. It also results in an increase in frustration. I made the choice to get a new Mac Book. Now I can get my tasks done faster.

#6: The Breaks You Take And Their Frequency

You must take breaks throughout the day to be productive. If you send too much time working, your productivity will naturally dip over time.

Taking a quick 10-20 minute break every 90 minutes is the ideal way to get as many productive minutes in as possible.

If you are pressed for time, just listen to a 3-10 minute song that motivates you to get stuff done. This isn’t procrastinating. Taking breaks allows you to be more productive in the long-run and avoid being the stickler at work. No one likes those.

#7: The Amount Of Stuff On Your Desk

Your desk gives you an idea of what your mind looks like. If you have a cluttered desk, chances are you have a cluttered mind. You forget to accomplish tasks within their deadlines, and all of the workload stresses you out.

A clean desk indicates a clean state of mind. It’s easier for you to accomplish tasks within their deadlines and do more than the minimum. The way you organize your physical presence affects how your mind is organized.

If you discover that notebooks and papers are accumulating on your desk, then get rid of them. Even if you designate one room and fill it with clutter, as long as you don’t see the clutter as you work, that clutter doesn’t matter.

It won’t impact your productivity in the same way a cluttered desk will.

#8: The Chair You Sit In

This is the one tip that I confidently believe you’ve never seen anywhere else. If you have seen it before, I want a link to the article.

I have worked while sitting in a variety of chairs throughout my life. But that doesn’t make me stand out at all. We have all worked while sitting in a variety of chairs.

When I took SATs, I would sit on multiple chairs in the room until I found the perfect chair for myself. Most of the time, it wouldn’t take more than two tries for me to find the perfect chair before the testing began.

If I moved, and the chair moved with me, I simply got up and went to another chair. Rocking back and forth wasn’t on my To-Do List for taking the SAT.

Broken Chair — Here is an extreme example of a bad chair. What would happen to your productivity if you sat on this?

I look for the chairs with the cushioned seats. These chairs feel more comfortable, and it’s easier for me to focus. Sitting on a wooden or un-cushioned chair doesn’t work for me as well.

At the same time, a chair that is too comfortable will decrease your productivity. At one point, I chose to do my work on a chair with wheels. There were two problems with that choice.

The first problem is that if I slightly moved the chair, my entire body would slightly move. I had to keep the chair still so I could write blog posts. The chairs without wheels don’t give me that problem.

The second problem is that I am a teenager. When I got stuck on an idea, I would spin around and around to pass the time. In the end, I would only think of a good idea when I stopped spinning on the chair and came back to reality.

#9: Your Working Pattern

The way you work determines how much you get done. Establishing a consistent work flow for yourself will make it effortless for you to get work done.

What is a work flow? It’s simply a series of daily rituals you follow that let you know you are on the right track. Once you follow these daily rituals, it will be easier for you to tunnel-vision and focus on getting ONE thing done effectively.

Focusing on getting the daily rituals right eventually turns those daily rituals into a habit. In other words, you are turning productivity and achievement into habits. That’s powerful.

#10: The People Who You Surround Yourself With

The people you surround yourself with impact who you become. If these people are below your level of excellence, you will find yourself stagnant or on the decline.

On the other hand, if you surround yourself with people who are better than you, then you challenge yourself to become better.

When I run, I always run with the people who are better than me. That way, I get more out of each practice and run better at the meets.

I started becoming successful on Udemy when I teamed up with instructors who are better than me. And if you’ve been following a lot of marketers, you’ll notice that they all promote each other and are friends with one another.

Surrounding yourself with people who challenge you to become better will result in you becoming better. You will become more productive and accomplish your goals faster than ever before.

In Conclusion

Productivity is important for anyone—the employee, employer, entrepreneur, parent, and everyone else. While there are the usual methods of boosting productivity, there are also overlooked factors that can also increase your productivity.

Now that you are aware of these overlooked factors of boosting productivity, the next step is to become more aware of how these overlooked factors play out in your life.

Be more observant of the people you hang out with, the music you listen to, what you eat, and how often you exercise. That way, you will know to make small changes that can have a dramatic impact on your productivity.

Which of these tips was your favorite? Do you know of any other overlooked methods of boosting productivity? Sound off in the comments section below.

10 Misconceptions About Productivity

August 28, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Productivity Misconceptions — Are you falling for these common (but deadly) misconceptions

One of the questions on everyone’s mind is, “How can I be more productive?” We go about our every day lives trying to get more accomplished so we can be “more productive.” However, in our pursuit to becoming more productive, we often make mistakes. Some of the mistakes we make are because of common misconceptions associated with boosting productivity. These are the 10 worst ones.

#1: Taking Breaks Is Bad For You

I see fewer people taking breaks. The common theory is that taking a break means taking yourself away from your work. People who believe in this theory also believe that taking themselves away from their work means less productivity.

Part of the reason people don’t like taking breaks is that our world moves so quickly. We don’t want to sit still because the moment that happens, we may miss something. We may fall behind.

However, you need to recharge. Taking regular breaks allows you to refuel, get healthier, and stay on schedule.

#2: Create A Five Year Plan

Many productivity experts have hailed the five year plan as critical. They see the five year plan as a roadmap to your future. The logic behind the five year plan is that it is supposed to serve as inspiration. You are supposed to look at the plan, envision your future five years from now, and then go after it.

The problem with a five year plan is that many things can change in just one month. According to John D. Krumboltz’s Happenstance Learning Theory, unplanned events are inevitable and to be expected. These unplanned events may require a change in direction that impacts the likelihood of you accomplishing a goal on your five year plan.

A long time ago, I created a five year plan. I envisioned surpassing 100,000 Twitter followers in five years. When I created that five year plan, I was gaining a few dozen Twitter followers every day. A few months after I created the five year plan, I learned more about Twitter.

It turns out I started gaining hundreds of Twitter followers every day. I reached my milestone with three years to spare. Now that part of my five year plan was invalid. As I continued growing my business, other goals on my five year plan became irrelevant as my interests changed.

While having a vision is helpful for inspiration, a five year plan can change too often. One day you may want more Vine followers. The next day you may be after Periscope followers.

#3: Sleep Less

Most people live on a sleep deficit. It’s so bad that 30% of adults from 2005-2007 got less than six hours of sleep every night. Insufficient sleep has been associated with many car crashes, industrial disasters, and medical errors.

Part of the problem is that successful are praised for getting a very small amount of sleep. Leonardo Da Vinci only needed two hours of sleep every day. Thomas Edison needed five hours of sleep every day. Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, worked hard when she was a Google employee. She still works hard to this day, and only on 4-6 hours of sleep every day.

While a few successful people find it possible to do well on little sleep, they are the exception, not the rule. Getting an insufficient amount of sleep has been linked to health problems—and we know the difference between how we feel after sleeping for eight hour compared to sleeping for two hours.

Getting more sleep also helps out with productivity. If you get the right amount of sleep, you will wake up feeling more refreshed. Waking up and feeling refreshed will help you have a more productive first hour. That first hour sets the barometer that determines how productive you are throughout the day. Getting a good night’s sleep helps you feel better and productive during the first hour. That translates to an entire day of productivity and achievement.

#4: You Must Accomplish All Of Your Goals

Biggest lie in the book. I am a 17 year old entrepreneur who gets more work done than most people. The funny thing is that for some reason, I never accomplish all of the goals I give myself each week.

That’s not a deficiency on my part. I just choose which goals are more important and more deserving of my time. I may write down a goal today and realize it is irrelevant tomorrow.

Some people say that adding one word to a sentence can make a big difference. Let’s give that a try:

You must accomplish all of your important goals.

Goals with close deadlines and/or big impacts are the goals that matter the most. When you choose to put in work for a goal, only choose to put in the work if you are passionate about the process. The moment you no longer enjoy putting in the work is the same moment that goal might no longer be the right one for you.

#5: Do It Yourself

We have embraced a DIY culture. We constantly look for life hacks and ways to do things on our own. If we can save $20 by doing something alone, most of us would take up that offer. Anyway to save money and embrace the DIY culture.

It’s funny that we embrace the DIY culture even though the most successful people aren’t the DIY types. The most successful people have a team behind them. Derek Jeter was a great baseball player, but not even he could have won World Series after World Series by himself. Tim Cook alone can’t keep Apple in business. He needs employees in the stores, product creation teams, and people to ship out the products.

The most successful people don’t live in the DIY culture, so why do so many of us live in that culture with our productivity? If you outsource some of your work to other people, you will have more time to do other things.

Find yourself on social media too often? Outsource the work. The more you outsource, the more time will open up. Suddenly, you may end up writing that book or launching that product quicker than expected.

#6: Being Busy Is The Same Thing As Being Productive

Not every hour in your day is created equal. On some hours, you are productive. During other hours, you may find yourself busy doing something that won’t help you achieve one of your goals.

When I schedule my tweets with HootSuite’s bulk scheduler, I am not being productive. Scheduling tweets on HootSuite doesn’t help me create a training course or write a blog post quicker. Scheduling tweets helps me provide value to my Twitter audience, but it isn’t productive.

Part of the reason I don’t see scheduling tweets as productive is because of the way I define productivity. My definition of productivity is writing blog posts, writing books, creating training courses, and marketing. Scheduling tweets isn’t in that definition. That’s why I view it as busy work instead of being productive.

Your definition of productivity will most likely differ from the people around you. That’s because people pursue different interests which impacts their definitions of productivity. Once you establish your definition of productivity, everything else is busy work—busy work that can be outsourced.

#7: Naps Are Terrible For Productivity

Naps get a bad rap for productivity. Some people think that napping makes them fall behind. Part of this belief goes back to the fact that some superhumans only need four hours of sleep instead of the usual eight.

Naps are actually great for our productivity. Leonardo Da Vinci only needed two hours of sleep every day. That two hours was the sum of six 15-20 minute naps that he took throughout the day. He took one nap every four hours.

Napping is one of the best ways to refuel yourself without calling it a day. According to ABC News, dozens of studies have confirmed that a 30-60 minute nap in the early afternoon increases a person’s productivity, alertness, and sometimes even their mood.

#8: Saying Yes To All Opportunities

All successful people have one thing in common. They like to say no. According to Warren Buffett, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything.”

Yet most of us say yes to any type of opportunity we get. The truth about opportunities is that not all of them are created equal. The next time you are presented with an opportunity, consider these two things:

Your desire to put in the work
The impact of the opportunity

Getting on a podcast with 100 listeners is different from getting on a podcast with thousands of listeners. Getting the $50K per year job that you hate is different from getting the $30K per year job that you love. The last thing you want to do is say yes to an opportunity at the expense of your happiness.

Each opportunity you choose has a certain time commitment. You want to make sure you are getting the best possible results from the time you commit towards an opportunity.

#9: Most Work Gets Done Under Pressure

Many people believe that the only way they will get their goals accomplished is by waiting for the last minute. Some people start working on the report the night before. Other people play catch-up during their lunch breaks.

The problem with constantly working under pressure is that your stress will build. Maybe you get your work done while working under pressure, but as the stress builds up, the long-term impact can be deadly. Constant work stress results in health and relationship problems. It won’t take long for these problems to creep into your work and productivity.

According to Inc Magazine, happiness increases productivity. Even if it didn’t increase productivity, who can imagine a day when they wouldn’t want to be happy? Stress isn’t a part of that equation. While working under your pressure may work, it sets you up for disappointment over the long-term.

#10: Multitasking Is The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

Multitasking is seen as a way to save time by getting two or more things done at the same time. The way multitasking actually works is quite different.

Multitasking your work is a way to poorly do two things in the same amount of time it would take for you to effectively do one thing. Here is a quote that perfectly describes multitasking.

“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” —Anonymous

You can’t chase two things at the same time. If you want to catch two rabbits, you chase one rabbit at a time. If you want to accomplish your goals, you accomplish one goal at a time.

Multitasking is not only bad for productivity, but also bad for our brains. Taking some inspiration from Taylor Swift’s Blank Space, multitasking is a nightmare dressed like a daydream. When you choose to multitask, you also choose to hurt your brain.

In Conclusion

We all want to be more productive. While we discover different tactics to boosting productivity, we must be wary of which methods work and which methods are false. You don’t want to implement a misconception that hurts your productivity.

Which of these misconceptions have been tricking you? Have you risen above these misconceptions? Do you see any other misconceptions in productivity? Have any tips for us? Sound off in the comments section now!

7 Productivity Tips For Busy Social Media Users

April 27, 2015 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

how to be productive on social media

How often are you on social media on a given day? How often are you productive on social media? Although these sound like two similar questions, they are completely different. The amount of time we spend on social media and the amount of time we are productive on social media are two different things. It is possible to be on social media for three hours every day but only be productive in five of those minutes. That’s a lot of time wasted, even if you were on one of the most powerful places on the entire web.

Too many people are getting caught in the web of procrastination, and for many of these people, social media is the root cause. Social media is a benefactor that positively change lives. Social media has brought rebellions against oppression into the center stage of the world’s attention, and some people are successful primarily because of social media. Social media is also a malefactor where very disturbing things occur and our precious time gets devoured.

Success on social media involves using the platforms we are presented with in the most efficient way possible. Part of using social media efficiently is boosting our productivity on those social networks. Instead of being on social media for three hours and only being productive on it for five minutes, you can be on social media for 30 minutes and be productive on it for 25 of those minutes. These seven tips will help you increase your social media productivity.

#1: Mindful Browsing

Mindful Browsing is a great tool to control what your web browser can and cannot access. When I find myself on a social media site for too long, I click on the Mindful Browsing icon, and then that social media site is automatically blocked from my browser. If I want to regain access to that social media site (or any site I block with Mindful Browsing), I have to wait for 10 seconds and then I can unblock the social media site.

Once I block a website, I am really good at keeping that website blocked for a long period of time. In a busy world where our attention spans are less than the attention span of a goldfish, 10 seconds of waiting seems like an eternity. Instead of waiting, I prefer to take action, and that action typically means writing blog posts or creating products. In some cases, I would not be doing any of those two actions if it weren’t for Mindful Browsing. Mindful Browsing allows you to go from, “I’ll x out the social media site, open a new window, and hope I don’t end up on the social media site,” to, “I will make it as hard as possible for me to access that social media site so other actions such as writing blog posts and creating products are now the easier options.”

#2: Limit Yourself To A Few Social Networks

One of the most common mistakes I see people do is create as many social media accounts as they can and grow them all at the same time. Maybe you are trying to get more Twitter followers, Pinterest followers, likes for your Facebook Page, Google+ followers, YouTube subscribers, and Tumblr followers at the same time. That’s the equivalent of trying to learn Chinese, Russian, Spanish, French, German, and Italian all at the same time. You may learn some words from every language, but becoming fluent in any one of those languages would be very different due to the slight differences in words and their pronunciations.

Success on each social network is slightly different from other social networks. Valuable content and effective promotion typically make up a successful social media strategy. However, there are tools for certain social networks and small differences on each social network’s structure that slightly changes what it means to be successful on each social network.

No matter where you are, you need to specifically focus your time on 1-2 social networks. When you know how to grow your audience on a social network (you have over 10,000 followers/subscribers/likes and gain over 100 of them every day), then integrate another social network into your social media strategy. This will save you oodles of time because you’ll read how-to articles for 1-2 social networks instead of trying to learn about six different social networks at the same time. Moreover, you will have less outlets to lose time on. If you only go on Twitter and YouTube, then Facebook gets eliminated from your places to go. Currently, I spend most of my time on Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube which means I spend practically no time on most of the other social networks.

#3: Bulk Schedule Content

HootSuite makes it possible to schedule bulk content for your Twitter account, Facebook account, Google+ Page, and a few other social networks as well. The bulk schedule option can literally save you hours of time every day. Take for instance, the 100 or so tweets I send every day. If I had to manually schedule and send those tweets to my followers, it would take me hours of my time to do so. That wouldn’t leave enough room for product creation and writing blog posts. The solution was HootSuite Pro and the bulk scheduler. The bulk scheduler allows me to schedule over 100 of my prewritten tweets in just six clicks. These tweets are prewritten in a CSV file, and they are either motivational quotes or my own blog posts.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1NHbUrl”]The best way to schedule tweets is with #HootSuite’s Bulk Scheduler.[/tweetthis]

Some people may wonder why I would be tweeting repeat content. The answer is that most of your followers see your content the first time. The typical tweet is seen by a small fraction of your followers, and that goes for most of the other social networks too. The same blog posts that I was tweeting about in 2014 still get retweets, favorites, and starts conversations to this day.

#4: Watch Your Time

I want you to have a habit of looking at the clock and counting the amount of minutes to spend on social media. More time spells trouble even if this time is being used to grow your social media audience. If you spend too much time on social media regardless of the reason, you will have less time to write blog posts and create products. Social media is the best tool on the web to promote your content and products, but if you have no products and a few blog posts, then you don’t have much to promote on social media.

You need to spend more of your time creating products and writing blog posts than you actually spend on social media. If you spend two hours of your time on social media growing your audience every day, then when it comes to writing blog posts and creating products, you need to match or exceed that amount of time. When I am on social media for two hours in a given day, I make it a point to write blog posts and create products for at least three hours on those days.

#5: Have Big Projects

In order to exit out of a social media site, you need to have a reason to do so. The reason I log out of a social network is because I am always in the middle of creating, finalizing, and/or publishing a product (yes, I commonly do all three of those things at the same time). You must have something more important to do than be on your social networks because this important thing will be on your mind. As you look through tweets or YouTube videos, you may suddenly think about your big project which may range from finishing a YouTube video, finalizing the videos for a training course, or writing a book.

#6: Strategic Interaction

You don’t have to interact with your followers right when they mention or respond to you. The more time we spend interacting, the less time we spend creating products and writing blog posts. At the same time, interacting with your audience is necessary for building relationships, making good friends, and getting testimonials.

I only interact with my followers when I don’t have my computer with me (but I do have my iPhone) or I am too tired to write a blog post or create a product. I almost never interact with my followers in the morning because that is my peak level of productivity. I’ll still say hi and provide valuable advice within a day, in the evening, when my willpower to work on a product or write a blog post wanes.

#7: Don’t Click On Trending Topics

Trending topics are so tempting to click, and I’ve clicked on them a few times. Trending topics allow us to see the news in real time. We want to know what is happening, who is saying what, and which meme has dominated the internet now. Clicking on the trending topics is one of the easiest ways to procrastinate on social media. I encourage you to not click on the trending topics, but I know my encouragement won’t be enough. Just ask yourself this question each time you look at the trending topics: Would you rather read the news or be in the news for being an excellent leader in your niche? Ask yourself this question, and you’ll look at your trending topics less often.

In Conclusion

Social media is a valuable tool for making connections, promoting your content, and growing your audience. However, many people, with the mix of growing their social media audiences and procrastinating, lose too much time that could have been used to create products or write blog posts. The key to social media productivity is to find ways to do the same things more effectively but in a shorter amount of time.

What are your thoughts on these methods? Do you have any other tips for boosting productivity on social media? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

12 Productivity Tips For Busy Bloggers

March 23, 2015 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

Productivity Tips For Bloggers

Bloggers are some of the busiest people on the planet. They have to manage and produce content for social networks, blog posts, and products. They also have to obtain new knowledge by reading more articles on the web while making sure all of the technology properly works. Sometimes, an email address can no longer send and receive emails. Other times, the blog stays in maintenance mode, and it’s up to the blogger to fix those technological flaws.

Since bloggers are so busy, many of them desperately want extra time in the day. Some bloggers go beyond the call of duty and only get four hours of sleep which is not enough sleep to live on. Although you can’t add extra hours to make a 100 hour day, you can implement tactics that allow you to save time and make you less busy. Here are 12 of those tactics:

#1: Use The WP Editorial Calendar

The WP Editorial Calendar is a WordPress plugin that allows you to see all of your scheduled blog posts displayed on a calendar. This feature is especially helpful for bloggers who schedule a bunch of blog posts in advance. The bloggers who schedule multiple blog posts risk making the mistake of not scheduling a blog post on the right day or the right time of day. Some bloggers have accidentally published two blog posts at the same time because they scheduled the blog posts. When I was starting out, that issue happened to me a few times.

The WP Editorial Calendar solves this issue by providing a clear layout. This clear layout will make it easy for you to see when your blog posts have been scheduled by the time and day so you never schedule two blog posts for the same time and day again (if you haven’t done this at all, you’ll never do so if you have the WP Editorial Calendar).

#2: Write Down A Month’s Worth Of Blog Post Ideas In One Day

One of the biggest time-eaters bloggers face is staring at the screen and not knowing what idea to write about next. That is why in every month, I always dedicate one day for coming up with a month’s worth of blog posts ideas.

When I wrote two blog posts every day, this would be challenging. I would come up with 60 different, legitimate ideas for blog posts in a few hours. Now that I only publish three blog posts every week, that process is easier. I only have to come up with anywhere from 12-14 ideas depending on how many Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays there are in the month. Knowing the ideas in advance makes it easier for me to write my blog posts.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1EAQ1pE”]Knowing your #blog post ideas in advance makes them easier to write.[/tweetthis]

#3: Outline Your Blog Posts Before Writing Them

Another big time-eater bloggers face is knowing the blog post idea but still staring at the screen. This time, the problem is figuring out how to continue writing about a particular idea. If your blog post idea was “10 Ways To Ride A Horse,” and you left it like that, then the idea is not enough.

The bloggers who write a blog post idea without outlining the blog post still have to think of the 10 different methods to ride a horse. This thinking results in delay which can eat up a big chunk of any blogger’s time. Outlining your blog post with all 10 of the different methods to ride a horse before you start writing that blog post will allow you to save that time. Then, you will already know what you need to write about going into the writing process.

#4: Have Guest Bloggers Write Content For You

If you are a very busy blogger or just prefer to save a lot of time, you can have guest bloggers write the content for you. I personally do not have guest bloggers for this blog because I want this blog to only contain content that I wrote.

However, there are big name bloggers who have guest bloggers write the content for them. The great thing for bloggers who want guest bloggers to write for them is that most guest bloggers will contribute to your blog for free. To the guest blogger, your blog is a way to get a backlink, spread the word, and build authority on the web (many writers who contribute to The Huffington Post make sure people know that they contributed to The Huffington Post). If you approve the guest post, then you have an extra blog post to be scheduled in advance. If one blog post gets published on your blog every day, and you get three guest posts every week, then you only have to write four blog posts every week. Writing four blog posts is less time consuming than writing seven blog posts of the same length, and the impact this can have in the span of weeks and months is powerful.

#5: Only Use Technology That Is Easy To Use

Some refer to technology as a reliable companion while others describe it as a nuisance. You want to focus on using the technology that is easy to use. If you do not know how to use a piece of technology, only learn the technology that is easy to learn.

There are bloggers who focus on learning some of the most challenging technological tools and features. Some of these technological tools and features take years to learn, but not all tools lead to equal results. Some tools that take years to master will lead to better results than the tools that take a few minutes to master, but then again, the opposite is also possible.

I only challenge myself with 1-3 technological tools that seem difficult every year, and none of these challenges take more than a few days. If I was stuck for a few months trying to learn how one piece of technology worked, I would lose too much time that I could have used to produce valuable content.

#6: Hire People

Hire people to take care of your marketing campaigns (although they can be very beneficial, they also eat up a lot of time). If you entrust someone to your marketing campaigns, be sure to set up a system for that person to follow. If you reward the people who buy your book with a free training course, you can hire people to provide the customers with the free training course they deserve.

If your blog is not getting a lot of traffic, you may initially have to hire guest bloggers. However, as your blog builds an authority on the web, the guest bloggers will eventually come to you (I still get emails from guest bloggers even though I say I don’t take guest posts). Even if you know how to perform a tedious task, you can hire someone else to get the job done so you can save time. Time is money.

#7: Write Content That You Want To Write

No matter how good you are at writing content, you must choose a topic that you are passionate about. If you grudge the writing process, then you will often drift off and think about some of the things that you would prefer doing instead of writing the next blog post. Be proud of what you put up on the web! It all goes under your name.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1EAQ1pE”]Be proud of what you put up on the web. It all goes under your name. #blogging #socialmedia[/tweetthis]

#8: Write Your Content In The Morning

The morning is the most productive time of the day. You need to wake up early to write content so you won’t have to worry about writing the next blog post in the evening. As the day wanes down, and more distractions come into play, it will get more challenging to write blog posts at a consistent rate.

By waking up in the morning to write your blog posts, all of the distractions will not have a strong impact in your writing.

#9: Schedule More Blog Posts

Unfortunately for me, writing and scheduling two blog posts are two different things. I made the mistake of updating my Mac to Yosemite before it was fully usable. The result was everything on my computer going dead. I could not access the internet or any of the content I wrote. Basically, the only thing my computer could do was turn on and show me all of the icons and possibilities that I once had before the Yosemite update.

After my Mac was taken to the Apple Store the following day, I got full access to my computer again. I could write content, access the internet, and do everything else just like before. However, one file went missing, and that one file contained all of my blog posts and blog post ideas. I had about 10 finished blog posts that I never got to schedule and a dozen or so ideas that never got written bout. I couldn’t even find the document on my Mac’s Passport To sum it up, it was a bad day.

Maybe the document is somewhere deep within my computer (that would be cool because I could create a “Lost Blog Posts” series). The lesson I learned is that it is important to schedule blog posts in advance for a long period of time. I got lucky because I still had a month’s worth of content scheduled. However, if I only had blog posts scheduled for the next day, I would have been pressed into the uncomfortable condition of writing blog posts with only a few days to spare (while knowing that I already put in the work, but that work was gone).

By scheduling more blog posts, you will feel more comfort in your blogging journey. Last-minute stress will be a thing of the past. Since I schedule over a month’s worth of blog posts in advance, I never have last-minute stress when it comes to writing blog posts. That is why I am always able to create long, insightful blog posts that are over 1,000 words long (and sometimes over 2,000 words long. I knew I should have turned this blog into a membership site…)

#10: Write Fewer Blog Posts

The fewer blog posts you have to write, the less ideas you have to think of. For the average blogger, more time is spent thinking of what to write about than actually writing blog posts. If you write one blog post every day, then you have to think of 30 blog post ideas every month. However, if you only write on the weekdays, you would only have to think of 20-24 ideas every month depending on how many weekdays are in that month.

The fewer blog posts you have to write, the less time it takes to come up with more ideas. That means you will have more time to write the content that matters—your content.

#11: Don’t Bounce From Idea To Idea

One you identify the blog post idea that you want to start writing about, you must only write content for that one blog post before you write any other piece of content anywhere else. The bloggers who write multiple blog posts simultaneously have to constantly shift their thinking from one blog post to another.

If I wrote one blog post about Twitter and one blog post about Pinterest at the same time, then I would have to constantly shift from writing about my Twitter knowledge to writing about my Pinterest knowledge. Each time a shift occurs, more time is lost. That is why it is better to focus on writing one blog post at a time than it is to start writing and finishing multiple blog posts at the same time. I only tried to write two books at the same time. Neither of those books are in the marketplace, and I’m not thinking about publishing them.

#12: Keep It Simple

Blogging is something that typically becomes complex in a short amount of time. Many bloggers insist on giving themselves work to do in the boat loads, and they insist on spreading that work out in dozens of areas. You need to keep your blogging strategy simple in order for it to be effective. The best plans are the simple ones.

In Conclusion

Blogging for a full-time income is a demanding responsibility. Some bloggers may find themselves fighting to stay awake late at night to write extra blog posts, respond to comments, or do anything else for the good of their blogs.

If you know some workarounds, blogging won’t be as demanding as it is now. Granted, these workarounds are by no means get rich quick schemes or anything of that nature. However, these workarounds allow you to save valuable time. The way you use your time determines how successful you become in what you do.

Which tip was your favorite? Do you have any other tips for boosting the productivity of busy bloggers? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

10 Signs That You Need To Be More Productive

August 24, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

We are all very busy people. We get swamped by the workload, have to put in hours of work every day, have family commitments, and other types of commitments as well. Many people make the common mistake of believing that being busy also means being productive. There is a difference. As a result of the mistakes people make, productivity dips. Before you decide whether you need to increase your productivity, go through these 10 signs that will allow you to know whether you’re in trouble or not.

You complain about being so busy. Being busy means going to the grocery store, doing chores, and a plethora of other things unrelated to your work. If you always complain about being too busy, you are not getting the important work done.
You watch too much TV. I define watching 10 hours of TV every week as too much. Some people will nod their heads in agreement while others will get overwhelmed considering that the average American watches 32 hours of TV every week.
You always fall behind. Everyone falls behind on their work at a certain point in their lives. I have fallen behind, and chances are you have fallen behind too. However, if you are always falling behind in your work and it is becoming a trend, you need to increase your productivity. If you keep on falling behind, you will spend the rest of your life catching up instead of expanding.
You live in the 365 day mindset/trap. New Years resolutions. Did you forget about them? Over 80% of people never get their New Year’s resolutions accomplished because they believe they have an incredible amount of time to get the job done. Let’s say your New Year’s resolution is to gain 10,000 Twitter followers. That means you would have to gain an average of 28 followers every day. That’s not impossible at all. People think that if they wait a month and start on February, they can get the same goal accomplished by gaining 30 followers every day from now through the entire year. However, some people with this goal may wait to start on the first day of September because they realize they have a lot of time left. Now, there’s only 122 days to get the task accomplished which means someone would have to gain 82 followers every day from September 1st to the end of the year. It’s so much easier to start early and stick with it.
You Google it too often. If you Google anything related to “how to,” it means you want to be able to do that. The person who Googles “how to make money online” 100 times wants to make money online. If you are Googling “how to be more productive” numerous times, then you need to boost your productivity. Instead of constantly searching for more ways to be productive, stick with the methods in this blog post and you will be fine. I’m a 16 year old in high school and the school’s track team. I think I’m qualified to talk about productivity.
You would never think of waking up early in the morning. I’m a night owl and early bird at the same time. I get to bed past midnight and get up before 8 am. Waking up early in the morning allows you to be more productive because you have a greater chance of starting the day off with a positive attitude.
You wing the first hour you wake up. The first hour of waking up dictates how the rest of your day is going to go. If you wake up and hold grudges for the first hour, you are going to hold those grudges and have a bad day. If you read a motivational book, do a workout, or do what you love, you will have a day filled with motivation and empowerment. The first hour controls how productive you will be for the rest of the day, and if you don’t know what you do then, you need to create a schedule for what you will do for that first hour.
Do have too much on your plate. I had a score card overload, and I am not proud of it to this day. I wrote down 19 different goals on the score card that each took up a significant amount of time. I thought I would be able to write 20 blog posts, proofread an entire book, write a completely different book (and finish that book), do 10 YouTube videos, write 20 scripts, and prepare for the summer bootcamp my brother and I did at Fordham University (among plenty of other high level tasks) was an impossibility. I had too much on my plate and ended up being very unproductive for the entire week. Less is more because you get to focus more of your attention on fewer things.
You are striving for the wrong types of goals. If your goals are having a house and being rich, that’s a problem. You need to set more specific goals so you are able to be productive. Instead of saying how rich you want to be, throw in a number. Do you want to make $100,000 by the end of the year? In addition, ask yourself what kind of a house you want and when you will get it. Do you want to move into a three floor house this year and live in a mansion five years later? More specific goals lead to more specific paths, and those specific paths lead to more productivity. Specific goals give you something to strive for.
You read through this blog post word for word. Only 20% of people actually read the blog post (the other 80% stop short at the headline). If you have been reading this blog post word for word, then that means you are looking for some tidbits on being productive and asking yourself if you really need to be more productive. If you read up to this part of the blog post, chances are you need to be more productive.

Now that you know the signs that you need to be more productive, you need to increase that productivity as quickly as possible. Luckily for you, I wrote an entire blog post with 10 different methods you can use to increase your productivity. If you liked this blog post, then you are definitely going to like the other one as well.