Comments on: The Control Freak’s Guide to Getting Work Done

By: 3 Tips for Surviving Boring Meetings from Brazen Careerist - Life [Comma] Etc

3 Tips for Surviving Boring Meetings from Brazen Careerist - Life [Comma] Etc — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 12:50:06 +0000

[...] only will this give you a clear idea of what you need to do each day to follow up on the meeting, but you will also have pre-invested time in your to-do [...]

By: Interview with Guest Blogging Expert Ann Smarty

Interview with Guest Blogging Expert Ann Smarty — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:24:38 +0000

[...] tips there: http://manifestconnection.com/ But my most useful and most personal advice is here: It’s about how much I like keeping everything under control (scheduling, planning and creating a [...]

By: How SEO Pros Manage Their Work & Time | seandillonsmith

How SEO Pros Manage Their Work & Time | seandillonsmith — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:48:54 +0000

[...] The Control Freak’s Guide to Getting Work Done (brazencareerist.com) [...]

By: 5 Notorious Online Productivity Killers & How To Avoid Them – Pixel Bright Ideas | Blog

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:08:28 +0000

[...] that then do absolutely nothing at all for them because they stop using them within a day. Spending too much time planning, or just putting in too much detail, is a waste of a lot of time. Instead, keep a simple checklist [...]

By: Social Media Versus Productivity: 5 Tips | ErnieV

Social Media Versus Productivity: 5 Tips | ErnieV — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:16:54 +0000

[...] an entire day. Especially when you are busy, because your instinct will be to hide from the work. Make a separate time for it, or wait for a break. Just make sure it is a dedicated block of time, in [...]

By: Getting Organized Without Wasting Your Time | Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:41:24 +0000

[...] This will keep you from wasting time you don’t have where it isn’t needed. Try to keep your list of goals sorted from most to least important, and never move from one item to the next until you have [...]

By: Successful Tips You Can Cash In On | Bob Boyd – www.SuccessInLA.com : : : Be Part of an EXPLODING 5 Trillion Dollar Per Year Industry!!!

Mon, 07 May 2012 22:08:16 +0000

[...] a way that you are able to turn a profit as soon as possible. With this in mind, make a point to organize your finances, separating personal and business account and expenses and keeping a close eye on [...]

By: Bob Bedi

Bob Bedi — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:14:00 +0000

Good insights here Ann. Thanks for sharing. Completely agree that daily updated “to do” lists are a must to make sure time is allocated effectively and nothing falls through the cracks. The minute something new lands I try to get it to a list. I find that setting aside specific times of day for specific tasks can be effective too.

By: Melissa Agnes

Melissa Agnes — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:46:00 +0000

This is an awesome post Ann! Great tips and advice here – on something I think is safe to say that we all struggle with

Melissa from MelissaAgnes.com

By: Jerry Ackerman

Jerry Ackerman — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:19:00 +0000

Thank you for sharing this article. It definitely has great insights. Most likely you need to plan your activities in order for you to control it. And its true that no matter how busy you are, make time for family and rest. Keep on posting!

By: Jrandom42

Jrandom42 — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:58:00 +0000

Great concept but not applicable with a just-in-time workflow

By: Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:12:00 +0000

There are many tools and ways to manage your work. I’ve tried a lot of them. To me, there’s nothing more effective than a paper TO-DO list

By: Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:11:00 +0000

Great question! I’ve had struggled with it a lot before I found the solution. My way? I prefer to have my work (especially partially outsourced work) done at least one month before the deadline.

By: Martin Bradley

Martin Bradley — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:39:00 +0000

It makes sense.

When you have so much to do (write blogs, build links, coffee, seo, ppc coffee, cro, coffee, coffee, have a life, coffee, coffee, coffee, sleep) the only way to get it all done is to be fanatical about control.

Perhaps a basecamp account would be worthwhile

By: Jrandom42

Jrandom42 — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:29:00 +0000

So what does the control freak do when their work depends on the output of other people or teams? Just curious…

By: Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:44:00 +0000

Closing things out to mark the end of the work is a great tip! Thanks, Jon!

By: Jon Williams

Jon Williams — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:15:00 +0000

Great article. I do exactly the same – I write down what I’m going to do, then single task (generally, on my computer).

Part of the reason was I would find that I could spend loads of time doing “nothing” work – checking email, rechecking email. It’s fine that things crop up, but I just add them to the list and get to it when I’m done.

One thing I do is close things out when they’re done at the end of a task — e.g. If I have a whole lot of browser tabs open, I close them all. If they’re important, I’ll write a quite note or document to capture where I’m at.

If I find myself staring at a piece of paper – then it’s time to take a break or do some exercise – whereas otherwise I’d find I’d just browse the web half at random.