For those who know me well they know that I love to get numerous things done in the most efficient model. I believe that my knack for efficiencies stem from being extremely busy and then believe it or not but bartending. One thing I learned while I bartended my way thru school was to maximize all of the steps that I take. When you bartend you are always on your feet therefore, you never take a step you don’t mean to take. And when you do take that step do as many things as you can. The following are a few efficiencies that I enjoy.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), www.dart.org: The DART is Dallas’ answer to getting me to work in a timely and efficient manner. When I am not travelling I tend to not drive but more than 15 miles during the week. It saves me wear and tear on my car but also allows me to be more efficient. During my 30minute train ride each morning I am able to answer and respond to e-mails, listen to great music and read. I have read many more books due to my ability to ride the train! I love DART!
Online Shopping- Drugstore.com/zappos.com: These are two great online shops that are amazing. Drugstore.com has any and everything you could want. I tend to get on every 2 months or so and order my supplies (razors, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, deodorant, etc). The prices are great and shipping is free over $25 in purchases. This also helps cut down a trip to a CVS, Target or Wal-Mart for those supplies. Therefore, the only trips I need to take are to the local grocery store. Zappos.com is a great website for shoes- but stop right there. I rarely order shoes- maybe 2 pairs in the last year- but I enjoy this site. I get online pick out the style, size, etc that I want and then they are on my doorstep in 48hrs. This is usually much quicker than it would take me to get to the mall for a new pair of shoes!
BlackBerry: Yep, this is my crackberry and I am addicted as can be. I have my Outlook and Yahoo! Email accounts both synched but I also utilize the Facebook application (which I use as Twitter). I also fully utilize the text messaging and the BlackBerry Messenger. I occasionally use the PIN feature of the phone but only have 1 friend who uses it. From what she says, the PIN feature just goes device to device and not thru your corporate server or wherever else your information sits. She works for the government, so that makes sense on why she PINS ;) I will not have a non-smart phone again. The BlackBerry allows me to triage my e-mails and see which ones I really need to respond to.
Automatic Coffee Maker: I have an automatic coffee maker that I set each night. Therefore, when I rise in the morning I have fresh coffee for my traveler that I take with me on the DART!
RSS Feeds/Synch of my iPod: I have a few RSS feeds set up that drop information daily into my e-mail account. I get industry feeds and a few others- Excel and tech blogs. This is very helpful as I do not have to search from information I just browse thru my email RSS folder. I also enjoy synching up my iPod each evening to listen to a slew of podcasts that are released during the day on iTunes.
Well, these are some of the efficiencies that I enjoy in life. I try to find many more during my day by thinking what I have to get done and my path to get there. It’s my own version of “Getting Things Done,” not perfect…but I’m striving for it!
What are the efficienies that you have?
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Hmmm... Efficiencies of steps? I like it! You must have your shoes tied however. "If you cannot tie your shoes, have your father or mother tie them, it they are not here, I will tie them. You cannot "be efficient" if your shoes are not tied. The next player with his shoes untied will take a lap around the light poles". ;) Steep efficient learning curve. Knowledge + understanding + experience = Wisdom.
ReplyDelete(and a pinch of this... and a dash of that...)