I first heard the term ‘batch processing’ when I was teaching Adobe Photoshop seminars years ago.

For example, if you wanted to adjust the color and/or brightness of 100 digital [...]]]> Have a lot of things to do? Cards to send? Clothes to fold? Gifts to make or buy and send? E-mail to process?

I first heard the term ‘batch processing’ when I was teaching Adobe Photoshop seminars years ago.

For example, if you wanted to adjust the color and/or brightness of 100 digital picture files, lower the resolution, and save them as medium quality JPEG files for E-mailing, you could use something called ‘Actions’ that would do all of this for you automatically.

This ‘batch processing’ works great for technical applications. Unfortunately, for the nontechnical/mundane tasks that we have to do that we choose not to delegate, we may not be able to fully automate the process. But in such cases, we can use something called batch production to batch tasks related a project to greatly improve our productivity.

Cards to send
Don’t do them one-at-a-time. By that I mean don’t sign the card and then address the envelope and then stamp the envelope and then seal the envelope one-at-a-time.

Instead, complete the project in ‘batches’ to get the job done faster:

• Address all of the cards at the same time.
• Put a postage stamp on all of the cards at the same time.
• Stuff the cards into the envelopes all at the same time (sign and/or write a personal note as you go).
• Seal the envelopes all at the same time. (I actually fan about 5-10 of them out so the glue part is exposed on all of them face up. Then I use a damp sponge to get them all wet at the same time and then quickly close them/seal them one-at-a-time.)

Clothes to fold
Sort them by type first (socks, T-shirts, towels, etc.). Then fold them in batches for maximum efficiency.

Gifts to make or buy or send
Making gifts can be time consuming, but if you enjoy the process, allow yourself the pleasure! Not everything has to be highly efficient, especially if it brings you joy. You can always batch the less enjoyable parts to the gift making process if you want.

If you’re buying and sending gifts, here’s a time and money saving tip if you’re an Amazon user: become an Amazon Prime member.

For $79, you get free 2-day shipping and $3.99 1-day shipping for everything you buy from Amazon for an entire year. If you buy a lot of books or other things from Amazon like I do, over the course of a year, shipping charges add up quickly.

Since time is money, anytime you can save money, ethically of course, do it because you’re ultimately saving time.

E-mail to process
Schedule when you’re going to check E-mail and batch process them during these times. The less, the better. Maybe twice a day at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM.

Or if this doesn’t work for your particular situation or business model, try checking E-mail and batch processing them on the hour throughout the day. This will give you more blocks of uninterrupted time to work on getting high-priority tasks, projects, and goals done.

Where else/what else can you batch to save time? Keep your eyes peeled. When an opportunity presents itself, remember to batch tasks to greatly improve your productivity.

It helps to remember the definition of time management. There are several definitions out there. Here’s mine.

Simply put, the definition of time management is the art of arranging your business and personal affairs in such a way that you [...]]]> Is there anything that you should UN-automate? Absolutely. And it could increase your productivity effectiveness several fold.

It helps to remember the definition of time management. There are several definitions out there. Here’s mine.

Simply put, the definition of time management is the art of arranging your business and personal affairs in such a way that you and your things show up when, where, and how you’ve intended them to, as frequently, effortlessly, and ubiquitously as possible, and to facilitate getting things done as quickly as possible with the least amount of resources (time, energy, money, and people) necessary.

Here’s a rhetorical question. Do you think you’re more effective at getting things done when you’re able to totally focus on the task at hand without interruption or when you frequently get interrupted throughout the task?

The answer is obvious. Studies show that it takes up to 20 minutes or more to get back into the highly focused state where ‘flow’ happens to support getting the job done as quickly as possible.

Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007 and Mac Mail defaults to automatically checking email every 5 (or 30) minutes. I would highly recommend turning this option/preference OFF.

Is your email program set to automatically check email every 5 or 30 minutes? If so, WHY? TURN IT OFF NOW so YOU can be the master/supreme controller of your email and your time. Check your email when YOU want to so you can totally concentrate and focus on the task at hand until it’s done. Then, when you’re ready to check email, check it manually.

In Microsoft Outlook use the F9 key to Send/Receive email manually. In Mac Mail just hit the Get Mail button. But first you need to turn off the option/preference that automatically checks email at regular intervals. Here’s how to do it.

In Outlook, select Tools (menu) > Options… > Mail Setup (tab) > Send/Receive… (button). Uncheck the check box in front of “Schedule an automatic send/receive every __ minutes.”

In Mac Mail, select Mail (menu) > Preferences… > click the General icon > change the “Check for new mail” drop-down menu to “Manually.”

Once you’ve done this, YOU will be in control! I understand that not every particular job will permit you to do this. But if it does, by all means do it now and notice how much more productive you are.

One of the most powerful things you can do to stem the tidal wave of email (not THIS email, of course, since it ultimately ADDS time to your life and only takes two minutes to read!) is [...]]]> Besides automatically updating your multiple online social networking sites and bill paying (last week), “What else can you automate?”

One of the most powerful things you can do to stem the tidal wave of email (not THIS email, of course, since it ultimately ADDS time to your life and only takes two minutes to read!) is to use “Rules” to automatically filter your email so you’ll have less to process and more time to be productive.

Before doing this, however, some New Years cleaning may be in order. If you have the habit of using your Inbox as a storage box, I would suggest creating a new folder called “Storage 2009″ and moving (drag and drop) all of your 2009 email that is currently in your Inbox to it. It will be there if you ever need it (probably won’t), but notice how much lighter you’ll feel after you do this. Try it and see.

When you’re email box is completely empty, possibly for the first time in ages, pay close attention to all new email that comes in and get ruthless with it. Have the goal to process it ASAP to avoid Inbox bloat and maintain that ‘light,’ reduced stress feeling.

You are in control. You are the master.

When you find yourself deleting lots of emails from the same sender over and over again, first try to unsubscribe. Be careful though: make sure it isn’t some fake (SPAM) email that could be “fishing” for active email addresses to send more SPAM to. If it’s something you know is legit or that you’re subscribed to but no longer wish to receive it, unsubscribe.

If you’ve tried to unsubscribe and they’re still sending you stuff, rather than waste any more time harassing them to remove you (been there, done that), simply create a new Rule that automatically either 1) sends all email that is addressed from them to the Trash as soon as it comes in or 2) marks the email as SPAM or Junk and automatically moves it to the Junk or Trash folder. Problem solved. Now you should never see email from that sender again in your Inbox.

In Outlook, simply RIGHT-click on the email you want to create a rule for and select Create Rule… Then simply follow the yellow brick road.

For example, do you use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.? If so, managing them all can be very time consuming.

You can use a free service called Ping (Ping.fm). You sign up for an account and enter the login and passwords for all of your [...]]]> Anytime you can use automation to streamline your life, I say, “Do it.”

For example, do you use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.? If so, managing them all can be very time consuming.

You can use a free service called Ping (Ping.fm). You sign up for an account and enter the login and passwords for all of your social networking accounts. Then, all you have to do is update your status (or Micro-blogs or Blogs) once in Ping and it automatically updates all of your social network sites instantly! How cool is THAT?

What else can you automate? That’s a great question to ask yourself on an ongoing basis.

How about bill paying? How much time do you spend manually filling out checks or even paying online for that matter? Paying online is more productive than writing checks, but having your bills paid automatically is even better. It only takes a little time to set this up, but then it’s totally automatic.

More and more companies are offering this service of automatic payments via credit card or bankcard, but read the fine print for any hidden fees. On a side note, I don’t recommend paying bills with a credit card unless you’re highly disciplined and you’re using it to double-dip, for example you get frequent flier miles for every dollar spent using the card, and you pay off the balance entirely every month.

Check with your bank. You may be able to set up automatic payments for free. Go with whatever makes the most sense, not necessarily the most cents. Going through your bank instead of separate companies has the advantage of keeping everything centralized, which is more productive than having to log into multiple company websites when there’s a problem.

Making payments automatically is great for bills that are the same amount every month (cable TV, internet service, fixed rate mortgage/rent, personal loans, karate/gym memberships, etc.). You’ll have to keep a closer eye on bills that fluctuate (utilities, certain phone plans, adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), etc.).

If you use Quick Books (powerful and simple to use accounting program for small businesses) or Quicken (super easy to use personal checkbook program) or some other checkbook program, you can set up recurring transactions in advance that can remind you when they’re about to occur.

(Continued next week.)