Towards the end of last year, my friend?Michael Schechter?was kind enough to invite me to chat on his?2×4 series.
The idea behind 2×4 is simple: one?series that examines?two?topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same?four?questions on both subjects.
I had a blast answering Mike’s questions, and thought it’d be cool to share the answers here. In this second part, we talk Productivity – make sure you drop by Monday’s post for the creativity answers.
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
Personally, I?m a father and husband, so my main responsibility is making sure they have food on the table and a roof over their heads, and that they feel secure in my ability to look after them. This leads to my professional responsibility ? I?m the VP, Product Intelligence at Jugnoo, Inc., and my responsibilities there see me making sure we look after our users by providing the best tools possible, to ensure they can be truly effective on social media. It also sees me working on bringing products to the market that will make the social web simple, accessible and monetizable for everyone.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
Easy ? I keep them separate, and dedicate the time solely to each one when I?m ?there?. During the day, I?m in professional mode, so you?ll rarely see me online. In the evenings and at weekends, that?s my family time. Once the kids and wife have gone to bed, that?s my digital playtime, to catch up on all I?ve missed. You might get the occasional crossover, but generally I keep all three separate. It?s why I don?t do a lot of conferences or speaking ? I like putting my son and daughter to bed, and waking up under the same roof as them and my wife. I wouldn?t swap that for the world.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
I simply use a lot of Google?s tools ? Docs, chat, calendar, etc. They?re good enough for what I need. I?m also a big fan of?Hootsuite?and how they’ve made social media dashboards so effective. Of course, there’s now a certain product called JugnooMe, which we’re creating for everyone from businesses to bloggers, franchisees, realtors, agencies, non-profits and more. And the reviews so far are pretty positive, which is nice, and with the update we’re releasing next week, hopefully that will continue!
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
A notepad and pen. Seriously. Take an hour out of your day, and sit down with a notepad and pen, and divide a page into two columns ? Must Have and Optional. Then write down all the stuff you do during the day ? personally and professionally ? and separate them into these two lists. Then prioritize what you need to do every single day to make your life easier/better, whatever, and begin to work from that. If you don?t recognize what?s really important versus what you can do if you want to, you?re never going to be more productive.
image: inju