A Visual Way to Stay On Track & Improve Productivity

Last week I was frustrated about getting to the end of my day without having completed the tasks I’d set out to do in the morning. It was time to start asking myself some questions. Since there wasn’t anyone around, I knew it was something I was doing that wasn’t working and not some outside distractions.

That sent me down a path of figuring out the cause(s) because I knew I couldn’t fix it until I knew what “it” was, and the first thing I uncovered is that my multi-tasking ability has another side.

Ok, time for more questions. What can I do differently that will fix, or at a minimum, improve my productivity while alleviating some frustrations? There has to be a better way, and because I’m not willing to keep losing a ton of time by getting distracted all day long, I’m gonna take the time to figure it out!

The Goal

I want a way to keep track of what I’ve done, what I’m doing and what I still have to get done. And I know that in order to avoid the whole multi-tasking distraction issue, it all has to be accessible from one place. That’s the only way I’m going to stop having to run off to find information… and less searching means fewer distractions.

So I tested out a few different ways to get it all organized but I wasn’t having any luck. As soon as I’d get to a certain point, it became harder to track everything. Over the weekend it finally hit me.

The Solution

I’m a visual learner. Why not see what I can do with my mindmapping software (I’d put it on hold when I’d gone back to work because I didn’t have the time).

When I started my first mindmap, I started with my blog as a whole just to see what would happen as it grew. Since this blog is fairly new, I started with my Debi J’s blog. It took less than 15 minutes for me to see what I was doing wrong with my blog…

What’s wrong with this picture?

I’ve turned my Tags into Categories… NOT good!

Needless to say, it took even LESS time to realize how effective these are going to be to my building my business right the first time!

Now it was just a matter of getting it done. And the first question was WHERE to start. And the answer, as usual, was at the beginning… Setting up a blog.

The Beginning

When I started blogging, I just started. I didn’t bother to read any guides until I couldn’t figure something out. Then I’d struggle thru a ton of information until I finished whatever step I was working on. And when I decided to set up another blog, guess what? I’d forgotten many of the steps I’d done to set up the previous one!

Of course by then, I’d also added plugins, changed the settings, set up headers, footers, optin boxes and more. But which ones? What settings? What layout did I use? Which colors?

I didn’t know.

So I was bouncing back and forth from my original blog to my new one, jotting stuff down, hunting down the information and getting frustrated because I couldn’t find what I was looking for, much less duplicate it!

Since then, I’ve learned to use backup software like Replikator Pro, and while it’s great for backing up all my settings so I’m virtually hacker-proof, it still won’t show me, visually, what’s working or not. And while being able to simply duplicate will save tons of time, it won’t give me other information that I’m looking for to streamline and know what can be outsourced.

So I started. My initial mind map covers the technical steps of blog setup. And it’s letting me keep all the info in one document, with links to everything I’m using… INSIDE the map itself… I’ll never have to waste time on setup again!

So far, it’s working great. So much so that I’m moving beyond just setup and into tracking everything about my blog… visually! Plugins, socializing, relationship building, monetizing, marketing and more.

Yeah… setting up this first one took a bit of time. I was learning a bit more about the software than I already knew, and I wanted to make sure it was going to be beneficial. The next ones should go much smoother since I’ve been just adding to them as I do stuff, rather than starting from scratch and working to the end.

But what I’m looking for are the long-term benefits of saving time later… a lot of time… on figuring out what has to be changed, added, redone, or eliminated… what’s working and what’s not… and what can be outsourced or set up on auto-pilot.

If I did nothing else with it, it’s already going to save me time and headache on setting up a blog, and I won’t have to worry about whether I forgot to do or include something.

Time is something you can’t get back once it’s gone. And time spent on setup is time I’m losing to grow my business and spend with my family!

A Special Gift for Subscribers

I doubt that I’m the only visual blogger who runs into these issues. And even if I am, I’m doing this anyway! LOL

I initially created my map using NovaMind since that’s my preference. But when I decided I wanted to give it to my subscribers, I redid it in FreeMind. That way anyone can download it and use it because it’s a free software and it works on Mac or Windows.

Yes, I’m offering it to everyone.

It’s editable so you can personalize it specifically to the tools, plugins and software that you use for your own blog. And I’ve put together instructions to keep it really simple for you to use.

If you’d like a copy, just fill out the subscriber form at the upper right-hand side of this blog (under the little pointing guy), or the subscriber box down below.

And if you have ANY questions, you can email me anytime… and there’s a quick email link inside the mindmap itself so you can reach me that way too!

 

Subscribe to my list so you won’t miss out on any of my subscriber-only specials! And be sure to include your links in the comments below. I use CommentLuv to link to your blog so you can build automatic backlinks that Google will love!