As I am writing to you today on 1st January I thought I would share with you how I plan to make 2009 a more productive year for myself than 2008, and how you can too.

Culling Time Wasters

The first place to look in becoming more productive is where you waste the most time.

My definition of “waste” in this context is activities that do not add much value but take considerable time. Spending time with my family is not a waste of time because we get value from it, while solitary “Tower Defense” web based game playing is likely adding zero value and just eating up precious time.

In the closing months of 2008 I took careful note of where my time was going. I worked out there were several areas I was spending time that could have been made more efficient. Keeping a time diary, even just scratched onto a scrap of paper or scribbled on a whiteboard can help you uncover where your time is going.

I found my biggest time leak was unscheduled interruptions.

For 2009 I will save time with:

• Turning off the instant messager - IM conversations are fun and valuable, but not when at the expense of work
• Scheduling telephone/skype calls – I am no longer going to be available on demand, the telephone will be on answer machine and skype will be off unless I have set aside to be available.
• Smarter email – I just spent hours clearing my inbox down to zero from around 1,800 by setting up folders, rules, unsubscribing from unnecessary lists and ruthlessly deleting – Inspired by @BillT on Twitter
• Focused Social Media time – Talking of Twitter, I found my rhythm with social media and now have worked out a social media schedule (which was stretched over the holidays, but you have to bend the rules sometimes!)

Spam and Unwanted Email

Email turns out to be a big part of my day. I don’t want to go the Tim Ferris route; I take pride in answering my own email and having good turnaround times. So rather than outsourcing, autoresponder or support ticket system, I am working on reducing my inbox clutter as much as possible.

A big load on my inbox is newsletters. For many services or products you have to supply an email address, and of course you do not know which will turn out to send you junk and which will be good, so you can’t use a temporary address in case it is the latter. I am taking the advice of my friend Damian who has a catch-all email forwarding set up on one of his domains and signs up to each with a unique email address in the form ““. If I get spam to this unique address I will know where it came from.

My email list from address is changing, as is my contact form. I am also moving my family and friends email to a different account so work is split from home. Each source of email will be isolated and easier to prioritize.

Posted via email from Jay’s posterous