I learned quite a few years ago that a person can burn-out quickly if she does not recognize their energy cycles and plan her time accordingly. Entrepreneurs who typically thrive in a “fast-paced, get it done now environment” should especially be aware of their energy cycles, for conducting business or performing priority assignments at non-peak performance periods could detrimentally impact our business.

We should plan our day, and ensure we’ve allocated “breather” periods, when we can relax, stretch, walk, something to get away from a stress-filled situation.

I usually begin my day at 5 a.m. I’m full of energy, and often will walk Domino, my Lab, for 20 minutes or so. Afterwards, I’m fresh and ready to begin.

First agenda activity is scheduling client work, responding to email messages, and handling internal operations matters. By 9 a.m., I’m ready and available for client interaction.

I’m aware there are times of the day when I’m feeling productive and other times when I’m sluggish. I use these highs and lows to my advantage by completing complex and mentally challenging tasks during my high energy time. During low energy periods, I take a break, a nap, or handle low priority, non-challenging responsibilities.

The importance of “rest” periods

It’s important to plan the “rest” period when it will do some good, before you become too tense or exhausted. Brief rests at the right times will help you maintain a steady, efficient work pace. Don’t forget to take time off to relax and enjoy yourself. It can renew your energy and give your brain a much needed reprieve.

Tip #3 Break Tasks into Segments

Use your time wisely. Try to perform certain tasks in batches. Related tasks don’t take as long when you do them all at once. Schedule several sessions to complete long, complicated assignments. Count backwards from deadlines, to allow time for each segment and handling potential updates before the final deadline.

If you have a lot of different types of activities, create a better sense of balance by giving each day/week a specific focus. That way, you can concentrate on tasks related to the specific activity and create a sense of accomplishment when all related tasks are completed.

Continuing the tips and time savers series, it’s important to plan your week’s activities, so you can have an idea of what you “hope” to accomplish through attainable goals and objectives. It’s been my personal history that I don’t achieve all of my weekly goals, but by implementing several of these new tips and time savers, I’m back on track.

Why plan your week ahead

I am creative, in the sense that I come up with new ideas often and want them implemented quickly (ha, just ask my team members). Anyway, by planning my time, during a designated day of the week, I can develop my schedule, increase productivity and balance long-term projects with urgent tasks.

Virtual Assistant and other business owners I know set aside a full day to plan business activities. On the designated day, they concentrate only on their internal operations and business opportunities. Others set aside 30 minutes in the morning to assess where they stand, and plan for the balance of the day/week.

It is a good idea to evaluate regularly how you are spending your time. In some instances, it may be best to stop doing an activity that is no longer serving its originally intended purpose and spend time doing something more valuable.

So, while planning your day, also be flexible enough that you have time to handle the unexpected, as well as activities that you enjoy and keep you fresh, alert and energetic.

Tip #2 - Identify bad habits

Make a list of bad habits that are stealing your time, sabotaging goals and blocking success. Work on them one at a time and systematically eliminate them from your business and personal life. The easiest way to eliminate a bad habit is to replace it with a better one.

Avoid efficiency traps and productive procrastination

Being efficient doesn’t necessarily mean you are being productive. Avoid taking on tasks that you can do with efficiency that don’t need to be done at all. Just because you are doing “busy work” doesn’t mean you are accomplishing anything significant! If a task is listed as a low priority and not need to be done immediately or at all, wait until it becomes important enough to deserve your time before you work on it.

At the end of the day/week, you want to look at your list of tasks/assignments and say with pride, “look at what I’ve accomplished today!”

Oh boy, how many times do I say to myself I’ll remember to do something, and 15 minutes later I can’t remember what it was or how I planned to accomplish the task.

Is it information overload or poor time management? Am I too vain to think I can no longer retain as much material I was able to in my youth; or, am I just busy as a business owner and Virtual Assistant to take time to write a few notes and record my thoughts.

Funny as it may seem, I have no problem jotting down notes and tracking tasks I and my VA team members perform for clients — as a matter of fact, I am super efficient when it comes to handling someone else’s business — but sometimes it’s difficult to remember to do the same for my own.

Tools I have readily available include: calling into my digital dictation system, jotting notes on a handy pad, in One Note or Outlook.

Well, it’s time I took back control of my own projects, tasks and time, and returned to my ole organized self, and I believe there are others, in the same boat as I, that could use a few nifty tips too.

So, over the course of the next few weeks, I will identify tips and time savers to help keep me on track. While I’m honest enough to know I will not implement all of them, I’m sure several will be useful and aid my returning to the level of “efficiency” I use to pride myself on.

Tip #1 - Write things down

As mentioned above, a common mistake is trying to use your memory to keep track of details, which can lead to information overload. Create a daily to-do-list (broken down in 15-30 minute blocks of time) as a way to take control of your projects and tasks and keep yourself organized.

Now, don’t try to organization your entire 24 hour day — just the hours you have allocated for work — remember, you should also have time for family, friends, hobbies, etc.

Remember the following:

Don’t Put Too Much on it:

Be realistic in your expectations and your time estimates. Make a real, not fantasy “do everything in one day” list, or you’ll get frustrated because you haven’t completed all the tasks, your efficiency will drop – and you will become cranky and exhausted.

Prioritize your list

Prioritizing your to-do list helps you focus and spend more time on things that really matter to you. Rate your tasks into categories of importance. This speaks more to your state of mind when you make the list than to the specific notations on that list.

You‘re listing those tasks that you hope, want, and yes need to finish during the day. You’re not creating a blueprint for the rest of the universe, and your plans don’t have the force of natural law. In other words, the world is not going to end because you didn’t complete everything on your list. Just be prepared to begin or complete the tasks you didn’t complete today, tomorrow!

Pretty soon, the Online International Virtual Assistants Convention (OIVAC) will kick-off. This year, 40 presenters are set to speak about technology, marketing, public relations, working with coaches, real estate, speakers, article promotions, and so much more useful information to support a Virtual Assistant’s practice.

We will also conduct another blog hopping and podcast tour and hold a brand new series of activities(Introducing the Virtual Assistant Industry) to reach more industries and individuals, and educate them about the VA industry.

It’s going to be fun, and I can’t wait.

I’ll keep you posted and I hope to see you May 15-17, 2008 at OIVAC.

You know, ever so often I visit a very useful web site, Copyscape, to check if anyone has copied language from my web site. Most times, I’m lucky and find no perpetrators. Recently, however, I’ve identified three sites that have blatantly copied verbiage from my homepage and two other sections of the site.

Now of course, there are but so many ways to describe virtual assisting, but an individual should at least place her personal “brand” on the web site; and thereby, of course, not encountering the rage of the originating author who is determined to protect her work product.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another author, or excerpts, ideas, or passages therefrom, and passing the material off as one’s own creation. (University of Colorado Library)

Copyscape recommends the individual act quickly to have the language removed. (See suggestions below):

1. Look for contact details on the offending site and send a polite message asking for the material to be removed. If there are no contact details available, try emailing webmaster@ the domain.

2. Use a Whois service to find out the website owner’s name and telephone number and contact them directly. Enter the domain name in the search box and the contact information should appear towards the bottom of the page.

3. Contact the web hosting company used by the site and inform them of their customer’s abuse. This information is also available through a Whois search.

4. Send a formal ‘Cease and Desist’ letter notifying the offending party that they must remove the stolen content from their site. Some sample letters are available on the web.

5. File a notice of Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) infringement with search engines such as Google and others to have the offending site removed from their search results.

6. If you need proof of infringement, you can use the Internet Archive to show that the content appeared on your site at an earlier date than it appeared on the offending site.

I have completed Step 1 and given the perpetrators five (5) days to act. I will revisit the offending sites to ascertain their response. I’ve also asked each to respond to my email. If action isn’t taken within the allocated time, I shall proceed through the process to have the content removed.