I’m a simplifier — constantly trying to simplify things — focus more time on fewer things. As CEO and a father of 3 soon to be 4 kids, it’s helped to get fairly good at it. There are just too many moving pieces to not be.
There are endless number of books on productivity. I just read (skimmed!) “The 4-Hour Workweek”. It seems the common thread in books like this is to work less by writing a book telling others how to work less. Unfortunately I don’t see this as realistic for most people. The author seems like a bit of a huckster too so take that for what it’s worth.
Here are some of the tactics that work for me:
Understand the difference between being productive versus being busy. It’s easy to be busy. Much harder to be productive and know the difference.
Throw out / recycle most everything. Lets you focus on the few things that matter. Hard to do with kids and a pack rat of a wife … but I’m trying
Make to-do lists for the day. It helps me prioritize and stay focused.
Here are some more specific recommendations:
Quit Facebook. Major time suck. I did this at the beginning of this year and feel much better for it. We lived many a year without it so life will go on if I don’t know every detail of everyone else’s lives.
Remove all Twitter apps. Tweetdeck, Twitteriffic, etc … from your desktop or dock. Easy to confuse keeping with everyone’s tweets with being productive. Use it at select moments during the day. Life is too short to fritter it away on this.
Remove those “you received an email alert.” Again, move away from distracted oriented things.
Shred all receipts and bills (after paying them.) You can get most everything online anyway. It’s easier to focus when you have less stuff.
Concentrate certain types of meetings on particular days. I get a fair amount of meeting requests from potential investors. Instead of scattering the check-in calls throughout the month, I started scheduling them to occur on a particular day in a given month. I would much rather have one day completely booked with my investor hat on versus having to disperse my thinking across a number of days.
So try them out or call me crazy. Either way, I’m always looking for new ways to minimize distractions in my life and focus on fewer things better. If you have additional suggestions, I would love to hear them.
Earlier this week I was listed as the 58th most influential marketer of 2009. Nice distinction and appreciate everyone’s votes. Thanks. See here for a complete ranking. I’m coming after you Ms. Kimberly “I’m #57″ Krause Berg of Cre8pc.com … oh yes.
Now that I have this ranking to uphold and know that Dan “I’m #59″ Zarrella of Hubspot is hot on my tail, I feel more obligated to actually write about marketing …. pass on my wisdoms, share my insights, … So, here’s my first one …
Awards and Best-Of Lists are gold at attracting eyeballs. Everyone likes a new distinction to put on their resume or blog. Or, something simply to spark a conversation. Statistical significance and rigorous testing are less important. The math guy in my finds that sad but true. Try it out for yourself. Look at the magazine rack of your local bookstore. Scan the headlines of forbes.com. Awards and lists are sure fire winners.
So thank you Invesp for the award. I didn’t know of you before but now I and 99 other influential marketers do. Given that accomplishment, I rank you as smartest marketer of us all.
2010 should be a good year on the professional and personal front. I expect the momentum for Bronto to continue into the new year. We’re picking up some great clients and talented employees so I’m thrilled to see what 2010 holds.
On the personal front, Karalyn and I expecting another baby in April. #4. Amazing. Never thought that I would be recreating my childhood but it’s true. It’s becoming harder and harder to pretend that I’m still 22. Not that I should, I’m enjoying it all.
Like every year, I try to shake things up with some New Year’s Resolutions. Here are the ones that I have so far:
Clean Living — I’m going to exercise more and eat better. My near-term goal is to run the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon at the end of March. I did it a couple years ago with mediocre results. I’m expecting a bit more this year and somehow I’ll find the time to train. To step up my efforts, I’m going to skip soda, alcohol, and junk food until the race. Hard core at least until April then I’m back to normal. With a new baby, I’ll need it.
Deeper Connections — I’m going to connect better with people. The rise of social networks, although fascinating from a business point of view, feels particularly unfulfilling on the personal side. I’m going to spend more time focused on fewer things and try to get distracted less by things that don’t matter. As a first step, I’m quitting Facebook. We’ll see what else follows.
That’s all for now. Any other suggestions? I’m open to them.
Recently I did a video interview with David Mullens for his blog. He grabbed me after speaking on an email marketing panel at the Internet Summit in Raleigh. The interview addresses the simple question if email is still useful. Quick answer — it is but it is all about the marketing.
Find out more from David’s blog post on Communication Catalyst or view the interview below:
Ximena now has a store on Etsy. Here’s how it came about…
Ximena is my 7-year old daughter and was born at about the same time that Bronto was founded. In fact, in many ways, her life parallels Bronto’s history. When my wife Karalyn and I became pregnant with her, I significantly stepped out my efforts to get the company off the ground and registered the domain name brontomail.com. Right before she was born, we moved the company out of my house and into an office. Wise move because as any parent will tell you, newborns and startups don’t mix well! Now their paths cross again.
Ximena is a little entrepreneur — whether it be lemonade, cookies, candles, … If she can make it, she’ll sell from of a table in the front yard. Ever since being read Misty of Chincoteague when she was 5, she has been very motivated to earn enough money to buy a horse. I don’t see a horse purchase any time soon but her motivation is still exciting to watch and encourage. This is where Etsy comes in.
She wanted to extend her reach for her homemade piggy banks beyond the front yard. I told her about Etsy — a great place to buy and sell handcrafts as well as a Bronto client! She was game.
So tonight we set up her own Etsy store. She took pictures of her crafts and wrote the descriptions. I ponied up (like the pun … couldn’t resist) the 20-cent listing fee. Now the store is open and ready for business.
You can find it at ximenacolopy.etsy.com. Check it out and maybe even buy something. The prices are right and she would be thrilled.
Fridays are great days and at most companies folks can expect to spend their Friday afternoons winding down and visualizing a cold beer in their hand. Not at Bronto and not this Friday. This Friday afternoon, I recruited a couple Brontos to put together a video tour of our flagship email marketing application.
Big thanks go to Brandon (the demo guru) and John (the video maestro) for putting together this Friday afternoon special. Also, thanks to Justin for his wizardry in getting this on the ‘net for the rest of the world to enjoy. So without further adieu, I present a “Tour of Bronto”:
Last Thursday night Bronto hosted a Tweetup at its offices. Tweetup is a gathering of Twitter fans and enthusiasts. The event was a big success with over 200 attendees. And, as you can imagine it was very well covered in the the twitter-sphere.
Special thanks to Brontos Adam Covati and Caroline Smith for organizing the event. It as a herculean effort and they pulled it off without a hitch. You can find some more information about the event on BrontoNation.
While there, I was interviewed by one of our guests Tim Ladd. I spoke about Bronto, its success in tough economic times, the state of social media, and the parallels between email marketing and Twitter. You can see the video on YouTube or embedded below:
I’m a simplifier — constantly trying to simplify things — focus more time on fewer things. As CEO and a father of 3 soon to be 4 kids, it’s helped to get fairly good at it. There are just too many moving pieces to not be.
Earlier this week I was listed as the 58th most influential marketer of 2009. Nice distinction and appreciate everyone’s votes. Thanks. 
Happy New Year!
Ximena is a little entrepreneur — whether it be lemonade, cookies, candles, … If she can make it, she’ll sell from of a table in the front yard. Ever since being read 
She wanted to extend her reach for her homemade piggy banks beyond the front yard. I told her about Etsy — a great place to buy and sell handcrafts as well as a Bronto client! She was game.
